A Revelation to the elders of the church, given in Kirtland, Ohio,
September, 1831.
- Behold, thus saith the Lord your God unto you, O ye elders of my
church, hearken ye, and hear, and receive my will concerning you:
- For verily I say unto you, I will that ye should overcome the world:
- Wherefore I will have compassion upon you.
- There are those among you who have sinned;
- But verily I say, for this once, for mine own glory, and for the salvation
of souls, I have forgiven your sins.
- I will be merciful unto you, for I have given unto you the kingdom:
- And the keys of the mysteries of the kingdom, shall not be taken from
my servant Joseph, while he liveth, inasmuch as he obeyeth mine ordinance.
- There are those who have sought occasion against him without cause;
- Nevertheless he has sinned, but verily I say unto you, I the Lord
forgiveth sins unto those who confess their sins before me, and ask
forgiveness, who have not sinned unto death.
- My disciples, in days of old, sought occasion against one another,
and forgave not one another in their hearts, and for this evil they
were afflicted, and sorely chastened:
- Wherefore I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another, for
he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses, standeth condemned
before the Lord, for there remaineth in him the greater sin.
- I the Lord will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required
to forgive all men;
- And ye ought to say in your hearts, Let God judge between me and thee,
and reward thee according to thy deeds.
- And he that repenteth not of his sins, and confesseth them not, then
ye shall bring him before the church, and do with him as the Scriptures
saith unto you, either by commandment, or by revelation.
- And this ye shall do that God might be glorified, not because ye forgive
not, having not compassion, but that ye may be justified in the eyes
of the law, that ye may not offend him who is your Lawgiver.
- Verily I say, for this cause ye shall do these things.
- Behold I the Lord was angry with him who was my servant Ezra (B.);
- And also, my servant Isaac; for they kept not the law, neither the
commandment: they sought evil in their hearts, and I the Lord withheld
my Spirit.
- They condemned for evil, that thing in which there was no evil:
- Nevertheless I have forgiven my servant Isaac.
- And also my servant Edward, behold he hath sinned, and satan seeketh
to destroy his soul;
- But when these things are made known unto them, they repent of the
evil, and they shall be forgiven.
- And now verily I say, that it is expedient in me that my servant Sidney
(G.) after a few weeks, should return upon his business, and to his
agency in the land of Zion;
- And that which he hath seen and heard may be made known unto my disciples,
that they perish not.
- And for this cause have I spoken these things.
- And again, I say unto you, that my servant Isaac may not be tempted
above that which he is able to bear, and counsel wrongfully to your
hurt, I gave commandment that this farm should be sold.
- I willeth not that my servant Frederick, should sell his farm, for
I the Lord willeth to retain a strong hold in the land of Kirtland,
for the space of five years, in the which I will not overthrow the wicked,
that thereby I may save some;
- And after that day, I the Lord will not hold any guilty, that shall
go, with an open heart, up to the land of Zion:
- For I the Lord requireth the hearts of the children of men.
- Behold now it is called today, and verily it is a day of sacrifice,
and a day for the tithing of my people;
- For he that is tithed shall not be burned; for after today cometh
the burning:
- This is speaking after the manner of the Lord;
- For verily I say, tomorrow all the proud and they that do wickedly
shall be as stubble: and I will burn them up, for I am the Lord of hosts;
- And I will not spare any that remaineth in Babylon.
- Wherefore, if ye believe me, ye will labor while it is called today.
- And it is not meet that my servants, Newel and Sidney (G.) should
sell their store, and their possessions here, for this is not wisdom
until the residue of the church, which remaineth in this place, shall
go up unto the land of Zion.
- Behold it is said in my laws, or forbidden to get in debt to thine
enemies;
- But behold it is not said at any time, that the Lord should not take
when he please, and pay as seemeth him good:
- Wherefore as ye are agents, and ye are on the Lord's errand; and whatever
ye do according to the will of the Lord, is the Lord's business, and
it is the Lord's business to provide for his saints in these last days,
that they may obtain an inheritance in the land of Zion:
- And behold I the Lord declare unto you, and my words are sure and
shall not fail, that they shall obtain it;
- But all things must come to pass in its time;
- Wherefore be not weary in well doing, for ye are laying the foundation
of a great work.
- And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.
- Behold the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind;
- And the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion
in these last days;
- And the rebellious shall be cut off out of the land of Zion, and shall
be sent away and shall not inherit the land:
- For verily I say that the rebellious are not of the blood of Ephraim.
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