187: Suffering, Part 4 Denver Snuffer Podcast

This is part four of a series looking at the role of suffering in the life of the Savior, and how our own suffering brings us closer to Him.















You cannot endure a Terrestrial glory in a Telestial state. Lying, and stealing, and deceiving, and adultery, and whoremongering (all of the abominations that people prize in this generation), your lusts, your ambitions, your desires to lord it over one another (the common affliction of the Gentile)—all of those things are a level below what Zion requires. And so, if one happily strolls into Zion while profaning the conditions upon which it will be established, they subject themselves to the penalty of being where they should not be, in a condition in which they cannot endure. 







The destruction that occurred at Christ's death on the Americas was the destruction of the wicked only. If you look at 3 Nephi chapter 10, verse 12 (see also 3 Nephi 4:8 RE), you find out that the more righteous were saved. Those who live a Telestial law will be destroyed.







Turn to Doctrine and Covenants section 76. I wanna begin at—well, I may as well back up. I was gonna begin a little later on. I want you to remember the chant, “Follow the Prophet, Follow the Prophet,” which we can drill in mindlessly to the youth with a drumbeat cadence that sounds rather like [Denver makes Native American chanting sounds]; you know, “Follow the Prophet, Follow the Prophet”—you do that. “Follow the Brethren, Follow the Brethren.”







The glory of the telestial is one, even as the glory of the stars is one; for as one star differs from another star in glory, even so differs one from another in glory in the telestial world; For these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas. These are they who say they are some of one and some of another—some of Christ, ...some of John, ...some of Moses, ...some of Elias, ...some of Esaias, ...some of Isaiah, and some of Enoch; But received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant [yet to be established]. Last of all [and this is a general description of those who have Telestial behavior], these...are they who will not be gathered with the saints, to be caught up unto the church of the Firstborn, and received into the cloud. These are they who are liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. These are they who suffer the wrath of God on earth. These are they who suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. (D&C 76:98-105; see also T&C 69:26-27)







That is a broad description of those who can not be in Zion. And, notably, it begins with a list of those who “follow the prophets,” almost as if the Lord (in the revelation to Joseph Smith) anticipated your day and warned you: “Do not go thither! Do not partake of that! Receive the testimony of Jesus! Prepare when He offers the Everlasting Covenant! Do that!” To the extent that a church or an organization worships or trusts a man in lieu of Christ, it will lead you to Telestial destruction. It will not… Those who believe in it will not survive the destruction of the wicked that precedes the Lord's return.







I'll tell you what you get from a Strongman model. What you get from a Strongman model is a multibillion-dollar shopping mall. What you get from a Strongman model is a red Cadillac Escalade stopped on a back road in Nevada with $54,000 of cash in the back of the car when ‘the prophet’ is arrested for child abuse and child sexual exploitation (that's Warren Jeffs). I'll tell you what you get with a Strongman model: You get pretenders, and you get fools. You get people who hold onto their power (like the LeBaron's did) by murdering one another so that they can claim that they have ‘the keys.’ I'll tell you what you get with the Strongman model...