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It was announced today that there is an “Area Devotional” broadcast next week with Elders Ballard and Christofferson. Saturday night the is a similar YSA broadcast. The general devotional is Sunday afternoon. It will be broadcast to all meeting houses in the stake, all are invited. This is the North America Northeast Area. This is a new one for me, anyone else have anything similar recently? FWIW, the last few years when they’ve done the broadcast extra stake conferences I have not cared much for them. This devotional does not take the place of regular Sunday meetings, it’s an extra meeting. But, my guess is it will be recorded and impersonal like the broadcast stake conferences.
On the positive side, it’s not another opportunity for Oaks to rail against gay marriage.
I have. They usually don’t come on a regular basis. Our last one was in or around 1984? We live in the midwest. It was for Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota & Iowa. (& maybe Michigan?)
There was no big announcement. It seemed to be like a mini general regional conference.
We used to have the regional conferences we would go to in a Sunday. Those were live though, with real live GAs. Like I said this is new for us. You’re right. They are probably taking more advantage of the new technology. That way they can do less traveling. How did it go? Did it turn out to be something more than an opportunity to say “covenant path” a dozen times? :angel: Full disclosure, I didn’t go. But my wife did and it sounds like it was an opportunity to “praise the man” (Ballard is a descendant of Hyrum for those who don’t know). They threw in some early settlers of New England who paved the way because the whole country was founded on the idea of religious freedom (second talking point). And indeed it does appear there was some covenant path (talking point 3) as well – the latter more from Christofferson and his wife. There are several articles about this historic visit to the sacred site of the birth of the prophet (mostly tongue in cheek, although the terminology is used in the articles) on thechurch news site. https://www.thechurchnews.com/https://www.thechurchnews.com/” class=”bbcode_url”> Edited to add: Apparently Deseret News covered this historic event (but it’s not very comprehensive). FWIW, my wife didn’t mention the part about prayer.
https://www.deseret.com/2019/10/20/20924161/lds-church-mormon-m-russell-ballard ” class=”bbcode_url”> https://www.deseret.com/2019/10/20/20924161/lds-church-mormon-m-russell-ballard I read the DesNews article this morning and was struck by this line: “As an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I have a solemn duty to face the Lord and deliver his message,” said President Ballard. “His words often include words of encouragement and expressions of love. They also include words of warning.” This was a huge question of mine for many years that is kind of a taboo topic. Do the prophets and apostles have interviews with Jesus? I think statements like this are highly suggestive they do without coming out and saying it. One could read the statement above either way. The inference is that there is some kind of special interview or access that he has that others don’t. One could also determine that the “words” he is speaking of come from studying the scriptures and gaining insights.
On my mission Elder Holland came to visit and one Elder asked him if he’d seen God. I’ve never heard such a stern rebuke in my life and it left the poor kid really shaken after. He told the Elder that it was a totally inappropriate question and he’d lost the spirit.
My conclusion after investigating the data is that the apostles and prophets do not have interviews with Jesus. However, I think they occasionally give statements like this that suggest they do. These kinds of things are exciting for people to hear. I go back and forth as to whether this is misleading or if it gives people something to be excited about and is part of the lifeblood of the Church.
felixfabulous wrote:
My conclusion after investigating the data is that the apostles and prophets do not have interviews with Jesus. However, I think they occasionally give statements like this that suggest they do. These kinds of things are exciting for people to hear. I go back and forth as to whether this is misleading or if it gives people something to be excited about and is part of the lifeblood of the Church.
This is pretty much where I am at as well. I do not believe the apostles speak to God or receive revelation any differently than you or I (or anyone else) do. “Back in the day” (in what is rapidly becoming a different church) I think it was commonly believed that the prophet, at least, had regular interviews with the Savior in the Holy of Holies. I’m sure at least half, likely more, of the missionaries I served with believed this and that all of the apostles had at least seen Christ. 30+ years down the road I more than doubt it and don’t believe any of them have seen Christ. I does bother me a bit that they tend to perpetuate the myth.
Interestingly, I was witness to a very similar incident with exactly the same apostle. It’s one of the reasons he tends to be a bit lower on my list of 15 favorites (among the living ones).
I did speak this morning with a less orthodox friend of mine who did attend the devotional. He basically said he could have found something better to do with that hour of his Sabbath. He also said he would not be praying for Trump any time soon. I guess we could draw a line between praying for the country and praying for Trump (and praying for the country could be to save us from Trump) but I’m not sure what Ballard was asking in that respect because I think part of his appeal was to just pray in general. My SP tends to be pretty on top of things, and I’m often amazed that things he has been saying for a couple years become a thing in GC. I do think that’s because our AA is also on top of things and shares with the SPs as he should. That said, I think an emphasis on prayer is about to become the new Sabbath (that was emphasized a couple years back) because our SP has been talking about prayer of late when he hasn’t really before. felixfabulous wrote:
On my mission Elder Holland came to visit and one Elder asked him if he’d seen God. I’ve never heard such a stern rebuke in my life and it left the poor kid really shaken after. He told the Elder that it was a totally inappropriate question and he’d lost the spirit.
“So… I guess that’s a no. Thanks.”
I can’t imagine the og apostles reacting that way.
What clinched it for me was this quote from Heber J. Grant (while he was Church President) in a letter responding directly to a woman who asked if the Church leaders spoke with the Lord the same way Joseph Smith did: “I know of no instance where the Lord has appeared to an individual since His appearance to the Prophet Joseph Smith.” I have been really bothered that our leaders seem to want to hitch our wagons to the political winds of the religious right and conservative Republican politics. Prophets in the Old Testament and Book of Mormon called out wicked kings, I feel like our prophets should be calling out Trump and warning the nation and the President that he needs to repent, not just asking us to pray for him.
Nibbler, I didn’t know what to make of it at the time, but now I’ve heard of similar responses and think it’s a definite no and way to avoid answering the question.
I heard reports that people were asked to pray for “the country” during the devotional. It’s a safe way to phrase things for both sides. People that love what’s happening in the country will take that as a signal to pray that god will continue to guide elected leaders. People that don’t love what’s happening in the country will take that as a signal to pray that god will be able to turn things around.
I recall being taught that the Q15 have all seen Christ. This teaching is almost always taught explicitly by someone not in the Q15. In my mission we were visited by Elder Scott and we were specifically instructed before the visit not to ask him about spiritual experiences. It sounds like this was a fairly regular occurance that they wanted to prevent.
In his address to us, Elder Scott taught about revelation with a personal example. He described impressions that he received while attending SS and then later pondering on his impressions and praying to know if there was more that God wished to share with him on the subject. New ideas and impressions then came to him as a result. This story is consistent with Apostles receiving revelation, inspiration, direction in a similar fashion to other people.
felixfabulous wrote:
I read the DesNews article this morning and was struck by this line: “As an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I have a solemn duty to face the Lord and deliver his message,” said President Ballard. “His words often include words of encouragement and expressions of love. They also include words of warning.”This was a huge question of mine for many years that is kind of a taboo topic. Do the prophets and apostles have interviews with Jesus? I think statements like this are highly suggestive they do without coming out and saying it. One could read the statement above either way. The inference is that there is some kind of special interview or access that he has that others don’t. One could also determine that the “words” he is speaking of come from studying the scriptures and gaining insights.
Looking back at this quote, I do not believe he was describing an interview. “As an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I have a solemn duty to face the Lord and deliver his message,” I believe the key phrase that makes you think of an interview is that President Ballard says that he has a “duty to face the Lord.” However, he then says “and deliver his message.” It would not make much sense to enter the presence of the Lord in a worthiness interview and then deliver the Lord’s message unto the Lord. I think perhaps a better phrase to convey what President Ballard was thinking would be to say “solemn duty to
stand beforethe Lord and deliver his message.” We tend to understand that “Stand before the Lord” does not literally mean that Jesus is standing in front of me but rather that Jesus can see everything I do from His throne in heaven. President Ballard is saying that he has a duty to deliver the message of Jesus Christ and that he will be judged by how faithfully he does it. Then he goes on to talk about the words of Jesus Christ. I believe that “His words” are synonymous with “his message” that President Ballard is duty bound to share. I believe that the words that are here referenced are the words that President Ballard is about to speak.
Quote:“Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” D&C 1:38
Quote:“It is no small thing, my brothers and sisters, to have a prophet of God in our midst. Great and wonderful are the blessings that come into our lives as we listen to the word of the Lord given to us through him [the prophet]. … When we hear the counsel of the Lord expressed through the words of the President of the Church, our response should be positive and prompt. History has shown that there is safety, peace, prosperity, and happiness in responding to prophetic counsel as did Nephi of old: ‘I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded’ (1 Ne. 3:7).” Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “His Word Ye Shall Receive,” Liahona, July 2001, 80; Ensign, May 2001, 65.
If I had to guess, I would assume that President Ballard was preparing to give some bad news – words of warning about the sorry state of the world and how not to join the bandwagon of today’s popular social movements (LGBTQ?).
Boy am I glad I live on the left coast. Oh wait, I wouldn’t have gone anyway. Just reading this thread gives me eye-roll headache. Seriously. :crazy:
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