I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord

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I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord

• Khinckley1_at_yahoo.com

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Another Photo of Big Lou as a child
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Strengths

• Ether 12 27 And if men come unto me I will show
  unto them their weakness. I give unto men
  weakness that they may be humble and if they
  humble themselves before me I make weak things
  become strong unto them.
• Question
• Can the opposite also be true- can our strengths
  become weaknesses?

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Elder Oaks- List of 18Strengths to Weaknesses

• A Desire to Sacrifice More Than Is Needful
• Social Consciousness Not Tempered by Other Values
  
• An Intense Focus on Goals
• Popular Teachers and the Potential of Priestcraft
• Excesses in Giving
• Accomplishment and Pride
• Inordinate Church Service
• Materialistic Self-Reliance
• Misapplication of Love and Tolerance

• Gospel Hobbies
• Misapplication of Spiritual Gifts
• A Desire to Know All
• A Desire to Be Led in All Things
• Honors Can Sometimes Turn to Our Detriment
• Neglect or Distortion of Family Duties
• Distorted Faith
• All-Consuming Patriotism
• Not Really Following the Prophet

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Elder Oaks Continues

• Those who engage in self-congratulation over a
  supposed strength have lost the protection of
  humility and are vulnerable to Satans using that
  strength to produce their downfall.
• In contrast, if we are humble and teachable,
  hearkening to the commandments of God, the
  counsel of his leaders, and the promptings of his
  Spirit, we can be guided in how to use our
  spiritual gifts, our accomplishments, and all of
  our other strengths for righteousness.
• And we can be guided in how to avoid Satans
  efforts to use our strengths to cause our
  downfall.

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Strange Story of Balaam

• 1 And the children of Israel set forward, and
  pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan
  by Jericho.
• 2 And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that
  Israel had done to the Amorites.
• 5 He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the
  son of Beor to Pethor,
• 6 Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this
  people for they are too mighty for me
• 7 And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian
  departed with the rewards of divination in their
  hand and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto
  him the words of Balak.
• 12 And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go
  with them thou shalt not curse the people for
  they are blessed.

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Remember Oliver Cowdery

• DC 9
• 3. it is not expedient that you should translate
  at this present time.
• 5. And behold, it is because that you did not
  continue as you commenced

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It begins
Joseph Smith and the 116 pages?

• 15 And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and
  more honourable than they.
• 16 And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus
  saith Balak the son of Zippor, Let nothing, I
  pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me
• 17 For I will promote thee unto very great
  honour, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto
  me
• 18 And Balaam answered and said unto the servants
  of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full
  of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word
  of the LORD my God, to do less or more.
• (BUT!)
• 19 Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here
  this night, that I may know what the LORD will
  say unto me more.

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Even Stranger Donkey Story

• 31 Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and
  he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way,
  and his sword drawn in his hand and he bowed
  down his head, and fell flat on his face.
• 32 And the angel of the LORD said unto him,
  Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three
  times? behold, I went out to withstand thee,
  because thy way is perverse before me

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Finally, after offering sacrifices

• 2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw
  Israel abiding in his tents according to their
  tribes and the spirit of God came upon him.
• 3 And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam
  the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes
  are open hath said
• 5 How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy
  tabernacles, O Israel!
• 12 And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also
  to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me,
  saying,
• 13 If Balak would give me his house full of
  silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the
  commandment of the LORD, to do either good or bad
  of mine own mind but what the LORD saith, that
  will I speak?

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Final Fatal Footnote

• 1 and the people of Israel began to commit
  whoredom with the daughters of Moab.
• 2 And they called the people of Israel unto the
  sacrifices of their gods and the people did eat,
  and bowed down to their gods
• "...these caused the children of Israel, through
  the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against
  the LORD." (Numbers 3116)

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Bruce R. McConkie

• What a story this is! Here is a prophet of
  God who is firmly committed to declare only
  what the Lord of heaven directs. There does
  not seem to be the slightest doubt in his
  mind about the course he should pursue. He
  represents the Lord, and neither a house full
  of gold and silver nor high honors offered by the
  king can sway him from his determined course,
  which has been charted for him by that God whom
  he serves.
• But greed for wealth and lust for honor beckon
  him. How marvelous it would be to be rich and
  powerful-as well as having the prophetic powers
  that already are his.
• Perhaps the Lord would let him compromise his
  standards and have some worldly prosperity and
  power as well as a testimony of the gospel. Of
  course he knew the gospel was true, as it were,
  but why should he be denied the things his
  political file leader could confer?
• I wonder how often some of us get our direction
  from the Church and then, Balaam-like, plead for
  some worldly rewards and finally receive an
  answer which says, in effect, if you are
  determined to be a millionaire or to gain this or
  that worldly honor, go ahead, with the
  understanding that you will continue to serve the
  Lord. Then we wonder why things don't work out
  for us as well as they would have done if we had
  put first in our lives the things of God's
  kingdom.

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Question

• What tools does Satan have, at his disposal, to
  subtly derail Saints with firm testimonies?

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William S. Godbe

• Successful Businessman in early Utah
• Opposed Brigham Youngs call to avoid
  gentile merchants in Utah and across the
  nation.
• Excommunicated in 1870
• Founded Church of Zion and the Godbeites
• Also founded The Salt Lake Tribune

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Lesson Manual

• "Members of the Church who seek earthly rewards
  and honors, who seek exceptions to God's counsel
  and commandments, or who try to introduce worldly
  ideas, practices, or standards into the Church
  are following Balaam's unrighteous example."

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Elder Holland

• A man who'd been away from the
  Church for half a century came back to
  Utah and took a job as custodian of the
  local chapel, promising the bishop that
  he'd come to church and stop smoking. But he
  did neither. The bishop did not rebuke him, but
  he kept asking, "Do you remember the promise you
  made?"
• The man said, "Yes, I remember, Bishop." The
  bishop would smile and shake hands and walk away,
  but the man did not come to church and he did not
  stop smoking.
• One night, inside the chapel when he was working
  late, he was overcome with the most terrifying,
  paralyzing fear he had ever experienced in his
  life. (I heard him say this with his own lips,
  though I do not know the man's name.) He said, "I
  have never been so fearful, so frightened, so
  petrified in my life. I've been afraid. I have
  been in dangerous, frightening circumstances, but
  there is nothing in this world with which I can
  compare or any way in this world I can describe
  the experience I had that night.
• Every creak and crack and dark corner of the
  chapel terrified me, and I began to run." This
  was a grown man speaking, a grandfather. "I began
  to run from the building and fled to my home. But
  I was also just as terrified in my own home, and
  I could not control my emotions.

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Elder Holland Cont.

• I ran from my home and went to a shed behind
  my house. And for the first time in half a
  century I fell to my knees and I prayed. I
  said, 'O Lord, save me from whatever this is that
  terrifies me so.'" Quaking, trembling,
  perspiring on his knees in this shed out behind
  his home, he continued his prayer.
• He said, "I was lisping like a child the only
  prayers I knew, when there came into my heart the
  words of a song that I had not heard nor sung for
  that half century. I think I did not ever know
  the words, and I surely do not know them now.
• But I heard them with symphonic accompaniment and
  angelic choirs. I heard them, music and word, in
  that shed behind my home in the middle of that
  night." It's a hymn that you know, my young
  friends, and the opening line is "We thank thee,
  O God, for a prophet."
• The man said, "I stopped trembling, and I stopped
  crying, and I know I heard the angels sing. I've
  never missed a church meeting since that day.
  I've never smoked a cigarette, and I've tried to
  do everything I should have done for all those
  years. But I want you to know that I did not
  then, and I probably do not now know, the words
  to the hymn that I heard sung that night in a
  shed behind my home with a celestial symphony and
  an angelic choir."