Denver Snuffer Quotes

In living our lives let us never forget that the deeds of our fathers and mothers are theirs, not ours; that their works cannot be counted to our glory; that we can claim no excellence and no place, because of what they did, that we must rise by our own labor, and that labor failing we shall fail. We may claim no honor, no reward, no respect, nor special position or recognition, no credit because of what our fathers were or what they wrought. We stand upon our own feet in our own shoes. There is no aristocracy of birth in this Church; it belongs equally to the highest and the lowliest; for as Peter said to Cornelius, the Roman centurion, seeking him: “… Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. (Acts 10: 34, 35.)” (They of the Last Wagon, President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, October 1947, Afternoon Meeting, p.160.)

We must conform to the truth, the pattern given to us by God in order to be true to our core.

•   Solitary setting in the forest, suggesting Eden        •   Contact between him and Deity        •   A conversation between God and man        •   Reference to animal sacrifice        •   A reminder of eternal life and the joy of the saints        •   Bestowal of a new name The

•   Solitary setting        •   Contact with Deity        •   An embrace between God and man        •   Reference to his sinews and loins        •   Bestowal of a new name The

Enos is on a quest. He tells us what his quest involves. He is seeking after “eternal life, and the joy of the saints.” Enos

As Enos succeeds in aligning the things of heaven with the things of earth, the veil dividing these two moves apart. In response to his petition “there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.” Enos’ wrestle has succeeded. He has come to the veil hiding the pavilion of God, knocked in the proper way, and been admitted. He

These blind guides were unable to see who it was speaking to them. Such is the irony frequently apparent when the religious interact with the Lord’s chosen. James

1st key: Knowledge is the power of salvation. 2nd key: Make your calling and election sure. 3rd key: It is one thing to be on the mount and hear the excellent voice, etc., and another to hear the voice declare to you, You have a part and lot in that kingdom.” (TPJS.)

Meekness means a person voluntarily restrains themselves to exercise the absolute minimum control or authority over others.

We are unworthy. We need fixing. He repairs us so as to make it possible for us to receive an audience with Him.

To cover the topic of evil, he wisely counseled as follows: “I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.”[574] [That frank assessment by King Benjamin is beyond the wisdom of a young person to grasp. It reflects the lifelong contemplation of an aging king, not clever fiction by a young Joseph Smith. It is one of the reasons Joseph Smith could not have authored the Book of Mormon, and proof it contains greater wisdom than his own when the book was first printed. King Benjamin was unwilling to give a lengthy list of what not‑to‑do, because the list would be endless. Instead he tells what ought to be done in an ideal society.]

God’s work is always proven personally, and testified of anecdotally. We cannot prove it to each other. God can prove it for everyone. Anecdotal proof means someone had an experience, and they tell their story about their experience. There is no way to know if they are telling the truth because experiences with God are always personal.

These Old Testament records were “in the language of the Egyptians” which a reader was required to understand to be able to “read these engravings.” Therefore, it was necessary for King Benjamin’s sons to “be taught in all the language of [King Benjamin’s] fathers” in order to understand their scripture. From this we can conclude the earliest Jewish records were composed and preserved in Egyptian rather than Hebrew. As a matter of historic fact, Hebrew did not exist as a written language until several thousand years after Egyptian composed records in their form of writing. This is an interesting detail Joseph Smith would not have known, but is in the Book of Mormon.

Repentance is abandoning a foolish error, a vain tradition, or a false belief and replacing it with truth. Returning and remembering Joseph’s teachings will liberate us from errors, and empower us to gather light and truth. We at last arrive at a point we look upon our sins and say. “I have no more disposition for that. I know enough to abandon this because I prefer the light. I prefer God’s intelligence and glory.

Questions are vital if you want to grow in faith. Without a good question, there is no search for an answer. Without a search for the answers, we never seek, ask, knock and in turn learn to have a dialogue with God. Questions led to the First Vision, to Moses’ encounter on Sinai, and the Brother of Jared’s meeting with Christ, among others. Questions take you through the veil or bring messengers to you from the other side. Unless you come to gain further light and knowledge by conversing with the Lord, you will not be able to have an audience through the veil with Him.

Everything we do, everything we want to do is related to our faith. We are beings filled with, animated by, and continually upheld by faith. Yet somehow we do not have the faith to see it. Faith animates us to take action. We are here because of God’s faith.

Assuming we take seriously the instruction from King Benjamin and Christ to refrain from contending in anger with one another, how do we proceed as brothers and sisters in sorting out our unavoidable disagreements? The answer, of course, is provided in counsel from Joseph Smith found in scripture clarifying how to deal with disagreement: ‑by persuasion ‑by long‑suffering ‑by gentleness and meekness ‑by kindness ‑by pure knowledge.

if we by our own wickedness bring evil on our own heads the Lord will let us bear it till we get weary and hate eniquity[.]

How vain and trifling have been our spirits, our conferences, our councils, our meetings, our private as well as public conversations—too low, too mean, too vulgar, too condescending for the dignified characters of the called and chosen of God, according to the purposes of His will, from before the foundation of the world!

He gives freely. But unless we are quiet enough, open enough, and prayerful enough to be apart, to be alone, to be in solemn, careful and ponderous thought, we will never receive what is freely given to all.

When organized into separate personalities, the intelligence changes from the singular to the plural. With this change comes creation (or organization) and as a result, mankind came into being. Joseph further reveals that in order to exist we had to have the freedom to choose. Without that freedom we would not exist at all. We would still be singular, uncreated and without an existence. “All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.” (D&C 93: 30, emphasis added.) There is no existence unless we are free (and able) to choose for ourselves. Our

From this second estate we all gain faith in our separate existence. Some of us will go on to develop faith sufficient to finally become self-existent beings. That is, some few will develop the faith necessary to do as all the gods have done before and to exist in our own right, under the power of our own faith, through the grace shown us by God. Without

Self-existence flows from conforming to the purity of holiness to which all gods conform. If we are unholy, we are unworthy. We cannot contradict the light from which we originated. The great Plan of Happiness, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the commandments, the rites, the ordinances of God (whatever terms you use to describe them) are all designed to teach us the way to conform to the perfect faith and grow in light until the perfect day. They are the path which has been taken by all of the gods.

It is not the importance of the position held by a man, nor the wealth he accumulates, nor the political power held, nor the religious position he attains during his life which makes a life memorable. It is the words of truth,

the testimony of Christ, which persist and make a life significant. It is fidelity to Christ and teaching of Him which makes any of us significant. The

They never confuse magnifying a calling with their responsibility to use only meekness, love unfeigned, pure knowledge and persuasion. For such individuals the service they render supercedes any need for personal recognition. Even though they may occupy a position of honor, they do not tolerate personal praise or devotion to themselves. Such men use their authority to honor God, and never themselves. We find very few meek men. Enos was one. Enos

In addition to describing the ancient practices of an apostate people, Enos must have had a prophetic lesson in mind for us. What do we see today as a modern manifestation of these kinds of idolatrous practices? Are there those of us who seize upon traditions rather than upon the Gospel of Christ? Do some of us choose to follow a pattern laid down by traditions while ignoring requirements found in the Gospel? Do some of us practice strange dietary regimens as part of wrongly held religious beliefs? Are there those among us who believe martial arts are a higher form of religious pratice? Who can say Enos isn’t speaking to us about our behavior in leaving this record. It would be a mistake to think he wrote only to preserve strange practices from the past without a concern for us as the future audience of his record. It would also be a mistake not to reconsider your own beliefs and practices to see if Enos was warning you.

The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Rev. 19: 10.) We should encounter many prophets and prophetesses among any group of believers who claim to be Saints. When we do not, it is likely because our claims to sainthood have not been mirrored by living the life of a Saint. Enos

None of us is absolutely captive by our times. We are all free to receive everything God offers. It does not matter if your teachers, your friends, or your culture all fail to live up to the conditions which allow God to reveal Himself to them. Each one of us is still free to walk the path back to the presence of God, just as Enos did. For

Order can often be imposed by using fear, but exaltation springs from love. What motivates you? Enos

These conditions are universal. Reputation, social standing, popularity and success must be burnt on the altar as a sacrifice before any person can learn they have eternal life. Since our lives are going to be lost anyway - and all the world has to offer will be meaningless - the trade is illusory. We are asked to give up what has never been ours to keep. This

This misery is the natural result of disappointment in choosing the world over eternal life.

We cannot find truth apart from Christ. Therefore, if you intend to preach of truth you are inevitably drawn to “the truth which is in Christ.” All truth, as all light, originates from Christ.72

It was through this sacrifice, and this only, that God has ordained that men should enjoy eternal life; and it is through the medium of the sacrifice of all earthly things that men do actually know that they are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God. When a man has offered in sacrifice all that he has for the truth’s sake, not even withholding his life, and believing before God that he has been called to make this sacrifice because he seeks to do his will, he does know, most assuredly, that God does and will accept his sacrifice and offering, and that he has not, nor will not seek his face in vain. Under these circumstances, then, he can obtain the faith necessary for him to lay hold on eternal life. 8.

[W]hen the Church lost revelation it had to turn to another source for guidance and so threw itself into the arms of the established schools of learning. The schoolmen, as one of them expresses it, took over the office and function once belonging to the prophets and once in power guarded their authority with jealous care, quickly and violently suppressing any suggestion of a recurrent inspiration.…By its very nature the university is the rival of the Church; its historic mission has been to supply the guiding light which passed away with the loss of revelation, and it can make no concessions to its absolute authority without forfeiting that authority.

Meekness does not vaunt itself, and does not seek to avoid criticism. The meek never confuse their personal pride with the Lord’s will or work.

They never believe themselves to be more than a poor instrument in the hands of an Almighty God.

Accordingly, the proper definition of “chosen vessel” is not a Church office, but, rather, whoever is visited. Whether the person is a “man” (as in the case of Paul when he held no Church office at the time and yet was visited on the road to Damascus)