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Show tTriTfjrir,'iiiiwliril iiwiiioiiiwnr i, Uinni, 'inn mi ni giirir run 'm duvc& 0WvvS" EDITORIAL PAGE 4 One of the most potent lessons ever by the Apostle Paul was that can be no divisions among the Saints of his day how they could avoid this of Christianity. It was by fatal following the established leaders of the sub-divisi- followers of Christ. Said he to the .Corinthians: Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. (1 Cor. 1 :10) He . urged this principle also upon the Ephesians, telling them that there can be only one body of Christian followers, all working in one Spirit, with one Lord, one faith (or religion) and one baptism. (Eph. ' r 4:4-6- ) Church. HE EXPLAINED to the Ephesians that the Lord placed in His Church apostles, prophets and other loaders: for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body (member- - : ship) of Christ, that they be no more chil- - .. dren, tossed to and fro with every wind of ; Saints may well learn from other Christians the true value of Pauls lesson, and it is a potent one. Why did Paul write both to the Corinthians and the Ephesians as he did? And to the Galatians and Colossians and Romans, likeY -- wise?--'' - j Because divisions had begvn to appear among them, apostasy had developed, the people had heaped to themselves teachers having itching ears as Paul expressed it, violating the truth and diluting it with their own uninspired and misdirected philoso- . f; ; phies. And. with what result? Christianity split into many denominations. Historians say ' doctrine. ; LATTER-DA- on Today every wind of doctrine still blows. And in what form? In the form of varied philosophies and ideologies, political and otherwise ; in the form of outright apostasy through men who plural marriage and preach present-da- y other cultisms; in the form of defiance, of tli; Sabbath Day and the Word of Wisdom; and even in the spread of the deadlv doctrine that we can compromise our religion by appearing on the surface to be obedient, but living otherwise contrary to the inspired word. Saints afford to be CAN LATTER-DAdivided on the law of the Sabbath? Can they compromise the Word of Wisdom, now looming as being more important r than ever in our lives? Can they, with impunity, enter into adul- . COULD THEY all be right? Can the Church of Jesus Christ be fragmented into so many widely differing cults and creeds? The many denominations of today may be a great testimony to free speech but they testify also of a wide departure from original Christianity. Saints What is the lesson for Latter-da- y in this? We claim to have the truth as restored in these latter days. Can it be fragmented in our day as it was in the original Church? The great apostle to the Gentiles told the men, we disown Him. Only a united people, keeping Gods commands, can expect the protection which He alone can give when the floods come, and the rains descend and the winds blow, and beat upon our house. peared. While watching two football teams battle it out last Monday night on TV, these facts became very apparent: First, there were no shortcuts to the goal line. It is true one team had more success getting there than the other, but it was just because they had practiced more diligently and perhaps had a better frame of mind con- 16-CHU- RCH ; . : , temper. Indicative of the nature of some'of the men to be less than truly obedient, that night, while camped on Snye Island, several members scattered through the woods for hunting, although Joseph had advised to the contrary. Some of the brethren went to a sand bar and got a quantity of turtles eggs, as they supposed. Joseph warned that they were not turtles eggs, but snakes eggs and the men should not eat them. But some of the men thought they knew more about it than I did, and still persisted they were turtles eggs. I said they were snakes eggs eat snakes eggs, will you? The man who eats them will be sorry for it; you will be sick. Notwithstanding all I said, several brethren ate them, and were sick all the day for it. Despite the experience, it was only a foreshadow of what was to come when the camp reached ing Jackson County. About midnight that same day, guns were fired both west and cast of the camp. Because the camp was far from a village or town, the Prophet became concerned and posted a double picket guard. The camp was put on alert so that each man might be ready at a moments notice in case of trouble. ' Live By Excerpts from an address by Bishop Robert L. Simpson at General Conference of the Church. October 1770. While resting at noon on June 3, the Prophet Joseph Smith mounted one of the wagon wheels and called Zions Camp together, saying he would deliver a prophecy. After giving the brethren much good advice, exhorting them to faithfulness and humility, I said the Lord had revealed to me that a scourge would come upon the camp in consequence of the fractious and unruly spirits that appeared among them, and they should die like sheep with the rot; still, if they would repent and humble themselves before the Lord, the scourge, in a great measure, might be turned away, but, as the Lord lives, the members Of this camp will suffer for giving way to their unruly Y terous relationships whether under the guise of plural marriage or in outright defi- ance of the law of chastity? Can they be guilty of undermining our Constitutional laws, knowing that God inspired the Constitution? Unity has ever been the strength of the Church unity in following its inspired leaders. Any influence which tends to destroy our allegiance to the Lc, d and His true servants must be recognized as being evil. If, in the expediency of the moment, we set God aside to follow the teachings of that within a hundred years after Christ, at least thirty .different Christian sects ap- ZION'S CAMP l cerning .he job at hand. Second, I noticed that when team members corrected and helped each other best, that team made the most yardage. Third, when someone broke the rules, there was always a penalty imposed. Fourth, I noticed that no one was allowed to make up his own rules as the game progressed. They all lost their tree agency to do that when they agreed to join Rules the team and play according to the established rules. And last but not least, I Heber C. Kimball remembered, There was great excitement in the country through which we had passed, and also ahead of us: the mob threatened to stop us. Guns were fired in almost all directions through the night. Brother Joseph did not sleep much, if any, but was through the camp pretty much during the night. The noise of the night, however, proved to be a no- ticed when it was all over that the winning team was a lot happier than the team that lost. . . . men are, have that they might joy. That joy can best come as we obtain victory in the game of life, only acplaed according to the. ceptable rules, those set down by our Heavenly Father. We belive that false alarm. (Another In a Series) WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 31, 1970 - m v V |