I was told that there were supposed to be three talks, and naturally I immediately thought of everything falling into three in the gospel and tradition. In the Old Testament there is the idea of the three degrees, which may rightly be designated as telestial, terrestrial, and celestial. For example, the ancient Gnostics, the early Christians, always talked about the pneumatic, the psychic, and the hylic types of human beings. The pneumatic is the spiritual, the psychic is the mixture of the two (body and spirit), and the hylic are those that are grossly and purely physical. But this actually reflects the early Jewish teachings of the neshamah, which is the highest of the spirit; the ruakh, which is in between; and the nefesh, which is the lower spirit in this world. We are taught in the Kabbalah a great deal about the three Adams. There is the celestial Adam, who was Michael before he came here; the terrestrial Adam, who was in Eden; and the telestial Adam, after he had fallen, who was down low. The Kabbalah also tells about Jacob's ladder. Joseph Smith taught that it represented the three stages of initiation in the temple, the three degrees of glory, which are designated as telestial, that is, the lowest order; and then astronomical, or dealing with the physical world, which is higher up still; and then finally the world which is beyond. Particularly interesting is the designation in some of the newly discovered apocalyptic writings about the upper or hidden world, the Eden, and the lowest world. The only way you can translate it is to use Joseph Smith's word, which is telestial (from the Greek telos), which means farthest removed, as distant as you can get, what the Arabs call the aqsa. Joseph Smith coined that word, and he couldn't have used a better one--the telestial, the farthest away of all the worlds. I will talk on the economies of the church in the Old Testament and elsewhere.

In every dispensation, the restoration of the gospel has brought with it a special way of life, not just an economy in the old sense. Oikonomia is the whole administration of everything we do, the way we do everything. And it is made very clear in every dispensation: "I give not unto you that ye shall live after the manner of the world" (D&C 95:13). Whenever the gospel has been on earth, a peculiar order of things has been prescribed, and it has always been the same. This is because it is the celestial order--the order of Enoch, the eternal, the only order that God has found acceptable. So when we say that we believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church (half of our Articles of Faith deal with the physical things of this world, with the church as an institution--and those are the only Articles of Faith that ever offended anybody; if you go through all the anti-Mormon literature [and years ago I did], the church's enemies don't object to doctrinal teaching but to those things that deal with the affairs of the world), namely apostles, prophets, teachers, and so on, what do we believe those offices did? What was their function? These titles are used by all other churches: the apostolic, bishops, and evangelists. But what did these people do? What was their function? How did the organization work: That is the subject of my remarks, first from the New Testament point of view. I take the New Testament before the Old Testament, because the New leads to the Old.

In Acts 2 and 4, we read what made the early organization of the church peculiar. Acts 2:42-43 reads, "They paid diligent heed to the teachings of the apostles and constantly and in common interest, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. And fear came upon many souls: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles." There is the clue. If this was a marvelous system, why don't we have it today? Brothers and sisters, it will never work on any practical basis, and no economic expediency will ever put it over. You could argue until the cows came home that this is the only system that will ever work, that has ever been accepted by God or ever will be, and it's true; but it will work only in the celestial and eternal setting, where we are aware of these things. Notice what the motivation has to be. The people had to be scared stiff to begin with: "Fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs" (Acts 2:43). They lived in an element of supernatural manifestations. The system involved certain practices, but just try to make it work without the motivation of supernatural inspiration. Of course we are supposed to have it, but would you like a system in which fear came upon everybody? And signs and wonders were done by the apostles? Wouldn't we feel more comfortable if we just forgot the signs and wonders? They make us nervous.

Whenever an angel appears, what is the first reaction? People are scared to death, sore afraid, whether it be the apostles on the Mount of Transfiguration, the shepherds in the field, Mary in her room, or Zacharias in the temple. When someone comes from that other world, people are scared stiff, so the first thing the angel has to say is, "Don't be afraid. I bring good news, not bad news." It is culture shock. If the Lord were to come here, what would we ask? We would ask the rocks to cover us--anything but such a visit. It is not hell that we are afraid of--we can take plenty of that--but the thought of heaven, the thought of joy, that simply frightens us. The scriptures use the strongest possible language whenever they describe a person's reaction: "sore afraid"; still the translation is weak. The original means that they were scared to the point of paralysis. When the angel reassures them, they feel all right again. But the most important thing is the spirit in which all this is done. "And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to everybody according to the needs of each. And they did continue daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, did share their nourishment with rejoicing and without guile, with simplicity of heart and without affection" (cf. Acts 2:44-46). But the happy days of the primitive church didn't last very long, as we know.

In Acts 4 the church is threatened. Naturally the world persecutes the church, because it is a culture shock for the world, too. The Christians are a standing rebuke to the world around them, the sort of thing that just cannot be tolerated. "And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant . . . that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy [son] Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken" (Acts 4:29-31). This is no normal procedure, to hold a meeting and decide to organize. It must be forced on people. The Lord takes us by the scruff of our necks when we're ready and says, "You're going to do things this way" or "That's the way I'm going to have it." Otherwise, the alternative becomes something else (though the other two orders have virtues, too). "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of [the Lord] with boldness" (Acts 4:31). They had to be bold; the place was shaking. When the cards are on the table, you have got to play the game. It is the state of hesitancy, the in-between state, that so paralyzes. So the church decided to go one way: "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul" (Acts 4:32).

As in the city of Enoch, God called his city Zion because the inhabitants were of one heart and one mind. "Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. . . . And with great power gave the apostles witness" (Acts 4:32-33). There is always a power, a drive--heaven intervening because the people are willing to accept it finally, and embrace it boldly. Then the Lord can carry it out. But there is no compromise, no working gradually to this sort of thing. It comes by revelation, like the gospel itself. The restoration of the gospel was one long series of surprises, which things we never had supposed. That was one of the marvelous things about it, beginning with the story of not just the angels in the field, but Zacharias in the temple. He was actually paralyzed. He came out shaken, white as a sheet, and dumb--he couldn't speak. That was the effect of seeing the first angel that had visited the earth in four hundred years. Nobody had conceived anything like it. And it happened to everybody who received these heavenly manifestations. This is the atmosphere in which we are dealing.

The disciples witnessed with great power the resurrection and the forty-day ministry of Christ. For forty days the Lord came and taught them, on and off, how to establish the church. Thus they were equipped to do it, whereas they hadn't been before. At the time of the crucifixion, they were a pitiful lot--scattered, frightened, despairing. They certainly didn't expect to see the Lord. When Mary and John said they had seen him, the disciples said, "You are raving, you are crazy. You haven't seen any such thing." And when they first saw him, what does Mark tell us was their first impulse? To run away. Frightened, they scampered away as far as they could get (Mark 16:8). Thomas was the only one who really believed in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

"And great grace was upon them all" (Acts 4:33; emphasis added). The word used is charis, supernatural manifestation. The disciples had the gifts of the Spirit. "Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet"; we are told, for example, of Joses, a wealthy Cypriote who, having land, "sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet" (Acts 4:34-35, 37). Incidentally, a surprising number of rich men in the church today have come to the General Authorities and offered to give the church everything they have. There are people ready to do that today. Imagine that!

This isn't all so fantastic as it sounds. It is a total commitment. The story of Ananias is relevant here. "A certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet" (Acts 5:1-2). But Peter didn't believe in doing things by halves. It's the cheating we don't like: "But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost [it is Satan that holds these things back], and to keep back part of the price of the land?. .. Thou has not lied unto men, but unto God" (Acts 5:3-4). The amount didn't make any difference, the sin was the lie. As Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none" (Acts 3:6) - "I never carry it. We have sufficient for our needs." Ananias, hearing these words, had a heart attack, which shows that the church leaders weren't fooling; it was all deadly earnest. He "fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things" (Acts 5:5) - again fear, the driving motivation. Then Ananias' wife came along and tried the same trick, and Peter said to her, "How is it ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? . . . Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost." Again, "and great fear came upon all the church" (Acts 5:9-11). Ananias and his wife were to be an example: one is not to play around with these things - not to deal, not to hedge, not to bargain with the Lord. "Great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things" (Acts 5:11).

In all the Gospels we see the foundation of this order being laid by the commandments given by the Lord. Paul says, "Silver or gold or apparel of no man have I desired. You yourselves know that mine own hands have administered to my needs, and to those who were with me. I have shown you everything. It is necessary for you to work hard and support the weak, keeping in mind the teaching of the Lord Jesus when he himself said, 'It is better to give than to receive' " (cf. Acts 20:33-35). Peter, the president of the church, in doing the first miracle after the departure of the Lord, heard a lame man in the temple court, asking for aims; Peter, spoke to the man, saying, "Silver and gold have I none" (Acts 3:6). What did Peter have? He had sufficient for his needs, and that's all. This was the policy that the disciples followed. According to the teachings of the Lord, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. . . . For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:19-21). This was an important part of the gospel. "These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying,. . . freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses" (Matthew 10:5,8-9). That is why Peter says, "Silver and gold have I none"; the Lord had commanded that he shouldn't have any.

Then was the interesting case of the rich young man, to whom Jesus said, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven" (Matthew 19:21). But the young man didn't want to do it. He was very rich, but he did love the Lord and he was a good young man. The Lord did not say, "Wait a minute, fellow. Perhaps we can work something out here." So the young man went away sorrowfully. And the Lord let him go sorrowfully, then turned to the apostles and said (this is the point), "I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24).

We are told that the apostles were amazed beyond measure when he told them that. They didn't know about any postern gates through which a camel comes. That's an invention of modern-day criticism. There is no evidence anywhere at all that there was a gate called "The Eye of the Needle." No, Jesus really meant it: It's impossible. You've got to get rid of your treasures; you have to have the one way or the other. "No man can serve two masters" (Matthew 6:24); compromise is out of the question. That's just the way it is: "Either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24; emphasis added). You've got to make the choice. "And he called unto him the twelve," says Mark, "and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits; and commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse" (Mark 6:7-8).

We can summarize with Paul and Timothy. 1 Timothy talks about "men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness" (1 Timothy 6:5). People were rationalizing then. "The reward of virtue is wealth" - this was the common teaching of that time. "From such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content" (1 Timothy 6:5-8). "According to his needs." Those are the needs. "But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:9-10). Similar sentiments are expressed in several noncanonical writings. (We know now that the Bible is full of quotations from such works, like the book of Enoch. Enoch had disappeared but now has been found again. Joseph Smith's Enoch is the best book we have on this subject.) "Which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith." (Joseph Smith said that because of covetousness in the church the heavens were often sealed up.) "But thou, O man of God, flee these things" (1 Timothy 6:10-11).

In all of this, the early Christians conscientiously followed the ancient order of Enoch. The order was constantly on their lips. And it, in turn, went back to the order of Adam. (We find many references to these things now that we didn't even know twenty years ago. The only person who knew was Joseph Smith.) The order was not invented by the apostles; the Dead Sea Scrolls show us that. The sectaries of the desert--the people out in the desert trying to live the old law of Israel--always followed these rules and always identified themselves with the order of Zion or Enoch (see Moses 7:18). (Joseph Smith is called Enoch [D&C 78:1].) The pious sectaries of the desert thought of themselves as living after the order of Enoch. The Old Testament tells us little about Enoch, just four verses in Genesis (Genesis 5:21-24). But the Apocrypha tell us a great deal, and especially the books of Enoch, which were always a part of the scripture until the fourth century, when they were thrown out. Now we know they were the most sacred parts, esteemed as number one by both the Christians and the Jews. The doctors of the Christian Jews didn't like them at all and couldn't get rid of them fast enough. The new apocryphal writings tell us a great deal about Enoch, but it's Joseph Smith who tells us most of all.

With the loss of the temple in A.D. 70, an entirely new social and economic order was imposed on Judah--the doctors went to Jamnia and founded the academy, the beginning of rabbinical Judaism--rabbinical halakhic normative Judaism. It was violently opposed to the older order, of which Enoch is the idealized leader, and which goes by the code name of Zion. The Jewish doctors were as zealous as the Christians in getting rid of every trace of this tradition. So the Enoch literature disappeared, and the relevant passages were deleted from the Bible. We find now that Enoch is quoted at least 128 times in the New Testament and also by the Church Fathers, who never realized it was Enoch they were quoting; and you find in the Book of Mormon some beautiful quotations from the old, lost book of Enoch.

Passages about the order of Enoch and the city of Zion are emerging with great clarity. Let us say a few things about Zion, generalizing from the Old Testament. Zion is a code word that denotes a very real thing: Any community in which the celestial order prevails. Specifically in the Old Testament, all the prophets speak of Zion as the place that can receive the Lord, to which he will be willing to come and in which he is willing to dwell. Not every place can receive the Lord as his habitation - only Zion, a place fit to receive God himself. We ask when we are going to have the millennium; it will be when the pure in heart are able to receive the Lord. But it is also a real city, or any number of real cities. It is constant, it is unchanging. There are Zions among all the worlds, and there are Zions that come and go. Zion is a constant in time and place. It belongs to the order of the eternities. We are not making Zion here; we are preparing the ground for the upbuilding of the kingdom of God and the establishment' of Zion. As the Lord says, "My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom" (D&C 136:31).

We must be prepared to receive the glory. We don't produce it ourselves, but we must be ready so that we won't die of shock when it comes, the same shock the early Christians had to sustain.

In every dispensation, there has been a Zion on the earth. The first was in the time of Adam. Doctrine and Covenants 78 tells us of "the Holy One of Zion, who hath established the foundations of Adam-ondi-Ahman" (D&C 78:15). "And . . . [Enoch] built a city that was called the City of Holiness, even Zion" (Moses 7:19). But then "it came to pass that Zion was not, for God received it up into his own bosom; and from thence went forth the saying, ZION IS FLED" (Moses 7:69). Zion comes and goes. When the earth can't receive Zion, Zion doesn't become corrupt and decline. It is taken away: "Zion is fled." Enoch says, "Thou hast taken Zion to thine own bosom, from all thy creations" (Moses 7:31). When the world is qualified to receive Zion, the Lord says, "there shall be mine abode, and it shall be Zion, which shall come forth out of all the creations which I have made" (Moses 7:64). (There are Zions elsewhere.)

Accordingly, the ancient prophets of Israel yearned for the time when Zion would be restored again. Jeremiah and Isaiah hoped to see Zion restored in their time. (They certainly knew it would come in a later day.) Typical is the prophecy of the Psalmist: "My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass. But thou, O Lord,... shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come" (Psalm 102:11-13). There is a set time when these things are to happen. It all happens according to schedule: when the earth is ready to receive it, then it will come and nothing can stop it. "When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. . . . This shall be written for the generation to come" (Psalm 102:16,18). And after all the calamities, says Jeremiah, "there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord, our God" (Jeremiah 31:6). Of course we all know the prophecy of Micah that "in the last days. . . the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains" and "the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Micah 4:1-2; cf. Isaiah 2:2-3). This was the hope of the prophets. It was also anticipated in the days of the ancient apostles. "Ye are come unto mount Sion," Paul says to the Hebrews, "and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem" (Hebrews 12:22). It's the "heavenly Jerusalem," the eternal order; if we are to go on forever, there has to be a perfect order. It can't be defective. Any building, any structure, will be destroyed by time if there is any defect in it at all. Time will work on that. And in our human relationships in the order that exists here, a perfect order is practically impossible. Human order is a day-to-day, makeshift sort of thing, not the sort of thing that can go from eternity to eternity. The freeways will use up all our oil and gasoline in the next seventy-seven thousand years, but we are talking about eternity. It is inconceivable that we should make idiots of ourselves by driving around like mad for the next one hundred thousand years or so. That's not the order of eternity. Yet there is such a concept -- there is an eternity. People upon this earth have enjoyed a society of such nature that could go on forever and ever without anybody getting bored, or worn out, or tired. What is that ideal Zion like?

In the first place, we are told, it will be a place of refuge in a doomed world, "and it shall be called the New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the Most High God; . . . and the terror of the Lord also shall be there, . . . and it shall be called Zion" (D&C 45:66-67). At that time, "every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety. . . . And it shall be said among the wicked: . . . the inhabitants of Zion are terrible" (D&C 45:68,70). Terrible because it is indestructible. Her invulnerability makes her an object of awe and terror. As Enoch says, "Surely Zion shall dwell in safety forever." And the Lord countered, No, not on this earth. You can't keep it here. "But the Lord said unto Enoch: Zion have I blessed, but the residue of the people have I cursed. . .. And lo, Zion, in the process of time, was taken up into heaven" (Moses 7:20-21). So Zion was taken away and the rest destroyed. Zion itself is never in danger. On the contrary, it alone offers safety to the world. The Doctrine and Covenants says, "The gathering together upon the land of Zion, and upon her stakes, may be for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth" (D&C 115:6). It would seem that Zion enjoys the complete security of the celestial world, and nothing can touch it as long as it retains that character. But celestial it must be. We have seen that "Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself" (D&C 105:5). It must at all times be holy enough to receive the Lord himself, "for the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation" (Psalm 132:13). There is no place for those who promote themselves "to honor and glory by deceitful practices, who misapply and misinterpret straightforward statements, who have given a new twist to the everlasting covenant and then produce arguments to prove that you are without guilt." That is from the very valuable Greek Enoch, discovered in 1930. Enoch explains that all this self-deception is really quite stupid; it leads to self-destruction (D&C 99:5). Specifically, it operates through the manipulations of written documents, for the evil one has "taught the children of men the bitter and the sweet" (which they learned through the Fall). "And he instructed mankind in writing with ink and paper, and thereby many sinned . . . until this day. For men were not created for such a purpose, to give confirmation to their good faith with pen and ink. For men were created exactly like the angels," thus they could trust each other, who live necessarily in a condition of perfect trust and understanding. So here come the lawyers with their legal jargon and fine print, and this, according to Enoch, has thrown everything into a state of confusion. "And Satan taught men how to make knives, weapons, shields, and breastplates, the trade secrets, and showed them the various metals and how to work them, and bracelets, jewelry, makeup, and eyepaint, and all kind of precious stones and hairdos." Manuscript E, another one of the Giza fragments, adds,

. . . and all the treasures of the earth. And there were great wickedness and whoredoms, and they all became perverted and lost in all their ways. And he taught them spells, drugs and quackery. And Araqil taught them astrology, the interpretation of signs, the observations of signs, and the series of the moon. They maliciously brought them gold and silver and copper and all manner of metals; and this was what finally completed their ruin, and established their perennial earthly order of human society, which persists to this day.

This is from a recently discovered Coptic Testament of John, which refers to the time of Enoch.

Abraham was preeminently a fair dealer. The Abraham literature includes the Old Testament, which also makes it clear that the people he dealt with were scoundrels--mean and inhospitable. The nature of their economy is fully set forth: their one guiding principle was the maximizing of profits. After the flood, the Jewish writings explain, the people were haunted by an understandable feeling of insecurity. To overcome it, they undertook tremendous engineering projects and became very knowledgeable in fire, flood, earthquake, and other potential disasters. A great economic boom and commercial expansion enabled them to undertake all kinds of engineering projects for controlling a dangerous nature. But the Lord fooled them by altering the course of nature and creation. And the Nimrod legends are full of the great scientific understanding of Abraham's day of which a good deal is made in the time of Enoch. The people had a great deal of sophistication and know-how. It was a world of unrest and insecurity, and the people were mean and short-tempered. But Abraham's Canaan didn't offer escape for long. The fabulous prosperity of the cities of the plain turned them into little Babylons. The record describes their ways of doing things, how they dealt with all strangers, taking away possessions by force; then the wrath of the Lord came upon them.

The Testament of Levi, speaking of Abraham, says that he found the same hostility elsewhere. There was worldwide cruelty, inhospitality, insecurity, suspicion wherever he went. The Bible tells us that the Jordan depression was a veritable paradise when Abraham first visited it, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 13:10). It was not surprising that "the men of Sodom were the wealthy men of prosperity, on account of the good and fruitful land whereon they dwelt. For every need which the world requires, they obtained therefrom.. .. But they did not trust in the shadow of their Creator, but [they trusted] in the multitude of their wealth, for wealth thrusts aside its owners from the fear of Heaven." Rabbi Eliezer seems to be quoting the same source as Samuel the Lamanite. "The men of Sodom had no consideration for the honour of their Owner by (not) distributing food to the wayfarer and the stranger." The same thing is described in Deuteronomy and the Book of Mormon. "They [even] fenced in all their trees on top above their fruit so that they should not be seized; [not] even by the bird of heaven." The law of Moses forbade doing these mean things to the olives, the wheat, and other crops, but they did them. These were the crimes of Sodom and Gomorrah. At the time of Abraham, the people elected leaders "of falsehood and wickedness, who mocked justice and equity and committed evil deeds." This isn't something invented by a Jewish doctor of the thirteenth century. These are contemporary records that tell us that the wicked oppressed the weak and gave power to the strong. Inside the city was tyranny and the receiving of bribes. Everyday, without fail, they plundered each others' goods. The son cursed his father in the streets, the slave his master. They put an end to the offerings and entered into conspiracy. This sounds like the Book of Mormon, though it was discovered long after the Book of Mormon. All manner of wickedness is described. But we don't need to go into this sad story here.

It's not surprising, the records tell, that travelers and birds alike learned to avoid the rich cities of the plain, while the poor emigrated to other parts. "If a stranger merchant passed through their territory, he was besieged by them all, big and little alike, and robbed of whatever he possessed." As the Amarna letters show us, this was a world in which every man was for himself. What a terrible state of things. Being grossly materialistic, they rated the hardware high above the software.

A famous quotation recurs a numbers of times: "If a man was killed working on the tower, he was ignored. But if a brick fell they sat down and wept. Abraham, seeing them, cursed them in the name of his God" for doing this sort of thing: "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom" (Ezekiel 16:49).

Satan's concern with Moses was not to turn him against religion but to enlist his devotions. In Moses 1, a most marvelous piece of epic and dramatic literature, Satan confronts Moses, and Moses doesn't yield. But Aaron does - he falls for Satan's golden calf. The prophets through the Old Testament designate this world by the code name of Babylon. It was Babylon where Abraham dwelt, the Ur of the Chaldees. Then he went north.

Babylon is a state of mind, just like Zion. Like Zion, Babylon is a city: "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city" (Revelation 14:8). It's a world center of commerce and business. Isaiah has a lot to say about it: "O virgin daughter of Babylon,.. . thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth" (Isaiah 47:1,15). She dominates the world. Her king is equated with Lucifer, who says, "I will be like the most High" (Isaiah 14:14). Satan said to Moses, "I am the Only Begotten, worship me" (Moses 1:19). Babylon dominates the world, and the king of Babylon is who? Satan, who says, "I will be like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:14). "How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! (Isaiah 14:12). He was "the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, that made the world as a wilderness" (Isaiah 14:16-17). "The lady of kingdoms" (Isaiah 47:5), who ruled over polluted lands, says, "I shall be a lady forever" (Isaiah 47:7). "I am, and none else beside me" (Isaiah 47:10). She leads the world, and nations have drunk of her wine." Here Jeremiah talks (not John the Revelator yet): "The nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed" (Jeremiah 51:7-8). All the world is involved. At the noise of the taking of Babylon, the earth is moved, and a cry is heard among the nations. "So at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth" (Jeremiah 51:49). Her clever, experienced, unscrupulous men will be helpless. She thinks that she can get away with anything, so she says, "None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee" (Isaiah 47:10). "I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep" (Jeremiah 51:57). The notion that an establishment of this majesty and power is a permanent institution fools them every time. But don't worry, they'll fall asleep too. It's happened before. "Her military might is helpless," says Jeremiah. "A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken" (Jeremiah 50:22- 23). The king of Babylon is then equated to Lucifer: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations!" (Isaiah 14:12).

In calling attention to the beauties of Adam's Zion, after the Fall, Satan hastens to point out that it all belongs to him. He makes a well-known agreement by which he will take possession of the treasures of the earth. Babylon is firm in the conviction that her system is a permanent one. She says in her heart, "I am, and none else beside me" (Isaiah 47:10). In such possession of power, she can get away with anything and keep power indefinitely by crooked means, concealing her acts. Her place is the place of the merchants, "a golden cup in the Lord's hand . . . [from which] the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad" (Jeremiah 51:7). Nebuchadnezzar, who was then the king of Babylon, calls it Great Babylon, "that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty" (Daniel 4:30).

The Book of Mormon describes pointedly a quick transition from the celestial. Fourth Nephi describes the celestial order. When the Nephites decided to give up that order, they went the other way. They didn't slowly subside into the more relaxed economy of Israel. They went right to the other extreme, in a quick transition to the telestial. Israel's economy has a strong appeal. (If you don't believe it, spend a few nights before the telestial economy of television fare.) "Now, in this two hundred and first year there began to be among them those who were lifted up in pride" (4 Nephi 1:24) (the Nephites had to work all the time to preserve the order - eating, fasting, praying, and doing all the other things). They couldn't tolerate the righteous pace, so they were lifted up in pride, such things as wearing costly apparel and seeking the fine things of the world. "And from that time forth they did have their goods and their substance no more common among them. And they began to be divided into classes" (4 Nephi 1:25-26). They did not dwindle in unbelief but willfully rebelled against the gospel of Christ. They didn't just subside imperceptibly into a more relaxed way of life. Not at all. They didn't dwindle. "They did wilfully rebel against the gospel of Christ" (4 Nephi 1:38). Even as it was in the beginning, they went back to their old vices: "As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly" (Proverbs 26:11). They actually taught their children to hate the children of God, even as the Lamanites were taught to hate the children of Nephi from the beginning. It was the old order - the same old hatreds and tribal warfare - and they actively promoted it. The teaching was deliberate: "And also the people.. . of Nephi began to be proud in their hearts [fighting fire with fire], because of their exceeding riches, and become vain like unto their brethren, the Lamanites. And from this time the disciples began to sorrow for the sins of the world. And... both the people of Nephi and the Lamanites had become exceedingly wicked one like unto another" (4 Nephi 1:43-45). In a few verses and a few decades, they had deliberately pushed themselves all the way from a celestial order (there couldn't be a happier people ever created by the hand of the Lord on the earth; 4 Nephi 1:16) to the other extreme; the prophets mourned and withdrew, for the people of Nephi and the Lamanites had become equally wicked (4 Nephi 1:45). This is the state described by Samuel the Lamanite: "Ye are cursed because of your riches, . . . because ye have set your hearts upon them, and have not hearkened unto the words of him who gave them unto you. Ye do not remember the Lord your God, . . . but ye do always remember your riches" (Helaman 13:21-22). Always the economy, the economy- as if that were the solution to anything. "For this cause hath the Lord God caused that a curse should come upon.. . your riches.... Yea, wo unto this people. ... And behold, the time cometh that he curseth your riches, that they become slippery, that ye cannot hold them" (Helaman 13:23-24, 31). Here is the passage from the Chester Beatty Papyrus of the book of Enoch, which was just discovered: "Wo, wo to ye rich, for you have trusted your riches and from your riches. . . . You and your riches shall depart because you have not remembered the Most High in the days of your riches." In Samuel's words, "the one who gave them to you, you have not remembered." "Wo unto you who have accumulated gold and silver by dishonest means and say, We have acquired wealth and procured properties, have been successful, and are in a position to do whatever we please because we have silver laid up in the treasuries [in the banks]. And our buildings are filled with valuable things to overflowing like water."

This is interesting, because the book of Enoch is quoted so many times in the New Testament. The Lord tells the story about the man who built his barns and expanded his business, then said, Now, heart, be content. You can retire now and live off the fat of the land. The Lord replied that he had done just the wrong thing: "Thou art filled with valuable things to overflowing like water [this man's barns were full], and you are very much mistaken." "That night the voice of God came to him and said, 'Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee' " (Luke 12:20). The Book of Mormon uses the word slippery. We don't understand how, but the Dow Jones is now up, yet after the past two years' experience, how can we have trust in anything?

The word slippery is a good one, and it's the word used in the old Enoch book. "It will slip away from you because you got it all dishonestly and have come under a great curse." Notice the last words, "come under a great curse"; and Samuel says, "For this cause hath the Lord God caused that a curse should come upon. . . your riches" (Helaman 13:23). The passages are the very same.

If it's obvious that the Lord is referring to this parable of the rich man (Luke 12:20-21), the parable of Samuel's sermon is even more convincing. And in Enoch 29:2, the ambience of corruption is characteristically that of wealth and power. The Greek version: "For men shall get themselves up as if they were women and outdo young girls with their pretty appearance while acting like the kings in their lofty pretense of authority. And they shall feed upon gold and silver poured out like water in their houses. Therefore, you shall perish along with your possessions." "Their hearts are upon their treasures; wherefore, . . . their treasure shall perish with them also" (2 Nephi 9:30). And the last verse of the Greek Enoch: "Therefore shall they perish along with all their property."

Satan's great confrontation with Jesus, after forty days of fasting, repeats his confrontation with Moses (Moses 1:12-22) and his proposed deal with Adam, with Abraham, with Job, and with Isaiah. There are all sorts of stories of Satan coming with his propositions, of the kind he converted Cain to. The devil said to the Lord himself, who had fasted and was susceptible (otherwise he wouldn't have been), "If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread" (Luke 4:3). You serve me or you starve. And Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone [that's the point], but by every word of God. And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me" (Luke 4:4-6). Note, Satan claims to have the power and the glory of this world. It's delivered unto me, he says. I have the authority. I am authorized to offer you all this glory and power in the world, if you will serve me. "For that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it" (Luke 4:6). Note that: it is all mine. This is my greatness and my kingdom. He claims it, and the Lord so allows him that for that purpose. "If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine" (Luke 4:7). That's the famous pact that Satan makes. He promises you anything for this world, and that is what people go for. And Jesus' answer to him was, "Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" (Luke 4:8). And Satan said to him, on the pinnacle of the temple, All right, if you are the son of God, cast yourself down from thence and the angels shall save you. And Jesus said, Don't try to tempt me that way, Satan (Luke 4:9-12).

Why did he say, "It is written," "It is said"? He meant, you yourself should know this, Satan. It's well known. I am not making something up you haven't heard before. The church at the time of the apostles referred to their surroundings as Babylon, the same code name as used by the prophets. Peter writes, "The church that is at Babylon. . . saluteth you" (1 Peter 5:13). In Revelation 14:8, another angel is saying, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." "Great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath" (Revelation 16:19)-- "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS" (Revelation 17:5), and so forth. And then finally, "Babylon the great is fallen" (Revelation 18:2). The classic description of Babylon in Revelation is a Jewish apocalyptic writing considered now to be the most Jewish work of the whole Bible, let alone the New Testament. Babylon is rich, luxurious, immoral, full of fornication; there are merchants, riches, delicacies, sins, and "the merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble" (Revelation 18:12).

This is the ground floor, a giant delicatessen with its "wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep" (Revelation 18:13), a perfumed counter with its cinnamon, odors, ointments, and frankincense. It reads like a savings stamp catalog, a guide to a modern supermarket, or something similar. It goes on: elegant transportation, horses, chariots, all manner of services available, slaves, and the souls of men (Revelation 18:13). It is all for sale. These are "the fruits that thy soul lusted after, . . . all things which were dainty and goodly" (Revelation 18:14). Dainty and goodly in themselves, but when your soul lusts after them, there is the mistake. That is the point of emphasis. This mighty city was the center of commerce with its ships, its sailors, its trade by sea, full of busy shops and factories, craftsmen (a world of business and world leaders), millstones working away; and lots of fun, too: musicians, harpers, pipers, and great sexual life (Revelation 18:17, 22). As for business, "the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies" (Revelation 18:3). "For thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived" (see Revelation 18:23).

John, like the early Hebrew prophets, liked the particular emphasis on the fact that Babylon has built up great power by deception. The word that Brigham Young likes to use is decoy: These things "decoy. . . [our] minds" away from the real values of things. They are irresistible. The merchants do research: they know what we'll take and what we'll not. They know what will sell, and they know the line that nobody can resist. This is the very real thing we are being tempted by. By these deceptions - through public relations, the skill of advertising, and people who devote their lives to nothing else than trying to entice - the devil tries to entice and tempt us, "by sorceries and witchcraft that deceive the nations" (cf. Revelation 18:23).

The Doctrine and Covenants opens with a vivid description of this world that is totally dominant in the modern world: "They who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, . . . seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great" (D&C 1:14, 16). And then, "There is none which doeth good" (D&C 33:4). No, not one. "They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way" (D&C 1:16). This is part of the picture, the dominant order of things, and there is no one who is not following that way today. The Lord insists that the whole history of the world is about to turn on its hinges. It will change; this is not an order with which he is pleased. Brigham Young and Joseph often warned the Saints about subsiding into this telestial order. Even though the Lord said that Zion could not be built up unless it is in the principle of the law (otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself), the Latter-day Saints still wanted to compromise and say, "We will not go up unto Zion, and will keep our moneys" (D&C 105:8). But as long as that was their plan, there could be no Zion, they were told.

This is the most effective weapon that Satan has, among his many weapons. There are many ways in which you can sin; he has more than one arrow in his quiver. But this is the one, after all, none of us can resist. In its first capacity, it has a powerful soporific and paralyzing effect. Asks Brigham, "Are not the sordid things of this life before our eyes? Have they not thrown a mist before them so that we cannot see? What do we know of heavenly things when we are in this situation?" These tabernacles are dull, subject to sin and temptation, and to stray from the kingdom of God, and the ordinances of his house, to lust after riches, the pride of life and the vanities of the world, and these things are prone to be uppermost in the minds of all; old and young, even Latter-day Saints." We are not immune, because when the Lord said, "We will allow Satan, our common enemy, to try and to tempt," he meant that this was the main trial and temptation, not an easy one. Naturally, he'd use the strongest, the most powerful pitch he could use, the most irresistible weapon in his arsenal, the one that is tried and true. And "I know that there is no man on this earth who can call around him property, be he a merchant, tradesman, farmer, with his mind continually occupied with: 'How shall I get this or that; how rich can I get'; ... no such man ever can magnify the priesthood nor enter the celestial kingdom." Now remember, "They will not enter into the kingdom" (cf. Matthew 18:3).

Recently I wrote a letter to a very dear friend of mine, an exceedingly wealthy man in Arizona who has made fortunes and has given every cent of it away, time and again, just as Brigham Young did. He has a marvelous knack for accumulating stuff, but he has never kept it for himself. He is now right down to nothing again and feeling very happy, as if greatly relieved of all sorts of burdens. The things that he has given away are fabulous. There are such people; it can be done. "If the Lord ever revealed anything to me, he has shown me that the Elders of Israel must let speculation alone, . . . otherwise they will have little or no power in their missions or upon their return." The Latter-day Saints have a weakness for speculation. My father could never free himself from it. Once you get into mining, you are gone. There couldn't be a better decoy, a more fatal allurement away from the things of the kingdom. "The Latter-day Saints who turn their attention to money-making soon become cold in their feelings toward the ordinances of the house of God. They neglect their prayers, become unwilling to pay any donations... . The providences of heaven seem to shut out from them--all in consequence of this lust after the things of this world." When you see the Latter-day Saints greedy and covetous in the things of this world, do you think their minds are in a fit condition to be written upon by the pen of revelation?" Joseph Smith said, "God had often sealed up the heavens because of covetousness in the Church."

At the dedication of the Manti Temple the Prophet Brigham Young offered this prayer: We ask Thee that Thou would hide up the treasures of the earth,.. preserve thy people from the inducements which these perishable things offer, which are liable to decoy the minds of Thy saints." We don't want to discover the gold around here, he insisted, and this just after George Albert Smith had reported discovery of a great gold vein. "And cause that these things may not come in their path to tempt them." The wealth of the earth is a clever decoy; "it is a fearful deception which all the world labors under, and many of its people, too."

This is one of the last speeches Brigham Young gave: "Many professing to be saints seem to have no knowledge, no light to see anything beyond a dollar or a pleasant time, or a comfortable house, or a fine farm." These have their place, but what do we enjoy? "O fools, and slow of heart to understand the purposes of God and his handiwork among his people."

Go to the child, and what does its joy consist in? Toys, we may call them,. . . and so it is with our youth, our young boys and girls; they are thinking too much of this world; and the middle-aged are striving and struggling to obtain the good things of this life, and their hearts are too much upon them. So it is with the aged. Is not this the condition of the Latter-day Saints? It is. What is the general expression through out our community? It is that the Latter-day Saints are drifting as fast as they can into idolatry.

This was all Brigham Young could preach in his last year: "fast into idolatry, drifting into the spirit of the world and into pride and vanity." "We wish the wealth of things of the world; we think about them morning, noon and night; they are first in our minds when we awake in the morning, and the last thing before we go to sleep at night." "We have gone just as far as we can be permitted to go in the road on which we are now traveling. One man has his eye on a gold mine, another is for a silver mine, another is for marketing his flour or his wheat, another for selling his cattle, another to raise cattle, another to get a farm, or building here and there, and trading and trafficking with each other, just like Babylon. . .. Babylon is here, and we are following in the footsteps of the inhabitants of the earth, who are in a perfect sea of confusion. Do you know this? You ought to, for there are none of you but what see it daily. . . . The Latter-day Saints [are] trying to take advantage of their brethren. There are Elders in this Church who would take the widow's last cow, for five dollars, and then kneel down and thank God for the fine bargain they had made " This is the great voice of the economy of Babylon. It does not renounce its religious pretensions for a minute. Many in it think they are identical with a pious life.

Now to Brigham's final word--his last speech, as a matter of fact:

Now those that can see the spiritual atmosphere can see that many of the Saints are still glued to this earth and lusting and longing after the things of this world, in which there is no profit. . . . According to the present feelings of many of our brethren, they would arrogate to themselves this world and all that pertains to it. . . . Where are the eyes and the hearts of this people? . . . All the angels in heaven are looking at this little handfull of people, and stimulating them to the salvation of the human family. So also are the devils in hell looking at this people, too, and trying to overthrow us, and the people are still shaking hands with the servants of the devil, instead of sanctifying themselves, [given a choice between the two].

We are being pulled in two directions, he says; all the powers of heaven are looking to us, waiting for us to perform our mission; the devils are looking at us to fail in it, and we are shaking hands with them, instead of the other way around. "When I think upon this subject, I want the tongues of seven thunders to wake up the people."

We see clearly the three economies. There is such a thing as a celestial economy. After all, Mormons believe in cosmism. Some churches still say that the greatest vice of the Mormons is that they look upon the physical universe as having some relationship to the gospel. We say it's all physical there are universes we know nothing about; there is matter of a nature that we can't perceive at all. It's all real - what's on the other side of the black holes, or wherever it may be. This is part of the celestial order, and we have been given the great honor. The Lord has flattered us to the point of revealing to us this particular order. This is what has worked in ancient times, he explains. In the time of Adam I did it; in the time of Noah I had it. In the time of Moses I tried to introduce the people, but they wouldn't take it. In the time of apostles, I restored it. The Nephites had it for two hundred years, and you could have it too. I want you to have it. It's the only thing I will accept from you. And meanwhile, you will live by these rules and work your way toward it, but for heaven's sake, don't let yourself be decoyed and sucked into this third order, which becomes dominant. This picture of Babylon is so very striking, it's overpowering. It meets us everywhere. Today's newspaper is like a commentary on the whole scriptures. You could find in it a hundred items that are completely relevant on this subject, which makes us wonder how far along the way we are, and what the Lord is doing in these things otherwise.

I certainly pray that we may fill our hearts with the desire to fulfill the Lord's purposes on the earth. Some of us are good at administering the things of the earth. "Some of us" - I use that very flatteringly, because there never was a worse one than myself for bungling with things like that, so I can very well talk sour grapes. But notice the spirit in which it's to be done. Brigham, the greatest and certainly the most able economist and administrator and businessman this nation has ever seen, didn't give a hoot for earthly things: "I have never walked across the streets to make a trade." He didn't mean that literally. You always do have to handle things. But in what spirit do we do it? Not in the Krishna way, by renunciation, for example. I have never visited Calcutta, but the reports are utterly heartbreaking. If you refuse to be concerned with these things at all, and say, "I'm above all that," that's as great a fault. The things of the world have got to be administered; they must be taken care of, they are to be considered. We have to keep things clean, and in order. That's required of us. This is a test by which we are being proven. This is the way by which we prepare, always showing that these things will never captivate our hearts, that they will never become our principal concern. That takes a bit of doing, and that is why we have the formula "with an eye single to his glory" (Mormon 8:15). Keep first your eye on the star, then on all the other considerations of the ship. You will have all sorts of problems on the ship, but unless you steer by the star, forget the ship. Sink it. You won't go anywhere.

This is the important thing: we must keep our eye on the principles of the gospel that have been given us. The Lord has given us great blessings in these things, and great promises; and because the spirit of the Lord is stirring in the church today, I am sure we all feel it in various ways. The interesting thing is how we all operate in different areas. I don't suspect for a minute either the burdens, or the trials, or the troubles, or the privileges of the capacities of any other person in the world. I am sure that if I were to start to analyze and describe them, I would be completely wrong, so I just forget it. Here we are, all relating to our Heavenly Father, and as such, related to each other as brothers and sisters. He's the one we go to; he's the one we keep in mind. So we are not concerned to lay down the law to each other, saying, "This is the way you have to do it. That is the kosher way." Let us each go to the Lord, who will reveal these things to us. May he inspire each one of us with understanding and the good sense and the faith and devotion that we need in order to live by the laws of the kingdom, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Notes to Chapter 11

1. Andrew K. Helmbold, The Nag Hammadi Gnostic Texts and the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1967), 37; James M. Robinson, tr., Nag Hammadi Library (New York: Harper and Row, 1977), 54,89; Gilles Quispel, Gnostic Studies, 2 vols. (Intanbul, Nederlands: Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut in het Nabije Oosten, 1974), 1:15; cf. G. R. S. Mead, Pistis Sophia (London: John M. Watkins, 1921), L-LI. In his introduction Mead outlines the gnostic idea of the three degrees of glory in heaven as presented in the Pistis Sophia. See also Robert M. Grant, Gnosticism (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1961), 61; Testament of Levi 3:1-10; Hugo Odeberg, 3 Enoch or The Hebrew Book of Enoch (New York: KTAV, 1973), 176.

2. Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon, trs. The Zohar, 5 vols. (London: Soncino Press, 1984), 1:278; cf. A. E. Waite, The Holy Kabbalah (London: Williams and Norgate, 1929), 619:

3. Isidore Singer, ed., Jewish Encyclopedia, 12 vols. (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1901), 1:176-77,181.

4. Z'eu ben Shimon Halevi, Adam and the Kabbalistic Tree (London: Rider, 1974), 34.

5. TPJS 12-13, 305.

6. Testament of Levi 3:1-10.

7. Regarding oikonomia, see James Strong, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1986), see Greek Dictionary, p. 68, ref. 3622: "oikonomia, administration (of a household or estate); spec. a (religious) economy: dispensation, stewardship."

8. The context implies the greatest distress. See Strong, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, reference numbers 3173 and 5399 on pages 61 and 103, respectively, of the book's Greek Dictionary.

9. See Hugh W. Nibley, "The Forty-Day Mission of Christ - The Forgotten Heritage," in When the Lights Went Out (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1970), 33-54; reprinted in CWHN 4:10-44.

10. Testament of Judah 18-19; cf. Sibylline Oracles 2:109-18; Pseudo-Phocylides 42. For English translations, see James H. Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2 vols. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1983), 1:800; 1:348; 2:575, respectively.

11. R. H. Charles, The Book of Enoch (London: Oxford, 1913), xcvciii; cf. Richard Laurence, The Book of Enoch the Prophet (London: Kegan, Paul, Trench, 1883; reprinted San Diego, CA: Wizards Bookshelf, 1977), xxv-xxxiii; Elizabeth C. Prophet, Forbidden Mysteries of Enoch (Livingston, MO: Summit University Press, 1983), 231-62.

12. TPJS 9.

13. Theodor H. Gaster, The Dead Sea Scriptures, 3rd ed. (Garden City, NY: Anchor, 1976), 10-12,44: "All who declare their willingness to serve God's truth must bring all of their mind, all of their strength, and all of their wealth into the community of God, so that their minds may be purified by truth of His precepts, their strength controlled by His perfect ways, and their wealth disposed in accordance with His just design." Cf. A. R. C. Leaney, The Rule of Qumran and Its Meaning (London: SCM, 1966), 66-69; and Millar Burrows, More Light on the Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: Viking, 1958), 71-72.

14. See editions of the Doctrine and Covenants previous to the 1981 version.

15. Hugh W. Nibley, "A Strange Thing in the Land," Ensign 5 (October 1975): 80-82; reprinted in CWHN 2:95-99.

16. Ibid.

17. Charles, The Book of Enoch, xcv-cln.

18. E.g., 1 Enoch 97:10 (cf. Helaman 13:31); 1 Enoch 94:8 (cf. Helaman 13:33).

19. JD 17:331-32.

20. Campbell Bonner, The Last Chapters of Enoch in Greek (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1968), 41; for English translation, see 89-90.

21. R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913), 2:233; cf. E. A. Wallis Budge, "Discourse on Abbaton," Coptic Martyrdoms, 6 vols. (London: Oxford University Press, 1914), 4:485.

22. 1 Enoch 69:9-11.

23. Ibid., 8:1-2.

24. Charles, The Book of Enoch, 279-80.

25. H. Freedman and Maurice Simon, Midrash Rabbah, 10 vols. (London: Soncino Press, 1939), 1:302-3; cf. Angelos S. Rappoport, Myth and Legend of Ancient Israel, 3 vols. (London: Gresham, 1928), 1:234.

26. Zohar, Bereshith 56a, in Sperling and Simon, The Zohar, 1:178-80; cf. Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 7vols. (Philadephia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1909), 1:173-74.

27. MS 37:674; cf. Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 1:245-50; Book of Jasher 18:16-43.

28. Testament of Levi 6:9; cf. M. H. Segal, "The Religion of Israel before Sinai," Jewish Quarterly Review 52(1961): 44-45.

29. Gerald Friedlander, Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer (New York: Hermon, 1965), 181.

30. Ibid., 181-82.

31. Ibid.

32. Rappoport, Myth and Legend of Ancient Israel, 1:264.

33. Ibid.

34. Sperling and Simon, The Zohar, 1:339-40; Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 1:247.

35. Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 1:245.

36. Ibid., 245-50.

37. Friedlander, Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, 176; Rappoport, Myth and Legend of Ancient Israel, 1:237.

38. Friedlander, Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, 176; Book of Jasher IX, 28.

39. 1 Enoch 93:7; for English translation, see Michael A. Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1978), 2:227.

40. Ibid., 97:8-9.

41. Ibid., 97:10.

42. Ibid., 98:2-3; see Bonner, Last Chapters of Enoch in Greek, 88.

43. Ibid.

44. Apocalypse of Abraham 13:1-14; Testament of Job 6:1-6 in Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 1:695; 1:841-42; Rutherford H. Platt, ed., "The First Book of Adam and Eve" and "Second Book of Adam and Eve," in The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden (Canada: Collins World, 1977), 60:1-29, 70:1-17, 76:10-12; and 3:1-15, respectively.

45. MS 39:372.

46. JD 15:3.

47. Ibid., 18:238.

48. Ibid., 11:297.

49. Ibid., 8:179.

50. Ibid., 18:213.

51. TPJS 9.

52. MS 39:372.

53. JD 10:271.

54. Ibid., 8:63.

55. Ibid., 18:237,39.

56. Ibid., 18:239.

57. Ibid., 18:238-39.

58. Ibid., 17:41.

59. MS 39:118-19.

60. Ibid., 39:119.

61. JD 12:219.

This address was given in November 1982.