| Counsel & Admonition through Seventy Neil Simmons I wish to preface the following counsel by saying that Sunday night, April 3, I was in a vivid dream or vision. I seemed to be in a meeting of the priesthood and members of the church. The Lord Himself stood at the head of the meeting and was speaking. He did not speak to the personal preparations which had been made by the individuals within the assembly, but was rather admonishing all the factions of the church. I felt a sense of woe and sadness for being of a disobedient people who were being chastised by the voice of the Lord. I awoke and the Spirit of the Almighty rested upon me confirming the words I had heard. I offer this summary of those things which I am permitted to remember and to write down. I do so knowing that many will reject the counsel given because of the frailty and faults of the messenger. Still, the voice of the Lord comes again and again into my mind calling for my obedience. To this end I commend these few words as part of the counsel of our God to this people: (Neil Simmons) I am the Lord God. Beside Me there is no other God. I am thy creator. Have not I called you into existence by my own voice and given you life with my own breath? Yet you have not esteemed Me -- and in your imagination and your pride you have raised up other gods before Me. Like unto Israel of old, many have given their praise and honor to the gods of the land, for have you not bowed before your culture of high technology, and reverenced your fellowship of church above service to Me? How many of this people do revere the works of man above the works of God? Some have even bowed down to the ideal of Zion itself, not discerning that Zion is not theirs to fashion, but it is Mine to give. You are not called to worship the mountain of Zion, but the God of Zion. You are not to have any god beside me. Yea, I emphasize, if you are mine, you must not have any other gods before Me. In your disunity and pain you have called upon Me to give guidance to you. What would you that I should say to you at this time? Do you suppose that my counsel shall change? Shall I change my word, alter mine ordinances, or reverse my law? Did I not call upon Joseph Smith Jr. from heaven and give him my law so that you would not be deceived? Did I not speak it to you in your own language and according to your own understanding so there would be no excuse among you that you did not understand the Word, and so there would be no confusions among you? You have my counsel before you -- written in your books. Why have you not obeyed these my counsels, thus testing Me to see if I am Truth, and whether I shall truly fulfill my promises unto you and your children? In what have you been disobedient you ask? But I say, in what matters have you been obedient? This people have made only minimal efforts to preach my gospel among the remnant of my people of Israel -- even in this day when the Father is opening His mighty work among them. What are these meetings and gatherings which I have not ordained in My law? I do not hinder you in these things, even so, are they not but are the product of your own vain and foolish imaginings? I ask, "Are they ordained of me?" If in these things, which you know are not part of my law, you have been blessed, how much more would you have been blessed had you been obedient to my law? How could you suppose that I would hinder you from being obedient unto fulfilling my own lawful counsels to the church? I never command my people not to obey my commandments. Yet ye have not obeyed my laws. You have not assembled your priesthood according to my word. Where are my stakes which I commissioned and which must not be removed from Zion? Where are the quorums of my priesthood properly assembled that I may come to for blessing and for guidance? Where are my young sons and daughters who are to be raised up in righteousness in Zion? Are not these to be found bowing down before Baal, the gods of the land? (Nevertheless, as I spoke to my servant Elijah, there are still thousands of Israel who have not bowed down to other gods. With them I am well pleased.) Ye seek My voice and My direction, but this people does not know Me, neither do they honor me, by the observances of my law unto to them as pertaining to their stewardships, the priesthood, or the organization of my people. Why have not my servants provided for the voice and vote of my people in the work whereunto they are called, that unity may obtain? This people has drawn near to me with their lips, yet their hearts are far from me. Why do many of your leaders fear unity? Is it not because of their pride and the pride of this people? If ye were humble and full of love, and if ye would be truly mine, then ye would know that I am not divided, nor are My disciples, for they serve no other God. Among them there is no worship given to the gods of this land. If ye are to become mine, then ye must become one in love and humility, even as my sacrament ordains. If you shall choose me as your God, and obey my counsels, then shall I clarify the points of my law, but it shall be as you move forward, and as you have need, to the advancement of My work. Then shall my children be edified upon the promised land of My Zion. But if ye shall choose not to serve me, nor obey my law, neither to go forward in unity, to be edified upon the promised land of My Zion, then ye shall continue in your confusion until the day that I shall cast down all false gods, and sweep my creation with the holy cleansing fire of rebirth. At that day confusion shall cease, but who shall abide the day of my coming? Ye shall not.
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