"and another book was opened which is the book of life..."

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am working on a tribute to Sidney Rigdon

Between business and working on my Sidney Rigdon Tribute, I have pretty much neglected blogging for a while.

I do want to share a thought today however that I have been having lately. It has to do with the “power” associated with “written documents”.

I believe there is a literal power associated with certain things that are put in writing.

This is talked about in modern revelation in various places as well as ancient scriptures. One of them is section 128. I suggest you read section 128 with this specific topic in mind.. the importance of recording things that take place on earth and in heaven in written form.

There is a power associated with documenting events, feeling and agreements in written form.

Why for instance is it so important for witnesses to document and certify in writing that various ordinances of salvation took place? Don’t the angels watch and verify? Why is it necessary for there to be a Book of Life written in heaven, doesn’t God observe and know all things, etc?

One of the things that brought this topic to my mind is illustrated in the life of one of my heroes, Sidney Rigdon.

If you are not familiar with this particular story, I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag so I am only going to tell you the last part of the story, not the first part of the story… that way, you might look forward to the post I will be doing about Rigdon.

The first part of the story has to do with the fact that Sidney committed a very grievous sin after he joined the Church.

He lied in the name of the Lord.

I am not going to give you the details of what he lied about but I am going to share with you what happened to him when he lied. Here is part of the account-

“Smith took Rigdon’s license from him and said, The Devil would handle him as one man handles another- the less authority he had the better.” Joseph then appointed council to try Sidney for “having lied in the name of the Lord”. In this counsel Joseph told him that he must suffer for what he had done and that he must be turned over to the buffetings of Satan.”

One account reported that “the devil did handle him by pulling him out of bed and other rough methods.” Another account stated that: “ Sidney was lying on his bed alone. An unseen power lifted him from his bed, threw him across the room, and tossed him from one side of the room to the other. The noise being heard on the adjoining room, his family went in to see what was the matter, and found him going for one side of the room to the other, from the effects of which Sidney was laid up for five or six weeks.”

That is an amazing account of how someone can be turned over to the buffetings of Satan.

When the higher priesthood is on the earth, events like this are common. Satan is given more power over those who have more priesthood power if they transgress.. the higher light one has, the greater the condemnation if they sin..

One of the things that I find amazing about that account is that Joseph told Sidney that the less [priesthood] authority he had, the less old scratch would be able to kick the crap out of him and so he took his ministerial license.

I think the significance of this is greater than the fact that Sidney would not be able to show his license to people, so that they would allow him to preach to their congregations, etc.

I think the significance of this is deeper; it is a spiritual, metaphysical thing. That license actually had power associated with it.

I believe there is actually a literal power.. a vibratory frequency if you will, to written documents. They take on a spiritual power of their own based on the communication and meaning of the words.

About a year ago I had a pressing need. It was a temporal problem. One that I felt overwhelmed about. I could not find a solution to it within my power.

I meditated on it and prayed about it to know what the Lord would want from me in return for solving this particular problem.

After determining what I felt the Lord would require of me, I wrote down the agreement between the Lord and myself. I actually wrote it down physically on a piece of paper and put it in my safe. (Something I don’t usually do)

I frankly didn’t see anyway God could solve my problem because I was not aware of any thing in foreseeable future that could possibly solve that problem.

Yet a few weeks ago, to my surprise, something materialized the solved the problem I had covenanted with the Lord to fix..

frankly, I had almost forgotten about the written document… I had complied with the terms written on the document, but I had forgotten that I had put it in writing.

Of course, I was hoping the problem would be solved much faster than it was, but Gods timing often differs from our... besides, I think there needed to be a significant amount of time for me to show forth good faith pertaining to my part of the agreement..

Did the written document have anything to do with the fulfillment of the agreement and the solving of the problem?

I rather suspect so.