WICKED!

As I was praying this morning it occurred to me what "wicked" means. I read in the Doctrine and Covenants the other day: "thou deliveredst up that which was sacred into the hands of a wicked man," (D&C 3:12) This was the Lord telling Joseph Smith where he went wrong in letting Martin Harris have the 116 pages of the Book of Mormon that he had translated. Martin Harris is one of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon -- so how is he a "wicked man?"

From Mr. Harris' point-of-view he was only doing what he needed to do. Here a wealthy man is spending a great deal of his time with this "prophet" translating a "secret" book from "golden plates." His wife is wondering what he's up to, and doesn't believe his story. He needs some proof. Not only that, she's getting upset that he's spending his money on this "prophet" (her money too). He needs something to show her what he's doing. He reads the words of the manuscript and believes them so he assumes she would as well. "All I need is to show her what we're doing..." he begs Joseph. He felt he needed that proof so his wife would allow him to continue doing the work. However, the Lord knew otherwise.

Wickedness is simply doing what I want, instead of what the Lord wants. If I am seeking and doing my will, I am, by definition, wicked. It doesn't matter what that is. If I am feeding the hungry, giving money to the poor, or otherwise serving my fellow-men, but it isn't the will of God, rather my own desires, then I'm still a wicked man.

On the other hand, righteousness is doing the will of God. When I'm doing His righteous will, I'm righteous. A good example is Nephi, a young man who had never taken a life, who was told by the Lord to kill Laban. He didn't want to, it's wrong to kill, it's against the commandment. However, it was the will of God so it was right. Nephi was a righteous man; he said, "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." (1 Nephi 3:7) He did the will of God in all things.

Martin Harris had to repent before the Lord would let him see the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. When he had given his own will over to the Lord, he was able to fulfill his mission to testify to the world forever that he had seen the plates, they were real, and Joseph Smith had them. (see the "Testimony of Three Witnesses" in The Book of Mormon)  In turning his will over to the Lord, he became a righteous man.

 

This makes perfect sense, but begs the question, "How do I know when I'm doing the will of God?" "How can I know if whatever I think and say and do is just my own desires?" I must repent. The sacrifice of a "broken heart and a contrite spirit" is to give up my will, and turn to the Lord. To repent of all my sins, means to have turned my will completely over to the Lord, to indeed make Him my Lord.

The beginning steps are simple:

1. Have faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, that He can change my heart, and make me clean. Trust in Him, that His way is better than my own.

2. Repent of all my sins, doing only the will of God, keeping the commandments.

3. Make a covenant to serve God, doing only His will, at all times through baptism by immersion

4. Receive the Holy Ghost, which will tell me what is the will of God so I can become righteous and holy.

The way is narrow, and straight as an arrow. There is no other way -- any missing step prevents righteousness:

4. Without the Gift, or constant companionship of the Holy Ghost I cannot know the will of God and therefore could never be a righteous man.

3. Without baptism by immersion for the remission of sins I could never have the Holy Ghost.

2. Without repentance baptism is of no value because I could never have my sins remitted.

1. Without faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, I cannot repent.

I also have a mission to perform while in this tabernacle of clay; there is something that is uniquely mine to do. I will not be able to do it unless I repent of my sins and receive the Holy Ghost so that I can know the will of the Lord in all things. "All" means "all" and "all" is all "all" means. If I am ever doing my will and not the will of God, then I am still a wicked man. I will follow Jesus when He said, "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." (John 6:38) This is, by definition, righteousness.