God's Name in Vain

"Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm top and reed, in a single day; the elders or notables are the head, the prophets who teach falsehoods, the tail. The leaders of these people have misled them, and those who are led are confused." - Isaiah 9:14-16

Ancient Israel was plagued by false prophets and false elders. Heeding their lying words is what led to the loss of God's blessings among them. Just as heeding the word of God leads to him, heeding the words of men and devils leads away from God. Israel never learned how to differentiate between the word of God and the word of men. Surely, there is a difference. The words of God emanate from God's throne and carry with them power. The words of men are hollow. They not only do not lead a man to eternal life, but they often distract him with performances that keep him from seeking and keeping God's word:

But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. (Matthew 23:13)

The devil tempts men as far as he can. When he can't get men to commit grave sins, he tries to convince them to spend their time in benign pursuits to keep them away from those things that will save them. Jesus taught plainly and frequently against the commandments of men, noting that they almost always prevent the observer from approaching God.

Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. How-beit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. (Mark 7:1-13)

Those who honor the commandments of men honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from him. Those who are most righteous according to the law of men are almost always the furthest from God. Exceptions, of course, exist, such as Paul when he was known as Saul, who was:

Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

By and large, however, these men are forced to set aside God's commandments in order to obey the contradictory commandments of men.

The commandments of men come from false messengers-those who pretend to be sent from God but have not been given his words to speak, "For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God:"¹ For example, the pretended prophets in Jeremiah's day prophesied against the truth-that God was angry with the people-and instead preached what they wanted to hear. "Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they proph-esy a lie unto you."² This is a hallmark of the fodder of false prophets. They preach that all is well in Zion.³ If all were well in Zion, the Lord would frequently appear to all citizens of Zion. It's a self-evident situation. Instead, false prophets must announce that all is well in Zion in order to assuage the fears of the people, who are surrounded by evidences of God's displeasure. God's words are almost always a call to repentance, and his true messengers deliver these words, which are hardly ever well-received and never pleasing to the world. Samuel the Lamanite preached how we have a tendency to reject true prophets' hard messages.

Behold ye are worse than they; for as the Lord liveth, if a prophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of the Lord, which testifieth of your sins and iniquities, ye are angry with him, and cast him out and seek all manner of ways to destroy him; yea, you will say that he is a false prophet, and that he is a sinner, and of the devil, because he testifieth that your deeds are evil. But behold, if a man shall come among you and shall say: Do this, and there is no iniquity; do that and ye shall not suffer; yea, he will say: Walk after the pride of your own hearts; yea, walk after the pride of your eyes, and do whatsoever your heart desireth-and if a man shall come among you and say this, ye will receive him, and say that he is a prophet. Yea, ye will lift him up, and ye will give unto him of your substance; ye will give unto him of your gold, and of your silver, and ye will clothe him with costly apparel; and because he speaketh flattering words unto you, and he saith that all is well, then ye will not find fault with him. (Helaman 13:26-28)

According to Samuel the Lamanite, we not only are prone to reject true prophets, but we throw treasure and glory to false prophets who satisfy our vanity and sinful desires by telling us how great we are.

False prophets have not been given the true word of God, so they must preach something else to the people. Many times, their substituted message is whatever the people want to hear. Vain men want to dictate to God what message he has for them. However, it doesn't work that way, as evidenced with Balak, who wanted Balaam, a prophet, to prophesy good things for his people against God's will. "And Balaam said unto Balak, Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now any power at all to say any thing? the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak."⁴ Other times, instead of preaching the powerful word of God, which can be pleasing but is hardly entertaining, they preach entertaining fables and stories. Nephi quoted Isaiah's account of how the false prophets were channeling familiar spirits instead of preaching God's word.

Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion. And when they shall say unto you: Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and mutter-should not a people seek unto their God for the living to hear from the dead? To the law and to the testimony; and if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (2 Nephi 18:18-20)

False prophets will resort to any text to avoid speaking of the law and the testimony-God's word through scripture and personal experience-because they do not know the scriptures and have not had personal experiences with God.

It is a mistake to assume that all false prophets are wicked liars. Many are, in fact, well-intentioned. These teach words which they assume are God's through accepting the false traditions of their fathers without establishing a relationship with God themselves in order to expose them as such. These are just as detrimental to the people as those who are liars, despite the fact that their motives are good, because the end result for the people is the same-damnation. Mormon had strong words for such:

O ye wicked and perverse and stiffnecked people, why have ye built up churches unto yourselves to get gain? Why have ye transfigured the holy word of God, that ye might bring damnation upon your souls? Behold, look ye unto the revelations of God; for behold, the time cometh at that day when all these things must be fulfilled. (Mormon 8:33)

The Lord himself said this about those who ignore God's word:

And he that will contend against the word of the Lord, let him be accursed; and he that shall deny these things, let him be accursed; for unto them will I show no greater things, saith Jesus Christ; for I am he who speaketh. (Ether 4:8)

You cannot be saved in ignorance.⁵ Without the living water of God's word, the vine withers and dies. Brigham Young taught that the only way to counteract false traditions is to get revelation about it and assume ourselves fools before God:

But we should all live so that the Spirit of revelation could dictate and write on the heart and tell us what we should do instead of the traditions of our parents and teachers. But to do this we must become like little children; and Jesus says if we do not we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. (Brigham Young, JD 14:161)

Such an approach is sure to earn the wrath of the masses, who would rather keep their hope in the false traditions of their fathers.

Taking a position of devotion to God's word is always an unpopular move. Through the scriptures we encounter individuals who were always alone: hiding in caves, living in the wilderness, or hunted from place to place because they refused to hearken to the commandments of men. They were cast into fiery furnaces, thrown into dens of lions, kicked out of the synagogue, and stoned for the sake of holding to God's word despite contrary popular opinion.

Joseph, who himself died because he refused to recant God's unpopular word, said:

I...spoke to the people, showing them that to get salvation we must not only do some things, but everything which God has commanded. Men may preach and practice everything except those things which God commands us to do, and will be damned at last. We may tithe mint and rue, and all manner of herbs, and still not obey the commandments of God. The object with me is to obey and teach others to obey God in just what He tells us to do. It mattereth not whether the principle is popular or unpopular, I will always maintain a true principle, even if I stand alone in it. (TPJS p. 332, DHC 6:223)

Yet, despite the guarantee of rejection from the world, believers are commanded to fear God more than men: "For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God. Although men set at naught the counsels of God, and despise his words." ⁶

Preaching the commandments of men, we learn from Joseph, happens as much in modern times as it did anciently, and is just as much of an abomination in God's sight as it ever was.

I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: "they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof." (JS-H 1:19)

God said that this condition of apostasy-as all apostasy-occurred because men took his word lightly, hearkening unto their own thoughts and opinions instead of seeking to live by what God had told them, which he has commanded us to obey word for word: "For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God."⁷ He gave a witness that the time Joseph Smith was raised up would be a time when men would esteem his words as naught:

And in a day when the children of men shall esteem my words as naught and take many of them from the book which thou shalt write, behold, I will raise up another like unto thee; and they shall be had again among the children of men-among as many as shall believe. (Moses 1:41)

Ignoring God's word results in a lack of power, because God's word is the vehicle for his power. Without God's word, there is none of God's power.

And if any man shall seek to build up himself, and seeketh not my counsel, he shall have no power, and his folly shall be made manifest. Keep yourselves from evil to take the name of the Lord in vain, for I am the Lord your God, even the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. (D&C 136:19,21)

Note that God considers the claim of his power when his word is not present to be taking his name in vain. Vanity means something without effect. When we invent words that we claim came from God, they are powerless. "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."⁸ Jesus said that everything in this world that is not by his name shall be thrown down and destroyed. This includes all things that are established by using his name in vain.

And everything that is in the world, whether it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principalities, or powers, or things of name, whatsoever they may be, that are not by me or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown down, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God. For whatsoever things remain are by me; and whatsoever things are not by me shall be shaken and destroyed. (D&C 132:13-14)

Though the details are outside the scope of this book, it is worth noting that thrones, principalities, and powers refer to classes of angels. Do you realize what God is saying here? Not even angels are authorized to speak outside of what God tells them. If they do, it is of naught. If angels have the capacity to speak words other than God's words, how much more so men? As God said, "Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost."⁹

God said that acting with the forms but without the power is a sin that has occurred in our day: In our search for the word of God, we have to be constantly on the lookout for the commandments of men. The Lord taught us to do so by asking God that we might know the source of what we hear.

But ye are commanded in all things to ask of God, who giveth liberally; and that which the Spirit testifies unto you even so I would that ye should do in all holiness of heart, walking uprightly before me, considering the end of your salvation, doing all things with prayer and thanksgiving, that ye may not be seduced by evil spirits, or doctrines of devils, or the commandments of men; for some are of men, and others of devils. (D&C 46:7)

And again,

Behold, I am Alpha and Omega, even Jesus Christ. Wherefore, let all men beware how they take my name in their lips- For behold, verily I say, that many there be who are under this condemnation, who use the name of the Lord, and use it in vain, having not authority. Wherefore, let the church repent of their sins, and I, the Lord, will own them; otherwise they shall be cut off. (D&C 63:60-63)

Yet, we are promised again and again that if we keep his word, his words will abide in us, and we will be given power to do what he says. "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."¹⁰ Note that the individual's oneness with God ("abide in me") and the presence of God's word to that individual are prerequisites to "asking what ye will" and having it done, which necessarily limits "what ye will" by what is God's will, which is always manifest by his word. We see this explicitly in Moroni 7:33: "And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me."