Description

Labels

Sometime prior to Moses returning to Egypt to deliver the children of Israel at Jehovah’s command, Moses was caught up into an exceedingly high mountain where he saw God face to face and conversed with Him.

Our God is a God of glory, light, power, energy, heat, incomprehensible to us mortals. Moses was given a portion of that in order to abide the presence of God, but God did much more on that mountain than just lift Moses to a higher physical plain. He lifted him emotionally and spiritually.

“Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty and endless is my name, and behold thou Moses art my son.”

The Prophet Joseph Smith once taught that “if men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves.”

Well the Lord continued speaking to Moses and said, “I have a work for thee Moses, my son, and thou art in the similitude of mine only Begotten”. and again the Lord said, “And behold this one thing I show unto thee, Moses, my son, for thou art in the world and now I show it unto thee.”

And the Almighty went on from there to show Moses the world upon which he stood and the inhabitants thereof to the end of time. Three times in that initial encounter, God the Father referred to Moses as quote, “my son”.

Now for a man who once believed he was the son of Pharaoh who was considered a God among men and then in Egypt to learn that he was the son of a lowly Hebrew, this must have been a sweet and startling revelation. God is my father.

Then the presence of God withdrew from Moses and he fell to the earth and it was hours before Moses had sufficient strength to stand and then in that weakened condition came Satan. Lucifer, the devil tempting him saying quote, “Moses, son of man, worship me.”

There it is. The insidious, ubiquitous lie for all time. Are we sons and daughters of God, the direct and lineal offspring of Deity or something much less as Lucifer would have us believe? Are we of the same species as God or are we something else?

The label that the Almighty put upon Moses prevailed at that critical moment. Moses looked at Satan and said,

“Who art thou? For behold I am a son of God in the similitude of His only Begotten and where is thy glory that I should worship thee? Get thee hence Satan deceive me not, for God said unto me thou art after the similitude of mine only Begotten.”

And now when Moses had said these words Satan cried with a loud voice and ranted upon the earth. Moses was afraid at the awesome display of evil power but he prayed, stood his ground and prevailed. And it came to pass that Satan cried with a loud voice with weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth and he departed hence.

It’s no wonder that Satan wanted that stricken from the record and for six or for four thousand years it was until the Prophet Joseph restored it, not exactly what you’d call flattering press coverage but be that as it may.

How did Moses detect the devil when he appeared as an angel of light? By the label that Lucifer put upon him. Satan made Moses a mere man, the son of man, while God made him so much more.

Now, what is the power of a label? How many labels have affected you?

Long ago when I was just a lad, people I loved and trusted called me ugly, and I’ve never been able to see myself any other way since then, especially as that label somehow seems to keep being reapplied. But it’s okay, I’ve learned to live with it. Moreover, I’ve been told so many times in my life that I have no common sense and that I’m a wicked man and then I’m going to hell, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Well these are the labels of Lucifer and they don’t lift, they don’t exalt.

President Russell M. Nelson said,

“Unfortunately, our modern society is caught up in divisive disputation. Often unkind nicknames are added to or even substituted for given names. Labels, he said, are invented to foster feelings of segregation and competition. More serious separation results when labels are utilized with the intent to demean such as Jew, Gentile, Black, Hispanic, Mormon or even worse. These terms camouflage our true identity he said, as sons and daughters of God”.

“The desire of my heart, is that we might rise above such worldly trends. God wants us to ascend to the highest level of our potential. He employs names that unify and sanctify”.

Of necessity President Nelson said,

“We live in a world of labels. On a medicine bottle, a label can save our lives. Imagine if the pharmacist got careless or worse malicious with his labels, so too the labels we place on each other and on ourselves can lift and save or demean and destroy. It is our choice.”