Without Disclosing My True Identity
have no life in you.”^29 He told them that only through him could any man be “raise[d] up at
the last day.”^30
Jesus was telling the Jews that none of their prayers, none of their rituals, none of
their worship, none of their history, beliefs, concepts, genealogies, traditions, or anything
else about their religion and culture was true.^31 He was trying to get them to understand
that all a person had to do was to listen to the common sense words that came out of his
mouth and then follow them.^32
“What?!” exclaimed the people.
“Is this man telling us that none of our prayers are answered by God and that we do
not receive guidance from our Heavenly Father?”
“Is he telling us that there is no god, but him; and that all we need to do is believe on
him and we will have everlasting life?”
The people were put in a cognitive dilemma. If Jesus was telling the truth, then there
was no God except the man who stood in front of them—and the God that this man was
saying was within each of them. Jesus clearly implied that when they got on their knees to
pray at their altars and in their temples, and when they worshipped in their churches, that
they weren’t really conversing, worshipping, or praying to anyone but themselves and the air!
Jesus made it very clear, however, that, outside of themselves, there was no god but him.
He taught the people what the Book of Mormon later implied, but was hidden in its own
presentation:
And now Abinadi said unto them: I would that ye should understand that God
himself shall come down [and dwell] among the children of men [in the flesh],
and shall redeem his people. And because he dwelleth in flesh he shall be
called the Son of God, and having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father,
being the Father and the Son—The Father, because he was conceived by the
power of God; and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and
Son—And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and of
earth. And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit, or the Son to the
Father, being one [indistinguishable in thought and judgment from the Father,
effectually taking over his role forever for those belonging to this earth] God, suffereth
temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation, but suffereth himself to be
mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people.^33Again, like the prophets of old, Jesus told the people that they were their own gods^34
and that they didn’t need any guidance from without, except for what he told them—which
was that they were equal with the gods found throughout the Universe.^35 So then, Jesus
usurped the religious institutions of his day and caused the people to consider that they
alone were responsible for their actions, good and bad.^36 Once more, if God (the Father, or
the Christ) didn’t hear any of their prayers, then who was listening to them, and wherein
were they getting their answers and revelations?
Joseph had to deal with this same question and the perplexity of the people
throughout his life. He finally gave the true answer to this question when he laid out the
presentation of the LDS Temple Endowment. In it, he presented Lucifer as the only god
who hears and answers vocal prayers.
The character that represents Heavenly Father in the presentation of the endowment
has nothing to do with people on earth. According to the presentation, when God, the