INTRODUCING A NEW BOOK

LIFE'S WORD
TO LIAHONA SAINTS

By Max B. Skousen


     In the Summer of 1998, I completed a project that I have wanted to do for at least thirty years. It is now available and is one of the deepest spiritual messages I have ever had the privilege of being involved with. It is an LDS commentary on a rather small and mysterious book called Life's Word. This book, all by itself, has some of the most profound Third Level Teachings I have ever found. So where did I get it?
     In 1968, a copy of a manuscript was presented to me by a very dear friend and mentor, Dr. Robert Rhondell Gibson. At the time, I was just beginning to understand how rigid I was in my conclusion that there was only one reality and I knew for sure what it was.
     When I read the manuscript, I began to see that since God is really God, then truly His hand must be IN ALL THINGS, just as we are told in modern revelation. That being the case, then in my judgmentalness, I had been condemning Him and His infinite work, unknowingly, all my life. Lights of deeper understanding and joy began coming in my mind and heart.
     Over the subsequent years, I have read Life's Word many times, and each time I am amazed at the new insights I find. Often I will re-read the book by starting at the last chapter and read the chapters in reverse order. In this way, the later chapters hit with fresh and renewed meaning.
     As to the book's origin, my friend would say nothing except that he had not written it. So I know of no one who knows of its origin, which is fine because it comes with no authority, no restrictions, and no dogma other than its clear message. Just enjoy it and gain what inspiration you are ready to receive.
     I have taken the liberty of changing the old style English found in the original manuscript, the "doests" and "wilts," etc., into modern English. In content, it is still basically the original. As I cover each of the eleven mysteries, I have put a box around the original text which appears prior to the commentary, so the reader has the original before each LDS commentary.

THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR BABES BUT THOSE
WHO ARE READY FOR THE MEAT OF THE GOSPEL

     Life's Word is a book of great depth and profound insight, revealing the oneness of all creation as a direct and fully involved function of infinite and eternal God. It is a book that has not been easily understood by the average Latter-day Saint because the tree of knowledge, where the preparatory gospel is found, stresses our separateness rather than our oneness.
     However, there are clear statements in both The Book of Mormon and The Doctrine and Covenants which amplify many of the teachings revealed in Life's Word. So I have written this LDS Commentary to enable those who have already read my two books in the series of A Blessing Hitherto Unknown, Book I, Looking Beyond the Mark and Book II, Finding the Mark, to better understand its message of how we are to move from the preparatory gospel on the tree of knowledge to the fullness of the gospel on the tree of life.

THE GREAT BUILDING VS THE TREE OF LIFE

     In the very beginning of the Book of Mormon we are given the amazing visions of Lehi and Nephi in which they saw two opposing positions - one being the fruit of the tree of life and the other being the great and spacious building. Life's Word will enable the careful reader to understand why God has seen to it that His chosen people, in ancient days as well as in these days, have dwelt in the great building of pride and self righteousness rather than going to the precious tree of life.
     Lehi saw that ancient Israel, by and large, were proudly defending their great and spacious building, which was so heavenly that it did not even touch the ground. Those self confident inhabitants, let's remember, belonged to God's true church, possessing the priesthood, God's law, prophets and the holy temple. Having what they believed was the one and only truth, they were mocking their fellow members who were "foolish" enough to go to and partake of the strange white tree on the other side of the river.

WHY WE TOO ARE IN THE GREAT BUILDING

     Now, we in modern Israel have been told by the Lord that we also have a serious problem with vanity and unbelief. Since we cannot partake of the fruit of the tree of life unless we have a broken heart and a contrite spirit, the Lord has warned us why most of us are not partaking of the fruit.      But what about those members who have experienced, through great humility, the more personal guiding presence of the Spirit. In Lehi's vision, these would be the people who had left the building and found the strait and narrow path which, hopefully, would take them all the way to the tree of life. These members, being more spiritual and much less intolerant, I call "Liahona Saints," in contrast to the majority, who might respectively be called "Great and Spacious Building Saints."

LIAHONA SAINTS AND THE STRAIT AND NARROW PATH

     Liahona Saints have the guidance of the Spirit within their hearts, like a Liahona. In Lehi's journey to the new world, he was given an instrument made of brass, called the Liahona or Compass, which was to guide them on their physical and spiritual journey.
     The Liahona would not seem to represent the tree of life, but instead, it is more like the condition of those who were on the strait and narrow path which led between the great building and the tree of life. Although the fruit from the tree of life would never fail for it represented the perfect "love of God which sheds itself into the hearts of men." the Liahona could fail because of imperfect humility, symbolized by their being blinded by the mists of darkness which afflicted the path.

THE MISTS OF DARKNESS WHICH CONFUSES
THE CERTAINTY OF THE STRAIT AND NARROW PATH

     Life's Word to Liahona Saints is written for this particular group of members who have moved, spiritually, somewhat beyond the self-righteous, judgmental pride of many members and have joined those on the straight and narrow path with the aim of gaining access to the tree of life. But Lehi saw that all those on the path were blinded by the mists of darkness, which represent the "temptations of the devil."
     These temptations are very subtle, for as with Satan's first victory in the garden of Eden, he wants Liahona Saints to continue feeding off the tree of knowledge by converting their inspirations into proud conclusions, i.e., still knowing "what ought to be." Since "what ought to be" is seldom exactly "what is," they fail to end conflict and, thus, have not yet entered into the Lord's rest at the tree of life. Instead, they continue struggling to attain those high standards of spirituality demanded by the inner guidance of the Spirit.

FORSAKING THE STRAIT AND NARROW PATH
AND TAKING HOLD OF THE IRON ROD

     Life's Word To Liahona Saints is designed to help individuals move beyond this Second Level of spirituality, symbolized by the strait and narrow path, to what can be called the Third Level, symbolized by the iron rod. In Lehi's vision, only the iron rod could enable individuals to successfully work their way through the mists of darkness, all the way to the tree of life. Nephi found that the iron rod symbolized the Word of God, which most members believe means the "law of God." But proudly possessing the law is what the great building represents. Actually, instead of the word meaning the law, it means Christ. Christ, we are told, is the Word of God!

         And His name is called the Word of God...And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations [our vain conclusions], and He shall rule them with a rod of iron, and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelations 19:13-16)

     So Christ is not only the Word, He is also a sharp sword. We can recall that in the garden of Eden there was the flaming sword which turned every way to protect the tree of life from the unprepared. Naturally, before we can partake of the tree of perfect love, we would have to have rooted out of us much of that judgmentalness we picked up from the forbidden tree of knowledge. So on this Third Level of the work of Christ, we will be chastened and rebuked so we can eventually be prepared to reach the tree of non-judgmentalness. As Christ declared, "Those I love I rebuke and chasten!"
     So if we think of this book, Life's Word, as an iron rod or Third Level teachings, we would see that it is designed to pull our proud legs out from under us, and in doing so, give us a whole new way to see the "great and marvelous...works of the Lord, how unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of Him." So be prepared for a number of surprises.

THE ELEVEN MYSTERIES

     The eleven mysteries are progressive in nature, describing the process by which we move ever closer to experiencing who and what we are.

    1. The Mystery of Who You Are
    2. The Mystery That All Is Good
    3. The Mystery of Being Healed
    4. The Mystery of Healing Others
    5. The Mystery That All Is Pure
    6. The Mystery of Giving
    7. The Mystery of Humiliation
    8. The Mystery of Regeneration
    9. The Mystery of Freedom
    10. The Mystery of Religion
    11. The Mystery of Death