Ezra Thayer and Northrup Sweet were told in the 33^rd section of Doctrine and Covenants to “open your ears.”  (D&C 33:1).  Having done so, they were then commanded to “open your mouths.”  (Verses 8, 9, and 10).

It occurs to me that our mouths can’t be opened until we first open our ears, eyes, minds, hearts, and understandings.  Once we’ve done that then we can open our mouths and the Lord will fill them.

The trouble with most people is that their ears, eyes, minds, hearts and understandings are shut.  They’re close-minded.  To such the Lord says, “Wo unto the deaf that will not hear; for they shall perish.  Wo unto the blind that will not see; for they shall perish also.”  (2 Ne. 9: 31, 32).

King Benjamin in prefacing his talk said, “I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I shall speak, but that you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view.”  (Mosiah 2:9).

Benjamin himself did that.  Therefore, his mouth was opened, and the words that he spoke were so powerful that the people all fell to the earth, for the fear of the Lord came upon them.  (Mosiah 3:1).

President Joseph F. Smith had his eyes, ears and mind open as he sat pondering over the scriptures.  He said, “As I pondered over these things which are written, the eyes of my understanding were opened…”  (D&C 138:11).  His mouth was then opened, and he gave us the amazingly enlightening revelation that is section 138, the vision of the dead.

Those that won’t see, that won’t hear, and whose minds are shut are all around us.  Consequently their minds are darkened.  The problem is that many of those are people in positions of authority who are supposed to be leading and teaching others.  You can’t teach what you don’t know.

An example is the Easter service that Margie attended in another church a couple of years ago.  She was there at the invitation of one of her piano students who was to be baptized that day.  The church was full of people.  Whole families were there.  It could have been an LDS meeting except that everyone was dressed casually in gym attire and sports clothes, and that everyone wandered in and out of the meeting to get soft drinks and snacks from the vending machines in the lounge area.  They sat around eating and drinking as if being entertained while the minister spoke.

The preacher himself wore a Hawaiian shirt, khaki pants, and sandals.  He was telling of Jesus’ resurrection.  He had no insights into the event, and was trying to make it as interesting as possible by acting out what he could.  “They ran to the tomb,” he said, while pumping his arms and pretending to run.

The presentation was totally empty and devoid of anything worthwhile, Margie said.  The preacher then came to the capstone of his talk.  “I’ve studied this for the past month,” he said.  “I’ve come to the conclusion that Jesus was a God.”

At the conclusion of the meeting, the preacher changed from his khaki pants to a pair of shorts.  While still wearing his Hawaiian shirt, he baptized Margie’s student.

This man had gone to school for years to learn to be a preacher.  What was taught there?  Every Primary child can tell you that Jesus is God.  They can also tell you that the Godhead is composed of three Beings.  They could teach the preacher and his congregation many things about Jesus, the resurrection, and about reverence for sacred things.

They, and we, could teach them if the people would open their ears, their eyes, their minds, their hearts, and their understandings.

I don’t know who the preacher was that day.  I imagine, though, that with all of his learning he has acquired some very definite opinions about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I imagine we’d find his mind closed.

Someone has said that the definition of a bigot is someone who slams his mind in your face.

“Wo unto the deaf that will not hear.”

“Wo unto the blind that will not see.”

“Open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view.”

Then, “Open your mouths and they shall be filled…Yea, open your mouths and spare not (I think that means don’t be shy), and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your backs, for lo, I am with you.

“Yea, open your mouths and they shall be filled…”  (D&C 33: 8-10).—15 June 2012