Judas Goats

Listening to "Judas Goat" hosted by Art Bulla on #BlogTalkRadio http://tobtr.com/s/1428398

 

Original Air Date: December 30, 2010

Judas Goat

A Black Goat Named Judas The holding pens for the cattle, hogs, and sheep were on the river bank. A fenced bridge spanned the river and connected with a ramp that angled up to the top story of a processing plant on the other bank. Since the animals to be butchered had to be herded across the bridge and up the ramp, the men who managed this operation developed a clever solution. They trained a black goat to enter the sheep pens, mingle with the sheep, and then lead the way across the bridge and up the ramp through the door of the processing plant. Once inside the doorway, the goat stepped aside, and the sheep pressed on to their ultimate fate. I remember watching this scene as my dad explained the operation. He paused, then added, "Let that be a lesson to you; be careful who you follow. Make sure your know where you are being led." Neil J. Flinders THE ENSIGN/JULY 1976

The higher men rise within the light of the gospel, the lower they fall. God often allows sheep and goats to mingle together. But gradually, under the testing and temptation associated with the Gospel of Christ, men prove to be either sheep or goats. Goats will gather with other goats, but true sheep will not follow them, for Jesus said, "My sheep know my voice and another (i.e. Glenn Beck) they will not follow." But the Judas goats are constantly leading blind sheep to their damnation, thereby proving themselves unworthy of exaltation with God. (Judas Iscariot, by Ogden Kraut)

 

 

 

The Devil's Disciples

Woe unto the world because of offences! For it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! (Matt. 18:7)

Men come to earth to be proven. They must become acquainted with good and evil, truth and error; and pass through the fires of temptation. Without this experience, they can never qualify themselves for a crown of glory. They must understand sorrow, pain and suffering; then they can appreciate the goodness of heaven. But men, like many things in nature, have their opposites. Some men are good, and others are wicked. Yet, they often appear in many of the same places on earth. The devil has his representatives, and they usually live in conflict with God's representatives. Brigham Young observed:

As it has always been, and will be yet for some time, when the sons of God assemble together Satan will be on hand as an accuser of the brethren, to find fault with those who are trying to do good. (J.D. 11:141)

Satan's cunning exploits are designed to change God's work, or else establish His counterfeit nearby. Either by deception or destruction, the devil has, and always will oppose the work of God. From the beginning when he persuaded Cain to become an instrument of conspiracy and murder, he has been busily engaging men to do the same.

The Book of Mormon declares, "It must needs be, that there is opposition in all things." Priesthood finds this opposition in priestcraft; which always is its enemy and often its counterfeit. Priestcraft simulates Priesthood for the purpose of destroying it. ***

Priesthood elevates to the worship of the true and living God; priestcraft degrades to the slavery of the soul. Priesthood saves; priestcraft destroys. The two principles are as opposite as the poles. They are elements that can never unite. Everything that Priesthood is, priestcraft is not, and can never attain to. (Contributor 10:255)

The devil is the Prince of Priestcraft. His mission and objective is to destroy the souls of men. He cannot create, build up, or produce--only disorganize, tear apart and destroy. President Young explained:

I frequently think of the difference between the power of God and the power of the Devil. To illustrate, here is a structure in which we can be seated comfortably, protected from the heat of summer or the cold of winter. Now it required labor, mechanical skill and ingenuity and faithfulness and diligence to erect this building, but any poor, miserable fool or devil can set fire to it and destroy it. That is just what the Devil can do, but he never can build anything. The difference between God and the Devil is that God creates and organizes, while the whole study of the Devil is to destroy. (J.D. 13:4)

When men lose the spirit of God, they begin to think and act like the Devil, which is to destroy, corrupt and to oppose the work of God. The only way the Devil can operate is through those men who willingly become his servants. When Judas [38] had become wicked enough, the Devil then directed him in the effort to destroy Christ.

There is something in the nature of sin that causes the sinner to become endowed with the power of the devil. The spirit and power of good is turned into the power of evil in equal proportions.

Judas, when he lost the faith, received the power of the devil, and betrayed the Son of God into the hands of murderers. Joseph Smith in like manner was betrayed into the hands of wicked men, who took his life. He was betrayed by apostates, by men whom he once loved when they were in our midst, and had the Spirit of the Lord. (Heber C. Kimball, J.D. 2:107)

The Prophet Joseph Smith elaborated on this strange mystical power that overtakes men, to an elder by the name of Behunnin:

When the Prophet had ended telling how he had been treated, Brother Behunnin remarked: "If I should leave this Church I would not do as those men have done: I would go to some remote place where Mormonism had never been heard of, settle down, and no one would ever learn that I knew anything about it." The great Seer immediately replied: "Brother Behunnin, you don't know what you would do. No doubt these men once thought as you do. Before you joined this Church you stood on neutral ground. When the gospel was preached, good and evil were set before you. You could choose either or neither. There were two opposite masters inviting you to serve them. When you joined this Church, you enlisted to serve God. When you did that, you left the neutral ground, and you never can get back on to it. Should you forsake [39] the Master you enlisted to serve, it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and you will follow his dictation and be his servant." (Juvenile Instructor 27:492)

On another occasion, the Prophet Joseph declared:

The devil has no power over us only as we permit him. The moment we revolt at anything which comes from God, the devil takes power. (T.P.J.S., p. 181)

It is in proportion to the power and influence of the gospel among men that the power and influence of the devil is manifest. And those who will not receive but reject the spirit of the gospel, will have false spirits to send them revelations to believe and act upon.

Let a person digress from the path of truth and his mind will begin to become darkened, so

...the first moment the Saints leave the path of duty, that moment they are subject to the influence of evil, false spirits, which once having taken possession of the soul, are difficult, if not impossible to be removed. (Mill Star 14:278)

Any sin or transgression, no matter how small or menial, opens the door through which some evil power may take a foothold. Brigham Young explained:

The sins which are considered trifles lay the foundation for greater evils, and expose men to be tempted, and buffeted by Satan, and they will be overcome little by little, until by and by they are overtaken.... (J.D. 2:121)

[40] The apostleship is one of the highest callings ever given to man. From such exalted callings can come the deepest falls. With such great privileges and blessings, come the greater responsibilities; and it is only predicated upon strict obedience that exaltation is assured. If those with such responsibilities refuse the principles, the commandments, and the will of God, they must inherit a lesser kingdom. Thus:

When God offers a blessing or knowledge to a man, and he refuses to receive it, he will be damned. (T.P.J.S., p. 322)

President Brigham Young also added a thoughtful warning by saying:

...if a man shall do anything which he knows to be wrong, and repenteth not, he cannot enjoy the Holy Spirit, but will walk in darkness and ultimately deny the faith. (J.D. 11:134)

There is an important lesson to be learned here, if not a solemn warning, that those who lust for the wealth or temporal things of the world, will lose the spirit of the gospel and subject themselves to a hostile spirit. It is no more possible for men who will connive, scheme or steal from their brothers and gain the celestial kingdom than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

Small sums of money became an obsession to Judas, and temptation was then added to temptation. Instead of resisting the influence of mammon, Judas became its slave, and the love of money became the root of all his evil. As the revelations of Christ were rejected, the communication of Satan became predominant. Then, the power of Satan took precedence over the power of Christ. As one vice was added to another, Judas fell into transgression from which he was never to rise again.

[41] The deeds of mercy and charity struck at the covetousness of Judas, and the result was the seed of dissention. Soon the traits of disapproval, manifest itself in various forms, spreading disaffection throughout his system like a poison. At the rebuke of Jesus, his contentious and bitter spirit could only find revenge satisfying. The Prophet Joseph Smith said:

From apostates the faithful have received the severest persecutions. Judas was rebuked and immediately betrayed his Lord into the hands of His enemies, because Satan entered into him. (T.P.J.S., p. 67) The synoptic writers also leave the impression that when Jesus rebuked Judas that he began to act upon his plot to destroy Christ by betrayal. (See Luke 22:3)

We do not know all the deeds of Judas, but Jesus exposed enough that we know he had fallen, and caused the deepest grief to the Savior. Continued the Prophet:

He [Jesus] never transgressed or broke a commandment or law of Heaven--no deceit was in His mouth, neither was guile found in His heart. And yet one that ate with Him, who had often drunk of the same cup, was the first to lift up his heel against Him. (T.P.J.S., p. 67)

The scriptures tell us that the Devil entered into Judas and controlled him. Notice in the following:

When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had [42] dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop Satan entered into him, Then said Jesus unto him, that thou doest, do quickly. (John 13:21, 26, 27)

And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people. Then entered Satan unto Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. (Luke 22:2-3)

And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him; (John 13:2)

Not only was the devil working upon Judas, but he was also a major influence in others who were involved in that conspiracy. By the most careful, subtle, and appealing influences, the devil persuades and tempts men into his power. But his purpose is to thwart God's work.

The adversary presents his principles and arguments in the most approved style, and in the most winning tone, attended with the most graceful attitudes; and he is very careful to ingratiate himself into the favor of the powerful and influential of mankind, uniting himself with popular parties, floating into offices of trust and emolument by pandering to popular feeling though it should seriously wrong and oppress the innocent. (Brigham Young, J.D. 11:238)

But no person ever got into the grasp of Satan except by committing crimes or transgressions. Every apostate is guilty of sin. It requires a person to forsake the principles of truth before they can come under the power of the devil and apostatize.

But, it is always the trifling, small divergences from the path of truth that starts men to miss the mark and lose the spirit of the Lord. When the spirit of the Lord is driven from a man because of sin, then the spirit of the devil enters in and fills up the vacancy. The spirit of the devil is the spirit of unhappiness and the greater men sin, the greater becomes their misery. Eventually every apostate will be driven into darkness, sorrow, and grief. Once the devil gains possession, then they make war upon the truth and those who advocate it. When they are filled with the spirit of the devil, they act like the devil. Joseph Smith said:

When a man begins to be an enemy to this work he hunts me, he seeks to kill me, and never ceases to thirst for my blood. He gets the spirit of the devil -- the same spirit that they had who crucified the Lord of Life--the same spirit that sins against the Holy Ghost. You cannot save such persons; you cannot bring them to repentance; they make open war, like the devil, and awful is the consequence. (T.P.J.S., p. 358)

Heber C. Kimball described the nature of such persons by saying,

I have learned one thing to a demonstration since I became a member of this Church, that if a man is determined to be damned, nothing can hinder it. (J.D. 6:323)

Men, in their natures, were developed in a pre-mortal life, and many were chosen to be placed in a particular area on earth "before the foundation of the world"; (Eph.1:4) and others He did "foreknow" and "did predestinate" (Rom. 8:29) many others for specific functions on earth.

[44] Yet, the wicked, too, may be used in the plan of God, for they can serve certain purposes. The devil is necessary in the plan of man's salvation; for without evil, no man could gain exaltation. There must needs be opposition in all things, especially the spiritual ones.

Men, like the Pharoah of Egypt, are placed in certain positions by God for a wise purpose. The Lord said to Pharoah:

And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. (Exodus 9:16)

If the Pharoah had not hardened his heart those many times, the children of Israel would not have seen the great and mighty miracles of God. After the many plagues, the Israelites knew for a certainty the power and nearness of their God.

Jesus, too, understood the reason for the devil to afflict so many people at the time of His ministry on earth. When the disciples asked why a certain man was born blind, He replied, "that the works of God should be made manifest," and "I must work the works of him that sent me." (John 9:3-4) By healing the blind man, the people could see the power of God.

Men, in mortality, are only developing the character that they previously possessed in their pre-existent state. It is here on earth that they prove, through free agency, the kind of being they really are. Yet, God can use men like Pharoah and Judas to prove His sheep. They are goats that lead blind sheep or other goats, and thereby prove them. Consider the following story:

When I was a boy, I used to go with my father to the Ogden stockyards. We lived on a small farm and occasionally sold a few animals there. During one of these visits my father taught me a lesson that has increased in its value over the years. It was a spontaneous bit of instruction and probably took less than a minute to deliver.

A Black Goat Named Judas

 

The holding pens for the cattle, hogs, and sheep were on the river bank. A fenced bridge spanned the river and connected with a ramp that angled up to the top story of a processing plant on the other bank. Since the animals to be butchered had to be herded across the bridge and up the ramp, the men who managed this operation developed a clever solution. They trained a black goat to enter the sheep pens, mingle with the sheep, and then lead the way across the bridge and up the ramp through the door of the processing plant. Once inside the doorway, the goat stepped aside, and the sheep pressed on to their ultimate fate. I remember watching this scene as my dad explained the operation. He paused, then added, "Let that be a lesson to you; be careful who you follow. Make sure your know where you are being led." Neil J. Flinders THE ENSIGN/JULY 1976

It is in mortality that these Judases eventually show their true colors. They cannot long persist in righteousness and correct principles, but will succumb to temptation and the allurements of sin. Once this happens, they fall from the high station they once attained, to the deeper depths of sin and crime. The higher men rise within the light of the gospel, the lower they fall. President Joseph F. Smith commented:

If, however, he receives that greater light, and then sins against it, the Spirit of God will cease to strive with him, and the Holy Ghost will wholly depart from him. Then will he persecute the truth; then will he seek the blood of the innocent; then will he not scruple at the commission of any crime; except so far as he may fear the penalties of the law, in consequence of the crime, upon himself. (J.F. Smith, Imp. Era, 11:382)

God often allows sheep and goats to mingle together. But gradually, under the testing and temptation associated with the Gospel of Christ, men prove to be either sheep or goats. Goats will gather with other goats, but true sheep will not follow them, for Jesus said, "My sheep know my voice and another they will not follow." But the Judas goats are constantly leading blind sheep to their damnation, thereby proving themselves unworthy of exaltation with God.  (Judas Iscariot by Ogden Kraut)

• The Revelations of Jesus Christ: http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-28287-3 
• "But we ask, does it remain for a people who never had faith enough to call down one scrap of revelation from heaven, and for all they have now are indebted to the faith of another people...does it remain for them to say how much God has spoken and how much He has not spoken?"  Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Section Two 1834-37 Pg.60
•  Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Section Six 1843-44 Pg.365
     When a man goes about prophesying, and commands men to obey his teachings, he must either be a true or false prophet. 
•  Our website: http://www.artbulla.com
•  "All men are liars who say they are of the true Church without the revelations of Jesus Christ and the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which is after the order of the Son of God."  Joseph Smith; TPJS p. 376
• "He that can mark the power of Omnipotence, inscribed upon the heavens, can also see God's own handwriting in the sacred volume: and he who reads it oftenest will like it best, and he who is acquainted with it, will know the hand wherever he can see it...." (T.P.J.S., p. 56)

·         10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. (New Testament | Galatians 1:10 - 12)

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