In the book of 2 Peter, there is a set of instructions that Peter gives relative to making one's calling and election sure (chapter 1, verses 5 – 8 [see below]). As Joseph Smith confirmed:
"Peter exhorts us to make our calling and election sure. This is the sealing power spoken of by Paul in other places:
"'And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory' (Ephesians 1:13 – 14).
"This principle ought (in its proper place) to be taught, for God hath not revealed anything to Joseph, but what He will make known unto the Twelve, and even the least Saint may know all things.... How is this to be done? It is to be done by this sealing power, and the other Comforter spoken of, which will be manifest by revelation" (STPJS, p. 149, NIV translation of the Bible inserted and emphasis added).
The steps Peter outlines in his discourse are echoed in D&C section 4:
"Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence. Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen" (D&C 4:6 – 7).
According to Peter, if we assemble those attributes within ourselves, we will "not be unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord," which appears to have reference to the 'other Comforter' spoken of by Joseph Smith:
"Now what is this other Comforter? It is no more nor less than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and this is the sum and substance of the whole matter; that when any man obtains this last Comforter, he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him, or appear unto him from time to time, and even He will manifest the Father unto him, and they will take up their abode with him, and the visions of the heavens will be opened unto him, and the Lord will teach him face to face, and he may have a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God" (STPJS, pp. 150 – 151).
With such great promises laid before the faithful, it behooves us to learn the attributes Peter outlines with great care and energy. As the scriptures say, God grants his mysteries to his children only "according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him" (Alma 12:9). With this motive in mind, the following is an alternate translation of these steps, or attributes to be gained, which come to us from the First Nations Version of the Bible, written in the story telling manner of the Native Americans:
"Put your whole heart into uniting trust with goodness, goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-discipline. Unite self-discipline with never giving up, and never giving up with walking a sacred way. Unite walking in a sacred way with family kindness, and family kindness with love. For if you are growing in these things, they will keep you spiritually strong and fruitful in the true knowledge of our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free* the Chosen One" (2 Pet. 1:5 – 8, FNV).
*The FNV renders Jesus' name as a translation, as opposed to a transliteration, of the meaning of the original Hebrew name, hence Jesus becomes "Creator Sets Free."
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