You seem to be in harmony with what I have been stating in this thread. It all comes down to whether or not something comes from the Spirit or not. If a man (or woman), be they an Apostle in the LDS church, or be they a beggar on the street, if they speak by the power of the Holy Ghost, they are not speaking the precepts of men or speaking by the power of the flesh, but rather, they are speaking by the power of God. If a man (or woman), be they an Apostle in the LDS church, or be they a beggar on the street, if they speak NOT by the power of the Holy Ghost, then they are not speaking the precepts of God or and they are speaking by the power of the flesh and the precepts of men.freedomforall wrote:The idea that we are to ignore the arm of flesh, in and of itself, is right. The catcher here is that there are times we are to pay heed to the arm of flesh, and many people fail or do not want to accept this one fact....
2 Nephi 28:31
31 Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save (except) their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Many people speak truth by the spirit. Whether or not it is accepted as such is another issue in itself.
Doctrine and Covenants 50:
17 Verily I say unto you, he that is ordained of me and sent forth to preach the word of truth by the Comforter, in the Spirit of truth, doth he preach it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?
18 And if it be by some other way it is not of God.
19 And again, he that receiveth the word of truth, doth he receive it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?
20 If it be some other way it is not of God.
21 Therefore, why is it that ye cannot understand and know, that he that receiveth the word by the Spirit of truth receiveth it as it is preached by the Spirit of truth?
22 Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together.
So know, now, that the idea of not following the arm of flesh as a blanket statement is a FALSE one.
The Spirit gives us utterance to speak the words of God. Without it, no man or no woman, can speak for God or can teach us the precepts of God.
You also correctly identified that many people speak truth by the Spirit. When you take these two ideas that you correctly identified, then you have identified the reason why we must learn to recognize and to distinguish between a persons speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost and someone speaking without that power. We make a mistake when we simply assume, without critical thinking, that just because a person has a position and a title in the Church, they have the Holy Ghost and they are speaking the words of God. We also make a mistake when we simply assume, without critical thinking, or testing, that just because a person does NOT have a position and a title in the Church, they are not authorized to speak the words of God through the power of the Holy Ghost.
That is why I say, if someone is speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost, they aren't really trusting in the arm of flesh and they aren't really speaking the precepts of men or speaking through the power of the flesh. That is why I say that we should listen to the Spirit exclusively. And like you correctly identified, whether or not we listen to the Spirit or even understand that Spirit is speaking, is a different thing altogether.
We will miss many opportunities to hear the voice of God when we become respecter of persons. We must be humble, meek, submissive, and easily entreated, having the love of God and charity towards all men. When we posses these traits, then there is not a person on this planet that we will treat with respect above that of another person. When we possess the traits of humility, meekness, and having the love of God and charity towards all men, we won't treat some individuals special or as celebrities and other individuals poorly. We will recognize that the voice of God can be found in many places. In fact, we will begin to hear the voice of God more frequently and more consistently. We can know something is good or of God by paying attention if the words we hear edify, uplift, increase our faith in Jesus Christ, bring about more good, fill us with love, peace, and joy towards all men. These are some of the ways we can understand the voice of the Spirit. The Spirit will have these effects on you. The Spirit will expand your mind and lead you to see and comprehend the world with a grand vision and it will fill your heart and mind so that you will be at peace with others and you will not have a disposition to harm or injure another. These are all tokens and signs we can look for to know if a person is speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Thanks for your post, freedomforall!
-Finrock