I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down…

www.kevinhinckley.com

It all depends on the angle…

C.S. Lewis

There are only two kinds of people in the end:

Those who say to God “thy will be done,”

And those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.”

All that are in Hell choose it….

Return from Babylonian Captivity

Samaritans wanted to help; they are refused

Then the [Samaritans] weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem." (Ezra 4:4-6)

Andrew Skinner"The phrase used in Ezra 4:4, which says the Samaritans 'weakened the hands' of Judah, reflects a Hebrew idiom which means to cause someone to lose heart and become discouraged. The phrase was used in a nonbiblical source, a Hebrew ostracon from Lachish, in which a prophet was accused of lowering the morale of the country at a critical moment.

Thus, in their spiritually and emotionally weak state, the Jews, having little resolve, allowed harassment from the Samaritans to hinder their work on the new temple for several years."

(Studies In Scripture, 4:342-343)

Elder Marriner W. Merrill

He was sitting in his office one morning, he said, when he noticed from the window a company of people coming up the hill to the temple. As they

entered the temple grounds they presented rather a strange appearance. . . .

A little later a person unknown to Brother Merrill entered the room. Brother Merrill said to him: "Who are you and who are these people who have come up and taken possession of the temple grounds

unannounced?"

He answered and said: "I am Satan and these are my people."

Brother Merrill then said: "What do you want? Why have you come here?"

Satan replied: "I don't like the work that is going on in this temple and feel that it should be discontinued. Will you stop it?"

Brother Merrill answered and said emphatically, "No, we will not stop it. The work must go on."

"Since you refuse to stop it, I will tell you what I propose to do," the adversary said. "I will take these people, my followers, and distribute them throughout this temple district, and will instruct them to whisper in the ears of people, persuading them not to go to the temple, and thus bring about a cessation of your temple work." Satan then withdrew.

The spirit of indifference to temple work took possession of the people and very few came to the house of the Lord for a period after this incident. It is not to be wondered at that Satan, who is the enemy of all righteousness, is displeased with temple work.

N. B. Lundwall, Temples of the Most High, 99.

George Q. Cannon

Every foundation stone that is laid for a temple, and every temple completed according to the order the Lord has revealed for His holy priesthood, lessens

the power of Satan on the earth, and increases the power of God and godliness, moves the heavens in mighty power in our behalf, invokes and calls down upon us the blessings of eternal gods, and those who reside in their presence.

(Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980], 179.)

Nehemiah

4:1 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.

2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? … will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?

3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.

6:1 Now it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein;

2 That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief.

3 And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?

Question

Why would any Latter Day Saint leave the “great work” to go down to the “plains of Ono”?

President John Taylor

We find men come along among us sometimes who think we are fools, and that they could improve matters considerably.

They have had plenty of opportunity in the world to do that, why haven't they accomplished it? ….

There was some man came up [to Nehemiah] and wanted to interfere with his operations, but said he, "I am doing a great

work, hinder me not." We feel about the same.

We are engaged in a great work, we are seeking after our own salvation and the salvation of our friends, the salvation

of our forefathers, the salvation of our children and posterity who shall come after us, the salvation of the world wherein we live and its everlasting happiness and exaltation…

… And in speaking of the Saints let me tell you that the religion you embraced five, ten, twenty, thirty or forty years ago is just the same now as it was then; it is like its author,

… We are after the truth. We commenced searching for it, and we are constantly in search of it, and so fast as we find any true principle revealed by any man, by God or by holy angels, we embrace it and make it part of our religious creed.

(Journal of Discourses, 26 vols., 14:, p.342)

Elder Marvin J. Ashton

"Certain people and organizations are trying to provoke us into contention with slander, innuendos, and improper classifications. How unwise we are in today's society to allow

ourselves to become irritated, dismayed, or offended because others seem to enjoy the role of misstating our position or involvement. Our principles or standards will not be less than they are because of the statements of the contentious.

Ours is to explain our position through reason, friendly persuasion, and accurate facts. Ours is to stand firm and unyielding on the moral issues of the day and the eternal principles of the gospel, but to contend with no man or organization. … Ours is to be heard and teach. Ours is not only to avoid contention, but to see that such things are done away.“

Ensign, May 1978, p8

BYU Professor’s response to Anti-Mormon literature

Replying to such anti-Mormon materials … is somewhat frustrating. First, it obliges an

advocate of the restored gospel to take time off from the pleasant duty of affirmatively teaching the truth. …

Answering such attacks as this requires, rather, that the discussion take place on ground chosen, often rather arbitrarily, by the critic. It distracts from the impressive quantity and quality of evidence now available in support of the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

Second, and perhaps even more frustrating, it involves responding, yet once more, to objections that were successfully answered years ago and that, therefore, do not really merit renewed discussion-objections, moreover, that will almost certainly continue to be raised no matter how often and how convincingly they are settled.

(Daniel C. Peterson), FARMS Review of Books, vol. 9, no. 1 (1997)

Elder Packer

Sisters, you have a great work to do. Build Relief Society! Strengthen its organization! Do not be enticed to leave it and go down to the worldly plains of Ono.

Do not allow yourselves to be organized under another banner. Do not run to and fro seeking some

cause to fulfill your needs. Your cause stands under the authority of the priesthood of Almighty God; that is the consummate, the ultimate, power extant upon this earth! . . .

Oh, how powerful the tender, tempering teachings and the disarming wisdom of our sisters can be. I found the spirit of Relief Society-the whole of it-in the quiet reply of one sister.

Someone ridiculed her determination to gather her year's supply. She had stored enough for herself and her husband, with some to spare for her young married children who were without the means or the space to provide much for themselves. She told him she did it because the prophets had counseled us to do it. He chided her: "In the crunch you won't have it anyway. What if your leaders call everything in? You'd have to share it with those who didn't prepare. What will you think then?"

"If that should happen," she said, "at least I will have something to bring." (Memorable Stories and Parables of Boyd K. Packer , p.22-23)