The following remarks were shared as part of the United Kingdom Conference held in Edinburgh, Scotland on November 18, 2023.

Denver Snuffer:  Did anyone bring a set of Scriptures with them? A set of the three-volume, new printed Scriptures? You did? Do you mind if… 

Unknown: [indecipherable comment]

DS: No, if I let people pass them around. Is that okay?

Unknown: You have permission. 

DS: This is one volume. Do you have the other two? 

Unknown: No, I just choose between three. 

DS: So you packed and you flew from the States, did you? Umm, this is hard-bound. 

Unknown: Buffalo. 

DS: Did they give you the option of getting them hard-bound? 

Unknown: Yeah. 

DS: They did? 

Unknown: Got in early. 

DS: Yeah, why would anyone do that? They’re flexible when you soft bind them, but they’re still in leather. 

I wanted anyone who has not seen what these look like to have a chance to look at them. I’m gonna mention them… Let’s just pass them around. That way, it’ll wind up—if it goes this way and then this way—it’ll wind up back with its owner. I want to mention the Scriptures at the end. What time are we supposed to end here? 

Unknown: Five o’clock.

DS: Five o’clock. So I’ll be right on the money. 

When the Scriptures were being put together, one of the last things that needed to be done was to take the book of John and do something with it that made it a little more reliable, a little more accurate. And that assignment ultimately devolved upon me. But the material was not put in the New Testament; it was instead added as a section in the Teachings and Commandments volume, as section 171 and under the name of Testimony of St. John. I’m gonna be quoting from an incident that happened in that text. 

As I was working on it, I got to the—very early on—I got to the wedding feast in Canaan [Cana]. And there were so many options using the many definitional choices that you could have with the Greek for the words that were being used, that I gave up, and I quit the assignment, prayerfully, and let the Lord know that, you know, it would never be done in time for adding it to the Scriptures because the choices were too plentiful. And that night, I got help on the wedding feast at Canaan [Cana]. 

John purposefully selected that and put it into his account very early on, in order to tell about an incident that would illustrate the entirety of the gospel of Jesus Christ and Christ Himself. And so the purpose of this event (which actually took place) would put a parable into the mouth of the master of the feast that illustrates what it is we find when we come unto Christ. So I’m gonna read from that testimony: 

When the host of the wedding tasted the ceremonial water…  

Now, it’s called “water” at this point because these pots were six water pots made of stone that were used for ceremonial purification in religious observances. And so far as anyone knew, they were simply six pots filled with water, the water being used in cleansing ceremonies. 

When the host of the wedding tasted the ceremonial water, it had been converted into wine. But he did not know the source that converted the water, unlike the servants who recognized the Source. 

In the account, this is an attempt in our language to replicate some of the subtlety that John had at his command, writing in his language. The word source,

• in the first use, he did not know the source that converted the water… is small s; 





• unlike the servants who recognized the Source, capital S. 

We can use capitals and small letters in our language in order to convey or communicate a point. Throughout the record, Christ is not recognized as who He is, except on rare occasion, and therefore, all the pronouns referring to Him are small letter. But when someone figures out and they’re recognizing Him in His true role, then in our language, we can depict the recognition with capitalization. So “source” gets used twice in this sentence: once small/uncapitalized and once capitalized, because the servants were the ones who knew who the Source was. 

The host of the feast called for the bridegroom, and praised him using a proverb, saying, Careful men introduce their plans using the best wine, and later, when …followers are drunk, then their worst — but you have brought [to] us better wine than at the start. 

This was a sign confirming his role as the Messiah… 

You see, the Messiah is not like men who bring people aboard with some delightful tale, but when they get them within their grasp, then they abuse and misuse it. The Savior, when you come to Him, find out it only gets better. And this is a parable about how the Savior would conduct Himself—and does conduct Himself—with people who come to and accept Him as who He is. 

…It was a demonstration of authority over both the elements and ordinances of salvation. Those who recognized this as a sign of his authority were awed as they considered it was him present among them. (TSJ 1:16-17)

But clearly, it was only a small group. And in fact, it was the group that was the most servile; it was the servants who recognized who the Master was. Others were oblivious. 

Christ would be confronted by Nicodemus in the account that we have in the Testimony of St. John, and Christ explained to Nicodemus: 

I tell you, if you want to ascend to the Heavenly Council, you must first acknowledge and give heed to the messengers sent by them. (TSJ 2:3)

See, Nicodemus had greeted Him by acknowledging Him, that He was a master and that He’d been sent by the Heavenly Council—and he wanted to know something about how to get back into that condition. And Christ is saying, “Well, if you want to ascend to the Heavenly Council, you must first acknowledge and give heed to the messengers sent by them.” So Nicodemus needed to change his priority. Instead of being attentive to the Sanhedrin, an authority that had not been sent; they’d simply inherited office by tradition that had been preserved under the arrangement that Moses had originally established, but they were hollow at this point. They may have authority that people recognized societally/institutionally within the group, but they didn’t have authority from the Heavenly Council. And therefore, what Jesus was saying was rather revolutionary. It was rather turning things upside down. It’s like that quote I read the other night: “All great truths begin as blasphemies,” as George Bernard Shaw. 

Well, at this point, what Christ is saying is really in the form of blasphemy because he’s undermining those that are in a position of authority. Christ goes on to explain to Nicodemus:

Everything about my assignment, which I am now performing, was foretold by the prophets sent earlier to teach Israel, for they all testified of me. They told you I would come, and I am now here doing what was prophesied, but you refuse to see it happening… 

That’s always a dilemma, you know. It’s happening right in plain sight. Easily ignored. 

Enough is underway that rejecting it means you prefer darkness to light. Humble yourself and admit the prophets foretold the very things now underway; repent and be baptized and the Spirit of Truth will open your eyes. If you want greater light, you will obey this instruction. If you refuse, then you never meant it when you greeted me as an enlightened heavenly guide. (Ibid. ¶ 4, emphasis added)

That’s always the test, you see. “I believe in Heaven. I believe in prophets. I believe in Scripture. I believe in the Lord. And I believe all that He said throughout!” And yet, were the Lord here, you’d find reason to criticize! You’d find Him too congenial, too irreverent, or too somber. I mean, He says, at one point: “Look, I sent you people that played for you to dance, and you wouldn’t dance. And I sent you others to cause you to mourn, and you wouldn’t mourn. You’re never happy. You can’t be pleased. The only way to please you is to say, well, you are all of it.” But the truth is, none of us are all of it. We’re all not quite what the Lord was and is. 

Jesus responded to the doubts of the Jewish religious leaders:

My doctrine does not come from me, but from God who sent me. Anyone who walks in God’s path will understand his doctrine, because that path increases light and knowledge. I testify of that path. Follow it and you will know whether I am sent by God or I am not sent by God. Teachers who preach from their own understanding only gratify their pride… (TSJ 6:5)

Okay, so we need to pause at that point because this is a really interesting moment in our Scriptures that we’ve been given. He’s saying, If a man is out teaching you and what he is teaching you, it hails from his understanding, then what he’s doing is being done to gratify his pride. So hold that idea of gratifying your pride, and I want to jump to a letter that was written by Joseph Smith in the Liberty Jail after he’d been confined for nearly six months and at a point when he did not know if he would ever get out of there. He wrote (after saying “many people are called but few are chosen”):

Why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspi