Doctrine and Covenants

Revelation with a date and a place attached. The Lord's own preface to His book, the vision of the degrees of glory, the Olive Leaf and the light that fills immensity, the Word of Wisdom read in its 1833 setting, and the letter from Liberty Jail.

7 lessons written4 hr 55 min of reading24 Doctrinal Mastery passages

01
The Lord's Own Preface
Doctrine and Covenants 1
A book of revelations that opens with a revelation about itself — including an admission most scriptures never make: that these words were given to weak men, in their own language, so they could understand.
D&C 135 min4 sections
02
The Vision
Doctrine and Covenants 76, and the end of a two-destination heaven
Two men translating a single verse of John are shown the structure of the next life. The result dismantled the heaven-or-hell binary of nineteenth-century Christianity, and some early Saints could not accept it.
D&C 76; 1 Corinthians 15:40–42; D&C 88:20–2450 min4 sections
03
The Oath and the Covenant
D&C 84, priesthood, and the promise attached to it
The revelation that explains what priesthood is actually for — not administration but access — and then attaches to it the most expansive promise in the Doctrine and Covenants, along with a warning that is just as expansive.
D&C 84:19–48; Hebrews 7:11–28; Exodus 33:20; JST Exodus 34:1–245 min4 sections
04
The Olive Leaf
Doctrine and Covenants 88 — light, law, and a house of learning
Joseph Smith called it "the olive leaf... plucked from the Tree of Paradise, the Lord's message of peace to us." It is also the most ambitious revelation in the book: a physics of light, a theory of law, and an instruction to build a school.
D&C 8845 min4 sections
05
A Principle with Promise
The Word of Wisdom, in its own words and in its own century
A short revelation given "not by commandment or constraint" that became, ninety years later, a requirement for temple attendance. Reading it in its 1833 setting explains both what it says and how it came to be applied as it now is.
D&C 8935 min4 sections
06
Liberty Jail
Doctrine and Covenants 121–123
A prophet in a freezing basement cell writes a letter that begins with a complaint against God and ends with the most searching passage on the use of authority in the Latter-day Saint canon.
D&C 121–12345 min4 sections
07
The Redemption of the Dead
D&C 138, and what Christ did between Friday and Sunday
An old man, six months from his own death and having buried a son that year, reads three verses in 1 Peter over and over and is shown what happens in the spirit world. It answers the oldest objection to Christianity — what about everyone who never heard — with an organisation chart.
D&C 138; 1 Peter 3:18–20; 1 Peter 4:6; Alma 40:11–1440 min4 sections

Doctrinal Mastery

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Joseph Smith—History 1:15–20Joseph Smith saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description.
Doctrine and Covenants 1:30The only true and living church.
Doctrine and Covenants 1:37–38Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.
Doctrine and Covenants 6:36Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.
Doctrine and Covenants 8:2–3I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost.
Doctrine and Covenants 13:1The Aaronic Priesthood holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism.
Doctrine and Covenants 18:10–11The worth of souls is great in the sight of God.
Doctrine and Covenants 18:15–16How great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!
Doctrine and Covenants 19:16–19I, Jesus Christ, have suffered these things for all.
Doctrine and Covenants 21:4–6The prophet's word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth.
Doctrine and Covenants 29:10–11I will reveal myself from heaven with power and great glory, and dwell in righteousness with men on earth a thousand years.
Doctrine and Covenants 49:15–17Marriage is ordained of God.
Doctrine and Covenants 58:42–43He who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven.
Doctrine and Covenants 64:9–11Of you it is required to forgive all men.
Doctrine and Covenants 76:22–24By Jesus Christ the worlds are and were created.
Doctrine and Covenants 82:10I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say.
Doctrine and Covenants 84:20–22In the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest.
Doctrine and Covenants 88:118Seek learning, even by study and also by faith.
Doctrine and Covenants 89:18–21The blessings of the Word of Wisdom
Doctrine and Covenants 107:8The Melchizedek Priesthood has power and authority to administer in spiritual things.
Doctrine and Covenants 121:36, 41–42The rights of the priesthood cannot be controlled nor handled only on the principles of righteousness.
Doctrine and Covenants 130:22–23The Father has a body of flesh and bones; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost is a personage of Spirit.
Doctrine and Covenants 131:1–4The new and everlasting covenant of marriage
Doctrine and Covenants 135:3Joseph Smith brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God.