{"id":41999,"date":"2021-08-15T12:43:05","date_gmt":"2021-08-15T17:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.timesandseasons.org\/?p=41999"},"modified":"2021-08-15T12:43:05","modified_gmt":"2021-08-15T17:43:05","slug":"this-is-the-light-of-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2021\/08\/this-is-the-light-of-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThis is the light of Christ\u201c"},"content":{"rendered":"

As one of Joseph Smith\u2019s largest revelations, Doctrine and Covenants, Section 88 (or, as Joseph Smith called it, \u201cthe Olieve leaf which we have plucked from the tree of Paradise\u201d) has a lot of different talking points.\u00a0 As historian Richard Lyman Bushman wrote: \u201cNothing in nineteenth-century literature resembles it.\u00a0 \u2026 The \u2018Olive Leaf\u2019 runs from the cosmological to the practical, from a description of angels blowing their trumpets to instructions for starting a school.\u00a0 Yet the pieces blend together into a cohesive compound of cosmology and eschatology united by the attempt to link the quotidian world of the now to the world beyond.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 The majority of this Olive Leaf revelation was recorded on 27-28 December 1832, with the end section being recorded as a separate revelation on 3 January 1833 that became so closely associated with the December revelation that they were eventually combined into one document.\u00a0 Among the topics that moved beyond the mundane world of the now is a metaphysical discussion towards the beginning of the December revelation about Jesus the Christ and light.<\/p>\n

This portion that discusses Jesus and light has given rise to the idea of an interesting entity in Latter-day Saint through\u2014the light of Christ or Spirit of Christ.\u00a0 The revelation states that: \u201cI now send upon you another comfortor,\u00a0even upon you my friends; that it may abide\u00a0in your hearts, even the holy spirit of promise.\u00a0 \u2026 This comfortor\u00a0is the promise which I give unto you of\u00a0eternal life; even the glory of the celestial\u00a0kingdom, which glory is that of the church\u00a0of the first born; even of God. the holiest\u00a0of all; through Jesus Christ, his son.\u201d\u00a0 After stating that this comforter is given\u2014the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ\u2014the text then goes into a description of the Christ: \u201che that\u00a0assended up on high, as also he, decended\u00a0below all things;\u00a0in that he comprehended\u00a0all things, that he might be in all, and\u00a0through all things; the light of truth,\u00a0therefore<\/span>\u00a0which <?truth?> shineth\u2014 this is the light of Christ.\u201d\u00a0 This light of truth, or light of Christ:<\/p>\n

is in the s?<\/em>n, and the light of\u00a0the son [sun], and the power thereof by which it\u00a0was made, as also he is in the moon, & is, the\u00a0light of the moon, and the power thereof,\u00a0by which it was made, as also the light\u00a0of the stars, and the power thereof; by which\u00a0they were made; and the earth also,\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0and the power thereof, even the earth upon\u00a0which you stand, and the light which\u00a0now shineth; which giveth you light,\u00a0is through him which enlightneth your\u00a0eyes; which is the same light that quickneth your understandings, which light, [p. 34] procedeth forth from the presence of God; to fill the\u00a0emencity of space; the light which is in all things\u00a0which giveth life to all things, which is the law\u00a0by which all things are govorned, even the power\u00a0of God, who sitteth upon his throne; who is in the\u00a0bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things[2]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It seems that the revelation built upon earlier imagery that depicts Jesus lighting the way to salvation to describe the light of Christ as a radiant energy or a form of the glory of God, proceeding from His presence and giving life and intelligence to all creation.<\/p>\n

The phrase \u201cthe light of Christ\u201d only appears in two other places in Joseph Smith\u2019s corpus, both in the Book of Mormon.\u00a0 The first comes in the Book of Alma where, after discussing a group of Lamanites who converted to Nephite Christianity due to the efforts of Nephite missionaries, the author observes that: \u201c& thus we see the great call of the diligence of men to\u00a0labour in the vineyards of the Lord & thus we see the great reason of sorrow &\u00a0also of rejoicing sorrow because of death & destruction among men & joy because\u00a0of the light of Christ unto life.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Here, the \u201clight of Christ unto life\u201d seems to be used more in the sense of Jesus lighting the way to salvation. \u00a0The other appearance, in the Book of Moroni, seems to describe something similar:<\/p>\n

brethren it is given unto you to judge that ye may know good from evil & the way\u00a0to judge is as plain that ye may know with a perfect knowledge as the day light is\u00a0from the dark night for behold the spirit of Christ is given to every man that they\u00a0may know good from evil. \u2026 & now\u00a0my brethren seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge which light\u00a0is the\u00a0light of Christ\u00a0see that ye do not judge wrongfully for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged wherefore I beseach of you brethren\u00a0that ye should search diligently in the\u00a0light of Christ\u00a0that ye may know good from\u00a0evil & if ye will lay hold upon every good thing & condemn it not ye certainly will\u00a0be a child of Christ.[4]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This light of Christ is a source of spiritual illumination that allows people to know good from evil, leading them to become children of Christ in these texts.<\/p>\n

Combining these statements in the Book of Mormon (especially the Moroni one) with the Olive Leaf revelation\u2019s reflection has given rise to a specific understanding of the light of Christ in the Church today, but the path to that understanding has taken time.\u00a0 In early days of the Church, the light of Christ seems to have been viewed as synonymous with the Holy Ghost or the Gospel (the latter in the sense of walking in the light of Christ in how one lives their life).\u00a0 This was possible because the Holy Ghost was viewed as some sort of omnipresent force or entity.\u00a0 For example, in the Lectures on Faith (published in 1835 as the original doctrine portion of the Doctrine and Covenants where it remained until the 1920s), Jesus and God the Father are the \u201ctwo personages who constitute the\u00a0great matchless, governing and supreme power over all things,\u201d connected because they possess \u201cthe same mind\u00a0\u2026 which mind is the Holy Spirit.\u201d[5]<\/a>\u00a0 As Vern G. Swanson summarized: \u201cThe Holy Ghost in this binitarian understanding was the \u2018mind\u2019 or common essence, the \u2018Spirit of God\u2019 and the \u2018Light of Christ,\u2019 emanating from the Father and Son. Most literature from this early period emphasized the \u2018influence,\u2019\u2019power,\u2019 \u2018fire,\u2019 \u2018spirit,\u2019 and \u2018gifts\u2019 of the Holy Ghost. It was something to be \u2018spread,\u2019 \u2018filled,\u2019 \u2018poured,\u2019 or \u2018bestowed\u2019 upon the righteous, especially after baptism.\u201d[6]<\/a>\u00a0 Rather than being a personage in the Godhood, the Holy Ghost was a power or mind that connected all creation to God.<\/p>\n

While Joseph Smith would teach later in life that the Holy Spirit was a personage, these earlier teachings about the Holy Ghost remained influential in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout the 19th<\/sup> century into the early 20th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 For example, in 1857, President Brigham Young stated that \u201cI do not wish you to understand that the Holy Ghost is a personage having a tabernacle like the Father and the Son; but he is God\u2019s messenger that diffuses his influence through all the works of the Almighty.\u201d[7]<\/a>\u00a0 Likewise, Elder Parley P. Pratt wrote in 1855 that:<\/p>\n

It is \u2026 an absolute impossibility for God the Father, or Jesus Christ, to be everywhere personally present.<\/p>\n

The omnipresence of God must therefore be understood in some other way than of His bodily or personal presence.<\/p>\n

This leads to the investigation of that substance called the Holy Spirit. \u2026<\/p>\n

There are several \u2026 subtle, invisible substance but little understood as yet by man, and their existence is only demonstrated by their effects. \u2026<\/p>\n

The purest, most refined and subtle of all these substances, and the one least understood, or even recognized, by the less informed among mankind, is that substance called the Holy Spirit.[8]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Holy Ghost was frequently spoken of as a substance that could diffuse influence rather than a personage.<\/p>\n

This ran contrary, however, to the teachings of Joseph Smith in the 1840s.\u00a0 For example, in April 1843, he taught that: \u201cThe Father has a body\u00a0of flesh & bones as tangible as mans the Son also, but the Holy Ghost is\u00a0a personage of spirit.\u2014 and a person\u00a0cannot have the personage <?of the H G. [Holy Ghost]?> in his heart\u00a0he may recive the gift of the holy\u00a0Ghost. it may descend upon him but\u00a0not to tarry with him.\u201d[9]<\/a>\u00a0 Or, as recorded in another account: \u201cThe Holy Ghost is a personage, and\u00a0a person cannot have the personage of the H. G. in his heart. A man may\u00a0receive the gifts of the H. G, and the\u00a0H. G. may descend upon a man but\u00a0not to tarry with him.\u201d[10]<\/a>\u00a0 By the time this was published in an official history in 1856, this was edited to match more closely to what Brigham Young and Parley Pratt were teaching, reading similar to how it reads in the Doctrine and Covenants today: \u201cThe Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man\u2019s; the Son also: but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit: were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.\u00a0 A man may receive the Holy Ghost, and it may descend upon him and not tarry with him.\u201d[11]<\/a>\u00a0 The difference was in the detail of whether or not the Holy Ghost can dwell in our hearts\u2014in the original, He was a personage and thus could not dwell in hearts, while in the latter He was a spirit and thus could. \u00a0In any case, when this was officially added to the Doctrine and Covenants in 1879, it began to shift the understanding of the Holy Ghost as a substance to understanding the Spirit as a person.<\/p>\n

This shift began to show in the writings of Latter-day Saint theologians of the turn of the 20th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 Elder B. H. Roberts wrote in the 1901 edition of his book The<\/em> Gospel<\/em>:<\/p>\n

In some of the writings of the early Elders of The Church, the fact of the personality of the Holy Ghost was not sufficiently emphasized. In some passages of their writings, indeed, it would almost seem that the Holy Ghost was not regarded as a personage at all; but, mistaking the manifestation of his universal influence for himself, they speak of him as a universally diffused substance, such as electricity or ether. \u2026 The Holy Ghost, however, according to the word of God is a personage <\/em>of spirit, and as such has the limitations of all persons or individuals; but he is possessed of an influence universally diffused and operates as the very power of God.[12]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This reflects the shift in discourse to viewing the Holy Spirit as a person.<\/p>\n

This began to cause a separation between the Holy Spirit and the Light of Christ in our theology.\u00a0 As mentioned by Roberts in pointing out the \u201climitations of all persons,\u201d the corporeal nature of God limits His omnipresence in Mormon thought (since a body exists in a specific portion of space), and the Holy Spirit was seen as the omnipresent part of the Godhead.\u00a0 As the Spirit began to be viewed as a personage as well, that same limitation on omnipresence began to apply to the Holy Ghost, so the idea of the Light of Christ began to fill the omnipresent role for Latter-day Saints.\u00a0 As Elder LeGrand Richards would point out in his influential A Marvelous Work and a Wonder<\/em>: \u201cSince the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit in the form of man (See I Nephi 11:11) and hence confined in his personage to a limited space, the question is often asked: How can he be a comforter to all who have received the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, scattered as they may be, among all nations of men?\u201d[13]<\/a> \u00a0This necessitated some shifts in how we talked about various aspects of the Holy Ghost and related doctrines.<\/p>\n

It took time to separate out the Holy Ghost from the Spirit or Light of Christ.\u00a0 In 1902, for example, President Joseph F. Smith taught that: \u201cIs there any difference between the Spirit of the Lord and the Holy Ghost?\u00a0 The terms are frequently used synonymously. \u2026 The Holy Ghost is a personage in the Godhead, and is not that which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.\u00a0 It is the Spirit of God which proceeds through Christ to the world that enlightens every man that comes into the world.\u201d[14]<\/a>\u00a0 Throughout at least the 1920s, the Holy Ghost and the Light of Christ were used interchangeably, but Joseph F. Smith\u2019s son, Elder Joseph Fielding Smith would begin to differentiate between them more clearly by at least the 1930s.\u00a0 For example, in a personal correspondence, he wrote that: \u201cThe Holy Ghost should not be confused with the Spirit which fills the immensity of space and which is everywhere present.\u00a0 This other Spirit is impersonal and has no size, nor dimension; it proceeds forth from the presence of the Father and the Son and is in all things.\u00a0 We should speak of the Holy Ghost as a personage as \u2018he\u2019 and this other Spirit as \u2018it.\u2019\u201d[15]<\/a> \u00a0He also stated that while many terms use to referred to the Holy Ghost \u201clargely are used in relation to the Spirit of Jesus Christ, also called the Light of Truth, Light of Christ, Spirit of God, and Spirit of the Lord; and yet they are separate and distinct things.\u201d[16]<\/a>\u00a0 Taking his cue from this, in 1948, McConkie stated in general conference that: \u201c[God] has given us the \u2026 Light of Christ, and also the Holy Ghost,\u201d indicating that the two entities were separate things.[17]<\/a>\u00a0 This reflects a somewhat messy and slow process of differentiating between terms for the Light of Christ and terms for the Holy Spirit as they began to be seen as two different things.<\/p>\n

This differentiation was partially enabled by utilizing a particular scientific theory of that era, the luminiferous aether.\u00a0 Rather than being an angry sludge sort of thing, this aether was based on the idea that if sound moves through air by waves of vibration of particles in the air passing on to neighboring particles, then things like light that don\u2019t seem to pass through matter must be passing through some other substance.\u00a0 The aether, then, was speculated as being this medium or substance that light passes through.\u00a0 While this was later disproved in scientific circles, it was a relatively popular in Mormon thought to equate the luminiferous aether with the light or spirit of Christ for a while.\u00a0 For example, Elder B. H. Roberts wrote that: \u201cFrom the presence of these Divine Beings proceeds an essence or substance (perhaps like unto ether) variously called ‘spirit,’ ‘light,’ ‘light of truth,’ ‘light of Christ,’ \u2026 through which the purposes of the Divine Intelligence are impressed upon other minds and also upon matter, and hence the orderly creations and their maintenance\u2014the cosmos.\u201d[18]<\/a>\u00a0 Likewise, Elder John A. Widtsoe quoted Section 88 and explained that: \u201cThis quotation gives undoubted evidence of the prophet’s belief that space if filled with some substance which bears important relations to all natural phenomena.\u201d\u00a0 He went on to explain his belief that: \u201cJoseph Smith taught in clearness the doctrine that a subtle form of matter, call it ether or Holy Spirit, pervades all space.\u201d[19]<\/a>\u00a0 While specifically connected to the Holy Spirit in that last instance, this foreshadowed some aspects of the role of the Light of Christ in the Church today.<\/p>\n

There are echoes of this idea of the Light of Christ being an aether for the influence or glory of God still discussed from time to time.\u00a0 For example, in 1966, Elder William J. Critchlow, Jr. taught that: \u201cAgain, like the Father and the Son, the Holy Ghost can only be in one place at a time, and he cannot transform himself into any other form or image. To affirm omnipresence of the personage of the Holy Ghost overstates divine purpose. However, his power and intelligence are omnipresent in perhaps the same way the light of Christ fills the immensity of space and is everywhere present. Who can affirm that the two are not in some way correlated agencies or powers through which the Holy Ghost, in administering his affairs, sends forth his gifts?\u201d[20]<\/a>\u00a0 Similarly, in Elder Bruce R. McConkie\u2019s last book, he wrote that: \u201cIt is \u2026 the agency used by the Holy Ghost to manifest truth and dispense spiritual gifts to many people at one and the same time.\u00a0 For instance, it is as though the Holy Ghost, who is a personage of spirit, was broadcasting all truth throughout the whole universe all the time, using the light of Christ as the agency by which the message is delivered.\u00a0 \u2026 It is in this way that the person of the Holy Ghost makes his influence felt in the heart of every righteous person at the same time.\u201d[21]<\/a>\u00a0 The idea of the Light of Christ functioning as the media for transmitting the influence of the Holy Ghost seems to be rooted in ideas expressed about the spirit of Christ as a universal aethar.<\/p>\n

Today, the Light of Christ has definitions still very much connected to the process of separation from the Holy Ghost.\u00a0 For example, in True to the Faith<\/em>, a topical reference that the Church publishes, it is defined as follows:<\/p>\n

This power is an influence for good in the lives of all people. \u2026 In the scriptures, the Light of Christ is sometimes called the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, or the Light of Life.<\/p>\n

The Light of Christ should not be confused with the Holy Ghost. It is not a personage, as the Holy Ghost is. Its influence leads people to find the true gospel, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (see\u00a0John 12:46;\u00a0Alma 26:14\u201315).<\/p>\n

Conscience is a manifestation of the Light of Christ, enabling us to judge good from evil.[22]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The careful definition of terms used to describe the light and the statement that it should not be confused with the Holy Ghost are an ongoing reflection of the fact that the term \u201cThe Light of Christ,\u201d drawing on the language of the Book of Mormon and the Olive Leaf revelation, was effectively synonymous with the Holy Ghost. This was partially because of the ascendancy of the Lectures of Faith <\/em>in the Doctrine of Covenants in the 1800s and the teachings of important Church leaders, but the incorporation of later teachings of Joseph Smith in Section 130 in the late 1800s initiated a gradual separation in the two terms that took hold most firmly in the mid-20th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 In many ways, this shift in the 20th<\/sup> century has made it sensible to revert the text of Section 130 to its original form, indicating that the Holy Ghost, as a person, cannot dwell in our hearts, since we tend to teach that it\u2019s the influence<\/em> of the Holy Ghost, delivered by the power of the Light of Christ, that is actually dwelling in our hearts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Footnotes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling<\/em>, First Vintage Books Edition (New York: Vintage Books, 2007), 206.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> “Revelation, 27\u201328 December 1832 [D&C 88:1\u2013126],” p. 33-34, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed August 12, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/revelation-27-28-december-1832-dc-881-126\/2<\/a><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> “Printer\u2019s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, circa August 1829\u2013circa January 1830,” p. 243, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed August 13, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/printers-manuscript-of-the-book-of-mormon-circa-august-1829-circa-january-1830\/247<\/a><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> “Printer\u2019s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, circa August 1829\u2013circa January 1830,” p. 456, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed August 12, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/printers-manuscript-of-the-book-of-mormon-circa-august-1829-circa-january-1830\/460<\/a><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> “Doctrine and Covenants, 1835,” p. 52-54, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed August 13, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/doctrine-and-covenants-1835\/60<\/a><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Vern G. Swanson, \u201cThe Development of the Concept of a Holy Ghost in Mormon Theology,\u201d in Line Upon Line: Essays in Mormon Doctrine<\/em>, ed. Gary James Bergera (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), 90-91.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Journal of Discourses, 6:95.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology<\/em> (Liverpool and London: F. D. Richards and L.D. Saints\u2019 Book Depot, 1855), 38-39, https:\/\/contentdm.lib.byu.edu\/digital\/collection\/NCMP1820-1846\/id\/17243<\/a><\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> “Instruction, 2 April 1843, as Reported by Willard Richards,” p. [43], The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed August 14, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/instruction-2-april-1843-as-reported-by-willard-richards\/7<\/a><\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> “Instruction, 2 April 1843, as Reported by William Clayton,” p. 70, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed August 14, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/instruction-2-april-1843-as-reported-by-william-clayton\/5<\/a><\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> “\u201cHistory of Joseph Smith\u201d,” p. 137, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed August 14, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/history-of-joseph-smith\/474<\/a><\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> B.H. Roberts, The Gospel: An Exposition of its first principles; and Man\u2019s Relationship to Deity, <\/em>3rd<\/sup> ed. (Salt Lake City: Desert News, 1901), vii.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> LeGrand Richards, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder<\/em> (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1953), 103.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine<\/em>, 5th<\/sup> edition, pp. 66-68.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Cited in Joseph Fielding Smith Doctrines of Salvation<\/em>, ed. Bruce R. McConkie (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954), 1:49-50.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> Smith, Doctrines of Salvation <\/em>1:50.<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> Conference Report, October 1948, p.26.<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> B. H. Roberts,\u00a0Comprehensive History of the Church<\/em>, Vol. 2, Ch. 63, pp. 399-400<\/p>\n

[19]<\/a> John A. Widtsoe, Joseph Smith As Scientist<\/em>, (Salt Lake City: The General Board Young Men\u2019s Mutual Improvement Associations, 1908), 24, 27.<\/p>\n

[20]<\/a> Conference Report, April 1966, p.45<\/p>\n

[21]<\/a> Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith<\/em> (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), 70.<\/p>\n

[22]<\/a> True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference <\/em>(Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2004), 96, https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/manual\/true-to-the-faith\/light-of-christ?lang=eng<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As one of Joseph Smith\u2019s largest revelations, Doctrine and Covenants, Section 88 (or, as Joseph Smith called it, \u201cthe Olieve leaf which we have plucked from the tree of Paradise\u201d) has a lot of different talking points.\u00a0 As historian Richard Lyman Bushman wrote: \u201cNothing in nineteenth-century literature resembles it.\u00a0 \u2026 The \u2018Olive Leaf\u2019 runs from the cosmological to the practical, from a description of angels blowing their trumpets to instructions for starting a school.\u00a0 Yet the pieces blend together into a cohesive compound of cosmology and eschatology united by the attempt to link the quotidian world of the now to the world beyond.\u201d[1]\u00a0 The majority of this Olive Leaf revelation was recorded on 27-28 December 1832, with the end section being recorded as a separate revelation on 3 January 1833 that became so closely associated with the December revelation that they were eventually combined into one document.\u00a0 Among the topics that moved beyond the mundane world of the now is a metaphysical discussion towards the beginning of the December revelation about Jesus the Christ and light. This portion that discusses Jesus and light has given rise to the idea of an interesting entity in Latter-day Saint through\u2014the light of Christ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10397,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2895,18,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-come-follow-me-currculum","category-general-doctrine","category-scriptures"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42000,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41999\/revisions\/42000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}