December 5,1995
Subject: Joseph in Egypt
Are you amazed at yesterday's stories? Many people wonder how a man can wrestle with an
angel. We just accept the story because it was told to us. Yesterday, we talked about how the wives
of Jacob had great challenges in their feelings, one toward another. Today, you will see the result-
how they treated their brother Joseph, the son of Rachel.
Joseph dared report to his father that there were evils among his brothers, and Jacob
reproved the boys for doing wrong. These big brothers were then angry at Joseph, who was
obedient to his father. Jacob made a special coat of many colors and the brothers were jealous and
accused their father of favoritism. The reality was, Joseph obeyed and the other boys were
disobedient. They often didn't stay with flocks. I say again, the boys became a lot like their mothers
- jealous and fighting. Before Joseph was born, his mother had been humbled greatly and that is the
kind of a woman that this obedient boy was born through. Joseph was humble and obedient because
his mother humbled herself and that's the kind of boy she brought forth. When he shared his dreams
with his brothers, they were angry.
Perhaps you've been through this kind of a test in your life, where you see evils that your big
brothers or sisters do. You know the teachings of the priesthood - if you keep quiet and protect them
in their evils, it's just like you did the evil. This is the test on every one of you. If you're the older
one and do wrong and then threaten the younger ones, you're just like the older sons of Jacob who
got in so much trouble.
These boys were not close to their father for a long time and some of them became immoral
and unclean. Joseph passed the test. His father sent him to see what his brothers were doing. When
he approached the group, they became angry and didn't keep sweet. He was pleasant and said he'd
come to check on them. The brothers put him down in a deep pit and said they were going to sell
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him as a slave. The Midianites took him out of the pit and sold him to the captain of the guard of
Pharaoh, named Potipher. Joseph was 17 years old when tom from his home. The boys decided to
lie to their father and said they found the coat of many colors with blood on it. Jacob wept and wept
for days. He was so sad he almost died.
Joseph obeyed Potipher and took the challenge sweetly, thus gaining the approval of others
and then control of Potipher's household, etc. The spirit of God whispered to him that one day all
would be well if he would just keep sweet and endure well. Joseph was clean and innocent. He'd
been taught by his father that the greatest sin you can commit is to touch a girl - the greatest sin
next to murder. Jacob taught Joseph that he should preserve his virtue and not allow a girl to touch
him and not allow himself to touch any girl so he could one day receive the promises of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. His love for Jacob is what carried him through.
It so happened that the wife of Potipher thought she was a mighty pretty lady and she was
immoral. She wanted to be with men other than her husband. Joseph in his teenage years was very
handsome. She called him beautiful. She, in the worldly way, fell in love with Joseph, to where she
wanted to be with Joseph and touch him, and kiss him and hug him. She commanded him to come
to her bedroom and lay with her. She ordered him to kiss her and touch her and he would not. When
she saw he would not, she was so sad.
When nobody was around, she would say, "I love you, I love you. Aren't I beautiful? Touch
me, I love you." All the time, constantly, whenever they were alone, she was trying to get Joseph to
commit this great evil. Joseph learned real quickly, how to handle this temptation that whenever a
girl who wanted him to like her was around, he would just look down on the ground and not look
up. One day Zellicah ordered him to look at her, after she had dressed into something that
showed her self - she wasn't covered. He would not look so she grabbed him and tried to kiss
him. He pushed her away and rushed away so fast, she held onto his coat. Being a failure she was
so mad she started crying in a phony way of course, saying she had been attacked.
Joseph told Potipher that he had done nothing, that Zellipah had been trying to touch him all
this time. Potipher believed his wife and had Joseph whipped, then thrown into prison and there he
stayed for years.
Here's the lesson for today, young people. As you get older, as your body grows, you will be
tested in this area of your life. I know that a child is tested very young in this. You have to come to
loyalty and the love of priesthood, to where you'd rather die - you boys, than ever touch a girl and
you girls, you'd rather die than ever touch a boy or want to be touched, because once certain things
are done, you cannot go to the celestial kingdom. You cannot go to the celestial kingdom if you get
married wrong - if boys and girls do things together, where they can't be in this work any more. I
say to you young people, what Uncle Roy was taught was taught by his father, a boy doesn't even
have the right to take a hold of a girl's arm until they're married. The girls must keep the bars up and
not let boys touch them.
Egyptians were a people who were naked just like the people on the streets in our city. They
didn't keep themselves covered. Joseph had the same challenge that we do. One day, you'll go
through this test. The devil will tempt the boys to like a certain girl or the girls to like a certain boy.
I'd like to give you a few recommends in your habits in your daily life, to help you grow up
morally clean. It's the gentile tradition that boys can get dressed with boys and girls get dressed in
front of girls. I'm telling you, the prophets don't do that. My father didn't say, "Come into my
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bedroom and watch me get undressed and dressed." He kept himself private from his boys' eyes.
We've told you the story how Canaan, the son of Ham, was cursed for making fun of Noah's
nakedness. I remind you of what the first thing the Lord did for Adam and Eve - to teach them to
cover their bodies. Even before He taught them about baptism, sacrifice of animals, or the gift of
the Holy Ghost, He first taught them to cover their bodies.
You know a little baby growing up, can be naked and not be guilty, not feel bad. They can
run through the house being uncovered and not really feel guilty, but it seems like the age of two to
three years old, a child's mind starts to understand. You can say to that child, "You stay covered." As
early as two years old, a child can be taught it is so wrong to go uncovered. I voice this to show you
that inside each of you, you know it's wrong, so when you get dressed in the morning, or get your
nightclothes on at night, don't do it in front of brothers and sisters. Go to the bathroom or closet
where you're alone - somewhere where you can have your body be sacred to you. When you get
undressed, even to cleanse your body with a bath, do it quickly - get dressed quickly and consider
that even your eyes should be guarded. I'm talking about treating your own body right. You should
keep yourself covered.
In your daily walk in your home, you bigger boys don't go touch those girls, those little
sisters. You girls don't touch those boys. You bigger girls, if you change their diapers, do it quickly.
Don't let them run around naked, learning to be uncovered. Teach children to be covered and help
your parents teach them to be moral. These are little habits you can have, to teach children to keep
covered.
Why do I dare talk like this? It's because you go right out on the street and there's naked
people. You go out in the stores and they're wearing their shorts, and their uncovered bodies are
right in front of your eyes. I dare say to you, that you must be covered. You must be different from
the world. Do as Joseph in Egypt did.