Sacrificing Honesty When A Broken Heart is Required (click 'read more')
Sacrificing Honesty When A Broken Heart is Required
“. . . it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.”
Scott Roderick
3/15/26
Perplexity describes my feelings after repeated readings of the “Mousetrap” talk by Denver Snuffer Jr. There have been numerous attempts at explaining the substance of the talk. Nothing I’ve read or heard left me confident the opinions expressed accurately explain what Denver intended to convey. Including my own. Urgency to understand the talk was increased when Denver stressed the gravity of his remarks by saying:
“People do not yet realize The Perfect Mousetrap is the most important talk I’ve given to the Covenant Christian community. It will look different a few months from now” (My last talk blogpost (Mousetrap), December 20, 2025).
Denver elevated the importance of his “Mousetrap” talk for anyone believing his words are given by revelation. I read his talk multiple times with the same conclusion. I was convinced I failed comprehending the gravity of his message and felt it would take “time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts” to understand the talk.
I’ve been in this position many times in the past. Experience has taught a humble confession before God of my ignorance and patience eventually lead to clarity. An essential key is not condemning or criticizing His messenger when I lack understanding. I must own my ignorance rather than question those delivering the message.
Praying for greater light and understanding I began reviewing the “Mousetrap” talk and subsequent communications from Denver on the subject. Some clarity is beginning to break. I don’t profess full comprehension. Only that reviewing the talk and Denver’s recent comments, I feel as if the Lord is patiently providing greater understanding. The following comments by Denver are helpful:
“After I had asked to personally experience the things my father had seen, and believing the Lord could reveal them to me, as I sat pondering in my heart, I was carried away in the Spirit of the Lord to a very high mountain, one I had never seen or set foot on before. The Spirit asked me: What do you want? I replied: I want to see what my father saw. The Spirit asked me: Do you believe your father saw the tree he has talked about? I replied: Yes, you know that I believe all my father’s words. When I had said these words, the Spirit shouted: Hallelujah to the Lord, the Most High God! He is God over the whole earth, even above all! And you are blessed, Nephi, because you believe in the son of the Most High God [because of his father’s testimony]; therefore you’ll see the things you’ve asked to see. And this will be given to you for a sign, that after you’ve seen the tree that bore the fruit your father tasted, you’ll also see a man descending from heaven and you’ll testify of Him. And after you’ve testified of Him, you’ll testify that He is the Son of God” (CofC 1 Nephi 3:6; emphasis added).
Nephi, exercising faith in Jesus Christ because of his father’s testimony witnessed all his father experienced from a broadened perspective. He sought greater understanding (as do we) having faith that Christ could and would show him. His request was granted after affirming his faith in all his father had taught him. I surmise if Nephi criticized or questioned his father’s teachings, he would not be visited by the angel or asked if he believed his father. His unbelief disqualifies him from receiving greater light.
Enos, like Nephi reflected on the words of his father leading him to a connection with Heaven and the new name of “Blessed.”
“I Enos respected my father because he taught me to read and understand his language, and that allowed me to be guided and corrected by the Lord. May the name of God be blessed for it. I’ll tell you about the struggle I had with God before receiving forgiveness of my sins. I went to hunt animals in the forest, and the lessons I had often heard from my father about eternal life and the joy of the holy ones sank deep into my heart, and I wanted that to my very soul. Therefore I knelt down before my Maker and cried out to Him in powerful prayer in an appeal for my own soul. I prayed to Him all day long. When the night came, I continued to pray out loud to get the attention of heaven. Then a voice came to me, saying: Enos, your sins are forgiven, and you will be Blessed. And because I knew God couldn’t lie, I felt no more guilt. Then I asked: Lord, how did it happen? And He replied: Because of your faith in Christ, whom you haven’t heard or seen before this. Many years from now He’ll reveal Himself as a man. Press on, your faith has made you whole” (CofC Enos 1:1; emphasis added).
In the examples of Nephi and Enos, they were not at “rock bottom.” They Followed their righteous fathers example and the pattern described by Joseph Smith. They engaged in deep and ponderous thought leading them to approach God with faith that He would respond. Both received the attention of heaven by hungering and thirsting after righteousness. In the account of Enos we find the answer to why God is offended by the conduct the Lord and Denver witnesses among us.
“I knew God could not lie”
The statement that Enos knew God could not lie is a two-edged sword we may overlook. God will not, nor cannot lie. What is less appreciated is that we limit our ability to connect with Him because we approach Him with insincere, preconceived objectives. This approach carries over from how we communicate with one another. Our actions and communications reflect how we believe we should act as opposed to genuine expressions of our feelings. In modern society this behavior is considered polite. Unfortunately it masks our true reflections of how we feel and think.
God who cannot lie is unable to communicate with those who are disingenuous because it is a false pretense and dishonest. We persist in approaching God in a manner we think is appropriate until we genuinely long to commune with Him or are desperately driven to our knees by things we learn by sad experience. The absence of God’s Spirit is what drives us to “rock bottom.” We then turn to Him. It remains possible for us to learn by precept prior to reaching desperation.
Exchanging What We Think for What We Feel
I normally resist sharing personal anecdotes but this time may be appropriate. In the beginning of the second year of my mission it became necessary to consider change. The first year was difficult and unfulfilling. Something had to change and the only thing I controlled was myself.
Transferring to a new area, we were given permission to attend an institute of religion class taught by the bishop of the ward. His teachings became pivotal in changing the course of my life.
We attended his class where he spoke on prayer. He had a large family and was exemplary in his personal and professional life. During his class he spoke of two principles that resonated with me. They were of great influence and I have not forgotten them.
The first principle addressed our inclination to approach God in a formal manner. Entering a closet and putting on a metaphorical, intellectual tuxedo to be properly attired to speak with God. Adopting the philosophy of a job interview we approach Him as if He is not familiar with us and isn’t aware of our hearts. He is not deceived, rather we are self-deceived into believing God plays along with our ruse.
“I Mormon will now speak to you, my dear people. And it’s by the grace of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ and His holy will, because of the gift of His calling to me, that I’m permitted to speak to you at this time. I would like to speak to you who belong to the congregation, who are the peaceable followers of Christ, and who have obtained a sufficient hope to enter the Lord’s rest, from now until you rest with Him in heaven. Now, my people, I judge these things of you because of your peaceable walk with mankind. For I remember God’s word that says: You’ll know them by how they live. Because if their actions are good, then they’re good. God has said: A person who’s evil can’t do good. Because if they offer a gift or pray to God, unless they do it with real intent, it’s of no benefit to them — it isn’t credited to them for righteousness. If a person who’s evil gives a gift, they do it grudgingly; so it’s credited to them the same as if they had retained the gift. Therefore they’re considered evil before God. And it’s similarly counted as evil if a person prays without real intent of heart. It’s of no benefit to them since God doesn’t accept such a person. . .” (CofC Moroni 7:2; emphasis added).
Prayer by rote obedience has redundant checklists attempting to cover all bases. Many categories of prayer are addressed because we feel obliged to mention them rather than genuine heartfelt desires. As Mormon said, those prayers are not “credited to them for righteousness” on God’s divine ledger. “God doesn’t accept such a person.” One of many “mists of darkness” blinding us from God’s love is the challenge to “pray the way we really are rather than the way we think we should.” God is only accessible on condition of honest expressions of the heart. Especially if those expressions align with what He already knows we are feeling.
“. . . I want to share with you that there’s no other way for mankind to attain salvation except through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent. He’ll be the righteous judge. While infants who pass away won’t be lost. This belief is necessary for salvation and must be held steadfastly mankind must humble themselves and believe in the atoning blood of Christ to avoid damnation. Men and women, in their natural state, are out of harmony with God and have been since the Fall of Adam. This disharmony will continue from eternity to eternity, unless they yield to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, abandon their fallen nature, and become holy through the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. They should strive to become like a child, humble, meek, patient, and full of love, willing to accept everything that the Lord deems appropriate for them, as a child obeys their parents” (CofC Mosiah 1:16; emphasis added).
Part of abandoning our fallen nature is to be submissive to the Spirit of God inviting it to make intercession by guiding our prayers where the Lord knows they need to be:
“For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then with patience we do wait for it. Likewise, the spirit also helps our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for, as we ought. But the spirit itself makes intercession for us with striving which cannot be expressed, and he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (RE Romans 1:35; emphasis added).
Acceptable prayer before God is not recited, it is felt. Communion with God is when we allow His Spirit to give voice through us to “striving which cannot be expressed” on our own. It is inspired as the Spirit of God explores our hearts identifying what God knows we need as opposed to praying for a litany of reasons like a spiritual shotgun blast. When the Spirit of God intercedes on our behalf you feel communion with God. You understand one another and both are edified.
The Teachers Second Point
Following his emphasis on the importance of honest prayer, the discussion turned to how the instructor taught his children to pray. He led the discussion by saying to the class:
“Brothers and Sisters, I don’t teach my kids to say their prayers.” Remaining silent for several seconds for dramatic effect. There was an audible gasp at the shock from his statement. When the class collected themselves, the teacher continued, “I teach them to feel their prayers.” He began to explain how to invite the intercession of the Holy Spirit into our prayers. It requires a change in process. We transition from intellectually searching our minds for the list of things we believe should be included in our prayers. The difference between the intellectual, rote prayer and the intercession of the Spirit of God is to stop thinking and focus solely on our feelings. This allows the Holy Spirit to raise our consciousness to what we feel. It is a process of connecting to God by allowing His Spirit to reveal to us what the Lord knows we need. Instead of a broad approach covering everything and everyone we think we need in our prayers, the process becomes more surgical, more precise, more personal and intimate.
Several scriptures express the distinction between thinking and feeling in searching for God through prayer:
“God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is the Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as thou he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us; For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring” (LDS Acts 17: 24-28; emphasis added).
The Inspired Version of this passage does not include, “if haply they might feel after him, and find him” like the King James Version. For my purpose the language of the King James Translation supports the notion we seek the Lord by “feeling after Him.” Supporting the “feeling after God” approach we see Nephi accusing his brethren of hardening their hearts so they could not “feel” the Lord’s voice when He spoke to them:
“You’re quick to commit iniquity but slow to remember the Lord who is God. You’ve seen an angel and he spoke to you. You’ve heard His [the Lord’s] voice from time to time, and He’s spoken to you in a quiet, gentle voice; but you were no longer capable of feeling and you couldn’t feel His words. So He’s spoken to you in a thundering voice that made the earth shake as if it would split in two. You also know that by His all-powerful word He can make the earth pass away. You know that by His word He can level mountains and break apart the stable ground. Then how can you be so hard in your hearts [unfeeling]? My soul suffers because of you, and my heart aches. I’m afraid you’ll be rejected forever. I’m full of the Spirit of God, so much so that I’ve become exhausted” (CofC 1 Nephi 5:21; emphasis added).
Nephi describes the voice of God as “quiet, gentle.” His brothers were unable to hear the Lord’s voice because they were unfeeling, another way of describing hard hearts. Nephi states the Lord’s voice is not heard audibly but through a medium of feeling. Because it is felt and not audibly heard one may silence His quiet, gentle voice by refusing to acknowledge it when He speaks to us.
The final example where the Lord alludes to feelings as His preferred medium for communication is found in a frequently quoted revelation to Joseph Smith in the Teachings and Commandments:
“Behold, I say unto you, there were jarrings, and contentions, and envyings, and strifes, and lustful and covetous desires among them; therefore, by these things they polluted their inheritances. They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God, therefore the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble. In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel, but in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me” [“rock bottom”] (RE T&C 101:2; emphasis added).
Attaining a feeling level relationship with the Lord is contingent on our ability to communicate honestly with others as He requires honesty of us. Only then may we commune with one another and Him. We become “one.” We move from an intellectual approach to feeling what is required for us to go from “disharmony” to harmony with God.
My Personal Experience with these Principles
Suffice it to say I did not see the metaphorical Tree Nephi and Lehi saw. I was not visited by angels. I can say I was bathed in the love of God and experienced a change of heart. It occurred on the following day I heard the principles taught by a faithful servant of Jesus Christ. We remain friends to this day. From this experience I recall being in a state of wonder thinking it could never happen to me in my weakness. It was amazing (not an overstatement) to learn I could partake of God’s love right where I was now. I always believed there was some mystical somewhere I must ascend to before God would share this experience with me. Far from where I was at the time. Since that day, I’ve had an insatiable appetite for greater light and knowledge as evidenced by the content on adayindavid.com. The more light I receive, the more I know I have yet to scratch the surface of the knowledge of God.
Parsing Parts of the Mousetrap
“Zion is not a goal, an achievement, or a destination. It is apparently only possible as a
by-product. There is no precedent that I am aware of where people settled on Zion as a goal to be accomplished and then succeeded. That is because if people think it is their goal, then anything that frustrates the goal is thought to be opposition needing to be condemned. Fellow believers become opponents to one another. Instead of being “one,” the opposite happens. Once sides are taken, each can point to the other as the problem. The “other” is responsible for preventing Zion. In this fear of missing out on Zion, distress and anger increases, and everyone in your way becomes an enemy” (The Perfect Mousetrap, Denver Snuffer Jr., p.2; emphasis added).
The by-product spoken of in the above quote is the outcome when those who love God and keep His commandments receive the mind of the Father. They become one with Them. It is when a group of people share the common goal of abandoning disharmony with God. True harmony with God is to share the Father’s mind or His Spirit. Achieving Zion requires assistance from Heaven. Our Patriarchal Fathers, as ministering angels appear to “heirs of salvation,” mortal men who instruct us. Receiving the words of God cynically from those sent as messengers seals the heavens for the intended recipients. They are cut-off from God’s Spirit because of their unbelief.
We fail to appreciate the Priesthood order in play in this process. The temple endowment where the Lord sends Patriarchal Fathers [Peter, James, and John] to minister to Adam and Eve. In our day the same pattern is followed. When we fail to heed “heirs of salvation” we are not rejecting mortal men. We are in jeopardy of rejecting directions from the Father.
The Patriarchal Father’s faithfully walk the Father’s path, leading the way. They follow Elijah down from Heaven to minister and prepare us to receive the Father’s mind as we seek to become one with He and His Son. Rejecting the “heirs of salvation” called and chosen by God leads the Lord to reject us because we reject His servants.
The ministration of our Patriarchal Father’s only arrives when a small number of Gentiles assist descendants of Lehi in gathering a remnant of Israel.
“But if the Gentiles repent and hearken to My words and don’t harden their hearts, I’ll establish My congregation among them. And they [the Gentiles] will enter the covenant and be included with the remnant of Jacob, to whom I’ve given this land as their inheritance [Lehi’s descendants]. They [the Gentiles] will join with My people, the remnant of Jacob, and all those of the house of Israel who come, so they [All of the above] can build a city that will be called the New Jerusalem [This precedes the establishment of Zion with the Temple]. Then they [the Gentiles] will join with My people [remnant of Israel] who are scattered throughout the land so they can be brought in together to the New Jerusalem” (CofC 3 Nephi 10:1; emphasis added).
When this small group of remnants gather they establish the New Jerusalem. The word remnant is used because they must pass through “a refiner’s fire and fuller’s soap” to be sanctified sufficiently to dwell in the presence of those who reside in “everlasting burnings.”
When the small remnant is gathered and cleansed, the “messenger of the covenant” sanctifies Aaronic and Levitical priests to minister in the Temple. When their preparation is complete some are prepared to advance to the next level of Priesthood. The Spirit of Elijah is sent down from Heaven to open the portal between the kingdom of God in Heaven and the kingdom of God on Earth.
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he [Elijah] shall seal the heart of the [Patriarchal] Fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their [Patriarchal] Fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (RE Malachi 1:12; emphasis added).
“For behold, the day comes that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root [ancestry, no sealing power] nor branch [posterity, no sealing power]. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and you shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the Lord of Hosts” (RE Malachi 1:10; emphasis added).
“Then the Powers of heaven [Patriarchal Fathers] will come down among them, and I [Jesus Christ] will be with them [Patriarchal Fathers] as well” (CofC 3 Nephi 10:1; emphasis added).
We are in preliminary stages of fulfilling these prophecies. The fulfillment begins with a small number of people singularly focused on coming into harmony with the Father. They obtain a portion of His mind on their way to a fullness. The reason the numbers are small is because the “Accuser” is also the “Distractor.” His objective is to turn our attention away from our own pursuit of light and truth causing us to pridefully elevate ourselves by focusing on the weakness of others. Fixating our attention on them distracts us from overcoming our own weakness. It is much easier exercising harsh judgment on others as we extend an abundance of mercy to ourselves. God will realign the imbalance on the scale of justice by our suffering sad experiences.
“We present a new and different challenge to the adversary. Therefore, at present, a perfect mousetrap is being tailored for us. I’m hoping this talk will help us avoid being captured by it. Zion is not a goal, an achievement, or a destination. It is apparently only possible as a by-product. There is no precedent that I am aware of where people settled on Zion as a goal to be accomplished and then succeeded. That is because if people think it is their goal, then anything that frustrates the goal is thought to be opposition needing to be condemned. Fellow believers become opponents to one another. Instead of being “one,” [in the context of how the Father and Son are “one” in Lectures on Faith] the opposite happens. Once sides are taken, each can point to the other as the problem. The “other” is responsible for preventing Zion. In this fear of missing out on Zion, distress and anger increases, and everyone in your way becomes an enemy [This is a primary component of the Mousetrap the Accuser has designed for us].
It is an invidious [. . . calculated to cause resentment, animosity, or envy] and surprisingly successful way to divide people and create schisms. We go to war against anything seen as an impediment to the goal of Zion. Discussion and
resolution are impossible. Instead, the society degenerates into accusing one another of
being contentious and the minions of Satan, because “contention is of the devil.”
Whether there is finally a society capable of living in harmony with one another [“one”], Zion will follow in due course as a natural by-product of that society. If it could be achieved as a goal at a chosen location, then earlier, better people would already have accomplished it. Generations have come and gone, hoping to see it return, and have not done so [two hundred years have passed since Joseph Smith began the effort without appreciable success]. We are no better than other failed utopians, and cannot do better than the past failures until we begin to acquire the necessary traits and skills that allow authentic harmony to thrive and grow” (The Perfect Mousetrap, Denver Snuffer Jr., p.2; emphasis added).
Our problem is our superficial approach in how we believe the “traits and skills” are obtained. We gather on Zoom meetings endlessly parsing scripture when what the Lord requires is our broken hearts. Becoming inquisitive like a little child gathering pebbles of light and knowledge. We begin innocently enough but over time the Lord’s standard is that we become like “sentinels” vigilantly searching for truth wherever He plants it for our discovery.
Before we invest time judging others we should use the scriptures as guides for our own development.
“An accuser of the brethren does not need to invent a new basis to
condemn others. They only need to misapply scripture externally as a weapon against
others rather than letting the scriptures counsel and correct them internally. Joseph Smith taught to the Relief Society: “The devil has great power to deceive; he will so transform things as to make one gape at those who are doing the will of God.” In that same talk, he cautioned the sisters to “beware of self-righteousness and be limited in the estimate of your own virtues, and not think yoursel[f] more righteous than others…” (TPJS, pp.227-228). His warning and counsel then would be good advice to heed today. Using scripture to address the problem, define the problem, and highlight the problem, ironically, will not solve the problem. It just clarifies how each individual sees and interprets their own self-righteousness. That approach avoids any recognition of personal failures or misunderstandings” (The Perfect Mousetrap, Denver Snuffer Jr., p.4; emphasis added).
We should weigh our own preparation for preparing to gather the Lord’s people, entertain angels, and stand in Christ’s presence. The following scripture sets a high bar for us to reach for before we hope to share the judgment of the Father and Son.
“Now when king Benjamin had finished speaking the words that had been delivered to him by the angel of the Lord, he looked around at the crowd. Because the fear of the Lord overcame them, they had fallen to the ground. They looked at themselves in their carnal state, feeling no better than dust on the ground. In unison, they cried out: Have mercy on us and purify our hearts with Christ’s atoning blood, that we might receive a remission of our sins. They believed in Jesus, the Son of God who created all things, heaven, and earth, and who would come down to mankind. After they had said these words, the Spirit of the Lord embraced them and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins. And according to what king Benjamin had taught them, and because of the great faith they had in Jesus Christ, they gained peace of conscience. . . After king Benjamin had said all these things to his people, he sent out a message, asking his people if they believed what he taught them. And they all cried out with one voice, saying: Yes, we believe everything you’ve taught us. And we know these things are true because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has caused a big change in our hearts. We’re not inclined to do evil anymore, but rather want to continually do good. We, through God’s infinite goodness and the manifestations of His Spirit, can clearly envision what’s to come. And if necessary, we could even prophesy about all of it [endowment of knowledge from Heaven]. And it’s our faith in the things our king has taught us that’s given us this valuable knowledge, which makes us rejoice [“. . . understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together. . .”]! We’re willing to enter into a covenant with God, promising to obey His commandments and do His will for the rest of our lives. We don’t want to cause ourselves the never-ending torment described by the angel, nor do we want to incur God’s anger” (CofC Mosiah 2:1-2, 3:1; emphasis added).
These are the necessary “skills and traits” and the only way to acquire them. Traits God gives to those who repent, obtain forgiveness, “peace of conscience” with “no disposition to do evil, only good.” Humbly approaching God with a penitent heart in complete honesty is the only way to be endowed with the necessary “traits and skills.” It is the only way to obtain a “by-product” acceptable to God.
Recently I listened to a TikTok video with Sir Anthony Hopkins as the narrator. I suspect it was a product of artificial intelligence but the words reflected a conversation between the man and God. They are useful for the purposes of this paper. The following is the substance of that conversation:
“I asked God to take my habit away.” God said, “No, it is not for me to take it away, but for you to give it up.” “I asked God to grant me patience.” God said, “No, patience is a byproduct of tribulations, it isn’t granted it is earned.” “I asked God to give me happiness.” God said, “No, I give you blessings, happiness is up to you.” “I asked God to spare me pain.” God said, “No, suffering draws you apart from worldly cares bringing you closer to me.” “I asked God to make my spirit grow.” God said, “No, you must grow on your own. I will prune you to make you fruitful.” “I asked for all things that I might enjoy in life.” God said, “No, I will give you life so you can enjoy all things.” “I asked God to help me love others as much as He loves me.” God said, “Finally you get the idea.”