Pop quiz: who destroyed the Nephite government three years before the sign of Jesus' death?
It's not the Gadiantons. At this time in the Nephite history, there weren't any as they'd all been executed or converted six years earlier. The correct answer is lawyers, lower judges and their friends destroyed the government.
Today's equivalents are politicians, senior government officials, the Judiciary (have to put the lawyers somewhere), and their cronies, family and friends. It should be no surprise then, to a student of the Book of Mormon, who is changing the government in radical ways that take away our rights, and liberties. I'll bet you're surprised. Not.
It's one of those not so subtle proofs showing the content of the Book of Mormon is far beyond something an 1829 farm boy, school teacher or minister could ever dream up. Its insights into our day are so prescient, the contents of this chapter ought to be alarming.
Someone once said history repeats itself and if you don't learn from the past, you'll get the full brunt of its lessons the hard way. Actually, history rhymes. But the themes and lessons are no less dangerous or painful to endure when they come. It's fortunate we have the warning of 3 Nephi 7 because it gives us time to prepare.
Showing posts with label Sign. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sign. Show all posts
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Helaman 16 - 3 Nephi 1 - The Futility of Signs
If you think signs will make lasting converts, think again. If you doubt my words, these two chapters are all the proof I need. Many stories in the Book of Mormon show they never cause nor precede conversion, rather, they either condemn or follow faith. The sign of the birth of Jesus Christ is not only the archetype of all signs but the most impressive too.
Leading up to it, the grossly wicked Nephites had whipped up the wicked ones to anger against the righteous for their belief in the Savior's coming. This anger was so hot, they'd determined to massacre the righteous on a given day if it didn't appear. Nephi, the son of Nephi was so distraught he spent the day before praying mightily for his people. My guess is, he'd actually spent many days leading up to that pleading for the welfare of the righteous.
That he would do so, is evidence he was confident the government would not intervene. In fact, the government probably sanctioned what was about to happen. So, if you think being righteous is difficult today, imagine what it was like then. For them, their faith in everything they'd been taught, not to mention their lives was on the line. But I digress.
That day Nephi gets an answer, "tonight the sign will be given." And sure enough, it comes astonishing everyone. Many of the wicked fall to the ground in wonder. And for what you think would be an unforgettable night, there is no darkness.
Everyone is converted to the Gospel. But the next day it seems, the lies and rumors began. "It's all some trick to deceive us," they are told. And while it seems preposterous to us, in less than three years, many among both the Nephites and the Lamanites are dissenting and joining the Gadiantons. The chapter ends with even the Lamanites dwindling in righteousness because of the wickedness of their children.
In my opinion, this sign wasn't given to convert the wicked, but to save the righteous. And so it is today: your personal experiences with the spirit wont convert others, but they can save your testimony in the face of trials and persecution. And that's why we need to work to have them often. Enjoy the day.
In the spirit of the post, let me make a plug for my app. "LDS Advocate" links to many online resources which can help strengthen your testimony. I wrote it for the faithful who have questions about aspects of the Gospel. Please check it out in iTunes. There's a link to it in the sidebar of this blog. Thanks.
Leading up to it, the grossly wicked Nephites had whipped up the wicked ones to anger against the righteous for their belief in the Savior's coming. This anger was so hot, they'd determined to massacre the righteous on a given day if it didn't appear. Nephi, the son of Nephi was so distraught he spent the day before praying mightily for his people. My guess is, he'd actually spent many days leading up to that pleading for the welfare of the righteous.
That he would do so, is evidence he was confident the government would not intervene. In fact, the government probably sanctioned what was about to happen. So, if you think being righteous is difficult today, imagine what it was like then. For them, their faith in everything they'd been taught, not to mention their lives was on the line. But I digress.
That day Nephi gets an answer, "tonight the sign will be given." And sure enough, it comes astonishing everyone. Many of the wicked fall to the ground in wonder. And for what you think would be an unforgettable night, there is no darkness.
Everyone is converted to the Gospel. But the next day it seems, the lies and rumors began. "It's all some trick to deceive us," they are told. And while it seems preposterous to us, in less than three years, many among both the Nephites and the Lamanites are dissenting and joining the Gadiantons. The chapter ends with even the Lamanites dwindling in righteousness because of the wickedness of their children.
In my opinion, this sign wasn't given to convert the wicked, but to save the righteous. And so it is today: your personal experiences with the spirit wont convert others, but they can save your testimony in the face of trials and persecution. And that's why we need to work to have them often. Enjoy the day.
In the spirit of the post, let me make a plug for my app. "LDS Advocate" links to many online resources which can help strengthen your testimony. I wrote it for the faithful who have questions about aspects of the Gospel. Please check it out in iTunes. There's a link to it in the sidebar of this blog. Thanks.
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Helaman 13-15 Samuel and the Light in the Sky
The account of Samuel the Lamanite, is unique among the stories in the Book of Mormon. It's the only one Jesus himself told the Nephites to include in the Large Plates of Nephi. Because of this importance, Mormon included it in the record he compiled.
The story of Samuel the Lamanite and his preaching to the Nephites, is well known, so I wont spend time on it here. Instead, I want to focus on the sign he predicted of the Savior's birth. He said it would be light as day the night before the day the Savior was born. The effect of that being a day, a night and another day that would appear as one day. That's pretty impressive!
I've wondered how that could happen. How did God make the sky light up without the sun around so it would shine like day? I still don't know, but there is a clue. In Chapter six, verse five, Samuel says there will be a new star, such as they've never seen before appear in the sky.
The geek in me says the two events are connected. This is how... When a star much larger than the sun runs out of fuel, it explodes becoming a "super nova." It puts out as much light energy in that dying gasp as it did over its entire life time. Some of that energy is in the form of a spherical wave of charged particles rushing away from the star.
Our sun frequently does this too, but on a much less violent scale. When the sun's particles pass the Earth, some get trapped by the magnetosphere and sent down to the poles. There they hit the upper atmosphere creating the auroras. In this instance though these particles hit the atmosphere in such a way and place, it lit up like a giant neon light. Which made the night as bright as day, even though no star could be seen.
Once the wave passed, "all" that was left was the flash of the explosion which became the star they'd never seen before. As explosions do, even super novae, the flash faded and the star disappeared from site. But while it shone, it shone with unusual brilliance. While the phenomenon is easily explained, getting it to happen at just the right time is a miracle on an astronomic scale.
The story of Samuel the Lamanite and his preaching to the Nephites, is well known, so I wont spend time on it here. Instead, I want to focus on the sign he predicted of the Savior's birth. He said it would be light as day the night before the day the Savior was born. The effect of that being a day, a night and another day that would appear as one day. That's pretty impressive!
I've wondered how that could happen. How did God make the sky light up without the sun around so it would shine like day? I still don't know, but there is a clue. In Chapter six, verse five, Samuel says there will be a new star, such as they've never seen before appear in the sky.
The geek in me says the two events are connected. This is how... When a star much larger than the sun runs out of fuel, it explodes becoming a "super nova." It puts out as much light energy in that dying gasp as it did over its entire life time. Some of that energy is in the form of a spherical wave of charged particles rushing away from the star.
Our sun frequently does this too, but on a much less violent scale. When the sun's particles pass the Earth, some get trapped by the magnetosphere and sent down to the poles. There they hit the upper atmosphere creating the auroras. In this instance though these particles hit the atmosphere in such a way and place, it lit up like a giant neon light. Which made the night as bright as day, even though no star could be seen.
Once the wave passed, "all" that was left was the flash of the explosion which became the star they'd never seen before. As explosions do, even super novae, the flash faded and the star disappeared from site. But while it shone, it shone with unusual brilliance. While the phenomenon is easily explained, getting it to happen at just the right time is a miracle on an astronomic scale.
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