Moroni 1-6 - Being Alone

Most of this is a series of short chapters which focus not on a narrative or sermon but on procedures in the church: how to bless the sacrament, how to set someone apart in a calling, how to conduct meetings, sort of thing. Included in them are the sacrament prayers for both the wine/water and bread. These more than likely played a role in the revelatory process which led to the sacrament prayers in D&C 20. My guess is  the Savior revealed these prayers when He appeared to the Nephites/Lamanites hundreds of years earlier.

Chapter one is different. When you think of the recent shootings in Oregon, Moroni’s declaration of his faith and that he fears for his life because he won’t deny Christ, hits with more force than normal. Here is a military officer, who by today’s standards would have been a division commander, a two-star general. This is a brave man who survived the slaughter of his entire command, so he was painfully aware of his mortality. Rather than denounce Christ, he did the only thing he could do in those circumstances, he ran and hid. Not out of cowardice, but out of an earnest desire to stay alive long enough to finish the job his father gave him. Once he had, I imagine he hid the plates and quit hiding so he could join the rest of his family… who were already dead.

I wonder if we fully appreciate the human cost wrapped up in the Book of Mormon? Chapter one gives just a taste… a hint.

Ether - The End

The moral of the end of Ether can be summed up in one sentence: If a people turn away from God and they don’t repent, they will destroy themselves.

Satan took them from one degree of darkness to another until there was no light of the Lord in them and anger, revenge and hatred ruled them. In that state, people choose death over life. It took four years to gather in all the people to the armies of Shiz and Coriantumr and eight days to kill themselves in one horrifying string of battles.

But enough of that, I start on Moroni in my next post.

Ether 12 - Jesus Christ

In some respects, Ether 12 is THE reason why that book is included in Book of Mormon. (In reality it’s loaded with great doctrine and truths, but Chapter 12 is one of the best in all scripture, ranking up there with Mosiah 4, Isaiah 53, D&C 76, D&C 84, and John 17.)

While Ether 12:27 is well known for its great promise of Christ’s grace in helping us be strong, a lesser known jewel, but no less valuable scripture is v. 39. “And then shall ye know that I have seen Jesus, and that he talked with me face to face, and that he told me in plain humility, even as a man telleth another in mine own language, concerning these things.”

This casts the rest of the chapter into its correct perspective. It is the transcript of a conversation between Jesus and Moroni. It is our great privilege to have it for our perusal and spiritual blessing.

As an aside, like so often happens when God speaks to man to answer a question, the answer often goes far afield from the original topic. The Jaredites never had Ether 12. Not even the Nephites… we are the recipients. For I suspect by that time in Moroni’s life, there was no one for him to share it with.

Like the rest of this most amazing book, it was written for our day. For us.

Ether 9-11 - The Age of Kings

These thee chapters in Ether cover hundreds, if not more than a thousand, years of time telling the genealogy of a succession of Jaredite kings. Some were righteous, most were not. The common thread running through it all is the Lord always strives to teach and bring us, His children, back to Him. Most of the time, we’re to busy to bother.

He often has to resort to pain and suffering to get our attention. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t.

When a society ignores the Lord, just as certain as gravity pulls us down, it descends into darkness, materialism, anger and war. The headlines of newspapers and the internet show we are well on that path to war. Secret combinations rage. People are focused on ephemeral interests of no lasting value, totally absorbed in the goal, “I’m gonna’ get what’s mine, no matter what it costs anyone else…”

Such are our days. Yet in all that darkness, there were still prophets and enough who listened that the Gospel of Jesus Christ endured. So it is with us, though we live in times of darkness, we can still have a personal relationship with the Savior. It won’t spare us the difficulties of this day, but it gives us hope to endure it well.

Ether 8 - Secret Combinations

If the account the Savior’s visit to the children of Lehi is the apex of the Book of Mormon, Ether 8 is the nadir. In it is the account of the formation of a secret combination that destroys the Jaredites. This practice of conspiring to trade blood for money and fame destroyed the Nephites and Lamanites. It is also destroying us.

Along the way, it is a powerful example that gross wickedness is not only a man’s game. Both sexes are capable of committing horrible sin. In this instance this great evil is inspired by a daughter who’s ambition was to please her father. Talk about twisted values!

The casual nature of marriage and polygamy in the Jaredite culture comes to light in this story. From Akish’ stature and prominence, he surely was already married when he asked for the daughter of Jared. Yet the simple act of dancing… it must have been quite the dance, was enough to inspire him to want her. It says something about him too for I doubt he was thinking, "she will be a great mother for my children," as she gyrated in front of him.

I can’t help but think, Moroni felt passionately about this episode, for it was a secret combination that destroyed his people and took from him everything in this life he valued. He wants us to know just how deadly dangerous these are. He saw our day, he knew from painful, personal experience their true nature. And so, across the centuries he warns us to be more wise than they were.

Will we?

Conference notes 2015

I don’t know about you, but this past conference was the most amazing one I’ve experienced in my life! From the tremendous outpouring of the Spirit to the timeliness of the messages, I’ve never seen a conference like this one. More than once, I commented at how quickly it seemed each session passed.

Each conference session zoomed by leaving me at the end wondering where the time went. Yet when I look back on the speaker list, each session contained a full set of talks. (Although, Priesthood meeting was one of the shortest I recall.) As I’ve started playing them on my computer, they do take the full two hour time, but sitting through the sessions, none seemed that long. Like a good movie or book when each was over, I was left yearning for more.

There are some amazing highlights though…

Elder Schwitzer’s talk on the need for disciples who boldly bare their testimonies. President Eyering’s talk on the Holy Ghost. Elder Anderson’s talk on faith. Elder Christofferson’s talk on the need for an organized church. And President Nelson’s talk on the role and need for covenant keeping women in the church.

There are so many stellar talks, each session contains gems worth studying again and again. Take the time… make the time… it will be well spent.

For myself, I plan on ponderizing the scriptures, on being a living witness of the Gospel to my family and having a conversation with each child that starts like this: “I was your age once, I’m in your corner and anytime you’d like to talk, I’m here for you…”

Ether 6-7 - The pattern begins

Once in the New World, the people begin to grow and flourish. With the passing of the years, as it is with all men, Jared and his brother age and face death. They see something must be done to provide some societal order for their posterity and that of those who traveled with them.

What happens next foreshadows of an event that will happen many years in the future among the House of Israel when they clamor for a king. As the prophet Samuel warned, Jared’s brother laments, “surely this thing leadeth into captivity.” None of his sons agree to be king, in fact, between the two men, only one, Jared’s son Orihah, agrees to be king.

While he's righteous, after just a few generations, all the things Jared’s brother warned of, come to pass. The rest of the chapter has the same pattern of events which eventually lead to their entire destruction: prosperity, pride, wickedness then judgement from God. It's a multi-generational chain of one sibling rising against the other to take the kingdom from his father. And so it goes until Shule wherein the prophets warn the people, “repent or be destroyed.” In this instance, they hearken to them and repent.

A big reason why they do, is Shule gives the prophets the political or government approval and protection to preach. Thus protected, they are able to reach and convert and convince enough people to avert the prophesied destruction. But at the end of this, the stage is set for Akish which will be the subject of a future post.