Day 5

This is more informational than anything. I did read up on Zedekiah and the history leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem. It was interesting because the years leading up to Jerusalem had seen wars in lands surrounding the area, primarily between Egypt and Babylonia. They each had installed kings at Jerusalem that were friendly to either countries leading up to the destruction, but they were more like vassal kings than anything. Jeremiah the prophet was a counselor to King Zedekiah, in his court. He was prophesying the destruction, and based on the outcome of death it was obviously an unpopular position. Interesting times, we have prophesies concerning our days as well and the message is follow the prophets, like in ancient times, for they know the way. But if we really reflect on this, each one of our lives is destined for eternal life, we face personal safety or destruction based on following the commandments, our futures have been prophesied based on faithfulness to the word. We as parents are leaders in the family and have a great deal do to with the salvation and exaltation of those that have been placed in our homes. We can talk about the macro world of signs of the second coming, but each of us will leave mortality and our reward won't be based on the time we lived, but how we lived our time. Follow the prophets, listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, they lead us to peace and a safe return to our Heavenly Father's presence.

Day 4

The message that is reinforced for me is that the book deposited contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel. But in this account of Moroni's visit it adds, "as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants." That ties back to the description of the crowning event of the Book of Mormon, that being the Savior's visit to its ancient inhabitants. As a missionary I remember when I gained an understanding of the importance of the Book of Mormon as another testament of Jesus Christ, an additional witness of his life and resurrection and the gospel in its fulness, it is something I will never forget. 

I read up on the lives of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon to understand what happened, why they left the body of the Saints. These men were the first to help Joseph and aide in the translation of the Book of Mormon from those ancient plates, all before the church was established, something they never denied as true and real. After leaving the saints, most of them started their own churches, some that lasted up until the 1960's. They didn't have the authority of course, and only had the restored Gospel of Salvation, no additional ordinances. My personal opinion of the matter, not having been there, was that they all thought, or expected to have prominent positions in the church because of the work they had aided in. I would think that because of the disagreements in leadership they couldn't hold to the faith. It somewhat reminds me of the parable of the sower, the seed that feel among the different soils. If anything it should be a warning to us, a warning that following the leaders the Savior has called to move his work forward, imperfect as they may be, is required of us to remain faithful to our covenants. Those early brethren, again it is my opinion only, couldn't bring themselves to do it. Several did return, several remained faithful until their death. But it is a quiet reminder to follow the prophet and be faithful.

Day 3

When it is said that these men never denied the authenticity of the plates it is true. For many years I had also understood that to mean that they believed in the restoration of the Gospel and the return of prophets. After ready their testimonies again and reading some of their accounts, it is clear that they simply testified that they had seen the plates. The three witnesses were commanded to bear testimony that it had in fact been translated by the power of God, that the work that was produced through the translation was true. As I read these words again it was clear to me that the record had been found, translated and send forth to convince us that Jesus is the the Christ. 

To believe these men is a choice. Not to diminish the sanctity of the work, but it is like the testimonies in a court of law, in which the jury and judge were not present at the events submitted to the court, but they only hear and see testimony of  the events from witnesses. The judge and jury make a choice to believe one party or the other. As for me, I believe these men, and it is a choice I made.

Day 8

This one is a little out of order but needed to sort out my thoughts on it. This one has to do with Laman and Lemuel after the three days in the wilderness, this is where we first meet them. Laman and Lemuel are murmuring. On the surface I can understand murmuring, I mean packing up "family, provisions and tents"and leaving into the wilderness because the great city of Jerusalem would be destroyed. That had to be rough, camping is rough and even more so when you don't know when it is going to end. Their murmuring included leaving their "gold and their silver, and their precious things" and I would have to think about what that might mean for us today. But it went deeper than that, Nephi described them as being like the "Jews at Jerusalem who sought to take away [Lehi's life]" and that they didn't know "the dealings of that God who had created them", in fact it was so deep that their father had to speak to them "with power, being filled with the Spirit, until their frames did shake before him".  This thing, this murmuring, has me thinking about me and my state, we have acquired so many precious things.

I was raised with few precious things, or at least by my standard of living today. I grew up in the desert, the Mojave Desert to be exact. We lived initially in a one room cabin, if you can imagine that (most people can't) and then in a single-wide mobile home. There were 10 of us kids at home during that time so it was close quarters. Resources were tight and I am sure some might even describe it as a group traveling through the wilderness, and I guess if do the math, I was there a little over 8 years. But I remember as a young man hearing my mother speak of receiving a blessing that we lived there with the purpose that several of her children needed that experience. I guess I was like Nephi in some small way because I believed "in the words which had been spoken to my [Mother]". In fact I remember hearing my Mother speak words often, the words of being lead by the spirit, and yea, I did believe them. As I consider the few precious things they seem insignificant, and as the scriptures say, 'moth doth corrupt' and if they haven't had a go at them the searing desert sun has probably taken a fair shot at them.

I often feel like Laman and Lemuel, or at least a sense of wandering and I forget "the dealings of God" in my life. It is subtle and slow and so very imperceptible. It can turn into rebellion, and Nephi uses that term and progression, through revelation, he describes it as murmuring, but then the Lord says "in that day that they shall rebel against me", our murmuring can do the same, it can turn into rebellion. I think humility keeps a heart soft and broken, it staves off the hardening and murmuring of the heart that then rebels. Nephi's heart was softened until he believed. The figurative heart is used in Proverbs 3:1, "but let thine heart keep my commandments". And I love this reference, I heard it yesterday as I was contemplating Laman and Lemuel's murmuring, because it drove home the point that Laman and Lemuel hearts were not soft, not humble. The Sacrament prayer for the blessing of the bread speaks of the body of Christ and we promise to keep the commandments. I have come to associate the Savior's mortal sacrifice, the sacrifice of the body, with that of physically keeping the commandments. He gave his life, his body through out his entire earthly ministry, he walked and preached and healed the sick and raised the dead, fasted to prepare himself. All physical activities. We keep his commandments by giving all we have. But in Proverbs the prophet teaches, "let thine heart keep my commandments." Wow. Laman and Lemuel's hearts weren't in it. Their hearts were on the precious things they left behind. In an ironic turn of events, their hearts weren't wandering, they were firmly planted on the things they left back home.

As I consider that I had few precious things, I can't consider it without feeling a great deal of gratitude. I have seen so often the setting of hearts on precious things and it brings me sorrow. We can find comfort and ease in those things, and when kept within the bounds established by the Lord through his prophets we can even find joy in the blessing of having those things. But how quickly we place them before everything else and our "heart keeps [not his] commandments" and forgets "the dealings of God" in our life. Few precious things are often seen as a curse, but "all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things."

Was the problem only the precious things or is that just a symptom of a heart hardening? It sure feels like a symptom, being grateful and humble and keeping the commandments doesn't keep us from precious things (in fact Jacob clarifies that pretty well), quite the opposite, but it keeps our hearts planted on the foundation of Christ, keeps our heart broken and soft and easily entreated. We feel with our hearts, the pains, the joys, the sorrows, and happiness of others, perhaps a soft heart leads us to know the Savior and without a soft heart we can't truly know him.

Well, I think I have a better idea of how this might apply to me, at least at this time in my life. It changes with time, but for now it is meaningful.

• Watch for murmuring, it is a sign of a hardening and wandering heart.
• Consider your precious things, what effort are you putting into them (percentage of income or time) in relation to the effort you put into the basics, pray, scriptures, family home evening. It might be a sign of a hardening heart, or a wandering one.

Day 2

The thing that really stuck out to me this time was how simply this summarizes that Jesus Christ is the center of this book. It stated the "crowning event" and that really struck me. This helped strengthen my faith in the Savior and His gospel, the plan of salvation and the pattern of peace in this life and the life to come. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Prophet Joseph Smith and his prophetic role of translating the plates.

Day 1

I liked the summary of the Book of Ether, that it was to show what great things the Lord has done for us, teaching and reminding us that they are not cast off forever, that he remembers the covenants he has made. I do feel peace as I think on the Savior, his love for me and the power we can feel in our lives as we bring ourselves close to him.

Signs and Miracles

Working at the church has taught me something. The Savior was given a work to do, it was made manifest in the creation, the organization of matter unorganized, with the express purpose of providing a suitable environment for all of us to experience being mortal. It was made manifest in the creation of every living thing, each in its own sphere. It was made manifest in the crowning event of the first man and women, the first to keep the commandments, to walk after God's commands. It continued through Enoch, Noah through Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Through the House of Israel, all blessings promised. His work continues today. He came to make known the will of the Father, He established his Gospel, in its fullness, in the early days of the 19th century establishing prophets and then apostles, power and authority to bind up through covenant and ordinance all that will come to Him. To what end? To bring to past the glory of God, in other words immortality and the eternal lives of his children. There are those that can organize great, popular, ubiquitous movements, but there are many that can organize very small, seemingly insignificant movements, that change few lives for the better. Too often we consider our ability to be too small, too insignificant when compared to the more acclaimed, but that is the wonder of His work, it happens in small, quiet ways, it happens in each of us. The power and awesome scope of his work is manifest as is happens through us, the manifestation as we become like him because, in small ways, our ways, we do what he would do, what he would have us do. His work moves forward through us today.

The Grasshopper and the Ants - you get what you negotiate

We have two boxes of peaches that are meant to bottled. Zoe asked for a peach and I only agreed to let her have a peach if should would listen to the story of The Grasshopper and the Ants. She agreed and I had a hope that she would, after hearing the story, consider that perhaps a peach in the winter months would be better than a peach today. We read the story and when asked if she understood the story she replied she did. I encouraged her to let the peaches go into the winter store. She wouldn't agree. When I asked if she really understood the story she said she had, she then replied, "that wasn't the deal we made, I only had to listen to the story to get the peach".

You don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.

Final Approach

Today I finish the 90 day Book of Mormon challenge. This time I decided to read it in Spanish. It was an good experience and it certainly dusted off the lengua for me.

As I read verse 3 of chapter 10 in the book of Moroni something struck me that I had never seen before. He says, and I am translating on the fly here, If God finds it prudent that you read these things, remember how merciful He has been with the children of men, since the time of Adam and meditate upon them in your hearts. Remember and meditate, that really struck me this morning. Verse 4 is what we usually focus on, praying to know if the Book of Mormon is the word of God, whether it is true. I believe it contains the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But to know that is it true we must first remember his mercy toward his children and meditate, and then asking in the name of Christ if it is true. What a wonderful pattern to be given. It makes me think that I should apply this pattern in more areas of my life.

I spent some time thinking about what I read yesterday, and the several days of reading previous to yesterday were thrown into sharp relief. Men and women are looking to acquire wealth, power, influence and doing it at the expense of others. Their motives are shrouded in the veil of false religion and patriotism. The ever familiar chorus of neglecting the poor, needy, widowed, fatherless, while seeking fine clothing (which of course is a proxy for anything we buy with the intent to set us apart from others). It all sounds so familiar, the refrain but we have heard it before. After working in several industries, including Finance, the idea of acquiring wealth has changed for me, I used to think I just needed more money. I learned that when you are looking for money you will never find enough. Isaiah's description of kicking against the pricks comes to mind, what it feels like to make money a priority. I have become more content with what I have, and have learned to slow down because of it. Again, in sharp relief we have a different perspective, reading Alma, the Standard of Liberty. There is no reference to self, or advantage but liberty, peace, freedom. Of course you would have to read more to understand the true nature of those leaders, but they are not looking to aggrandize themselves or garner influence, no, establish laws that allow us to prosper in ways that bring true peace. Can we stand tall and stand for things that really matter? I hope so, and I hope that we have those that will do what is right for right's sake and not for that which will leave hungry and thirsty when we wake up.

The Great Counterfeit

My limited education in French makes me believe that the counterfeit has a root in the part -feit, and maybe latin, -feit to do or make, perhaps I am wrong, but that is where my thoughts are taken. Counterfeiting is to do or make fraudulently. Many years ago I read a book called Temples of the Ancient World, it was a collection of papers written by archaeologist, historians and anthropologist documenting ancient temple worship. I only remember a few things from it, but there is one thing that I never will forgot, the adversary to all good will always raise a counterfeit, a fake work, to draw away good people to do bad things. I say bad things, but things that do not make them any better, things that do not progress them towards their ultimate potential. It distracts them, entraps them,  disables them and all too often will destroy them. The goal of the evil one comes in grades, for some distraction is enough, we can stay distracted our whole lives until we have wasted away the possibilities of greater things. In Alma 47 and Alma 48 we see this juxtaposition, a great counterfeit of freedom and purpose and its authentic identity. Of course one might say that my western culture upbringing leads me to identify authenticity with Alma 48 but isn't that the deeper irony, using culture to define right and wrong in a discussion of counterfeits. The Gospel of Jesus Christ transcends these things and manifests its veracity through the actions of men like Moroni. Beware of counterfeits, they lead to sorrow. Another great treatise, What Manner of Men Ought Ye to Be?, of the true archetype.

A few thoughts this morning. We are taught that in the proportion to which we trust in God we will be freed from our tribulations and as we refrain from passions (or bridle all our passions) we will be full of love to others. We should also avoid slothfulness (or laziness, I was reading in Spanish so I am working out the translations in my head). I was listening to a Radio West program about the book "The Mormon Jesus", which I thought was pretty good and one thing they discussed that really stuck out to me was that we believe that prophets anciently, from the time of Adam, knew of  and worshiped Jesus Christ as the foreordained savior of the world. That has stuck with me, I have grown up with that understanding and didn't realize that it was considered different. Isaiah clearly speaks of a messiah, John spoke of  the Savior in preparation of his mission of Salvation and atonement. Today I read in Alma 39:17-19 and Alma's son had the same question or concern. He might have struggled with that among the Zoramites since they believed you can't know of those things, and they denied that a christ or savior would come. He explained it plainly, isn't is as easy for the Lord to send angels today as it is to our children? I am grateful that it is terribly consistent throughout all of our history that he has revealed the grand plan of salvation to every age, that men and women stood up so that we could worship according to our own conscience.

It came to the point that Alma would rather be destroyed than to be carried before the judgement seat to be judged of God. The thought of accounting for all those that he had lead astray. He felt tormented when he thought of those he had led away from the truth, but the fear to account for it, that struck me. The path to God's presence for Alma was bitter, it was the way of the adversary of all good. His mind caught hold of another way to enter God's presence, one with the Advocate. Instead of fear, confidence. What makes them so different? As I reflect on the situation he was in and read his account to his son, I consider the relationship I have felt I have with the Savior and with my Father in Heaven and I do not feel fear, but a longing, a longing to be home. Instead of fear, love. Alma learned he was loved, that he could be redeemed from any path through the power of the Savior's sacrifice, his understanding was made perfect of the true nature of our Heavenly Father. He ultimately understood he was a child of God who could return home through faith on the Son. What a wonderful message. That truly makes the meaning of both Lehi and Alma's vision of the angels and the throne of God more clear, it was an expression of the love they felt.

Considering that to be healed the desert bound Egyptian Israelite convoy needed to look upon the brazen serpent, and many wouldn't, it occurs to me that the ordinance of the Sacrament is analogous. It is a simple thing for many of us in the world to go to the alter, to partake and in essence look to the Savior. It does have the affect of healing, or in other words relief the the soul yoked with the effects of sin. It does require faith to approach the Savior in this way, to partake of a sacrament, perform something that may seem obscure or mysterious, but in both cases, a serpent or bread and water. It is an exercise of faith, but with the promise that [He] will pour [his] Spirit upon [you]. He does not dwell in unholy temples so this must lead us to hold to the belief that he provides forgiveness, a remission from the effects of sin, relief. There is something greater though, He promises that not only will we find respite, but that there is no permanence from the effects of sin.