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May 20, 2024

Streaming Saint: “Fighting Preacher”, “Cool Runnings”, “Ten Commandments” and More Worthwhile Choices This Week

“Choose wisely when using media because whatever you read, listen to, or look at has an effect on you. Select only media that uplifts you.” (For the Strength of Youth- Entertainment)

There’s great, uplifting films to stream at home! I’m Jonathan Decker, family therapist and film critic, and I’m here to help you find the good stuff. For more curated picks and discussion guides for movies, follow me on Facebook.

LIVING SCRIPTURES (SIGN UP HERE)

The Fighting Preacher. Director T.C. Christensen’s powerful tale of champion boxer Willard Bean and his wife Rebecca, called to be the Church’s first presence in a hostile Palmyra since the days of Joseph Smith. Willard aims to change hearts with his fists; his wife has other ideas. Warmly-acted, beautifully-shot, and very moving. Stream it on Living Scriptures or rent/buy it here.

DISNEY PLUS

Cool Runnings is one of the great live-action Disney films from the 90’s (see also: The Rocketeer, Newsies, Three Musketeers, Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken). Based on an unlikely true story of tropical Jamaicans competing in the winter Olympics as bobsledders, it plays fast and loose with the facts but is undeniably crowd-pleasing. Legitimately funny and moving, with a marvelous performance by the late John Candy. Stream it on Disney+ or rent/buy it here.

NETFLIX

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odca9JIEigM

Dragonheart finds medieval dragon-slayer Dennis Quaid forming an unlikely alliance with the world’s last dragon to overthrow a vicious king. Hokey summer fun with one of the all-time greatest musical scores. Stream it on Netflix or rent/buy it here.

HULU

Shrek, the original Dreamworks Animation classic, has aged surprisingly well. The irreverent wit, the clever screenplay that turns fairy tales on their heads, and the first-rate vocal work by Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy are as charming as ever. Stream it on Hulu or rent/buy it here.

AMAZON PRIME

The Conspirator is a powerful tale of due process, freedom, and justice in the legal system, as a Northern defense attorney is tasked with assuring a fair trial for a Southern woman charged with conspiracy in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. With James McAvoy and Robin Wright, this is a thoughtful, insightful historical film. Stream it on Amazon Prime or rent/buy it here.

YOUTUBE MOVIES (FREE)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xiu62ETFlyk

All Dogs Go to Heaven is a marvelous little animated film. All-but-forgotten since its release, this is well-worth rediscovering with your kids. Stream it on YouTube or rent/buy it here.

CRACKLE

Ghandi features an Oscar-winning turn by Ben Kingsley in this stirring, illuminating biopic from director Richard Attenborough (Shadowlands). There’s no better way to learn about this inspiring world leader (whose methods of nonviolence directly influenced Martin Luther King, Jr) in a shorter amount of time than to settle in with this three-hour epic. Stream it on Crackle or rent/buy it here.

TUBITV

The Ten Commandments. Cecille B. Demille’s Old Testament masterpiece is, simply put, one of the most stunningly ambitious movies ever made. Faith-promoting and stunning, with a legendary performance by Charlton Heston. Stream it on TubiTV or rent/buy it here.

VUDU MOVIES (FREE)

The Ultimate Gift is a lovely Christian film about a young rich man whose inheritance must be earned through a series of character-building tasks given him by his late grandfather. When he meets a single mother with a terminally-ill daughter, his life and relationship with God are forever changed. Stream it on Vudu or rent/buy it here.

RENT OR BUY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2HaXCnRWJ0

Babe. You don’t find many G-rated family films nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, but this is an absolute delight from beginning to end. Good for the whole family. Rent or buy it here.

FROM THE STREAMING SAINT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji-Vhctkqdc

Mission Impossible: Lettering. In 1998 I starred in a parody for our seminary, in which a young man accepts a series missions in order to learn how to advance in his Latter-day Saint studies. Starts slow, corny for sure, but the back half has some good action and comedy if you can make it.

GET MORE PICKS TO STREAM WITH YOUR FAMILY

For a thorough exploration of what apostles and prophets have said about watching uplifting media, along with hundreds of reviews and Gospel discussion guides, pick up a copy of my book 250 Great Movies for Latter-day Families!

Jonathan Decker is a licensed marriage and family therapist, actor, author, and film critic. He is known for starring in The KJZZ Movie Show and the Utah action-comedy CTU: Provo, performing with BYU’s Divine Comedy, and as the author of 250 Great Movies for Latter-day Families.

Groundbreaking Dates Announced for Temples in Virginia, the Philippines and Utah

The following is excerpted from the Church Newsroom. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.

Cover image: Rendering of the future Layton, Utah Temple.

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced groundbreaking dates for the Richmond Virginia Temple, the Alabang Philippines Temple and the Layton Utah Temple.

Richmond Virginia Temple—April 11, 2020

The groundbreaking for the Richmond Virginia Temple will be held Saturday, April 11, 2020. Attendance at the site will be by invitation only. The groundbreaking service will be broadcast to stake centers in the temple district. Elder Randall K. Bennett, North America Northeast Area president, will preside.

The Richmond Temple will be built at 10915 Staples Mill Road in Glen Allen, Virginia, a suburban neighborhood just outside Richmond. The structure will be a two-story building of just over 36,000 square feet. An adjacent 16,000-square-foot meetinghouse will also be built. The temple will serve Latter-day Saints in Virginia, eastern West Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

The Richmond Temple was announced in April 2018 by Church President Russell M. Nelson and will be the first in Virginia.

Alabang Philippines Temple—May 2, 2020

To read the full article, CLICK HERE.

Come Follow Me Podcast BofM #5 “I Will Prepare the Way Before You”, 1 Nephi 16-22

A theme is so prevalent throughout scripture, and especially in the Book of Mormon, that you would think we would never miss it, and yet we do. What is that elusive theme? We’ll tell you today.

You can also find it on any of these platforms by searching for Meridian Magazine-Come Follow Me.

Maurine and Scot Proctor have taught Book of Mormon for many years in Institute and have spent extensive time in the Arabian peninsula, following Lehi’s trail. They are the creators of a foundation that has sponsored a multi-year archaeological study of the best candidate for Nephi’s Bountiful in Oman. They have written a book on the Book of Mormon, as well as immersed themselves in the culture, history, and geography. of the scripture.

Join our study group and let’s delve into the scriptures in a way that is inspiring, expanding and joyful.

Maurine

A theme is so prevalent throughout scripture, and especially in the Book of Mormon, that you would think we would never miss it, and yet we do. What is that elusive theme? We’ll tell you today.

Scot

Hello, this is Scot and Maurine Proctor with Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast, today called “I Will Prepare the Way Before You”, which is 1 Nephi chapters 16-22. The transcript for this podcast is at latterdaysaintmag.com/podcast. We issue a new podcast every Friday for the lesson material that runs from the following Monday through Sunday. We’re so glad you’re listening. Please tell your friends and we can all have a lively scripture discussion in our lives. We also hope you are reading Meridian Magazine, which is updated daily, with remarkable stories you don’t want to miss. It is at latterdaysaintmag.com

Maurine

As chapter 16 starts, we are about to venture out with the family into the wilderness and eventually on a journey that will take them 2/3 of the way around the globe. This is an epic journey for an ancient people. When I teach this, I always ask, is there anyone else in scripture who took a wilderness journey? Hands go up because there are so many people that do. Let’s list some of them. Certainly the Children of Israel led by Moses. The Jaredites both on land and on sea in their barges are taking a wilderness journey.

Scot

Mosiah and his people leave the Land of Nephi on a wilderness journey. Alma and his people flee King Noah’s court into the wilderness. Limhi and his people escape out the back way into the wilderness. The people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi make an exodus into the wilderness. And, of course, the Book of Mormon itself ends with an exodus, as Moroni begins his wanderings, one man alone departing into the wilderness, who writes, “And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ; wherefore, I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life” (Moroni 11:3) Moroni is on a wilderness journey.

Maurine

Of course, there are many more. Adam and Eve take a wilderness journey when they are expelled from Eden. As they came to America, the New England Puritans also perceived themselves in the same light. Their view of their own destiny was that they were making an exodus into the wilderness, and then on to the Promised Land.

Our Latter-day Saint pioneers saw themselves as following the archetype of the wilderness journey, calling themselves very consciously, the Camp of Israel.

This wilderness journey is so archetypal and so important, that we could list many more, but what we all have to finally come to, with a kind of ah-ha, is that we are all on a wilderness journey. Every one of us who left the light, comfort, and safety of our pre-mortal home are on a wilderness journey, for reasons that are critical to our growth and well-being.

Who is on the soul’s journey, the journey of us all? Who is disconnected from our true home, seeking to escape bondage, and assaulted by every difficulty before we can be cleansed and reborn in the wilderness, and made ready to be partakers of the promised land? Every one of us.

Scot

We watch Lehi and his family and all the other wilderness journeys, and we learn something essential about our own mortal journey. Why is a wilderness journey so essential for nations and each of us as individuals? How does a wilderness journey perfectly describe our time in mortality?

Here, like Nephi’s family, we experience the tremendous heat of trial, the tedium of the way, the wandering through a sometimes trackless desert, the hardship, the thirst. Sometimes we are deluded into thinking that this life should be a Sunday school picnic or a ride on a cruise ship instead of a wilderness journey, and we become miffed that it is all harder than our expectations, but neither the picnic, nor the cruise ship, show up in scripture—just the wilderness journey. It tests the very core of your being, but it is all for a purpose. The purpose of a wilderness journey is to transform the travellers. For you, it is to burn out your impurities, strip you of the world, clarify your thinking, magnify your strength and sharpen your devotion, so that you may be a candidate to dwell in the promised land. The wilderness journey is the Lord’s kindness to us, to make us fit for His kingdom.

Maurine

One of the characteristics of a wilderness is that it is trackless. You do not know where you are going because you have not been here before. You aren’t even sure of the exact destination. How could you know? You have to have a light in the wilderness, the Lord to direct you or you wander aimlessly. You would find yourself at dead ends, in dangerous places surrounded by enemies.

13 And I will also be your ^alight in the wilderness, (the Lord says in 1 Nephi 17:13) and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the ^bpromised land; and ye shall ^cknow that it is by me that ye are led (1 Nephi 17:13).

Scot

So in this perilous place, the wilderness, where you cannot find your way, the Lord promises to “prepare the way before you.” You learn that you aren’t smart enough, or strong enough, or good enough to figure this out on your own. It’s an illusion you have to drop. What greater guide could you have than God, who promises to go before you, if you’ll just keep his commandments? In fact, the commandments themselves are to keep you from peril on the journey.

For Lehi’s family, that guide was tangible because when he left his tent one morning he “beheld upon the ground a round ^aball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and the one ^bpointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness” (1 Nephi 16:10). But this spindle only worked when they were faithful. If they weren’t, they wandered. Periodically, the Liahona contained written instructions from the Lord.

The Lord makes it clear that, knowing you are in a wilderness, He will be your light—and that is for you personally, not just for Lehi’s family. But because you are in the wilderness, you shouldn’t be surprised if sometimes conditions are tough. It was the design.

Maurine

What you learn in the wilderness is a new dependence on the Lord, a greater need for revelation and a greater love for the God who guides and protects you. Otherwise, you can be like Laman and Lemuel and just be mad.

Now, the Liahona will lead the family to “the more fertile parts of the wilderness” (1 Nephi 16:16). That has specific meaning in the deserts of Arabia, where Scot and I have spent some time. This is a place where very little vegetation grows. It is stark, barren, forbidding. But if there is vegetation, it is likely to grow in dry riverbeds called wadis that run with water maybe only a few days a year. Those riverbeds become the superhighways of the desert, and would be where the Liahona led the family.

Scot

Food and water, the very substance of your needs would be tenuous in this desert. You can see just how fragile their hold was by the reaction of the family when Nephi breaks his bow, just as his brother’s bows had lost their springs. Very quickly the family starts to starve, and they murmur with hunger and fear. This can be part of a wilderness journey. True difficulty. And I suspect that those who don’t murmur when the going is rough, may find themselves hollering when it gets this intense, as it can in our lives. Even the indomitable Lehi murmured against the Lord.

Hugh Nibley noted, “Things looked dark when Nephi broke his fine steel bow, for the wooden bows of his brothers had lost their springs’ (1 Nephi 16:21; … and though skilled in the art of hunting, they knew little enough about bow-making, which is a skill reserved to specialists even among primitives. Incidentally, archery experts say that a good bow will keep its spring for about one hundred thousand shots; from which one might calculate that the party at the time of the crisis had been traveling anywhere from one to three years.”

Maurine

“It was of course out of the question to make the familiar composite bow, and was something of a marvel when Nephi ‘did make out of wood a bow’ (1 Nephi 16:23); for the hunter, the most conservative of men, would never dream of changing from a composite to a simple bow. Though it sounds simple enough when we read about it, it was almost as great a feat for Nephi to make a bow as it was for him to build a ship, and he is justly proud of his achievement.

“According to the ancient Arab writers, the only bow-wood obtainable in all Arabia was the nab wood that grew only ‘amid the inaccessible and overhanging crags’ of Mount Jasum and Mount Azd, which are situated in the very region where, if we follow the Book of Mormon, the broken bow incident occurred. How many factors must be correctly conceived and correlated to make the apparently simple story of Nephi’s bow ring true! The high mountain near the Red Sea at a considerable journey down the coast, the game on the peaks, hunting with bow and sling, the finding of bow-wood viewed as something of a miracle by the party—what are the chances of reproducing such a situation by mere guesswork.” Hugh W. Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Mormon, 3rd edition, (Vol. 6 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by John W. Welch, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1988)

Scot

Having made that bow, Nephi asked his father to inquire of the Lord where he should go to obtain food. They had all been humbled. The answer was given by the pointers on the Liahona, which, Nephi said, “did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give unto them” (1 Nephi 16:28).

Nephi describes the wilderness as a place, where “we had suffered many afflictions and much difficulty, yea, even so much that we cannot write them all” (1 Nephi 17:6), and yet it is also place that is somehow essential for our purification and growth. The pain comes for us when we think that it should somehow be different or easy and our expectations are dashed.

The Lord could have been talking specifically about the wilderness journey when he says, “I am able to do mine own work” (2 Nephi 27:20) and we know that that “work is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39) Since the wilderness journey seems to be part of his work, what are the consistent elements that show up in these wilderness journeys?

Maurine

Bondage: As the journey begins, people are in some kind of bondage, either to sin or to a tyrant who holds them as slaves or to an enemy who is about to attack. Their world is ripe for destruction, so much so that in many cases, it is imminent. Sometimes the Book of Mormon calls that bondage as being in “chains.” By the way when something is ripe for destruction, it can’t go any farther without being rotten.

This bondage is certainly true for Moses and the Children of Israel who are literal slaves of Pharaoh.

For Nephi, their world was about to be decimated by Babylon, and soon the people would be in bondage, weeping by the waters of Babylon for their lost Zion. They had brought this on themselves by their own wickedness.

So the first aspect of a wilderness journey is there is trouble at home and imminent danger, usually unto destruction.

Scot

Then, a Prophet Warns and Saves: When the people are about to be destroyed, or when they must be led out of bondage, a prophet comes to warn the people or save them from slavery. Not everyone will hear this warning and sometimes the prophet is ridiculed or threatened.

Those who are righteous will be led away from imminent destruction, where they can worship God freely and without the corrupting influences at home. Interestingly enough, when the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70AD, the Christians had already removed themselves from the city and were saved. They had remembered that earlier Jesus had foretold the terrible events that would follow his death. They knew to carefully watch for these signs, and when they saw them they fled from the city and were spared.

Maurine

Next, the righteous flee bondage into the wilderness: The people are cast into the wilderness where everything is difficult. The heat bears down. Food and water are scarce. It is easy to lose your way in a trackless world.

The object of the wilderness journey is to cleanse the travelers of the world and to teach them their complete dependence on the Lord. There is no solving the intensity of the problems without His help. Your own efforts are clearly puny and ineffectual.

What is interesting here, is that it is a snare to think you could just return to your old comfortable ways or put a coat of paint on the corruption. No, instead, the wilderness is a place where you must be utterly reborn through the Atonement. You cannot bring the “natural man” to the new place.

Scot

Then on the wilderness journey, Divine guidance is offered, dependent on your righteousness: Since the wilderness is trackless, you will wander without divine guidance. It is a must, an unvarying necessity.

The Camp of Israel had their cloud by day and their pillar of fire by night. The Nephites had their Liahona. The Brother of Jared asked for light in the wilderness, because it was impossible to descend into the ocean in dark barges. You cannot make your way in the wilderness unless you are helped. This is just as true for us.

Remember the Lord tells Nephi: “And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you… ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led” (1 Nephi 17:13).

Maurine

In the wilderness, the necessities of life are provided: Often food and water are miraculously provided. The Lord gave the Children of Israel manna to eat and water gushing from the rock. Nephi was led to make a bow and find food in the wilderness. Their meat, though raw, was made sweet to them.

In the Lord’s lifetime, He provided fish and loaves in the wilderness and the sacrament in the Americas.

Of course, in the wilderness, they carry scripture with them, so they don’t lose their way and forget the words of the Lord. Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai and likewise Nephi obtained the plates of brass that they might have the words of the Lord and His Prophets on their wilderness journey.

Scot

In the wilderness, many murmur: The wilderness does not have the same cleansing effect on all of those who take this wilderness journey. Some find it impossible and “murmur”, a word found in both Moses’ and Nephi’s accounts. For those who murmur or rebel, they have been in the wilderness, but the wilderness has not gone through them and fulfilled its cleansing purposes.

Water: The wilderness journeys usually have an element of water that must be passed through or over. The Children of Israel passed through the Red Sea on dry ground, and again passed through the River Jordan on the way into the Promised Land. The Nephites circumnavigated much of the globe in a sea journey.

These symbolize birth and the rebirth of baptism. You cannot take even your favorite vestiges of your old self into the Promised Land if it is to be the land it can be. You must be reborn to come.

What we are seeking, of course, is not just a physical landscape. The Promised Land, located in a particular geography on earth, does not answer all of our longings, which come from the core of our being, that bright internal source that first existed somewhere else. A physical location could never answer those yearnings for home. Even in the Promised Land itself, we are still strangers and sojourners.

Maurine

Everyone makes this journey, but not everyone has the same experience as Nephi indicates. Despite its hardships, Nephi feels blessed and happy and grateful on this journey. He says:

“And so great were the ^ablessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon ^braw ^cmeat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings.

“And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and ^astrengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did ^bprovide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness”(1 Nephi 17:2,3),

Scot

In contrast here is what Laman and Lemuel say about that very same experience.

“And thou art like unto our father, led away by the foolish ^aimaginations of his heart; yea, he hath led us out of the land of Jerusalem, and we have wandered in the wilderness for these many years; and our women have toiled, being big with child; and they have borne children in the wilderness and suffered all things, save it were death; and it would have been better that they had died before they came out of Jerusalem than to have suffered these afflictions

“Behold, these many years we have suffered in the wilderness, which time we might have enjoyed our possessions and the land of our inheritance; yea, and we might have been happy.

“ And we know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a ^arighteous people; for they kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord” (1 Nephi 17:20-22)

The whining and victimhood is so clear here. And add to it, complete delusion when they call the people of Jerusalem righteous.

Maurine

So, if ever you have the conditions for a scientific experiment, here it is. Nephi, Laman and Lemuel, three brothers, all raised in the same environment with the same parents and the same opportunities have wilderness journeys that could haven’t have been more different.

Laman and Lemuel had travelled the same miles Nephi had. The heat had borne down on Nephi and Laman and Lemuel with the same driving force. The relentless desert wind had dried all their faces and parched their throats without partiality. They had all equally lived on raw meat and given up the honey and pomegranates of home. If ever there were the perfect scientific experiment where all were subjected to the same conditions to test to see their differing responses, this was it.

Scot

Why Laman and Lemuel had such a miserable time on the wilderness journey was given right at the beginning of the Book of Mormon: “And thus Laman and Lemuel, being the eldest, did murmur against their father. And they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them” (1 Nephi 2:12).

Nephi’s journey, which is a type of our journey in life, was joyously transformed because he did know the dealings of that God who had created him. This core understanding changed the nature of his journey through the desert and later across the whirling, boiling sea because it changed his core, the very essence of who he was.

He did not face anything alone or without purpose. God walked by his side, led him to the more fertile parts of the wilderness. He knew who stood by him when he climbed into the crags of the mountaintops looking for just the right wood to make a bow. He had protective arms around him when the way was hard. Even when he became depressed later in the Promised Land, and Laman and Lemuel sought his life, he was lifted up again by remembering, “I know in whom I have trusted.”

Maurine

He had been given strength because he could say with confidence: “My God hath been my support…He hath filled me with his love…He hath confounded my enemies…He hath heard my cry by day, and he hath given me knowledge by visions in the nighttime” (2 Nephi 4: 20-24).

Even if Laman and Lemuel had not been given to whining and had wanted to assume a good attitude about the journey, all the best self-talk in the world pales pathetically to what Nephi had.

Their problem is clear. They “knew not the dealings of that God who had created them” and therefore their wilderness journey was going to be merely a miserable, futile experience that not only did not transform them to make them fit candidates for the kingdom, it ground them into empty whiners with murderous resentments.

Scot

Let’s give you some specifics of this journey. It is about 2500 miles from Jerusalem to the most likely spot of Nephi’s Bountiful on the Arabian Sea. A loaded camel can travel from 25 -30 miles a day. If they traveled and never stopped, that means they could have made that journey in less than three months, but it took them 8 years! Why? Because they had a family with small children. Women gave birth. Most important they stopped to plant seeds and harvest them so they could have enough food. They obviously dwelt in certain locations for a period of time before moving on as they had in the valley of Lemuel.

We know many exact things about their route, because Nephi tells us. They travel south-south east along the Red Sea and as they go they name places such as the valley of Lemuel and a place they called Shazer. Yet, when they begin to go east, they come to a place already called Nahum. This is where Ishmael died and interestingly enough the name means place of consolation or of sorrow.

Maurine

Now many ask whether there is archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon, and this is a bulls eye for Joseph Smith. What are the chances that he could guess this? There is a place that was anciently called Nahum in ancient Sheba, which is today’s Yemen, right where the text says it should be, and it was there during Lehi’s time. Three altar inscriptions have been discovered containing the name “NHM” as a tribal name and dating from the seventh to sixth centuries BC. This is a significant correlation.

From Nahum, the party then traveled directly east to the place that Nephi calls Bountiful, which is right on the Arabian Sea and where he built the ship.

Scot

Nephi and his family would have largely followed the frankincense trail, as this precious substance only comes from what is present-day Oman, right where the family ended their land journey. The ancient wells along this trail would have been necessary for their water and there are only so many in very particular locations along this way. They would have stopped at these wells. They would have seen many others along that trail, had discussions and interactions, camaraderie and concern.

We’ve been at ancient wells in Yemen where you can see old grooves in the rock around the top, where people have been dragging their ropes to pull up their buckets of water for centuries.

It is significant, though, too that the Lord warned them not to make much fire in the last part of their journey, which meant they ate their food raw. Why? Because the desert is a dangerous place, where the only way to make a living is by plunder. Marauders can see fire at a great distance, so undoubtedly, it was a safety measure.

Maurine

Finally, the family arrives at Bountiful where they have a bit of a respite from the grueling conditions they have known. Surprisingly, we have a possible location for that too. It is a place called Khor Kharfot, directly east of Nahum and right on the Arabian Sea. While we call it a candidate for Nephi’s Bountiful, there is really nothing else that so specifically fits the description that Nephi gives. Think of how unusual it is. Here on the coast of Arabia, which is one of the driest, least vegetated and least hospital places on the earth, suddenly there are trees, and big ones. Trees big enough to build a ship.

We have been to this place many times, both for photography and research and to further the work of our foundation that has permission from the Omani government to conduct an ongoing archaeological dig there. When you are yet 6 miles from the sea, it is still barren, and then suddenly the landscape changes. Trees begin to dot the landscape and then more. Can this really be, a little green paradise right on the sea coast of Arabia? It is this way because of a yearly monsoon season that hits just this tip of Arabia—the Dhofar Region.

Scot

Unlike any place else along the Arabian seacoast, Khor Kharfot meets every description that Nephi gives. Here’s 12 of them. First, it is directly eastward from Nahum. Second, there is direct access from the interior desert to the coast. Third, this is a general area of fertility, such as the name Bountiful suggests—even in the Jabali language, a native dialect of this region—Kharfot means “a place where all things have been prepared.” Fourth, it is a suitable place for the construction and launching of a sizable ship. Fifth, it has to be a place of much fruit and honey—and of course, in that culture, fruit means date palms. That would be fruit that grew wild, since it wasn’t cultivated when they got there. Sixth, there has to be enough shipbuilding timber of types and sizes to permit building a vessel able to carry several dozen persons and remain seaworthy for at least a year. Seventh, there must be year-round freshwater at the site. Eighth, there must be a mountain distinctive enough to justify Nephi’s references to it as “the mount” (1 Nephi 17:7, 1 Nephi 18:3) and it must be near enough to the coastal encampment to allow him to go there to “pray oft” (1 Nephi 18:3). See https://latterdaysaintmag.com/article-1-14946/

Maurine

Ninth, the incident of Nephi’s brothers attempting to take his life by throwing him into the depths of the sea (1 Nephi 17:48) makes little sense unless there were substantial cliffs overlooking the ocean from which to throw him.

Tenth, Ore, from which metal could be smelted to construct tools, has to be available in the vicinity—and it is.

What’s fascinating is that there is just not iron ore available in this region of Arabia, yet, when we brought a Cambridge-educated geologist to Khor Kharfot, our candidate for Nephi’s Bountiful, he noticed that there was iron ore in some of the limestone seams. He, not being a member of our faith, said to us, “There’s not much ore here, but there’s enough to make tools.” He had no idea that is what it said in the Book of Mormon.

Scot

Eleventh, despite the attractiveness of the place, the 17^th chapter of First Nephi is full of clues indicating that Bountiful likely had little or no resident population at that time that could contribute tools and manpower to the ship building process. Bountiful has to have been in a fairly remote location.

Twelfth, coastal conditions had to allow a ship access to the open ocean and to suitable winds and currents (1 Nephi 18:8, 9) which could carry the vessel in an easterly direction toward the Pacific coast of the Americas, as Alma 22:28 stipulates when it mentions that the west coast of the land was the place of their “first inheritance.”

Maurine

Once they are at Bountiful, Nephi is told by the Lord to construct a ship, which would involve working “timbers of curious workmanship. And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work”, Nephi said.

People sometimes assume that a life of sin is one of variety and creativity and freedom, but who in this story is taken to new heights both in vision and competence? Nephi gets plates, makes a bow, and now is asked to do something even more in building a ship. This, in turn, makes him something more. In actuality it is sin that is boring, repetitive and uninteresting. If you want to have a remarkable life, choose righteousness.

Scot, you know, you and I have sat on the seashore at Nephi’s Bountiful many times and looked at that expanse of ocean before us and considered the astonishing faith required to build a ship and take off into the unknown for a destination we hadn’t been told. It is a little like if you and I were asked to take our current skills and build a spaceship to head into the darkest space. Oh, this faith of Nephi.

Scot

Laman and Lemuel did not want to work on the ship and called Nephi foolish, that same old word of mocking that the worldly have always hurled at the righteous. But look how he seeks to convince them. He reminds them what they already know. Eleven times in this section he says to them “Ye know”, emphasizing that the Lord can do what looks impossible as he did for Moses and the children of Israel.

“Now ye know that the children of Israel were in ^abondage; and ye know that they were laden with ^btasks, which were grievous to be borne… Now ye know that ^aMoses was commanded of the Lord to do that great work; and ye know that by his ^bword the waters of the Red Sea were divided hither and thither, and they passed through on dry ground” (1 Nephi 17: 25,26).

They know through everything they have learned and they know from everything they have experienced that the Lord can do all things for His children, but still ultimately the Children of Israel who inhabited the Promised Land were not righteous.

Maurine

That’s why he pleads with his brothers,

“And ye also know that by the ^apower of his almighty word he can cause the earth that it shall pass away; yea, and ye know that by his word he can cause the rough places to be made smooth, and smooth places shall be broken up. O, then, why is it, that ye can be so hard in your hearts?” (1 Nephi 17:46).

Nephi assures them: “And I said unto them: ^aIf God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done.

“And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot ^ainstruct me, that I should build a ship?”

Scot

Or how can He not help us with any of the problems that we face in our lives?

Nephi is filled with such power at this point that when he stretches for his hand, he shocks his brothers who otherwise were planning to murder him by pitching him over a cliff.

Laman and Lemuel, come to their senses, they repent, but, of course, repentance for them will never last long, and they will be up to their old murderous intents again on the ship when they are crossing the ocean. This whole story is truly a most remarkable view of the wilderness journey.

Maurine

This is Scot and Maurine Proctor with Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast. Thanks to Paul Cardall for the music and we’ll see you next week when we’ll study 2 Nephi 1-5, “We Lived after the Manner of Happiness.” Until then, have a wonderful week.

Your Hardest Family Question: How do I prevent my kids from becoming addicts?

Question

I’m in recovery from an addiction that started when I was a kid. My wife and I have three young sons and I don’t want them leaving my house with any kind of addiction like I did. I know I can’t control what they do with their lives, but are there things we can do in our home to make it less likely that they’ll have addictions?

Answer

Your sons are fortunate to have parents who ask these kinds of questions. Preventing and healing addictions requires tremendous intentionality from everyone involved. And, you’re correct that even though we can’t control what our children choose to do with their lives, we can create conditions and build relationships with them that will set them up for positive outcomes and offer support throughout their mortal journey.

Before we discuss prevention, please recognize that if your child ever goes down the road of addiction, it’s not an automatic sign that you are a failure as a parent. It’s true that parents have a significant influence on their children’s lives, but there are hundreds of decisions leading toward addiction that are the sole responsibility of the individual with the addiction. If this weren’t the case, then those who struggle with addiction would never have hope of using their own agency to break free. As parents, we have to hold fast to Joseph Smith’s important leadership principle of teaching our children correct principles and, ultimately, allowing them to govern themselves.[i]

When considering addiction prevention, it’s important to recognize what purpose addictions serve in people’s lives. Addictions are counterfeit attachments that help us regulate our bodies, emotions, and relationships.[ii] They target the regulatory systems in our brains and bodies to numb, enhance, or diminish reality. In my experience, individuals who struggle with addictions aren’t lacking willpower, but are mismanaging their ability to regulate their emotions, relationships, and thoughts.

When we’re born, we don’t have the ability to self-regulate our bodies and emotions very effectively. We count on our caregivers to touch us, speak to us, feed us, clothe us, and offer us safety and comfort. These things regulate our bodies so we can sleep, feel calm, and securely experience the full range of emotions available to us. As we get older, we’re expected to self-regulate without the constant support of other people.

Even though we all require some degree of co-regulation from others, healthy adults know how to manage the balance of self-regulation and co-regulation. However, managing emotions, physical bodies, thoughts, and relationships isn’t always easy and counterfeits can show up and lure us into harmful patterns of unhealthy dependency on behaviors, substances, and relationships. These counterfeits show up as food, drugs, screens, sex, money, perfectionism, work, and so on.

Even though addictions are complex and caused by multiple factors, here are two things you can begin doing in your home to help your children develop the ability to regulate their emotions and bodies in healthy ways: 1) teaching them how to self-regulate and, 2) allowing them to co-regulate with healthy relationships. I’ll explain each of these in more detail.

First, you can teach your sons to manage their uncomfortable emotions in healthy ways. You can teach them that all emotions are important and shouldn’t be dismissed, especially the uncomfortable ones. They can learn to slow down, breathe, and trust that their emotions won’t overtake them. There are countless daily opportunities to teach our children to tolerate the distressing emotions we all experience as part of life.

Here are some common ways we let our children avoid painful emotions:

When a child is sad, we give them food (usually something sugary).
We might try and quickly fix any disappointments they experience.
We sometimes over-coordinate with other adults to make sure our child doesn’t have to be uncomfortable (i.e., making sure they sit by a friend, make sure they have the perfect teacher, etc.).
We jump in and resolve their arguments with their siblings.
We solve their problems for them.
We do their homework for them.

Instead, consider the following alternative reactions to help children learn how to sit with and tolerate distress:

When a child is sad, we allow them to tell us what’s on their mind and listen to them.
When a child experiences a disappointment, we acknowledge the disappointment, express compassion, and allow them to eventually accept the difficult emotions.
We allow our children to enter new and unfamiliar situations and expect them to handle the uncertainty and vulnerability that comes with new people, new rules, new environments, and other unknowns.
We expect our children to spend time working out their differences with their siblings in a respectful way.
We ask good questions and allow our children to find solutions to their problems.
We allow them to do their own schoolwork and accept any consequences for poor work, late assignments, or missed assignments.

When children feel trusted by loving caretakers to handle difficult emotions, they develop a strong inner-confidence that they can do hard things and don’t require immediate relief from pain. You can allow your children to feel the natural pain that comes from making mistakes and learning from them. Our job isn’t to protect our children from making mistakes. Our job is to help our children manage their emotions, bodies, and relationships when they make mistakes so they can grow into healthy functioning adults.

Second, you can model healthy co-regulation by allowing your children to depend on you for emotional support. The examples for healthy self-regulation I listed above all include an element of co-regulation with a parent. Co-regulation isn’t the same as fixing things for our kids or rescuing them from their emotions. Instead, it’s staying with them through the difficult emotions. You want your children to learn that they are stronger when they are connected to others.

We have countless examples of our loving Father in Heaven and Savior inviting us to come to them and receive strength. We sing hymns like, “I Need Thee Every Hour”[iii] and read reassuring scriptures like, “Fear thou not, for I am with thee.”[iv] Even though we are capable of self-regulating, we simply do better in the strength of the Lord. Our children can learn how to turn to God and to others for strength and support.

This is why regular family dinners, one-on-one time with each child, safe physical touch, compassionate listening, and other healthy relationship behaviors are so important…these soothe our inborn need to co-regulate with others.

When you make it clear to your children that they can talk with you about anything and you regularly show interest in their lives by asking good questions and making time for them, they’re more likely to turn to you and others for support. They’ll also have more strength when they’re alone to self-regulate strong emotions. And, when your children make mistakes and mismanage their emotions, bodies, and relationships, they will feel your support as you help them learn from these mistakes, feel the weight of their actions, and move toward healthier behaviors with the loving support from their parents.

It’s common for parents to get polarized between requiring their kids to figure things out on their own or stepping in and doing everything for them so they don’t to suffer. Both of these extremes fail to set our kids up to understand themselves and tolerate distressing emotions. Instead, we want them to have the ability to self-regulate and then know how to reach out and accept support from others. When these two are balanced correctly, we do much better regulating our emotions and protecting ourselves from the lure of addictions.

You have a wonderful opportunity to create an environment where you allow your children to experience the full range of highs and lows of life with the intentional and loving presence of their parents. This combination will reduce the need for counterfeit attachments that would temporarily offer relief but rob them of the joy and comfort that comes from knowing they can manage themselves and turn to meaningful relationships with God and others.

Geoff will answer a new family and relationship question every Friday. You can email your question to him at ge***@lo************.com

If you’ve broken trust with your spouse and want a structured approach to repairing the damage you’ve created, I’ve created the Trust Building Bootcamp, a 12-week online program designed to help you restore trust and become a trustworthy person. You can receive 20% off by entering the code MERIDIAN at checkout. Visit www.trustbuildingacademy.com to learn more and enroll in the course.

About the Author

Geoff Steurer is a licensed marriage and family therapist in St. George, Utah. He specializes in working with couples, pornography/sexual addiction, betrayal trauma, and infidelity. He is the founder of LifeStar of St. George, Utah (www.lifestarstgeorge.com) and Alliant Counseling and Education (www.alliantcounseling.com). Geoff is the co-author of “Love You, Hate the Porn: Healing a Relationship Damaged by Virtual Infidelity”, the host of the Illuminate podcast, and creates online relationship courses available at www.trustbuildingacademy.com. He earned degrees from Brigham Young University and Auburn University. He is married to Jody Young Steurer and they are the parents of four children.

You can connect with him at:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc05gV4t9A0B8-TDT1EfWhQ?view_as=subscriber
Website: w ww.geoffsteurer.com
Twitter: @geoffsteurer
Facebook: www.facebook.com/GeoffSteurerMFT
Instagram: @geoffsteurer

[i] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-joseph-smith/chapter-24?lang=eng

[ii] https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2004-18091-000

[iii] “I Need Thee Every Hour” – Hymn 98

[iv] Isaiah 41:10

Coronavirus Outbreak: What You Need to Know

The Coronavirus is making news as it spreads throughout the world. The virus has now arrived in eighteen countries and has no available vaccine.

The stock market took a hit from investors frightened by the news from China concerning the virus. Three cities in China, with a combined population of 23 million, have now been quarantined with none being allowed in or out, no bus service, airport closed and no train service. That would equate to New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago all being locked down.

The first American identified with the virus is from Seattle where he is hospitalized and doing well. Sixteen people who he came in contact with are being monitored. A family arriving from Mexico at LAX has been taken to a hospital for observation after being suspected of having the virus. Be aware the incubation period for this new virus is not known. I could be 2 days to 2 weeks before symptoms appear.

For four to five weeks the people in China with the symptoms have been turned away from the hospital. When people die, they are being immediately cremated with family members not allowed to view the bodies. In one case a family reported a family member died in the hospital, was cremated and the funeral home was immediately sanitized by people wearing hazmat suits, but they were told he died of a lung disease. Scientists in China are saying this virus is ten times the magnitude of the SARS outbreak in 2002-2003 when one in ten people infected died.

This article is not meant to inspire fear, only to help you examine your own ability to care for your family. Although much of this article refers to preparing for a pandemic or community health emergency the same preparations will provide safety and harmony in your home during a blizzard, extended power outage or civil unrest when you may need to hunker down in your own home for weeks or even months.

Health agencies disagree on the size of the ideal home store when preparing for a community, nationwide or worldwide large-scale health emergency, ranging from recommendations of a ten day to three-month supply, with most now recommending a three-month supply. As an emergency approaches, retail store shelves will be rapidly stripped of all supplies. As we have seen, when storm warnings are issued it takes only minutes for shelves to empty and may be days before new supplies arrive. The same will happen once the first signs of a pandemic appear.

Since even the seasonal flu can take weeks to go through a family, a three-month supply should be the goal. The most successful quarantines during past pandemics lasted a minimum of two months. You may also be called upon to help family members and friends, and you will want to be prepared.

If you live in the country on a few acres, your home is the ideal place to self-quarantine during a pandemic – and perhaps with nearby family and extended family. This will allow the children to play outside occasionally without exposure to others who may be carrying the virus. A rural setting would also allow contaminated garbage to be kept far from the house. If you have this rural advantage, you are the likely refuge for your extended family, and will need to store more food and water to be ready.

Don’t forget the needs of pets. Store food, water and medications for them as you would any other member of the family.

Some of these suggestions may not seem relevant to a medical emergency but remember those who pick up the trash, repair power lines or stock store shelves may also be quarantined and unable to show up for work.

Stock up on:

Prescription drugs to insure a continuous supply in your home. You may ask your doctor if he has samples or can help you to lawfully prepare. This is especially important for medications such as insulin that cannot be rationed.
First aid supplies.
Nonprescription drugs including pain and fever relievers, stomach remedies, anti- diarrhea medications, and cough and cold medicines and preventive medications.
Benadryl. During emergencies allergies and bee stings may still happen. Store children’s doses in tablet form. They will last longer, and dosage is based on weight so adults just need to take a little more.
Remember, never give young children aspirin. Purchase medications specifically designed for children.
Fluids with electrolytes.
Vitamins.
Anti-bacterial wipes for cleaning up after attending to a patient.
Hand sanitizers should also be included in your first aid supplies. These should be used every time you are with someone who is ill or after you shake hands with anyone. When at home soap and water is better.
Make sure you also have at least one thermometer on hand and alcohol to clean it.
Medical gloves are essential. Purchase a variety of sizes for the needs of all family members. Remember, some gloves are latex – so if you think you may have a latex allergy use care in selecting gloves.
N95 particulate face masks. These will help prevent the transfer of germs as you are in public or caring for a loved one. There are many types of medical masks. The surgical variety will provide added protection from fluids. These are especially valuable when you are caring for someone who is sweating, sneezing or vomiting. For the best protection these need to fit firmly against the face. If you are using masks for children place the mask on the face and then a bandana. Be sure the bandana is a thin fabric so the child can still breathe! This will help to hold the mask firmly on their face. It can be like dress up! Make sure you remove the bandana and place it directly into the washer. Discard the mask, preferably outside, and wash your child’s hands, face and exposed skin thoroughly with a hand sanitizer or soap and water. I have heard people advise that masks do not need to be stored because they cannot be fitted tightly enough to the face. So long as hospitals, police and fire departments and schools are stocking up with supplies of masks for all their staff and students, I am stocking face masks, too. When they no longer consider it important, I will stop. Until then, I believe it is important.
Paper plates, cup, bowls, and utensils will cut down on the possibility that germs will be passed as meals are cleared. They will also save precious time for those who are the care givers and a must have should the power fail.
Paper towels become essential items for keeping your home germ free.
Stock up on TP and facial tissues with anti-bacterial properties…you will use more than you think during a time of illness. Each family will need a different amount of these items. Don’t guess what your need will be. For at least one month keep track of how may rolls of toilet paper and how many boxes of tissues you use. Now is the perfect time to take this challenge on as cold season is beginning so your family will begin using many more tissues. I suggest you place the wrapper from the TP roll in a drawer and at the end of the month count how many you have used. You can multiply this number by three to understand how much you need to store. Add an additional 25%-50% more to prepare for a pandemic as family members will all be home all day long, and some family members are likely to be ill. During a widespread illness facial tissues should be labeled with an individual’s name and reserved for their use, so store enough so each member of the family can have at least one box of their own, 3 or 4 boxes even better.
Large plastic trash bags for soiled clothing, towels, and trash.
Liquid soaps: liquid laundry, hand and dish soaps will be much more useful if there is an interruption in your utility service.
Bleach and/or hydrogen peroxide for laundry and cleaning, and other disinfectant cleaning supplies should be stored now.
Alternative to electricity.
- For light: Flashlights, glow sticks, and/or lanterns, and batteries.
- For heat: Firewood, non-electric heaters (propane or kerosene – follow manufacturer instructions for safety), and heavy blankets and/or sleeping bags.
- For Cooking: Portable propane cook stove, barbecue grill and fuel, can opener.
- For Laundry: large tub for washing laundry, rope for a clothes line and clothes pins.
- For Communications: Battery/solar/crank radio and/or TV to keep up on the news and health warnings.
- Water: Bleach and other items needed for purification.
Sanitation needs: Port-a-potty with chemicals and liner, kitty litter or sand to help absorb waste and a plan to bury your waste away from your home. You will also need to be prepared to bury or otherwise dispose of every day trash in case services are suspended temporarily.
Entertainment: Just think about three months at home with no place to go. Talk about cabin fever! Consider purchasing DVDs that you know your children or spouse would like to have. Keep them put away until they are needed or until the next major gift giving occasion. Then, replace the old with new titles. Remember if there is widespread illness there may not be people to man the facilities at TV stations and streaming services. You can also establish a stash of age appropriate books, magazines, puzzles and games. Reading a few classic books as a family would also be a great way to pass the time. Stock up on craft supplies and even a new hobby to start with the kids. Cooking can be lots of fun together so make sure your three-month supply includes ingredients to make some fun snacks and meals. A sense of humor is key to survival, so be sure to choose entertainment that is fun, funny and uplifting.
Cash: Should the power fail ATM machines and credit cards will not work. Have a stash of small denomination bills on hand for emergencies when you are forced to leave your home.
Gas up: As soon as you hear the flu has come to your region, fill all your cars. Not only will supplies be hard to come by, but if the power fails, so do the pumps.
Develop a list of health care providers in your area including clinics and hospitals. Include friends in health care, who you can call at home to get advice or direction.
A bell or whistle for your patient to sound when they are in need of help. A whistle can be heard much easier than the human voice.

Whether you are trying to prevent disease or prevent it from spreading, you will want to take precautions in every aspect of your family routine. Now is the time to start by teaching and practicing good habits.

Teach your family the proper way to wash their hands. You do not need to use hand sanitizers on a daily basis. In fact, this can prove dangerous as sanitizers kill all germs, good and bad. Hands should be washed with plenty of water, soap and scrubbing. Practice rubbing all the surfaces of the hands, including the fingernails and between fingers, under running water every time you wash. Since this needs to take some time children can learn to be patient and sing either Happy Birthday or the ABC Song while scrubbing. This will help them to recognize the length of time necessary to do a thorough washing.

Avoid shaking hands with someone who is ill, begin the habit now. If this is impossible, thoroughly wash your hands as soon as possible or use a hand sanitizer.

Teach family members to always cough or sneeze into a tissue. If this is impossible, teach them to cover their face with their arm, not their hands. Simply bend your arm and place your elbow over your mouth. This reduces the likelihood that you will pass germs along to others as you shake hands or touch objects they may also be handling.

Remind your family to stay away from those who are ill. Please don’t send an ill child to school, to music lessons, or even to church. We could avoid so much heartache if everyone would make it a practice to stay home when they are ill.

When family members are ill, have each family member clear their own dirty dishes after each meal. During a period of illness, you will use paper plates and have them placed in an outdoor garbage can. Get a large plastic garbage can that you can set outside the door in the event of emergencies like a pandemic. Dispose of any wet or contaminated garbage in that can. This will help keep germs outside, instead of inside your home.

Decide now which room in your home will be used to care for those who are ill. A room with its own bathroom is the best. You will want to keep a patient as far away from healthy family members as possible. Be sure to have several sets of sheets for the bed or beds in that room.

Design a plan to care for extended family and friends if they should become ill and have no one to care for them. In some cases, it will be better to have them move in with you at the beginning of the pandemic and hopefully avoid becoming ill as they self -quarantine with your family.

Prepare now to work from home if at all possible. You should discuss this with your employer and develop a plan now. If you are a first responder, be sure your employer is prepared for the employees to maintain a self-quarantine at your work place.

Check with your child’s school to determine if they have a plan for a pandemic. Will they continue to teach using the Internet or a cable TV station?

The United States has active national as well as international programs for manufacturing, pre-positioning, and stockpiling antiviral drugs, masks, and other supplies., however this strain of virus is one not seen before. Vaccines could take months to develop. A lesson we have learned from the response to hurricanes, floods, and the destruction caused by tornadoes and earthquakes, we need to be prepared to care for all of our own needs.Be sure to check out Carolyn’s weekly posts on Facebook and her Totally Ready website for tips and help with all your self-reliance questions. Don’t forget to share your success stories with her there and here.

Cartoon: Restore Upgrade

Why Did Nephi Prophesy of Christopher Columbus?

View the article on Book of Mormon Central.

“And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.” 1 Nephi 13:12

The Know

As Nephi witnessed future events leading up to the fulfillment of all the covenants God had made with his posterity, he saw in vision that “many waters … divided the Gentiles from the seed of my brethren.” He then saw “a man among the Gentiles” who, inspired by the “the Spirit of God,” crossed “the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.” This gentile’s improbable success opened the way for “other Gentiles,” to cross “the many waters.” Before long, there were “many multitudes of the Gentiles upon the land of promise” and the seed of Nephi’s brethren “were scattered before the Gentiles and were smitten” (1 Nephi 13:10–14).

Latter-day Saints have long identified this “man among the Gentiles” who initiated the coming of “many multitudes of Gentiles” as Christopher Columbus, who first voyaged across the Atlantic to the islands of the Caribbean (though he thought he had arrived in the Indies) in 1492.1 According to Laurence Bergreen, “Columbus’s voyages to the New World differed from all the earlier events in the scope of its human drama and ecological impact. Before him, the Old World and the New remained separate and distinct continents, ecosystems, and societies; ever since, their fates have been bound together, for better or worse.”2

Columbus made four voyages to the New World between 1492 and 1504 in which he encountered native peoples of the Bahamas and the Caribbean islands, including Cuba, Hispaniola, and Jamaica. It was not until his third voyage that he came to the coast of Venezuela and began to realize that it was not merely islands, but a massive and previously unknown continent that he had discovered. Finally, on his fourth voyage he explored the coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, meeting and interacting with natives throughout these lands.3

Those who have studied Columbus’s first voyage, in particular, have been impressed by how Columbus navigated so perfectly, despite sailing into unknown waters and having only rudimentary means of determining where he was. Samuel Eliot Morison remarked, “no man alive, limited to the instruments and means at Columbus’s disposal, could obtain anything near the accuracy of his results.”4 While many today might attribute this to Columbus’s brilliance or skill, or even to shear dumb luck, Columbus himself attributed it to the Lord’s guiding hand.5 “Who can doubt,” he later wrote, “that this fire was not merely mine, but also of the Holy Spirit … urging me to press forward?”6

Columbus’s motives for attempting his trans-Atlantic crossing are manifold and complex, and in recent years he has become increasingly controversial as his and his men’s often harsh and violent treatment of the natives has been rightly criticized.7 Yet throughout his life, Columbus maintained that his primary motives for crossing the Atlantic were religious, and he believed he was fulfilling biblical statements and prophecies about the end times found in Isaiah mentioning the “islands of the sea” and in John 10:16 about “other sheep.”8

While the writings describing Columbus’s religious convictions have long been known, they’ve only recently begun to be taken seriously. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scholars preferred to portray Columbus as a rational scientist and explorer.9 As he has become more controversial, interpretations of his motives have become more cynical, with late 20th and early 21st-century historians tending to see him more as a greedy opportunist, whose pious pretensions were merely a front used in efforts to convince Ferdinand and Isabela to support his endeavors.10

Some other historians, however, have challenged this view, insisting that while motives like glory, gold, and greed no doubt played a role in Columbus’s quest, his religious convictions were real and sincere. Pauline Moffitt Watts, Leonard I. Sweet, and most recently Carol Delaney have all argued persuasively that Columbus was driven by a religious worldview in which he saw himself playing a crucial role as God’s instrument in the unfolding events of the end times.11

The Why

If Columbus is, indeed, the “man among the Gentiles” seen by Nephi in his vision, that would confirm that Columbus truly did have a role to play in the unfolding apocalyptic drama of the end times—but not the role he thought he had.12 The Holy Spirit had, in fact, “wrought upon” him, but not so that he could discover passage to the Indies and bring to pass the Christian conquest of Jerusalem. It was to reach “the seed of [Nephi’s] brethren, who were in the promised land” (1 Nephi 13:12).

It is important to acknowledge that not everything Columbus did was inspired by God. Nephi only says the Spirit would inspire him to cross the many waters. He says nothing that endorses Columbus’s actions after he arrives in the promised land. Columbus was not as cruel to the natives as many others, but he was a man of his time who exploited and enslaved the natives he came into contact with, and he opened the flood gates of European conquest.13 Indeed, as Nephi prophesied, the arrival of this “man among the Gentiles” led to the tragic scattering and smiting of the Lamanites throughout the New World (1 Nephi 13:14).

But Columbus’s voyages also set in motion the series of events leading up to the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—including the coming forth the Book of Mormon and its use to restore the children of Lehi to a knowledge of their privileged status as covenant people of the Lord (1 Nephi 13:33–42; 1 Nephi 15:14).14 Today, the Lord’s promises to the children of Lehi are being fulfilled (see D&C 3:18–19).

Recognizing this man as Columbus also has implications for how we understand Lamanite identity and the extent of the promised land granted to Lehi’s posterity. Nephi specifically says that this man would reach the promised land, and interact with the seed of the Lamanites. While this does not necessarily mean that Book of Mormon events took place in isles of the Caribbean, or any other place Columbus visited, it suggests that those islands—along with the northern coast of South America, and southern Central America—are part of the land promised to Lehi’s seed.15 It further suggests that Lehi is an ancestor to the native peoples in those lands, and that they are entitled to the all the blessings the Lord has in store for that chosen lineage.16

Great Fiction to Get Your Kids Excited About Reading

These long winter nights prove to be invaluable for kids to hunker down into the adventures of books. The following books are best suited for ages nine and up and include fantasy, historical fiction and realistic fiction.

The Whispering Wars, by Jaclyn Moriarty, takes place in the fantasy town of Spindrift – where magic can be found. When two schools, one an orphanage, and the other an expensive school, compete in a tournament, bickering ensues. But these kids come together when their town becomes enveloped with a deadly magical influenza. This magical adventure is richly told with children suddenly going missing. The students realize both schools must work together to rid the town of the insidious powers of the Whisperers.

Don’t Tell the Nazis, by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, is an historical fiction that takes place in Ukraine. The year is 1941 and a small town has just been invaded by the Nazis. These invaders promise better living conditions for the townspeople. But the people find that their lives have become even more difficult. On top of that, the Nazis are blaming the Jews for murders they didn’t commit. Young Krystal sees that her Jewish friends need a place to hide. What she does is an inspiration to all who read this richly told story.

The Adventurers Guild: Night of Dangers, by Zack Loran Clark and Nick Eliopulos, continues with this exciting adventure in book three. Young Zed must warn his friends that a monstrous evil is on the move and is about to infiltrate their market as everyone is out and about. The story carries a theme of working together along with a strong friendship for these kids to overcome the dangers that lie ahead. Beware, however! Once you begin, you won’t be able to stop reading!

A Talent for Trouble, by Natasha Farrant, is an adventure story that involves severe weather, sickness and even injury. A boarding school student, Alice, has decided that she must find her father who is somewhere in the far reaches of Scotland. She persuades and tricks her two friends to come with her, so she doesn’t have to go alone. This becomes a story of survival as they encounter difficulties that become almost too much to overcome.

Weird Little Robots, by Carolyn Crimi, and sprinkled with wonderful illustrations done with ink, pencil and gouache by Corinna Luyken, can be labeled as magical realism. Eleven-year-old Penny Rose has just moved to a new town and has not made any friends yet. What she loves to do is build robots. She loves science and loves working on her robots. Then she meets her neighbor, Lark, who also loves to build. Lark builds bird houses. Something magical happens in the story and Penny Rose’s robots come alive. This brings about some interesting dilemmas along with some bullying elements involving a science club. The illustrations are delightful and definitely add to the storyline.

More to the Story, by Hena Khan, is actually an updated tribute to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Jameela desires to be the best feature editor of her school’s newspaper. But then her father is taken out of the country for work for six months and now she and her three sisters must deal with life without their dear father. Then her younger sister becomes violently ill and her family comes together stronger than ever to help her overcome her sickness. This story is about ups and downs and the love of family.

The Princess Who Flew with Dragons, by Stephanie Burgis, is another in the Princess series stories and this one doesn’t disappoint. When a Princess Sofia is sent to Villene by her sister to represent her kingdom, Sofia believes she is being sent there because she makes so many mistakes. But what she discovers will help her meet a very special dragon and then begin to realize the many dangers ahead. This is a thrilling magical adventure.

The Fowl Twins, by Eoin Colfer, is a page-turning adventure from the very first page. The Fowl twin boys are brilliant young scientists who love learning and exploring. When they suddenly discover a troll, who has dug himself up from deep inside the earth, the adventure truly begins. The troll is trying to escape from two people who are trying to locate him to use his magic. There is also a small fairy who is following him trying to protect him. The twins are eager to help this troll and are a caught up in being arrested, shot at, and kidnapped, to name just a few of their problems. You won’t stop reading until you reach the end to discover how it all turns out!

The Lost Tide Warriors, by Catherine Doyle, finds Fionn looking for help to save his island. The magic he knows is deep within this island, but he doesn’t know how to locate it. If he could just summon the magical merrows, this sea creature army could help him. But he doesn’t know how or where to begin looking. What he discovers will be a great surprise to all who read this great adventure.

An Unprecedented Sculpture Park to Celebrate the Book of Mormon

Today we make an announcement about a new sculpture park, on the order of the ones in Europe, to celebrate the Book of Mormon. Meridian readers are the first to know.

America is a covenant land, whose promise has been declared in the Book of Mormon since ancient times by prophets who saw our day. Yet, there is an irony.

Europe has her magnificent sculpture gardens, with heroic statues of Greek gods, but until now America has had very few places to commemorate the exceptional promise she bears, nor have there been sculptures on this scale to etch the lives of prophets into the hearts of viewers.

Now, this is changing, and we have a “monumental” announcement to make. Artist and sculptor Steven Lloyd Neal, is creating a 7+-acre sculpture park called “Monument of the Americas and Garden” which will feature more than 50 bronze sculptures, many of them heroic size or even three times life size and featuring multiple figures, along with a series of expansive bas-relief panels that tell the story of the Book of Mormon. These will be placed among waterfalls, manicured gardens, pools, walkways, flowers and ornamental trees all celebrating the Book of Mormon and honoring America’s founding.

All of the statues have been created in maquette form in the past many years and the first three enlarged works are ready to install.

The park will have an art studio and visitors’ center which can be used for juried art shows or wedding receptions and social events. There will be an amphitheater for summer concerts and youth outings.

For Neal, it has been a vision and labor of twenty-five years of sculpting and planning, and the goal is that visitors will be moved to lift their eyes and “always remember” the divine legacy this represents.

The site for the sculpture park is in Utah at a place that cannot yet be disclosed, but beginning work on the actual site is planned for 2020. The various statues in the park design have been created, some of them already in the massive scale they will assume in the park.

Get a glimpse of two artists at work in this video, which gives a preview of Steven Lloyd Neal creating the statues, while Jenny Oaks Baker plays the violin to I Stand All Amazed. This video comes with a promise that you will be both moved and excited about what is transpiring.

The Center of the Park

Here is a sneak peek of the park, though Meridian will run additional articles giving close up views of many more sculptures.

An 18-foot tall bronze sculpture of the Savior is the center of the garden and His teachings are the central theme. He stands, beckoning to “his sheep”—the people of the eastern and western hemisphere, personified by the old world type of lamb He holds, and the baby alpaca at His right side. This figure, lit up at night, will be visible at night.

The statue stands astride a waterfall that cascades three stories over a massive sculpture of the Gold Plates. Representing the destiny of the Book of Mormon to fill the earth, water courses over the golden leaves and falls into a second pool where a model of the world sits, its continents outlined on the globe.

Corresponding to the east and west hemisphere, sculpted life-size bronze figures adoring the Savior are placed at each side of the lower pool. From a distant vantage, the figures take the shape of large adoring hands, with the figures becoming the fingers.

Title of Liberty

At the other end of the central walkway, across from the waterfall, is a colossal presentation of Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty, which captures the essence of the promise of plenty, protection and freedom of this covenant land. It is portrayed in multiple figures. The Title of Liberty, which Moroni holds, is engraved in high relief, “In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and peace, our wives and our children,” familiar lines to us from the Book of Mormon.

At a dire time in the Revolutionary War, George Washington gave a nearly identical speech to urge his soldiers to re-enlist when they were ready to go home at the end of their duty. Washington knew if they left, his army would be decimated and that would be the end of the American Revolution.

This sculpture does not just capture the Moroni story alone, but the covenant destiny of America. Seen from one angle, the Title of Liberty becomes the American flag. Seen from another the Title of Liberty is hoisted on a pole held in place by soldiers, just as they did at Iwo Jima.

Moroni, with his bold flag of liberty, stands astride the dragon of tyranny. Around him is Washington holding an infant—the young nation of the United States. The infant is delivered in to his hands by Lady Liberty, as depicted on top of the Capitol dome in Washington D.C.

Soldiers from different eras, including Civil War, World War II and Desert Storm, represent the countless numbers of Americans who have been willing to give their all in the defense of liberty. Women soldiers are represented as well as men.

Sculptures and Panels Portray the Story

Because there are so many sculptures, we can’t give you enough of a taste in one article, but those dramatic moments from the Book of Mormon from King Benjamin’s address to Christ healing the sick are each portrayed.

The central walkway of the Monument will be lined with 20 bronze panels, each measuring ten by seven feet, and mounted on granite/cement frames. They are arranged chronologically with notable stories from the Book of Mormon.

Some of these are created by sculptor, Michael Hall. There is also room for future generations to add more panels.

Portrayed here is Lehi’s vision of the tree of life, the treacherous voyage across boiling seas to the Promised Land, Alma and the sons of Mosiah being visited by an angel, the Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s burying their weapons and so many more. The message of the Book of Mormon is intertwined through some of the most compelling stories of history, and many are portrayed here.

The Background of Steven Lloyd Neal

So what inspired this great work? Many Latter-day Saints know Dr. Neal’s work already. His 8-foot long painting of Lehi’s Tree of Life has been in The Church Museum of History and Art as a centerpiece for 31 years. He has done a dozen other paintings depicting scenes from the Book of Mormon. His giant monument to the Mormon Battalion is at the entry to This is the Place Heritage Park.

He said, “All children draw pictures, beginning from when they are toddlers. They stop drawing somewhere around seven or eight years of age when they perceive that their drawings are not very sophisticated and begin to be embarrassed to show their work. I just never stopped drawing.”

By the time he was in high school, he was already thinking big. He cut five boards 10’ by 5’ put them together like a folded accordion, and did his first oil painting. He said that once he had made this huge canvas, he wondered what to paint on it, and since he had always loved birds, he decided to paint 40 or 50 life-size birds with a jungle background.

It took him two years to paint it, and he said, “I remember being all offended, when my mother would say, ‘Steve come get your bird boards and take them somewhere else.’ I still have this painting, and the only place we can keep it is in the garage.”

After his mission to Japan, an event happened that changed his life when Elder Boyd K. Packer came to speak at the 12-stake fireside at Brigham Young University.

“As I was sitting in the Marriott Center and listening to his talk, I felt as though he was speaking directly to me. One line in particular struck me very deeply. He said that the message of the Restoration had not been depicted in music or in art sufficiently, and though there were many great artists in the Church they were pursuing more worldy topics.

“He thought maybe that those in the Church who considered their talents to be barely adequate would perhaps be the ones to rise to that task.

“The Spirit touched my heart deeply that day. I made a solemn covenant that if the Lord would bless my talents that I would spend all of it, and time and money as well, depicting the message of the Restoration—particularly the Book of Mormon.”

It was while Dr. Neal was in a surgical residency after medical school that the large mural of Lehi’s dream came to him.

“The scene came to me in a flash,” he said. “I wanted to look back down the rod of iron to where we came from—then across the chasm to the great and spacious building, but that would make the people very small and difficult to see from the viewer’s vantage. This necessitated the painting be very large. I wouldn’t recommend to anyone to paint such a monster while doing a surgical residency, but that is how it happened.

“I remember holding surgical retractors in the operating room as an intern looking at the white tile wall and imagining how the painting would look, sketching it mentally.”

The painting took about two years to finish, about the same time as the first international Church art competition happened. He entered, but “I wasn’t going to go to the opening ceremonies, but somebody from headquarters called me up and said I should come because I got a prize. It turned out it was the grand prize,” he said.

Another Revelation

This would have been a good enough accomplishment for a life time, but Dr. Neal’s life was again drastically changed while attending the Portland temple in 1995 where he had “a deeply moving spiritual experience.

He said, “Strong images came to my mind—what I would describe as vestiges of a vision—along with the interpretation of an obscure passage in my patriarchal blessing which I had never understood before. In my heart and mind, the Lord offered me another chapter in my covenant that I had previously made to use my time and talents to depict the message of the Restoration.”

It was a series of sculptures on the Book of Mormon for a sculptural park.

He said, “This sculptural rendering I was perceiving was of the Book of Mormon, recording the Savior’s dealing with the remnants of Israel in this land, and was to be the ‘light I should hold up where it would be seen afar’. This the Lord would ‘give in the season and in the hour of need’. It was a big assignment. And one the Lord had waited to give to me until I was 42 years old, waiting until He saw my efforts in fulfilling the promises I had made from almost 20 years previously.”

From that moment on, Dr. Neal, has devoted every effort toward this work, 25 years of effort. He immediately began revising the sculptures he had already created. “They weren’t good enough for a sculptural park, so I redid them. I also made multiple attempts at creating a central figure of the Savior for the monument illustrating the scripture, “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold.”

“I went to Italy multiple times to learn how to carve marble and carved out of stone as well as bronze.”

Anyone who knows Dr. Neal, the plastic surgeon, also knows that he spends every moment, even on vacation, fashioning pieces and parts of these sculptures. Since he received what he considers to be a divine commission to do this park, he has never ceased his labors.

In a world that is so quickly running away from the gospel, Dr. Neal hopes this park will be an affirmation of all that is true and good. We will give Meridian readers updates as they are available.

To learn more go to www.monumentoftheamericas.org Send inquiries to st*******@mo*******************.org.

A Supreme Court justice, an apostle and the power of faith and reason

The following is excerpted from the Deseret News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.

During my time as a Senate chief of staff in Washington, D.C., I always walked to the Senate office, usually in the stillness of the early morning hours. The walk was cherished quiet time to reflect deeply on the founding principles of America before being forced to engage in the rush and crush of the daily Senate schedule.

Almost every morning there was one constant that, even in the midst of turbulent days and stressful times, would set my thinking and priorities right. It was the sight of Justice Clarence Thomas stepping out of the morning Mass at a little church and beginning his walk over to the Supreme Court. Somehow, watching Justice Thomas cross that intersection from faith to reason gave me confidence to meet the day with hope for the future of the nation.

Leaving the pew of a church after morning prayer as a humble, seeking and petitioning disciple, then crossing the street to mount a bench and issue reasoned rulings in the highest court in the land was an image dripping in symbolism and significance.

The modern and increasingly secular world continues to attempt to drive wedges between faith and reason and build barriers separating the human and the divine. The secularists and moral relativists seem determined to not only banish faith from the public square, but also to eliminate it completely from all institutions, including government, business and higher learning.

Last fall, Justice Thomas appeared at Hillsdale College to celebrate the dedication of a most unique structure on a college campus these days — a new chapel.

Speaking at the dedication of the sacred space, the justice declared, “The construction of a college chapel, is a public declaration that faith and reason are mutually reinforcing.” He continued, “Let it stand as a bold declaration to a watching world that faith and learning are rightly understood as complements, and that both are essential to the preservation of the blessings of liberty.”

On Tuesday, another leader stepped onto the college campus at Brigham Young University to address an audience of students also on the path to pursue faith and reason. Elder Ronald A. Rasband, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke of the importance of religious freedom in the context of obtaining knowledge and the quest to achieve human and divine potential.

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