Dews of Heaven Podcast: Enter Into Your Exaltation

We end this year’s study of the Doctrine and Covenants and the temple with this episode, bringing us back full circle to the main point of the Restoration: to bring us all to the veil and into the presence of our Heavenly Father.

Come Follow Me Doctrine & Covenants Podcast #36: “Be Still and Know That I Am God,” D&C 98-101

Maurine

How would it feel to move a thousand miles by foot and wagon, taking all your belongings you could carry—with a mission to gather to a specific place and build a community and society called Zion. You’ve barely been introduced to the concept of Zion—a people of one heart, striving with all their might to stay close to God and live the commandments He has given them. You’ve gathered in families and close-knit friend groups. You’ve purchased beautiful, verdant, fertile lands to build your homes and raise your crops. It’s truly an idyllic setting and situation. Except, what happens when opposition is introduced in the form of hundreds of people who don’t want you there are will do anything, including kill you, to get you out of their county?

Scot

Welcome to Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me Podcast. We are Scot and Maurine Proctor and this week’s lesson will cover Doctrine and Covenants, sections 98-101 and is entitled: “Be Still and Know That I am God.”

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Maurine

Now, during the summer of 1833, this Zion-building society started to face overwhelming opposition. You have to remember; these are real people with real needs and real dreams and aspirations. These are Latter-day Saints just like you and me. They have families, homes, work, normal needs and they are all new to the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are learning how to follow the Prophet of God and follow the commandments of the Lord.

Their desire for a perfect society was looked upon with great suspicion and great disdain by the locals in Western Missouri. Seven things, in the minds of the Missourians, were strikes against these peace-loving, united group of Latter-day Saints.

Scot

One. The old-time Jackson County residents feared that as the new settlers swelled in numbers, the religiously motivated settlers from the east would just plain outnumber them.

Two. With those sheer greater numbers, clearly, the Latter-day Saints could change the political scene and wrest control of the entire county. They would be able to elect whomever they got behind.

Three.  Independence was the head of the 800-mile-long, popular Santa Fe Trail. Entrepreneurial Saints, such as A. Sidney Gilbert, took over some of the Santa Fe Trail trade business from local residents with considerable success.

Maurine

Four. The Saints established a printing business, and The Evening and Morning Star, the first periodical in the area, was published. This was the first printing press west of St. Louis. Because this was an exclusive newspaper, catering to the needs of the Saints, local and national issues were represented from that point of view. The locals thought they would not have a voice.

Five. Some of the Saints boasted that a great many more members of the Church would be arriving soon to claim their inheritance in Zion. And, of course, this caused great alarm among the locals.

Six.  The Missouri frontiersmen hated the Indians, while the Latter-day Saints claimed the Indians to be one of the tribes of Israel and a chosen people.

Scot

And seven. By 1819, there were eleven free states and eleven slave states. Missouri wanted to be admitted to the Union as a slave state, but was only let in if Maine was allowed in, breaking off from Massachusetts, as a free state. This had just happened March 3, 1820 and Missourians still relished their victory as the twelfth slave state of the Union.  The Latter-day Saints, for the most part, were northerners and were against slavery. This did not set well with the locals. This last issue became especially hot when an article or letter was published in the Star cautioning missionaries about proselyting among former slaves, known as “free people of color.” The Missourians misinterpreted the article as encouragement for slaves to join the Saints in western Missouri, and they felt pushed about as far as they could go. “Samuel Lucas, a county judge and colonel in the Jackson County militia, was livid when he read the letter…In Samuel’s mind, [the editor, William W. Phelps,] was inviting free black people to become Mormons and move to Missouri. William’s statements discouraging black Saints from settling in Missouri did nothing to calm his fears.” (Saints, Volume 1, The Standard of Truth, 1815-1846, pp. 173-74)

Maurine

Hundreds of Missourians circulated a “secret constitution” denouncing the Mormons. In July, about five hundred Missourians gathered at the Independence courthouse to draft a document outlining their demands and to issue a bitter ultimatum that no Latter-day Saints would be allowed to move to or settle in Jackson County and that those who were already there must pledge to leave in a reasonable time.

The document also called for the immediate cessation of the Church newspaper. As we have mentioned before, the leaders of the Church, upon receiving the demands, asked for three months to consider the proposition and consult with Church leaders in Ohio. It took six weeks of travel each way for communications to be received and responded to. This request was denied. They pleaded for ten days. This was also denied, and the Saints were given fifteen minutes to look over and agree to the resolution.

This meeting quickly erupted from discussions into an angry mob as the Missourians, smoldering with resentment and anger, decided to immediately implement a resolution to destroy the printing press. They went en masse to the printing office and the residence of the publisher, W. W. Phelps.

Scot

“Down the street from the courthouse, Sally Phelps [wife of W.W. Phelps] was at home on the ground floor of the church’s printing office, tending to her sick newborn. Her four other children were nearby. William had left hours earlier to attend the meeting at the courthouse. He had still not returned, and Sally anxiously waited for news of the meeting.

“A heavy thump rattled the front door, startling her and the children. Outside, men pounded a large log against the door, trying to break it down. A crowd of men, women, and children formed around the printing office, some cheering the men on and others watching in silence.

“Once the door broke open, armed men rushed into the house and dragged Sally and the children into the street. They threw the family’s furniture and belongings out the front door and smashed windows. Some of the attackers climbed up to the second floor of the printing office and dumped type and ink onto the floor as other men began to tear the building down.

“Standing with her children huddled around her, Sally watched as men broke the second-floor window of the printing office and tossed out paper and type. They then heaved the printing press out the window and sent it crashing to the ground.

Maurine

“In the chaos, a few of the men emerged from the printing office with their arms full of unbound pages from the Book of Commandments. “Here is the book of revelations of the damned Mormons,” one of them shouted to the crowd as he threw the pages into the street.” (Ibid, Saints, pp. 177-78) Within a short time, the entire building was reduced to rubble.

Two sisters, Mary Elizabeth and Caroline Rollins, ages fourteen and twelve, had been watching from their hiding place as the mob threw all the unbound copies of the book out of the printing office and began to level the two-story building. Wanting to save as many of the sheets as possible, they risked their lives as they scooped what they could carry into their arms and ran behind the building. The mob spotted them and shouted for them to stop as they frantically ran and hid in a nearby cornfield. For a long time they heard the men searching for them, but they lay quietly on the ground until the mob left. These few copies preserved from this first printing have become priceless symbols of courage.

Scot

Mob violence continued to erupt in Jackson County until it reached a fever pitch. Mobs boldly attacked several settlements, “bursting into houses without fear . . . frightening women and children, and threatening to kill them if they did not flee immediately.”

In a cornfield battle, many were injured, including Philo Dibble, who was shot through his waistband. The ball remained inside him; “he bled much inwardly, and, in a day or two his bowels were so filled with blood and so inflamed that he was about to die. . . . Elder Newel Knight administered to him, by the laying on of hands, in the name of Jesus; his hands had scarcely touched his head when he felt an operation penetrating his whole system as if it had been a purifying fire. He immediately discharged several quarts of blood and corruption, among which was the ball. . . . He was instantly healed, and went to work chopping wood.” (Proctor, Scot Facer and Maurine Jensen, Witness of the Light, pp. 127-28)

Two Missourians were killed during the skirmish, but an exaggerated report said that 20 Missourians had been slain, which enraged the mob to unprecedented levels. The Saints began to run for their lives. Within the next three days, all the Mormons were driven from the county; houses were burned, fields trampled, and personal belongings destroyed. More than two hundred homes were burned to the ground; orchards were destroyed, fields of crops decimated, belongings stolen or pillaged. The shores of the Missouri River became swollen with refugees on both sides.

Maurine

“The mobs rejoiced as they saw the Mormons driven north to Clay County out of their midst. Lyman Wight recorded, “I saw one hundred and ninety women and children driven thirty miles across the prairie . . . the ground thinly crusted with sleet; and I could easily follow on their trail by the blood that flowed from their lacerated feet on the stubble of the burnt prairie!” Emily Austin wrote: “We lived in tents until winter set in, and did our cooking out in the wind and storms. Log heaps were our parlor stoves, and the cold, wet ground our velvet carpets, and the crying of little children our piano forte.” 9 As the Saints lay on the banks of the mighty Missouri River, they mourned: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.” (Psalm 137:1.)

“Twelve hundred homeless Saints were scattered through the counties of Missouri, their dream of a Zion at the center place vanished like smoke on the wind. Elizabeth Haven, who endured many persecutions, recorded in a letter to a friend: “God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. Many have been sifted out of the Church, while others have been rooted . . . in love and are the salt of the earth. . . . We are to be tried (everyone who inhabits the celestial kingdom) like gold seven times purified.” “That the trial of your faith,” the apostle Peter admonished, “being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:7.)

Now what were they to do? The Lord had told Joseph Smith: “Zion shall be redeemed, although she is chastened for a little season. . . . Let your hearts be comforted; for all things shall work together for good to them that walk uprightly.” (D&C 100:13, 15.) (Ibid, Witness of the Light, pp. 129-31)

Scot

Before the Prophet Joseph even knew about the calamities in Missouri, he received this revelation, found in Section 98, verses 1-3:

1 Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks;

[I do love those seven words: Rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks.—That makes for a VERY happy life. Now verse 2:]

2 Waiting patiently on the Lord, for your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded with this seal and testament—the Lord hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted.

3 Therefore, he giveth this promise unto you, with an immutable covenant that they shall be fulfilled; and all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good, and to my name’s glory, saith the Lord.

Maurine

Now, we all faced trials in this life—that’s part of what was on our contract with mortality, whether we remember or not. The Latter-day Saints faced them in 1833 and we all face them today.

A trial that rocked my world happened when I was in a bike accident where I shattered my left arm and was unable to breathe because I had effusions around my lungs and heart.

It was a very long four or five months for me, where I spent much time in pain, sometimes slept in a chair sitting up, because I couldn’t breathe, and when I did sit down to work, typed with one hand because my left hand didn’t work anymore. It was a year before I could bend the fingers on my left hand, a challenge for a writer and editor.

I’ve talked about this before, but for those who don’t know, we were on e-bikes on the Route of the Hiawatha bike trail, up on the border of Idaho and Montana, where the old Hiawatha train used to pass through several tunnels as it traveled through the beautiful pine-covered mountains there.  The beginning of the trail was a 1.6 mile long, unlit tunnel. We passed through only with the light of our bicycles. This was a tricky place to ride because the surface was uneven, covered in places with little pools of water or worse, water and clay, which was slick. I felt a bit panicked from the beginning, but I had almost made it to the other end of this very long tunnel, when I was riding along the left side, I swerved a bit to miss something, and my e-bike had enough momentum, that it took me right into the wall of the dark tunnel. I put my left arm up to stop me, but instead that is where it broke, into what the doctor called kibbles and bits.

The pain was instant and explosive. The worst I’d ever felt by far, even though I have given birth so many times. I was tangled into my bike and the first thing I did, Scot, was call out your name for rescue. You immediately came and with our dear friends, the McMillans, we turned around and walked back that nearly 1.6 miles through the tunnel to the beginning of the trail.

What amazed me was that at the moment I was filled with this agonizing pain, I felt this supernatural calm, as if I had a river of light flowing through me. The man who worked at the start of the trail, and had seen many accidents before, said, “She is so calm, she must be in shock.” I said, “No, I’m not.” He checked my irises and said, “She’s right. She’s not in shock.”

What I was, was in a great sense of peace, that all was well and that all would be well. We wrapped up my bleeding arm, climbed into the car and began the hour drive to the nearest hospital in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. But before we left the wilderness area, we pulled off on a forested road and you, Scot, gave me a blessing. You said, “This is not cosmic. This is just an accident, and you will be healed and it will not impact the rest of your life.”

What followed was three surgeries, another stay in the hospital because my lungs and heart had effusions and made it so I could not breathe freely, a titanium rod in my arm that made it so I could not bend my fingers, and fingers themselves that wouldn’t work and wouldn’t bend. I went to months of therapy just to regain the function of my hand. I was just beginning to heal when you and I both got COVID, only you, Scot, were really sick.

Through this, people have said to me, “You’ve really had a rough year, and in one way that’s true. I was sicker than I could ever have imagined and it seemed to go on and on. Yet, in another way, that wasn’t true. What was going on in my body was really rough, but was going on in my soul was calm, peace, comfort and assurance in a way that I couldn’t explain it.

The prophet tells us to learn how to “Hear Him”, and one of the most important ways we can hear him, is as He sends comfort. What I learned is that he asks us to receive this gift, receive this comfort, receive this light rather than ignore it or talk yourself into darkness.

Scot

How do we refuse comfort? We start dwelling on how this shouldn’t have happened to me, or how mad we are that God didn’t protect us or provide for us differently. We lose ourselves in self-pity. We get wrapped up in fear. We feel sorry for ourselves. We compare our state to others who aren’t in such a miserable place. Refusing comfort happens subtly when we don’t know that is what we are doing. It happens in our minds, by following a thought that isn’t productive, a thought that hurts us and resists the very gift that God is willing to give.

Maurine

I learned that I had to choose actively and with discipline to keep my mind and my thoughts in the light. While I was so sick and recovering, I wouldn’t let my mind go into any of those thoughts or places of complaint, boredom, anger, or despair. I put up a big sign in my mind where those thoughts lay that said NO TRESSPASSING. I am not going to go there. Instead, I chose to dwell in gratitude, and it made my journey light. I could feel the Lord’s gifts upon me.

I figured that my state just then, with such a broken body, was like standing on the edge of a cliff in a good, stiff, breeze. My calm that was a gift from heaven kept me safe and grounded. My gratitude that came from deep within me kept me safe. I knew that if I started thinking in the dark—that I would be blown right over, that my healing would slow and my spirits would be in a whirlwind of self-pity. I couldn’t afford to open those doors to these negative thoughts even for a second, I would go right over that cliff and I would drown in the darkness. So, I didn’t, and I felt peace as I began to heal, a peace that never has gone away.

It took me more than a year to have full use of my left hand, and I still feel some stiffness there, but I always had full use of my spirit, because the Lord blessed me and comforted me. The most important lesson I learned was that God can lighten any burden, however devastating. Sometimes it may be hard, and it will take some time, but trust that He knows how to do His work and there is a reason why the Holy Ghost is called the Comforter.

Scot

Of course, I was the eyewitness of this series of miracles in our lives, and as your left hand healed, I found I had tender feelings toward it for all it had faced.

Thank you for sharing such a personal witness of your healing. And, it’s interesting, when we get through a certain season of trials and we wipe our brow and say, “Whew, I’m so glad that is over,” it doesn’t mean our trials and tribulations and concerns are over. We’re all still in mortality and this sojourn has twists and turns.

It certainly did for the early Saints in Missouri.

Maurine

Now, have you ever been in a situation where you were really worried about your children for any reason? Well, of course you have. Have they been out late at night and they have broken curfew and you don’t know where they are? Have you lost a child for a time in a mall? Have you been separated from a loved child or sent one off to war and you think about them constantly and yet you don’t really know how they are doing? In this week’s readings we will talk about a remedy of assurance from the God of the Universe that will help.

Scot, I know you remember years ago when we made that very long photography journey to the Middle East. We were there for 56 days and because our daughter, Mariah, was just a day shy of two years old when we left, she got to fly for free and we took our 16-year-old daughter Laura with us to care for her and to be immersed in the culture, life and lands of the Savior. Our first thirty days were spent in Israel as we were shooting the photographs for our book called Source of the Light. We stayed in a Kibbutz just outside Jerusalem called Neve Ilan and as long as our photographs were in that area, we went to the Jerusalem Center at noon each day—during the flat light—to eat lunch. This was at the invitation of Truman and Ann Madsen. These were days never to be forgotten. The students there were so kind to our beautiful 16-year-old daughter (who is now a grandmother, by the way) and to our little two-year-old Mariah (who is now a mother).

Scot

After we finished our shooting or, I should say, photography, (in Israel you have to be careful with that word shooting) we had to go to Cairo to see about getting Visas into Oman and Yemen—which at that time were nearly impossible to get. Because these areas were quite dangerous—more specifically Yemen, we could not bring the girls with us, but some of our family, Nina and Darrell Ownby, were living in Switzerland at the time, so we arranged for them to go stay in Zürich with them for three weeks and we would meet them there after our multi-country photography in Egypt, the Sinai, Oman and Yeman. Through a series of absolute miracles, we got our Visas to get into Oman and Yemen and off we went. At that time, this was our first time into these countries, and so, when we finally got to the proposed candidate for where Nephi built the ship, we felt like we were as far away from home, our girls and our family as we could possibly be. I remember sleeping on the beach at Wadi Sayq on the Arabian Sea and looking out and seeing the canopy of stars and recognizing the Southern Cross, a beautiful constellation which we had never seen. We said, “We are SO far from home and nobody knows where we are.”

Maurine

By the time we had been separated from the girls for a little over two weeks, we were in our Holiday Inn Hotel in Salalah, Oman and we received a note from the front desk that our girls had decided to head home early from Switzerland. I think they were just so homesick for their siblings and their actual home. Mariah used to say, “I want to go Tel Aviv.” Which, translated from two-year-old-language meant, “I want to go back to the place where that big jet brought us so that we can get on that big jet again and go home.” You have to know; this was long before the days of cell phones or the Internet and it was in the days when long-distance calls were very expensive. That little, brief post-it-note of our girls, with no details—a 16-year-old and a 2-year-old leaving Switzerland and heading home heightened our nerves and our concerns to a fever-pitch of anxiety. How did they change their airline tickets? What if they had a number of layovers, how would they do? What if someone abducted them? Well, this last question and others like it, sent us into a panic.

Scot

That’s right, I remember feeling so helpless and so concerned and could not get ahold of them. We could not reach our family in Switzerland. We were trying to call from Salalah and kept getting disconnected. I remember we racked up more $143 worth of calls trying to calm down and receive some kind of assurance that the girls were okay. We finally were able to connect briefly with family and found out they were okay. But you know those feelings, don’t you? You know your protective nature as parents. You know what it’s like when you feel helpless or if you think your children are not safe.

Let’s put this in context with our lesson this week.

A new convert to the Church, Freeman Nickerson and his wife, Huldah, arrived in Kirtland in the fall of 1833. They had an interesting request they made to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, two members of the First Presidency. Could they accompany Nickerson to Mount Pleasant, in Upper Canada, to preach the gospel to two of his sons, Moses and Eleazer Freeman.

Maurine

Joseph and Emma were then living in Kirtland with their two very small children, two-year-old Julia and Joseph III who was not quite one-year-old. They had already lost four children to death. Joseph was 27 and Emma was 29. Sidney and his wife Phebe had nine children at the time, ages 12 to 1. This was quite the request for Nickerson Freeman to ask of these men.

Two major things were weighing on Joseph at the time. One was that on August 9 he had just received word that the Saints in Missouri who were trying to establish Zion were not doing well—as we have talked about—and the mobs had driven them from Jackson County. They had suffered much, including the loss of their homes and property and they were now living in miserable circumstances and in great danger.

The second thing was that an apostate by the name of Doctor Philastus Hurlbut, after being excommunicated for immoral conduct, began a very aggressive campaign to undermine the Church and discredit the Prophet Joseph. Hurlbut was stirring up local persecution and he was gathering statements critical of the Prophet Joseph to publish on a national basis and even threatening his life.

Scot

This sounds a lot like what people do today—being critical of the Brethren and trying to undermine them using the Internet and Social Media.  One line the Prophet recorded in his journal is especially telling:  Hurlbut had “sought the destruction of the saints in this place and more particularly myself and family.”

But despite all that, Joseph and Sidney agreed to go with Nickerson Freeman to preach the gospel to his sons in Mount Pleasant, Upper Canada. Naturally, with all that was going on—just like in our setting in remote Oman on the Arabian Sea—Joseph and Sidney were very concerned about the welfare and safety of their families.  I love what the Lord says to them in Section 100, verse 1—Listen carefully:

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my friends Sidney and Joseph, your families are well; they are in mine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power.

What more comforting words could you hear from the Lord, first of all, that he calls them “my friends,” and then: “your families are well; they are in mine hands”—nine words of pure comfort. Reading section 100 in Salalah, Oman would have helped calm our nerves when our girls were heading back around the world: “your families are well; they are in mine hands”

Maurine

It really is something that stood out to us in this week’s readings: your families are well; they are in mine hands. What the Lord says unto one, He says unto all. And don’t all of us need to know this? This assurance from the Lord is so utterly reassuring especially in our modern world. I remember when we had received the invitation from the Spirit to move to Washington, D.C. We took the family there to visit and see the sites and to check things out. We had all 11 children with us and we were visiting the National Mall and the Washington Monument one day. Scot, you are I were experts at counting from 1 to 11 faster than anyone we knew—constantly standing watch and making sure our little flock was together. At one moment, we turned around and seven-year-old Mariah was gone. We looked everywhere for her and the panic started rising in our throats and chests.

Scot

I had a brand-new cell phone but wasn’t even sure I knew the number yet. We started to make a plan to find Mariah amidst the crowds of people. We would split up and go north and south and east of the Washington Monument. And then my cell phone rang. It was a park ranger and he asked if we were missing anyone in our family. I said, “YES! We are missing our daughter!” “What is her name?” “Mariah!” “That’s good. We have her here and she’s doing fine. She’s in our tent pavilion and just doing some coloring.” He described how to get to her. We got there and though we had only been separated for maybe 15 minutes, it seemed like a lifetime. We threw our arms around Mariah and hugged and kissed her. We had been so worried. “What happened?” “I just was backing up further and further to make sure I got the whole Washington Monument in my picture. I had to back up a long way.” Somehow, though she was so little, she remembered my saying the number aloud when the cell phone first arrived. I don’t wonder anymore if angels are around our families—and to know that line from the Lord: “your families are well; they are in mine hands” really makes all the difference.

Maurine

Now, we have to review the promise that’s in Section 100 in verses 5-8 very briefly—but we hope you will discuss these verses in your homes and in your study groups. Listen closely:

5 Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men;

[Remember, Joseph and Sidney are heading on a mission to preach to the Freeman sons.]

6 For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say.

7 But a commandment I give unto you, that ye shall declare whatsoever thing ye declare in my name, in solemnity of heart, in the spirit of meekness, in all things.

[And then listen to this amazing promise:]

8 And I give unto you this promise, that inasmuch as ye do this the Holy Ghost shall be shed forth in bearing record unto all things whatsoever ye shall say.

That is so wonderful.

Scot

And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve put that promise to the test and the Lord has sent His Spirit each time. And when you feel the Spirit as you are teaching, whether in your family, in a missionary/investigator setting, in a Sunday School class, or just one-on-one with someone, I think it’s important to verbalize, at times, when you are feeling the Spirit testify to you, so that the other party can also recognize that this is the Spirit of the Lord and they are receiving the truth.

Now, in our short time together with these four sections, we cannot leave out one last thought—because it is so pertinent and important for our times right now.

Let’s turn to section 101, verses 77-80.  Before we read that together, though, look at the lesson the Lord is driving home to the beleaguered Saints who have been driven from their homes in Jackson County (and soon to be other counties and states).

Maurine

The Saints live in the world but are not to be of the world. They are striving to form a Zion society in the midst of a Babylon society. The Saints are asked to live by the law of the land; to appeal to proper authorities in order, to local authorities, to the governor of the state and to the president of the United States. And if none of those work, then they are to leave things in the hands of the Lord.

16 Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God.

17 Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children are scattered. (D&C 101:16-17)

God knows what He is doing. He truly does have all things in His hands. And He set up this nation with a sacred Constitution that is for all people:

Scot

77 According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;

78 That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.

79 Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.

80 And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.

Make no mistake, these amazing leaders of the late 18^th century were raised up by the Lord to bring about the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of this land—both of which would pave the way for the Restoration of the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Maurine

And in the last few years, the senior brethren of the Church, that means members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, have given more than 40 major talks on religious freedom, the Constitution and our sacred rights and freedoms.  All of these underline that the Lord’s hand is in the destiny of this and all nations and He will watch over and bless His covenant people.

Scot

That’s all for today. We truly love being with you. Next week the lesson will cover Sections 102 through 105 called “After Much Tribulation … Cometh the Blessing.” Thanks so much to Paul Cardall for the music which accompanies this podcast and thanks to Michaela Proctor Hutchins, our daughter, who has produced this show. Have a great week and see you next time.

Come Follow Me Doctrine & Covenants Podcast #14: “Lift Up Your Voices … to Declare My Gospel,” Doctrine and Covenants 30-36

Come Follow Me Podcast #12: “All Things Must be Done in Order”, Doctrine and Covenants 27-28

Maurine

In August of 1830, Newel Knight and his wife Sally visited Joseph and Emma in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Since neither woman had yet been confirmed, they agreed to perform the ordinance and have the sacrament together. Joseph set out to buy some wine for the occasion, when after he had traveled only a short distance, he was met by a heavenly messenger with a new instruction. The Church was rolling forth with understanding coming line upon line.

Scot

Hello, we are Scot and Maurine Proctor and we’d like to welcome you to Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast. This week it will be on Doctrine and Covenants 27,28 “All Things Must be Done in Order.” Transcripts for the podcast are on Meridian Magazine, along with articles and insights from some of the best writers in the Church. We hope you will come and check it out every day at latterdaysaintmag.com. You can find the podcasts and transcripts specifically at latterdaysaintmag.com/podcast.

Maurine

The angel told Joseph, “For, behold, I say unto you, that it mattereth not what ye shall eat  or what ye shall drink when ye partake of the sacrament, if it so be that ye do it with an eye single to my glory—remembering unto the Father my body which was laid down for you, and my blood which was shed for the remission of your sins.

“Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, that you shall not purchase wine neither strong drink of your enemies” (Doctrine and Covenants 27:2).

Remember Joseph was persecuted from his earliest days and he did have enemies.

Brigham Young said, “Consequently we use water as though it were wine; for we are commanded to drink not of wine for this sacred purpose except it be made by our own hands”. (JD, August 19, 1877, 19:92.)

Scot

Yet, in this section, the Lord also says of the sacrament: “Marvel not, for the hour cometh that I will drink of the fruit of the vine with you on the earth” (Doctrine and Covenants 27:5).

This ties in with what he told the apostles at the last supper as recorded in JST Mark 14:25. “Of this ye shall bear record; for I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine with you, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

What this is referring to is the meeting at Adam-ondi-Ahman that will be part of the Lord’s Second Coming. Bruce R. McConkie called this meeting “the best-kept secret set forth in revealed word. It is something about which the world knows nothing; it is a doctrine that has scarcely dawned on most of the Latter-day Saints.” (Bruce R. McConkie, Millennial Messiah, 578-79). We will be talking about this in a future podcast.

Maurine

The purpose of the sacrament is that we always remember Him and are cleansed again by His atonement. President Dallin H. Oaks explained what it means to always remember Him. It is to remember the magnificent and generous gift He has given us, as well as the covenants we have made.

President Oaks said, ”In the scriptures, it often means to keep a person in memory, together with associated emotions like love, loyalty, or gratitude. The stronger the emotion, the more vivid and influential the memory.”

He told this story. “Shortly before my wife was to give birth to our first child, we learned that the baby must be born by cesarean section. I was then a student at Brigham Young University, going to school full time and working almost full time. From my meager earnings, a little over $1.00 an hour, we had saved enough money for the hospital and doctor bills, but nothing in our plans or emotions had prepared us for this shocking announcement. We scarcely knew what a cesarean birth was, and we feared the worst.

Scot

“A few days later,” he said, “we faced our ordeal. After what seemed an eternity, I stood at a window in the hospital hallway, looking into a basket containing our firstborn. The joy of seeing her and knowing that my beloved companion had survived the operation was inexpressible. As I experienced that moment, I became aware of a stranger standing beside me. He introduced himself as Dr. N. Frederick Hicken, the surgeon who had come from Salt Lake City to perform the operation. His presence reminded me that a surgeon’s fee had not been in our plans, and I began to ask him if I could pay his fee over a period of time. “Don’t worry about that, young man,” he said in a kindly way. ‘This is one from the Hickens to the Oakses.’ Before I could stammer a thank-you, he was gone.

“I was filled with wonder at this unexpected gift. Our benefactor must have known my father, a young medical doctor who died when I was a boy. He must have given us this gift because of something my father had done. I marveled at the goodness of this man who had come to us in our crisis and had, without recompense, used his powers to preserve the lives of those I loved. The emotion of that moment made the memory indelible. The name of that doctor is precious to me. I will always remember him.”

Maurine

Of course, you would always remember with gratitude someone who did something so remarkable for you—something that was beyond what you could do for yourself, especially when you are in trouble. That is where our hearts should be remembering the Savior as we partake of the sacrament.

We also see a remarkable testimony in Section 27:5 that states that, “the Book of Mormon, [contains] the fulness of my everlasting gospel.” The fulness. President Ezra Taft Benson, said, “The Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants testify of each other. You cannot believe one and not the other.

The Book of Mormon testifies of modern books of scripture. It refers to them as ‘other books’ and ‘last records’ which ‘establish the truth’ of the Bible and make known the ‘plain and precious things which have been taken away’ from the Bible (1 Ne. 13:39–40).

Scot

President Benson continued, “Excluding the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants is by far the greatest external witness and evidence which we have from the Lord that the Book of Mormon is true. At least thirteen sections in the Doctrine and Covenants give us confirming knowledge and divine witness that the Book of Mormon is the word of God (see D&C 1; D&C 3; D&C 5; D&C 8; D&C 10–11; D&C 17–18; D&C 20; D&C 27; D&C 42; D&C 84; D&C 135).

“The Doctrine and Covenants is the binding link between the Book of Mormon and the continuing work of the Restoration through the Prophet Joseph Smith and his successors.”

Maurine

President Benson said, “In the Doctrine and Covenants we learn of temple work, eternal families, the degrees of glory, Church organization, and many other great truths of the Restoration.

“The Book of Mormon brings men to Christ. The Doctrine and Covenants brings men to Christ’s kingdom.” (Ezra Taft Benson, “The Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1987/04/the-book-of-mormon-and-the-doctrine-and-covenants?lang=eng

These books witness of each other in a way that is self-reinforcing, working together.

Scot

Now Section 28, is about some confusion that had arisen around a new member named Hiram Page and is a deep lesson on Church government. It is September of 1830, and since the Church was only organized 5 months earlier, the members are new and green. They don’t have, as we do, two centuries of understanding how the Lord’s kingdom on the earth should work.

They don’t understand even a thimble full yet of how the Lord will govern the church. The Book of Mormon has been published, but not Joseph Smith’s revelations that will later become the Doctrine and Covenants.

Maurine

They are certainly thrilled that the Lord will give them personal revelation, but they don’t yet fully comprehend that the Lord’s word for the entire church will only come through Joseph Smith, that the prophet will be the Lord’s spokesman on earth and not just anyone who claims special revelation.

It can be tempting to deride them for their ignorance in giving any credence to the revelations that Hiram Page apparently received through his stone, but they are still learning. This ignorance is a deft opportunity for Satan to deceive them—and he does.

Even Oliver Cowdery was confused on this count. Oliver wrote to Joseph in the summer of 1830 a surprising letter from the Whitmer home. Oliver said, “I command you in the name of God to erase those words, that no priestcraft be amongst us.”

Scot

What had moved Oliver to such a forceful and demanding note to the prophet? According to Revelations in Context,“ Under divine commission, Oliver had written a document called the Articles of the Church of Christ’ that was later superseded by a second document written by Joseph, titled “Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ.” Joseph’s document used much of the same language but added significant passages clarifying and expanding on Oliver’s original. Joseph’s later document was accepted by the Church at its June 1830 conference as binding. Notwithstanding the Church’s acceptance, Oliver disapproved of a phrase in the list of requirements for baptism: ‘And truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins.’”

Joseph wrote back asked “by what authority he [Oliver had taken] upon him to command me to alter, or erase, to add or diminish to or from a revelation or commandment from Almighty God.”

Maurine

Here’s some background on Hiram Page. He had studied folk medicine, was married to Catherine Whitmer, the oldest of the Whitmer family and was one of the eight witnesses of the Book of Mormon. Because he was a member of the family, of course, the Whitmers put much stock in what he said. Oliver Cowdery would also later marry one of the Whitmer daughters and so he was close to the family, already like a brother.

Before the conference of 1830, Hiram found a stone that was five-by-three inches in length and one-half inch thick with two holes. He believed this stone had special qualities that enabled him to be a “revelator” and he wore it on a chain around his neck. Through this stone, he claimed to receive revelations identifying where the “American New Jerusalem” would be and the proper governing process of the Church.

Scot

He created quite a stir and some believed him. Remember, the people are not deeply schooled in church government yet, and they do understand that the Lord will give them revelation. What those who believed Page lacked was the understanding that revelation for the Church would come through the prophet. It was in this context, then that the words from Section 28 become clear and are directed toward Oliver Cowdery.

“But, behold, verily, verily, I say unto thee, no one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., for he receiveth them even as Moses.”

Maurine

Oliver’s job is “to declare faithfully the commandments and the revelations, with power and authority unto the church “that are given to Joseph. He may write and teach when moved upon by the Spirit, but what he says should be taken as wisdom, not commandment.”

Not only is Oliver to take Hiram aside and advise him to stop, but also is told in verse 6.

“And thou shalt not command him who is at thy head, and at the head of the church.”

Scot

Ezra Taft Benson gave a talk in 1980, called Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet. We will talk about what this means and what it doesn’t mean in a moment. I was in the audience when he gave this talk and took exacting notes, it was so important to me. I came home and put my notes on a 3×5 card so I could remember what he said.

He said, “First, the prophet is the only man who speaks for the Lord in everything.” He quoted Doctrine and Covenants 21:  “For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith.”

Next, he said, “The living prophet is more vital to us than the standard works.”

Maurine

This may sound, at first, like dismissing the standard works. Far from it. The prophets speak in a way that is consistent with the standard works, but they are also addressing our times, our needs and our challenges—the revelation that God has for us right now.

President Benson said, “Third: The living prophet is more important to us than a dead prophet.

“The living prophet has the power of TNT. By that I mean “Today’s News Today.” God’s revelations to Adam did not instruct Noah how to build the ark. Noah needed his own revelation. Therefore, the most important prophet, so far as you and I are concerned, is the one living in our day and age to whom the Lord is currently revealing His will for us.”

Scot

President Benson said, “Fourth: The prophet will never lead the Church astray.

“President Wilford Woodruff stated: “I say to Israel, The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as president of the Church to lead you astray. It is not in the program. It is not in the mind of God.” (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, selected by G. Homer Durham [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1946], pp. 212-213.)

“Fifth: The prophet is not required to have any particular earthly training or credentials to speak on any subject or act on any matter at any time.

“Sometimes there are those who feel their earthly knowledge on a certain subject is superior to the heavenly knowledge which God gives to His prophet on the same subject. They feel the prophet must have the same earthly credentials or training which they have had before they will accept anything the prophet has to say that might contradict their earthly schooling. How much earthly schooling did Joseph Smith have? Yet he gave revelations on all kinds of subjects.”

Maurine

“Sixth: The prophet does not have to say “Thus saith the Lord” to give us scripture.

“Sometimes there are those who haggle over words. They might say the prophet gave us counsel but that we are not obligated to follow it unless he says it is a commandment. But the Lord says of the Prophet Joseph, “Thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you” (D&C 21:4; italics added).

Seventh: The prophet tells us what we need to know, not always what we want to know.

Said President Harold B. Lee:

You may not like what comes from the authority of the Church. It may contradict your political views. It may contradict your social views. It may interfere with some of your social life. . . . Your safety and ours depends upon whether or not we follow. . . . Let’s keep our eye on the President of the Church. [In Conference Report, October 1970, p. 152-153]

Scot

President Benson said, “But it is the living prophet who really upsets the world. “Even in the Church,” said President Kimball, “many are prone to garnish the sepulchers of yesterday’s prophets and mentally stone the living ones” (Instructor, 95:257).

He noted that President Marion G. Romney said, ““It is an easy thing to believe in the dead prophets.” And then he gives this illustration:

One day when President Grant was living, I sat in my office across the street following a general conference. A man came over to see me, an elderly man. He was very upset about what had been said in this conference by some of the Brethren, including myself. I could tell from his speech that he came from a foreign land. After I had quieted him enough so he would listen, I said, “Why did you come to America?” “I am here because a prophet of God told me to come.” “Who was the prophet;” I continued. “Wilford Woodruff.” “Do you believe Wilford Woodruff was a prophet of God?” “Yes, I do.” “Do you believe that President Joseph F. Smith was a prophet of God?” “Yes, sir.”

Then came the sixty-four dollar question. “Do you believe that Heber J. Grant is a prophet of God?” His answer, “I think he ought to keep his mouth shut about old age assistance.” [In Conference Report, April 1953, p. 125]

Maurine

President Benson said, “Eighth: The prophet is not limited by men’s reasoning.

“There will be times when you will have to choose between the revelations of God and the reasoning of men—between the prophet and the politician or professor. Said the Prophet Joseph Smith, “Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof until long after the events transpire” (Scrapbook of Mormon Literature, vol. 2, p. 173).

“Would it seem reasonable to an eye doctor to be told to heal a blind man by spitting in the dirt, making clay, and applying it to the man’s eyes and then telling him to wash in a contaminated pool? Yet this is precisely the course that Jesus took with one man, and he was healed. (See John 9:6-7.) Does it seem reasonable to cure leprosy by telling a man to wash seven times in a particular river? Yet this is precisely what the prophet Elisha told a leper to do, and he was healed. (See 2 Kings 5.)

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.[Isaiah 55:8, 9]

Scot

President Benson continued: “Ninth: The prophet can receive revelation on any matter—temporal or spiritual…”

“Tenth: The prophet may be involved in civic matters.

“When a people are righteous, they want the best to lead them in government. Alma was the head of the Church and of the government in the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith was mayor of Nauvoo, and Brigham Young was governor of Utah. Isaiah was deeply involved in giving counsel on political matters and of his words the Lord Himself said, “Great are the words of Isaiah” (3 Nephi 23:1). Those who would remove prophets from politics would take God out of government.”

Maurine

President Benson continued, “Eleventh: The two groups who have the greatest difficulty in following the prophet are the proud who are learned and the proud who are rich.

“The learned may feel the prophet is only inspired when he agrees with them; otherwise, the prophet is just giving his opinion—speaking as a man. The rich may feel they have no need to take counsel of a lowly prophet…

“Twelfth: The prophet will not necessarily be popular with the world or the worldly.

“As a prophet reveals the truth it divides the people. The honest in heart heed his words, but the unrighteous either ignore the prophet or fight him. When the prophet points out the sins of the world, the worldly either want to close the mouth of the prophet, or else act as if the prophet didn’t exist, rather than repent of their sins. Popularity is never a test of truth. Many a prophet has been killed or cast out. As we come closer to the Lord’s second coming, you can expect that as the people of the world become more wicked, the prophet will be less popular with them.”

Scot

Next, President Benson said, “Thirteenth: The prophet and his counselors make up the First Presidency—the highest quorum in the Church.”

“Fourteenth: The prophet and the presidency—the living prophet and the first presidency—follow them and be blessed; reject them and suffer…

In a general conference of the Church President N. Eldon Tanner stated:

The Prophet spoke out clearly on Friday morning, telling us what our responsibilities are. . . .

Maurine

“A man said to me after that, ‘You know, there are people in our state who believe in following the Prophet in everything they think is right, but when it is something they think isn’t right, and it doesn’t appeal to them, then that’s different.” He said, “Then they become their own prophet. They decide what the Lord wants and what the Lord doesn’t want.’

“I thought how true, and how serious when we begin to choose which of the covenants, which of the commandments we will keep and follow. When we decide that there are some of them that we will not keep or follow, we are taking the law of the Lord into our own hands and become our own prophets, and believe me, we will be led astray, because we are false prophets to ourselves when we do not follow the Prophet of God. No, we should never discriminate between these commandments, as to those we should and should not keep. [In Conference Report, October 1966, p. 98; emphasis added]

Scot

President Benson asked these questions, “I testify that these fourteen fundamentals in following the living prophet are true. If we want to know how well we stand with the Lord, then let us ask ourselves how well we stand with His mortal captain. How closely do our lives harmonize with the words of the Lord’s anointed—the living prophet, the President of the Church, and with the Quorum of the First Presidency?”. (Ezra Taft Benson, Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet, https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/ezra-taft-benson/fourteen-fundamentals-following-prophet).

As we consider this talk, it is important to understand what it doesn’t mean. Having a living prophet does not infringe on our agency or our capacity for thought and considering issues deeply. It does not mean that we are instructed in all things. It does not mean that we should be blind followers. What instead, the Lord asks us to do is with the gift of the Holy Ghost which we have been given seek a confirming witness. Rather than being blind followers we are confirmed followers.

Maurine

Duane Boyce and Kim White wrote, “The presiding Brethren are the only ones with the keys and authority to counsel together and follow the Spirit to convey the word of God to the Church and the world. But they do not need to be the only witnesses of what the Lord has revealed to them. Any of us can seek and receive a confirmation of their words, policies, and decisions. Joseph Smith said: “God hath not revealed anything to Joseph, but what He will make known unto the Twelve, and even the least Saint may know all things as fast he is able to bear them.”

They suggest that especially before actions that could be controversial in some circles, that you don’t pray to know if the decision was right. You assume it is. Instead, you pray to know that the decision was right so that you can have your own testimony in the matter.

“Boyd K. Packer stressed the importance of becoming independent witnesses of gospel matters. Regarding the teachings of Church leaders, he encouraged us to tap “the same source of intelligence” that they are tapping. Then, he said, “our agency is protected, and we are on the right course. Then we will do things because we know they are right and are the truth. We will know this from our own inquiry, not simply because someone else knows it.”

Scot

President Russell M. Nelson said, “When you know a prophet is a prophet, you can approach the Lord in humility and faith and ask for your own witness about whatever His prophet has proclaimed.” (Duane Boyce, Kim White, The Last Safe Place).

The idea that we are to be filled with the Spirit and our own witness about the prophet’s teachings could not be more important. A few years ago, we were in the old city of Jerusalem leading a tour, and through the crowds, we looked down a street and saw a man dressed in every way like Jesus. He had the typical ancient robes of Israel, shoulder-length dark hair, a beard. He was barefoot, and it was clear he was trying the best he could to portray the Savior. He made a stir wherever he went, of course.

One night, Maurine and I were walking through the streets of the old city quite late at night, when all the shops were shuttered. The streets were dark except for an occasional lone bulb. We were quite alone, and heading for the gate, when up ahead we saw one other figure. It was the man dressed like Jesus and we caught up with him to ask him about himself and why he was here. Because he was hungry, we took him to dinner, so talked with him for about an hour.

Maurine

Now here was a man who looked like Jesus in garb and hair, but do you think that for one minute we thought he was Jesus? Of course not. We suppose that it will be as easy for us to discern true prophets and true prophecy, as it was for Scot and me to know absolutely for certain that we weren’t walking and dining with the Lord.

That isn’t always the case. Even in the Church when we know who the prophet is, we must rely on the spiritual witnesses we have received for many years and in many ways, so that we are never fooled by a professor, popular trend or anything that claims to have an edge on the prophets. Don’t the prophets know what it is going to take to move the Church forward, which means to comply with popular voices? Like the character we met in Jerusalem, we’ve seen that you can dress up in the garb, even sound like you have some authority at least in learning or persuasion, and only be false prophet with ideas that only mimic the world.

Scot

Now in Section 28, Oliver is also told that he will be called on a mission to the Lamanites, and  in Section 32 we learn that Parley P. Pratt, Ziba Peterson and Peter Whitmer Jr. are also called. This mission would change the entire future of the Church.

Parley P. Pratt was a new, fired up Church member, and as the four made their way west, they stopped in Parley’s old neighborhood in Kirtland, Ohio and in nearby Mentor where Parley visited his old friend Sidney Rigdon, a powerful Reformed Baptist preacher. Known for his polished skill as an orator, Sidney was much respected by the people in the area and he, like Alexander Campbell committed to restoring primitive Christianity.

Maurine

Parley presented Sidney with a Book of Mormon. Sidney was not enthusiastic and was engaged with his own congregation and studies, but committed to read it because of his friendship with Parley.

“He said he would ‘endeavor to ascertain whether it be a revelation from God or not.’ Sidney’s son, John W. Rigdon, said that when he was informed that Joseph Smith was a young man with ‘hardly a common school education, Sidney replied, “If that is all the education he has got, he never wrote this book.”

Author Karl Ricks Anderson wrote, “President A. W. Cowles of Elmira College interviewed Sidney Rigdon in 1868 and recorded that Sidney’s beliefs on this point had not changed: ‘Rigdon expressed the utmost amazement that such a man should write a book which seemed to shed a flood of light on all the old scriptures, open all their profoundest mysteries, and give them perfect consistency and complete system. In his fresh enthusiasm he exclaimed that if God ever gave a revelation, surely this must be divine.’”

Scot

Anderson continues, “After prayer and much meditation, Sidney decided to be baptized. This decision imposed a dilemma upon him, a dilemma that was described by Joseph Smith in the Prophet’s history:

The honors and applause of the world were showered down upon him, his wants were abundantly supplied, and were anticipated. He was respected by the entire community, and his name was a tower of strength. His [counsel] was sought for, respected and esteemed.—But if he should unite with the Church of Christ, his prospects of wealth and affluence would vanish; his family dependent upon him for support, must necessarily share his humiliation and poverty. He was aware that his character and his reputation must suffer in the estimation of the community. 

Maurine

That was quite a sacrifice and for his wife Phebe, too.

Anderson said, “Realizing that baptism, with the subsequent loss of employment and of the home and property provided by his congregation, would greatly affect his family, Sidney asked his wife, Phebe, “My dear, you have once followed me into poverty, are you again willing to do the same?” Phebe’s devotion to the Lord and to her husband were clear in her answer: “I have weighed the matter, I have contemplated on the circumstances in which we may be placed; I have counted the cost, and I am perfectly satisfied to follow you; it is my desire to do the will of God, come life or come death.” (Karl Ricks Anderson, Joseph Smith’s Kirtland, Deseret Book, 1989)

Scot

The four missionaries asked Sidney permission to speak to his Mentor congregation. The History of the Church reports:

“The appointment was accordingly published, and a large and respectable congregation assembled. Oliver Cowdery and Parley P. Pratt severally addressed the meeting. At the conclusion, elder Rigdon arose and stated to the congregation that the information they had that evening received, was of an extraordinary character, and certainly demanded their most serious consideration: and as the apostle advised his brethren ‘to prove all things and hold fast that which is good,’ so he would exhort his brethren to do likewise, and give the matter a careful investigation; and not turn against it, without being fully convinced of its being an imposition, lest they should, possibly, resist the truth.”

Maurine

Parley wrote: “We tarried in this region for some time, and devoted our time to the ministry, and visiting from house to house. At length Mr. Rigdon and many others became convinced that they had no authority to minister in the ordinances of God; and that they had not been legally baptized and ordained. They, therefore, came forward and were baptized by us, and received the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. . . .

“In two or three weeks from our arrival in the neighborhood with the news, we had baptized one hundred and twenty-seven souls, and this number soon increased to one thousand.”

Scot

Now remember, this was just a stop for the four missionaries on their way to their mission to the Lamanites, but the Lord knows who is ready for the gospel and where that spiritual fire will burn.

Maurine

We have so much more to say about this mission to Kirtland, but that will have to wait for future podcasts. Thank you for being with us today. We’re Scot and Maurine Proctor and this has been Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast. The transcript can be found at latterdaysaintmag.com/podcast. And we hope you are reading Meridian Magazine online every day where we feature hundreds of top-notch Latter-day Saint writers.

Next week we’ll study Doctrine and Covenants 29 “Jesus Christ Will Gather His People.” Thanks to Paul Cardall for the music and to Mariah Proctor Scoresby who produced this show. See you then.

Come Follow Me Podcast #45: “I Speak unto You as if Ye were Present”, Mormon 7-9

Maurine 

As we start our studies today on Mormon 7-9, Moroni has taken over the record from his father and is in a tragic position. He has seen his culture destroyed and he is the last survivor of what was once a thriving world. Could anything be sadder than this?

Scot

Hello, we are Scot and Maurine Proctor and this is Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast, where today we study a lesson called “I Speak unto You as if Ye were Present.”

For many years now at Christmas time, I have created a wall calendar featuring my photography of significant spiritual sites associated with the Come Follow Me lessons. This year I have created one of my favorite calendars yet. It all started one early morning on the Smith family farm just outside of Palmyra, New York. How can you capture photos that begin to tell the story of all that happened on that farm where Joseph grew up? How can you use your camera to paint sacred space in a grove, or a night when Moroni visited three times? To take stunning photos, you have to be given special weather conditions, and this particular morning, we were up before sunrise, and saw a low-lying fog. We knew that when the sun rose, there would be minutes where we could capture this look of a landscape lit and aglow with morning light. I ran from place to place and captured the best light show I’ve ever seen at the Smith farm. I have been taking photos for 50 years of this farm, and these are my best.

So, for Christmas, share this Church History Come Follow Me calendar. Each spread is beautiful. It features the Come Follow Me reading materials for the week, other significant days, and squares big enough to write your own upcoming events. You can get this calendar at latterdaysaintmag.com/2025, that’s latterdaysaintmag.com/2025.

Some people are giving it to their ministering sisters and brothers. Some to their family members. Some to their neighbors as a Christmas remembrance. At $15 you couldn’t find a less expensive, but more meaningful gift.

Now, as Moroni takes over his father’s record and we begin reading in Mormon 7, it is about 400 AD , and this is 15 years after the battles at Cumorah. Those Nephites who had survived these wars had escaped to the south , but the Lamanites were determined to track them down and kill every one of them. Moroni’s plight could not have been more difficult. He was in constant danger and he was utterly alone. He describes it:

3 And my father also was killed by them, and I even ^aremain ^balone to write the sad tale of the destruction of my people. But behold, they are gone, and I fulfil the commandment of my father. And whether they will slay me, I know not.

4 Therefore I will write and ^ahide up the records in the earth; and whither I go it mattereth not.

5 Behold, my father hath made ^athis record, and he hath written the intent thereof. And behold, I would write it also if I had room upon the ^bplates, but I have not; and ore I have none, for I am alone. My father hath been slain in battle, and all my kinsfolk, and I have not friends nor whither to go; and ^chow long the Lord will suffer that I may live I know not (Mormon 8)

Scot

Loneliness is one of the diseases of our time, but this is something on a different scale. There are last survivors of a community, a nation, even an animal species that is about to go extinct and there is something so shattering about it. There were the last of certain Indian tribes that no longer exist in the United States like the book The Last of the Mohicans.

We can scarcely imagine what Moroni would have seen as the last survivor of his people. Carnage. Bloodshed. The loss of his family. Certainly his mission to protect the record that would become the Book of Mormon must have been one of the most difficult of any, and no one would have been expected to undertake such a difficult mission if the Book of Mormon were not so important to save a people and prepare them for the second coming of the Savior.

Maurine

What fascinates me is that in Mormon 7,  where Moroni begins recording, his first message is to the Lamanites, whom he calls “a ^aremnant of the seed of Jacob; therefore ye are numbered among the people of the first covenant”. He is giving them all the instructions they need to come unto Christ and return to the covenant again. When you consider all the destruction that he has seen at the hands of the Lamanites, when you consider that the Lamanites have murdered all his kin including his beloved father, what a magnificent soul Moroni has to seek to bring them covenant blessings.

If Moroni were a natural man instead of a son of God, he would be thinking about revenge . He would be boiling in anger and hatred, but instead he is addressing a message of love to the Lamanites.  Remember that old movie, Princess Bride, where one of the characters always said my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father . Prepare to die.’ And he went around with sword in hand hoping to kill his father’s murderer. I only bring that up to showcase the contrast between how a Prophet of God acts and what the world teaches us.

Scot

The Savior taught in his Sermon on the Mount.

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt ^alove thy ^bneighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, ^aLove your ^benemies, ^cbless them that ^dcurse you, do ^egood to them that ^fhate you, and ^gpray for them which despitefully use you, and ^hpersecute you (Matthew 5).

Surely this is one of the litmus tests of Christianity, for it is not sufficient to love those who love you or who are like you or who agree with you politically or in any other way. We are to love those who are our enemies–that means even if they are threatening to us or our point of view or look entirely different than we do. They may not only be our enemies but also people we just consider to be others, the ones we are indifferent to. What an important lesson Moroni teaches us in his care for the Lamanites and the covenant

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And it is not just Moroni who sought to bring covenant blessings to the Lamanites who were the sworn enemies of the Nephites. We see that this was a concern for other prophets in the Book of Mormon.

Enos, for example wrote of his prayer.

15 Wherefore, I knowing that the Lord God was able to ^apreserve our records, I cried unto him continually, for he had said unto me: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it.

16 And I had faith, and I did cry unto God that he would ^apreserve the ^brecords; and he covenanted with me that he would ^cbring ^dthem forth unto the Lamanites in his own due time (Enos 1).

Moroni, in preserving these records in part for the Lamanites, is an answer to the Book of Mormon prophet’s prayers, including Enos.

Scot

This reminds me of a woman we spoke to when we went to the Helsinki, Finland temple dedication. She had been a child in Vyborg which at the time was part of Finland, but it is in an area between Russia and Finland that had long been contested.  When she was little, the Russians attacked and her mother had to  grab her  small children, holding a baby, and run through the woods to escape, with soldiers, bent on destroying them, not far behind. They never were able to return to their beautiful farm and from then forward lived in various other towns in Finland feeling like wanderers far from home.

What was so remarkable about her story, is that just as the Finnish temple was to open , she was diligently studying Russian, because it was her dearest hope to help the Russian Saints receive their temple work and make sacred covenants.  She particularly loved helping the Russian Saints and felt a special spirit about it . How easy it would have been for her to carry resentment and even hatred for all she had lost, but she had no trace of that. Indeed she loved them. So it is still possible and also required to love our enemies today.

Maurine

Moroni in his lonely plight was also carrying forth one of the purposes of the Book of Mormon that we learn on the title page. This book is not only to bring people to Christ but is specifically to the Lamanites as well as the Jew and Gentile, “which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever.”

Now let’s go back to that phrase that the ^aremnant of the seed of Jacob…are numbered among the people of the first covenant”. Moroni says in Mormon 9 “I will show unto you a God of ^amiracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Mormon 9:11).

Scot

Truman Madsen said, “There is a Biblical and Talmudic admonition never to speak of God as ”the God of Abraham , Isaac , and Jacob,” but rather as the “God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” thus to underline that each patriarch and matriarch came directly to God . Each found him in the same way and at the same sacrificial cost.”

Moroni tells us what that sacrifice entails in Mormon 7:

3 Know ye that ye must come unto repentance, or ye cannot be saved.

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Note how our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson has asked us to repent, which gives us more access to the saving, protective, delivering power of the covenant. He said, “The word for repentance in the Greek New Testament is metaneo. The prefix meta means ‘change.’ The suffix noeo Is related to Greek words that mean mind, knowledge, spirit, and breath.

“Thus, when Jesus asks you and me to repent , he is inviting us to change our ‘mind’, our ‘knowledge’, our ‘spirit’–even the way we breathe.” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/04/36nelson?lang=eng

Scot

Moroni continues:

4 Know ye that ye must lay down your weapons of war, and delight no more in the shedding of blood, and take them not again, save it be that God shall ^acommand you.

Now, we may think that weapons of war our axes, swords and scimitars , but in fact all those attitudes we carry that divide us from others in enmity are our weapons, and we must also lay them down as part of our covenant responsibilities.

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5 Know ye that ye must come to the ^aknowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and ^bbelieve in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he was slain by the Jews, and by the power of the Father he hath risen again, whereby he hath gained the ^cvictory over the grave; and also in him is the sting of death swallowed up (Mormon 7)

So Moroni is telling them what they must know to be part of the covenant, but he also points out what they have forgotten–and this could not be more critical. They have forgotten who they are. They have forgotten their fathers, their identity, and their foundation.

This is why Moroni begins here: “Know ye that ye are of the ^ahouse of Israel.”

To lose yourself is to lose your destiny. Isn’t it ironic that life should have this affect upon us? We have become amnesiac and have forgotten who we are. Satan loves to help us forget.

Scot

As we came to earth, leaving our premortal home, there is no question that the privileges and responsibilities of having the covenant was key to our identity, but here we are distracted , caught up in the thick of thin things and we just forget. We think our career or our neighborhood or our social club is our identity . These are all passing things, but the covenant is with us forever.

President Nelson told us in this last conference, “The very name of Israel refers to a person who is willing to let God prevail in his or her life. That concept stirs my soul!

“The word willing is crucial to this interpretation of Israel. We all have our agency. We can choose to be of Israel or not . We can choose to let God prevail in our lives, or not we can choose to let God be the most powerful influence in our lives, or not.

Maurine

He continued, “As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or “latter-day covenant Israel,” we have been charged to assist the Lord with this pivotal work.“ (Russell M. Nelson, “Let God Prevail”.

Don’t you love that term “latter day covenant Israel?” It seems to perfectly describe our identity as we are in a covenant with the Lord and have taken upon ourselves His name. We also know that our sacred responsibility before the Second Coming of the Savior is to gather Israel on both sides of the veil, and we are to use the very instrument that Moroni was protecting to do that– the Book of Mormon.

It is important to note that every book of scripture we have is centered on Jesus Christ and the covenant. We have the Old Testament and the New Testament, but another word for testament is covenant. They could be called the old covenant and the new covenant.

Scot

One writer said, “The covenant is a bond, an alliance, an agreement, a compact, a treaty, a pact, a contract. Its essential idea is union between God and man. God offers man partnership with himself. It is a union and partnership based on a binding legal contract. While the covenant is a fellowship between God and man, it is a fellowship with a legal basis.”

It is like testifying in court.

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The Doctrine and Covenants is clearly about covenants and, as we have said today, the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to gather Israel to participate in the covenant

Scot

Now the last battle at Cumorah took place in AD 385 and the last book of Moroni is written in AD 421, which means Moroni was wandering for some 36 years. Undoubtedly, he was shown exactly the place he should bury the sacred record, so that some 1400 years later it would be proximate to the place Joseph Smith would live. He describes the times as “one continual round of murder and bloodshed; and no one knoweth the end of the war”. The original purpose of the war seemed to be to decimate the Nephites, but now that they’re gone, it is Lamanites against Lamanites, and Lamanites against the robbers. What is so clearly demonstrated is that the final battle between the Nephites and Lamanites did not accomplish anything. The Lamanites saw their enemies, the Nephites, destroyed but the war goes on, futilely and uselessly. It seems to have become nothing but the bloodlust of a people without God.

Maurine

Moroni, of course, was not carrying all the sacred records and artifacts of the Nephites with him during his journeys. This would have involved several wagonloads and been impossible.  He is, however, carrying some sacred things that you may not have known he had.

We have interesting artists conceptions of the box that Joseph Smith was led to on the west side of the Hill Cumorah not far from the top. Some show a very small, rectangular opening, just large enough for the gold plates to fit, but is that accurate? What was in the box? More to the point what is it the Moroni had put in the box and therefore had carried with him?  We know the answer to this because we know what the three witnesses were shown them by the Angel Moroni.

Scot

Let’s make a list:

1 The Gold Plates.

2 The Breastplate. This breastplate came from the Jaredites, which is something that you fasten onto your chest and hook in the back with some sort of straps It also has some kind of attachment, and what is that for?

3 Bows. What are these bows? They are attached to the breastplate, and apparently, they swing across to come together. What do they hold?

4 The Urim and Thummim.

5 The Liahona. They were sometimes referred to as the sacred directors.

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Also in the box:

6 The Plates of Brass. They were in the box. Isn’t that exciting.

7 The Sword of Laban. Now, that kind of throws us off because we always see that box in artists’ conceptions (as mentioned above) where the plates fit perfectly in that little rectangular hole. No, there is the sword of Laban in there. So that’s a pretty good-sized box.

In fact, the early Brethren, including David Whitmer specifically, called it ‘a casket.’ “Three times [David Whitmer] has been at the Hill Cumorah and seen the casket that contained the tablets and seerstone. Eventually the casket has been washed down to the foot of the hill, but it was to be seen when he last visited the historic place.”

Scot

There’s more:

8 The rod of Aaron. We know very little about the rod of Aaron. But as I have studied this, it was a rod that came up and on the end of that rod you could place a seer stone, and it was another way of holding a stone so you could see the things of God (as far as I understand). All these things were shown to the Three Witnesses.

So we know that Moroni at least had these items with him but we know much less about where he went.

Dr. John L. Lund, in his book “Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon Is this the Place?” has collected some interesting accounts of brethren who heard Joseph Smith talk about the Saints’ trek to the Rocky Mountains and Moroni’s trek to upstate New York to bury the gold plates.

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Dr. Lund wrote: “Two maps showing Moroni’s travels from Central America to Palmyra, New York were produced by two contemporaries of the prophet who said that their information came from Joseph Smith himself. Patriarch Wm. McBride and Brother Andrew M. Hamilton, both of whom settled in the Richfield, Utah area credited Joseph Smith with teaching them…that Moroni had dedicated several temple sites during his long journey.   Moroni carried with him what Joseph Smith referred to as the ‘other things’ which were found buried with the gold plates.”

Scot

Dr. Lund said, “The temple sites credited to Moroni’s dedications are the St. George and Manti, Utah temples, plus Nauvoo, Independence and Kirtland, and, according to Patriarch McBride, ‘others we know not of yet.’  McBride wrote that Joseph ‘marked with his cane in the sand the track the Saints would take to the Rocky Mountains’ and also drew a map of Moroni’s travels.”

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1. Donl Peterson, professor emeritus of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University wrote:

At a conference held in Ephraim, Sanpete County, June 25th, 1875, nearly all the speakers expressed their feelings to have a temple built in Sanpete County, and gave their views as to what point and where to build it,..  At 4 p.m. that day President Brigham Young said: “The Temple should be build on Manti stone quarry.” Early on the morning of April 25, 1877, President Brigham Young asked Brother Warren S. Snow to go with him to the Temple hill. Brother Snow says: ‘We two were alone: President Young took me to the spot where the Temple was to stand; we went to the southeast corner, and President Young said: “Here is the spot where the prophet Moroni stood and dedicated this piece of land for a Temple site, and that is the reason why the location is made here, and we can’t move it from this spot; and if you and I are the only persons that come here at high noon today, we will dedicate this ground.’” http://www.bmaf.org/articles/joseph_rocky_mountains__christensen

Now these original sources could be stronger and some dismiss them, but it is interesting that these records exist among us.

Scot

Moroni gives us a witness of who he is and the mission that he has been entrusted with. “I am the son of Mormon, and my father was a ^adescendant of Nephi. And I am the same who ^ahideth up this record unto the Lord” (Mormon 8:13) He wants there to be no question about the provenance of this book. If part of the covenant is to remember your fathers, Moroni is living that commandment. He is remembering his father, Mormon, by carrying out his command to protect the plates and bury them for a future generation. This is both devotion to his earthly father as well as his Heavenly Father.

Though the plates are of a precious metal Moroni also tells us “The plates thereof are of no worth, because of the commandment of the Lord. For he truly saith that no one shall have them ^bto get gain; but the record thereof is of ^cgreat worth; and whoso shall bring it to light, him will the Lord bless.”

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As we know, Joseph Smith made five trips to the Hill Cumorah in order to obtain the plates, but was not successful until the last time. On his second visit on 22 September, 1824, he dislodged the stone lid and as he took up the plates, it crossed his mind that there might be something else of material worth in the box, so he laid the plates down to check. This seems quite natural in some ways because the Smiths were impoverished and had to work hard for their living. However, this was contrary to what he had been told. Joseph had been instructed in a former revelation, according to his mother’s account, “not to lay the plates down, or put them for a moment out of his hands, until he got into the house and deposited them in a chest or trunk, having a good lock and key.” But “contrary to this he had laid them down with the view of securing some fancied or imaginary treasure that remained.” Anything in this box, but particularly the plates, as we learn in Mormon 8 were not for gain. He was not able to obtain the plates that year.

Scot

The record was of great worth, inestimable worth And the Lord would bless whoso should bring it to light

“For none can have power to bring it to light save it be given him of God; for God wills that it shall be done with an ^aeye single to his glory, or the welfare of the ancient and long dispersed covenant people of the Lord”(Mormon 8:15), Moroni tells us. “ It shall be ^bbrought out of darkness unto light…by the power of God (Mormon 8:16).

Do you think as Moroni buried those plates that he wondered what might become of them?

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Of course not. This is what Moroni absolutely knew:

22 For the eternal ^apurposes of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises shall be fulfilled (Mormon 8).

Those who had come before and kept this record had prayed in behalf of their brethren, and their faith was so mighty that ”in his name they could remove mountains and in his name could they cause the earth to shake, and by the power of his word did they cause prisons to tumble to the earth; yeah, even the fiery furnace could not harm them, comment either wild beast or poisonous serpents, because of the power of his word” (Mormon 8:24)

Scot

25 And behold, their ^aprayers were also in behalf of him that the Lord should suffer to bring these things forth.

26 And no one need say they shall not come, for they surely shall, for the Lord hath spoken it (Mormon 8:24)

God cannot be stopped in his course. He is all powerful and all knowledgeable and unchanging , and Moroni could know that his sacrifice and love in guarding these plates and burying them up for another day would not be in vain.

Maurine

Don’t you love this immovable and firm foundation upon whom our universe is built? It is God that we can completely count on. If he says it will be, it will be. If he says it is true, it is true.

We learn in the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants:

38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my ^aword shall not pass away, but shall all be ^bfulfilled, whether by mine own ^cvoice or by the ^dvoice of my ^eservants, it is the ^fsame.

Scot

As mortals we live in a world that is unpredictable. Things change. Political administrations change. The philosophes of men cannot be counted on. What’s trending on social media today may be out of favor tomorrow. The popular idea of yesterday looks quaint a few years later. Yesterday’s high styles look ridiculous. Even our own bodies are not the same one day to the next.  How confusing it all is! Where can you stand on really solid ground?

We are blessed to know that in the heavens there are no administrative changes.  Commandments are not revised nor rewritten. God’s personality and presence is not erratic, fickle, or changeable.

Maurine

Once, reading these verses, I was so overcome with gratitude that beyond this world that feels like a rollercoaster that sometimes plunges you into darkness, there stands our Lord who is an unshakable source of light and love.

I often pray in gratitude: thank thee for being there, unchanging and unchangeable. Thank thee that thy love is sure and that thy word cannot be moved from its course.  When I just thank him for being at the foundation of all things a steadying force , I have some of my sweetest prayers.

Scot

We are told in Mormon 9:

9 For do we not read that God is the ^asame ^byesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no ^cvariableness neither shadow of changing?

10 And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles.

11 But behold, I will show unto you a God of ^amiracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same ^bGod who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are.

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15 And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do ^ano miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.

16 Behold, are not the things that God hath wrought marvelous in our eyes? Yea, and who can comprehend the marvelous ^aworks of God?

If God did miracles in the past, of course He does them today, otherwise he would be a changing God. If He parted the Red Sea in the past of course he could do it today. If He healed the lame and the sick and the blind yesterday, of course He can do it today . It all depends on our faithfulness.

Scot

If we have eyes to see, we will see those miracles in our own life.  They may look quiet and unobtrusive to those who cannot hear or see, but for faithful covenant keepers, Red Seas part and mountains move in our lives often. These may be mountains of discouragement or opposition . There may be problems that look too big to solve. They may be seas we cannot cross to find our own way home, but miracles happen and we are blessed when we can see them.

Maurine

Here’s a small one from our lives. We were taking photographs for a book on the Book of Mormon and had to travel to the best candidate for Nephi’s Bountiful where he had built the ship in the country of Oman. Warren Aston had found this place on the Arabian Sea that met all the criteria that Nephi gives us in the Book of Mormon for where his ship was built. Warren had written a paper on it for an organization called FARMS, that included a small hand-drawn map of its location on the border of Oman and Yemen.  It was in a place only accessed by dirt roads and well off the beaten path. We were sure we would have a hard time finding it with only the rough map that we had.

Scot

Before we left Cairo , we had a special prayer that we would be able to get a map that would get us to this location. We knew, of course, that there would be no map that said Nephi’s Bountiful on it, But we needed a map that would show us the surroundings and give us some small sense of how to get to this obscure beach that had no direct roads in . So our prayers we’re very intent that we could find a map.

When we arrived in our hotel in Oman , we went to a car rental desk and asked for a map of the country. We were given a tourist map that showed only about five or six main roads in the country and also some hand drawn pictures of wildlife.

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Of course, this map would not be helpful to get us to this most obscure spot down a series of dirt roads at the other end of the country.  We knew that we had prayed for a good map and this was not the answer, and so we asked again. ”Do you have any other more detailed map of the country?” Suddenly the man who was helping us seemed to get an idea, and he put his finger across his lips as if to be quiet, saying shhh. “I do have another map, but it is a secret military map and you cannot tell anyone you have it.”  He reached into a desk door and pulled out this map that was only of the region we needed to go to. The map spelled out the area where we were heading in great detail, including giving us the contours of the mountains that lead down to the sea.

It was an invaluable map, exactly what we needed to travel to Nephi’s Bountiful. It was a prayer answered.

Scot

Was that a miracle? No question. What are the chances that we would end up in a hotel that would have that map and that the man behind the desk would be so willing to give it to us? We see miracles as part of our lives as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our lives are full of them.

Moroni knew that this sacred record that he hid up in the earth would come forth and he knew who the record was for. It was for us, a people living in a time when Satan would be raging on the earth. He says, “But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing (Mormon 8:35).

Maurine

This book could not be more pointed and directed at us. It is about a people preparing for the coming of the Lord. It is about a people who are tempted by materialism and disbelief. It is about a people who are proud and don’t want to be taught. It is about the people who are blessed when they keep their covenants no matter how difficult the world is around them. It teaches us about the disagreements that lead to tribalism. It teaches us about standing up for freedom, family, and our God when they are threatened. Most of all it teaches us about the sacred mission of Jesus Christ and his atonement and our opportunity to awaken to our privileges.

When I have taught institute classes on the Book of Mormon, I have my students look at this Mormon chapter 8 right at the beginning. I want them to know how relevant every story and every teaching and every event is to this time now.

Scot

Moroni has seen our day, and it is a day when it is said that miracles are done away. It is a day when secret combinations and the works of darkness in high places are powerful. It is a day when the power of God is denied, and, in fact, people have flown from him. It is a day when people and their institutions are lifted up in pride. It is a day of fires and tempests and vapors of smoke in foreign lands. It is a day of wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes. It is a day of great pollutions upon the face of the earth and murders and deceptions and lusting for power . It is a day when people no longer believe that there is truth, so they say do this or do that and it matters not. (See Mormon 8)

If we want to know how to negotiate all the challenges of our time, there is a simple and profound answer. Read the Book of Mormon. In its pages we will find what we need.

Maurine

That’s all for today. This has been Scot and Maurine Proctor with Meridian Magazines Come Follow Me podcast. Next week we will be studying Ether chapters one through five called “Rend that Veil of Unbelief”. Special thanks to Paul Cardall, who supplied the music for this podcast and to Michaela Proctor Hutchins who is our producer. See you next time.