“The
Things of My Soul”
Of the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
(if you go to
this site – you can either listen or watch this presentation – thought and
photo at bottom - chuck)
I speak to those who have never read the Book of Mormon.
This includes many members who have started to read it several times, but, for
one reason or another, have never finished it.
I have chosen as a title “The Things of My Soul.”
Perhaps no other book has been denounced so vigorously by those
who have never read it as has the Book of Mormon.
Because of that, I hope to introduce the book in such a way
that, in case you decide to read it, you will know beforehand what awaits you.
Except for the Bible,
the Book of Mormon is different from any book you
have read. It is not a novel. It is not fiction. For the most part, it is not
difficult to read. However, like all books of profound value, it is not casual
reading. But if you persist, I assure you that it will be the most rewarding
book you have ever set your mind to read.
The Book of Mormon is not
biographical, for not one character is fully drawn. Nor, in a strict sense, is
it a history.
While it chronicles a people for 1,021 years and has the record
of an earlier people, it is in fact not a history of those people. It is the
saga of a message, a testament. As the influence of that message is traced from
generation to generation, more than twenty writers record the fate of
individuals and of civilizations who accepted or rejected that testament.
The saga began in Jerusalem six hundred years before Christ.
King Zedekiah ruled the doomed kingdom of Judah.
The prophet Lehi was warned in a dream to take his family and leave Jerusalem before that
destruction which soon was to be recorded by the Old Testament prophet
Jeremiah. (See Jer.
44:1–8.)
Lehi was commanded of the Lord to obtain and take with them a
record of their people. It is with that record, the brass plates of Laban, that
the saga of the Book of Mormon began.
Lehi’s son Nephi obtained the record for his father and said,
“It is wisdom in God that we should obtain these records, that we may preserve
unto our children the language of our
fathers.” (1
Ne. 3:19; italics added.)
They found that the record contained:
·
“The five books of Moses,
which gave an account of the creation of the world, and also of Adam and Eve,
who were our first parents.” (1 Ne. 5:11.)
·
And “the words … of all the holy prophets, which have
been delivered unto them by the Spirit and power of God.” (1 Ne. 3:20;
italics added.)
·
“And also a record of the Jews from the beginning, even down to
the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah”;
Lehi’s little band left Jerusalem with the record. In time, they
were separated from their homeland by an ocean. But they had that precious
spiritual record.
A later prophet, Benjamin, said of this record:
“Were it not for these things, which have been kept and
preserved by the hand of God, that we might read and understand of his
mysteries, and have his commandments, … [we] would have dwindled in
unbelief.” (Mosiah
1:5; italics added.)
A second record joined this saga when Lehi began the chronicles
of his little band of sojourners. He kept something of a secular account of
their journeys, interspersed with his revelations and teachings and spiritual
experiences.
Nephi succeeded his father, Lehi, as keeper of that record,
which became known as the large plates of Nephi.
Nephi wrote that “upon [these] plates should be engraven
an account of the reign of the kings, and the wars and contentions of my
people.” (1
Ne. 9:4; italics added.)
Later, when they grew to be a numerous people, this account was
kept by the kings.
But it was not the most valuable record, for Nephi was commanded
to keep yet another account—not a secular account this time, but a record of
the ministry. This record, the small plates of Nephi, was kept by the prophets
rather than by the kings.
This account of their ministry became the foundation for what is
now the Book of Mormon.
Perhaps the best insight into the purpose for keeping this
record is from Jacob, who received the plates from his brother Nephi.
“And he gave me, Jacob, a commandment that I should write upon
these [small] plates a few of the things which I considered to be most precious ; that I should not
touch, save it were lightly, concerning the history of this people. …
“For he said that the history of his people should be engraven
upon his other [large] plates, and that I should preserve these [small] plates
and hand them down unto my seed, from generation to generation.
“And if there were preaching which was
sacred, or revelation which was great, or
prophesying, that I should engraven … them
upon these [small] plates, and touch upon them as
much as it were possible, for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of
our people.” (Jacob 1:2–4;
italics added.)
Did you notice that he was “ not to
touch (save it were lightly)” on the history of
the people but he was to touch upon the sacred things “as much as it were possible”!
Nephi explained:
“It mattereth not to me that I am particular to give a full
account of all the things of my father, … for I desire the room that I may
write of the things of God.
“For the fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to
come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and
be saved.
“Wherefore, I shall give commandment unto my seed, that they
shall not occupy these plates with things
which are not of worth unto the children of
men.” (1
Ne. 6:3–4, 6; italics added.)
“This I do that the more sacred things
may be kept for the knowledge of my people. … I do not write anything upon
plates save it be that I think it be sacred .” (1 Ne. 19:5–6;
italics added.)
Notice why he did as he did:
“I have received a commandment of the
Lord that I should make these plates, for the special purpose that
there should be an account engraven of the ministry of my people.” (1 Ne. 9:3;
italics added.)
And then this verse from which I take my title:
“And upon these [small plates] I write the
things of my soul, and many of the scriptures
which are engraven upon the plates of brass. For my soul delighteth
in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning
and the profit of my children.” (2 Ne. 4:15;
italics added.)
Those preachings which were sacred, the revelations which were
great, and the prophesying, all testified of the coming of the Messiah.
Prophecies concerning the Messiah appear in the Old Testament.
But the Book of Mormon records a vision of that
event which has no equal in the Old Testament.
After the people of Lehi had arrived in the Western Hemisphere,
Lehi had a vision of the tree of life. His son Nephi prayed to know its
meaning. In answer, he was given a remarkable vision of Christ.
In that vision he saw:
·
A virgin bearing a child in her arms,
·
One who should prepare the way—John the Baptist,
·
The ministry of the Son of God,
·
Twelve others following the Messiah,
·
The heavens open and angels ministering to them,
·
The multitudes blessed and healed,
·
The crucifixion of the Christ,
·
The wisdom and pride of the world opposing his work. (See 1 Ne. 11:14–36.)
That vision is the central message of the Book of Mormon.
The Book of Mormon is in truth
another testament of Jesus Christ.
It is sometimes introduced as “a history of the ancient
inhabitants of the American continent, the ancestors of the American Indians.”
That does not reveal the contents of this sacred book any better
than an introduction of the Bible as “a history of the ancient inhabitants of
the Near East, the ancestors of the modern Israelites” would reveal the
contents of the Bible.
The history in the Book of Mormon
is incidental. There are prophets and dissenters and genealogies to move them
from one generation to another, but the central purpose is not historical.
As the saga of the message is traced, one writer (Alma) requires
160 pages to cover thirty-eight years, while seven others (Enos, Jarom, Omni,
Amaron, Chemish, Abinadom, Amaleki) together use only 6 pages to cover over
three hundred years. In either case, the testament survives.
For the most part, it is in easy-flowing New Testament language,
with such words as spake for spoke, unto for to, with and
it came to pass, with thus and thou and thine.
You will not read many pages into it until you catch the cadence
of that language and the narrative will be easy to understand. As a matter of
fact, most teenagers readily understand the narrative of the Book of Mormon.
Then, just as you settle in to move comfortably along, you will
meet a barrier. The style of the language changes to Old Testament prophecy
style. For, interspersed in the narrative, are chapters reciting the prophecies
of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. They loom as a barrier, like a roadblock
or a checkpoint beyond which the casual reader, one with idle curiosity,
generally will not go.
You, too, may be tempted to stop there, but do not do it! Do not
stop reading! Move forward through those difficult-to-understand chapters of
Old Testament prophecy, even if you understand very little of it. Move on, if
all you do is skim and merely glean an impression here and there. Move on, if
all you do is look at the words.
Soon you will emerge from those difficult chapters to the easier
New Testament style which is characteristic of the rest of the Book of Mormon.
Because you are forewarned about that barrier, you will be able
to surmount it and finish reading the book.
You will follow the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah
through the generations of Nephite people to that day when those prophecies are
fulfilled and the Lord appears to them.
You will be present, through eyewitness accounts, at the
ministry of the Lord among the “other sheep” of whom he spoke in the New
Testament. (See John 10:16.)
Thereafter, you will be able to understand the Bible as never
before. You will come to understand much in the Old Testament and to know why
we, as a people, hold it in such esteem. You will come to revere the New
Testament, to know that it is true. The account of the birth and the life and
the death of the man Jesus as recorded in the New Testament is true. He is the
Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, the Messiah, the Redeemer of mankind.
The Book of Mormon, another
testament of Jesus Christ, will verify the Old and the New Testaments.
Perhaps only after you read the Book of
Mormon and return to the Bible will you notice that the Lord quotes
Isaiah seven times in the New Testament; in addition, the Apostles quote Isaiah
forty more times. One day you may revere these prophetic words of Isaiah in
both books. The Lord had a purpose in preserving the prophecies of Isaiah in
the Book of Mormon, notwithstanding they become a
barrier to the casual reader.
Those who never move beyond the Isaiah chapters miss the
personal treasures to be gathered along the way. They miss the knowledge of:
·
The purpose of mortal life and death,
·
The certainty of life after death,
·
What happens when the spirit leaves the body,
·
How to receive and retain a remission of your sins,
·
What hold justice or mercy may have on you,
·
What to pray for,
·
Covenants and ordinances,
·
And many other jewels that make up the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is beyond that barrier, near the end of the book, that you
will find a promise addressed to you and to everyone who will read the book
with intent and sincerity.
Let me read that promise to you, from the last chapter in the Book of Mormon:
“And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that
ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things
are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent,
having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power
of the Holy Ghost.
“And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all
things.” (Moro.
10:4–5.)
No missionary, no member can fulfill that promise—neither
Apostle nor President can fulfill that promise. It is a promise of direct
revelation to you on the conditions described in the book. After you have read
the Book of Mormon, you become qualified to
inquire of the Lord, in the way that He prescribes in the book, as to whether
the book is true. You will be eligible, on the conditions He has established,
to receive that personal revelation.
I bear witness that the Book of Mormon
is true—that it is another testament of Jesus Christ. I have read the Book of Mormon with a sincere heart, with intent, as a
humble serviceman, and thereafter pled with the Lord. I received that
revelation. Accompanying that revelation is the revelation that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, our Redeemer, and of Him I bear witness, in the name of
Jesus Christ, amen.
“Of My
Soul”
cji
8/27/13
How I
plead for all to hear
to reason
and understand
finding
God’s wisdom true
knowing
of so much more
the
heavens have opened
Prophets
are on this earth
Apostles
testifying for you
of Jesus
Christ Son of God
clear,
concise, relevant
of my
soul it cries for all
listen
and comprehend
unable anyone
to compel
each has
their agency
each has
their agency!
Copyright
© 2013 – cji
