Day Forty!

1 Nephi 8: 9-12

9 And it came to pass after I had prayed unto the Lord I beheld a large and spacious field.

10 And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy.

Good fathers teach their sons, and good sons listen and obey. Teaching is done by precept and example, and by word and deed. A good model is the best teacher. Therefore, a father’s first responsibility is to set the proper example.

Lehi, Nephi’s father, lived an exemplary life. He had a vision in which he “beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy.” (1 Ne. 8:10.) This tree represented the love of God. (See 1 Ne. 11:25.) Lehi partook of its fruit, which “filled [his] soul with exceedingly great joy.” (1 Ne. 8:12.) After he had a personal testimony of its goodness, he took the next step of inviting his family to also partake.

Fathers, here is a divine pattern: As the leader of the family, Lehi first taught by example. He led out in righteousness—in conversion to Christ. Then he taught by word, saying, “Believe as I believe.”

Ezra Taft Benson, Worthy Father, Worthy Sons, October 1985

11 And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit there of; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen.

I know that God lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I have reached out my hand. I have plucked the fruits of the gospel. I have eaten of them, and they are sweet, yea, above all that is sweet (1 Ne. 8:11). I know that God chose His prophet Joseph Smith and gave him instructions and authority to establish this work, and that the power and the influence of Joseph Smith are now being felt as the angel promised. His name is known for good or evil all over the world (JS—H 1:33), but for evil only by those who malign him. Those who know him, those who know his teachings, know his life was pure and that his teachings were in very deed God's law. I know that we have the plan of life and salvation, not only for the living but for the dead. We have all that is necessary both for our own salvation, that we may be in very deed saviors upon Mount Zion and enter into the temples of our God, and also for those of our ancestors who have died without a knowledge of the gospel.

Heber J. Grant, Conference Report, April 1943, pp. 3-8

12 And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirableabove all other fruit.

The great introductory vision in the Book of Mormon is Lehi’s prophetic dream of the tree of life.^{3 [See 1 Nephi 8.]} This vision starkly describes the challenges to faith that exist in our day and the great divide between those who love, worship, and feel accountable to God and those who do not. Lehi explains some of the conduct that destroys faith. Some are proud, vain, and foolish. They are interested only in the so-called wisdom of the world.^{4 [See 1 Nephi 8:27; 11:35.]} Others have some interest in God but are lost in worldly mists of darkness and sin.^{5 [See 1 Nephi 8:23; 12:17.]} Some have tasted of the love of God and His word but feel ashamed because of those mocking them and fall away into “forbidden paths.”^{6 [1 Nephi 8:28.]}

Finally, there are those who are in tune with the music of faith. You know who you are. You love the Lord and His gospel and continuously try to live and share His message, especially with your families.^{7 [See 1 Nephi 8:12.]} You are in harmony with the promptings of the Spirit, have awakened to the power of God’s word, have religious observance in your homes, and diligently try to live Christlike lives as His disciples.

We recognize how busy you are. Without a paid professional ministry, the responsibility for administering the Church depends on you consecrated members. We know it is common for members of bishoprics and stake presidencies and many others to render long hours of devoted service. Auxiliary and quorum presidencies are exemplary in their selfless sacrifice. This service and sacrifice extend through the entire membership, to those keeping clerical records, faithful home and visiting teachers, and those teaching classes. We are grateful to those who courageously serve as Scoutmasters and nursery leaders as well. You all have our love and appreciation for what you do and who you are!

We acknowledge that there are members who are less interested in and less faithful to some of the Savior’s teachings. Our desire is for these members to awaken fully to faith and increase their activity and commitment. God loves all His children. He wants all of them to return to Him. He desires everyone to be in tune with the sacred music of faith. The Savior’s Atonement is a gift for everyone.

It needs to be taught and understood that we love and respect all of the people whom Lehi described.^{8 [The Savior’s instructions are to seek out the lost sheep; see Matthew 18:12–14.]}Remember, it is not up to us to judge. Judgment is the Lord’s.^{9 [See John 5:22; see also Matthew 7:1–2.]} President Thomas S. Monson has specifically asked us to have the “courage to refrain from judging others.”^{10 [Thomas S. Monson, “May You Have Courage,” Liahona and Ensign, May 2009, 124.]} He has also asked every faithful member to rescue those who have tasted of the gospel fruit and then have fallen away, as well as those who have not yet found the strait and narrow path. We pray that they will hold to the rod and partake of the love of God, which will fill their “soul[s] with exceedingly great joy.”^{11 [1 Nephi 8:12.]}

While Lehi’s vision includes all people, the culminating doctrinal concept is the eternal significance of the family. “The family is ordained of God. It is the most important unit in time and in eternity.”^{12 [Handbook 2: Administering the Church (2010), 1.1.1.]} As Lehi partook of the fruit of the tree of life (the love of God), he was desirous that his “family should partake of it also.”^{13 [1 Nephi 8:12.]}

^{Quentin L Cook, In Tune with the Music of Faith, April 2012}

Day Thirty- Nine

1 Nephi 8:5-8

 5 And it came to pass that I saw a man, and he was dressed in a white robe; and he came and stood before me.

 6 And it came to pass that he spake unto me, and bade me follow him.

 7 And it came to pass that as I followed him I beheld myself that I was in a dark and dreary waste.

From the beginning down through the dispensations, God has used angels as His emissaries in conveying love and concern for His children. Time in this setting does not allow even a cursory examination of the scriptures or our own latter-day history, which are so filled with accounts of angels ministering to those on earth, but it is rich doctrine and rich history indeed.

Usually such beings are not seen. Sometimes they are. But seen or unseen they are always near. Sometimes their assignments are very grand and have significance for the whole world. Sometimes the messages are more private. Occasionally the angelic purpose is to warn. But most often it is to comfort, to provide some form of merciful attention, guidance in difficult times. When in Lehi’s dream he found himself in a frightening place, “a dark and dreary waste,” as he described it, he was met by an angel, “a man … dressed in a white robe; … he spake unto me,” Lehi said, “and bade me follow him.”^{7 [1 Nephi 8:7, 5–6.]} Lehi did follow him to safety and ultimately to the path of salvation.

In the course of life all of us spend time in “dark and dreary” places, wildernesses, circumstances of sorrow or fear or discouragement. Our present day is filled with global distress over financial crises, energy problems, terrorist attacks, and natural calamities. These translate into individual and family concerns not only about homes in which to live and food available to eat but also about the ultimate safety and well-being of our children and the latter-day prophecies about our planet. More serious than these—and sometimes related to them—are matters of ethical, moral, and spiritual decay seen in populations large and small, at home and abroad. But I testify that angels are still sent to help us, even as they were sent to help Adam and Eve, to help the prophets, and indeed to help the Savior of the world Himself. Matthew records in his gospel that after Satan had tempted Christ in the wilderness “angels came and ministered unto him.”^{8 [Matthew 4:11.]} Even the Son of God, a God Himself, had need for heavenly comfort during His sojourn in mortality. And so such ministrations will be to the righteous until the end of time. As Mormon said to his son Moroni, who would one day be an angel:

“Has the day of miracles ceased?

“Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved?

“Behold I say unto you, Nay; for … it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men. …

“For behold, they are subject unto [Christ], to minister according to the word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness.”^{9 [Moroni 7:35–37, 30.]}

I ask everyone within the sound of my voice to take heart, be filled with faith, and remember the Lord has said He “would fight [our] battles, [our] children’s battles, and [the battles of our] children’s children.”^{10 [D&C 98:37; emphasis added.]} And what do we do to merit such a defense? We are to “search diligently, pray always, and be believing[. Then] all things shall work together for [our] good, if [we] walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith [we] have covenanted.”^{11 [D&C 90:24.]} The latter days are not a time to fear and tremble. They are a time to be believing and remember our covenants.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland "Ministry of Angels", October 2008

 8 And after I had traveled for the space of many hours in darkness, I began to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me, according to the multitude of his tender mercies.

The major mission of the Book of Mormon, as recorded on its title page, is “to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.”

The honest seeker after truth can gain the testimony that Jesus is the Christ as he prayerfully ponders the inspired words of the Book of Mormon.

Over one-half of all the verses in the Book of Mormon refer to our Lord. Some form of Christ’s name is mentioned more frequently per verse in the Book of Mormon than even in the New Testament.

He is given over one hundred different names in the Book of Mormon. Those names have a particular significance in describing His divine nature.

Let us consider some of the attributes of our Lord, as found in the Book of Mormon, that show that Jesus is the Christ. Then let us confirm each of those attributes about Him with a brief quote from the Book of Mormon.

He is Alive: “The life of the world … a life which is endless” (Mosiah 16:9).

He is Constant: “The same yesterday, today, and forever” (2 Ne. 27:23).

He is the Creator: “He created all things, both in heaven and in earth” (Mosiah 4:9).

He is the Exemplar: He “set the example. … He said unto the children of men: Follow thou me” (2 Ne. 31:9, 10).

He is Generous: “He commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation” (2 Ne. 26:24).

He is Godly: He is God (see 2 Ne. 27:23).

He is Good: “All things which are good cometh of God” (Moro. 7:12).

He is Gracious: “He is full of grace” (2 Ne. 2:6).

He is the Healer: The “sick, and … afflicted with all manner of diseases … devils and unclean spirits … were healed by the power of the Lamb of God” (1 Ne. 11:31).

He is Holy: “O how great the holiness of our God!” (2 Ne. 9:20).

He is Humble: “He humbleth himself before the Father” (2 Ne. 31:7).

He is Joyful: “The Father hath given” Him a “fulness of joy” (3 Ne. 28:10).

He is our Judge: We “shall be brought to stand before the bar of God, to be judged of him” (Mosiah 16:10).

He is Just: “The judgments of God are always just” (Mosiah 29:12).

He is Kind: He has “loving kindness … towards the children of men” (1 Ne. 19:9).

He is the Lawgiver: He “gave the law” (3 Ne. 15:5).

He is the Liberator: “There is no other head whereby ye can be made free” (Mosiah 5:8).

He is the Light: “The light … of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened” (Mosiah 16:9).

He is Loving: “He loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life” (2 Ne. 26:24).

He is the Mediator: “The great Mediator of all men” (2 Ne. 2:27).

He is Merciful: There is a “multitude of his tender mercies” (1 Ne. 8:8).

He is Mighty: “Mightier than all the earth” (1 Ne. 4:1).

He is Miraculous: A “God of miracles” (2 Ne. 27:23).

He is Obedient: Obedient unto the Father “in keeping his commandments” (2 Ne. 31:7).

He is Omnipotent: He has “all power, both in heaven and in earth” (Mosiah 4:9).

He is Omniscient: “The Lord knoweth all things from the beginning” (1 Ne. 9:6).

He is our Redeemer: “All mankind were in a lost and in a fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer” (1 Ne. 10:6).

He is the Resurrection: He brought to pass “the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise” (2 Ne. 2:8).

He is Righteous: “His ways are righteousness forever” (2 Ne. 1:19).

He is the Ruler: He rules “in the heavens above and in the earth beneath” (2 Ne. 29:7).

He is our Savior: “There is none other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ … whereby man can be saved” (2 Ne. 25:20).

He is Sinless: He “suffereth temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation” (Mosiah 15:5).

He is Truthful: “A God of truth, and canst not lie” (Ether 3:12).

He is Wise: “He has all wisdom” (Mosiah 4:9).

As I reflect on these and many other marks of our Lord’s divinity, as found in the Book of Mormon, my heart cries out with the hymnist:

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds thy hands have made,

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy pow’r thru-out the universe displayed;

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee,

How great thou art! How great thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee,

How great thou art! How great thou art!

(“How Great Thou Art,” Hymns, 1985, no. 86).

Once one is convinced, through the Book of Mormon, that Jesus is the Christ, then he must take the next step; he must come unto Christ. Learning the precepts found in what the Prophet Joseph Smith called the most correct book on earth, the Book of Mormon, is but the first step. Abiding by those precepts found in the “keystone” of our religion gets a man nearer to God than through any other book (see History of the Church, 4:461). Can we not see why we should be reading this book daily and practicing its precepts at all times?

We have an increasing number who have been convinced, through the Book of Mormon, that Jesus is the Christ. Now we need an increasing number who will use the Book of Mormon to become committed to Christ. We need to be convinced and committed.

Let us turn again to the Book of Mormon, this time to learn some principles about coming unto Christ, being committed to Him, centered in Him, and consumed in Him. We will quote but a few of the numerous passages on the matter.

First we need to know that Christ invites us to come unto Him. “Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, … Yea, he saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life” (Alma 5:33–34).

Come, for he stands “with open arms to receive you” (Morm. 6:17).

Come, for “he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause” (Jacob 3:1).

“Come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him” (Omni 1:26).

As Moroni closed the record of the Jaredite civilization, he wrote, “I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written” (Ether 12:41).

In Moroni’s closing words written toward the end of the Nephite civilization, he said, “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, … and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you” (Moro. 10:32).

Those who are committed to Christ “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” that they may be in “even until death” (Mosiah 18:9). They “retain the name” of Christ “written always” in their hearts (Mosiah 5:12). They take upon themselves “the name of Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end” (Moro. 6:3).

When we live a Christ-centered life, “we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ” (2 Ne. 25:26). We “receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love” (Jacob 3:2). Even when Nephi’s soul was grieved because of his iniquities, he said, “I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support” (2 Ne. 4:19–20).

We remember Alma’s counsel: “Let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever. Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings” (Alma 37:36–37).

“Remember, remember,” said Helaman, “that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, … that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, … [they] shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery” (Hel. 5:12).

Nephi said, the Lord “hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh” (2 Ne. 4:21). Those who are consumed in Christ “are made alive in Christ” (2 Ne. 25:25). They “suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ” (Alma 31:38). They are “clasped in the arms of Jesus” (Morm. 5:11). Nephi said, “I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul” (2 Ne. 33:6). Lehi said, “I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love” (2 Ne. 1:15).

Now, my beloved brethren and sisters, let us read the Book of Mormon and be convinced that Jesus is the Christ. Let us continually reread the Book of Mormon so that we might more fully come to Christ, be committed to Him, centered in Him, and consumed in Him.

We are meeting the adversary every day. The challenges of this era will rival any of the past, and these challenges will increase both spiritually and temporally. We must be close to Christ, we must daily take His name upon us, always remember Him, and keep His commandments.

In the final letter recorded in the Book of Mormon from Mormon to his son Moroni, he gave counsel that applies to our day. Both father and son were seeing a whole Christiancivilization fall because its people would not serve the God of the land, even Jesus Christ. Mormon wrote, “And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God” (Moro. 9:6). You and I have a similar labor to perform now—to conquer the enemy and rest our souls in the kingdom.

Then that great soul Mormon closes his letter to his beloved son, Moroni, with these words.

“My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.

“And may the grace of God the Father, whose throne is high in the heavens, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who sitteth on the right hand of his power, until all things shall become subject unto him, be, and abide with you forever” (Moro. 9:25–26).

My prayer for each of us is that we too will follow that inspired counsel: “Be faithful in Christ.” Then He will lift us up and His grace will be and abide with us forever. That this may be so, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

President Ezra Taft Benson, "Come Unto Christ", October 1987

Day Thirty-Eight-1 Nephi 8 Begins

1 Nephi 8:1-4

1 And it came to pass that we had gathered together all manner of seeds of every kind, both of grain of every kind, and also of the seeds of fruit of every kind.

 2 And it came to pass that while my father tarried in the wilderness he spake unto us, saying: Behold, I have dreamed a dream; or, in other words, I have seen a vision.

 3 And behold, because of the thing which I have seen, I have reason to rejoice in the Lord because of Nephi and also of Sam; for I have reason to suppose that they, and also many of their seed, will be saved.

 4 But behold, Laman and Lemuel, I fear exceedingly because of you; for behold, methought I saw in my dream, a dark and dreary wilderness.

Your life is filled with anguish, pain, and, at times, despair. I will tell you how you can be comforted by the Lord.

First, you must recognize two foundation principles:

1. 1. 
   While there are many things you can do to help a loved one in need, there are some things that must be done by the Lord.
2. 2. 
   Also, no enduring improvement can occur without righteous exercise of agency. Do not attempt to override agency. The Lord himself would not do that. Forced obedience yields no blessings (see D&C 58:26–33).

I will suggest seven ways you can help.

First—Love without limitations. When in a dream Lehi partook of the fruit of the tree of life and was filled with joy, his first thought was to share it with each member of hisfamily, including the disobedient (see 1 Ne. 8:3–4, 12–13).

Richard G. Scott "To Help a Loved One in Need", April 1988