Latest / Scripture Central / Helaman 7–12 | Sept 2–8 | John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon

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Helaman 7–12 | Sept 2–8 | John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon · Scripture Central

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Hello, Welcome back to Scripture Central.
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I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson. And I'm Jack Welch.
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And we are in the middle of Helaman today.
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We get to talk about Chapter 7 through 12.
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It's a 17 year span, but it all is around this Gadiantin war and
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it's tragic. We start out in Chapter 7 though
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with this beautiful prophecy of Nephi.
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And it's one of those headings that Jack mentioned last week
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that are part of the original text.
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And so I have here a picture from josephsmithpapers.org where
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you can see the handwriting of Oliver Cowdry here as he
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describes this little forefront, the prophecy of Nephi, the son
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of Helaman. And then God threatens the
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people of Nephi with famine. That little heading is a
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continuation of the heading at the beginning.
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And remember we saw that the purpose that Mormon sees in
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writing this is to help people prepare for the coming of
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Christ. And so here in this heading we
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have God threatens the people of Nephi that he will visit them in
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his anger for their utter destruction, except they repent
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for their wickedness. And of course that will happen
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in 3rd Nephi. God smites the people with
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pestilence. They repent and return unto Him.
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And that preparing to come unto Christ and be ready for him
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starts with the gathering of Israel and missionary work is in
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full force. Again, let's start at Chapter 7.
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This is all the 69th year of the reign of the judges.
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And that we begin in verse one with Nephi, the son of Helaman.
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We got to make sure we get our right.
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Nephis returns to the land of Zarahemla from the land
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northward, but unfortunately he did not have success there.
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The the missionary work was a disaster.
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They did not accept his words. And in verse four he says that
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when he comes back to Zarahemla, the Gadiat and robbers are
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entrenched and there is awful wickedness.
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In fact, it says that they're even in now the judgment seats.
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Verse 4 continues on that not only have they usurped this
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authority, but they have quote, laid aside God's commandments
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and we no longer have justice. They're condemning the righteous
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because of their righteousness and letting the guilty and the
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wicked go unpunished because of their money.
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This is a picture of our unfortunately our our society as
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well. Materialism is always a matter
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of lesser things. Don Perry's book on the
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parallelisms in the Book of Mormon pointed out the verses 6
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and seven also are beautifully arranged in a poetic chiastic
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pattern. Here the iniquity came on the
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knee fights quite quickly and skipping ahead a little bit, he
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talks about how Nephi's heart was swollen with sorrow.
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At the end of verse six. He cries out in the agony of his
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soul and verse seven reads that I could have had my days in the
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days of then he goes back to his father Nephi, great great great
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grandfather Nephi. But the center of this chiastic
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is they were firm to keep the commandments of God and slow to
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be LED in iniquity. But of course, just like all of
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us, the grass may look greener on the other decide to quote an
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old cliche. But the Lord needs us each where
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we are called. And Nephi had the skills and the
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strength to fulfill his mission. Just like you and I are blessed
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by God to live in a day and age where He needs our efforts now.
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And and this little passage that we have here, this is a kind of
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soliloquy. Yes, it is definitely.
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This isn't Nephi is not talking to anyone but himself and he his
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heart of course, was swollen. But he does say, in spite of the
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sorrow, I wish that I had live in the days of my father Nephi,
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and thinking then that people were easy to be and treated.
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They were not. They weren't so easy, I thought.
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I don't know what record you were reading, but that's not in
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our small plates. And I think we often also think,
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oh, if I could only have lived in an earlier time that, wow, it
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would have been if I'd only been a pioneer.
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Wait a minute. Those pioneers had it hard so.
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But Nephi then decides that he wants to make a public
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statement. Well, actually, he first goes to
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pray, right? Well, he goes up on his tower.
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And I'm fascinated with this idea of praying in a tower.
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I've lived in a few other countries, and I know that in
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many ancient worlds as well, there was a place for prayer.
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And in some rooms, in some people's homes, it's a place for
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prayer. And they this is not unusual
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that he would have gone to a place for prayer.
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The thing that's unusual on it is that people are watching and
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gathering around him because he is pleading, probably with such
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a full heart. And in verse 13, he actually
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stops praying and acknowledges the crowd around him.
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And he says, why have you gathered yourselves together?
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Because I may tell you of your iniquities.
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I mean, do you want me just to call you to repentance?
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I've already been trying this whole time.
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It's really tragic. That this crowd would have
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appeared, Yeah, it makes sense because we are told that he this
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home that he lives in. It's on the highway.
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It well, and it's on the main highway, it's near the garden,
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it's near the marketplace. It's it's, it's kind of the
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center of town as you would expect, the inherited land that
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he would have owned would have been something that maybe belong
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to. Alma and the city grew up around
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it, yeah. And maybe that's why he's
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thinking. Or if I'd only lived in those
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days when people were easier to teach.
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Now, as he is there in a very public place, you know, of
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course he's up there praying and I think he might have also been
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wanting to attract some attention.
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OK. In order to call them to
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repentance. Because what he gives here is a,
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a, a kind of a funeral speech. What?
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Yes, the words are mourning. Because of my mourning and
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lamentation, ye have gathered yourselves together.
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So he's up there wailing and whoa, the grief as if someone
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had died. And people, of course, are
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wondering, well, who's died? Somebody in the in the
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aristocratic family has died. We don't know about this.
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And then of course, he does turn to them and says, why will you
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die? Interesting.
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Like Abinadi and others, the prophets like to use a dramatic
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way of getting their point across.
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They're doing anything they can. Yeah, well, the words that we
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have, when he turns to them and says repent ye, repent ye.
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Why will ye die? I mean, turn to the Lord.
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That's not what he had been saying that attracted the
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attention. He may have gathered their
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attention by his mourning and lamentation, but his message is
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repentance. And I want to look at verses 17
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to 18. And I think he's saying
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repentance is a matter of life and death.
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Oh, yeah, definitely. It is literally yeah.
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Why has he forsaken you? It is because you have hardened
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your hearts. So in my life, if I'm not
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feeling the Spirit, I asked myself, what can I repent of
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now? Sometimes mental illness and
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other things get in the road, and sometimes the Lord needs us
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to exert more faith. But I find repentance is always
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the best way to be able to feel the Spirit of the Lord again.
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He continues on in verse 18. Yeah, he will not hearken unto
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the voice of the Good Shepherd. Yeah, ye have provoked him to
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anger against you. In fact, he's sort of frustrated
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with him. He says in verse 20, how could
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you have forgotten your God? It's to get gained.
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It's to be praised. You know, he's just really
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nailed him. He says, you know, that's very
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clear. And then the Lord speaks, and
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this is something that I I couldn't find in any other book
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of Scripture, but he quotes the Lord's words in verse 23.
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The Lord says, I will not show unto the wicked of my strength,
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to one more than another, save it be unto those who repent of
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their sins and hearken unto my words.
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We've been told by our prophet that the greatest miracles of
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the world are yet to come, and we can only do that according to
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this message of the Lord here in Helaman.
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If we have repentant hearts, and if we've come unto Him, you know
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we have to show our obedience before He will show us His
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power. That's beautifully said.
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He does show some things. He won't show his strength.
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OK, he shows many things to the wicked.
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But even the wicked have enough to know.
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But then if they come along, they get more.
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And I think to those who will repent, they then receive.
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And we know this in our own lives.
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Well, and one of the greatest gifts that we receive, I think,
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is forgiveness, because forgiveness is not only God's
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love, but it's God's encouragement to move forward.
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It's hope for a better day. I I just think that the best way
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to feel the Lord's love is to repent.
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Yeah. And I think as well, not only is
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it a gift, but I think it's a miracle.
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We're seeing a lot of miraculous things reported here in the book
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of Helaman. But in a lot of ways, the
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greatest miracle of all is that somehow our hearts and minds and
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feelings and worries and concerns can be changed by the
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Holy Ghost. And these are things beyond our
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power. We can't just somehow wish them
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away, but these miracles are real.
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We need a Redeemer. We need a Savior.
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A miraculous thing is something that is not just marvelous, but
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is beyond human power. It is divine.
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And being forgiven is something that only can come through Jesus
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Christ. And that's what he's preaching.
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So in verse 24 he says they have not sinned against that great
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knowledge. He's talking about the Lamanites
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here. Thou shalt be utterly destroyed,
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speaking to the Nephites, except thou shalt repent.
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So he's very concerned that they are getting ripe for destruction
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and he's warning them right now. And with greater blessings come
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greater levels of responsibility.
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And he says the problem is you've united yourselves with
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these Gadians. That's verse 25.
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And the secret band becomes more and more of a problem.
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And then chapter 8 begins. Chapter 8 begins with Nephi
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having already spoken on his tower, and he comes down off of
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that, and now these Gadian robbers are angry at him.
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Do you think some of the crowd must have been some of them?
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He's speaking plainly to them concerning their secret works of
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darkness. Now.
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Remaining secret was important, so when he now blows their
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cover, that kind of eliminates one of their main strategies and
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they they then cry unto the people.
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The Gadians. The Gadians, they're going to
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take this issue to the people and say, why do you let this man
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revile against us? So he, of course, has been
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saying you're reviling against God, but wait a minute, Nephi,
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you're reviling against us. He condemns us for all of these
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things, and we know that. Wait a minute, we're powerful,
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we have a good city. So how does he get a pass and
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how is he able to be so critical of us?
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Then in verse seven, there were actually some who stand up and
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cried out. Let this man alone, for he's a
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good man, and those things which he saith will surely come to
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pass, except we repent and all these judgments, they're going
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to be here. And he could not have testified
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these things, of these things, if he weren't a prophet.
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And just like now, you have a spectrum of thought, of truth,
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of what is reality. Notice that these people a few
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years later will be the same ones who will reject Samuel the
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Lamanite, a prophet. But one of their first reactions
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to being criticized was to now turn and criticize the prophet.
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He must be doing something wrong at this point.
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Then Nephi was constrained to speak more to them, and starting
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at verse 11 and going to the end of chapter 8, we now have Nephi
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actually calling witnesses. And what's interesting to me is
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that there are ten of these people.
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But they're all ancient prophets, aren't they?
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They are He, but he brings together all of the ancient
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people, all of the prophets, all of the scriptures to say I have
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many on my side. It's not just my witness.
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Let me give you a few others. And here they are, as you count
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them. He begins with Moses.
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Moses has testified of these things and of the coming of
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Christ, and he uses the example of Moses lifting up the serpent
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in the wilderness as a type of Christ, which had been explained
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by King Benjamin as such. He then calls Abraham as a
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witness. And this is kind of new
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information I think, that says that Abraham saw of his coming.
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We don't get that in the book of Genesis, but he was filled with
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gladness and did rejoice. And maybe it was when those 3
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messengers came and promised Abraham all of the blessings
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that he would be given, where we only get that very short
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explanation of that. But Abraham apparently learned
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more. And we also know that our Book
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of Abraham is not complete. It's only a very small portion.
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Yes, and but notice that he begins here with Moses and
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Abraham. This makes me think that after
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Joseph Smith finishes translating the Book of Mormon,
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he will turn his attention next to Genesis, for he will then
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translate what we call the Joseph Smith translation or the
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Inspired version and the Book of Moses.
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It won't be for a few years later that he now is exposed to
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the Egyptian papyri and does the Book of Abraham.
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Having these books, the Book of Moses and the Book of Abraham
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was not an afterthought for Joseph as he is listening to
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Nephi's testimony, he knows that there are things there that they
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knew better than people in Joseph Smith's own day had
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known. And then he continues, In
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addition, there were others before Abraham.
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Who can he be talking to the about there?
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These were they who were called by the order of God.
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This has to be Enoch and Melchizedek.
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So he's adding them as witnesses.
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And then we have, of course, Zenus and Zenoch.
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These were the prophets who were.
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In the brass plates. Exactly.
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And not only are they on the brass plates, but they're in
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First Nephi, They're quoted in First Nephi, 19 Samuel.
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The Lamanite will also quote these same prophets.
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Alma will quote Zenus and Zenoch, and in the Alma chapters
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33 and 34. So again, it's in the tradition.
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He knows these because he has the plates, so he brings them
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forth as witnesses. Isaias.
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I'm not sure who Isaias is. No, we don't know because Isaiah
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is a separate person, so it's not the same.
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And Jeremiah, who was a prophet at the time of Lehi.
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And then finally Nephi. But you add them all together,
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at least there are 10 instances and having a full complement of
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10 witnesses. It's kind of like the 10
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commandments. This is not just a witness here
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or there, but it is a complete, full, perfect and divine group
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of prophets. Nephi saying this is the
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prophetic line that I'm associated with and very, I
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think it's very beautiful, very powerful.
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But at that point, he sees that, you know, all these people
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aren't very much affected. And he, he says, well, if you
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won't believe, let me tell you something if you don't think I'm
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a prophet. I'll give you a prophecy.
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And that prophecy is found in Helam in chapter 8 verse 27,
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where he says, OK, you guys go to the judgement, see your
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place, and look around. Behold, your judge is murdered,
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and he lieth in his blood, and he hath been murdered by his
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brother, who seeketh to sit in the judgment seat.
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Wow. Well, that's a pretty explicit
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thing. Yeah, very clear prophecy.
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Details, circumstantial evidence naming the person who will do
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this. But you know, there were no
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witnesses, no one who had seen this.
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Well then in Chapter 9 we then see what happens next as they
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run and they actually go and they do find that the chief
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judge had been killed. They suspect that well Nephi
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must have been in cahoots with this operation.
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How else would he have known that this is this was the case?
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And they they then hope that they can get Nephi to confess
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this fault. Now they can of course show that
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he is not a true prophet by that, but this will also then
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implicate him in a some kind of counter effort that will
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discredit him significantly. So this is a very serious case,
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but the chapter then turns to again a legal situation because
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we have here a homicide, a very serious matter.
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Of course It's the. King.
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The king has been killed and we now have a situation that what
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are they going to do with it? And the the obvious thing is
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that SI Anthem has been accused, but how can Siantum be convicted
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when there were no witnesses? You have to have another form of
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evidence. You had to have two or three
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eyewitnesses who can say, I saw this event happen.
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Now that's normally the case, but under certain circumstances
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there was an exception. I've dealt with this again in a
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chapter. If you want to go to the chapter
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on the trial of Siantum in this book, we won't go through all
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the details here, but I will just say that again, the the
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Nephites know the Law of Moses very well.
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And they know the exceptions to these basic rules.
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And they know from their history that there were certain cases
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when some people had been convicted, when there weren't
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three or two eyewitnesses. And one of the main cases was
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the case of a man named Akin who was in the army of Joshua.
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And all the soldiers have been commanded that if they gather
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any booty, if they collect any treasures, any valuable things,
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they must come and dedicate those and give those treasures
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to the common cause. They can't keep them for their
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personal trophies. And Aiken kept some himself, and
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in fact, he buried them under a carpet on the floor of his.
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Tent I remember the story. And Joshua realizes he can tell
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there's something wrong here. That's because they lose the
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battle and he says someone has sinned or else we wouldn't be in
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this predicament. And so he says we've got to find
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who it was who did that, and he does it by.
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Kind of ordeal. And he says, all right, all the
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tribes, you send a representative and we're going
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to cast lots and the lot fell upon a particular tribe and then
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they brought all the head people from that tribe and brought them
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together and the families. The lot fell upon a family, and
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then within the family they drew another lot and the lot fell
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upon Akin. The man who is guilty.
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And they went to his tent, and lo and behold, there was the
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treasure. And so they took him and all of
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his family, and they eliminate them.
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And this then is used as an example of how we can find
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evidence that isn't when there was no eyewitness.
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That's right. And so we go back to the text
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here in Chapter 9, starting in about verse 26 or something.
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Siantam is found guilty. Now they don't spell this out
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and say based on the precedent of the case of Aiken, they
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assume we know this. The Jewish scholars thought that
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the case of Aiken was so unusual it will never happen again.
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And so basically the exception to the two or three witness rule
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was nil that they knew these records.
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The Nephites knew these records. They have the brass plates.
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They know the book of Joshua. Yes.
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Point #1 is that there must be a confession that occurs
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voluntarily outside of court. Well, when Aiken sees that he's
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been caught, he confesses and it's not in court.
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He's not being coerced. But right here in Chapter 9,
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he's not in court and he's not being coerced, but he does
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confess when they see the blood on his garment.
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So you have. And maybe he thought, well, I
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can confess, but there are no witnesses because the confession
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by itself would not be enough. There must now be corroborating
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evidence as well, and there must be some physical evidence.
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That's what's found on his outer cloak.
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That's right. And the the blood and the
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presence, all the description that Nephi had given about where
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you'll find him and what he will say.
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And his fright, his frightened look when they approach him.
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Nephi had spelled it out exactly the way it happened.
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And so that becomes not, and it's not just words, but the
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physical evidence especially I think the blood on the the cloak
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now counts as a witness. And it's interesting, the blood
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blood can't speak as a witness because they the lifeblood of
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his victim is now crying out for justice perhaps.
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But the Third Point that they also include in the analysis of
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this is that somehow the will of God had to have been made
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manifest in the detection of the offender.
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And obviously what they had done with the drawing of lots and the
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doing it under the supervision of Joshua the prophet, the will
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of God was clearly manifested in the case of Aiken and here.
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In a case of Santem, well, it's tragic though, because not
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everyone sees it that way. Verse 41 says there were others
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who said behold, he's a God. You know, they completely
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misunderstood what he was trying to do, for except he was a God,
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He could not know all things. For behold he has told us, you
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know, And so they either don't believe him, they misrepresent
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him, they exaggerated, but they don't take it for what it is,
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which is a prophet of God revealing wickedness to lead us
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to Christ. He's trying to get them to
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repent, but chapter 10 then begins with poor Nephi
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thereafter making this remarkable prophecy with
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everybody just leaving and he doesn't have a chance to
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continue preaching the gospel. Let's say it was quite
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disruptive to Nephi's agenda. I mean, this would have been
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something that of course people aren't just going to sit down
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and say, oh, now we know Nephi is a prophet, why don't you
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prophecy or tell us more? Well, they should have.
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They should have, but it's not human nature to do that.
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OK, so poor Nephi is very discouraged by all this.
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We now are told we're in the 71st year of the Reign of the
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Judges, and Nephi is alone in verse chapter 10, verse one, and
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he's going to walk back to his house.
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He's discouraged. But in verse three the voice of
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the Lord comes to him. Blessed art thou, Nephi, for
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those things which thou has done.
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For I have beheld how thou hast with unwearing this declared the
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word, and thou skipping down to the end of verse 4, hast not
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sought thine own life, but thou hast sought my will and to keep
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my commandments. And I see Nephi here almost as a
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type of Christ. He's willing to lay down his
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ego, his wishes, his positions to serve God and to do it God's
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way. And he has done that in his own
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It's it's his widow's might. He's given his all to serve God.
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I'm sure he welcomed this kind of reassurance no matter who you
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are, having lived through this kind of thing.
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Nephi would have of course in. Well, yeah, of course I
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prophesied truthfully. But you know, he didn't know
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that was going to turn out that way.
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He gave this and he said, boy, have I put myself out on a limb.
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I hope it will work out. Of course it does come through.
25:42
But we know the end from the beginning.
25:45
And as he was going through this, I'm sure Nephi was was
25:49
struggling and in our when you put yourself out on a limb, you
25:54
hope the Lord will get you down. And in this case, he did.
25:57
Verse five is just beautiful. This blessing, these words would
26:00
have come to Nephi as as one of those real wonderful experiences
26:06
that we're blessed on occasion to have where we've been through
26:10
difficult child challenges. But the Lord speaks peace to us.
26:15
Well, he spoke more than peace. Here's what he says.
26:18
Behold, I will bless thee forever.
26:21
I will make thee mighty in Word, and indeed in faith and in
26:25
works. Yeah, even that all things shall
26:30
be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask
26:35
that which is contrary to my will.
26:38
The Lord completely trusts Nephi.
26:39
He knows he will not speak against the Lord's will.
26:43
His heart is so in tune with the will of the Lord that he knows
26:49
that he can trust Nephi completely.
26:52
And notice that he does say I'm giving you here an eternal
26:56
blessing. Well, that's verse 6.
26:58
Thou art Nephi, and I am God. Behold, I declare it unto thee
27:04
in the presence of mine angels, that ye shall have power over
27:09
this people and shall smite the earth with famine.
27:12
Now I think this is sort of giving a hint because this is
27:14
what Nephi does do in the future.
27:16
The Lord's letting him, giving a prophecy for him right here.
27:19
And then continuing on in verse 7, Whatsoever you shall seal on
27:23
earth shall be sealed in heaven, Jack.
27:26
He receives the sealing power that is described in other
27:30
scripture as well. He continues on in verse 9, If
27:34
you say to this mountain, be thou cast down and become
27:38
smooth, it shall be done. And verse 11, Behold, I command
27:43
you that you shall go and declare unto this people that
27:47
thus saith the Lord God, who is the Almighty, except ye repent,
27:51
ye shall be smitten even unto destruction.
27:54
Their time is running short, and the Lord does not want them to
27:59
be destroyed. And so, poor Nephi, after
28:01
feeling so discouraged by being rejected, the Lord says get up
28:05
and do it again. But I'm going to give you more
28:07
power to do it more effectively. And he does does that because he
28:11
knows that Nephi will not do anything that the Lord does not
28:18
want. I went back and looked up this
28:19
idea of sealing because many people will do what the Lord
28:23
wants but not receive this sealing power.
28:27
And I I found it in King Benjamin's sermon of course.
28:31
It says in chapter 5 of Mosiah verse 15, the Lord God
28:35
omnipotent may seal you his, that you may be brought to
28:39
heaven, that you may have everlasting salvation and
28:42
eternal life through the wisdom and power and justice and mercy
28:45
of him who created all things in heaven and in earth, who is God
28:48
above all. I think this is different.
28:50
The sealing of one into eternal life is a little bit different
28:54
than the prophet receiving this greater power.
28:57
So I kept looking for other times it was used.
29:00
Nephi uses it in Second Nephi 3315.
29:03
It reads, What I see on earth shall be brought against you at
29:07
the judgment bar. For thus hath the Lord commanded
29:10
me, and I must obey. Amen.
29:15
These are powerful messages that a prophet has this ability, but
29:19
it's also found in the restoration and in the
29:24
revelation that we refer to now as section 132.
29:27
The Lord refers to the sealing power again, and it is the same
29:32
as with the prophet Nephi here in the book of Helaman verse 46
29:36
says whatsoever you seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven.
29:41
And skipping down a little bit, it reads, It shall be eternally
29:46
bound in the heavens, and whosoever sins you remit on
29:49
earth shall be remitted eternally in the heavens.
29:53
And the use of the word eternal has come up in several of these
29:56
scriptures because the power of sealing the priesthood, power to
30:02
seal things, expands beyond this temporal existence.
30:11
We can enter into contracts and promises in this world that are
30:16
temporal, and we're bound to keep those.
30:19
But for relationships and for promises and blessings to be
30:24
placed upon us and sealed upon us so that they will be
30:29
effective in the next life in the eternal world is something
30:34
that only can be done by one who holds the sealing power.
30:39
There is, as Joseph Smith taught, there is only one person
30:44
at a time on the earth who holds all the sealing power.
30:49
Joseph Smith held that. And then they're delegated to
30:52
others, sealers in the temple or the apostles, but they are
30:57
delegated from this one prophet. Here we see in the Book of
31:02
Mormon an example of Nephi being the only one who had this
31:09
sealing power. We've already learned that there
31:12
were now high priests, more than one high priest in this
31:16
community, in this church, but they don't have the sealing
31:20
power. There's more than just being a
31:22
high priest or the high priest. And this, again, is I think, a
31:28
foreshadowing in Joseph Smith's tutoring as he is being taught
31:34
that there will be more yet to come.
31:37
And as he's finished the Book of Mormon and he will reread the
31:40
Book of Mormon. It's not like he just translates
31:43
it and puts it on the shelf. But I'm sure as he encounters
31:46
these passages he then is inquiring of what does this
31:53
sealing power amount to? Because even though only one
31:56
person holds at a time, there are multiple people that held
31:59
this sealing power in the Book of Mormon and Joseph would have
32:03
seen that. You see that coming up, Nephi
32:05
has the ability to seal on earth and in heaven, and Jesus will
32:11
give the sealing power to Peter. And in 3rd Nephi he gives it to
32:15
his apostle. So it's a a thread that is one
32:21
of those wonderful distinctive blessings of the restoration of
32:27
the gospel. And Joseph Smith talked about
32:31
restoring the fullness of the gospel.
32:33
That means all of it. And things that had been lost or
32:37
things that had been taught by Jesus, however, had not survived
32:41
through the falling away and the diversity of Christian views and
32:48
religious views around the world, These things all had to
32:52
be restored and brought forth together.
32:55
And all of these blessings are brought together in the power to
33:01
not just bind on earth, but to bind in heaven.
33:06
And Joseph will use this power and talk about this in sections
33:11
127 and 128 of the Doctrine and Covenants when baptism for the
33:16
dead is reinitiated. And that's because, yes, you can
33:21
be baptized on earth by people that will allow you to become a
33:25
member of their church. But in order to be baptized for
33:29
time and for all eternity, meaning that you now have the
33:33
blessings of that baptismal covenant in your life going
33:38
forward eternally, that has to be sealed by a power greater
33:43
than just what we have here on this earth.
33:46
And as we go back to the text in chapter 10, Nephi is given this
33:51
remarkable power, and as he preaches and they get mad at him
33:55
and they try to kill him, the Lord will not allow it.
33:59
And he is removed out of their midst, and the Spirit takes him
34:02
to different places. This is something that we also
34:05
read about in the New Testament. Philip receives this blessing to
34:09
be transported by the Spirit to different locations.
34:13
That's in verse 17 of chapter 10.
34:17
But the as it ends chapter 10 ends, there's contention still.
34:22
It's just tragic. The evidence is the Satan has
34:26
such a hold on the people that they're having a hard time
34:29
believing the prophet. And we're seeing the same thing
34:32
now. So turning now to Chapter 11,
34:41
war breaks out and it's led by the secret band of Gadian
34:45
robbers. And the whole year, the 72nd
34:49
year, will be a year of strife and warfare, and on into 73rd
34:53
year as well. This makes sense because the
34:57
leader of the Gadian robbers who had taken over the judgment
35:00
seat, who was killed by Siantum, was named Cesorum.
35:06
Now Siantum wanted to become the next leader and sit on the
35:10
judgement seat, but he's the murderer, so he is eliminated.
35:15
So now these dissenters, the Gadiant robbers, are somewhat
35:19
leaderless. And as a result, I think chaos
35:23
breaks out and that's why you have this widespread rioting and
35:27
change. There's no one who can control
35:29
the government. We've seen this often when the
35:32
government is at its weakest point, that's when the
35:35
dissenters want to strike out. And here it lasts for over a
35:41
year. And Nephi finally says,
35:46
remembering the words that the Lord had said.
35:48
Even if you want to call a famine.
35:50
That's verse four, Chapter 11, verse 4.
35:52
And he says, O Lord, do not suffer that this people shall be
35:56
destroyed, but rather let there be a famine in the land, to stir
36:00
them up in remembrance of the Lord their God, and perhaps they
36:04
will repent and turn unto thee. And so it was done.
36:06
And natural calamities. Do people bring people to their
36:09
knees sometimes? Don't know what time of year it
36:12
was, but this famine could have come fairly quickly.
36:16
If it was about to be the rainy season and the famine, then
36:23
there's no rain and the crops don't grow, and rather quickly
36:28
this famine could become very serious.
36:30
Oh, of course the. People then begin to plead and
36:32
say, all right, and if I you've got power, we can tell you do
36:36
we'd like you to stop the famine.
36:39
Well, in verse 10 they repent and in verse 11 it says they're
36:42
humbled. So they don't just ask.
36:45
I think they change. That's right.
36:46
And they humble themselves in sackcloth in verse 9.
36:50
And so, you know, here they are. They have been dressing in all
36:54
their rich attire. Wealth has become very important
36:57
and no, they are now humbling themselves to the dust.
37:01
And Nephi responds, notice it back in, in verse four.
37:07
He said, oh Lord do this. Oh Lord, do this two times,
37:12
starting in verse 10 and going to verse 16.
37:15
As Nephi now asks for the famine to be alleviated, he calls upon,
37:22
O Jehovah, O Lord, the Holy Name, eight more times.
37:26
So it's 10 times. So we have here a perfect ten
37:31
mentions of the holy name of Jehovah.
37:34
And Jack, isn't it 10 times that the high priest mentions the
37:37
sacred name of the Lord at the veil on the Day of Atonement?
37:41
And it's only on that day, so only on very special times can
37:44
it be done. But Nephi does, and he says, O
37:49
Lord, behold this people, they repent.
37:52
Behold, look at their humility. Turn away thy anger.
37:56
O Lord, hearken unto me that it will be done according to my
37:59
words. O Lord, thou didst hearken unto
38:03
me when I called the famine. Hearken unto me now and spare
38:06
them. Hearken unto me so that they
38:10
will not be destroyed. And now, O Lord, wilt thou turn
38:15
away thine anger and try again, if they will serve thee?
38:22
I love that. Try again.
38:25
So Jack, this famine lasted for three years.
38:28
Yeah, it says back in verse five, you know, it's the 70 and
38:32
4th year. The famine did continue.
38:34
So it started in the 70 and 3rd year and it's going on through
38:37
74th. And it doesn't end, we're told
38:39
in verse 17 until the 70 and 6th year.
38:42
So this is a long famine, a three-year famine here.
38:45
But the people do repent verse 21.
38:48
They have peace again. And this word peace, Remember
38:52
when the Spirit spoke back in chapter 5?
38:57
It's peace, peace, peace. Of course, this can mean a
39:02
cessation of hostilities on the battlefield, but I wonder if
39:06
this word peace doesn't mean more than that.
39:09
Because they're turning to Christ again.
39:11
They're repenting. Exactly, and I think that it may
39:15
have sounded in their language more like the word Shalom.
39:19
Uh huh, uh huh in Hebrew. Because Shalom is a common word
39:23
that's used, but it covers a lot of different things.
39:26
Yes, it means peace, but it also means well-being, health,
39:33
happiness, goodness, and Shalom. Shalom.
39:38
A greeting, a farewell. Yeah.
39:40
So when it says they have peace, I think it's not just the
39:44
cessation of warfare. I think they'd stop fighting
39:47
with each other when the famine hit.
39:48
I do too. But now they have peace with the
39:50
Lord, and they are now reconciled to Him, which is also
39:55
going to prepare for the coming of Christ.
39:58
Unfortunately, though the peace does not last very long, It
40:01
looks like the Gadiant and robbers are back, and it says in
40:04
verse 26 the space of not many years they became exceedingly
40:08
great band of robbers. And they did search out all the
40:10
secret plans again. So not many years, just tragic.
40:14
Tragic. This book of Helaman is really a
40:18
book about the the problem of guerrilla warfare and of robbers
40:26
and secret hostility. And so we see this thread
40:31
running throughout the entire book of Helaman, and it will of
40:34
course, also become a catastrophe.
40:36
At the beginning of Third Nephi, we didn't have gadiant and
40:41
robbers back in Alma. The problem there was internal
40:45
descent and the problem with the Zoramites.
40:49
So we have a different dynamic here.
40:51
And it's harder to deal with these people who won't come out
40:55
in the open, who pillage and plunder and attack and raid.
41:01
And in in Modern Warfare, we've also learned that guerrilla
41:05
warfare is very hard to combat. And we see it even in our own
41:09
communities. Unfortunately, the world is
41:11
becoming more and more wicked. Now turning to chapter 12, we
41:19
now have Mormon giving his view on this whole situation and what
41:25
an interesting chapter. It's sort of like the wisdom
41:28
literature in the ancient text. In the Old Testament, we have
41:31
the wisdom literature, and you see that here.
41:33
We know that we're up to the 86th year of the reign of the
41:36
Judges, and he summarizes well in verse one.
41:41
And thus we see, behold, how faults and also the unsteadiness
41:45
of the hearts of the children of men.
41:47
Yeah, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness
41:50
doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in Him.
41:54
But unfortunately, if we don't put our trust in him, it says in
41:58
verse three, except the Lord doth chasten his people, sadly
42:03
they don't remember. And not only is this message,
42:06
Remember, Remember from his grandfather, father and his
42:08
great grandfather and his great great grandfather, but it's a
42:12
message for us nowadays. This is such a beautiful
42:18
concern. But Moroni continues on in this
42:20
wisdom literature in verse 40. How foolish, how vain, how evil
42:26
and devilish, how quick to do iniquity, notwithstanding God's
42:30
great goodness and his mercy towards them.
42:33
They do set at not his counsels, and they will not that He should
42:37
be their guide. And as we see our world turning
42:41
from God, as we see our friends and family members leaving the
42:48
guidance of a prophet of God, we find ourselves in the same place
42:54
as those who are preparing for the time of the Lord's coming.
42:58
Satan's efforts are in full force, and we're told even the
43:03
very elect may be deceived. They do not desire the Lord
43:07
their God who created them to rule and reign over them, so he
43:11
now is evoking the creation where God creates us out of the
43:17
dust of the earth. Benjamin had also referred to
43:21
this when a in his speech he he reminds people that you are in
43:26
fact less than the dust of the earth, and the reason for that
43:29
is because at least the dust obeys God, but people do not
43:33
obey. Mosiah chapter 4, verse 2.
43:36
Though how great is the nothingness of the children of
43:38
men, The dust moveth hit her, and thither to the dividing
43:42
asunder. At the command of our great and
43:45
everlasting God, and at His voice the hills and mountains
43:48
tremble and quake earthquakes. By the power of his voice,
43:52
things are broken up, and the smooth become like a valley.
43:56
See, this is all the promises that were given to Nephi.
43:59
Yeah, we're just in chapter 12, verses 8 to 14.
44:02
We'll see these again in 3rd Nephi chapter 8 when we have the
44:06
destruction, knowing that this is the power of God that is
44:10
doing this. Now I'd like to mention this one
44:13
thing that people have sometimes wondered about, and it talks
44:17
about the dust obeying God. Why do things move?
44:25
Well, the modern world explains movement in terms of physical
44:29
and mathematical factors. Newtonian physics tries to
44:36
explain motion without any reference to anything other than
44:40
physical cause and effect. And there's an interesting
44:45
article that I, I highly recommend that was published in
44:50
BYU Studies back in 2012, so 10 years ago, by David Grandy, a
44:58
philosopher of science here at BYU.
45:02
It's entitled Why Things Move, a New Look at Helaman 12/15.
45:09
And people try to think that maybe what Nephi is talking
45:15
about understands the motion of the sun and the, the, the
45:20
planets moving around the sun and they that they have a world
45:25
view that is compatible with the modern view and they don't.
45:30
The ancient people saw the world very differently and they see
45:35
motion very differently as well. And so, you know, they don't
45:41
even realize that there are atoms.
45:45
And even after we come to know that there are atoms, we had to
45:51
learn that within the atoms are things that are moving around.
45:56
And how do these things get set in motion and how do they
46:00
behave? Well, we can explain a lot more
46:03
than we used to be able to, but we can't explain everything.
46:07
And where did that motion come from to begin with?
46:11
How did those electrons start spinning?
46:14
And why do they all spin at exactly the same speed?
46:18
Every electron in the universe, as far as we know?
46:22
And why does every electron have a negative force that is exactly
46:28
opposite to the positive force of a proton?
46:32
And it's that dynamic between the positive and the negative,
46:35
the opposition in all things that allows for motion.
46:40
And that for Nephi is and for us too is really a mystery.
46:44
We cannot explain all of this high energy nuclear physics.
46:49
We can experiment with it, we can get symptoms, we can measure
46:55
certain things, velocity and and force field.
46:59
Wonderful things like cyclotrons that can work in medical fields.
47:03
We use the, we use these forces, but we don't understand what is
47:07
the power behind them. So what Professor Grandy gives
47:09
us here, if you're interested in how Newtonian physics has in, in
47:14
a lot of ways helped us, but has limited the scope of our eternal
47:19
view, I think this article is very, very helpful.
47:23
If you're interested, I I recommend we won't take the time
47:26
to read the article now. I will give you a little hint
47:29
though, and that is on page 116 of this article.
47:33
There's a nice chiastic structure of Alma chapter,
47:36
chapter 12 that talks about the the rejection by man of God at
47:45
the beginning and at the end and and explaining all of this
47:51
motion in a way that has this sense of literary movement
47:56
Through this text, Grandy concludes.
48:00
We may fail to realize that Mormon offers us a world view
48:05
vastly more promising and expansive than Newton's
48:09
mechanistic cosmos. Although motion is conserved in
48:15
Newton's system, it is not conserved indefinitely.
48:21
Entropy, the irreversible tendency of a closed system
48:25
toward disorder, what Paul calls creations, bondage to decay, has
48:32
the final word. And so, to follow Bertrand
48:36
Russell, the whole temple of man's achievement must
48:39
inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins.
48:45
Believers may counter this dark prospect by relying on the
48:49
atonement of Jesus Christ. This is Mormon's stance.
48:55
But for him the saving power of the Atonement is already an
48:57
offer. It is fully manifest in everyday
49:01
operation of nature. And going back to Hileman's
49:05
text, he has just given this promise of the sealing power to
49:10
answer this entropy, this, this disastrous state of, of chaos,
49:18
that it is God who's our creator.
49:20
It is God who will seal us his. And that is the hope that Nephi
49:25
is trying to preach to these wicked people.
49:28
The end of Chapter 12. So Mormon, knowing where this is
49:32
going next, offers us his concluding thoughts on this
49:38
before turning to Samuel the Lamanite, which we'll do next
49:41
week, And he offers us a blessing.
49:44
Blessed are they who will repent and hearken unto the voice of
49:48
the Lord their God, for these are they that shall be saved.
49:51
And May God grant in his gratefulness that men may be
49:55
brought unto repentance and good works, that they might be
49:57
restored unto grace for grace according to their works.
50:02
That is. That is what Mormon wants us all
50:07
to get out of this book. That's why he has dedicated his
50:12
life to seeing that these records are presented in a
50:18
attractive, convincing, persuasive, welcoming way.
50:24
And more important than Mormons editing is the Holy Ghost is the
50:29
Spirit of God that can testify to us that we too need to
50:33
repent, that we too can find peace through the Savior's gift
50:38
of atonement. And we leave these things with
50:43
you today. In the name of Jesus Christ,
50:46
Amen. Amen.
50:47
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50:51
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