Latest / Scripture Central / 2 Kings 15-25 I A Prophetess Named Huldah I Handmaidens, Harems & Heroines I Lynne Wilson

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2 Kings 15-25 I A Prophetess Named Huldah I Handmaidens, Harems & Heroines I Lynne Wilson · Scripture Central

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The absolute last straw When God says you are out, your
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wickedness has got to come to an end.
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That is the story of when the Israelites are sacrificing their
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daughters and their sons to the Pagan God of Moab.
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In the Old Testament, the women are more involved than they were
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in the New Testament. Queen Jerusha became much more
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influential as the mother queen sitting beside her son then she
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was as one of the many wives in the harem.
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He is stalked by 81 priests and the text says that God
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immediately punished him by contracting leprosy.
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Hezekiah builds an enormously wide wall is wide enough for
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Chariots to ride on across Jerusalem.
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Abuja endured her husband's wicked reign while raising his
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son who had become one of Judah's, I think most righteous
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and greatest reformers. To witness the fulfillment of
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all of these Isaiah prophecies and these phenomenal miracles
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would have been really interesting. 185,000 Assyrian
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soldiers in a single night are destroyed.
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We read in the Second Chronicles 34 her bold claim.
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Thus saith the Lord, you know, and that's repeated 3 times in
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her prophecies that are in this text.
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As the Queen Mother, Humolta had a very powerful role, and
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unfortunately it sounds like she misused that power because she
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received rebuke from the prophet Jeremiah.
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Hello, welcome back to Scripture Central.
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I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson, part of the team who tries to build
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enduring faith in Jesus Christ by illuminating and defending
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the Scriptures. And my focus in defending the
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Old Testament this year is to look at the handmaidens and the
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harems and the heroines and these women who are fabulous.
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And today in Second Kings, we have 8 Queens and one
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prophetess, as well as a few other groups of women that I
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hope that we can look at. So we've got a great group.
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We're looking specifically at chapters 15 through 25 S.
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We're at the very end of the Kingdom of Judah in the southern
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Kingdom. We'll start in the South.
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At least we're going to start with the wife of King Uzziah.
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Now he's one of the good kings, which we don't have too many.
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At least he's good. Initially he he doesn't last too
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long. But her son Jotham is also takes
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an important role in the Southern Kingdom.
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So we're talking generally about 750 years before Christ.
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And a lot of these chapters that we're going to look at today
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have parallels in Second Chronicles.
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But the way to come follow me is organized for Sunday school
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lessons is we're looking basically at Second Kings this
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week and basically at Second Chronicles next week.
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So they they'll have a little overlap and be opposite
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chronologically, but we are going to be looking at the time
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period of 750 BC all the way down to the deportation in about
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600 BC. So we've got 150 years to cover.
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And there are a lot of women during this period of time.
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Jerusha is our first queen. Jerusha was born into an ironic
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priestly line, so we would call her a priestess and she's born
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in the line of Zadok. Now, if you remember, we talked
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about this earlier when King David was reigning, he calls
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Zadok to become his high priest. And the word Zadok means
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righteous. And we see it in names like
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Melek, Zadok, Melchizedek, king of righteousness.
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We see it in other words, and she is this descendants from
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this lineage at least 200 years after David, if not a little bit
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more. And it means that she, her
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descendants, her posterity, if she married someone who was in
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the ironic or Levitical line, could serve in the temple.
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And so they have been serving in King Solomon's temple for a
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couple of centuries. But Jerusha is married not into
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an ironic line, but she joins the priestly and the political
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lines. So traditionally her father or
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her guardian would have made this betrothal arrangements well
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before she was a teenager. You know, they they start
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sometimes making marriage arrangements when the child is
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born, when the daughter is born. And as soon as she could
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procreate to or as soon as she was a young teenager, she would
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have joined Uzziah's harem. And king.
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Uzziah was the 10th king of Judah, and he reigned from age
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16 to 68. He had a very, very long range.
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But her marriage probably occurred toward the end because
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when he was 30, she bore his heir.
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And this becomes interesting because Jerusha would have had
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servants helping her raise her son.
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But Jotham is raised in this court and she would have known
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of her husband's great political achievements.
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She would have known of his administration skills, his
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success as a commander in chief of the army.
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You know, she she would have known of all these things, but
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it's just not mentioned. We don't understand what her
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perspective was, but in the Old Testament, the women are more
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involved than they were in the New Testament.
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In fact, her husband grew Judah to become the largest realm
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since the division of Solomon. Remember Solomon after Solomon's
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reign? We divide into northern and
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southern tribes, and King Uzziah was able to grow that.
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However, just like King Solomon, King Uzziah's fame turned into
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pride. And after a great battle, I
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don't know if you remember this one, but he and his sons come
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into Jerusalem very victorious and they want to have an
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opportunity to go into the temple.
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And even though the priest tried to stop him, he insists on going
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into the Holy Place. Now this was reserved just for
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the ironic priest. Not even the Levitical priest
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could go into the Holy Place and he wanted to light the incense
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himself. But he is stopped by 81 priests
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and the text says that God immediately punished him by
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contracting leprosy, you know. So from that day forward he is
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isolated and Jerusa's son Jotham begins to reign as a Co Regent
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at age 25. Now stepping back and looking at
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this text, historians have wondered if maybe this was a
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planned coup d'etat. You know, why was Jotham chosen
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as his heir? Is it interesting that the
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Queen's family of over 80 relatives from the tribe of Levi
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made a major role in stopping King Uzziah?
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You know, I, I don't know, perhaps this was a force that
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the king couldn't control. The text talks about leprosy.
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It probably was leprosy. But there is this interesting
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situation where it's the priest who are commanding him to stay
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away. And it's also the priestess's
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son who gets put on the throne of his many wives.
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Second Kings 15 five says he has to do the rest of the 11 years
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of his life in seclusion. And and if this were our
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Hansen's disease, it's a horrific death.
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Many of the words used for leprosy, though, are not the
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same disease. But Queen Jerusha became much
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more influential as the mother queen sitting beside her son
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than she was as one of the many wives in the harem of King
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Uzziah. The next story comes in in
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Second Kings chapter 17. That includes women.
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And that's bumping us back up to the northern tribes.
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Now, wicked King Hoshia is captured by the Israelites and
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taken away to Assyria. But right before that, the story
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that is used as the precursor to have them the absolute last
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straw when God says you are out, your wickedness has got to come
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to an end. That is the story of when the
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Israelites are sacrificing their daughters and their sons to the
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Pagan God of Moloch. You know, this is an apostate
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God. You know this, this represents
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the ultimate perversion of parental duty because they are
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burning their children alive in rituals.
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And, and if you remember back in Leviticus, you know, back in the
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priesthood manual months ago, Leviticus 18 directly denounced
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and condemned this practice because it was part of their, of
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the larger culture of Mesopotamia.
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But this happens during the reign of wicked King Hoshia over
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the northern tribes. Most of the book of kings that
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we've been setting are all the southern tribes, but they give
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this one example up here in the north to say This is why they
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became a vassal state to Assyria.
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And This is why they they've completely abandoned Israel's
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covenant and this parental murdering of their daughters and
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sons was the last wicked thing the text mentions before the
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Lord's final judgment and says you're off.
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In second Kings chapter 18 were introduced to the wife of King
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Ahaz. Her name is Abuja and it means
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my father is Jehovah her. She's the daughter of a Judean
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named Zechariah. Now he's not the high priest,
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but I think this may have been a righteous person because at the
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same time we have the same name being used by Isaiah as honoring
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A Zechariah. So perhaps she it's a common
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name though throughout the Old Testament, it's a very common
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name even in the New Testament. So I I'm not speculating that
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her father was this name in Isaiah, but if he were, it would
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make sense why she is the mother of this very righteous Hezekiah.
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Abuja also, when her husband died, held the very important
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royal position as the Queen Mother and most likely she would
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have been aware of the prophet Isaiah who is moving into the
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palace. You know, he's living there.
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He's directing Hezekiah. He's actually giving direction
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to the war when the Assyrians come down and they siege
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Jerusalem and and Hezekiah brings everyone into the city
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and he builds the water tunnels and you know, but the text isn't
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completely silent about her life, but she would have been
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there. Hezekiah builds an enormously
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wide wall is wide enough for Chariots to to ride on across
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Jerusalem. This is the old city of David
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and you can go look at the remnants now either online or in
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person. But Abuja endured her husband's
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wicked reign while raising a son who had become one of Judah's, I
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think, most righteous and greatest reformers.
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The names Abuja chose for her sons, I think reveal her faith.
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You know, they have nothing to do with her husband's paganism,
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much more where she comes from and her first son.
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Messiah means the work of the Lord.
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And I'm sorry for butchering these names, I don't know how to
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pronounce them in ancient Hebrew, let alone very well in
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English. But the name of the future king
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Hezekiah means strengthened by the Lord.
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Her first son unfortunately died in battle against the northern
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tribes of Israel when King Pika was fighting with him.
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But somehow her second son Hezekiah escaped the massacre in
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the capture of the 200,000 wives and sons and daughters that were
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deported to Samaria that first Second Chronicles 28 describes.
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But her wicked husband died after a 16 year reign at age 36
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and her righteous son Hezekiah becomes the king at age 25.
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Now these biblical numbers seem a little bit inappropriate
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because it suggests that his father is very young when he's
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born, you know, 11 years old or something.
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I I don't know about that. So perhaps there was a period of
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Co Regency. You know, sometimes you just
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have to step back and say we only have the biblical text.
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It's difficult as our oldest version of these ages of how old
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people were when they were procreating.
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But if Abuja was still alive and living in Jerusalem when her son
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became the king Hezekiah, then she would have been the Queen
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Mother. And this in Hebrew is a very
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important position. And this time period to witness
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the fulfilment of all of these Isaiah prophecies and these
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phenomenal miracles would have been really interesting.
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Hezekiah's wife that we hear of is Hephzibah.
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So this means Jerusha's mother-in-law and Hepzibah may
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have had an interesting relationship.
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We don't know yet, but Hepzibah has an arranged marriage and
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she's one of the only wives that are affiliated with him.
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Now this is very unusual for a king, but her name means my
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delight is in the Lord, and it suggests that her parents or
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else Hezekiah cherished the Lord, cherished her.
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I don't know. It's unknown whether or not what
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kind of faith she had, but I can't help to imagine that a
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righteous king who only has 1 queen listed or one wife listed
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didn't share in a lot of his conversations as my supposition.
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But as they live together, the queen would have seen the
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devastation and fear of the entire city of Jerusalem as all
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of Judah came in so they could be in the walled city during
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Sennacherib's attack. Remember Assyria comes down and
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just depletes all around Judea. The only thing left is everyone
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you know, just filling the walls of Jerusalem.
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This is about between 721 and 700 BC, and Hepzibah is probably
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living through this extremely dramatic time.
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And she may have heard about her husband's prayer that's recorded
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in Scripture as he's in the temple pleading for his people.
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You know, she would have known of Isaiah's bold prophecy of
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deliverance and then the miraculous destruction.
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I don't know if you remember this, but in Second Kings, 19185
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thousand Assyrian soldiers in a single night are destroyed
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miraculously. And shortly after she witnesses
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her husband's near fatal illness, she sees a miraculous
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recovery. You know, God grants him 15
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additional years. This is Second Kings chapter 20.
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The thing that's hard for me to understand is that their son is
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born during these last 15 years but he he does not follow in
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Hezekiah or Hepsiba's steps. Manasseh is is wicked.
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He comes, he becomes queen king though at age 12 this is second
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kings 21 and over the years he rebelled against his parents
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reforms and teachings and he led the people from God.
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One generation after these phenomenal miracles, a wicked
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leader is doing horrendous work. He begins doing idol worship
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again and he becomes 1 of Judah's most wicked kings, we're
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told. But Hepzibah may not have lived
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to witness this full extent of his apostasy.
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We don't know. But he reigned 55 years, so she
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was probably involved in this beginning.
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We do see Hepzibah's names used in Isaiah and this is really
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fun. He's using a word play.
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He uses her name as a prophecy to represent Zion.
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Remember, Hepzibah meant my delight is in her.
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And so he says in Isaiah chapter 62 verse 4.
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This is the Burien study Bible. No longer will you be called
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forsaken, for your land is named desolate, but you will be called
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Hepzibah for your land, the ruler for the Lord God will take
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delight in you, and your land will be His bride.
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And we are still looking forward to that day when the bridegroom,
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our Savior Jesus Christ, will come again when His bride, the
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church is ready. And this is repeated again in
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John the Revelator's prophecy in chapter 19, that as soon as the
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church or the bride is ready, the bridegroom can come as soon
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as we are a Zion people. And this prophecy is using the
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name Hepzibah in that the next woman we have is the wicked king
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Manassas wife, and she also becomes the Queen Mother of
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Ammon. You know, many times there's
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multiple, multiple wives in the harem, but the only one whose
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name we have is the one who becomes the Queen Mother.
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And this woman's name is Mushulemeth.
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And she is not married until after King Manasseh has has been
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on the throne for probably decades.
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Mushulemeth lives with her husband long enough to bear
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Ammon to live with him for his growing up years and then for
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two years while he is on the throne from age 22 to 24.
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But the Bible describes that both kings are very wicked.
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And we're just sort of left to wonder if Mushuleth was also an
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alliance to her husband and many of these matters as the favored
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wife to allow her son to take the throne.
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We aren't told, but her son's officials conspired against
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Ammon and assassinated him. And we read about that more in
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Second Chronicles 33. But she may also have been
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killed in that assassination or maybe perhaps just removed from
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her place as the Queen Mother. We're not told.
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But her influence did not stop Ammon from worshipping idols,
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and he did not humble himself before the Lord, is what the
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text says in in chapter 33 of Second Chronicles.
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However, Mashulith's grandson, Ammon's son Josiah, becomes a
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great reformer in Judah. So it's interesting to watch the
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posterity go down, you know? But we have no evidence that
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she's still alive during Josiah's reformations.
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But those last for 31 years on the throne.
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We do have the name, though, of King Ammon's wife, who bears
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this son who will take his place.
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And this is Judea. And in Second Kings chapter 22,
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we learned that this young wife of the 15th king of Judea was
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raised in the way S near Le Quiche.
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It's a town that is associated with some a lot of wicked
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things. But you know, by this time
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there's a lot of political alliances.
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A lot of the harem is build up in order to combine the Kingdom.
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Now the text claims that her her son Prince Ammon was only 16
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when he bore Josiah, so people are getting married very young
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and we know that her young husband had sat on the throne
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already for two years before his death.
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So this propelled Judea to the important role of the Queen
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Mother when Josiah began to reign at age 8.
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Now, her influence would have been very important during this
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King's younger years. So we assume that some of his
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righteous desires could have been tracked to her influence.
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But nothing is mentioned in the Bible.
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But it's her son who does all these reforms.
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I talked about this a little bit when we discussed Deuteronomy,
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but the Josiah reforms are probably the most famous.
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And during the period of the Josiah's reforms we are
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introduced to another prophetess.
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You know we only have 5 great prophetesses of Jehovah in our
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scriptures. We have Miriam and Deborah and
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Isaiah's wife and Holda, and then in the New Testament we
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have Hannah. Now there's two other women who
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are referred to as prophetesses, but they aren't prophets of God.
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You know, Jezebel, no thank you. And no Dia, no thank you.
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So this woman, Helda, is unique in the fact that we have her
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words of prophecy in our text and that they are directing some
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of Josiah's reforms. We know she was married to a man
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named Sholem. They lived in Jerusalem.
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And her husband, possibly her grandfather.
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Sometimes the text is difficult to know which generation we're
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talking to. Her husband, it appears, oversaw
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the clothing for the priests or the king.
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That's chapter 22, verse 14. So they're in a role where where
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she is a little more visible. But hold it is unique in her
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role to receive this revelation. And in fact, it we read in
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Second Chronicles 34 her bold claim thus saith the Lord, you
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know, and that's repeated 3 times in her prophecies that are
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in this text. And not only did she give future
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prophecies that were fulfilled, but it also witnesses to the
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truth that new Scripture is coming out throughout the
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history of Israel. We're not told, though, about
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her spiritual growth as she's growing, only about her service
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to King Josiah. So Josiah, you know, has been
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raining now for 10 years. He's 18 year olds old.
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He begins repairing Solomon's temple.
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It's been nearly 300 years of existence.
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And this process of reconstructing is only a part of
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it. You know, they're, they're
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tearing down all sorts of the wicked, false traditions that
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were there when they come out. The priests find this book of
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the Law. Now scholars question whether
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they found the book of the Law or they rewrote the Torah and
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compiled things to emphasize the importance of the law in the
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book of Deuteronomy. I don't know.
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I do know a lot of scholarship on it, but I don't think we have
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any facts yet. So they rewrote these laws or
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else whatever the book of the law that Josiah is hearing, I
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assume that Holda as well as his wife and his children and his
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daughters are with King Josiah as they hear these things read.
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And the king asked the priest in chapter 22, Go, ye inquire the
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Lord for me, for all these people, what shall we do to
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follow the words of the book that is found?
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And that's where we get the these words.
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I was sort of surprised that the high priest didn't just pray
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himself, but he doesn't. Hilkiah goes and asks Holda, the
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prophetess. She receives an answer for the
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king once again, say this means she is not only well known by
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the high priest, but she is a trusted source for the king
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himself. This is very unique in our
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record. I don't know if it was unique in
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what happened then. I also believe that according to
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the Book of Revelation and according to Joseph Smith's
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writings, a prophet is one who has the spirit of prophecy.
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And according to chapter 19 in the Book of Revelation, one who
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has the spirit of prophecy is one who has a testimony of Jesus
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Christ. So I assume that I am surrounded
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by people, and so are you who have the gift of prophecy, who
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have the gift to become prophets for your area of jurisdiction,
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as she was for her. But she says in Second Kings
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chapter 22 verse 16 and 17. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I
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will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants
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thereof, even all the words of the book which the King of Judea
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hath read, because they have forsaken me.
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And that's exactly what happened.
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Hold. His prophecy unfortunately
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became a second witness to the words of the Book and her
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authorization propelled this book of the Law to become core
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scripture for over 2 millennia. You know, there was no closed
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Canon at this time. And as a revelation continues to
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flow from the prophets and the people of Israel hold his words
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are included in this text. I think it's a really divine
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approval of this monumental part of the history of Scripture.
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So her 200 and word prophecy, now that's just counting up in
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King James. I don't know what it was in
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Hebrew was fulfilled in a very short period of time.
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But she also promises something to the king, to king Josiah
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quote, because thine heart was tender, and thou has humbled
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thyself before the Lord. Then skipping down to verse 20
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of chapter 22, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou
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shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace, and then I shall not
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see the evil which I will bring upon this place.
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And as we know, King Josiah died from a battle wound in his 40th
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year, but the city of Jerusalem was still at peace at that time
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of his death. It wasn't until the Babylonian
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king Nebuchadnezzar invades Judea during the reign of his
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son Jehoiakim about six O 5 BC, that all devastation breaks out.
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And initially the Babylonians only required tribute from
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Judea. But over the next 20 years,
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throughout the Babylonian 'cause this three deportations to
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Babylon. And we have a lot of scripture
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that we'll talk about later that describes that.
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I want to also remind you that often in the Old Testament,
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several prophets are serving God at the same time.
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You know, 2 generations earlier we have Isaiah living in the
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Jerusalem court. He's killed, unfortunately, by
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wicked King Manasseh, Josiah's grandfather.
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But we don't know of any other prophets at that time of of
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Ammon. However, at other times,
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possibly near Jerusalem, we have the prophet Zephaniah.
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Now he's the son of Kushai, and he was also there during
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Josiah's 31 year reign. I don't know if he and Holda
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overlapped, but three years after Holda's prophecy, the Lord
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sends Jeremiah the prophet and we hear a lot more about his
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writing. Josiah's 21 years old.
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We that's Jeremiah 11. And we also know within two or
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three decades that we've got the prophet Ezekiel and Daniel and
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Uriah and Lehigh. And I could, I could keep going,
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you know, if I had better notes. There's a lot of these prophets
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that come, but let's go back to the kings and see where we are.
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We've gone from the 10th and 11th and 12th and 13th and 14th
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king. I've got a chart here on my hand
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out and on my slides that list all these, who they're married
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to and how the genealogy works. And we now are going to be
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introduced to two of Josiah's wives.
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The first one is Hamulta. She's a daughter of Jeremiah
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from Libna, and she is not only the wife of King Josiah, but she
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will also become the Queen Mother to his on the throne to
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both King Kosha and Zedekiah. So she's the wife of the 16th
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king. And she would have been present
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at the Grand Passover. Do you remember in the 18th year
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of his reign, he has this wonderful celebration.
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He has hundreds of animals he brings in, you know, and, and
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this great wife, Humulta would have been there and her two sons
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would have been there. Both of her sons become kings.
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But as the Queen Mother, Humulta had a very powerful role and
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unfortunately it sounds like she misused that power because she
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received rebuke from the prophet Jeremiah.
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In chapter 13 verse 18, it says say to the king and the Queen
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Mother and that's Hamulta. Humble yourselves, sit down for
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your rule shall collapse. This chapter of Second Kings 23
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that describes her and overlaps with Jeremiah and overlaps with
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Ezekiel denounces her and he continues to prophecy.
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This is Ezekiel as he's referring to her.
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Ezekiel 19. What is thy mother?
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A lioness she lays down among the lions.
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She nourished her whelps among Young Lions.
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And she brought up one of her whelps.
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And it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey.
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It devoured men. And the nation's also heard of
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him. And he was taken in a pit, and
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they brought in him chains unto the land of Egypt.
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Now her first young lion is this King Ho Hois, and they were
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taken captive to Egypt, and I don't know if the mother was as
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well, but Ezekiel then describes the scheming enthronement of her
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second son, and so he calls her again.
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He's referring to her as this lioness.
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Now when she saw that she had waited and her hope was lost,
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she took another of her whelps and made him a young lion.
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So in this parallel fashion she continues on.
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They put him in the ward and chains, and they brought him to
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the Kingdom of Babylon, and they brought him in to hold.
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So Ezekiel's last metaphor to describe King Humulta or Queen
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Humulta was a vine in thy blood. He says in chapter 19, verse 10,
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there's strong rods for the scepters.
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And then skipping ahead to verse 12 and 13, she was plucked up in
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fury. She was cast down in the ground
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and the east wind dried up her fruit.
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Her strong rods were broken and withered and fire consumed them.
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And now she is planted in the wilderness in a dry and thirsty
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ground. So she is taken captive.
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And you know, this Queen Hamilton had a great opportunity
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to bless her people and bless the whole world at that time
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that that the biblical world. But she used it for evil
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purposes. You know, she brought
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generations of tragedies on the discretion.
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It's really quite tragic. But I just want to step aside
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from the Bible for a minute and remind you that it is her
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posterity. It's Hamulta's posterity that go
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to the Book of Mormon. You know her name is not there,
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but she is the grandmother of the first Mulakites.
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Do you remember? It is her infant son, this
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grandson, who is protected and escapes the Babylonian captivity
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and taken with the people of Mulik.
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I remember Mulik MLK is the King's people.
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They have this little baby of Zedekiah, her grandson, and they
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take him to the New World and set up Zarahemla.
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Very interesting that the Hebrew word mulik MLK is the same as
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melek MLK. There's no vowels.
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And we see this prophecy in Helaman chapter 8, verse 21.
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It says, will you say that the son of Zedekiah's were not
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slain? All except for Mulik.
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That means king, the little baby that they brought.
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Very interesting. We've got two more Queens to go
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through. Kings Chapter 23 talks about
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Zabuda. Zabuda was one of the wives of
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young Josiah, and Josiah's father died when he was only 8
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years old. So we assume that their marriage
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was either arranged before age 8 or else perhaps a guardian
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stepped in. But this very young couple is a
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Buddha's first son, Alkhim, and they change his name when he's
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put on the throne by the Egyptians.
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He becomes a vassal king. It everything's torn apart.
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As one of the wives of King Josiah, you know, she would have
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been aware of the tearing down of all the places of the Pagan
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worship. You know, her husband is the one
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who stops the child sacrifice in the southern tribes.
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You know, he destroys these little cubicles in the temple
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that were for male prostitutes and they removed all the
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idolatrous Pete priests. And in fact, after the temple
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was cleansed and this book was found, the Buddha I presume, was
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part of these reforms. And King Josiah's Passover I
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mentioned had, you know, these 30,000 lambs.
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But her marriage lasted 26 years until the Egyptians killed her
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husband in a battle and then she steps in for a disastrous 3
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month term with her son on the throne.
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This three month term does not go well and the Pharaoh takes
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him off and puts in another puppet king.
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And that's when Jehoiah Kim, Jehoiah Kim's son begins
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reigning for eight years from age 25 to 33.
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And we assume that King Zabuda was about 40 years old when she
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Then comes the Queen Mother again when her second son
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becomes king, King Zakiah. So Buddha and her son King
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Jehoiakim must have been very flexible to be able to maintain
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their position to both allegiance to the Pharaoh and
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then to the Babylonian king. And over all they are there in a
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position of vassal kingship, king and queen for 11 years.
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But the Bible records that this king did evil in the sight of
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the Lord and which suggests that the mother was also working with
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him. I do not know, but I know for
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three years Judah paid tribute to Babylon until both the king
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and his mother rebel and they are taken out.
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I assume she was, where I don't know if she had any possibility
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to make influence in the Babylonian Empire.
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We know this is a phenomenally extensive empire.
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By this time, you know it's coming.
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Most of the Mediterranean. You can see in my charts in my
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slides if you'd like to look at them.
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We're told that her son the king is bound with bronze and
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shackles and taken to Babylon in Second Chronicles 36, but we're
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not told if she's still alive, if she had to be taken earlier.
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We don't know the situation, but the record details that Zubuda's
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life, it was limited to things that relate to her royal sons,
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and so we're only told about their relationship.
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As we zoom out and take a bird's eye view of these well over 100
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a 150 years of history, I hope we can see the importance that
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each person could make, whether you're male or female, old or
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young. If we choose to follow the
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Messiah, we can bless those around us.
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If we choose to follow our Savior and come unto him, we can
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be a powerful influence for good.
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And just like the prophetess Halda, all who have a testimony
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of our Savior Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, our Messiah, can
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testify of him and bless the world for good.
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And I leave this with you, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.