The Bible and the Book of Mormon

Did you know that there is a prophesy in the Bible about the Book of Mormon?  It can be found in today's scripture mastery: Ezekiel 37:15-17

 15 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,

 16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

 17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

Huh?  What are these sticks that Ezekiel talks about?  Well, the Hebrew word that was translated to stick means "wood."  The footnotes for verse 16 tell us that "Wooden writing tablets were in common use in Babylon in Ezekiel’s day."  So in other words, the Lord would cause His words to be written for both Judah (those words became what we know as the Bible), and for Joseph (those words became the Book of Mormon)


Both the Bible and the Book of Mormon contain writings of prophets who teach their people about Christ.  They come from two different continents anciently, but they both witness of the divinity of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  They complement each other, and we can learn a lot about how we should live by studying each of them.  Again, these words from 2 Nephi 29:11-14 explain the need for both much better than I could:

 11 For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written.

 12 For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it.

 13 And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews.

 14 And it shall come to pass that my people, which are of the house of Israel, shall be gathered home unto the lands of their possessions; and my word also shall be gathered in one. And I will show unto them that fight against my word and against my people, who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham that I would remember his seed forever.

Missionary work

Today's scripture mastery is about missionary work.  It is found in Jeremiah 16:16

 16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

These fishers and hunters that the Lord is talking about are fishing and hunting for the children of Israel, or in other words, God's covenant people.  The 12 tribes of Israel were scattered all over the world by different countries that had taken them in to slavery.  They got so scattered that it is very difficult to know where they are.

God knows where they are however.   He sends the missionaries all over the world to find them.  When they are found, they are taught the promises of the gospel, and they can partake of the blessings of the covenants and promises of the gospel that are theirs by birthright. 

There is a talk about the children of the covenant by Elder Russell M. Nelson of the quorum of the 12 apostles.  It talks about the wonderful blessings promised to Abraham and his posterity.  You can read it here.

These blessings of the gospel are not just for literal descendants of Abraham.  No, they are also for anybody who is adopted in to his family by baptism.  When anyone is baptised by the proper authority, they become heirs to all the same blessings--just as if they were born in the covenant.

These wonderful blessings that the gospel has are for everybody!  That is why we have such a strong emphasis on missionary work in our church.  It is because we have so much to offer!  We do it out of love for our fellow man.  We want everybody to be able to have the same blessings that we enjoy.

We don't always understand

Today's scripture mastery is Isaiah 55:8-9

 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

We don't always understand why God allows things to happen.  Often when things that are difficult happen to us or to those that we love, we wonder why a God who is all knowing, and all powerful, and all loving would allow such things to happen.  It is because God has a much better perspective than we do.  He can see the end from the beginning.  He knows that while things may be difficult for us now, they can actually work to our benefit-even if we don't see why.  We must remember that this life is not the beginning or the end.  Sometimes we won't understand why certain things happened in this life until much later...sometimes not even until after we die.  But we can rest assured that God does love us, and that all these things are for our good.

A talk was given by Hugh B Brown that gives an analogy of pruning a currant bush to our understanding of God (The Currant Bush - New Era)

I was living up in Canada. I had purchased a farm. It was run-down. I went out one morning and saw a currant bush. It had grown up over six feet high. It was going all to wood. There were no blossoms and no currants. I was raised on a fruit farm in Salt Lake before we went to Canada, and I knew what ought to happen to that currant bush. So I got some pruning shears and went after it, and I cut it down, and pruned it, and clipped it back until there was nothing left but a little clump of stumps. It was just coming daylight, and I thought I saw on top of each of these little stumps what appeared to be a tear, and I thought the currant bush was crying. I was kind of simpleminded (and I haven’t entirely gotten over it), and I looked at it, and smiled, and said, “What are you crying about?” You know, I thought I heard that currant bush talk. And I thought I heard it say this: “How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as big as the shade tree and the fruit tree that are inside the fence, and now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me, because I didn’t make what I should have made. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.” That’s what I thought I heard the currant bush say, and I thought it so much that I answered. I said, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and some day, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down, for caring enough about me to hurt me. Thank you, Mr. Gardener.’”

 We are often just like that current bush--we think that we know what is best, but God knows what he has in store for us.  He knows what our true potential is.  Let us put our trust in God, no matter what happens to us or those we love here in life.

Christ Suffered for our sins

Today's scripture mastery is Isaiah 53:3-5

 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Isaiah saw in vision many years before Christ was born that Christ would suffer for our sins.  He wrote a lot about Christ.  In fact, this being the Christmas season, I wanted to point out that Handel's Messiah, the classic Christmas choir song (one of my favorites) comes from the words of Isaiah.  For example, read this verse from Isaiah 9:6

 6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Here is a link to the Halleluja Chorus from Handel's Messiah, if you would like to listen to it:  (linked from Wikipedia)  I know that the verse above is not in this particular recording I have linked here, but many others from Isaiah are.  Enjoy!

Isaiah, though he is difficult for me to to understand in many places, prophesies a lot about Christ and the wonderful gift of the Atonement.  Isaiah knew that Christ would come, and that in and through Him, we could be forgiven of our sins.  I am very grateful for Christ.  I hope to be able to keep the spirit of Christmas with me the whole year.

The restoration of the Gospel

Today's scripture mastery comes from Isaiah 29:13-14

 13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

 14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

Isaiah foretold the "marvelous work and a wonder" (The restoration of the gospel) in these verses.  He knew that it would be needed.  The marvelous work has come, as is stated in Doctrine and Covenants 4:1-2:

1 Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.

 2 Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.

The gospel has been restored.  It has been restored in a way that makes the "wise and prudent" of the world to stare in disbelief.

I want to focus on the first verse from Isaiah quoted above.  It is important that we "draw near" to God with more than just our mouth.  We need to do more than give "lip service"  We need to let the gospel really enter our hearts, and because of that live the gospel with all our heart, might, mind, and strength.  In order for the gospel to take real effect in our lives, we need to live it--even when others are not around us to see.  The gospel is not just something to live on Sundays while we are in church.  No, the living the gospel needs to be a full lifestyle.  We need to develop a true Christlike love for our fellow man.  We need to live as Alma taught in Mosiah 18:8-9

 8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

 9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

 I am very grateful for the marvelous work and wonder that Christ has brought to us in these days.  I am grateful for the restoration of the gospel.  I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to try and become more Christlike in my life.  I know that I have a VERY long ways to go, but each day, I can do a little better, and do more what I know that I should.

Repent and be clean!

Today's scripture mastery is Isaiah 1:18

18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

The gospel is all about giving us second chances.  We are all not perfect.  We all sin.  And sometimes we do more than the little sins--sometimes are sins are "as scarlet"  God still invites us to come to Him and repent.  Through the power of the atonement, all our sins can be cleaned, and be as "white as snow"

I was reading this morning in the Book of Mormon about the sons of King Mosiah, who went to go preach the gospel to the Lamanites.  This is how it describes their mission to teach them (Alma 17:14-15)

 14 And assuredly it was great, for they had undertaken to preach the word of God to a wild and a hardened and a ferocious people; a people who delighted in murdering the Nephites, and robbing and plundering them; and their hearts were set upon riches, or upon gold and silver, and precious stones; yet they sought to obtain these things by murdering and plundering, that they might not labor for them with their own hands.

 15 Thus they were a very indolent people, many of whom did worship idols, and the curse of God had fallen upon them because of the traditions of their fathers; notwithstanding the promises of the Lord were extended unto them on the conditions of repentance.

I highlighted the last part of verse 15 because it illustrates my point.  God wants to bless all of us here on earth.  He wants to be able to help us all be clean of our sins.  To receive that relief and happiness that comes from repentance, we only need to "reason together" with God.  We need to come to Him in prayer.  We need to stop doing the things that are against His commandments (and he has promised to help us with that step if we come to Him.)  And we need to repent.

Let us all humbly come to God, and repent of our sins.  He can heal us.  He wants us all to be clean and happy.

Trust in the Lord

Today's scripture mastery is Proverbs 3:5-6

 5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Often when we are faced with a problem in life that we don't know how to solve, the solution only comes after putting our trust in the Lord.  He knows how to help and succor us in our times of need.  He knows the solution to the most difficult of problems.  Even when things seem the darkest, if we put our trust in God, He will help us through it.