Tag: Ether

I can only imagine what a powerful testimony of the work it would have been for Joseph Smith to receive an explanation of the sealed portion of the plates from the ancient prophet who sealed them up. He must have felt that God was talking directly to him through the record. Those who were closest…

I wonder how much the knowledge of King Mosiah and the prophets that followed him was enhanced by the record of the brother of Jared that was still being kept from the world. The Lord did not need to reveal that information fresh to them, He simply gave them access to that record because they…

Before the Lord showed himself to the brother of Jared the brother of Jared already knew and trusted that He was a God of truth and could not lie. That knowledge was a prerequisite to having the Lord reveal himself to the brother of Jared or anyone else. We have to know that before we…

I wonder if the early Jaredites stopped by the sea for four years because they concluded this was the land they had been promised. It is also possible that they looked at the vast ocean before them and concluded, based on their past experience with their barges, that they could never cross such a body…

We talked about the first part of Ether a couple of Sundays ago and the teacher suggested that the confounding of the language of the people was something that took place over a period of time (otherwise Jared and his brother would not have had time to pray repeatedly about not having their language confounded).…

I have long known that Shiz had a practice of killing any who would not join his army but I realized today that even Coriantumr was similarly barbaric. The people were afraid of both armies and felt compelled to join one or the other. The reality is that I can’t fathom the level of depravity…

Somehow I imagined that Moroni simply coppied the record of Ether into the language of the plates of Mormon (besides everything before the tower) but I realize that Ether recorded more context in his record which Moroni didn’t pass along to us. I’m sure it was not important to us although it might have helped…

One of the key messages of the Book of Mormon for civil society is how critical it is that we recognize the difference between secret plans, which is how Satan operates, and open work for the benefit of society which is the pattern of God.

It struck me today that the brother of Jared did a lot of praying and preparing himself before he took the stones to the Lord and asked that they be lighted. I’m sure he was praying and pondering before he styled in the idea of lit stones and I’m sure that he was praying and…