Do any of you (maybe I should cross out 'any of', since it implies that more than one person is reading this) remember this book or movie? The Chosen -by Chaim Potok I had to watch the movie for an assignment back in High School. As I recall, it was a rich and rewarding film, and extraordinarily satisfying.
Did you catch my trickiness there?
Actually I don't remember it at all, except Robby Benson is in it, he had cool sideburns, and it's about Orthodox Jews in New York City. The title The Chosen refers to God's chosen people. Is there one chosen people or person?
Is it the Jews?
Is it Harry James Potter?
Is it Anakin Skywalker?
Maybe it's one of them, or Frodo Baggins?
The Old Testament has some verses that help us find out who The Lord's chosen people are. One of them is this one from our old pal, Isaiah.
While it is true that scriptural references to "The Chosen People", or in the case of 2 Nephi 30, the "Covenant People", refer to the house of Israel, don't let that go to your head & cause you undue pride (if you are of the House of Israel) or weigh you down with the everlasting chains of discombobulation (if you are not of the House of Israel). Today's chapter deals with that difficulty.
So, there you have it. Whether you're Jew or Gentile, Bond or Free, White, Black, Brown or Green, whether you're from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica or Mars, in order to become one of the Lord's covenant people, each of us needs to come to Jesus Christ; come to know Him; come to trust in Him; come and partake of His forgiving Atonement, and be healed in both body and spirit.
In other words, in order to be part of the Lord's Chosen people, it ain't so much a question of He choosing us, as it is us choosing Him. And those who have chosen Him, and become His Chosen, will experience real peace. Apparently, someday, we'll even get to pal around with Lions and snakes and stuff, and not have to worry about their sliminess or razor sharp claws. That'll be cool.
1 Nephi 30: 8, 12-15
If you're like me (and who wouldn't like me?), you can maybe figure out that an Asp is a snake, specifically, a cobra, like the ones on the crowns of the Pharaohs of Egypt.
Cockatrice is a little harder to figure out. Wikipedia says a cockatrice is a 1/2 rooster, 1/2 dragon sort of creature (My "hoo-haw" bell just went off). But, our good buddy Isaiah, in Isaiah 14:29, uses the word cockatrice in the same context as the fiery serpents that The Lord plagued the Israelites with. Remember the story in Numbers 21: 5-9? Because of the wickedness of the Chosen people of Israel, Moses was commanded to put up a big, brass bed serpent on a pole, and anyone who'd been bitten would die, unless they looked at the snake statue.
Not to be confused with...
That's pretty cool, actually, So our sucking children will be able to play with poisonous snakes, and our weaned teeny boppers will not have to worry about any plagues sent by The Lord because of sinful behavior.
And key to it all...
Because the earth shall be full of the knowledge of The Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
The Prophet Moroni buries the golden plates near Palmyra, NY about 450a.d.
The coming forth of the Book of Mormon was prophesied of in several places in the Bible, Old and New Testaments, but none so clear as the one in Isaiah Chapter 29. Nephi throws this one last Isaiah chapter into the Plates of Nephi in 2 Nephi 27. I bet it made old Nephi glad when he read this chapter and understood that Isaiah was talking about the very plates he was writing on, that his sore fingers weren't for nuttin'.
In 2 Nephi 27, Isaiah talks quite plainly about a book containing the "words of them who have slumbered in the dust" (dead people) coming forth in the last days, which will contain revelation from God (scripture).
2 Nephi 27: 6-7
6. And it shall come to pass that The Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of a book, and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered.
7. And behold the book shall be sealed; and in the book shall be a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof.
It would be pretty cool to flip to the end of the Book of Mormon and see how the world ends. Too bad that part of the plates was sealed off, and therefore not translated by Joseph Smith into the BOM we have today.
I hope I didn't miss it!
It's probably a good thing we don't have the "sealed portion" yet. We will have it some day, and then we'll read it on top of our house. I guess that's a good place to be alone.
Moroni delivers the plates
Moroni delivering the plates to Joseph Smith in1827
Having buried the plates in the ground on a hillside close to the future site of Palmyra, New York sometime around 450 A.D., the Angel Moroni, now a resurrected being, delivered the golden plates to 21-year old Joseph Smith on Sept 22, 1827. The miraculous work of translation from the ancient text (written in what the BOM calls "reformed Egyptian") into English commenced, but because of persecution and multiple attempts by evil men to steal the plates, it took Brother Joseph 2 years to get the first edition to the printers. The actual translation took a combined total of only about 90 days.
Professor Anthon
In this chapter, Isaiah prophesied that when this book comes forth, the unsealed portion will be delivered to a "learned man", who will reject it.
During the early days of translating the BOM, Joseph Smith wrote down some of the hieroglyphic
characters from the BOM plates and their translation, and his buddy Martin Harris took them to
New York City to a Charles Anthon, a professor at Columbia University, and who was known for his "literary
attainments". Anthon studied the characters, and wrote a certificate, certifying both the authenticity of the characters, saying that they were
true characters from the Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac and Arabic
languages, and the accuracy of the translation. Anthon asked to see the entire set of golden plates. He
doesn't say anything about greed being his motive, but the BOM says so.
2 Nephi 27: 15-18
15. But behold, it shall come to pass that The Lord God shall say unto him to whom He shall deliver the book [Joseph Smith]: Take these words which are not sealed and deliver them to another, that he [Martin Harris] may show them unto the learned [Professor Anthon], saying: Read this, I pray thee. And the learned [Professor Anthon] shall say: Bring hither the book, and I will read them.
16. And now, because of the glory of the world and to get gain will they say this, and not for the glory of God.
17. And the man [Martin Harris] shall say: I cannot bring the book, for it is sealed.
18. Then shall the learned [Professor Anthon] say: I cannot read it.
When Martin Harris said, "I cannot bring the book, for it is sealed," to the professor, Anthon replied, "I cannot read a sealed book." He then tore up the certificate that he'd written, and said that angels do not appear to man in our day.
But of course he now denies it; you'd expect that of a con. But he couldn't run forever, not even Charles Anthon.
Joseph Smith
Isaiah then says that the book will be delivered to an "unlearned man", who will do the marvelous and wondrous work of God.
2 Nephi 27: 19-21
19. Wherefore it shall come to pass, that The Lord God will deliver again the book and the words thereof to him that is not learned [Joseph Smith]; and the man that is not learned shall say: I am not learned.
20. Then shall The Lord God say unto him: The learned shall not read them, for they have rejected them, and I am able to do mine own work; wherefore thou shalt read the words which I shall give unto thee.
21. Touch not the things which are sealed, for I will bring them forth in mine own due time; for I will show unto the children of men that I am able to do mine own work.
With only 3 or so years of formal education, Joseph Smith was an "unlearned man". One of the criticisms against Joseph in his day was that he was an uneducated farmer, and yet professed to be a prophet of God. Goodness knows, The Lord should never, would never, could never use a poor commoner to share His words...
Oh, except for David the shepherd
Oh, and Peter, James, John and Andrew; they were fishermen
Oh, and except for Jesus Christ; He was a carpenter
Twelve Witnesses
A certain number of people were given the chance to be witnesses of the plates of Nephi, which was talked about in this chapter as well.
2 Nephi 27: 12-13
12. Wherefore, at that day when the book shall be delivered unto the man of whom I have spoken, the book shall be hid from the eyes of the world, that the eyes of none shall behold it save it be that three witnesses shall behold it, by the power of God, besides him to whom the book shall be delivered; and they shall testify to the truth of the book and the things therein.
13. And there is none others which shall view it, save it be a few according to the will of God, to bear testimony of his word unto the children of men; for The Lord God hath said that the words of the faithful should speak as if it were from the dead.
The Three
The 3 witnesses testified to the world that they had seen the angel Moroni and the golden plates. You can read their account in the first few pages of the BOM. These 3 men all eventually left The Church, but none of them ever denied this witness.
Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris both returned to The Church eventually. David Whitmer did not return to The Church, but gave a strong testimony on his deathbed, swearing to the truth of his vision of the angel Moroni and the golden plates.
The Eight
The Eight Witnesses testified that they saw the golden plates. These 8 did not see the angel Moroni, but they saw and "hefted" the plates. The testimony of the eight witnesses is found at the beginning of the BOM.
The 8 witnesses were: Christian Whitmer, Jacob Whitmer, Peter Whitmer
Jr, John Whitmer, Hiram Page, Joseph Smith Sr, Hyrum Smith, Samuel H.
Smith.
But, Three + Eight = Eleven
The 12th witness to whom I referred when I says there'd be 12 witnesses is yours truly. I saw no plates, nor angels, but I know that there were angels in the room on January 24, 1987, when I had the light and warmth and love and gratefulness of the Holy Ghost drill a hole into my heart and deposit there, underneath untold layers of fat and cholesterol, a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and the marvelous and wonderful story of its coming about. Tears sprung from my face like a shook up Sprite, and in that unforgettable and most important moment I received the following treasures:
God lives
God is my Father in Heaven
Heavenly Father loves me
I am worth Heavenly Father's time to answer
Jesus Christ lives
Jesus Christ loves me
Joseph Smith was visited by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ
The angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith and delivered the golden plates to him
Joseph Smith translated the golden plates into the BOM
The Book of Mormon is the Word of God
The Priesthood that was given to me by Richard Barney, and to him by Mike Barney, and to him by Dale Pelo, and to him by Alvin R. Dyer, and to him by Joseph Fielding Smith, and to him by Joseph F. Smith, and to him by Brigham Young, and to him by the 3 Witnesses, and to them by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and to them by Peter, James and John, and to them by Jesus Christ is real
I'm glad I went on a mission
JB at the MTC, Jan 1987
And I'll here repeat what was and has remained the most important one to me on this list....
With 2nd Nephi 25, we leave Nephi's Isaiah obsession and come back to Nephi's own words. Nephi is much plainer, and easier to comprendo than Isaiah. So Welcome back to...
Right off the bat, Nephi admits that Isaiah is a tough cookie to understand...
2nd Nephi 25: 1
1. ...for behold, Isaiah spoke many things which were hard for many of my people to understand; for they know not concerning the manner of prophesying among the Jews.
&then down at the bottom of this same column, Nephi says that, even though he loves the words of Isaiah (vs. 5), his soul delights in plainness unto his people, that they may learn (vs. 4).
Any questions about that?
Then why in the name of Jonathon Livingston Seagull did Nephi just spend 12 chapters of precious room on the Plates of Nephi quoting Isaiah, when he knew his people wouldn't really understand it? And if it is more for our day than Nephi's day that he quotes Isaiah, didn't he know that we would have all of those chapters in our Old Testament?
2 Nephi 25: 8
8. Wherefore, they [the words of Isaiah] are of worth unto the children of men, and he that supposeth that they are not, unto them will I speak particularly, and confine the words unto mine own people; for I know that they shall be of great worth unto them the last days; for in that day shall they understand them; wherefore, for their good I have written them.
Mine own people: Who's Nephi's own people? I got 2 possible answers... The Jews that Nephi knows will be scattered and smitten for generations to come, and his own descendants, the Nephites and Lamanites. And here's the horcrux of the matter...
2 Nephi 25: 16-17
16. And after they have been scattered, and The Lord God hath scourged them by other nations for the space of many generations, yea, even down from generation to generation until they shall be persuaded to believe in Christ, the Son of God, and the atonement, which is infinite for all mankind -and when that day shall come that they shall believe in Christ, and worship The Father in His Name, with pure hearts and clean hands, and look not forward any more for another Messiah, then, at that time, the day will come that it must needs be expedient that they should believe these things.
17. And The Lord will set His hand again the second time to restore His people from their lost and fallen state. Wherefore, He will proceed to do a marvelous work and a wonder among the children of men.
Ya see, kids...
The restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon through the Prophet Joseph Smith is the marvelous work and a wonder Nephi is talking about. The Book of Mormon is the means by which the gathering of Israel will be accomplished in the last days. The Isaiah chapters in the BOM have a GREAT deal to do with that, at least that's my take on it.
And now...
And so I face...
So this concludes our show for today. 2 Nephi 25 is a significant chapter in the BOM. I'm going to do 2 posts on it. Tune in next time when we talk of Christ, rejoice in Christ, preach of Christ, prophesy of Christ and discuss what worshiping Christ with all of our mind, might, strength and whole souls means. I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with having clean hands and a pure heart.
Today we're on 2nd Nephi 24 (compare Isaiah 14). First thing I do when I blog a BOM chapter is read the chapter clear through once, and look and listen and sense for impressions or ideas or whatever. These are my notes...
So, I looked through it again. This time I really put on my thinker...
But...
So, I'll sum the chapter up for ya, and we'll color it good.
2 Nephi 24: 1
1. For The Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and
will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land; and the
strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house
of Jacob.
After this, past, and future scatterings, Israel will become a chosen people once again, and be gathered in as He promised from the beginning.
Strangers shall be joined with Israel. Hopefully, when we meet them, we'll know who not to talk to. You know, 'cause we ain't supposed to talk to strangers. Never mind. Ok, we're the strangers. You know, Gentiles. Anywayz...
2 Nephi 24: 3
3. And it shall come to pass in that day that The Lord shall give thee rest, from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve.
Those who beat up on Israel won't bug 'em anymore.
2 Nephi 24: 8
8. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and also the cedars of Lebannon, saying: Since thou art laid down no feller is come up against us.
Ha, no feller. That's awesome. Bad news for that cool feller, Paul Bunyan...
Then it says some stuff about a couple of fellers who were serious losers. Isaiah is a smart feller who is real good at speaking about multiple people and times at once. Verses 12 through 16 is about the king of Babylon on the surface, but it is widely believed that it's really about Satan. This is where Satan gets the name Lucifer, which actually means "light bearer" or "morning star". Satan was a nice feller at one time in the pre-mortal realm, but then got greedy, and was thrown outta there.
Since then he has sought that "man might be miserable like unto himself." (-2 Nephi 2: 27).
2 Nephi 24: 12
12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations!
13. For thou hast said in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north;
14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.
15. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
It's a sad story, really. But it's important to know that we know who the winner will be, we know who the loser will be, and we can decide to be a winner or a loser by joining one or t'other. As for me and my house, we will serve The Lord. (-Joshua 24: 15)
That's the end of the Isaiahs, at least the tough ones. There's a few more, but they don't scare me. It's taken me months and months to get from 2 Nephi 11 to 2 Nephi 25. I'm sorry to see him go. I'm going to miss Isaiah.
I hope you know that I'm kidding about not liking the Isaiah chapters. Jesus Christ said, "Yea, a commandment I give unto you, that ye search these things diligently, for Great are the words of Isaiah," and I believe Him. (-3 Nephi 23: 1) He's just a hard feller to blog about that many times in a row. I seriously can't wait to get to Mosiah something or other when Abinadi quotes Isaiah 53 (-Mosiah 14) before he is burned alive.
Let's celebrate our completion of the Isaiahs by figuring up some way to sum it all up. How do you sum up Isaiah?
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, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 50: 6
6. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
2 Nephi 24: 7
7. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet; they break forth into singing.
The preamble of 2 Nephi 23 (compare Isaiah 13) says that the destruction of Babylon is a type of the destruction that will happen at The Lord's 2nd Coming. Therefore, today I will talk about Last of the Mohicans...
Doesn't look like Babylon lasted very long. I guess Isaiah was right about them...
2 Nephi 23: 19
19. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
Here's Babylon today
What was so awful about Babylon? There were lots of places around the world whose people weren't models of obedience to The Lord. Why pick on the Babylonians as the standard in wicked behavior, always to be referred to in a negative context?
Me & Gerry Lindley in Vincennes, Indiana; circa 1988
Pictured up yonder is me as a missionary and my mission companion, Gerry Lindley. It may seem like we're rocking out, but actually we're singing along with Bring the World His Truth, and are on the "Weeeee are as the Army of Helaman, we have been born in our youth" part of the song.
In my mission, the rules restricted our listening pleasure to Mormon Tabernacle Choir songs and Church Hymns. Though this song is in the LDS Primary songbook, the version we listened to was technically against our rules. Anything we missionaries had which was outside the rules was called Babylon. This song was Babylon, and so was the stereo I was playing it on, much as I tried to justify myself by listening to our Gospel Study tapes on it. I finally ended up bringing my stereo thing into the Mission Office and leaving it until I finished my mission and went home.
Most of the tribes of Israel were already scattered and lost. The Babylonians conquered what was left, The tribe of Judah, and carried them away captive to Babylon, where they remained for about 70 years, long enough for God's people to pick up some bad habits. When Judah returned from Babylon, they brought much of its influence with them, and this caused some major apostasy. In order to cleave unto God and the covenants they had made with Him, the people of Judah were commanded to leave Babylon behind, not just physically, but spiritually too, even more so. Those who were able to leave Babylon behind were able to remain steadfast in their faith. If they kept some souvenirs, they had a much harder time, and many were lost.
How does this connect to me?
The reason missionaries attached the name Babylon to stuff against the rules is because the same principle applies to them. Those who are able to let go of the world (in our case it was TV, good music, going to movies, dating, etc.) could become missionaries of great faith and influence, wielding the sword of the spirit like the Army of Helaman. Those who hold on to the world (my stereo), are much less effective. And in some cases, this has led to apostasy as well.
Screenshot of Babylon from "Age of Empires" computer game
In my 30's I was quite the gamer. As a lonely bachelor, I found computer games to be a welcome distraction from my otherwise dull life. I used to say stuff like, "My life sucks anyway, might as well buy this $2000 computer." Now, computer and video games ain't a bad thing. It ain't a sin to play Age of Empires or whatever. That is, until it distracts you from what is really important. Sometimes I'd play for hours, late into the night. This usually exhausted me for the next day's activities, be they work or family or church, or just productive living. Then I'd be back at it that night, and so on.
She finally found me in 2008
Whether it was because marrying Emilie filled the emptiness in me that caused me to lose interest in my computer games or the fact that we are so broke that I can't even afford a decent computer, let alone the 50-buck games I'd want to play, either way I'm grateful.
I heard a scary statistic the other day. An LDS Bishop in Orem, Utah stated that over 60% of the divorces in his area were related to video/ computer gaming.
What a jerk. C'mon man, it's her turn.
So that's my speech about Babylon. People have different things which, to them, is a 'hanging on to Babylon' issue. My advice is to bid farewell to Babylon, whatever that may be to you, and remember who you are, where you're headed, and what is important.
It's actually quite a battle to keep your head in the game of life these days. There are zillions of distractions around us all the time, and the effects of The Fall of man are such that our "natural man" wants to be distracted. To do battle against our "natural" desire for Babylon, The Lord has blest us with power from on High, if we only ask for it, reach for it. If you personally are able to live a life that balances spiritual joys and temporal fun, that's groovy. Nothing wrong with playing a game, watching a movie, hangin' with friends, etc. Ain't nobody said we need to read the BOM all day long. It's when the distractions take a more weighted role in our lives than the important stuff that could cause us trouble.
As Colonel Munro said in Last of the Mohicans,
"There's a terrible feature of war here in the Americas, Major Heyward; best we keep our eye fixed on our duty: To defeat France (or Babylon)."
Here's Ye Elders of Israel if you'd care to listen to a verse or two (at least listen to 1:05 to 1:22)...
So, this is my spiel for today:
Recognize if you are hanging on to any part of Babylon
If it's a problem, and you'll know if it's a problem, make a decision to leave your Babylon behind, whatever it is
If you find it difficult to defeat Babylon or France, call upon your good buddy Hawkeye to help you...
He will "let Killdeer take part in the conversation; for at this distance, he will touch the life 2 out of 3 times."
Great Spirit and Maker of all life
A warrior comes to you straight and true as an arrow shot into the sun
Welcome him, and make a place for him at the council fire of my people
He is Uncas, my son
Teach him to be patient, as he has death for speed
For they are all there, but one: I, Chingachgook, Last of the Mohicans
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