032 Book of Mormon Title Page Class by Mike Stroud (Transcribed by C Crisp)

Transcription

1 032 Book of Mormon Title Page Class by Mike Stroud (Transcribed by C Crisp) We're doing the Introduction Page today, and there are some interesting things to take a look at. About 4 paragraphs up from the bottom there is something we call the keystone statement. It starts out saying: Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book. Stop right there. That's a bold statement right there. Think about it for a moment. Think about the big libraries you've been into in your life. Has anybody been to the Library of Congress? How about the BYU Library? Take all the libraries of the world, that are in existence right now. Take every book that's in every library of the whole world right now, and that statement just said that, 'of all those billions of books, this book is the most correct of any book.' See that? That's a bold statement. Look at the rest of that statement: and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book. I want to go back to something called the keystone of our religion. Can someone explain to me what that is? I know some of you know what that means. (Student is indistinguishable.) Mike: Very good. That's about as good a definition as I could make. A keystone is a stone arch, with no mortar/cement. It's just stone placed on top of stone, and the thing that holds this arch in place is that top, center stone. As (student) says, it's usually larger than the other ones, so the downward pull of gravity keeps that whole arch together. If you pull that center stone out, the whole arch collapses. This is called the keystone. Joseph Smith referred to the Book of Mormon (BOM) as the keystone of our religion. Which means what? If this (keystone/bom) is our religion, you take the BOM out, and what happens? It collapses. Joseph Smith said this: Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none. Why would he say such a thing? Why would he make a statement like that? Can't we have a nice religion; can't we have the true religion without the BOM? He says no. Why not? Student: There are restored truths in the Book of Mormon that are not found in other places or sources. Mike: Good statement, thank you. (Another student comment not understood.) I like that. What's a word that he used there? The Book of Mormon is physical evidence of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you go into a court of law and you want to prove something is right, you need a couple of things. You need something called 'evidence', and you also need something called 'witnesses'. If you have evidence and witnesses, you can prove just about anything in a court of law. Did you know the Lord works the same way? The Book of Mormon is physical evidence. You don't have to take anybody's word that it's true. You don't have to believe me. You can hold it in your hand. It's physical. You can turn it's pages. You can read it's words, and you can apply the promise that this book... (Remember all those books in all those libraries?) This is the only book in all the world, including the Bible, that has a promise from God himself, that 'if you'll read it, pray about it, and ask with a sincere heart, with real intent and faith in Christ, God himself will tell you personally, that it's true'. There is no other book that has that. This is the physical evidence. Another thing is, this cannot be disproved. Enemies of the Church have been trying to do this for 170 years, unsuccessfully. If they can disprove the truthfulness of the BOM, then they can discredit Joseph Smith. Because, if this is a fraud, what about Joseph Smith? He's a fraud. If this book is a fraud, and Joseph Smith is a fake, then the church that he organized is also fake. So, this is the keystone to everything that we have, and hold as true and valuable and precious. And, it cannot be disproved. I'm going to have you look at God's own testimony of this. Let's go to D&C 17:6: (Now, remember that we want witnesses. We've got evidence, right? You can hold this in your hand, and you can read it. It boils down to one or two things. It's impossible for Joseph Smith to have written this. Anybody who says it was written by J.S., that he made it up, doesn't know the story, hasn't read the book, and has no idea what they're talking about. If J.S. wrote this book, it had to be inspired from the devil somehow. It boils down to this, brothers and sisters, either the book comes from God, and it's exactly what Joseph says it is, Another witness for Jesus Christ, or it comes from the devil. There's no middle ground.it's either inspired of God, or inspired of he devil to be a deceitful thing. We're looking for witnesses, now. Look at the first witness we can pull out, concerning the BOM.) 6 And he has translated the book, even that part which I have commanded him, and as your Lord and your God liveth it is true. What did we just read in v. 6? Who is one of the witnesses to this book? Christ. There is Jesus Christ's personal testimony to us, telling us the BOM is true. Let's look at some other witnesses. Let's stay on the Title Page for a moment. Go down to the second to last paragraph where it says, We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to

2 ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10:3 5.) There's a three-fold invitation there. It invites you to do three things. Did you see it? Whenever I introduce the BOM to someone, I always take them here first. I don't go to the Title Page. I don't go to Moroni's promise. I go right here to this introduction page. Again, the invitation is: 1) Read the book the whole thing. 2) Ponder the message of the BOM. What does ponder mean? What's an example of how you ponder the BOM. Student: To understand it. Mike: Maybe understand it. Student: Pray before you read it, and consider what you are going to read... Mike: Very good. Bruce R. McConkie, a member of the Twelve Apostles, said, 'When you read this book, and just before you turn the page, stop, and ask yourself this question: Could any man have written this book? Then, go over and read more until you get to the end of the next page, then stop and ask: Could any man have written this book? ' He used that as an example of pondering. Stop and ask yourself that question. Pretty soon, you'll be down about 5 pages and you'll say, There is no way any man could have written this book. There's a spirit about it, okay? Now, look at the promise in Moroni 10: 3-5: 3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. Here is another 3-step process. Look at the last paragraph of the Introduction page: Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that (1) Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that (2) Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that (3) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah. So, now watch. If you will do the three things in the preceding paragraph: (1) Read; (2) Ponder; and (3) Ask God, in the name of Christ, for confirmation that it's true; if you find out the BOM is true, then what? What are the three things there? Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world; Joseph Smith is His prophet of the restoration; and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true and is here to prepare for His Second Coming. There's the sequence, and whenever I introduce the BOM to somebody, I take my book out, and I ask this question: If you find out the Book of Mormon is true; if God tells you the BOM is true, what does that mean about Joseph Smith? And their answer will be what? That he's a prophet of God. If he is a prophet of God, then what does that mean about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? It's true. And, if Joseph Smith was a prophet, and the Church is true, what does that mean about Joseph's successors, meaning the current leadership and President of the Church? That they are living prophets. So, it all goes back to one thing: Is the Book of Mormon true? If the BOM is true, then we're in the right place! That's what it means to have the book as 'physical evidence' of the truthfulness of this work. Let's go back to the Title Page. Let me tell you something interesting about the Title Page. The Title Page is written by Moroni himself. Moroni's own words come right off the plates, word for word, just like it is here. Exactly! There's no translation of languages with the Urim and Thummim. It's just how Joseph translated it. It's an exact, word for word, message right off the gold plates. It says the Book of Mormon is an abridgment. What is that? What is an abridgment? When I abridge something, what have I done? What I've done is to take a pile of something and I've turned it into a smaller product of something...a shorter version of a larger work. So, what does it mean that it's an abridgment? So, this Book of Mormon is an abridgment of many plates of records. Last week I told you that in the Hill Cumorah is a cave, a room. Remember that? Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery went into that several times. Oliver said that as they walked up the Hill Cumorah, the hill just opened up. I'd like to see that! It just opened up, and they went in. As they went in, it was a large room, it was filled from wall to wall, with stacked up metal plates, especially in the corners. They said that in the corners it was filled up high with metal plates. There were so many metal records, of all kinds, in this room, that Oliver said that it would take many wagons filled up, to cart them out of there. It was a Nephite library! In the middle of this room was a large stone table. The first time they went in there, they saw hanging on the wall, the sword of Laban, and it was hanging in it's sheath. The next time they went in there, the sword of Laban had been taken off the wall, pulled it out of the sheath, and it was laying on the stone table. There were some other artifacts in this room, that belonged to the Nephite records. There was the Liahona, the Urim and Thummim, etc.

3 The second time when they went in, and the sword was out of it's sheath and laying on the table, they saw some words written on the blade, engraved on this steel blade! The words were: This sword will never be sheathed again until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and his Christ. So, the fact that it was out of it's sheath was a symbol of what? Warfare! So, this is the message: from the time of the restoration up until the time the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ, there will be solid warfare, and that's been the way it is. It's one of the signs of the last days, that we live in a day of warfare. So, an abridgment...let's go on down. Written to the Lamanites, who are a remnant of the house of Israel; and also to Jew and Gentile Let's look at this word for a minute. The Book of Mormon is written to this group of people: Gentiles. That word is used all through the book. What is a Gentile? Here's another word for 'Gentile': non-jew. So, here we are in the Philippines, and a group of us are foreigners, we are Gentiles, meaning we are non-filipino. So, if you are a Jew, what is a Gentile? A non-jew. If you are an Israelite, what is a Gentile? A non-israelite. So, depending on how this is viewed in the Book of Mormon, is how you interpret what the Lord wants us to learn from that word. Gentile means non-jew, non-israelite. There are several different meanings. This is mainly the meaning in the BOM (non-jew, those not of Jewish descent). Let's skip on down to: Written and sealed up, and hid up unto the Lord, that they might not be destroyed To come forth by the gift and power of God. What is that? What does gift and power of God mean? It's translated by the gift and power of God... That's a description of how the book was translated. How was that done? By the Urim and Thummim. What is that? Describe it for me. (Student) says it was glasses. It's a little confusing, isn't it? It was two stones fastened in a bow. What the heck is that?!! Oliver Cowdery said that they were triangular shaped, and that they could be attached to a breastplate. You put on a breastplate, and these things attach to a breastplate, to what purpose? What's the purpose of the breastplate? So you could have your hands free; so you could do things with your hands. You could wear these like glasses. They attach to this thing. You put the breastplate on, with a hook on the breastplate, and it would be just like this pair of glasses, like something I'm wearing. I could look through them, and I wouldn't have to handle them with my hands. Could these be used without the bow? They could. We have heard that sometimes Joseph Smith put them in a hat, to block out the light. Without the light coming in, he could look in this hat, using the Urim and Thummim, and receive revelation. What does Urim and Thummim mean? It's Hebrew. It means light and perfection. How many of these instruments were there? There were two sets of Urim and Thummim. One set was kept by Aaron, in the Middle East and Moses used those, and the ancient prophets in the Bible land. That's one set. And, the people in ancient America had another set. You read about a set that Mosiah had. Remember when they want to translate the 24 gold plates? And, Ammon says, 'Is there anybody that can translate this?' And, Limhi says, 'Yeah, there's a man named Mosiah and has wherewith he can look'. Then they went on to say that the person who has this and uses these tools, has a special name. He's called a 'seer'. What does the word seer mean? He can see things that other people can't see. He uses this instrument to see things. This is used in translating lost languages. Can it be used in other ways, besides translating languages? Joseph used it to translate the plates. Did he use it in any other way? Someone turn to the D&C and skim through the first 4-5 sections, and find where it says, 'Revelation given to Joseph Smith through the Urim and Thummim'. It'll be in the first sections, because after a while Joseph didn't need it anymore. Someone found it? Just read to us from the section heading. Section 3: Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Harmony, Pennsylvania, July 1828, relating to the loss of 116 pages of manuscript translated from the first part of the Book of Mormon, which was called the book of Lehi. The Prophet had reluctantly allowed these pages to pass from his custody to that of Martin Harris, who had served for a brief period as scribe in the translation of the Book of Mormon. The revelation was given through the Urim and Thummim. Now in the very beginning sections of the D&C you have Joseph Smith using the Urim and Thummim, and then all of a sudden, it stops. The revelations continue, but there is no more Urim and Thummim use. What happened? Let's look at something here for just a minute. This set of Urim and Thummim that Joseph had was the same set that the brother of Jared had, and that was kept by all the prophets on the American continent. The set that Mosiah had was the same set that Joseph had, and there were 2 sets. Now watch. A seer was a person that could use the Urim and Thummin. Isn't that what it said over there in Mosiah? (Mosiah had wherewith he could see. And, people who had these were called seers. And the king said, Surely a seer is greater than a prophet. Remember that?) This coming October, in a week or so, we're going to sustain 15 men as prophets, seers and revelators. Is it possible we call them seers because they have access to this Urim and Thummim? I wouldn't be a bit surprised. Let me show you something else. Oliver Cowdery said these stones were triangular shaped. Do you know that when Solomon built his temple, he had a royal, official seal. It was called 'The Seal of Solomon'. And, The Seal of Solomon

4 looked like this. (Draws on board. Online looks like the star of David, inside a circle.) Have you ever seen that anywhere? Does it have something to do with the Urim and Thummim? I don't know, but it's kind of fascinating. Let's go back to the Title Page. There are 3 purposes for the BOM for our day, listed in the second paragraph. Let's find out what the purposes are. Skip down about 4 lines. Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and (1) that they may know the covenants of the Lord, (The Book of Mormon restores covenants, so that we can know about them, and make them. Why do you think that is a purpose of the BOM? This is written by Moroni, now. ) Let's go to 1 Nephi 13:24-26 and look at something. This chapter is talking about the Bible, and giving us some information about the Bible. Look at the notes at the bottom of the page, and the date. 600 BC. Let me ask you a question. You've got a Bible sitting in your hands. Did the Bible even exist, as you have it, in 600 BC? NO! Was there any part of the Bible, that you have in your hands today, that existed in 600 BC? This book you have now wasn't in existence in 600 BC. Was there any part of todays modern Bible that existed in 600 BC? Yes. Did these Nephites have access to that part? Yes. What was it written on? So, their Bible that they had, was written on "brass plates". The brass plates covered a period of time from Adam down to Jeremiah. And, Jeremiah knew Lehi. They both lived in Jerusalem at the same time, at 600 BC. So, the brass plates had all 5 books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Did the brass plates contain the writings of Isaiah? Yes, they did. So, everything in your Bible, and probably more than you have in your Bible, (the 5 books of Moses all the way down to Jeremiah) was written on their brass plates. We have that much of a Bible text, what we call the O.T., but the rest of what Nephi talks about here is all prophetic, talking about the future. So, they did have some. Let's look and see what he says about the Bible. It says that when Nephi sees this in vision, what he's seeing is your whole Bible. He's seeing what you have today, in And, part of what you have today, they had in 600 BC, but only down to here. So, let's see what he says: 24 And the angel of the Lord said unto me: Thou hast beheld that the book proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; (We know what that is today, don't we? That's what we call "The Holy Bible".) and when it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, (Notice the word contained is past tense. So, when Nephi sees this record, the Bible, as it was originally written, has been changed. That's what he's talking about.) of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of God. (Now, we know it's talking about the Bible you've got, because it talks about the 12 Apostles, and you didn't have 12 Apostles in the Old Testament; not until the New Testament. So, what John's seeing here is the O.T. and the N.T. like you've got in your hand today.) 25 Wherefore, these things go forth from the Jews in purity unto the Gentiles, according to the truth which is in God. (Circle the word purity. The Bible was pure back then! No alterations, just like God wanted it to be, when he inspired the prophets to write it. Give me an example of what the book was like then, before it was changed to what we have today. The Bible is like what? It's like the Book of Mormon! Has the BOM been altered and changed? There were a few punctuation changes, stuff like that, but not doctrinally. That's the way the Bible was before something happened to it.) Now watch carefully, because this takes us back to this right here. One of the purposes of the BOM is to restore, and bring the people to a knowledge of the covenants of the Lord. 26 And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; (What is so bad about this Church? Look what he says next:) for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away. Why does the Lord condemn this church as 'great and abominable'? Because they have altered God's word, and taken away many plain and precious things. Was this done on purpose, or by mistake? Was there a plan, or was it just careless. Say I whispered something in your ear, and then it gets repeated down the line. When we get to the end, and I ask the last person, "Tell me what you heard." What I told the first person, and what comes out at the end is not going to be the same. I promise that it's going to be changed. Is that what happened to the Bible? It just went through all these different places and people just weren't careful? Or was it a plan? Can I tell you that it was both? It was both. S.Stroud: There's a third thing also. Sometimes when you're translating, and you don't understand a word, you might say, "I think it means this", and you substitute words. So, there are probably three reasons why it's different now. Mike: I like that. Let me ask you a question, brothers and sisters. Let's say that it was inspired, and these covenants were taken out on purpose. Let's say that they were removed and it was a part of a Satanic plan. Why? Why would Satan be interested in altering that old Bible, and specifically removing the covenants of the Lord, along with other plain and

5 precious things? What is it about covenants that Satan fears? Because he wants them out of there! And, he targets specifically the covenants of the Lord. Give me an example of something that was in the original Bible that has been removed. Let's just talk about it. Student: Baptism. Mike: Baptism is a classic example. Why would Satan want to alter or remove the covenant of baptism? Why is that a big deal to him? Student:?? Because it's an ordinance. Mike: Okay, good. Student: It's a "gateway ordinance". Mike: It's a gateway to what? It's the gateway into the Celestial Kingdom. Those are good reasons. Give me some more. (Student comments unclear) So, if it's God's ordinance, it needs to be kept correct and pure, otherwise, it's not authorized. Let me give you one that I've learned over time. Anytime that you have covenants from the Lord, covenants give the 'covenant maker' power. There is power in covenants. Baptism is really not a covenant. Baptism is an ordinance, which is the sign of the covenant. But, every covenant, that I know of in the Church, has an ordinance associated with it. Covenants and ordinances go together. If you make a covenant with the Lord, he promises to give you special power. Take the baptismal covenant that you renew every Sunday. Let's look and see if there's any power in the covenant. The covenant is: you have part of the covenant, and God has part of the covenant. You promise to do certain things and God promises to do certain things, if you keep your end of the bargain. The Sacrament Covenant: bread and water. "Take upon them the name of Christ". Is that a baptismal covenant? "Always remember Him". And, "keep His commandments which He has given them". That's your part of the covenant. Now, if you do that, what's God's part? That you will always have His Spirit to be with you. Whose spirit? That's Jesus Christ's. We're not talking about the Holy Ghost there. That's talking about the Spirit of Christ. You can ALWAYS have His spirit to be with you. Now, let me ask you a question. If you're walking minute by minute, day by day, hour by hour, in the light and truth of Christ's Spirit, do you have power? So, if Satan can twist that around and pervert that, or even remove it out altogether, so that people think, "There's no need for sacrament"...not all Christians have sacrament. Not all Christians partake of the bread and water. And, even as (student) said, if you don't do this His way, it doesn't matter anyway. It has to be officiated with authority. So, covenants represent power. Let's go back to the Title Page. So, what is the BOM all about? What does it say? "...that they may know the covenants of the Lord" (#2) "...that they are not cast off forever ". This is the second purpose of the BOM. Number 2: Know that we are not cast off forever. And my question is, "What the heck is that all about?" What is that?? Because, the Book of Mormon is restoring to us a purpose. One of them is that we can know that we're not cast off forever. My question is, "Are we cast off right now?" Because, the BOM says, 'the purpose is to show you that it won't last forever'. That must mean that you are now, but that it is only designed to be temporary. How are you cast off? You're cast off through the "fall", called Adam. And, through the fall, you become something that Mosiah called "a natural man". That's what you inherit. This is your inheritance from the 'fall of Adam'. What is the natural man? He's an enemy to God. Now we're starting to say, "Oh, my gosh, the Book of Mormon is to teach me that I'm not cast off forever." First of all, that doesn't make any sense, unless you know that you're cast off at all! "Who cares about forever! I didn't know I was cast off." The BOM doesn't use the words "cast off". It uses the words "lost and fallen". For how long? It does use: 'forever, without Christ's Atonement'. Let me show you something, brothers and sisters. No other book, even the D&C and POGP, explains this doctrine right here, as good as the BOM. You really learn what happened to you when you came into this life. The BOM teaches you that. But, the good news is, with that knowledge, you get hope. There's hope that comes from the BOM, because you find out that this is all temporary, but it's a part of the plan. So, this 'being cast off' has to be? Yes or no? It does. I like what the Brethren have said, that the 'Fall' was a 'fall downward and forward'. You fall down, but in the process of coming down, you move forward. "Adam fell that men might be". There's your 2-step. Isn't that a wonderful thing? The BOM, more than any other book, explains that. Let me read to you a statement by President Ezra Taft Benson: President Ezra Taft Benson ( ) observed that just as a man does not really desire food until he is hungry, (You're not going to want food unless you're hungry, right?) so he does not desire the salvation of Christ until he knows why he needs Christ." (If you don't think you are lost and fallen, if you don't believe you're in this situation, do you think there's a need to be rescued? As long as you think you're okay, you have no need of an atonement.) "...No one adequately and properly knows why he needs Christ until he understands and accepts the doctrine of the Fall and its effect upon all mankind. And no other book in the world explains this vital doctrine nearly as well as the Book of Mormon. One of the most important expositions on the Fall in the Book of Mormon was delivered by King Benjamin, who shared the doctrine he received from an angel of God."

6 Isn't that wonderful? So, can anybody understand the Atonement of Christ, the rescue, if they don't understand the Fall first? So, what do you do in "Preach My Gospel"? What do you teach first? Do you all run right out there and teach the Atonement of Christ, "the rescue"? The Book of Mormon sequence is...do you want to be a good BOM missionary? Want to be an Alma, Amulek, son of Mosiah? Here's the sequence: Creation. Fall. Atonement. Just like that! Boom, boom, boom! That's the way it's taught. Let's go back to the Title Page. We may know that we are not cast off forever. This is temporary, and it's necessary. The last part: "And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile (3) that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ." The Book of Mormon purpose is to teach you that Christ is not just the Christ, but that Christ is the Eternal God! What does that mean? We've read this a hundred times, haven't we? If you don't get anything out of our BOM class, other than this, learn to slow down and look at every word, and ask the question, "Why did Mormon put that in there? What does this mean for mean? Who are they talking about? How can I apply this in my day?" Otherwise, the BOM just becomes a nice history book! So, what does the statement mean that "Jesus Christ is the Eternal God"? (Student response not understood) Who created the earth? Jesus. So, he created this earth. Only this earth? How many did Jesus create under the direction of the Father? You can't number them! I could take you into the POGP. You take a bottle of sand, and pour just that one bottle upon that table, and if each grain represented the creation of a world, you couldn't even count that. He says, 'Take the grains that make up the whole earth, and it won't be a beginning to my creations.' Here's another reason. Watch this. The 'Eternal God' means also, that he is (and Isaiah calls him) 'The Eternal Father', 'The Prince of Peace', 'The Everlasting Father'. (Student reads verses, indistinguishable.) Who is he talking about here? Christ. Now, what does it mean here, brothers and sisters, another word for father would be 'creator'. Those are synonymous terms: father = creator. I want to take this literally. Is there ever a time where Jesus Christ becomes 'my father'? Yes, he does! I just had this pointed out to me this week, it's so neat! We call each other brothers and sisters. Why do I call you Brother or Sister? Because of what? We're all brothers and sisters, how? Through the Father, in that he created our spirits, and we're all brothers and sisters. That makes Jesus our older brother. What you need to do is graduate from that. That's okay to start out on. But, if your relationship stays with Christ as your older brother, and never gets beyond that, you will never get back home to Heavenly Father, and this condition will last forever. Something has to happen to you where you are "born again" and become a child of Jesus Christ. At that point, you don't look at him any more as your older brother. You now look at him as your father, as your spiritual father. Does that take anything away from the Father? No, it doesn't. It's a process. You need to do that, and come up that way. Well, Brothers and Sisters, those are the three purposes for the BOM, out of the Title Page. Let's go to the witnesses for a minute (The Testimony of Three Witnesses and The Testimony of Eight Witnesses). How many witnesses to we have here? Eleven from here. Now, look on the next page and what does it say? The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. How many do we have in all? Twelve witnesses to the Book of Mormon! If you add God, it's actually 13. Twelve is a very special number. Heavenly Father works with numbers. Did you know that? He has heavenly mathematics. Let me give you some numbers that God uses all the time. Three: and you're going to see that in the BOM. These numbers mean something. They're not just arbitrary. What do you think the next number is? Five. Eight could be, but it's not used very often. What's next? Twelve. Do you ever see these numbers used over and over? Let's take this one right here. It has to do with organizational perfection. The number 3 up here. What does it signify? Complete, unity, etc. If you're seeing numbers to see a sequence of something, 3 will do the job. You won't need 4. Let's look at the next number, 5. Where do you see it? You see it in covenants. For example, the temple. What are the temple covenants? There are 5 of them. 1) Obedience; 2) Sacrifice; 3) The Law of the Gospel; 4) Law of Chastity; 5) Law of consecration. Have you ever seen a fig leaf? A fig leaf has how many lobes? Five. The next time you go to the temple, look at the apron that you put on. The apron has 9 leaves (3 sets). What kind of leaves are they? They are fig leaves. Why figs? Because the fig has 5 lobes. How many covenants in the temple? Five! Numbers all have meanings! Student: How many fingers on your hand? Mike: Five! Have you ever wondered why humans are created with five fingers, and not six? Let's come down to another one: forty. Forty days and forty nights. Ever hear that used anywhere? It doesn't mean that there were actually forty days and forty nights. It's a symbolic meaning, referring to a long period of time. I could be actually that time period, but it's used in the O.T. over and over, so these numbers all have significance.

7 The number 7 means "perfection". "Accountability" is number 8. Right in the very first chapters of the BOM I can show you an example of these numbers meaning things. Go to 1 Nephi 2:6. Lehi and his family leave Jerusalem and they head into the wilderness. 6 And it came to pass that when he had traveled three days in the wilderness, he pitched his tent in a valley by the side of a river of water. My question is: "Why not 4 days?" Did this happen by chance? Nothing happens by chance. Everything is a part of an organization. This is God's work and He speaks in different levels. What does 3 mean? They had gone far enough. Here it says that the number 3 points to what is real, perfect, substantial, complete and divine. I'll give you another example of the 3: Father, Son, Holy Ghost. When you look at these things, as you study your BOM, and you see that two things happen and you know that a third one is coming up, if the third thing happens again, after the first two, you know there won't be a fourth. Three is always enough to get it done, and we'll look at that. Let's go back and let me show you a couple of things about the witnesses of the BOM. Who are the 3 witnesses? Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris. If you want to do something here, make a little note, and let me show you something that I think is interesting to know here. These 3 witnesses here, I'm going to put a little star in red by them, with "excommunicated". All three of them were excommunicated! Now, I'm going to take another color here, orange, and put "re-baptized". How many of them came back? Of the three, David Whitmer never came back. What was their witness of; what did they see? Go down 7 lines of their "witness" and it says: "translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice (So, these men heard the voice of God.) hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true. And we also testify that we have seen the engravings which are upon the plates; (Saw the engravings.) and they have been shown unto us by the power of God, and not of man. And we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, (They saw an angel. Who was the angel? Moroni. They saw him face to face, a resurrected man that died 1400 years earlier.) and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we beheld and bear record that these things are true. Now, what is so significant about the fact that these three men were excommunicated? How is what happened to these three men an evidence of the truthfulness of the BOM? Look what they saw. Did any of them ever deny these 3 things? No. Did any of them ever end up being an enemy of Joseph Smith? Yes, all three! Oliver Cowdery, bless his little pin-head, when he apostatized, was responsible for a lot of the Missouri mobbings. A lot of what we read about took place in Missouri, and was a direct result of Oliver Cowdery's apostasy. All three of them fell out of favor with Joseph Smith and called him a fallen prophet, and that he had no more the Spirit of God or the Grace of Christ and he was fallen. 'He was a prophet, but he's fallen and not a prophet anymore'. If Joseph Smith wrote that book, as some critics say he did, and these three men who once were his friends, now become enemies to him, would they continue to tell this lie, that 'we heard the voice of God, we saw the engravings, and had an angel visit us? Would they continue to do that, if it was a fraud, a fake? The fact that these men were excommunicated is powerful evidence that what they saw and heard and felt and touched really did happen. You see how that worked? Let's go down to the 8 witnesses. Did any of these 8 witnesses apostatize? Let me give them to you. Christian Whitmer- no Jacob Whitmer- Yes, excommunicated and never came back. Peter Whitmer, Jun.- No (Brothers and Sisters, you're going to see a lot of these names in the first sections of the D&C. These were the pioneers of the early history of the Church. These were the stalwarts. These are the ones that Joseph said, 'I can rely on. They'll always stay with me. I don't have to worry about them'.) John Whitmer- yes, excommunicated, and never came back. (You know what John Whitmer was? He was the Church Historian! He's the one that kept the records of the history of the Church. When he left the Church, he took them with him! And, he wouldn't give them back to Joseph and the Church. Some of those records today, are still in the Whitmer family. They are just now being turned over, 100+ years later. His descendents are coming up and saying, ' This is our great grandpa's records, and we thought maybe you'd like to have them! He was so angry and so upset that he had taken them with him.) Hiram Page- Yes, excommunicated, and didn't come back. (Mike: my mother is a Page, this is my ancestor. I have his original D&C! It was given to him on his 75th birthday.) Joseph Smith, Sen.- No Hyrum Smith- No Samuel H. Smith- No Again, look at this. They just fell out of favor, and their sin was one thing, all the same. PRIDE. I have to tell you, Oliver Cowdery was excommunicated in 1838, and he came back into the Church in During that time, Oliver practiced law.

8 He was a very talented lawyer. While he was practicing law, people all the time said, "Are you the Oliver Cowdery that is written in ole Joe Smith's gold Bible?" And, Oliver would said, "Well, yes, I am." "Well, do you know ole Joe Smith was murdered down there in Carthage, Illinois. Did you know that?" Oliver said, "Good riddance." "Now you can tell us the real truth, because you don't have to worry about him anymore." Know what Oliver would say? "I'll tell you the real truth. I saw an angel. I held the plates. I heard the voice of God. My testimony is written there, and that book is true. Every word of it; no changes." That's what Oliver said and did. He came back and was re-baptized, and the Saints were going from Illinois, down towards the Salt Lake valley, and they were at a place called "Winter Quarters". Orson Hyde was presiding at the church, and Oliver Cowdery rode up with his wife and little daughter, and Orson Hyde (I think Orson Hyde was baptized by Oliver Cowdery...) invited him up to the stand and asked if he would like to address the Saints. He's not a member! He was still excommunicated, for all those years. He stood up in front of the Saints and begged forgiveness and to be re-baptized. He said he didn't want any position or authority, just wanted to be numbered with the Saints. They approved his baptism, he was baptized, and was going to come on out to the Valley with the Saints, but he had to make a quick trip back to Missouri, back to where his relatives were in Richmond, and he would visit them, then turn around and come. When he got to Richmond, he got sick and died. This man right here (Martin Harris) was a bitter, old, angry man! When the Saints left Kirtland, OH, Martin Harris wouldn't go with them. He thought that Joseph Smith had gone astray, and that Brigham Young was a mess, and he was just angry and bitter. So, he stayed in Kirtland, and long after the LDS went out to Utah, Martin Harris was the caretaker of the Kirtland Temple. He lived in a little shack next to the temple. The Kirtland Temple was abandoned, it was in disrepair, it was falling apart, but old Bro. Martin just stayed there, and he kept the grounds and took care of the building. One of the members of the Church was passing through Kirtland, from a mission, going back to Salt Lake City and went back and told Brigham Young what he saw. Brigham said, "You go back and bring Martin out here. Tell him we'll pay his train fare. You tell him it's time for him to come home. We love him, and we want him to come home." Edward R. Stevenson went back, got Martin Harris and put him on a train. He was re-baptized. He stood in the Tabernacle in General Conference and bore the sweetest, most powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon, and died in a place called "Clarkston, Utah", of old age. David Whitmer died and never did come back into the Church. So, are these men "Sons of Perdition"? Are they in the same category as Judas Iscariot? (Student is not understandable.) Did Oliver Cowdery have the Melchizedek Priesthood? Yes he did! He got it in June of 1829! Who put their hands on his head? Peter, James and John! Did Oliver Cowdery have the temple endowment? Kirtland Temple in 1836 we have what we call a "partial endowment". The endowment we have in the temple today, brothers and sisters, was revealed a bit at a time. It was not all given at once. In the Kirtland Temple they had what they called "Washings and Anointings". But, they did not have the Endowment that you and I have, and never did see that Endowment like you and I have, for the people, until after Joseph's death. Brigham Young is really the one that completed the restoration of the Endowment. Joseph Smith had all the powers and authorities, and before he died, (after he gave Brigham his Endowment in the upstairs room of the store) he said to Brigham, "This is pretty close, but it's not quite complete yet. I'm not going to be able to finish it off. You finish it off, and make it ready for the membership to use." He knew he was going to be killed. Brigham Young did. So, Oliver Cowdery left the Church in 1838, and was later re-baptized and only lived a couple of months after that. Did he have/receive the Endowment blessings? No. Did any of these men receive their Endowment blessings? (This man (??) may have, but I don't know for sure.) You see, without those temple blessings, the accountability is not so deep. Serious, but not so deep. I wonder how many of us would have stood by the prophet Joseph Smith, in those days. I'd like to tell you, "I would. Boy, I'd stand with him." They all said that at one time, until the mobs and the persecutions, and the murders, the rape and the burning, theft, and everything that went on in those days. Did you know that out of the original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, there were only two that didn't turn against Joseph?!! Ten out of the twelve original apostles turned against the prophet Joseph Smith. Most of them repented and came back, and became great leaders. But, ten of them turned against the Prophet J.S, and fought against him, and called him a fallen prophet. The only two that didn't were Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. Those were tough times, hard days. Let's go to the first Book of Nephi for our last few minutes. Let me show you a couple of fun things. In a court of law, you have to do two things in order to prove a point. What are these two things? Witnesses and evidence. How about the BOM? How many witnesses do we have? Twelve, and one from God, himself. What's the physical evidence? The book itself! This is the best part of missionary work. When I present the Book of Mormon to somebody, I look them right in the face and say, "I can't prove this book is true. I wasn't even born when Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. I didn't see it. I wasn't around. I didn't see the Urim and Thummim. I didn't see the gold plates. I didn't hear God's voice, or see Moroni. I can't prove a thing to you! All I can do is say, do what I did. I took that book and read it, pondered it, and prayed

9 about it. I found out by the power of the Holy Ghost that it's true. Now, you do the same thing, because that is the only way. Isn't that neat? I don't assume any responsibility for you knowing the Book of Mormon is true. All I am is a missionary, and a great storyteller. I tell the story of the restoration. I tell the story like this. I've prayed about it and found out it's true. You do the same! Here's the book, and I'll help you along the way. But, you will have to find out for yourself. When you do, you'll know that those things took place 170 years ago, as if you had seen them with your own eyes. In the Book of Mormon you've got to look for symbols. In all scriptures we learn about them. Let's look at the heading, and write some things about it. "The First Book of Nephi. An account of Lehi and his wife Sariah, and his four sons, being called, (beginning at the eldest) Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. The Lord warns Lehi to depart out of the land of Jerusalem,..." Let's put up: land of Jerusalem. (Let's just find the key parts of this.) "...because he prophesieth unto the people concerning their iniquity and they seek to destroy his life. He taketh three days (There's that 3 again.) journey (Where?) into the wilderness with his family." (Let's go a bit further.) "Nephi taketh his brethren and returneth to the land of Jerusalem after the record of the Jews." Record of the Jews. "The account of their sufferings." (Sufferings where? In the wilderness. Did they suffer?) "They take the daughters of Ishmael to wife." (Gained wives/marriages. Let's go further.) "They take their families and depart into the wilderness. Their sufferings and afflictions in the wilderness. The course of their travels." (Let's go a bit further.) "They come to the large waters." (You're saying, "What are you doing Elder Stroud? What is this all about?) "Nephi s brethren rebel against him. He confoundeth them, and buildeth a ship." "They call the name of the place Bountiful." (This is where they built the ship.) "They cross the large waters (And land where?) into the promised land". Now, what I've done is broken that heading down into ingredients. What I want to show you here is, and I'm going to leave this with you tonight, write this down, and you have a homework assignment. Here's your homework... That right there is the complete "Plan of Salvation", symbolically. I'm going to give you one clue, and then next week you're going to tell me what this is. Here's a clue: Jerusalem is symbolic of heaven/pre-mortal life. Isn't this fun?!! And, I want you to notice that this is a step-by-step breakdown of the plan of salvation, from the pre-mortal life all the way through to the Celestial Kingdom. So, where's the Celestial Kingdom on this? (Students: The promised land.) Oh, you figured that one out! That was easy, right? So, the promised land is the Celestial Kingdom. Are you seeing anything yet? Let me throw one more in there for you. It isn't in this heading, but if you look right in here...they traveled into the wilderness for how long? They left for three days and then went back to get the plates. But, they spent a total of how much time in the wilderness? From the time they left Jerusalem, to when they got on the ship and sailed across the ocean, do you know how much time they spent? Eight years! Oh, how interesting. Why eight? Why not five, or nine? (Student mentions the Liahona.) Yeah, we could put the Liahona in here. There's all kinds of things in here, but basically, just going from that thing up at the beginning... Let me tell you that at the top of each book heading is an exact word-forword translation off the plates. Down where it says "Chapter 1", those are written by Bruce R. McConkie and others, ie.: Chapter 1 Nephi begins the record of his people Lehi sees in vision a pillar of fire and reads from a book of prophecy He praises God, foretells the coming of the Messiah, and prophesies the destruction of Jerusalem He is persecuted by the Jews. About 600 B.C. (That's modern day.) But the heading we went through, up above, all these book headings, that's right off the plates. Let me show you one other thing, and then I'll quit. Back up to where it says, "The First Book of Nephi", right under it says this: "His Reign and Ministry". In the temple, you have promises made to you. See, there's all kinds of things in here... there is a promise that 'if you are faithful, you will become a king and a priest (men), or a queen and priestess (ladies). What do kings do? They reign. What do priests do? They minister. So, this tells you that Nephi is a priesthood king and a priest. He has the fullness of the Melchizedek Priesthood. We'll talk more about that later. So, there's your assignment, to take this puzzle, and tell me how all these parts we listed are a part of "The Plan of Salvation".