Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

130:12-13 – We have another prediction about the civil war, though it is not named as such, saying that it will begin in South Carolina and will probably be over the issue of slavery. The IM says “Section 87 foretells a war between the northern and southern sections of the United States. The Prophet Joseph Smith learned of this impending war on Christmas Day 1832, and these verses written eleven years later are a second mention of the same disaster.” 130:14-17 - There is an interesting part here that shows that JS was just as curious as the rest of us as to when the Savior will come again. JS relates a story to us about a time that he “was once praying very earnestly to know the time of the coming of the Son of Man, when a heard a voice repeat the following: Joseph, my son, if thou livest until thou art eight-five years old, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man; therefore let this suffice, and trouble me no more on this matter.” The Lord doesn’t give a date or time, he does...

130:8-11 - This next part is a very abstract teaching, but my brother helped me make sense of it. Referencing the “white stone” spoken of in Revelation 2:17, JS taught that it “will become a Urim and Thummim to each individual who receives one, whereby things pertaining to a higher order of kingdoms will be made known; And a white stone is given to each of those who come into the celestial kingdom, whereon is a new name written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it. The new name is the key word.” If you think that the idea of holding a small white rock in your hand looking for information, my brother said, imagine all the people looking down at their cell phones all the time. What information can you get from a cell phone? You can find out any kind of information on your cell phone, basically the whole of human knowledge is accessible to you on your smart phone. Now imagine looking at a rock and being able to find the whole of universal knowledge, it’s pretty similar. I t...

Here is another section by Joseph Smith expounding doctrine, the IM gives some interesting background saying, "On the 2nd of April, 1843, the Prophet Joseph attended a meeting at which Orson Hyde spoke and, alluding to the coming of the Savior, said, 'When He shall appear, we shall be like Him, etc. He will appear on a white horse as a warrior, and maybe we shall have some of the same spirit. Out God is a warrior. It is our privilege to have the Father and Son dwelling in our hearts.' At dinner time the Prophet called the attention of Orson Hyde to these statements and told him that he would offer some corrections. Orson Hyde replied that they would be thankfully received, whereupon the Prophet gave the explanations contained in these paragraphs, first privately and afterward in the meeting.' Still later in the evening, after a meeting, the Prophet answered some questions and gave the additional instructions found in Doctrine and Covenants 130:18-23." I don...

Section 129 is pretty interesting, abstract for sure, at least for me. The IM gives background saying, "In the early days of the Church, many were curious about angels, spirits, and resurrected persons. About the time Joseph Smith recorded this revelation, he wrote: 'A man came to me in Kirtland, and told me he had seen an angel, and described his dress. I told him he had seen no angel, and that there was no such dress in heaven. He grew mad, and went into the street and commanded fire to come down out of heaven to consume me. I laughed at him, and said, You are one of Baal's prophets; your God does not hear you; jump up and cut yourself; and he commanded fire from heaven to consume my house.' Doctrine and Covenants 129 describes the difference between angels who have gone through mortality and have been resurrected and those who are still spirits. It also gives three keys 'whereby you may know whether any administration is from God.'" The IM also cites ba...

128:14-18 - I’m sort of confused by what verses 14-18 say with the “spiritual” and “earthy” and “heavenly” and all that. JS quotes Paul as saying, “that they without us cannot be made perfect- neither can we without our dead be made perfect… Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?” The IM gives a list version of what is taught in these verses saying: “1. The salvation of our dead ancestors is ‘essential to our salvation.’” – I have always wondered why that is, but now it makes sense because, of course we value our own salvation, but if we only care about our own fate then that is not a Christ-like attribute. In order to love our neighbor as ourselves, their salvation should be a top priority to us just like our own is, that’s how we become truly Christ-like. “2. Baptism for the dead is the ‘most glorious of all subjects belonging to the everlasting gospel.’ This doctrine shows the love and ...

Section 128 is about baptism for the dead and is another letter from JS to the saints. In the letter he quotes a lot of scriptures from the bible which is interesting because I’m not sure if it’s a common belief among mainstream Christianity, the resurrection and baptism for the dead because I had a conversation with a friend who is a Christian and she was saying, strongly like it’s a fact, that the only opportunity to accept the gospel is in this life, that the bible says so. It was eye opening to me to see that some people actually believed that, it was depressing. 128:1-5 - I had a thought while listening to the IM’s explanation on these first verses that helped me understand the importance of the ordinance of baptism. I’ve always wondered why the act of being baptized was so important, why couldn’t I just accept in my heart that I believe in Jesus and will do what he says? Why do I have to physically be submerged in water? Physically, the water doesn’t make a difference; it ...

Section 127 is a letter from Joseph Smith to the saints, the IM gives background saying, “As early as 10 August 1840, in an address at the funeral of Seymour Brunson, the Prophet introduced the doctrine of baptism for the dead to a startled congregation of Saints. Thereafter it was frequently a topic of addresses of the Brethren, and baptisms for the dead were performed in the nearby Mississippi River. According to the minutes of the general conference of the Church held in Nauvoo on 2 October 1841, however, the Prophet declared it was the Lord’s will that baptisms for the dead stop until they could be performed in His house. The first baptisms for the dead in the uncompleted Nauvoo Temple were performed Sunday, 21 November 1841. By the summer of 1842 persecution had grown to the point that the Prophet Joseph Smith was forced into hiding. This revelation was given while he was staying in the home of Brother Taylor, father of John Taylor. The Prophet sent instructions by letter, as did...

Section 126 is very short as well and is focused on Brigham Young and I have a confession, I’m not a fan of Brigham Young, he was the prophet when men of color stopped being ordained to the priesthood and I always assumed that he was a misogynist because… I don’t really have any real concrete reasons why, I just assumed that. My brother has tried to convince me again and again that this isn’t the case and that he’s really a great guy and I have to admit with what I’ve learned my stance has softened, so I’d like to do more research in order to learn more and have a better attitude about it. The fact that the Lord loved him and trusted him to be in charge of his restored plan of salvation for such a long time says something. The IM gives background saying, “In the month of July 1841, the Apostles began to return to Nauvoo from their missions to Europe, and their coming was a great comfort to the Prophet in his hour of affliction. At a special conference which was held at Nauvoo on th...

I can’t believe that I’m done with section 145, lots of profitable information in there, but it was a beast. Section 125 is only 4 verses and deals with the will of the Lord concerning the saints that were living in Iowa. Apparently, and this is news to me, not all the saints coming from Missouri were able to go to Nauvoo, Illinois. The IM says, “the revelation directing such action came in response to a question about whether they should remain in Iowa or gather to the Illinois side.” The IM quotes Elder Joseph Fielding Smith as giving background saying, “Mr. Galland (the doctor who sold the saints his land in Nauvoo) in a communication to David W. Rogers, suggested that the Saints locate in Iowa, which was a territory; for he thought that they would be more likely to receive protection from mobs under the jurisdiction of the United States, than they would be in a state of the Union, ‘where murder, rapine and robbery are admirable traits in the character of a demagogue; and where ...

124:49-54 - There is a really comforting and important insight that the Lord gives in verse 49 that I think will help us get some perspective. The Lord says, “verily, verily, I say unto you, that when I give a commandment to any of the sons of men to do a work unto my name, and those sons of men go with all their might and with all they have to perform that work, and cease not their diligence, and their enemies come upon them and hinder them from performing that work, behold, it behooveth me to require that work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their offerings.” So this begs the question, why would the Lord command his people to do something that he knows won’t be able to get finished? For their spiritual progression. And what does this verse mean in the context that nothing can stop the work of the Lord? When I think about that question it seems to me to be the same answer, the Lord knows what’s going to happen, he makes arrangements, he makes it so that...

124:18-22 - The Lord makes a very interesting statement here that after Lyman Wight preaches the gospel then “he shall finish his work I may receive him unto myself, even as I did my servant David Patten, who is with me at this time, and also my servant Edward Partridge, and also my aged servant Joseph Smith, Sen., who sitteth with Abraham at his right hand, and blessed and holy is he, for he is mine.” We know that David Patten was killed back in 1838 I think it was, but I didn’t have any knowledge of these other guys so I had to do some research. Apparently Edward Partridge died in Nauvoo in 1840 as did Joseph Smith Sr. It must have been comforting to the Prophet JS to know that the father he loved so much was in such a prominent place in the next life. It also provides some perspective on this life and the eternities. It is comforting to hear that Jesus is in the next life, it’s nice to feel the continuity of our existence, from here to there. 124:23-25 - The Lord commands, by...

124:6-11 - I have to be honest, I’m having a difficult time getting into this section, so that’s a little frustrating, but I am trying. I think one of the reasons is because The Book of Mormon has a story line, there is a human aspect, and so it’s a little bit easier for me to follow, but for instance, we’ve jumped at least 2 years in revelations between sections 123 and 124 and there’s not a whole lot, in the scriptures, of filler in between that time. Anyway, I wasn’t able to find explicitly the proclamation that Joseph Smith created to call on the President of the United States and other rulers of nations, I didn’t really look anywhere other than in the IM, but it’s not technically there, there is a large excerpt from a proclamation made by President Ezra Taft Benson in 1975 where he reaffirms “to the rulers and peoples of all nations… that the God of heaven has established his latter-day kingdom upon the earth in fulfillment of prophecies. Holy angels have again communed with m...

Section 124 is very long, 145 verses and when I listened to it, the audio was over 30 minutes long, but there are a lot of good concepts and some that were very specific to that time dealing with the lots of land that the Saints had acquired once they got to Illinois. The IM gives background saying, “Most of the Saints expelled from the State of Missouri during the winter 1838-1839, found their way into Illinois and Iowa. A majority of them went to Quincy, Ill., about 200 miles from Far West, and there they were kindly and hospitably received. Governor Carlin of Illinois, legislators, and private citizens vied with each other in proffering assistance and sympathy. Among the prominent citizens who, at this time, extended a helping hand to the Saints were Daniel H. Wells, a native of Trenton, New York, and Dr. Isaac Galland. Daniel H. Wells was the owner of a tract of land, which he divided into lots and which the exiles were offered, practically on their own terms. Dr. Galland, also...

One thing that I think is important to keep in mind about section 123 is that it was taken as “an excerpt form an epistle to the Church dated March 29, 1839,” meaning that these aren’t necessarily words straight from the Lord’s mouth, but instead are from the Prophet’s mouth, thus the difference is writing and speaking styles. 123:1-3 - This section deals mostly with what the Saints are to do in response to their persecutors, which is that “all the saints gathering up a knowledge of all the facts, and sufferings and abuses put upon them by the people of this State; and also of all the property and amount of damages which they have sustained, both of character and personal injuries, as well as real property; and also the names of all persons that have had a hand in their oppressions, as far as they can get hold of them and find them out.” In this they acknowledge what is being done to them and giving it an importance, but is not giving the saints permission to try to get revenge ...

122:5- - Here is where the Lord gets specific in the tribulations that Joseph Smith is suffering at that particular time. There are several instances that the Lord refers to, I’m going to list them out here because they are all very interesting and apply to us. “If: Thou art Called to pass through tribulation Thou art In perils among false brethren Thou art In perils among robbers Thou art In perils by land or by sea Thou art Accused with all mane of false accusations Thine enemies fall upon thee They tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters With a drawn sword tine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father my father, why can’t you stay with us? O, my father, what are the men going to do with you? Then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine ...