LeGrand L. Baker

It is appropriate, now that we have come to the end of the Book of Mormon, to pause and review the pattern it presents for us. When things are too sacred to discuss openly, they must be discussed in code or not at all. The scriptural discussion of the ancient Israelite/Nephite temple drama was like that, and the ancient scriptures are full of it. Even now, it is not appropriate to discuss it except by using their code. Interestingly, the code is the Israelite drama itself. That is, if one knows the ancient drama, one knows the code. If one does not know the Israelite/Nephite drama, the encoded story is not there. It is not appropriate to discuss the ancient drama here, but it is not inappropriate to examine the scriptures that employ the code to discuss it. We did that is Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord. The first half of the book shows that the Psalms were the liturgy of the Israelite Feast of Tabernacles temple drama, and the second half shows that virtually every sermon in the Book of Mormon was based on the Nephite temple experience. Here are two examples. The first is one we wrote in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord. It is a chapter called “Mormon’s Outline of the Book of Mormon” It is simply a quick outline of the entire Book of Mormon.

The surface text of the Book of Mormon uses the Nephite history as a vehicle to carry their prophets’ testimonies of the Savior and the message of his gospel. The subtext teaches the same testimony and principles, but from the point of view of the of the Israelite/Nephite Feast of Tabernacles temple drama. It focuses on the sequence, covenants, and ordinances of the Nephite drama, throwing a magnificent light on their meaning in the context of priesthood, and of the covenant relationships between Jehovah and each participant in the congregation.

After reading the following outline, it will be apparent how Moroni’s conclusions fit into the overall plan of the Book of Mormon, and that Moroni finished his father’s work just as it should have been finished. If you are inclined, I suggest you read the outline rather carefully.
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Mormon’s Outline of the Book of Mormon

The prophet Mormon followed the same principle. An examination of the subtextual outline of the entire Book of Mormon shows a carefully structured pattern. If one does a hopscotch across the pages of the book and only lands on the major sermons and on an occasional outstanding ecclesiastical event, the following is what one finds:

1) As one would expect, the Book of Mormon begins with the decisions made in the Council in Heaven. During a sode experience Lehi attends a meeting of the Council where Elohim sits on his throne and presiding. Jehovah, who conducts the affairs of the Council, gives Lehi an earthly assignment.
2) Lehi and his family make the necessary preparations to fulfill their assignment. (Much of First Nephi is about their receiving the things requisite for the success of the mission. They included, among others, Nephi’s new dynastic authority, the brass plates, Ishmael and his family, Lehi’s tree of life vision, Nephi’s vision of the tree of life and of his posterity so he could understand the importance and intent of his mission.)
3) They cross the chaotic waters (the ancient symbol of creation as well as of birth) and they go to a new world.
4) When they get there, Lehi teaches his sons about Adam and Eve and the Fall.
5) Nephi’s psalm asks why we have come here when it is so very difficult.
6) Jacob seems to answer that question by teaching about the Atonement.
7) Nephi quotes much of the first part of Isaiah whose underlying message is that God is the God of this world and Satan is not.
8) Nephi concludes Second Nephi by teaching about faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost.
9) Jacob teaches about the importance of keeping covenants
10) Enos teaches that one must pray.
11) King Benjamin teaches his people about the importance of obedience. They make a covenant that they will obey, and they receive a new name.
12) Abinadi teaches Alma the gospel. He does this by explaining the Savior’s sacrifice; then we see Abinadi’s sacrifice also.
13) At the Waters of Mormon the people are baptized. But Alma’s prayer does not mention the remission of sins. This baptism seems to be the token of a covenant that the people will support each other, the church, and the kingdom.
14) When Alma and his followers are in the wilderness, they briefly live the law of consecration.
15) They get to Zarahemla, and in Alma 5 and 7 the prophet sums up many of the principles of the drama and admonishes the people to keep their covenants.
16) In Alma chapters 12 and 13, he teaches Zeezrom about the eternal legitimacy ofpriesthood and kingship.
17) Alma 26 and 29 are psalms about responsibilities of missionary work.
18) Alma 32 teaches how to partake of the fruit of the tree of life, and eventually how to become as a tree of life. (The tree of life was always an important part of the ancient drama. If Alma 32 were not there the whole structure of the pattern would collapse.)
19) When Alma talks to his three sons,
19a) he teaches his oldest son he must keep sacred things sacred.
19b) he teaches the second that he must be true to the law of his own being.
19c) he tells the third about justice and mercy and the importance of the law of chastity.
20) There are many wars in Book of Mormon history as the people struggle to overcome the aloneness of this dark and dreary world. But Mormon chooses to give the most detail about one, which he identifies as a sacred war between good and evil. He introduces it with a whole series of covenants and covenant names (There are always new names associated with new covenants).
20a) Captain Moroni tears off a piece of his coat (after that it is called “garment” so it is the outer of the two—there are always two).
20b) He writes a chiastic poem on it. The poem is a covenant, and he gives it the title of “Liberty.”
20c) At this point Mormon interrupts his narrative to insert the information that those who believe in Christ “took upon them, gladly, the name of Christ,” and are called Christians.
20d) Captain Moroni then identifies the land in terms of its geographical boundaries (measuring it and defining it as sacred space) and gives it the same name as the poem—“the land of liberty.”
20e) The people come and join in the covenant that they will keep the Lord’scommandments and he will preserve them in their Liberty.
20f) Shortly thereafter we are told that the sons of Helaman “entered into a covenant,” and “they called themselves Nephites” (Alma 53:16-17).
20g) It is in the context of these covenants that Helaman tells the story of their part of the war. The point being that all the boys who made and kept their covenants were protected—some were badly hurt, but they all survived.
21) After the war, Nephi, Lehi are baptized with fire and the Holy Ghost.
22) Nephi is given the sealing power—“even that all things shall be done unto theeaccording to thy word “ (Helaman 10:5).
23) Samuel the Lamanite tells the people that the Savior is coming, and urges them to getready to see him.
24) In three days of darkness, the world is cleansed of its unrighteousness (this maps to Jehovah’s restoring Israel and the king after he has been in the Underworld for three days).
25) The Savior comes to his temple just as the king does in the drama.
26) The Savior organizes his church and kingdom, and teaches the people how to keep their covenants (these map to the seventh day of the drama).
27) Then in Fourth Nephi the people do keep their covenants and live the law of consecration (this maps to the eighth day of the drama). In the symbolism, they had returned to the Garden to enjoy the blessings of the eating freely of the fruit of the tree of life (3 Nephi 20:5-9), and the promised millennial reign.
28) The book of Ether is the counterbalance of that story. It shows the destructive consequences when people do not keep their covenants with God.
29) The Book of Mormon’s crescendo is repeated three times near the end of the book. There the reader is taught one must have faith, hope, and charity in order to enter the presence of God (Ether 12:28,39; Moroni 7; and Moroni 10:20-21).
30) Then Moroni reviews the entire drama and in the last verse he says, “I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, … before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah.”
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The second example was written by Moroni as his parting words to us.

28 I declare these things unto the fulfilling of the prophecies. And behold, they shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the everlasting God; and his word shall hiss forth from generation to generation.
29 And God shall show unto you, that that which I have written is true.
30 And again I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift, and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing.
31 And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled (Moroni 10:28-31).

In his final testimony, Moroni reflects, “I declare these things unto the fulfilling of the prophecies.” The verbs in that sentence are all in present tense. It does not say that the prophecies will be fulfilled, but that his declaration is the fulfilling of them.

To understand that requires a definition of “prophecy.” We usually think of it as a prediction about the future, and sometimes it is, but not always.

Prophets speak by the power of the Holy Ghost, and their words are “prophecy.” (Revelation 19:10, Alma 6:8) Their prophecy is their testimony of the Savior and of his gospel, whether it is in the context of the past, the present, or the future. Now, if one removes from Moroni’s use of the word the idea of a projection into the future, then Moroni’s “prophecies” takes on quite a different meaning. He writes “these things unto the fulfilling of the prophecies,” meaning that the prophecy is fulfilled as he writes it. It is also fulfilled as we read it. We will discover that it is a testimony of the Savior and his relationship with the ancient Nephites as was taught to them through their temple drama.

It is very obvious that Moroni had no intention of describing the Nephite drama to inappropriate readers, but it is equally apparent that his intention was to demonstrate to his “beloved brethren” that he knew the ancient drama and that his knowing it gave priesthood legitimacy to what he and his father had written. He presents it in a sequence that is different from that shown elsewhere, but that is part of the encoding. The elements are there. Squaring these elements of the Nephite drama with the correct sequence is the reader’s responsibility.

28 I declare these things unto the fulfilling of the prophecies. And behold, they shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the everlasting God; [God is speaking, so we are listening.] and his word shall hiss forth [“Whisper” is my old dictionary’s synonym for “hiss.” The connotation is that God speaks in a whisper, as a secret or a mystery.] from generation to generation. [God is unchanging so the message will always be unchanging from generation to generation.]

29 And God shall show unto you [Now God is showing, so we are watching.], that that which I have written is true.

30 And again I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ [In the Feast of Tabernacles temple drama, that happened after the coronation ceremony when the king approached the great veil of Solomon’s temple. His standing before the veil is described in Psalm 21.], and lay hold upon every good gift [One lays hold of something with one’s hand.], and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing. [Moroni saw his whole world destroyed by secret combinations. He knows that there will always be such counterfeit oaths and signs, and warns that we must not participate in them.]

31 And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem;

This is a paraphrases of Isaiah, who wrote,

19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead (Isaiah 26:19).

In that passage “awake” means to become mentally alert and alive, and “rise” means to become physically alive. Paul understood the phrase the same way.

14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light (Ephesians 5:14).

When Lehi used the phrase “awake and arise,” he, like Paul, was making it a command. This he addressed to his sons:

13 O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe.
14 Awake! and arise from the dust, and hear the words of a trembling parent, whose limbs ye must soon lay down in the cold and silent grave, from whence no traveler can return; a few more days and I go the way of all the earth (2 Nephi 1:13-14).

The last part of verse 31 refers to a marriage that remains “forever,” and is the ultimate fulfillment of “covenants of the Eternal Father.”

31 … yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled (Moroni 10:28-31).

The marriage ceremony Moroni alludes to here is also a paraphrase of Isaiah, so its imagery comes from his culture rather than from Moroni’s. In the Near Eastern desert, when a man married he gave his wife a tent, just large enough for the two of them. It was then hers, and she was responsible for it. As the children came, she, with the help of the other women, took camel’s hair and beat it into a heavy felt. With this, she made another flap for the tent. As the family grew the tent grew also, so the tent was always large enough for the family. She also added more stakes and rope to secure it so the wind would not blow it away. Isaiah wrote,

1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.
2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.
3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited (Isaiah 54:1-3).

Like Isaiah, Moroni was talking about more than just a single family unit. He wrote,

31 … strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.

“Confounded” is chaos. It is the jigsaw puzzle in a box with no parts connected. “Cosmos” is order where everything is properly connected. Moroni’s promise is that all families will be connected “forever,” “that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.”

If, as I have suggested, Moroni’s words are about the ancient Nephite temple experience, then the next verses are about what one must do after one left the ancient temple. I will examine those next week.

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This is a continuation of our discussion of Moroni’s exhortations in the last chapter of the Book of Mormon.

18 And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that every good gift cometh of Christ.

There is a melancholy ring to these verses as Moroni addresses his “beloved brethren.” When we were reading Moroni 7 I pointed out that throughout the Book of Mormon, “beloved brethren” is always referring to faithful priesthood holders.{1}

By the time of this writing, Moroni has already told us that he is alone, so the only “beloved brethren” he could be writing to is us, who live about 1,600 years after he died. He was not writing to his contemporary Nephites who were in the throws of rebellion and apostasy. Rather he is warning us that we must not follow the path they followed. I wonder if he knew how complex our society would be with our bird-like transportation and instantaneous communication, and our sophisticated scientific assertions that all things were a product of chance and the only standards of excellence are what the individual thinks is in his own best interest—or the “best interest” his superiors can impose upon him.

Ouch! Just that thumbnail description of our time makes it sound really scary. Almost everything about our world challenges the assumptions of reality that were part of Moroni’s world. It is so very appropriate that he writes to us:

18 And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that every good gift cometh of Christ.
19 And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that all these gifts of which I have spoken, which are spiritual, never will be done away, even as long as the world shall stand, only according to the unbelief of the children of men.

That is the point: even in the tumultuous complexity of our world there is a constant that we can rely on to know the truth. Those spiritual gifts — all administered by the power of the Holy Ghost — are the criterion by which one can judge the reality of God and the legitimacy of his religion.

20 Wherefore, there must be faith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity.

But being privy to that reality has a price: Wherefore, there must be faith — The covenants must be in place. If there must be faith there must also be hope — If the covenants, then there must also be the inner assurance that the covenants will be fulfilled; otherwise we can live as though they were already fulfilled. If there must be hope there must also be charity — Charity is the product of our knowing and trusting the Savior’s love for us. If we know his love, then we will love him in return. If we love him then we must love those whom he loves. Otherwise we are not fulfilling our part of the covenants and our hope might be only a self-righteous delusion. When we become convinced that God hates everyone that we hate, then that is sufficient evidence that we are, at best, worshiping a false notion of the real God; or, at worst, worshiping an evil god.

21 And except ye have charity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God; neither can ye be saved in the kingdom of God if ye have not faith; neither can ye if ye have no hope.

Mormon taught his friends,

1 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise (Moroni 7:41).

Having that kind of hope presupposes that one is living in fulfillment of his covenants, and therefore, living as though that promises are a reality. Therefore, Moroni can warn,

22 And if ye have no hope ye must needs be in despair; and despair cometh because of iniquity. {2}

Then, to counterbalance that despair, Moroni offers the ultimate hope.

23 And Christ truly said unto our fathers: If ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient unto me.

As I understand it, the gifts of the spirit are administered according to our needs or the needs of those whom we bless. Therefore it is true that If ye have faith [that is, if the covenants are in place and you act accordingly] ye can do all things which are expedient unto me. Inasmuch as we follow the directions of the Spirit, we can do anything we are directed to do. That promise is repeated many times in the scriptures.

24 And now I speak unto all the ends of the earth—that if the day cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall be because of unbelief.

Belief was not mentioned in Mormon’s triumvirate of faith, hope, and charity; but it an important part of it.

There is a difference between faith/pistis, and belief. Belief is closer to our contemporary meanings of faith and trust. Trust is holding the hand of a friend while walking blindfolded into an unknown place. If faith/pistis is the covenant, and hope is living as thought the covenant were already fulfilled. Belief is walking in the direction of that fulfillment. It is acting on one’s determination to overcome the obstacles that make absolute hope seem impossible. It is trusting that it is wise to live in anticipation of the fulfillment of the covenants. If that belief is done away, then neither faith nor hope is valid, and the appearance of charity may be only a hook to ensnare others with their own good intentions and gullibility.

25 And wo be unto the children of men if this be the case; for there shall be none that doeth good among you, no not one. For if there be one among you that doeth good, he shall work by the power and gifts of God.

When Moroni writes “for there shall be none that doeth good,” he does not mean there will be no nice people, he means that only charlatans will presume to perform the ordinances necessary to salvation. Moroni’s definition of “none that doeth good” is the same as the Savior’s when he spoke to the Prophet Joseph.

19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.” (Joseph Smith-History:1-27)

The problem in Joseph’s time was not that the people were unworthy. Rather, it was:

12 For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it— (D&C 123:12)

Many generations before the Prophet’s time false teachers and leaders changed the gospel and its ordinances to satisfy their own needs. That practice did not stop then, but continues until our time. Moroni had something to say about them as well.

26 And wo unto them who shall do these things away and die, for they die in their sins, and they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God; and I speak it according to the words of Christ; and I lie not.
27 And I exhort you to remember these things; for the time speedily cometh that ye shall know that I lie not, for ye shall see me at the bar of God; and the Lord God will say unto you: Did I not declare my words unto you, which were written by this man, like as one crying from the dead, yea, even as one speaking out of the dust?

That warning is severe, and his message is unbending. But so is his other message. Contrast that warning with his final promise:

34 And now I bid unto all, farewell. I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead. Amen (Moroni 10:34).

There is one gift left that Moroni has not yet discussed. The Lord taught the Prophet Joseph,

7 And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God (D&C 14:7).

After giving us the appropriate warnings, Moroni will now teach us the way to receive that ultimate gift. He will do that by reviewing the ancient Nephite temple drama, then explaining what the Nephites had to do, after they left the temple to become holy, without spot. We will discuss that next time.
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FOOTNOTES

{1} Well, almost always. There is one exception where Alma was scolding the men of the city of Ammonihah:
30 And now, my beloved brethren, for ye are my brethren, and ye ought to be beloved, and ye ought to bring forth works which are meet for repentance, seeing that your hearts have been grossly hardened against the word of God, and seeing that ye are a lost and a fallen people (Alma 9:30).

{2}The Prophet Joseph taught that very clearly:
5 (May 17th, 1843.) The more sure word of prophecy means a man’s knowing that he is sealed up unto eternal life, by revelation and the spirit of prophecy, through the power of the Holy Priesthood.
6 It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance (D&C 131:5-8).

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The Subtextual Code of the Nephite temple drama.

The Book o f Mormon is written in two separate languages, and they are both English. One is the surface text that any literate person can read, and the other is in code. The code is the ancient Israelite/Nephite temple drama, and only those who know the ancient drama can read the code. To everyone else, the encoded text is simply not there. (Some of you know that already, but it still needs to be explained. Because Moroni’s final chapter is heavily encoded, our knowing about the code is an important key to understanding what Moroni wishes to tell us.)

The surface text, the one that even children can read, is amazing. It carries a promise that the Holy Ghost will testify to one’s soul that the message is truth. Millions of people can attest that, for themselves, personally, that promise has been fulfilled.

The subtext simply expands that testimony to those whom Nibley called “the initiated.” An example of the subtext is Lehi’s admonition to his sons in 2 Nephi 1:10.

10 But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise—behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is just shall rest upon them (2 Nephi 1:10).

The most obvious encoded part is between the dashes.

The Psalms were the text of the ancient Israelite temple drama. With the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews had lost their Temple, and their king, and the prophets who held the Melchizedek Priesthood (like Lehi). After their return from exile in Babylon, the Jewish leaders no longer celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles temple drama and they rearranged the Psalms so people could not read them from beginning to end to discover the story they once told. In Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, Stephen and I put many of those psalms back in their original order to reconstruct much of the ancient Israelite temple drama. It was not difficult to do. The outline of the story, as had been shown by Mowinckel, Johnson, and others, was the “cosmic myth” or “hero cycle.” So all we had to do is aline the parts of the Psalms with the parts of that ancient story. We discovered that they fit perfectly. All that is explained in the Introduction of Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord.

The reconstructed Israelite temple drama is in “Part 1” of our book. “Part 2” shows that the sermons in the Book of Mormon are based on the Nephite temple experience. That is also true of the sermons that are addressed only to us, such as the concluding chapters of 2 Nephi and this final chapter of Moroni.

A wonderful thing about the translation of the Book of Mormon is that it is written in King James English. Consequently the Israelite temple-code words in the Bible map perfectly to the Nephite temple-code words in the Book of Mormon.

In the scriptures there are two kinds of code words: The first are those which were intended to be code and could only be understood by the initiated. Isaiah 61 is a splendid example of that. {1}

The second kind of code words are those that were not intended to be code but were clearly understood when they were first written. Pistis, translated “faith,” is a good example. In New Testament times it was understood to mean covenant or contract. However, by the end of the first century Christians had lost the terms of the covenants, so faith came to mean something like “to believe without evidence.” A careful study of “faith” in the Book of Mormon shows that it retains the original meaning of pistis. The result is that, for us, “faith” became a New Testament and Nephite temple-code word even though the authors who used it never intended it to be code.

Another example is “mystery.” The Greek is mysterion, which means “silence imposed by initiation into religious rites.” (Strong 3466) {2}

New Testament authors used it to mean either the early Christian temple rites (as in Mark 4:11, Romans 16:25, Ephesians 3:9, 1 Timothy 3:9.) or to mean premortal covenant ceremonies (as in Ephesians 1). Mystery has both meanings in the Book of Mormon. A relevant example is Alma’s statement about the burden of knowing the mysteries.

9 And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him (Alma 12:9).

In the New Testament, “faithful” is another. The word is pistos and means those who keep their covenants. So when Peter or Paul address the “faithful in Christ Jesus,” they are writing to Christians who are keeping their covenants.

Our knowing that information about the audience is an important key to understanding what is being said.

Such words are not so much code as they are keys for us to understand who was being addressed. “My beloved brethren” is a similar kind of phrase in Book of Mormon. It is always a reference to faithful priesthood holders (as in 2 Nephi 31-33, Alma 5 & 7, and Moroni 7).

Another example in the Book of Mormon is the phrase “these things.” In the great majority of instances of its use by Book of Mormon authors, “these things” means “these sacred things.” Sometimes (as in 1 and 2 Nephi, and Jacob 7:5) it is a reference to the things the prophet saw in a vision, but usually (as in Mosiah 4:10) it is used to simply call attention to the things the audience understands to be sacred. For us, the phrase is another kind of identification code to help us know the context of what is being said by knowing the audience to whom it is addressed.

Moroni used words very carefully when he wrote his final chapter of the Book of Mormon, and it is apparent that his words were translated into English with equal care. Moroni writes,

1 Now I, Moroni, write somewhat as seemeth me good; and I write unto my brethren, the Lamanites; and I would that they should know that more than four hundred and twenty years have passed away since the sign was given of the coming of Christ.

2 And I seal up these records, after I have spoken a few words by way of exhortation unto you.

That explanation, that he intends to write “by way of exhortation,” should not be taken lightly. Every individual section of this chapter includes something like “I would exhort you.” Then, true to his words, he admonishes his readers to be true to their covenants. There are eight of these exhortations. They are a kind of last will and testament given as the most important things Moroni could teach us. They are in sequence, each building upon the previous one until they reach a crescendo in the last verse. The first begins:

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them,

In the next verse, his exhortation is “when ye shall receive these things.” One “receives” these things differently from the way one reads them. There is an important actual difference between reading and receiving. We can find the phrase “these [sacred] things” sprinkled throughout the Book of Mormon. But even so, as he suggests here, not everyone will read them. His words remind us of John the Beloved’s frequent admonition in his writings, “He who has ears let him hear.” Moroni’s statement is:

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.

Moroni’s reference to “the creation of Adam” is a quiet reminder of “these [sacred] things” that permeate his father’s writings.

The next verses, 4 and 5, are often called “the promise of the Book of Mormon.” They are the key to having a testimony of the Prophet Joseph, the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, and the restoration of the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is likely that these are the most frequently quoted passage of LDS scripture. (They are quoted every day by thousands of missionaries all over the world.) My suggesting that there is another, but subtextual meaning to those verses is intended to enhance rather than to diminish the importance of their magnificent promise.

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.

6 And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is.

That is Moroni’s testimony: that “these [most sacred] things” have a single focus and that is to enhance our understanding, appreciation, and love for the Savior. The promise is that “by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things,” and the admonition is:

7 And ye may know that he is, by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever.

Moroni’s next exhortation is “ I exhort you, my brethren, that ye deny not the gifts of God.” I’ll try to discuss those gifts next week.
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FOOTNOTES

{1}You can find a discussion of Isaiah 61 in the this website, under “scriptures” then “Old Testament.”

{2} There are several versions of Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. They have Greek and Hebrew dictionaries keyed to the words in the concordance. I have a first edition that actually tells what the ancient Greek meanings were. A reprint of that edition is still available. I also have a new version called The Strongest Strongs which tells how its authors expect Protestants to understand the words. Their definition of mysterion reads, “Mystery, secret, often refers to a misunderstood part of the OT that, with Christ’s coming, is now unveiled: mystery.” I don’t read Greek, but I would be amazed if Plato actually understood the word to have anything to do with the misunderstood parts of the Hebrew Old Testament. My point: if you are going to buy a copy of Strong, be sure it has the kind of definitions that will be useful to you.

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17 And I am filled with charity, which is everlasting love; wherefore, all children are alike unto me; wherefore, I love little children with a perfect love; and they are all alike and partakers of salvation.

This passage is an appropriate followup to Mormon’s discussion of charity in Moroni 7. His statement that charity “is everlasting love” is also a perfect definition. It not only moves charity through this life’s experiences and into the eternities beyond; it also makes charity the defining characteristics of the righteous in the premortal world. Last week I wrote that charity was the almost-tangible light that defines who we are (or, the lack of it defines who we are not). Here Mormon’s simple definition tells us that has always been so, and will always be. Our eternal Self is the light/love that defines us.

Mormon 8 is one of my favorite chapters because it celebrates the perfect innocence of little children and answers with absolute clarity the question of whether little children need baptism. It begins by Mormon quoting a revelation he received from the Lord.

7 For immediately after I had learned these things of you I inquired of the Lord concerning the matter. And the word of the Lord came to me by the power of the Holy Ghost, saying:
8 Listen to the words of Christ, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Behold, I came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; the whole need no physician, but they that are sick; wherefore, little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them in me, that it hath no power over them; and the law of circumcision is done away in me.
9 And after this manner did the Holy Ghost manifest the word of God unto me; wherefore, my beloved son, I know that it is solemn mockery before God, that ye should baptize little children.

It is my belief that when babies are born they are not cut loose from the people they loved. Rather, I believe they come into this world with a knowledge of the premortal spirit world they just left, and that they are accompanied by a person or persons who loved them there. That belief is substantiated by experiences with my own children, their experiences with my grandchildren, and experiences my friends have related to me about their babies. I suspect that many or most of you who are parents believe that also because of what you felt and learned from your little ones.

In Section 93 the Lord explained that the innocence of little children is a blessing of the Atonement.

38 Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God (D&C 93:38).

I read that to say that we were innocent twice. Once when we were born spirit children of our Heavenly Parents, and the second time when we were born here in our “infant state.” That presupposes that we became un-innocent after we were born as spirits so that we had to repent and accept the blessings of the Atonement in order to become innocent again in preparation to our coming into this world.

The scriptures repeatedly testify that God’s laws do not change. In this world there are established covenants one must make, and ordinances one must perform in order to be qualified to accept the full blessings of the Atonement. That is also true in the next world. Consistency and continuity insist that also must have been true in the world from which we came.

That explains why and how the Savior’s Atonement could enable us to come here free from sin, without bringing any baggage with us from our premortal past.

I also believe that the “war in heaven” was not just about voting with the Savior on the issue of free agency. Everything I understand about the need for covenants, and their validating ordinances convinces me that the pattern is eternal. That the laws of justice demand continuity in all things and that it is the consistency of the covenants and ordinances that enable that continuity. If that is true in this world and the next, then it follows that it must have been true in the premortal spirit world. We must have made the covenants and received the ordinances that enabled us to receive the blessings of the Atonement in preparation for our coming here as innocent babies.

I believe we came here bringing only three things with us.

One is our agency. That is a given, without it we would not exist (D&C 93:30).

One is our personality. We have been working on that for eons, and it will not change now. Again, those of you who are parents can attest with me that the personality of a baby persists even through the experiences of childhood, teenage years, and beyond. Even if one lives in an environment that causes one to suppress his personality, it will assert itself again when that pressure is relaxed, and it remains the same throughout his lifetime and into the eternities.

The third is our integrity. It is our integrity that is challenged in this life. We all made the necessary covenants and accepted the ordinances that validated our premortal repentance so we could be innocent when we came here. However, then, as now, there is a long spectrum of reasons why one would obey and keep the commandments. On one end of that continuum is the love of God and his children that causes us to want to bless and receive blessings so we may all be saved. On the other end of that continuum is the awareness that advantage comes from obedience – from performing the right performances – so some obeyed in order to get those advantages. When they come here they work out the logical conclusions of those reasons (if there is not sufficient opportunity in this life, then there will be in the next). If one obeyed because he loved, he will still love. However, if one obeyed because he sought advantage then he will still seek advantage. But there is a difference. In our premortal spirit world it was apparent that advantage came through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. In this world we forget that, so we may seek to use other people in order to achieve the temporary advantages this world offers to us. Thereby we define ourselves more clearly than we ever could if we could remember the world from which we came. {1}

Agreeing to come here without the benefit of memory, requited a tremendous trust in the Savior. The promise was surely given then, as it is repeated in Mormon’s letter,

12 But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a respecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism!

Because of the Savior’s Atonement we bring into this life no memory of our prior experiences. This is absolutely necessary. If we remembered now what our decisions were based on then, we would continue to act on the information we had then. If that were so, we would not be independent here to act for ourselves according to our basic nature. But because we forget, we are free.

The other blessing that comes from our forgetting is that this is an entirely fresh start, So if we obeyed for the wrong reasons there, there is nothing here that traps us in those earlier decisions. Here we can change and, again by virtue of the Atonement, we can become exactly what we choose to be and we will have sufficient opportunity to do that before judgement day.

The third advantage of coming here without memory of our past is that the healing blessings of the Atonement remain with us during our formative years. Little children cannot sin. Therefore, Mormon wrote,

19 Little children cannot repent; wherefore, it is awful wickedness to deny the pure mercies of God unto them, for they are all alive in him because of his mercy.
20 And he that saith that little children need baptism denieth the mercies of Christ, and setteth at naught the atonement of him and the power of his redemption.
23 But it is mockery before God, denying the mercies of Christ, and the power of his Holy Spirit, and putting trust in dead works.
24 Behold, my son, this thing ought not to be; for repentance is unto them that are under condemnation and under the curse of a broken law.

To the Prophet Joseph, the Lord gave very careful instructions about parents’ responsibilities to teach their children and when the children should be baptized. He said,

25 And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents.
26 For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized.
27 And their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins when eight years old, and receive the laying on of the hands.
28 And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord (D&C 68:25-28).

Before we reach the age of accountability, the sights, sounds and events of this world crowd out the previous world from our memories. Those memories are replaced by the instructions and experiences we receive from our parents. So when we become capable of making our own decisions, those decisions are largely based on what we have been taught by our parents. Mormon is clear about that.

10 Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach—repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children.
11 And their little children need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins.

While it is true that little children cannot sin, it is equally true that adults can both sin themselves and impose the consequences of their sins upon the children. As my friend Scott Daniel says, “There must be a special place in the darkest corners of hell for people who corrupt the innocence of children.”

One of the most informative chapters in the scriptures that deal with our premortal existence is Section 93 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Much of what I have written today has been about verse 38, that says children are innocent because of the Atonement. But when we put that verse back in context, then it becomes an introduction and justification for the chiding the Lord was about to give to the leaders of the church. It says:

38 Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God.
39 And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers.
40 But I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth.

Frederick G. Williams, you have continued under this condemnation; You have not taught your children light and truth….

Sidney Rigdon, … hath not kept the commandments concerning his children

Joseph Smith, Jun., … I will call you friends, for you are my friends, Your family must needs repent and forsake some things,

Newel K. Whitney … set in order his family, and see that they are more diligent and concerned at home (D&C 93:38-50).

It appears that the whole purpose of the explanation about our premortal life that is found in the beginning of Section 93 was to set the stage for explaining to those brethren why is was imperative that they “bring up your children in light and truth.” As such, it is another witness of the truthfulness and importance of Mormon’s letter to his son.
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FOOTNOTE

{1} Two scriptures that show that some people retain their evil intent after they come to this world are Moses 5:18-26 and Jude 1-6.

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