The Book of Mormon

1
The Book of Mormon

• www.kevinhinckley.com

2
Honesty

• In a trial, a Southern small-town prosecuting
  attorney called his first witness, a
  grandmotherly, elderly woman to the stand. He
  approached her and asked, 'Mrs. Jones, do you
  know me?'
• She responded, 'Why, yes, I do know you, Mr.
  Williams. I've known you since you were a
  boy, and frankly, you've been a big
  disappointment to me. You lie, you manipulate
  people and talk about them behind their backs.
  You think you're a big shot when you haven't
  the brains to realize you'll never amount to
  anything more than a two-bit paper pusher.
  Yes, I know you.'
• The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to
  do, he pointed across the room and asked, 'Mrs.
  Jones, do you know the defense attorney?
• She again replied, 'Why yes, I do. I've known Mr.
  Bradley since he was a youngster, too. He's lazy,
  bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can't
  build a normal relationship with anyone, and his
  law practice is one of the worst in the entire
  state. Yup, I know him too.
• The judge then asked both counselors to approach
  the bench and, in a very quiet voice, said,
• 'If either of you geniuses ever ask her if she
  knows me, I'll send you both to the electric
  chair.'

3
Question from an investigator

• If the Book of Mormon contains the gospel, why
  is it that it says nothing about the Three
  Degrees of Glory, the Premortal Life, Temple Work
  or Baptisms for the Dead?

4
President Benson

• The Book of Mormon was designed by Deity
  to bring men to Christ.
• First, it tells in a plain manner of
  Christ and his gospelIt testifies of His
  divinity and of the necessity for a Redeemer
  and the need of our putting trust in Him.
• Second, the Book of Mormon exposes the enemies of
  ChristIt fortifies the humble followers of
  Christ against the evil designs, strategies and
  doctrines of the devil in our day.
• Ensign, Jan 1988

5
2 Nephi 28
The Perfect Storm

• Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach
  after this manner, false and vain and foolish
  doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their
  hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their
  counsels from the Lord and their works shall be
  in the dark. And the blood of the saints shall
  cry from the ground against them.
• Yea, they have all gone out of the way they have
  become corrupted. Because of pride, and because
  of false teachers, and false doctrines, their
  churches have become corrupted.

Pride
False Doctrines
False Teachers
6
President Benson

• Not only are there apostates within our
  midst, but there are also apostate doctrines
  that are sometimes taught in our classes and
  from our pulpits and that appear in our
  publications. And these apostate precepts of
  men cause our people to stumble...
• "Christ taught that we should be in the world
  but not of it. Yet there are some in our
  midst who are not so much concerned about
  taking the gospel into the world as they are
  about bringing worldliness into the gospel. They
  want us to be popular with the worldly even
  though a prophet has said that it is impossible,
  for all hell would then want to join us.
• "Through their own reasoning and a few misapplied
  scriptures, they try to sell us the precepts and
  philosophies of men. They do not feel the Church
  is progressive enough." (CR, Apr 1969)

7
Nephi

• And others will he pacify, and lull them away
  into carnal security, that they will
  say All is well in Zion yea, Zion
  prospereth, all is well--and thus
  the devil cheateth their souls,
  and leadeth them away
  carefully down to hell."
  
• (2 Nephi 2821)

8
Elder Oaks

• When we place our trust in our property,
  we have "carnal security."
• In that state of mind we are inclined to say
  that all must be well with us and with Zion
  because we are prospering, thus relying on
  worldly success as a mark of divine favor. He who
  does this is an easy mark for being led
  "carefully down to hell."

9
Elder Oaks Continues

• Some have charged that modern Latter-day Saints
  are peculiarly susceptible to the gospel of
  success and the theology of prosperity. According
  to this gospel, success in this
  worldparticularly entrepreneurial successis an
  essential ingredient of progress toward the
  celestial kingdom. According to this theology,
  success and prosperity are rewards for keeping
  the commandments, and a large home and an
  expensive car are marks of heavenly favor.
• Stock manipulations residential mortgage
  financings gold, silver, diamonds, uranium, and
  document investments pyramid schemesall have
  taken their toll upon the faithful and gullible.
  Whether inherently too trusting or just naively
  overeager for a shortcut to the material
  prosperity some see as the badge of
  righteousness, some Latter-day Saints are
  apparently too vulnerable to the lure of
  sudden wealth.
• Men and women who have heard and taken
  to heart the scriptural warnings against
  materialism should not be vulnerable to the
  deceitfulness of riches and the extravagant
  blandishments of its promoters.
  Pure in Heart, 83-84

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Finally, Nephi warns

• And there are also secret combinations, even as
  in times of old, according to the combinations of
  the devil, for he is the founder of all these
  things yea, the founder of murder, and works of
  darkness yea, and he leadeth them by the neck
  with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with
  his strong cords forever." (2 Nephi 2620-22.)

11
Bro. Ted Gibbons

• I tried to buy some flax thread one day... The
  lady at the counter told me it was nearly
  hopeless. She said something like this
• Flaxen thread is so fragile that it is almost
  useless, unless one is willing to work very
  carefully by hand. A sewing machine will not
  function with so fragile a thread.
• And yet Satan leads the Gentiles about with a
  flaxen cord. He is ever so careful and so
  subtle. We may know when the first loops of flax
  encircle our necks, but we feel no fear. It is
  only flax, and we can break it any time we want
  to. And so the number of strands of flax
  increases, imperceptibly and slowly.
• We hardly notice that the movies and TV shows we
  see this year are more degraded than those we
  watched last year. We become less and less
  shocked by obscenity or vulgarity common
  standards of modesty and decency seem less
  critical than they did to our ancestors.

12
Elder Marion G. Romney

• In 1967 Sister Romney suffered a serious
  stroke. The doctors told then--Elder Romney
  that the damage from the hemorrhage was severe.
  They offered to keep her alive by artificial
  means but did not recommend it. The family braced
  themselves for the worst. Brother Romney
  confided to those closest to him that in spite
  of his anguished, personal yearning for Ida's
  restored health and continued companionship,
  above all he wanted "the Lord's will to be done
  and to take what he needed to take without
  whimpering."
• As the days wore on, Sister Romney became less
  responsive. She had, of course, been administered
  to, but Elder Romney was "reluctant to counsel
  the Lord about the matter.He fasted that he
  might know how to show the Lord that he had faith
  and that he would accept God's will in their
  lives. He wanted to make sure that he had done
  all he could do. She continued to fail.
• One evening in a particularly depressed state,
  with Ida unable to speak or recognize him,
  Brother Romney went home and turned as he always
  had to the scriptures in an effort to commune
  with the Lord. He picked up the Book of Mormon
  and continued where he had left off the night
  before.
• He had been reading in the book of Helaman about
  the prophet Nephi, who had been falsely condemned
  and unfairly charged with sedition. Following a
  miraculous deliverance from his accusers, Nephi
  returned home pondering the things which he had
  experienced. As he did so he heard a voice.
• Although Marion Romney had read that story many
  times before, it now struck him this night as a
  personal revelation. The words of the scripture
  so touched his heart that for the first time in
  weeks he felt he had tangible peace. It seemed as
  if the Lord was speaking directly to him. The
  scripture read
• Blessed art thou, . . . for those things which
  thou hast done. . . . And thou . . . hast not
  sought thine own life, but hast sought my will,
  and to keep my commandments.
• And now, because thou hast done this . . . I will
  bless thee forever and I will make thee mighty
  in word and in deed, in faith and in works yea,
  even that all things shall be done unto thee
  according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask
  that which is contrary to my will. Helaman
  1045

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Elder Romney continued

• There was the answer. He had sought only to know
  and obey the will of the Lord, and the Lord had
  spoken. He fell to his knees and poured out his
  heart, and as he concluded his prayer with the
  phrase, "Thy will be done," he either felt or
  actually heard a voice which said, "It is not
  contrary to my will that Ida be healed."
• Brother Romney rose to his feet. It was past two
  o'clock in the morning, but he knew what he must
  do. Quickly he put on his tie and coat, then went
  out into the night to visit Ida in the hospital.
• He arrived shortly before three o'clock. His
  wife's condition was unchanged. She did not stir
  as he placed his hands upon her pale forehead.
  With undeviating faith, he invoked the power of
  the priesthood in her behalf. He pronounced a
  simple blessing and then uttered the incredible
  promise that she would recover her health and
  mental powers and yet perform a great mission
  upon the earth.
• Even though he did not doubt, Elder Romney was
  astonished to see Ida's eyes open as he concluded
  the blessing. Somewhat stunned by all that had
  happened, he sat down on the edge of the bed only
  to hear his wife's frail voice for the first time
  in months. She said, "For goodness' sake, Marion,
  what are you doing here?" He didn't know whether
  to laugh or to cry. He said, "Ida, how are you?"
  With that flash of humor so characteristic of
  both of them, she replied, "Compared to what,
  Marion? Compared to what?"
• Ida Romney began her recovery from that very
  moment, soon left her hospital bed, and lived to
  see her husband sustained as a member of the
  First Presidency of the Church, "a great mission
  upon the earth" indeed
• (F. Burton Howard, Marion G. Romney His Life
  and Faith Salt Lake City Bookcraft, 1988, pp.
  13742).