Zoram, an individual noticed and blessed by God

Watching an animated video about getting the Plates of Brass from Laban, I noticed that Zoram, Laban's servant, is portrayed as a bungling fool.  I was not amused.  I got thinking about it.  Zoram was a trusted servant of Laban, entrusted with all things important to Laban, including the Plates.  He must have been a devout Jew, because in 1 Nephi 4:22 "And he spake unto me concerning the elders of the Jews...." and verse 27 "And he spake unto me many times concerning the elders of the Jews...."

If he had gotten away from Nephi and gone back to Jerusalem, he would likely have been blamed for the death of Laban or at least for the loss of the Plates, since he alone had access to the Plates, and would have been executed.  If not, he would likely have been killed when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians.  If he were wicked as Laban and many in Jerusalem were, what would it matter if he had been allowed to return to Jerusalem and suffer either of those fates?

Nephi's taking Zoram with them saved his life, which also gave him posterity he would not have had in Jerusalem.  In Jerusalem he was virtually a slave to Laban, a no one of consequence, and would not have been allowed to marry.  He remained loyal to Nephi all his life rather than joining Laman, as the sons of Ishmael did.  It is my belief that Zoram was blessed by the Lord to go with Nephi, because he was righteous, and the Lord knew it as well.

This leads me to my final conclusion.  The Lord knew Zoram individually and saved him, even though he was not a prophet like Lehi.  The Lord also knows each of us individually.  He knows our true desires and efforts.  He will protect, bless, and save us, if we are faithful and do our best to obey Him.  Don't ever think your life or efforts are unnoticed by Him.

The Truth About Christopher Columbus

I wish I had known of this very good essay in the 1992 Ensign and on the Church's website about Columbus before last Monday, Columbus Day, so that you could study it on that day.  I strongly urge you to read this to clear up myths and and malign-ments about him.  He was an imperfect mortal, who was an instrument in the hand of God for the benefit of all mankind and the furtherance of the Lord's work.  There are many things I did not know before reading it today.  Please read it.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1992/10/columbus-and-the-hand-of-god?lang=eng

What Will You Do When Your Faith is Challenged?

What will you do when your faith is challenged?  Faith can be challenged in many ways – not just a challenge to your testimony of God and His Church.  The Savior’s faith was challenged in three different ways after He had spent 40 days fasting and getting ready for His 3 year ministry.  His faith was challenged by His appetite first.  He was challenged by a dare, and then challenged by ambition.

It’s fine to think we’ll just hold on when challenges arise, but I remember thinking I could hold onto a rope swing while swinging out of a tree like Tarzan without sitting on the stick.  It didn’t work, I found out when I lit head first into a pumpkin!  You need to do more than just hold on.  You need to prepare.

When the heat hits the plants in the garden, if I don’t weed around them, deep water them to establish deep roots, fertilize, and soften the soil, the bugs will get to them or the plants will be stressed.  If they survive, they will likely produce little fruit that is of any good.

What can we do to “prepare for the evil day” then?  In my life I’ve had a number of different challenges to my faith.  One was as a senior in high school.  A former student, who was then at the University of Utah and a member of Students for a Democratic Society, came to speak.  I got permission to go listen to him.  I got up at the front of the classroom, so I could ask questions.  When the chance came I did.  I can’t remember what I ask, but after that question, he wouldn’t call on me again.  He said that Brigham Young was a tyrant, and that our parents were misguided – sincere but misled by “the foolish traditions of their fathers,” and that we should become enlightened.  I was frustrated that he would not let me challenge him, but that night as I said my prayers, I suddenly stopped and asked, “Are you there, or am I just talking to the ceiling?”  I then got a definite impression from Him that He was there, and He cared about me.  There were other similar experiences in my teens and younger, in prayer, in service, in study, in music, that helped develop a relationship with my Father in Heaven, so that when challenges came on my mission, my roots were deep enough to handle the heat.

When I first went to college before my mission, there came a time when I thought things were not going right with a number of people I cared about.  I felt it wasn’t fair, and, though I don’t remember all the details now, I actually got mad at God and decided to quit praying, I guess to “show Him!”  How foolish, right!  As one more crisis came I began to think to whom else would I turn?  Where else would I find the truth?  Before nightfall, I humbly begged forgiveness from Him and repented of my pride.

The biggest challenge on my mission was not having a sufficient work ethic.  I wasn’t used to having to work hard, and I struggled with the demands of learning a new language and doing work that wasn’t fun or interesting.  That challenge would take time to overcome, and had I not developed a relationship with God, I would have looked for excuses to leave.  But I do remember that He stayed with me even in my weakness, and when I cried out to Him in my honest despair one night, I felt His presence.  It seemed like He picked me up and held me, comforting me, then set me down again to continue my struggles.

Another challenge came from a minister in another faith.  I told him, among other things that he ignored, that priesthood authority from God was necessary to perform ordinances.  He challenged me back by saying that all that was necessary was to live the commandments, one of which was keeping the Sabbath “on the seventh day,” and that since I was worshipping on the first day of the week, I was not keeping the commandments and therefore had no authority.  I could not answer him at that time, though I can very well now.  But because I had studied the Book of Mormon, I knew it was true, and if it was true, then Joseph Smith HAD to be a prophet, and the instruction to him about priesthood authority was also true.

Sometimes Satan lets you go a long time between challenges, so that you will let your guard down.  I had been ward clerk and then stake clerk for well over 10 years.  As stake clerk I had drawn the lines for ward divisions and even our stake division.  I felt pretty important.  When we were released, everyone in the stake leadership got new callings – everyone except me.  I was suddenly sitting in the back of the chapel on a hard chair, where for the previous 9 years I had set up front.  I had participated in all the callings and workings of the stake, and now I was nothing, I thought.  I was tempted to wallow in self-pity.  This is partly where covenants are such a strength to us.  I had made covenants with my Father in Heaven, and I knew He lived, so I just kept keeping on, going to church, praying, serving however I could, little as it might be.  I kept working on my weaknesses, repenting of things like wrong attitudes and hurt feelings.

Your prior preparation will make all the difference, particularly on our modern changing battlefield.  It isn’t just study that will do it.  No, it takes developing your spiritual self with spiritual virtues such as patience, long suffering, diligence, forgiveness, dependability, etc.  If we take time in our prayers, and pray throughout the day, to discuss our development, we will be given situations that will develop and prepare us for what will come our way.  Then we will be ready to stand, and having done all, we WILL stand in the evil day.

--> One of the biggest things that kept me on my mission and helped me through all of these challenges was that I loved my family: my parents, my younger siblings, and later my wife and children.  I did not want to hurt them or cause them to falter.  Included in that was that I loved my Father in Heaven as well.  It is my prayer that in the day of preparation, you will each prepare, which means continuous repentance to become ready for the challenges great and small, to cleanse ourselves, that through the sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we will find ourselves becoming like Him and therefore able to live in His presence.  Don’t be afraid.  He will lead you by the hand, guide you, comfort you, and never forsake you.  Trust Him, for after all He is the only name on whom we can trust to bring us back to our Heavenly Parents eternally to go no more out.  I love them.  I love you.  I want us to be happy – together.

Get All the Tools!

Today President Webb, in Stake Conference, spoke about taking his family up a canyon one recent winter evening.  They got stuck in the snow and couldn’t get out.  No one was near.  It was dark.  He tried digging out with his hands, which wasn’t enough.  He was getting really worried when his son mentioned he had put a shovel in under the seat.  Suddenly his worries evaporated, because he now had the tool to get unstuck.

He went on to talk about making sure you have a current temple recommend, because the temple is where we can be safe.  He said, if you don’t have a recommend, decide if you need a tow truck, and if so, who you need to talk to for that help.  If you only need a shovel, such as setting an appointment, use it, and get unstuck.  While I can’t recall all he said, he likened the value of a shovel or other tool you need, to going to church regularly or other things the Lord asks us to do.  If we aren’t doing those things, when we get stuck, we are at the mercy of the elements, and it could be spiritually life threatening.

We need all of the tools the Lord wants us to have to meet the many challenges we have to face.  We can’t beat them without those tools – church attendance, studying the word of God, daily prayer, service, etc.  Please make sure you have all the tools.  We don’t know what challenges we will face along our journey of life.  We need all the tools we can get, and we need them in good repair.  This is what is meant by making sure we have oil in our lamps.

Historic Change

I woke up yesterday morning at 4:00 AM, and the first thought I had as I became conscious was the first verse in the Book of Mormon – I Nephi 1:1

1 I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.

As I thought on this scripture, my mind was turned to the historic change that is taking place this week in the Church.  What is that? – Changing from the 3 hour block to a 2 hour block and increasing the responsibility of the family for their study of the word of God.

When I was a youth, church was at least 4 hours each Sunday.  At 9:00 we had priesthood.  At 10:00 was Sunday School.  In many ways the Sunday School President was the 2^nd most important leader in the ward, since he was in charge of about two hours of the Sunday meetings.  (Describe Sunday School meetings.)  Then late in the afternoon or evening we would have Sacrament meeting.  This schedule required one church building per ward.

In the early 1980s, partly because of the growth of the Church, another historic change happened where we changed to the 3-hour block.  This allowed for more wards to be in the same building at a time, but it also gave more time for parents, if they would, to teach their families the gospel.  It was during this time that Grandma and I felt we should step up to this challenge, and we began working to bring in stories about Church history and our ancestors to add to what was taught at Church.

Now as a Church we are cutting back even further time spent at church, to enable parents to move toward a more celestial family model, where parents take more of the responsibility for teaching their children.  We read in Ephesians 4:11-13

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:

Now our Savior gave all these offices in the Church for what purpose?  Until when?

The change we are going through now is part of that coming to “…the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ….”  The eternal worlds will not be governed by prophets and apostles.  Those are temporary.  The eternal, celestial unit is the family.  We lived as a family before we came to earth governed by our Heavenly parents.  The Lord is preparing a people who will be ready to receive Him when He comes again.  He is pushing parents to become patriarchs and matriarchs to their families.  If we perfect families to this point, Zion will be established.  We will have become like the City of Enoch and ready to receive the Lord in all His glory.  The government will then be upon His shoulders, no more corruption or deception.  At that point Satan will be bound and peace will cover all the earth.

When I was a boy, and with my name, I wanted to be like President David O. McKay and King David before his fall, but during my mission my desires changed to wanting to be like the fathers who raised righteous sons, many of whom became prophets, fathers like Joseph Smith Sr. and Father Lehi who, though not perfect, the Lord could trust to send choice sons and daughters, where they would receive the teachings that would help them to live the commandments and allow the Spirit to guide them the rest of the way to fill their divine missions.

Now I call your attention to Nephi’s words that I began with “…having been born of goodly parents….”  He didn’t say of just a goodly father or mother, but of goodly parents – mother and father.  It is our hope and all our desire that each of you embrace this change by taking the responsibility for the spiritual nourishment of yourselves and your families during this precious hour the Lord has directed to be given you to teach your children every Sunday in all the learning of the Lord.  You won’t be perfect at it, but you will be learning how to run eternal families.

I still remember my father pulling out his missionary chart of the Plan of Salvation and teaching us clear back in Orem when I was only 5 or 6 in Family Home Evening.  Those experiences gave me my foundation.  It left a lasting impact on my life.  God bless you all this coming year, not with ease and plenty, but with what will help you grow and become stronger, becoming truly converted.