Mormon Musings

“We need not become paralyzed with fear of Satan’s power.  He can have no power over us unless we permit it.  He is really a coward, and if we stand firm, he will retreat.  The Apostle James counseled: ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you’ (James 4:7).  He cannot know our thoughts unless we speak them.  And Nephi states that ‘he hath no power over the hearts’ of people who are righteous (see 1 Nephi 22:26).” President James E. Faust - Ensign,  Nov. 1987, 35

Of the  6,607  total verses found in the Book of Mormon,  3,825  reference Jesus Christ’s name.  This means that some form of Christ’s name is mentioned approximately every  1.7  verses. -see Susan Ward Easton, “Names of Christ in the Book of Mormon,”  Ensign , July 1978, 60-61

One of the things that will become more important in our lives the longer we live is the reality of angels, their work and their ministry.  I refer here not alone to the angel Moroni but also to those more personal ministering angels who are with us and around us, empowered to help us and who do exactly that (see 3 Ne. 7:18; Moro. 7:29-32, 37; D&C 107:20)...  I believe we need to speak of and believe in and bear testimony to the ministry of angels more than we sometimes do.  They constitute one of God’s great methods of witnessing through the veil, and no document in all this world teaches that principle so clearly and so powerfully as does the Book of Mormon.  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "For a Wise Purpose,” Ensign , January, 1996, 16-17

Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God,  a save  it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who  b layeth  down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the  c resurrection  of the dead, being the first that should rise. Wherefore, he is the firstfruits unto God, inasmuch as he shall make  a intercession  for all the children of men; and they that believe in him shall be saved. 2 Nephi 2:8-9

Near the end of his ministry, with so much betrayal about him, the Prophet Joseph said to the members, "I never told you I was perfect; but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [Salt LakeCity: Deseret Book Company, 1976], p. 368). His summational statement includes the marvelous Book of Mormon. Though it was not his book, Joseph was its remarkable translator. It was actually the book of prophets who had long preceded him. His intensive labors of translation let these prophets speak so eloquently for themselves-to millions of us!  In fact, more printed pages of scripture have come through Joseph Smith than from anyother human.  Elder Neal A. Maxwell (Ensign, January 1997, p. 41)

We do not have to prove the Book of Mormon is true.  The book is its own proof.  All we need to do is read it and declare it.  The Book of Mormon is not on trial–the people of the world, including members of the Church, are on trial as to what they will do with this second witness for Christ. President Ezra Taft Benson - A Witness and a Warning,  13

A short while before Gethsemane and Calvary, Jesus prayed, "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour." Then, as if in soliloquy, he said, "But for this cause came I unto this hour" (John 12:27). The awful weight of the Atonement had begun to descend upon him. We next find him in Gethsemane. And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray. And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy.  [Mark 14:32–33] The Greek for "very heavy" is "depressed, dejected, in anguish." Just as the Psalmist had foreseen, the Savior was "full of heaviness" (Psalms 69:20). The heavy weight of the sins of all mankind were falling upon him. He had been intellectually and otherwise prepared from ages past for this task. He is the creator of this and other worlds. He knew the plan of salva

"Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me." Alma 32:28

When  Jesus comes  again  in  rem inding  red attire, there will b e  a spectacular solar display a nd  stars will fall from their  places  in  the heavens. What wil l  then be evoked will not be an   exclamation over the solar di splay. Rather,  from human lips  praise will flow for Jesus' lov ing-kindness,  for His perfect  goodness. Then, the scriptures a ssure us  and tell us how long w e  will go on praising Jesus fo r  that Atonement: "forever  and  ever." (Mosiah 2:24; D&C 128: 23.)  The one thing He will men tion  when He comes again in maj esty  and power will have nothin g  to do with how He suffered in   the scourging, nothing to do  with the vinegar and gall or an y  of those things. Instead, His   voice will be heard to say, " I  have trodden the winepress al one,  and none was with me" ( Isa.  63:3).  Incredible alonene ss  lay at the heart of the Grea t  Atonement, and Jesus endured  it, because He let His will be swallowed up in the will of 

His infinite Atonement affected every age, every dispensation and every person (See 2 Nephi 9:7; 25:16).  Hence the appropriate symbolism of Him bleeding at each and every pore--not just some--in order that "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:22). Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign November 1988, p. 33

Being sinless Himself, Jesus  could not have suffered for per sonal  sin nor known what such   a gony  is—unless He took upon Hi m  our sins, not only to redeem  us and to save us, but also in  order that He might know how " according  to the flesh . . . to   succor his people according to   their infirmities." (Alma 7: 12.)  Neal A. Maxwell (All These Things Shall Gi ve  Thee Experience, p.  35.)

5  And men are instructed sufficiently that they  a know  good from evil. And the  b law  is given unto men. And by the law no flesh is  c justified ; or, by the law men are  d cut  off. Yea, by the temporal law they were cut off; and also, by the spiritual law they perish from that which is good, and become miserable forever.   6  Wherefore,  a redemption  cometh in and through the  b Holy   c Messiah ; for he is full of  d grace  and truth.   7  Behold, he offereth himself a  a sacrifice  for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto  b none  else can the  c ends  of the law be answered.   8  Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God,  a save  it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who  b layeth  down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it ag

Christ  said, “I am the true vine, and … ye are the branches.”   2   “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”   3 “Abide in me” is an understandable and beautiful enough concept in the elegant English of the King James  Bible , but “abide” is not a word we use much anymore. So I gained even more appreciation for this admonition from the Lord when I was introduced to the translation of this passage in another language. In Spanish that familiar phrase is rendered “permaneced en mi.”  Like the English verb “abide,”  permanecer  means “to remain, to stay,” but even gringos like me can hear the root cognate there of “permanence.” The sense of this then is “stay—but stay  forever. ” That is the call of the gospel message to Chileans and everyone else in the world. Come, but come to remain. Come with conviction and endurance. Come permanently, for your sake and the sake of all the generation

"Many of the stories of the Book of Mormon are stories of deliverance. Lehi’s departure into the wilderness with his family was about deliverance from the destruction of Jerusalem. The story of the Jaredites is a story of deliverance, as is the story of the Mulekites. Alma the Younger was delivered from sin. Helaman’s stripling warriors were delivered in battle. Nephi and Lehi were delivered from prison. The theme of deliverance is evident throughout the Book of Mormon." -Elder L. Tom Perry, "The Power of Deliverance", General Conference, Apr. 2012

"There is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death." — Mosiah 16:8-9

T he key messages of the Restoration have the power to bring divine feelings to the heart and mind of the earnest seeker of truth, irrespective of the person’s cultural or religious background. There are no geographic or cultural boundaries for the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is not restricted by space, neither is the Spirit restricted by time. We all have witnessed the power of the Spirit, and the scriptures testify of it: “[Jesus Christ] manifesteth himself unto all those who believe in him, by the power of the Holy Ghost; yea, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people” (2 Nephi 26:13).  President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, BYU Education Week, August 22, 2006 http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=11347&x=66&y=10

Now  behold,  my  brethren,  I  would  ask  if  ye  have  read  the  scriptures?  If  ye  have,  how  can  ye disbelieve  on  the  Son  of  God? Alma 33:14

For how knoweth  a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart? Mosiah 5:13

http://lds.org/ensign/2011/10/what-the-book-of-mormon-teaches-about-the-love-of-god?lang=eng

I have testified and do still testify of the truth of the Book of Mormon—that it is an inspired record, the history of a branch of the house of Israel that lived in America; that it does contain the fullness of the Gospel as revealed to them by a crucified and risen Redeemer; and that wherever it goes and its light is permitted to shine, the Spirit of the Lord will bear testimony of its truth to every honest heart in all the world. Wherever that book is candidly perused, the Spirit will bear record of its truth... Parley P. Pratt, Journal of Discourses 5:195