Day 115: Ether 2-3

Thomas S. Monson

“Are we today serving the God of the land, even the Lord Jesus Christ? Do our lives conform with His teachings? Are we entitled to His divine blessings?

Headlines from America's leading newspapers, depicting recent events, pass silently in review, that you and I may judge: ‘Serious Crime Registers 10% Increase in Past Year,’ ‘Violence Rocks South,’ ‘Racial Strife Hits East.’ Murder, rape, arson, burglary, assault, narcotics violations are all on the increase in the America of today. These are the headlines of today's newspapers.

The revered Abraham Lincoln accurately described our plight: ‘We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown; but we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.’ (Proclamation for a National Fast Day, March 30, 1863.)

“Can we extricate ourselves from this frightful condition? Is there a way out? If so, what is the way? We can solve this perplexing dilemma by adopting the counsel given by Jesus to the inquiring lawyer who asked: ‘Master, which is the great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said unto him, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ (Matthew 22:36-39.)” (Be Your Best Self, p. 96-97)

Day 114: Mormon 9 - Ether 1

Mormon 9:4 ye would be more miserable to dwell with a holy and just God…than ye would with the damned souls in hell...

“Later, when I began a serious study of the scriptures, I noticed references to being spiritually clean. One verse says, ‘Ye would be more miserable to dwell with a holy and just God, under a consciousness of your filthiness before him, than ye would to dwell with the damned souls in hell.’ “I could understand that. I remembered how I felt that day in Los Angeles. I reasoned that to be spiritually unclean would bring shame and humiliation immeasurably more intense than I felt then. I found references—there are at least eight of them—which say that no unclean thing can enter the presence of God. While I realized those references had little to do with dirty clothes or soiled hands, I decided I wanted to stay spiritually clean.” (President Boyd K. Packer, Conference Report, May 1997, “Washed Clean”)

"We are responsible for our reactions when we see imperfections in others." - Elder Neal A. Maxwell

“Do you get answers to your prayers? If not, perhaps you did not pay the price. Do you offer a few trite words and worn-out phrases, or do you talk intimately to the Lord? Do you pray occasionally when you should be praying regularly, often, constantly? Do you offer pennies to pay heavy debts when you should give dollars to erase that obligation? When you pray do you just speak, or do you also listen? Your Savior said, 'Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.' (Revelation 3:20.)….The Lord stands knocking. He never retreats. But he will never force himself upon us. If we ever move apart, it is we who move and not the Lord. And should we ever fail to get an answer to our prayers, we must look into our lives for a reason.” (President
Spencer W. Kimball, "Prayer," New Era, March 1978, pp. 16-17)

Day 113: Mormon 8

“I would like to call your attention to one thing in the Book of Mormon. The Lord has promised us greater knowledge, greater understanding than we find in the Book of Mormon, when we are prepared to receive it. When the brother of Jared went upon the mount to have the Lord touch stones to give them light to light their way across the great ocean, the Lord revealed to him the history of this world from the beginning of it to the end. We do not have it.

“…Now the Lord has placed us on probation as members of the Church. He has given us the Book of Mormon, which is the lesser part, to build up our faith through our obedience to the counsels which it contains, and when we ourselves, members of the Church, are willing to keep the commandments as they have been given to us and show our faith as the Nephites did for a short period of time, then the Lord is ready to bring forth the other record and give it to us, but we are not ready now to receive it. Why? Because we have not lived up to the requirements in this probationary state in the reading of the record which had been given to us and in following its counsels.” (President Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, Oct. 1961, pp. 19-20)

Day 112: Mormon 5-7

The end of Mormon, we look back at the thousand years complied in previous books and chapters - the rise and fall of the peoples who once inhabited the Americas. In a few days we will be reading in Ether wherein Moroni compiles their civilization and life in a matter of a few pages. Why the contrast? Because there are many important lessons to be learned from these sacred words. “The tragedy of the Book of Mormon is not what became of the Nephites but what the Nephites became.” (Hugh Nibley, Since Cumorah)

“A loving father does not despise his children. These [Lamanites] are a chosen people, and this Church has an important part in restoring them to their rightful inheritance. The chasm between what they are and what they will be is opportunity. The gospel furnishes that opportunity; it is ours to give.” (President Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, Dec. 1975, p. 7)

“Great nations do not fall because of external aggression; they first erode and decay inwardly, so that, like rotten fruit, they fall of themselves. The strength of a country is the sum total of the moral strength of the individuals in that country.” (President Ezra Taft Benson, This Nation Shall Endure, p. 95)

Day 111: Mormon 3-4

“That is our duty. When we see evil lurking, when we see dangers confronting the people, and especially the Latter-day Saints, it is our duty to raise the warning voice, and not only in behalf of the Latter-day Saints, but to warn all people, for our mission is one that is world-wide, and we should warn all men and give them the opportunity of repentance, of serving the Lord and keeping his commandments if they will. If they will not, then we have saved our souls. We are clear from the blood of this generation. That is our duty.” (President Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, Oct. 1933, p. 61)

Day 110: Mormon 1-2

Regarding Mormon 2:13 "their sorrowing was not unto repentance…it was rather the sorrowing of the damned" is best summed up in the words from Elder Spencer W. Kimball:

“Often people indicate that they have repented when all they have done is to express regret for a wrong act. But true repentance is marked by that godly sorrow that changes, transforms, and saves. To be sorry is not enough. Perhaps the felon in the penitentiary, coming to realize the high price he must pay for his folly, may wish he had not committed the crime. That is not repentance. The vicious man who is serving a stiff sentence for rape may be very sorry he did the deed, but he is not repentant if his heavy sentence is the only reason for his sorrow. That is the sorrow of the world.

The truly repentant man is sorry before he is apprehended. He is sorry even if his secret is never known. He desires to make voluntary amends…Repentance of the godly type means that one comes to recognize the sin and voluntarily and without pressure from outside sources begins his transformation.” (Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 153)

“Recognition is a sacred moment…real remorse floods the soul…False remorse instead is like ‘fondling our failings.’ In ritual regret, we mourn our mistakes but without mending them.” (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Conference Report, Nov. 1991 Ensign, “Repentance”)

“…the natural man never picks up the cross. His is the ‘sorrowing of the damned,’ which involves regret but not necessarily over the sin itself. Instead, it is because these sorrowers can no longer take pleasure in sin (see Mormon 2:13). Quite a difference, for the natural man still clings, not to the cross, but to his old ways” (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, That Ye May Believe, p. 48)

Day 109: 3 Nephi 29 - 4 Nephi

For many years following the visit of Jesus Christ among the people of the Americas, peace, love, and prosperity abounded. This society was living the consecrated life and keeping selfishness and judgment from tainting their society.

“We need to learn, practice, study, know and understand how angels live with each other. When this community comes to the point to be perfectly honest and upright, you will never find a poor person; none will lack, all will have sufficient. Every man, woman, and child will have all they need just as soon as they all become honest. When the majority of the community are dishonest, it maketh the honest portion poor, for the dishonest serve and enrich themselves at their expense.” (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 232)

The First Presidency “Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World”)

Day 108: 3 Nephi 27-28

To be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, much is expected: perfection. However, as daunting as this little-big word sounds, this is a process undertaken one step, one day, one move at a time. It takes practice, failures, success, and humility to move forward. But He is always there for us.

"Hard to do? Of course. The Lord never promised an easy road, nor a simple gospel nor low standards, nor a low norm. The price is high, but the goods attained are worth all they cost. The Lord himself turned the other cheek; he suffered himself to be buffeted and beaten without remonstrance; he suffered every indignity and yet spoke no word of condemnation. And his question to all of us is: ‘Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be’ And his answer to us is: ‘Even as I am.’” (President Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Report, Oct. 1977, p. 71)

Day 107: 3 Nephi 24-27

3 Ne 24:7 Return unto me and I will return unto you...

“It is our conviction that one who accepts the Lord's invitation to return unto him makes no greater sacrifice when he pays his tithing than the farmer does when he sows his seed in the ground. Both require faith, and both bring their reward.” (LeGrand Richards, A Marvelous Work And A Wonder, p. 379)

Day 106: 3 Nephi 21-23

“Your own journal, like most others, will tell of problems as old as the world and how you dealt with them…Your journal should contain your true self rather than a picture of you when you are ‘made up’ for a public performance. There is a temptation to paint one's virtues in rich color and whitewash the vices, but there is also the opposite pitfall of accentuating the negative.

…Your journal is your autobiography, so it should be kept carefully. You are unique, and there may be incidents in your experience that are more noble and praiseworthy in their way than those recorded in any other life…What could you do better for your children and your children's children than to record the story of your life, your triumphs over adversity, your recovery after a fall, your progress when all seemed black, your rejoicing when you had finally achieved?

…Get a notebook, my young folks, a journal that will last through all time, and maybe the angels may quote from it for eternity. Begin today and write in it your goings and comings, your deepest thoughts, your achievements and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies. Remember, the Savior chastised those who failed to record important events.” (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, pp. 350-1)

Day 105: 3 Nephi 20

"Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord." This means all people who wish to take upon them the name of Christ and fulfill His mission upon the Earth must be cleansed in the inside as well the outside.

“Be clean. Be clean in your thoughts. It is not easy in the environment in which you live. But if you work at it, you can do it. You can shut out those influences which destroy your soul, your spirituality, and can destroy your very life. The sleaze, the filth, the terrible pornography that is sweeping over the earth like a flood--stay away from it. Do not rent videos of a sleazy, filthy nature and sit around and look at them. They will destroy you. Do not go to shows which will tear down your principles. Do not read literature which will destroy your high ideals. You are a son or daughter of God, and He expects marvelous things of you.” (President Gordon B. Hinckley, September 15, 1996 as taken from Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, “Virtue”)

Day 104: 3 Nephi 18-19

Here we have a rare opportunity to read the words Jesus used in His prayers to the Father. We should follow the same pattern remembering the Spirit should guide our prayers. To quote Elder Bruce R. McConkie: "Perfect prayers are those which are inspired, in which the Spirit reveals the words which should be used." By beginning with pouring out our hearts in gratitude, we humble ourselves before the Lord and invite the Spirit into our lives. Then we will not ask amiss.

“…It is necessary for us thus to place our desires and needs genuinely and unselfishly before God in prayer. It is in this process of placing our desires before Him, to a greater extent than we usually do, that we can listen and learn concerning His will. Such could not be done if we were ritualistically submissive or only partially involved.

Of course, after we place our petitions before Him we are to be submissive: ‘Thy will be done.’ But this is the last part of the process of petition, not the first.

Learning to pray is, therefore, the work of a lifetime. If we keep on praying, we will keep on discovering.” (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, That Ye May Believe, p. 179)

Day 103: 3 Nephi 16-17

Do we have room for the Savior? Do we give Him the time? Have we prepared to receive His call, to serve another today?

Are we so rushed to miss His tender mercies and love, especially during this season?

"What power, what tenderness, what compassion did our Master and Exemplar thus demonstrate! We, too, can bless if we will but follow His noble example. Opportunities are everywhere. Needed are eyes to see the pitiable plight and ears to hear the silent pleadings of a broken heart. Yes, and a soul filled with compassion, that we might communicate not only eye to eye or voice to ear but, in the majestic style of the Savior, even heart to heart.” (President Thomas S. Monson “Never Alone,” Ensign, May 1991)

Day 102: 3 Nephi 14-15

"Remember that whatever you toss out mentally or verbally comes back to you according to God's plan of compensation: ‘For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.’ (3 Nephi 2) A critical, petty, or vicious remark is simply an attack on our own self-worth. On the other hand, if our minds are constantly seeing good in others, that, too, will return, and we will truly feel good about ourselves.” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, On Earth As It Is In Heaven, p. 29)

Day 101: 3 Nephi 11-13

What a strengthening of the testimony should come from reading these passages. To solidify that The Book of Mormon is a true witness of Jesus Christ. He taught the same doctrine as when He lived on the Earth in Jerusalem. The laws and doctrine from God are unchanging. Another blessing we receive from The Book of Mormon is the exact translation - once; the Bible has gone through extensive translations and copies. But the doctrine is the same - "I am the Lord, I change not." There is so much here, so drink deep from this fountain of pure living water.

Day 100: 3 Nephi 10-11

We have now arrived at the crowning event of The Book of Mormon; the visitation of Jesus Christ to the peoples on the American continent. There's little I can say for the beginning of this marvelous event, but a few bits to note just prior to the Savior's descent includes:
- Repentance
- Promises fulfilled
- People gathering at the temple
- They heard the voice of their Heavenly Father

“He speaks and says simply, with a voice that penetrates the very marrow of your bones, ‘I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.’ (3 Nephi 11:10.)

There it is—or, more correctly speaking, there he is. The focal point and principal figure behind every fireside and devotional and family home evening held by those Nephites for the last six hundred years, and by their Israelite forefathers for thousands of years before that.

Everyone has talked of him and sung of him and dreamed of him and prayed—but here he actually is. This is the day and yours is the generation. What a moment! But you find you are less inclined to check the film in your camera than you are to check the faith in your heart.” (Elder
Jeffrey R. Holland, On Earth As It Is In Heaven, p. 125)

Day 99: 3 Nephi 7-9

“Here another lesson is obvious. Throughout ecclesiastical history we find that those who rejected the prophets and failed to repent of their wickedness were struck by calamities which caused them literally to weep and to mourn and to regret their failure to heed the warnings of the prophets. We know that Christ was crucified and some of his apostles persecuted and stoned simply for trying to establish the kingdom of God and bring people to repentance and a happier way of life.

Today the world is rejecting the messages of the prophets of God. Is it not true that there is weeping and wailing over the face of the land because men are at war one with another? Do we not have among us many who lament the waywardness of their youth and the tragedies that befall them as they turn away from righteousness and suffer the consequences of tampering with alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, and other forbidden things[pornography]? How many mourners do we have as a result of the lawlessness that is extant in our communities? We need to heed the lessons from the history of the past lest we be consumed as were some of those earlier civilizations.” (Elder N. Eldon Tanner, Conference Report, May 1975 Ensign, p. 34)

Let us look forward to the coming of Jesus Christ with hope and happiness, no matter what befalls around us. Let us keep the faith, fight the good fight, and be found worthy to present ourselves before our Savior in purity and love.

Day 98: 3 Nephi 6-7

“I have been deeply impressed with the beauty and power of this scriptural account in 3 Nephi, and with its great value for our time and our generation.

The record of the Nephite history just prior to the Savior’s visit reveals many parallels to our own day as we anticipate the Savior’s second coming. The Nephite civilization had reached great heights. They were prosperous and industrious. They had built many cities with great highways connecting them. They engaged in shipping and trade. They built temples and palaces.

But, as so often happens, the people rejected the Lord. Pride became commonplace. Dishonesty and immorality were widespread. Secret combinations flourished because, as Helaman tells us, the Gadianton robbers ‘had seduced the more part of the righteous until they had come down to believe in their works and partake of their spoils’ (Hel. 6:38). ‘The people began to be distinguished by ranks, according to their riches and their chances for learning’ (3 Ne. 6:12). And ‘Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world,’ even as today (3 Ne. 6:15).” (President Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, May 1987, p. 4)

Let us be wise in this short duration of life and do the best we can to build righteousness and extend the wonderful gift we have all been given - agency.

Day 97: 3 Nephi 4-5

3 Ne 5:1 "there was not a living soul…who did doubt in the least" - Conversion by crisis is the theme among the Nephites. Only when disaster strikes are they willing to repent and call upon the Lord, but it is always a last ditch effort to avoid extinction.

“…changing circumstances can like wise affect nearly a whole people's faith…Now, listen to this: ‘There began to be great doubtings and disputations among the people, notwithstanding so many signs had been given.’ (3 Nephi 8:4.)

As I check the years of these two verses, I note that this decline happened in the space of a mere ten years or less! Circumstances changed from one in which ‘not a living soul’ doubted the prophecies to a time in which there were ‘great doubtings.’ It isn't very confidence inspiring, is it?” (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, We Talk Of Christ, We Rejoice In Christ, p. 64)

“Someday when we kneel again in those corridors where that special shout once echoed, having been delivered from our last enemy, death, we will have hearts ‘swollen with joy, unto the gushing out of many tears.’ (3 Nephi 4:33.) It is a moment we must not miss! It is worth cheerfully enduring a few disappointments and pains now and letting a few mortal appetites go unsatiated.” (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Notwithstanding My Weakness, p. 58)

Day 96: 3 Nephi 2-3

After such a marvelous experience with prophecies come to pass, blessings poured out, and faith following the miracles, why did the people fall so quickly into the traps of Satan? Oh...wait...faith following the miracle? This is why faith before the miracles are so important! Roughly 5 yeas had passed and the people were already blinded. If we do not have the faith, we too can be blinded within a very short time.

“How quickly [Satan] moves in even where people have had special spiritual experiences, seeking to get people who have seen signs ‘To disbelieve all which they had heard and seen.’ (3 Nephi 2:1-2.) The adversary has a better chance to persuade us that what we believe is foolish if we worry about looking foolish in front of our fellowmen. We read about the subtleties of the devil and that the adversary persuadeth not one man to do good. (Alma 12:4; Moroni 7:17.)” (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Things As They Really Are, p. 41)

Day 95: Helaman 16 - 3 Nephi 1

Before brushing off the song below, think of the words when you remember what happened with the Nephites in the city of Zarahemla. The closing chapter of Helaman shows how Satan did stir up the hearts of the Nephites to do iniquity. They reasoned amongst themselves that a Christ is not needed nor is possible for one to be able to atone for all.

To add to this confusion, the great prophet Nephi departed from the land right before the prophecies of all the prophets were coming to pass! Many had mixed emotions, and the believers feared the prophesies they believed in, may not happen. Some continued to look steadfastly for the signs. To add to this turmoil, the more wicked part decided to "put to death...all those who believed in those traditions".

Thus we see, the Lord does not leave them hopeless. The night before, the Lord comforted Nephi by confirming His coming into the world the next day as He promised - "I will fulfil"! And we see the Jesus did come into the world, and the sign was given; the righteous spared. Truly the light shined in those dark streets and the hopes and fears, of the last 5 years specifically, were met in the Lord that night.

O little town, Zarahemla,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee to-night.

How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His Heaven.
No ear may hear His coming;
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still
The dear Christ enters in.

"Joy to the world, the Lord is come!"

Day 94: Helaman 14-15

Helaman 14:30 ’Remember, my brethren...ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free.’

"If you feel pressed in and pressured and not free, it may be for one of two reasons. One, if you have lost freedom, possibly it has been through some irresponsible act of your own. Now you must regain it. You may be indentured-indentured to some habits of laziness or indolence; some even become slaves to addiction. The other reason is that maybe if you are not free you have not earned it. Freedom is not a self-preserving gift. It has to be earned, and it has to be protected.

For instance, I am not free to play the piano, for I do not know how. I cannot play the piano…The ability to play the piano, the freedom to do that, has to be earned. It is a relatively expensive freedom. It takes an investment of time and of discipline. This discipline begins, as discipline usually does, from without. I hope that you do not have contempt for discipline that originates from without. That is the beginning. A parent usually presses a youngster to practice the piano. But somewhere, it is hoped, practice grows into self-discipline, which is really the only kind of discipline. The discipline that comes from within is that which makes a young person decide that he wants to be free to play the piano and play it well. Therefore, he is willing to pay the price. Then he can be free from supervision, from pressure, from whatever forms of persuasion parents use.”(Elder Boyd K. Packer, That All May Be Edified, p. 254)

“These words taken from the Book of Helaman indicate the purport of what I should like to say this afternoon…Among the immediate obligations and duties resting upon members of the Church today, and one of the most urgent and pressing for attention and action of all liberty loving people, is the preservation of individual liberty. Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth can give. It is inherent in the spirit of man. It is a divine gift to every normal being. Whether born in abject poverty or shackled at birth by inherited riches, everyone has this most precious of all life's endowments -- the gift of free agency; man's inherited and inalienable right.

Free agency is the impelling source of the soul's progress. It is the purpose of the Lord that man become like him. In order for man to achieve this it was necessary for the Creator first to make him free. ‘Personal liberty,’ says Bulwer Lytton, ‘is the paramount essential to human dignity and human happiness.’” (President David O. McKay, Conference Report, Apr. 1950, p. 32)

“The great misery of departed spirits in the world of spirits, where they go after death, is to know that they come short of the glory that others enjoy and that they might have enjoyed themselves, and they are their own accusers.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 310-11)