TRAILING CLOUDS OF GLORY

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;

The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting,

And cometh from afar:

Not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From God, who is our home.

- William Wordsworth

There is presently showing a Ridley Scott movie entitled "Exodus, Gods and Kings". I was excited to see this movie as it has been many years since the last depiction of Moses' story which was "The Ten Commandments". Even though "Exodus, Gods and Kings" was a very well made movie I felt it was very much lacking in spirit. I do not know if Ridley Scott is a religious man or what his motivation was for making this movie which was dedicated to his late brother. The insight I gleaned from my observation of this movie is not in line with criticism of his work. My insight has to do with the depiction of Moses and his non-existent relationship with God. This Moses was portrayed as someone who knew not God and as a result doubted Him at every turn. As I contemplated this, I reflected upon Moses' encounter with God, the account of which we have in The Pearl of Great Price. This account offers us a much clearer picture of Moses' experience as opposed to the Bible. The Book of Moses in The Pearl of Great Price records that God who introduced Himself to Moses as 'the Lord God Almighty' (Moses 1:3) addressed Moses as 'my son' and proceeded to do so more than once inferring a paternal relationship. He then gave Moses the vision of all the worlds He has created, the purpose of this earth and the origin of man. This is followed by the most powerful statement God has ever made: "For behold, this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). With all His power and all His might, able to create planets and galaxies without number, God proclaimed that His greatest work is His ability and intent to exalt His children who were created by Him and came from Him. The majestic I Am who created the earth that Moses stood on considered Moses and all who dwell on this earth His sons and His daughters, His greatest creations. To Him "man is the underlying and overriding purpose of all His work, man's success constitutes His glory, to Him man is everything" (Ted Gibbons, OT Lesson 1 "This Is My Work and My Glory").

I wondered if Ridley Scott's Moses would have been different in "Exodus, Gods and Kings" if he had read The Pearl of Great Price. As I pondered more about this, a familiar scripture came into my mind: "And because my words shall hiss forth - many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible" (2 Nephi 29:3). Would we know better of Moses and the origin of man if we despised revelation and rejected further words of God? Are we grateful for additional scripture that sits on our bookshelves? Are we studying with real intent the words of eternal life that are at our disposal? God said something else very significant to Moses: "And in a day when the children of men shall esteem my words as naught and take many of them from the book which thou shalt write, behold, I will raise up another like unto thee; and they shall be had again among the children of men - among as many as shall believe" (Moses 1:41). 'Another like unto thee' is of course Joseph Smith (2 Nephi 3:7-9) who gave us the Book of Moses as a result of revelation whilst translating the Bible in June 1830. And are we not 'as many as shall believe', his disciples who have taken upon us His Name and who have been blessed with the fullness of the gospel in this dispensation?

The Book of Moses is the most crucial book in all the scriptures because it tells us of our relationship to God, where we came from and why we are here. The whole purpose of humanity is contained within its words. How much the adversary had to gain by having this book lost from the Bible! And yet God's might and power are greater than anything he can do to thwart the work of God and in His mercy He had raised another prophet and seer to bring the lost words back so that we His children would know ourselves, who we are and the glory that lies dormant within us until such time that He, the Almighty God, the great I am, can exalt us on high and make us truly His own. Should we not rejoice at such a time as this? Should we not revere Him who has bought us with a price? Should we not exclaim 'all honour and glory be Thine for ever and ever'.