THE MATTER OF THE STONES

 

When the city of Babel became a strong metropolis under the dictatorial government of Nimrod, the Lord pronounced judgment upon that city by confounding their language ‘that they may not understand one another’s speech’ and so that they may be scattered ‘upon all the face of the land, and unto every quarter of the earth” (JST Genesis 11:5)

Living in the city of Babel was a group of righteous people who had resisted the teachings of Nimrod. One of them was Mahonri-Moriancumr, better known as the Brother of Jared (see Book of Mormon Student Manual Rel. 121-122 (2009) p 362).

Jared had so much faith in his brother, who was highly favoured of the Lord (Ether 1:34) that he asked him to pray to God so that their language and that of their friends would not be confounded. Another request was for God to lead them to a possible ‘land which is choice above all the earth’ (Ether 1:38)

A choice land above all the earth indeed…..enter the Book of Mormon which records in detail the entire history of the Jaredite civilization in the western hemisphere. There is just one significant thing I want to point out about the authenticity of this account. It’s to do with the stones of light that the Brother of Jared procured for their journey in the barges they built.

A few years ago I sought to gain a broader view of the Jaredites. I went to Hugh Nibley’s book, “An Approach to the Book of Mormon” and came across something that left my mouth gaping:

“Nothing in the Book of Mormon has elicited louder whoops and howls of derision than the account in the second and third chapters of the book of Ether of the ships of the Jaredites…..According to J.C. Bennett, the illumination by shining stones, was the “climax” of all of Joseph Smith’s indiscretions, in which he “used his utmost endeavours to see how far he could impose on the gullibility of mankind. It would be useless to make further comments to prove the absurdities of this extraordinary book.

“In 1855 T. Taylder declared this story to be nothing less than “a libel on the wisdom of God”. “It seems impossible”, another investigator wrote, “for sensible men to credit such trash”.  “My soul is filled with disgust at this monstrous absurdity”, cried the Reverend C. Fenwick Ward as he perused the pages of Ether, “that I dare not trust myself to comment upon it”.

“Fawn M. Brodie claimed that “Joseph Smith wrote the book of Ether as a sort of afterthought to cover up the scientific blunders and inaccuracies of the rest of the Book of Mormon which were causing him disturbing doubts and misgivings”.  (Hugh Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Mormon, p 340,341)

Brother Nibley also quoted many ancient sources that have since come to light comparing the Brother of Jared’s stones to that of Noah who also had a stone for light in the ark and many other ancient practices with likewise stones. He pointed out that none of these ancient sources would have been available to Joseph Smith in his time or to the critics of his day.  And the critics of our day wouldn’t bother searching them.

To the people of Babel, the details of Noah’s ark and the Flood was a certainty that everyone believed in. The tower of Babel was built out of fear of another flood (“Josephus” Book 1, chapter 4).  So I ask, where else would the Brother of Jared gain the knowledge of the stones???? Chapter 3 of Ether does not say that he deliberated and agonized over the solution of light for the barges. It states he went immediately to the mount Shelem and ‘did molten out of a rock sixteen small stones…as clear and transparent as glass’ (Ether 3;1).

I am astounded that anyone could read the Book of Mormon and not be affected by the spirit of it….that such a small thing as sixteen stones could prevent belief of all that is in this amazing book. Once again, I am reminded of: “My sheep hear my voice” (John 10:27).  If you believe, you are that sheep…..you are His. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Brother of Jared by Emily Pugmire)

NOAH'S POSTERITY

 

We often say how easily we forget history which always repeats itself but it is not that we forget but that the Prince of this world remembers. He remembers his past successes and traps of destruction, how to manipulate the human mind and how to foster their sense of pride against God.

The adversary’s main goal is always human annihilation. He certainly knew how to preserve his murderous cult amongst men and return them to pre-flood conditions. It is easy to imagine that his goal was another deluge to wipe out humanity only this time there stood in the way one thing – God’s covenant with Noah and Enoch that never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth (Genesis 9:9a;11). Nevertheless, within two or three generations after the Flood, Noah was to see his descendants duplicating the abominations of the pre-flood period.

It all started with Noah’s son Ham who married a woman named Egyptus who was a descendant of Cain. Even though Ham ‘walked with God’ and possessed the priesthood like his father and brothers, he was never able to pass this privilege to any of his descendants because of the blood of Cain. Ham and Egyptus had a daughter who discovered Egypt and set up the dynasty of Pharaohs (Abraham 1:21-27). It’s a fascinating story.

Because the Lord knew that city life under the wrong kind of leadership could corrupt a whole nation in one generation, he encouraged Noah and his descendants to observe the patriarchal government through pastoral living. This is the very thing that the enemy opposed in order to return the population to wickedness through a man called Nimrod.

Nimrod was one of the sons of Ham and Egyptus who became the builder and founder of the city of Babel (Genesis 10:8-10). Nimrod was a mighty hunter in the land (JST Genesis 10:5) and not a mighty hunter before the Lord (Genesis 10:9). In fact, he was the prototype of the enemy that lured Cain into his murderous cult.

“He persuaded people not to ascribe their prosperity to God…but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning man from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power. He also said he would be revenged of God, if He should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to be able to reach! And that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers.” (Josephus, Book 1, Chapter 4). Does this not remind you of Cain when he declared:  “Who is the Lord, that I should know him?” (Moses 5:16)

And so Noah’s descendants built a tower of Babel in defiance to God. But something wonderful was born out of this unfortunate human error……the Jaredites and the return to the land of America. All hail to the Book of Mormon and Joseph and our ever-loving God who ensures that the adversary cannot win, not as long as there are humble, faithful sons and daughters of God who are willing to follow Him…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Noah's Ark by James Edwin McConnell)

THE LONG SUFFERING OF OUR GOD

 

There was a great patriarch who stood next in line to Adam in the Priesthood, to whom was given ‘the dominion’ and who was made the father of all living in this day. This man was Noah who was also another noble and great one by the name of ‘Gabriel’, ‘in the beginning’. (“Teachings of Joseph Smith”, p 157).

Noah was born in the year 2,944 B.C. which was four years after the City of Enoch was translated. His greatness is attested by the fact that he was ordained to the priesthood at the unprecedented age of ten (D&C 107:52).

By the time Noah was called by God, at the age of 480,  to preach the message of “repent or perish”, “the society of his dispensation was worse than anything before or since – worse than Babylon where they offered human sacrifices, worse than Greece where they subjected young children to degenerate orgies, worse than Sodom, worse than Gomorah. (W. Cleon Skousen, “The First Two Thousand Years”, p 200)

It was a day when the power of Satan was upon all the face of the earth. So successful was Satan that the scripture says the earth seemed veiled with a terrible chain of darkness and Lucifer ‘looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced’.  (Moses 7:24,26)

And so Noah preached for 120 years as a testimony of Jehovah’s mercy until the floods came  (Genesis 5:3; Moses 8:17). But the mercy didn’t end there. During the three days post resurrection, the Saviour went to the spirit world and there organised the preaching of the gospel to those who had lived in the days of Noah and perished in the flood. Peter called this ‘the long-suffering’ of God (1 Peter 3:18-20).

“…..though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). This is the mercy and the long suffering of our God.

And here is the ultimate mercy of the deluge of the Flood which destroyed all the wicked upon the earth save one family:  The people of Noah’s day were so wicked that they ‘transmitted their unrighteous natures and desires to their children and brought them up to indulge in their own wicked practices’. Had they been allowed to live, the generations they were raising would eventually have had no ability to exercise their moral agency because they lived in evil continually and knew no good (see John Taylor, in “Journal of Discourses” 19:158-59). Therefore, The Flood became an act of mercy for generations of spirits yet to come to earth.

Mormon testified that the Saviour would not withhold the power of the Holy Ghost from the earth as long as there is ONE person who could be saved (Moroni 7:36). Abraham tested the Lord on this by trying to save Sodom’s population. He started asking Him if He would spare the Sodomites if there were fifty righteous souls there and the Lord kept re-assuring him that he would not destroy them even for ten’s sake but there were not even ten to be found (Genesis 18:23-33). Such was the case in Noah’s day.

His desire to save is there, the mercy ever extended, the long suffering infinitely present. We just need to want it.

Thy infinite mercy

Thy bountiful long suffering,

Trailing from the cross of Calvary,

Sealed with Your hour of agony.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Our Father Who Art in Heaven by Greg Collins) 

 

JEHOVAH, THE MERCY OF ISRAEL

 

I know people at large see Jehovah as a vengeful God of The Old Testament but I see Him as the God of mercy. This to me is most evident through His relationship with the House of Israel.  I will cite just two examples:

1.     Long before the House of Israel came into being, its progenitor Noah, preached and called the people to repentance for 120 years (Genesis 6:3, Moses 8:17). The people of his day were so wicked that they ‘transmitted their unrighteous natures and desires to their children, and brought them up to indulge in their own wicked practices’. Had they been allowed to live, the generations they were raising would eventually have had no ability to exercise their moral agency because they lived in evil continually and knew no good  (see John Taylor, in “Journal of Discourses” 19:158-59). Therefore, The Flood became an act of mercy. You would think 120 years would have been a sufficient time of warning. It wasn’t so. But Jehovah’s mercy didn’t stop even after 120 years. The people of Noah were given a second chance in the world of spirits and had the gospel preached to them (D&C 138:28).

2.     The book of Ezekiel is a testament of Jehovah’s mercy. Ezekiel was a prophet called to be ‘a watchman unto the House of Israel’ in the Babylonian exile (Ezekiel 3:17). Before the exile though, came a plethora of warning in Jerusalem but Israel still rejected Jehovah. Through Ezekiel, Jehovah called the exiles into repentance and offered forgiveness rather than leaving them in exile to rot, as they deserved. So serious did He consider Ezekiel’s calling that He told him if he didn’t do it, He would hold him responsible for their sins (Ezekiel 3:17,18). And this is something interesting….with every instruction the Lord gave him, He told him the people will not believe him because ‘the house of Israel is impudent and hardhearted’ (Ezekiel 2:7). Seven times He called the Israelites ‘a rebellious house’ (Ezekiel 2:5,6,7,9,26,27; 3:9). The Lord told Ezekiel the Israelites will only listen to him for entertainment value and mockery (Ezekiel 33:30-33). Despite all their wickedness and stubbornness, mercy……

Recognising the Saviour’s mercy in the Old Testament contributed to my testimony of the Book of Mormon. Some years ago, I resolved to read the Book of Mormon with intent to discover Christ's characteristics as per Joseph Smith's instruction in Lecture Third of the Lectures on Faith.

I wrote my discoveries in the margins of the book. When I had completed the task I was amazed that there were two things on just about every page. One was that Christ was merciful and the other was that He always fulfills his promises. This solidified my testimony that the Book of Mormon was indeed the second witness of Jesus Christ because it not only proved that He lived but that He was the same ‘yesterday, today, and forever’ (2 Nephi 29:9)

We have four standard works of scripture for a reason and we are commanded to study all of them because they connect all about Christ and His works through different periods of time until our dispensation that ‘He might gather together all things in one’ (Ephesians 1:10; see also “The Times of Restitution of All Things by Elder David A. Bednar, April 2025 GC)

This is our God and this is our time…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: God of Wonders by Yongsung Kim)

THE PURPOSES OF OUR GOD

 

“The works, and the designs and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught” (D&C 3:1). Throughout history, when the forces of evil raged the worst, God has preserved the way for His purposes to be accomplished. And He has done it through humans.

Consider Mormon who was raised in the most evil society of ancient America. Consider a 10 year old boy before whom ‘a continual scene of wickedness and abominations was before his eyes since he was sufficient to behold the ways of man’ being the only person to be called upon to preserve the ancient record of his people (Mormon 2:2,3,18).

Until 321 A.D., the history of ancient people of America was preserved on golden plates from father to son or brother to brother, as in the case of Ammaron who inherited the plates from his brother Amos (4 Nephi 47). This suggests that Amos had nobody worthy in his immediate family to pass the records onto and neither did Ammaron.

The Book of Mormon does not mention any relation between Ammaron and Mormon. It means only one thing, the society was so evil that a 10 year old boy with no family relation was the only choice to inherit the responsibility of the plates.

It would seem that God puts His most valuable and righteous children in the midst of the most wicked, to create a balance and to preserve His purposes. Think of Noah who preached repentance for 120 years (Genesis 6:3; Moses 8:17).

How could not even one person repent in that time? And how amazing is it that his family remained righteous in the midst of such evil people who had to be destroyed? Imagine if there was no Noah or if his children became ripe for destruction too….but God knew Noah and He knew what period of earth’s history to put him into.

The world is in a bad shape. We are witnessing the spread of evil at such an alarming rate that we are becoming ripe for destruction. Besides the good people of the earth who create a balance, the Lord has preserved His covenant people who will stand at the forefront to establish His purposes.

We, members of the Church with the covenant upon us, need to be ready to take on the mantle of Zion when He comes. According to His foreknowledge, the Lord knew who He could trust to prepare the way, to establish and perpetuate the kingdom. Without Him we are nothing, but with Him we are everything. He accomplishes His work through us, His covenant people.

May we look forward to the day when ‘the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion, singing with songs of everlasting joy’ (D&C 45:71). Then we shall sing “the new song of Zion”:

“The Lord hath brought again Zion; The Lord hath redeemed his people, Israel….Glory, and honour, and power, and might, be ascribed to our God; for He is full of mercy, justice, grace, and truth, and peace, forever and ever…..”  (D&C 84:98-102).

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Second Coming by Jechoon Choi)

THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

My favourite book of scripture is The Old Testament. It is a book that highlights God's infinite patience, mercy and love like no other. This might sound strange as on the surface, the God of the Old Testament appears severe, harsh and vengeful. This book of scripture mainly deals with the history of the House of Israel who repeatedly sinned, failed to carry out instructions and became misguided regarding their devotion to the one true and living God. Despite it all we see Jehovah forever standing in the shadows of their mortal stumblings waiting for them to accept Him as their God. His constant pleas for them to return to Him and the extended never ending second chances pervade this book of scripture.

As we study the Old Testament it is imperative that we remember that Jehovah of the Old Testament is Jesus of the New Testament, who comes across as nothing but loving, merciful and kind. The name Jehovah means "Unchangeable One".  He is unchangeable in His character, purpose and in His dealings with us, His spiritually begotten children. If we see Him different in the Old Testament to the New Testament, it is because we are not looking at the whole picture of the events presented and are not looking at finer details. For example, many people consider Miriam's punishment of leprosy for challenging her brother Moses' leadership in Numbers 12 as extremely dramatic and severe. What tends to be overlooked however, is the fact that Miriam repented quickly and God forgave quickly. Her leprosy lasted only one week. This story should give us an insight into God's willingness to forgive as quickly as we repent. It tells us He does not hold grudges and takes no delight in punishing us.

A story of greater proportion proves this point even more so. That story belongs to Noah and the flood which destroyed everyone on the face of the earth but 8 people ( Peter 3:20). The destruction was of enormous proportions but the mercy and long-suffering even greater. God gave the wicked in Noah's time 120 years to repent. During that time all the righteous were taken up 'by the powers of heaven into Zion' (Moses 7:27). When God showed Enoch the days of Noah He wept and Enoch marveled that a God of such power could weep. And so because of the love that caused the weeping, the story did not end with the flood. When the Saviour died upon the cross, He visited the spirit world and there organised forces to preach repentance to those in the spirit prison, starting with the people who died in the days of Noah (1 Peter 3:18-20, D&C 138:9,28). A second chance? Considering that Noah preached for 120 years, it is more like an infinite number of chances. This alone tells us how long-suffering the Saviour is towards us sinners.

As we consider these two stories, what kind of a God do we see, merciless or merciful? In The Lectures on Faith, Joseph Smith maintains that a person cannot exercise 'faith in God unto life and salvation' if he does not have a correct idea of his character, perfections and attributes (Lecture 3). The scriptures provide this knowledge, and none better than The Old Testament: the beginning of time, the root of our history, the manifestation of our God.

Credit: "Keys to Making the Old Testament a Powerful Force in Your Life" by Kerry Muhlestein