WORDS

I love words. I love words like some people love numbers. My teaching assignments are always preceded with a prayerful request that I be allowed to speak with 'the tongue of angels' (2 Nephi 32:2). Very often when I pray I begin the prayer asking that the Holy Ghost give me the words that I should speak. Like Nephites of old, who did not 'multiply many words' and who were given what they should pray (3 Nephi 19:24) I believe best prayers are those born of the spirit. I don't do this because I am a highly spiritual person but because of my love of words which at times fail me and because I believe that the greatest words that can possibly be uttered are those that come from above. There are instances in the Book of Mormon where the prophets were forbidden to write down the words that were given them (1 Nephi 14:28; 3 Nephi 28:14,25; 3 Nephi 26:11:16; 3 Nephi 27:23; 3 Nephi 17:15; 3 Nephi 19:32,34; 3 Nephi 26:16,18; Ether 4:1; Ether 13:13). When all things are revealed I will wait in line with those who want to know the 'forbidden' words.

Scattered throughout the scriptures are "three word sermons", directives so to speak, to the true seekers of truth. They resonate with such, consciously and subconsciously, because their purpose is to bring men unto Christ. Such "three word sermons" as the following:

 Look and behold

Worship the Lord

Remember the Lord

Hearken and hear

Rebel no more

Awake my soul!

Hearken unto me

Put on strength

Remember my words

Prepare your souls

Follow thou me

Look unto God

O be wise

Come unto Christ

Awake and hear

Believe in God

O man remember

Come unto me

Do good continually

O repent ye!

Pray unto Him

Behold and remember

Cry unto God

Remember these words

Keep my commandments

O remember, remember

Words are energy, like everything in our universe. Because they are energy, they have a vibrational frequency which has the power to attract, affect and create. This is quantum physics. Through words we can make people feel loved, hated, belittled, valued, uplifted and demeaned. Words can hurt and words can mend. They can destroy or they can create. They have immense power: "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God" (John 1:1). It was through words that Christ manifested His power to heal, raise the dead, cast out devils, confound the proud and the wise, still the storms, reject Satan's temptations and bring men unto Him.

Consider this simple, yet powerful example of the effect of His words: "Now in the morning as He returned into the city, He hungered. And when He saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth and forever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, how soon is the fig tree withered away!" (Matthew 21:18-20). What followed this incident, however, is one of the most powerful teaching moments of His ministry. Not only did He tell the disciples that if they have faith and doubt not, they can by the power of their words move mountains, but something even more significant than mountains: "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matthew 21:22). And what is prayer? Words.

Words are power. I hear a lot about the law of attraction and how it is put into motion through words. They say whatever we speak, we bring about and I fully agree. However, I also believe that words are most powerful when they express faith in God. Through the medium of words we can express faith to be delivered, to be healed, to be comforted, to be made to understand, to be given revelations, to foster testimony, to believe. We can manifest God's power, mercy and love towards us through the words that we speak. When the chief judge of Ammoniahah came to Alma and Amulek in prison questioning them and receiving no answer, he said to them: "...Know ye not that I have power to deliver you up unto the flames?" (Alma 14:19). Alma however was familiar with flames. He stared at the fires of hell during the three days of his anguish and because of it he knew that God possessed far greater power than the pitiful judges of Ammoniahah. So Alma sat in prison with Amulek for many days suffering abuse of every kind from anyone who wished to visit them. And he said nothing. Finally when all had had a turn, their patience and long suffering was rewarded for 'the power of God [came] upon them and they rose and stood upon their feet' (Alma 14:25). This should have been a cue for all present to clear the cell. Alma however did not evoke any calamity upon his accusers but then he didn't have to. He instead spoke the most powerful words in scripture when he said: "O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ, even unto deliverance" (Alma 14:26). The cords were broken, the earth shook, the walls came tumbling down and those who despised the words of Christ were no more. Nephi, like Alma, when needed delivering from his brothers murderous' designs, spoke the same words and received the same results: "O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound" (1 Nephi 7:17). Nephi testifies: "And it came to pass that when I had said these words, behold the bands were loosed from off my hands and feet, and I stood before my brethren, and I spake unto them again" (1 Nephi 7:18). We like Alma and Nephi can have the power of deliverance to free us from our sins, addictions, weaknesses, worldly lusts and pursuits, and to help us to overcome the world one temptation at the time, daily, monthly, yearly.  All it takes is faith in Christ and appealing to His power to save through the words that we speak.

Our words either confirm or negate our faith. It is useless praying for something and then not showing forth our faith in our daily conversations and thoughts. If the Saviour told His disciples that through the power of their word they can exercise faith to move mountains, then it is so. So often we murmur and complain and stay on the negative course after we have prayed for good things to be manifested in our lives. This is a disaster because the power of our words destroy the power of faith. The following true story is a perfect example of this. Notice how Lucy Mack Smith demonstrated her faith through the words she spoke as opposed to other saints who destroyed their faith through murmuring and complaining:

"Shortly after the Church was organized in Palmyra, New York, Joseph Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith, remained in Waterloo, New York, with a large group of Saints while her husband, Joseph Sr., and some of their sons, including Joseph Jr., departed before her for Kirtland, Ohio. Her responsibility was to bring this group to Ohio when she received word from her son, the Prophet. Word came in early spring 1831. Lucy, with the help of some of the brethren, began to move the group to Buffalo, New York, with the intention of making passage to Ohio by ship on Lake Erie. She said: 'When the brethren considered the spring sufficiently open for travelling on the water, we all began to prepare for our removal to Kirtland. We hired a boat....;and....we numbered eighty souls'. Then, as they pushed off into the Erie Canal and headed to Buffalo, she said: 'I then called the brethren and sisters together, and reminded them that we are traveling by the commandment of the Lord, as much as Father Lehi was, when he left Jerusalem; and, if faithful, we had the same reasons to expect the blessings of God. I then desired them to be solemn, and to lift their hearts to God continually in prayer, that we might be prospered'.

About halfway to Buffalo from Waterloo, passage along the canal became impossible. Conditions for the 80 Saints were uncomfortable, and murmuring began almost immediately. Lucy, relying on the Lord, had to unite their faith. She told them: 'No, no,.....you will not starve, brethren, nor anything of that sort; only be patient and stop murmuring. I have no doubt but the hand of the Lord is over us'. When they arrived in Buffalo on the fifth day after leaving Waterloo, the harbor leading to Lake Erie was frozen. They took passage on a ship with Captain Blake, a man acquainted with Lucy Smith and her family. After a couple of days, although conditions on the ship were not conducive for all of them to stay while awaiting notice of departure, Lucy reported, 'Captain Blake requested the passengers to remain on board, as he wished, from that time, to be ready to start at a moment's warning; at the same time he sent out a man to measure the depth of the ice, who, when he returned, reported that it was piled up to the height of twenty feet [6 m], and that it was his opinion that we would remain in the harbor at least two weeks longer'. This was devastating news to the group. Supplies were low and conditions were difficult. Lucy Mack Smith further recorded her admonition to the Saints: 'You profess to put your trust in God, then how can you feel to murmur and complain as you do! You are even more unreasonable than the children of Israel were; for here are my sisters pining for their rocking chairs, and brethren from whom I expected firmness and energy, declare that they positively believe they shall starve to death before they get to the end of their journey. And why is it so? Have any of you lacked?....Where is your faith? Where is your confidence in God? Can you not realise that all things were made by Him, and that He rules over the works of His own hands? And suppose that all the Saints here should lift their hearts in prayer to God, that the way might be opened before us, how easy it would be for him to cause the ice to break away, so that in a moment we could be on our journey! Now, brethren and sisters, if you will all of you raise your desires to heaven, that the ice may be broken up, and we be set at liberty, as sure as the Lord lives it will be done'. At that instant a noise was heard, like bursting thunder. The captain cried, 'Every man to his post'. The ice parted, leaving barely a passage for the boat, and so narrow that as the boat passed through, the buckets of the waterwheel were torn off with a crash, which, joined to the word of command from the captain, the hoarse answering of the sailors, the noise of the crash, and the cries and confusion of the spectators, presented a scene truly terrible. We had barely passed through the avenue when the ice closed together again, and the Colesville brethren were left in Buffalo, unable to follow us.

'As we were leaving the harbor, one of the bystanders exclaimed, 'There goes the Mormon company! That boat is sunk in the water nine inches deeper than ever it was before, and mark it, she will sink - there is nothing surer.' In fact, they were so sure of it that they went straight to the news office and had it published that we were sunk, so that when we arrived at Fairport we read in the papers the news of our own death.' (Elder Gary E. Stevenson, With All Thy Getting Get Understanding, Ensign Jan 2017, excerpt from Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Lucy Mack Smith (1979), 195-99, 202-5)

Do I believe that Lucky Mack Smith broke that ice with the words of her faith? Absolutely. Even as the brother of Jared moved Mount Zerin when he said, 'Remove' - and it was removed (Ether 12:30). Were these people unique people who had certain powers? No. They were faithful people who performed special deeds through the power of their spoken word.

I love discovering the "three word sermons". They say so much with so little. I am a writer. Expression is my passion. To say much with few words is an art in my estimation. Not only an art, but something of great worth for how we speak and what we say is an indication of the inner man. Nephi was a man of utmost faith. The greatest indication of his faith was his obedience. Therefore, there is no greater "three word sermon" in the holy scriptures that describe Nephi better than the one he closed his account with and the words of that sermon are: I must obey.

ENOCH AND THE WORDS WE SPEAK

"And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them, and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command, and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him". (Moses 7:13)

When Enoch was called of God to cry repentance to the people of his day he, at 65, considered himself 'but a lad' and totally inadequate for the calling.  Not only was he relatively young compared to his predecessors who were well into 3 digits when called of the Lord, he was also highly unpopular and was 'slow of speech' Moses 6:31).  I imagine he lacked a lot of confidence and people thought him weak.  The Lord however, gave him five promises that convinced Enoch he had nothing to fear and enabled him to follow when the Lord told him, 'Therefore, walk with me' (Moses 6:34).  Among the five promises were two I think are worthy of extra attention.  Enoch was promised:

1.  "I will give thee utterance" (Moses 6:32)
2.  "All thy words will I justify" (Moses 6:34)

It is interesting to me that: 1.  the Lord would choose a man who had a stumbling block to the very task the Lord needed him to fulfill and 2.  that He was mindful and sensitive enough to Enoch's insecurity because of his speech impediment to the point that He would reassure him by addressing the problem in his promises. He could have very easily said to Enoch, "don't worry about anything, just walk with me".  This is such a clear indication that the Lord knows us and has compassion for us and how we feel.

Enoch did walk with God and because of it he became an incredibly powerful man.  Because of his trust in God and his promises, the Lord turned his weakness into his greatest strength.  Going from what I imagine was a stutter he went on to become the master of words.  The scriptures record:

"And as Enoch spake forth the words of God, the people trembled, and could not stand in his presence." (Moses 6:47)

There is something very interesting about the power the Lord gave to  Enoch. It would seem this power was not only for him but was to be had by his every descendant.  The interesting thing being is that every mortal is a descendant of Enoch.  Enoch was the Father of Methuselah, who was the father of Lamech, who was the father of Noah.  Everybody that has been born on this earth after Noah is Noah's descendant and therefore a descendant of Enoch.  The Lord made an oath with Enoch regarding this power which is found in Joseph Smith Translation:

"For God having sworn unto Enoch and unto his seed with an oath by himself, that every one being ordained after this order and calling should have power, by faith, to break mountains, to divide the seas, to dry up waters, to turn them out of their course; to put at defiance the armies of nations, to divide the earth, to break every band, to stand in the presence of God, to do all things according to his will, according to his command, subdue principalities and powers, and this by the will of the Son of God which was before the foundation of the world". (JST Appendix in Genesis 14:30, 31)

The oath sworn by God to Enoch and his seed is a promise made to us.  All mortals who receive the Melchizedek Priesthood have power promised to them by their faith to do the very works done by Enoch. (Ted Gibbons, SS Old Testament Lesson 5)  This means the Lord will magnify us in our callings to serve Him and will bless our efforts to bring others unto him by making us powerful even as Enoch.  All is needed is faith on our behalf to make this power active.

I am very fascinated with Enoch and how powerful he became in his speech.  I love words.  I fully believe in their ability to uplift or destroy.  The scriptures tell us that God created the world by the power of His word (1 John 1:1).  The Universe is made up of energy.  Different types of energy have different frequencies. Words also have energy and they resonate at different frequencies.  Words stem from thoughts and thoughts stem from words.  They both produce vibrations which produce emotions which produce action which produce desired results.  When you yell at someone out of anger, your intent is to hurt them by the words that you say and most often than not, you succeed because your words produce emotion in the person you are attacking.  Our words can be like poisonous barbs on the fragile souls of our children when we criticize them and lash at them in anger.

Just as damaging our words can be to others, they can also be damaging to us.  Constantly saying to ourselves that we are no good and that we can't do things would produce terrible emotions in us such as depression, low self-esteem and lack of confidence.  We tend to believe who we tell ourselves we are.  We can however, turn this around and start saying powerful words to ourselves. The Japanese scientist, Dr Emoto, has proved that if water or food is exposed to a written word, it will respond to that word.  Food and water exposed to words such as 'war' or 'hate' deteriorated quickly during his experiment, whereas those exposed to words such as 'love' and 'thank you' had not deteriorated.  Those who speak words of love and encouragement to their plants witness their plants flourishing in conditions where they would not normally thrive.

Our words play a major role in the law of attraction.  Because words have vibration, they attract to us what we talk about.  If we constantly say "I'm always sick", you will most likely be coming down with every infection and cold going around.  If you constantly say, "I never have money", the money that you receive will slip through your fingers like water.   Whatever we constantly say basically determines our reality.

I believe language was given to us not only for communication but to uplift and edify.  There is power in spoken word, especially when those words are words of eternal life.  We are commanded to worship and praise God through prayer and to teach others the doctrine of Christ for the salvation of their souls. When we pray we must address deity with utmost respect, reverence and gratitude. This in turn increases our faith in God and helps us feel closer to Him.  How else can we show reverence and expect the Father to honour our petitions?

When we speak the words of eternal life, these words resonate with the spirit of God and empower us to achieve things we could not ordinarily do on our own.  For instance, the words you speak about Jesus Christ and his Gospel when telling someone about the Church will resonate with the spirit of God which will enable you to proclaim the truthfulness of the Gospel with confidence and boldness you did not previously have. Another example is calling upon the power of the Atonement to enable us to overcome a certain weakness. The vibration of the words with which we plead for help will attract the power we are asking for and need.  I believe this is why we have been commanded to pray.  We cannot receive something we do not invite into our lives through the vibration of words that attracts the thing we need. When we pray, we create a pathway for manifestation of that which we want in our lives.

Immoral language corrodes our spiritually sensitive souls.  Using immoral language and swear words attracts darkness which creates negative emotions within us. They are words which disempower us in many ways. Consider this story by Elder Boyd K. Packer:

"A number of years ago I went with a brother to tow in a wrecked car.  It had been a single car accident, and the car was demolished, the driver, though unhurt, had been taken to the hospital for treatment of shock and examination.

The next morning he came asking for his car, anxious to be on his way.  When he was shown the wreckage, his pent-up emotions and disappointment, sharpened perhaps by his misfortune, exploded in a long stream of profanity.  So obscene and biting were his words that they exposed years of practice with profanity.  His words were heard by other customers, among them women, and must have touched their ears like acid.

One of my brothers crawled from beneath the car where he had been working with a large wrench.  He too was upset and with threatening gestures of the wrench he ordered him off the premises.  'We don't have to listen to that kind of language here' he said.  And the customer left, cursing more obscenely than before.

Much later in the day he reappeared.  Subdued, penitent and avoiding everyone else, he found my brother.

'I have been in eh hotel room all day', he said, 'lying on the bed, tormented.  I can't tell you how utterly ashamed I am for what happened this morning.  My conduct was inexcusable.  I have been trying to think of some justification, and I can think of only one thing: In all my life, never, not once, have I been told that my language was not acceptable.  I have always talked that way.  You were the first one who ever told me that my language was out of order.'

Isn't it interesting that a man could grow to maturity, the victim of such a vile habit, and never meet a protest? How tolerant we have become!
(Boyd K. Packer, "The Clean Voice of Youth", New Era, Jan. 1976, 5)

King Benjamin warned his people about the condemnation that can come upon them if they misuse the power of words.  Why would he mention words?  Because out of words are born deeds and deeds can lead us to destruction. Here is how he put it:

"But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words,  and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith, of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish.  And now, o man, remember and parish not."  (Mosiah 4:30)

Alma in contending with an unrighteous lawyer from Ammonihah called Zeezrom, whose career depended on the craft of persuasion and use of words, had this to say to him:

"For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence." (Alma 12:14)

When Enoch spoke with the power of God,  people trembled.  There is only one way that power could have been given to him and that is through the Holy Ghost, through which all truth and things of the spirit come. We too can have the power of Enoch if we live worthy to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost. According to Nephi, it is by this power that angels speak:

"Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels?  And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?

Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore they speak the words of Christ....."
(2 Nephi 32:2,3)

Language is a powerful tool and when we learn to use it properly, especially under the direction of the Spirit, it can be forceful and commanding.  It was so with Enoch for the scriptures record:

"And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him". (Moses 7:13)

We might not be called as Enoch was, to accomplish miraculous tasks.  We might not need power to move mountains or stop rivers in their course.  We, however, can possess power to uplift, beautify, ennoble, encourage, inspire.....all with the words that we speak.  Words that can bring life and joy and peace. And all this with the ultimate language, the tongue of angels.