"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.
