God seeks to bring people together. Satan seeks to divide us, because we are easier to conquer when we're alone. Jesus taught that a house divided cannot stand. We can follow Him by bringing people together instead of separating them.
The Book of Psalms and the Book of Mormon
The brass plates which Lehi and his family carried from Jerusalem contained a lot of content which overlaps with the Old Testament. Nephi describes three categories of writings, which correspond with three of the four groupings of books in the Old Testament: "The five books of Moses" - The Law (Genesis through Deuteronomy)"A record of... Continue Reading →
“If They Pray Toward This Place…”
The Apostle Paul chided the Athenians for limiting God by thinking too narrowly about places of worship: God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and... Continue Reading →
Anointed
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;Isaiah 61:1 To anoint is to "smear or rub with oil, typically as part of a religious ceremony," and is often associated with a person taking on a significant... Continue Reading →
Rest
The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years before they were ready to enter the promised land. God was ready to help them enter that land long before they were ready to receive His assistance. One of the psalms quotes God looking back on that time: Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people... Continue Reading →
Practicable
Do you ever feel like there isn't enough time to do everything that you need to do? How do you deal with that situation? In January of 1832, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had multiple competing demands on their time. They had taken a break from translating the Bible to preach the gospel (Doctrine and... Continue Reading →
His Cross
After suffering unfathomable pain in Gethsemane, Jesus was interrogated through the night, delivered to the Roman governor, mocked and beaten, and finally sentenced to death by crucifixion. Two of the gospel writers tell us that He carried His own cross at least partway to place of execution, the hill Golgotha. (See Luke 23:26, John 19:17.)... Continue Reading →
A House of Prayer
Through the prophet Isaiah, God made the following promise to all those who reverence sacred things: "Them I will bring unto my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer" (Isaiah 56:7). Years later, the prophet Jeremiah stood at the doorway to the temple and denounced the wickedness of the people, who... Continue Reading →
“Inquire of the Lord”
The Book of Mormon contains many stories of people taking questions to God in prayer and receiving answers. Here are some examples: Lehi prayed to know where his son Nephi should go to hunt for food for the family (1 Nephi 16:23-26).Jacob prayed to know what he should do about the "wicked practices" he began... Continue Reading →
How to “Come unto Christ”
Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me.Doctrine and Covenants 88:63 The phrase "come unto Christ" only appears three times in the Book of Mormon. Jacob tells us that he labored diligently to persuade his people to come unto Christ (Jacob 1:7). Amaleki ends the small plates of Nephi with... Continue Reading →
Book of Mormon Study Notes 