Genesis 5; Moses 6 - The Gospel in the Beginning

When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. May our testimonies be as deep and as strong as that of Jacob, who, when confronted by one who sought to destroy his faith, declared, I could not be shaken. Hello, my friends. I'm Jared Halverson. Welcome back to Unshaken. I'm so excited to come... well, who am I kidding? I'm excited every week we get to study Scripture together. But I'm really looking forward to this week and next. Because this week Moses 6 and next week Moses 7. So we'll spend the bulk of our time in the Pearl of Great Price where it is pure revelation flowing into the mind and heart of Joseph Smith. what we'll study this week and next has no equivalent in the book of Genesis. In fact, if we were to do an Old Testament course based on the Old Testament alone, without any help from Restoration Scripture, A, it would be a little shorter course, because there's some incredible addition, particularly from the program of Christ. But really, we would be missing out on some of the most essential early stories. We saw that in Moses 1 and Abraham 3, premortality, and Moses' vision, his epiphany, and so on. And we'll get it this week and next with the story of Enoch. And to understand, well, I'll put it this way. If you were going through Genesis, you get creation and then fall and then Cain and Abel. And then the next real story is Noah and the flood. Now, I just skipped Genesis 5 there, but most people do because there's hardly anything in Genesis 5. Chapter 4 is Cain and Abel. Chapter 6 is Noah and the flood story. But chapter 5 is just genealogy. And it doesn't do much more than just list father to son, and he begat him, to go from Adam down to Noah. With the exception of like four cryptic verses about Enoch, where it basically says, and Enoch walked with God and he was not. And moving right along. It's like, wait, wait, what? What did you mean by that? Well, the Bible doesn't say. And then one verse about Noah that basically just points ahead to what you're going to learn about him in chapter 6. Honestly, Genesis 5 is one of those skip over chapters. Unless you're Joseph Smith and you're working on the Joseph Smith translation, and you get to chapter 5 and the Lord says, well, now slow down, Joseph. There is a massive amount of material that you need to inject right here, especially when you meet Enoch. And he walked with God and he was not. Oh, there is so much more you need to understand here. So I'm going to reveal to you Moses 6 and 7, which is this, there's the rough draft of building Zion. Actually, there's nothing rough about it. It was the final product, the polished deed. Enoch able to establish Zion. We'll see that next week. And that's exactly what Joseph Smith is being called upon to do. So no wonder the Lord says, Joseph spends some extra time thinking about Enoch. And Sidney, get some ink on that quill, because you're going to be doing a lot of writing. And that's what we study this week and next week. Now, with Moses 6, today's material, there's three main things we need to talk about. First is that genealogy. There's much more material here in the Moses 6 version of what was going on through those years, those generations from Adam until you get to Enoch and Noah. Some really important things. and then secondly we'll spend a lot of time on on enix mission and then thirdly enix ministry and and the message that he teaches actually will bring us back to adam because that's the message that he passes down through his generations to create this this righteous family line that will that will eventually come to to noah in two weeks so that those are the three main things we're going to hit today but in order to build up some speed to get some momentum to get into this material So we actually need to go back and spend a few more minutes feeling what we were meant to experience in the fall and the Cain and Abel accounts. You see, and I use the word feel on purpose. For what we're going to talk about today to mean something to us, this has to be an experience more than a lecture. And I pray that the Holy Ghost will allow that to take place for all of us today. You see, here's the thing. It's one thing to know in your head. It's another thing to live something in your heart. Elder Maxwell used to talk about the difference between the cognitive and the experiential. Sound like Elder Maxwell? The cognitive is up here in our head. It's what we know and what we learn. Whereas the experiential is what we've gone through. Visceral. It's in the gut. You've lived it. And I always think of labor and delivery, childbirth. because my wife and I both read What to Expect When You're Expecting when we were expecting our first child. And so, of course, I know what childbirth is like. Well, all of you mothers out there can punch the screen. I have no idea what it's like. I understand it cognitively. But when I was there in the delivery room getting my hands squeezed to death by my wife who was experiencing it, well, she had real knowledge. Now, that is the sense we have to get when we think about the fall. Because, I mean, it's interesting, it was through the knowledge of good and evil. So couldn't God just have sat Adam and Eve down in the garden and had a nice PowerPoint presentation prepared? Couldn't he have just lectured to help them learn good and evil? Okay, good enough. Now you pass the quiz, now you can head off into mortality. No, they had to experience it. That's why I love the symbolism of partaking of fruit, because you're tasting it. And tasting is not cognitive. It's experiential. Remember the analogy that Boyd K. Packer used to use. When somebody asks you what it's like to feel the spirit, ask them what it's like to taste salt. And they'll realize that they can't explain theirs, and that'll help you since you can't explain yours. I don't know how to describe the taste of salt. Here, experience it. Taste it for yourself. And for Adam and Eve, it's not enough for you to learn about the fall. You have to taste it. You have to experience it. And if that's true of, like we said last week, the theory behind the fall up in premortality versus the experience of going through it here in mortality. Same thing. They partake of the fruit. they're told about, okay, you're going to experience the evil so you'll understand the good. You're going to go through sorrow and suffering and toil so that eternal life will truly mean something to you. Okay, that's all fine and good. They pass out of Eden. There's cherubim and the flaming sword pointing them forward instead of longing for backward. But then the very next story is Cain and Abel. and you want to talk about partaking of the fruits of the fall. Could it get any worse than that? Of losing two sons on the same day, Abel physically and Cain spiritually. Adam and especially Eve are truly feeling, digesting, experiencing the fall in ways that they could not have imagined when they first left the garden. And it's that feeling, that devastation, that is going to propel that first family, the first mom and dad, to teach their children as well as they possibly can. And that's the message we're going to learn today. So if any of you parents are wrestling over the choices of your children, I've heard it said that parenting is like taking your heart out of your body and putting it in someone else's because you feel everything they're going through, but you don't have control of what's happening. And that divide of their choice, their agency, and your concern and love for them is one of the most gut-wrenching parts of parenthood. Now, Adam and Eve are feeling that, and if you're feeling that too, then I hope Enoch's message that was passed down from Adam to him and on to us will mean something to us. But we have to wrestle with the fruits of the fall. I want us to taste that bitterness so that we can move forward and truly savor the sweetness of the gospel of Jesus Christ that Adam and Eve are going to pass down to their posterity. Now to do that, I want to, again, the experiential, rather than the cognitive, it needs art. It needs poetry. It needs painting. It needs poetry more than prose. It needs paint more than PowerPoint. And so what I'm... Remember at the end of last week, I showed you two masterpieces to help put into perspective the fall. Well, I want to do the same with two masterpieces to put into perspective Cain and Abel. Because again, we're going to set the stage for what we talk about today. So the first is a painting by William Blake. Now, William Blake was a famous 19th century British poet and painter. And he painted this, it's a haunting scene. He called it the body of Abel found by Adam and Eve. Now, that's going to let you know just how visceral this is going to be. This is mom and dad seeing the body of their son. And in the painting, the way Blake portrays it, A, I thought it was interesting that even though this is after they've been given coats of skins, all four of the figures in the painting, Adam and Eve and Abel on one side and Cain on the other. I'll show you the painting in a minute, but I want to set the stage by describing it first. And you who are on the audio-only podcast version, you might want to head over to YouTube to see this, or at least Google this painting by William Blake. None of them are wearing their coats of skins, which is odd, but symbolically it's as if Blake is pointing out that they are all fully exposed to the worst aspects of the fall. That yes, Christ has come to cover their nakedness and they can be forgiven for their sins. But in terms of exposure to the most devastating things that can occur in mortal life, nothing is preventing them from that. there is a freshly dug grave and Adam, Eve and Abel are on one side of it and Cain is on the other that death has opened up this chasm between them it is ripped apart this family there is a son, this blood red son in the middle of the scene and it also separates Adam, Eve and Abel on one side with Cain fleeing off in the opposite direction as if to say this secret combination you thinking you could hide your sin no, it is the full gaze of this of the dead, blood, son now, the other thing that is most haunting about this painting is Eve hers is the only face you cannot see because this this bereft mother is is draping herself over the body of her slain son we aren't given the privilege to pry her grief is invisible to us at least the look on her eyes but it is palpable in just seeing her in fact I read one commentary about the painting and it pointed out that Eve's hair is entwined with Abel's hair as if she were truly tied to him, to rip him away from her, to lay him in the silent grave. That's what Blake is trying to depict in this painting. I'll let you see it as I read to you the second masterpiece, and this one is poetry. It was actually written by the sister of President Marion G. Romney. Her name was Arta Romney Balif, and she wrote a poem called Lamentation. And I don't know if I've ever heard or read something more gut-wrenching as far as what these first parents go through in losing their two sons. It's in the voice of Eve. And who better to describe she who first tasted the fruit for her to describe to us just how bitter that taste can be. And God said, be fruitful and multiply. multiply, multiply echoes multiply God said I will greatly multiply thy sorrow thy sorrow? sorrow, sorrow I have gotten a man from the Lord I have traded the fruit of the garden for the fruit of my body for a laughing bundle of humanity and now another one who looks like Adam we shall call this one Abel it's a lovely name, Abel Cain, Abel, the world is yours God set the sun in the heavens to light your days to warm the flocks, to kernel the grain He illuminated your nights with stars He made the trees and the fruit thereof yielding seed He made every living thing, the wheat, the sheep, the cattle for your enjoyment and behold, it is very good Adam? Adam? Where art thou? Where are the boys? The sky darkens with clouds Adam, is that you? Where is Abel? He is long caring for his flocks The sky is black and the rain hammers. Are the ewes lambing in this storm? Why your troubled face, Adam? Are you ill? Why so pale, so agitated? The wind will pass. The lambs will birth with Abel's help. Dead? What is dead? Oh, merciful God. Hurry, bring warm water. I'll bathe his wounds. Bring clean clothes. Bring herbs. I'll heal him. I'm trying to understand. You said Abel is dead, but I'm skilled with herbs. Remember when he was seven, the fever? Remember how herbs will not heal? Dead? And Cain, where is Cain? Listen to that thunder. Cain cursed? What has happened to him? God said, a fugitive and a vagabond? But God can't do that. They are my sons too. I gave them birth in the valley of pain. Adam, try to understand. In the valley of pain, I bore them. Fugitive? Vagabond? This is his home. This soil he loved, where he toiled for golden wheat, for tasseled corn. To the hill country? There are rocks in the hill country. Can't can't work in the hill country. The nights are cold, cold and lonely, and the wind gales. Quick, we must find him. A basket of bread in his coat. I worry, thinking of him wandering with no place to lay his head. Cain, cursed? A wanderer? A roamer? Who will bake his bread and mend his coat? Abel, my son, dead? And Cain, my son, a fugitive? Two sons, Adam. We had two sons. Both. Oh, Adam, multiply. Why? Sorrow. Dear God, why? Tell me again about the fruit. Why? Please tell me again. Why? That poem brings tears to my eyes because of the feeling of what Eve must have been going through. In fact, remember last week when we saw that so-called curse on Eve, that in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children. And the better translation for sorrow was pain and labor and travail. Well, she experienced all of that when she gave birth to these sons. And yet in the account, in the scriptures, there's no mention of pain in childbirth. Of course it would have been there. There's no ancient epidurals. But there's no mention of it. And yet the real sorrow, the real suffering came because of her children not at childbirth but based on the decisions they made later in life and that is true of parents as they experience some of the most bitter aftertaste of the fall because of choices that their children might make now in the story again we need to go back to last week to give us momentum for this week because Genesis 4, the story of Cain and Abel, is bookended by stories of birth. That story of death has birth on both sides. The very first verse of Genesis 4 is the birth of Cain, and the end of Genesis 4 is the birth of Seth, where the genealogy picks up again that we're going to study today. Now, to see the way it is set up in those two verses is incredible because they're parallel on purpose. if you think about Cain well I'll put it this way there's three elements in each verse the one about Cain starts and Adam knew Eve his wife and the one about Seth starts and Adam knew his wife again and remember that knowledge is the visceral kind the experiential kind the intimate knowledge of two twain becoming one flesh and life coming as a result in fact that word again when Seth is born speaks volumes about Adam and Eve's willingness to persevere through pain and endure anguish and keep trying and bring yet another child into the world. Now the second element in both verses, in verse 1, And she conceived and bare Cain. And in verse 25, And she bare a son and called his name Seth. Now so often in Hebrew scripture, in the Old Testament, Names are symbolic. And they either represent something that the parents went through to bring that child into the world, or prophetically, something that that child will go through later in life. And that holds true with Cain and with Seth. Because the third parallel between these two verses, listen to this one, about Cain. Eve said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Now, gotten, in that phrase, is a play on the name Cain. Now, Cain can mean possession, which is interesting because, as she said, I've gotten a man from the Lord. He's mine now. God has given him to me. But that possession becomes all the more painful when he turns into perdition later in the story. To shift from someone I got to someone I lost, from possession to perdition, is devastating for Eve. Now, when Eve says, I have gotten a man from the Lord, that Lord is significant. In the King James Version, it's Lord with all capital letters. And any time you see that in our Old Testament, it's telling you something. What it is, in Greek it's called the tetragrammaton, which is a fun word to use in casual conversation. Tetra means four, and it's just these four letters that together constitute the name of God. In English transliteration, that is YHWH, which is why you sometimes hear the word Yahweh. Even our word Jehovah comes from those four letters. We just switched the Y to a J, which is close, and then we inserted some vowels there. But it's those same consonants, and it's the name of God. When the Lord says to Moses, I am that I am, it's that tetragrammaton, which is so sacred that Jews won't pronounce it. They'll insert the word Adonai instead. I really respect that reverence, that sacredness that they share, that they sense for the name of God. And so to point that out in our English Bibles, the King James translators used that all capital Lord. Now it's appeared already in the creation and fall accounts, but that's Moses writing about God. This is actually the first time anyone ever utters the name of God. And it's amazing that it's Eve who does it. Remember it was Adam who was naming the animals, identifying them. That it was Adam who recognized who Eve really was and calls her the mother of all living. Well now it is Mother Eve who speaks of God by name. She names him. And notice she knows that who in a very particular when and where. The when is after the fall. The where is east of Eden. And what does she realize? The God of the garden is still the God of all the earth. And he will come and be with us. He will help bear our burdens through this fallen existence. In fact, he will help us, allow us to participate in creation itself. Because as Cain's birth is described, there's three people involved. Adam, Eve, and God. So, Eve, I have gotten a man from the Lord. I will name him Cain. Then the devastation of the story of Cain and Abel. And then at the end of the chapter, to bring it full circle, let's try again and Eve knew his wife again and she'd bear a son and called his name Seth and then here's the play on his name for God said she hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew now the word appointed there is a play on the name Seth some grammarians have suggested the name Seth can even mean compensation that the Lord is making it up to Eve and giving her another child to replace Abel who was slain. Seth really does become a new Abel. And even, again, the word Seth, appointed, can also mean lay or put or place or set. In fact, later in the Hebrew Bible, when it talks about laying on of hands, it often uses that same word that's used here. But it's also interesting this difference. When Cain was born, I've gotten a man from the Lord. But when Seth is born, God has appointed me another seed. Not just a man, not just some solitary son, but seed. Seed that will then grow into additional trees, family trees, to bear fruit with seed of their own. There's something powerful about the promise of posterity here. In fact, when God speaks to Cain in that account and says, the blood of your brother is crying out of the ground to me. In the original Hebrew, blood is plural. So it should have said, thy brother's bloods are crying out of the ground. Some ancient rabbinic commentators suggested that that was meant to portray not just the death of Abel, but the death of every potential, all of his potential posterity. That, again, the irony of these voices from the dust, crying out of dust that would never have the breath of life breathed into it. That Cain cut off that entire line, all of that seed. And so here comes Seth and the seed that would follow to take the place of Abel and his posterity. There's powerful truths hidden here, which makes it all the more meaningful when you finally get to Genesis 5 and see posterity come from Seth. Or as we see today in Moses chapter 6, when you see this family of Adam through Seth begin to spread and to spread righteousness. That's the biggest difference here. So let's take our first element, the genealogical portion of Moses chapter 6. To give you the quick summary to begin with, the genealogy that is described goes from Adam to Seth, to Enos, to Canaan, to Mahalaleel, to Jared, to Enoch, which we're going to spend the book of our time with, than to Methuselah and to Lamech and to Noah. And then you'll get the flood story later on in Moses 8 or Genesis 6 and so forth. And what's amazing about this is the focus on this family line. We already saw last week that among the first of Adam and Eve's posterity, they ended up loving Satan more than God. They became carnish, essential, and devilish. Then you meet Cain and Abel. And we know that story. And then they try yet again with Seth. And what's interesting, by the time you get to verse 8 of Moses chapter 6, it says this, A genealogy was kept of the children of God. And this was the book of the generations of Adam, saying, In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him. Now, notice that this genealogy doesn't start with Adam. It actually starts one generation back. It starts with God. And I think it's important for us to trace our ancestors that far also. Don't stop with Adam and Eve. Go back a step. As is described here, In the likeness of God made he him. Now he clarifies and continues in verse 9, In the image of his own body, God's own body, male and female created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam in the day when they were created and became living souls in the land upon the footstool of God. So this is not just some kind of metaphorical parallel. This is not just, we're children of God allegorically, symbolically, no, literally. And God's physical body is the template. There is an image and likeness in men and women that connects them to their heavenly parents. And there's such a unity there between husband and wife that he can call their name Adam. Two for one here. A true unity between Adam and Eve. Now verse 10, Adam lived 130 years and begat a son. But notice the phrase, in his own likeness, after his own image. And called his name Seth. Now does that language ring a bell? it's the exact same language used for God creating Adam and Eve in his own image likeness which again confirms the reality of our divine parentage when we sing I am a child of God that's more than a primary song that is deep doctrine and if we're saying that death had Adam's image and likeness and that's a literal thing obviously that's how childbirth works to use the same language with God creating Adam and Eve helps us know just how literal that divine parentage is for them and for each of us. Now when you fast forward to verse 22 it kind of summarizes this is the genealogy of the sons of Adam who was the son of God with whom God himself conversed. So again we are talking a literal family tree that stretches all the way back to the tree of life himself, our heavenly parents. Now, as we think about that, realize that there were such juxtaposition we've seen so far in the Old Testament, caught between light and darkness, caught between two different trees, bitterness and sweetness, caught between Jehovah and Lucifer in the council in heaven, caught between an angel and a serpent in Eden, or between Abel and Cain. Which side of the family tree do you want to grow up in? Which of these two opposing forces will you end up following? And what's powerful about what we're starting to see here in Moses chapter 6 is you see a righteous posterity of Adam. We've already seen a line from Adam and Eve that are loving Satan more than God. Today we get to meet their opposites. a family tree that is growing toward the light instead of toward the darkness. Now, they're being pulled in both directions. That's true of all of us. And so how's this for the negative pull? Verse 15. And the children of men were numerous upon all the face of the land. Because we're seeing generation after generation unfold. And in those days, Satan had great dominion among men. Remember, it was man that was supposed to have dominion over the animals. Well, unfortunately, Satan is having dominion over the animal nature of man, the natural man or woman in each of us. So Satan had great dominion over men and raged in their hearts. And from thenceforth came wars and bloodshed, and a man's hand was against his own brother in administering death because of secret works seeking for power. Sound like Cain? It's exactly what's happening as it goes on from there. In fact, as I was pondering this, I realized this is the very beginning. At the very end, when you get to the book of Revelation, it describes Babylon, what we're up against, this wicked world, with three main metaphors. And there's a political aspect of Babylon, there's the beast, there's an economic aspect of Babylon, there's the merchant city, and there's a religious-slash-ideological aspect of Babylon, and that's the false prophet and the scarlet whore. Now, the political side, think about what's happened, that's the end. But it's already starting at the beginning. And to think of what Satan is trying to do to murder. Now there's the ultimate political power. I don't mean just governments, but politics is an exercise of power. And there's no greater evidence of power than to have power over life and death. So that element is already there. The economic, why did Cain slay his brother? The secret combination was all about murdering and getting gain. so there we see the foreshadowing of this merchant city that will loom large throughout human history and the secret combination the loving Satan more than God the ideology that Satan is spreading among the children of men well there's the false prophet there's the scarlet prostitute prostituting the realities of God it's just interesting that this has a long shadow and our own mortal experiences will take place under the shadow of that kind of darkness, and yet also with a pull towards greater light. So far what we've seen in this negative side is the counterfeit, the opposite of Zion. As we'll see next week, if Zion is one heart and one mind, then no, it's not brother against brother as we've seen. if Zion is dwelling in righteousness then how could Satan have great dominion among them and if there's no poor among those of Zion then there's no secret works seeking for power and gain so we're already seeing Zion and Babylon start to diverge we saw it in Cain versus Abel we've seen it in We'll see it clearly in almost everything that comes beyond. This righteous posterity is making up their mind, recognizing the negative pull, but also feeling drawn to the positive pull that you see in verses like verse 1, the very beginning of Moses 6. And Adam hearkened unto the voice of God and called upon his sons to repent. You see, Adam there had not given up on God. He's still hearkening to his voice. and he hadn't given up on his posterity either, despite all that had happened already. He's calling upon them to repent. Adam becomes this beautiful connective tissue between a God whose hand he's still holding stretching back to Eden, but the other hand extended outward to his posterity, beckoning them to come home. This is like Father Lehi inviting them to come to the tree of life. Well, Father Adam is doing the same. How about verse 3? and God revealed himself unto Seth. Now, he'd revealed himself unto Cain too. There's still a decision Seth is going to have to make on how to respond to that. But thankfully, he responded well. He rebelled not, but offered an acceptable sacrifice like unto his brother Abel. So, two big brothers whose examples he could follow. He chose the right one. He offered sacrifice in similitude of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Then verse 4, And then began these men to call upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord blessed them. Now what I love, by the time you get to verse 4, we've met Adam and Seth and, at the very end of verse 3, Enos. And what's powerful about this is you have three generations, Grandpa, Dad, and Son, all of whom have chosen righteousness. And so when he says, then began these men to call upon the name of the Lord. You're finally in the righteous family line. The family tree is growing in the right direction. I remember a few years ago, I kept hearing from the Quorum of the Twelve talk about multi-generational families of faith. I just remember that phrase really striking me because I'm part of a multi-generational family of faith. I'm seventh generation Latter-day Saint on at least some of my lines. And most of my lines are about that. five, six, seven generations back. You who are first generation Latter-day Saints, you converts, my hat is off to you. It's incredible to think of what you have chosen to do to bend your family tree in the direction of the light and to be in a position to create righteous traditions, to begin forging a chain with you as the first link in it and pass down those righteous practices to your posterity. That's what's starting to happen here. And it's a glorious thing to behold. Now, how do we pass that on, though? President Hinckley used to talk about, don't be the weak link in the chain of your generations. And how do we form strong chains? Well, in this first section of Moses 6, the genealogical section, Again, we're pulled in both directions. We have the negative pull. We have the positive pull. We're starting to see a family line develop. Well, what else do you see in these passages? Notice verse 5. How do we strengthen this family tree A book of remembrance was kept into which was recorded in the language of Adam for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration So there's one principle to follow. Keep a book of remembrance, and in fact, live lives worth recording in it. Notice he said that it was written by the spirit of inspiration. We often talk about speaking by inspiration. Do you realize we can write by inspiration too? In fact, that was what Moroni was envious of. He said, God, you've blessed me with the power to speak by thy spirit. I just don't, I'm not very good at writing by it. But that is a spiritual gift worth developing. And to record by inspiration evidence of the hand of God in your life and in your family line for children. I mean, my first master's thesis was on the Italian mission in the 1850s and 60s because the first family that joined the church were my ancestors, the Malans. And there are Cardons and Davises and these incredible families that joined the church then and passed down an incredible legacy of faith. I am grateful that they wrote by way of inspiration, and that I can read their words and see the hand of God in their lives and realize that same God is trying to shape me, and guide my life as well. Don't underestimate the power of recording your spiritual experiences, not just for you to remember, but for your posterity to look back upon. We're creating multi-generational families of faith. How about verse 6? And by them, so by these writings, these inspired writings, their children were taught to read and write, having a language which was pure and undefiled. Can you imagine learning to read based on, I mean, like, what's your primer, right? What's your book to learn vocabulary and grammar? For Adam's posterity, it was this book of remembrance. We're learning to read and write by learning to see the hand of God in our lives. It's awesome. If you think about the Puritans who came to North America, and they wanted to create these Bible commonwealths. In those days, if you owned one book, it was the Bible. And if you taught your children to read, it was by teaching them to read the Bible. In fact, literacy rates were sky high among those Puritans because they wanted their children to know how to read the Bible. That was the most important thing they could read. When King Benjamin passes down the plates and the mantle to Mosiah, it's one of the things he says, if it weren't for these scriptures, we would have lost sight of God long ago. In fact, if it weren't for these writings, Nephi would have been no different than Laman or Lemuel. Now that's an eye-opener. Wow. You want to create a righteous line. Make sure that there is scriptural literacy there. It's sad for me to see the level of scriptural illiteracy that exists in the world out there. At one point, when I was at Divinity School, we were taking this class on the history of the Bible in America. And there were, I don't know, a dozen of us in that class. and the professor says, okay, first day, let's get to know each other. I was the only Latter-day Saint. Most people were Protestant ministers in training. There was a Catholic priest in training. There was actually a member of the Community of Christ, the former Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was like, sweet cousin, what's up? But as we were getting to know each other, the professor then said, okay, we're going to be studying the Bible in American history. I'm just curious how many of you have actually read it cover to cover. And only two hands went up. Me and the Community of Christ friend. And the professor started to laugh out loud. She was just like, are you serious? Do you realize that the only two people in here who have actually read the Bible, cover to cover, come from religions that the rest of you accuse of not even believing in it? And she just laughed. It was like, yeah, that's ironic. She's all, come on, Protestants, you might want to read your book. Sola Scriptura, we'll get into it. it's sad that we are we're seeing a generation rise that doesn't know the word of god and that's that's true throughout much of christianity sadly it's there's an element of that even in the restored church we we want to create multi-generations a multi-generational family of faith and keep books of remembrance but also teach we need to teach our children to study the ultimate book of remembrance that God has given us. Teach them to, don't just teach them to read, teach them to read the word of God. Don't just teach them to write. Teach them to write by inspiration. Help them see the hand of God in their lives and in the past, all who have come before. Now, verse 7, it seems like takes kind of a 180, comes out of nowhere. But I think there's something here that we need to see connected to the rest. He says, now this same priesthood, which was in the beginning, shall be in the end of the world also. I was like, wait, wait, huh? Where? When did we start talking about priesthood? That's, again, kind of out of the blue. But again, if you're teaching your children, if you're passing down these righteous traditions, it's not just reading scripture. It's engaging in God's work. And they've already been taught the law of sacrifice. So I think there is this priesthood element that's inherent here of if Seth is learning to sacrifice like his big brother Abel had, and then he passes it down to Enos and then on to the other generations, where this priesthood is being passed down father to son as well. And I love how it said that priesthood that was in the beginning will also be in the end of the world also. In fact, as we studied section 27 last year and section 17 last year, Adam on Diomen, it's basically the bookends of mortal time here on earth. And priesthood is prominent at both periods. Here you have Adam blessing his posterity, exercising his priesthood. and before the second coming this grand sacrament meeting gathering at Adam on Diomen where Adam and those key holding priesthood holders throughout time will come together to deliver up their keys to the Savior himself. There's something about Adam at the very beginning prophesying that this priesthood will exist at the end despite all of these broken branches on the family tree children choosing Satan instead of God the priesthood will continue through and when all is said and done the priesthood will bind this family together and help it become whole now with that priesthood in verse 7 mentioned verse 8 makes a little more sense now this prophecy Adam spake as he was moved upon by the Holy Ghost now what prophecy? Well, I think when he mentions prophecy in 8, he's referring to what he just said about priesthood in 7. This priesthood is going to continue to the end. And that to me also says something about this family tree. That they all have faith in their future. And so priesthood is going to pass down. The prophecy of that priesthood will be passed down to. Each generation having faith to run their leg of the relay, knowing that the next generation will run their leg equally fast. I hope that makes sense. To me, there's something powerful here because prophecy keeps getting brought up as this family line continues to develop. In fact, we might as well make that quick field trip to D&C 107 and point out just what Adam is doing as he's prophesying among his posterity. This is D&C 107, verse 53, and then we'll see 56 and 57. Three years previous to the death of Adam, He called Seth, Enos, Canaan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah. And those are all the names that we meet in this beginning genealogy section of Moses chapter 6. He gathered them all into the valley of Adam and Iaman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing. Now the Lord appears, he blesses Adam, but then the verse goes on. And Adam stood up in the midst of the congregation, and notwithstanding he was bowed down with age, being full of the Holy Ghost. And that's something we've seen repeated several times already, that he wrote by the Spirit of Inspiration, that he prophesied as he was moved upon by the Holy Ghost. So again, full of the Spirit, Adam predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest generation. And these things were all written in the book of Enoch and are to be testified of in due time. So how's that for a book of remembrance entry? How's that for multi-generational family of faith? Prophesying that these blessings will continue, priesthood will remain with my posterity until the final day. Now, as you study this genealogy section, notice the thing that keeps getting brought up. Verse 13, Seth prophesied in all his days and taught his son Enos in the ways of God. Wherefore, Enos prophesied also. Or verse 21, Jared taught Enoch in all the ways of God. 23 summarizes the whole family. And they were preachers of righteousness and spake and prophesied and called upon all men everywhere to repent. And faith was taught unto the children of men. now there you see how this family is forged to be this incredible family line this household of faith the family of God and passing down righteousness generation by generation preachers of righteousness who teach their children in the ways of God who prophesy that there's a purpose to all of this there's an end goal for our family in fact I always joke with my brothers my mom was a teacher all four of my grandparents were teachers I've got so many teachers among my extended family, uncles and aunts and cousins and in my family of the four boys I've got a brother who's a lawyer a brother who's a banker and then there's little old me the only teacher in the bunch and I always joke with them guys you sold out on the family business for filthy lucre you could have enjoyed the life of obscurity and poverty like me and been a teacher. And what I love about this idea of, oh, and by the way, all my brothers are amazing teachers too. And they all find ways to extend their knowledge to others in great ways. So I'm proud of you, bros. You're keeping up with the family business. And my sisters are better than all the brothers anyway. But the idea here of preaching repentance and building faith, that is the family business. As it's passed down through the generations, If we trace our genealogy back to people like Enoch and Seth and Adam, and remember, don't stop there, and God, these are criers of repentance. These are builders of faith. These are preachers of righteousness. And that is one family business that will remain until the final day when the teacher of righteousness himself will return. Talk about an in-service meeting. Talk about a class reunion. That's the family I want to be a part of. And so as the latest generation, well, second to latest since I have kids now, what are we adding to that book of remembrance? what principles of righteousness are we passing on what are we prophesying about what are we teaching our children and are we building faith and helping people repent that's what this is all for now with that we've gone through this genealogy and finally arrived at Enoch now like I said in the Genesis version Genesis 5 you get four cryptic verses about Enoch I'll give you the sum total of what the Old Testament tells us about Enoch in four sentences. And Enoch lived 60 and 5 years and begat Methuselah. So there we just get some genealogy. And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years and begat sons and daughters. Next verse. And all the days of Enoch were 360 and 5 years. And then the last verse. And Enoch walked with God, just like he said before. And he was not, for God took him. and then with all that confusion left we're like wait wait what he's on to the next story next generation what can you can we go back and tell me a little bit more about this Enoch person well Genesis won't give you that but the book of Moses will and like I said at the beginning today for the Lord to part the veil here and tell Joseph here's somebody you need to know well because you need to follow in his footsteps. In the Doctrine and Covenants, there were some revelations given that they needed to keep secret or at least hide the identity of the people that were listed there because there were some economic things and they were worried about persecution and so on. And so the people listed took code names and put that in the original version of the Doctrine and Covenants revelation. And guess what code name Joseph picked for himself? Enoch. he understood the parallel that he was trying to follow. Well, let's start in verse 26 of Moses chapter 6 to pick up Enoch's story. And it came to pass that Enoch journeyed in the land among the people. And as he journeyed, the Spirit of God descended out of heaven and abode upon him. Now that simple feeling of the Holy Ghost, I call it the call before the call because he's about to get a much clearer call to go out and serve. But it's preceded by this gentle call, this gentle nudge, this feeling of the Holy Ghost. We'll see this later when we meet Moses at the burning bush. And the burning bush was just God clearing his throat for a much grander message. That was a call before the call. And so here's Enoch feeling something. And perhaps you've felt that too. And it's that that pointed you in the direction of greater involvement in God's work. Enoch begins by simply feeling the Spirit. And then, verse 27, the actual call comes. And he heard a voice from heaven saying, Enoch, my son. Remember, that's how God introduced himself to Moses. So first, establish your identity and your relationship. That's what God does here. He says to Enoch, my son, prophesy unto this people. That's what this family tree has been doing for generations now. Prophesy. Prophesy unto this people and say unto them, repent. Now that's odd. What kind of a prophecy is repent? We always think of prophecy as telling the future. And that's part of it. The book of Revelation defines the spirit of prophecy as the testimony of Jesus. So prophecy can simply be, I mean, you're prophesying every time you bear your testimony. And isn't a cry to repentance in some ways a bearing of your testimony? In fact, in some ways, isn't it a prediction of the future? That if you repent, I can tell you what your future will hold. It will hold forgiveness, first and foremost. It will hold greater happiness and joy and peace and rest. It will bring reassurance. It will change your life and point you in a direction that is higher and holier than any path you've been on in the past. I think that single word repent is one of the most profound prophecies we could ever utter. So Enoch, go prophesy. Say to the people, repent. For thus saith the Lord, I am angry with his people, and my fierce anger is kindled against them. That's strong language that we often don't want to associate with God. I thought he was kind and gentle. He is. But as we learned from Mormon at the end of the Book of Mormon, there are times where rhetorically you have to speak stronger than you normally would when people are past feeling. You have to poke a little harder. When ears are shut, you have to speak a little louder. And so God, this merciful Father, this God who weeps as we'll meet him next week, speaks of anger, speaks of wrath, Because, as verse 27 ends, their hearts have waxed hard. No wonder he has to be stronger. Their ears are dull of hearing. No wonder he has to be louder. And their eyes cannot see afar off. No wonder he has to be much more clear. Now, it's important that we understand those three body parts that he just mentioned. The heart, the ear, and the eye. Now, they have become dulled and desensitized to the still small voice. Thankfully, Enoch had not been, since that was his call before the call. But their hearts aren't like that. Their eyes and ears aren't like that. We live in a day of hard hearts and dull ears and eyes that can't see afar off either. No wonder in our day, the world trades on jolting emotion. and it focuses on loud and shrill voices to get our attention. And it wants to thrust things right up into our eyes. We need immediate proof of things. We talk about sensory overload. That's the world we live in. And sadly, that was the world that Enoch lived in too. So how is he going to change that? How is he going to cry repentance against those kinds of odds? In fact, this is a problem that doesn't seem to go away. when you get to the book of Isaiah, when Isaiah is first called, what he's up against is very similar. Isaiah 6, verse 10 speaks of the heart of this people being fat, and their ears heavy, and their eyes shut. And Satan wants to keep it that way, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed. In fact, there's a beautiful parallel between that and the very first section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the preface. because as God's voice interrupts this apostasy of silence, hearken, he says, his very first word in Doctrine and Covenants section 1. But as he begins to clear his throat and utter his voice from the heavens, he says this in the second verse, For verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men, and there is none to escape, and then catch the body parts. And there is no eye that shall not see, neither ear that shall not hear, neither heart that shall not be penetrated. The problem that we see in Enoch's day and in Isaiah's day will be changed in the latter day as we pick up the family business, as we cry repentance, as we prophesy of a better future to our fellow man. In fact, let's put these three body parts side by side for a moment. Another chart. Heart, ear, and eye. If the heart is our emotional or spiritual center, and then the ears, I see this as the relational aspect of life because we speak and hear one another. And then the eyes can be the rational aspect of things because some of what we learn comes through the eye. Okay, it's probably the greatest source of knowledge and information in terms of what we can see. Okay, so if we put heart and eye on opposite extremes, the emotion or spiritual on one side and the rational on the other, with the relational in between, this is what Enoch's up against. He's going to have to try to connect or solve all three problems. Here's another comparison. Heart, past feeling. Ears, won't hearken. Eyes, lack of vision. The heart, they're closed off from spiritual experience. The ears, they're closed off from the testimony of others. And the eyes, they're closed off from the evidence all around them. I mean, how are they going to gain testimonies of their own when that's their reality? I'm not going to have my own spiritual experiences because my heart is hardened. I'm not going to trust you because I'm plugging my ears. and I won't even see, remember that's Alma with Korihor. Look around. Everything you see bears evidence of God. But nope, their eyes were closed to those realities. When the heart's off, there's no charity. When the ears are off, there's no faith because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And when eyes are closed, there's no hope because you can't see a better future ahead. you can't see afar off. So up against these odds, with no faith, no hope, no charity, hearts and ears and eyes, what is Enoch going to do? He's going to cry repentance. He's going to soften hearts. He's going to open ears and open eyes. And we'll see him work on all three body parts throughout the rest of these two chapters. Now before we get there, notice verse 28. The Lord continues to explain to Enoch what he's up against. For these many generations, Ever since the day that I created them, have they gone astray, and have denied me, and have sought their own counsels in the dark, and in their own abominations have they devised murder, and have not kept the commandments which I gave unto their father, Adam. Again, that describes Cain. It describes those that went before him, older brothers and sisters, and older nephews and nieces. I met them last week. and that whole other side of the family tree that had become carnal, sensual, and devilish as well. That's all that Enoch is going to have to deal with. Notice also when it says that they've sought counsel, their own counsel, and it's in the dark. I love this phrase from Isaiah, where he says, Behold all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks. Go ahead, walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. this shall he have of mine hand you shall lie down in sorrow I almost chuckle at that verse because it's as if he's saying oh you don't want to accept you don't want to follow the example of the light of the world you don't want to walk in the the brilliance and glory of the noonday sun fine if you're taking counsel to yourself and it's in the dark then what's the best you're going to come up with sparks imagine instead of having this amazing spotlight. You're walking through the darkness with flint and steel, and you're just striking it, or you're trying to go match by match by match. I mean, now our cell phones have amazing lights on them, but I still remember as a kid having a watch with a watch light, and I loved to read, and when it was late at night, and my mom and dad would say, it was time for bed, I would either get under my bed or under my covers, and I'd have a book, and I would use my watch light to see. It was the dimmest, dullest light imaginable. But I could, you know, move it across the page and make out a few words at a time and keep reading. Well, that's the world we live in. People are navigating life by the light of sparks. No wonder they're going to lie down in sorrow. They're counseling among themselves, and it's all darkness. When the light of the world is willing to reveal truth to each of us. Oh, what an irony that we are walking in darkness at noonday, to borrow a phrase from the Doctrine and Covenants. Well, verse 29. Wherefore, they have forsworn themselves. And to forswear means to swear falsely. And by their oaths, so here's those secret combinations, they have no real loyalty, no integrity. So Satan has no intention to keep the secret, right? No one's going to know, Cain. Well, everybody knows, Cain. Sorry. But by their oaths, they have brought upon themselves death. They brought it upon themselves. They were their own executioner. And a hell I have prepared for them. Actually, they're the ones in some ways preparing it for themselves. But then this last line, if they repent not. So there is always a way out. and they hold the key to escape their own self-made prison. There's always an escape route and it's repentance. But if you don't, then that hell that is prepared, that death that you are bringing upon yourself, there is no avoiding it. I am offering you mercy, but justice is always waiting in the wings. That's what he says in verse 30. And this is a decree which I have sent forth in the beginning of the world from my own mouth, from the foundation thereof. And by the mouth of my servants, my fathers, have I decreed it, even as it shall be sent forth in the world unto the ends thereof. So this justice that I'm just warning you about, there's no escaping it. It's there past. It's now present. It's on in the future. It will always be there. Repentance will always be an option if you'll take it. But as your ancestors learned in the Garden of Eden, where there is choice, there is consequence. Where there is agency, there is accountability. And there's no getting around it unless you repent. So verse 31, When Enoch had heard these words, he bowed himself to the earth before the Lord and spake before the Lord, saying, Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight? Now, what God had just told him, what he was up against, with heart and ears and eyes, what was riding on the success of his mission, trying to save his fellow brothers and sisters, his cousins, the world around him from the hell that they were preparing for themselves and the death that they were bringing upon themselves, those realities brought him to his knees before God. It brought him face to face with his own inadequacy. Why would you choose me? We'll see this again when we meet Moses. When Moses realizes what he's up against and what's riding on the success of his mission, and he comes face to face with, I can't do this. I love what Elder Maxwell once said, that the call to the apostleship is a call to perpetual inadequacy. Imagine having a call and you're like, great, I'm never going to feel good about myself for the rest of my life. Or at least I'm never going to feel up to what God expects of me. It's exactly what Enoch is feeling here. And in fact, the way he describes it throughout the rest of verse 31, it's so true to form for us as well. He says, I am but a lad. Now, he was only 65. Or at least that was the last date or age that we have of him. So sometimes post 65. But I mean, if Father Adam lived to be 930, then 65 is still just a whippersnapper. I haven't grown my foot or two yet. So this age. Or maybe we say his lack of experience. That's his first concern. His second, and all the people hate me. So how am I going to bring about repentance when I can't even create relationships to start? And then the third concern, for I am slow of speech. There's, again, the sense of inadequacy. I don't have the requisite talents or gifts to be able to do this. And so again, he asks the question, wherefore am I thy servant? So interesting what he's wrestling with here, Which again, Moses will feel it. Gideon will feel it. Elder Maxwell felt it. Every apostle I'm sure has felt it. You and I have felt it when we just, I'm not, again, think about what he's concerned about. His lack of experience on one end, I'm just a lad, and his lack of talent and ability on the other. I am slow of speech. He's worried about his vertical relationships with God. How have I found favor in my sight? And he's worried about his horizontal relationships. All the people hate me. Now, what's amazing is what God can do with all of those. In fact, sometimes, or I should probably say all of the time, God wants to fix all of those things. He's aware of all of it. He's aware of our lack of experience. So he's trying to give us experience, on-the-job experience. So go out and do this. You'll get better at it. He's trying to help us develop those talents and those attributes, knowing that we lacked them at the beginning. Remember, this is whom the Lord calls, he qualifies, as President Monson always used to say. You're worried about your vertical connections and your horizontal relationships? Well, this will help solve those too. Because as you work through me, you'll come to know me. You'll understand why you have found favor in my sight. And you'll develop abilities to work with other people to the point that they will not hate you. In fact, they will follow you in building Zion itself. Enoch, you're not where you want to be. That's okay. You're not where I want you to be yet either. But we'll get there. We'll get there together. In fact, that's the reassurance he gives him later on. Verse 32, the Lord says to Enoch, Go forth and do as I have commanded thee. I'm not worried about any of those things. I'm not worried about your resume. I'm focusing on your potential. And here's the promise. and no man shall pierce thee. Now that one I've read a million times, but this time through, it just really made me stop and think, what does he mean by that? No man shall pierce thee. Pierce seems to be, well, there's the opposition, the persecution, to be pierced as if with the point of a spear or the blade of a sword. Again, what he's up against, the rage in the hearts of people, the brother rising up against brother, wars and bloodshed. Okay, there's some piercing I'd be afraid of. And there's the Lord's promise, they shall not pierce thee. But I looked up in the 1828 dictionary, which is a great resource when we're studying restoration scripture, since that's what words would have meant during Joseph Smith's time period. So when he's thinking of a word, as he's trying to translate ancient scripture, what does it mean to him? So I looked up the word pierce, and here's one definition. to penetrate, to enter, to force a way into. And yes, that can be something physical like a sword, but it can also be something mental like an ideology, some worldly philosophy. And considering what Enoch is up against, that he's going to have to enter enemy territory, go behind enemy lines and try to make a difference there. But the hard thing about going, it's the whole in the world but not of the world. well I have to be in the world to make a difference there but the further I go into it the more it might make a difference in me as I penetrate enemy philosophy I really hope that enemy philosophy doesn't pierce me does that make sense? I sense it in my own study, academic study of anti-religious rhetoric and so wading through the enemy camp and study in anti-Mormonism, for example. I am grateful for reassurance from God as I continue to strive to hear His voice, to keep a soft heart and an open ear and an eye focused on His word. I am grateful that through that study, it has not penetrated me. I haven't been pierced by it. There's another aspect to this also, another definition of pierce. to penetrate the heart deeply, to touch the passions. Now, I realize there's a lot of overlap between these definitions, but there's just enough of a nuance between them that as I pondered that one, to penetrate the heart deeply, I thought of Enoch and, again, what he's up against. It's one thing to be pierced by a sword. It's another thing to be pierced by a philosophy. It's another thing, though, to be pierced by the sorrow when people don't listen to your words. And that is something that penetrates the heart deeply. It does touch the passions. And I worry sometimes about people that are so emotionally invested, which we need to be, but without any boundaries, without any sense of safety for themselves, that they throw themselves into other people's lives, and when it doesn't go according to their hopes, they are devastated. They are pierced to the point that they can't go on helping. This is a fine line. This is a contrary that has to be proven, where I have to love people enough that I want to help, but I also have to have sufficient boundaries to make that love sustainable. That's a tough one. If you remember President Nelson, when he was a young doctor, and he cared about his patients so much that when he lost several siblings to the same congenital heart defect, He was ready to throw in the towel. And he went home to his wife and said, I can't do this. I can't allow my inadequacy, the same sense that Enoch is feeling here. I can't make other families suffer because I'm not good enough of a doctor to help save them. I can't do it. He was pierced emotionally by the sorrow of failing in his mission. And so he's ready to end his mission entirely. And his sweet wife had to reassure him, honey, then you're just forcing someone else to go through the same learning curve. Again, it's a fine line to have enough love that you have a good bedside manner, but also enough professional distance, if you can call it that, with a doctor, so that you can continue helping people no matter what you're up against and no matter what their response might be. Again, this is a tricky one to explain. I hope that that makes sense. and whichever side of that contrary you might be on, perhaps you need a little bit more love because you have too much distance. Or maybe you need to work on your limits so that you have love to give over and over and over again. Whichever form this takes in Enoch's case, they will not pierce you. And what a beautiful promise for those that are crossing enemy lines and trying to make a difference. Now, remember the three body parts. Heart, ear, and eye. God is going to start first with their ears. And not just their ears, but Enoch's ears as well. So he says in verse 32, Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled. And I will give the utterance, for all flesh is in my hands, and I will do as seemeth me good. You said you're slow of speech? Well, I can work with that. I'll tell you exactly what to say. You just have the courage to open your mouth. Now, that promise appears throughout Scripture. We saw it several times last year in the Doctrine and Covenants. Take no thought beforehand what you shall say, but treasure up continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very moment that portion that shall be needed to every man Open your mouth and it shall be filled like Nephi of hope There so many great promises of that And I confess as a 19 as I headed off to Puerto Rico on my mission I had no faith in that at all I was like what Open your mouth and it be filled Yeah right With my foot, maybe. If I don't know what to say, I'm not going to open my mouth and make it obvious. But of all the promises God made to missionaries, that's the one that I doubted most before my mission and had the greatest testimony of by the end of my mission. And it has been a blessing ever since, because I've been thrown into all kinds of situations where I didn't know exactly what to say. But I knew that if I opened my mouth, the words would come. I remember one guy, sweet, sweet Dominican man on my mission, who loved the first discussion. And we came back a few days later expecting him to be probably an Alma by then. He was so excited about the Book of Mormon. We came back and we asked, so where are you in the Book of Mormon? He said, I haven't read any of it since you left. And we're like, what? You were so excited last time. He said, yeah, but the day after you guys came, the Jehovah's Witnesses came. And that month, their entire magazine was dedicated to us. I was so flattered. They dedicated an issue to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Unfortunately, it was anti-Mormon from cover to cover. Now, I'd seen it during that week because it was spreading all over the place. The center of Spanish translation for the Jehovah's is in Puerto Rico, so there were a lot. Wonderful people. And boy, do they know their Bible. When I complained about scriptural illiteracy, that's not their problem. And in terms of zeal to share the gospel, they're amazing. And we can learn from their example of member missionary work. But it was interesting to read that anti-Mormon magazine and to see what they were trying to do to plant seeds of doubt. And so I said to this good brother, Well, I've seen it this week, too. Where do you want to start? And we can go page by page and paragraph by paragraph if you want. I guess that was my first real experience trying to help people navigate anti-Mormon literature. Well, by the end of our conversation, we'd answered most of his questions. But he said, I just don't even know. Because we were asking, what do you think? How do you feel? And he said, I was so excited with what you told me last time. And then they came. And then I was like, wait, what? And now you're back. And I, okay, it makes sense. but I'm still left with this feeling of just, I don't know who to trust. Because I'm feeling good now about the Latter-day Saints, but if they come back tomorrow, will I feel good about them and bad about you again? Am I a chameleon? And whichever I touched last, that's the color I'm going to be? I don't like that. I just don't know who to trust. But when he said that, I jumped right on that and said, well, good. Because you shouldn't trust mere mortals anyway. The only one who really knows the answer to these things is God. So don't put your trust in us. put your trust in God. Because if you ask us, we're going to tell you we're right. And if you ask them, they're going to tell you they're right. So ask God and he'll tell you whatever he wants to tell you. Now I kept saying that to him and giving examples and trying to help him understand the need to put his trust in God. And then it was so interesting. I just felt this little prompting in the back of my head, show him 2 Nephi 28 verse 30. And I remember at the time thinking, 2 Nephi 28 verse 30? That has nothing to do with this conversation. I knew the verse. It's the one about, I will give line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. And I thought, that's not a very good verse. Anyway, you need to trust God and not trust yourself. And I could just sense the Holy Ghost going, listen to yourself, Elder Halverson. You just said, trust me instead of you. So trust me and show him 2 Nephi 28.30. And again, I have this internal wrestle. I'm like, no, that is completely irrelevant to this topic. You know the scriptures better than that. Come on, give me a better verse. that was blasphemous of me but I remember kind of going back and forth with the Spirit as I was going back and forth with this good brother and I finally relented to the Spirit and I said fine so I turned to 2nd Eich by 2830 and I gave him the book because I wanted him to read it because that would buy me a little bit more time to think how on earth am I going to apply that verse to this topic of conversation I didn't know and I was thinking well so trust God a little and he'll give you a little and trust him some more and he'll give you some more. And then line upon line and trust upon trust, you'll come. Oh, this is lame. Well, he read the verse. And as he was getting to the end of it, I'm starting to get nervous. Like, how am I going to do some spin control on this verse that was irrelevant? And then this Dominican man did something I didn't expect. He kept reading. And the very next verse says, Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm or shall hearken unto the precepts of men save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost. And then my jaw dropped and I felt a little sheepish as I realized, oh, God wanted me to share 2 Nephi 28.31. I just didn't know that verse. And so he got me to the closest one I knew. He said, I can get you to 2 Nephi 28. If he had known 2 Nephi 28.31, I would have inspired you to go to there. That's the verse he needed. But since you didn't know it, I got you close, and then I got him to keep on reading. I'm God, I can do that. And boy, was it a wake-up call for a young, inexperienced missionary that, wow, if I will open my mouth and just trust what God puts into my mind and heart, things will work out. and God has proven himself adequate to overcome my inadequacy over and over and over through my life as I tried to help black converts on my mission understand the so-called curse in the Book of Mormon or some stories I've shared with you in previous lessons about helping an angry grandma that couldn't go to her granddaughter's wedding in the temple when the Lord put in my mind the story of the raising of the daughter of Jairus, if you remember that explanation. So often during my time in Tennessee, when I was there during the Mitt Romney campaign, and all these Southerners wanted to vote conservative, but all these evangelicals didn't want to vote Mormon. And so they kept inviting me to go to their congregations to explain Mormonism, so-called, so that they could feel comfortable voting for the Antichrist. and it was just interesting to see I would take 10 or 15 minutes and explain some basics about the restored gospel but then say, okay, Q&A, what do you want to know? Instead of me telling you what I think you should know I want to answer whatever questions you might have and boy was that nerve-wracking or at least it would have been if God hadn't proven himself over and over and over to me that if I'll open my mouth then God will fill it. I know that's true. And if we will simply treasure up the word, which Enoch was doing since that was part of the family business, that was part of the book of remembrance that had been passed down, parent to child. If he opens his mouth, God will fill it for him too. And he'll do the same for you. Now verse 33, the Lord starts really easy. Because I'm actually going to fill your mouth in advance. say unto this people choose ye this day to serve the Lord God who made you now that's a little more straightforward than the version that we'll get in Joshua when he says choose you this day whom ye will serve as for me and my house we will serve the Lord but then I'll give you the option well unfortunately Enoch's audience was already choosing the wrong option so he's not leaving it completely up to them he said let me help you with your decision choose the right this time okay choose you this day to serve the Lord God who made you. Now, like I said, I love the fact that this, as the baby steps that Enoch is taking as he starts this mission, the Lord says, open your mouth and I'll fill it. And in fact, I'll fill it in advance here. I think too often we think that, well, we saw this already, that they could write by way of inspiration, when too often we think we can only speak by it, that you can have the Spirit in your presentation of truth, but you can also have the Spirit in your preparation with truth. If you're preparing church talks and you're the type that writes it down. It's funny, my dad is the type that just, oh, open your mouth and it'll be filled. And my mom is the type that, well, open the book and open my mind and open a notebook and the page will be filled with my own notes and my own writing. Back in the day when they had mission farewells, at mine, my parents both spoke, and my mom had this incredible discourse all written out. She's very eloquent. And to see, I mean, every word was so beautifully placed. It's an amazing message. And dad went up, I think, with like a three-by-five card. It was probably blank, but he just wanted to have something to pretend he was looking at. And his talk was equally beautiful, where his experience in life and in leadership in the church had taught him, just open your mouth, and it will be filled. And it was. I'm grateful to have been raised by both sides of that, because that's a beautiful contrary to be proven. Follow the Spirit in presentation, and follow the Spirit in preparation. And perhaps God will give it to you in that exact moment you open your mouth. Other times he might give it when your mouth isn't quite open yet, but your pen's in hand, and you're ready to write down by way of inspiration. Oh, there's a good set of contraries to prove there, too. develop both of those kinds of of those gifts, I hope. Now, verse 34, he's going to let them know that I'm not giving you everything you're going to say in advance. I mean, you're going to say a lot more than just verse 33. But here comes the promise for all that God will yet speak through Enoch. And I love this verse. Behold, my spirit is upon you. Wherefore, all thy words will I justify. Now, to justify if we're typing something on the keyboard there's buttons for left justification and right justification or center justification it means to line something up so when he says all thy words I will justify I'll line up your words and there's two ways to see that and to me it's kind of a chicken and egg process that I've always pondered when it comes to priesthood blessings or speaking by way of inspiration since it's the priesthood holders that give priesthood blessings, but it's anyone, God's daughters as well as God's sons, that speak by way of inspiration. Well, here's the chicken and egg. Is it God telling them in advance what to say, or is it God honoring what they said and putting it into practice? I wonder that with patriarchal blessings. Is the patriarch told exactly, this is how I envision this person's life, so tell them this? or is it you are doing your very best to speak on my behalf? Speak with confidence. I trust you. Trust me. I can make these things work out. I can justify your words. You understand that the two sides of this, and I'm sure that it's chicken and egg. I'm sure it's both, that God does inspire us at times to know what to say. But there's other times when in our very best efforts, we are trying to speak truth into existence. And God looks at our efforts and smiles and says, yes, I can make that happen. I can justify your words. So he will for Enoch. And then these other promises. And the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course. incredible promises that yes can be taken literally there are examples in scripture where a mountain was literally moved but personally i remember at one point on my mission thinking about that passage and thinking have i ever moved a mountain have i ever ever turned a river out of its course and as i pondered that symbolically i realized wow god has allowed me to do that through the power of the words he has given me Now, a mountain, if you think about it, what makes moving a mountain such a shocking promise is that mountains aren't supposed to move. Talk about, I mean, if you were to symbolize stability, there's a mountain for you. Well, I met a lot of people on my mission that were mountains, that were so fixed in their ways, so set in stone. Oh, I always laugh. So many of Puerto Ricans as a Latino culture are Catholicos, or Catholics. And they go, I'm a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ. I'm Catholic. And my parents are Catholic. And my grandparents are Catholic. My dog is Catholic. It's like, I'm Catholic. My parents were Catholic. My great-grandparents were Catholic. We're all Catholic. Okay? And we always will be. And yet it was interesting to work with some wonderful people and just preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and watch a mountain move. People that thought they were... People I thought were so set in their ways. They'll never change. But they did. And if a mountain is the symbol of fixity, then a river is the exact opposite. Because a river just meanders anywhere. The easiest way to get downhill. Just shifting currents and eroding the banks on either side. I just want to get downhill as quick as I can. Have you met people like that too? just rivers that are just meandering through life no real direction just trying to find the easiest way downhill well I've seen rivers move out of their course as they find themselves in a channel just channeling their lives to seek the living water to flow uphill back to the hill of the Lord. It's amazing to watch the Lord do His work as He moves mountains and channels rivers and changes people. It's what I loved most about my mission was to watch that happen. And how did it happen? Notice the end of verse 34. And thou shalt abide in me and I in you. Therefore, walk with me. actually I guess I have to take back what I just said. Watching mountains move and rivers turn out of their course actually wasn't my favorite thing on my mission. My favorite thing was that last part. Feeling like God was my companion, and that we were walking together the streets of Puerto Rico. It's my favorite thing as a teacher. It's my favorite thing in anything that I ever get to do for God. because when you're an instrument in his hands, you can't help but get his fingerprints all over you. You can't help but come to know him as you're walking side by side, as you try to minister to the people that matter so much to him. That is one of my most prized, cherished phrases in all of Scripture. Just walk with me. Come, follow me, as he said to his apostles in the New Testament. Just walk with me. Well, notice what happens as they're walking together, serving hand in hand. Verse 35, we're going to shift from the ear to the eye now. I've spoken to your ear, Enoch, and told you what to say to the ears of those around you. Well, now we need to work on sight, yours and theirs again. So, verse 35, And the Lord spake unto Enoch and said unto him, anoint thine eyes with clay and wash them and thou shalt see and he did so now speaking of anointing and washing there may be some temple hints in these kinds of passages or if you think about the man born blind and that describes pretty well the audience that Enoch is going to try to address in a way it even describes Enoch himself not yet seeing his own divine potential or the promise of success for this mission. He's blinded by his own inadequacies, right? And so what does the Lord say? Just like to this man that was born blind, he spits into the dirt, he makes this clay, he anoints the blind man's eyes, and then says, go and wash in the pool of Siloam. In some ways, it's almost like you have to read, especially if you're blind, and you can't see that the Lord is doing anything to give you sight. Well, let me give you a different, let me honor a different sense for you. For you, it'll be the sense of touch. and I want you to feel this clay upon your eyes. I want you to feel the water washing it away. In your case, Enoch, I want you to understand what they're up against and what you're up against in terms of the world's dirt in your eyes. No wonder you can't see clearly. No wonder you can't see afar off. The world is too much with them and it needs to be washed away. So let's dramatize this. on the clay, wash it away, and then come see. The promise is for us as well. If we can wash away worldly influences in order to see clearly the things of God, again, he is the light of the world. We're trying to see by way of that light, not the sparks that we're surrounding ourselves with. I often share with my students what I call the parable of the windshield wiper. Growing up in Southern California, We never use windshield wipers. It never rained. Occasionally it would, but I'd always put it on the lowest, you know, the intermittent wipers, and you put it on the lowest setting, so every, I don't know, 10, 15 seconds it goes by, and even then it wasn't that necessary. I remember as a kid learning to drive and putting the windshield wipers on the highest setting, and it was so fast, I thought, whoa, I could be underwater, and I wouldn't need to go this fast. Well, then we moved to Tennessee. And if you've ever been in one of those southern rainstorms where it's just dumping on you, and even at its highest speed, the windshield wipers just can't remove the water fast enough. You have to pull over, wait for the cloudburst to pass. Well, as I've shared with my students sometimes, every time the Holy Ghost comes, it's the windshield wiper going back. It's clearing your vision. It's helping you see. and depending on how fast the rain is falling in your life will help determine just how frequently you need real exposure to the Spirit of God. For some, it might simply be a sprinkle and you're not exposed to much of the world's filth. And you see clearly for the most part constantly. Oh, and again, occasional. a Sunday, a good Sabbath clears the vision and you're good to go for the week ahead. I don't live in that world. And I'm often in a downpour of people asking questions and struggling in their own faith and I'm trying to help them navigate and trying to navigate the minefield myself. And I keep my windshield wipers on high with constant exposure to God's Word and God's Spirit. But it does help me see and I'm grateful for that clarity. Now with the sight that God had given him, notice what happens to Enoch in verse 36. And he beheld the spirits that God had created. And he beheld also things which were not visible to the natural eye. Again, sound like Moses chapter 1, where Moses gets to see all things, every particle of the earth, every person upon it. Well, Enoch is having this grand panoramic vision himself and he'll have more of it in chapter 7. But as he sees the spirits God has created, I love the thought because what he's up against is the physical, the tangible, the natural. And boy, are there natural men and women that he's going to try to preach repentance to. But in order to look past that and see the spirits as God had created them, innocent in the beginning, people who fought for Christ in the war in heaven and somehow had lost their way in mortality, I've often heard it said that missionaries need to envision their investigators dressed in white. And I think a similar thing is happening here. But not just... I've always thought about in terms of being dressed in white for their baptism. I'm prophesying of their glorious future. Or white for the temple. Or white for the celestial kingdom. Well, that's all beautiful foreshadowing and prophesying. But what about looking back and seeing them dressed in white as spirit children of heavenly parents? and with the eyes to see their divine identity as well as their divine potential. I believe that's what Enoch is starting to see here. And boy, would that give him hope. I don't need to worry so much about what they are right now because I know what they were. And I know what they'll become. If they can just remember. At the end of verse 36, because he can see these things, Things not visible to the natural life. And again, that's how the Book of Mormon defines a seer. Someone who can see things that cannot otherwise be known. I think Boyd K. Packer once said that. If you only know what you can see and what you can hear and what you can feel, and you don't know very much. And boy, did President Packer have a gift of seership. Well, so did Enoch. And so the same goes abroad. From thenceforth came the same. a seer hath the Lord raised up unto his people. Someone who truly has eyes to see. Now we saw God work on the ear. Open your mouth is what you're going to say. We saw God work on the eye. Wash away the world's dirt and come seen clearly. He still has that hard heart of the audience to work on. And some things that need to happen in Enoch's heart as well. and we're going to see most of that in chapter 7 next week. We're going to see God really working on the heart in powerful ways. So what does he do from here on out? Notice verse 37. It came to pass that Enoch went forth in the land among the people, standing upon the hills and the high places. So he's trying to get them to look upward. I'm living at a higher standing. I'm trying to lift you up to that level as well. He cries with a loud voice, so there's no more timidity because of his slowness of speech. He testifies against their works. So he's speaking truth to power. He's unafraid of the consequences. You're not going to pierce me anyway. And all men were offended because of him. Well, how's that for success? Okay, I didn't get pierced, but I offended everyone? That's not what I was hoping for. Well, again, it's what you're up against, Enoch. Understand that. But there's a few ways to understand that phrase of being offended. Now, the more common one in that 1828 dictionary is to displease, to make angry, to affront. And again, when you're crying repentance to people who don't want to hear it, yes, it's offensive to their ears. But there's another definition from that dictionary. Where to offend is to shock, to wound, as to offend the conscience, Webster says. Now, think about that. And what I call to repentance does to prick the conscience. Now that's being offended in a more positive way. It's almost like it's brought to our attention that we've been offending ourselves. Now there are going to be those that were offended in the negative way, but there are others that were offended in the right way of, I've been doing wrong. And I'm shocked into that realization because my conscience was on life support. And Enoch's crying of repentance has brought me to my senses. My sight, my hearing, my feeling. I can feel again. So in verse 38, They came forth to hear him upon the high places. You see, they're already ascending. They're leaving their lesser, lower lives behind and coming up closer to God, climbing the mountain of the Lord. They said unto the tent keepers, Tarry ye here and keep the tents, while we go yonder to behold the seer. for he prophesied. So we're getting seership, we're getting prophecy, we're going to see revelation as well. So prophet, seer, and revelator, emic is three for three. But it is interesting how that verse seems to present us with a choice. Are we going to keep the tents down in the valley? Or are we going to behold the seer up on the high place? What's our choice? What direction will we go? Are we so... Do the things we own, those tents, end up owning us and keep us bound to lower levels of living? Or are we ready to just leave those worldly tents behind and ascend the mountain of the Lord? I've got a seer to see. I have revelations to receive. I have prophecies to internalize and bring into existence to fulfill those promises. Now, verse 38, I don't know how it ends. This is their reaction. There is a strange thing in the land. A wild man hath come among us. I love that description of Enoch. And all of his more modern counterparts. I felt like I was doing strange things on my mission. And boy, did I feel like a wild man in the best imaginable ways. Strange, and remember what the Lord says. He calls us his peculiar people. where he talks about his strange work and his strange act. Something that kings have never considered and stopped their mouths and they'd have to just think about these things. There's so many examples in scripture of that strangeness. Even the marvelous work and a wonder. That wondering. This is something strange. Something I've never thought about or thought of before. And the wildness. When someone is wild, they're not domesticated. they haven't been domesticated by a world that is trying to train out the divinity and leave us trapped by the natural man I love that that's their description it's the description of John the Baptist it's the description of Elijah we could say it's the description of President Nelson and President Oaks and President Irene and all those who served with him because they made a strange decision when they left behind incredibly successful careers. They are wild in terms of not being domesticated by secular concerns. They don't care about the tents. They're climbing the mountain to behold the seer, to be seers themselves. And I hope that we can be strange and wild ourselves. The Lord needs a lot more of that. Now in 39, it came to pass when they heard him, this strange wild man. No man laid hands on him. He was protected, as promised. They will not pierce you. For fear came on all them that heard him, for he walked with God. This is the bully being scared, not because they see you, but because they see your big brother behind you, even if you weren't aware that he'd come to your aid. walking with God, of course they won't pierce you because they can't pierce Him. He's the all-powerful. He's the all-knowing. Of course you'll know what to say. To be the junior companion when he's the senior, oh, all things will work out. That's one of the things I always told greenies in the mission field. When we pick them up at the airport and bring them back to the mission home and do a little preliminary training, I always say, now elders and sisters, we've all been praying hard about your trainers and you have amazing trainers. That's actually an occupational hazard, though. They're so good, you're going to start trusting in them. You're going to turn to them for help, and you're going to need a lot of it. So, I mean, you're going to get whiplash how quickly you're going to turn. I used to joke with them. So try to switch off every other appointment, sit on their right, and then sit on their left. That way, at least you're turning your head to the other way, and you can work the neck in both directions. But I will say this. There's nothing wrong with looking to your trainer for help. and the Lord is blessing you with great companions to be able to look to. But here's my advice. Before you look sideways, look up and turn to the Lord first for help. He's the ultimate trainer. He's the best senior companion. And I promise you, Greenies, that the more frequently you look up, the less frequently you'll have to look over because God will inspire you with what to say and what to do. he'll turn you into the missionary he wants you to become. So walk with him, just as Enoch was doing. Verse 40, And there came a man unto him, whose name was Mahijah, and said unto him, Tell us plainly, and here's the two things he wanted to know, who thou art, and from whence thou comest. Now it's interesting that people in the New Testament were asking Jesus the same thing. Who are you, and where did you come from? Now the answer in verse 41, Enoch says to them, I came out from the land of Canaan, the land of my fathers, a land of righteousness unto this day. That's my family background, this multi-generational family of righteousness. And my father taught me in all the ways of God. Again, back in the New Testament, people were typically known by their hometown, you get Jesus of Nazareth, or by their father, like Simon Bar-Jonah, Simon's son of Jonah. well in this in a similar way do we know where we come from the garden of eden and and a land of righteousness and do we know who we come from i can trace my lineage all the way back to adam in fact go one more generation and i'm the son of god as enoch is understanding these things and teaching them to the people, he's helping them understand the who and the where. But more than that, he helps them understand the why. And that's verse 42. As I journeyed from the land of Canaan, by the sea east, I beheld a vision, and lo, the heavens I saw, and the Lord spake with me. So there's my eyes and my ears. He gave me commandment, wherefore for this cause, to keep the commandment, I speak forth these words. So I'm not telling you to do anything I'm unwilling to do myself. I'm inviting you to keep the commandments because I was commanded to do that and I'm keeping the commandments in the process but then verse 43 and it continues his speech and this time it's more than the why let's get back to the who but the real who the capital W who not just me but who God is the Lord which spake with me the same is the God of heaven and he is my God and your God and ye are my brethren Now, did you notice the possessive pronouns? My God. Your God. And did you notice both the two great commandments? The vertical one, he's my God and yours, but also the horizontal one, you're my brethren. And we're all part of this family. I'm trying to bring you back to the right branch of the family tree. So he asks them, Why counsel ye yourselves and deny the God of heaven? Why would you content yourself with lesser lights and more ignorant advisors when God is there to open our ears and open our eyes and soften our hearts? There's that great verse in 2 Nephi 28 that says, They shall contend one with another, and their priests shall contend one with another, and they shall teach with their learning and deny the Holy Ghost which giveth utterance. Same problem taking place back then. Now verse 44, he continues to introduce God to them. The heavens he made, the earth is his footstool, and the foundation thereof is his. So he's above, he's around, he's beneath. There's nowhere you can go to escape him. So come unto him. Behold, he laid it, he laid the earth, and host of men hath he brought in upon the face thereof. So that's where we have come onto the scene. But then 45, death hath come upon our fathers. And all of those murders to get gain would have introduced them to death all too clearly. Nevertheless, Enoch goes on, we know them and cannot deny. And even the first of all, we know even Adam. Now that was very literal. In D&C 107, it says that Enoch was 25 years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam. And he was 65 and Adam blessed him. So all of this that we're studying today and next week would have happened after, at some point in his life, in his young life as a lad. But from 25 and again at 65, Enoch knows Adam. We're about to turn to this incredible lesson that Enoch is going to teach the people. This is the message that is part of the ministry of Enoch. And he got it from Father Adam. So we understand death. But we know life. We know where this all started. We know Adam. And even if you've never met him, look at verse 46. For a book of remembrance we have written among us, according to the pattern given by the finger of God, and it is given in our own language. Now we're back to what we studied at the beginning of this chapter. this book of remembrance that Adam passed down to create this multi-generational family of faith. I know Adam. I want you to know what he knew. I have this book of remembrance. I want you to remember the things that are worth holding on to. And here's what it will be. Verse 47, As Enoch spake forth the words of God, the people trembled and could not stand in his presence. There's the power of the word of God, quick and powerful, the sword of the Spirit. Oh, they're not going to pierce you, but open your mouth, it shall be filled, and you will pierce them with truth, with light. And here's what you'll teach. Starting in 48, here is Enoch's lesson, which in reality is Adam's lesson. Because that Adam fell, we are. Sound like what Lehi said? Adam fell, that men might be. Well, the way Lehi ends the verse is, and men are that they might have joy. Notice how Enoch ends the verse. Because that Adam fell we are, and by his fall came death. Ouch. And we are made partakers of misery and woe. Wait a minute. Whatever happened to that joy? Well, it's there too. But we have to experience, taste the bitterness of the fruit so that we can learn why we need to choose righteousness instead. That's what he says in 49. Behold, Satan hath come among the children of men. It's like, oh, that's what got in the way of joy. And tempted them to worship him. And because they actually did, men have become carnal, sensual, and devilish. So carnal, there's flesh instead of spirit. Sensual, there's physical senses instead of spiritual sight. Devilish, they're succumbing to the will of the devil instead of the will of God or heeding the better angels of our natures. And we are shut out from the presence of God. Now, that's the real death to be avoided. Okay? And verse 50. Now, that was the bad news. Here's the good news. Or to put good news in another term here the gospel But God hath made known unto our fathers that all men must repent Or to put it in other terms that all men can repent including you The bad news is what you up against and what you've been dealing with and what you've been committing yourselves to. But all that can change. And this is the good news of the gospel. Verse 51, he called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying, I am God. I made the world and men before they were in the flesh. So I've known you even longer than you know. I've had a plan for your life from even before the time your life began. Trust me here. 52. He also said unto him, if thou will turn unto me and hearken unto my voice and believe and repent of all my transgressions and be baptized even in water in In the name of my only begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you. Now, in that one single verse, if you had to condense down Enoch's lesson, which was Adam's lesson, as preserved in this book of remembrance, that's the verse to go with. In some ways, it's simply the fourth article of faith in its first utterance. That if you'll truly place faith in the promised Messiah, in Jesus Christ, in the only begotten Son, full of grace and truth, with that faith, it will be faith unto repentance. You'll realize where you fall short and you'll want to come back to him. That's where repentance comes in. You'll want to make a covenant to continue along that path. and that's what baptism is for. And if you'll do that, the Holy Ghost will come. He will be your gift, your constant companion. And because you'll still have a long life beyond that, ask what you need from the Father and it will be given you. There's the enduring to the end. That is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Remember how Nephi does it in 2 Nephi 31? He says, I'm pretty much done here. I'm running out of time and life and plates. But I've got to teach one last thing and it's going to be the doctrine of Christ. I'm going to teach the gospel. And he starts 2 Nephi 31 by saying I'm going to teach you the doctrine of Christ. He ends 31 by saying I just taught you the doctrine of Christ. Which means what did he do in between? He taught them the doctrine of Christ. Which was faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost. And endure to the end. That, if you think about it, in the Garden of Eden God taught Adam and Eve the law of obedience. That you have choice and consequence. agency and accountability he taught them once they left the garden the law of sacrifice that this is why you are offering the first thing of your flock and why you should do all things in the name of Jesus Christ well now we see he's also teaching them the law of the gospel and that gospel is the first principles and ordinances faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost endure to the end all through Christ faith in Christ repentance through Christ baptism into Christ the gift of the Holy Ghost because Christ is offering you that gift so that you can then endure in Christ to the end that is the law of the gospel and it is built upon the foundation of the law of obedience and the law of sacrifice that Adam has already learned and has already taught. Now, 53, Our father Adam spake unto the Lord and said, Why is it that men must repent and be baptized in water? Now, again, we saw this last week. Sometimes people accuse Adam of blind obedience because the angel says to him, Well, why are you offering sacrifice? I don't know. Just God told me to. But here you see a better view of how Adam approached the commandments of God. He did wonder why. He wanted to understand it. He wasn't going to hold off on obeying them until he got the answers. I know the answer will come. In the meantime, I have the who, and that's sufficient. And I'm going to hold to the who, but I'm going to hope for the why, because I'd love to know it. And so here he asks it. Why is repentance and baptism so important? And the Lord answered. Here's why. Behold, I have forgiven thee thy transgression in the garden of Eden. Remember we saw that last week after the angel explains these things? As thou hast fallen, thou mayest be redeemed. Thou and all mankind, if you'll hearken to my voice. Same thing here. Why repentance so important? Why baptism so important? Well, because you've been forgiven. So Eden is officially behind you. And with cherubim and the flaming sword guarding that way, the shortcut back to the tree of life. Remember we carved out space, prolonged your time. And how are you going to navigate that prolonged space of time in this probationary slash preparatory state? It's going to be a lot of trial and error. It's going to be a lot of acting on faith. It's going to be a lot of learning from experience. And so you will need lots of repentance, believe me. you'll need a covenant relationship with me that will help guide you, steer you back home. So that's why you need to do this. There's no going back the short way, but going forward, that creation fall atonement story arc to be able to ascend onto the atonement, that path is paved with principles and ordinances of the gospel. So that's how you move forward. Then verse 54, Hence came the saying abroad among the people, that the Son of God hath atoned for original guilt. Now notice it wasn't original sin, since we don't believe in that. What's the difference between original sin and original guilt? Well, go back to that 1828 dictionary and notice this definition for guilt. Noah Webster defined it as criminality, which sounds really harsh, but then keep going. That state of a moral agent which results from his actual commission of a crime or offense, knowing it to be a crime or violation of law. The definition goes on. To constitute guilt, there must be a moral agent enjoying freedom of will. Remember, Adam was given agency in the Garden of Eden. Thou mayest choose for thyself. And capable of distinguishing between right and wrong. Remember, Adam and Eve had been told the consequences of their decision. And a willful or intentional violation of a known law or rule of duty. And that's them knowing the consequences of their choice. But there again, like we said at the beginning of today's lesson, knowing good and evil would have to be experiential and not just cognitive. Now, whatever guilt was there, the Lord atoned for that. He hath atoned for original guilt. So we are not going to be punished for Adam's transgression. That is the second article of faith. but we are introduced into a fallen world because of Adam's transgression. And that's where our probation and preparation kicks in. That's what he says at the end of 54. Wherein the sins of the parents cannot be answered upon the heads of the children, for they are whole from the foundation of the world. So yes, we are not punished for Adam's transgression, but we are affected by it. And the conditions of mortality are not punishment, Instead, they're probation. They are preparation. They provide the necessary gravity, so to speak, so that we can actually build some muscles. I imagine it'd be hard to be a bodybuilder in outer space, where there's no gravity pushing back. There must needs to be an opposition in all things, and that provides that. So, back to Enoch's lesson, back to Adam's lesson, verse 55. And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying, inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin which we would say conceived into a sinful world with a body made of fallen element that makes us vulnerable to sin it's in our potential now even so when they begin to grow up sin conceiveth in their hearts and they taste there's the experiential knowledge they taste the bitter that they may know to prize the good Like I said, the tasting, I love the verbs there. It's not just they'll know the bitter so they can know the good. No, it's taste the bitter so they can prize the good. You understand the difference there? That's this visceral, this gut, this experiential, rather than just, oh yeah, I know the difference there. No, you need to taste it. Eve, you're going to taste death through Cain and Abel, and you will come to prize life in ways you never had before. Adam, you will see your sons, so much of your posterity fall away and tasting the bitterness of that will make you prize all the more intensely the truths that I've taught you from Eden on and it will motivate you to live by those commandments and to teach them diligently to your children. every time you write by way of inspiration every time you add to that all important book of remembrance you will prize its potential because you know what happens when people ignore those truths my friends if we don't yet prize the good then prepare yourself to taste more bitterly the consequences of not having it as my wife and son work with addiction recovery patients, they have tasted things to the point of burning away their taste buds and to be past feeling. Then to come in for recovery, for treatment, for therapy, it's amazing as they are weaned off of those things, as the dirt from the world starts to be washed from their eyes, as their ears start to be more attuned to stiller and smaller voices, as their heart is broken and then remade out of softer stuff, it's incredible to watch them prize, prize it, fight for it, cherish it. It's the mighty change of heart. And Adam is understanding it because he's lived through it. I just read an amazing article by Rosalind Welch. A great thinker. And she'd read a bunch of the recent books about faith crisis that I've read them all to. But I loved her take. She laid them across this kind of spectrum between Lehi and Nephi. And it was genius what she did. So impressed with his insight. And she pointed out that for Lehi, in Lehi's dream and then Nephi's vision, Lehi was all about partaking of the fruit. He didn't know much about it. He didn't ask much about it. It was just like, that's what I'm supposed to eat? Well, let me try it. Ate it and was so blown away by it, he wanted everyone else to partake of it too. Now Nephi's turn. He's like, I want to understand the fruit. I want to know what it represents. And he gets this incredibly deep and rich history lesson. Or history in reverse, which is prophecy. Here's all the stuff that's going to take place in New Testament time, in Book of Mormon time, in Last Day Restoration time. It's mind-blowing. And it's like, oh, okay, I get it now. I understand. but it still begs the question okay but have you eaten it yet Nephi what I loved about what Sister Walsh described here is for Lehi it was the experiential for Nephi it was the cognitive I mean God speaks to both right I will speak to the mind and the heart that's what revelation is according to section 8 but Lehi was primarily heart and Nephi was primarily head. In fact, as I pondered that article, it hit me. This is something I've thought about before, but it came back to mind because of this reading that when Nephi finally gets it and understands what the fruit's all about, the angel asks him, knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw? And again, knowest? Which way are you knowing? Is it visceral? Is it intimate? is it experiential or is it just cognitive you get it, you get it now, you understand what dad was seeing and Nephi answers, yea, it is the love of God which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men wherefore it is the most desirable above all things, but that's where the angel interrupts and says yes, and the most joyous to the soul it's almost like he's pulling Nephi back into Lehi's perspective when Nephi's like oh yeah, it's the love of God and that's what we're supposed to desire. Got it. And the angel's like, it's not just what you're supposed to desire. Once you've tasted it, you can't help but desire it. It's not just desirable because it's right. It's joyous because it's good. And I love, I don't know, that's something I want to chew on more and ponder more myself. I think there's something similar between Mormon and Moroni. Grant Hardy, in his great book on understanding the Book of Mormon, talks about Mormon's approach was more cognitive, because it's, hey, you can come to know these things are true, because all these prophecies are fulfilled. And Mormon is constantly showing where prophecy is fulfilled through this narrative, and talking about prophecies from his day that will be fulfilled in the last days. That's how you'll know. It all works. It clicks in your head, and logically, I mean, it's exactly what God said it would be. Boom, here it is. Here's the evidence. And then Moroni's turn is like, Dad, nobody cares about prophecy. No one cares about history as much as you have, because nobody's studied as much as you. You just abridged a thousand years worth of history. Hello. I thought my dissertation was bad. But what does Moroni say instead? Ask God and allow the Holy Ghost to tell you that these things are true. Feel it. it's like the reversal there in the first instance dad feels and son thinks and by the end it's dad that thinks and son that feels now again we need to balance both that's a beautiful contrary to proof head and heart but there is something powerful here about Adam understanding and tasting and prizing having experienced the fall and the redemption that comes through Christ. No wonder he goes on in 56. It is given unto them to know good from evil. And that's the kind of intimate knowledge we've been talking about this whole time. Know good from evil. Wherefore they are agents unto themselves. Agents that also understand accountability. Choosers who also understand consequence. And I have given unto you another law and commandment. Now remember, the first law and commandment was to introduce you to the importance of laws and commandments. So are you ready for the next set? The first set was about multiplying and replenishing. The first set was about partaking of fruit, but with consequence attached. I'm going to leave that to you to really decide. You are an agent unto yourself. But having learned that first set of laws and commandments, are you ready for the next set of laws and commandments, namely faith and repentance and baptism and Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. Are you ready to graduate from the law of obedience and the law of sacrifice to the law of the gospel? I think you are, Adam. In fact, I think your posterity is too. So 57, wherefore teach it unto your children that all men everywhere must repent or they can in no wise inherit the kingdom of God for no unclean thing can dwell there or dwell in his presence for in the language of Adam man of holiness is his name and the name of the only begotten is the son of man more fully the son of man of holiness even Jesus Christ a righteous judge who shall come in the meridian of time you see Jesus is coming as the son of the man of holiness to remind us that that's our family tree too. And that we are all called to become sons and daughters of the Son of Man of Holiness. You see, we are all sons and daughters of God by creation. But he's trying to get us to become sons and daughters of God by choice. Choosing that branch of the family tree that is growing toward the light. Will we do that? And will we teach it unto our children? That's what he says in 58. Therefore I give unto you a commandment to teach these things freely unto your children. And here's what you should teach them. 59. That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death. So there we have choice and consequence. And inasmuch as ye were born into the world, so here's your physical birth, by water and blood and the Spirit, which I have made, And so became of dust the living soul. Even so, ye must be born again. So now is our spiritual rebirth. Into the kingdom of heaven. And it's the same process, or at least the same elements. Of water and of the spirit, and be cleansed by blood. Even the blood of mine only begotten. That ye may be sanctified from all sin. And enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come. Even immortal glory. Notice, by the way, at the end there, it's not just that you can endure the Word of God, but that you can enjoy it. You can tell when Scripture becomes sweet to the taste, it's because your taste buds have been properly developed. It's something that is joyous to the soul, as Nephi learned, and hopefully as we're learning as we study the Scriptures ourselves. By the way, I would also say it's not just enjoy the Word, the way he says it there, enjoy the words of eternal life. So there's a difference between enjoying it or just enduring it. But also when he says, enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, it's as if he's saying, don't have to wait for the eternal worlds to be able to enjoy the words of eternal life. You can have a preview of coming attractions, or in this case of promised exaltations, and you can feel that now if you'll do these things, if you will be born again. So his first lesson was the fourth article of faith. The next version of the same lesson is the idea of spiritual rebirth following the example of physical birth. I mean, the world is new, and birth is what is taking place. The fall brought death, but the fall also brought life and birth. and so let's understand the kind of birth God is intending for us if we were to, here's another chart for you with water and spirit and blood well, in terms of physical birth water is present and if you ever heard those death-defying words from your wife my water broke, whoa, and then the blood drains from your face and you get to drive as fast as humanly possible to get to the hospital so there's the water, where's the spirit? Well, that newborn breathes the breath of life. That first cry is music to a parent's ear. And then blood. Blood is what has connected mother to child through those nine months of development. Blood has been the delivery mechanism and will remain the delivery mechanism within the human body. That's what keeps us alive. So blood, spirit, and water present throughout physical birth. How about rebirth? This should be obvious. Water is baptism. Spirit is the gift of the Holy Ghost. And blood is the atonement of Jesus Christ. In fact, we can tie all three elements back more closely to Jesus at the crucifixion. Where when his side was pierced with the spear, what came out? Blood and water. and what did Jesus say as he was expiring upon the cross? Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. So again, we see water and blood and spirit. If you go ahead one verse and read verse 60, we can add one more line to our chart. For by the water ye keep the commandment, by the spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified. So in those columns of water, spirit, blood, we can add obedience, justification, and sanctification. You see, by being baptized and taking upon ourselves the name of Christ, we are not only being obedient, but we are promising ongoing obedience to God's commandments. So by the water we keep the commandments. Well, when the Holy Ghost is with us, he wipes the slate clean. Not only does he move the windshield wipers as far as our vision is concerned, but it cleanses us and brings back the purity that came in our baptism. And so we are justified by the Spirit. But then sanctified? Justification changes our status, but sanctification changes our state. It remakes us, it refashions us after the image of Christ. And so, of course, the blood of Christ is required for that. There's his ongoing grace. Remember what we learned in section 19. Jesus defined his, he called his atonement my preparations. In other words, now that my blood has been spilled, as I took upon myself the sins and sorrows and suffering of the world, as I took upon myself every consequence of the fall, I can reverse it. I can reverse its effect upon you. I can help you overcome the natural man and make you a saint through the atonement of Christ. Now that's going to be a long process. I'm glad I'm prepared. I'm glad we have prolonged time to help you through the preparatory state. But because of the blood that I spilled, my grace will be sufficient to sanctify you. I'll keep working on you with the water and your commitment to obey, with the Spirit justifying you each time He comes. will have the opportunity throughout your life of ongoing discipleship to become sanctified, remade in me. Now, verse 61, Therefore, so based on these births and rebirths, these teachings from Adam on through Enoch, Therefore it is given to abide in you, the Spirit is, not just to come and go, but to be a constant companion, to abide, And then notice all these nicknames for the Spirit. The record of heaven, the comforter, the peaceable things of immortal glory, the truth of all things, that which quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all things, that which knoweth all things and hath all power, according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment. And with a description like that, how could we not want the Holy Ghost to abide with us? He will, if we will simply live the kind of life that he is comfortable with, comfortable to be our companion. Now, verse 62. Now behold, I say unto you, this is the plan of salvation unto all men through the blood of mine only begotten who shall come in the meridian of time. I've always loved that verse because throughout my life I've heard people now and then say, the gospel just doesn't work for me. Or the church just doesn't fit. Or I don't fit in it. It just doesn't work. And I've always come back to that verse, verse 62, thinking, that's not what the Lord said. He said, this is the plan of salvation for all of us. It will work. It will work for all of God's children. Now, there may be some things about church culture that don't work for us. I get that. But the plan, it's universal. There's not a single child of God that has ever lived or ever will that falls outside its redeeming reach. God's umbrella will cover everyone. Keep us all out of the rain. And with temple work and work for the dead and everything else the three-fold mission of the church of perfect the saints and proclaim the gospel and redeem the dead doesn't leave anyone out. This is the plan of salvation for all men. And if it feels like it doesn't fit or doesn't work for you, there's probably part of it that we just haven't fully understood. And that's okay. God will spend the rest of this life and the spirit world helping us come to an understanding. We just need to be teaching these things and teaching them freely to all men. Then verse 63, another one of my favorite verses. And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me both things which are temporal and things which are spiritual things which are in the heavens above and things which are on the earth and things which are in the earth things which are under the earth both above and beneath here's what it boils down to all things bear record of me now my favorite thing about that verse because there's other verses in scripture that are similar that's really close to what Alma says to Korihor to convince him that there really is a God behind all of this. But my favorite thing about this passage in Moses 6 is that God is speaking to Adam there. And there's a phrase I like to use, I call it celestial homesickness. And it's this feeling that we sometimes get of, well, it's like Eliza Arsenault's line, that I am a stranger here. And we just wonder, there's a part of us that knows we're missing something. even if we can't put a finger on it. I've seen it sometimes in baby blessings. I always loved when I was in the bishopric and I got to hold the microphone because I got to keep my eyes open. So I don't want to hit the dad in the face with the microphone, right? But I would look at this little infant and sometimes just almost feel, oh, sympathy symptoms for celestial homesickness. that this child just came trailing clouds of glory from God who is our home. And can you imagine, in some ways it reminds me of what a blessing the veil is. Because if we didn't have the veil, can you imagine how horribly homesick we'd always be? I always told that to my missionaries when I taught at the MTC. They said, God was kind to help you pass through the veil before you came to earth. Or you'd always be thinking of your heavenly home. well there was no veil before you came to the MTC but if you can kind of self induce one it's in your best interest if you can pass through a self made veil and just stop thinking about home it'll help you get over your homesickness well if there was ever a soul that felt celestial homesickness it would have been Adam and Eve because there was no veil after Eden cherubim and flaming sword yes but no veil of forgetfulness So, of all the people that would have missed God, it was this incredible couple that walked and talked with him in the Garden of Eden. Can you imagine how lonely mortality would feel? Which is why I love what the Lord says here. Adam, Eve, I know you'll miss me. I miss you too. That's why you called to me and why I called to you out of the Garden. I want to stay in touch. But look around, and you will see my fingerprints on all of creation. Not just because I made it for you, but because I made it so you could be reminded of me. I remember somebody once saying about Jesus, what an amazing teacher that he could use so many things in the world around him as object lessons in his parables. And then somebody else pointed out, wait a minute, Jesus created the world. This is just the teacher setting up the classroom in advance. I mean, either way, it's amazing. But it's not just that he's taking advantage of what's there. It's he placed it there on purpose. And as that beautiful verse in verse 63 tells us, Adam, everything here is evidence of my love for you and reminders of your heavenly home. Yes, you'll miss me, but you don't have to miss me so much because I'm in every leaf and tree. in fact that's one of the best things about just going through life and wandering through nature is seeing how things point heavenward and homeward to see Jesus in all of those things I remember years ago I got a stack of 3x5 cards and just wrote as many love notes to my wife as I could think of and there were tons and I hid them all over the house and I just had so much fun picturing in my mind what she would feel when she found them. And there'd be one that she'd open the refrigerator to get something and there would be a love note. And she'd hang something up in the closet and there would be a love note. And she'd put a dish away and there'd be a love note. And everywhere. The one I got the most the biggest smile over was putting one in the lint trap in the dryer because I knew she'd never see that one. I think I'm the only one that ever cleans out the lint trap. And if it's been a while since I've done it, I pull it out and there's like a sweater in there. It's amazing. But I just, I smiled when she actually found it much faster than I thought she would. But I just, I was so excited to hide these things everywhere, just knowing that my wife would have evidence I was thinking of her. And that's our Father in Heaven. That He left love notes everywhere. heaven, earth, under the earth everything I make is made to bear witness of me and it's not because I'm self-centered it's because I'm you centered and I want you to know how much I love you and how much I'm here for you and you can still see me in everything, everywhere you look Adam, I'll be with you walk with me I with you and you with me that's how the Lord wants to treat each of us We're his children after all. Well, we're almost finished with this incredible sermon. Verse 64, it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water. Wow, baptized by the Spirit of the Lord? That's amazing. The fruit hasn't fallen far from the tree when it comes to our physical nature, when it comes to our spiritual nature, birth and rebirth, pointing back to Christ. When it comes to this priesthood that's been passed down that he prophesies will go to the very end. Well, he's seen it exercised by the Spirit of God himself. Amazing how this all happens. Verse 65, Thus he, Adam, was baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit and became quickened in the inner man. In some ways, another breath of life was entering into him, making him more alive than ever. 66. He heard a voice out of heaven, saying, Thou art baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost. This is the record of the Father and the Son from henceforth and forever. You see Adam living the law of the gospel? He had learned it. Now he's living it. He will go on to teach it. And that's the process for all of us. In 67, thou art after the order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity. This would be after the order of Christ. Remember the full name for the Melchizedek Priesthood? It wasn't out of the blue after all that Adam mentioned priesthood back at the beginning of this chapter. This is what's carrying us through all of this, and it's what's connecting us to Christ. Born of Him, water, spirit, blood. And 68, Behold, thou art one in me, a Son of God, and thus may all become my sons. Amen. This is the promise for all. This is the plan for all. will we choose will we become sons and daughters of Adam and Eve by choice rather than simply by creation will we choose to follow in their footsteps follow their example join that side of the family tree throughout what we've studied today we've seen Adam and Eve learn and experience and then go on to teach others This is the process. And we can live into that process ourselves, learning and living and teaching it to others. My friends, this is the plan of salvation for all of us. I testify of that. This is the story arc of life. And it's the only story that we can live into. It is creation, fall, atonement, all the way through. I testify of the family business. that we're a part of. And it is an honor to be able to continue teaching freely these things as far and wide as I can, despite my inadequacies and my inexperience and my slowness of speech, or in my case probably my longness of speech. I'm sorry for my inadequacies, but I am grateful for God's willingness to let me walk with him. and I pray that we can all walk with him together. This is God's gospel. We are his family. That book of remembrance that Adam recorded, your name is in it. And if we will simply live into that lineage and live up to that legacy, then you and I can also be in the truest sense of the word sons and daughters of God. Thank you.