TWO THOUGHTS FROM NOTED AUTHORS

This is from the book, Verse by Verse, The Book of Mormon, Vol. 1, by BYU Professors, Dr. D. Kelly Ogden and Dr. Andrew C. Skinner. The first is from page 27:

“The witness of the Spirit is more powerful and indelible than seeing a messenger from heaven, a truth poignantly illustrated by President Wilford Woodruff:

One of the Apostles said to me years ago, ‘Brother Woodruff, I have prayed for a long time for the Lord to send me the administration of an angel. I have had a great desire for this, but I have never had my prayers answered.’ I said to him that if he were to pray a thousand years to the God of Israel for that gift, it would not be granted, unless the Lord had a motive in sending an angel to him. I told him that the Lord never did nor ever will send an angel to anybody merely to gratify the desire of the individual to see an angel. If the Lord sends an angel to anyone, He sends him to perform a work that can be performed only by the administration of an angel.

Now, I have always said and I want to say it to you, that the Holy Ghost is what every Saint of God needs. It is far more important that a man should have that gift than he should have the ministration of an angel.”

Then from page 36 of the same book:

“The final journey from Jerusalem to the Red Sea was not without the usual friction and even open conflict, between Nephi and his elder brothers. Laman and Lemuel again vented their anger on Nephi to the point of physical violence.

Why didn’t Laman and Lemuel just get up one morning and make the hike back to Jerusalem? Why their incessant efforts to kill Lehi and Nephi and then go back to Jerusalem? Isaiah 53:8 may give us insight by describing why Jesus was crucified: “because he had done no violence (or evil), neither was any deceit in his mouth.”

Few things can stir up anger in the unrighteous as much as confronting the truth. Laman and Lemuel knew that their father and brother were telling the truth and they were angry because of it. They were jealous and envious and proud.

Some of the Jewish leaders had the same problem with Jesus. Nobody welcomed them into the city by throwing down palm fronds in their path. Nobody was being healed by them. There were no great crowds flocking around them to hang on their every word.

Something had to be done about this righteous person who always spoke the truth. They had him crucified. The two oldest sons of Lehi had in their hearts to do likewise: slay their father and brother. (Again, few things can stir up anger in the unrighteous as much as confronting the truth).