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Episode: 4.48 - Ether 12-15 - Part 1, Ether and Moroni Testify

Author: Lili Anderson
Duration: 00:47:40

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Full Transcript

00:00:04 Speaker_00
Hi, this is Lily de Hoyos Anderson, and you're listening to Tues in Glory. Thanks for joining me today.

00:00:10 Speaker_00
We are talking about the last chapters of Ether that is condensed by Moroni and added to his father's condensation of all the plates that his father had that have become the Book of Mormon. Moroni kind of signed off at the end of his father's book.

00:00:33 Speaker_00
He didn't know that he would survive. The Lamanites were hunting the remaining Nephites and killing them, exterminating those peoples. I think I mentioned this earlier, but it's not that common in the history of people on this earth for

00:00:56 Speaker_00
nations to be completely eradicated. They can be conquered and they can be subject peoples after that, and they can fail to flourish and so on. When you think of what happened to the Native Americans in the United States, you see that.

00:01:14 Speaker_00
They were vanquished and put on reservations and their health has been ruined. And I mean, it's a sad story of what has happened to the remnant of those peoples. and they will be restored.

00:01:27 Speaker_00
There will be a restoration for all those who are injured in those ways. In fact, the scriptures say that the last shall be first and the first shall be last, and that's repeated here in these last chapters of Ether.

00:01:40 Speaker_00
However, I'm not complaining about the westward expansion. I'm just saying it wasn't done right. And when civilizations collide,

00:01:49 Speaker_00
things don't go very well, and those with the greater technology tend to win, and we saw that with the Nephites and the Mulekites.

00:01:57 Speaker_00
Back when the Nephite people are moving north to avoid the Lamanites, they discover Zarahemla, they come upon Zarahemla, which is a great city already, but although it's governed by the Mulekites who built the city, the Nephites end up being in charge of the government, for the most part.

00:02:16 Speaker_00
So, That's another example, and why did they have greater technology, we might say? Because they knew their language, they knew their history, they had the brass plates.

00:02:26 Speaker_00
So, their language had not become corrupted, as the language of the Mulekites had been corrupted. They also knew their legacy, they knew their heritage, they knew the gospel, and the Mulekites had lost those things. So that is a pretty good example.

00:02:42 Speaker_00
So we see that all over the place, but it's not common for a civilization to be fully eradicated. I mentioned that I've been reading that book by Victor Davis Hanson.

00:02:51 Speaker_00
I haven't finished it, I'm about halfway through and I've kind of dropped it for now, but it's a good book called The End of Everything. And interestingly, Dr. Hanson sees the consistency across these civilizations that have been destroyed.

00:03:08 Speaker_00
Now, he doesn't know about the Nephite nation or the Jerudite nation, but if he did, these things would still apply.

00:03:14 Speaker_00
Okay, I should have looked this up, so forgive me, but I think the first one is Thebes, the Greek state of Thebes that is wiped out by the Persians.

00:03:24 Speaker_00
He also then talks about the destruction of Carthage, that northern African great city that existed but was considered like a thorn in the side to Rome.

00:03:37 Speaker_00
And Rome eventually, without a lot of provocation at this particular season, goes and decides to absolutely extinguish the Carthaginians, and they do. There aren't any Carthaginians left. There are no Thebans left. The cities were destroyed.

00:03:55 Speaker_00
And if somebody settled later, it was a different culture, a different community. Then he talks about Constantinople and how that was destroyed by Mehmet II. And again, It was a great city that had a long-lasting history, and then it was destroyed.

00:04:12 Speaker_00
Finally, he talks about the Aztec Empire in the New World, and how Cortes, not on his first attempt, but on his second attempt, comes and absolutely eradicates the Aztec civilization.

00:04:26 Speaker_00
Now what Dr. Hansen had mentioned that was consistent across these different civilizations that end up being eradicated was, he doesn't use the word actually, maybe he does, but he's not speaking gospel speak.

00:04:39 Speaker_00
He's speaking as a military historian and an academic, but he's talking about pride. Really when he looks at what led them to be that vulnerable to this level of eradication, this complete eradication, It was pride.

00:04:58 Speaker_00
They didn't ever think they could fall. They thought they had enough military strength to prevail. They thought they would be rescued at the last minute. That happened to the Nephites. Can you see those things? And of course, God calls it the pride cycle.

00:05:14 Speaker_00
Or we have called it the pride cycle, but it is what God has prophesied through prophet after prophet after prophet, that pride goeth before the fall. And that if we don't repent and we remain in our sins, he will no longer protect us. He cannot.

00:05:31 Speaker_00
And as we saw that great testimony of Moroni,

00:05:34 Speaker_00
who does this at the beginning of the Book of Ether and says it three verses in a row, if the people of this choice land do not worship the God of the land who is Jesus Christ, when the cup of wrath is full, which takes a while, they will be swept off the face of the land.

00:05:51 Speaker_00
So here we see the end of the Jaredites doing the same thing. Before we go too much further on that, here's my current event. You can't make this stuff up, brothers and sisters. You kind of have to laugh or you would cry.

00:06:06 Speaker_00
This was very recent, that the Kennedy Center at BYU. So maybe you know the Kennedy Center. They have their own building there, kind of between and south of the Wilkinson Center.

00:06:20 Speaker_00
And before you get to the Lee Library, it's kind of just south and, you know, kind of a low, long building. And they are the Center for International Studies.

00:06:31 Speaker_00
So I think they handle things like also the trips abroad and so on for the students that can go and do BYU semesters abroad.

00:06:40 Speaker_00
But they have a lot of different programs going, and they offer a distinguished service award every year, I think, to somebody that does international work and is giving some sort of distinguished service. So their award recipient just

00:06:59 Speaker_00
last week, and I think there's going to be a week to lay on the release of this. It might be two weeks by the time you hear this, but was given to a BYU alumnus who is a Palestinian. His name is Hani Al-Madun, if I'm pronouncing that correctly.

00:07:14 Speaker_00
And he actually was a co-founder of a soup kitchen that operates in Gaza. Now, that's good humanitarian work. Soup kitchens are good when people are needing and humble in their lack of food, lack of resources.

00:07:30 Speaker_00
So it would have been great if he had come and talked about those humanitarian efforts. That would be laudable. That fits in with the mission of the church. Could have been inspiring, right?

00:07:42 Speaker_00
But he ended up including in his acceptance speech Hamas talking points. So, the talking points of the terrorist group that is trying to eradicate Israel, and it was anti-Israel, basically, and pro-Palestinian terrorism.

00:08:06 Speaker_00
Not probably that blatant, but it was pretty blatant, and he had those points that clearly were not in support of the State of Israel.

00:08:19 Speaker_00
And at the end of his speech, brothers and sisters, he got a standing ovation from the students that were in attendance and the faculty that were in attendance, which just goes to show, again, how pervasive

00:08:35 Speaker_00
socialist and Marxist thought is on our college campuses, including BYU. Now, let me review.

00:08:42 Speaker_00
I've talked about this before, but I'm going to talk about it again because I think we really need to become used to seeing this and being able to call it out in our families and with our friends, not in contentious ways, but in confident ways that we can show how contrary those philosophies are to the doctrine of Christ.

00:09:05 Speaker_00
Okay, let's review. The socialist and Marxist overarching belief that I'm talking about is that you can divide every group of people into oppressed and oppressors.

00:09:23 Speaker_00
And the only serious qualification for being an oppressor is being successful or rich or productive. People who prosper are seen in Marxist thought as oppressors.

00:09:39 Speaker_00
Like somehow that's not because you worked hard and followed rules and did the right things and had good values that you were able to prosper. It's because you took advantage of the poor.

00:09:53 Speaker_00
It's because you broke the backs of some oppressed group somewhere and that makes you a bad guy. And the poor people are by definition oppressed And they don't have to change. They don't have a problem. They're going straight to heaven.

00:10:08 Speaker_00
You're the one with a problem if you are successful or prosperous or highly productive. Now, what is the most stable government in the Middle East? It's Israel. What has the most defense for human rights? Israel. That's the only country there where

00:10:31 Speaker_00
Homosexuals, for instance, are not hounded by the law, tortured, sometimes killed, or imprisoned. They even protect the rights of Arab citizens that live in Israel. And they can even be citizens of Israel.

00:10:48 Speaker_00
They have even had Arab Israelis that have served in their parliament. It's a free democratic state, so to speak. Well, representative state. republic, so to speak. But they have the highest GDP, and they don't have oil.

00:11:08 Speaker_00
Israel is the only country in that region that doesn't have oil. So, a lot of these other countries have survived because they have oil, and they can sell their oil and make a lot of money, but they're not really very organized culturally.

00:11:21 Speaker_00
They don't protect freedoms. Women don't have as many protections or rights in those societies. They do have more protection and rights in Israel.

00:11:32 Speaker_00
So again, we've got the oppressed and the oppressor, according to Marxist thought, because the Israelis are more prosperous, they're better organized, they produce things, they have a higher GDP, higher education standards.

00:11:47 Speaker_00
more liberties granted to their citizens, etc, etc. I'm not saying the state of Israel is perfect. Don't get me wrong. I've tried to clarify this many times. And I'm not saying all Palestinians or other Arabs are bad. I'm not.

00:11:59 Speaker_00
In fact, there's been a really interesting trend that is being reported by some Christian missionaries.

00:12:05 Speaker_00
And I think even by some of our missionaries, when they encounter Muslims that have already emigrated to Europe, because Europe is sort of tapped out as far as the native Europeans when it comes to joining the church.

00:12:17 Speaker_00
very difficult to proselyte amongst the native residents of those European countries. But missionaries are finding success with those that are coming up from Africa, from the Middle East, and are immigrating to Western European countries.

00:12:35 Speaker_00
They are finding that some of those people are receptive and humble enough to receive the gospel. And what has been reported is that apparently a lot of Muslims

00:12:47 Speaker_00
are getting dreams or visions of Jesus Christ, and their hearts are being softened and they are ready to become Christian. So, God is gathering his people in all kinds of interesting ways, right? Good for them.

00:13:08 Speaker_00
Again, this isn't about the value of an individual, because the worth of a soul is great to our Father in heaven. He loves all his children. He is reaching out to gather, for the last time, all who are of Israel or all who will come unto Israel.

00:13:24 Speaker_00
and accept Jesus Christ and be saved. Just one more comment on the Marxist stuff, because this is what's happening. Why must those students give a standing ovation, and the faculty, to somebody who's echoing Hamas talking points?

00:13:40 Speaker_00
It's because they have been convinced that because the Palestinians are poor and oppressed, that by definition they are the righteous ones, and the Israelis are the bad guys, Palestinians are good guys.

00:13:53 Speaker_00
I did extra content on Patreon quite a while ago where I talked about how the Catholic Church has become a social justice force in Latin America. And that's what a lot of the priests are preaching, that if you're poor, you go straight to heaven.

00:14:08 Speaker_00
And they are circumventing the need for a Savior. If you're poor, you're just automatically saved. So you don't need to follow the doctrine of Christ where you look in the mirror and say, I need to have faith in Jesus Christ, I need to repent,

00:14:22 Speaker_00
change my life for the better, become a better version of myself, be baptized, follow the covenant path, and hopefully receive the Holy Ghost in a sanctifying way as I progress.

00:14:34 Speaker_00
That is completely done away with if you're oppressed in Marxist philosophy. Just by definition, you're good. You don't need a savior. And I mention that because there are some real trends in Latin America where people are leaving the Catholic Church.

00:14:47 Speaker_00
Why? Because it's not even about Jesus Christ anymore. It's all about social justice. You're an oppressed person or you're an oppressor and forget needing to change. to repent, to come into Christ and be saved.

00:15:01 Speaker_00
Anyway, it's sad that we're seeing this at BYU, but it's not new. It's not new.

00:15:07 Speaker_00
If you have children or grandchildren going there, don't overstep, but it's not a bad thing to talk about if the Spirit moves you and the relationship is sufficient that you can do that.

00:15:16 Speaker_00
That would be a great conversation to have and just see kind of what they're picking up. It's not in every class, but brothers and sisters, it's really infiltrated. It seems they're not trying to clean up yet, or not very extensively.

00:15:34 Speaker_00
So anyway, there it is. He has been involved with UNRWA, this guy, and UNRWA is the United Nations, what is the name of that organization? Relief and Works Agency, and they call it UNRWA typically.

00:15:48 Speaker_00
And I'm indebted to Craig Mattson from Quick Media for bringing this to my attention on one of his podcasts. And he actually brought in a friend of his who is a Palestinian American.

00:16:00 Speaker_00
I don't have the spelling right on this, and I may not pronounce it correctly.

00:16:03 Speaker_00
I think he said his name is Jabra Janami, but at any rate, they talked for a while, and it was interesting, and I think they made good points, that as a person, this Hani al-Madun who got the award is probably a great guy.

00:16:15 Speaker_00
He should have stuck to his humanitarian involvement, because that would have been a good message for people, consistent with the mission of the church that includes caring for the poor and needy.

00:16:28 Speaker_00
We're just completely ignoring the fact that every Latter-day Prophet in this dispensation has affirmed that God has promised to gather the seed of Judah back to Israel, that that is their land of inheritance.

00:16:48 Speaker_00
Israel was given, all the tribes of Israel were given an inheritance in Judea, and It was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and then Jacob and his 12 sons. That is their homeland.

00:17:02 Speaker_00
Prophecies again and again have indicated that they will gather to that land, and it will be a sign of the times. We have seen that happen. In 1948, they became an independent state.

00:17:14 Speaker_00
As I commented last week, we have pogroms starting again in Europe, demonstrations against Jews. Frankly, you could call them pogroms here also in the US that have happened on some college campuses and in some other cases.

00:17:29 Speaker_00
really serious anti-Semitic behavior where people are beaten up or their possessions are damaged, their shops are damaged, whatever. Anyway, it's pretty bad that we're back to that.

00:17:40 Speaker_00
So I talked to my family about this and friends, and I'm like, where else do you want the Jews to go? You want them to just stay in Europe where they're being increasingly the targets of violent behavior?

00:17:52 Speaker_00
Or even in the US, it doesn't seem to be able to keep them protected anymore.

00:18:00 Speaker_00
new administration that's supposed to take over early next year has made some stern statements about college campuses and if they don't stop anti-semitic behaviors how they're going to be fined up to the

00:18:15 Speaker_00
whole of their endowments, which would be really something to see. Hopefully that will encourage some pushback on this anti-Semitic behavior, but I'm not holding my breath.

00:18:25 Speaker_00
Things are deteriorating, as prophesied for the Jews, and I think it's great that they have a homeland to gather to. It doesn't mean that we're not sad about the death of civilians or the injury or displacement of any peoples, but we just

00:18:40 Speaker_00
have many prophets telling us that this is part of God's plan, and he will appear to them there when they are fighting for their lives.

00:18:52 Speaker_00
Okay, I've spent too much time on that, but I find it fascinating to see the fulfillment of prophecy happening as we speak. I wanted to share this also, except maybe I'll save it for the end. I think I'll save this for the end of part one.

00:19:07 Speaker_00
Let's go and talk a little bit about these chapters. But again, a little bit of a delay. I'm going to do chapter 12 in part two.

00:19:17 Speaker_00
And I'm inviting my son, Harper, to come and talk to me a little bit about that so we can have a discussion about that amazing chapter in the Book of Ether.

00:19:24 Speaker_00
Now, many of you are familiar with some of the often repeated or often quoted verses from this. It's a beautiful treatise, chapter 12. We're going to talk about that. in part two, so forgive it if it seems a little backwards today.

00:19:38 Speaker_00
Forgive me if we mix things up a little bit. Chapter 13, though, 14 and 15, we're going to see the end of the Jaredite nations. And it's so, again, unnecessary.

00:19:49 Speaker_00
God can save his people, but if we let ourselves ripen in iniquity, then the day of grace is past. And here's Moroni, who's just saw that happen to his own people, the Nephites, and now is adding a second civilization witness

00:20:04 Speaker_00
So Moroni tells us a little bit more about Ether here in chapter 13, who is the author of these plates and recorded the history of his peoples. Ether is a tremendous character.

00:20:18 Speaker_00
We don't get to hear directly from him very much, but we do have some great words that we're going to talk about here in a moment. And he does talk about how great the prophecies were. Verse two, how sad is this? They rejected all the words of Ether.

00:20:37 Speaker_00
So he's one of those prophets, and there were others, right? Jeremiah is one of these prophets. There are many, actually, over the history of time that go to call people to repentance and they don't listen at all. They will reject them.

00:20:53 Speaker_00
I hope that we are never a part of that group, but we know that some prophets have a pretty tough gig.

00:20:59 Speaker_00
as they try to offer deliverance through Jesus Christ to their people and are completely ignored, and even hounded, and people try to kill them, and so on. But here it is again. This is a chosen land of the Lord. This is toward the end of verse 2.

00:21:19 Speaker_00
Wherefore, the Lord would have that all men should serve him who dwell upon the face thereof." How many times do we have to hear that?

00:21:26 Speaker_00
Brothers and sisters, those of us who live in the promised land, let us take heed and never be one of those who rejects the Lord of the land who has given us this place. And this is the land that will be the home of the New Jerusalem.

00:21:47 Speaker_00
Verse 4, Ether saw the days of Christ, and he spake concerning a new Jerusalem upon this land. Verse 5, he spake also concerning the house of Israel and the Jerusalem from whence Lehi should come, after it should be destroyed.

00:22:02 Speaker_00
Now, Ether is before Lehi. That's not true. They overlap. So, Lehi would have already left, but they don't have that record. They don't have access to that because they didn't interact with the Nephites.

00:22:19 Speaker_00
Coriantum only ends up in the Mulekite city of Zarahemla before the Nephites have gone there. So, there's no direct interaction. He doesn't know about Lehi except through prophecy. And he sees that prophecy.

00:22:34 Speaker_00
God makes him aware of something that he couldn't have known elsewise. And he knows that the new Jerusalem will be built here, and that it will be a holy city unto the Lord. This is still verse five.

00:22:47 Speaker_00
Now, this is kind of interesting, and I think it's worth talking about, because we're just talking about how the Jews have a claim to the land of Israel. It's a God-given claim. Anybody who believes in Christianity

00:23:04 Speaker_00
or the Bible should have seen those promises given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So it's really interesting that they're saying there should be no Israeli state, no Jewish state, because God said there would be, and he promised that land.

00:23:21 Speaker_00
So anyway, all of this can be just as mysterious as we make it if we don't pay attention or read or study or understand. we're not going to benefit from these great prophecies and truths.

00:23:35 Speaker_00
So in verse 7, the Lord brought a remnant of the seed of Joseph out of the land of Jerusalem. That's Lehi, Nephi, and their group. Before that city was captured and destroyed by the Babylonians and the people became a captive people,

00:23:51 Speaker_00
Lehi was led out of that, and Lehi was from Manasseh. Ishmael, who had the daughters, was from Ephraim. Joseph's two sons are Ephraim and Manasseh. Manasseh was the elder, Ephraim was the younger.

00:24:05 Speaker_00
When his father Jacob was giving those boys a blessing before he died, Jacob crossed his hands. Do you remember? He put his right hand on the head of Ephraim and his left hand on Manasseh.

00:24:20 Speaker_00
Joseph, the father of the boys, says, wait, dad, you're doing that incorrectly because Manasseh is the elder, so he should have your right hand on his head as the birthright son, the eldest son. And Jacob said no.

00:24:34 Speaker_00
Manasseh will be great, but Ephraim will be greater. And it doesn't mean, again, that the individuals that come from Manasseh are not as good as the individuals who come from Ephraim. Everybody has their heroes and their scoundrels.

00:24:46 Speaker_00
What he was talking about is that the mission of Ephraim would be really unique and extraordinary in the last days. And what is that mission? To begin the gathering of Israel, to restore the gospel in the latter days.

00:24:59 Speaker_00
Joseph Smith was a direct descendant of Joseph of Egypt. He was from Ephraim, and he was commissioned as part of his heritage and birthright to restore the gospel.

00:25:13 Speaker_00
I mean, obviously, there was a pre-earth appointment for this, if Joseph was worthy, and he was. And Manasseh then later receives the gospel, but joins in in the gathering with Ephraim. But Ephraim was the first group to begin gathering Israel.

00:25:30 Speaker_00
And they, in fact, did that. Most of Western Europe that joined the church quickly, many of them in England, but also in France and in Scandinavia,

00:25:43 Speaker_00
other countries as well, I don't mean to exclude anybody, but they were Ephraim, and they came and started the building up of the church in Utah and sent missionaries out. That's Ephraim that went out to begin the gathering.

00:25:56 Speaker_00
Manasseh has joined in, and the two tribes together will build a new Jerusalem. So they have an inheritance, not just in the old land, but in the new land. God gave them, through that remnant, access to America.

00:26:11 Speaker_00
Wherefore the remnant of the house of Joseph, so that's that branch that was broken off in verse eight, shall be built upon this land, and it shall be the land of their inheritance.

00:26:20 Speaker_00
You've probably seen those maps in the Bible at the back in the appendices that show each tribe having an inheritance in Judea. And it shows where Reuben is, and Levi, One of the tribes is on both sides of the Jordan River a little bit.

00:26:37 Speaker_00
Actually, Levi, scratch Levi.

00:26:39 Speaker_00
Levi did not have a land inheritance because they were given commission to have the Levitical priesthood and be partly in every tribe so that they could help with the ordinances of the Levitical priesthood that had to do with the law of Moses and help the people worship appropriately through that Levitical priesthood assignment, right?

00:26:58 Speaker_00
So they don't have a land inheritance. They were scattered out throughout the tribes in order to perform their function. The others all have these designated territories that are shown on a map. They know where that land was.

00:27:10 Speaker_00
Again, to think that the state of Israel shouldn't exist, or that it's contrary to God's will, or that we should be such kind people that we want them to cease existing, it's kind of a bad joke.

00:27:23 Speaker_00
Not only do they have an inheritance in the old land, they have an inheritance in this promised land. And that's what Ether tells us, and he witnesses of this. God has shown him all of this. And he talks about the last days here, even the millennium.

00:27:40 Speaker_00
There shall be a new heaven and a new earth, in verse 9. All things pass away and become new, verse 10. Then cometh the new Jerusalem, blessed are they. who dwell therein, for it is they whose garments are white through the blood of the Lamb."

00:27:54 Speaker_00
There has to be that cleansing that comes from the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost in order for us to dwell in the innermost parts of Zion.

00:28:03 Speaker_00
We have to be cleansed by the blood of the Lamb through the cleansing power of the Holy Ghost that can sanctify us and make us pure enough to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all tidy. It's all wrapped up.

00:28:20 Speaker_00
And then he talks about how the Jerusalem of old will be built up, again, by the Jews, shocker, scattered and gathered from the four quarters of the earth and from the north countries.

00:28:29 Speaker_00
Little reference here, but if you look at the footnote, that's the ten tribes. So, this gathering will be complete. The ten tribes will be restored.

00:28:40 Speaker_00
in a very literal sense, and they will be partakers of the fulfilling of the covenant which God made with their father Abraham. This is ancient covenant stuff.

00:28:49 Speaker_00
Moroni wants to write more, because he says these are amazing prophecies, but I am forbidden. But great and marvelous were the prophecies of Ether, But they esteemed him as naught, and cast him out.

00:29:02 Speaker_00
And he hid himself in the cavity of a rock by day, and by night he went forth, viewing the things that should come upon his people."

00:29:10 Speaker_00
So another prophet with a heartbreaking assignment that he witness and record the destruction of his people because of their iniquities that would not be left behind. They would not come to Christ, repent, and be saved.

00:29:28 Speaker_00
So he's making this record while he's in hiding. And then starts a great war in verse 15. And Coriantumar, verse 16, having studied himself in all the arts of war and the cunning of the world, gave battle to them that sought to destroy him.

00:29:48 Speaker_00
And here we have, again, an indication of great pride. Coriantumar will not repent. And neither does his family, that's mentioned in verse 17, and other places in this record.

00:29:59 Speaker_00
So look how generous God is, even though these people are already ripening in iniquity.

00:30:06 Speaker_00
Verse 20, the word of the Lord came to Ether that he should go and prophesy unto Coriantumar that if he would repent and all his household, the Lord will give unto him his kingdom and spare the people.

00:30:17 Speaker_00
Even though you have rejected me all this time, I'm going to give you a direct message from my prophet. If you repent, God will spare you and your people. Otherwise they should be destroyed, and all his household, save it were himself."

00:30:33 Speaker_00
Look how specific this prophecy is in verse 21. And he should only live to see the fulfilling of the prophecies which have been spoken concerning another people receiving the land. And what does he see?

00:30:44 Speaker_00
He sees the city of the Mulekites in Zarahemla, another people that, with the protecting hand of the Lord, had come to America at the time that the Babylonians were invading and destroying Jerusalem.

00:30:57 Speaker_00
They escaped during that Babylonian invasion, but they were brought to this land. Another people that were given a chance to inherit a portion of this land if they would serve God. And then, of course, the Nephites come and join the Mulekites. So,

00:31:15 Speaker_00
And Coriantumr, it says, at the end of verse 21, should receive a burial by them. That's what happens. He ends up in Zarahemla, dies after a few months, and is buried there. And he is the last surviving of his people. And what did they do, verse 22?

00:31:32 Speaker_00
Toward the end, they sought to kill Ether. Okay, I'm not gonna go into the details that ensue about the various leaders that rise up. It's a history, and you will see

00:31:45 Speaker_00
who those people were and some details about them that are added to this condensed record or included in this condensed record. But we do see in chapter 14 that that curse is on the land again where everything is lost.

00:31:59 Speaker_00
You can't lay down a weapon and have it found in the morning. So people cleave into that which is their own and keep it in their hands and they keep the hilt of their swords in their right hand all the time because it will be stolen.

00:32:12 Speaker_00
There's a curse on the land. Things disappear. So it talks about who rises up to follow. What's interesting is Coriantumar, to whom the prophecy is given by Aether, that if he would repent, his people would be spared, but he does not repent.

00:32:29 Speaker_00
Coriantumar lives through several different leaders of the opposition. One dies, another one comes to the fore, and some of these are very mighty men, big of stature. One of them, who is the last one that

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does battle with Coriantumr is Shiz, and his name is introduced in chapter 14, verse 17. And he's the brother of the guy before, who when Lib is killed, he becomes the leader of the opposing army and gives battle to Coriantumr.

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And in verse 18, fear of Shiz goes throughout the land, and the question is asked, who can stand before the army of Shiz? Behold, he sweepeth the earth before him."

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Now, he's a mighty warrior, but brothers and sisters, he's a very wicked man, and Ether chronicles that. Coriantumr 2, the people themselves are wicked, so they don't get good leaders.

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They themselves don't repent enough to have protection or to have another leader rise up to protect them or to escape all of this calamity. And it gets so horrible and so speedy is the battle, like it just keeps progressing without pause.

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So in verse 21, and this is so awful, that there had so long been a scene of bloodshed and carnage that the whole face of the land was covered with the bodies of the dead.

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Verse 22, so swift and speedy was the war that there was none left to bury the dead. They just go on fighting, and they're just fighting for their lives. So nobody has time, nobody does a pause in the battle to bury anybody. And what happens?

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They become a prey to the worms of the flesh at the end of verse 22 and 23. I mean, this is graphic detail. The scent thereof went forth upon the land. Wherefore the people became troubled day and by night because of the scent thereof.

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It stunk so badly with the rotting of corpses that everybody is troubled day and night by that horrible smell of bodies decaying. I'm sorry, don't mean to dwell on the horrible, but this is what's going on. These people are so

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caught by the spirit of the devil, that they don't function like normal people. Nobody will hit pause. Nobody will realize, this is crazy. We need to change our ways. And of course, their ways are just to fight harder, not to turn to God.

00:35:00 Speaker_00
We'll save ourselves. We'll prevail over the enemy, and nobody repents. Again, in verse 25, thus we see that the Lord did visit them, the Jaredites,

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in the fullness of his wrath, and their wickedness and abominations had prepared a way for their everlasting destruction." It's always up to us, brothers and sisters.

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The Lord's arms are outstretched all the days long, but we have to repent and receive. So, again, millions are slain. And in chapter 15, we have, finally, after the mention of two million mighty men and also their wives and children.

00:35:44 Speaker_00
So who knows what that number really was. But since they have all been slain, Coriantumr finally says like, wait, even his wickedness is finally penetrated with this awareness that his people are being destroyed. And he

00:36:04 Speaker_00
sees the fulfillment of the voice of the prophets. He's like, oh, didn't somebody tell me this was going to happen? Yeah. And it's happening just as they prophesied. So what am I going to do?

00:36:16 Speaker_00
He sends a letter to Shiz and says, spare the rest of the people, and I'll give you the kingdom. Now, that's a pretty decent concession. He's like, I will give up any claim to the throne. Just stop fighting and you can have the whole thing.

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I'll just slink out of sight and give you all the power, but let's stop killing all of the people on this land. And Shiz says, no, unless you give yourself up and I can slay you with my own hands. And Coriantum won't do that.

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I mean, it's a lot to ask, but as we see, would it have really stopped anything? Because Shiz himself is ripened in iniquity. Not saying, you know, what he should or shouldn't have done here, but he doesn't do it.

00:37:04 Speaker_00
And so the people repented not of their iniquity in verse 6 again. And they get angry again at Shiz because of his demands and whatever.

00:37:12 Speaker_00
So here they go to battle again, and sometimes they prevail, but then they get beaten back, and it chronicles how many people are left. Again, you can read the details yourself, but verse 19, the spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them.

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The Lord has warned us about this. My spirit will not always strive with man. If you turn away from me, eventually I will turn away from you. Not again, the Lord doesn't really turn away. He's just not available to us if we continually reject him.

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And the spirit withdraws. The spirit will not continue with us when we are rebellious and our behavior offends the spirit. because it's disobedient and rebellious.

00:37:55 Speaker_00
So anyway, they had hardness in their hearts, blindness in their minds, so they were ripe for destruction. Verse 23, they're down to 52 with Coriantumar, 69 for Shiz. Then in verse 25, there were 32 for Shiz, 27 for people.

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I mean, these are details that Ether goes to the trouble to say, and everybody's dead but Shiz and Coriantumar. They keep fighting, like everything is gone and they won't stop.

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Shiz faints for the loss of blood, but he won't stop unless he's disabled or passed out. So Coriantum rests for a moment after Shiz passes out and then smites him so that his head is cut off. And then Coriantum, falls to the earth as if he has no life.

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And the Lord says to Ether in verse 33, go forth and behold, the words of the Lord have all been fulfilled, and finishes his record. This last verse is important, the last verse of the book of Ether.

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Now the last words which are written by Ether are these, whether the Lord will that I be translated or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it mattereth not, if it so be that I am saved in the kingdom of God. Amen.

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Can you imagine how heartbreaking this scene is for him? These are his people. And like Mormon and Moroni loved their people, Ether loves these people and has pled with them to repent. They would not listen. They tried to kill him.

00:39:44 Speaker_00
So Ether has to chronicle their complete annihilation. Again, pride is poison. Not repenting of our sins is poison and leads us to lose the spirit, become hardened in our hearts.

00:40:04 Speaker_00
You know, I've had clients all along the way who have said, occasionally, as they are dealing with a difficult person in their relationships, maybe it's their husband or their wife, could be a parent or whomever it is,

00:40:21 Speaker_00
that is being hurtful and destructive to the relationship, I've not infrequently heard people say, I just don't understand why this person would be like this.

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Like, I can't get my head around why they would act like this or how they can do these things. How can they be so mean or unkind or destructive? Or how can they keep lying? Or how can they fill in the blank?

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not try to get better from an addiction, not try to make a relationship work or be kinder or more honest, whatever it is.

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And I have generally responded and said, not that I don't give sympathy in lots of ways, but one of the things that I have said over the years is, get down on your knees and thank God that you will never understand that.

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It's a good thing that that is so foreign to you that you can't understand how someone could be so cold.

00:41:22 Speaker_00
Because what that means is when somebody becomes that hardened, now I'm not trying to make a final judgment on any particular person or client or their family members, but I can see the fulfillment of these continuous prophetic warnings that the spirit will not always strive and that people become hardened in their hearts.

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And if you have a hard time understanding that, good. Good. I'm glad that you'll never understand that, because that means your heart is not that hard. You haven't given yourself over to the adversary.

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You can still feel the Spirit, and you feel it when the Spirit's not there. That is a wonderful thing.

00:42:01 Speaker_00
It makes it very difficult, of course, when we are tender, to see someone who is lacking in those sensitive or tender feelings that would invite them to repent. But brothers and sisters, be grateful. Well, this reminded me

00:42:16 Speaker_00
Ether's last statement here, which is so beautiful, that no matter what, all that he has suffered, whether he is translated or if he has to die a human death alone, That doesn't matter as long as what? That I am saved in the kingdom of God.

00:42:35 Speaker_00
That's what gets us through the very difficult times that we have been through in the past, that we're going through now, and that we will go through as prophesied as things heat up.

00:42:45 Speaker_00
Brothers and sisters, that's what gets us through, that these things don't matter as long as we are saved in the kingdom of God. And again, it reminded me of this beautiful statement

00:42:54 Speaker_00
that I looked up because I thought it was Neal Maxwell, and in fact, Neal Maxwell did make this statement, but it turns out he was quoting C.S. Lewis, who was quoting William Law. So, when you look, you find, right?

00:43:09 Speaker_00
Maybe you remember this, because it is every once in a while referenced that Elder Maxwell said, if in the end you have not chosen Jesus Christ, it will not matter what you have chosen instead.

00:43:24 Speaker_00
That's beautiful, and that's exactly right, and it's kind of a different take, but the same message is what Ether ends with. Like, all that matters is that you choose Jesus Christ. So, anyway, looking up C.S.

00:43:36 Speaker_00
Lewis's sermon, it was his last sermon, and he quotes William Law, that I had to look up because I wasn't familiar with that name, who was a theologian and an ordained priest who studied at Emanuel College in Cambridge, England, and lived way back, 1686 to 1761.

00:43:50 Speaker_00
A little detail there. This is William Law being quoted by C.S. Lewis. William Law, in his terrible, cool voice, said, if you have not chosen the kingdom of God, it will make in the end no difference what you have chosen instead.

00:44:06 Speaker_00
He continues, those are hard words to take. Will it really make no difference? And this is C.S. Lewis continuing, if I understand correctly. Will it really make no difference whether it was women

00:44:19 Speaker_00
or patriotism, cocaine or art, whiskey or a seat in the cabinet, money or science? Think about that, and you could continue that list, right? And notice that patriotism isn't a bad thing. Art isn't a bad thing.

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I suppose a seat in the cabinet, if you're an honest person, wasn't a bad thing. But what he's saying is whatever you put in the place of your priorities, If it takes the place of Jesus Christ, it won't matter.

00:44:49 Speaker_00
And of course, it could be something much worse. It could be women, and when he's saying that, he means inappropriate relations with women, cocaine, whiskey, whatever, money. It won't matter. Surely no difference that matters.

00:45:04 Speaker_00
We shall have missed the end for which we are formed and rejected the only thing that satisfies. Does it matter to a man dying in the desert by which choice of route he missed the only well? That's a great image, let me repeat that.

00:45:19 Speaker_00
Does it matter to a man dying in a desert by which choice of route he missed the only well? No, doesn't matter which path you took that didn't lead you to water, it just matters that you didn't hit the water and save yourself.

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If in the end, we have not chosen the kingdom of God, Jesus Christ, our master, it will not matter what we have chosen instead. All right, I gave a little bit of false advertising. I am going to save that statement that I mentioned before.

00:45:52 Speaker_00
and either put it on Patreon or mention it in another podcast. It's not specific to Ether, so it'll be all right if I pause, but I did want to end with C.S. Lewis there, quoting William Law, and Neal Maxwell, who repeated that great sentiment.

00:46:08 Speaker_00
Let's be like Ether, where whatever price we have to pay here, it doesn't matter if, in the end, we receive the kingdom of God and all the fulfillment of the blessings that God has promised his covenant people. Brothers and sisters, we can do this.

00:46:27 Speaker_00
And as things get hard, the neutral ground is disappearing. I don't believe it was ever truly neutral, but it looked like it could be neutral for a while.

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And now it's shrinking to the point where people realize that they have to choose Jesus Christ or rebel against Him. And we see the Spirit of the Lord working in our nations and in the world to gather His people in lots of ways.

00:46:55 Speaker_00
Let us not be deceived by the doctrines of the devil, and Marxism is a doctrine of the devil. It completely destroys the need for the doctrine of Christ. Let us not be deceived. Let us choose glory, brothers and sisters.

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Let us build Zion and pursue the path of sanctification so we can have all the gifts of the Spirit and be cleansed and purified, ready for the presence of Jesus Christ. I know we can do this.

00:47:22 Speaker_00
Thanks as ever to my husband, Chris Anderson, and Doug Larson of Point Digital. Take care.