Ether 11-15

1. Ether 11-15 Ether 11:13, 23 The cycles of wickedness and calamity observed among the Nephites had also occurred among the Jaredites. It is difficult to imagine a more thorough warning to latter-day people.

2. Ether 12:6 “It takes faith-unseeing faith-for young people to proceed immediately with their family responsibilities in the face of financial uncertainties. It takes faith for the young woman to bear her family instead of accepting employment, especially when schooling for the young husband is to be finished. It takes faith to observe the Sabbath when ‘time and a half’ can be had working, when profit can be made, when merchandise can be sold. It takes great faith to pay tithes when funds are scarce and demands are great. It takes faith to fast and have family prayers and to observe the Word of Wisdom. It takes faith to do home teaching, stake missionary work, and other service, when sacrifice is required. It takes faith to fill full-time missions. But know this-that all these are of the planting, while faithful, devout families, spiritual security, peace, and eternal life are the harvest” (Faith Proceeds the Miracle, 3-5, 10-11).

3. “Many people build and furnish a home and buy the automobile first-and then find they ‘cannot afford’ to pay tithing. Whom do they worship? Certainly not the Lord of heaven and earth, for we serve whom we love and give first consideration to the object of our affection and desires. Young married couples who postpone parenthood until their degrees are attained might be shocked if their expressed preference were labeled idolatry” (Spencer W. Kimball, Miracle of Forgiveness, 40-41). D&C 1:15-16, Genesis 1:28

4. President Kimball spoke on the importance of having children: “The first commandment recorded seems to have been ‘multiply and replenish the earth,’ “I have told many groups of young people that they should not postpone their marriage until they have acquired all of their education ambitions. I have told tens of thousands of young folks that when they marry they should not wait for children until they have finished their schooling and financial desires. Marriage is basically for the family, and when people have found their proper companions there should be no long delay. They should live together normally and let the children come.”

5. “I know of no scriptures where an authorization is given to young wives to withhold their families and to go to work to put their husbands through school. There are thousands of husbands who have worked their own way through school and have reared families at the same time. Though it is more difficult, young people can make their way through their educational programs” (Marriage is Honorable,” Speeches of the Year, 1973, 262-63). “Those who refuse as husbands and wives to have children are proving themselves already too small for the infinitude of God’s creative power” (Harold B. Lee, Ye are the Light of the World, 267).

6. “The Test Of Godhood May Very Well Be Parenthood!”

7. Ether 12:26-30 “My Grace is Sufficient” “Obviously, the personal burdens of life vary from person to person, but every one of us has them. Furthermore, each trial in life is tailored to the individual’s capacities and needs as known by a loving Father in Heaven” (Howard W. Hunter, Ensign, Nov. 1990, 18). Every trial and experience you have passed through is necessary for your salvation” (Brigham Young, Discourses, 345). Elder Maxwell said, “When we are unduly impatient with an omniscient God’s timing, we really are suggesting that we know what is best. Strange, isn’t it --- we who wear wristwatches seek to counsel Him who oversees cosmic clocks and calendars (Conference Report, Oct. 1998, 79).

8. The power to convert a weakness to a strength is possible through the grace of Christ, but the Lord has imposed two prerequisites, humility and faith. If these requirements are satisfied, the grace of Christ becomes like a booster rocket that powers and lifts us above our weaknesses (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, 228).

9. Elder Tad R. Callister said, “The Atonement was designed to do more than restore us to the ‘starting line’ --- more than just wipe the slate clean. [Its] crowning purpose [is] to endow us with power so that we might overcome each of our weaknesses and acquire the divine traits that would make us like God” (“How Can I Lead a More Saintly Life?” 89).

10. Ether 12:36-38 “Carthage Jail” Hyrum read these verses at Joseph’s request in the Carthage Jail the night before the martyrdom. Ether 13:1-12“The New Jerusalem”

11. Note what Ether said about the New Jerusalem: 1. It would be “the holy sanctuary of the Lord” (v.3). 2. It would be built on the American Continent for the remnant of the seed of Joseph (v. 4-6). 3. It would be a holy city like the Jerusalem built unto the Lord (v. 8-9). 4. It would stand until the earth is Celestialized (v.8). 5. It would be a city for the pure and righteous (v.8).

12. Three Great Cities! “In the day of regeneration, when all things are made new, there will be three great cities that will be holy. One will be the Jerusalem of old which shall be rebuilt according to the prophecy of Ezekiel. One will be the city Zion, or of Enoch, which was taken from the earth when Enoch was translated and which will be restored; and the city Zion, or New Jerusalem, which is to be built by the seed of Joseph on this the American Continent (Moses 7:62-64).

13. “After the close of the millennial reign we are informed that Satan, who was bound during the millennium, shall be loosed and go forth to deceive the nations. Then will come the end. The earth will die and be purified and receive its resurrection. During the cleansing period the City Zion, or New Jerusalem, will be taken from the earth; and when the earth is prepared for the celestial glory, the city will come down according to the prediction in the Book of Revelation” (Answers to Gospel Questions, 2:103-6).

14. Ether 15:11 The passages which I have quoted from the Book of Mormon and the more extended discussion of this subject by Elder B.H. Roberts which was published in the Deseret News of March 3, 1928, definitely establishing the following fact that the Hill Cumorah, and the Hill Ramah are identical; that it was around this hill that the armies of both the Jaredites and Nephites, fought their great last battles; that it was in this hill that Mormon deposited all of the sacred records which had been entrusted to his care by Ammaron, except the abridgment which he had made from the plates of Nephi, which was delivered into the hands of his son, Moroni. We know positively that it was in this hill that Moroni deposited the abridgment made by his father, and his own abridgment of the record of the Jaredites, and that it was from this hill that Joseph Smith obtained possession of them (Conference Report, Apr. 1928, 12-14).

15. Ether 15:29-30 How could they have “all fallen by the sword, save it were Coriantumr?” “The insane wars of the Jaredite chiefs ended in the complete annihilation of both sides, with the kings being the last to go… This all seems improbable to us, but two circumstances peculiar to Asiatic warfare explain why the phenomenon is by no means without parallel:

16. (1) Since every war is strictly a personal contest between kings, the battle must continue until one of the kings falls or is taken. (2) And yet things are so arranged that the king must be very last to fall, the whole army existing for the sole purpose of defending his person. This is clearly seen in the game of chess, in which all the pieces are expendable except the king, who can never be taken… So let no one think the final chapter of Ether is at all fanciful or overdrawn. Wars of extermination are a standard institution in the history of Asia” (Hugh Nibley, Collected Works, 5:234).

17. Like the Jaredites of old, we begin our test of salvation by descending into a fallen world. Like them, we are not alone, our Father has sent our elder brother as our deliverer and mediator. There is no way out of this dark and dreary wilderness without Jesus Christ. By living his teachings we can make the trek through the valleys of temptations and travails, to our promised home. We must receive the covenants and ordinances, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost we can make it to the mountain of the Lord’s house and receive further light and knowledge. Thus prepared, we can finish our task of putting off the old natural person and become new creatures in Christ. By feasting on the words of Christ, we will be led on a straight course to eternal bliss.