This year my family and I are reading and studying the Book or Mormon. Last year we focused on the New Testament and the mortal life of Jesus Christ and his apostles and disciples in Israel. The Book of Mormon contains writings of an ancient people on the American continent.
This week we talked of the Book of a Mormon’s origin. In 1823 as Joseph Smith was praying, Angel Moroni appeared in his room
“He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people.
“He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants;”
The angel left and came back a little bit later and repeated the same things and added
“…he informed me of great judgments which were coming upon the earth, with great desolations by famine, sword, and pestilence; and that these grievous judgments would come on the earth in this generation.”
The angel then left and appeared back in his room and repeated the same thing he had before
“and added a caution to me, telling me that Satan would try to tempt me (in consequence of the indigent circumstances of my father’s family), to get the plates for the purpose of getting rich. This he forbade me, saying that I must have no other object in view in getting the plates but to glorify God, and must not be influenced by any other motive than that of building his kingdom; otherwise I could not get them.”
Why did Moroni visit him 3 times and say the same thing. They were obviously important as the foundations of the restoration were forming, but why did he come back time after time?
Anyone that has kids or has raised children know that sometimes a patent/guardian can feel like a broken record at times. It’s not fun to repeatedly ask over and over to clean your room or get your home work done or brush your teeth. So why do we do it? Why do we put ourselves through such misery? We do it because we know it is important and that they will benefit from doing what we are asking them to do.
The same is true in the gospel, prophets have taught the same gospel principles to each generation because the gospel is important and we need the reminder. The same was with Joseph, Moroni spared nothing and sacrificed a lot to get the plates to Joseph and needed to ensure he knew how serious of a matter it was.
I am grateful for Moroni and and Joseph for bringing about the Book of Mormon so that the world can read and ponder what n its teachings. I hope to share each week something interesting that my family and I have learned during our weekly study and invite you to read, ponder, and pray on the gospel contained in the Book or Mormon.