Come, Follow Me Week 3, Part 1/7 (Jan 10 – Jan 16, Genesis 3-4; Moses 4–5) – powered by Happy Scribe
Have you ever walked into a play or a movie late? If you miss the beginning of a story, sometimes the middle and ending can seem really, really confusing. Without the first part of the story, you might not know who the villains are, who the heroes are, or what any of them are fighting for. The first part of a story usually sets up the stakes the conflict that defined the rest of the story. The Book of Genesis tells the story of the fall of Adam and Eve, but the account of the fall found in Genesis essentially leaves out the first part of the story in the Book of Moses, which is the restored version of Genesis.
There is an important prologue to the story of the fall found in Moses chapter four, verses one through eleven, and this helps us understand the good guys and the bad guys. Just after setting us up for the story of the Fall, Moses four employees a flashback that takes us back to the root of the conflict that plays out in the Garden of Eden. We learned that even before Adam and Eve or any of us came to Earth, there was a great Council in heaven. The Father proposed a plan.
Sometimes when we imagine this scene, we make it seem like there was some kind of election and that Jesus just got more votes than Lucifer.
So he was chosen as the Savior. Instead, Moses tells us that Jesus was the Father’s beloved and chosen from the beginning. Heavenly Father didn’t ask for volunteers. He had already chosen Jesus, the only person qualified to act as the Savior and as the key figure in the plan. When Satan said, Here am I send me?
He was acting against the will of the Father because the Father had already chosen Jesus as the Savior. We do get a little bit of Satan’s sales pitch in these verses. However, he apparently said that if he was sent instead of Jesus, that not one soul would be lost. The passage also says that Lucifer became Satan and that he sought to destroy the agency of men. We sometimes summarize this by saying that Satan’s plan was to force everyone to be righteous, but there are problems with oversimplifying his approach in this way.
First, there’s no mention of Satan having a plan in any of the scriptural passages that talk about the premortal war in heaven. Satan didn’t have a plan, just empty promises that he couldn’t even fulfill. Second, forced righteousness is a philosophical impossibility. If you have to force someone to commit a righteous act, it just isn’t a righteous act. Righteousness is found when we willingly follow God’s commands.
No one can force a person to be righteous because removing our will from the question removes righteousness as well. So how could Satan destroy our agency? There are several things required for agency to exist. First, for agency to exist, there have to be laws that allow us to know good from evil. Satan can’t destroy the laws, but if he ensured that we never knew about them, it would seriously limit our power to choose.
We also have to know about those laws in order to follow them to grow and progress in this life. If Satan kept us in ignorance about the laws, it would limit our agency. There must also be opposites or opposition, and all things there have to be good and bad choices for agency to exist again, Satan can’t take away opposites, but he can deceive us into thinking there is no right and wrong and that whatever a person feels is right is right. If we don’t believe in objective good and evil, then our choices don’t have any power to bring about good or evil things and our agency is limited again.
Finally, we have power to choose.
God empowered Adam and Eve. When he explained the laws they had to follow in the Garden of Eden, he also told them they were free to choose all along the way. God was giving them knowledge to allow them greater agency. While Satan was covering up and blurring the truth in an attempt to deprive them of their agency. This culture culminated in Satan’s approach to Eve in the Garden.
He told a half truth, telling her that she would know good from evil like God does, but lied by saying that she wouldn’t taste of death when she took the fruit. God wants us to have greater agency. He’s constantly seeking to give us light and knowledge in increasing our understanding of the laws of the universe. It’s light and darkness and helping us on our way to immortality and eternal life. Satan wants to limit our agency.
The only real tool he has to do this is to blur our perception of the way things really are. They both want us to become like them, but God wants us to become beings of light and knowledge, while Satan wants us to become like him a creature of darkness and ignorance.
Come, Follow Me Week 3, Part 1/7 (Jan 10 – Jan 16, Genesis 3-4; Moses 4–5) – powered by Happy Scribe
Have you ever walked into a play or a movie late? If you miss the beginning of a story, sometimes the middle and ending can seem really, really confusing. Without the first part of the story, you might not know who the villains are, who the heroes are, or what any of them are fighting for. The first part of a story usually sets up the stakes the conflict that defined the rest of the story. The Book of Genesis tells the story of the fall of Adam and Eve, but the account of the fall found in Genesis essentially leaves out the first part of the story in the Book of Moses, which is the restored version of Genesis.
There is an important prologue to the story of the fall found in Moses chapter four, verses one through eleven, and this helps us understand the good guys and the bad guys. Just after setting us up for the story of the Fall, Moses four employees a flashback that takes us back to the root of the conflict that plays out in the Garden of Eden. We learned that even before Adam and Eve or any of us came to Earth, there was a great Council in heaven. The Father proposed a plan.
Sometimes when we imagine this scene, we make it seem like there was some kind of election and that Jesus just got more votes than Lucifer.
So he was chosen as the Savior. Instead, Moses tells us that Jesus was the Father’s beloved and chosen from the beginning. Heavenly Father didn’t ask for volunteers. He had already chosen Jesus, the only person qualified to act as the Savior and as the key figure in the plan. When Satan said, Here am I send me?
He was acting against the will of the Father because the Father had already chosen Jesus as the Savior. We do get a little bit of Satan’s sales pitch in these verses. However, he apparently said that if he was sent instead of Jesus, that not one soul would be lost. The passage also says that Lucifer became Satan and that he sought to destroy the agency of men. We sometimes summarize this by saying that Satan’s plan was to force everyone to be righteous, but there are problems with oversimplifying his approach in this way.
First, there’s no mention of Satan having a plan in any of the scriptural passages that talk about the premortal war in heaven. Satan didn’t have a plan, just empty promises that he couldn’t even fulfill. Second, forced righteousness is a philosophical impossibility. If you have to force someone to commit a righteous act, it just isn’t a righteous act. Righteousness is found when we willingly follow God’s commands.
No one can force a person to be righteous because removing our will from the question removes righteousness as well. So how could Satan destroy our agency? There are several things required for agency to exist. First, for agency to exist, there have to be laws that allow us to know good from evil. Satan can’t destroy the laws, but if he ensured that we never knew about them, it would seriously limit our power to choose.
We also have to know about those laws in order to follow them to grow and progress in this life. If Satan kept us in ignorance about the laws, it would limit our agency. There must also be opposites or opposition, and all things there have to be good and bad choices for agency to exist again, Satan can’t take away opposites, but he can deceive us into thinking there is no right and wrong and that whatever a person feels is right is right. If we don’t believe in objective good and evil, then our choices don’t have any power to bring about good or evil things and our agency is limited again.
Finally, we have power to choose.
God empowered Adam and Eve. When he explained the laws they had to follow in the Garden of Eden, he also told them they were free to choose all along the way. God was giving them knowledge to allow them greater agency. While Satan was covering up and blurring the truth in an attempt to deprive them of their agency. This culture culminated in Satan’s approach to Eve in the Garden.
He told a half truth, telling her that she would know good from evil like God does, but lied by saying that she wouldn’t taste of death when she took the fruit. God wants us to have greater agency. He’s constantly seeking to give us light and knowledge in increasing our understanding of the laws of the universe. It’s light and darkness and helping us on our way to immortality and eternal life. Satan wants to limit our agency.
The only real tool he has to do this is to blur our perception of the way things really are. They both want us to become like them, but God wants us to become beings of light and knowledge, while Satan wants us to become like him a creature of darkness and ignorance.
Come, Follow Me Week 3, Part 3/7 (Jan 10 – Jan 16, Genesis 3-4; Moses 4–5) – powered by Happy Scribe
What do we learn from the lessons in the Garden of Eden? As Adam and Eve leave the garden. So if we turn to Moses 426 32. Here’s some interesting insights. First of all, we have Adam who’s giving names, and he says to Eve, he calls her Eve.
The Hebrew word means mother of all living. And we have this in Moses because she was the mother of all living. And as they’re leaving the garden, and before they do, they’ll return to verse 27, it says unto Adam and also unto his wife, did I the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them? We know before that Adam and Eve had tried to clothe themselves. But it’s interesting that when God is sending them out of the garden, it’s as if he gives them a gift and says, Actually, I will clothe you.
So we all left metaphorically the Garden of Eden when we left God’s presence and came down to this Earth, and we are all clothed with a mortal body, which is a gift from God. We’re also closed with His love and his blessings. Eventually, as we receive baptism in the Holy Ghost, we’re clothed upon with the Holy Spirit. When we receive precious ordinances, we’re also clothed upon with symbols of God’s love. So I love the power of this word clothing because it’s actually what God gives to us, to identify us, to protect us, to help us.
And the word clothing in Hebrew actually means the word endowment is the Greek word that means to clothe. So it’s almost like he’s given them their endowment. It’s also interesting what happens as we consider this. He gives them skins. And so there must have been some kind of death that had to happen in the garden.
We don’t know what kind of animal, but God must have actually had to slaughter an animal so those skins could be used to protect the lives of Adam and Eve. And isn’t it interesting in our lives? Something dies in order for us to live physically, the plants you eat, or if you eat meat, those things all came from at one time living things that had to give up their lives for your physical life to endure. And from a spiritual nature, God himself, Jesus Christ gave up his life so all of us can live forever.
So we see these symbols beginning right there in the Garden of Eden, as Adam and Eve are preparing to leave the garden.
And let’s share one more insight about the leaving in the Garden of Eden. God says, verse 28, I the Lord God said unto mine only begotten behold the man. And this is actually referring to the couple Adam and Eve is become as one of us to know good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his hand and partake also the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore, I the Lord God will send him forth in the garden of Eden to till the ground from once he was taken.
For as I the Lord God liveth. Even so, my words cannot return void, for as they go forth out of my mouth, so they must be fulfilled. So I drove out the man and I placed at the east the Garden of Eden, Cherubim and a flaming sword which turned everywhere to keep the way of the tree of Life. There are two trees at the center of the garden. One gave you a knowledge or wisdom between good and evil.
The other one gave you life eternal. Now, once Adam and Eve got knowledge of good and evil, they no longer had a chance to repent. Unless a savior had been provided for them. And had they reached out their hand and partaken of the tree of eternal life, they would have lived forever in their sins. And so God, out of his abundant mercy, said, I’m going to send you out into a time of probation where you can learn to keep the Commandments and trust in my son Jesus Christ, who I will send on your behalf, and he will be as a tree unto you.
And so just as we partake of the tree of life or in the past, as Adam and Eve used to partake of the tree of life before they left the garden, we can partake of the atonement that beautiful fruit that Nephi talked about in first E five, chapter Eleven, where we can have Jesus as a tree of life, feeding us continuously as we work out our mortal probation. I just love these beautiful symbolic connections, that Jesus is the tree of life, and that we have embedded in these early stories from Adam and Eve, that God Himself Mercifully, has provided these trees of Salvation for us.
And he has provided a way for us to practice the gospel plan. So we can know as Adam and Eve knew, the joy of their Salvation that only comes through Jesus Christ you.
Come, Follow Me Week 3, Part 4/7 (Jan 10 – Jan 16, Genesis 3-4; Moses 4–5) – powered by Happy Scribe
Would you throw this beautiful baby out the window? Of course not. But recently there was a family who did throw their baby out the window. Why would they do such a thing? As you can probably tell from the picture the building was on fire.
By throwing the baby out of the building, they he saved his life, just like there was a good reason why this baby was thrown out the window. There are good reasons why God gives us Commandments and standards. As parents, teachers, and leaders, it’s important for us to teach the why behind the Commandments. Elder David A. Ben are taught.
It concerns me as I see young people in our Church who know all the correct things they should do and do not have a clue as to why do we understand why? If we do not understand the why, then the power available to us through the doctrine of Christ will not be evident in our lives. But what do we do when there’s a commandment that we don’t fully understand? We may face times when a certain commitment doesn’t seem to make sense to us. When we don’t understand why we should follow it, what should we do then?
A powerful answer to this question is given by our ancestors, Adam and Eve. After they were driven out of the Garden of Eden, God gave unto them Commandments that they should offer the first things of their flocks for an offering unto the Lord, and Adam was obedient unto the Commandments of the Lord. We sometimes just assume that this was easy, but it may have been difficult for them to sacrifice animals that might have been needed for other purposes. We read, and after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying, Why DOST thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord?
And Adam said unto him, I know not save.
The Lord commanded me. And then the Angel Spake saying, this thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the only begotten of the Father, which is full of Grace and truth. Wherefore thou shalt do all that thou DOST in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son for evermore. Although the angel gave Adam and Eve a reason for the commandment, it’s important to highlight that they followed the Commandments for many days, even without knowing the reasons why.
There will be many times in life when we’re told to do something by the Spirit or by the Lord’s prophets.
And for many days, perhaps many years, we will not know why. One of our purposes here on Earth is to develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. The lectures on faith state that faith is a principle of action in all intelligent beings, and sometimes the Lord wants us to act without knowing the reason why, as Elder Boyd K. Packer taught faith to be faith must center around something that is not known.
Faith to be faith must go beyond that for which there is confirming evidence. Faith to be faith must walk to the edge of the light and then a few steps into the darkness. If everything has to be known, if everything has to be explained, if everything has to be certified, then there is no need for faith. Indeed, there is no room for it. I hope that as we teach others, we appropriately focus on the why behind the Commandments.
And in times when the why might not be clear, I hope that we will continue to obey God’s word as we await further clarification. May Adam’s words resonate in our hearts. I know not save the Lord commanded me.
Come, Follow Me Week 3, Part 5/7 (Jan 10 – Jan 16, Genesis 3-4; Moses 4–5) – powered by Happy Scribe
The fall of Adam and Eve seems to repeat itself in the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis Four. There’s quite a few similarities in the two stories, but there are also some very important differences. The similarities and differences between the fall and the story of Cain and Abel illustrate how God cares deep simply about his children and wants them to turn to him in repentance. When we make a mistake, God knows that we’re going to make mistakes in life, and when those mistakes happen, we should be willing to turn towards God instead of turning away from him.
The first parallel to the fall comes as a word play.
In the first verse of Genesis Four, Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bear Cain and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Eve played on the name Cain since its meaning in Hebrew may relate to the Hebrew word Kana, which means to acquire, get, purchase, or gain. Eve says that she has gotten a son from the Lord. However, in this context of procreation, the word Kane might also be related to the Hebrew word Cain, which refers to metalworking, foraging, fashioning or creating as God formed Adam from the dust of the ground, Adam and Eve participated in creation to form Cain.
Both Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel were presented with a test to show trust in God, and both of these tests involved fruit.
Adam and Eve’s test was to not partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, of good and evil. In the absence of God, Cain and Abel were to bring an appropriate offering of sacrifice to God. Cain brought the fruit of the ground, while Abel brought the firstlings of his flock, as was commanded to Adam and Eve. In the Book of Moses, the Lord had respect for Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s. When Cain became upset about this, the Lord presented Kane with an opportunity for forgiveness.
The Lord told Kane that he could simply make a different offering in the future and it would be accepted. Why art thou rot, and why thy countenance fallen? If thou DOST well shalt thou not be accepted, and if thou DOST not well sin life at the door. Cain’s response to the Lord’s correction made all the difference. Instead of repenting, Cain became defensive and distant from the voice of God.
As we all know, this eventually led to Cain killing his brother Abel. Out of resentment and anger. This is where the stories of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel really diverge. Once Adam and Eve committed the transgression of partaking of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, the Lord called out to them, saying, Where art thou? Adam and Eve immediately responded to the Lord’s call and plainly told him everything that they did.
However, when the Lord called out to Cain, Where is Abel? Thy brother Cain lied to the Lord. I know not am I my brother’s keeper. After Adam and Eve’s confession, the Lord declared the consequences of their actions and cast them from the Garden of Eden. But he also clothed them in the skins of slain animals as a really poignant symbol of the redemption through the sacrifice and atonement of Jesus Christ.
The Lord taught them about sacrifice and the steps necessary to return to his presence. However, after Cain refused to repent and lied to the Lord, the Lord similarly casts Cain out and also bestows Cain with a new vestment of sorts. The Lord places a Mark on Cain to prevent others from killing him. So all of these comparisons point to how God wants us to turn towards him and not away from Him when we sin. It’s true.
Adam and Eve transgressed by partaking of the fruit. While Adam and Eve initially hid themselves. When God inquired after them, they responded with repentance and promised to obey God. Moving forward through the atonement of Jesus Christ, Adam and Eve were able to repent, overcome their transgression and work towards exaltation. When Cain made a mistake in offering sacrifice, God lovingly gave Cain an opportunity to correct his mistake in offering sacrifice.
But instead of accepting correction, Cain lashed out in violence and killed his brother. And when God inquired after Cain for this action, he responded with bitterness and turned away from God. God wants us to choose the right, and he wants us to obey His Commandments. God also knows that we live in a fallen, imperfect world and that all of us are susceptible to making mistakes that’s just part of life and the plan of Salvation. These stories teach that our response to transgression can make all the difference.
Do we turn towards God, or do we turn away from him? We can choose to be like Cane and respond to correction with defensiveness and anger. Or we can use the atonement of Jesus Christ to heal our wounds, repent of our sins, and draw closer to God than we were before. Bye.
Come, Follow Me Week 3, Part 6/7 (Jan 10 – Jan 16, Genesis 3-4; Moses 4–5) – powered by Happy Scribe
Hello. My name is Lynn Hilton Wilson, and I’m thrilled to be part of the Book of Mormon central team for come follow me in the Old Testament today, I’m going to be looking at two specific words, agency and the Fall. They both come from Genesis two and three and Moses three and four. We’re in the 7th Creation period where Adam and Eve are given their agency. It’s interesting, as we learned about in the Book of Abraham’s creation account, chapter four, verse 31, it reads that the Earth, the plants and the animals shall be very obedient, and yet humanity is given that option.
We also learn, as we can see here on my chart, that in the Book of Moses, the additional scriptures refer to Satan’s desire to destroy the agency of man. And we don’t have any references to agency at all in the Old Testament, and in fact, in the King James Version, at least it’s never mentioned throughout the entire Bible. There’s one new translation, the New American Standard Bible, that has it referenced once in the Book of Daniels. But other than that, there is no other reference of the word agency.
But we do have in the Book of Moses these wonderful editions thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee.
Satan ought to destroy the agency of man, and in the day that I created them in the Garden of Eden, I gave man his agency. Each of these are different statements from the Book of Moses, but we do find choice and accountability in the Bible, even if it doesn’t use the word agency. I don’t want to suggest it’s just a matter of semantics. We have a lot of free will offerings. We all know Joshua’s statement choose Ye this day whom Ye will serve.
And of course, in Isaiah 61, the Lord is prophesied to be the one who will freed the captives. So many of the questions of the history of the world from the Greek philosophers on have dealt with this problem of agency in the fall and the nature of humanity, and why a loving, benevolent God could possibly create something that was so awful and mean as humanity. But I believe if we understood the fall that was restored through not only the Book of Moses and Abraham, but also the Book of Mormon and other revelations that we would have that resolved.
We learned last week that part of the nature of humanity is this ability to learn and to have stewardships and responsibility and to be able to reproduce oneself. But we learn a lot more about agency when we leave the Old Testament accounts or the creation accounts and look at Lehigh’s account.
Lehi is speaking to his sons right before he dies and to Jacob in chapter two. That wonderful chapter where he talks about opposition and all things. He goes back to the Garden of Eden. He goes back to agency, and he says in verses 15 and 16. God gave unto man that he should act for himself.
He goes on, men are free according to the flesh, and all things are given unto them, which they are expedient. In verse 27. You are free to choose Liberty and eternal life through the great mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death. As you know, he goes on and says, Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy. This whole idea that we could not have all been born in paradise is something that is unique to our faith tradition.
Other biblical traditions say, why couldn’t we’ve all just stayed in paradise? And it’s all Adam and Eve’s fault that we didn’t get to have this? Well, no, that’s not the plan. We don’t have that in our text. Samuel Delaymanite also prophesied of this on the wall.
He says chapter 14 of Helmet, verses 30 and 31. You are free. You’re permitted to act for yourselves, to know good for evil. You’ve got to just have a better understanding that all other biblical faith traditions in the Book of Genesis do not have the word devil or Satan or temptation or Tempt. They look at it very differently.
They think it’s something between the woman or Eve or life and the serpent figure. The word serpent is actually in Hebrew a little different than we think of it sometimes translated sea monster in other books of Scripture, but the roots of it represent something that shines or something that hits forth enchantments. So it’s not exactly clear that we should be calling every snake a serpent. But as we leave the idea of agency and go to the Fall, it’s interesting to see that the fall is not mentioned in the Old Testament at all.
It’s not until after the Old Testament to that little period of time between the Old and the New Testament called the intertestamental Period, where the Apocrypha fits in that one of the Apocryphal writers Ben Syria in the Book of Ecclesiastes, oriac sometimes it’s called he refers to the Fall.
But other than that, we don’t have the fall until we get to the Apostle Paul’s writings. And then two other early Christian theologians refer to it one Method and Augustine in 304 hundred Ad, respectively. But when we look at the Book of Mormon, we see Lehi referring to the fall clear. Back in 600 BC, we see King Benjamin in 120 BC. We see Alma the Younger in 75 BC, and we see Moroni in 400.
The fall just spans from one end to the other in the Book of Mormon, and it is so important that we understand it. However, lots of times people understood it as two conflicting Commandments. I think there are other ways to understand the fall. I do not think that we’re too conflicting Commandments. I think it’s a matter of timing.
I think it’s a matter of sequence and God’s order and are we going to follow and take our gifts from the adversary or follow and take our gifts from our Creator. I’ll talk a lot more about this in my podcast that refers to this. But as we look at the fall, either in words like fell or fallen or forbidden fruit or eat of the fruit or the tree or eaten. And I went through as many different words that could equate to this as possible to look at the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament and modern revelation.
And I was just blown away.
This is just powerful to see the difference. As you scan through the chart here to see what the Book of Mormon gives us. We have more references on every single account scattered in more books. It’s just a powerful place to go to look. So my favorite verses in the Book of Mormon on the Fall start out with two EFI.
Chapter two, two EFI, chapter nine, verse six, King Benjamin Sermon in Mosaic three verses eleven and 19 and Mosiah, four verses seven, Mosiah 19. The whole chapter is great. Mosaic 27, verse 25 and Moroni, chapter eight, verses eight through twelve. All of these are good. There’s many others.
But I would just encourage you to compare the difference between the doctrines, not just the numbers, but look at what is said as you go through two nephews. Chapter two, it’s just powerful to see what the Lord is teaching us. This is why we needed more scripture. This is why we needed another Testament of Jesus Christ, because now we can understand the fall of Adam and Eve better. And then when Jacob picks up his place in the pulpit and he begins preaching in chapter nine, he says, for as death has passed upon all men, the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall.
The fall came by reason of transgression. And because man became fallen, they were cut off from the presence of the Lord. We learn about the fall in the Book of Mormon in King Benjamin sermon, when he starts talking about the natural man, and for some reason before I did this comparison with the fall, I hadn’t put these together, but this is absolutely beautiful. Look at this in verse 19, chapter three of Mosiah. The natural man is an enemy to God and has been from the fall of Adam and will be forever unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit.
Put off the natural man through the atonement of Christ. That’s the way we do it. If we want to overcome the fall, we follow the Spirit’s, promptings and humbly, meekly accept our Saviors atonement in our life. Joseph Smith had no idea during that Blitz Creek of translation that he was completely reformatting the basic theology of all biblical traditions. And yet that’s exactly what happened.
The Restoration gives us so much more insight on these ideas. And I pray that this British Lord will bless you in your study of come. Follow me this week. If you’d like more resources, I have a 13 page handout accompanying with this that should be attached right below. May God bless your scripture study.
Thank you.
Come, Follow Me Week 3, Part 7/7 (Jan 10 – Jan 16, Genesis 3-4; Moses 4–5) – powered by Happy Scribe
Hello, I’m Lynn Hilton Wilson here to talk about the Old Testament through the lens, to do the illumination through the enriching power of the Book of Mormon, the doctrine, Covenants and the Polar Gate Price as well as other restored messages. And today, as we look at the last half of Cain and Abel in Genesis chapter four and Moses chapter five, we have so many insights that are added to the story of the creation as the fall is unfolding, as we see in the life of these two brothers.
As we look at the additions on the Canaan Abel story in the Pearl Great Price, Moses chapter five has 32 more verses just on Canaan Abel in this chapter and Lamech. And out of that 32 verses, it’s almost 1300 words that we see the answers to why Cain acted the way he did and what motivated him. The influence of Satan in his life is all added.
And it’s amazing to me the things that are left out, the things that are added are things that allow us to understand why Cain did this and how Satan worked and why the procedure was not accepted by God. If we just look at the biblical account, we see this enormous absence of population. Genesis has the fall, and then the first child born is Cain. They don’t talk about the generations that are born there. Cain is already way down in the line of descendants of Adam and Eve because he marries one of his nieces.
We’ve got multiple generations before this time that are left out in the Book of Moses as well as the population. We also have a difference in content. And as we look just at the Bible, we see Kane does not have any control of the situation. He offers an offering, and it’s not acceptable to the Lord. Well, he’s a Tiller of the ground.
He is just bringing forth to his first fruits. Why isn’t it offered? Why isn’t it accepted? We just see a capricious God coming through in Genesis. There’s no mention of Cain’s desire, of his yearning for more power, of his yearning for wickedness.
We see no remorse for his guilt and for his sin. And so when you look at the genus account alone, God becomes this authoritarian figure. And you see how people in Christianity and sex of Judaism and especially through the Reformation, through people like Calvin. You see this emphasis that Christ either damn you or he exalts you. You are either good or evil.
You are either the elect or you are not chosen. And I could use different words on different faith traditions. But all of this has changed when we open up the account of Moses chapter five, when Joseph Smith is going through this translation, I don’t know if he realized how empowering it is to change these early chapters of Genesis, but all of a sudden you have a completely different theology. As you understand a different character of God, a different character of Satan and a different character of man.
We also see the Satan and Cain’s relationship in the Book of Mormon.
So it’s not in Genesis, but it’s certainly in the restored Scripture. I would just read one for you, Helen. Chapter six, verse 27 Yea that same being who did plot with Cain that he would murder his brother Abel, and it would not be known into the world. We also have one in the Book of Ether, but Cain asks three questions. 01:00 A.m..
I my brother’s keeper and God, how can you protect me? Why are you going to do this to me? I’m going to be killed by again. And then the last one is what gospel. And as I go through these last half of the Cane and Abel story, these questions are so meaningful to me because Satan’s lies took a hold upon Cain.
He didn’t recognize God. Why? Well, because the parts that are removed from the story say Satan tempted Cain and Cain loved Satan. I’ve just got a few examples here. Moses.
Chapter five, verse 13 Satan came among them saying, I am also a son of God. And if you talked earlier, Satan often is a counterfeit, or Satan often tries to usurp God’s role, so he is now taking upon himself the name of the Son of God. I am the Son of God. Verse 18 Cain loves Satan more than God, and Satan commanded him. Verse 21 Satan knew this and it pleased him.
Verse 28 they loved Satan more than God. This is the whole population that is following Cain’s thoughts and descendants of Adam. Verse 29 Satan said to Cain, swear unto me by thy throat and I will deliver thy brother Abel into thy hands. Verse 30 Satan swear unto Cain that he would do as he commands. Verse 31 Cain said, Truly, I am the master of this great secret that I may murder to get gain, and he gloried in his wickedness.
Verse 33 King Glory’in, that which he had done, saying, I am free now. How is that for irony? And then, as we continue, ten verses down with laymick also enters into a Covenant with Satan. The problem is that Cain never took the time to get to know God. He didn’t recognize who Satan was because he didn’t ever learn what the Spirit felt like.
He never took the time to understand who God was. Satan’s conclusions are from a lack of understanding the gospel, but we know that the gospel was taught from the time of Adam, but he didn’t take the time and energy to study it, to learn it, to receive his own witness of the Spirit. I like to look at the conversation that God has with Cain to better understand their relationships and who they are. Let’s look at Moses. 534 the Lord said unto Cain, Where is able thy brother?
And he said, I know not am I my brother’s keeper. That question just kills me because so much of a message of the gospel is that we are to be each other’s brother’s keeper. We are to mourn with those who mourn in the Book of Mormon, in the waters of Moroni, and in Christ sermon on the Temple and Sermon on the Mount, we are to be the peacemakers we are to be the salt of the Earth. We are to bless those around us. We as disciples of Jesus Christ and as sons and daughters of God are to take care of one another.
Verse 35 continues on God asks him, what hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood cries unto me from the ground. I think this is so fascinating that blood has a voice that the Earth can speak its witness through thin thing that is not understood in our physical parameters. We also look ahead to see that we can never hide our sins from God. It is much easier to confess them and forsake them than it is to hide from them.
And the Lord gave Cain a chance to change when he first offered his offering without sincerity of heart, incorrectly, without testifying of the Savior Jesus Christ. Because of course, Satan wouldn’t want him to do it the right way. But also he followed Satan. It’s not just one without the other, but if we can confess and forsake our sins, we are in a much better place. The curse that God gives Cain is there is a separation from God.
God is talking to the people, but when Cain kills his brother, the curse is clearly outlined in Moses chapter five, verse 39. I will be separated from thy face. Shall I be hid? That is the curse that he is no longer there. This is the same thing in two Nephi.
When we read in chapter five, verse 20, inasmuch as they will not hearken unto thy words, they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. We also get a touch of Adam’s posterity through Cain, and Cain has a son named Enoch who builds a city and goes down and has five generations later. But this is not the Enoch that we’ll talk about who is a descendant of Seth in a few weeks, and I just wanted you to keep those two genealogies different. As we look at the addition in Moses, there’s an enormous section also on laymach a few generations down, another wicked man who slaying someone who is a polygamist and in answer to this great witness that is pervading the world.
As Satan is taking charge of many of the dissonance of Adam and Eve, the Lord answers to combat this wickedness by sending Angels.
And I’m so touched by this last verse, I’d like to read Moses 558 and thus the gospel began to be preached from the beginning, being declared by Holy Angels, sent forth from the presence of God in his own voice, by the gift of the Holy Ghost, and thus all things were confirmed unto Adam by a Holy ordinance and the Gospel was preached and sent forth. This message to me is similar to the Restoration. I can identify the Gospel being taught to Adam taught by Christ, taught by Samuel, taught by Elijah, taught by President Spencer W.
Kimball taught by President Russell M. Nelson.
And I pray that we can take the time to know God so that we can differentiate from our own experience, to know good from evil in the name of Jesus Christ. Statement.
Guest Author
dyejo
