Amazed by Enos

I have always been amazed and fascinated by Enos.  He wrestled with God to receive the remission from his sins.  The words his father spoke to him sunk deep into his heart.

In Enos verse one, we read:

 "And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens."

As we were sharing this story in our Gathering Thursday night, my good friend shared a one of his prayers from his mission when he would told God "I'm too tired to pray." and remembers waking up the next morning still in his suit. I do not think this is the kind of prayer that Enos was doing.  He put every fiber of his being, of his soul, into this prayer, all the day long and all through the night.

in verse 5, we read:

"And there came a voice unto me, saying, Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed."

Enos knew God couldn't lie, but he wanted to know how it is possible to be forgiven of his sins.  In verse 8, we read:

"And he said unto me:  Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou has never before heard nor seen.  And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself inn the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole."

I can't even imagine the feeling Enos had at that moment of truth and knowledge!  Once he heard the words of the Lord, he had a strong sense of welfare for his people and even the Lamanites.   He prayed that if his people, the Nephites were destroyed and the Lamanites survived, that the lord would preserve the record of his people so that they could be brought to the remembrance of the Lord their God and unto salvation.

What selfless man Enos was!  He wanted the salvation of his enemies,  I will always be amazed by Enos's great faith and love for his fellowman.

The Last Days

The last five chapters of 2 Nephi are really awesome! My favorite chapters are 28-29. These couple of chapters talks about the Last Days here on earth before the return of our Savior.  Nephi tells us that there will be many false churches and apostasy shall occur because the hearts of men shall fail them.

 2 Nephi 28:8 reads:

And there shall also be many which shall say, Eat, drink, and be merry, nevertheless, fear God-he will justify in committing a little sin, yea, yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the Kingdom of God.

In our society today, we see exactly what this scripture reads.  I have to admit, even Satan has tried to convince me that I could sin just a little and still be in the presence of my Father in Heaven, This is false thinking.  No unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God.

The pitfall of society is pride.  Pride causes corruption.  Satan is raging in the hearts of men and we see this daily by all the mass killings that are taking place along with the corruption of our government. Satan is lulling and pacifying the hearts of the children of men.  He is convincing them that "All is well in Zion!".  All is not well in Zion.  Look around at the happenings in the world today!

We are to put our trust in the Lord and strive to have His spirit to be with us. 

In chapter 29, we learn that the Gentiles will say they need no more bible.  What we have to understand, is that our Lord has created many more nations than just our nation. In verse 4 it reads, 

"But saith the Lord God: O fools, they shall have a Bible; and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, and mine ancient covenant people.  And what thank they the Jews, for the Bible which they receive from them? Yeah, what do the Gentiles mean? Do they remember the travails, and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me, in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles?"

Did the Savior created more nations than ours? What about in the East? The West? The North? The South? How awesome is this? The Lord has commanded each nation to write the words that He speaks so that these records will come forth at a latter time. How glorious this shall be!

The Book of Mormon does not contradicts the Bible, nor is it made up by man.  It is a sacred record of the people of this nation, just as the Bible is a sacred record of the Jews in their nation.

Our day is very treacherous! Satan is raging in the hearts of men and his flaxen cords are being wrapped ever so tightly around our necks.  We are living in a day that has been prophesied by prophets of old.  Nephi saw our day and time and was so compassionate, he wept for us to hearken unto the Lord and to follow His commandments.  Words can't describe how I feel knowing Nephi wept for me and the Savior bleed and died for me, I will try to strengthen my testimony and to keep my eye single to Lord, all the days of my life.