Come, Follow Me Ether 12-15: Insights By Gogo Goff

I hope you enjoy some insights from my Come, Follow Me Ether 12-15 (If you missed last week’s insights for Come, Follow Me Ether 6-11 click here). Save this pin to read later.

Videos, articles, and insights for this weeks study of Come Follow Me Ether 12-15: by Jeremy Goff, aka Gogo Goff

With faith all things are possible.

“And I, Moroni, having heard these words, was comforted, and said: O Lord, thy righteous will be done, for I know that thou workest unto the children of men according to their faith;”
Ether 12:29

Ether 12 contains Moroni’s great discourse on faith, he lists all the things people have done by faith, ranging from Alma and Amulek causing the prison to fall to the ground, to the miracle missions of the sons of Mosiah, to the moving of a mountain by the Brother of Jared, to even receiving one’s calling and election and having the veil withdrawn.

The overarching theme is that by faith all things are possible, so let us take courage and put our trust and faith in the Lord God of Hosts!

There is no obstacle too great, no challenge too difficult, that we cannot meet with faith. ~President Gordon B. Hinckley — “There is no obstacle too great, no challenge too difficult, that we cannot meet with faith” ~Gordon B. Hinckley.

Watchman what of the night?

20 And in the second year the word of the Lord came to Ether, that he should go and prophesy unto Coriantumr that, if he would repent, and all his household, the Lord would give unto him his kingdom and spare the people—
21 Otherwise they should be destroyed, and all his household save it were himself…
Ether 13:20-21

Prophets are the messengers of God, they are watchmen on the tower as Isaiah put it (Isaiah 21:11). As we ask “Watchman, what of the night?” the Prophet will reply with what the Lord wants us to hear. Ether had a message for Coriantumr, it was rather bleak, repent or God will destroy your house. Coriantumr rejected the counsel of Ether and we read in the following chapters that millions died.

So that was then, what about now? When we ask “Watchman, what of the night?” are we prepared to listen and hearken to the watchman? Let us, unlike Coriantumr listen to the Prophet, let us forsake our sins and follow the teachings of Christ!

"All is not well in Zion. As Moroni counseled, we must cleanse the inner vessel, beginning first with ourselves, then with our families ... If we are to cleanse the inner vessel, we must forsake immorality and be clean." Ezra Taft Benson — “All is not well in Zion. As Moroni counseled, we must cleanse the inner vessel, beginning first with ourselves, then with our families … If we are to cleanse the inner vessel, we must forsake immorality and be clean.”
Ezra Taft Benson

Warnings from the past.

“And thus we see that the Lord did visit them in the fulness of his wrath, and their wickedness and abominations had prepared a way for their everlasting destruction.” Ether 14:25

Chapter 14 of Ether is a sobering story as we read about the Jaredite nation being destroyed, not from without but from within. We learn that the cause of it is iniquity, or in other words, the people knew the right yet chose the wrong.

What does this have to do with us? We are doing the same thing! One of the meanings of iniquity is to pervert or bend, look at our actions we know the Lord’s declared standards of chastity yet we openly legalize and popularize the very sins that brought destruction upon nations past! We know that the Lord has declared life as sacred yet from the abortion mills to the wars and abject poverty among us our actions declare life has no value.

As Christians we must practice what we preach, we must truly reject the perverted logic and reasoning of this world, we must seek to serve and love one another, we must make and keep our covenants with God, we must stand for right even if we stand alone even if it costs everything Satan can take from us.

God is testing us as individuals, communities, and as a nation, are we passing the test? If not let us repent and realign our actions with what we know is right.

"As the issues become clearer and more obvious, all mankind will eventually be required to align themselves either for the kingdom of God or for the kingdom of the devil. As these conflicts rage, either secretly or openly, the righteous will be tested. God’s wrath will soon shake the nations of the earth and will be poured out on the wicked without measure." Ezra Taft Benson — “As the issues become clearer and more obvious, all mankind will eventually be required to align themselves either for the kingdom of God or for the kingdom of the devil. As these conflicts rage, either secretly or openly, the righteous will be tested. God’s wrath will soon shake the nations of the earth and will be poured out on the wicked without measure.”
Ezra Taft Benson

Hardened Hearts.

“But behold, the Spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them, and Satan had full power over the hearts of the people; for they were given up unto the hardness of their hearts, and the blindness of their minds that they might be destroyed; wherefore they went again to battle.”
Ether 15:19

As we learn history a sad truth comes out, when the people turn away from God their hearts harden and the most deplorable debauchery imaginable happens, because Satan has “full power” over them. Things that civilized people would reject they embrace from the debauchery of abortion to the senseless acts of terror worldwide.

The Jaredites are no exception to this, hard hearts caused the Jaredites to reject the Prophets, and when Coriantumr finally sought peace, Shiz rejected it. Shiz would rather die than have peace, all because he was angry and his heart was hard. Millions had died but it was not enough death to soften his heart.

To prevent the irrational and illogical actions that hardened hearts bring we must prevent and cure hard hearts. Hearts are softened with love and as they become open and honest they realize they need Jesus Christ in their life and they become receptive to the Spirit. A hard heart does not soften a hard heart, only soft hearts can soften a hard heart. Let us strive to have broken, soft, open, and receptive hearts!