A review of Pastor Jeff reading the Book of Helaman in the Book of Mormon. I’m going to purposefully skip the highlights, where he gives an outline of the stories he read.
Highlight Number 1
This is where Pastor Jeff starts to bread down a similarity to the bible. The Mount Transfiguration a cloud surrounded Peter James and John. And like Acts 2 where the heavens open up and the holy spirit descends.
Helaman 5:45
45 And behold, the Holy Spirit of God did come down from heaven, and did enter into their hearts, and they were filled as if with fire, and they could speak forth marvelous words.
Ultimately this does not sit well with Pastor Jeff because there are supposedly no biblical reference to the Holy Ghost appearing in scripture prior to the day of Pentecost. Which has been mentioned by Pastor Jeff through a few of the Book of Mormon videos. In Pastor Jeffs words, Jesus was on earth he was bringing Gods presence how it had never been before. Up until that point in the book of Acts God had not poured out the holy spirit that way before then.
I have to say. Maybe the Lord didn’t pour out his spirit to a large number of people like the day of Pentecost. It is impossible to believe that the Holy Spirit, being a member of the Godhead would ignore all the people who lived during the first 4000 years of the earth’s existence. If God is a fair and just God, it is only natural that his children throughout history would benefit from the influence of the Holy Spirit.
what does the Old Testament say?
Genesis 6:3
3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
2 Samuel 32:2
2 The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue
Ezekiel 36:27
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Even through it was not mentioned a lot in the Old Testament, I would argue the Holy Spirit has always resided on earth, enlightening the hearts and minds of man. Leading man to truth. Filling the prophets with dreams, visions and revelations to teach man. Touching the hearts of man, that they might feel and know the truth. It was only due to the unfaithfulness of man that they did not have it in abundance.
Highlight Number 2
This is interesting. Pastor Jeff likens the Christian view of sealing power to Forgiveness. They don’t see it as the power to act in God’s name, but rather a form of unbinding man from sin through forgiveness. The LDS perspective is acting in the name of God, using his power to bind on heaven and earth. Wow, those are two drastically different perspectives.
To tell you the truth, Pastor Jeffs explanation didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Every once in a while, his explanations seem to present more questions than answers. Partially because they are not plain to understand.
Boyd K Packer explains it as: The sealing power represents the transcendent delegation of spiritual authority from God to man. The keeper of that sealing power is the Lord’s chief representative here upon the earth. That is the position of consummate trust and authority. – The Holy Temple, Boyd K. Packer, pp. 81-82
Matthew 16:19
19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Highlight Number 3
Pastor Jeff observes a scientific statement in the Book of Mormon about the Earth revolving around the Sun. Not the other way around. It points to a heliocentric model of the earth and sun. He thought that was fascinating.
Highlight Number 4
He then brings up something that obviously contradicts the LDS plan of salvation and three degrees of glory.
Helaman 12:25-26
25 And I would that all men might be saved. But we read that in the great and last day there are some who shall be cast out, yea, who shall be cast off from the presence of the Lord;
26 Yea, who shall be consigned to a state of endless misery, fulfilling the words which say: They that have done good shall have everlasting life; and they that have done evil shall have everlasting damnation. And thus it is. Amen.
In a broader sense, damnation is the lack of progression. But the terms “endless” and “everlasting” don’t always mean forever and ever. This is why modern-day prophets are so important. They eliminate the confusion. Here is what the Lord told Joseph Smith in the Doctrine and Covenants:
D&C 19:10-12
10 For, behold, the mystery of godliness, how great is it! For, behold, I am endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand is endless punishment, for Endless is my name. Wherefore—
11 Eternal punishment is God’s punishment.
12 Endless punishment is God’s punishment.
The term relates to the condition the soul may find itself in, not the actual length of suffering. There is a period where those who have done evil will be cut off. This is spirit prison. There is also the lack of eternal progression. I imagine there will be some regret and suffering from that condition as well. Even after the final judgment and most men find themselves in some type of glory.