Eric Poulin

Archive for the ‘C) 1st Nephi’ Category

1 Nephi 16:10

Liahona

“And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness.”

The Liahona, in itself, is not an object of great worth. True, it is made of fine craftsmanship and brass, however, in the circumstances which Lehi’s family find themselves in, ornaments can be of little or no worth. Items of worth in this scenario would be food and survival items. However, the true value of the Liahona is its ability to point the way for them to go. It points the way to their future wealth.

Of course, we know that the Liahona is powered by righteousness and faith. Read the rest of this entry »

1 Nephi 13:15-16, 20

“And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles, and they did prosper and obtain the land for their inheritance;…
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.”

We see here the promise given to Lehi early on in the Book of Mormon, that if he would “keep the commandments, ye shall prosper in the land” is made available to all who shall come to this land. Read the rest of this entry »

1 Nephi 13:7-8

Gold adorned cathedral

“And I also saw gold, and silver, and silks, and scarlets, and fine-twined linen, and all manner of precious clothing; and I saw many harlots.
And the angel spake unto me, saying: Behold the gold, and the silver, and the silks, and the scarlets, and the fine-twined linen, and the precious clothing, and the harlots, are the desires of this great and abominable church.”

Nephi sees the formation of an abominable church whose desires are on riches and fine clothing. We can see this in a number of churches today who have large and marvelous cathedrals, most notably in Europe. They are adorned with gold in places, and built at a time when poverty was terrible. The priests would dress in very fine linens while impoverished people wore shredded, dirty cloth and were embarrassed to even enter the church. While the money that went into these spacious buildings and clothings for the Priests could have been used to help the poverty of the people – to save lives, the desired of that church were set upon money. Read the rest of this entry »

1 Nephi 11:25

“And it came to pass that I beheld that the rod of iron, which my father had seen, was the word of God…”

We know the iron rod = the word of God. Why not a golden rod, showing a higher value of the word of God? How about a jewel encrusted rod?

Well, iron, although its not glitzy, it is strong, proven and known. Gold, while shiny and pretty, is not a strong metal. Also, iron is very plain, as is the word of God.

Likewise, we sometimes see glitsy advertising telling us about investment opportunities, multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes that are just too good to be true, trying to gain our attention. They are not going to lead to joy. They are not the iron rod. They ARE too good to be true. Stick to the iron rod, regular investments. Get rich slowly by keeping the commandments and working hard. Be smart with your money, but not overly risky, cause when its gone, its gone.

1 Nephi 8:27

Great and spacious building

“And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit.”

It would be easy to paint a picture here about the filthy rich scoffing at the pious and humble followers of Christ, but I think that is not a fair portrayal of the facts. Back in the early days of Christianity, there was an ideology that Christians took a vow of poverty and the idea that money was inherently bad. Some took their example from John the Baptist, who chose a very basic life eating and wearing just the basics. As a matter of interest, just in the recent October 2008 General Conference, Elder L. Tom Perry encouraged a return to a simple life.

But a simple life doesn’t mean poverty. Read the rest of this entry »

1 Nephi 8:1

“And it came to pass that we had gathered together all manner of seeds of every kind, both of grain of every kind, and also of the seeds of fruit of every kind.”

Food storage and emergency preparation are evident from the very early beginnings of the Book of Mormon. This becomes a personal finance topic because, in order to be prepared, we have to have planned our finances in a way to obtain food storage, and also have a store of money that we can get at if an emergency occurs.

I always look at an emergency scenario as worst case. Lets say all electricity is gone and a true emergency has happened. Most people will go into shock. Read the rest of this entry »

1 Nephi 7:6-7, 16

“And it came to pass that as we journeyed in the wilderness, behold Laman and Lemuel, and two of the daughters of Ishmael, and the two sons of Ishmael and their families, did rebel against us; yea, against me, Nephi, and Sam, and their father, Ishmael, and his wife, and his three other daughters.
And it came to pass in the which rebellion, they were desirous to return unto the land of Jerusalem.”

“And it came to pass that when I, Nephi, had spoken these words unto my brethren, they were angry with me. And it came to pass that they did lay their hands upon me, for behold, they were exceedingly wroth, and they did bind me with cords, for they sought to take away my life, that they might leave me in the wilderness to be devoured by wild beasts.”

While we don’t have the reasoning behind the rebellion, if we assume similar concerns as their original rebellion on leaving Jerusalem, we know they were very anxious about having lost their inheritance and comfortable lifestyle. Read the rest of this entry »

1 Nephi 5:21-22

“And we had obtained the records which the Lord had commanded us, and searched them and found that they were desirable; yea, even of great worth unto us, insomuch that we could preserve the commandments of the Lord unto our children.
Wherefore, it was wisdom in the Lord that we should carry them with us, as we journeyed in the wilderness towards the land of promise.”

It appears that Lehi has just learned of his genealogy. In the preceding versus it says that he discovered his genealogy, that he was a decedent of Joseph of Egypt. This is valuable information, given the patriarchal order and birthright of the blessings pronounced on the tribes of israel. Also the history of the creation and the commandments of the Lord. He calls these things of “great worth”. In addition to the spiritual and intellectual value, these brass plates were also the key to their temporal prosperity. Read the rest of this entry »

1 Nephi 5:14

“And it came to pass that my father, Lehi, also found upon the plates of brass a genealogy of his fathers; wherefore he knew that he was a descendant of Joseph; yea, even that Joseph who was the son of Jacob, who was sold into Egypt, and who was preserved by the hand of the Lord, that he might preserve his father, Jacob, and all his household from perishing with famine.”

Can a human soul have a price set to it? We know that Joseph was sold for 20 pieces of silver, (Jesus similarly is betrayed for 30 pieces of silver). Here Nephi reminds us that we cannot judge the value of a person with money. Joseph went on to save his entire family and all of Egypt from the famine. The Saviour saved the whole world, but his betrayal was judged to be worth only 30 pieces. Read the rest of this entry »

1 Nephi 5:10

“And after they had given thanks unto the God of Israel, my father, Lehi, took the records which were engraven upon the plates of brass, and he did search them from the beginning.”

Lehi has just had his sons return from their near escape from death from Jerusalem and their experience with Laban. Nephi delivers to his father the brass plates, the object of their design in returning to Jerusalem. These records, which had been the cause of such worry to Sariah and the subject of a revelation and commandment from the Lord that they must be brought with them… are set aside as Lehi first gives thanks unto the Lord.

How many of us would have picked up the plates and began to read through them almost immediately after ensuring everyone’s safety? But Lehi shows us a better way. Read the rest of this entry »