In the book of Mormon sometime between the years of A.D. 401-421 Moroni, the son of Mormon (for whom the entire volume of sacred writ was named), wrote:

And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech. Mormon 9:32

One of the extremely popular criticisms relating to this verse is that “there is no evidence in Egyptology of something called ‘Reformed Egyptian,’ and that the Book of Mormon’s claim to have been written in this language is therefore suspect.”

When I was a freshman in college I took a linguistics class and got interested in dead languages, an interest that has always culminated around Egyptology. Though I have not ever given serious focus on this fascination of mine, I do enjoy nuggets of historical information relating to Egyptian script and how it relates to the Book of Mormon. I will discuss just one of the many examples of “reformed Egyptian” that scholars may not refer to as being “reformed,” yet it is as reformed as reformed gets.

WHAT IS REFORMED EGYPTIAN?

In the preceding verse Moroni is clear as day when he says “the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian”. Of course, Moroni did not write or speak in English so the actual term that was translated by Joseph Smith into the English phrase ‘reformed Egyptian,’ whatever it was called, was only known to the Nephites. I don’t understand this argument because obviously the Egyptians never called some version of their writing ‘reformed Egyptian.” (In fact, the Egyptians called it sš n š?.t).

Side note: I presume the Lamanites didn’t use the term as it was most likely a priestly (religious) script and not used in every day writings. Verse 33 actually eludes to the idea that every day writing among the people was done in a form of, shall I be bold as to call it, “reformed Hebrew:”

And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also… Mormon 9:33

Over the years secular egyptologists and linguists have discovered that Egyptian hieroglyphic writing underwent three different changes since its creation somewhere near 3000-4000 BC. The word hieroglyphic is a Greek word (hieroglyphikos) meaning ‘sacred writing or carving.’ The first of these transformations among the Egyptian priests occurred during the Protodynastic Period of Egypt (ca. 3200 BC to 3000 BC). Hieratic derives from the Greek phrase grammata hieratika, which literally means “priestly writing.” This first example of reformed Egyptian was developed so the scribes were able to take notes or write laws, decrees, or religious texts with a reed brush on papyrus, and allowed them to write quicker than the time it took them to engrave glyphs.

After centuries of using hieratic to write their religious texts, the Egyptians developed the demotic script, which was coined by the Greek historian Herodutus demotikós, a Greek word meaning popular. This popular script was called by the Egyptians sš n š?.t (“document writing”) and was a highly cursive script, used for everyday writing, not strictly for religious practices or just by the priests or the ruling class. It is presumed that eventually many of the common Egyptians used this form of writing. This is the script that is found in the middle section of the famous Rosetta Stone (pictured at right), which resides in the British Museum. Demotic emerged on the scene roughly around the later part of the 25th Dynasty (760 BC to 656 BC). This is extremely important because, according to the Book of Mormon, Nephi begins his summary on the plates with “I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.” Further on he states that his father, Lehi, began prophesying “in the commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah” (ca. 597 BC), meanwhile demotic was already in use by the Egyptians 60 years prior to Lehi’s prophetic call.

With the arrival of the Greeks in the 1st century, Egyptian writing underwent it’s final “reformation,” into what scholars call Coptic. However, for our time frame with the Book of Mormon I’m going to focus on demotic.

It’s been shown the demotic, a cursive and highly popular form of “reformed Egyptian” was in use by as early as the 8th century BC, and Nephi tells us himself in the very first chapter of the Book of Mormon that he was writing in the language of the Egyptians. So then, if demotic existed circa 600 BC, and if Moroni claimed that the Book of Mormon was written in (what the Nephites termed ‘reformed Egyptian’ – using a Nephite word for it, of course), there must be some evidence of correlation between the characters that were engraved onto the gold plates (from which the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God through Joseph Smith) and published demotic script in the secular world, right?

Wouldn’t you know it, there are!

THE ANTHON TRANSCRIPT CHARACTERS

The Anthon Transcript was a sheet of paper upon which Joseph Smith copied a few of the “reformed Egyptian” characters from the plates of the Book of Mormon. In the winter of 1828, Martin Harris showed these characters to Dr. Charles Anthon of Columbia College (now Columbia University), and hence the name (Encyclopedia of Mormonism).

Fast forward to the 20th century…

Between 1897 and 1970 the official magazine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was entitled “The Improvement Era.” In 1942 Ariel L. Crowley (1905-2005) was a contributor to The Era and wrote an excellent three-piece series comparing characters from the Anthon transcript to well-documented Egyptian demotic characters in other publications. I have listed direct links to the PDFs below. Part II is where the fun stuff is!

• Part I: Introduction
• Part II: The Identification of the Characters as Egyptian
• Part III: The Corroborative Evidences of the Serabit Inscriptions, the Plates of Darius, and the Inscriptions of Byblos

Beginning on page 4 of Part II Crowley lists characters from the Anthon transcript in the left column and an extremely similar, if not identical, Egyptian demotic character in the right column, complete with source. The two main sources that Crowley cites and wherein he located demotic characters that matched up with characters found on the gold plates are:

• Wilhelm Spiegelberg’s Demotische Grammatik (1925)
• Heinrich Karl Brugsch’s Hieroglyphisch-Demotisches (1868)

I listed the printing of both books for those critics who love to claim that somehow an uneducated farm boy with no more than a third grade education must have done a ton of research to come up with the story of the Book of Mormon. Notice that both of these German (Joseph didn’t speak or read German) titles were printed after Joseph Smith died in 1844.

Update (1/6/2011): I have actually been to the Library of Congress and searched through the book by Spiegelberg and have seen with my own eyes the demotic characters in that book that correlate to the characters on the Anthon Transcript.

I don’t know how much more similar the proof of the evidence of “reformed Egyptian” characters individuals need, but I do know that if it was part of the LDS gospel that 2+2=4, there would always be those who tried to say that is a lie and any who believed that, despite evidence to the contrary, were doomed to hell.

For centuries critics have come up with all kinds of calumny and aspersion against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Book of Mormon, and the prophet Joseph Smith. All kinds of falsehoods, lies, and deceptions have been perpetrated with regards to the truthfulness of the Restored Gospel, but if one will sincerely show an interest in learning more and do so with an open heart, without preconceived notions, sincerely desiring to know if it is true or not, as Moroni says in his epilogue, God “will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. (Moroni 10:4-5)”

I know that the Book of Mormon is sacred writ, painstakingly engraved upon gold plates by ancient prophets on the American continent for us in these the latter-days, and that is was translated by a poor, uneducated New York farm boy only by the gift and power of God. I have discovered far too many evidences of its truthfulness to discount (and all but ignored by LDS critics), but none greater than the personal revelation I have received from the Holy Ghost that it is a second testament of our Savior Jesus Christ.

The Standard of Truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, and calamy may defame. But the Truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every climb, swept every country and sounded in every ear. Till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say, “The work is done.”

Receiving the Aaronic Priesthood

Now I have to preference this and say that I thought the talk came out good, but like my normal mode I was still editing it right before I got up s0 the hard copy differs from the soft copy. But I’ll post the what I have and you can be the judge of it. It would also seem that I get the opportunity to speak in sacrament a lot, well it’s more because we end up moving a lot and so as new move in’s we get to talk more than normal.

I was given the topic of the Restoration for my talk, and after spending a number of days and nights trying to decide how to approach such a vast topic, I decided I wanted to focus on the restoration of the Priesthood.

Some 74 years ago President David O. McKay, then serving as a counselor in the First Presidency of the Church, asked this question to a congregation gathered for general conference: “If at this moment each one [of you] were asked to state in one sentence … the most distinguishing feature of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, what would be your answer?”

“My answer,” he replied, “would be … divine authority by direct revelation.”

That divine authority is, of course, the holy priesthood.

President Gordon B. Hinckley added his testimony when he said: “[The priesthood] is a delegation of divine authority, different from all other powers and authorities on the face of the earth. … It is the only power on the earth that reaches beyond the veil of death. … Without it there could be a church in name only, [a church] lacking authority to administer in the things of God.” 2

President James E. Faust said to BYU students in a devotional: “[The priesthood] activates and governs all activities of the Church. Without priesthood keys and authority, there would be no church.” 3

Jeffrey R. Holland went on to say in a talk from May 2005

“these three brief citations (to which scores of others could be added) to stress emphatically just one point: that the priesthood of God, with its keys, its ordinances, its divine origin and ability to bind in heaven what is bound on earth, is as indispensable to the true Church of God as it is unique to it and that without it there would be no Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

I think it’s safe to say that the priesthood is a very important part of our church, so much so that like President Faust said, there would be no church.

So what happened, why the need for a restoration?

We know that the Savior when He formed His Church during His mortal ministry he told His senior Apostle Peter, “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.” 4 Six days later He took Peter, James, and John to a mountaintop where He was transfigured in glory before them. Then prophets from earlier dispensations, including at least Moses and Elijah, 5 appeared in glory also and conferred the various keys and powers that each held.

Unfortunately those Apostles were soon killed or otherwise taken from the earth, and their priesthood keys were taken with them, resulting in more than 1,400 years of priesthood privation and absence of divine authority among the children of men.

President Gordon B. Hinckley in a talk from May 2004 said this of the dark ages…

Ignorance and evil enveloped the world, resulting in what is known as the Dark Ages. Isaiah had predicted: “Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people” (Isa. 60:2). For centuries, disease was rampant and poverty reigned. The Black Death killed some 50 million people during the 14th century. Was not this a season of terrible peril? I wonder how humanity survived.

But somehow, in that long season of darkness, a candle was lighted. The age of Renaissance brought with it a flowering of learning, art, and science. There came a movement of bold and courageous men and women who looked heavenward in acknowledgment of God and His divine Son. We speak of it as the Reformation.

And then, after many generations had walked the earth—so many of them in conflict, hatred, darkness, and evil—there arrived the great, new day of the Restoration. This glorious gospel was ushered in with the appearance of the Father and the Son to the boy Joseph. The dawn of the dispensation of the fulness of times rose upon the world. All of the good, the beautiful, the divine of all previous dispensations was restored in this most remarkable season.

During May 1829 while translating the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith came across a reference to baptism. He discussed the matter with his scribe, Oliver Cowdery, and the two earnestly supplicated the Lord regarding the matter. Oliver wrote: “Our souls were drawn out in mighty prayer, to know how we might obtain the blessings of baptism and of the Holy Spirit. … We diligently sought for … the authority of the holy priesthood, and the power to administer in the same.”

In Joseph Smith history vol1 we can read his remarks on this occasion

68 We still continued the work of translation, when, in the ensuing month (May, 1829), we on a certain day went into the woods to pray and inquire of the Lord respecting ^abaptism for the ^bremission of sins, that we found mentioned in the translation of the plates. While we were thus employed, praying and calling upon the Lord, a messenger from heaven descended in a ^ccloud of light, and having laid his ^dhands upon us, he ^eordained us, saying:

69 Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the ^aPriesthood of ^bAaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of ^cbaptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth until the sons of ^dLevi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in ^erighteousness.

72 The ^amessenger who visited us on this occasion and conferred this Priesthood upon us, said that his name was John, the same that is called ^bJohn the Baptist in the New Testament, and that he acted under the direction of ^cPeter, James and John, who held the keys of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which Priesthood, he said, would in due time be conferred on us, and that I should be called the first ^dElder of the Church, and he (Oliver Cowdery) the second. It was on the fifteenth day of May, 1829, that we were ordained under the hand of this messenger, and baptized.

According to the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, some weeks after John the Baptist restored the Aaronic Priesthood, Peter, James, and John appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and conferred upon them the Melchizedek Priesthood.

And according to the Our Heritage book:

Later, Peter, James, and John appeared to Joseph and Oliver and conferred upon them the Melchizedek Priesthood. They also bestowed the keys of God’s kingdom upon them (see D&C 27:12–13; 128:20). The Melchizedek Priesthood is the highest authority given to men on earth. With this authority, the Prophet Joseph Smith was able to organize the Church of Jesus Christ in this dispensation and begin to establish the various priesthood quorums as they are known in the Church today.

Elder Holland goes on to say

Little wonder that the Prophet Joseph would include in those succinct and eloquent articles of our faith, “We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.” 8 Clearly, acting with divine authority requires more than mere social contract. It cannot be generated by theological training or a commission from the congregation. No, in the authorized work of God there has to be power greater than that already possessed by the people in the pews or in the streets or in the seminaries—a fact that many honest religious seekers had known and openly acknowledged for generations leading up to the Restoration.

While I was writing this, I got thinking about where we would be if these two priesthoods had not been restored. While obviously the church would not exist, what else might it be like. Luckily, I found a talk by Robert D. Hales, that answers that exact question.

Brothers and sisters, can you imagine how dark and empty mortality would be if there were no priesthood? If the power of the priesthood were not upon the earth, the adversary would have freedom to roam and reign without restraint. There would be no gift of the Holy Ghost to direct and enlighten us; no prophets to speak in the name of the Lord; no temples where we could make sacred, eternal covenants; no authority to bless or baptize, to heal or comfort. Without the power of the priesthood, “the whole earth would be utterly wasted” (see D&C 2:1–3; D&C 2:1–3). There would be no light, no hope—only darkness. What a dark world this would be without priesthood blessings for you and me.

A loving Father in Heaven has sent his sons and daughters here to mortality to gain experience and to be tested. He has provided the way back to him and has given us enough spiritual light to see our way. The priesthood of God gives light to his children in this dark and troubled world. Through priesthood power we can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost to lead us to truth, testimony, and revelation. This gift is available on an equal basis to men, women, and children. Through the blessings of the priesthood, we can be equipped with “the whole armour of God, that [we] may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (see Eph. 6:11–18). This protection is available to every one of us.

I would testify that without the restoration of the true church, my life would be wholly different. I am grateful that my mother had questions and sought out to find answers, and through that seeking that my parents met two young men and were converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am grateful that I am worthy enough to hold the Melchizedek priesthood, and that when called upon am able to use that authority for my family, or others who need it. When I am involved in exercising those keys, it strengthens my testimony in the gospel. I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God. That the priesthood is truly the foundation of our world and many others. I truly believe that like we are blessed to have been raised up during the fullness of times, and to quote President Gordon B. Hinckley;

I do not know what we did in the preexistence to merit the wonderful blessings we enjoy. We have come to earth in this great season in the long history of mankind. It is a marvelous age, the best of all. As we reflect on the plodding course of mankind, from the time of our first parents, we cannot help feeling grateful.

I am indeed grateful to have been selected to come at this time, when we have had the priesthood restored, that we’ve had the Gospel restored, that I am able to call upon the authority of God and bless my family.

I am excited for my oldest son to receive the Aaronic priesthood next year, and can not wait for him to be able to exercise the keys there of.

In closing, I just want to thank my Heavenly Father for loving us so that He gave His only begotten Son to allow us a path back to Him, and in His name Jesus Christ Amen.

As we learn in the book of Ether, Mahonri Moriancumer, more commonly known as ‘the brother of Jared, was instructed to seal up the record along with two stones to be used as interpreters in the future. As Brother Ash writes, “These interpreters eventually ended up in the hands of Mosiah the younger, who used them to translate the Jaredite record — the Book of Ether.”

The article goes on to discuss how towards the end of translating the Book of Mormon, Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris and David Whitmer asked Joseph Smith to ask the Lord if they could be the three witnesses that the Book of Mormon mentions. As is recorded in D&C 17:1, the Lord replied:

Behold, I say unto you, that you must rely upon my word, which if you do with full purpose of heart, you shall have a view of the plates, and also of the breastplate, the sword of Laban, the Urim and Thummim, which were given to the brother of Jared upon the mount, when he talked with the Lord face to face, and the miraculous directors which were given to Lehi while in the wilderness, on the borders of the Red Sea.

Brother Ash mentions how the terms Urim and Thummim do not appear in the Book of Mormon at all, and proceeds to describe the processes and procedures that Joseph Smith underwent in translating the Book of Mormon.

Each article in the series builds off the previous and leads the reader to ponder on what the upcoming post will entail. Today’s article concluded by asking, if the Three Witnesses were promised that they would see all the items mentioned in D&C 17:1, what did they end up seeing besides the Gold Plates?

Read the full article here.

Photo: Rosemary Masters

There was a discussion on an email sent around at a family dinner then other night that referenced a talk given by Gordon B. Hinckley[1. Gordon B. Hinkley], entitled “Living In The Fullness Of Time”[2. Ensign Nov, 2001 p.4].

The main reason I was interested is because in the email it was said that the “vision of Joel” had been fulfilled and since I get skeptical of emails that claim anything (especially LDS[3. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints] related emails), I had to verify it. Luckily the email, which I hadn’t seen and the person telling me about it couldn’t remember, did include the reference to the above mentioned talk.

The important bit on Joel(Joel 2:28–32) is this;

28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will ^apour out my ^bspirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall ^cprophesy, your ^dold men shall ^edream dreams, your young men shall see ^fvisions:

29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

30 And I will shew ^awonders in the ^bheavens and in the earth, blood, and ^cfire, and pillars of smoke.

31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into ^ablood, before the great and the terrible ^bday of the Lord come.

32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall ^acall on the name of ^bthe Lord shall be ^cdelivered: for in ^dmount ^eZion and in ^fJerusalem shall be ^gdeliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the ^hremnant whom the Lord shall ⁱcall.

[emphasis added]

It was the sun and moon bit that I didn’t recall, and got skeptical about. I mean that’s a pretty scary one right. But luckily with most things from the Lord, it’s followed closely with a light at the end of the tunnel, “that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered“. Awesome.

If you recall, September 2001[4. 9/11] was a tragic time, and this talk followed it during conference. The pillars of smoke, blood and fire – could be witnessed from around the world. In the big scheme of things, it doesn’t matter what caused it, or by whom, what matters is that the events occurred. Sure we’ve been warned for decades we were at the end days, and some are hard of hearing. But lately, with the current climate in politics and ethics, and such you’d think more people (members) might be listening a little closer.

Further in the talk he quotes verse from Paul (2 Tim. 3:1–5)

1 This know also, that in the ^a last days perilous ^btimes shall come.

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, ^acovetous, boasters, ^bproud, blasphemers, ^cdisobedient to parents, ^dunthankful, unholy,

3 Without ^anatural ^baffection, ^ctrucebreakers, ^dfalse accusers, ^eincontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

4 ^aTraitors, ^bheady, ^chighminded, lovers of ^dpleasures more than lovers of God;

5 Having a ^aform of godliness, but ^bdenying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Who can see where I’m going to go with this?

I’ll enumerate each verse here, with some opinions.

1. The last days will be perilous.

Look around us, while I don’t think it’s so bad you can’t step outside of your home, there are dangers out there more so then there use to be, even inside your home there are dangers, the TV, the internet, video games, etc. See, it doesn’t just have to be a physical danger, spiritual danger is everywhere. In that email, it also references a quote from Heber C. Kimball[5. Life of Heber C. Kimball by Orson F. Whitney p446 ];

Yes,’ said Brother Heber (by which name he was so familiarly known), ‘we think we are secure here in the chambers of the everlasting hills, where we can close those few doors of the canyons against mobs and persecutors, the wicked and the vile, who have always beset us with violence and robbery, but I want to say to you, my brethren, the time is coming when we will be mixed up in these now peaceful valleys to that extent that it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy to the people of God. Then, brethren, look out for the great sieve, for there will be a great sifting time, and many will fall; for I say unto you there is a test, a TEST, a TEST coming, and who will be able to stand?’

[emphasis added]

While not all of you are from Utah, I think the gist here is that as a representation, if it fails in Utah, it all fails. No I’m not some Utah supremacist, I just think it’s a metaphor for the righteous people.

2. Lovers of themselves, etc.

Covetous: While this isn’t a new sin, and you know it’s a problem because it traces it’s roots all the way back to Cain, and maybe it’s just me, but I see a lot of ‘keeping up with the Jones’ going on. I myself have fallen prey, and I do struggle with it, I’m a tech junkie and I want new techno gadgets. Bless my wife who puts up with it and counsels me on the difference between need/want. But I pose the question, is a part of our economic woes due to this? Are their societal problems because of this?

Boasters/Proud: Have you ever heard of the pride cycle? Any reader of the Book of Mormon should be pretty familar with this concept. It would seem, like the bubbles of the past, our current pride bubble should be bursting sooner then later. Do you feel a lacking of humility in the world? How often are people responsible for their own actions these days? I think pride also leads one away from prayer, which leads one away from the Lord. Could boasting be applied to economic, and/or societal troubles today?

Blasphemers: While I would align blasphemers closer to Sons of Perdition because someone who doesn’t believe in the religion they blaspheme against, as a son of perdition would have to have absolute knowledge of God to sin against him. But I would hazard a guess they are the rank and file members of church. Those who have/had a testimony of Christ, yet choose to engage in actions that are quite contrary to him. Take proposition 8 and members who oppose it.

Disobedience to Parents:  Anyone of the reasons in these versus could cause this one. But it doesn’t just apply to Earthly parents. We have Heavenly parents that we can just as easily be disobedient to.

Unthankful: As some one who likes to reference as much information as I can, I also like to take the time to apply the correct information to those references. It’s the same way in life, I try to always thank those who have done something for me, but sometimes you can see how pride or covetousness could keep that from happening. In our home, for family prayer we try to make it a rule to come up with 10 things we are thankful for from God, but again because of other faults it sometimes may not be as easy to come up with even 10.

Unholy: It seems that as the days go by, this nation along with others move more and more towards a secular society. I watched a movie once where it was realized that the world would be a better place if their was no God at all, things would be better – because without God, their is no evil. How truly wrong they are. There’s more and more sacrilege happening, more and more removal of God from our lives. More and more replacing what is good with what is evil.

3. Against those who are good

I think as witnessed by the protests over proposition 8, the adjectives in this verse were very apparent, and still are. There is such a boiling hatred for those who stand up for God’s ways. I tell you, I was a little shocked at the fierceness they have.

4. Lovers of pleasure

I think we’ve all seen about enough of this going on lately. While I’m not against capitalism in it’s natural form, it’s disconcerting to see such blatant love of money over love of neighbor. I consider it a faux replacement for the light of Christ. I’ve been through it, where there is a feeling of missing something, and trying to use everything under the sun to fill it, when in reality only God’s love can fill it. I see a lot of empty people out there filling that whole the same way. Using worldly possessions and acquisitions to fill it up. Traitors, well to get all political, I think most of our politicians are traitors by definition. They sell out their own nation for wealth and power, they give away sovernty for supposed protection and influence. If we are to believe Washington, then it should be the office that picks the man, not the man who picks the office.

5. Denying the powers of God

It’s an old argument, God is almighty, but His powers are limited. The LDS know this isn’t true. We know his power is everywhere, and we know this because we are given the authority to work with that power. This entire universe speaks of that power, yet there are those that would have us believe He is no where to be found. He wasn’t part of it. I’ve always been a big believer in God and Science being reconcilable. It’s not God that doesn’t know this, or lacks knowledge, it’s us – we don’t know.

Now since I’ve really brought down the mood, let me use the words of Gordon B. Hinckley to pick it back up. I know, it’s frightening what’s going on in the world today. It’s scary stuff. But in his love of man, he closes he talk in his awesome fashion, there is light at the end of tunnel, there is a way…

We live in a season when fierce men do terrible and despicable things. We live in a season of war. We live in a season of arrogance. We live in a season of wickedness, pornography, immorality. All of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah haunt our society. Our young people have never faced a greater challenge. We have never seen more clearly the lecherous face of evil.

And so, my brothers and sisters, we are met together in this great conference to fortify and strengthen one another, to help and lift one another, to give encouragement and build faith, to reflect on the wonderful things the Lord has made available to us, and to strengthen our resolve to oppose evil in whatever form it may take.

We have become as a great army. We are now a people of consequence. Our voice is heard when we speak up. We have demonstrated our strength in meeting adversity. Our strength is our faith in the Almighty. No cause under the heavens can stop the work of God. Adversity may raise its ugly head. The world may be troubled with wars and rumors of wars, but this cause will go forward.

You are familiar with these great words written by the Prophet Joseph: “No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny