Download Moses 4

Moses 4
There is a good argument that Moses 4:1-4 was
taken out of the Genesis account by evil men.
Moses 4:1-2
Satan and His Opposition to
Heavenly Father’s Plan
Elder Neal A. Maxwell said that it is “extremely
important to get straight what happened in that premortal council. It was not an unstructured meeting,
nor was it a discussion between plans, nor an ideaproducing session, as to how to formulate the plan
for salvation and carry it out. Our Father’s plan was
known, and the actual question put was whom the
Father should send to carry out the plan” (Deposition
of a Disciple (1976), 11).
Imagine when we were in the pre-mortal existence learning
of the plan of redemption and of the essential role of
Christ’s Atonement. “I think [the Devil] not only
‘guaranteed’ salvation without effort for everybody but
also probably went around saying something like this:
‘Now look, if you allow yourselves to be born into this world
subject to the fall of Adam, subject to sin and to death,
and if Jesus doesn’t come through, then you have lost your
salvation’” (Matthews, A Bible! A Bible! 288).
One can imagine Satan saying, “I know my plan doesn’t
offer you much, but at least it is a sure thing.
When God brought before us His plan of
salvation, Jesus was there, volunteering
meekly and humbly, “Here am I, send me”
(Abraham 3:27), saying, “Father thy will be
done, and the glory be thine forever”
(Moses 4:2). The Father, ever anxious that all
be free to choose, even gave Lucifer
opportunity to campaign (Neal A. Maxwell,
Ensign, November 1987, 32).
Moses 4:1
A bad case of “I Itis”
The Father, ever anxious that all be free to choose, gave
Lucifer opportunity to campaign. “Behold, her am I, send
me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that
one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it, wherefore
give me thine honor.” Note the ego dripping from only
three lines: two me’s and four I’s. Those vertical pronouns
are usually accompanied by unbending knees (Neal A.
Maxwell, Ensign, November 1987, 32).
Moses 4:2
“Thy will be done”
A spiritually mature person realizes that it is no
longer about his/her and their will.
Are you spiritually mature?
Moses 4:3
“Lucifer”
Sought to destroy the agency of man!
Lucifer = Shining one or light bearer, Son of the
Morning (Isaiah 14:12).
Moses 4:4
“Satan’s Desires”
President Brigham Young said:
“Every person who desires and strives to be a Saint is
closely watched by fallen spirits that came here when
Lucifer fell, and by the spirits of wicked persons who have
been here in tabernacles and departed from them…
Those spirits are never idle; they are watching every
person who wishes to do right, and are continually
prompting them to do wrong” (Journal of Discourses,
7:239).
Revelation 12:17
The dragon vs. the Woman!
And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to
make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the
commandments of God, and have the testimony of
Jesus Christ.
Moses 4:4
Satan’s Mission Statement!
Ironic that those who embraced Satan’s
cause “wherein none were to be lost,”
become the only ones who are
everlastingly lost (Doctrine and Covenants
76:37-39).
Moses 4:5
This is where Genesis 3 begins
Evil always seeks company, for it
cannot be by itself alone. Satan
detests solitude, for solitude turns him in
upon himself, reminding him of what
glories might have been (Neal A.
Maxwell, Of One Heart, 50).
And he sought to beguile Eve (Moses 4:6).
Eve in Hebrew means “living.”
Lucifer seeks to beguile all “living.”
Moses 4:6
“for he knew not the mind of
God, wherefore he sought to
destroy the world”
Lucifer thought that the fall of Adam would lead to
the eventual captivity of all of God’s children. He
had no faith in the atonement and no light (2 Nephi
9:9).
Lucifer actually contributed to the plan!
He wanted glory, not growth; control, not salvation. His
ascendancy meant more to him than our agency. The devil
is a despot (Neal A. Maxwell, Deposition of a Disciple, 12).
Being a poor loser, Lucifer transferred his battle to this world
where he displays his “wild desire to manage everything.”
The casualty rate in the pre-mortal world was 33 percent,
and Satan’s harvest will be high here in the second estate.
Thus what we see about us is a protracted psychodrama
reenacting his power play of the pre-mortal world. He
wanted status without service, power without perfection,
and esteem not earned. Sodom was one of Satan’s “finest”
hours! (Neal A. Maxwell, Deposition of a Disciple, 12).
Moses 4:12
Why did Adam and Eve
Partake of the Fruit?
Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught:
“It was Eve who first transgressed the limits of
Eden in order to initiate the conditions of
mortality. Her act, whatever its nature, was
formally a transgression but eternally a glorious
necessity to open the doorway toward eternal
life. Adam showed his wisdom by doing the
same. And thus Eve and ‘Adam fell that men
might be’ (2 Nephi 2:25).
“Some Christians condemn Ever for her act, concluding
that she and her daughters are somehow flawed by it.
Not the Latter-day Saints! Informed by revelation, we
celebrate Eve’s act and honor her wisdom and courage
in the great episode, called the Fall….
Brigham Young declared, ‘We should never blame
Mother Eve, not the least’ (Journal of Discourses, 13:145).
Elder Joseph Fielding Smith said:
‘I never speak of the part Eve took in this fall as sin, nor do
I accuse Adam of a sin…This was transgression of the law,
but not a sin…for it was something that Adam and Eve
had to do!” (Doctrines of Salvation, 1:114-15)”
(Conference Report, Oct. 1993, 98).
Moses 4:12
The Difference between Transgression
and Sin?
Elder Dallin H. Oaks said that the “contrast between a sin
and a transgression reminds us of the careful wording in
the second article of faith: ‘We believe that men will be
punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s
transgression’ (italics added). It also echoes a familiar
distinction in the law. Some acts, like murder, are crimes
because they are inherently wrong. Other acts, like
operating without a license, are crimes only because they
are legally prohibited. Under these distinction, the act
that produced the Fall was not a sin --- inherently wrong --but a transgression --- wrong because it was formally
prohibited. These words are not always used to denote
something different, but this distinction seems meaningful
in the circumstances of the Fall” (Conference Report,
Oct., 1993, 98).
Another meaning of the word transgress is “to go beyond
established limits or conditions.” Adam and Eve went
beyond the limits that would have kept them in the
Garden of Eden forever, and in so doing helped provide
the opportunity of mortality for all of us.
Moses 4:13
The eyes of them both were opened, and
they knew that they had been naked.
They were innocent and trusting, not knowing good from
evil.
And they sewed fig-leaves together and made
themselves aprons.
The fig is a symbol of fertility.
This might have been there way of announcing that they
now had the power to create.
Moses 4:14
Adam and Eve Tried to Hide from God:
Once they gained knowledge of good and evil,
they became conscious of their disobedience
and unworthiness before God. It may be said
that they became aware and ashamed of their
spiritual “nakedness.”
As fallen beings, they had to face God with a
sense of their own guilt (Alma 39:8, 2 Nephi 9:14).
Moses 4:15-19
God asked Adam and Eve if they had eaten the
Fruit.
Bruce R. McConkie taught,
“personal accountability for all of one’s acts
underlies the whole gospel plan and is the
natural outgrowth of the law of free agency”
(Mormon Doctrine, 15).
Moses 4:19-20
The Serpent Beguiled Me
Serpent
=
cunning, sly, subtle,
deceitful, craftiness
The Curse
=
Satan would never have
the privilege of earth life like
cattle and beast
Moses 4:21
He (Christ) shall bruise (crush) thy head, and thou
shalt bruise thy heel.
Perhaps Satan’s greatest moment of glory was the
crucifixion of Christ.
Moses 4:22
“I will Greatly Multiply thy Sorrow”
The Hebrew word for “multiply” is rabah (rawbah), meaning to repeat over and over. It does
not suggest greater sorrow, but rather repeated
sorrow. The Hebrew word for “sorrow” in the
Genesis account (Genesis 3:16) is from (aw-tsab),
which means “labor” or “pain.” While these
words suggest that toil and suffering would be a
part of Eve’s life, Eve did not view the conditions
that came upon her through the Fall to be a
curse.
Genesis 3:20
When were Adam and Eve sealed?
Before the fall, Adam and Eve were sealed (Mormon Doctrine, 242).
“Our first parents were pure and noble, and when we pass behind the
veil we shall perhaps learn something of their high estate” (Jesus the
Christ, 30).
Without question she was like unto her mighty husband, Adam, in
intelligence and in devotion to righteousness, during both her first and
second estates of existence.
Before the fall Eve was sealed to Adam in the new and everlasting
covenant of marriage, a ceremony performed by the Lord before
death entered the world and therefore one destined to last forever
(Moses 3:20-25).
Indeed, Eve is a joint-participant with Adam in all his ministry, and will
inherit jointly with him all the blessings appertaining to his high state of
exaltation” (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 242).