Lehi

                I had a difficult time selecting a VIP for this week from what is happening in the news, so I decided to go back in history to 600 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Lehi lived in Jerusalem with his wife, Sariah, and four sons and some daughters. We know that the sons were Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi, but we do not know the names of any of the daughters.

                Lehi was a wealthy business man and did some traveling with his work. He had heard prophets call the people to repentance and warn them about being destroyed if they did not change. He was praying as he traveled one day and received a vision. He returned to his home and cast himself on his bed because he was overcome by what he had seen.

                While Lehi was lying on his bed, he received another vision in which he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He saw Christ descending to the earth and twelve other men following Him. They gave Lehi a book, which he read and was filled with the Spirit. The Lord showed him many wonderful things concerning the destruction of Jerusalem.

                After the vision was over, Lehi went out among the people and began to prophesy and declare the things he had seen and heard. The Jews did not like what Lehi was saying and began to mock him because he had testified of their wickedness. He tried to tell them of the things he had read in the book about the coming of the Messiah and the redemption of the world.

                The Jews became angry with Lehi and sought his life, just as they had cast out, stoned and slain other prophets. Lehi escaped from the Jews and went home. There he had a dream in which the Lord told him to take his family and depart into the wilderness. Lehi was obedient and left Jerusalem, along with his home, inheritance, gold, silver and precious things.

                Lehi ad Sariah had two more sons in the wilderness, Jacob and Joseph. Another family eventually joined Lehi’s family in the wilderness, and the two families made their way to the coast. There they built a ship and sailed to the Americas. The descendants of the two families became the Nephites and the Lamanites and are the principle ancestors of the Native Americans. Their story is told in the Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ. I encourage you to read the Book of Mormon because it is the word of God and will bring you closer to God than any other book (Joseph Smith). I know for myself that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.