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God sends children to light the way

By Wayne Brickey

Wednesday, Apr. 21, 2010

Read all of Wayne's past columns here

From the beginning, fathers and mothers were to be the spiritual caregivers of their children. But

with passing centuries, parents became less and less interested in such things. By the time of

Noah, earthly homes had become toxic places for the offspring of God.

Baptism and the living water of the gospel fell out of fashion. So the Lord sent the waters of the

great flood. Family-based righteousness, patterned after our heavenly home, started afresh on

earth.

But history began to repeat itself. Though a few of Noah's descendants -- through his son Shem --

continued the heavenly pattern, most families in the growing population did not.

Arphaxad, son of Shem, taught his children. Then came Salah and his son Eber. Four generations

had passed since Noah. This covenant-keeping family was becoming a smaller and smaller

minority. In the fifth generation came righteous Peleg, whose name means "division." In his day

was a dividing of lands. But even greater were the divisions between cultures in matters of

morality and religion.

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The scriptures focus on this lineage, for it is the ancestry that Israel would someday claim. And yet,

as it descended further -- from Peleg to Reu, from Reu to Serug, and then to Nahor -- even this

stronghold of faith dwindled in strength, just as the families around them had.

The descendants of Noah were declining after the flood as the descendants of Adam had before

the flood. The world was in grave trouble. Homes had become spiritual deserts.

Terah, son of Nahor, grew up in such a desert, unschooled in the things of God. In fact, according

to Jewish tradition, Terah became a merchant of pagan idols. So we might expect Terah's son, in

turn, to lack understanding of the prophets who had founded this lineage. By all odds, Terah's son

would never taste the faith of "the fathers."

Was there to be a flood every so often, starting mankind over again and again?

No. God had prepared another way.

First, there was a spring of truth, as it were, hidden somewhere in the City of Ur where Terah the

idol merchant lived. That spring was a written record, the writings of prophets, distant ancestors

who had left behind a knowledge of the things of God.

Second, there would be a thirst for that water, in the hearts of not one but two souls brave

enough to kneel and drink. These great-great-great-grandchildren of the ancients -- Abram, son of

Terah, and a girl named Sarai -- though raised in a dark and faithless world, were attracted to the

holy writings, and to each other.

Third, God would in due time send out the children of that couple to bless other people's children.

Truth would be embedded in their culture. They would be endowed with power. Wherever

parental batteries weakened and died in the world, cousins from this redemptive family would

provide backup.

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Though nations on either side of the veil might resemble each other in no other way, they will

have this in common: The children of that couple will eventually enter their borders and approach

their every doorway. They will offer to sit with every soul, no matter how disoriented, disbelieving

and headstrong that soul may be, and offer the living waters.

President Spencer W. Kimball said, "When a wrong wants righting, or a truth wants preaching, ...

God sends a baby into the world to do it."

God did that 4,000 years ago in the City of Ur. On a grand scale, he is doing so today.

(References: Doctrine and Covenants 138:41; Genesis 11:10-31; Abraham 1:31; Faith Precedes the

Miracle, 323)

E-mail: wbrickey@desnews.com

Wayne E. Brickey is a retired Church Educational System teacher and curriculum writer. Wayne's

column, "Ancient Testaments," appears Wednesdays on MormonTimes.com.