600 B.
C.
An epic story tells of an ancient American prophet named Nephi.
Having fled persecution in Jerusalem, he and his family set out on a journey toward the sea.
Before he sailed to the New World, Nephi had to risk his life returning to Jerusalem to procure the writings of Jewish prophets.
This record, engraved on brass plates, after the custom of the time, included a history of the kings through the reign of Zedekiah.
At a crucial point of his mission, when an evil man threatened his life, Nephi wondered why obtaining this record seemed a matter of life and death.
He then remembered that the Lord had told him that if he and his people would obey God's commandments, they would prosper in a strange new land, far from Jerusalem.
He realized that they could not keep those commandments when they were so far away from the land of their origin, if they had no record of those commandments.
When Nephi returned with the records, he rejoiced because he could preserve the commandments of the Lord unto his children.
It was like having letters from home-not from Jerusalem, but from a loving Father, in their heavenly home.
In those sacred historical records, the prophets wrote the commandments of God.
Nephi's children needed not lose their way in their long and difficult earthly sojourn, so far from their Heavenly Father, who sent them to earth so they could grow in character and faith.
So it is with all who read the words of God.
Just as letters from home bring us memories of love and reminders to choose what is right, the commandments of God are like signs along the road of life-they keep us out of the danger zones.
In these records were found the writings of Jewish prophets such as Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and numerous others.
Many of these prophets referred to and bore witness of the epic story of the creation of the world, and also of Adam and Eve, "who were our first parents.
" (1 Nephi 5:11) Mulek, who was the one surviving son of King Zedekiah, fled to the American continents about the same time as Nephi and his people.
The difference was that Mulek brought no record of God's commandments with him.
130 B.
C.
When the descendants of Mulek were discovered in America by Nephi's people 470 years later, their language had become corrupted, because they had brought no records with them, and they "denied the being of their Creator.
" (Omni 1:17) Today The epic stories of our past are no longer taught in the schools.
Holy scriptures are banned from the schools, even for literary study, or as a source of historical records.
For decades school teachers have "denied the being of their Creator.
" Since the Creator is the Giver of the Ten Commandments by which our civilization survives, our rising generation is left without knowledge of those Commandments which bring them safety and peace.
They have no letters from home to guide them through this mortal maze.
Young adults are losing their way in these turbulent times.
What is to be done? We can still have the scriptures in our homes.
Parents can teach the great epic stories in the home, restoring their children to their sacred roots and anchoring them in the safe harbor of God's commandments.