July 4, 2026

If God covenanted with Abraham that his descendants would have posterity, priesthood, and the promised land, why did Isaac and Jacob have to re-enter that same covenant? This is a prime example that 1) we must all, individually, enter into sacred covenants with the Lord, 2) each of us have agency and are blessed or cursed by our own decisions, we can choose to enter and keep our covenants or choose the opposite, 3) the covenants of our fathers do not save us and 4) Jehovah's covenant relationship is available to all of God's children (Matthew 3:9).

When I used to read these accounts, part of me wondered why an everlasting covenant had to be renewed. Didn't that covenant already exist? Wouldn't it bless Ishmael as much as Isaac since they were both the children of Abraham? The answer was so simple. It's renewed frequently because it's individual and we each must enter at the gate (John 10:9), and we renew our individually covenants frequently so we can continually remember Christ. "Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore" (Moses 5:8).

And finally, why Isaac instead of Ishmael? Does God really have a chosen people? The answer is yes. The better question is how does God decide who to choose? God chooses those who choose Him. His teachings and covenants are available to all. He does not hate, for example, the Canaanites and favor the Israelites arbitrarily, thus commanding the children of Israel to eradicate His lesser favored children. No. Those who use their God-given agency to give their agency back to God, regardless of nationality, will always be able to be raised up of stone unto Abraham (Matthew 3:9).

Jeroboam, after becoming King of Israel, the northern kingdom of the tribes, was scared he would lose his people if they went to the temple to offer sacrifice because he predicted that "then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah" (1 Kings 12: 26-28).

This is one of many examples throughout history where political leaders corrupt the gospel for gain. Samuel warned against kings, for Israel should have only one king, The King of Kings. I am grateful to live in a country prepared by God to bring forth the fullness of the gospel in this last dispensation. I am grateful for the freedoms we are blessed with. I am grateful for the inspired men and women that sacrificed everything to forward this work - those who fought in the revolution and those who fought, in a different way but with sacrifice similar, for the restoration.

Depravity of the antediluvian people included:

Abortion

Forced sterilization

Sex slavery

Voluntary prostitution

Fornication

Child sacrifice -murder

Incest

Theft

Murder

Cannibalism

Homosexuality

Rape

Mixing species (mule) - monsters? (Apocryphal) -maybe bestiality

Ultimately, vast covenant breaking of the sons of Seth in rebellion against God's plan.

The Bible says very little about Enoch. We know his lineage, how long he lived, that he prophesied about those who kept not their first estate, and the he was translated. Joseph Smith elaborated on Enoch at a time when nothing more was know. Seemed like a safe bet since nothing could refute his new canon. Until ... No less than 5 additional Enochian texts were discovered AFTER Joseph's version. And guess what... Joseph, the unlearned farmer, claiming to know answers before scholars even knew the question, was right.

Satan tried very hard, and succeeded, at removing clear references to the Savior and himself from the history of the creation. Because Joseph Smith's revelation restoring much of these plain and precious truths is highly corroborated by additional, apocryphal texts discovered after his publishings - of which, stories detailing Enoch and other relevant items concerning Adam's family were not previously circulated - there can only be two possible conclusions. Atheism, or at the very least adiabolism, is completely out of the picture. Either Joseph Smith was called by God to restore the fullness of the gospel, or Joseph was an instrument in the hands of Satan and Satan's crafty plan was to increase the emphasis of the Savior and even shed light on his own existence and role in the antediluvian downfall. Judge for yourselves the fruit, but by logic alone Satan would not have wanted this, and no man, especially a simple, uneducated farm boy, could have guessed so accurately. Add this to the even greater personal proof that the Spirit has planted in my own heart, and I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and the gospel of Christ is the truth and purpose.