Book Review: To Defend Them By Stratagem, Fortify Yourself with Book of Mormon War Tactics, by Michaela Stephens

While there are deep scholarly looks at the battles in the Book of Mormon (e.g.; Warfare in the Book of Mormon, by Hamblin and Ricks), this is perhaps the first book I’ve read that examines the war chapters in order to assist us in our daily battle against sin and temptation.

The book contains about 40 short chapters, each looking at events involved in the various wars, including preparation for war, strategies for winning war, and reasons each side had for war.  Chapter headings include: King Benjamin’s Nearly Invisible Battles, Clash of the Worldviews, King Noah’s Paranoid Panic Mode, The Back-story to Captain Moroni’s Meteoric Rise, Hard Things First, A Type of Christ – Frees the Prisoners of Gid, Coriantumr’s Blitzkrieg, and too many more to mention here. Continue reading →

In June 1978 excited Mormons told each other the great news: the priesthood could now be bestowed on all worthy men.

My husband remembers hearing the news from his mother, hearing it on the radio as well, then going to the MTC to teach and finding everyone absolutely excited by the news.

Part of the excitement was knowing that this was no mere policy change, but direction obtain by revelation. While those present in the room at the time of the revelation still lived, they were able to tell us of the manifestation of the spirit they had received. I recall hearing Elder David B. Haight describe the events of that day when he addressed a gathering in Annandale, VA.

Dennis Horne gives us Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s account of the June 1 meeting where the revelation was received in his book, I Know He Lives. From the excerpt posted at Kurt Manwaring’s site, Elder McConkie recorded the event as follows:

In recent years the counselors in the First Presidency and all members of the Council of the Twelve and Presidency have had an acute awareness of the desire of President Spencer W. Kimball to learn the mind and will of the Lord relative to conferring the Holy Priesthood upon worthy males of every race and color. In recent months one aspect or another of this matter has come up for informal discussion in various regular meetings of the First Presidency and the Twelve…. Continue reading →

As a blog written by volunteers, the content here at Millennial Star will always reflect the interests of the writers (including guest bloggers). But as the Church moves towards ministry (rather than teaching), I thought it would be interesting to know what you, as an M* reader, like to see.

If there is content you particularly don’t value, please leave a comment to explain. Conversely, if there is content you uniquely rely on M* to provide, please comment to explain why you particularly value M* for that content.

A reminder that comments should follow generally accepted standards for good taste and decorum, exhibit respect for others, and relate to the topic at hand.

It was a mid-summer day in Nauvoo, and Llewellyn Mantle was plowing a field on Joseph Smith’s farm.

There had been turmoil that summer of 1844, but the Smith farm was a place of relative calm, located as it is over a mile east of Nauvoo.

Cornelius Lott managed Joseph’s farm, and Llewellyn was likely one of many involved in working on the farm that summer day.

Llewellyn plowed until late in the evening, when the sun was low in the western sky.

Abruptly, the horses stopped. Nothing Llewellyn did or said had any effect. Joseph’s horses simply refused to move.

It was a puzzlement. Eventually Llewellyn gave up, left the horses standing in the field, and went home. Continue reading →