The more careful you study the translation and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon,

the more you are amazed at the gift and power of God that was given to Joseph Smith and

Oliver Cowdery as they translated the record. These are two very young men, Joseph is 23 and Oliver is

22 years old. Remember the Lord said, the weak things of the world shall come forth and break down

the mighty and strong ones, that the fullness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the

simple unto the ends of the world and before kings and rulers. These are certainly the weak in the

simple, but that's who the Lord uses to do His great work. Welcome to Meridian Magazine's Come

Follow Me Podcast. We are Scott and Maureen Proctor and this week we're studying Doctrine

and Covenants, Sections 12 and 13 and Joseph Smith History, Chapter 1, verses 66 through 75,

with a lesson entitled, Upon You, My Fellow Servants. In this week's materials we see the beginnings

of the times of restitution of all things which God had spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets

since the world began and of course that's in Acts 321. I love the natural unfolding of the

restoration. Much of what happens is a result of questions that came to the minds of Joseph and

Oliver in the course of the translation of the record. Now you have to understand that when Oliver

became described for the prophet Joseph, they did not begin in 1st Nephi, they began with Mosaic,

Chapter 1, right as we are introduced to King Benjamin's seminal sermon on becoming sons and

daughters of Christ. These would be the first words Oliver Caldery would hear from the ancient record.

By 38 days into the translation, Joseph and Oliver had come to the record on the Savior's

visit to the Nephites in 3rd Nephi. That's right and one of the first teachings the Savior

plainly gave to the Nephites is an explanation of the mode and manner of baptism. Now you have to

picture that natural process of thinking as Joseph and Oliver are translating these words

and want went through their young minds. And the Lord said unto Nephi, I give unto you power

...