2 Nephi 18

Because a lot of it gets garbled in my memory.

I do remember, of course, one incident in this particular prophetic cycle.

God told me to go and marry a prophetess, despite the conflict of interest that might pose. I did and within the year she had a son, which God told me to name Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Pretty memorable, those times, though not so much the name, which was another of these symbolic things. (I never quite knew why God kept having us all make babies mostly so they could be named in symbolic ways. Kind of cheapens my idea of family.)

Before my new son could talk, God said, the king of Assyria would capture Ahaz’s old foes. God was going to get behind Assyria, just to teach a lesson to Israel. God glorifying a gentile king just to spite his own alleged favorites. Now that’s a God with attitude.

Assyria, he said, would flood over our land like a river out of control. And he wanted that. To make a long story short, though, God wanted all his people to get out of the politics of compromise and alliances and let him be their king. At least in their hearts. A lot of the other they couldn’t control. Fear God, not Assyria or any other kingdom. Keep Yahweh in the tower of your minds. And he will turn out to be a refuge in your thinking.

I finally came to grips with the fact that

God had given me children, whom I loved, to function as signs to the people. How many of them got it, I have no idea.

The people are so deluded they might hold séances to clear this stuff up. Shouldn’t they be asking God? Why ask ghosts? Anyone who dies deserves to sit in the dark: the dark is already sitting in them. Don’t ask them your questions.

Trust me, when Israel starves, they’ll start to consult their God again. They always do. And by the way, Israel could do worse in this instance.