In Jacob 7 we read of an antichrist named Sherem. I've read this story many times. A man comes to the prophet and tries to claim that the law of Moses is the truth and that there should be no Christ. Jacob asks if he has read the scriptures and Sherem says he has. The contend for a while and in the end Sherem asks for a sign to be given.
I often have wondered about a time when I was a teen and we went to the Manti Pageant. Outside of the Temple gates were a bunch of protesters. I found this very interesting and intriguing that people my age would go to someones place of worship to contend with them. Now I realize that while we do not advocate going to someones place of worship to preach the gospel we do send young men and women out to teach others. Anyway, there was a man there that was pretty in your face and the thing I remember most was he was talking about a test. He wouldn't flat out tell everyone what the test was but wanted to get you one on one and have you promise to do the test. I can't help but wonder if he, like Sherem, knew the scriptures were true but still chose to go out of his way to temp the Lord.
Continuing in the story in Jacob 7 I found it very interesting that the people that were all around Sherem when he died also fell to the earth. I didn't recall this from the other times I've read the scriptures. The first time I remember a whole multitude falling to the earth was in Alma. It wasn't until after this that the people began to search the scriptures. It's such an easy thing to do and yet I don't think many people have daily scripture study. Maybe the people were casually reading the scriptures, maybe they were only reading them at church. I know I've had many occasions that I fell into this camp.
I've felt very stagnant in my relationship with Heavenly Father for the last few years. I go to church, I do my calling but at home I wasn't reading my scriptures and I wasn't praying. Over the last year I have been longing to regain some spirituality that I had felt I had lost. I think having a new baby probably does that to you. I felt that if I would pray every day then that might help me feel closer. My brother gave me some advice after telling me some of his experiences over the last year or so. He said if someone was really studying the scriptures then the other parts of the gospel would also come. If you are studying your scriptures you are also probably praying about what you've read. If you're studying your scriptures you are probably going to church and participating in the discussions. You're probably doing your Ministering and other callings.
I've been reading my scriptures almost every day ever since. While I can't say that I've felt a huge difference, I can say that do look forward to the time I have in the scriptures. I also feel like I've read things and have gotten insights for things that I need. The other interesting part of it is I really have felt that Elder's Quorum has gotten immensely better. Almost every week I've left feeling that the lesson was particularly directed to me and how I need to improve my life.
Sorry for a longer post. I've been feeling the need to testify of the need to read the scriptures on a more consistent basis. I'm not perfect, far from it, but I do feel that daily reading from the Book of Mormon and I also try to read a conference talk every morning too has helped my life be better. I feel like I am closer now then I was three months ago.
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