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Jacob and Sherem

We live in rough and tumble times when men stumble about looking for meaning in life. Where is peace? Who knows joy?

It was a moment so rare and powerful that it was engraven on gold for all to remember. There came a man among the Nephites named Sherem who was anti-Christ. He went about preaching that there should be no Christ. He was very successful due in part to the fact that he was gifted in the art of persuasive speaking. He knew how to flatter people; break down their defenses, and sell them on his insidious ideas

Flushed with success, Sherem arrogantly sought an audience with Jacob the presiding high Priest. In time Sherem did stand before Jacob, “I have heard and also know that thou goest about much preaching that which ye call the gospel, or the doctrine of Christ, and ye have led away much of this people that they pervert the right way of God and keep not the law of Moses which is the right way; and convert the law of Moses into the worship of a being which ye say shall come many hundred years hence. And now behold, I, Sherem, declare unto you that this is blasphemy.”

Sherem is a study in contradictions. He styles himself a religious man and advocates adherence to the Jehovah’s law while denying Jehovah. He teaches that men should live by the rules of the law of Moses while denying the very being to whom the law points. And to this cause Sherem has been very zealous.

The Holy Spirit filled Jacob and where Sherem had confounded and confused so many in their faith now Jacob turned it on him. “Believest thou the scriptures?” Jacob asked, “and he said Yea…Then ye do not understand;” came Jacob’s rebuke, “for they truly testify of Christ. ”

Jacob went on to share his witness of Jesus. By the scriptures, and the words of the prophets, and lastly by the power of the Holy Ghost “I know!” Jacob said.

Sherem was at a loss. He could not shake Jacob or find a chink in his armor of faith. In desperation, he made a terrible mistake. “Show me a sign,” He demanded.

Such a request denies all the fundamentals of faith. Jacob refused, but added “If God shall smite thee let that be a sign unto thee.”

Sherem was struck and “fell to the earth” (Jacob 7:15). For days he suffered in anguish and awful torment, sinking lower and lower. As death approached, he called for the people and “denied the things which he had taught them, and confessed the Christ.” It was a moment of high drama. In the very act of confessing his lies, his strength fails, and he dies. The people were so astonished that they “fell to the earth,” and were filled with the power of God.

Sherem had asked for a sign and by that request he now was dead and the testimony of Christ once more established in the hearts of the people. Jacob closed this account with these telling words, “And it came to pass that peace and the love of God was restored again among the people.”

Peace is the purpose of life. And the love of God, both him for us and us for him, is the greatest of all things to obtain in this life. Therefore, unequivocably, anything or anyone that destroys or diminishes the love of God in our hearts is anti-Christ. Do not allow it!