New Book Release The Crossing

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      The Holy Bible includes the true account of the emancipation of Israel from bondage in Egypt under the leadership of a prophet of God. That sacred history traces the miracle-rich journey of refugees, freed from the rigors of slavery by God and led to a promised land. Their course through the wilderness was long and very difficult. It was longer than it needed to be, extended to forty years because of faithlessness and rebellion among them. What evidence did they have of God’s presence and superintendence? The narrative in Exodus and Numbers is replete with true testimony demonstrating God’s power and willingness to enable Israel in its progress through a multitude of trials and afflictions. Initially, the heaven-sent plagues opened the gates of liberty for them. Thereafter, a pillar of a cloud, a pillar of fire, a miraculous passage through the Red Sea, destruction of Pharaoh’s pursuing army, provision of manna and water, wonders at Sinai, divine revelations through Moses, the prophet, vanquishment of Korah’s rebellion, healings by a brass serpent on a staff, victories over Amalek, Midian, Og and Sihon, and many other proofs were given to them. This testimony continues to inspire faithful readers of the Torah today. All the incidents described in those sacred pages actually occurred. They are not a myth. The essential lesson of that history is this – inasmuch as the children of God keep His commandments and trust in His love, He will bless them, protect them, provide for them, and lead them to their highest potential, even the promised lands of their ultimate possibilities. In this regard, God revealed the following truth about Himself to Moses: “For behold, this is my work and my glory – to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39)

      The Crossing: An Epic Testimony of Jesus Christ is based upon another, yet earlier, history of emancipation, when God, the premortal Jesus Christ, led a united group of refugees to a promised land. That account is found among a collection of ancient texts assembled in The Book of Mormon, in a segment entitled The Book of Ether. In Ether, we read the abbreviated true story of the Jaredites, a community of Christians, who lived during the tyranny of Nimrod, a great-grandson of Noah. They witnessed the destruction of the Tower of Babel, the prophesied confusion of tongues, and the scattering of Nimrod’s nation, as described in Genesis 11. Because of their prayerful faith in Christ, the Jaredites were spared the loss of their sacred Adamic language and were promised a new, choice land of promise.

      Led by the Prophet Moriancumer and his brother Jared, they followed a cloudy pillar enveloping the Lord, Jesus Christ. They journeyed for many years over a variety of trying terrains toward the ancient land of Eden, which God called the choicest of lands. They encountered many difficulties along the way, but Christ was their guide and protector. There were inland seas, which were receding remnants of Noah’s flood. However, the Lord taught the Jaredites those principles of woodworking by which they were able to build barges to carry their large company across the impeding waters. At one point in their travels, a mountain range blocked their passage eastward. Here, God empowered their prophet through faith to move a mountain, creating a passage for their progress. Perhaps this event was in the mind of Christ during His mortal ministry, when he taught: “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Matthew 17:20) This is the crucial message of The Crossing: An Epic Testimony of Jesus Christ. He makes all things possible for us. Every obstacle in the way of our worthy objectives can be removed through our faith in Jesus Christ.

      The historian Josephus, drawing from more elaborate sources no longer accessible to us, wrote of the separate multitudes departing from ruined Babel: “After this, they were dispersed abroad, on account of their languages, and went out by colonies everywhere; and each colony took possession of that land which they light upon, and unto which God led them … There were some also who passed over the sea in ships…” (Antiquities of the Jews, 5:1). The opening canto of The Crossing: An Epic Testimony of Jesus Christ reveals a desolate group of people, who have survived the overthrow of the Tower of Babel. Powerful winds have destroyed their homes. How will they live? Where should they go? What should they do? Their perplexity is paralyzing. Jared and his brother, Moriancumer, a prophet of God, are pillars of strength and true leaders among these confused families and friends. Prayers offered in faith in the name of the Son of God are efficacious to bring the Lord’s blessings. They are promised a choice new land, far from the ruins of Babel and the impositions of wicked tyranny. The Lord leads them from the midst of a cloudy pillar and by regular revelations through their prophet, Moriancumer. Their faith in Christ and obedience to His word unites them and enables them to surmount every hindrance they encounter over a period of many years. They travel thousands of miles over land and sea, until they are brought safely to the land of ancient Eden.

      The poem reflects upon the journey of the Jaredites from Babel “through challenging stretches of travel and trial,” as the Lord refined them in faith by His “threshes of sacred adversity.” Though more than four thousand years separate them from our own teartimes and fears, it is a central reality of their history that they were adherents of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They believed in the one source of salvation of whom their ancestors taught from the days of the first generations. The poem cites the inspiring examples of Adam, Eve, Abel, Enos, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah, as prominent figures of early Christian discipleship. Their hope in Christ made all things possible for them, as it will for us in our personal trials. Their experience provides encouragement for us, as we confront difficulties in our mortal journey to eternal life.

      The proposition that Jesus Christ was the focus of worship and source of power for the Jaredites and many of their predecessors long before His mortal nativity may seem preposterous to some. Yet, so it was. Adam and Eve worshiped our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ and offered sacrifices in anticipation of His coming in the meridian of time. They rejoiced in their knowledge of the Savior’s loving atonement, as taught to them by holy angels. Christ was the Lamb, chosen before the foundation of the world, as acknowledged in the scriptures. He was the Ransom prepared in premortality for us before the earth was created. The Crossing : An Epic Testimony of Jesus Christ addresses these truths. It teaches of our identity as children of God in a planned process of tutelage and progress in a setting of opposition. It enlarges upon the purpose of our creation with physical bodies. It teaches the great plan of salvation made viable by the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. It teaches of our perfectibility and ultimate empowerment through the holy atonement of Christ.

     The Crossing: An Epic Testimony of Jesus Christ is an epic poem. It is historical fiction in verse. Though it technically falls within the category of historical fiction, it is important to realize that there really were Jaredites; they actually came forth from the Tower of Babel led by the Lord Jesus Christ; Mount Zerin and Mount Shelem are real mountains; there really were shining stones touched by the finger of Christ to give light; the Jaredites actually built eight submersible ships for their voyage to ancient Eden; and they actually traveled for 344 days in their journey across the ocean, protected and empowered by the Lord. The idea that Noah had glowstones to light the ark is pure supposition. That which the poem states concerning our premortality, about Adam and Eve, about Cain and Abel, about Enos, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah, and about Zion is all very true. The words spoken by Moriancumer and Jesus Christ upon Mount Shelem are true to the actual scriptural history. However, the author created other conversations, speeches, and words of prayer interspersed throughout the work. Jared and Moriancumer were real people, but the name Orah came from the author’s imagination. The relevant text from Ether is included in full in the Appendix at the end of the poem, and it contains the actual history, as far as it is known.

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