[This is an excerpt from chapter 34, “The Sealing Power” (pp. 133–36), in Avraham Gileadi’s Studies in the Book of Mormon (Hebron Books, 2005). It is posted on this site by permission (10/12/06) of Bro. Gileadi, who holds the copyright.]
In the person of Nephi the son of Helaman we have a singular account in the scriptures of how a person attains the “sealing power,” also called the “spirit and power of Elijah” and the “fulness of the Priesthood” (TPJS, 335–40). Other accounts exist in the scriptures of individuals who attained this power, such as Enoch, Moses, Elijah, John the Revelator, and the Three Nephites; but none is so explicit as to their background. How did they get to the point where the Lord endowed them with this extraordinary power? What were the struggles they endured, the tests of their faith they had to pass, that qualified them for this highest of all callings?
[p. 133]
***
Nephi the son of Helaman … after many years of temporal and spiritual service among both Nephites and Lamanites, stood up boldly against the conspiratorial Gadianton band by confronting them with their crimes (Helaman 7:12–29; 8:10–28; 9:21–36). After becoming severely discouraged, “being much cast down” because of their wickedness, the Lord said to him [quotes Helaman 10:3–7].
From then on, Nephi had the power of translated beings, including teleportation, as did Elijah (see 1 Kings 18:12). When they tried to capture him, “the power of God was with him, and they could not take him to cast him into prison, for he was taken by the Spirit and conveyed away out of the midst of them” (Helaman 10:16). Like Elijah, he called down a famine upon the land until the people had repented, at which point he petitioned for rain (Helaman 11:3–18; cf. 1 Kings 17:1, 7; 18:41–45). The Lord gave Nephi power over the elements: “If ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou cast down and become smooth, it shall be done” (Helaman 10:9). The power to seal on earth and in heaven, which Elijah held, was similarly bestowed upon Peter and the Prophet Joseph Smith (Matthew 16:18–19; D&C 128:8–18; 132:46; TPJS, 337–38)
Moses exercised power over the elements when he divided the waters of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21). Elijah did so when he divided the waters of the River Jordan (2 Kings 2:8) and again when fire came out of heaven and consumed his sacrifice (1 Kings 18:38). In their day, the Canaanites attributed such powers to their god Baal.
In Nephi the son of Helaman’s case, his people didn’t question that a person could be a god or could become one. The scriptures said so (see Psalms 82:6; cf. 1 Corinthians 8:5). They simply speculated whether he was a god (Helaman 9:41). Latter-day revelations teach, as Jesus did during his earthly ministry, that one can indeed become a god by keeping God’s word (John 10:34–35; D&C 121:28–29, 32; 132:37). In that respect, Nephi the son of Helaman serves as an exemplar par excellence.
[pp. 134–136]