Defending the Faith: Sacrament prayers have ancient origin

And when, as 3 Nephi 18 records, he ascended into heaven, they spent the entire night spreading the word so that, upon his return the following morning, an even larger multitude, having traveled long distances, were there to listen to him. We, too, have been called to take his name upon us, and we, too, are under obligation to pass his message on to as many as we can reach, wherever they are, inviting them to come and partake with us.

Based on John W. Welch, ed., “Re-exploring the Book of Mormon” (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1992), 286-289.

Daniel C. Peterson, professor of Islamic studies and Arabic at BYU, is editor-in-chief of the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative, founder of MormonScholarsTestify.org,, chairman of "Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture" and a blogger for Patheos.