Thursday, December 25, 2008

33d - The Resurrected Jesus Christ's Ministry in Ancient America. - Some Background Information!

To Access This Blog's Index, Please Scroll Down To the Fifth Paragraph From the End of This Post!

****
TODAY'S THEME

Father Lehi Prophesying in 600 B.C. -by Del Parson
In this recent series of blog posts we have been learning from the words of the prophet, Mormon, who, on instructions from the Lord, Jesus Christ, compiled the Book of Mormon using records others had written beginning about one thousand years before his time.

You have been learning that our Savior, Jesus Christ follows a divinely wise plan in guiding all His willing followers to salvation and Eternal Life. You are seeing that He is successful. He does His part perfectly and then we are called upon to do our part to the very best of our ability in keeping His commandments and being guided by His Holy Spirit, thus showing our profound gratitude for the grace He grants us through His atonement and the promise of our resurrection.

Between 588 and 570 B.C., Lehi prophesied regarding a part of our Savior's plan which directly deals with the eternal destiny of many of his own posterity and the rest of us who live in our day and time. After reading (and listening to) this following scripture I will provide you with a summary of key items from Lehi's prophecy, II Nephi 3:1-25
1. Lehi and his family are descendants of Joseph who was sold into Egypt.
2. The Lord promised that Joseph that He, the Lord, would appear to his descendants in their promised land (in the Western Hemisphere) after His death and resurrection.
3. The Lord promised to raise up a choice seer to help Lehi's descendants in the latter-days.
4. That seer would only do the work the Lord gave him to do.
5. That seer would, like Moses, deliver his people, Israel, from bondage.
6. That seer would bring forth the Lord's word, (the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ) which will confirm the truth of a first book of scriptures, (the Holy Bible.)
7. Lehi told his youngest son, Joseph, that religious confusion would be stopped among their descendants in the last days, when those two scriptures are used together.
8. The Lord told the ancient prophet, Joseph, (who had been sold into Egypt) that the efforts of others to destroy that seer of the latter-days would be prevented until that seer had finished the work assigned him by the Lord.
9. This promised seer would also be named Joseph as would his father.
10. The work done by this promised seer will bring salvation to this ancient Joseph's descendants as prophesied, and bring about the gathering of righteous Israel.
11. The Lord promised the ancient Joseph that his posterity would last forever.
12. The ancient Joseph's descendants' words shall "cry from the dust" to be heard by his posterity in the latter-days. The golden plates containing the Book of Mormon have and will continue doing that.
I am beginning this post on Christmas Day 2008, after all the visiting children and grandchildren have left. Its been a very good day. Family is special!

Joseph Smith Sees the Father and His Son Jesus Christ -by Del Parson

Two days ago there was a birthday for the latter-day prophet mentioned in Father Lehi's prophecy above. Joseph Smith, Jr.'s 203'rd birthday was December 23, of this year, 2008.

Joseph Smith, Jr. is such an important and crucial link in the development of our Savior, Jesus Christ's work plan to bring about "the immortality and eternal life of men" in our day, through the gifts of the spirit given him, beginning with his special assignment in translating The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

The Painting above is an LDS artist's conception of Joseph Smith's First Vision which occurred when he was almost fifteen years old. Later in this post you will have the opportunity of reading of that sublime experience and about that which came from it.

We have been celebrating our Savior's birth in these blog posts for at least this past month and clearly showing how He continues to lead His great work personally through prophets whom He has called and continues to guide in our day and time.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints celebrate with the rest of the Christian World, December 25th of each year, as the Savior's birthday. However, through the Spirit of Prophecy, the testimony of Jesus, (Revelation 19:10), He has informed us through His first latter-day prophet, Joseph Smith, that His birthday was actually April 6th.

That juggling of the date of Christmas occurred years after all of Jesus' apostles from Palestine were either killed or died, after which His Holy Church and teachings on the Eastern Continent were changed by men. This was true too regarding His Church in the Western Hemisphere among the Nephites, but His Church was eventually re-established in 1830 by the Savior, through His modern day prophet, Joseph, to whom He gave great responsibility.

Please read this Latter-day scripture. This is longer than usual. As usual, using the Listen function will make your reading more enjoyable. If you decide to read it in portions you will not be able to used the Listen function because the reading voice always begins at the first verse of the chapter. I will add pictures of various connected events and circumstances to make your reading and listening more interesting.

 js h/1/1-75

Joseph Smith Sought to Find True Religion by Searching the Bible -by Dale Kilbourn 

The Angel Moroni Appears to Joseph Smith -by Tom Lovell

Joseph Smith Receives the Golden Plates from Moroni -by Kenneth Riley
Joseph Smith Translating the Book of Mormon -by Del Parson



Emma Smith, Joseph's Wife -by Lee Greene Richards

Joseph Smith the Prophet -by Alvin Gittins
___________



DISCLAIMER
This website is not owned by or affiliated with the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the Mormon or LDS Church). The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the position of the Church.


____________


TO ACCESS NEIL BIRCH'S BLOG INDEX, To Either Read the Full Index Item Which Refers To This Blog Post, (Or An Item Which Refers To Any Other Blog Post You May Desire To Access), After Reading All of This Paragraph Please Click on the Following: (The Resurrected) Jesus Christ's Ministry in Ancient America - Post 33d. When You See the Picture of Our Savior Jesus Christ Sitting Next To a Little Boy, Please, Scroll Down In The Index To Your Target Item Or Use The Alphabetical Scrolling Device (When It Has Been Installed.)

____________


"Have You Really Read the Book of Mormon?" Legal /Statement. Thank you for visiting. The author retains intellectual property and creative licensing rights. Permission to use or reprint must be given in writing. © Est.2008 Neil Birch Legal /Statement.

_____________

I deeply appreciate your readership and very much hope you you will find that which was presented to you in this blog post, very beneficial.

If you have any questions about what you have read or viewed in this post or in any previous posts of mine, or if you even have a curiosity about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and or its teachings, please e-mail me. I'm Neil and my e-mail address is: jneilmelva@gmail.com. If you contact me I'll get back to you just as soon as possible.

I invite you to let your friends and relatives know about this blog if you think they would be interested. Please be advised that I also have an additional blog. It is in Spanish:  Its content is translated from the English in this blog.

Neil Birch