Friday, February 13, 2009

33t - The Resurrected Jesus Christ's Ministry in Ancient America

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TODAY'S THEME
Jesus the Christ -by Del Parson

TODAY'S THEME

III Nephi 30: 1 HEARKEN, O ye Gentiles, and hear the words of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, which he hath commanded me that I should speak concerning you, for, behold he commandeth me that I should write, saying:
2 Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways; and repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your idolatries, and of your murders, and your priestcrafts, and your envyings, and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, that ye may receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, that ye may be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel. (emphasis added)
In that scripture, the Lord Jesus Christ, through His prophet Mormon, is speaking to the Gentiles who are those of us not directly descended from Israel (Jacob), son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham, to whom the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ was to be brought in the Latter-days (in our time).

In the case of the Gentiles who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have already been baptized into His church and have been blessed with the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

We even have been numbered with His people who are of the house of Israel, in those cases where Patriarchal Blessings have been received under the hands of a stake patriarch of that church. In my patriarchal blessing it was declared that I belong to the tribe of Ephraim, one of the two sons of Joseph, Who Was Sold Into Egypt. (These two sons of Joseph were given the places of two other sons of Jacob (Israel).

Painting: Intellectual Reserve
An LDS Baptism
Painting: Intellectual Reserve
 III Nephi 29:1-9

Receiving The Gift of The Holy Ghost

Please listen to and read the scripture above.

After viewing this next photograph I'd like you to read verses eight and nine again, which you have just read and listened to. Those two verses are printed below this photo and right under the photo of composer, Felix Mendelsohn.
Photo: From the Holocaust Section of the Dachau Museum Nazi Soldiers Laughing at a Jewish Detainee at the Dachau Concentration Camp

I visited that camp in the summer of 1955 on my way home from my LDS mission to Finland. The Dachau Museum was opened May 9, 1965. (I can't even begin to imagine the grief of that Jewish man pictured above who had probably lost many loved ones to the Dachau gas chambers and death furnaces. I'm sure our Savior grieved over his loved ones and over him also.)

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

III Nephi 29: 8 Yea, and ye need not any longer hiss, nor spurn, nor make game of the Jews, nor any of the remnant of the house of Israel; for behold, the Lord remembereth his covenant unto them, and he will do unto them according to that which he hath sworn.
9 Therefore ye need not suppose that ye can turn the right hand of the Lord unto the left, that he may not execute judgment unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the house of Israel.
For about one season I happened to be the first clarinetist in the Draper Symphony Orchestra in Draper, Utah (U.S.A.). I also happened to be the only clarinetist. I was not very accomplished at that instrument as I had played trumpet and baritone horn in our high school band and some during my Junior College year in my youth. During those months in Draper I learned to greatly appreciate Felix Mendelssohn's music.

About a week or two ago I was listening to my favorite FM radio station which is based on the campus of the Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. In celebration of the great composer, Felix Mendelssohn's 200th birthday, they were playing selections from his famous compositions, all week, including entire symphonies. I only had time for several numbers. I sat spell-bound listening to the majestic and inspirational tones of a famous orchestra and piano soloists as they performed some of his magnificent compositions.

During that FM radio broadcast, the announcer informed us that sometime during the time of the Nazi rule in Germany, I'm guessing that it was in the late 1930s or early 1940s, a group of musicians in Germany gathered together 270 Mendelssohn original compositions, bundled them up and sent them to different parts of the world to protect them from being destroyed by the Nazis.

The radio anouncer told us that the Nazis emphasized the music of native German composers and strongly denounced the music of Jewish composers, even though their music might have been acclaimed world-wide as great. Can you imagine that?

Now back to our scripture for this day: In verse eight of chapter 29 of III Nephi, our Savior's Nephite prophet, Mormon tells the world in our day:
Yea, and ye need not any longer hiss, nor spurn, nor make game of the Jews, nor any of the remnant of the house of Israel;
By the Hand of the Lord, great nations of the World, notably, Great Britain, were able to help the Jewish people who were returning to Palestine for the first time in centuries of absence, to form the nation of Israel in 1948. As Mormon reminds us, they are a remnant of Israel and the Lord remembers His covenant with them.

The Lord also remembers His people who are descendants of Father Lehi, including those Nephites that our Savior was teaching who believed in Him so much that they were to remain faithful as a nation to Him and His Gospel for about 200 years. He remembers their descendants now even though they had drifted into complete and awful apostacy from His Gospel.

Latter-day prophets have said that the way those Nephites lived for all those years was similar to the way life will be lived during the Millenium. However, those Nephites lived that way without the changes in nature and in their bodies that are to take place, according to the scriptures, during that happy one thousand year period of time. In a following post I will discuss that time of Nephite righteousness and the sure indications after about three generations, that that time was coming to an end.

I was blessed to be employed full-time assisting American Indians (who haveLamanite-Nephite blood in them) by my being involved in two LDS Church programs developed for them: The LDS Indian Seminary program and the LDS Indian Placement Service. I know first-hand that the Lord's Latter-day Church has made special efforts to help people who are of the blood of Israel and are in need of assistance.

I want to continue serving the Lord. This blog is part of that. I suggest that those of you who have not yet been baptized in the Lord's only authorized church and have therefore have not yet received the Gift of the Holy Ghost as the Lord in Today's Theme scripture tells you, that He wants you to do; that you consider taking steps to be taught by missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about our Savior's Gospel and His only authorized church.

If you want to be taught by LDS missionaries and don't know how to contact them, you and I can do this: First, please e-mail me using my e-mail address found in the last section of this post, telling me that you are considering the possibility of being taught by LDS missionaries. Then, let me know where you live.
Don't send me your address, just the name of your city and the name of that part of your city in which you live, and the state, if you live in the USA, or in another country that has states or something similar, provide me the name country in which your city is located. I will protect your privacy (even from me).

Upon receiving that information from you, I will find the address and phone number of that LDS Mission Office which serves your area and send it to you by e-mail so that you can contact them if and when you decide to do so. The office staff rhere will be happy to have the missionaries serving in your area contact you. The missionaries are always happy to meet people who desire to be taught by them. They love serving the Lord Jesus Christ. They also dearly love the Book of Mormon. They use it much!

I will not let the mission office know your e-mail address. That will be kept strictly private by me. I know the Lord would hold me accountable if I were to break my word.

These missionaries are generally youthful. There are female missionary pairs and male missionary pairs and some older couples. They are unpaid volunteers who freely take two years, in the case of the males, and postpone other things they would ordinarily do, to serve the Lord, Jesus Christ. They are well trained and have learne to speak the language of the country in which they are serving.

In about three more days I'll be publishing another post. We'll hopefully be together again then, not seeing one another, but nonetheless, together.


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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.




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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 (A Twenty Post Series) - Post 33t. 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.)

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

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.

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Neil Birch