Nephi Subdues His Rebellious Brothers
He may have been his father Lehi's fourth oldest son, but Nephi showed by his faithfulness that he was determined and able to take the lead in doing that which God had commanded his father to accomplish.
1. When it seemed that getting the brass plates from Laban
was impossible, Nephi humbly followed the Lord's guidance and through dangerous and difficult circumstances obtained those sacred records which were to keep the righteous part of their family on the right track. (1 Nephi 4:6-26)2. When they were at the point of starvation on their trek across the Arabian Peninsula, while even Father Lehi complained to the Lord, Nephi humbled himself and through the Lord's guidance was able to replace his broken bow and kill the wild animals needed to sustain them. (1 Nephi 16:18-32)
3. When his two eldest brothers, Laman and Lemuel rebelled against their father and him in their task of building a ship to cross the great ocean, Nephi stood firm. The brothers finally worked together with him and the very serviceable ship was built. 1 Nephi 18:1-25
Painting: Arnold Friberg
Lehi and his Family Finally View the Promised Land
While the two oldest brothers complained about what the Lord had commanded their father to do, Nephi humbled himself and sought to find out from the Lord His purposes for them. He was therefore blessed with mighty visions and through the spirit of prophecy and revelation was able to foretell their and their descendants future and as it turned out, to prophesy of others (the Gentiles) future coming to their promised land to which they had already been guided.
Please click on the following link to read what the Lord told Nephi about the Gentiles coming in due time to their promised land (the Americas). When the scripture is on your screen, please scroll up and click on the word, Listen, which you will see on the upper left hand side. When you hear the voice reading the words of this scripture you can click on the minus (-) sign you will see on the Audio Box which has come onto your screen, so it will be removed and be non-distracting. After you have finished reading and listening to this chapter, please click on the white left arrow in a blue background. This will bring you back to this post.
Now that you have read this amazing prophecy of the future of the Americas given to the inspired Nephi, I would like to quote for you specific parts of it upon which I'd like you to focus:
At first Nephi is shown something which was to happen in what we now know as Europe:
Medieval Churches in Southern Europe 1Nephi 13:
1 AND it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld many nations and kingdoms.
2 And the angel said unto me: What beholdest thou? And I said: I behold many nations and kingdoms.
3 And he said unto me: These are the nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles.
4 And it came to pass that I saw among the nations of the Gentiles the formation of a great church.
5 And the angel said unto me: Behold the formation of
a church which is most abominable above all other churches, which slayeth the saints of God, yea, and tortureth them and bindeth them down, and yoketh them with a yoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity.
6 And it came to pass that I beheld this great and abominable church; and I saw the devil that he was the founder of it.
7 And I also saw gold, and silver, and silks, and scarlets, and fine-twined linen, and all manner of precious clothing; and I saw many harlots.
8 And the angel spake unto me, saying: Behold the gold, and the silver, and the silks, and the scarlets, and the fine-twined linen, and the precious clothing, and the harlots, are the desires of this great and abominable church.
9 And also for the praise of the world do they destroy the saints of God, and bring them down into captivity.
10 And it came to pass that I looked and beheld many waters; and they divided the Gentiles from the seed of my brethren. (Emphasis Added)
11 And it came to pass that the angel said unto me: Behold the wrath of God is upon the seed of thy brethren.
12 And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land. (Emphasis Added)
Christopher Columbus - Artist Unknown
Photo of Replica Ships
The Three Ships of Christopher Columbus
The Aztec Indians, Conquered Later by Hernando Cortéz
I'll look forward to continuing this theme of prophecies given in the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, of things that will occur in our day.
I now suggest you click on this informative and inspiring LDS video. It is entitled: “Why Mormons Build Temples”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x_-TQivCx8&feature=channel_page-Change-Remove
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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 two additional blogs. One is in Spanish: http://varsinaisella.blogspot.com/ and one is in Finnish: http://varsinaisesti.blogspot.com/ The content of each is translated from the English in this blog.
Neil Birch
