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TODAY'S THEME
The Book of Mormon, Alma 34:32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.
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| The Resurrected Jesus Christ Instructs the Faithful Nephite-Lamanites -by John Scott |
First, however let me say that the meaningful statement given in the THEME FOR THE DAY above would probably be said by many in our day: "Don't procrastinate your repentance!"
Which one helps you most? I like both, but I appreciate especially the words of the Book of Mormon prophet, Amulek, given in that scripture. It has more feeling to it and is a more specific definition. What's your preference? I suggest that if you want to voice your opinion, you make a comment at the end of this post where it says: COMMENTS. That word, turns from blue to red when you click on it in case these matters are new to you like they have fairly recently been to me. You are welcome to use that blog feature whenever you have anything to say about anything you have read in my posts. Or feel free to contact me more privately through my e-mail address which is found in the end section of each of my posts. If you do that I won't share your e-mail address with anyone. You can count on that! I live by the words of that thought for the day so you can count on me.
I read Chapter 14 of Third Nephi that you may have read and listened to when you read the previous post. I used especially my tip 2 from the previous post (33e). I'm sure you'll agree with me that were we to live by Jesus' guidance given then, which was given basically in the same words to those who heard Him teach in Palestine during His earthly ministry, that we would be at great peace with our God and ourselves. I'm quoting the last four verses.
24 Therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock—
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand—
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it.Now after I finished reading Chapter 14, I re-read and listened to chapter fifteen of Third Nephi. I have just the last few days read it more than once. I think I read it three times altogether. Then I read chapter sixteen several times. Then I kept going at this one sitting which I am still in and read and listened to each chapter from 17 through 30 which is the last chapter of Third Nephi. As I read all of them I was fully involved emotionally and spiritually. I will cover those chapters with you in later posts. They are very exceptional chapters and I believe you will marvel over what is written in them.
Those three tips I gave you in the previous post were really working for me. I was totally non-bored and very deeply touched by our Savior's words even though I have read them many times before.
My wife, Melva, and I have read continuously through the entire Book of Mormon for eighteen years, through easy and through difficult times. I know this book is the word of God, written by one of His holy prophets, Mormon, using the records of many other prophets who preceded him, and finished by his faithful son, Moroni who hid the golden plates, upon which the Book of Mormon was written, in New York State (U.S.A.) in a place where he led young Joseph Smith, Jr. to view them and then a few years later to take them out of their centuries long hiding place in order to translate them.
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| Moroni Delivers the Plates of Gold to Joseph Smith -by Kenneth Riley |
Dr. Daniel Peterson, of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute of BYU, in his video (mentioned above) demonstrates clearly that all the evidence shows that there were no other records available to Joseph Smith from which he could have taken his translation. This information comes from reliable witnesses who were often in and around the house where the translation took place.
There are very many factual accuracies in the Book of Mormon such as the accurate description given in III Nephi Chapter 8 of the seismic cataclysm that destroyed the more unrighteous portion of the Nephite Nation prior to our Redeemer's arrival there.
Please refer to my post 32b, page 4, fourth paragraph, to read what modern scientists had to say about the accuracy of the description of that disaster given us in that chapter of III Nephi, cited above. They are experts on such events because they, using modern instruments have studied similar relatively rare events in our day throughout the world.
I have to reflect back, right at this point, to the PBS video, "The Mormons" that was presented on Television in May of 2007. I referred to that in my first two posts which are still available to you, to the "so-called scholar", who actually said something to the effect, that every time he picks up the Book of Mormon and reads it, he knows he is reading the words made up by an unschooled farm boy who was basically very ignorant of scholarly things. You, having read much of the book of Mormon while reading my blog posts, know that his statement is false. That which is written in the Book of Mormon could never have been made up by an unschooled farm boy!
I have always questioned that this man had even ever read anything in the Book of Mormon. I agree with that "so-called" scholar, however, that Joseph Smith, particularly at the age when he translated the Book of Mormon by the gift and power of God, in great measure, was basically ignorant of scholarly things.
That doesn't concern me and millions upon millions of faithful Latter-day Saints, among the living and among the dead who have read the Book of Mormon many times in their lives and received guidance in living as Jesus Christ desires all of us to live in order to be prepared for Eternal life, His greatest of gifts for mankind.
Our Savior also re-established His church, through Joseph Smith, which He originally had established during His mortal ministry. This was needed because men had changed the church and its teachings which had been established by Jesus Christ during His mortal existence and then brought by his apostles to the near-Asian world of their day with much zeal and inspiration and with much success, particularly among the Gentiles.
After the time of the death of Jesus' apostles, including the great apostle Paul, the church was changed by men according to their whims and desires and therefore no longer was Christ's church. They had the Holy Bible and a form of godliness, but they denied the spiritual power of Christ's true church. That is why you never hear about the Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation from any other church, except when they are reading about that from the scriptures, which includes the Book of Mormon. That Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation was such a crucial part of the original church. Many churches today teach that direct revelation from God is no longer needed.
That great Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation is an integral part of the church re-established through the Prophet Joseph Smith and led by subsequent LDS prophets to this day and will continue being so until the Lord comes at His Second Coming to meet His people who will be anxiously waiting for Him. I look forward to seeing many of you, my blog readers, among that number.
You may find the following scripture, Chapter 15 of Third Nephi to be particularly interesting. I would like you to read and listen to it (I will discuss this important chapter with you in the next post. III Nephi 15:1-24
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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
