38u - Because of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ We Can Happily Sing: "There is Sunshine in My Soul Today"

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TODAY'S THEME

Dan Jones Awakens Wales -by Clark Kelley Price

Native Welshman, Dan Jones was baptized into the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day in January 1843 while living in the Nauvoo, Illinois area (U.S.A.). He served several missions to his native Wales. Presiding over the mission on his last mission there he was able to help bring about the baptisms of thousands of his former countrymen. It was said that when he was released from his assignment as leader of the Wales Mission that one out of every 272 people in relatively small Wales had become members of the LDS Church.

In the painting above, Dan is shown holding his key missionary tool up high in his left hand so all can see. It is:

The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ



The Prophet Mormon [about A.D. 401] knew full-well that the book he was writing (abridging-condensing) would be a key part of the Lord's work in the latter days (our time on earth) in effectively preparing a people for the Second Coming of the Lord, Jesus Christ whose coming will begin the long-promised and awaited (By the faithful) Thousand Year Millennium.


The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ -by Harry Anderson

Mormon knew that the book of sacred writings he was preparing would become a companion to the "Record of the Jews" that would have been used for centuries when his book, The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, would be brought forth in our day as a companion to what we know as "The Holy Bible."



The Bible and the Book of Mormon Testify of Christ Side by Side! -by Greg Olsen 

One of the Prophet Mormon's ancestors was the prophet Nephi [about 600 B.C.] , who had migrated from Jerusalem with his father, Lehi, to a land which is now known as Central America, who had prophesied as follows:

1 Nephi 13: 40 And the angel spake unto me, saying: These last records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved.

41 And they must come according to the words which shall be established by the mouth of the Lamb; and the words of the Lamb shall be made known in the records of thy seed, as well as in the records of the twelve apostles of the Lamb; wherefore they both shall be established in one; for there is one God and one Shepherd over all the earth.

Thus, the Book of Mormon was to re-establish the truths taught in the Holy Bible which had been misconstrued by the many churches which falsely claimed to being a continuation of the church established by the Lord Jesus Christ and led by his twelve apostles after he had ascended into Heaven.

In this blog we previously have learned about the role of the young American prophet, Joseph Smith in bringing about the second of the two sets of scriptures which was needed, according to the words of the ancient American prophet, Nephi, quoted above.

In this final portion of this post I will help us understand a particularly difficult learning experience the Lord Jesus Christ helped his young prophet Joseph Smith through.

In the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, Section 3, we learn of something Joseph Smith was taught by the Lord: Young Joseph Smith needed to be taught by the Lord as he was above, because: after completing the translation of 116 manuscript pages of the Book of Mormon by the gift and power of God that he had been given, Joseph had asked the Lord's permission to grant the request of Martin Harris, a friend and close associate to show those 116 manuscript pages to his (Martin's) wife who evidently doubted that Joseph Smith was actually translating an ancient book.

. . . establish the truth of the first, (the Holy Bible) which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; (clarification added)

1 THE works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught.

2 For God doth not walk in crooked paths, neither doth he turn to the right hand nor to the left, neither doth he vary from that which he hath said, therefore his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal round.

3 Remember, remember that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men;

4 For although a man may have many revelations, and have power to do many mighty works, yet if he boasts in his own strength, and sets at naught the counsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his own will and carnal desires, he must fall and incur the vengeance of a just God upon him.

5 Behold, you have been entrusted with these things, but how strict were your commandments; and remember also the promises which were made to you, if you did not transgress them.

6 And behold, how oft you have transgressed the commandments and the laws of God, and have gone on in the persuasions of men.

7 For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God. Although men set at naught the counsels of God, and despise his words—

8 Yet you should have been faithful; and he would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary; and he would have been with you in every time of trouble.

9 Behold, thou art Joseph, and thou wast chosen to do the work of the Lord, but because of transgression, if thou art not aware thou wilt fall.

10 But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which thou hast done which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work;

11 Except thou do this, thou shalt be delivered up and become as other men, and have no more gift.

12 And when thou deliveredst up that which God had given thee sight and power to translate, thou deliveredst up that which was sacred into the hands of a wicked man,

13 Who has set at naught the counsels of God, and has broken the most sacred promises which were made before God, and has depended upon his own judgment and boasted in his own wisdom.

14 And this is the reason that thou hast lost thy privileges for a season—

15 For thou hast suffered the counsel of thy director to be trampled upon from the beginning.

16 Nevertheless, my work shall go forth, for inasmuch as the knowledge of a Savior has come unto the world, through the testimony of the Jews, even so shall the knowledge of a Savior come unto my people—

17 And to the Nephites, and the Jacobites, and the Josephites, and the Zoramites, through the testimony of their fathers—

18 And this testimony shall come to the knowledge of the Lamanites, and the Lemuelites, and the Ishmaelites, who dwindled in unbelief because of the iniquity of their fathers, whom the Lord has suffered to destroy their brethren the Nephites, because of their iniquities and their abominations.

19 And for this very purpose are these plates preserved, which contain these records—that the promises of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his people;

20 And that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers, and that they might know the promises of the Lord, and that they may believe the gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be glorified through faith in his name, and that through their repentance they might be saved. Amen.

At first the Lord had denied Joseph's request, but after Joseph renewed his plea several times to satisfy his friend, Martin Harris' desire to pacify his wife, the Lord granted him what he desired.

When Joseph asked Martin to return the 116 manuscript pages, he told Joseph that they had been lost. This resulted in the Lord's response given above. Surely the Lord knew that all would be resolved, however, he also knew that Joseph had much to learn to fulfill that which would be required of him in completing the translation of the The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ and in performing other assignments the Lord would be giving him.

In a revelation given to Joseph in the summer of 1828, the Lord instructed consequently:

D. and C. 10: 1-70

This scripture is great evidence of how the Lord, through revelation, carefully and lovingly led and educated the young prophet whom he had chosen to lead out in his, (the Lord's) great work of the Latter-days.

You will have learned from this revelation that the Lord was prepared with his perfect foreknowledge of all things to take care of this and any expediency.

His (The Lord's) perfect solution was to have the Prophet Joseph substitute a translation of the Small Plates of Nephi for the translation Joseph had done previously and then lost which was from the Large Plates of Nephi, those which contained Mormon's condensation of the early period of the Nephite Nation's earliest history. This avoided things the Lord mentioned in that revelation that could cause those who had taken possession of the 116 manuscript pages to claim that the translation made by the Prophet Joseph was fraudulent.

Actually, the eventual outcome was fully to be successful because, as the Lord pointed out in Section 10, the record that was to be translated in the place of that which had been lost, contained more of the precious things of His Gospel than was the case in the more historical record that had been lost
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Before leaving this very important historical event I would like to show you, the readers of this blog, how we have been given expert evidence that Joseph Smith did not fabricate revelations he said that he had received from the Lord.

I learned that from something which an editor wrote in the new book, THE JOSEPH SMITH PAPERS, REVELATIONS AND TRANSLATIONS, published in the Fall of 2009 by the Church Historian's Press. He wrote on page xxii of the Introduction of that new book:

"One historian has said this revelation (D. and C. 3) 'gave the first inkling of how Joseph would speak in his prophetic voice. The speaker stands above and outside Joseph, sharply separated emotionally and intellectually. The rebuke of Joseph is as forthright as the denunciation of Martin Harris. There is no effort to conceal or rationalize, no signs of Joseph justifying himself to prospective followers.'" (Bushman, "Joseph Smith Rough Stone Rolling", 69 see also Bushman, Believing History, 254)

The end result of all of this was that in 1830, The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, was published and that which the ancient prophet Nephi had prophesied had in actuality come about:

1 Nephi 13: 40 And the angel spake unto me, saying: These last records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved.

The Book of Mormon was brought about by the mighty hand of the Lord Jesus Christ and is the "keystone" of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints according to him who became a highly successful prophet of the Lord: Joseph Smith.

The Bible and the Book of Mormon are tools made available by the Lord through the leaders of His church in bringing true salvation to mankind, once again.



The Bible and the Book of Mormon Support One Another -by Greg K. Olsen



With the Holy Bible and the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, under the direction of prophets and apostles as was the case in the church established by the Lord Jesus Christ before his ascension into Heaven after His resurrection (in the Americas among the Nephite-Lamanite people there), are able to truly and fully rejoice in the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our day and continue preparing for His Blessed Second Coming:



The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ -by Harry Anderson



I now invite you to sit back with your computer volume on and enjoy a special musical video which could be thought of as celebrating the blessings that have come to mankind because of our being continually led by our Savior Jesus Christ and His Gospel which is so perfectly taught in the Holy Bible and in the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

This video song of Thanksgiving for Our Lord and Savior was formed around the theme of the Fall of the Year which is just now coming to an end in this part of Utah, (U.S.A.)

This video, There is Sunshine in My Soul was produced by Mormon Soprano. You can view her very high level blog at Mormon Soprano. She took most all of the photos used in that video. The music is provided by the Tabernacle Choir of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.



Neil Birch, Blogger

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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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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