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TODAY'S THEME
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| Nephi Son of Lehi Treking Across the Wilderness -by Scott Snow |
Nephi, the fourth son of Father Lehi, is shown here as he along with the rest of his father's family, relatives and even a conscripted man who had quickly become a loyal friend; were crossing the Arabian Peninsula about 600 B.C. on their way to their promised land, which we now know as Central America.
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Lehi and His People Arrive in the Promised Land -by Arnold Friberg |
(Nephi is standing to the right of his mother)
After Lehi's family and their relatives and friend had been in the Americas for some time, and had been through many difficulties, but nonetheless were well established in their promised land to which the Lord had led them; the prophet, Nephi, son of Lehi who had become the leader of the nation upon the death of Father Lehi, wrote these words of great significance and feeling:
2 Nephi 33:3 But I, Nephi, have written what I have written, and I esteem it as of great worth, and especially unto my people. For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry.
4 And I know that the Lord God will consecrate my prayers for the gain of my people. And the words which I have written in weakness will be made strong unto them; for it persuadeth them to do good; it maketh known unto them of their fathers; and it speaketh of Jesus, and persuadeth them to believe in him, and to endure to the end, which is life eternal.
5 And it speaketh harshly against sin, according to the plainness of the truth; wherefore, no man will be angry at the words which I have written save he shall be of the spirit of the devil.
6 I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell.
7 I have charity for my people, and great faith in Christ that I shall meet many souls spotless at his judgment-seat.
Now I ask you to read this next scripture. In it the same Nephi who wrote the above, of [600 - 515 B.C.], bares his soul, making it clear that what the Lord Jesus wants of his people is that they live righteously and do so with a humble heart as he did.
(Note: Because you will be starting 14 verses down the page it will be difficult to coordinate the listening function that is available. II Nephi 4:14-35
Now in the first chapter from the Book of 3 Nephi I provide for you to listen to and to read. In Chapter 8 you will find what happened to many of Nephi's descendants.
Not all of those living in the Americas at the time of the resurrection of Jesus Christ were pure descendants of his father, Lehi, as the Book of Mormon elsewhere makes clear, but Lehi's posterity are the majority among those discussed in this chapter.
He whose record, the Prophet Mormon used to write much of the Book of 3 Nephi, was named Nephi, after his great and righteous ancestor whose writings we have just read. The history recorded here occurred in A.D. 34.
You may want to use the listen function because you will begin with verse 1. 3 Nephi 8:1-25
I have read that chapter many times in my almost seventy eight years of life, but this time, after having been very emotionally involved in writing this series of posts, my grief for the disaster described in this chapter had a greater emotional impact on me than I had expected. What occurred was decreed by Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus, (who are totally in agreement with one another in whatever they decree), because of the great wickedness of many in the Nephite Nation at the time of the Savior's crucifixion.
My emotions, and perhaps yours too, were very surely deeply involved in the Savior's ministry and in his having accomplished the great atonement and resurrection for all mankind which were reviewed in my recent posts. We were also very deeply inspired and felt well informed when viewing and hearing the witness of one of Jesus' living apostles of our day.
Also, each of us have surely been rooting for a good number of Father Lehi's posterity to succeed in living faithfully and enduring persecutions, and in fine, following the example of their prophet, Nephi, so that when Christ appears to them after his resurrection, they will be alive because they have remained faithful to all that their prophets had taught them. The righteous among them were saved! We are informed of this in the book of 3 Nephi of the Book of Mormon, Another Witness of Jesus Christ.
After I had just read and listened to all of Chapter 8, I involuntarily uttered the word, WOW! Then I felt great sorrow for those who were destroyed who were not only descendants of Lehi and many of the other great prophets whose life stories are told in the Book of Mormon, but also of Joseph, who was sold into Egypt (one of the greatest prophets of all time in my opinion) who knew, according to Father Lehi, by the spirit of Prophecy and Revelation, that he, Joseph, would have posterity on this earth until the end of time.
What happened in Central America soon after the crucifixion of our Savior, did not invalidate the promise the Lord made to Joseph who was sold into Egypt. A good number of his and Lehi's and Nephi's descendants were still living after that great cataclysm brought about by a exceedingly huge seismic event.* I was so emotionally involved in reading and listening to Chapter 8 that I momentarily neglected to read and listen, to Chapter 9 so as to better understand what happened to those Nephites who had remained faithful to Christ. I have now done so and suggest that you do so also right now! Listening will work this time because we start at verse 1.
3 Nephi 9:1-22
In summary; you have just read that the remaining Nephites, heard the Voice of Christ announcing the destruction of many people because of their wickedness and proclaiming His divinity. You then read that He also announced that the Law of Moses was fulfilled and that He invites all mankind to come unto him and be saved.
To bring you further along in your understanding of what happened to the Nephites who survived the great earthquakes, I now invite you to also read and listen to 3Nephi, Chapter 10. In it Mormon, the compiler of the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, tells us that the people heard the voice of Christ speak to them from heaven so as to prepare them for His imminent visit.
3 Nephi 10:1-19
Modern scientists who have studied firsthand the damage caused by huge seismic earthquakes, and the way that damage came about, after having read the description given in 3 Nephi of the kinds of damage that was reported and the way in which it all happened, is just what these knowledgeable scientists reported that they would exactly expect from such a very huge seismic event. They don't happen all the time, but have occurred and have been studied in the recent past by experts.
This is strong evidence that neither Joseph Smith nor any other man in 1830 could have made up the Book of Mormon. In that day they couldn't have come up with such accurate details of the damage caused by a seismic catastrophe and the accurate description of what was actually happening to bring it about.
A perhaps, very similar cataclysm occurred on August 7, 1883, well past Joseph Smith's lifetime. You can read about a book written about that event
Krakatoa, the Day the World Exploded
When one really reads the Book of Mormon, the evidences of its truthfulness appear in great abundance, as hopefully you personally have been finding out, along with the sure witness of the Spirit that it is God's word.
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Neil Birch
