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TODAY'S THEME
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| The Lord Jesus Christ -by Heinrich Hofmann |
Isaiah 2: 2(Also, II Nephi 12: 2-3*) And it shall come to pass in the last days, that (when) the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (emphasis added)
The Prophet Isaiah
In my just previous post, 39t, I told about the Latter-day Saint pioneers first entering the Great Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. Here is the painting I showed then:
Artist Unknown
One of the most significant features of the Salt Lake Valley in the State of Utah, U.S.A. is that it is located at an elevation of approximately 4,500 feet above sea level between two large mountain ranges. In this painting the view of the Valley is from the vantage point of the somewhat higher Wasatch Mountain Range on the East.
As the Mormon Pioneers' covered wagons are shown descending at a steep angle toward the Valley below, on the far left side of the painting, in the distance, can be seen the very Northern end of the Oquirrh Mountain Range which is just South and slightly East of the Great Salt Lake which appears as a small white band, running from left to right in the distance. Both of these two mentioned mountain ranges run North and South. Other mountains can be seen still further West. Literally then, The Salt Lake Valley is situated in the Top of the Mountains.
As you read above, the Prophet Isaiah saw in vision that in "the last days" (the days just before the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ) "the LORD's House shall be established in the top of the mountains."
In that scripture the Lord's House refers to one of the first few of the Lord's 330 temples which have already been built by His Restored Church in our days, throughout the world. There are 30 more either under construction or in planning stages. There are still many more to come before (and I believe), after the Second Coming of our Lord!
Below is a world map on which is shown where the present 330 (plus) LDS Temples are located. You can also view photos of them.
The temples are also listed alphabetically. They are usually named after the city and state or city and nation where they are located.
You will find it easy to view photos of the temples about which you choose to learn. They are very beautiful buildings, but more than that, the work done in them by members of the LDS Church for their deceased relatives and ancestors such as vicarious baptism, brings a closeness, even a bonding, with those who have departed from this life before, whom we will no doubt meet after we too leave this present life. Because of our vicarious actions in their behalf, we can rejoice with them when we meet them in the world of spirits where we all go after our lives here on earth have ended.
World Map On Which LDS Church Temples are found.
Isaiah also prophesied that "all nations shall flow unto it." One remarkable thing about Salt Lake City and all of Utah is that many of its present citizens' ancestors and even many of its present citizens and/or their parents come from homelands located throughout the earth. That prophesy was also literally fulfilled, at least temporarily, when the very successful Worldwide Winter Olympics of the year 2002 was headquartered in Salt Lake City.
Beginning soon after the Mormon pioneers arrived there, construction began on the Salt Lake Temple, literally a House of the Lord. It was built out of solid granite hewed out of the Wasatch Mountain range. It took forty years to complete.
Below this paragraph can be seen two photos taken at night: The one on the left shows a small part of Salt Lake City with the Wasatch Mountain Range (to the East) in the background. The photo on the right shows the East side of the Salt Lake Temple as it appears today. Between you and the temple is a pond of water in which the temple is reflected.
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A. is where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is headquartered. Across the street to the North of the Salt Lake Temple, shown above, is the Church's relatively new Conference Center. Twice a year, once in early April and then in early October this world-wide church with a membership nearing fourteen million, holds General Conference.
In Isaiah's prophecy which I quoted above, I also highlighted these words:
On April 3rd and 4th of this year (2010), a Saturday and and a Sunday, the annual Church conference is scheduled. It is a world-wide conference. In times past leaders of the church from many different lands would travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A. along with other world-wide members who could afford to travel here. In October 2010 the Semiannual General Conference of the Church will be held here also.
Now, because of modern means of electronic communications, church leaders and other members of the church from lands throughout the entire earth are able to experience this time of being "taught in his ways" by remaining in their homelands at General Conference time, thus helping them to learn more regularly how to "walk in his paths," without making the sacrifice of traveling so far from home!
Not only are the means of being as if one were in attendance at General Conference, available to church leaders and church members in foreign lands, they are also available to each of you viewers of this blog post no matter where you live in the world, in your own language because of the means of modern TV communications, expert translators, and the power of the Internet, to which each of you have access or you would not be reading this blog post right now!
In my blog post which I will publish on March 29, (2010) I will give you specific instructions which will help you read and listen to the Church's General Conference, as if you were right here in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A. in attendance in the Church's huge Conference Center located directly across the street from Temple Square where one of the Lord's Houses, the Salt Lake City, Utah Temple (shown above) is located.
Here are two views of the exterior of the LDS Conference Center, followed by an interior view of the Center's auditorium showing its immensity. Right there is where the Church's General Conferences take place. The Center is located on North Temple Street just North, across the street from the Salt Lake Temple shown in the photo above.
Now, I'm planning to treat you, in this and in my next three posts, to the special opportunity in each of them, of your experiencing two LDS general authority talks using the medium of musical videos. Those videos have been developed from talks which were given in fairly recent General Conferences of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You can expect the next three posts of mine to be published on March 19, 24, and 29.
Also, in my very next post I have decided to treat you to the experience of viewing various scenes in Salt Lake City using a new (at least it is new to me) innovation in viewing various buildings and even the wonders of nature in the State of Utah. It is called: 360 degree Panoramic views. You will enjoy using that simple to use device, for example, to swivel the photograph, you see right above, of the huge interior of the Conference Center which will help you experience in a fascinating way, the immensity of the auditorium of that huge, attractive building!
You can have also, in my next post, a similar experience using that same device in viewing the amazingly beautiful interior of the Utah State Capitol Building located right here in Salt Lake City.
You will now view a video based on a talk given by former LDS President, Gordon B. Hinckley in a General Conference session about a year or so before his death. In this talk he relates a story told him by his own father.
That was only one of the two General Conference talks I am making available to you through the medium of Mormon Messages Videos in this post.
Here is the second one. It was given in the October 2009 General Conference of the Church. The speaker is the Second Counselor to the present LDS Church Prophet, Thomas S. Monson who succeeded President Hinckley after his death several years ago. He is President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. He was born in Czechoslovakia to German parents. They were members of the LDS Church. They lived for a time in East Germany where they endured very difficult circumstances during World War II. They then moved to Frankfurt, Germany. He eventually became a pilot in the German Air Force and subsequently was an airline pilot and then an official of a commercial air line. He served very faithfully as a church leader in Germany. Please click on the following link to experience the Mormon Messages Video which was made to illustrate that which he was teaching in his General Conference address.
President Dieter Uchdorf's Conference Address.
That video covered only a relatively small yet very important portion of a very touching and very helpful talk.
Here is his complete talk in case you want to hear it.
A very regular part of each General Conference Session of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the presence of the famous, Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They sing several numbers in each session of conference.
The Tabernacle Choir Video you will now view was recorded in the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Temple Square located not far from the Conference Center where General Conference is held where they perform at Conference Time.
"I Know that My Redeemer Lives"
IMPORTANT NOTE: After much careful deliberation and humble prayer, I have decided to focus on preparing you for the opportunity you may possibly choose to take of reading and/or listening in the language of your choice, to the sessions of the LDS Church's April Conference that will take place on Saturday, the third of April and Sunday the fourth of April 2010. Sessions on each day begin at 10:00 A.M. (U.S.A) Mountain Standard Time and 2:00 P.M. U.S.A. Mountain Standard Time.
I am attempting to prepare and interest you by selecting six additional Mormon Messages Videos (based on previous conference speeches given by Church general authorities along with three recorded performances of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir by dividing these up equally for you to experience in my next three posts. I will do my utmost to choose the most interesting, touching and vital of the Mormon Messages at my disposal.
Please also note: You can choose to tune into these conference sessions after the listed time. I believe they will remain available for a time after these sessions are held. I will check this out and let you know for sure in my next post. All of the addresses will also be available in written form in the November Issue of the Church's Ensign Magazine which you can obtain through lds.org. I will help you on that later also. There are also Liahona Magazines in many languages other than English. You can access those through LDS.com also.
I have been viewing the Mormon Messages (most are based on General Conference talks) regularly for over a year and I can't think of one that would not be appealing to any of you, be you a member of the LDS Church or not.
As I mentioned above, in each of those three posts, I will link you to Mormon Tabernacle Choir videos. I will give much thought to which ones I use, but if you are like me, you enjoy most any music the Mormon Tabernacle Choir along with the Orchestra on Temple Square, performs .
* I called your attention by the asterisk I used in the scripture at the head of this post and the corresponding asterisk at the beginning of this paragraph, to indicate that an identical quote from the Book of Isaiah is found in the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, II Nephi 12: 2-3. You will note that there is just one word different in Nephi's record from what is in Isaiah's record as recorded in our Old Testament, Nephi's when for Isaiah's that.
I remind you that Nephi and his three brothers were sent back to Jerusalem from near the Red Sea, by their father, Lehi who had begun leading them (with direct guidance from the Lord) toward their promised land which we now know to be, Central America, in the Western Hemisphere.
The purpose of Nephi and his brothers having been sent back to Jerusalem by their father was that the Lord had commanded Father Lehi to have his sons go there to obtain the Brass Plates which contained engravings of the sacred scriptures which were available to them and other Jewish people of their day.
These Jewish immigrants, Father Lehi and his family and Ishmael, a relative of his, along with his family, and another man who was not related to them; greatly needed to have these inspired scriptures among them, or at least that was what the the righteous among them realized.
I'm sure Father Lehi knew that unless they had these sacred scriptures which were recorded on the Brass Plates of Laban with them, their righteousness would gradually or perhaps, even rapidly diminish. Besides, the Lord had commanded Lehi to send his sons back to their homeland to obtain those sacred records
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The same holds true for all of their righteous descendants and many who much later became righteous after periods of wickedness. To remain righteous it was necessary to have God's sacred scriptures to study and serve as guides in their lives. This truth of people needing the holy scriptures to serve as guides to righteous living surely applies to each of us too!
Isaiah's writings were recorded on those brass plates along with the writings of many other prophets. This, of course explains why Nephi could quote Isaiah so acurately! We learn later in the Book of Mormon of scriptures of other prophets and their prophecies who are not even mentioned in our Old Testament.
I continue to marvel at the Book of Mormon! What a record! We all need to be grateful that the Lord saw to it that His Nephite prophets wrote and preserved it so that His modern-day prophet, Joseph Smith could, under the inspiration of the Lord, translate it for our use in our day! I remind myself and you that the Prophet Joseph Smith said the Book of Mormon is "the Keystone of our Religion!"
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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: LDS General Conference, Preparing To Experience It No Matter Where You live in the World - Part 1 - Post 39u. 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 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.
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Neil Birch
