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TODAY'S THEME
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The Resurrected Jesus Christ Visits Central America in A.D.34 -by John Scott |
In the above painting our Savior Jesus Christ is shown teaching (in A.D. 34), citizens of the Nephite Nation near the Temple which they had built under the direction of their prophets. Most of that portion of their nation had been saved from the cataclysmic destruction which had come upon them while the much larger portion of that nation, the more wicked portion, was completely wiped off of the face of the earth. This destruction had been personally initiated by the Savior of mankind (The Resurrected Jesus Christ) even although He had previously declared, long before He began His own earthly mission, through His prophet Moses when Moses was speaking with Him on the Mount located somewhere on the Sinai Peninsula:
Moses 1: 39 For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
We should recall that through the Lord's righteous Nephite prophets and saints, the more wicked portion of their nation, which eventually were destroyed by the great cataclysm the Lord brought upon them through His almighty power, had been urged continuously to repent to save themselves from the impending disaster of which had been prophesied. They rejected the warnings of all those prophets and saints, many of whom they killed.
Those Nephites who were on the verge of being destroyed possibly may have been reminded by those prophets and other righteous Nephites who would be saved from that vast destruction of that very sacred teaching given above which the Lord had revealed to Moses. It most likely was recorded on the Brass Plates of Laban, which contained the Nephites' holy scriptures, which they had brought with them from Jerusalem to guide them in living their lives righteously both on their long journey and after having arrived in their Promised Land, known now as Central America.
I urge you to review prayerfully that which the Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ told these Nephites while speaking from the sky before descending to earth to bless and teach them:
3 Nephi 9: 1-22
You may have noticed that in verse 14 of the scripture you have both read and listened to, the Lord said:
3Nephi 9:14 Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me. (emphasis added)
In that scripture, the Lord repeated in essence, His promise given to us and to all mankind in Moses 1:39. We need to come to understand that our achieving eternal life depends on our living in accordance with all of His holy commandments.
Perhaps those Nephites who were destroyed were past the point where those prophets and righteous saints would attempt to share such a sacred truth with them, but those teachings may have been in their scriptures which they had most likely completely come to ignore.
Of course there were innocent children among them, but their having been destroyed with their wicked parents and other family members will not hinder those innocent children's' spirits from opportunities to eventually achieve the eternal life spoken of in the scripture above.
It should be obvious to each of us that the blessings of eternal life promised by our Savior can come to us only by our living worthily of them. In the eternal view of things it would seem to me to be a great blessing to the future, yet unborn, children who could have been born to them had their potential parents not have been destroyed, would not inherit the curse of having been born and then grown up among such evil living which would have deterred them from inheriting eternal life. Those spirits could then be born to other people in the world, perhaps even among perhaps, the righteous Nephites about which we are learning.
After Jesus Christ had spent some time with this people, the following occurred:
3 Nephi 17: 15 And when he had said these words, he himself also knelt upon the earth; and behold he prayed unto the Father, and the things which he prayed cannot be written, and the multitude did bear record who heard him.
16 And after this manner do they bear record: The eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father;
17 And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father.
18 And it came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of praying unto the Father, he arose; but so great was the joy of the multitude that they were overcome (emphasis added)
Soon after Jesus had first descended from the sky and mingled with these Nephites, each one of them had the sacred privilege of feeling the wounds in His side and hands so they each became witnesses to what He had gone through in bringing about the great atonement that only He could bring about. Having had that sacred privilege must have helped multiply the joy that they felt while hearing the great and marvelous things He was praying for on their behalf.
Their remembering the words He had spoken to them from the air before coming down before them, must also have left a very lasting impression upon each of them! It should impress us deeply as we try to sense the power of those unrecorded words He uttered in the prayer described above, to remember the words He had spoken to Moses long before He had taken upon himself mortality:
Their remembering the words He had spoken to them from the air before coming down before them, must also have left a very lasting impression upon each of them! It should impress us deeply as we try to sense the power of those unrecorded words He uttered in the prayer described above, to remember the words He had spoken to Moses long before He had taken upon himself mortality:
Surely, that prayer and all the things Jesus subsequently taught them were key factors in these Nephites being able as a unified nation to live in exemplary righteousness for almost 300 years afterwards and bring promises upon their subsequently unrighteous posterity that many of their descendants would be reclaimed by His Latter-day Church in our days.
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Jesus Christ -by Heinrich Hofmann |
I now take us away from those such special sacred circumstances to attempt to increase our perspective of these very special and sacred experiences and truths. (I repeat His words for emphasis!)
Moses 1: 39 For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.Just before I wrote my very first post and published it back in March of 2008, I was appalled by what had been said by participants in PBS's TV Presentation entitled, "The Mormons" (which was shown in April of 2007) in their treatment and neglect of the Book of Mormon. In it, a so-called, "scholar" (a male instructor at the Utah Valley University located not far from Salt Lake County, UT (U.S.A.), described this Book of Books (The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ) as flawed literature.
I heard him say that every time he reads from the Book of Mormon he sees evidence in its pages of the rough frontier nature of Joseph Smith who he supposes wrote that book. With his saying that, I have to question whether he, that misguided university professor, has ever read the Book of Mormon. I have never seen such evidence of what he suggests anywhere in that book. I have seen just the opposite: much complexity and spiritual profundity!
That is when I decided upon the title for this blog: "Have You Really Read The Book of Mormon?" I think you will quickly agree with me the Book of Mormon is an exceedingly complex and divinely inspired book, even after just having read the first part of this post.
One of the great advantages the Book of Mormon gives readers, is information about our Savior, Jesus Christ that we don't learn from the New Testament. For instance, as the Glorified Son of God and Having His Father's full powers after His glorification (which came about because of His atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection and being exalted on high with His Heavenly Father) He, among other Godly attributes had become a God of Judgement which allowed Him to obliterate a huge group of corrupt, wicked people who had been warned and forewarned and who had killed many righteous prophets and saints. Because of the great extent of their wickedness, their time to leave this life had fully come in His and in His Heavenly Father's unified knowledge and wisdom regarding what should be done!
How dare that terribly uninformed university professor from a University located not far from where the Church is headquartered, insist that every time he reads the words of the Book of Mormon, he reads the words written by a poor and uneducated young farm boy, Joseph Smith! He ought to pick up that sacred book and begin, perhaps for the first time (most likely) in his life, to really read it!
Each of you readers can begin to perceive that that which is told about during our Savior's time among the Nephite people in Ancient Central America uniquely contains some of the most important things we are able to learn about the post-mortal Savior of the World, Jesus Christ.
My hope and personal prayer is that each one of you readers of this post will become regular readers of the Book of Mormon and will seek spiritual confirmation from God of its truthfulness (If you haven't already done so!)
Moroni 10: 3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
I, Neil Birch, bare you my personal witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon! What a power and blessing it has been in my life!
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For your further enlightenment and spiritual strengthening here is a Mormon Message.
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DISCLAIMER
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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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: Eternal Life. Who Among All of Us On This Earth, Past, Present and Future, Has the Opportunity of Attaining It? . . . - Post 40e. 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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"Have You Really Read the Book of Mormon" Legal /Statement Thank you for visiting. The author retains intellectual property and creative licensing rights. Permission to use or reprint must be given in writing. © Est.2008 Neil Birch
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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
