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TODAY'S THEME
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The Resurrected Jesus Christ Teaches Nephites in Ancient Central America -by John Scott |
In this scripture you will read one of the great promises the Lord made to the Nephites while He was visiting in Ancient America. You may not yet fully understand what our Resurrected Savior meant by the following statement.
III Nephi 25: 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord;
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.You will be helped to gain the needed understanding of that later in this post.
First I invite you to read the following scripture in which our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ emphasizes something He always expects of His Saints.
III Nephi 24:1-18 (See also Malachi 3:1-18 - Old Testament for the exact same words. Each set was spoken by Our Savior Jesus Christ.)
Quoting the words of Malachi which were recorded in our Old Testament, and then later, at his command, on the Plates of Nephi, the Savior taught the Nephites the necessity of their obeying His law of Tithing. In our day, through his prophet, Joseph Smith, the Lord reiterated his unchanging law of Tithing.
D. and C. 64: 23 Behold, now it is called today until the coming of the Son of Man, and verily it is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is tithed shall not be burned at his coming.
24 For after today cometh the burning—this is speaking after the manner of the Lord—for verily I say, tomorrow all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and I will burn them up, for I am the Lord of Hosts; and I will not spare any that remain in Babylon. (emphasis added)
D. and C. 19:4 And after that, those who have thus been tithed shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever, for my holy priesthood, saith the Lord.
Here is the complete Chapter 25 of III Nephi from which our TODAY'S THEME was taken. (Compare with Malachi 4:1-6)
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Elijah Appearing in the Kirtland Temple to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery -by Dan Lewis |
Now you will read an account of the fulfillment of the promise made in the final two verses of that prophecy given through His prophet, Malachi, which our resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, related to His Nephite flock in Ancient America. The Lord's first Latter-day prophet, Joseph Smith, recorded this vision.
D. and C. 110:13 After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said:
14 Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi—testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come—
15 To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse—
16 Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors. (emphasis added)
This turning of hearts has already been taking place since soon after that recorded visit from Elijah. The power from Jesus Christ was given to His Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in our day, to seal by the power of the Spirit of the Lord, family members, both the dead (who are now living as spirits in the Spirit World) and the living, one to another for all eternity! This sealing doesn't just automatically happen. Worthy family members who have been baptized as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, must attend to or have attended to, this business for their dead in one of the more than 151 temples that have already been built or scheduled to be built or are already under construction by this Church world-wide.
There certainly will be many others scheduled to be built in the future. After the baptisms and other ordinances and sealings are done by these living members for themselves, they can then, vicariously, do these same ordinances for their ancestors whose records they have diligently and carefully researched (often with assistance from qualified others. Other qualified church members can also perform the temple work in place of us where needed.)
For your information here is evidence that the Apostle, Paul, serving with the other apostles who had been called of the Lord, in the near East after our Savior's resurrection, knew of the ordinance of baptism for the dead: (At least one minister from another church has declared publically on video tape that the Apostle Paul was aware of the practice of baptisms for the dead, and did so in a convincing manner. It actually is a very easy assumption for any readers of that scripture to make.)
I Corinthians 15: 29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?Below is a Latter-day scripture in which the sixth Latter-day Prophet, Joseph F. Smith explains how our Savior, Jesus Christ, between His death by crucifixion and His resurrection, prepared the way that the unrighteous dead could be taught His Gospel by righteous spirits whom He assigned to do that important work. You will also learn from this scripture that the Lord, Jesus Christ, has seen to it that temple work has been set up in our day so that the ordinance of baptism and other necessary ordinances for salvation can be done vicariously here on earth for those among the unrighteous spirits who listened to the message brought them by those appointed by the Lord in His visit between His crucifixion and His resurrection there in the World of Spirits.
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| President Joseph F. Smith -Photo from LDS Archives |
D. and C. 138:25-60 Please note that this scripture begins with verse one therefore you can either also read verses 1 - 24 or scroll down and begin reading at verse 25. If you do this you will not be able to use the "Listen" feature provided you.
I will end this post by showing you pictures of six of these nearly 140 (so far, and many more are coming) very beautiful and very functional temples along with two typical temple baptismal fonts where baptisms can be performed vicariously for your and my beloved deceased ancestors, back as far as their records can be found.
Something you must realize; all of these blessings that can be brought to our deceased ancestors who weren't taught the Savior's Gospel during their lifetimes, can be done for them only by doing this work for them vicariously in Temples of the Lord, according to what the Lord Jesus Christ has instructed His Latter-day Prophets, beginning with the Prophet, Joseph Smith.
There is a great cost involved in providing sufficient temples for the vast amount of work that is yet to be done for our dead ancestors. Because of what you were taught earlier in this post, you can surely guess how the Lord wants these costs to be taken care of and it is being done on an ongoing basis very effectively.
You are right! Through the tithing of His people! His law of Tithing works very well. By personal experience I can tell you that it is easy to be a full tithe-payer. Before retirement my salary was very average. My children's mother and I, raised nine. I know by experience, paying a full (10% gross income) tithing helps you put all of your priorities in the right place! Remember, it is our Savior's law, He who who suffered and died for us!
You and I and surely everyone should be very grateful for the birth of our Savior at Bethlehem and for His successful completion of His life's mission culminating in His atoning sacrifice so that our personal salvation and this great reuniting with loved ones, known, and not yet known, could take place!
One more clarifying thought: I hope that all of of you can see clearly how that the Lord Jesus Christ continues to be very surely and actively involved, most often undetected by most of us, in blessing us that we might achieve His greatest blessings. Remember His, what I call, "sacred job description":
We are also taught another principle which is such a vital part of our Lord's great plan: This is in the words of His prophet Lehi in the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
Pearl Of Great Price, Moses 1:39 For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
II Nephi 10:23 Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.These pictures, from top to bottom, are as follows: Mexico City, Mexico Temple; San Diego, California Temple; Hong Kong, China Temple; A baptismal font of an unidentified LDS Temple; Santiago, Chile Temple; The Baptismal font of the Salt Lake City Temple; Washington D.C. Temple; and the Helsinki, Finland Temple.
Something you may want to know: The twelve oxen holding up each of all our temple baptismal fonts, represent the twelve tribes of Israel.
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The following is the latest Mormon Messages Video. You will find it very well done and applicable to each of us.
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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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TO OPEN NEIL BIRCH'S BLOG INDEX To Either Read the Full Index Item Which Refers To This Blog Post (or to Any Other BlogPost You May Choose), Please Click on the Following: Baptism For the Dead Began To Be Needed After . . . - Post 40r; When You See The Picture of Our Savior, Jesus Christ Sitting Next To The Little Boy, Please Scroll Down To Your Chosen Target Item Or Use the Alphabetic 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 Legal /Statement.
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I deeply appreciate your readership and hope you will find very beneficial, that which was presented to you in this blog post.
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
