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TODAY'S THEME
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| Arriving at the Promised Land -by Arnold Friberg |
II Nephi 33: 1 AND now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.
2 But behold, there are many that harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no place in them; wherefore, they cast many things away which are written and esteem them as things of naught.
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.
8 I have charity for the Jew—I say Jew, because I mean them from whence I came.
9 I also have charity for the Gentiles. But behold, for
none of these can I hope except they shall be reconciled unto Christ, and enter into the narrow gate, and walk in the strait path which leads to life, and continue in the path until the end of the day of probation.
10 And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.
11 And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for
Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness.
12 And I pray the Father in the name of Christ that many of us, if not all, may be saved in his kingdom at that great and last day.
13 And now, my beloved brethren, all those who are of the house of Israel, and all ye ends of the earth, I speak unto you as the voice of one crying from the dust: Farewell until that great day shall come.
14 And you that will not partake of the goodness of God, and respect the words of the Jews, and also my words, and the words which shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the Lamb of God, behold, I bid you an everlasting farewell, for these words shall condemn you at the last day.
15 For what I seal on earth, shall be brought against you at the judgment bar; for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey. Amen. (emphasis added)
Those are the last recorded words in the Book of Mormon of the Prophet, Nephi, fourth son of Lehi; the one after whom the Nephite nation was named. His words are very meaningful as you can easily see. Along with the words of testimony pronounced by his father, Lehi, they set the stage for a long list of Book of Mormon prophets' testimonies of Jesus Christ by their descendants we can consider one or two at a time in future posts.
However, before finishing this post I would like you to read an earlier admonition of Nephi's that may be one that some of you may possibly want to consider:
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John Baptizing Jesus -by Harry Anderson -by Harry Anderson |
II Nephi 31: 5 And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!
6 And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water?
7 Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments.
8 Wherefore, after he was baptized with water the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove.
9 And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them.
10 And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?
11 And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son.
12 And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do.
13 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel. (emphasis added)
Now, hold on just a minute! I anticipate that some of you will question how Nephi, who lived six centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ, could speak of things that we learned from the New Testament written not long after Jesus' resurrection.
If you did question that, please be patient with me while I help you understand how Nephi could do that. Understanding that comes right back to a forever enduring principal of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation.
If you were to scroll down to my just previous post, "40v", toward the end of it you will find some statements about the essentials of that spiritual gift. But now I quote the Apostle, John (The Beloved):
Revelation 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (highlighted for emphasis)
There are many scriptural examples where the followers of Jesus Christ, both in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon have identified future important events by this spiritual gift. Here is one example that comes to mind. It comes from the Old Testament book of Isaiah.
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| Isaiah Writes of Christ's Birth -by Harry Anderson |
I give you only one example but there are many more in the Bible. This is from:
Now we go back to a portion of the second quote from the Prophet Nephi above:
II Nephi 31: 10 And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?
11 And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son.
12 And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do.
13 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.
Baptism (a young man and a young lady)
Receiving the Gift
of the Holy Ghost
In the next post, 40x, we will review the words of testimony of Jesus Christ written by Jacob, the fourth son of Father Lehi.
Before going on to the last several items in this post I want you to understand something I consider very important.
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| Jesus the Christ -by Del Parson |
The emphasis in each of the blog posts in this series, The Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ, (as testified by Individual Book of Mormon Prophets.) In each of those individual Book of Mormon prophets' words, lies the fundamental and most important truth that I would like you to remember: The words spoken by these, and by all prophets, are always spoken by the Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation which make them the words of Jesus Christ.
II Nephi 33:10 And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.
It all comes back to the great purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Heavenly Father being fulfilled which They have expressed in the scripture just above this paragraph!
Moses 1:39 For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
It is our (which includes all mankind, both living, dead and yet to be born) immortality and eternal life that is key focus of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ!
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Before ending this post I give you the opportunity of experiencing a YouTube Video, Why Mormons Build Temples which was the Tenth most viewed YouTube Video shown the day it was first shown. It is very well done. I agree 100% with everything in it. I particularly appreciate what was said in it about the importance of revelation which is something discussed above in this post.
Along with excellent comments of LDS General Authorities, I also enjoyed the positive comments of two non LDS professors from two different Universities. You will enjoy viewing it. Feel free to respond to the You Tube request for your reactions to it.
Why Mormons Build Temples
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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 To Search The Index For Any Other Blog Post You Decide To access): After You Have Read All of This Paragraph, Please Scroll Back Up and Click on the Following: Nephi, The Son of Lehi, Testified of the Baptism of Christ. . . - Posts 40w and 35g When the Picture of Our Savior, Jesus Christ Sitting Next To a Little Boy Comes Onto Your Screen, 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 hope you found 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
Neil Birch
