Post 44n: Sometime Between 600 and 593 B.C. An Angel of God Foretold the Founding of the Church of the Lamb of God (Jesus Christ) Through the Prophet Nephi, Son of Lehi. The Angel Prophesied that There Will Be Two Churches Only in the Latter-Days, The Church of the Lamb of God and the Church of the Devil. In Our Day the Church of the Lamb of God Has Been Established and Rolls Forth in the Earth Growing Constantly and Being Strengthened by God Through His Latter-day Prophets. More Details of the Growth of the Latter-day Church of Jesus Christ is Foretold. It Now Has Been Firmly Established and is Growing and Developing as Was Prophesied!

To Access This Blog's Index, Please Scroll Down To the Fifth Paragraph From the End of This Post!


Dear Readers of this Blog, please note that Google advertisements appear throughout this blog post. They were not solicited by me and I do not profit from them. I did request particularly that Google not place their ads within scriptures which I often use in my blog posts. It appears they have honored that request of mine. Thank you Google!

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TODAY'S THEME:



The Lord Jesus Christ whose Church is Described in this Blog post. -by Heinrich Hofmann

1. I urge you to read, listen to and carefully and prayerfully contemplate this marvelous scripture containing the words of an Angel who was sent by God to Nephi, one of the earliest prophets of God cited in the Book of Mormon! His inspired message clearly foretells the establishment of the Lord Jesus Christ's only true church in the Latter-days of this World's History - Our Days!



The Bible and the Book of Mormon Stand Side by Side in Testifying of Jesus Christ and His Church -by Greg K. Olsen

This Quote from The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ contains the words of an angel of the Lord who appeared to the prophet Nephi sometime between 600 and 592 B.C.:  You may want to take notes of those key things that impressed you as your read and listen to this prophetic scripture: (When this scripture comes on your screen you can click the word, Listen to hear it being read. (There is a language option you can click on if English is not your preferred language. Click on the word, English to view the list of languages available.

1Nephi 14

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

2. One of the present members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland tells a classroom of law students at his Alma-mater, Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts (U.S.A.) about the Church he Represents.

You may want to take notes of what he presents. I suggest you quickly find a note pad and a pen that works! The video of his presentation was published on March 22, 2012.

The Church he tells about is that which the Angel of the Lord prophesied about to the Book of Mormon prophet, Nephi, as  described in the scripture given above which you have just read and listened to!

Elder Jefferey Holland's Talk at Harvard University

3. This Mormon Tabernacle Choir Recording also describes the Lord Jesus Christ's Restored Church.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Presents: The Morning Breaks (a Restoration Video)

4. The General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint begins Saturday, March 31, and and will continue on Sunday, April 1, 2012.

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DISCLAIMER
This Blog 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 Desire To Access), After You Have Read All of This Paragraph, Please Scroll Back Up And Click on the Following:  The Church of the Lamb of God Has Been Established Upon the Earth Once Again -Post 44n. 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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"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 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.

I invite you to let your friends and relatives know about this blog if you think they would be interested in it. 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

Post 44m: Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is Easily Accessed by Us By Our Reading Several Accounts of it Provided by His Apostles in Palestine in the Holy Bible. However, the Same Basic Sermon Was Also Delivered By Him to Other Saints of His After His Resurrection Whose Righteous Ancestors Had Migrated From Jerusalem to the Americas 600 Years Earlier. In Their Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, We Are Blessed to Access this Same Basic "Sermon On the Mount" Delivered to Those Other Saints of His. There Are Many Similarities, but Also There Are Significant Changes In His Second Version. Actually Reflected in This Second Version are the Significant Changes Which Had Taken Place in Him, Jesus, as a Result of His Atonement, Crucifixion and Resurrection Through Which He Had Fully Become "One" With His and Our Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost!

To Access This Blog's Index, Please Scroll Down To the Fifth Paragraph From the End of This Post!

Dear Readers of this Blog, please note that Google advertisements appear throughout this blog post. They were not solicited by me and I do not profit from them. I did request particularly that Google not place their ads within scriptures which I often use in my blog posts. It appears they have honored that request of mine. Thank you Google!

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TODAY'S THEME:

MY (J. Neil Birch's) TALK (Given January 1, 2012 In the Murray Third Ward of the Murray, Utah (U.S.A.) Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Sacrament Meeting.)

A book written by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve 


Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Apostles very capably covers the subject which I covered in this talk. I did not quote from his book in what I have written in this blog post because I was informed in a letter received from the Deseret Book Company of Salt Lake City, Utah (U.S.A.) in answer to a letter I had sent them, that they were unable to give me permission at that time to quote from that book in my blog posts.

I had already written the material I used in this Sacrament Meeting talk before  reading any of Elder Holland's well written book which I obtained from our County Library System. I prefer his writing style to mine and felt he had shown special apostolic insight in that which he wrote that I do not possess and felt my blog readers would appreciate and benefit from that.

However, that was not to be so I have done my best in handling this so very special subject in that sacrament meeting talk and then subsequently, right now, in this blog post of mine:

I will now compare that which was spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ in Palestine before his Atonement, Crucifixion and Resurrection in that same basic discourse which he, the Savior of this World, after His resurrection, delivered to His Nephite Followers in the Western Hemisphere as recorded in the Book of 3 Nephi of the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

My hoped for objective for my Sacrament meeting  talk was that each of those who would hear it would become even more appreciative of the Key Role the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, plays in helping each of us to understand and more fully appreciate that which He, Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, had become after His experiencing His Atonement, Crucifixion, Resurrection and His Reunion with His and Our Father in Heaven.

It was only then, it appears to me, that He, Our Savior, Jesus Christ had become fully equal with, His and our Father in Heaven, as expressed in John 10:30 "I and my Father are one."

The comparative explanations I'll make each time I quote a set of two scriptures, one from the Book of Matthew from the New Testament and the other from Third Nephi from the Book of Mormon, will hopefully help each of us increase our appreciation of each of these marvelous scriptures and perhaps most importantly develop new insights regarding these scriptural truths.

I suggest you now prepare yourselves to focus, to the best of your individual abilities, on the sets of sacred passages of scripture I will soon begin to present.

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However, I must mention before beginning to make those comparisons, that there have been many critics of the Book of Mormon who stubbornly insist that the passages of scripture from the Book of Third Nephi, which I only have a few moments to compare, are just an example of plagiarism, or, using a different word, thievery on the part of Joseph Smith from words found in the New Testament, specifically in New Testament Accounts of the Sermon on the Mount.

Of course those critics, follow the pattern of most critics of the Book of Mormon inasmuch as they usually have never really read the The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ and therefore, do not realize that Joseph Smith was the inspired translator of ancient Nephite records instead of being one who wrote the Book of Mormon on his own.

Jesus' own words spoken to them as a resurrected human being were recorded by His Nephite apostles in Ancient America  and were finally engraved on plates of gold (so as to preserve them for many centuries) by the Prophet Mormon who was born about three centuries after the Resurrected Jesus Christ's appearance to the Nephites in 34 A.D.

It would be the Prophet Mormon's own son, Moroni who as a resurrected human being appeared to Joseph Smith not long before his eighteenth birthday, informing him for the first time about the plates of gold upon which were engraved important teachings our Heavenly Father wanted to make available to each of us through the means of the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.


The Angel Moroni Appears to Joseph Smith -by Tom Lovell

 The actual writing of that book (the Book of Mormon) is something that would have been an impossibility for Joseph Smith or anyone else in our day and time on earth, to have done. That will be very adequately demonstrated in comparing very similar yet differing in some aspects, scriptures from the New Testament with scriptures from the Book of Third Nephi in the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ!

As some of you already know, in Chapters Twelve through Fourteen of Third Nephi in the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, is recorded a sermon given by the Resurrected Jesus Christ to the Nephites of Ancient Central America who were the remaining citizens of the Nephite Nation who were much more righteous than those who had been destroyed by a great disaster brought about personally by our Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.

A much larger and much more wicked portion of that people was destroyed leaving only the righteous alive whom he was to teach and to abundently bless.

That sermon given by our Savior Jesus Christ to the Nephites is very similar to the one recorded in the New Testament, Matthew, Chapters Five through Seven, which is commonly referred to as The Sermon on the Mount. Of course those two discourses are very similar inasmuch as each of them were given on the same basic subject by our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We should expect that which Our Savior would be teaching, in each of his two sermons, the one in Palestine during his mortality and the one in the Americas after having become immortal, would provide readers of those two sets of scriptures basic principles of his unchanging gospel and would be very similar.

I will only compare just parts of Chapter Twelve of 3 Nephi to Chapter Five of Matthew. There appears to me to be, besides many key similarities, a few insignificant differences between the two sermons. and also some very significant differences! There is a good reason that is so, and you'll soon understand why if you don't already know.

I will begin by quoting just a portion of our Lord's Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew, Chapter 5 allowing us to compare that which was said by Him in those passages there in Palestine with that which He taught near the temple in the Land Bountiful (in Ancient America)


Jesus Christ Visits the Americas -by John Scott

I do this for the purpose of identifying significant differences that exist between these two very similar sermons which were both given by Jesus Christ, during His mortality in Palestine and then in the Ancient Americas by Him as an immortal and resurrected being.

The first two verses of Chapter 5 of Matthew and Chapter 12 of Third Nephi are basically introductory and therefore I won't compare them. Please note also that I skip over verses four and five in both Third Nephi Chapter 12 and in Matthew 5 because they are word for word identical!

Now please focus on these two following scriptures and try to recognize the reasons for there being key differences between them.

Please Note: It appears that Jesus in his mortal ministry did not yet use the words, "who come unto me," because he had not yet experienced His Atonement, Death, and Resurrection, which brought on his glorified state, which is surely the reason that would cause mortals to seek to come unto him, He who had fully become their God!)

Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

3 Nephi 12: 3 Yea, blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (emphasis added)

Matthew 5: 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

3 Nephi 12: 6 And blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.

Please Note: Jesus did not include in this comparable New Testament scripture the words, "they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost," which were used in Third Nephi 12:6, because His apostles in Palestine had not yet received the Gift of the Holy Ghost at the time of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

They received that sacred gift, The Holy Ghost, only after His Resurrection. That is described in Acts 2 of the New Testament.

Matthew: 5:18 for verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

3 Nephi 12:18 For verily I say unto you, one jot nor one tittle hath not passed away from the law, but in me it hath all been fulfilled. (emphasis added)

Please take note: As you may have already determined, in the Matthew version of this verse it is written in the future tense. However, in the Third Nephi version you will have noted it is written in the past tense because by then, Jesus personally had fulfilled the Law (of Moses) by His Atonement, Death and Resurrection! Let's go on to comparing additional scriptures:

Matthew 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

3 Nephi 12:19 And behold, I have given you the law and the commandments of my Father, that ye shall believe in me, and that ye shall repent of your sins, and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Behold, ye have the commandments before you, and the law (of Moses) is fulfilled. (emphasis and clarification added)

Our Savior, Jesus Christ did in actual fact completely fulfill the law of Moses as he told the Nephites as recorded in 3 Nephi 12:18! (please review that scripture as it is given several paragraphs above.)

I humbly suggest that only then, after his atonement, crucifixion and resurrection, was Jesus actually able to fully know personally the true and ultimately full meaning of: a broken heart and a contrite spirit, because of what He had personally experienced in bringing about the atonement which so fully affects each one of us!

At this point in this blog post I desire that each of you have the opportunity of experiencing a Mormon Messages video portraying our Savior experiencing the atonement which was brought about by him for each of us! His betrayal that led up to his crucifixion is also portrayed. Be prepared to experience some overwhelming feelings about that which our Savior did for us.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have experienced quoting from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants that during his atonement,
our Savior, Jesus Christ bled at every pore of his body.

D. and C. 19:18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—

You will notice in the video you will be viewing, that after our Savior had gone through such great suffering coupled with exceedingly effusive bleeding, the actor portraying our Savior is shown washing his face and arms and hands in a stream before going back to where his apostles were sleeping.

The dreadful suffering which went way beyond our ability to comprehend in paying for all of our sins, brought about the great changes in him that should cause each of us to willingly and gratefully worship him!

I believe this most sacred experience was portrayed so sensitively and accurately by the "Mormon Messages" very capable and very believing staff and particularly by the actor portraying our Savior and those who may have personally tutored him!

The Savior Suffers in Gethsemane

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The Resurrected Savior of Mankind, just before descending from the heavens to be with the Nephites near His Temple in the Land Bountiful emphasized a certain phrase:

"a broken heart and a contrite spirit"

Again, those words had been spoken by the Resurrected Jesus Christ from the sky in the darkness that covered those particular Nephites and probably other Nephites and Lamanites who had survived the terrible mass destruction   which the Resurrected Lord himself had put into action. While repeating that sacred and instructive phrase of His, our Resurrected Savior continued:

3 Nephi 9:20 And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit, And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, (an experience told about in the Book of Helaman, the just previous book in the Book of Mormon to Third Nephi);  were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not. (emphasis and clarification added by Neil Birch)

(3 Nephi 9: 12) And many great destructions have I caused to come upon this land, and upon this people, because of their wickedness and their abominations.

Now I will return to comparing the words the Savior spoke in Palestine to those he spoke in the city, Bountiful (possibly located in Ancient Baja California -(please see my just previous blog post, "44l) after his Resurrection.

Matthew 5: 20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

3 Nephi 12:20 Therefore come unto me and be ye saved; for verily I say unto you, that except ye shall keep my commandments, which I have commanded you at this time, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (emphasis added)

In that scripture the Resurrected and Glorified Savior of Mankind doesn't refer to just righteousness as was the case in Matthew 5:20, but to "my commandments," in speaking to the Nephites after His resurrection. That is one excellent example of the significant differences between the two versions of his basic sermon.

Once again I will present a scriptural verse that comes from the time when the resurrected Redeemer of the World, Jesus Christ spoke from the Heavens in the darkness caused by the aftermath of the great destruction which He had caused to take place just before descending from the sky above to speak with the Nephites: (we again go back to Chapter 9 of Third Nephi:)

Please Note: One difference between those last two verses I compared is that while in Third Nephi 12:20 the Savior says, "come unto me and be ye saved," he also mentions keeping His commandments. He doesn't say that in Matthew 5:20. (He perhaps could have chosen to refer at that earlier time in Palestine to "keeping My Father's Commandments."

3 Nephi 9:18 I am the light and the life of the world. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

19 And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings.

20 And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

Then too, the very last verse of the chapter we are considering from each book of scripture should be compared:

Matthew 5: 48: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

3Nephi 12: 48 Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect. (emphasis added)

Significantly our resurrected Savior referred not only to "your Father who is in heaven is perfect", but also to himself being perfect!

Now wait a second!, after meditating a little bit on all of that last very important verse, just for a quick second, stop and realize what our Savior said in that last verse about each of us (I now repeat that statement:)

"Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." (emphasis added)

Wow! What a wish regarding each of us! He opened the way for great Eternal blessings for each of us! What a marvelous goal for us to work toward with Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ's assistance. We thank thee our Dear Lord and Savior!

He surely knew He had much to accomplish, i.e. the atonement, crucifixion and resurrection, before becoming the equal to His and our Father in Heaven! We each have been so specially blessed in this post by being privileged to view that so very well done video reenactment of our Savior's sacred atonement!

In ending this blog post I must quote here Our Savior's words revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith (From the Pearl of Great Price) in Moses 1:39 because they too apply directly to each of us, to you and to me. I dearly love and treasure these words of our Savior and I hope that each of you treasure them too:


Jesus the Christ  -by Del Parson

Moses 1:39 For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (That includes you and me! - clarification added by Neil Birch.)

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DISCLAIMER
This Blog 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 Desire To Access), After You Have Read All of This Paragraph, Please Scroll Back Up And Click on the Following: Jesus' Sermon on the Mount Given Also by Him in America -Post 44m. 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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"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 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.

I invite you to let your friends and relatives know about this blog if you think they would be interested in it. 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

Post 45b: Just Where in this World of Ours is the Final Landing Place Where Father Lehi and His People (Whose History is Recorded in the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ), After an Exceedingly Long World-Wide Journey which Began in Jerusalem AND by Their Traveling Both by Land and Then by Sea, WHERE DID THEY FINALLY COME TO SHORE?

I will now present for the second time this year on e of my a blog posts. However, first I want you to view briefly something I first published soon after deciding to publish this blog . What you will now view is what caused me to give this blog the name by which it is called: "Have You Really Read the Book of Mormon."


I quote this because it was made in a Nationwide (U.S.A.) TV Presentation on the last day of April and the first day of May, 2007 by PBS, entitled: "The Mormons." 

I have, at times, over the course of writing the posts found in this my blog, quoted a statement made by a professor from a State University here in the State of Utah in the United States of America concerning his own personal theory of how the Book of Mormon was written.

Of course, that PBS presentation was viewed by millions of viewers. In reading the quote below which I have included in a number of my blog posts you can easily realize of course that this professor has never really read The Book of Mormon! I quote his statement from the actual text of that PBS Documentary, "The Mormons:"
 

Professor Alex Caldiero

"I hear Joseph Smith's voice every time I read it (The Book of Mormon). He was a farmer. He was young. He was unlettered and he put this all together. So you have this rough hewn kind of  text..." Alex Caldiero, poet and scholar, Utah Valley University, (Emphasis  Added) 

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You will now be provided ample evidence that Professor Caldiero did not know what he was talking about regarding Joseph Smith having "put this all together."

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TODAY'S THEME:

Lehi and His People Arrive in the Promised Land -by Arnold Friberg

In this painting (used often by me in many of my previous blog posts) by famous artist, Arnold Friberg who created many artistic depictions of scenes used for the famous Cecil B. DeMill movie, The Ten Commandments, we view Father Lehi, his wife Sariah along with son, Nephi to their right and his just younger brother, Jacob, along with others.

They had been guided by the Lord on a long oceanic voyage from the East coast of Arabia and then most likely along the same tidal currents used by ocean voyagers for centuries afterward such as the Portuguese and Spaniards, closer to our time on earth, by sailing, most likely, in a Northeasterly direction and then eventually being propelled forward by those same prevailing currents in a Southerly direction, thus reaching their Promised Land to which the Lord their God had guided them.

In the above scene depicted by Arnold Friberg, Father Lehi and other members of his family along with some members of another family whose father was a relative of Lehi's  are viewing their promised land to which the Lord God had just guided them:  Just exactly where in the Americas was that land to which they had been guided?

Later on this is what Father Lehi told his family about their promised land to which they had been guided by the power of the Holy Ghost:

2 Nephi 1: 3 And he (father Lehi) also spake unto them concerning the land of promise, which they had obtained—how merciful the Lord had been in warning us that we should flee out of the land of Jerusalem.

4 For, behold, said he, I have seen a vision, in which I know that Jerusalem is destroyed; and had we remained in Jerusalem we should also have perished.

5 But, said he, notwithstanding our afflictions, we have obtained a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath covenanted this land unto me, and to my children forever, and also all those who should be led out of other countries by the hand of the Lord.

6 Wherefore, I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall none come into this land (which I personally believe along with many other Latter-day Saints (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) has been extended by Latter-day prophets to refer to all of the Americas) save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord.

7 Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever.

8 And behold, it is wisdom that this land should be kept as yet from the knowledge of other nations; for behold, many nations would overrun the land, that there would be no place for an inheritance.

9 Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a promise, that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves. And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever. (between 588 and 570 B.C. emphasis and clarification added by Neil  Birch)

Now, just exactly where was this specific promised land located in the Americas to which Lehi was guided by the Lord God? Many of you who already are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which publishes the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, will say that Lehi and those with him arrived somewhere in the Americas in about 589 B.C.

But where exactly in the Americas did that ship built by Nephi with the guidance of the Lord God and through the labors of Nephi and his brothers, end up after their long oceanic voyage?

This has been at times perhaps a somewhat contentious question and many Latter-day Saints have offered their differing scholarly opinions as to exactly where they landed. Those opinions actually differ widely!

Through the much appreciated guidance of my oldest of nine children, Jane Birch, I attended with her a meeting this past Friday night where a father who is a professional, University trained geographer along with his son where both of them participated in presenting on the same subject, at a meeting located in a Mexican-Mormon Museum located not far from the Provo (Utah) Temple of their and my and my daughter, Jane's church, spoke. The professional geographer father provided the main, very interesting and in my view, very beneficial presentation.

I have read a number of articles written by various other sholarly members of that church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in which their individual opinions of the actual landing sites of Lehi's ship have been expressed. I was impressed with some of their lines of reasoning, but was not compelled to fully accept any one of their opinions on the subject.

As you may have guessed by now I have become convinced that although this is still a disputed subject among some members of the Lord's restored church, the evidence is quite overwhelming, in my personal opinion now, as to where Lehi, his family, and some relatives and at least one unrelated friend landed in the Americas. I'm now convinced it was actually located in the Southern end of what is now Baja-California, which is part of the present-day nation of Mexico.

Although having viewed their videos many times in the past, after attending that meeting I mentioned above last Friday night, I became even more impressed with the great work done by the afore-mentioned father (a professional geographer) and his son along with others who worked with them.

I soon will invite each of you to involve yourselves in viewing an electronic presentation produced by them by which you will have the opportunity of trying to decide for yourselves, whether or not I,  J. Neil Birch am wise in supporting that which is presented in this presentation which makes up the bulk of this post.

Now before inviting you to view that electronic presentation, I ask a very pertinent (but out of necessity, a very long) question:

Inasmuch as some individuals in this world of ours feel that the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, was merely made up by Joseph Smith (and they most likely would list others who worked closely with him in supposedly, in their opinions, writing it all on their own or borrowing some of it from some unknown author or authors), would it not be a helpful if additional proof of that book's solid truthfulness, (along side the spiritual witness that is promised each of us within the pages of that sacred book) that the Prophets Mormon and Moroni's alleged facts stated within the Book of Mormon have been substantiated as actual geographical truths, such as the electronic presentation you will soon experience purports to do?

After viewing the videos presented below you will have to ask yourselves the question, how did Joseph Smith get all of that geography so accurately placed unless, as he told us, it was revealed to him by the God of Heaven as he translated that which was inscribed on plates of Gold by the Prophet Mormon along with other prophets who lived in the Ancient Americas.

I believe that with all of that precise geography being right on target (as I very firmly believe), we have solid evidence that the Book of Mormon was not made up by Joseph Smith or anyone else.

You are hereby invited to make comments regarding your stand on what you have learned in this blog post, in the Comments section which you will find at the very end of this blog post. There is quite a bit of information for you to consider but I feel you will find that it has been provided in a very interesting and informative manner.

Please remember that there are given limits set by Google as to how long your Comments can be. I will look forward to reading what some of you may write. Be sure to not overlook each of the sections of this following electronic link to which I will guide you. The videos will take some time to view and listen to, but they are very much worth the time it will take.

After attending the meeting this just past Friday night in Provo, Utah I was very impressed with how the geographer father I mentioned above who presented Friday night appears to be very qualified in dealing with this very interesting and challenging subject because of his geographical skills.

There was no contention present during that meeting. I was very impressed with all those I spoke with as to both of their characters and perhaps more especially with the father who is such an accomplished professional. After having read his conclusions regarding the actual whereabouts of the Book of Mormon lands, as I read the Book of Mormon now I have a mental map of those lands which makes a lot of sense and even helps me to more fully enjoy reading that Book of Books!

Please don't overlook any of the sections of that which is provided below (Under the title of: "A Choice Land" (the videos will take quite a bit of time to view fully but they are very worth the time it will take you.). You will be guided by the authors of this presentation you will be viewing as to the order in which you may view each of the sections of their presentation. You most likely will first choose to view their geography photos of portions of Baja California. Please do not overlook the videos. I found them very informative. However, it will take quite a bit of time to watch all of those videos, but you can come back later to view those you didn't have time for at first. Let me remind you that the following link provides much very interesting substantiated information which verifies that we are reading true history when we read the Book of Mormon!

A Choice Land!

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DISCLAIMER
This Blog 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 Desire To Access), After You Have Read All of This Paragraph, Please Scroll Back Up And Click on the Following: Geographical Location of the Book of Mormon Lands, A Strong Possibility -Post 44l and 45b. 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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"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 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.

I invite you to let your friends and relatives know about this blog if you think they would be interested in it. 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

Post 44k: Jesus Entered this Life as the Literal Son of God! His Earthly Mission: Fulfill the Law of Moses! After His Atonement, Crucifixion and Resurrection The Law Given Moses Had Been Completely Fulfilled. With That Key Step Taken, He Commissioned His Twelve Apostles to Teach His Gospel to the House of Israel, (and later on, teach the Gentiles too). Jesus also Personally Taught the Samaritans. He Then Taught Personally His Nephite-Lamanite People Who Lived Many Continents Away from Palestine, and Even After He Had Left Them, He Continued Teaching Them Through His Twelve Disciples He Had Chosen From Among Them, Preparing His People There to More Fully Live His Gospel. All of This Began Several Centuries of Perfect Righteousness for Themselves and Their Descendants.

To Access This Blog's Index, Please Scroll Down To the Fifth Paragraph From the End of This Post!

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TODAY'S THEME:



Christ's Image -by Heinrich Hofmann

JESUS' CENTRAL ROLE IN THE PLAN OF SALVATION

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IMPORTANT NOTICE TO VIEWERS OF THIS BLOG: Adds have been inserted by Google without permission from me in this blog post. They have appeared in the middle of sacred scriptures where they don't belong at all. They actually don't belong anywhere in this post. I advise you to ignore them. I'm doing all that I can to eliminate them, but haven't yet succeeded! If any of you know how I can arrange to have these adds eliminated please use the Comments section of this post to let me know. Thanks for your patience with this matter.

P.S. I'm not against advertising in blogs generally. I'm certain that it is an important source of income for Google. However, as you have read above I believe permission from the Blogger must be given for such to be allowed in his or her blog.
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Jesus, while still in his mortality knew very clearly the great work that was to be done in his name among people that he considered a part of his sheep. We are instructed in a very touching manner by this Mormon Messages video, how Jesus very effectively prepared the way for the work his apostles were to do after his resurrection and ascension into Heaven among the Samaritans who were partially Israelite and partially Gentile (see Bible Dictionary, Samaritans)

Jesus Teaches a Samaritan Woman: 

I quote from the video you have just experienced: Jesus speaking to the Samaritan Woman then said, "He to Whom You are Speaking  is He", (the Messiah.)

The Apostle John tells us:

John 4:28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,

29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?

30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.

John 4:39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.

40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he (Jesus) abode there two days.

41 And many more believed because of his own word;

42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. (clarification and emphasis added by Neil Birch)

We also can learn that after our Savior's resurrection his apostles were instructed by him that they could be successful in teaching the Samaritans:

Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (emphasis added by Neil Birch)



Christ Ordaining His Twelve Apostles -by Harry Anderson

And a very successful work was done in Samaria by Philip. See Acts 8: 4-25.

Also, as has been pointed out from time to time in this blog's posts Jesus Christ, our Savior, mentioned to his apostles his intention to personally going sometime after his resurrection to teach "other sheep."

John 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

Sometime after Jesus' ascension into the sky from the presence of his apostles and other followers in Palestine, he appeared among the Nephites whose ancestors, at the instruction of Heavenly Father had been led through an arduous journey from Jerusalem to the ancient Americas in about 600 B.C. finally establishing themselves somewhere near our present day Central America and Mexico.

 Before He descended from the sky to begin His ministry among His Other Sheep, he spoke from the sky telling them of a very important part of his divine mission in their land:

The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, 3Nephi Chapter 9

Please feel free to listen to this entire chapter by clicking as you will be invited to do just below this paragraph. Although the deaths of many Nephites and Lamanites are announced by him as something he had chosen to cause to come about, you will soon realize that their having been destroyed was a key part of his divine mission among these, some of His Other Sheep. 

Please focus on our Savior's emphasis in verse 20 that the Nephites (and each of us too, I'm sure He would add) are to offer to him, our Redeemer and Savior, the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit!

3Nephi, Chapter 9

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Jesus Christ Visits the Americas in A.D. 34 -by John Scott

While visiting the Nephite-Lamanites in the Ancient Americas who had been spared the awful destruction that many of their friends and relatives had just suffered, Jesus referred, while speaking to his newly called apostles there in that land, to that which he had told His apostles in Palestine about his intentions to visit "other sheep" which were not of "his fold there."

3 Nephi 15:12 Ye are my disciples; and ye are a light unto this people, who are a remnant of the house of Joseph.

13 And behold, this is the land of your inheritance; and the Father hath given it unto you.

14 And not at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell it unto your brethren at Jerusalem.

15 Neither at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell unto them concerning the other tribes of the house of Israel, whom the Father hath led away out of the land.

16 This much did the Father command me, that I should tell unto them:

17 That other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

18 And now, because of stiffneckedness and unbelief they understood not my word; therefore I was commanded to say no more of the Father concerning this thing unto them.

19 But, verily, I say unto you that the Father hath commanded me, and I tell it unto you, that ye were separated from among them because of their iniquity; therefore it is because of their iniquity that they know not of you.

20 And verily, I say unto you again that the other tribes hath the Father separated from them; and it is because of their iniquity that they know not of them.

21 And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

22 And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the Gentiles; for they understood not that the Gentiles should be converted through their preaching.

23 And they understood me not that I said they shall hear my voice; and they understood me not that the Gentiles should not at any time hear my voice—that I should not manifest myself unto them save it were by the Holy Ghost.

And He Healed Them All Every One -by Gary Kapp

24 But behold, ye have both heard my voice, and seen me; and ye are my sheep, and ye are numbered among those whom the Father hath given me. (emphasis added by Neil Birch)



Christ and the Book of Mormon Children -by Del Parson



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DISCLAIMER
This Blog 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.


____________


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 Desire To Access), After You Have Read All of This Paragraph, Please Scroll Back Up And Click on the Following: Jesus the Christ, After His Atonement, Crucifixion and Resurrection, Led His apostles in Palestine to Continue His Work of Salvation in That Part of the World, While He Led in Doing His Work Among Some of His Other Sheep in Another Part of the World. -Post 44k. 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).

___________

"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.

____________


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.

I invite you to let your friends and relatives know about this blog if you think they would be interested in it. 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