45g This Blog Post of Mine is the Third in a Row that Is Something You Will Want to Share With Your Non Mormon Friends, both Older and Younger!

To Access This Blog's Index, Please Scroll Down To the Fifth Paragraph From the End of This Post! For Those of You Who May Be In a Hurry to Access it, Here it is now: Neil Birch's Blog Index.

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

****

TODAY'S THEME

Christ's Image -by Heinrich Hofmann

This particular video you can view below, happens to be one which was put together and filmed in Auburn, California a city in Northern California which is about sixteen miles North East from my hometown of Roseville, California and about 35 miles from Sacramento, the State Capitol. I had my first college year, 1950-51, at Placer College which was then located in Auburn. (It was later renamed, Sierra College and moved closer to Roseville, near Loomis and Rocklin.) I did well in my grades that year and was a better student than I had been in some of my high school years. I really wanted to succeed in college!

I was on the study body council all of that school year and near the end of the second semester I was elected by the Student Body as the second in command to that school's student body president for my sophomore year. However I was unable to fill that elected office because I decided early in that summer to attend Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah although that would be tough for me to do financially:

Here is that video. I believe your non LDS friends, both young and old, will enjoy viewing it. It is very unique and enjoyable!


____________

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.


____________


TO OPEN NEIL BIRCH'S BLOG INDEX: To Either Read the Full Index Item Which Refers To This BlogPost, (Or To Search The Index For Any Other BlogPost You Desire To Access): After You Have Read All of This Paragraph, Please Scroll Back Up and Click on The Following: (This) Book of Mormon Focused Blog Post is Yet Another One, (a Third One) You May Want to e-mail Your Friends and Relatives Who are Not Yet Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Another You-Tube  Mormon Message Video is Included Which Was Filmed Not Far From Where I, (Neil Birch) Grew Up in Northern California. -Post 45g. When The Picture of Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ Sitting Next To a Little Boy Comes onto Your Screen, Please Scroll Down To Your Target Item.


___________


"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. 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

45f: In this Week's Post You Will, by Viewing a Recently Produced Mormon Messages Video, "The Sermon on the Mount," Which Includes the "Beatitudes," be Reminded of Our Savior Jesus Christ's Sermon on the Mount Given in Palestine. Afterwards You Will Not Only Be Able to Read Further Passages From That Sacred Sermon on the Mount He Gave in Palestine, But You Will also Be Presented With a Comparison Between That Sermon on the Mount in Palestine With the Very Similar Sermon but with Key Differences in it Which He, the Resurrected Savior of the World, Jesus Christ, Delivered to the Nephite-Lamanite Nation in the Land Bountiful in Their Land Located in the Americas. As With Last Week's Post You LDS Readers May Find it Appropriate to Share this Post with Your Non-LDS Friends and Relatives. This Post May Help Each of You Non-LDS Viewers of this Blog Post That You Might Consider Seeking Through the Holy Spirit, a Confirmation that the Book of Mormon Along With the Holy Bible Contains the Inspired Words of Your and Our Mutual God!

To Access This Blog's Index, Please Scroll Down To the Fifth Paragraph From the End of This Post! For Those of You Who May Be In a Hurry to Access it, Here it is now: Neil Birch's Blog Index.

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

****

TODAY'S THEME

Christ's Image -by Heinrich Hofmann

The Sermon on the Mount, The Beatitudes

The Resurrected Jesus Christ is Greeted by  Nephite-Lamanites on the American Continent  Not Long After His Ascension  Into Heaven Which Took Place in Palestine Not Very Long After His Atonement, Crucifixion, and Resurrection Took Place. 

Very Soon after Arriving in the Americas In 34 A.D.,  the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ called and set apart twelve apostles of the Nephite Nation in the Western Hemisphere as a key step in setting up his kingdom among them too, as he had done during his mortal ministry among his fellow Jewish followers in Palestine. The painting I used is one which is used to depict the setting apart of the Twelve in Palestine. I used it because to my knowledge there isn't a painting available of that particular event in ancient Central America.  

Jesus Ordaining the Twelve in Palestine -by Harry Anderson (I am using this painting to remind us of the ordination of the Twelve somewhere in the Americas.) 

3 Nephi 12: 1 AND it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words unto Nephi, and to those who had been called, (now the number of them who had been called, and received power and authority to baptize, was twelve) and behold, he stretched forth his hand unto the multitude, and cried unto them, saying: Blessed are ye if ye shall give heed unto the words of these twelve whom I have chosen from among you to minister unto you, and to be your servants; and unto them I have given power that they may baptize you with water; and after that ye are baptized with water, behold, I will baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost; therefore blessed are ye if ye shall believe in me and be baptized, after that ye have seen me and know that I am.

2 And again, more blessed are they who shall believe in your words because that ye shall testify that ye have seen me, and that ye know that I am. Yea, blessed are they who shall believe in your words, and come down into the depths of humility and be baptized, for they shall be visited with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and shall receive a remission of their sins. (emphasis added)

The Resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ Teaches the Nephites in Ancient Central America -by John Scott

In Chapters Twelve through Fourteen of 3 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 more righteous citizens of the Nephite Nation after a great cataclysm had destroyed a larger and very wicked portion of their people.

That discourse 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. We should expect that which the then, immortal and glorified, Jesus Christ had chosen to teach the Nephite-Lamanite people who were to be his followers at that time in the Western Hemisphere, ought to be very similar to that which he had taught his flock in Palestine during his mortal ministry there. We should expect that he would be teaching in each of his two sermons, the basic principles of his unchanging gospel.

In this present post I  have the space to only compare Chapter Twelve of 3 Nephi to Chapter Five of Matthew. There appear to be, besides many key similarities, a few insignificant differences between the two sermons. and also some very significantdifferences! I will quote just a portion of our Lord's Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew, Chapter 5 allowing us to compare what was said by Him in those passages there in Palestine with that which He said near the temple in the Land Bountiful (in Central America) for the purpose of identifying significant differences that exist between these two very similar sermons which were both given by Jesus Christ; the one in Palestine as a mortal and the one near the temple in the Land Bountiful in Ancient Central Americas by Him as an immortal resurrected being. 


I hope you will learn something very significant about the reasons for there being striking differences between these two otherwise very similar sermons.

I have used the brown print I typically use when quoting from the Bible in my blog when quoting Matthew Chapter 5. When quoting what the Savior taught his fold in the Americas as is recorded in 3 Nephi Chapter 12 I have used the blue print I typically use  when quoting Latter-day Scriptures. I will use red print when making interspersed clarifying comments.

One might expect that which Jesus taught both groups; his followers in Palestine on a mount, depicted in this painting and then his Nephite followers in the Land, Bountiful near the temple there, to be very similar if not identical in most of what He teaches because they can be identified as key points of doctrine of his unchanging gospel. 

The first two verses of Chapter 5 of Matthew and Chapter 12 of 3 Nephi are basically introductory and therefore I won't compare them. Please note also that I have skipped over verses four and five in both 3 Nephi Chapter 12 and Matthew 5 because they are word for word identical!

The Sermon on the Mount in Palestine -by Carl Heinrich Bloch

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

Our Resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ Delivers the Same Basic Sermon in the Americas as He Did in Palestine, However There Were Key Differences in What He Said in Each of Them.

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

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 become fully their God!)

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 the comparable New Testament scripture the words, "they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost," which were used in 3 Nephi 12:6. 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 only after His Resurrection.

Acts 1: 4 And, being assembled together with them (His Apostles in Palestine), (He, Jesus) commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.(clarification added)

5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

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 Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (emphasis added)

Go Ye Therefore and Teach All Nations -by Harry Anderson

The Ascension -by Harry Anderson

Acts 1: 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

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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)

Note: As you may have already determined, in the Matthew version of this verse it is written in the future tense. However, in the 3 Nephi version you will have noted it is written in the past tense. By then, Jesus personally had fulfilled the Law (of Moses) by His Atonement, Death and Resurrection!

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)

It would also seem to me that only then was Jesus actually able to fully know personally through His great atonement and sacrifice the full meaning of: a broken heart and a contrite spirit. The Savior just before descendingfrom the heavens to be with the Nephites near His Temple had previously emphasized that phrase:

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, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not.

Again, those words were spoken by the Resurrected Jesus Christ from the heavens in the darkness that covered those Nephites and probably others who had survived the holocaust which the Lord had put into action Himself there in the Americas in which a huge number of the more wicked were destroyed!

See (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.

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.

 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 and Glorification!

I present now another verse of scripture  that comes from the time when the resurrected Redeemer of the World, Jesus Christ spoke from the Heavens just before descending to speak more personally with the Nephites:

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. (emphasis added)

Please Note: One difference between those two verses is that while in 3 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.

Then too, the very last verse of each chapter we considered from each book ought to 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.

That verse 48 in each of the two books is the perfect way to end this comparison of the two chapters, one from the New Testament and the other from the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. I will refrain from further comment recognizing that you won't need any assistance from me in recognizing that the comparison of those two last verses caps the discussion very surely and decisively! 

The issue of possible plagiarism of the Sermon on the Mount that has been raised by disbelievers of the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, that may possibly have been considered by some of you readers too, has just faded away into the clear blue blue sky!

Thank you for your patience with me as we went through much effort in comparing these two special and very true chapters! The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ is a very special gift from Our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ!

____________

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.


____________


TO OPEN NEIL BIRCH'S BLOG INDEX: To Either Read the Full Index Item Which Refers To This BlogPost, (Or To Search The Index For Any Other BlogPost You Desire To Access): After You Have Read All of This Paragraph, Please Scroll Back Up and Click on The Following: (This) Book of Mormon Focused Blog Post is Another One You May Want to e-mail Your Friends and Relatives Who are Not Yet Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A Mormon Messages Depicting the Savior's Sermon on the Mount in Palestine is Included -Post 45f. When The Picture of Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ Sitting Next To a Little Boy Comes onto Your Screen, Please Scroll Down To Your Target Item.


___________


"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. 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

45e I Intend this Blog Post of Mine to Stand as an Introduction to the Book of Mormon, Something Each of You Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Can Share With Your Non-LDS Friends and Relatives, and Something Which Those of You Who are Not (Yet) Members of that Church Can View With Interest. The Mormon Messages Video Presented Herein Featuring Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Followed by Paintings with Explanations of Them, Will Hopefully Help You in Your Efforts to Learn About and/or Share the Book of Mormon.

To Access This Blog's Index, Please Scroll Down To the Fifth Paragraph From the End of This Post! For Those of You Who May Be In a Hurry to Access it, Here it is now: Neil Birch's Blog Index.

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

****

TODAY'S THEME

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland 

I, J. Neil Birch, author of this blog post now invite you to view and listen to this message addressed to each of you by the above Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ in our world today!

A VIDEO: An Introduction to the Book of Mormon

Now after your having listened to Elder Holland's engaging remarks, I follow up by Inviting  you to View professional  paintings of  a Number of  Key Individuals and events which are Featured in the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ or had something significant to do with its being published in the State of New York in the year 1830. Along with each of those paintings I will briefly explain the key roles the individuals shown in them have regarding this additional scripture which was given us by God our Heavenly Father to bear Witness in our day on earth of the Truthfulness of the Gospel of His Son, Jesus Christ!

Liahona  -by Arnold Friberg

The first individuals featured in the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ which I intend to portray through professionally done paintings are Lehi and his third eldest son, Nephi. After being called of God to Leave Jerusalem, their ancestral home and to be led to an unknown land to which Heavenly Father Intends to Lead them Father Lehi (with the red turbine) holding something they called "Liahona" which would serve as a compass or guide for them in their journey to their promised land to which God, our Heavenly Father intended to lead them. Nephi  is standing to the right of his father, Lehi and has placed his left hand on his father's back.

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

We have been told by Joseph Smith who translated the Book of Mormon into the English language by the power of God that after a very long journey both by land and by sea beginning in about 600 B.C. that the land Lehi and his family accepted as their promised land to which they had been led was in the Western part of the Americas.

Various specific sites in the Americas have been suggested by a number of professional persons as the actual site where Lehi and his family and relatives and at least one friend actually landed after a long and arduous journey from Jerusalem in Palestine. Of those various sites suggested I am personally convinced that Lehi's group (and actually two other groups who were led by God, one, centuries before Father Lehi's time, and the other not long after Lehi and his group arrived there); landed in an area which now makes up two states of the present-day Country of Mexico, which area has a Mediterranean Climate very similar to that in Palestine from whence that people, (we call them Nephites), came. This very similar climate to that in Palestine made it possible for the seeds they had brought with them to easily germinate and bountifully produce the food that was so essential for their survival in that new land.

A very large number of specifically detailed geographical statements made within the pages of the Book of Mormon agree exactly with what is known regarding the Baja California portion of the present day country of Mexico, including its very prolific agriculture productivity. Thus I can ask again here as I always do through the Title of my Blog: Have You Really Read the Book of Mormon?

Of  those of us who advocate that location, members of the Lynn A. Rosenvall Family of Calgary, Alberta, Canada and Utah, were the first to come to that conclusion. He and his son, David indicate that eventually during the times described within the Book of Mormon, some descendants of Father Lehi and his sons moved from what we know as Baja California further North into what is now known as San Diego, California (U.S.A.) and perhaps even further Northward into what we know as the Los Angeles, California (U.S.A.) area with their equally similar Mediterranean climate.*

The surely most significant history found within the pages of the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ was of His sacred visit among them after His resurrection and ascension into Heaven.

The Resurrected Jesus Christ Descends from the Sky to Visit and Bless the Nephite-Lamanite people in Ancient America.  - by Arnold Friberg

Recorded within the sacred pages of the Book of Third Nephi in the Book of Mormon are detailed accounts of His visit among the Nephite people (which the Lord Jesus Christ had foretold his apostles in Palestine during His lifetime.) 

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.

Jesus Christ Visits The Americas. -by John Scott

Within the sacred pages of the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ in the Book of 3Nephi are recorded the sacred words of our Savior Jesus Christ to His Israelite people (they called themselves  Nephites) who had migrated originally from Jerusalem (in 600 B.C.) to the Americas.

Abinadi Appearing Before King Noah -by Arnold Friberg

As is true in the Holy Bible, in the pages of the Book of Mormon are recorded accounts of people whose leaders have led them into wickedness causing God to send His holy prophets to reprimand them and to attempt to lead them back to the truth of the Holy Gospel of  His Son, Jesus Christ. In the King's court depicted above, the prophet Abinadi clearly and effectively prophesied of the future coming of Jesus Christ, the Savior of Mankind to redeem those who believe in Him and to bring about the eventual resurrection of all of us.

As pictured above, in a section of a certain Nephite King's court, (to the king's left in the scene above) are seated his priests who were as wicked as their king. However, one of them named Alma, believed in the teachings of Abinadi and recorded that prophet's teachings. Alma soon repented and escaped from the kingdom along with other believers in the coming of Jesus Christ about whom the great and good prophet, Abinadi had taught.

King Noah put Abinadi to death by fire! And as Abinadi had prophesied, the King also eventually suffered death by fire!

It is evident that the descendants of Father Lehi and his sons eventually, centuries after the coming of the Resurrected Jesus Christ to teach and bless them, and after they had totally apostatised  from His Gospel, migrated out of their original land in the Americas and settled in what is now a a part of the rest of the Nation of Mexico and countries South of there, and most likely extending eventually into South America and to the North into what are now western states of the United States of America.

Mormon Abridging The Plates -by Tom Lovell

The Book of Mormon was named after a Prophet of God who lived in the Americas from about 322 A.D. to about, Perhaps, A.D. 384. He was commanded by God to abridge the records who had been written and kept among his people since the days of Father Lehi and his righteous son, Nephi.

Mormon, a general in his nation's army was killed in the line of duty and the records given him by God on which he put together the key parts of the history of their people was turned over to his righteous son, Moroni. Moroni evidently eventually during the surely very lonely last part of his life, transported those sacred records to what is now known as the State of New York (U.S.A.) and buried them in the earth.

Moroni Burying the Plates. -by Tom Lovell

Many centuries later in the early 1800s Moroni who had died and had been resurrected through the power of the resurrection brought about by our Savior Jesus Christ, appeared to a young American man by the name of Joseph Smith who lived in Palmyra, New York

The Angel Moroni Appears to Joseph Smith. -by Tom Lovell

Joseph Smith Receives the Golden Plates from  Moroni,  who had been resurrected  and was an Angel of God.

Joseph Smith Translating the Book of Mormon -by Del Parson

I, J. Neil Birch invite each of you who do not yet have one, obtain your own personal copy of the Book of  Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ; in whatever language you prefer, and read it from cover to cover. You will never regret having done so! If you sincerely ask Heavenly Father to know of its truthfulness, He will reveal that to you!


You may want to go back up to the link to Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk which is basically an invitation to each of you obtain your own copy of the Book of Mormon and read it prayerfully. I invite you to experience that video once again. If you do so you perhaps after having read part or all of  that book will be motivated to ask your Heavenly Father to help you know for yourself of the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ's truthfulness! 


* In case you would like to investigate personally the matter of Book of Mormon Geography presented briefly in the first part of this blog post, I refer you to that which the Lynn A.Rosenvall family has presented:  A Choice Land


____________




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.


____________


TO OPEN NEIL BIRCH'S BLOG INDEX: To Either Read the Full Index Item Which Refers To This BlogPost, (Or To Search The Index For Any Other BlogPost You Desire To Access): After You Have Read All of This Paragraph, Please Scroll Back Up and Click on The Following: (This) Book of Mormon Focused Blog Post is One You May Want to e-mail Your friends and Relatives Who are Not Yet Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A Video Featuring Elder Jeffrey R. Holland is Included -Post 45e. When The Picture of Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ Sitting Next To a Little Boy Comes onto Your Screen, Please Scroll Down To Your Target Item.


___________


"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. 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 45d From Time to Time I Desire to Re-Acquaint the Readers of My Blog With Those Posts Which I Consider Particularly Faith Promoting. For This Week's Post I Have Chosen to Publish My Post Which I Published About Two and a Half Years Ago Which I Entitled, "A Letter to My Granddaughter JoJo." Even if You Viewed it Previously I'm sure You Will Enjoy Your Experience in Viewing it Once Again! Neil Birch

To Access This Blog's Index, Please Scroll Down To the Fifth Paragraph From the End of This Post! For Those of You Who May Be In a Hurry to Access it, Here it is: Neil Birch's Blog Index.

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

****

TODAY'S THEME

Christ's Image. -by Heinrich Hofmann

Dear Blog Readers, as mentioned Above in the Introduction to this Blog Post I have Chosen to Have You Have the Opportunity of Viewing One of my Most Appreciated Posts of the Past (because of the large numbers of viewers Who Have Viewed It When Published Previously!

A Letter to My Granddaughter, JoJo

Please Read This Now: A Note to Each of the Readers of this Blog Post: You will end up being in my past Blog Post 42d after Viewing and Listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in performing  Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. You can end right there instead of attempting to return to this my blog Post 45d in Which You Began. The Best to Each of You in Your Very Important Lives!


J. Neil Birch
____________




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 OPEN NEIL BIRCH'S BLOG INDEX: To Either Read the Full Index Item Which Refers To This BlogPost, (Or To Search The Index For Any Other BlogPost You Desire To Access): After You Have Read All of This Paragraph, Please Scroll Back Up and Click on The Following: A Letter to My Granddaughter, JoJo;  When The Picture of Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ Sitting Next To a Little Boy Comes onto Your Screen, Please Scroll Down To Your Target Item.


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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. 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 45c: There is a National Holiday this Week in the United States of America Where I Live. Actually it is the Fourth of July Holiday, the Birthday of Our Nation, a Truly American Holiday! An Older Post of Mine (35c) Which I've Copied into This Current Blog Post (45c) Is Not Directly About the Fourth of July Holiday or Even About the U.S.A. but It is Clearly About the Book of Mormon and How in that Sacred Book it is Prophesied that the Gospel of Jesus Christ Was to Be Restored After it Had Been Taken Away Through Apostasy. True World History Makes it Clear that the Gospel and Church of Jesus Christ Was Taken From the Earth After All of Jesus' Apostles Were Killed, (Except for John Whom Jesus Promised Would Continue Living Until His (Jesus') Second Coming. The Lord Has Also Let Us Know Through the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, that a Free Country (The U.S.A.) Would be Set up Whose Main Function Will be to Provide a Place Where Jesus's Church Could be Restored! P.S. Don't overlook the comment at the End of This Post Which was Submitted by An Appreciative Full-time LDS Missionary!

FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2009

35c - The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ

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

The Brother of Jared Sees the Finger of the Lord -by Arnold Friberg

The Book of Mormon, Ether Chapter 3:6 And it came to pass that when the brother of Jared had said these words, behold, the Lord stretched forth his hand and touched the stones one by one with his finger. And the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood; and the brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear.

7 And the Lord saw that the brother of Jared had fallen to the earth; and the Lord said unto him: Arise, why hast thou fallen?

8 And he saith unto the Lord: I saw the finger of the Lord, and I feared lest he should smite me; for I knew not that the Lord had flesh and blood.

9 And the Lord said unto him: Because of thy faith thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood; and never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so ye could not have seen my finger. Sawest thou more than this?

10 And he answered: Nay; Lord, show thyself unto me.

11 And the Lord said unto him: Believest thou the words which I shall speak?

12 And he answered: Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie.

13 And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you.

14 Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters.

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"I hear Joseph Smith's voice everytime 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, Orem, Utah, U.S.A. (Clarification Added)

Viewers of this blog post, please answer this question: 
Did you see in the Book of Mormon scripture above, TODAY'S THEME, the writing of a "young, unlettered farmer?" Or can 
you see "this rough hewn kind of text" that this young uneducated farmer was supposed to have "put all together?"

In my blog posts 1 and 2, I refer to the words of a scholar taken from the PBS Video, "The Mormons," shown in prime time television in early May of 2007.

I have referred back to those words frequently, in my posts. In fact, I derived the title of this blog, "Have You Really Read the Book of Mormon?" from the thoughts that first came to me after listening to Alex Caldiero's words (quoted in the paragraph just below the photograph) in the PBS video.

This morning I decided to go back to that video and get his
exact words for you to read. I carefully copied them and they
are recorded just below the photo of Professor Caldiero above.
If you have been reading my blog posts right along or have otherwise seriously and prayerfully studied the Book of Mormon, it will be easy for you to know that Alex Caldiero did not actually read the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Instead, you will realize it must be his very uninformed
viewpoint that caused him to say that the words of the book of Mormon are the rough hewn kind of text an uneducated farm
boy had just put all together.

There was much in that PBS video with which I strongly disagree. I found that many other members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints agree with me on that.

There is an allegation by one of the "experts" shown in it, that the report of the resurrection of Jesus Christ was just a conspiracy brought about by Jesus's twelve apostles and is the "scandal of Christianity." In my view that charge is scandalous! 


There were some very good parts in the video, but too much of it was incorrect and biased. Professor Caldiero also saying in that PBS video that the Book of Mormon was "beautiful in all of its imperfections" is far "off-base." 


Any diligent and honest student of the Book of Mormon, like some of you may be, would be able to say:  "It, along with the Holy Bible, contains the inspired words of God through His holy prophets." A case in point are the inspired words of the prophet named, The Brother of Jared, which are quoted in TODAY'S THEME.

Some background for you on the Brother of Jared and his people:

The Book of Mormon, Mosiah 8: 8 (In about 121 B.C.) And they (some Nephites) were lost in the wilderness for the space of many days, yet they were diligent, and found not the land of Zarahemla but returned to this land, having traveled in a land among many waters, having discovered a land which was covered with bones of men, and of beasts, and was also covered with ruins of buildings of every kind, having discovered a land which had been peopled with a people who were as numerous as the hosts of Israel.

9 And for a testimony that the things that they had said are true they have brought twenty-four plates which are filled with engravings, and they are of pure gold. (date and clarification added)

The record of the people which had been engraved upon the golden plates was later translated by the use of the Urim and Thummim* by the Nephite King, Prophet and Seer, Mosiah(*interpreters used by prophets who are also seers. (Mosiah 8:13; Exodus 28:30)

In the Book of Ether, one of the individual books within the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, is told the history of a people who lived at the time of the confounding of languages at the Tower of Babel. They were led by the Lord across Southwestern Asia and across the Pacific Ocean to Ancient America, many centuries before the Nephites were led there by the Lord through the help of the compass called, Liahona.

I now invite you to read (and also listen to if you choose to) the scripture from which you can learn from this early chapter in the Book of Ether much more about this ancient people. The only record of them is  found in the Book of Mormon. However, there are untranslated portions of the Jaredite's golden plates. With the Lord willing, someday we may have that part of their history too:

Ether 2:1-25

As when you have read previous portions of the Book of Mormon, you will have just read a complex true history of people who were led by the Lord, in His pre-mortal state. Of course, in the Book of III Nephi there are accounts of His also leading people in His post-mortal (Resurrected) state.

You have surely begun to see the wisdom in the Lord in providing the Book of Mormon to guide its readers back to Him. THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRULY ANOTHER TESTAMENT OF JESUS CHRIST!

Jesus the Christ -by Del Parson

Surely you readers have easily ascertained that the words of the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ are not words that a young unlettered farmer from the State of New York in the United States of America in 1830 just "put together."

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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.


____________


TO OPEN NEIL BIRCH'S BLOG INDEX: To Either Read the Full Index Item Which Refers To This BlogPost, (Or To Search The Index For Any Other BlogPost You Desire To Access): After You Have Read All of This Paragraph, Please Scroll Back Up and Click on The Following:The Book of Mormon Reveals Profound Matters . . . Post 35c; When The Picture of Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ Sitting Next To a Little Boy Comes onto Your Screen, Please Scroll Down 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. 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