Second Nephi 28 is Nephi's Midrash on Isaiah 27. Here a dream is first used as a metaphor for the emptiness of human aspirations and ambitions separated from (and even opposed to) God. Those that "fight against Zion, and that distress her" will find it all to be as an illusion, like a hungry man waking up from a dream of a feast, or a thirsty man waking up from a dream of drinking (v. 3). Other metaphors of the shock of contact with a true glimpse of their condition are drunkenness (v. 4) and sleep (v. 5). A drunkenness so strong that one staggers, and a "deep sleep."
But he Book of Mormon itself is prefigured in dream like terms as well - "words of them which have slumbered" (v. 6), "hid from the eyes of the world" (v. 12), "words...as if it were from the dead" (v. 13), and a book that cannot be read.
But in the end, the vivid, violent and powerful struggle of the wicked will prove to be the empty illusion and the seemingly flimsy words from the dust will prove to be trustworthy and clear, enduring, revealing and powerful.
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Friday, March 3, 2017
TG Mortality 30 - 3 Nephi 28
We have found mortality contrasted to immortality already, but here in Third Nephi we find mortality as one end of a spectrum with immortality being on the other. Somewhere in between them is are two odd states that we Mormons call transfiguration and translation - neither completely mortal nor completely immortal.
Mortality is characterized by pain and sorrow (v. 9), including a sorrow for the suffering of others. For almost all human beings, passing from Mortality to Immortality involves "tasting of death" and "enduring the pains of death." It is also a time when the Lord repeatedly (though not always as explicitly as he did with his disciples) asks us "what is it that ye desire"? (v. 1).
Transfiguration is a condition we know very little about. It is a temporary condition of change from mortality to "immortality" (v. 15) that allows a mortal to endure certain peak spiritual experiences while in the body, such as being "caught up into heaven" (v. 13), and being able to clearly "behold the things of god" (v. 15), or even (see Moses 1) being in the presence of deity. That such a condition is not necessarily permanent is inferred from the transfiguration of the Savior (Matthew 17) and of Moses (Moses 1), both of whom later tasted of death.
Translation is a little further along the spectrum. Nobody ever goes backwards from Translation to regular mortality. Unlike mortality, translation is free of pain and sorrow except for a sympathetic sorrow for the misery of others suffering under the "sins of the world" (v. 9). It is still a type of mortality, that will require a change from "mortality to immortality" that will occur "in the twinkling of an eye" at the second coming without having to "taste of death" or, in other words, "endure the pains of death." (v. 7-8). It is true that those who are translated still "dwell in the flesh" (v. 9). but with enhanced powers of protection (v. 19-22) and the "convincing power of God" (v. 29). Their condition is similar to that of heavenly angels (v. 30). They are free from the power and temptations of Satan (v. 39), and "the powers of the earth could not hold them" (v. 39). Whatever else they still keep of the mortal condition, for them the "probationary state" is over.
Immortality is also free from most of mortality's pain and sorrow, though even at the heights of exaltation we know that God has wept for his spirit children lost in rebellion and for those destroyed in the flood. Available in immortality to those who go to "the kingdom of my Father" is a "fullness of joy" and a oneness with and likeness to the Father and the Son (v. 10). To move from Translation to Immortality requires a "greater change" (v. 40) that will occur at the second coming.
In the mean time, translated beings get to have the desire of their hearts (recorded of almost everyone we know of who has achieved this status) to "bring souls of men unto [Christ]" (v. 9). They also get the opportunity to "behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled according to the will of the Father" (v. 7). Not just witnesses to the events of history, but in on the grand scheme into which those events fit. Coolness. Pure coolness.
Mortality is characterized by pain and sorrow (v. 9), including a sorrow for the suffering of others. For almost all human beings, passing from Mortality to Immortality involves "tasting of death" and "enduring the pains of death." It is also a time when the Lord repeatedly (though not always as explicitly as he did with his disciples) asks us "what is it that ye desire"? (v. 1).
Transfiguration is a condition we know very little about. It is a temporary condition of change from mortality to "immortality" (v. 15) that allows a mortal to endure certain peak spiritual experiences while in the body, such as being "caught up into heaven" (v. 13), and being able to clearly "behold the things of god" (v. 15), or even (see Moses 1) being in the presence of deity. That such a condition is not necessarily permanent is inferred from the transfiguration of the Savior (Matthew 17) and of Moses (Moses 1), both of whom later tasted of death.
Translation is a little further along the spectrum. Nobody ever goes backwards from Translation to regular mortality. Unlike mortality, translation is free of pain and sorrow except for a sympathetic sorrow for the misery of others suffering under the "sins of the world" (v. 9). It is still a type of mortality, that will require a change from "mortality to immortality" that will occur "in the twinkling of an eye" at the second coming without having to "taste of death" or, in other words, "endure the pains of death." (v. 7-8). It is true that those who are translated still "dwell in the flesh" (v. 9). but with enhanced powers of protection (v. 19-22) and the "convincing power of God" (v. 29). Their condition is similar to that of heavenly angels (v. 30). They are free from the power and temptations of Satan (v. 39), and "the powers of the earth could not hold them" (v. 39). Whatever else they still keep of the mortal condition, for them the "probationary state" is over.
Immortality is also free from most of mortality's pain and sorrow, though even at the heights of exaltation we know that God has wept for his spirit children lost in rebellion and for those destroyed in the flood. Available in immortality to those who go to "the kingdom of my Father" is a "fullness of joy" and a oneness with and likeness to the Father and the Son (v. 10). To move from Translation to Immortality requires a "greater change" (v. 40) that will occur at the second coming.
In the mean time, translated beings get to have the desire of their hearts (recorded of almost everyone we know of who has achieved this status) to "bring souls of men unto [Christ]" (v. 9). They also get the opportunity to "behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled according to the will of the Father" (v. 7). Not just witnesses to the events of history, but in on the grand scheme into which those events fit. Coolness. Pure coolness.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
TG Dreams 31 - 1 Nephi 10:2
Again Nephi blurs the line of Dream and Vision - "it came to pass after my father had made an end of speaking the words of his dream" (v.2), "I Nephi, having heard all the words of my father, concerning the things which he saw in a vision" (v. 17).
Nephi's reaction to his father's dream/vision is also very instructive:
"And it came to pass after I Nephi, having heard all the words of my father, concerning the things which he saw in a vision, and also the things which he spake by the power of the Holy Ghost...I, Nephi, was desirous also that I might see and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him, as well in times of old as in the time that he should manifest himself unto the children of men.
For he is the same yesterday, today and forever....
For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore the course of the Lord is one eternal round."
I Nephi 10:17-19
It is interesting to note that the unchanging nature of God and his dealings with men ("from eternity to eternity he is the same") is again conflated with his willingness to share "the hidden mysteries of [his] kingdom," "the wonders of eternity," and "the secrets of [his] will" in the Lord's preface to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon's vision of the eternities recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 76 (see verses 1-10).
Nephi's reaction to his father's dream/vision is also very instructive:
"And it came to pass after I Nephi, having heard all the words of my father, concerning the things which he saw in a vision, and also the things which he spake by the power of the Holy Ghost...I, Nephi, was desirous also that I might see and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him, as well in times of old as in the time that he should manifest himself unto the children of men.
For he is the same yesterday, today and forever....
For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore the course of the Lord is one eternal round."
I Nephi 10:17-19
It is interesting to note that the unchanging nature of God and his dealings with men ("from eternity to eternity he is the same") is again conflated with his willingness to share "the hidden mysteries of [his] kingdom," "the wonders of eternity," and "the secrets of [his] will" in the Lord's preface to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon's vision of the eternities recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 76 (see verses 1-10).
Monday, February 27, 2017
TG Mortality 29 - Alma 41
Mortality and its position in the wider framework of eternity was one of Alma the Younger's preoccupations. He prayed and pondered "many days" to understand them. In this chapter he lays out the context of the rules of Justice that govern our present existence and that have powerful implications for our eternal state afterwards
First, our fallen condition. As long as we are in a "state of nature" or in a "carnal state," we men are "in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity," "without God in the world," having "gone contrary to the nature of God" and "in a state contrary to the nature of happiness" (v. 11).
Second, our opportunity to escape. We must repent of our sins and follow and encourage our desires for righteousness (v. 6), which brings the power of the atonement into our lives, we are "redeemed of the Lord," "taken out" and "delivered" both from our fallen state in this life and from its eternal consequences in the next (v. 7). "The way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved" (v. 8).
Third - and this is the center of Alma's point in this chapter - we have been made free to choose between these two conditions, and this choice reveals the deepest wellsprings of our will. Men repent and their works become good because "the desires of their hearts are good" (v. 3). On the other hand if they 'desired to do evil all the day long" (v. 5) then they will not accept the atonement's delivery from their natural state and their works will be evil, "for behold, they are their own judges whether to do good or do evil," and "thus they stand or fall" (v. 7).
Fourth, the person we become in this life is who we are in the next life, and we inherit the consequences of who we become.
4 ....raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God, or to endless misery to inherit the kingdom of the devil, the one on one hand, the other on the other.
5 The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires for good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh.
6 And so it is on the other hand. If he hath repented of his sins, and desired righteousness until the end of his days, even so shall he be rewarded unto righteousness.
7 ....and thus they stand or fall; for behold, they are their own judges, whether to do good or do evil.
Fifth, the law of justice restores to us in the resurrection what we have made ourselves into by our consistent actions over time - "desired righteousness until the end of his days" (v. 6) or "desired to do evil all the day long" (v. 5).
12 And now behold is the meaning of the word restoration to take a think of a natural state and place it in an unnatural state, or to place it in a state opposite to its nature?
13 O, my son, this is not the case; but the meaning of the word restoration is to bring back again evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or devilish for devilish-good for that which is good; righteous for that which is righteous: just for that which is just; merciful for that which is merciful.
x
First, our fallen condition. As long as we are in a "state of nature" or in a "carnal state," we men are "in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity," "without God in the world," having "gone contrary to the nature of God" and "in a state contrary to the nature of happiness" (v. 11).
Second, our opportunity to escape. We must repent of our sins and follow and encourage our desires for righteousness (v. 6), which brings the power of the atonement into our lives, we are "redeemed of the Lord," "taken out" and "delivered" both from our fallen state in this life and from its eternal consequences in the next (v. 7). "The way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved" (v. 8).
Third - and this is the center of Alma's point in this chapter - we have been made free to choose between these two conditions, and this choice reveals the deepest wellsprings of our will. Men repent and their works become good because "the desires of their hearts are good" (v. 3). On the other hand if they 'desired to do evil all the day long" (v. 5) then they will not accept the atonement's delivery from their natural state and their works will be evil, "for behold, they are their own judges whether to do good or do evil," and "thus they stand or fall" (v. 7).
Fourth, the person we become in this life is who we are in the next life, and we inherit the consequences of who we become.
4 ....raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God, or to endless misery to inherit the kingdom of the devil, the one on one hand, the other on the other.
5 The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires for good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh.
6 And so it is on the other hand. If he hath repented of his sins, and desired righteousness until the end of his days, even so shall he be rewarded unto righteousness.
7 ....and thus they stand or fall; for behold, they are their own judges, whether to do good or do evil.
Fifth, the law of justice restores to us in the resurrection what we have made ourselves into by our consistent actions over time - "desired righteousness until the end of his days" (v. 6) or "desired to do evil all the day long" (v. 5).
12 And now behold is the meaning of the word restoration to take a think of a natural state and place it in an unnatural state, or to place it in a state opposite to its nature?
13 O, my son, this is not the case; but the meaning of the word restoration is to bring back again evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or devilish for devilish-good for that which is good; righteous for that which is righteous: just for that which is just; merciful for that which is merciful.
x
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
TG Dreams 30 - 1 Nephi 8
Again, the line between dream and vision in the epoch of Daniel is a thin one. Lehi says, "Behold I have dreamed a dream; or, in other words, I have seen a vision." And Nephi, when he wants to see what his father saw, has a vision.
The dream is solid type three, despite the appearance of a guide within the dream. The images and happenings are symbolic and require an inspired interpreter to understand them. The personage in Nephi's vision helps him work out the meaning of what his father saw, but Laman and Lemuel attempting to work out the meaning of the dream on their own were pointedly unsuccessful.
We are not given Lehi's understanding of his own dream, but we are given his reaction to it. He awoke having been comforted about the eternal fate of two of his sons and fearful for the fate of two others.
Nephi and his brothers approach this dream with a shared interpretive framework. Individual objects in dreams have discrete meanings in an overall significance. Nephi was shown the tree his father saw, and then desired to "know the interpretation thereof" (1 Nephi 11:11). As he was shown more, he came to realize the "meaning of the tree" (11:20). Similarly, the rod of iron "was the word of God," (11:25), and the waters of the fountain of living water were a "representation of the love of God" (11:25). Laman and Lemuel likewise asked "what meaneth this thing which our father saw in a dream? What meaneth the tree which he saw?" (15:21). Similarly, "what meaneth the rod of iron" and "what meaneth the river of water?" (15:23, 26). Nephi's responses were either expressions of identitity ("it was") or "it was a representation of" (15:22).
Joseph of Egypt speaks in terms of identity. "The three branches are three days," "the three baskets are three days" (Genesis 40:12, 18), and "the seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years" (Genesis 41:26-27). Daniel also speaks in terms of identity - "thou art this head of Gold" or likeness - "another third kingdom of brass"- or metaphor - "the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken" (Daniel 2:38,39,42).
The dream is solid type three, despite the appearance of a guide within the dream. The images and happenings are symbolic and require an inspired interpreter to understand them. The personage in Nephi's vision helps him work out the meaning of what his father saw, but Laman and Lemuel attempting to work out the meaning of the dream on their own were pointedly unsuccessful.
We are not given Lehi's understanding of his own dream, but we are given his reaction to it. He awoke having been comforted about the eternal fate of two of his sons and fearful for the fate of two others.
Nephi and his brothers approach this dream with a shared interpretive framework. Individual objects in dreams have discrete meanings in an overall significance. Nephi was shown the tree his father saw, and then desired to "know the interpretation thereof" (1 Nephi 11:11). As he was shown more, he came to realize the "meaning of the tree" (11:20). Similarly, the rod of iron "was the word of God," (11:25), and the waters of the fountain of living water were a "representation of the love of God" (11:25). Laman and Lemuel likewise asked "what meaneth this thing which our father saw in a dream? What meaneth the tree which he saw?" (15:21). Similarly, "what meaneth the rod of iron" and "what meaneth the river of water?" (15:23, 26). Nephi's responses were either expressions of identitity ("it was") or "it was a representation of" (15:22).
Joseph of Egypt speaks in terms of identity. "The three branches are three days," "the three baskets are three days" (Genesis 40:12, 18), and "the seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years" (Genesis 41:26-27). Daniel also speaks in terms of identity - "thou art this head of Gold" or likeness - "another third kingdom of brass"- or metaphor - "the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken" (Daniel 2:38,39,42).
Saturday, February 18, 2017
TG Mortality 28 - Alma 34
Amulek again. Here he lays out the most basic underlying structure of mortality to Zoramites.
1) Man's unaided situation - Fall and its effects.
"all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost and must perish..." (v. 9)
2) The Atonement as God's response to the Fall ("the great plan of the Eternal God" v. 9)
"...except it be for the atonement" (v. 9).
"Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people...and he shall atone for the sins of the world" (v. 8).
"that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal...this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice....And thus mercy can satisfy justice, and encircles them in the arms of his safety" (v. 14-16).
3) The conditions by which the atonement is applied.
"And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance" (v. 15).
"...only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption (v. 16).
"...he [Alma] hath spoken unto you to prepare your minds; yea, and he hath exhorted you unto faith and to patience--Yea, even that you would have so much faith as even to plant the word in your hearts, that ye may try the experiment of his goodness" (v. 3-4).
"Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to call upon his holy anme, that he would have mercy upon you; Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save" (v. 17-18).
"I desire that ye...contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ" (v. 37-38).
4) Missing the atonement and its consequences.
"...there must be an atonement mad, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement" (v. 9).
"...he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice" (v. 16).
"...harden not your hearts any longer" (v.31).
"contend no more against the Holy Ghost" (v. 38).
"For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you" (v. 35).
5) This life is a time to prepare for eternity by accepting and using the atonement
"Yea, I would that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation;" (v. 31).
"For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors" (v. 32).
"...Therefore I beseech you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given for us to prepare for eternity, behold if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed" (33).
"Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodes at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world" (v. 34).
"For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you" (v. 35).
6) There are immediate results of seeking the atonement now
"...if you will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you" (v. 31).
7) However, applying the atonement is not a single event, but is a lifelong process
"come forth and bring fruit unto repentance" (v. 30).
"..this life is the day for men to perform their labors" (v. 32).
"...behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed" (v. 33).
"...work out your salvation with fear before God" (v. 37).
7) How to endure/press forward with the atonement
"Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in prayer unto him.
Cry unto him when ye are in your fields, yea, over all your flocks.
Cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening.
Yea, cry unto him against the power of your enemies.
Yea, cry unto him against the devil, who is an enemy of all righteousness.
Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them.
Cry over the flocks of your fields, that they may increase.
But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness.
Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you" (v. 19 - 27)
"after ye have done all these things [exercised faith unto repentance, prayed] if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need...behold, your prayer is in vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith" (v. 28).
"I desire that ye...humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you" (v. 37-38).
"Yea, and I also exhort you, my brethren, that ye be watchful unto prayer continually, that ye may not be led away by the temptations of the devil, that he may not overpower you, that you may not become his subjects at the last day" (v. 39).
"I would exhort you to have patience, and that ye bear with all manner of afflictions; that ye do not revile against those who do cast you out...lest ye become sinners like unto them; But that ye have patience and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions" (v. 40-41).
1) Man's unaided situation - Fall and its effects.
"all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost and must perish..." (v. 9)
2) The Atonement as God's response to the Fall ("the great plan of the Eternal God" v. 9)
"...except it be for the atonement" (v. 9).
"Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people...and he shall atone for the sins of the world" (v. 8).
"that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal...this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice....And thus mercy can satisfy justice, and encircles them in the arms of his safety" (v. 14-16).
3) The conditions by which the atonement is applied.
"And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance" (v. 15).
"...only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption (v. 16).
"...he [Alma] hath spoken unto you to prepare your minds; yea, and he hath exhorted you unto faith and to patience--Yea, even that you would have so much faith as even to plant the word in your hearts, that ye may try the experiment of his goodness" (v. 3-4).
"Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to call upon his holy anme, that he would have mercy upon you; Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save" (v. 17-18).
"I desire that ye...contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ" (v. 37-38).
4) Missing the atonement and its consequences.
"...there must be an atonement mad, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement" (v. 9).
"...he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice" (v. 16).
"...harden not your hearts any longer" (v.31).
"contend no more against the Holy Ghost" (v. 38).
"For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you" (v. 35).
5) This life is a time to prepare for eternity by accepting and using the atonement
"Yea, I would that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation;" (v. 31).
"For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors" (v. 32).
"...Therefore I beseech you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given for us to prepare for eternity, behold if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed" (33).
"Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodes at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world" (v. 34).
"For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you" (v. 35).
6) There are immediate results of seeking the atonement now
"...if you will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you" (v. 31).
7) However, applying the atonement is not a single event, but is a lifelong process
"come forth and bring fruit unto repentance" (v. 30).
"..this life is the day for men to perform their labors" (v. 32).
"...behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed" (v. 33).
"...work out your salvation with fear before God" (v. 37).
7) How to endure/press forward with the atonement
"Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in prayer unto him.
Cry unto him when ye are in your fields, yea, over all your flocks.
Cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening.
Yea, cry unto him against the power of your enemies.
Yea, cry unto him against the devil, who is an enemy of all righteousness.
Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them.
Cry over the flocks of your fields, that they may increase.
But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness.
Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you" (v. 19 - 27)
"after ye have done all these things [exercised faith unto repentance, prayed] if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need...behold, your prayer is in vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith" (v. 28).
"I desire that ye...humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you" (v. 37-38).
"Yea, and I also exhort you, my brethren, that ye be watchful unto prayer continually, that ye may not be led away by the temptations of the devil, that he may not overpower you, that you may not become his subjects at the last day" (v. 39).
"I would exhort you to have patience, and that ye bear with all manner of afflictions; that ye do not revile against those who do cast you out...lest ye become sinners like unto them; But that ye have patience and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions" (v. 40-41).
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
TG Dreams 29 - I Nephi 3
"Behold I have dreamed a dream, in the which the Lord hath commanded me that thou and thy brethren shall return to Jerusalem" (v. 2).
Interesting that Nephi's oft quoted determination to follow the commandments of God (v.7) is rooted in the context of a dream given to his father.
Interesting that Nephi's oft quoted determination to follow the commandments of God (v.7) is rooted in the context of a dream given to his father.
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