Thursday, April 27, 2017

One-Day Youth Gathering


I was asked to post the following announcement about an upcoming one-day event for youth ages 11-18. This is not the same event as the Youth Conference I posted about earlier. To avoid confusion, here's information about each of the two separate events:

Three-day Gathering: "Restoration Youth Conference" with details listed in a previous post at this link: http://www.totheremnant.com/2017/04/restoration-youth-conference.html

One-day Gathering: "A Day of Faith and Connection" with details listed in the announcement below, or at: https://zionyouthgathering.wordpress.com

I hope many youth will attend one or both of these events. They look like wonderful opportunities, organized by dedicated people.

A Day of Faith and Connection

Connect with Friends,  Connect with Purpose, Connect with Christ.

Dear Restoration Youth,

“…we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” 2 Nephi 25:26

What a wonderful time we live in! We have opportunities that other generations haven’t had. We have easy access to scriptures from past dispensations. With a simple Internet search, we can connect with people from all around the globe who share our same beliefs and goals. We feel blessed to have new friends who strengthen us and help make the journey light. Together we can offer a sweet sense of family and belonging.

You are invited to come and make some great connections this summer! Please join us in connecting with friends, connecting with purpose, and connecting with Christ. There will be games, canoeing, cooking out, and great testimonies! We hope you will be uplifted and energized by our speakers, which include Robert and Quintina Bear Chief Adolpho. We look forward to seeing you!

stacks-image-44f1c66-450x450 (1)

When: Saturday, June 10, 2017
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Where: Barker Family Private Park,  2900 N. 1000 W. Pleasant View, UT 84414
Who: All Restoration youth ages 11-18

Please RSVP and send questions to:  zionyouthgathering@gmail.com


“Children are the means to preserve Zion”

17759977_1916227741941014_5893576982096975023_n
                   

Things to bring:                                                                                     
  • sack lunch
  • notebook or journal
  • sunscreen/hat
  • bug repellent
  • camp chair
  • towel (for drying off after water games)
  • water bottle
  • picnic blanket (optional)

We’ll provide dinner, snacks, drinks, and dessert!
(Bring your own sack lunch and water bottle)
Saturday, June 10, 2017
9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Arrive early for check-in!


17904402_1916227628607692_122201243757541321_n     DSC03169

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Covenant Book, Part 1: Crying From the Dust


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | More...



And the Lord God will say unto you: Did I not declare my words unto you, which were written by this man, like as one crying from the dead, yea, even as one speaking out of the dust?
—Moroni 10:27


When the Lord condemned early church members for their failure to take The Book of Mormon seriously, He referred to it as “the new covenant.”
And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all. And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written—That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom. (D&C 84:56-58)
There’s much to consider in the idea that The Book of Mormon is a covenant. So we’ll start by examining what we can to better understand how the Book of Mormon and the new covenant are related. Ultimately, we’ll discover:

• The Book of Mormon CONTAINS a covenant
• The Book of Mormon IS a covenant

and 

• The Book of Mormon is to be RECEIVED by covenant

That’s a lot of ground to cover, and it will take some time to cover it all. So let’s get started. 

Lehi’s Covenant

Our study necessarily begins with Lehi—whose repentance opened up an important possibility for the Lord and for us. As you recall, Lehi lived at a time when the Northern kingdom of Israel had been destroyed, scattered and carried away captive by the Assyrians. The Southern kingdom of Judah came under threat from Babylon, and would soon be similarly destroyed if the Jews did not repent. 

The Lord sent many prophets to cry repentance and warn the people, and Lehi believed them. He took actions that opened the heavens and brought him into the presence of God, where he saw and heard much (1 Nephi 1:6). Because he was faithful, Lehi received a covenant from God, which included a land of promise for him and his family, as well as other blessings. The covenant required faithfulness to God’s commandments (2 Nephi 1:5-9). We do not have the full record of Lehi’s covenant, because Nephi did not record it (1 Nephi 1:16), and Lehi’s book was lost as part of the 116 pages Joseph Smith entrusted to Martin Harris. 

Nevertheless, from the information we do have available, we can see that the covenant included a promised land, scriptural records, safety, liberty, and prosperity (though not the way the world defines prosperity.) Because the Lord had a covenant people, even though it consisted of just two families, He led them to safety in this land of promise. Leading them away also accomplished another very important thing in the Lord’s wisdom: It preserved a record that bypassed Babylon and Babylon’s influence, ultimately to come to us in the latter days. 

As a quick review, remember that Babylon destroyed or corrupted the last vestiges of Abraham’s covenant, teachings, and people. By the time the Jews returned to Jerusalem after 70 years of Babylonian captivity, their religion had become so corrupt, it was ultimately used as justification to slay their God. 

We need to keep in mind that the Bible, containing records of God’s dealings and covenants with former prophets and patriarchs, came down to us by way of Babylon and Babylonian influence. The loss of Jerusalem affected the world forever, by forever supplanting God’s word with Babylon’s ideas.

But God sidestepped all that by sending a pure record with a covenant family to a land of promise; they escaped Jerusalem before Babylon invaded. Though the Nephites eventually apostatized from the covenant, their records preserve for us a knowledge of their relationship with the Lord and His requirements. 

Christ’s Message

Now, let’s fast forward about 600 years to the time of Christ. In particular, I want to focus on the curious event wherein Christ attempted to teach the Nephites, then abruptly stopped. He could tell they weren’t getting the message, and it was too important to risk them getting it wrong. Said He:
I perceive that ye are weak, that ye cannot understand all my words which I am commanded of the Father to speak unto you at this time. Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again. (3 Nephi 17:2-3)
Too weak is too weak. Even Christ couldn’t teach them the message He had been sent to share.

As I’ve previously written at length, Christ didn’t leave—because the people asked Him to stay. So to cure their weakness, He healed their sick, then improvised an endowment ordinance using their children. Having accomplished these, He next instituted the sacrament among them and empowered his disciples to bestow the Holy Ghost.

The next day, Christ returned, endowed the twelve, and provided the sacrament again. The ordinances had the desired effect:
Now, when the multitude had all eaten and drunk, behold, they were filled with the Spirit; and they did cry out with one voice, and gave glory to Jesus, whom they both saw and heard. (3 Nephi 20:9) 
Having thus prepared them, Christ continued His sermon from the day before, repeating the previous day’s misunderstood information, and continuing the message to completion. When I wrote about this previously, I said the following:

Oddly enough the balance of the message dealt with OUR DAY, not theirs. Why do you suppose that is so? Is there something there for us, or was it all for them?

I previously left those questions unanswered, but now it’s time to answer them. As we proceed to study Christ’s sermon, we need to keep one vital key in mind to unlock the meaning of His message. To put it simply, it is this:

The message was NOT for the people at Bountiful. Christ used the Nephites to get a message to US.

The message wasn’t for them; it wasn’t about them; it had very little to do with them at all. But Christ needed them to record His words and faithfully transmit them two thousand years into the future. The fate of this world, and the completion of God’s work depended on Christ's ability to get the message to us. 

He commanded three times that His message be recorded, making particular note that the message was to be transmitted to the Gentiles of a different day:
And I command you that ye shall write these sayings after I am gone, that if it so be that my people at Jerusalem, they who have seen me and been with me in my ministry, do not ask the Father in my name, that they may receive a knowledge of you by the Holy Ghost, and also of the other tribes whom they know not of, that these sayings which ye shall write shall be kept and shall be manifested unto the Gentiles, that through the fulness of the Gentiles, the remnant of their seed, who shall be scattered forth upon the face of the earth because of their unbelief, may be brought in, or may be brought to a knowledge of me, their Redeemer. (3 Nephi 16:4)
Therefore give heed to my words; write the things which I have told you; and according to the time and the will of the Father they shall go forth unto the Gentiles. (3 Nephi 23:4)
Write the things which ye have seen and heard, save it be those which are forbidden. (3 Nephi 27:23)
The Lord knew, thousands of years in advance, that the only record of His dealings and covenants available in the latter days would be the post-Babylon, corrupted Bible, which would suffer from the ravages of poor copying, intentional alteration, and misinterpretation. He knew that such would never be adequate to restore knowledge of His covenants, or establish a new covenant branch of Israel to complete the Lord’s latter-day work.

So he used an existing covenant family as His scribes to etch a message from Him to us, preserved on metal plates. Safely buried in the ground, it would remain uncorrupted and untouched until it could be translated by the gift and power of God to reach us in its purity. This message was so important, so vital to His final labor in the vineyard, that he wouldn't even teach it to the Nephites at Bountiful until they were prepared to properly understand it, vividly recall it, and accurately record it. 

They would need the Lord’s Spirit to make this possible.

Filled

Fortunately, the text is clear that, having eaten and drunk the emblems of Christ’s flesh and blood, the multitude “were filled with the Spirit.” Mind you, this is the first time the record notes the multitude being filled in such a way. Evidently, the sacrament ordinance had the desired effect and the multitude were prepared to understand and record Christ’s words.

His response?
And it came to pass that when they had all given glory unto Jesus, he said unto them: Behold now I finish the commandment which the Father hath commanded me… (3 Nephi 20:10)
Now that we’ve laid the groundwork to understand the context of what the Lord is about to speak, and the pains he took to get it in front of us—in my next post we’ll begin to consider the actual message he conveyed.

Just One More Thing:

It’s clear from the record that it was always meant for us, and never for the Nephites who wrote it. Likewise, it’s clear the message was preserved for the specific purpose of re-establishing the covenant the Lord previously made with Israel:
And now behold, I say unto you that when the Lord shall see fit, in his wisdom, that these sayings shall come unto the Gentiles according to his word, then ye may know that the covenant which the Father hath made with the children of Israel, concerning their restoration to the lands of their inheritance, is already beginning to be fulfilled. (3 Nephi 29:1)
The time is now. The gentiles who repent will come into the covenant and be numbered among the house of Israel. (3 Nephi 16:13) They will inherit this land.

The final chapter of 3 Nephi consists of a personal note from Christ to us, as follows:
Hearken, O ye Gentiles, and hear the words of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, which he hath commanded me that I should speak concerning you, for, behold he commandeth me that I should write, saying: 
Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways; and repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your idolatries, and of your murders, and your priestcrafts, and your envyings, and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, that ye may receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, that ye may be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel. (3 Nephi 30:1-2)
There’s Christ’s summary to you and to me. Repent, obey the doctrine of Christ, and come into the covenant He offers. When you have eyes to see it, you’ll find the same message everywhere throughout the Book of Mormon, crying from the dust.

And now, my beloved brethren, all those who are of the house of Israel, and all ye ends of the earth, I speak unto you as the voice of one crying from the dust...for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey!
—2 Nephi 33:13-15

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Scripture Project Updates


But now hold your peace, study my word which hath gone forth among the children of men and also study my word which shall come forth among the children of men, or that which you are translating, yea, until you have obtained all which I shall grant unto the children of men in this generation, and then shall all things be added thereunto.
—D&C Section 5, Restoration Edition (11:22 LDS Edition)



The committee working on the scripture project has posted a very helpful update. Click on the image to view the PDF, or visit www.Scriptures.info and look under the "Conferences" menu.



Sunday, April 9, 2017

Restoration Youth Conference

A group of like-minded youth are in the process of planning and organizing a Restoration Youth Conference June 19-21 in Cache Valley, Utah. They asked me to post the announcement here, which I'm glad to do. I think this looks like a wonderful event. I'm told the target age range is approximately 12-19. More details are coming soon, but here's the pre-announcement they've created. Click to enlarge:


Saturday, April 1, 2017

John Chapter 2: Conference Chiasmus


How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? 
—Romans 10:14-15

Do you know what a chiasmus is? If you don’t, keep reading. If you do, feel free to skip a bit ahead. 

A chiasmus is a rhetorical or literary figure in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order, in the same or a modified form. 

A classic example is this simple statement: 

The first shall be last, and the last shall be first. 

You can visualize it like this:

first
last
last
first

or, as it’s often noted:

A
B
B'
A'

Sometimes the repeated ideas can be related but opposite. Idea A could be “hot” and A' could be “cold.” Opposite, but related ideas to illustrate a principle. 

Chiasmus was particularly popular in the literature of the ancient world, including Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, where it was used to articulate the balance of order within the text. It can also be used to emphasize a central idea, which appears at the center of the chiasmus. 

In the example above, it would look like this:

A
B
C: Central Idea
B'
A'

The chiasmus around the central idea serves to emphasize the most important thought of the discourse. Alma 36 is a great example of a chiasmus, with the central idea appearing in verse 18:
Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death!
Alma’s story of repentance centers around his desperate plea to Christ for salvation. He draws attention to the message by placing it at the center of his chiasmus.

And that’s the end of the chiasmus lesson. 

John Chapter 2

Here’s a chiasmus I ran across in the Testimony of St. John—it turns out the entirety of Chapter 2, comprising the discussion between Jesus and Nicodemus, is just a large chiasmus, with doublets of ideas repeated and inverted. It’s a thing of beauty. 

Here’s the general structure:

  1. Light vs. darkness &  the title, “Enlightened Heavenly Guide”
  2. Light vs. darkness & the ordinance of baptism
  3. Ascension vs. condemnation & overcoming sin
  4. Sacrifice of the flesh & refusal to believe
  5. You must receive and give heed to the servants God sends

And here it is in its fulness:

A. There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, who was in darkness and came to visit with Jesus. He sought wisdom from Jesus and said, Enlightened heavenly guide, some of us know you have descended from the High Council of Heaven because signs confirm you have authority from God. 

B. Jesus answered and said to him, In the name of Father Ahman I testify there is a new dispensation begun. You must accept the ordinances of this new Light or you cannot hope to progress to know God.

C. Nicodemus said to him, If I believe this, can I ascend in this life, or will it be accomplished only in the afterlife? Jesus answered, In the name of Father Ahman I say to you, Except you receive the ordinance of baptism to join the new dispensation, and thereby forsake your sins and receive forgiveness and an outpouring of the Spirit, you will not ascend to God's presence in this life or the life to come. 

D. All who are devoted to the ambitions of the flesh remain imprisoned by the flesh, and those who are born anew through the ordinances, receive the Spirit of Truth, and are able to know the record of heaven by the Spirit of Truth. Do not question if what I say is true because the Spirit of Truth confers light, knowledge, and understanding of the mysteries of heaven within every soul who receives it.
Nicodemus replied to him, Why is this not widely known? Jesus answered, Why does a member of the Sanhedrin not recognize that a new dispensation has begun? In the name of Father Ahman I confirm what was told by John the Baptist and I have begun a work that comes from heaven. But you who lead Israel fight against it and you refuse to humble yourselves. If I offered you a position of respect and authority, as you now hold, you would believe. But because I testify only of heavenly things that require faith and sacrifice, you refuse to believe

E. I tell you, if you want to ascend to the Heavenly Council, you must first acknowledge and give heed to the messengers sent by them. 

D' You can refuse to believe, but you will see in me a sign and remember this saying: When Moses nailed a brass serpent upon a pole in the wilderness, he prophesied of me. And I shall also be nailed upon a tree, and those who believe on me will receive deliverance through my sacrifice, even as Israel was delivered by looking with faith at Moses' serpent. Father Ahman loves the world, and like father Abraham, Father Ahman will allow His Son to become an offering for sin. Whoever believes and follows His Son will not be lost, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world. 

C' Those who believe and follow His Son will escape the limitations of sin. The faithless are condemned already because they refuse to believe and obey the Only Begotten Son of God. Everything about my assignment, which I am now performing, was foretold by the prophets sent earlier to teach Israel, for they all testified of me. They told you I would come, and I am now here doing what was prophesied, but you refuse to see it happening. 

B' Enough is underway that rejecting it means you prefer darkness to light. Humble yourself and admit the prophets foretold the very things now underway; repent and be baptized and the Spirit of Truth will open your eyes. 

A' If you want greater light, you will obey this instruction. If you refuse, then you never meant it when you greeted me as an enlightened heavenly guide.

Two Challenges

Recognizing true messengers is the universal challenge of mankind. God sends messengers, and they are almost always rejected. Likewise, false messengers, speaking in Christ’s name, often gain followings, wealth, power, and prestige. The first challenge is to recognize the true and reject the false. 

The second challenge is to give heed. Nicodemus acknowledged Christ by calling him by a respected title, but had not yet given heed to Christ’s message. It’s easy to confer titles and give lip service, but much harder to actually obey God’s message, which always requires sacrifice.

As Christ told Joseph Smith in the first vision, “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Little has changed since then.

This weekend, in particular, Christ’s central message in this chapter is applicable. Ministers will stand and read addresses in an impressive stage production. It’s up to you to determine whether they were sent by Christ, or are on their own errand. Are you hearing the voice of the Lord, or the voice of an organization? Who you heed determines your eternal future.

I tell you, if you want to ascend to the Heavenly Council, you must first acknowledge and give heed to the messengers sent by them.