Redemption - great conference message

We all make enough mistakes to know that no one gets through this life without needing some serious help to be worthy and able to stand in the presence of God, or even to simply by happy all the time despite our mistakes. We're in need of being redeemed/saved/helped.

Elder Curtis, a new 70 gave a talk on redemption. He told 3 or 4 stories of people coming back to church and being so blessed and happy, or in other words being redeemed.

Here's his conclusion to the talk:

Although we can never repay the Redeemer what He paid on our behalf, the plan of redemption calls for our best efforts to fully repent and do the will of God. The Apostle Orson F. Whitney wrote:

Savior, Redeemer of my soul,

Whose mighty hand hath made me whole,

Whose wondrous pow’r hath raised me up

And filled with sweet my bitter cup!

What tongue my gratitude can tell,

O gracious God of Israel.

Never can I repay thee, Lord,

But I can love thee. Thy pure word,

Hath it not been my one delight,

My joy by day, my dream by night?

Then let my lips proclaim it still,

And all my life reflect thy will.

(“Savior, Redeemer of My Soul,” Hymns, no. 112)

I bear my testimony of the power of Christ’s Atonement. When we repent and come to Him, we can receive all of the blessings of eternal life. That we may do so, receiving our own story of redemption, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope that we all will have our own story of redemption in life. I know my life is also a story of redemption.

Long-term Planning - How the Lord develops his kingdom

I spoke with a former managing director of the church (an employee of the church; there's 12 of them that have this title, which is the highest employee title at the church) a few weeks ago. He said that the church leaders at the highest level think of long-term planning in terms of decades, not years or quarters. When you know your organization is going to be around for a long, long time, it's worth planning this way.

This is interesting and coincides with the Lord's long-term planning. In 1 Nephi 13, it talks about the Lord using books to strengthen the case that the Bible is true, and that Jesus and the Apostles' thoughts and teachings are true. The process of making and bringing for these books took thousands of years in the case of the Book of Mormon and decades in the case of the Doctrine and Covenants. The Lord is the master long-term planner.

I contrast that with my startup company which has done very well. We can't plan in more than 12 month increments really because we don't know enough. The Lord's prophets have never been restricted to planning over such short-time frames.

I trust them.

Here's the verses about the other books and their purpose:

39 And after it had come forth unto them I beheld ^aother ^bbooks, which came forth by the power of the Lamb, from the Gentiles unto them, unto the ^cconvincing of the Gentiles and the remnant of the seed of my brethren, and also the Jews who were scattered upon all the face of the earth, that the records of the prophets and of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are ^dtrue.

40 And the angel spake unto me, saying: These ^alast records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall ^bestablish the truth of the ^cfirst, which are of the ^dtwelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the ^eSavior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved.

41 And they must come according to the words which shall be established by the mouth of the Lamb; and the words of the Lamb shall be made known in the records of thy seed, as well as in the^arecords of the twelve apostles of the Lamb; wherefore they both shall be established in ^bone; for there is ^cone God and one^dShepherd over all the earth.

Captivity - How the Lord considers captivity; 1 Nephi 13

In 1 Nephi 13 the Lord speaks about how many of the Gentiles are in captivity. This is brought up in connection with the Great and abominable church which takes away many of the plain and precious truths of the gospel. It's quite interesting to consider what is meant by captivity. The people in Europe were not in chains the entire time, so that isn't what's meant. Here's a few of the verses for you to consider:

8 And the angel spake unto me, saying: Behold the gold, and the silver, and the silks, and the scarlets, and the fine-twined linen, and the precious clothing, and the harlots, are the ^adesires of this great and abominable church.

9 And also for the ^apraise of the world do they ^bdestroy the saints of God, and bring them down into captivity.

12 And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and ^awrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.

13 And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters.

19 And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were ^adelivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.

It appears to me that captivity is a state in which you don't control certain things. When you're unable to worship as you'd like, you're in captivity. Also, if you're unable to read, you're held captive by not being able to learn and expand your thinking and learn. It's because there were strict rules regarding what people could believe and also because many were kept from learning the gospel due to a lack of education and a lack of available scripture, there were many kept in captivity. It's critical to God that people can believe what they desire and that they have the ability/opportunity to learn.

Keep learning. It's one way we stay out of captivity.

1 Nephi 12 - Prelude giving the Book of Mormon message

The Book of Mormon is known for several key messages. Two of those are mentioned prominently in 1 Nephi 12. 1 Nephi 11-14 is when Nephi is given the explanation of what his father's vision of the tree of life means. At the same time, he's shown the future of his people, which connects so well with the tree of life as some of his people come to Jesus and some do not.

The two main messages I noticed in 1 Nephi 12 are:

1) all who come unto Jesus will be washed clean forever through his blood

2) those who are prideful and fall prey to the temptations of Satan will be miserable

Here's the verses showing #1:

10 And these ^atwelve ministers whom thou beholdest shall judge thy seed. And, behold, they are righteous forever; for because of their faith in the Lamb of God their ^bgarments are made white in his blood.

11 And the angel said unto me: Look! And I looked, and beheld^athree generations pass away in righteousness; and their garments were white even like unto the Lamb of God. And the angel said unto me: These are made white in the blood of the Lamb, because of their faith in him.

Not only are the 12 disciples made holy, but so are all people throughout 3 generations. So many were/are saved through their faith in Christ and his blood spilt for them.

#2 is in these verses, just after witnessing the destruction of his people:

17 And the ^amists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, which ^bblindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into ^cbroad roads, that they perish and are lost.

18 And the large and spacious ^abuilding, which thy father saw, is vain ^bimaginations and the ^cpride of the children of men. And a great and a terrible ^dgulf divideth them; yea, even the word of the^ejustice of the Eternal God, and the Messiah who is the Lamb of God, of whom the Holy Ghost beareth record, from the beginning of the world until this time, and from this time henceforth and forever.

19 And while the angel spake these words, I beheld and saw that the seed of my brethren did contend against my seed, according to the word of the angel; and because of the pride of my seed, and the^atemptations of the devil, I beheld that the seed of my brethren did ^boverpower the people of my seed.

Because of pride and temptations of the devil, his seed were overpowered by Satan. They did not have the help of the Lord, and they faltered and were destroyed.

This is the story of the book of Mormon. All can be saved, if you come unto Christ; if you do not come to Christ, you lose your peace, happiness, and eventually will be destroyed. Those who don't follow Christ do so because of their pride or because Satan gets them unfocused/confused.

This helps to reinforce the next 500 pages of text that we read. In addition, it was probably a fascinating thing for Joseph to translate considering he translated the entire Book of Mormon from Mosiah through Moroni before starting over with 1 Nephi. I'm sure he was convinced Nephi was a prophet after Joseph had already seen and learned the 2 lessons above in the rest of the Book of Mormon.

Revelation - Comes after a willingness to believe; can come to many

One of the early messages of the Book of Mormon appears to be that people can get revelation. Lehi received revelation and then his son did as well. The prerequisites for the revelation appear to be a few things:

1) That Nephi believed what his Father had taught (particularly in Jesus Christ)

2) That Nephi desired to know and see what his Father knew and saw

3) That Nephi would think and ponder about his Father's message

Here's the verses that express the above 3 thoughts:

1 For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat ^apondering in mine heart I was^bcaught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high ^cmountain, which I never had before seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot.

2 And the Spirit said unto me: Behold, what ^adesirest thou?

3 And I said: I desire to behold the things which my father ^asaw.

4 And the Spirit said unto me: ^aBelievest thou that thy father saw the ^btree of which he hath spoken?

5 And I said: Yea, thou knowest that I ^abelieve all the words of my father.

6 And when I had spoken these words, the Spirit cried with a loud voice, saying: Hosanna to the Lord, the most high God; for he is God over all the ^aearth, yea, even above all. And blessed art thou, Nephi, because thou ^bbelievest in the Son of the most high God; wherefore, thou shalt behold the things which thou hast desired.

Given the correct preparation and willingness to believe in the message given by a servant of God, it appears Nephi and I would assume anyone can receive great revelation. I appreciate God's willingness to guide and teach directly.