The Man Dressed In A White Robe Reconsidered

15 Monday Apr 2024

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I had not planned to share this for a long time, but the subject was broached today by an acquaintance, so I will explain why I have reconsidered what I wrote in a previous entry over a year ago.

I’ve been outspoken about that for a while in some circles, but I have also reconsidered who the man dressed in a white robe in Lehi’s dream was, based on personal experience and also with a conversation I had with a true messenger. Lehi and those like him such as Isaiah who have “ascended” to a new level of ministration are “exalted” to their new level by the Lord after experiencing a “descent” phase or a period of “abasement.” Consider a few things: Lehi had already experienced a theophany which is beyond the iron rod imagery or in other words at the “end” to which people should endure. He had already partaken of the fruit and found “rest.” I have made many videos about this “rest” and “partaking of God’s goodness” if anyone is interested in watching my Book of Mormon Spotlight videos on YouTube. We see this powerfully, but very briefly in 1 Nephi chapter 1 with Lehi’s theophany. Later, the opening scene of Lehi’s dream of the tree of life in 1 Nephi chapter 8 placed him in a lone and dreary wilderness where the white robed man asked Lehi to follow him. Lehi followed him until he found himself no longer in a dark wilderness but rather in a dark waste. Lehi essentially experienced a descent phase, or in other words, a condescension. It happened upon his consent to be guided there. Once his “abasement” period was completed, his ministration as one who then “ascended” like Isaiah to guide others to partake of the same “rest” began. And it began with Lehi guiding his family along the same path. This is why Lehi did not start out at the beginning of the iron rod in his dream, but the others did. Very few people press forward during their mortal lives with their minds and hearts set on partaking of the fruit of the tree of life, or “rest” while yet in mortality. Those that do may consent to a period of abasement or a “descent” phase where they demonstrate their willingness to serve God at all hazards (6th lecture on faith), not even withholding their lives as Lehi demonstrated when he preached repentance at Jerusalem.

Lecture on Faith 6:5 For a man to lay down his all, his character and reputation, his honor and applause, his good name among men, his houses, his lands, his brothers and sisters, his wife and children, and even his own life also, counting all things but filth and dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, requires more than mere belief, or supposition that he is doing the will of God, but actual knowledge: realizing, that when these sufferings are ended he will enter into eternal rest; and be a partaker of the glory of God…

Or as the Lord asked:

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Gentile Kings and Queens

22 Friday Mar 2024

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Today’s entry is just a quick blurb and not at all exhaustive. I share much more in my ongoing YouTube playlist titled “Book of Mormon Spotlights.” In my studies, I noticed a hierarchy of Gentiles mentioned in various places in the Book of Mormon, but mostly within the first two books of Nephi. They are:

1. Mother Gentiles
2. Gentiles
3. Gentiles who repent
4. Gentile Kings and Queens

Consider the following and feel free to make any corrections. Nephi wrote about the Mother Gentiles (1 Nephi 13:17) who would wage war against those Gentiles (1 Nephi 13:12-16) who wanted a better life and were brought to America by the power of the Lord. In the Old Testament, the northern kingdom of Israel, also known as Ephraim was destroyed by Assyria and the people were dispersed. They assimilated into gentile nations, but dispersed Ephraim was predicted to emerge in the last days to serve as “nursing fathers” and “nursing mothers” (2 Nephi 10:9) to the remnant of the House of Israel that is restored in the end-time. These “kings” and “queens” who are also referred to as these nursing fathers and nursing mothers by Nephi and also referred to as “foster fathers” and “nursing mothers” by Isaiah will be among those Gentles who repent and become covenant people of the Lord (2 Nephi 30:2) because as many of the Gentiles as repent are the covenant people of the Lord;

Now lets fast forward to Joseph Smith’s day. Joseph Smith knew that he and the converted saints were those Gentiles (D&C 109:60) that Nephi prophesied about – and that the Book of Mormon would come by “way of the Gentile” (Title Page) – should become the Gentile Kings and Queens because of Ephraim’s birthright. This refers to spiritual kings and queens and not political kings and queens. There are NO kings and queens on the Earth who care about Zion. They – meaning world leaders and leaders of nations – love Babylon and all her riches and power and don’t care at all about Zion.

In order to understand this concept better, we need to go back to Genesis chapter 48 where Jacob blesses his grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh. Remember that Ephraim was the younger brother who was given the birthright blessing of the first-born, which traditionally would have been Manasseh’s birthright. Ephraim was blessed to become a greater nation than Manasseh and that the descendants of Ephraim would become a “multitude of nations.”

Latter-day Ephraim has the birthright duty to bring the fullness of the gospel to his brother, Latter-day Manasseh, and also his other brethren of the House of Israel (D&C 103:1). Those of us who have been through the temple know that we have been anointed to become kings and queens but that we will not see this realized except through our faithfulness. How do we know what serving as kings and queens involves unless we learn how the scriptures define those roles and then begin emulating those who had those roles? How can we expect to be exalted as those kings and queens IF we never serve or know how to serve, using the role models provided in the scriptures of what those kings and queens actually did? One example would be Ammon, son of King Mosiah who selflessly declined becoming the next political king and instead became a spiritual king to serve his heathen brothers and sisters, the Lamanites in the form of a lowly servant to the vassal king Lamoni.

You get the idea. Then Jesus Christ gives a sequence of events in 3 Nephi chapter 21, which are already underway. But there are still a number of great events which I consider will be the great and marvelous work (although it began with Joseph Smith). But pay attention to how many times Jesus Christ declared, “…and then shall…” and it will become clear just how much is yet to happen. But these events will be sequential. 3 Nephi chapter 21 is a great chapter to study deeply.