The New Covenant, Part 3

31 Friday Aug 2012

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Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

Indeed Jesus Christ fulfilled the law (of Moses) and the prophets (Joshua, Judges, Kings, Samuel, Isaiah, etc), all of who and which pointed toward the coming of a Messiah, a Savior of the world. But the Messiah that the ancient Jews expected was far beyond the mark and they stumbled, failing to realize that their salvation was from sin and death and not the government oppression in which they lived under Roman rule. Their hope of a deliverer took on political undertones and they ignored the spiritual significance of His coming and instead formed expectations of someone mighty who would overthrow their taskmasters and free them from their burdensome yokes.

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

And so they rejected not only the Son of God, but the heir to David’s throne. Had Jerusalem been a free and independent nation, Jesus Christ would have succeeded Joseph as their rightful king. This the Jews also failed to realize.

Throughout His mortal ministry, He spake to them in parables and symbolism. Those with ears to hear and eyes to see were the meek and the humble seekers. At one point, He explained to them that they had brothers of other nations, for they were of the nation of Judah.

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.

Here the Savior confirms what Isaiah and other ancient prophets testified concerning more than one nation or tribe of Israel. And after His resurrection, He fulfills His promise that they would hear His voice. The second fold, or tribe, which He visits is that remnant of Joseph. In the Book of Mormon is a record of Jesus Christ’s visit to these people. Furthermore, He expounded to them their heritage:

3 Nephi 15:13 And behold, this is the land of your inheritance; and the Father hath given it unto you.
14 And not at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell it unto your brethren at Jerusalem.
15 Neither at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell unto them concerning the other tribes of the house of Israel, whom the Father hath led away out of the land.
16 This much did the Father command me, that I should tell unto them:
17 That 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.
18 And now, because of stiffneckedness and unbelief they understood not my word; therefore I was commanded to say no more of the Father concerning this thing unto them.
19 But, verily, I say unto you that the Father hath commanded me, and I tell it unto you, that ye were separated from among them because of their iniquity; therefore it is because of their iniquity that they know not of you.
20 And verily, I say unto you again that the other tribes hath the Father separated from them; and it is because of their iniquity that they know not of them.
21 And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: 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.
22 And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the Gentiles; for they understood not that the Gentiles should be converted through their preaching.
23 And they understood me not that I said they shall hear my voice; and they understood me not that the Gentiles should not at any time hear my voice—that I should not manifest myself unto them save it were by the Holy Ghost.
24 But behold, ye have both heard my voice, and seen me; and ye are my sheep, and ye are numbered among those whom the Father hath given me.

Because of the faith of these Nephites and Lamanites, Jesus Christ spent some time with them, blessed them, ministered to them and taught them many things concerning His gospel, including many of the same things He taught to the Jews at Jerusalem. They lived in harmony for several generations until pride and dissentions tore them apart and wars broke out until the wicked remained, who persecuted and exterminated anyone who believed in Jesus Christ.

There was always someone–a prophet, however, who was called to continue writing in and preserving the records of this people, and one of the last of them was named Mormon. He had compiled and abridged a thousand years of records into what we call today, the Book of Mormon. And like Moses, Isaiah and other old world prophets who testified of a Savior of the world, Nephi, Mormon and many other new world prophets in between testified of the same thing–that Jesus is the Christ.

2 Nephi 25:26 And 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.

The canon (or anthology) of scripture that comprises the Holy Bible and the canon of scripture that comprises the Book of Mormon or as Ezekiel the prophet called the stick of Judah and the stick of Joseph, serve to testify in harmony of the divinity and the mission of Jesus Christ. The coming forth of this new record also ushers in the gathering of all the nations or tribes of Israel in these last days before the great coming of the Lord.

In conclusion, I echo the words of a Nephite prophet who labored much of his life for the welfare of the souls of his countrymen, to gather them by invitation into the Master’s fold:

Alma 5:62 I speak by way of command unto you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life.

The New Covenant, Part 2

29 Wednesday Aug 2012

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Many prophets of the Old Testament wrote concerning the scattering of Israel and their eventual gathering in the last days, including Jeremiah, Zephaniah and Isaiah who described the latter day event as a marvelous work and a wonder in conjunction with the coming of a sealed book. Ezekiel prophecied that two nations would each produce their own record testifying of the divinity of Jesus Christ.

In Ezekiel 37 we read:

15. The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
16. Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17. And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19. Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

We have been promised that the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Joseph would surely testify of Jesus Christ. These old world prophets wrote their words on papyrus, parchment, skins, etc and were rolled on sticks and stored as scrolls when they were not studied. Today, because of the invention of the printing press, we have books.

Nephi, the first recorded prophet of Joseph’s tribe in the new world, wrote the following in 2 Nephi 29 of the Book of Mormon:

12 For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it.
13 And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews.
14 And it shall come to pass that my people, which are of the house of Israel, shall be gathered home unto the lands of their possessions; and my word also shall be gathered in one. And I will show unto them that fight against my word and against my people, who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham that I would remember his seed forever.

As mentioned in part one, Lehi took his family out of Jerusalem and from him stemmed two nations–Nephites and Lamanites, both named after two of Lehi’s sons, Nephi and Laman. Eventually the Nephites rejected the Lord and were destroyed by the Lamanites, who eventually became a lost and fallen people on the American continent, but were given a promise that would be fulfilled in the last days.

Today there are no doubt countless millions of Abraham’s seed scattered throughout the earth. And while most of us have forgotten about or are oblivious to the covenant that the Lord made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the Lord certainly has not forgotten His covenant, nor has He ever stopped His work of uniting all His children under this covenant. This has proven to be a major paradigm shift for the humble seekers of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in the last days.

The New Covenant, Part 1

27 Monday Aug 2012

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D&C 84:57 …and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon…

Without a solid understanding of the Old Testament, it is difficult for most Christians to understand the significance of the Book of Mormon. Like the New Testament, the Book of Mormon is another testament or another covenant, even the new covenant, which is essentially the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ.

We cannot begin to understand who the Nephites and the Lamanites were without first understanding where they came from. Indeed their patriarch, Lehi, did not know until he had obtained a record found on brass plates from the treasury of a military leader named Laban. The Book of Mormon begins with the exodus of a small family led by Lehi from Jerusalem into the wilderness to escape the coming destruction and conquest of Babylon. In 1 Nephi 5:14 Lehi discovers that he is a descendant of Joseph who was sold into Egypt. This was the same Joseph, son of Jacob, father of twelve sons who became nations.

Like their predecessors in the old world, these people had a tradition of memorizing their lineage and later in the Book of Mormon, in Alma 10:3 we learn that Lehi descended from Joseph through his son Manasseh. Joseph, son of Jacob who was renamed Israel by an angel, had eleven brothers. These twelve brothers became the heads of twelve nations or tribes as they are called in the Bible. The Bible as we have it today is a record of the tribe of Judah, or in other words, the Jews.

Before Jacob died, he gathered up his family to bless them and to prophecy what should befall them in the last days. In Genesis 49, he addresses his sons, one by one, including Joseph, who in verse twenty-two declares that he is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall. Jacob continues by saying, “The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.”

We read about Israel pleading with the Lord for deliverance in Psalms 80:

“O Shepherd of Israel, thou what leadest Joseph like a flock…Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it…She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river…”

After Jacob and his family settled into the land of Egypt, more specifically, Goshen, after having been rescued by Joseph from a great famine, this family grew into a people so great that Egypt began to fear them. Thus these Isrealites became enslaved. After many generations, the Lord saw fit to honor his covenant with Abraham and give the land of Canaan to his posterity, the Israelites, for an inheritance. And so Moses brought them out and they traveled for forty long years until they reached their promised land. And because of their wickedness they became scattered over time.

Isaiah is a great prophet who wrote many great things that would soon come to pass. He prophecies many things concerning Israel and the trials they would face because of their wickedness. In chapter sixteen, verse eight, we read, “…they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.”

We begin to paint a clear picture regarding the scattering of the twelve tribes of Israel, but more specifically, the tribe of Joseph. It is clear that Joseph is the bough, or in other words a main branch of Israel. And his nation becomes separated from his eleven brethren by the sea. When Lehi departed from Jerusalem, the Lord told him that he was to be given a new land of inheritance. This land of inheritance became Lehi’s promised land–a land across the great sea in the new world.

My mother

26 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by in Just Marc

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Alma 56:47-48 …yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

There is no doubt in my mind that I would not be who I am today if not for the love and faith of my dear mother. But I cannot begin to expound on the man without shedding light on the woman who raised him. In a nutshell, my mother, who was born in Mexico and raised in El Paso, Texas, was converted and baptized into the church as a teenager and soon after decided to serve a mission. She was assigned to Mexico and served faithfully for one and a half years. Thereafter, she met and married my father who was stationed at Fort Bliss and the rest is history.

For as long as I can remember, my mother diligently made sure we were all ready for church every Sunday, prepared family home evening lessons every Monday, gathered us all every night for a family prayer before bed, and so on. She truly was the glue that kept us actively engaged in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I will never forget the stories that she taught us from the Old Testament and also her experiences serving her mission. I knew at a very young age that I wanted to serve a mission, too. There was never a time that my mother did not inspire me. She seldom had free time, but I do remember that whatever free time she had, she spent reading the scriptures.

I also have memories of my family driving over the Rio Grande to Ciudad Juarez to see the sites, shop and just get away for a day. It is a very short drive out of my old neighborhood, down the border highway and across a bridge. It was a much different world back then. It boggles my mind that this Mexican City was dubbed the “Murder Capital of the World.” Interestingly enough, the crime and drug wars all began about the time I left El Paso to serve a mission in Germany for two years and thereafter make a home in Utah. I was sickened over the years to watch on the news of just how bad it really became there. And yet, despite all of this, a temple was built, dedicated and is in full use to this day. Many, if not most members in El Paso do not attend the temple there. Instead, they occasionally schedule bus trips to the next closest temple in Albuquerque, New Mexico for fear of their lives. Not my mom.

Despite the abhorrent crimes committed by drug lords and criminals, my mother has faithfully attended one ore two sessions per month since the temple opened. She told me that another member was driving home not too long ago from the temple and could hear bullets whizzing past his car. But why does my mother continue to go despite the mortal danger? She was promised that if she went straight to the temple and straight back home without deviating to tour, shop, etc, she would be unharmed. And so for the last decade she has carpooled with another sister who is a temple worker there. She tells me these stories and her trips like it’s not a big deal. This is the moral fiber of my mother. This is the woman who was my rock during my childhood. This is the unwavering faith of a daughter of God.

Pictured below: Teotihuacan, Christmas 1970, fifteen months old

I remember…

25 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by in Heritage

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There was a time, back in the ’70s when the integration of Spanish speaking members with English speaking members created no small degree of discomfort. Even I, in my young age in the primary program could sense it, especially among the grown-ups. While I was oblivious to the tension it created in the various wards of my hometown of El Paso, Texas, it didn’t take too long for me to realize that I was suddenly different.

My home was no longer in the Spanish speaking ward boundary in which I had grown up and so I learned to adjust in a new ward where everyone was white. I realized at that point that speaking English wasn’t limited to just the kids. Even the adults and especially the elderly spoke perfect English, as I did. I found it odd at the time, though young and naive as I was, for previously, I had thought that English had somehow become a foreign language to adults, especially the elderly, since I never heard them speak English. I began to learn the differences between the two cultures rather quickly.

There was a combination of things that made me feel inadequate soon afterward. The members of my new ward wore finer clothes, drove nicer cars and lived in much nicer homes, some with swimming pools in their backyards. It didn’t take too long for me to feel “dark and loathesome.” I remember becoming resentful of my skin. I am grateful, though, that my parents raised my sisters and me with English as our primary language, although we were raised to speak both languages. I carried this sense of inferiority throughout my childhood and teenage years. It wasn’t until I served a mission in Munich, Germany that I came out of my shell and my self esteem began to grow, though once in a while, even today, I may feel the stigma of being brown.

I recently began reading old Ensign magazine articles and discovered one, which really touched me. It was written by the prophet, Spencer W. Kimball for his First Presidency message in the 1975 issue and directly addressed the Mexican people, the native American Indians, and the Polynesian people and is worth reading (http://www.lds.org/ensign/1975/12/our-paths-have-met-again?lang=eng).

I rejoice that it has been my privilege to carry the gospel to the Lamanites from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic, from the reaches of Canada to southern Chile, and in the islands from Hawaii to New Zealand. I have eaten with and visited with these my brethren and sisters and have been a guest in their homes.

I have met some who are a little bit ashamed that they are Lamanites. How can it be? Some would rather define themselves as Nephites, or Zoramites, or Josephites, or something else. Surely there must be a misunderstanding. Would they separate themselves from the great blessings the Lord has promised to his covenant people? Would they cast off their birthright? For the Lord himself has chosen to call these people Lamanites—all the mixed descendants of Father Lehi, and Ishmael, and Zoram, and Mulek, and others of the Book of Mormon record; all of the literal seed of the Lamanites, “and also all that had become Lamanites because of their dissensions.

It has been almost forty years since President Kimball’s words were published and truly the Lamanites have begun to blossom as the rose. I have spent all these years intensely studying the Old and New Testaments, The Book of Mormon and other scriptures. The Lamanites have a remarkable legacy that spans generations, even dispensations, of which is prophecied in the very first book of the Old Testament:

Genesis 49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall…