There is NO single work or text outside of the Book of Mormon that explicitly declares America to be the place of the New Jerusalem. Nobody outside of the LDS faith whose keystone is the Book of Mormon has ever considered that America will become the New Jerusalem promised to be established by the descendants of Joseph, son of Jacob/Israel. It’s interesting, then, that Prime Minister of Israel Netanyahu is devoting so much energy to make sure that America-whom Benjamin Netanyahu calls the modern day Rome-does not become the New Jerusalem.
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.
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.
I have begun uploading bite-sized commentaries (+/- 2 minutes each) to my YouTube channel for this year’s Come, Follow Me curriculum for those who are looking for unique insights from the Book of Mormon and to deepen their personal relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ.
I have read the Book of Mormon well over one hundred times and I’ve also made an intensive study of its many revelations, truths, and principles. My videos are not strictly following the curriculum, but rather complementing them. They are my personal insights which I have gained over the last forty or fifty years of my life. You can watch the first two and then click the link to my growing playlist to follow along on YouTube as I try to upload one or more per day:
Joseph Smith was fond of the German translation of the Bible.
“I have an old edition of the New Testament in the Latin, Hebrew, German and Greek languages. I have been reading the German, and find it to be the most [nearly] correct translation, and to correspond nearest to the revelations which God has given to me for the last fourteen years” – History of the Church 6:307.
“The old German translators are the most nearly correct — most honest of any of the translators; and therefore I get testimony to bear me out in the revelations that I have preached for the last fourteen years” – History of the Church 6:364.
In the German Lutheran Bible, the names of the two sons of Zebedee are Jacob and John. In the King James Bible, the translators oddly changed the name of Jacob to James. But this is beside the point…or maybe it helps to make my point. I served my mission in Germany and became fluent in the language and as such, I collected a number of German Bibles. I will now quote an interesting passage from the Lutheran Bible:
Epheser 6:12 Denn wir haben nicht mit Fleisch und Blut zu kämpfen, sondern mit Fürsten und Gewaltigen, nämlich mit den Herren der Welt, die in der Finsternis dieser Welt herrschen, mit den bösen Geistern unter dem Himmel.
Translated into English, it reads:
Ephesians 6:12 For we do not battle with flesh and blood, but rather with rulers and mighty ones, namely with the lords of this world who rule in the darkness of this world with the evil spirits under heaven.
Lord is defined as someone or something having power, authority, or influence like a landlord, a warlord, or even a druglord.
That is how I personally render the translation and it provides interesting context in light of the distorted translation rendered by the King James Version:
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
An earlier English translation than the 1611 KJV, namely the Geneva Bible in 1587, renders the translation so:
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, and against the worldly gouernours, the princes of the darkenesse of this worlde, against spirituall wickednesses, which are in ye hie places.”
An even earlier translation, the Bishops’ Bible of 1568 renders it similarly:
“For we wrastle not agaynst blood & flesshe: but agaynst rule, agaynst power, agaynst worldly gouernours of the darknesse of this worlde, agaynst spirituall craftynesse in heauenly places.”
My point is that we are being warned against what the Book of Mormon calls secret combinations which are perpetrated by people who hold high offices. This carries many implications which alone could fill a book. Secret combinations have existed in the church and in governments throughout history since the days of Adam. Secret combinations murdered Abel. Secret combinations murdered the Son of God, even Jesus Christ. Secret combinations also murdered Joseph Smith. They were perpetrated by the “lords” and by the “rulers” of this world. I have thought about writing my own commentary on the Book of Mormon addressing things which I have not yet seen written, but I have not felt impressed by the Spirit to do it.
Some commentaries are by prominent men who follow favorable yet trite and banal narratives. This does the membership a disservice and keeps them asleep when we are commanded in Ether chapter 8 to awake to a sense of “your” awful situation because of the secret combination that shall be among “you” (Ether 8:24). There is a duality about the last days believing Gentiles (goyim) and Ephraimites implied by Book of Mormon prophet-authors. Isaiah also warned about the Drunkards of Ephraim. Incidentally, relatively few people have read, or for that matter, admitted to reading my free book By A Thread which is a very easy read at barely 170 pages. How would I be able to persuade anyone to read a book that might easily be between 700 to 1,000 pages?
But if I could summarize succinctly what I might have written about in my giant tome, it would be this: The Book of Mormon teaches you two paramount lessons: how to seek Christ (and behold Him face to face) AND how to identify and avoid modern “Gadiantons” and the “Nephites” who support them. If this interests you, then my free book By A Thread is a good start. But it’s directed towards disciples of Jesus Christ who hunger and thirst after HIM. It is probably too dry/tedious for anyone else.
Latter-day Lamanite 