The Lord follows every apostasy with a new dispensation and a restoration of authority. Here is a short film produced by the Church which shows how the current dispensation was opened through the young man, Joseph Smith.
This is the second half of the same film.
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7).
Heavenly Father will answer your prayers, too. Ask Him whether Joseph Smith was a prophet.
The Book of Mormon is a record of a people that lived in the Americas between 600BC and 400AD as well as their origins, lives and religion. The record, written on gold plates, was given to Joseph Smith and he was given the ability to translate it from the original language, reformed Egyptian.
The Book of Mormon starts with a title page and introduction to familiarize the reader with the book’s purpose and history. As the title page states, the Book of Mormon was written as a witness and testament that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God and that He manifests Himself unto all nations. The final paragraphs of the introduction contains an invitation to read the book and a promise that if one will read it, ponder over the words, and pray to God, asking if the book is true, then an answer will be given by the power of the Holy Ghost. After this invitation, the testimonies of the eight witnesses, the three witnesses and Joseph Smith are given.
The book then begins. Its format is similar to the Bible, in that there are individual books within the greater book and these are divided into chapters and verses. The first book was written by a man named Nephi living in Jerusalem around 600BC and is taken from a record mentioned in the book called the Small Plates of Nephi. The small plates were like a journal that Nephi kept and was passed on in the family for generations. In it, he and others recorded prophecies, teachings and “a few of the things which [they] considered to be most precious.” (Jacob 1:2) Nephi made other plates, the large plates, on which he wrote the daily goings-on of his people. That book was passed down from king to king and was eventually abridged by a prophet named Mormon. That abridgment comprises most of the Book of Mormon. The first part, however, is taken directly from the small plates.
Nephi tells the story of his father, Lehi, and his vision. Much the same way that Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel were called to be prophets, Lehi sees a vision of God, learns of His gospel and is sent among the people to warn them of their wickedness and the impeding doom of the city. Predictably, he is rejected by the people and threats are made on his life (Jeremiah is probably in prison at this time) so the Lord commands him to take his family and absquatulate into the desert. Nephi records their experiences, trials and the things they learn about Christ and His gospel as they travel eight years through the desert from Jerusalem to an unknown point on the Arabian coast where they build a boat, according the Lord’s directions, and cross the ocean to the promised land.
Some time after arriving, Lehi gives his dying words to his children and grandchildren and passes away. It didn’t take long for Nephi’s oldest brothers, Laman and Lemuel, to try and kill Nephi. They had been complaining, rebelling and plotting Nephi’s death since they left Jerusalem because they did not believe that Lehi had a vision nor did they believe in God all that much. Nephi took his wife, kids and anyone else who would listen away from Laman’s group so they could live peacefully and worship God. From that time until the very end of the book, the two main groups are referred to as Nephites and Lamanites.
Nephi spends the rest of his book writing down a few of his thoughts and feelings, but mostly prophecies and teachings and many words of the prophet Isaiah. Nephi then passes the metal plates he used to write on, to his brother Jacob and dies. Jacob continues to write and records a few of his sermons to the people and passes them to his son, Enos. The tradition continues for several generations, each of them writing a little until one man, who had no children, passes the plates on to the king, a righteous man named Benjamin. By this time, over 450 years had passed since Lehi and his family had left Jerusalem.
During the time that this record was kept, the Nephites and Lamanites fought against each other and had several wars. At one point, the Nephite king, Mosiah, was warned by the Lord to leave their lands and go north. He took as many people with him as would listen and left their city to find a new place to live. Mosiah was led by the Lord and found an entire city of people called Zarahemla. Their history is largely unknown except that they were originally led by Mulek out of Jerusalem when Babylon invaded Jerusalem in 585 BC. The two groups merged and Mosiah, followed by his son Benjamin, became their king. This marks the end of the small plates.
The most remarkable thing about these writings is how much Nephi and his descendants knew about the coming Messiah. Nephi was shown the birth of Jesus in a vision and understood the miraculous power of the atonement. He writes, “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” (2 Nephi 2:26). We share this book with you, and with the whole world for the same purpose. Please take the opportunity to read it for yourself.
Among Christ’s titles is “Alpha and Omega,” signifying the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet. His influence can be felt from one end of eternity to the other, as well as all along the way. Every aspect of Mormonism focuses on Him; we revere Him as our God, our Creator, our Brother, and our King.
“In the Beginning…
…was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1-3)
Jesus, like all of us, existed before birth. He was an important figure in our premortal family as the birthright, first-begotten Son of the Father, and our eldest and wisest brother. As our leader, He championed the causes of justice, mercy and free will. He was appointed to be our Savior. We had faith in Him. We followed Him willingly and loved Him.
Under the Father’s direction, Jesus created the heavens and the earth. He made them beautiful and fruitful. But it wasn’t just an art project; earth was to be a testing ground for God’s children. Jesus said, “We will prove them herewith to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;” (Abraham 3:25)
And command them, He did. Jesus is identified in the Old Testament as Jehovah, the great I Am. He told Noah to build an ark; He spoke to Moses face to face; it was His presence that rested upon the tabernacle of Israel within a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Over the centuries, He spoke to Samuel, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lehi, Nephi, and many other noble prophets of Israel.
Their messages (which were always His message) were invariably teachings of repentance, obedience, and foretelling of the coming Messiah, who would one day deliver them.
“And the Word was made flesh…
…and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” (John 1:14, 11)
Mary, a virgin maiden from Nazareth became miraculously pregnant: an angel appeared to her and said, “Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.” (Luke 1:31) When He was born in Bethlehem, He became the only begotten Son of God in the flesh. From His mother, he inherited mortality; from His Father, he received power over death.
At the age of thirty, He began His ministry. Jesus was a profound teacher and a miracle worker. Although He was popular among common folks, He upset the status quo of the reigning religious leaders, and they opted to eliminate Him. They submitted Him to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate to be executed.
He knew His execution was imminent, but something weightier was on His mind: the souls of all people. He had been chosen by the Father to be the sacrificial lamb — to atone for the sins of mankind. He prayed long and hard in the garden of Gethsemane that fateful night. At first He hesitated, pleading for some other way, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.” (Luke 22:42)
The consequences of sin are death and suffering. Jesus suffered in Gethsemane, then died by crucifixion on Calvary the following day.
But the sins were not His; they were ours.
Why did He do it? Jesus later spoke these words to the prophet Joseph Smith:
“For behold, I, God have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit–Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.” (Doctrine & Covenants 19:16,18-19).
“He is not here, but is risen”
(Luke 23:6).
On the third day after His death, before He was even fully interred in his tomb, Jesus arose. He showed His fully-perfected physical body to Mary and to His disciples; they felt the nail prints in his hands and feet and knew it was the Lord. His ministry continued another forty days, long enough to more fully establish His Church with the apostles. Then “he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.” (Acts 1:9).
Why didn’t He stick around? For one thing, He had another pressing matter. He had earlier told His apostles, “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.” (John 10:16).
We have record of at least one group of His “other sheep” in the Book of Mormon. He was met by the Nephites and Lamanites with celebration and enthusiasm (3 Nephi 11). We are certain He visited other groups, but we have not yet received records of these visits.
Jesus has remained alive in an immortal and perfect physical body ever since. He showed himself to Stephen, Saul, John, Mormon, Moroni, and many others, including the pious fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith. He has promised, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8).
As in ancient times, the prophets dispense the Savior’s message to the world, including a witness “that He lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God;” (Doctrine & Covenants 76:22-23).
“The Lord himself shall descend…
…from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
We still await the Savior’s triumphant second coming. He will reveal himself to everyone altogether then, and the graves of the righteous will open for their turn at resurrection.
We will all recognize Him as King (some with dismay or anxiety), “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:11-12). He will reign personally for a thousand years; then, the wicked will finally be resurrected, and each of us who has lived in this world will receive our final judgment from Jesus the Christ.
And what better judge could we ask for? Jesus knows us best, having been among us from the very beginning. He created the world and even walked among us in mortality. He felt our pains and afflictions and temptations and death itself; all so He would know how to relieve us (see Alma 7:11-12). He is our righteous leader and king. We can have faith in Him. We can love Him with all our hearts.
Lehi, the first prophet in the Book of Mormon, was warned by the Lord that Jerusalem would soon be destroyed and was told to leave into the wilderness. While in the wilderness, Lehi had a peculiar dream.
In his dream, Lehi found himself in a dark and dreary wilderness. He saw a man in a white robe standing in front of him who told Lehi to follow him. Lehi was soon lost, however, and traveled alone for many hours. He was no doubt tired and afraid of not knowing where to go, so he prayed for comfort. No sooner had he prayed, when we saw that he was in a large and spacious field and he saw a tree whose fruit was desirable to make one happy. He saw that the tree and its fruit were whiter than anything he had seen before and the taste of the fruit was sweet and gave him great joy.
The joy and sweetness of the fruit gave him the desire to share with those he loved most: his family. As he looked around, he saw that a river ran by the tree. He soon saw his wife and youngest two sons, Nephi and Sam, far off, and that they too seemed to be lost. Lehi called to them and they came and also ate the fruit. Wanting his older two sons, Laman and Lemuel, to be there too, he looked farther up the river. When he saw them, he called out to them, but they would not come.
Alongside the river, an iron rod stretched from the tree off into the distance by where the river began. That large field now seemed to be as large as a world, and it was filled with countless people that were trying to get to the tree. A mist then covered the whole area so that the people could not see. This caused many to wander off and become lost but others held the iron rod in their hands and followed it until they reached the tree. There were some who made it to the tree but when when they ate the fruit, they looked around and were ashamed. Lehi looked for the cause of this shame and saw a large building that looked like it was floating in the air. The people in that building were all dressed in extravagant clothing and were pointing fingers and mocking those by the tree. Lehi watched and saw people get lost in the mist and others drown in the river; many followed the iron rod to the tree and the rest found their way to the large building to join the others in mocking and putting down those by the tree.
The meaning of this dream may not be immediately clear to everyone. It wasn’t to Lehi’s son, Nephi, but Nephi had enough faith that God would answer his prayers, so he took his questions to the Lord in prayer. In response to that prayer, Nephi also had a vision, where he saw the meaning of the dream and of Jesus Christ’s mission on earth and His love and gospel. He learned that the tree represents the love of God for us. The iron rod that led to the tree was the word of God, given through His prophets and that if we held onto those words, we would find the love of God and receive joy because of it. The people in the dream are each one of us, trying to find our way through the mists of temptations to reach God’s love. Many people fail to grasp the words of the Lord and get lost or drown in the filthy waters that represented that “awful hell that separates the wicked from the tree of life.” The large building that held those that opposed God represented the wisdom and pride of the world. Nephi saw its destruction and “the fall thereof was exceedingly great.”
The meaning of this dream applies to every person that has ever lived on this earth. Each of us is trying to get somewhere, even if we do not know where. What we seek is Christ and His love for us. By holding onto the iron rod, or rather, by reading scriptures and praying to God, everyone can receive Christ in their lives regardless of the obstacles.
Lehi’s dream can be found in 1 Nephi 8 and Nephi’s vision in 1 Nephi 11. Nephi sees much more than this and I invite everyone to read about it in chapters 12 – 14. In 1 Nephi 15, Nephi explains the meaning of the dream to his older brothers, Laman and Lemuel.
About this time of year, many people get excited about the new year. A new year can be a new beginning and an excellent point to check life’s milestones, past goals and access one’s personal situation in life. It doesn’t necessarily take a new year to do this, but it seems like a good time to start anew. Coming up on this new year, I have heard and listened to a few people talk about their resolutions and others (at church, for example) speak about how best to go about fulfilling those resolutions because, let’s face it, everyone has had goals that were never completed and that were eventually discarded. This year, I’m thinking about a new approach.
Whether it is dieting, taking up a new hobby, catching up on reading or starting an exercising routine, change can be difficult. Getting into the habit can be the hardest part and discouragement can often take place soon after beginning and possibly soon before ending for good.
But how about this for a new years’ resolution: a surrendering of one’s will completely and wholly to the Lord. That’s a worthy goal, is it not? It goes along with Christ’s injunction, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:25). Should we find ourselves lost in the cause of Christ, our will being given to Him, we will find our life, that is, eternal life. No doubt He has our best interests in mind and would not lead us astray; why not follow Him?
More practically, however, we find ourselves less able to follow through with this than often we would like. Why is that? What prevents us from keeping in line with His teachings? Often, I find myself thoroughly dedicated at one moment, but then find my resolve slipping and my condition back to what is once was. Yes there are temptations but ought not we to be able to overcome such?
There are a few reasons for this, and I’d like to address one in particular. I have found in my own life, that even though my desire to improve is pure and my resolve strong, there are weaknesses because I am not thorough enough and there is usually something else in which I allow myself indulgence. How can I receive full strength from the Lord in breaking a bad habit when I willfully allow myself to continue in other habits. Maybe those habits aren’t even so bad. A bit of impatience toward a stranger. A little dishonesty. Or even just a few hours wasted in front of a TV or computer, time that could be spent being more productive. Moreover, the pride in me says that I can do these things and nothing bad will come of it because they are so small and insignificant. The temptation to keep doing these things is there while I make an attempt with my new resolution and I am weakened because my will isdivided. My new years’ resolution then is to be undivided.
If you want to apply this principle in your life, go ahead! The way is clear for anyone to do so. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we have taken on a covenant, or a promise with God, that we will be willing to take upon ourselves Christ’s name, keep His commandments and always remember Him. There is no division or conditions in those words. Submit our will to adopt His name, keep the commandments, always remember Him. That is my goal this year and I invite everyone to do the same. Really and truly apply the phrase, “What Would Jesus Do?” in your life. Is it a sacrifice? Indeed it is. But it is worth every bit.