A Curious Instrument

Jesus continues to spiral into a very short and direct statement of the gospel itself.  I'll follow suit. 3 Nephi 27 19 And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end. I know there are many ideas of what "salvation" is.  Christ puts it in a very stark light - salvation is to be clean and in God's kingdom. So much for disputations on what salvation is. Then, we are told that we are only saved through being clean through Jesus' blood or his atonement for us.  He cleans us and makes us fit for God's kingdom.  He does it "because" of faith in Christ, "repentance of all their sins", and faithfulness until death.  Christ has specific qualifications for the cleansing he can do and they are all actions or works that must be done. Doing these things d...

I continue to slowly move along the Savior's great spiral, adding more and more information and focus on his gospel from a seemingly innocuous question.  3 Nephi 27 13 Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me. 14 And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil— 15 And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works. Christ came into the world to be the Messiah, which was the mission that God the Father assigned to him. Jesus was completely focused on his role in ...

I am still looking at the "spiral" nature of the Savior's answers to questions, building and expanding on what he has said before.  This chapter begins with a rather simple question from the disciples on what the name of the Church should be.  Christ has already addressed that there should be no contention at all, much less about such things; gives reasons and logic about how the church should be named; and now provides what might be considered threats to those who would steer the Church via any doctrine other than his own: 3 Nephi 27 10 And if it so be that the church is built upon my gospel then will the Father show forth his own works in it. 11 But if it be not built upon my gospel, and is built upon the works of men, or upon the works of the devil, verily I say unto you they have joy in their works for a season, and by and by the end cometh, and they are hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence there is no return. 12 For their works do follow them, for it is beca...

A young man spoke to us at a conference today, mentioning the best answers to questions are ones that expand beyond the original query.  For instance, the question "should I get married?" gets answered and beyond in the response "Young men should prepare to be good husbands and fathers."  You see the expansion? Beyond marriage, you should look forward to doing a good job for your wife and kids! I just read an example of this from the Lord.  The disciple leaders of the Church in the Book of Mormon pray for the Savior to help them with a problem.  Christ himself comes and they ask him how the Church should be called and how there was some contention over this.  Here was his response. 3 Nephi 27 4 And the Lord said unto them: Verily, verily, I say unto you, why is it that the people should murmur and dispute because of this thing? 5 Have they not read the scriptures, which say ye must take upon you the name of Christ, which is my name? For by this name shall ye be ...

  This is yet another stab at resetting people's expectations of Jesus Christ. When Christ came to the people in America, he commanded that some scripture be put into their records that had been written by prophets in the "old world". I have been reading through parts of the book of Malachi previously and I am still working through this.  I am also noticing a pattern. It is the "fear of the Lord". A lot of modern Christians don't equate Jesus with fear, but they should.  It is far too easy to think that Christ will simply forgive bad behavior purely out of a sense of love, of which I have seen no evidence in my scripture study. Information in Malachi chapters 3 and 4 is clear about Christ's punishments for the wicked (and he has an expansive view of who is wicked) and that our basic attitude toward the coming Christ should be fear. I don't know about you, but I am worried about my status in relation to the Messiah - how he sees me. Although a few peo...

I might get the reputation of highlighting the hard Christ, the one who promises punishments for disobedience.  I do this because of the constant stream of platitudes from many, many popular sources that "God loves you the way you are" and the rejection of commandments and essential ordinances and repentance in favor of a supposed Christ's overarching desire to put aside everything he ever said and taught in favor of being oh-so-loving to everyone. If I were your only source for information on the Messiah, you might see him as a pretty hard taskmaster - I just feel this deep need to provide the better-documented (in scripture) counterpoint! Here is a wonderful snippet to help you know that you don't have to be in the "hard" Savior's "doghouse" forever:  3 Nephi 24 and Malachi 3 7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts....

It seems everyone wants to find something special about themselves; something that makes them stand out from the rest. But what happens when you are special in God's eyes but that marks you for something seemingly bad as opposed to something good? As an Aaronide priest, which marks me and my sons as a literal male-line descendants of the biblical Aaron and leaders in the tribe of Levi, the Lord himself has singled us out in a way not too appealing: Malachi 3 and  3 Nephi 24 2 But who may abide the day of his (the Lord's) coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap. 3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.  4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years. There it is - the fate of my heritage: to be b...