2 Ne 28:1 I have spoken…according as the Spirit hath constrained me
When one speaks by the power
of the Holy Spirit, the words uttered are counted as scripture, whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost
shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the
Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the
power of God unto salvation (DC 68:4). Because of this principle, Nephi
knew that the things which he was constrained by the Spirit to speak must surely come to pass.
2 Ne 28:2 the things which shall be written out of the book shall be
of great worth
Can one estimate the
importance of the Book of Mormon to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
Joseph Smith exclaimed that it was the keystone of our religion but it is more
than that. It is the voice from the dust, the proof of the Bible’s divinity,
the best of all missionary tools, the only extant history of the early
Americas, the doctrinal peacemaker, and the secret weapon in the fight against
the powers of Satan in the last days. As Nephi exclaimed it shall be of great worth unto the children of men.
Those who are seeking to come unto Christ are the ones who will recognize the
priceless gift of the Book of Mormon, for “a man would get nearer to God by
abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” (Teachings of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, p. 194)
2 Ne 28:3 the churches…shall say…I, I am the Lord’s
Nephi, in this chapter, is going
to describe the sectarian churches of the last days. It is useful to make a
list of the things which characterize these churches:
1)
They declare, ‘I am the Lord’s’ (v. 3)
2) They deny the Holy Ghost (v. 4)
3) They deny the power of God (v. 5)
4) They teach false doctrines (v. 12)
5) They have become corrupted because of pride (v. 12)
6) They rob the poor (v. 13)
7) They wear fine clothing (v. 13)
8) They persecute the meek and the poor (v. 13)
9) They have all gone astray save it be a few (v. 14)
10) They revile against that which is good (v. 16)
These characteristics
describe more than just the churches of Joseph Smith’s day. Millet and McConkie
explain the fulfillment of the phrase I, I am the
Lord’s as follows:
“This
prophecy was fulfilled with exactness in the early years of the nineteenth
century. ‘There
was in the place where we lived,’ Joseph Smith wrote, ‘an unusual excitement on the subject of religion. It commenced with the Methodists, but soon
became general among all the sects in that region of country. Indeed, the whole district of country seemed
affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different
religious parties, which created no small stir and division amongst the people,
some crying, 'Lo, here!' and others 'Lo there!' Some were contending for the
Methodist faith, some for the Presbyterian, and some for the Baptist’
(Joseph Smith History 1:5). That is,
‘upon inquiring [about] the plan of salvation, I found that there was a great
clash in religious sentiment; if I went to one society they referred me to one
plan, and another to another, each one pointing to his own particular creed as
the summum bonum of perfections.’ (HC 4:536.)
“Most
religious orders in our modern day are prone to take a moderate stance toward a
single true church; many claim that ‘all roads lead to Rome,’ that all churches
teach the truth, and that because God is so merciful everyone will eventually
inherit heaven's blessings. Doctrines
are thus diluted and witnesses watered down such that (at least in the minds of
a surprising number of modernists) all notions of ‘one
Lord, one faith, and one baptism’ are nullified through an
undiscriminating ecumenism.” (McConkie and Millet, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book
of Mormon, vol. 1, p. 329)
2 Ne 28:4 their priests shall contend one with another
Note how accurately this
phrase describes the religious tension in Joseph Smith’s day, it was seen that the seemingly good feelings of both the
priests and the converts were more pretended than real; for a scene of great
confusion and bad feeling ensued—priest contending against priest, and convert
against convert; so that all their good feelings one for another, if they ever
had any, were entirely lost in a strife of words and a contest about opinions (JS-Hist
1:6).
2 Ne 28:4-5 deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance. And they deny
the power of God
Joseph Smith
“Respecting
the Melchizedek Priesthood, the sectarians never professed to have it;
consequently they never could save any one, and would all be damned together.
There was an Episcopal priest who said he had the priesthood of Aaron, but had
not the priesthood of Melchizedek: and I bear testimony that I never have found
the man who claimed the Priesthood of Melchizedek. The power of the Melchizedek
Priesthood is to have the power of ‘endless lives’; for the everlasting
covenant cannot be broken.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 322)
Joseph Smith
“Many objections are urged against the
Latter-day Saints for not admitting the validity of sectarian baptism, and for
withholding fellowship from sectarian churches. Yet to do otherwise would be
like putting new wine into old bottles, and putting old wine into new bottles.
What! new revelations in the old churches? New revelations would knock out the
bottom of their bottomless pit. New wine into old bottles! The bottles burst
and the wine runs out! What! Sadducees in the new church! Old wine in new
leathern bottles will leak through the pores and escape. So the Sadducee saints
mock at authority, kick out of the traces, and run to the mountains of
perdition, leaving the long echo of their braying behind them.” (Teachings
of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 192)
2 Ne 28:5 there is no God
LeGrand Richards
“I
have just had the privilege, with my wife, by appointment of President McKay,
of touring five of the missions of Europe -- the Danish, the Swedish, the
Norwegian, the Finnish, and the Netherlands Missions -- and Sister Richards and
I appreciate that opportunity very, very much. I love missionary work….
“When
you stop to think in those lands, according to reports, there are only about
five percent (I think it was three, but to be safe I will say five percent) of
the people of those lands who attend church at all of any kind, and then you
know how little there can be in their lives really to live for. Sometimes I
thought as we went through those missions that about all they live for was
their vacation, because they are great people to have a vacation every summer.
I will not take time to go into detail about that. But they did not seem to be
looking to eternal life or eternal exaltation or eternal companionship with
those whom they love. They did not know anything about things like that. The
newspapers even write articles discussing the fact that there is no God.
“I
was told that many of the ministers will openly admit to their members that
they do not know whether there is a God or not. So, you see, they need the
missionaries. They need this wonderful message that we have.” (Conference
Report, Oct. 1, 1959, p. 33-4)
Elder A. Theodore Tuttle
"Several years ago in a seminary
recognized as perhaps the greatest in this country, a doctor of divinity, who
had a string of honorary doctoral degrees and who is on the board of directors
of one of the largest Protestant churches in America, in lecturing to a large
group of students, most of whom already had bachelor of divinity degrees, said,
sympathetically:
'I know that it is difficult for you
men to teach creeds which you, yourselves, do not believe, but you have the
social obligation to do it.’
“Another man in the same institution,
having about the same academic credentials, declared: ‘Who knows but what in
the year 2004 or some other year, there will live a man who will live more
perfectly than did Jesus. Then we will worship him as the Son of God, rather
than Jesus. The reason we worship Jesus as the Son of God is because he lived
the most perfect life of any man of whom we have knowledge.’” (Conference
Report, Oct. 1960, p. 54 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book
of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 161)
Harold B. Lee
“I recently heard a missionary for the
Church tell of an incident which occurred in an atheist-dominated country. A
young student with a fervent belief in God and in the mission of the Savior of
the world was ridiculed and abused by her teacher who scorned the idea of a
God. As a punishment, the teacher required that she write twenty times, ‘There
is no God.’ The young student refused. In a rage the teacher demanded that she
write her denial of God, fifty times and added, as a veiled threat, ‘If you
don't, something terrible will happen.’ That night mother and daughter fasted
and prayed far into the night to that God whom they could not and dared not
deny. When school time came the next morning, mother and daughter went to see
the teacher. The school convened and the teacher had not arrived. As they
waited, the principal of the school came to inform them that the teacher had
died suddenly in the night of a heart attack. Something terrible had happened
but not to this young girl who came without fear ‘in the name of the Lord.’” (Conference
Report, Apr. 1955, p. 19)
2
Ne 28:6 he is not a God of miracles; he hath done
his work
Moroni
prophesied of the day when the Book of Mormon would come forth. He said it
would be a day when it shall be said that miracles
are done away (Mormon 8:26). He explains the falseness of this doctrine
later when he writes:
‘And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god
who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of
which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God
has not ceased to be a God of miracles.
Behold, are not the things that God hath wrought marvelous in
our eyes? Yea, and who can comprehend the marvelous works of God?
Who shall say that it was not a miracle that by his word the
heaven and the earth should be; and by the power of his word man was created of
the dust of the earth; and by the power of his word have miracles been wrought?
And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty
miracles? And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the
apostles.
And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to
be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto
you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be
God, and is a God of miracles.
And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children
of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way,
and know not the God in whom they should trust.’ (Mormon 9:15-20)
Joseph Smith
“Because faith is wanting, the fruits
are. No man since the world was had faith without having something along with
it. The ancients quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword,
women received their dead, etc. By faith the worlds were made. A man who has
none of the gifts has no faith; and he deceives himself, if he supposes he has.
Faith has been wanting, not only among the heathen, but in professed
Christendom also, so that tongues, healings, prophecy, and prophets and
apostles, and all the gifts and blessings have been wanting.” (Teachings of
the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 270)
2 Ne 28:7
Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die
Neal A. Maxwell
“Denying
the doctrine of the premortal existence of man shrinks man's perspective. He
begins to think, mistakenly, that this life is all there is; that the insignificant
‘me’ of a tiny ‘now’ is not only all there is, but all there ever was. The
adversary is quick to use the ‘what if’ there is no purpose to life in order to
induce some to act ‘as if’ such were the case. The resultant misbehavior only
deepens the despair (see Moroni 10:22).
“Naturally,
such a view tends to be accompanied by a diminished belief or a pronounced
unbelief in the resurrection and a perpetuation of personality, which pushes a
person's hope for the future down to nil. This ‘no-answer’ attitude equates
with a ‘no-answerability’ concept that too often leads to the ‘eat, drink, and be merry’ outlook. Thus
one-dimensional mortality relentlessly promotes a one-dimensional morality!” (But
For a Small Moment, p. 89)
Joseph F. Smith
“Some
people cannot think of anything else but annihilation. What a glorious prospect for the
sinner! Then he could say, ‘Let us eat,
drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die, and next day we will be annihilated,
and that will be the end of our sorrow and of God's judgment upon us.’ Do not
flatter yourselves that you are going to get out of it so easy. This Book of Mormon is replete all the way
through with the testimonies of the servants of God that men are born to be
immortal; that after the resurrection their bodies are to live as long as their
spirits, and their spirits cannot die.
They are immortal beings, and they are destined, if they commit the
unpardonable sin, to be banished from the presence of God and endure the
punishment of the devil and his angels throughout all eternity. I think the wicked would prefer annihilation
to the suffering of such punishment.
That would be an end to punishment--an end to being. This view cannot be reconciled with the word
of God.” (Collected
Discourses 1886-1898, ed. by Brian Stuy, vol. 4, Joseph F. Smith, Jan. 20,
1995)
2 Ne 28:8 he will justify in committing a
little sin
George Albert Smith
“I
want you to note that: ‘He will justify in
committing a little sin.’ That cunning adversary knowing that if he
could only get a man or woman to do a little wrong, that far they had gone into
his territory, that far they were in his power.
"’Nevertheless, fear God, he will justify in committing a
little sin, yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words,
dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this. And do all these things,
for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with
a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the Kingdom of God.’
“Isn't
that just exactly what the devil says to the children of men today as plainly
as it is written here? Oh, commit a little sin, that won't do any harm, lie a
little, that won't do any particular damage, the Lord will forgive that and you
will only be beaten with a few stripes and at last you shall be saved in the
kingdom of God. That is what he says to the man or the woman who has been
taught the Word of Wisdom when he says, oh, drink a little tea, that won't hurt
you; use a little tobacco, that won't make any difference: a little liquor
won't do any harm. These are little things; he always does it a little at a
time, not all at once. That is what I would like us to remember, my brethren,
this morning. It is these insignificant insidious whisperings that betray
mankind and that place us in the power of the devil. (Conference Report,
Apr. 1918, p. 39-40)
2 Ne 28:12 Because of pride…and false doctrine, their churches have
become corrupted
This chapter is replete with
the false doctrines of the sectarian churches of the last days. The falseness
of other belief systems can be detected if they include any of the doctrines
discussed in this chapter:
1)
There is no God (v. 5)
2)
The Lord hath done his work (v. 5)
3)
There are no more miracles (v. 6)
4)
Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow
we die (v. 7)
5)
The Lord will justify in committing a
little sin (v. 8)
6)
There is no hell (v. 22)
7)
There is no devil (v. 22)
8)
All is well in Zion (v. 21, 25)
Joseph Smith
“Many
men say there is one God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are only one
God. I say that is a strange God anyhow-three in one, and one in three! It is a
curious organization. ‘Father, I pray not for the
world, but I pray for them which thou hast given me.’ ‘Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom thou
hast given me, that they may be one as we are.’ All are to be crammed
into one God, according to sectarianism. It would make the biggest God in all
the world. He would be a wonderfully big God-he would be a giant or a monster.” (Teachings
of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 372)
Joseph Smith
“The idea that some men form of the
justice, judgment, and mercy of God, is too foolish for an intelligent man to
think of: for instance, it is common for many of our orthodox preachers to
suppose that if a man is not what they call converted, if he dies in that state
he must remain eternally in hell without any hope. Infinite years in torment
must he spend, and never, never, never have an end; and yet this eternal misery
is made frequently to rest upon the merest casualty. The breaking of a
shoe-string, the tearing of a coat of those officiating, or the peculiar
location in which a person lives, may be the means, indirectly of his
damnation, or the cause of his not being saved. I will suppose a case which is
not extraordinary: Two men, who have been equally wicked, who have neglected
religion, are both of them taken sick at the same time; one of them has the
good fortune to be visited by a praying man, and he gets converted a few
minutes before he dies; the other sends for three different praying men, a
tailor, a shoemaker, and a tinman; the tinman has a handle to solder to a can,
the tailor has a buttonhole to work on some coat that he needed in a hurry, and
the shoemaker has a patch to put on somebody's boot; they none of them can go
in time, the man dies, and goes to hell: one of these is exalted to Abraham's
bosom, he sits down in the presence of God and enjoys eternal, uninterrupted
happiness, while the other, equally as good as he, sinks to eternal damnation,
irretrievable misery and hopeless despair, because a man had a boot mend, the
button-hole of a coat to work, or a handle to solder on to a saucepan.” (Teachings
of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 220-1)
Joseph Fielding Smith
“President
Clawson this afternoon read to us some views that are expressed today by
certain ministers, religionists who call themselves modernists, and they appear
to be in the ascendency; their doctrines are growing, and are finding place in
the hearts of the people, and the true doctrines of Christ, and the testimony
that Jesus is the Son of God, is diminishing, is dying out in the world. It may
be true, as one divine stated, that the Christian Era is at an end, and the
Church is in the course of dissolution, if he had reference to the so-called
Christian churches of the day; because their doctrine is spurious, it is not
the gospel of Jesus Christ, but a man-made system. But Christianity, pure and
undefiled, is not in the course of dissolution; it is not dying out, it is
becoming more firmly rooted in the earth, and must do so, and shall continue
until it shall fill the earth, for so it has been predicted.” (Conference
Report, Apr. 1924, p. 41)
2 Ne 28:14 the humble followers of Christ
Nephi is referring to the
humble followers of Christ among the many churches of the last days. In another
scripture, he refers to those outside the Mormon Church as saints, Behold the formation of a church which is most abominable
above all other churches, which slayeth the saints of God…for the praise of the
world do they destroy the saints of God, and bring them down into captivity
(1 Ne 13:5,9). In this latter example, Nephi is speaking of the saints among
the Gentile nations prior to the life and mission of Columbus. Therefore, in
these two separate instances, Nephi refers to those outside the church as being
acknowledged by the Lord. This should not surprise us. For the Lord to save an
unrighteous Mormon and damn a righteous Methodist is an unacceptable doctrine
that denies the justice of God.
Many have wondered, “what
will happen to those of the other churches who followed Christ their entire
lives, but never joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”? Nephi
makes it clear that the Lord recognizes those humble followers of Christ even
if they are few in number and err because they are
taught by the precepts of men. Like everyone else, they will be judged
according to their works and according to that portion of light which they had
received in mortality.
However, in order for these
to receive all the blessings that the Lord has promised for the righteous, they
must receive the ordinances of salvation. Whether in this life or the next,
they must receive baptism and temple ordinances in order to enter the celestial
kingdom—for baptism, performed by one with priesthood authority, is the key to
entering the gate of the celestial kingdom:
‘Therefore in
the ordinances [of the kingdom], the power of godliness is manifest.
And without the
ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness
is not manifest unto men in the flesh;
For without this no man
can see the face of God, even the Father, and live.’ (DC 84:20-22)
2 Ne 28:16 Wo unto them that turn aside the just for a thing of
naught
How many times has the Book
of Mormon been rejected by those who should have recognized its worth? Many
Christians have reviled against the Book of Mormon and said that it is of no worth.
Most of the time this occurs because they have made their minds up before
reading the book that it cannot be true. Therefore, they don’t read with an
open mind and humble heart. Rather, they read to find fault, to find cause to
reject the book. They have not followed the promise contained in Moroni 10:3-5.
I once spoke with a preacher
who had just read first and second Nephi of the Book of Mormon. He couldn’t
bring himself to say anything nice about the book. He claimed that these two
books had three faults. 1) there was no such thing as brass plates in the days
of Zedekiah, 2) there was no way that the Book of Mormon prophets could have
used the language of the New Testament prior to the coming of Christ, and 3)
why was it that no one in Jerusalem knew of the departure of Lehi’s family (all
three of these contentions can be easily addressed but need not be done here).
He concluded by saying that the Book of Mormon did not carry the same spirit as
the Bible. I asked him what he thought of the Isaiah section, anticipating that
if he read the book with an open mind, he should have said that the book
contained no spirit except for those passages of Isaiah which were quoted. That
was not his response demonstrating that he had made up his mind that the book
was false before he read the first page. Humble students of the Book of Mormon
have no difficulty feeling the spirit of the book. It practically jumps out of
the pages. That this preacher could not feel this spirit is evidence that he
had not the sincere heart, real intent, or faith in Christ spoken of in Moroni
10:4. Rather he effectively turned aside the just
for a thing of naught, reviled against that
which is good, and said that it is of no
worth.
2 Ne 28:20 stir them up to anger against that which is good
Marvin J. Ashton
“It
should come as no surprise that one of the adversary’s tactics in the latter
days is stirring up hatred among the children of men. He loves to see us
criticize each other, make fun or take advantage of our neighbor’s known flaws,
and generally pick on each other. The Book of Mormon is clear from where all
anger, malice, greed, and hate come [2 Ne 28:20]. By the looks of what we
constantly see depicted in the news media, it appears that Satan is doing a
pretty good job. In the name of reporting the news, we are besieged with
sometimes graphic depictions—too often in living color—of greed, extortion,
violent sexual crimes, and insults between business, athletic, or political
opponents.” (Ensign, May 1992, p. 19 as taken from Latter-day
Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 160)
2 Ne 28:21 All is well in Zion
Nephi teaches that one of
the lies of Satan is complacency—that we would be content with the state of
affairs in Zion, saying all is well in Zion, yea,
Zion prospereth. Satan understands that as soon as we believe this, we
have let our guard down and practically opened the door for him to cheat our
souls and lead us carefully down to hell. We should never be content with our
own faithfulness or the state of affairs in Zion. Both can be improved and our
efforts should be unceasingly aimed at improvement. When they are not, Satan
smiles and is let in the door. Therefore, wo be unto
him that is at ease in Zion! Wo be unto him that crieth: All is well!
(v. 24-5)
Spencer W. Kimball
“We
have discussed elsewhere that other class of people who are basically
unrepentant because they are not ‘doing the commandments.’ They are Church
members who are steeped in lethargy. They neither drink nor commit the sexual
sins. They do not gamble nor rob nor kill. They are good citizens and splendid
neighbors, but spiritually speaking they seem to be in a long, deep sleep. They
are doing nothing seriously wrong except in their failures to do the right things
to earn their exaltation.” (Miracle of Forgiveness, pp. 211-2 as taken from Latter-day
Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 160)
Joseph Fielding Smith
“It is not possible, as some of us have
supposed, for us to slip along easily through this life, keeping the
commandments of the Lord indifferently-accepting some of the doctrines and not
others, and indulging our appetites or desires, and, because we consider them
little things, failing to understand and comprehend our duty to them-and then
expect to receive a fulness of glory in the kingdom of God.” (Doctrines of
Salvation, p. 14 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of
Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 160)
2 Ne 28:22 he saith unto them: I am no devil,
for there is none
LeGrand Richards
“I
doubt if there was a Christian minister in all the world who would have said
there was no devil at the time the Book of Mormon was published in 1830, and
yet when a questionnaire was sent out by the Northwestern University School of
Religion in 1934 to five hundred Christian ministers, of the five hundred,
fifty-four percent, or two hundred and seventy of them, said: ‘There is no
devil.’ Thirty-nine percent, or one hundred and ninety-five, said there would
be no judgment day; and eighty percent were opposed to teaching that hell was a
place of burning…If the world could just get rid of the devil, probably it
would be a different world. They little realize how much his influence and
power is being felt.
“…What
in the world could the devil, the enemy of all righteousness, desire more than
to make our young people think that chastity is outmoded? To accomplish this,
he must make them believe there is no devil, and that there is no hell or
judgment day. Thus ‘he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his
awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance.’” (Conference Report, Oct.
1949, p. 51,53)
Marion G. Romney
“A
corollary to the pernicious falsehood that God is dead is the equally
pernicious doctrine that there is no devil. Satan himself is the father of both
of these lies. To believe them is to surrender to him. Such surrender has
always led, is leading now, and will continue to lead men to destruction.” (Conference
Report, Apr. 1971, p. 22)
Harold B. Lee
“We
see some of the signs…we know lead us downward. Some are called taverns; some are called lounges; and some are
called roadhouses. They have bright,
neon-lighted signs outside with catch-phrase names. They are dimly lighted inside; they have sensuous music. These are the unmistakable trademarks of the
hell holes of Satan.
Nephi
spoke of some teachings against which we must be on guard lest we follow that
road, when he said that in a day to come, which we realize now is our day,
there would be those who would ‘teach us to become angry against that which is
good, to lull us away into carnal security and to flatter us by telling us
there is no devil, there is no hell.’ (See 2 Nephi 28:20-22.) (Conference
Report, Apr. 1956, p. 110)
2 Ne 28:30 line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and
there a little
Some might wonder why we
must read the Book of Mormon over and over again. Some might wonder why the
temple teachings are repeated again and again. Those members of the church who
have said to themselves, we need no more of the word
of God, for we have enough (v. 29), will receive no more. They will not
learn anything new if they read the Book of Mormon a hundred more times. The
Lord has said that our learning stops when we stop receiving the word of God.
In contrast, if we understand that new things can be learned with every reading
of the Book of Mormon and every visit to the House of the Lord, then the Lord
says, unto him that receiveth I will give more; and
from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even
that which they have.
The plan of the Lord is to
teach us in a piecemeal fashion, line upon line.
He must feed us a bite at a time because we are not capable of swallowing an
entire meal in one bite. He gives us time to taste the spiritual food, savor
it, and digest it before the next delicious morsel is dispensed. The Lord has
promised us that we need not stop eating at his hand—indeed, the feast is never
over. Rather, we can continue to partake of his goodness as long as we are
willing to receive it, and blessed are those who
hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn
wisdom. Spence Condie quotes Elder Packer on this subject:
“Many
of us desire to know certain information before we are either prepared or able
to act upon that knowledge. Elder Boyd K. Packer has eloquently
addressed such concerns as follows:
You cannot force spiritual things.
Such words as compel, coerce, constrain, pressure, demand do not describe our
privileges with the Spirit.
You can no more force the Spirit to
respond than you can force a bean to sprout, or an egg to hatch before its
time. You can create a climate to foster growth; you can nourish, and protect;
but you cannot force or compel: You must await the growth.
Do not be impatient to gain great
spiritual knowledge. Let it grow, help it grow; but do not force it, or you
will open the way to be misled. …
… Should we stand in need of
revealed instruction to alter our course, it will be waiting along the way as
we arrive at the point of need. (In Perfect Balance, p. 252-3)
“Our
merciful and long-suffering Lord is ever ready to help. His ‘arm is lengthened out all the day long’ (2 Ne.
28:32), and even if His arm goes ungrasped, it was unarguably there! In the
same redemptive reaching out, our desiring to improve our human relationships
usually requires some long-suffering. Sometimes reaching out is like trying to
pat a porcupine. Even so, the accumulated quill marks are evidence that our
hands of fellowship have been stretched out, too!” (Ensign, Nov. 1996,
22 as taken from Commentaries on Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, ed. by K.
Douglas Bassett, [American Fork, UT: Covenant Publishing Co., 2003], 153)
2 Ne 28:32 Wo be unto the Gentiles…For…they will deny me
This passage predicts that
the Gentiles will turn from the Lord. If they don’t repent the following
promise is given:
‘And I say unto you,
that if the Gentiles do not repent after the blessing which they shall receive,
after they have scattered my people--
Then shall ye, who are
a remnant of the house of Jacob, go forth among them; and ye shall be in the
midst of them who shall be many; and ye shall be among them as a lion among the
beasts of the forest, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he
goeth through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
Thy hand shall be lifted
up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off’ (3 Ne 20:15-17).
Joseph Smith
“Thus
after this chosen family (the house of Israel) had rejected Christ and His
proposals, the heralds of salvation said to them, ‘Lo we turn unto the
Gentiles;’ and the Gentiles received the covenant, and were grafted in from
whence the chosen family were broken off: but the Gentiles have not continued
in the goodness of God, but have departed from the faith that was once delivered
to the Saints, and have broken the covenant in which their fathers were
established (see Isaiah 24:5); and have become high-minded, and have not
feared; therefore, but few of them will be gathered with the chosen family.
Have not the pride, high-mindedness, and unbelief of the Gentiles, provoked the
Holy One of Israel to withdraw His Holy Spirit from them, and send forth His
judgments to scourge them for their wickedness? This is certainly the case.” (Teachings
of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 15)