Mormon 2

This chapter is the beginning of the end. Mormon records:

"I saw the day of grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritual" (15).

The Nephite people were mourning for the land abounded in thieves, robbers, murderers, magic art, and witchcraft (10). Mormon was hoping that such a cry was a cry of repentance. But it ended up being the "sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin" (13).

Mormon 1

In this reading, we begin the days of Mormon, the historian and prophet and warleader. He starts his own record with:

"And now I, Mormon, make a record of the things which I have both seen and heard, and call it the Book of Mormon" (1).

This amazing man. Every time I get to this point in the scriptures, I begin to cry. In about 322 AD, "the whole face of the land had become covered with buildings, and the people were as numerous almost, as it were the sand of the sea" (7). In in about 401 AD, all of the Nephite people are destroyed and hunted down, Mormon's son Moroni wandered the land by himself (Mormon 8).

80 years.

Then they were gone.

4 Nephi 1

True believers in Christ, and the true worshipers of Christ (36-37).

Elder Neal A. Maxwell spoke to the characteristics of the true believers:

• True believers are settled in their views of Christ
• True believers gladly perform their duties in the kingdom. 
• True believers are humble. 
• True believers are willing to do what Christ wants.
• True believers have a balanced contentment. 
• True believers truly pray.
• True believers have both right conduct and right reasons for that conduct. 
• True believers rejoice in the success of others.
• True believers remember that forgetting is part of forgiving.
• True believers are innocent as to sin, but not naive.
• True believers are happy (“True Believers").

Do we have such qualities? Are we working on developing them? We want to become true believers in Christ.

3 Nephi 30

Mormon, the historian and editor of the Book of Mormon, was commanded by the Lord to write unto us the following words:

"Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways; and repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your idolatries, and of your murders, and your priestcrafts, and your envyings, and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, that ye may receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, that ye may be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel" (2).

We are to come unto Christ. We are to be baptized in His name so that we may receive a remission of our sins. We are to be filled with the Holy Ghost. When we do this we may be numbered among the people who are of the house of Israel and also partake of the covenants he made with them.

3 Nephi 29

The covenants which God made with the children of Israel, concerning their restoration to the lands of their inheritance, is already beginning to be fulfilled (1).


Elder Russell M. Nelson said:

"The covenant God made with Abraham and later reaffirmed with Isaac and Jacob is of transcendent significance. It contained several promises, including:

• Jesus the Christ would be born through Abraham’s lineage.

• Abraham’s posterity would be numerous, entitled to an eternal increase, and also entitled to bear the priesthood.

• Abraham would become a father of many nations.

• Certain lands would be inherited by his posterity.

• All nations of the earth would be blessed by his seed.

• And that covenant would be everlasting—even through 'a thousand generations.'

"Some of these promises have been fulfilled; others are still pending" ("Covenants").

How blessed we are to live in these days. How blessed we are that God remembers His covenant with His people.

 

3 Nephi 28

When Christ visited the Americas he called 12 Disciples to minister unto the people (18:36, 19:4). Christ asked his apostles and disciples throughout time what they desired (D&C 7:1; 2 Chronicles 1:7; 3 Nephi 28:1).

Nine of the Twelve said:

"We desire that after we have lived unto the age of man, that our ministry, wherein thou hast called us, may have an end, that we may speedily come unto thee in thy kingdom" (2).

The other three Nephites "desired that ye might bring the souls of men unto me, while the world shall stand" (9). It's what John the Beloved desired as well (3 Nephi 28:6; D&C 7:2).

They wanted to continue sharing the gospel to God's children.

Such a righteous desire!

3 Nephi 27

There's a lot I could talk about in this chapter, luckily there have been recent General Conference talks speaking on them.

After Christ visited the Americas, the people wondered what their church should be named. They came to be known as The Church of Christ (26:21; 27:3-11). Today, the church is called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was named by Jesus Christ himself (D&C 115:4). There is a reason for that explained in Elder M. Russell Ballard's talk "The Importance of a Name."

3 Nephi 26

"And when they shall have received this, which is expedient that they should have first, to try their faith, and if it shall so be that they shall believe these things then shall the greater things be made manifest unto them" (9).

We have been blessed with scriptures in these latter-days. We have the Holy Bible which contain the Old and New Testament. We have the Book of Mormon. We have the Doctrine and Covenants. We have the Pearl of Great Price. We have prophets today who have revelation from God concerning his people; we hear them in General Conference and occasionally Stake Conference. We have manuals and study helps to help us. We are blessed with a great deal of guidance from God.

Are we taking advantage of them?

3 Nephi 25

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord;

"And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse" (5-6).

3 Nephi 24

Dallin H. Oaks said: "Some people say, 'I can’t afford to pay tithing.' Those who place their faith in the Lord’s promises say, 'I can’t afford not to pay tithing'" ("Tithing").

Tithing blesses your lives. Malachi has said:

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house; and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

If we pay tithing, the windows of heaven will be opened unto us. Blessing will be poured on us, so much that we won't have room to receive it. These blessings are both temporal and spiritual. Who doesn't want that?