Category Archives: Spirituality

Joseph Smith – A Prophet For This Time

You can always know where the TRUTH and WISDOM are, because Satan will be fighting the hardest there.   I don’t know of another person in the last few centuries who Satan has fought against more vehemently than the Prophet Joseph Smith.  Satan tried to make Joseph’s life a hell on earth, but failed because Joseph knew the Lord and was tutored directly by Him.

Joseph Smith – Wisest In The Last Dispensation of Time

After reading the book, They Knew the Prophet; Personal Accounts from over 100 People who Knew Joseph Smith by Hyrum & Helen Andrus, I am convinced by it and from all my research that Joseph Smith is the wisest to live in this last Dispensation of Time.  Because he was tutored directly by God, everything he touched prospered.    Had Satan not fought against him so vehemently he could have been the richest man in America (p 139 of the above book) and could have been president of the United States (read the book, The Martyrdom Conspiracy), and would have freed the slaves without one of the bloodiest wars in history (the American Civil War).

The Savior gave us an absolute criterion on how to know if a prophet is true or false. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matt. 7:20) As we look at the fruits of the Prophet Joseph he shines as one of the brightest prophets who have ever lived.

Uniqueness of The Book of Mormon in the Lord’s Latter-day Work and proof of Joseph as a prophet

When Joseph gave the world the Book of Mormon, the Lord offered in it the potential to solve all the ills of society.  The Book of Mormon has baffled critics for nearly 200 years, and now it is being accepted because of the overwhelming evidence of its validity and its far-reaching spiritual capacity to bring us to Christ – even more powerfully than the Bible.

Both the translation and printing of the Book of Mormon were God orchestrated miracles. It is estimated that Joseph spent about 65 days translating from two unknown languages (Demonic Egyptian and Reformed Egyptian) at about two words per minute. He had to spell many of them for the scribe because they were unique to the Book of Mormon people. Demotic Egyptian was spoken in 600 B.C. when Nephi was the scribe. A thousand years later Mormon wrote his abridgement in what is called Reformed Egyptian.

It should have taken at least 17 1/2 months to print and bind the first 5,000 copies; it was done in the Lord’s compressed time from of six months. Furthermore, The Lord instructed Joseph to have it printed in the Divine Ratio or Golden Mean.

Now over 90% of the leading American scientists believe the Bible is a myth.   Amazingly, Joseph in Egypt prophesied this would happen, as quoted by Lehi, and he proclaims the Book of Mormon would come forth to re-validate the Bible in our day (2 Nephi 3:11).  The Prophet Nephi gave a similar prophecy. (1 Nephi 13:38-41).

The King James Version (KJV) of the Bible has been shown to be the most accurate English translation, but still there are many miss-understood statements, and the Book of Mormon gives great clarification, insights, especially into the Lord’s infinite atonement.  Joseph Smith’s translation of the Bible (JST), which the Lord commanded him to do, adds greatly to our understanding as well. Now David Hocking has provided the “Annotated Edition of the Joseph Smith Translation of the New Testament,” which is a great contribution.

James Palmer, who knew the Prophet Joseph Smith well, quotes Joseph saying, “I did translate the Book of Mormon by the gift and power of God, and it is before the world; and all the powers of earth and hell can never rob me of the honor of it.” (p 150 of They Knew the Prophet) In summary, Joseph has done more to further the work of the Lord than any other person who has ever lived except the Savior Himself. (Doctrine & Covenants 135:3)

Harold Bloom in his book, The American Religion, called Joseph Smith “an authentic religious genius unique in our national history,” with “insight [that] could have come only from a remarkably apt reading of the Bible… So strong was this act of reading that it broke through all the orthodoxies — Protestant, Catholic, Judaic — and found its way back to elements that Smith rightly intuited had been censored out of the stories of the archaic Jewish religion.”  Bloom misses the major point that Joseph Smith was tutored directly by God.  What could be better?  And the fruits of his labors show it.  The Savior said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” (Mathew 7:20)

In the above Mathew scripture, the Savior gives logically, both a necessary and sufficient condition to know a prophet is from God, and the profound number of Joseph’s prophecies validate him as such.  Consider the not well-known prophecy that the saints would only be seven years in Nauvoo, Ill, then the “will go into the Rocky Mountains, right into the midst of the Lamanites [the native American Indians]. (p 62 They Knew the Prophet)  And the Prophet exclaimed, “Oh the beauty of those snow-capped mountains!  The cool refreshing streams that are running down through those mountain gorges!” (p 104, They Knew the Prophet)

Three unique phrases tying to the Adamic Language

The KJV, as the most accurate English translation, has done more good for the world than any other book:  I believe the Lord inspired Joseph to nominally use King James English in his revelations and translations work to give Divine signature to it all.

In the KJV and the scriptures coming forth from the Prophet Joseph Smith, there are 1800 occurrences of the three phrases, “And it came to pass,” “And now it came to pass,” and “And it shall come to pass,” that I have identified in these scriptures that they tie back to the Adamic language and correspond to the Lord’s definition of truth (D&C 93:24), as I shared in the previous link and again here:

The phrase, “And now it came to pass” occurs uniquely in the BoM 104 times.  From the ancient Hebrew kabala and gematria the phrases “And it came to pass,” ties to EL (God) and significant past events, and the phrase “And it shall come to pass” ties to Jehovah and important future events.  The distribution of these three phrases in their 1800 occurrences in our standard works is a direct manifestation of divine signature.  Who uses them, how they are used, and where they are used is a direct validation of all the scriptures.

The Works of Robert Kay

Robert Kay, who as a Jew, was trained in the language of the Jews, discovered the Book of Mormon when he was fifteen.  He immediately recognized the Hebraisms in the book.  He studied the book for three years and then joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Later he wrote a three-volume set, Voices from the Dust, which profoundly illustrates these Hebraisms.  I am on my fifth reading of this three volume set and have gained much in doing so.  The above link is for Volume 1.  Volume 2 and 3 are available on Amazon.com as well.  Rob sells them at his cost.  Rob has an amazing conversion experience and gave me permission to share it.

Rob used the 1840 version of the Book of Mormon, the last one the Prophet edited before he was martyred, to illustrate the Hebraisms in his three-volume set, Voices from the Dust.   Rob and I discussed how the Hebrew doesn’t have punctuation and that the above three phrases often begin each of his sections, as he ties it to the ancient Hebrew format.  The Hebraisms he shares are so insightful and fascinating and give a different dimension of understanding of this incredible record, the Book of Mormon, as a second witness companion with the Bible to help bring the world to Christ.

Critics of the Book of Mormon often say that Joseph plagiarizes the Bible.  The shallowness of their claims are refuted by Rob Kay’s work, and by the ancient phrases that tie to the Kabbalah and to the Adamic language as I shared above and as explained in more detail in this link. Jonathan Neville’s book, Infinite Goodness, Joseph Smith, Jonathan Edwards, and the Book of Mormonalso clearly refutes these plagiarism accusations.

Hebrew Midrash Magnification

I find it interesting that of the 425 verses of Isaiah scriptures in the Book of Mormon, more than half of them are different, and in some cases those differences are far reaching.  The further astounding dimension of the inclusion of these scriptures is that the prophet or the Savior, who is citing these scriptures is doing it for our benefit and expanding the meaning of them by using the ancient Hebrew Midrash magnification technique, so that their great importance for our day can be appreciated.  For me commonality between religious writers only validates that they are all listening to the same Spirit.

Accomplishments of the Prophet Joseph Smith

The accomplishments of the Prophet Joseph in his short 38 ½ years seem humanly impossible.  Indeed, they would be except that the Lord was with him.  The Lord showed Joseph much more than he was able to share, but even so I expect that Joseph did not comprehend at the time the enormity of what he was bringing forth to the world.  As an example, I have found a hidden book of scriptures in our scriptures in the phrase, “And it shall come to pass,” waiting for someone under inspiration to pull it out.  I made my limited attempt in this 34 page PDF article.  There are some really exciting insights one can gain as you go through these scriptures, and I am guessing Joseph didn’t have a clue how significant the phrase, “And it shall come to pass” would be in the revelations and translations he brought to the world.

It is fascinating that the Savior uses this phrase “And it shall come to pass” seven times (the number of perfection or completion) in the last part of Third Nephi where He is talking to us today.  I share these seven occurrences and their detailed relevance for our day in a lecture that I gave at the Book of Mormon Conference  on  27, September 2019.

In The Age Of Enlightenment – Follow His Counsel

I believe Joseph is pleased with the enormous ramifications and the ongoing rippling effects of what he has shared with the world.  It is like we are living in the shadow of “the stone… cut out of the mountain without hands [by God]” (Daniel 2:45) that “shall role forth, until it has filled the whole earth.” (Doctrine and Covenants 65:2).  Joseph Smith’s whole mission – especially including the translation of the Book of Mormon – was and is to bring us to Christ – to know the true Redeemer and our Beloved Father-in-heaven.  To know them is Eternal Life (John 17:3) – the greatest of all the gifts of God (D&C 14:7) – and Joseph has shown us the way.  His great mission began when he saw the Father and the Son, as prophesied by Enoch, and like as Stephen saw just before his martyrdom. (Acts 7:54-56)

David W Allan

updated 18 November 2024

Moral Decay In Our Universities

As early as 1636 many private institutions, beginning with Harvard, religious instruction was woven into the fabric of student life. As universities have become secularized, the lack of ethical standards have increased among college students. This trend has many Americans worried about the decay of moral values that is evident on college campuses today.

More Harm Than Good

When Dennis Prager was interviewing Jordan Peterson as shared in this blog article, Dennis asked the poignant question: “If all North Americans graduating HS decided, ‘I’m not going to college.’ Would North America be a better or worse place?”

Jordan replied, “I believe our universities, not necessarily colleges, do more harm than good now… The post-modern collectivist doctrine is so psychologically and politically toxic. [They] deny the existence of the individual… The idea that human beings are made in the image of God, fundamentally.”  [This concept is being attacked by academia and being replaced by Darwinian evolution.]  “The idea of the sovereignty of the individual…”

Continue reading Moral Decay In Our Universities

Drama of Lost Disciples

Disciples Brief Book Report

The Drama of the Lost Disciples, by George F. Jowett, a well-documented account of Christian history during New Testament times and beyond. While the doctrine and gospel teachings of the New Testament are fundamental to our faith, the vast historical information in this book is largely unappreciated by the world.  Yet, the historical information in this book is fundamental to understanding the main origin of the Christian movement following the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord.  For example, Jowett shares that Britain was the main reason why Christianity exploded throughout the then known world.

Key Players

Our key player is Joseph of Arimathea – Jesus’ great uncle, who took the Savior’s body from the cross and laid Him in his own tomb.  Joseph was not only a well-respected member of the Sanhedrin but also a very successful merchant.  He had ships carrying tin from Britain to many places in the known world.  Jesus accompanied him on some of these trips.
Because of the extreme persecution of the Christians by the Jews and the Romans after Christ’s resurrection, they decided to send Joseph of Arimathea along with the family of Christ and close friends of Jesus to a watery grave by putting them in a boat without oars or sail.  Besides Joseph, these included Jesus’ mother, Mary, Mary Magdalene, Lazurus and his sisters, Mary and Martha, the blind man, whose name was Maximum, healed in Chapter 9 of the gospel of John and others totaling twelve.
Continue reading Drama of Lost Disciples

Jordan Peterson – Combatant to Secular Encroachment

Jordan Peterson is a combatant to the secular-materialistic encroachment on Christianity. He is brilliant and extremely well-read.  Ever since he graduated from Fairview HS (1979) in northern Alberta, Canada, he has been on a quest as to why humankind seems basically evil. He logically concludes since there is this dark-side to humanity, there must also be light.

The Bible gives many answers to his searching’s. Peterson often debates atheists and the leftist in their socialist agendas.

I write this blog article because of Jordan’s innate understanding of Christianity, which are the principles he stands for.

Well-Accepted / Unpopular

Jordan has amazing popularity on the internet. Jordan is brilliant and extremely well-read. He is reaching the millennial’s in droves because of his insights. He continually has people coming up to him thanking him for helping them have a better personal life and a better family life. The accumulated good that I see him doing across the globe is impressive to me.

However, most of the media hate him as well as many university professors because of his criticism of their leftist-socialist view of life.  Peterson often debates atheists and the leftist in their socialist agendas.
Continue reading Jordan Peterson – Combatant to Secular Encroachment

What is Time?

Time has always been a mystery in the mind of man.  When our lives are going well, time seems to fly by.  When we are having challenges, time seems to stop or at least slowdown. There is a reason for this odd perception of time. Einstein said, “If you ask me what time it is, I will tell you. If you ask me what is time, I cannot!”

•        Time is metaphysical – an idea in our minds.
•        You cannot extract it from the universe.  It does not exist as a measurable entity.
•        Time, as kept by humankind is not time; it is time-interval: the accumulation of time intervals from some origin.  For example, the number of years A.D.; the number of days in a year; the number of hours in a day starting at midnight; the number of days in your life-time, etc.

We mortals are limited by time and space. God and His angels are not limited by time and space as they do their work in the Eternity Domain. We have done experiments showing the existence of the Eternity Domain–a fifth dimension beyond the four dimensions of Einstein’s relativity. And my second book, Time & Eternity, The End-Times & Beyond Revealed, gives a lot more details about this perplexing question: “What is Time?”

Time Interval

The Official Definition of “time-interval,” is the length of the second.
In my lifetime the accuracy of “time-interval” has improved a billion-fold.  The earth speeds up or slows down every day by about 0.0001 of a second in the 86400 seconds that transpire in a day. That is about nine digits of accuracy.  Now the best atomic clocks have eighteen digits of accuracy.  That is like a second in the age of the universe as currently science believes it to be.  When scientists realized they could extract much more accurate “time-interval” from atomic clocks than could be obtained from any astronomical measurement, the second was redefined in 1967.

The last updated definition states: “The second is the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium-133 atom.” (13th CGPM (1967), Resolution 1)

Since most of my readers are not from a scientific background,  they may not understood the above “new definition”. You are probably wondering how all this relates to you. The bottom line is, in the grand scheme of things, our personal “Time Interval” is very short. We all face the experience of death, some sooner than others.  Our big personal question is how well have we used our own time-interval–birth to death–here on earth?

Continue reading What is Time?

What Is Truth

What is TruthWhen Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” Pilate told the Jews he was satisfied with his answer and could “find in him no fault at all.” (John 18:38)  Jesus had already answered this question for His disciples: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)  The early followers of Jesus called the Christian movement, “The Way.”  Jesus is the way back to the Father and the greatest of all the gifts of God — Eternal Life. (highlights mine)

He extended the great promise, “If any man will do his will, he shall KNOW of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.” (John 7:17) In other words, if we live the doctrine He is teaching, we can know it is true by the fruits. Wherefore by their fruits, ye shall know them.” (Luke 6:43-44)

Continue reading What Is Truth

Does the Resurrection Save Us?

Is not the resurrection of Christ the most miraculous and well documented miracle in the history of the Earth? How are we saved through the atonement? Is it through Christ’s sufferings or is it through His resurrection?”  Most Christians – including members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – look only to the cross and His sufferings to cover our sins as we accept Him as our Savior.  We often hear the prayer phrase, “We are grateful for Thy atoning sacrifice” — leaving out the resurrection.

Without the Resurrection We Are Damned

Does it surprise you then to know that without the resurrection we are damned!  We would be in Satan’s grasp forever.  For the early Christians who lived at the time Jesus arose from the tomb, it was such a spectacular event that they could not stop talking about it.  To see the glorified risen Lord after all his suffering and most horrendous death on the cross was a contrast that the early Christians shared with great enthusiasm.

The membership in the Church grew rapidly as people internalized the implications of Jesus arising from the dead and opening the door for all of us to do the same – along with the anticipated and promised blessings of eternal life. Before His resurrection eternal life was a belief and hope for the faithful.  With His resurrection, it became a reality.
Continue reading Does the Resurrection Save Us?

Resurrection – Capstone of the Atonement

Most Christians look to Christ to be forgiven of their sins and that believing on Him is the door way to salvation.  And do not the scriptures teach us this?  Satan will do anything he can to take us away from understanding the infinite atonement. However, the searching soul will ask, “Have false traditions crept in so that we miss the full power and beauty of the infinite atonement of our Lord and Savior?”  This blog article and following ones will better help us appreciate the infinite atonement.

The Capstone of His Infinite Atonement

Most Christians look to the cross and to His suffering for forgiveness of sins.  We often hear the phrase, “We are thankful for His atoning sacrifice.”  When studied, we find that His glorious resurrection is the capstone step of His infinite atonement, and when it occurred  2000 years ago the early saints saw it as such. For Christ to go from infinite suffering to infinite glory in those three days changed the world forever, and the early Christians could not contain their joy knowing, “He is risen!” – as proclaimed in the scriptures and so profoundly in Handel’s oratorio “Messiah.”

We find there are seven fantastic accomplishments in His infinite atonement, and seven sub-steps to each of these.  Seven is the number of perfection or completion in the Lord’s arithmetic.  And the scriptures outline all 49 of these steps.
Continue reading Resurrection – Capstone of the Atonement

A Promised Land And God’s Mercy

Six Hundred years before Christ, the prophet Lehi saw in vision a land which was choice above  all other lands, a precious land, a land of promise, and a land of liberty. The message from the scriptures is very clear regarding this, the Land of Liberty. If we turn from the God of this Land, who is Jesus Christ, His protection will be taken from us, as a nation, leading us to a Mighty purging. This is a fundamental message of the Bible as well as of the Book of Mormon, which many Americans are ignoring, as we view their moral decline, and as we witness them turning from God’s commandments.  We sing the anthem: GOD BLESS AMERICA; how can we expect His blessings if we don’t keep His commandments?

Most Americans Don’t Remember the Price Paid for Liberty

We forget that as we live in this Promised Land of Freedom and Liberty that there have been no wars on this land for over 150 years.  Nowhere in traditional history has that ever happened in any nation.  Wars have been part of every other generation.  God’s tender mercies have been upon us.  Over those 150 years our nation has been involved in several terrible wars, but always elsewhere.  Never here!

I just finished reading the Annotated Edition of the Book of Jasher  which is an incredible read – covering the first 2500 years since Adam as a parallel history to the Bible and vindicating the Bible as well as the Book of Mormon in its 91 chapters.  But here again we see nearly continual wars from the beginning as Satan enters into the hearts of men with contention and bigotry.  The conflict between Isaac and Ismael and Jacob and Esau detailed in this book continues to this day between the Arab nations and Israel.

In all of these conflicts is the clear message that as we keep God’s commandments to love Him and our neighbor that we will both avoid wars as well as have His protection and blessings.

The need for Americans to repent and come to Christ is of paramount importance.
See: Americas Greatest Need – Repentance
See: Message from an Ancient Prophet

The Prophet Moroni Also Saw Our Day

The Prophet Moroni was specifically speaking to us as he saw our day from his 421 AD vantage point here in America.  As he closes the Book of Mormon record, he profoundly states:
Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. (Moroni 10:3)

Are We Sufficiently Grateful for the Lord’s Tender Mercies?

Christ, who will eventual bring peace on earth, has greatly blessed this land and its mission to share His glorious gospel message around the world in preparation for His Second Advent.  Our gratitude can be shown by both living and sharing His message of gladness, salvation, and exaltation.  The Lord’s infinite atonement is cap-stoned by His superlative resurrection.  This gave the world direct evidence of the Father’s love in the gift of His Son to open the door to eternal life for all who will receive Him and hearken to His voice.

Let us not be guilty of ingratitude!

Let us not be guilty of ingratitude for all of God’s tender mercies in our lives.  Moroni then shares this great promise that if we will remember how merciful the Lord has been to us, then if we will ask the Lord with sincere hearts, we can know of the truth of this record and its message of God’s love in the gift of His Beloved Son and His infinite atonement in our behalf.

How many thousands or perhaps millions of Father’s children have had this promise answered in their hearts?  I don’t know, but I am confident the number is large.  I am one of them that knows, and I thank the Lord for His tender mercies in my life.  I am greatly blessed, and I delight in sharing His glorious message.  May we each have our hearts filled with gratitude for His tender mercies and be full recipients of His infinite atonement, and let us encourage as many as we can of the importance of truly coming to Christ and repenting of all our sins.

David W Allan

 

 

Four Major Challenges Facing America and Solutions

There are major challenges facing the United States today. People are greatly concerned with the conflicts in the Middle-east.  On a personal level, so many lives are peppered with drug and alcohol abuse, the break-down of the traditional family, health issues, and the violence we see in major cities across the USA. The public at large is affected by the personal choices of its citizens.  The “Land of the Free” doesn’t seem so free anymore.  On a world level, we face governments who are seeking world supremacy. I have broken down the content of this post into four major challenges and their solutions, as I see it.

Four Challenges:
1.     We have turned from the God of this land, who is Jesus Christ.
2.     The elite have a plan to take over.
3.     China is planning world domination.
4.     Most don’t know that Russia is posed as the scriptural “Assyrian assault.”

Spiritual Solutions

1. The need for massive repentance in America is paramount.  In the last twenty years Christianity has declined from 70% to 50%, while the number of non-believers and atheists have increased dramatically.  There are more Christians per-capita in Russia now than in the United States.

Timothy Ballard has written the inspiring two volume set “The American Covenant.”  He clearly delineates that America is God’s covenant land with an extremely important role in the winding up scenes leading up to the Coming of Christ.  It is the “Promised Land” spoken of in the Book of Mormon and has God’s promise that if we will keep His commandments we will have His blessings and protection, but if we don’t, we will be “swept off” before His coming. (Ether 2:9-12)  Timothy’s book, The Washington Hypothesis, outlines many of the miracles that allowed America to win the war we should not have won, obtaining liberty.  Historians paint a different picture, but in Washington’s on words, we won because of, “Divine Intervention.”

I have written three blog articles articulating what we can do and the great importance of turning back to the God who gave us this “Land of the Free” with its massively important purpose of being a light to the world and to help bring as many as will to Christ:

1. Who are the Gentiles?  2. America’s Greatest Need. 3. Free PDF Book of Mormon Geography.

Protection from the Plan of The Elite

2. You have undoubtedly heard of the microchip and the “mark of the beast.”  The elite are moving that program forward, but have devised an additional very clever silicon nano-technology technique in their efforts to have control of the world population.
One of the elite’s features of the silicon based material sprayed in the atmosphere by chem trails is that as you breathe it in, you develop a mucus in your lungs.  When you cough it up and swallow it up, the hydrochloric acid in your stomach reacts with it turn it into nanotechnology communication device – giving them control.  Sounds unbelievable?

Recently, a courageous Christian lady, Dana Ashlie, recently shared (16 August 2019):   a “Must watch” video.  She shares details of this clever-devilish technology.

This device can be destroyed by you by daily drinking two tablespoons of apple-cider vinegar in a glass of distilled water with a ¼ teaspoon of borax per 100 lb. of body weight.  Add raw honey or pure maple syrup to make it taste good.  So, you can take control of your life. Watch Dana’s video!

In this regard, you may have noticed that about a month ago President Trump commanded the stop of Chem-trails. The skies are blue again; THANK YOU, President Trump as of three weeks or more now.

China World Domination Solution

3. I recently wrote an article on how important English is in sharing the gospel today: In this free pdf article is cited a fascinating dimension of how China is actively planning world domination.  They are doing it in every dimension: physiologically, economically, militarily, etc.  I suggest you read the article to get a feel for how serious this challenge is to America.  The solution is the same as to number 1. Above: REPENT.  Then we will have the Lord’s protection.

Russia and the Assyrian Assault

4. In my book www.ItsAboutTimeBook.com Chapter 23 outlines the time line of the Lord.  All Twelve tribes of the House of Israel have been identified in patriarchal blessings among the Russian people.  In the scriptures, they are identified as part of the Assyrian assault that the Lord will use to purge America, if she does not repent.  I have a full explanation of this in a free pdf entitled, “Who is Israel?”

   This article will explains again the great need we have in repenting and having the Lord’s protecting hand, as we come to Him.

Conclusion

We are free to choose our lives and what they will be, but those choices make all the difference.  I summarize with this great scripture from the Prophet Lehi:

Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.  And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall.   And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.  Where, we are free according to the flesh, and all things are given them which are expedient unto man.  And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, thorough the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.  (2 Nephi 2:25-27)

Should the People of this Promised Land (America) choose not to repent and return to the God of this Land: Then one should pay special attention to the parable of the wheat and the tares.  Read especially the Joseph Smith translation of Matthew 13:36-43, and Doctrine Covenants 86:1-7 and 101:64-66.  Furthermore, the Lord has promised, “And the righteous need not fear,” (1 Nephi 22:22; I suggest reading the whole chapter.  It is a Hebrew Midrash of Isaiah chapters 48 and 49 totally relevant for our day).

In addition, the parable of the “hen” gathering her chicks gives great hope as prophesied for our day:
Listen to the voice of Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, the Great I AM, whose arm of mercy hath atoned for your sins: Who will gather his people even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, even as many as will hearken to my voice and humble themselves before me, and call upon me in mighty prayer. (D&C 29:12)

When Moroni introduced the coming forth of the Book of Mormon to Joseph Smith in 1823, he quoted Peter in Acts 3:22-23 and said that the time “soon would come” “when ‘they who would not hear his [Jesus Christ] voice should be cut off from among the people.” JS-H 40.

We should not and must not let anything get between us and our Savior if we desire to receive the greatest of all the gifts of God – ETERNAL LIFE.   We need to “treasure up His word” so that we are not deceived (JS-M 37), hearken to His voice, and be true disciples (John 15:8).  He will for sure lead us back home.  He is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6); there is no other way.  “…no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  His WAY is the sure way for the greatest happiness in this life and eternal life and a fullness of joy in the life to come. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free… If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (John 8:32-36)

David W. Allan