No Place for an Inheritance

"...I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord. Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever. And behold, it is wisdom that this land should be kept as yet from the knowledge of other nations; for behold, many nations would overrun the land, that there would be no place for an inheritance."

In 1889 it was broadcast across the planet that the United States was giving away land. Many nations came into America. Since that time many nations have continued to come to America and have overrun the land that there is almost no place for an inheritance.

It is such an issue that KSL has written about the problem two times in the last couple of months (see here and here). It is extremely difficult for people in Utah and across the United states to find a place where they can have a life where they are able to improve the land and have space to grow.

This morning my wife and I were outside planting vegetables in our garden. My wife was talking to her mom, telling her that she's "going for the less is more approach this year" since last year we crowded the garden and nothing was able to grow and flourish and our labor bore little fruit.

This coming covenant gives those willing to obey God and keep His commandments a right to the land. What a massive opportunity to grow!

What Gathering?

There are people who are worried about a coming covenant. I have heard arguments that this cannot be from God because "Zion won't come in a group! It will come because individuals are saved and then gathered!"

Yes, you would be correct. There's a disconnect though:

Who ever said that the covenant was a people gathering? I don't remember hearing anyone say that. We are reading things into what we know that aren't actually there.

So God is offering a covenant to our happy group to become a part of the children of Israel and be a people among whom the Lord can fulfill His last days prophecies.

What does this NOT mean?

It does not mean A) that we are gathering or, B) that we are Zion. It means that we have been extended an offer to accept to obey God's commands in the waning hours of this world among those who have no interest in doing so. If there are those who are willing to obey the Lord and keep the covenant, THEN they will have the opportunity continue along as God fulfills His last days prophecies.

This covenant does not claim to immediately make the body who accept it "Zion". In fact, WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT IT CLAIMS BECAUSE IT HASN'T BEEN OFFERED YET.

I want you to read a couple of things that Joseph said and then answer two simple questions:

Question 1: What does this passage say?
Question 2: What does this passage NOT say?


1.

"And another parable spake He unto them. The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened.” It may be understood that the Church of the Latter-day Saints has taken its rise from a little leaven that was put into three witnesses. Behold, how much this is like the parable! It is fast leavening the lump, and will soon leaven the whole. But let us pass on.

“All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake He not unto them: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and His disciples came unto Him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the Kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one.” Now let our readers mark the expression—“the field is the world, the tares are the children of the wicked one, the enemy that sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the world, [let them carefully mark this expression—the end of the world] and the reapers are the angels.”

Now men cannot have any possible grounds to say that this is figurative, or that it does not mean what it says: for He is now explaining what He had previously spoken in parables; and according to this language, the end of the world is the destruction of the wicked, the harvest and the end of the world have no allusion directly to the human family in the last days, instead of the earth, as many have imagined; and that which shall precede the coming of the Son of Man, and the restitution of all things spoken of by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began; and the angels are to have something to do in this great work, for they are the reapers. As, therefore, the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world; that is, as the servants of God go forth warning the nations, both priests and people, and as they harden their hearts and reject the light of truth, these first being delivered over to the buffetings of Satan, and the law and the testimony being closed up, as it was in the case of the Jews, they are left in darkness, and delivered over unto the day of burning; thus being bound up by their creeds, and their bands being made strong by their priests, are prepared for the fulfilment of the saying of the Savior—“The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” We understand that the work of gathering together of the wheat into barns, or garners, is to take place while the tares are being bound over, and preparing for the day of burning; that after the day of burnings, the righteous shall shine forth like the sun, in the Kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

But to illustrate more clearly this gathering: We have another parable—“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hid in a field, the which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof, goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field!” The Saints work after this pattern. See the Church of the Latter-day Saints, selling all that they have, and gathering themselves together unto a place that they may purchase for an inheritance, that they may be together and bear each other’s afflictions in the day of calamity.

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” The Saints again work after this example. See men traveling to find places for Zion and her stakes or remnants, who, when they find the place for Zion, or the pearl of great price, straightway sell that they have, and buy it.

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind, which when it was full they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.” For the work of this pattern, behold the seed of Joseph, spreading forth the Gospel net upon the face of the earth, gathering of every kind, that the good may be saved in vessels prepared for that purpose, and the angels will take care of the bad. So shall it be at the end of the world—the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire, and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

“Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto Him, Yea, Lord.” And we say, yea, Lord; and well might they say, yea, Lord; for these things are so plain and so glorious, that every Saint in that last days must respond with a hearty Amen to them.

“Then said He unto them, therefore every scribe which is instructed in the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things that are new and old.”

For the works of this example, see the Book of Mormon coming forth out of the treasure of the heart. Also the covenants given to the Latter-day Saints, also the translation of the Bible—thus bringing forth out of the heart things new and old, thus answering to three measures of meal undergoing the purifying touch by a revelation of Jesus Christ, and the ministering of angels, who have already commenced this work in the last days, which will answer to the leaven which leavened the whole lump. Amen.

So I close, but shall continue the subject in another number.

In the bonds of the New and Everlasting Covenant,

JOSEPH SMITH, JUN.

—Messenger and Advocate, Dec. 1835"
2.

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed. The mustard seed is small, but brings forth a large tree, and the fowls lodge in the branches. The fowls are the angels. Thus angels come down, combine together to gather their children, and gather them. We cannot be made perfect without them, nor they without us; when these things are done, the Son of Man will descend, the Ancient of Days sit; we may come to an innumerable company of angels, have communion with and receive instruction from them. Paul told about Moses’ proceedings; spoke of the children of Israel being baptized. (1 Cor. 10:1-4.) He knew this, and that all the ordinances and blessings were in the Church. Paul had these things, and we may have the fowls of heaven lodge in the branches, etc."(TPJS p. 159)

Again, here are the questions:

Question 1: What does this passage say?
Question 2: What does this passage NOT say?

Lots of New Stuff

The St. George conference was a wonderful event. Check out all of what happened here:

http://www.doctrineofchristconference.com/past/StGeorge2017.html

Here is the website for the new scriptures:

http://scriptures.info/

And here is where you can buy a hard copy:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=restoration+scriptures+preview&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Arestoration+scriptures+preview

Pretenders

There are laws that govern humanity which we are often not aware of. For example, a man that seeks signs also has an adulterous heart. (Matt. 12:39; Matt. 16:4; TPJS 278)

It seems also that when a great amount of truth is revealed, or there is an advance in the Lord's work, there are many ambitious men who attempt to imitate the new light. There may be a new record revealed, translated, or otherwise restored to it's purity and almost immediately others will pretend to "restore" other portions of scripture.

Something to think about.

Heaven is Involved: Revisit / New things

There is a lot going on that is really great. If you're paying attention, everywhere you look prophecy is being fulfilled. Here are some things to look at and consider:

A temple is being prepared for -

http://denversnuffer.com/2016/12/temple-fund-website/
http://denversnuffer.com/2016/04/why-a-temple/
http://www.recordersclearinghouse.com/2016/12/
http://www.totheremnant.com/2017/01/the-temple-part-1-house-of-glory.html
http://www.totheremnant.com/2017/01/the-temple-part-2-strange-work.html
http://www.totheremnant.com/2017/01/the-temple-part-3-bountiful-endowment.html

New scriptures are being put together:

http://www.recordersclearinghouse.com/2016/12/

http://anoffenderforaword.blogspot.com/

EDIT 2/8/2017

Cheeeeeck it out!

http://denversnuffer.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/The-Testimony-of-St-John.pdf

Note: when we take scriptures seriously, we are told we will get more. Take for instance 3 Nephi 26:10, D&C 6:26; D&C 93:6 etc. There are tons of records that are supposed to come forth. I think that will happen soon.

Conferences to talk about these things are happening:

http://www.doctrineofchristconference.com/

Heaven is involved in our lives if we will just pay attention.

Another Way God Speaks

I guess it is true that signs follow those that believe.

A story from a friend:


"In the fall of 2013 I had just gotten home from my mission and was given one of the greatest callings I had ever had: locking up the church at night. I often had the entire church building to myself and would sit in the chapel to think, read, and pray.

One of those nights, I felt pretty useless and asked the Lord what He wanted me to be doing with my life. As I pondered this question the Lord spoke to me (although I wouldn't have called it that at the time) saying that I needed to read through the replica of the 1830 book of Mormon that I had from beginning to end. I thought that it was too simple of an answer to the question of "what should I do with my life", but I began anyway.

As I read, I noticed a huge increase in my understanding because of the way the 1830 was formatted. There were no verses, fewer chapters, no footnotes to distract me, and a lot of space in the margins for note taking and referencing. I liked the fact that the notes I took were not someone else's idea of what the scriptures were saying, they were mine and what the Lord had taught to me. And my references were connections that I had made, not connections that someone else had made and printed into the scriptures for me. My scriptures were very alive.

For the next two years some friends of mine and I would talk every once in awhile about how nice it would be to have scriptures that were all formatted similarly to the 1830 book of Mormon. In the summer of 2015 one of my friends said that they had a plan to re-do the scriptures. I shared all of the ideas I had from my experience reading the 1830 and which turned out to be pretty much what my friend had in mind. We fiddled with some ideas for a while, like including the JST, making sure that all the scriptures we included were from the earliest extant source, and perhaps even throwing in some revelations that Denver had shared. In November of 2015 we began the project and acquired help from other trusted friends.

The entire process was a great learning experience. We would often run into roadblocks and ask in prayer what should be done about them. Our questions were often answered with clarity on how we were to proceed. A year later, in November of 2016, we had finished the project aside from some formatting that needed to be done. Since we had decided to include some of Denver's material we had to reach out to him in order to obtain permission to use it. He agreed to let us use some of his material and even offered to reach out to his publisher to get these new scriptures printed. At that point we essentially handed the project off to him and were just waiting for a new, functional set of scriptures.

About three weeks later I dropped in to Adrian Larsen's blog. He had posted earlier that day that a new, earliest extant version of the scriptures were made available. At first I thought that Denver had told Adrian about the project, but as I read through the post I realized that this was not talking about the project we had finished three weeks earlier. My heart sunk and I was really confused at why the Lord would inspire two different groups to do the same thing, or if one was inspired and the other wasn't. I contacted Denver to see what he thought we should do and he suggested that we meet with the other group to see what the differences were and if we could possibly merge the two projects to make one superior project. I agreed and the other group was contacted and a date was set to meet.

It took me a couple of days of prayer and looking at the other group's project before I realized that the left hand had no idea what the right hand was up to, and that this fulfilled the required testimony of two or three that this was a work inspired of God. I was glad that no one group could take credit, but because of the circumstances, God HAD to be given credit.

We are no longer two separate groups, but one bigger group. The process of merging the two projects has been almost effortless and certainly very inspiring.

While there is much more that could be added, this is basically what led me and others to where we are now."

So that is another way God speaks.

One Way God Speaks

It is easy to deny what is in the hearts of men, since we cannot see into the hearts of men. At least not directly.

It's interesting to me that the Church office building is the second tallest building in Salt Lake (by only 2 feet) second to Wells Fargo Bank.

"Because of pride, and because of false teachers, and false doctrine, their churches have become corrupted, and their churches are lifted up; because of pride they are puffed up." (2 Ne. 28: 12)

Or that the conference center is the largest auditorium on the planet. (https://www.lds.org/liahona/2005/08/news-of-the-church/tabernacle-choir-getting-to-know-unique-conference-center?lang=eng&_r=1)

"And it came to pass that I saw and bear record, that the great and spacious building was the pride of the world; and it fell, and the fall thereof was exceedingly great. And the angel of the Lord spake unto me again, saying: Thus shall be the destruction of all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, that shall fight against the twelve apostles of the Lamb." (1 Ne. 11:36)

Did you know that the number one cause of death in the U.S. is heart disease?

"And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people."(D&C 88:91)

When I came home from my mission, as my plane descended into Salt Lake, I couldn't anything except for mountain tops and a few columns of smoke coming out of the smog. 

"Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth; there shall be murders, and robbing, and lying, and deceivings, and whoredoms, and all manner of abominations; when there shall be many who will say, Do this, or do that, and it mattereth not, for the Lord will uphold such at the last day. But wo unto such, for they are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins.

O ye wicked and perverse and stiffnecked people, why have ye built up churches unto yourselves to get gain? Why have ye transfigured the holy word of God, that ye might bring damnation upon your souls? Behold, look ye unto the revelations of God; for behold, the time cometh at that day when all these things must be fulfilled. Behold, the Lord hath shown unto me great and marvelous things concerning that which must shortly come, at that day when these things shall come forth among you.

Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing. And I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts; and there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts. For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.

O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world? Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not? Yea, why do ye build up your secret abominations to get gain, and cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans to mourn before the Lord, and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon your heads? Behold, the sword of vengeance hangeth over you; and the time soon cometh that he avengeth the blood of the saints upon you, for he will not suffer their cries any longer."(Mormon 8)

Maybe we can't see into the hearts of individuals. I know courageous people with unhealthy hearts, humble people who work in tall buildings, and pure people who live in filthy societies. These people seem to be exceptions though. 

So that's one way to hear the "voice" of God.