Book of Mormon Feast
A Library Tour through
3 Nephi 10-11
3 Nephi 10
1 And now behold, it came to pass that all the people of the land did hear these sayings, and did witness of it. And after these sayings there was silence in the land for the space of many hours;
2 For so great was the astonishment of the people that they did cease lamenting and howling for the loss of their kindred which had been slain; therefore there was silence in all the land for the space of many hours.
3 And it came to pass that there came a voice again unto the people, and all the people did hear, and did witness of it, saying:
4 O ye people of these great cities which have fallen, who are descendants of Jacob, yea, who are of the house of Israel, how oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have nourished you.
5 And again, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, who have fallen; yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, ye that dwell at Jerusalem, as ye that have fallen; yea, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not.
6 O ye house of Israel whom I have spared, how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart.
7 But if not, O house of Israel, the places of your dwellings shall become desolate until the time of the fulfilling of the covenant to your fathers.
8 And now it came to pass that after the people had heard these words, behold, they began to weep and howl again because of the loss of their kindred and friends.
9 And it came to pass that thus did the three days pass away. And it was in the morning, and the darkness dispersed from off the face of the land, and the earth did cease to tremble, and the rocks did cease to rend, and the dreadful groanings did cease, and all the tumultuous noises did pass away.
10 And the earth did cleave together again, that it stood; and the mourning, and the weeping, and the wailing of the people who were spared alive did cease; and their mourning was turned into joy, and their lamentations into the praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord Jesus Christ, their Redeemer.
11 And thus far were the scriptures fulfilled which had been spoken by the prophets.
12 And it was the more righteous part of the people who were saved, and it was they
who received the prophets and stoned them not; and it was they who had not shed the
blood of the saints, who were spared -
13 And they were spared and were not sunk and buried up in the earth; and they were not drowned in the depths of the sea; and they were not burned by fire, neither were they fallen upon and crushed to death; and they were not carried away in the whirlwind; neither were they overpowered by the vapor of smoke and of darkness.
14 And now, whoso readeth, let him understand; he that hath the scriptures, let him search them, and see and behold if all these deaths and destructions by fire, and by smoke, and by tempests, and by whirlwinds, and by the opening of the earth to receive them, and all these things are not unto the fulfilling of the prophecies of many of the holy prophets.
15 Behold, I say unto you, Yea, many have testified of these things at the coming of Christ, and were slain because they testified of these things.
16 Yea, the prophet Zenos did testify of these things, and also Zenock spake concerning these things, because they testified particularly concerning us, who are the remnant of their seed.
17 Behold, our father Jacob also testified concerning a remnant of the seed of Joseph. And behold, are not we a remnant of the seed of Joseph? And these things which testify of us, are they not written upon the plates of brass which our father Lehi brought out of Jerusalem?
18 And it came to pass that in the ending of the thirty and fourth year, behold,
I will show unto you that the people of Nephi who were spared, and also those who
had been called Lamanites, who had been spared, did have great favors shown unto
them, and great blessings poured out upon their heads, insomuch that soon after the
ascension of Christ into heaven he did truly manifest himself unto them -
19 Showing his body unto them, and ministering unto them; and an account of his ministry shall be given hereafter. Therefore for this time I make an end of my sayings.
3 Nephi 11
1 And now it came to pass that there were a great multitude gathered together, of the people of Nephi, round about the temple which was in the land Bountiful; and they were marveling and wondering one with another, and were showing one to another the great and marvelous change which had taken place.
2 And they were also conversing about this Jesus Christ, of whom the sign had been given concerning his death.
3 And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.
4 And it came to pass that again they heard the voice, and they understood it not.
5 And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came.
6 And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard; and it said unto them:
7 Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name
-
8 And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them.
9 And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying:
10 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.
11 And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.
12 And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words the whole multitude fell to the earth; for they remembered that it had been prophesied among them that Christ should show himself unto them after his ascension into heaven.
13 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto them saying:
14 Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.
Tito Momen, with Jeff Benedict
Brother Momen writes very descriptively of his life growing up in an extreme Muslim family, in a radical Islamist village in Africa. It is not every Muslim’s story, but it is his. The story of his experiences – the forces acting on him – is fascinating. But the story of how he responds to those forces, and comes to know Christ as his Savior, through both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, is the heart of the book.
From the book:
The scenario overwhelmed me. The part about an angel appearing to a prophet wasn’t hard to accept. Muslims believe in such occurrences. What intrigued me the most was the account of Jesus Christ spreading his gospel to a region of the world far removed from the Middle East. The later part of the Book of Mormon described Christ descending out of heaven and saying:
“Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.
“And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.”
The people had fallen to the ground in amazement. Christ admonished them to stand up: “Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.”
Those words – “the God of the whole earth” – really threw me. That went counter to everything I had been taught as a Muslim. Islam doesn’t treat Jesus as divine. The Qur’an specifically says that “those who say, ‘God is the Messiah, the son of Mary’ are defying the truth.” As evidence for this the Qur’an points out that if Christ were truly the Messiah, God would not have allowed him to be destroyed.
That kind of logic had always made sense to me. Suddenly it didn’t. The Book of Mormon presented a more compelling scenario, one in which a divine being chose to lay down his life in order to save his people. Christ died for man’s sins. Moreover, his resurrection paved the way for mankind to overcome death.
“But is this true?” I asked myself. “Did Christ really make an appearance in the ancient Americas?”
It made sense to me that Christ would choose to visit people besides the Jews. Then I remembered reading in the New Testament that Jesus said he as gong to visit his other sheep. The Book of Mormon claims to be a record of Christ’s other sheep, those who left Jerusalem six hundred years before his birth.
I used some of the logic I had learned as a Muslim to work my way through the situation. If one believes that Jesus ascended to the heavens, the n one has to believe he has the power to appear anywhere. And if one can believe that he rose from the dead, one certainly must accept the possibility that he is capable of appearing somewhere else on the planet. What is harder to believe, than he rose from the dead or that he appeared on more than one continent?
Then I broke it down even more simply. If Jesus Christ is divine, he can appear to people in another part of the world. If one doesn’t believe he can do this, one belittles him.
I concluded he had visited the people in America. Tears filled my eyes as I visualized them touching the nail marks in Christ’s palms. I wanted to touch those nail marks myself. For the first time in my life I wanted to be in Christ’s presence. I never thought I’d feel something like that. But the words of the Bible and the Book of Mormon had stirred my soul. It’s hard to describe what I felt. But it was unlike anything I had ever encountered while reading the Qur’an or any other book.
I had always believed that Jesus is not divine. Now I believed that he is.
15 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.
Life Lessons from the Book of Mormon.
Jack B. Christianson & K. Douglas Bassett
The authors expound on a dozen life lessons, or major principles taught in the Book of Mormon, illustrating the various chapters with copious scriptures and quotes from general authorities.
From Chapter 4 – Finding Happiness Amid Affliction:
The first thing the Savior said after he descended from heaven into the land Bountiful was, “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.” (3 Nephi 11:10) After stating his authority, his holy name, he recognized his messengers, the prophets. Isn’t that spectacular! Of all the things he could have said or done, he ratified the teachings of his servants. One of the greatest ways of finding happiness amid affliction is to stay focused on and keep our lives in harmony with the current position of the First Presidency and th Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on all issues.
The whole multitude had fallen to the ground. The Lord spoke to them, asking them
to arise and come forth, one by one, to thrust their hands into his side and to feel
the prints of the nails in his hands and his feet so they would know that he was
truly “the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and that he had been slain
for the sins of the world.” (See 3 Nephi 11:12-
What does section 129 of the Doctrine and Covenants say we should do if a being from
the unseen world appears to us? We are to offer him our hand and request him to
shake hands with us. By doing so, we will know whether this administration is from
God. (See D&C 129”1-
Next, I believe that the Savior wants each individual to know that although he is a God, he is completely and totally approachable. His constant plea is, “Return unto me, that I may heal you.” (3 Nephi 9:13)
And finally, in the words of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “To those who stagger or stumble, he is there to steady and strengthen us. In the end he is there to save us, and for all this he gave his life. However dim our days may seem they have been darker for the Savior of the world.
“In fact, in a resurrected, otherwise perfected body, our Lord of this sacrament table has chosen to retain for the benefit of his disciples the wounds in his hands and his feet and his side – signs, if you will, that painful things happen even to the pure and perfect. Signs, if you will, that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn’t love you. It is the wounded Christ who is the captain of our sol – he who yet bears the scars of sacrifice, the lesions of love and humility and forgiveness.
“Those wounds are what he invites young and old, then and now, to step forward and see and feel (Ensign, Nov. 1995, p. 69)
Because we suffer in this life does not mean that God doesn’t love us or that we have necessarily done something wrong. It is part of the “reality of mortality.” We live in a fallen world where unfortunate, painful things happen to good, innocent people. The Savior suffered indescribably, and he deserved none of it.
16 And when they had all gone forth and had witnessed for themselves, they did cry out with one accord, saying:
17 Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High God! And they did fall down at the feet of Jesus, and did worship him.
18 And it came to pass that he spake unto Nephi (for Nephi was among the multitude) and he commanded him that he should come forth.
19 And Nephi arose and went forth, and bowed himself before the Lord and did kiss his feet.
20 And the Lord commanded him that he should arise. And he arose and stood before him.
21 And the Lord said unto him: I give unto you power that ye shall baptize this people when I am again ascended into heaven.
22 And again the Lord called others, and said unto them likewise; and he gave unto them power to baptize. And he said unto them: On this wise shall ye baptize; and there shall be no disputations among you.
23 Verily I say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words and
desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise shall ye baptize them -
24 And now behold, these are the words which ye shall say, calling them by name, saying:
25 Having authority given me of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
26 And then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come forth again out of the water.
27 And after this manner shall ye baptize in my name; for behold, verily I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one; and I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one.
28 And according as I have commanded you thus shall ye baptize. And there shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there have hitherto been.
Seven Claims of the Book of Mormon: A Collection of Evidences
John A. Widstoe and Franklin S. Harris, Jr.
Claim Five: Jesus the Christ visited the American continent.
Even secular history teaches that the Aztecs welcomed the Spaniards as a return of their “Great White God.” Brother Widstoe quotes just a few researchers and witnesses of the many native legends of a God who taught peace and was sacrificed, and who would return, as well as Christian rites and symbols.
“Las Casas, Bishop of Chiapas, relates in his apology, which is in Ms., in the conent of St. Dominic, that when he passed through the kingdom of Yucatan, he fouond there a respectable ecclesiastic, of mature age; he charged him to proceed into the interior of their country, giving him a certain plan of instruction, in order to preach to them; at the end of a year, thus he wrote to the biship – he had met with a a principal lord, who informed him that they believed in God, who resided in heaven, even the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father was named Yeona, the Son Bahab, who was born of a virgin, named Chibirias, and that of the Holy Spirit was called Euach. Bahab, the Son, they said, was put to death by Eupuro, who scourged Him, and put on His head a crown of thorns, and placed Him with His arms stretched upon a beam of wood, and that on the third day He came to life, and ascended into heaven, where He is with the Father; that immediately after the Euach came in His place as a merchant, bringing precious merchandise, filling those who would with gifts and graces, abundant and divine.”
“H.H. Bancroft said: “He was born of a virgin of miraculous birth. He had a human body like other men, yet he was a God, the son of a God, of mysterious birth.’”
“D.G. Brinton tells us: ‘The astonishment of the Romanist missionaries rose to horror when they discovered among various nations a rite of baptism of imposing of a name, done avowedly for the purpose of freeing from inherent sin, believed to produce a regeneration of the spiritual nature; nay, in more than one instance called by an indigenous word signifying ‘to be born again.’ Such a rite was of immemorial antiquity among the Cherokees (a tribe of Indians in the Eastern United States), Aztecs, Mayas and Peruvians.”
“In contemplating the religious system of the Aztecs one is struck with its apparent incongruity, as if some portion of it had emanated from a comparatively refined people, open to gentle influences, while the rest breathes a spirit of unmitigated ferocity. It naturally suggests the idea of two distinct sources and authorizes the belief that the Aztecs had inherited from their predecessors a milder faith on which was afterwards engrafted their own mythology. The latter soon became dominant and gave its dark coloring to the creeds of the conquered nation – which the Mexicans, like the Romans, seem willing to have incorporated into their own, until the same funereal superstitions settled over the farthest borders of Anahuac.”
“We thus arrive, still in primitive conditions, to such personal ideals as Quetzalccoatl among the Aztecs of whom it was said in their legends that he was of majestic presence, chaste in life, averse to war, wise and generous in actions, and delighting in the cultivation of the arts of peace; or, as we see among the Peruvians, in their culture hero Tonapa, of whose teachings a Catholic writer of the sixteenth century says, ‘So closely did they resemble the precepts of Jesus, that nothing was lacking in them but His Name and that of His Father.’”
“The doctrines of the benign and saintly Quetzalcoatl or Cukulcan must be classed among the great faiths of mankind, and their author alone of all the great teachers of morals except Christ himself, inculcating a positive morality, must be granted a precedence of most of the great teachers of Chinese and Hindoo antiquity.”
“Rivero and Tschudi quote Montesinos, a Peruvian historian: ‘During his reign (32
or 33 A.D.) they experienced earthquakes that la
sted several months.’”
29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.
30 Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away.
31 Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, I will declare unto you my doctrine.
32 And this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me; and I bear record of the Father, and the Father beareth record of me, and the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and me; and I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me.
33 And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God.
34 And whoso believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned.
35 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and I bear record of it from the Father; and whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost.
36 And thus will the Father bear record of me, and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the Father and me; for the Father, and I, and the Holy Ghost are one.
37 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things.
38 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.
39 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.
40 And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock; but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them.
41 Therefore, go forth unto this people, and declare the words which I have spoken, unto the ends of the earth.