Greetings Brethren,
While studying about this week’s
marvelous messages found in the “Come, Follow Me” manual regarding the events
leading up to the birth of Christ, I found a talk given during the April 1975
General Conference by President N. Eldon Tanner, entitled “Christ in America”.
I found it to be full of powerful insights into 3 Nephi that I wanted to share
with you.
Here is some of his talk. I hope you
enjoy it as much as I did.
Christ in America
President N. Eldon Tanner
I suppose that nowhere in the scriptures do we have a
more beautiful or detailed record of God’s dealings with man than in the
account of <Christ’s> visit <to the American continent> as recorded
in Third Nephi. I commend to all the reading of this account. We can find
nothing there except some warnings and beautiful teachings which, if accepted
and lived, will do more than anything else to bring peace and happiness to the
world and to the individual seeking such a way of life. Here we can find
explanations for many unanswered questions in the Bible.
Third Nephi gives us additional information in more
detail than the four Gospels in the New Testament, and preserves the doctrines,
teachings, and compassion of the Lord. For this reason, there are many who
refer to Third Nephi as the “fifth Gospel.”
We are told that Nephi
“cried mightily unto the Lord”, whereupon the Lord came unto him and answered
him that the time was at hand for all that had been spoken by his holy prophets
to be fulfilled. All the signs came to pass, the new star appeared in the sky,
and the unbelievers “fell to the earth and became as if they were dead.” (3 Ne.
1:16) Here is one of the first lessons we learn. The words of God’s prophets
are always fulfilled.
But all too soon the signs
and wonders which had been experienced were forgotten, and the people waxed
strong in wickedness. We read of wars and the Gadianton robbers and the
desolation of the land. But those Nephites who remembered to call upon the Lord
in righteousness were able to subdue their enemies, and they praised God for
their deliverance. We are told that they “did forsake all their sins, and their
abominations, and their whoredoms, and did serve God with all diligence day and
night.” (3 Ne. 5:3) In this condition they prospered.
We find, as is so common in the world today, that as
the people prospered, they began to have disputations among themselves because
of pride, and some did willfully rebel against God. Within only six years the
majority of the people had turned to wickedness, and Nephi began to preach
repentance boldly.
This is the mission of the prophets of God: to preach
repentance. And though it does not make for popularity, it must be done. We are
told that the people were angry with Nephi but that he ministered with power
and with great authority. We read: “So great was his faith on the Lord Jesus
Christ that angels did minister unto him daily. And in the name of Jesus did he
cast out devils and unclean spirits; and even his brother did he raise from the
dead, after he had been stoned and suffered death by the people.” (3 Ne. 7:18–19.)
Today the world is
rejecting the messages of the prophets of God. Is it not true that there is
weeping and wailing over the face of the land because men are at war one with
another? Do we not have among us many who lament the waywardness of their youth
and the tragedies that befall them as they turn away from righteousness and
suffer the consequences of tampering with alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, and other
forbidden things? How many mourners do we have as a result of the lawlessness
that is extant in our communities? We need to heed the lessons from the
history of the past lest we be consumed
as were some of those earlier civilizations.
“Now this is the commandment:
Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name,
that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand
spotless before me at the last day.” (3
Ne. 27:20.)
All these teachings did Christ give to those Nephite
people as he came to them as a resurrected Being. We have these same teachings
in his church today, and it is my prayer that we will accept and live them;
that we will accept God as our Father and his Son Jesus Christ as the Savior of
the world; that we will accept and follow President Spencer W. Kimball as a
prophet of God; and that we might enjoy the promised blessings for so doing. In
the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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