Mormon 3

(All of my own thoughts are in blue ? red type 7/20 orange 7/21 Brown 2022-23) 

CHAPTER 3

Mormon cries repentance unto the Nephites—They gain a great victory and glory in their own strength—Mormon refuses to lead them, and his prayers for them are without faith—The Book of Mormon invites the twelve tribes of Israel to believe the gospel. About A.D. 360–62.

  1 And it came to pass that the Lamanites did not come to battle again until ten years more had passed away. And behold, I had employed my people, the Nephites, in preparing their lands and their arms against the time of battle. Again, like Moroni...
  2 And it came to pass that the Lord did say unto me: Cry unto this people—Repent ye, and come unto me, and be ye baptized, and build up again my church, and ye shall be ^aspared. They were given 10 years of no war and another chance to repent. Why did the Lord say it was ok to now preach to them, when before now it wasn't? Was it because their iniquity was full and it was time for judgment and they needed a warning? Or, if they had peace for 10 years, maybe they were less wicked and more teachable...
  3 And I did cry unto this people, but it was ^ain vain; and they did ^bnot realize that it was the Lord that had spared them, and granted unto them a chance for repentance. And behold they did harden their hearts against the Lord their God. Interesting they trusted this young boy to lead them in battle but completely discounted the source of his strength and the wisdom he possessed from God. In our day, the American people have no collective acknowledgment that we have been "spared" these last 200+ years by the Lord and that HE has granted us a chance for repentance (they had 10 years with no wars...) But we are hardening our hearts against the Lord. This pandemic has been a hard turn towards man's "sorceries" (the Greek word for sorceries is pharmika...) Here's an interesting blog about this. (https://thornsamongtheseed.blogspot.com/2010/08/pharmakeia-greek-translation-of_12.html) A few highlights: "Most of us, when asked for Biblical signs warning of the nearness of the last days will mention Israel, or perhaps the Global Economy. Some will mention the famines, earthquakes and diseases; the "wars and rumors of wars" that sweep our planet. Few, however, will think to mention DRUGS, SORCERY and religious DECEPTION as significant of the end times.

The worldwide spread of psychedelic (Peyote, LSD); narcotic (heroin); and hypnotic (hashish) drugs fulfills the prophetic scriptures as one of two forms of SORCERY that would lead the nations into rejection of Christ, and bring them into their final destruction as slaves of the Man of Sin, the Antichrist, under a New World Order at the end of the age.

Some may wonder why marijuana/hashish is included here. It's included because it, like the other drugs, produces an ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS that leaves the user open to hypnotic, and therefore demonic suggestion. In the Old Testament, God forbids his people to engage in "enchantment" (hypnosis) and witchcraft (sorcery).

Enter: the New Testament
Yeshua warned us in Matthew 24 of these things that would mark the last days before his second coming. Of religious DECEPTION, he says:

"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matt 24:24 (KJV)

This verse is one of five or six times the Bible mentions MIRACLES in connection with DECEPTION in the last days. Have we not been told this "jab" is a miracle from God?  The fate of those who are so deceived is shown in Matthew 7:21-23:

"Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons AND PERFORM MANY MIRACLES?' Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

The means of this deception looks religious and perhaps even doctrinally plausible, but the methods of performing miracles is NOT. There is, in addition to false doctrine, a visible, hands on method by which the nations are being deceived. That method is SORCERY, and/or "witchcraft".
The New Testament mentions TWO kinds of sorcery: MAGIC (In Greek, "mageia") and DRUGS (In Greek, "pharmakeia"). The New Testament was originally written in Greek, and the distinction between these two types of witchcraft has been lost in the translation. But our Strong's Concordance and Vine's Dictionary of New Testament Words spotlight these deceptions, helping us to identify them so that we may take warning:

So in conclusion, the person who uses ANY of the drugs mentioned here is giving himself over to the will of another--that chief Sorcerer himself--Satan, the enemy of our souls. Christ died to save us from slavery of sin, from the power of Satan and the penalty of Hell.
When a believer engages in these activities, he is in effect denying his Lord the honor due him: who's shed blood purchased the believer's eternal redemption. The Bible says:

"You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men." -1 Corinthians 7:23

"Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts."--Rev 9:21
"The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world's great men. By your MAGIC spell all the nations were led astray."--Rev 18:23   God has warned us ahead of time."

And here is a quote by Joseph Smith:
"I preached to a large congregation at the stand, on the science and practice of medicine, desiring to persuade the Saints to trust in God when sick, and not in an arm of flesh, and live by faith and not by medicine, or poison, and when they were sick, and had called for the Elders to pray for them, and they were not healed, to use herbs and mild food." (Sunday Sept 5, 1841; DHC 4:414)

  4 And it came to pass that after this tenth year had passed away, making, in the whole, three hundred and sixty years from the coming of Christ, the king of the Lamanites sent an epistle unto me, which gave unto me to know that they were preparing to come again to battle against us. Interesting they gave them warning. Why not just attack with no warning?
  5 And it came to pass that I did cause my people that they should gather themselves together Lots of "gathering" examples in these chapters! Again, sounds like when Moroni gathered all his people into the land of Zarahemla at the land ^aDesolation, to a city which was in the borders, by the narrow pass which led into the land ^bsouthward.
  6 And there we did place our armies, that we might stop the armies of the Lamanites, that they might not get possession of any of our lands; therefore we did fortify against them with all our force.
  7 And it came to pass that in the three hundred and sixty and first year the Lamanites did come down to the ^acity of Desolation to battle against us; and it came to pass that in that year we did beat them, insomuch that they did return to their own lands again.
  8 And in the three hundred and sixty and second year they did come down again to battle. And we did beat them again, and did slay a great number of them, and their dead were cast into the sea.
  9 And now, because of this great thing which my people, the Nephites, had done, they began to ^aboast in their own strength, and began to swear before the heavens that they would avenge themselves of the blood of their brethren who had been slain by their enemies. This is not the "Title of Liberty" motive. Just had a thought...why did the Lamanites not have anyone to preach to them? Why just the Nephites? Was it because the Nephites risked utter destruction if they didn't repent and the Lamanites did not? 
 10 And they did ^aswear by the heavens, and also by the throne of God, that they ^bwould go up to battle against their enemies, and would cut them off from the face of the land.
 11 And it came to pass that I, Mormon, did utterly ^arefuse from this time forth to be a commander and a leader of this people, because of their wickedness and abomination. Mormon's deal breaker: He would lead in defense but not offense.
 12 Behold, I had led them, notwithstanding their wickedness I had led them many times to battle, and had loved them, according to the ^alove of God which was in me, with all my heart; and my soul had been poured out in prayer unto my God all the day long for them; nevertheless, it was ^bwithout faith, because of the ^chardness of their hearts.
 13 And ^athrice have I delivered them out of the hands of their enemies, and they have repented not of their sins. Mormon is taking credit for their victories here. How is this different than the Nephite's boasting in their own strength? I would think Mormon is still giving the glory to God, seeing it is a chance for repentance and for them to acknowledge His hand...but they wouldn't
 14 And when they had sworn by all that had been ^aforbidden them by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that they would go up unto their enemies to battle, and avenge themselves of the blood of their brethren, behold the voice of the Lord came unto me, saying:
 15 ^aVengeance is mine, and I will ^brepay; and because this people repented not after I had delivered them, behold, they shall be cut off from the face of the earth. The Lord confirms it is He that delivered them, even in their wickedness... maybe they thought they had won by their own strength because they didn't believe God would help them in their wickedness, so it must have been by their own strength. Not a completely illogical thought...Two referenced scriptures on "vengeance" and "repay" that are comforting:

D&C 82:23 Leave judgment alone with me, for it is mine and I will repay. Peace be with you; my blessings continue with you.

Isaiah 35:4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you

What "deliverance" will we be given before we are "cut off"? I hope it's from the effects of this "sorcery".
 16 And it came to pass that I utterly refused to go up against mine enemies; and I did even as the Lord had commanded me; and I did stand as an idle witness to manifest unto the world the things which I saw and heard, according to the manifestations of the Spirit which had testified of things to come.  Here Mormon tells us that he is going to testify, as an eye witness, that prophecy had been fulfilled and would yet be fulfilled.
 17 Therefore I write ^aunto you, Gentiles, and also unto you, house of Israel, when the work shall commence, that ye shall be about to prepare to return to the land of your inheritance; Look for this sign: When the work shall commence, that we shall be about to prepare to return to the land of your inheritance...(He doesn't finish this sentence in this chapter at least...) What is the "work" that shall commence? Is it that they are about to prepare to return to the land of their inheritance? What does that look like? Is it the Jews returning to Jerusalem? Does 1948 count? Or is it future? 3 Nephi 20:1 makes it sound like this is referring to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon as when the covenant to restore Israel to their lands "commences" with the Restoration (1830). But that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the Jews being able to gather back to Jerusalem in 1948... 
 18 Yea, behold, I write unto all the ends of the earth; yea, unto you, twelve tribes of Israel, who shall be ^ajudged according to your works by the twelve whom Jesus chose to be his disciples in the land of Jerusalem.
 19 And I write also unto the remnant of this people, who shall also be judged by the ^atwelve whom Jesus chose in this land; and they shall be judged by the other twelve whom Jesus chose in the land of Jerusalem.
 20 And these things doth the Spirit manifest unto me; therefore I write unto you all. And for this cause I write unto you, that ye may know that ye must all stand before the ^ajudgment-seat of Christ, yea, every soul who belongs to the whole human ^bfamily of Adam; and ye must stand to be judged of your works, whether they be good or evil; This kind of does away with the "saved by Grace only" doctrine if it is used to say that our works do not matter. We are not save by our works, but we are certainly judged by them...
 21 And also that ye may ^abelieve the gospel of Jesus Christ, which ye shall have among you; through the Bible? and also that the ^cJews, the covenant people of the Lord, shall have other ^dwitness  the Book of Mormon? besides him whom they saw and heard, who is this that they "saw and heard"? Jesus? the 2 disciples that will stand in the streets for 3 1/2 years?  that Jesus, whom they slew, was the ^every Christ and the very God.
 22 And I would that I could persuade ^aall ye ends of the earth to repent and prepare to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. Interesting that he starts in verse 17 with "therefore I write unto you, Gentiles and Jews, when the work shall commence, that ye shall be about to prepare to return to the land of your inheritance"...and then talks only about judgement. So is he saying, "when the works shall commence...the Book of Mormon will be translated and shared with the world"...and the Jews returning to Jerusalem won't be too long after ( 150 years?) then KNOW, that the scriptures you have, both Bible and Book of Mormon, will stand against you on judgment day if you do not believe them and live according to their words and believe the prophecies and promises in them?