CHAPTER 9
Moroni calls upon those who do not believe in Christ to repent—He proclaims a God of miracles, who gives revelations and pours out gifts and signs upon the faithful—Miracles cease because of unbelief—Signs follow those who believe—Men are exhorted to be wise and keep the commandments. About A.D. 401–21.
1 And now, I speak also concerning those who do not believe in Christ.
2 Behold, will ye believe in the day of your visitation—behold, when the Lord shall come, yea, even that agreat day this is a word link throughout all scriptures when it says "that great day". It's talking about the Second Coming of Christ when the bearth shall be rolled together as a scroll, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, yea, in that great day when ye shall be brought to stand before the Lamb of God—then will ye say that there is no God?
3 Then will ye longer deny the Christ, or can ye behold the Lamb of God? Do ye suppose that ye shall dwell with him under a aconsciousness of your guilt? Do ye suppose that ye could be happy to dwell with that holy Being, when your souls are racked with a consciousness of guilt that ye have ever abused his laws?
4 Behold, I say unto you that ye would be more miserable to dwell with a holy and just God, under a consciousness of your afilthiness before him, than ye would to dwell with the bdamned souls in chell. Interesting how this would really be experienced. Is it the same kind of misery? Maybe the hell misery is better because you know it's deserved and the heaven misery would be because you know you don't deserve to be there? Or maybe it is a knowledge of the suffering you caused Christ that you won't repent of.
5 For behold, when ye shall be brought to see your anakedness NOTHING will be hidden from you or God (well nothing has ever been hidden from Him, so mostly it's your consciousness of your own reality to yourself as you face God before God, and also the glory of God, and the bholiness of Jesus Christ, it will kindle a flame of unquenchable fire upon you.
6 O then ye aunbelieving, bturn ye unto the Lord; cry mightily unto the Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps ye may be found spotless, cpure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the dLamb, at that great and last day. If you are reading this, and are "unbelieving" and Christ hasn't come yet...there is time to repent.
7 And again I speak unto you who adeny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the binterpretation of tongues; Now he's speaking to the "believing", but deceived. There is a little bit of a catch here. For the unbelieving in these things there are no revelations (personal), or prophecies (personal) or gifts or healing or speaking in tongues, etc. because they don't believe, but it doesn't mean these things do not exist or cannot be. They just aren't experiencing them.
8 Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them. These things just listed are a part of the gospel of Christ and if you believe the truth about the gospel you must also believe and experience these gifts.
9 For do we not read that God is the asame byesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no cvariableness neither shadow of changing? This one scripture should put down any arguments about God maybe changing his teachings on gender in our day.
10 And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god this is exactly what people are doing today...imagining up their own versions of god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles.
11 But behold, I will show unto you a God of amiracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are.
12 Behold, he created Adam, and by aAdam came the bfall of man. And because of the fall of man came Jesus Christ, even the Father and the Son; and because of Jesus Christ came the credemption of man.
13 And because of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the apresence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein all men are redeemed, because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the bresurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless csleep, from which sleep all men shall be awakened by the power of God when the trump shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed and loosed from this eternal dband of death, which death is a temporal death.
14 And then cometh the ajudgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is bfilthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still. This is great motivation to learn how to be happy now, if you are not. Interesting that he separates it from being unrighteous. Maybe it's possible to be righteous and not happy, meaning you are obedient to commandments and serve in the church, but are not happy. We are commanded to "be of good cheer". Don't think just because you die, you'll suddenly be happy. Your circumstances will certainly change, but they were never the "cause" of your unhappiness, so you will find yourself still unhappy on the other side...
15 And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do ano miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles. "Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again. We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, preside over this Church in majesty and glory." (Nelson, April 2018)
16 Behold, are not the things that God hath wrought marvelous in our eyes? Yea, and who can comprehend the marvelous aworks of God?
17 Who shall say that it was not a miracle that by his aword the heaven and the earth should be; and by the power of his word man was bcreated of the cdust of the earth; and by the power of his word have miracles been wrought?
18 And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty amiracles? And there were many bmighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles.
19 And if there were amiracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he bchangeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.
21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, awhatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this bpromise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth. This seems very straightforward! What are the conditions? 1. Believe in Christ 2. Doubt nothing 3. Ask the Father in the name of Christ. Of those three, I would guess that 2. is the greatest roadblock. It is hard to doubt nothing. But I know that God honors faith. Look at all the scriptures stories of Christ performing miracles where that is so plainly seen: the woman who touched Jesus, the Centurion who said, "only say the words" and my servant will be healed, to which Jesus responded "‘Go your way, and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.’"
22 For behold, thus said Jesus Christ, the Son of God, unto his disciples who should tarry, yea, and also to aall his disciples, in the hearing of the multitude: Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature;
23 And he that abelieveth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be bdamned;
24 And athese signs shall follow them that believe—in my name shall they cast out bdevils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay chands on the sick and they shall recover;
25 And whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, unto him will I aconfirm all my words, even unto the ends of the earth. Notice again, we must doubt nothing. If these signs are not in our lives, then we have to face the fact there is some doubt in our thought life. I think we rationalize that these things are not in our lives because it's God's will that we struggle and learn from our trials. But here He just confirms that these miracles are promised to all who believe and doubt nothing. I also think it's hard to not doubt when you have sins you aren't repenting of.
26 And now, behold, who can stand aagainst the works of the Lord? bWho can deny his sayings? Who will rise up against the almighty power of the Lord? Who will despise the works of the Lord? Who will despise the children of Christ? Behold, all ye who are cdespisers of the works of the Lord, for ye shall wonder and perish.
27 O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need. aDoubt not, but be believing, and begin as in times of old, and bcome unto the Lord with all your cheart, and dwork out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him. Do you hear the invitation? Ask for whatever you stand in need of. But you must not doubt. I think we hesitate to ask for healing when we are sick, because we're sick a lot and we imagine that it's somehow slothful to repeatedly get sick and just ask God to heal you every time. But why is it any better to go to a doctor and ask him to heal you every time? Perhaps, in both cases, the "healer" will ask you why you keep getting sick and explore the cause of your repeated illness. But I don't think the doctor ever shames you for having to come in again and seek healing. Why do we think God is any less compassionate? And you have to come unto the Lord with all your heart. What does it mean to work out your salvation with fear and trembling?
28 Be awise in the days of your bprobation; strip yourselves of all uncleanness; ask not, that ye may consume it on your clusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and dliving God. Here are the things Moroni says we should focus on while on the earth: 1. Be wise with your time here 2. Work daily to rid yourself of all that is unclean 3. Don't "consume" uncleanness and don't lust after it 4. Be firm and unshaken in your asking for strength to not yield to temptation 5. Serve the true and living God, not false and nonliving idols.
29 See that ye are not baptized aunworthily; see that ye partake not of the sacrament of Christ bunworthily; but see that ye do all things in cworthiness, and do it in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God; and if ye do this, and endure to the end, ye will in nowise be cast out. Here's a reminder to partake of the Sacrament weekly. How does one know they stand "worthy" before God? I think at the minimum we partake with conscious intention and desire to make covenants and not thoughtlessly out of cultural habit.
30 Behold, I speak unto you as though I aspake from the dead; for I know that ye shall have my words.
31 Condemn me not because of mine aimperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been. I think he's not talking about imperfections in what they have written, but imperfections in their lives as they have shared them in the record. What were these mortal imperfections of Mormon and Moroni or the other authors of the record? What can we learn from them?
32 And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the areformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.
33 And if our plates had been asufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no bimperfection in our record. Here were are 600 years later and Moroni is fully aware of his Hebrew roots. He is seeming to say that there could be some imperfections in how they expressed their writings because of the limitations of their written language. I think he's using "imperfection" not to mean mistakes, but more limitations in language.
34 But the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also that none other people knoweth our language; and because that none other people knoweth our language, therefore he hath prepared ameans for the interpretation thereof. The means being translation through the gift and power of God. So maybe what we have isn't a "word for word" translation, but a correct translation according to the knowledge of God.
35 And these things are written that we may rid our garments of the blood of our abrethren, who have dwindled in unbelief. Who are the "brethren" he is referring to? the Lamanites? 2 Nephi 26: 15 After my seed and the seed of my brethren shall have dwindled in unbelief, and shall have been smitten by the Gentiles; yea, after the Lord God shall have camped against them round about, and shall have laid siege against them with a mount, and raised forts against them; and after they shall have been brought down low in the dust, even that they are not, yet the words of the righteous shall be written, and the prayers of the faithful shall be heard, and all those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not be forgotten. How would not writing them not rid their garments of the blood of their brethren? And why would they be accountable for their blood? And "whose" garments are we talking about? He may be talking about "their" collectively, not him personally or the other writers. Maybe it has something to do with the sins of the children being on the heads of the parents; maybe it refers to the sins of the people being on the head of the watchmen if they don't warn, so if they didn't keep the record they would somehow be accountable for the future generations who would be in unbelief, not receiving the truth and continuing in their unbelief...
36 And behold, these things which we have adesired concerning our brethren, yea, even their restoration to the knowledge of Christ, are according to the prayers of all the saints who have dwelt in the land. Is this the prayer of the saints in our day? that the unbelieving will be restored to the truth?
37 And may the Lord Jesus Christ grant that their prayers may be answered according to their faith; and may God the Father remember the covenant which he hath made with the house of Israel; and may he bless them forever, through faith on the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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