MeKeehle! Jacob 9 Esau Sons of 2 oo Jacob's wives Rachel ‘* Bithait “ht a coaioies i Ta PAT t ? é é ea in te perio nape Dinah & The 12 Sons (Tribes) Tamar Asenath * of Israel Pharez " ve # Ephraim fp oy isseh f ‘Sceptre Promises Birthright Rromises ne 7 ee of Israel i 5.0an 6. Naphtall 2] ys ’ 5k {.Reuben 2. Simeon 3,*Ephvaim 4 Judah | es & &, an 4 a 8 5 ee “ee 7.Gad 8. Asher 9% Isackan 10, Zebulun 4 it. ‘Manasseh 12, nin)Divided about House of Israel Introduction. ae Abraham — Sarah Isaac - Rebecca Esau ~ Sells hi Jacob — Leah, Leah *Judah “Issachar *Zebulon Bilhah “Dan *Nephtali Zilpah "Gad *Asher Rachel “Joseph - Receives a double portion of the Birthright. “Ephraim *Manasseh *Benjamin Northern Kingdom ~ 10 Tribes Southern Kingdom + Simeon Gad Judah Issachar Asher Benjamin Zebulon Joseph Dan Ephraim Nephtali - Manasseh | Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, were adopted in by Jacob as. inheritance also. Levites ~ Ministers is birthright to Jacob Rachel, Bilhah, Zilpah Reuben — Disinherited because of sexual transgressions. “Simeon *Levi - Did not receive an inheritance because he was gi ancestor. * One of the 12 (13) tribes of Israel fen the Levitical Priesthood. Jesus’ 2 tribes is own sons and he gave them an They held the Levitical Priesthood (Aaronic). Aaron and his sons presided over them. They did not receive an inheritance of land. The Northern Kingdom was captured by Assyria and carried away into A\ syria. They are the 10 lost tribes.Sister Lawrence | (The wife Elder Lawrence of the 70) She gave this talk in a mission tour. As you know, all of you Book of Mormon readers, there are many names for Jesus. In fact the name Jesus doesn’t get used very often, does it? Not hardly. Some other names for Jesus in the Book of Mormon are what? Jehovah, Messiah, Redeemer, Lamb of God, the Savior, Advocate. All of those are great. I am trying to get you to say, but you haven’t come up with it yet, Nephi’s favorite name for the Savior, which he uses over 40 times in his writing. Okay, does that give you a hint? Holy One of Israel! ‘That is right. Today, I am going to talk about the Holy One of Israel and why He is called the Holy One of Israel, and hopefully you will leam something. Why is this an appropriate name for the Savior? Why does Nephi call Him 40-some times The Holy One of Israel? Now I'll tell you. First of all, was Jesus a descendent of Israel? Who is Israel? Jacob ~ right. Was he a descendent of Jacob? Absolutely! What tribe was Jesus from? Judah. Okay, so he is definitely a descendent. So, you can say he is the Holy One of Israel because he is a descendent. The second reason may surprise you. I want to mention that he is from the tribe of Judah through his mother, Mary, of course, not through his father. Jesus also had a mission call. You are all aware of this. How long was his earthly mission, his ministry? About 3 years, a little over if you consider his resurrected ministry. (Laughter).. Okay, soa little over 3 years But, this is what you may never have thought about before. Did He receive, was he given a specific mission, a specific area? He was, and he was so obedient about it. His Father in Heaven was his mission president; basically, right -the equivalent. He gave Him a very specific call, and he stayed within his area his entire mission, with only 2 or 3 exceptions, through the whole history of the scriptures, in which he must have asked His Father in Heaven for permission to move slightly out of His area, because this is his area and I will give you ‘an example, } First ofall there is a great story in Matthew 15. This woman starts following Him and the apostles right down there by the coast, and she is not an Israelite woman, she is a Gentile woman. They call her a woman of Canaan. She is actually a Canaanite. So, this Canaanite woman begins td follow Jesus and his disciples and she says, “Oh Lord, have mercy on me. My daughter has been vexed grievously by a devil”. And it says something that surprised me the first time I read that. But the Savior answered her not a word. So, he doesn’t even answer. Why not? Finally the disciples are kind of concemed and she keeps following him and talking to him. Finally the disciples say, “Send her away Lord for she followeth after us.” Jesus turns to them and says, “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” In other words, she is a Gentile woman and she is not in my area. The disciples were quite surprised by this. And the woman, I think she must have picked up what was going on and she asked Him again, will He help her and He said, “It is not meat, in other words that means not appropriate, to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs”. A better translation I have read says, “Give it to the pets.” And she said, “Yea Lord, but the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the Master’s table”. He really liked that answer. He must have said a silent prayer to His Father in Heaven and asked permission because then He said, “Oh woman, great is thy faith, give it unto thee according to thy will.” Her daughter was made whole even from that hour. He actually did heal her daughter even though she was a Gentile and He was not sent to the Gentiles but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. ‘Another example of this, you'll find it once I tell you and you He is going to send out His apostles on missions. Remember that? He is going to send out the 70s also. And, what is the instruction He gives, The Charge to the Twelve they call it. ‘The charge to the missionaries. He says, “Go ye not by way of the Gentil, but go to that lost sheep of The House of Israel”. Jesus was very obedient about staying in His area. When Jesus uses the word sheep in the scriptures, ‘anytime the word sheep is used, what does that mean, what is that code for? It means Israelites. His sheep are |the House of Israel. So, that’s what He is talking about. My sheep. And ndw every time you see scriptures about sheep, who IsHe talking about? The House of Israel. So, this is important, this will improve your understanding of the scriptures and the doctrine. Who was He talking about when he told His disciples in Jerusalem, “Other sheep I have which are not ofthis fold. Them also I must... and they shall hear my voice l ll be able to see it though the scriptures.a * and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” Who was he talking about when he said “other sheep”?. In other ~ Rods, Ephraim and Manasseh right? Who are where? They were in America right then, So, He’s saying, other sheep I have, there are other members of the House of Israel that in America, and another fold and [ need to go talk to them. So He goes to America after He is reauesed|By the way, did His disciples in ~ _ } Jerusalem know wio these other shesp were? nt They had no idea what he was talking about. In fact, while He was visiting the Nephites, He explained to them that the disciples in Jerusalem thought he was talking about the Gentiles when He said “Other sheep I have which are not ofthis fold”. He said, “And they understood me ~ not" The Gentiles will not at any time hear my voice, if that I should nt manifest myself unto them except by i { “But behold, you are my sheep. You the House of Israel. I am not going to are among those that my Father hath given me.” In other words, you are ~ the Gentiles, That was not His mission, | Who did Tesus visit after He left the Nephites? They wished He would stay a litle Tonger, but He had to Eo gpmewhere else. Can you remember where? Was He going to go tothe Gentiles then? Net fie wx going to ~ ponet sheep” the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel. He said, “I go to show myself to the Lent nites of Israel hey ate not lost tothe Father, for He knoweth whither He hath led them”. So, He goce ince a te Israelites in Jetusilens, then tc “Israelites in America, and then to the Israclites of The Lest Tribes, which He'll ~ someday reveal where. He went, right. ‘Mhen was the Gospel finally preached tothe Gentiles? When Peter was the president ofthe church, Peter receives a revelation, and I won't go into detail, but now it’s time to talee the Gospel to the Gentiles. This is like 10 years after Jesus has left and been resurrected. In His ministry, in His earthly ministry, was He true to His mission? Did He stay in his area? Exactly. He went to the Lost Tribes, to the sheep of The House of Istael, That was who he was sent to minister to, Now Iwant you to think really uick, some of you are into musi¢ and playing and singing and Srarvthing else. Think of some hymns with the word “Israel” in them, inthe tile, Yes, Whats they song about? Actually, we're gathering Israel from all the world. It’s about missionary work: Israel, Israel God is Calling; Redeemer of Israel, Just like the Holy one of Israel Jesus is the Redeemey of Israel; Elders of Israel. Thank you, } was hoping somebody would say that. Ye Elders of lseel was vain fore there were Sister Missionaries in the Church, Otherwise, it would be called The Blders and Sisters of Irae. That's tue: Tlece te ee elders of Israel, come join with me and seek out the righteous, where ere they may be, ‘Why are you, the Elders of Israel called the Elders of Israel? And, how you ean answer this question is to think back. Why was Jesus called the Holy One of Israel? What en have to do with you? I think People can go through seminary and they still come out without realizing this, because. you are literal, blood descendants of Israel. If you have gotten the wrong idea that all these people in the Church have been adopted into the tribes of Israel, that is just not right, You are the literal blood of Iyael. ‘That ig why you get your Patriarchal Blessing before you come out on your mission. As my husband said it thic morning, “it is your license to preach” You are the literal Elders and Sisters descended fom a Tribe of Istael. That is why you get jour Patriarchal Blessing. What is the purpose of your Patriarchal Blessing, the #1 purpose? To deciore your lineage, your literal blood lineage, So, you literally are, Now, you may have grown up, all the senior couples were for sure, thinking, “What was the 3-fold Purpose of the church? 1. Perfect the saints, 2, Proclaim the gospel, 3. Redéem the dead, ‘That is what we eamed from the time we were litle, Did you realize that the new handbook that came out in 2010 changed that jvording? I think it is interesting. Now itis the 4-fold purpose of the church, They added a new one Caring for |the poor and needy, which isa very important purpose of the Church, But have changed the wording; itis /no longer ~ Proclaim the Gospel. Now it is “Gather Ieracl through Missionary Work.” So, we are here to gather Jerasl, That is who we are seeking for is the pure blood of Israel. You are the blood of Israel and you are seeking for other people of the world that are the blood of Israel.7 88 Mission Presidents, and he talked about the House of Israel all day day and one thing he said, He said, “I interview missionaries all over the world and Toften ask them, “Whiy are you on a mission”? He said they have ) such great answers it is inspiring to me. Some of them say, “Because I love the Lord; because I have been so j blessed; because I owe it to Him for all He has done for me”. You know, whatever, they are all good reasons. But, he said, “I long for the day when missionaries know the doctrine well. enough to say, “T am out here because I am a child of the covenant, 1am from the House of Israel. mised before I was born that I would be a witness for God that I would come and help at the last.” And $0, if they understood who they really were, from the House of Israel, that’s why they are out on a mission. He said] “That would be great.” And I Personally think that more and more missionaries are beginning to know this true purpose. So, what is so special about being from Israel? Why does God stem to give the descendants of Israel ‘more privileges and more responsibilities? Why do they get this, in a 1d, Kind of priority treatment? Joseph Fielding Smith said that Israel is entitled to special favors based on pre- il obedience. In other words, before you were born you must have done something good to be in the House of Israel. Let me explain. Let's 0 back to the beginning before we were bom on this earth. At some point in eternity —I mean the intelligence that makes your spirit has always existed, but you as a spirit was not organized until you were born as a spirit child to our Heavenly Parents. So, sometime in eternity you are actually born as a spirit. We call this place the First Estate. In Alma 13, that is the only chapter I have found in the Book of Mormon that is about pre- Fonality. So i’ a good one to review, but Alma says, calling the First tate the frst place, he says "Ia the First Place we were all on the same standing. We started out equal when we were born spirits, and then some distinguished themselves by exceeding faith and good works”. You can te-read this when you study your scriptures in Alma 13. He is trying to explain that when we were first botn as a Spirit we all started out innocent and equal but some progressed much faster than all the rest. Who Progressed the fastest of anybody? Jehovah, our oldest brother. He was the 1" born spirit to our Heavenly Parents and He was amazing because he was ‘more intelligent (intelligent means the wise use of knowledge every time He learned something He applied it). He was the most advanced spirit. However, there were lots of spirits, millions of spirits, and they progressed at different rates. Interestingly enough, Joseph. Fielding Smith said that some developed special talents for things like music. They worked on that before they were born and then when they were on the earth what happens? ‘They all seem to be able to pick it up really fast and they can almost play by ear. He said they developed that before they were born, when they were spirits. There are some who are just naturally good at math, at figuring or calculating or art or design. He said that they worked on these things before they were ever born. They developed them spiritually before they came to this earth, He said there was another talent. Some distinguished themselves iot only in music or whatever, but they also distinguished themselves with the most important quality, a talent of spirituality. Now, what would be a talent for spirituality? He said it is the. ability to recognize truth and =f it. T'll bet you all would like to find Elder Russell M. Nelson visited Russia while we were there rej was early on when we were there investigators that have the ability to recognize truth and act on it. So, God knew each of his children so well. You might think, “Well, how could he have known me if he had a billion children, or more than that? But the truth is He did. And he knew every one of His children ao Well that by the foreknowledge of God (You have probably seen that wordlin the scriptures, and you will all though the books of Peter and John). What is the foreknowledge of God? He knew before you were born, his foreknowledge, before the earth was even created He knew you. And by the foreknowledge of God He selected i part of the House of Israel, ‘That is how the House of Israel was chosen ~ those that had the most potential to ecome like their father wino had the ‘bility to recognize truth and act on it. If you don’t have the ability to recognize truth and act on itis it going to bea long time before you become exalted? A long time. It may never happen. He knew His children very, very well T don’t know about you but if were you, I would feel very special nd realize that if you were chosen to be in the House of Israel you must have had some Potential and God knew you better than anybody else. ) Were there opportunities for us to be tested before we were even bon? Were we being tested? Did we Aave any agency? Absolutely! What about the war in heaven, what we call the war in heaven? Absolutely, we had a chance to be tested tight there and from anyplace. ‘The war in heaven was not fought with guns, bombs, or swords. It was a war of debate, reasoning, and that kind of thing, words, thoughts. In Revelation chanter 12.4 ~ _ iayestigate. It tells that there were two big factors why Michael and hislarmies won the war. Who iy Michael? Adam, before he was born,he was the leader and commander in chief, main leader, but Michael was the one assigned to do that and he totally - ‘What helped him win the war? In Revelation 12 is says that there were two big factors that helped him ? win. One was the blood of the lamb, ‘meaning that Jesus offered to atone for our sins and that was a huge factor. Do you think Satan was going to volunteer for that? No! That is not something that one would de whats * prideful and wants all to be miserable like unto himself Jesus was willing to do that so that was huge factor {or the victory. But what do you think the other factor was of why Michael and his armies won, We bene wae testimonies, (Missionaries say) You are the frst group that I have ever taught that knew that. That's amazing. I * all am impressed with that. (Elder Johnson says, “It is in Revelations.? You are exactly right. It wes your Faimonies, the testimonies that were bome. So basically, you were beating your testimony for Jesus aod qoavenly Father's plan before you were even bom, Yon are just daing mee ofthe anme right sow, Wha were knocking on doors, making phone calls, writing letters to the editor| That is a whole lot different, than just filling out your ballot. So, in the war in heaven there were many people that actually voted for the Father’s plan. What was the ratio? 2 to 1, right. 2/3 voted for the Father’s plan, But, not everyone actively witnessed, testified, and campaigned. Who was that dedicated group of fhissionaries who testified and taught the Father's plan and testified for the Savior? The House of Israel. Think about it; God said of Israel, and Isaiah quotes him, “Ye are my witnesses.” That is Isaiah 43:10, Everyone who voted “yes” was given a body. Right? Israelites were given a body but also a lot more responsibility. We are still His witnesses. That’s why you are on a mission; because ‘you are a covenant child of je House of Israel, Father in Heaven called and elected, have you heard that term before, called and elected, covenant, right? I'll talk about that in a minute. But that is what is meant to be called and elected. It means that pefore you were bor, God imew you so well that He selected you as sombody that realy had potential to become like him so He was going to give you every opportunity to be taught, every opportunity to receive ordinances, so that you could receive your full potential. Peter, who was the president of the church that we mentioned a minute ago, Peter, the president of the church, taught the early Christians, itis right in 1" Petr, that the House of Israel was called and elected by the foreknowledge of God. You can find that in 1* Peter: 1. 2. Now when you read it you know what its talking about. Now, you have also heard this term. You have heard the term “called and elected”, now you know what itmeans, You have also heard of this term, “Many are called but few are chosen.” So are all those in the House of Israel going to be exalted? No! Many are called and elected but few haye their calling and election made sure. Many are called but few are chosen. Each person has his free agency, every child of God and every person in the House of Israel. But if we are faithful inthis life and continué to try to do everything that we can ‘we can have our calling and election made sure. e like God. Exactly, now remember Satan is jealous. He is really jealous of Jesus but he is also jealous of you, Why. He has no body. ‘He will never have a wife, he'll never have a family, he'll never have any ity, and he will never become like God. He wants to make us miserable like himself so who would he go\for? The scriptures teach that, “He /maketh war with the saints of God and encompasses them round about”. H¢ zeroes in on the people with the potential. There are many valiant male spirits who are foreordained to hold 1¢ Priesthood and to serve missions in the last dispensation. Joseph Smith said, you have probably heard this calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world were ordained to that pi| before the world was. So, Priesthood men were chosen. Elder Neil Maxwell said that women were not foreordained because ordination implies Priesthood. He said women were pre-designated to fulfill special assignments. President Woodruff said, “Men were given the power of the priesthood. That’s their half of the lan of salvation, What were women given? The influence of mothethood.” So men were given power weraen Jwere given influence and together it makes up a perfect plan that compliments each other. Nowy fast forward to the creation, Was this earth the first one that Jehovah ever created? No. He had created worlds without number. He was an experienced creator when he came to creating this earth. However, Which of all God’s creations has been home to the most wickedness? THis one, this earth: The wickedest ofa iptures ~ Why do you think itis the Why is this earth so wicked that all the Revelations LL. This is Satan’s headquarters. The prophets said, Ihave uote after quote, that this is the place, prin the temple endowment film you can see that too. When Satan ang his angels were cast outdid they go > Pluto? No, they came right here to this earth. That was their headquarters. So you might want to ask yourself, why was Jesus sent to the wigkedest planet? Why didn’t he go to someplace more peaceful that would have been a nicer place to have hii ' istry? Why did God send Jesus to the wickedest planet? They were so wicked they would crucify their ow} creator. That’s one of the reasons. Also the worst person in the whole world was Satan, so who are we sending down to this earth, absolutely the pest Person inthe whole world. So the greatest good against the greatest evi. mean you have a huge battleground here because this isthe headquarters of Satan and the headquarters of Jesus and the place for the atonement. Now let me ask you this questions which you may have never thdught about, Why did the Father in Heaven let Jesus take the House of Israel with Him to the wickedest planet? Remember again who the House of Israel was and Jesus said to the House of Israel,” You are among those whom my Father has given me,” This one of my most favorite scriptures when he says, “You Are My Friends.» So why did he let Jesus take the House of Israel with him — We were his friends. We were the strongest.”| How would you like to be Jesus and have to go through what he had to go through if you dida’t have your friends with you? So He let Hi take the House of Ismael, We are His friends. That isin section 84:63. That is a geat verse to mark because when you are out there witnessing and you get a little persecuted itis only natural because after all you are friends of Jesus. ‘What do we know about war and fighting? Where do you put your strongest soldiers? Front Lines. So in other words, what you need to know is this earth is the front lines? This is the battleground. This is the ywickedest planet. Also, how in the world does that help you to come to the wickedest planet? So we can grow. ‘That is exactly right. Sometimes they take children that are especially gifted or have a lot of promise and potential, and what do they do with them witen they are little? Put in advahced classes or even in high school there are advanced placement classes. Why do they do that? Because you get to learn faster, you get good teachers, itis harder work, So it is actually good for us to be on this planet, Why do you think we agreed to do it though? I mean, does that sotind like a good deal? You can come down to the wickedest planet and help fight Satan, It will be harder but yu will grow. Do you think that would have been a real selling point? Why do you think we came to the earth? We had great faith in Jesus Christ We knew that He would be victorious, That's right; we knew we could be His witnesses just like we were in the Wat in heaven, We could totally be witnesses. And another thing was thatI think we just plain LOVED Jesus | think that we really and truly loved Jehovah. He is going there and He is poing to die there and we're with You. We were feeling this team spirit, we'll do it. And also we trusted God and he had told us that we were going to win. The other thing you may have never considered is Jesus must have promised us some privileges because of our coming down with him and helping. For one thing, what piivilege did we just talk about when I pened this discussion, what privilege did the Lord give the House of Israel? His ministry. He said, “When T Jeome down to earth in the meridian of time I promise I will focus all my efforts on teaching the House of Israel That was a nice plus for us, right. Any others that we can think of since then. Has the Lord given any special privileges to the House of Israel? Let me ask you this. When we do temple work; baptisms for the dead, ordinances for the dead, especially when the early pioneers started doing them in the St. George Temple. didthey just go through the cemeteries and the census bureau and whoever they found they just did their work? How did they do it? Families!! Oh you mean they the church and they did that first. The promises planted in the hearts of took the ancestors ofthe House of Israel that were joining children. They did their ancestors first because the ancestors of all you were what? The house of Israel, right. So the House of Israel got their } temple work, and they are still getting their temple work done on a priority basis. They are first up. Okay, here’s another one. When the Lord comes again he will c Before He shows His face to the whole world at once are there any pri Ahman. Who is going to be there? The House of Israel. The Ephraimit ‘What is the next stop before He reveals himself to the whole world? ... Levi. ‘The Jews will be there. So basically, He is going to give private Israel: If you study more you will find there are other examples of priv Israel because we are His friends, because we help Him, we witnesses fc to help out and do our part. If you want to review what I just talked to yo up election in the Bible dictionary and it will review the things T just tau, elected before they were born, and they have special privileges as well Theard somebody, I think just in the MLC, pray that we would fi comment but I thought it was in the prayer this morning. When we say do we mean? Who is the elect? The House of Israel. Now you know wl pray to find the elect? Because we promised (that was another privilege), Lord promised them, that before He comes again that He would send out to find them wherever they were, to gather them from the holes in the rod wherever they were that He would gather and find the House of Israel. like the Sun coming from the east. ‘appearances? Yes, Adam-ondi- and Manasseh mostly, and Adam. 0 will be there? Judah, Benjamin, ypearances, basically, to the House of leges that He gives to the House of ir Him, but on the other hand, we need tu about, calling and election etc., look ht you: That the House of Israel was responsibilities. 3d the elect. Maybe it was just a re praying, “to find the elect”, who wwe are praying for, and why do we ‘we promised the House of Israel, the messengers from the House of Israel ks, and fish them out of the streams, 1 want to mention something which I will mention again, when you teach somebody who is from the House of Israel do they understand? Do they recognize truth and act upon it? Yes. The more of the blood they have of the House of Israel, the more bloodlines they have, the more apt they are to believe. Brother McConkie called this obedient blood. Jesus talked about it in John 10. What did he say, “My sheep ( meaning who? the House of Israel.) know my voice. My sheep know my voice. You get somebody from the House of Israel and they are going to recognize the message. My sheep know my voice. So, missionaries to know. Who they are looking for. They are looking for t ‘Now I am going to teach you a little history. this is all important information for House of Israel. Do you have a question? Yes. I was thinking about missionary work and how we look for the elect. Why did Heavenly Father send the people thet aren’t of the House of Isra seed yet. (Sister Lawrence) The people who chose “yes” for the Father’s to earth, right? They voted for the plan and to get a body and come to thi didn’t understand your question. (Missionary) Because this is like the wi how did you luck out if you weren’t of the House of Israel and come to th that has been revealed how they came to this planet, Maybe the greater ri That's just speculation. But anyway, they did come here and luckily many with the house of Israel, 1 here? They are not ready for the lan, they had the privilege of coming earth or another earth. Maybe I tkedest earth. (Sister Laurence) Oh, so sis planet? I don’t know. I don’t think k, the greater gain. I don’t know. times some of them have joined up How did the Lord begin sending the House of Israel, this chosen lineage, to the earth? It had to begin somewhere. We could say it began with Adam and Eve but remember eve} except for 8 people, so it has to start over. I couldn’t start before the flo: hundred years after the flood. If you remember this (idius?)..., you need j ‘Testament history of Abraham, he was born about 2000 BC. That is a god after the flood, a few hundred years later, Abraham was born and now he doesn’t really start this until after the flood because He has to start over. St of Christ and the entire Israelite race. Do you think that Abraham was just} think he was chosen before he was bom? (Missionary) Before he was bor Jofyour scripture mastery scriptures is in Abraham, “Abraham thou are on¢ you were born.” He was chosen to be the father of the whole Israelite ra Lybody got wiped out during the flood |. He didn’t start until about a few list a few days in your mind of the Old id date to remember because this is s going to be the father of Israel. He he starts it by choosing the ancestor leenie-meenie-miney-mo or do you . (Sister Lawrence) That is why one of them. Thou wast chosen before including Jesus Christ himself and to be His ancestor, We call him in the scriptures Father Abraham for a good ason.| Now this is really important doctrine. You hear about this but nobody ever explains it. God made an important covenant with Abraham called the Abrahamic Covenant. You have all heard of it but you probably think it has nothing to do with you. But guess what, it has everything to do with you. The Abrahamic covenant is the way we become like God. Our Father in Heaven loves us so much|that He gave us this covenant or ‘pattern; “You do this and I will do that.” What is a covenant, missionaries? A two-way sacred promise, right. So God said, “I'll do this if you'll do this.” It was a promise. Abraham made it so he could be an example for us of how to become like God. And you ought to pay attention because, wherd is Abraham right now? Read section 132, Today Abraham is a god and sits upon a throne. It says right in the Scriptures. Did he make it? He made it. So our point is we want to know what Abraham did. We want to make the same Abrahamic Covenant that he did. Okay, this is what Abraham promised to the Lord. Basically, what he promises, a very summarized, simplified version. But you know what, every one of you when you go to the temple when you kneel and get married across the alter time and eternity, you make the Abrahamic Covenant and in essence if you listen to the promises the sealer will say, you are receiving the blessings of who, Isaac, and Jacob. So, basically this is important information for every missionary. Abraham promised|to be loyal. Why was it hard to be loyal in Abraham’s day? There were so many gods and everybody was worshiping all kinds of gods including his own father, Terra, who sold idol gods for a living. He worshiped them. He put Abraham on the alter for worship to be sacrificed. Do you remember this story? Okay, so it was pretty hard to be loyal to God. Was Abraham loyal? He was spiritually loyal. He would rather give up his life than bow down to an idol god. So, he passed that test. He promised that he would be loyal. Then the other thing the Lord said was that, “I want you to be completely obedient, do all things whatsoever I say”. When they a man is perfect in his generation like it says of Job in the scriptures and Abraham was a perfect man, upright, one that feareth God. What does it ‘mean? It means you obey when the Lord asks you to obey. Can you think of examples of Abraham being pretty obedient? The Lord told him to sacrifice his only son that he had waited over 100 years for. He said, (sigh), okay. I mean it was hard but he went to do it and thankfully the Lord pulled things out at the last minute, but he had given him the greatest test. So, Abraham was completely obedient inleverything. Do you think he kept this Jone; that he would be His witness? That he would always be a witness for God. What do you think? Have you studied the book of Abraham? Do you know anything about his life, was sfiovera missionary? Where did he g0 on a mission? It was pretty hard; a foreign language; Egypt. Remember? There is a picture of it in the Book of Abraham sitting on the Pharaoh’s throne preaching the gospel to him and his court. So he went on his mission he was a witness, but not just on his mission. Was he a good member missionary the rest of his life? It tells about when he went to Haran and after he left Haran he took all the converts that he had made in Haran and took them with him to the land of Canaan because he was a missionary all of his life. So, be loyal, be obedient, be hiis witness. This is what Abraham promised. Do all of you think you ¢an do that, can do those things? You are already on your way, aren’t you? ‘What did God promise? It is easy to remember because they all start with a P. Okay, Posterity, lots of children. Does that mean just in this life? No, because Abraham really had a very small family. He waited and waited. It ook many years to finally have Ishmael then finally Isaac and then his sons by Katura. But he didn’t have a huge posterity in this life. But what about now? Abraham has a lot of posterity. But not only that, what does this really mean? All time and eternity. So if you keep your part of the promise you could have children, spirit children, other children, for ever and ever and ever. So Posterity. The second thing he promised him was property. When we think of property we think, “Well he did promise hin] the land of Canaan. But Abraham never really lived there much of his life. What other kind of property does God promise us if we keep His commandments? (Missionaries) Mansions above? (Sister Lawrence) How about create your own planet. Right. I mean we can have worlds without number, sharing, we can be joint heirs to everything God has. We can have zillions and zillions and zillions of planets. There is still material out here'so we can create our own. So property is not a problem. In fact, I love what Brigham Young said. He said, “If you only understood if you could just give up alittle dirt right now you could have a whole planet later”, And I think that is really good, basically part of the reward from God. Okay, what is the 3" thing? Priesthood. Abraham was given the priesthood and he was told that his descendants would have that same ce to make that covenant if they have the priesthood. And every one of them is a literal descendent of Abraham. Basically this means that God will give you all that He has, so that is a pretty good promise, Now, did Abraham keep his part of the promise?a; We said yes, didn’t we? Did God keep his part of the promise? Yes, Al is now a god sitting upon a ~ throne. In that same section in the Doctrine and Covenants, it says to the House of Israel, who are the members of the church, “Go ye therefore and do the works of Abraham. | Now, Abraham had a son named Ishmael. Did Ishmael make a covenant with God? No. Everybody has > ) their agency and he did not (make a covenant). Then he finally had a son named Isaac didn’t he. Did the Lord make the same covenant with Isaac? The answer is yes. You see, part of the covenant is, besides being loyal, obedient, and being a witness, you have to marry in the covenant. That is part of the covenant. That is why it ~ _ iscalled the covenant. You have to marry with somebody that shares that same desire and who has covenanted to become like Him, to become exalted. So the son, Isaac, he really wanted to make a covenant with God. So Abraham seid, "I can help you out son”, and he sent his most faithful servant to a land where they could find ~ girls that were believers because we can’t just hand out in the neighborhbod with all the Canaanites or whoever and expect to find a good girl to go to the temple or marry in the covenaht in those days. So, he sends his Servant and what happens to this faithful servant? He goes there loaded down with camels and gifts for whoever ~ this perspective bride will be and he says a prayer on the way. He says, { don’t know how to do this but Heavenly Father , if you could just help me, when I meet a girl, 1am looking for a girl for my master, and if I finally meet a girl I will ask her for a drink. Because the gitls would come out to the well, and that’s when the ~ wells were located outside the city, and at the end of the day all the daughters of the men in the city, all the young adult girls would come and they would have their little vessels onltheir heads and on their shoulders and they would go to get water for their camels. And he said when the girls dome out to get water, I will ask one for a.drink and if one of them says, “Yea Lord and I will give you drink for your camels also, I will also water your camels,” I will know that she is the one, Why would that ‘ell anything about that gir!? She is very service minded. She is unselfish, right. I mean, that is pretty good. I thought that was kind of a good plan because how many gallons of water can a camel drink. Wow, that would be so much work for her if each camel would drink about 15 gallons. She would have to go back and forth so many tinjes and really help out. That was a really nice girl. ‘So, he says his prayer and then he goes to the well and waits. Pretty soon the girls come out ‘and he sees this girl and she was a very fair girl and that didn’t hurt eithet. This really beautiful girl comes out Jand he says, “Let down thy pitcher that I might drink”. And it was Rebecca and she says, “Drink lord, and I will sive thy camels drink also”. He is so excited. So there he goes and finds Rebecca. 1 don’t need to tell you the whole story. You know that she invites him home, he meets her family and she is from the household of the believers. She is actually a relative of Abraham’s. He explains that he wants her to go home with him and marry Isaac and be married in the covenant. What does her answer say about her? She wants to do it. She is a very faithful girl. They say, “Go our sister, go our daughter, and become the mother of thousands of millions”. What do they mean by that? Why do you think they said go and become the mother of thousands of millions? ~ Because they understood covenant marriage. And what is one of the prontises we just talked about? Posterity. If you marry in the covenant you could have children forever. So, they said go and become the mother of thousands of millions. ei So, you know that Isaac and Rebecca got married and he said he loved her. They totally did fall in love and it worked out and was a good thing, She struggled to have a child and finally, after 20 years of marriage, she was pregnant. She was so happy. Her husband had given her a blessing and she’s pregnant but she doesn’t ~ know why she is having such a tumultuous pregnancy. Finally she prays about it and receives her own personal revelation. What was her revelation? Two nations are in your womb, they are battling it out. You've got twins. They didn’t have ultrasound, you know. The Lord just told them plain out, that she was going to have twins and + _ the older would serve the younger. Isn't that interesting, He told the whole story. Why; because the Lord has foreknowledge, He knows what is going to happen. So, just as he said, these two twins were born: Esau and Jacob. Are you all following me with this Old Testament story? Okay. Sd, did God make a covenant with Esau, + the red, hairy one? (That is what Esau means. That’s why I described him like that.) So, did the Lord make a covenant with Esau? No! Why not? Did Esau want to make a covenant? No, he... What did he forget? In order to make that covenant with God you have to marry in the covenant. Who did Esau marry; A bunch of Hittite ~ fives. That means he married outside the covenant to a bunch of nonbelievers. Inthe scriptures if you read jenesis, you will find that his mother, Rebecca, was just frustrated and it Says his wives, the Hittite women, were a grief to his mother, Rebecca. She couldn’t believe her son had martied these women. They didn’t believe ~ in God and he couldn’t make that covenant. She told her son, Jacob, don’t|you make that mistake. And, dida Jacob? Jacob actually goes to the land of the believers to find a wife. He's trying to go to Haran and finds a good woman because he wants to make the covenant. Along the way he makes a covenant with God beforehand and promises God that all his life he will give 1/10 of everything he has to the Lord. Does that sound like a pretty good man? At that point he has a temple experience with the Lord. It says that they call this place where ~The has the experience Bethel, which means the House of God. He actually has an experience where he makes covenants and afterwards the Lord gives him a new name. What is his name now? Israel. It’s a great name and you need to know what it means because you are of the House of Israel! Israel means a Prince of ~ God or a soldier of God or one who fights with God and prevails or wins. So that is pretty important. You are a soldier. President Lawrence talked about that this morning. You are fighting on the Lord’s side, you are a soldier of God, and you are going to win. That is what Israel means: Ohe who prevails with God. Now, let’s go back to our ancestor. Everyone here is descended from Jacob, this man of God whose name was changed to Israel. You know that he had how many sons? 12 ind 1 daughter Dinah, remember her? Anyway, yes, 12 sons. Yes, Joseph is one and all his brothers, Why is Jgseph wearing the colored coat, the ~ birthright? His father felt he was the most righteous. The oldest son was not righteous so he was going to give the birthright to Joseph, right. (This is Shirley’s interjection, I just realized that the 12 tribes of Israel were not all righteous. But, being as they had made that covenant, they were lly forgiven and received their ~ inheritance. That gives us all have hope.) And so that is exactly what happened. Joseph was the most righteous. Do you have a question? Wasn't he also the son of Jacob’s favorite wife? (Sister Lawrence) Rachel? The love of his life. Yes, but that was not the reason, It may have made it sweeter for him but the truth is that Joseph was foreordained to be the leader of that group and I think it was a sweet experience for him that it was the wife that he had chosen. Remember Leah? He didn’t choose her; it was kind of 4 scheme deal. But, he still loved her and loved her children, etc, However, Joseph earned the right by being the most righteous. Now, let me ask you this. Did the other sons repent later in their lives? Yes, they became good men. Look at Judah, he made mistakes but he became such a good man. And why are there really 13, if you start Counting there are 13, tribes of Israel? We always say the 12 Tribes of Israel or we say the 12 sons of Jacob, but really there are 13. Why are there really 13? Did you realize Joseph got the birthright so that meant he had a }double portion of his father’s inheritance? So, both of his sons got an ineritance. So basically Ephraim and ‘Manasseh became a part of the, they inherited just like Dan and Asher and the others. So, basically there were really 13 tribes of Israel because Joseph got a double portion and he had Ephraim and Manasseh. Sometimes you hear the Tribe of Joseph and sometimes in the scriptures they call them the Tribe of Joseph and other times — Wedistinguish and say Ephraim and Manasseh. But anyway, basically there are really 13 tribes. Ifyou ever want to memorize the tribes , which I have a feeling as time goes on and it gets a little closer to the second coming it’s going to be more and more interesting to you and I will tell you why in a minute. So, I ~ made up a little acronym years ago so I could teach my children how to memorize the tribes because I know the RnP Pre ae Pm > p> mora mhaeD>y }___From your patriarchal blessing you know you are a descendent ofifsrael. Right? A blood descendent through one of his sons. You may have wondered, are most people on earth from Israel? What do you think? ‘NOI Just use your head and look at this. Are Israelites a minority? Absolutely! A very tiny minority. Think of it ~ this way just from a common sense point of view. Noah has these 3 sons|Are any of the sons from Ham? Are410 any of the descendants of Ham on the earth are they of the house of Israel Jacob on the earth of the house of Israel? No. Are all the descendants of $i Israel? No. It was 12 generations between Shem and Abraham. Does that those of you are mathematicians, but I have heard some people, I know si ) some calculations on that and come up with maybe around 2% of the wht Israel. Okay, just so you know — you are different. It is not like the Ho ‘Now, from your Patriarchal Blessing you know that you are so t ‘me tell you this. The scriptures say, “And the Lord Shall scatter you am Israelites) and you shall be left few in number”. Okay, so the Israelites a 1? No. Are any of the descendants of them on the earth of the house of give you some idea? I don’t know if me people whom I really respect do le world would be from the House of of Israel is 40% of the population, it means you are a small percent. Let ing the heathens (talking to the not the majority. If there were more ites have a talent for Israelites than Gentiles, more people would join the church. As we pointed out; recognizing truth and acting on it, They have what is called believing blood (Missionary)Sorry, question. (Sister Lawrence) Go ahead, (Missi House of Israel? (Sister Lawrence) Yes and I will tell you how you can don’t want you to get too confused about this. In the Book of Mormon yt You read it a lot and you are kind of confused. Because the term in the Bi not talking about Gentiles by blood-they are talking about Gentile nation jnary) So, are people adopted into the il whether they are adopted or not. I yu read the term Gentiles don’t you. of Mormon, Nephi or Moroni were '. Joseph Smith and Christopher Columbus were men among the Gentiles. They were in Gentile Nations, [s America a Gentile nation? Are we predominately Gentiles? Yes. This is a Gentile Nation. Russia is a Gentile be gentile nations would probably be Israel, and maybe one more, maybe Israelites than Gentiles, but for the most part he is talking about Gentile Gentile Nation. They came from Israel which is not so they said we are o} know. So anyway, you are a Gentile. Have you ever heard this term in the Book of Mormon, “You are Gentiles?” What do you think thet means? You are a descendent of Israe| of you are remnants of Jacob, a remnant of Israel, who live among the Gent ) lineage. Now, do you think there are other Israelites living in this city that Nation. The only nations that are not some nations would have more lations because he did not come from a er here in a Gentile Nation, you don’t get confused. Just because you live or are citizens of a Gentile Nation it doesn’t mean ‘a remnant of Jacob among the who lives in a Gentile Nation. So, all tiles. Gentile by culture, Israelite by {don’t know they are Israelites? Of course there are, because until you join the church you wouldn’t know until you have a Patriarchal Blessing that you are of the House of Israel. God sifted the blood of Israel throughout all the nations. Did you! “He will sift you”. When you think of somebody sifted is there a differene uses the word sprinkled, Amos uses the word sifted. Is that different than when you think of Israelites being sifted through the nations, through the that bring to your mind? You're right they are just kind of sifted through. gitls if you ever make bread or cookies, or if you ever sift something like| little bit of cinnamon, and so sifting is different. When Nephi was talking said, “He would sift us through the nations of the earth and would not let 'get that word? Amos the prophet said, € between sifted and sprinkled? Isaiah shoveled or poured? Quite a bit. So populations, what visual image does ‘They are not the majority, right. You |cinnamon through sugar, it's just a about that scriptures about sifting he ne kernel fall to the ground”. Whoa, what does that mean? He would sift the Gentiles throughout all the nations but He would not let one kernel fall to the ground. What do you think that means? He would sift the Israelit. throughout all the nations of the world. He knows every Gentile, every Israelite in the city of Denver. Helknows who the Israelites are. He may have sifted them, but He has not forgotten them. He knows exactly wh they are and who they are. So, when you are praying to find the elect you are praying to find those who were sifted through the population, and they are not the majority of the population. So, if you get rejected on the street, those people are probably Gentiles. ‘That is the absolute truth, that? Why did He sift the Israelites throughout all the nations of the wotld? What is the purpose of God to do It blesses us because we have to be an example and a light to the Gentiles, but it also blesses the tiles. You get a good neighbor in the neighborhood and it lifts the whole neighborhood. That is basically ‘what He did, He wanted to lift the population by letting the Israelites be the earth so they can be a light to the Gentiles. fm all though the populations ofuw Joseph Smith said it was so painful to the rest of the world. He said, “If it hadn’t been that God had sifted the Israelites through the rest of the nations in his day back in 1840, & Gomorrah. We would now be ripe for destruction. But because of the I longer because of the example of good people in every neighborhood. he said we would now be as Sodom Israelites the earth has been preserved It was determined where you would live before you were ever botn. ‘That's in Deuteronomy 32:8, The Lord assigned some strong Israelite spirits to every nation. You can find that right in the scriptures. It was like a mission call. So, there are some in Russia, Ukraine, and Armenia, I can festiy to that, there are some in every nation of the world, Let me tell you about a great object lesson. You can do it for Famil ily Home Evening in your Stake or you can do it at home when you get home. It is kind of a mess, so I can’t do it here but I’ll tell you about it, ‘okay. Maybe some of you have seen it done before. Take a cookie sheet ¢ to be flat. Don’t try it on a round object. You take the earth, which is this land that represents the world. It needs cookie sheet and you empty an entire box of salt on it. I mean a big box of salt. That represents all the gentile population of the earth and spread it around. Now you have to sift and sprinkle the Israelites all throughout nations, so you get a pepper shaker. ‘Shake pepper to sift it or sprinkle it through the gentile population. It is tot as much as the gentile population but you sift and shake it and scatter it. Now, this is the fun part, you get alballoon and blow it up and tie it. Then you rub it on your hair for static electricity. ‘The balloon represents the B represents the Spirit that attracts the House of Israel. That comes out of ok of Mormon. The static electricity 1e Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon attracts the House of Israel. My sheep know my voice. You take the balloon and run it across the cookie sheet, but don’t touch it. Keep it about an inch above the salt and pepper. You go like that. What happens? All the pepper just goes pop, pop, pop, pop, pop lik the balloon and sticks. It is amazing how the pepper sticks. The House o Book of Mormon. That is why we have been told in the scriptures that the Book of House of Israel is about to be gathered. ‘That is the sign that they are abo that and reaches up and grabs onto Israel is attracted to the Spirit of the formon is the sign to the world that the it to be gathered because once the Book of Mormon gets in their hands, and they read it they recognize the truth. So, that’s a great object lesson to ) show. There is believing blood all over the world and is sifted among the|Gentiles, and when they hear the message and they read the Book of Mormon, they will know the truth. Are there many Gentiles that join the church today? No: just in dase you ever wanted to know. Gentiles in this context, meaning people without “Israelite blood”, not citizens of a Gentile nation. It is rare for a person without believing blood to accept the Gospel. The Lord offers accept it. In the Book of Mormon it says, “Woe be unto the Gentiles, sa} em the opportunity but they rarely th the Lord, for notwithstanding, I shall lengthen out my arm to them all the day long, and they will deny me. Nevertheless, I will be merciful to them.” He has known for a long time that the chances are not good that they will accept the truth. Joseph Smith prophesied, “Few of them will be gathered with the chosen family" What happens in the rare case where a person joins the church that has not descended from the House of Israel, that is, really a blood lineage Gentile? Joseph Smith taught that when a Gentile receives the Holy Ghost, what happens? He said, “The effect of the Holy Ghost upon a Gentile is to purge out the old blood and make him adtually a seed of Abraham.” Do you think a man who could change water into wine could do that? Yes. Josey powerful when the Gentiles join the church that it is often visible to the went on to state that the change is so and very noticeable. They just look different because they have actually had their blood changed to the blood of Abraham, to the blood of Israel. What does a Patriarch say when he gives a blessing to a Gentile? |Does he declare a tribe? No, That would just be making it up because they didn’t descend from a tribe. Why would he say, you are from this tribe or that tribe. So if yours tells you that you are from a tribe, you know vé well you are not adopted, right. In 2006, President Hinckley asked all Patriarchs, when blessing a|Gentile who joins the church, to say, “You will receive your blessings through Abraham.” In the past some h used the words “Adopted In”. They are not to use that anymore, The new General Handbook for Patriarchs rbflects this change, “You will receive your blessings through Abraham”. That is very important for you to know. ) ‘Now, I want to tell you something interesting. It is even more int sting to my husband and me “because we were working in Russia and Easter Europe. Every year, when my husband was the area president, he would review the Patriarchal Blessings for the whole area. That is. jst does A Stake President does that for his Stake every year or two. Did y« something that an Area President uu know your Stake President reviews r aa every blessing that is given, and very carefully looks them over? ‘They tribe, and in a minute I will tell you how interesting that was. They dis Blessings given in three years, that is not many compared to the U.S., bul jenly 5 were Gentle. What percentage is that? Yeab,we are talking about ‘Church. ‘What does it mean to be Born In The Covenant? Your parents were born to a woman who has been sealed in the covenant. Do you think the Li alittle graph of who is from what rered that after 1,010 Patriarchal that was there. Out of 1,010 blessings wvery rare for Gentiles to join the sealed in the Temple and you were cord is willy-nilly and just goes, “Hey, who’s up next? Go ahead and go down there”, or do you think He is quite particular about who He sends down to be born in the covenant? He is very particular. You had to earn the rig! covenant, because you made a promise you would go on a mission, beca you have every opportunity to hold the Priesthood. So, you had to make, Apostle Orson Whitney said this, “If you look into the archives of Heave legal documents of those things you agreed to do when you came here.” ‘Young Women who are born in the Covenant promise to support They can do this in many ways. They can raise up the missionaries; they they ccan go on missions with their and now more and more are serving missions themselves; and of course husbands after their children are raised. So there are many ways women. For the Elders and for the men, what did they promise? They wo} would actually go out and serve. ‘So, what happens when you are not born under the covenant? Ms g0 on a mission because he was 23 when he joined the church, but he hag receive extra credit. You didn’t promise, you are just doing it. You just Sometimes if they don’t receive more blessings for changing and becomit ‘What if different members of the seme family have different lin brother from Judah and a sister from Manasseh, or something like that? think. I found that maybe one in every mission has something like that, )) and there is only 1 red-headed kid in the whole family? Quite a few of y talking about. The point is, it is the same thin, it to come down and be born in the e, if you were born in the covenant, romises to go. (Talking to the Elders). , you will find your name written on great missionary work of the Lord. ‘can encourage missionaries to serve; ipport the great missionary work. ld go out on the front lines, They husband was a convert. He did not had opportunities since. Then you. eceive all of the blessings. I wonder part of the covenant. es —one is from Ephraim and have a tually that is more common than you jow many of you have a big family Wu, $0 you know exactly what I am You could be the only one that the red-haired genes came out in, right. And then somebody else in the family is blonde, somebody else is brunette. Basically, this is a blood thing and you can receive the most dominant character, probably spiritual traits from that other tribe. What it ‘means, also, to your other brothers and sisters is that they also have the bl ‘but it was recessive and in you it was dominant. ‘Since your blood is literally changed when you are a Gentile covenant child. ‘What if one parent is of the House of Israel and one is a Gentile?| right, and will probably pronounce whatever tribe is dominant in you thr lood line of whatever you have in you, ~you are not really adopted in, you are a ‘You can still have that covenant blood, ugh that one parent. And, if you wonder if we (Brother & Sister Lawrence) have ever met anyone who was told that they would receive their blessings from Abraham, we have, and that was very interesting. ‘Now since you are ail of the House of Israel, I am going to ask y‘ your ancestors. You don’t have to answer them out loud. This should gij mission. You should know about this. You are looking for the House of I ‘Who was the Prophet who delivered the children of Israel out of land? Moses. ‘What was the Covenant that the Lord made with them if they promised-land? They had to not worship idols and they could not mary the Lord would prosper them and keep them free from bondage and He ‘After several years in the promised-land, did they do that all the time? them worshiping idols and they would finally repent and it was just crazy _) and marrying outside the covenant and that is why they were eventually there a few years, they eventually decided they wanted aking. Why did like other nations. Everybody else had a king, and they wanted a king. hu a few questions about the history of /e you a great study project on your 1. You ought to know about them. jgypt and led them to the promise ted to be free and prosper in the ide the covenant. If they did that, yuld Iead them to the promised-land. lo. The Old Testament gives stories of , because they kept worshipping idols attered. Even after they had been they want a king? So they could beDid this hurt the Lord’s feelings? Yes, because He said, “I thought I was your king. You have rejected me" It made him feel bad and He gave them a king. The first king they had was King Saul, then King David, and finally Solomon. Every one of these kings had problems because it i not casy to be a king. Satan works harder on a king because they kind of become responsible for the rest ofthe nation. ) What kind of a king was Solomon? ‘When he was about 19, when he was about your age, he was a very righteous man. In fact, he saw the Lord and the Lord told him he could have anything his heart desired. And what did he ask for —he asked for wisdom - a wise and understanding heart. So, he started out a humble, gdod, honest young man. When the Lord actually appeared to him that says a lot. ‘What happened to him by the time he was in his 70's? Problems. Number 1, He disobeyed the Lord. Did he marry in the covenant? Polygamy was very acceptable in those days and many of the Old Testament Prophets lived the law of plural marriage, but they were alway$ in the covenant marriages. ‘What happened to Solomon? He decided to marry for political reasons so he married “strange women”. What does that mean? That ‘means foreign women. He married many “strange women”. He married foreign women so he could make political alliances and treaties with their fathers. How many wives and concubines did he end up having when he was in his 70's? 1,000. I am not kidding. You can read that in the Old Testament. So, after a while who paid for their houses and who paid for their pagan shrines because they wanted to worship their own gods? Who paid for all this? The people. Solomon taxed them so heavily. Finally he dies and the people were actually kind of happy because they were so tired of the taxes that they were paying for a thousand wives and their houses, etc. So, after he died, he had an heir to the throne. A son, whose name was Reholjoam. He was kind of a cocky, young prince and he thought, Oh good. I am going to be the king and I will show everybody how to do it. So, he called all of Israel; the land of Canaan, of Israel. He called the princes frgm all the land. They were the representatives from every tribe. The princes from Ephraim, Issachar, Naphtali, and so on, and they all came together to crown him. Before they did it they said, “We are representatives from our tribes and we have a few things to ask. First of all, we were taxed so heavily under your father, we jwant to know, are going to lay those kinds of heavy burdens on us like your dad did? And, he said, “Well, let me think about it. Come back in 3 days and I will tell you”. They go away and they are kind of waiting for the answer and he goes to the wise men of the kingdom, the older men that advised his father and he said, “What should I tell the people”? The wise men said what? Tell them no, that you are going to relax it. Tell them you are going to help them. You are not going to have all these wives, you are not going to tax them so heavily, that you are going to be kind and let ‘them prosper, etc.” So, the prince says, “Hmmm, well, let me ask my friends. So, he goes to the young men of the kingdom, his peers and his buddies that were from the royal house or whatever, and what did they say? “Get tough. Don’t you dare let them tell you what to do. That’s silly. You just get tough on them.” So, when they come back what was the answer he gave them? He said, “My little finger will be thicker than my father’s loins. He chastised you with whips; I will chastise you with scorpions. 1 am going to tax you and tax you. “ So, what do you think their reaction was? The people said, “Heck No! We won't do it. That's it.” 10 of them just completely turned around and said they were going back to im tribes and we are going to start IB. our own kingdom. He was so slow to get it that Rehoboam actually sent the tax collector out there and they stoned him to death. This is all in the Old Testament. Basically, at that point the kingdom was divided. I don’t know hoWw many of you are aware of this, but this was a pivotal point in all of Old Testament history. “A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.” So the kingdom was divided. Stayed with King Rehoboam: . | =) Judah ) Levi — Finally stayed with him because the temple was there and they needed to have a temple. Benjamin ~ The smallest tribe, Rvervhodv else went un north,Mt So what about your ancestors? Where did they come from? Up North? From then on in the Old Testament, you have the Northern Kingd lom of Judah. The temple was located in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. You cf an effect on the people in that kingdom, Kined 1m of Israel and the Southern fan tell that that would definitely have Which kingdom do you think began to worship idols first and break the covenant of God? The Northern Kingdom because they didn’t have a temple. So, the King was afraid the to go to the temple in Jerusalem. So what did he do to try to prevent Northern Kingdom. Not good. So they actually had golden calves to wo! people would want to go down south He built golden calves in the ship. They began to worship idols. ‘What does the Lord say will happen when you marry outside the covenant and worship idols? That they will be scattered across the land and taken captive and their government will fall ‘So, what happened in the Northern Kingdom in 721 B.C.? A B le eo OS ees ome oe ) them because most of them never ended up living in Assyria, they escape apart. @eaed So, the Northem Kingdom in 721 B.C. is taken captive to the north. We don’t know what happened to We don’t know the story. When will we know the story? When the record of the Lost Tribes is revealed, Right? It tells their whole story. ‘They were taken up captive and about 100 something years later the Babylonians come in and take Judah captive. But, we know what happened to them. They were never lost, That’s why these people are known as what? The Lost 10 Tribes. They were taken captive to Assyria. ‘and were never heard from again. The Lord knows where they are because He knows where He led them. But, these tribes (the Southern) go to Babylon. How long did it take them to come back? 70 years - just as pro} from Babylon, and who is the king of Persia who frees them and lets to rebuild the temple and everything? Cyrus, A,B,C. jhesied. They came back to Judah all come back and gives them money Believe me, if you understood that, you will understand the Book of Mormon and Isaiah about 20 times better, because he talks about Cyrus all through Isaiah. Did they keep a record of their escape — the Northern Tribes? What will be a record of the lost tribes because they kept a record.” did I say? 2 Nephi: 29 says, “There The whereabouts of these 10 Tribes is a mystery to everybody. I wrote a song for my Seminary class about 20 years ago to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, This ig how it went: The Northern Tribes were lost in 721 BC. For after all the warning they embraced idolatry. They wandered off into the north And here's the mystery, Where are the 10 Tribes Now? ) Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, ‘No one knows what happened to ya. Glory, Glory Hallelujah, Where are the 10 Tribes Now?So, they really disappeared, and those of you who are senior coup} most of your life you wondered where in the world did the 10 tribes go? re on another planet; they are under the ice caps; all kinds of things. The! JBleven times the scriptures say they went to the lands of the North, Jes like we are, you understand that have heard every theory from they scriptures just gave a few hints. Brother McConkie, right before he died, wrote his last book. It was called A New Witness For the Aiticles of Faith. Remember what the 10" Article of Faith is? The restore writing about that article of faith, he said, “They are scattered upon the n: lands north of Israel.” If you ever looked on a map, what do you think the Europe, Ukraine, itis on the same longitude as Moscow, goes right up thro through Scandinavia. Isn’t that interesting? So, after reading his book, I wrote a second verse to the song. ‘They are scattered through the nations from the Baltics to Japan. You may think no one can find them but the missionaries can. They will recognize the Spirit when they hear the Prophet's plan. The tribes are coming home, Glory, Glory Hallelujah, Soon we'll know what happened to ya. Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, The tribes are coming home. tion of the 10 Tribes? When he was tions of the earth, primarily in the ands north of Israel are? Western wugh the lands to the north and up So, in 1831 Joseph Smith said that John the Beloved, who was trayslated and still on the earth, was working among the 10 lost tribes. Have you got that? Have you ever heard that? John the Beloved, right then in 1831 was on the earth working among the Lost Tribes to prepare them foi dispersion. Missionary asks question - (01:20) you said in 721 BC the Assyr ) right? Yes. And in 600 BC the Babylonians came in and took Judah, Right correct me if | am wrong, but, Ishmael and Lehi were among the tribes of specifically mentioned as being in Jerusalem? Thank you for asking that Old Testament. I love it that someone here was quick enough to pick that how King Hezekiah, who was the king of the Southern Kingdom, he was they were going to have Passover and they were going to try to repent ;their return from their long ans came in and took over Israel, (Yes. From what I understand, and sphraim, but why were they question. It shows me you know the up. 2 Chronicles 30:10, 11, tells about a righteous king and he told the people yy didn’t want to be taken away the} like the Northern Tribes. So he really tried to bring them to rte were very few righteous kings, but he was one. So, King Hezekiah, it says right in Second Chronicles, he he sends them all up and down with a message for the people from the No} up to the Northern Kingdom and invite them to come down and join them and join with the Southern Kingdom, be near the temple, and worship Jeh invitation, These messengers on horseback, he called them posts. And m¢ ids posts, that means messengers, fthem Kingdom. They go all the way 9 the Passover that they can come veh. It was like a missionary st of the people of the Northern Kingdom, what was their reaction? What did they do? They laughed them to scorn. They could have cared less. But it says, “But a few humble people from Manasseh and Asher accepted the invitation and came down to the Southern Kingdom.” So what tribe was Lehi from? Manasseh. So, those that humbled themselves and came down to the Passover before know that some people did actually repent and came down to the Sout So, John the Beloved was working among these tribes somewhere latter-day saints, the pioneers, were curious — Where is John the Beloved -| you think? But, 6 years later Joseph sent the first missionaries to the Brit are largely Ephraim. It is just Ephraim in those parts. Why did Ephraim hat birthright tribe. It is their responsibility, the tribal responsibility, to gather: ) temples, So we had to go get all the Ephraimites we could. The British Is taybe his fore-bearers were among were carried away. So anyway, we kingdom later. in the North. So of course all the |Where are the 10 Lost Tribes. Don’t ih Isles and said that the British Isles /e to be gathered first? They are the the rest of Israel and build the sles were full of them. If you look on some of the tribes of Ephraim had the map, is the British Isles is North of Israel? Yes! So anyway, apparently| gone to the United Kingdom. So they go to the British Isles and bring them back. They didn’t tell them in those days to stav where thev lived. almost all the converts. They bring }ev said. “You come to Zion.” Why© did they gather in those days, all of those Ephraimites? Thousands of Ephraimites from the British Isles they gathered and tell them to come to the Rocky Mountains. Why? To Build Temples, because you can’t do it if there are only a few of you. Everybody was needed. All those craftsmen from the British Isles were needed and they needed to build temples because they were Ephramites. That wes the Ephramite’s responsibility. How Jmany of you have ancestors from the British isles? Wow! So, they went and that's exactly what happened, Most of them were from England, So then, where do you think the next place was that the Book of Mormon was translated info another language? What was the next language translated besides English? Danish. The next place the gospel was taken to the Israelites was Scandinavia - Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland. How many of you have ancestors from Scandinavian and those countries? Many of us have ancestors from Scandinavia and the British Isles. And guess what? The Scandinavian Saints were told to come and gather to the Rocky Mountains to build Temples, etc., and so they did. At one time, they took 26,000 converts from Denmark and put them on a boat. Of course, that was ina year or so, Do you realize they don’t convert that many people from Scandinavia or any of those countries anymore because they took the Blood of Istael out of that nation and told them to dome to the Rocky Mountains, That's true. And so, they came and now we have this amazing missionary force Scandinavia Ephraimites and the British Isle Ephraimites. Look at the Q Swedish; Christopherson, Anderson, Nelson. These are Scandinavian families. We took them here, Why did ‘we need to bring them back here? To build temples and to also try to establish plural marriage. Why did we need to have plural marriage? Surely the Israelites populated as quickly af they could so they could build up an army, 80 we could go out, this whole Ephraimite army and gather the restlof the world together, the rest of the tribes. So basically, thats why the Ephraimites were all gathered first. | ‘What is the tribal symbol of Ephraim? Do you know? Every tribe|has their own symbol. Did you know that? Here it is. It’s the Ox. What does an ox represent? Obedience, sireagth, work. Why do you think they just have a load on their shoulders? It’s somebody that has a huge gesnasof responsibility. The ox represents them and besides, it's Ephraim’s responsibility to get the temples built and started. Besides, they have to look ) out for the welfare of their whole family. The birthright, that’s what it wad, When you have the birthright, you have the responsibility of the welfare of the rest of the family, That's why they were given an extra portion so they could take care of the widows and orphans. So the Ephramnites responsibility was to take care of the family. ‘What about the other Lost Tribes? Let me point out that until the end of the 20" Century, when were you all born, late 1994-ish? Up until the time you were born, you are just little kids. Over 95% of the members of the church, at the point when you were born, were declared to be either from Ephraim or from Manassch, ‘Once you get into Central America and the Polynesian Triangle, those people are from Manasseh. There are exceptions but most of them are from Manasseh. Whereas, Ephraimites were born in America and Europe. So anyway, Ephraim and Manasseh were the predominant tribes. There were|only a few that were named from the other tribes. Then, as early as 1993, Elder Russell M. Nelson prophesied that the Nations of Eastem Europe and Russia would play a central role in the fulfillment of the 10 Article of Faith; again, we believe in the admonition and the restoration of the 10 tribes. So, in 2004, you guys were just getting your priesthood, getting baptized, or something. The 1* Patriarchs came to Russia and to Ukraine and to Eastern Europe. There were only 2 Patriarchs and they were Russian speaking, You see Russia didn’t have it’s own patriarchs yet. Why? Because you have to have a Stake to have a Patriarch. So, they had to have traveling Patriarchs sent there bepause they didn’t have any Stakes yet. So they sent these two traveling Patriarchs, Brother Shutza and Brdther Browning (sp?) and they each gave 100 blessings in different cities in Russia and Ukraine, and what do ypu think they found? Every tribe, ver and over again, they found all the lost tribes. And it was repeated. Then new Patriarchs were called after that and the exact same pattern was repeated. All through Eastern Europe all the tribes have been found. Every day more and more of the 10 tribes are found; Zebulon, Asher, etc., etc. It is not like it is here where there are ) only 2 tribes. | Stand up if you are from Ephraim. (Almost everybody stands, There are lots of oohs & ahs.) Okay, everybody sit down. Now stand up if you are NOT from the tribe of Ephraim and let’s see who you are. I'll bet I can guess — Manasseh? Maybe not. (Missionaries talk) Yes! That's wonderful. that's verv unusual. Manasseh7, Manasseh, Manasseh, Levi; that’s amazing. Alright, Manasseh, Manassch. Of all the tribes declared in Eastern ~ Europe or anywhere, Levi is the most rare tribe to find. If you have any Jewish friends whose names are Cowen (sp), you can be sure they are from the Priesthood tribe, that they came from Levi. Interesting enough in Eastern Burope when we did mission tours| there were always a few Russians, >) Ukrainians, and Armenians who were serving, ight, ‘The native miseienhiee ae serving, maybe 10 at the most, So, we would say stand up if you are NOT from the tribe of Ephraim and then they say Issachar, Naphtali, Zebulon, or which- ever one they are from — all the tribes. One time thete were 2 sisters that were serving together and they were both native Russians and they were companions. | They stood up and I said, “So, which tribe are you from”? One said Issachar and the other looked at her, gavelher a big hug and said, “Me too!!!” And they were so happy. Here they were serving together and they had no idea they were from the tribe of Issachar. One day all these tribes will be found. Some day we will know exactly what happened to the lost tribes when we get that record. And, we will get that record before you know. It will be here soon. James Tallmadge prophesied in General Conference in 1916 that there will be some living, that were in the tabernacle that day, who would live to read the record of the lost tribes. So we are talking that this could happen soon. But anyway, that is exciting. The Book of Mormon Promises us that we will read the words of the lost tribes and we find out exactly what happened to them. And then, when that comes forth, how many witnesses will we have of the resurrected Lord? How many books? We will have the Bible, from the Central and Middle East; we will have the Book of Mormon, from America; and jwe will have the record of the Lost ‘Tribes probably from Eastern Europe. We will have 3 witnesses of Jesus} resurrection and ministry. Isn’t that amazing. ‘Which country will be last to receive assurances. Israel. The fi a shall be last and the last shall be first. Will all the tribes of Israel be gathered to their lands of inheritance before the Savior comes? No! You might have heard that but itis not true, because the Lord has to come and | the earth. Are you aware of that? And when He comes again the earth will be remodeled at his coming. If you read section 133 of the D&C you will find out that as he begins to approach the earth with the 10,000 of hig resurrected angels that were resurrected when he was back in the meridian of time, and his apostles, they all come with him. Can you ) imagine how bright that will be? If the Lord is brighter than the sun at ndonday, because he is the source of the light of the sun, can you imagine if all the resurrected saints come with Him. It is going to be so burning. It says that people will be burned by the brightness of his coming. What is oing to happen to the oceans? Do the scriptures tell us? That's right, they will boil. What will happen to the mobintains? They will melt down as burning heat, Right? This is going to be just like the sun is approaching the earth. (Elder Johnson says, “That's why it is going to be a sea of glass”) At that point, things are going to be Fenewed, remodeled; all the earth, all the land. What will happen to the continents? They will come together inlone place, like they were in the land before it was divided, before the days of Noah. You can find that in Sectidn 133. It says, when Jesus comes, “The earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory”. Why does this have to happen so Jesus can come and live on the earth? We cannot have resurrected beings living on the eatth that is a telestial earth. So it has to ‘be renewed and become a paradisiacal, or a terrestrial, sphere. i So, that is when all the House of Israel will walk on the highway dver the deep because it will be easy. The Lord will put the highway over the deep and everything will be back together, and then the lands of the House of Israel will inherit their own lands, etc. But now is the spiritual gathering. We don’t gather physically yet the Lord comes. The work of the missionaries is to gather Israel spiritually. As you search the scriptures, I hope this will mean something to you when you read Jacob 5, The allegory of the vineyard, and how the Lord plants the House of Israel in different parts of the earth, that should mean a lot to you. As you see these words in the scriptures, what will they mean? If you see words like mine elect, my children, my servants, my witnesses, my friends, my sheep, those the Father hath given me. Who are we talking about? The House of Israel! I hope that will kind of give you a clue as you are reading the scriptures. And also in closing, I want to say, read your Patriarchal Blessings again. It should mean more to you ) now and J hope you realize that the Lord has known you since way before you came here and knew that you could do it, so have some faith in yourself. | testify of these things and how much I love the scriptures, and "hen are any of you who would like to see your tribal symbols, I have them all up here. ... Amen