Book of Mormon - 27 My Peace I Give Unto You

Transcription

1 Book of Mormon - 27 My Peace I Give Unto You By Mike Stroud Let s turn to D&C 86. Have you heard of the parable in Matthew 17 called the parable of the Zion wheat and the tares. The wheat represents the members of the church and the tares represent the wickedness of the world. D&C 86 is an interpretation of that parable. Go to verse 4. D&C 86:4 But behold, in the last days (our day), even now while the Lord is beginning to bring forth the word (that s the restoration of the gospel, the Book of Mormon, the Priesthood, that s heavenly messengers, that s the organization of the church, that s everything), and the blade (new members) is springing up and is yet tender -- Look at your date on section 86 December The church has only been organized about 2 ½ years. The church is new and the blade is tender. Now look at verse 5. 5 Behold, verily I say unto you, the angels are crying unto the Lord day and night, (these angels are destroying angels; they have priesthood, they have a ministry, an assignment, they have been ordained and set apart and their purpose is to prepare the earth for the second coming of the Savior) who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the fields; The way you reap a wheat field is to cut it down; harvest it. You cut that thing down and you go in there with a big old combine and you cut that down and you separate the wheat from the chaff it s a great big process but once that field is reaped, there is no wheat standing there anymore it s gone and all you have is something called stubble. Stubble is the bottom part of the wheat stalk that is left after the wheat is cut off that leaves stubble or stalks about that high. It is kind of like rice stubble. What they do with those wheat fields anciently was, they set them on fire. They burned the stubble. The Lord uses this when he talks about his second coming. He says, The earth will be burned as stubble. That s where that comes from. Now let s look further at verse 6. 6 But the Lord saith unto them (the angels whose job it is to destroy, reap, prepare), pluck not up the tares (the wicked) while the blade (the wheat) is yet tender (in other words, their faith is not strong enough) (for verily your faith is weak), lest you destroy the wheat also. So what the Lord does, He allows the bad and the good to grow up together in the same field, just like we are doing now in the world but not of the world. So it grows up to a point where the faith of the Saints (the wheat, the blade) is strong enough that it can have this harvesting go on remove the bad, but still have the good survive the process. Sister Stroud: Don t they allow the good and the bad to grow up together because you can t really tell the difference when they are young? Just like we can t tell the difference just by looking at people. Mike: In the ancient Middle East time when this parable was given, the wheat and the tares before they get a head on them you can t tell the difference. The green young plant looks the same, so sister Stroud says we let them grow up to a point that you can identify, in their mature state, the wheat from the tares. Student: It puts a new light on the statement, ripening in iniquity. Page 1 of 13

2 Mike: What I would like you to note is that in 1896 President Wilford Woodruff said that, Those angels have now been set loose. In 1896 these angels that in 1832 were waiting and crying to the Lord day and night, let us go and do our job, president Woodruff said those angels are now turned loose. So what are they doing? Let s find out what they are doing. So from 1832 to 1896 when they were freed, the Lord withheld them, and kept them in reserve until the church was established enough that He could set them loose and not damage the good along with the bad. In our day we make a covenant in the temple it s called the covenant of sacrifice. And in the temple covenant of sacrifice there are two parts: 1) Part 1 is to build up the kingdom of God in the earth (You make five covenants in the temple. The first one you make is obedience and the second one is sacrifice.) 2) Part 2 of this temple covenant sacrifice is to establish the cause of Zion. Since 1830 down to and including the present, we have been working on this one. This is the one the church has been involved in building up the kingdom of God in the earth, and we do that with missionaries and members. We are now transitioning from Part 1 of this covenant into Part 2. We are in a transition area here. The day will come before Zion is established when the missionaries that are in the field right now, 50,000+, will be called home. The reason they will be called home is that the world will reject, by in large, a complete rejection of the message of the restoration. It s happening now. The growth of the church in the United States is, and has been for a while, pretty static not really growing much. The real growth of the church is coming from Spanish-speaking peoples throughout the world. So what is happening here is this (part 1) is kind of phasing out and we are now going to start looking at this (part 2). We are going to need to build a group of people who can establish the cause of Zion. When the world rejects the message of the missionaries and the members, these angels will have some more work to do. Let s go to D&C 88:88. Now think about the missionaries have been bearing testimony now for 170 years, 170 years that we have been testifying of the restoration. Once it s rejected, let s go to verse 88 and see what that says: 88 And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people. So, after the testimony of these members, once it s rejected, we re going to have a whole new flip-flop. Keep in mind the second part of your sacrifice is to establish the cause of Zion. The cause of Zion can only be established in two ways: 1) By obedience or 2) By blood Meaning that if we don t choose to be obedient and establish Zion, the Lord will send the members through a refining fire, a day of tribulation, a day of turmoil, a day of destroying angels, a day when God s voice will speak and the missionaries won t, and through that process there will be people who will be compelled to humility. They won t choose humility, they will be compelled. Choose to be humble, or, be compelled to be humility. I am sorry to say that we as a church are not choosing voluntary humility, hence, the parable of the Ten Virgins, at least 50% of this church, when the Savior comes, won't be ready 50% won t be ready for Him. Student: Where does it say we will choose to be humble or compelled to be humble? Page 2 of 13

3 Mike: There is a talk by President Ezra Taft Benson about pride. It s in his talk about pride. But there is also a verse in Alma 32 where it talks about the Zoramintes who were compelled to humility rather than choosing to be humble. Alma 32: 14 And now, as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be humble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word? 16 Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe. President Benson talk Beware of Pride. God will have a humble people. Either we can choose to be humble or we can be compelled to be humble. Student: You quoted something where Jesus Christ would be the voice of thunderings and lightenings. Mike: Coming up in this same section 88, let s now go to verse 89. So after the testimony of the members which is rejected, let's look at verse 89. D&C 88:89 For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand. After your testimony, right here, if you reject this, after comes the testimony of earthquakes which cause groanings. Let s look at verse 90. Here are some other testimonies. 90 And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds. You see what s coming? If we reject the testimony of God s authorized servants who are sent out in peace to declare peace, if you reject that, then God will call them home and he will now preach his own sermon. And his own sermon is one of these natural cataclysmic events, which I believe we are seeing the beginning of. Now, what I want you to remember, Brothers and Sisters, that behind these events, earthquakes, groanings, look at the next one, the waves heaving themselves beyond their bounds. What do we call that? What is that? That is a tsunamis. Are we seeing any of those in our day? I don t ever remember in my lifetime, until the last ten years, hearing a whole lot about tsunamis. In the last ten years we've had some that have killed hundreds of thousands of people in Indonesia and Japan. And we are going to see more of that. What I want you to know is that these angels who have been held in reserve are behind these natural cataclysmic events. These are not just happening by themselves. There is Priesthood power and intelligent righteous beings behind these things. For what purpose? If people don t voluntarily choose humility, they ll have to be compelled to be humble. So these events from these angels are to bring the people to a level of humility where the Lord can bless them. He really wants to bless them but if you choose not to, then he will come up with some different alternatives to help you become humble. He would rather do it voluntarily, but one way or another (President Benson said this) God will have a humble people. Either we can choose humility or we can be compelled. Let s put up here this statement, World Peace. Everybody is talking about world peace. Will there, between now, September 2012 and the second coming of Jesus Christ, will there be world peace? What do you think? Page 3 of 13

4 Let's go to the Doctrine and Covenants and find out. Go to section 1. Here's what the scriptures tell us. Look at the date of section 1 November 1, Let's go to verse 34. D&C 1:34 And again, verily I say unto you, O inhabitants of the earth: I the Lord am willing to make these things known unto all flesh; Make what things known to all flesh? The gospel, the good news. But all flesh is not accepting it the majority of all flesh are rejecting it and that s not going to increase. More and more people are going to reject the gospel. How do I know that? Because the scriptures tell me they're going to. They always have and they're going to do it more so in our day. There will be a small core group of people, that will number in the millions, but still in comparison to world population, small, who will accept the gospel, humble themselves voluntarily and obtain all the blessings of the restoration but they are small in number. Now look at verse 35. D&C 1:35 For I am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometh; the hour is not yet (November 1, 1831), but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion. Now, that was November 1, In 1896 Wilford Woodruff said that the destroying angels had been turned loose to being this process of reaping the earth. When was peace taken from the earth? In 1831 the Lord said it hasn t happened yet, but it s going to. When did it happen? Or, has it happened? You would think it would happen right here, wouldn t you? Actually, it happened before that. Go to section 87 in the Doctrine and Covenants. The absence of peace, on the world scene, the opposite of peace on a world scene is what? War. Let's see what the Lord says in section 87 about war. Look at your heading up at the top. D&C 87: Heading - Revelation and prophecy on war So this section is talking about war. Look at your date, December 25, Let s go to verse 1. D&C 87:1 Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls; Brothers and Sisters, there has always been war. From the very beginning there has always been war. This prophesy is talking about war poured out upon all nations without measure, unlike any other time in the history of the world. And he says, I m going to talk to you about the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina. Now, those of you who don t know your American History, let me just tell you what happened here. This is the great American Civil War. The Civil War began in 1861 and went to Look at the date of this prophesy, 1832, twenty-nine years before the Civil War broke out, Joseph Smith prophesied of this war. He not only told us where it was going to start he told us it would start in South Caroline and it certainly did at a place called Fort Sumter, South Carolina. And it would be over issues of slavery and that the north and the south would be divided against each other (this is all in this section). We are not going to read the whole thing, I just want to read the next verse: D&C 87:2 And the time will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place. Page 4 of 13

5 So, war would be poured out on, what? On all nations. And it began in In 1861 peace was taken from the earth. And everybody in this room, your whole lifetime, you have now lived with a world at war. Your whole life. That s all I can remember. There has not been more than 25 years in my life that there has not been major war. Even two world wars, with a third world war on the horizon. There will be another world war. This time we are looking at things like nuclear war. We re looking at chemical war, biological warfare, germ warfare. We re looking at things that are just unbelievable. With all this in mind, let's go to section 45 and see what the Lord says. When He told His disciples this, and he told them about this, He said, They were troubled. I think that s an understatement! My disciples were troubled. And He said, Be not troubled. And I would say the same thing to us today. It s going to happen, but don t be troubled. Here s my question. How can we face such a day of uncertainty, war, destruction, disease, famine, pestilence and still be okay. How can we do that? Let s look at section 45 verse 31. D&C 45:31 And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land. Now, a scourge is a whip. That s the Hebrew word for whip. So something is going to happen that there will be what the Lord calls an overflowing scourge that will just whip the people. It will be everywhere. And then on top of that, a desolating sickness shall cover the land. These are all future. This hasn t happened yet. Student: This overflowing scourge is going to whip all the people in the world. That s the world war? Mike: Worldwide. And it could very well be the third world war. But here s the good news, verse 32. D&C 45:32 But my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices and curse God and die. Brothers and Sisters, do you know what the definition of a disciple is? A follower of Christ. The word disciple comes from the word, to be disciplined. You see that? It s the same thing. A disciple of Christ is a man or woman who is obedient. Do you want a simple definition of the righteous and the wicked? A simple definition of the righteous are those who are obedient to Christ and His laws. A definition of the wicked are those who are disobedient. My disciples, those who are obedient, (look at verse 32) shall stand in holy places and shall not be moved. But among the wicked (disobedient) men shall lift up their voices, curse God and die. That s the day that s coming. Scary looking isn t it? Let s put up here, World Peace, from 2012 to the second coming, and let s take a big red circle around world peace and draw a line through it, which means what? NO world peace. It s not going to happen. So from here on out, you live in a day of constant warfare. How do you feel about that? Is it going to be the same as it has been in the past or is it going to escalate like something we have never seen? It s going to escalate. So what we have seen in the past 68 years, we ain t seen nothin. Are you all discouraged? Let s go to John and set the stage for what s coming. Let's see if we can get some good news. John 14:27. Page 5 of 13

6 John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Notice that we re now talking about a different kind of peace. This one is shot (world peace), it s coming because the majority of mankind have rejected Christ and become ripe in their iniquity so it s gone. But this one, what the Savior calls, my peace, that s the one I want to talk to you about today. Notice at the end of verse 27, 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: (watch) not as the world giveth, give I unto you. He says I'm not giving you this one (world peace). 27 Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. This peace (Christ s peace) does away with trouble and fear. Brothers and Sisters, on purpose I have painted a little bit of this picture. I could go on, believe me, I could go on. Let s just say the future is going to be very interesting. But in the midst of all of that you and I can be totally at peace; totally at peace. You can have everything around you in turmoil, and if you are in possession of this peace that Christ refers to as His peace, you are okay, and it won t matter. This is something desirable. This is something we want to get ahold of here. Notice also the word He says, give to you. This peace is a gift through the atonement of Christ. You see, He has already experienced every fear, and every trouble that you and I personally have, are or will experience. He has already done that. Think of the last time that you were really afraid. Think about the last time that you were really troubled. Bring it up in your mind. Do you remember the feeling? The Savior, in Gethsemane that night, felt not that feeling, but felt your feeling. I don t know how He does that, but every personal fear and trouble, anxiety, discouragement, depression, anything that I have, am and will experience in this life, the Savior felt Mike Stroud s fears and troubles, along with you, individually. So He can give you this peace especially because He has experienced your fears and your troubles. This is custom made. This is not a general thing that we just throw out this big blanket of peace and put over everybody, it is tailor made, it is custom-made to you because your troubles and fears are unique. They are different from anybody else. And He is an expert at those because He felt them. I don t know how, but a God had the ability to take that sum total of the fears, sicknesses, weaknesses, iniquities and sins of every living intelligent being and experience those feelings the combined weight. No wonder He broke down and bled at every pore. I know when I have been in trouble and afraid and I break out in a sweat. I have been so concerned and so frightened that I just break out in a sweat. Replace those beads of sweat with droplets of blood, and you get the degree the Savior felt our troubles and our fears. And because of that, now He is more than qualified, for each one of us, to give us His peace. What s the purpose of this? I want to put a little note on the board here. Up here I want to put Satan is the master imitator. I will put another line up there, He is the master counterfeiter. He is the master deceiver. And any other words that we want to put up here that show that he can copy things. He s a master at this. Let s look at some of the things that Satan can imitate. Let me ask you a question. Can he imitate happiness? Page 6 of 13

7 Student: He can imitate happiness and you can think you happy for a short period of time. There is a scripture that says that wickedness never was happiness. Mike: There are a lot of people breaking God s commandments who appear to be very happy is that correct? Student: A lot of people think they are happy when they are really excited. Satan s really good at making people feel excitement. If you go out on Friday night and can really be excited and having a good time but you are not happy. Mike: Okay. Let s come down here and put Can he imitate joy? Is there a difference between happiness and joy? Or are they the same thing? Student: Joy is a deeper feeling of happiness. Mike: Can we put out here that happiness is more outward? And joy is more inward? Here s my question. Can he imitate joy? We have one yes, a couple shaking their heads and a couple I don t know but would like to know. Student: I think if he can imitate joy he can only do it very [poorly]. Mike: Now watch. Let s go to 3 Nephi 27 and let s look and see, can Satan imitate joy. Let s look at verses 10 and Nephi 27:10 And if it so be that the church is built upon my gospel then will the Father show forth his own works in it. 11 But if it be not built upon my gospel, and is built upon the works of men, or upon the works of the devil, verily I say unto you they have joy in their works for a season, and by and by the end cometh, and they are hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence there is no return. Can the devil imitate joy? He can - for a season. Let s try one more. True Doctrine. Student: For a season. We have in our church converts. But before they became LDS they scorned the LDS people and thought they had the true doctrine until they found the true doctrine. Mike: So, can he imitate, can he counterfeit, and he mix truth and lies together? Student: Beware of false prophets. Mike: Yes. He can do that. Let me give you the greatest example of twisted doctrine in the world today that keeps millions of people from the truth. You are saved by grace, not by works, lest any man boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Is that true? That is absolutely true. Do Latter-day Saints believe in it? Of course they do it s true. Other churches attack us because they believe that we say you work ourselves into heaven by works that we don t believe we are saved by grace. So what they do is they take that doctrine and twist it. How about John 22: John 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: Page 7 of 13

8 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Therefore, the Book of Mormon is false because it is added to the Bible. That one doctrine has kept millions of people out of that book. Because they twist it and they don t understand. Let me give you another twist. The Garden of Eden, Father told me not to partake of that fruit He said that the day I ate of that fruit I should surely die. Is that true God told him that? Did God tell Adam and Eve that? Yes. The devil said, You won t die, but you shall be as God knowing good from evil. Is the you won t die a lie or a truth? It is a lie because God said, if you eat that fruit, you ll die. And Satan said, You won t die (it s a lie) but you ll be as God knowing good from evil (true). So he takes the truth mixes with a lie, twists it and causes people to be deceived and fall. He does it really well. How about miracles? My question is, Can Satan imitate, counterfeit, deceive can he imitate miracles? Can Satan perform miracles? Can Satan perform supernatural acts? Student: Yes. Mike: Give me an example. Student: Magic. Mike: How about Moses and Pharaohs court when Moses and Aaron put their staff down and it turns into a snake and the two magicians, Jannes and Jambres, come out and do what? They put their staff down and it turns into a snake. Yes, so he can duplicate miracles. Let's take one more. Is there anything that he can t duplicate? Because as far as I know he can duplicate everything that God does except one thing. Student: Love for Heavenly Father. Mike: What do you think about that? I like it. Let me show you one thing he can t duplicate. He can t duplicate the feeling of peace. And that s where we want to go today. He can duplicate and counterfeit just about everything. We can use this as a tool to help us make correct decisions and know if we are moving in the right path. We can use this. Go to D&C 6 and look for an example of how the Lord used this inward peace, His peace in the scriptures. This is to Oliver Cowdery and the history was; Oliver was a school teacher at the Smith home and he was teaching the children and because he taught there, they let him have room and board a roof over his head and food to eat. While he was there he heard the story of Joseph Smith. Joseph was not there; he was down in Pennsylvania. Later on, Joseph and Oliver come together and Joseph asks Oliver to be his scribe as he translates the Book of Mormon. When he was up at the Smith household, Oliver prayed and asked God if the story he had heard about Joseph Smith was true and he had a spiritual experience. He didn t tell anybody about it. He kept it to himself. Later, when Joseph and Oliver came together, Section 6, which is given to Oliver Cowdery, the Lord said this- start in verse 14. D&C 6: 14 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast inquired of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time. Page 8 of 13

9 23 Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God? Nobody knew about this he didn t tell Joseph Smith about this he kept this a secret. So when Joseph received this through the Urim and Thummim, he turned to Oliver and said, Have you had a spiritual experience with the Savior? And he said, Yes. Even Joseph didn t know about it, and yet it came through Joseph s mouth, Did I not speak peace into your mind? I want to look at some scriptures on this and find out what we need to do to qualify to have it. Obviously it s a great gift. Let s put up here, How do we obtain this peace? How do we do it? Let s go over to Isaiah in your Bible, chapter 57:21. We are going to put some bullet points here to see what we need to do to quality to have this peace. Isaiah 57:21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. Number one, if you are going to have this you have to live righteously. Living righteously comes from this word right here (right). You have to be on the right path. You have to be living right, you have to be choosing right. You have to be living righteously. There is no peace for the wicked. Let s go to Helaman 5: This is Lehi and Nephi in a Lamanite prison. Do you remember that story? So we are going to outline quickly what we need to do to qualify to receive this great peace. Helaman 5:46 And it came to pass that there came a voice unto them, yea, a pleasant voice, as if it were a whisper, saying: 47 Peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my Well Beloved, who was from the foundation of the world. Number two: Must have faith in Jesus Christ, another prerequisite. Peace, peace be unto you. Notice that this voice was small and still, even like a whisper. Now there are a lot of scriptures in the Bible, but I am not going there for sake of time. Let's go to Alma 24:19. Alma 24:19 And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace. Number Three: These are the Anti-Nephi Lehi s, right? And it says that they buried their weapons of war. We are looking at qualifiers, so you need to bury your weapons of war, for what? For peace. What does that mean to me in September 2012? I don t have a sword, I don t have a bow and arrow, I don t have a club I don t have any weapons of war. Does this apply? They had to do this in order to acquire peace. And obviously it was not world peace because they were murdered. If it had been the first peace, then burying these weapons of war would have worked; but it didn t. They lost their lives and acquired a greater peace by burying their weapons of war. Student: When these people were Lamanites they were particularly a blood-thirsty group. So when we bury our weapons, we bury our weapons of aggression, of contention. Mike: So let s identify, in 2012, in this room, some weapons of war that we carry day in and day out weapons that keep you from having this peace. 1. Vanity Page 9 of 13

10 2. Tongue (James says the tongue is an unruly member, a weapon on one side of it you curse man and on the other side you bless God. 3. Anger 4. Jealousy 5. Envy 6. Pride 7. Gossip We can make a while list of these things, right? So basically, what we could do is go to Mosiah 3:19 and find out what that means. How can we bury our weapons of war for peace? What does that scripture say? Mosiah 3:19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. So, when you put off the natural man and become a Saint through the atonement of Christ, basically what you ve done is buried your weapons of war, for peace. Is that right? Let s look at anther scripture. Let s go to 3 Nephi 12:9. 3 Nephi 12:9 And blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God Give me an example in 2012 of a peacemaker. Student: Missionaries. They teach people the good news and love. They teach people to love, respect the laws of Jesus Christ. They are peacemakers spreading the gospel and bringing the people of the world together. Mike: I agree. Let me give you an example of a non-peacemaker. So I come up and I know Abito casually, now, this is just playacting, this is not serious. I look at Abito and I say, Abito, I don t like you; you're stupid; you're the dummest person I ever met and I don t ever want to see you again. What I did was I verbally attacked him, right? Now, the natural man in Abito will come out and say, Well, Elder Stroud, I don t like you either. you re fat, bald and ugly and I wish you would go home and leave the Philippines. And I say, Oh, really, you think that? He says, Yeah, I think that. Stand up! And eventually this thing goes boom, boom, boom. So what does a peacemaker do? So you are attacked like that, and Abito looks at me after I have attacked him, and he is a peacemaker. And he says, Brother Stroud, I am so sorry I have offended you and made you feel that way. I haven t meant to do that. Will you please forgive me for anything I've done to make you feel that badly towards me? So what Abito did as a peacemaker, what he did with that attack, he took it inside and stopped it. He stopped it. It went no further. Stopped. Now is that hard or easy to do? Easy for some hard for most. Because when we are attacked, what we want to do is retribution. We want to attack back, am I right? Page 10 of 13

11 In the world, is it easier to be a warmonger or a peacemaker? Let's look at the great example of our time of a peacemaker. Let s go to 1 Nephi 19:9. The Savior is the great peacemaker, isn t he? 1 Nephi 19:9 And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught (they are talking about Christ s coming and they are saying the world will judge him to be worthless no value); wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it The Romans had a thing called a scourge the Roman word in Latin was a flagellum, and it was a whip. Scourge in Hebrew means whip. And this scourge was bad enough, it had big pieces of harness leather and then it, it had embedded in it pieces of stone and bone, in these thongs that went out there. So when you were beaten with that thing it cut you like a knife and most often during a Roman scourging, the person died. Now, they scourged Him, and they did, and it said he suffereth it. This is a key word. Student: He took it. Mike: What does it mean to suffereth it? Was he bound when they scourged Him? Yes, he was. They tied you up to a post with a chain or rope, took your clothes off and then took that thing and just beat you with it. So when it says he took it, it is not quite what I was looking for. He had no choice under that because he was bound. But there is something different here. Student: He didn t ask for mercy. Mike: Something more. I want to put in here where it says he suffereth it, and I want you to remember this, he allowed it. That word right there, allowed, means he could have stopped it at any moment. Do you believe that? When He goes to Pilot and Pilot says, Don t you know I have power to take your life. And He said, You don t have any power over me at all unless it s given to you. At any time he could have stopped the scourging, he could have come down from the cross at any time. At any time he could have stopped it. 1 Nephi 19:9 and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, Why did He suffer it? 1 Nephi 19:9 because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men. The great example of the peacemaker could have stopped it at any time, took it in, allowed it to happen because of His love for the children of men. Student: Later on He prays for them. He said, Forgive them for they know not what they do. Mike: Thank you for that. Let s go to Isaiah 9:6 Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. The Prince of Peace and A prince of peace. Are they the same or do those things mean different things? It is capitalized so it shows that it is a person, a particular person. And there is only one the Prince of Peace, and that is who? Jesus Christ. And this scripture in Isaiah you heard His name, Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Those are all names of Jesus Christ. Page 11 of 13

12 How about this one A prince of peace? Student: One of many. Mike: Thank you. Here s my question. Is it possible for us, in this room, through the atonement of Jesus Christ to become a prince of peace? It is. Let s go to Abraham 1:2. He is looking for something. He already possesses great knowledge, and he wants greater knowledge. He already possesses great wisdom; he wants greater wisdom. He already possesses Priesthood; he wants greater Priesthood. And let s take a look and see what that says there. Abraham 1:2 And, finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge (see how he wants to step up and wants to go from where he is at step up, step up), and to be a father of many nations (watch this), a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers. Did Abraham obtain the title of a prince of peace? He did. Now, Brothers and Sisters, we are the children of Abraham. He is our ancient patriarchal father. Whatever Abraham achieved and possessed, you and I can achieve and possess. So, Brothers, every one of us in here can become a prince of peace. Sisters, every one of you can become a princess of peace. Now, the Prince of Peace in this scripture is Christ. If I were to change this from the Prince of Peace to the King of Peace, who would I be talking about? The Holy Father. I would. And can you see that you move from Prince to King? Princes always move from prince to king. Princesses always move from princesses to queens. And you ve been promised, as your birthright as a child of Abraham (a daughter and a son) everything that happened to him can happen to you. One last scripture. D&C 132:37 Let s find out where our ancient father Abraham is today. Where is he in 2012? He was a mortal man on the earth about 3500 to 4000 years ago; where is he now in 2012? Verse 37 let s see what s happened to Abraham. Whatever has happened to Abraham can and will happen to you. It doesn t matter what your nationality is; doesn t matter if you are male or female; whatever happened to Abraham s wife Sarah is going to happen to you sisters. If you desire it and seek after it. I had righteousness I wanted greater. I had Priesthood I wanted greater. I had wisdom I wanted greater. He had some things like us; we are in possession of things. But he wanted greater. Now let s see. D&C 132:37 Abraham received concubines, and they bore him children; and it was accounted unto him for righteousness, because they were given unto him, and he abode in my law (Here s you key point Abraham was obedient); as Isaac also and Jacob did none other things than that which they were commanded (you see that? There s your key- they did not other things than that which they were commanded. Now here we go ); and because they did none other things than that which they were commanded, they have entered into their exaltation, according to the promises, and sit upon thrones, and are not angels (but are what?) but are gods. They are gods. That s our destiny Brothers and Sisters. If you will desire these things and do none other things than what God commands, and be obedient, where they are you can be. It is assured. It is the promise made to the fathers. You can rule and reign over the house of Israel as a King and a Queen. Page 12 of 13

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