Revelation chapter 10 reads as follows:
And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: and he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me,
Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said,
Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
And I went unto the angel, and said unto him,
Give me the little book.
And he said unto me,
Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me,
Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. (Revelation Chapter 10)
Joseph Smith was asked a question about the book and gave the following answer by revelation:
Q. What are we to understand by the little book which was eaten by John, as mentioned in the 10th chapter of Revelation?
A. We are to understand that it was a mission, and an ordinance, for him to gather the tribes of Israel; behold, this is Elias, who, as it is written, must come and restore all things. (D&C 77:14)
Everyone who reads this scripture thinks that the part that says, “this is Elias, who, as it is written, must come and restore all things” must be referring to John, but the question was not asked about John, but about what we should understand by the little book that he ate.
Where it is written
Joseph Smith said, by revelation, that “this is Elias, who, as it is written, must come and restore all things.” So, where is it written that Elias must come and restore all things? Here:
And his disciples asked him, saying,
Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
And Jesus answered and said unto them,
Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. (Matt. 17:10-11)
Lots of Eliases, but there’s only one Elias who restores all things
Now, there are lots of different Eliases, for Elias (which is simply the name Elijah translated from the Greek) is a title for anyone who is sent by the Lord to prepare the way before Him. Jesus taught the following to His disciples:
But I say unto you,
Who is Elias? Behold, this is Elias, whom I send to prepare the way before me. (JST Matt. 17:13)
This means that all angels operate as Eliases, because part of their mission is to prepare the way of the Lord:
…neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men. For behold, they are subject unto him, to minister according to the word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness. And the office of their ministry is to call men unto repentance, and to fulfil and to do the work of the covenants of the Father, which he hath made unto the children of men, to prepare the way among the children of men, by declaring the word of Christ unto the chosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him. And by so doing, the Lord God prepareth the way that the residue of men may have faith in Christ, that the Holy Ghost may have place in their hearts, according to the power thereof; and after this manner bringeth to pass the Father, the covenants which he hath made unto the children of men. (Moroni 7:29-32)
Also, all men who prepare the way of the Lord operate as Eliases. Thus, both John the Baptist and Jesus Christ (who prepared the way of the Father) are Eliases, nevertheless, there is a specific Elias who restores all things:
And he [John the Baptist] confessed, and denied not that he was Elias; but confessed, saying;
I am not the Christ.
And they asked him, saying;
How then art thou Elias?
And he said,
I am not that Elias who was to restore all things.
And they asked him, saying,
Art thou that prophet?
And he answered,
No.
Then said they unto him,
Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
He said,
I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Make straight the way of the Lord,
as saith the prophet Esaias.
And they who were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him;
Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not the Christ, nor Elias who was to restore all things, neither that prophet?
John answered them, saying;
I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; he it is of whom I bear record. He is that prophet, even Elias, who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose, or whose place I am not able to fill; for he shall baptize, not only with water, but with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. (JST John 1:21-28)
We see from this that John the Baptist identified both himself and Jesus Christ as Eliases (and he also identified Jesus as the Prophet that Moses spoke of in Deuteronomy 18:15-19), but John indicated that he himself was not that Elias who restores all things.
Thus, there is more than one Elias spoken of in prophecy, but they are different people performing different works at different times, and not just the same person reincarnated or transmigrated, such as for example Elijah the Tishbite coming back to earth and being born again as John the Baptist, as some erroneously believe and teach. No, these are all different Eliases, meaning different people bearing the same title of Elias.
The Elias who restores all things is not a composite personage
Nevertheless, nor is the Elias who restores all things a bunch of different people, like a composite Elias, which erroneous teaching was taught by Bruce R. McConkie and others:
According to the plan and program of the Lord, the dispensation of the fulness of times is “the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). This restoration is to be effected by Elias. Before the winding up of the Lord’s work, the promise is: “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things” (Matt. 17:11). With these ancient scriptures before us, these questions arise: Who is the promised Elias who was to come and restore all things? Has the work of restoration taken place? Or is it something that is yet future?
Correcting the Bible by the spirit of revelation, the Prophet restored a statement of John the Baptist which says that Christ is the Elias who was to restore all things (Inspired Version, John 1:21-28). By revelation we are also informed that the Elias who was to restore all things is the angel Gabriel who was known in mortality as Noah (D&C 27:6-7; Luke 1:5-25; Teachings, p. 157). From the same authentic source we also learn that the promised Elias is John the Revelator (D&C 77:9, 14). Thus there are three different revelations which name Elias as being three different persons. What are we to conclude?
By finding answer to the question, by whom has the restoration been effected, we shall find who Elias is and find there is no problem in harmonizing these apparently contradictory revelations. Who has restored all things? Was it one man? Certainly not. Many angelic ministrants have been sent from the courts of glory to confer keys and powers, to commit their dispensations and glories again to men on earth. At least the following have come: Moroni, John the Baptist, Peter, James and John, Moses, Elijah, Elias, Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael (D&C 13; 110; 128:19-21). Since it is apparent that no one messenger has carried the whole burden of the restoration, but rather that each has come with a specific endowment from on high, it becomes clear that Elias is a composite personage. The expression must be understood to be a name and a title for those whose mission it was to commit keys and powers to men in this final dispensation (see Doctrines of Salvation, 1:170-174). (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3:492-493; see also Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed., p. 221)
Notice that McConkie says, “Correcting the Bible by the spirit of revelation, the Prophet restored a statement of John the Baptist which says that Christ is the Elias who was to restore all things (Inspired Version, John 1:21-28)” In point of fact, that text does not say that Christ is the Elias who was to restore all things. It only says that Christ is Elias. In other words, Christ is an Elias. This is the first error McConkie made.
Notice also that McConkie says, “By revelation we are also informed that the Elias who was to restore all things is the angel Gabriel who was known in mortality as Noah (D&C 27:6-7; Luke 1:5-25; Teachings, p. 157).” In point of fact, the text does not say that Gabriel is the Elias who was to restore all things. It only says that Gabriel holds “the keys of bringing to pass the restoration of all things.” These keys will be delivered by Gabriel to Joseph-Nephi, who will then use them to restore all things. This, then, is the second error McConkie made.
Again McConkie says, “From the same authentic source we also learn that the promised Elias is John the Revelator (D&C 77:9, 14).” This post is going to attempt to correct that erroneous assumption, for the revelation in question does not say that John is the Elias who was to restore all things. Three strikes, McConkie.
McConkie started out wrong in this endeavor because he came up with the wrong answer to the question he posed, “Who has restored all things?” McConkie (and I suppose other latter-day saints of like thinking) have supposed that the restoration of all things has already occurred. But latter-day saint scripture explicitly states that the restoration of all things has not, as yet, occurred and thus is still future to us:
Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers—for ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God—therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began. (D&C 86:8-10)
So, given that the restoration of all things is still future to us, the answer to McConkie’s question, “Who has restored all things?” is: no one has restored all things. And the answers to McConkie’s other questions, “Who is the promised Elias who was to come and restore all things? Has the work of restoration taken place? Or is it something that is yet future?” is: Joseph-Nephi is the promised Elias who was to come and restore all things; and a work of restoration has taken place, but not the restoration of all things, which is yet future to us.
Therefore, all the Eliases we have so far seen, have been Eliases who are not the Elias who restores all things, for that specific work of restoration, and that specific Elias, is yet future to us.
The Elias who restores all things is a specific person
Just as the prophet Elijah the Tishbite was a specific person who had a specific mission, and thus was a specific Elias, so John the Baptist was a specific person who had a specific mission, and thus was a specific Elias. Jesus taught:
But the days will come, when the violent shall have no power; for all the prophets and the law prophesied that it should be thus until John. Yea, as many as have prophesied have foretold of these days. And if ye will receive it, verily, he was the Elias, who was for to come and prepare all things. (JST Matt. 11:13-15)
John, then, was the specific Elias who was to come before the First Coming of Jesus and prepare all things for Him. In like manner, there is a specific Elias who was to come before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and restore all things:
Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist, and also of another who should come and restore all things, as it is written by the prophets. (JST Matt. 17:14)
The word “another” indicates a specific person who restores all things, not a composite personage. Okay, let’s get back to Joseph Smith’s revelation concerning the book that John ate.
A mission
According to Joseph Smith, the book that John ate was a mission for him to gather the tribes of Israel. Now, books contain words, do they not? And how does one receive a mission? Does not one receive a mission from someone else? Does not someone else say to the person receiving the mission, “Go do this and that?” Are not words used to send someone on a mission? The book, then, is representative of someone’s words, even the words of the someone who is sending somebody else (John) on a mission. Whose words does the book contain? The book contains the words of that Elias who restores all things (who is Joseph-Nephi.)
An ordinance
The eating of the book by John represents John’s ordination to the mission. How does one get ordained to a mission? Does not someone lay hands on another person’s head and say words? Whose words are used to ordain John to his mission to gather the tribes of Israel? Why, the words of that Elias who restores all things (who is Joseph-Nephi.)
John accepts the mission from Elias
It is interesting that the mission (which represents that Elias who restores all things, his words and his mission to gather the tribes of Israel) was in the hand of an angel, for, as already stated above, angels themselves also bear the title of Elias. Thus, John taking the book out of the hand of the angel is representative of John accepting the mission to gather the tribes of Israel from the hand of Elias.
An available mission
Was the book open or closed? It was open:
And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,…And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. (Rev. 10:2,8)
So, this little mission was open, or available to be filled by someone. And God chose John to fill it. He then took the book (accepted the mission) and ate it (was ordained to the mission.)
This has happened before
Eating books is nothing new in prophecy. It happened to Ezekiel:
And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee;
Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.
And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; and he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe. (Ezekiel 2:6-10) Moreover he said unto me,
Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.
So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me,
Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee.
Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. (Ezekiel 3:1-3)
Just like John, Ezekiel saw a roll of a book, which was in a hand—but this was a disembodied hand, representing the hand of the Lord, and not the hand of an angel, meaning an Elias—and the book was spread open before Ezekiel by the hand (therefore it was an available mission, ready to be filled), and then Ezekiel ate it and was commanded to speak the Lord’s words to the people. So, the book roll contained the words of the Lord, representing an available mission of the Lord for Ezekiel to accomplish, and Ezekiel accepted this mission by the hand of the Lord, and then was ordained to the mission by the Lord when he ate the roll.
Now, back to the book that John ate.
A little mission
What kind of a book was it? It was a little book. What kind of a mission was it? It was a little mission. (Not a big or a great mission.) As it was a little mission, it wasn’t a mission for John to gather all the tribes of Israel, just some of the tribes. How many tribes? Probably just two: the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. During the time of John’s mortal ministry, those were the two tribes that occupied the land of Jerusalem, and those were the two tribes he was familiar with. So, he gets to participate in the end time events by receiving a little mission to gather a couple of the tribes of Israel (Judah and Benjamin.)
The big mission
The mission to gather the tribes of Israel is the mission of that Elias who restores all things, who is Joseph-Nephi:
Q. What are we to understand by the angel ascending from the east, Revelation 7th chapter and 2nd verse?
A. We are to understand that the angel ascending from the east is he to whom is given the seal of the living God over the twelve tribes of Israel; wherefore, he crieth unto the four angels having the everlasting gospel, saying: Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And, if you will receive it, this is Elias which was to come to gather together the tribes of Israel and restore all things. (D&C 77:9)
Joseph-Nephi has the mission to gather all the tribes of Israel, but because John is slated to participate in the end times work, he delegates to John a little mission, while reserving the big mission of gathering the rest of Israel himself.
Why must Joseph-Nephi be the one to gather the larger portion? Because the smaller portion (Judah and Benjamin) are of a finite number, whereas the larger portion (all the rest of the tribes and branches) are as numberless as the sands of the seashore. Thus, they are essentially infinite in number. Normal miracle-workers can’t handle that kind of workload, for not only must Joseph-Nephi gather them, but he’ll also have to number them. Joseph-Nephi will be a miracle-worker’s miracle-worker, performing feats that normal miracle-workers can’t do. Gathering the numberless and then numbering the numberless is beyond the scope of John or any other servant of God. Only Joseph-Nephi will be able to accomplish the feat. So, to Joseph-Nephi is given the bulk of the work, while all the rest of his mortal and angelic helpers are given a little bit of work.
For example, when the angel who ascends from the east (who is Joseph-Nephi) tells his four angelic helpers to not harm anything until the servants of God have been sealed, they seal 144,000 of the tribes of Israel.
And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. (Rev. 7:4)
That works out to 36,000 sealed per angel (of the four.) That’s a finite number which they can handle. But notice that John also saw another population:
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb…And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev. 7:9-10,13-14)
This numberless host were of saved people. It is impossible for man to number them, but Joseph-Nephi will number them anyway. These people get sealed, too. By whom? By Joseph-Nephi. Why must he be the one to do it? Because their numbers are too great, requiring a miracle of outrageous power to accomplish the feat. And that’s just the sort of power Joseph-Nephi will have. He will have “much power” laid upon him. Not “much power” from the perspective of man, but “much power” from the perspective of God:
What is the rod spoken of in the first verse of the 11th chapter of Isaiah, that should come of the Stem of Jesse?
Behold, thus saith the Lord: It is a servant in the hands of Christ, who is partly a descendant of Jesse as well as of Ephraim, or of the house of Joseph, on whom there is laid much power. (D&C 113:3-4)
So, Joseph-Nephi will reserve to himself all the truly great tasks which are impossible for others to perform, while delegating only the smaller tasks that others can handle, according to their level of faith.
Eternal words
The representation of Joseph-Nephi as a little open book might be hard for some people to swallow, but he is also represented by a rod (Isaiah 11:1), a root (Isaiah 11:10), a candlestick (Zechariah 4) and so on, and yet these other symbols are readily accepted by the same people. In another revelation, Joseph-Nephi’s description is representative of all these symbols:
And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong, holding the scepter of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words; while his bowels shall be a fountain of truth, to set in order the house of God, and to arrange by lot the inheritances of the saints whose names are found, and the names of their fathers, and of their children, enrolled in the book of the law of God; (D&C 85:7)
The scepter of power is representative of a rod; clothing of light is representative of a candlestick; eternal words is representative of a book; and a fountain of truth is representative of something that goes down deep in the earth, such as a root. So, nobody need choke on the open book being a symbol for Joseph-Nephi.
John is commanded to take the book, therefore, he cannot be that Elias who restores all things
In Revelation 10 we find that John is commanded by the voice to take the book:
Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
And I went unto the angel, and said unto him,
Give me the little book.
And he said unto me,
Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. (Rev. 10:8-9)
John does not volunteer to take the book. He is first commanded to take it, then he goes to Elias (the angel) and says to give him the mission. The fact that John is commanded to accept and perform the mission, and does not merely volunteer for it, shows that he cannot be that Elias who restores all things, for the Elias who restores all things is a strictly volunteer position. God cannot command anyone to be the Elias who restores all things. It must be requested by someone.
The command to restore all things is unjust
It needs to be understood that the restoration of all things is accomplished by one man, and one man alone, although there are helpers, both angelic and human, who participate, according to their prayers and desires. In other words, all the servants of God who desired to participate in the end times events, and who prayed in faith toward that end, were given some small role to play, God disbursing the various assignments as He saw fit. Thus, John’s desire to work more was rewarded with a commission to gather the tribes of Israel in the end times. God chose John for that particular work, and He chooses all His other servants for all the other participatory works they will engage in during the end times, commanding them to do this or that.
But the role of “restorer of all things” cannot be given to anyone by God, for it is too great for man. It is too much work. It is endless work, infinite work. It is unjust to put such a workload upon the shoulders of just one man, and God is a just God. Were God to command someone to perform the restoration of all things, He would cease being just, and thus He would cease being God. Therefore, God is incapable of commanding any man to be the Elias who restores all things.
Nevertheless, it is a principle of the gospel what whatsoever you ask for, in faith, believing you will receive, nothing doubting, shall be granted. Thus, God can only fill the position of “Elias who restores all things” if one of His sons requests it in faith.
God, knowing all things from the beginning, had a very special spirit son, a special servant, who He knew would request to be the Elias who restores all things. So He held this spirit back, for thousands of years, to be held in reserve until just before the end times begins, even now, and then sent him to earth to be born, knowing full well that at some point in the man’s life he would exercise exceedingly great faith and ask to be the Elias who restores all things. Given that a valid and faith filled request would be made, God would have to put upon the man the very burden, just as he asked, and thus God would get His needed Elias to save all of mankind.
John the Revelator, however, did not request the mission, but was first commanded to do it, showing he is not that Elias who restores all things.
Now, some reading this might wonder, “Just how big is Joseph-Nephi’s mission?” I will show you.
A very literal deadline: the Second Coming of Christ
First, let’s talk about when the mission needs to be completed. Joseph Smith revealed the following about Revelation chapters 8 and 9:
Q. What are we to understand by the sounding of the trumpets, mentioned in the 8th chapter of Revelation?
A. We are to understand that as God made the world in six days, and on the seventh day he finished his work, and sanctified it, and also formed man out of the dust of the earth, even so, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years will the Lord God sanctify the earth, and complete the salvation of man, and judge all things, and shall redeem all things, except that which he hath not put into his power, when he shall have sealed all things, unto the end of all things; and the sounding of the trumpets of the seven angels are the preparing and finishing of his work, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years—the preparing of the way before the time of his coming.
Q. When are the things to be accomplished, which are written in the 9th chapter of Revelation?
A. They are to be accomplished after the opening of the seventh seal, before the coming of Christ. (D&C 77:12-13)
In Revelation 8 the seventh seal is opened. This occurs in the beginning of the seventh thousand years, therefore this occurs after 11 April 2033. The events in chapters 8 and 9, then, take place after 11 April 2033, after the seventh seal is open, but before the coming of Christ.
In other words, all the events described by Joseph must take place before Jesus gets back. If these things don’t happen, absolutely nobody gets saved.
An endless number of impossible-to-perform tasks to be completed perfectly in an impossibly short amount of time
What has to occur? Again, notice what Joseph says:
in the beginning of the seventh thousand years will the Lord God sanctify the earth, and complete the salvation of man, and judge all things, and shall redeem all things, except that which he hath not put into his power, when he shall have sealed all things, unto the end of all things; and the sounding of the trumpets of the seven angels are the preparing and finishing of his work, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years—the preparing of the way before the time of his coming. (D&C 77:12)
So, God will 1) sanctify the earth, 2) complete the salvation of man, 3) judge all things, 4) redeem all things, 5) seal all things; and He will do all of this 6) to the end of all things. This encompasses both 1) the preparing of His work and 2) the finishing of His work. And all of this vast amount of work must occur before Jesus comes back.
The Lord God accomplishes this work through a single, solitary individual named Joseph-Nephi, who is a miracle-worker seer of faith levels never before seen or even imagined. Joseph-Nephi, then, must sanctify the earth (bringing it back to its pre-Fall condition), complete the salvation of man (referring to group salvation), judge all things (for the inhabitants of Zion will judge all nations and all things pertaining to Zion, will they not?), redeem all things and seal all things, even to the end of all things, meaning a sealing which encompasses both past, present and future, or to be plainer in writing, which seals both the dead, the living and the as-yet unborn.
Thus, for the restoration of all things, Joseph-Nephi must reveal all things, restore all things, gather all things in one, in Christ, seal all things, number all things, restore all things to their lands of inheritance, disburse all inheritances, sanctify the planet and redeem all things upon it (not including the wicked, of course.) In other words, Joseph-Nephi must do it all and also, he must do it all perfectly, with no errors, whatsoever.
Now, if you can’t wrap your mind around all of that, which must be fully finished perfectly, and before Jesus gets back, it’s likely because this great and marvelous work is beyond human comprehension. Yet it must be done, irregardless, because this is how we are group-saved, otherwise we will all get destroyed on the day of the Lord’s Second Coming. So, let me take the opportunity to expound upon group salvation.
Group salvation
A connection to Christ (oneness with Christ) is not enough to save. We must also have a connection to (oneness with) each other. This is the doctrine of perfection:
I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine. (D&C 38:27)
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:20-23)
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. (1 Corinthians 1:10)
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16)
These passages show the doctrine of group salvation in which a group of persons is made perfect. Perfection is necessary for salvation because nobody can be saved while continuing to break God’s commandments, and perfection is a commandment of God required of all mankind:
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)
Thus, the doctrine of perfection is the doctrine of group salvation, which is why Joseph Smith wrote the following:
And now, my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers—that they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect.
And now, in relation to the baptism for the dead, I will give you another quotation of Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:29: Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?
And again, in connection with this quotation I will give you a quotation from one of the prophets, who had his eye fixed on the restoration of the priesthood, the glories to be revealed in the last days, and in an especial manner this most glorious of all subjects belonging to the everlasting gospel, namely, the baptism for the dead; for Malachi says, last chapter, verses 5th and 6th: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
I might have rendered a plainer translation to this, but it is sufficiently plain to suit my purpose as it stands. It is sufficient to know, in this case, that the earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link of some kind or other between the fathers and the children, upon some subject or other—and behold what is that subject? It is the baptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect. Neither can they nor we be made perfect without those who have died in the gospel also; for it is necessary in the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness of times, which dispensation is now beginning to usher in, that a whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories should take place, and be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time. And not only this, but those things which never have been revealed from the foundation of the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall be revealed unto babes and sucklings in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times. (D&C 128:15-18)
The means by which we become perfect is through oneness with each other and also with Christ, which creates a saved group of perfect people, yet given that we are all one, we are considered “the (singular) body of Christ.” As Christ considers us part of His body, the entire group becomes saved. Whatsoever, or whosoever, is outside of “the body of Christ,” is not considered part of His body (or fold), but is considered part of the other fold (the devil’s fold), and thus is not saved.
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. (John 10:16)
The body (or fold) of Christ is one, not two or three or four. Just one. Therefore, it is a single group of united people that spans all of time, from the beginning to the very end, and they are all connected to (one with) each other. This is why Paul wrote:
God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:40)
They (that is, the dead) cannot be made perfect without us because they are part of the body (or fold) of Christ, just as Paul and the saints of his day were part of the body (or fold) of Christ, just as we latter-day saints are part of the body (or fold) of Christ, and there cannot be more than one fold (or body) of Christ, therefore, we all must be made one, even one fold, otherwise, we are not God’s. Thus, all dead saints, and all living saints, and all the future unborn saints, need to be connected to each other in some way, to become one. There cannot be two unconnected groups of saved people, but only one huge group that spans all of time, all connected to each other, all one body and fold of Christ. Unless this is so, there is no perfection for any of them, for this is the only way any of them can fulfill the commandment to “be ye therefore perfect.” They must all be part of the same, connected group.
Now Adam has the “keys of salvation” (D&C 78:16), therefore, the group that composes “the body of Christ” must be connected to each other all the way back to Adam. These “keys of salvation” aren’t the keys of individual salvation, but of group salvation, and will be used upon all those who comprise the (singular) body of Christ. The problem lies, then, that each time God reveals a dispensation of the gospel to people on earth—to this civilization, or to that civilization—and another “body of Christ” is formed, these groups of people remain unconnected to the other groups, and also unconnected to Adam; for everything must lead back to Adam so that he can use those keys of (group) salvation. Adam has the promises, and so whoever is connected to him, likewise has the promises. Given that cycles of wickedness and apostasy have happened over and over again throughout the world’s history, so that a righteous people become wicked and then self-destruct and get wiped out, their histories being wiped out and their very existence being altogether forgotten, and then God plants another seed in another location, and the process starts all over again, the wicked becoming righteous, then later becoming wicked again and getting wiped out—all these righteous people that lived in various places and at various times must be connected to each other, and to Adam, to be a part of the (singular) body of Christ. Thus, all these people must be gathered together in one, meaning one (singular) body of Christ, being one group of connected people who are one with each other, and one with Christ. But this cannot be done. It is simply impossible.
Nevertheless, if this is not done, then there is no group salvation. There is no body of Christ. And thus the people of this earth become cursed and rejected by God, for they are not considered as His, but instead are considered part of the devil’s fold, having not obeyed God’s commandments “to be perfect” and “to be one.” So, when He comes back, He destroys not only the whole human population, but also their dominions, which is this planet and all that ever existed, or might have existed, upon it. Thus, we are screwed. All is lost. There is no hope in sight. That is, except for this one little tidbit of hope:
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. (Ephesians 1:7-12)
Thus God, seeing that His righteous saints would be destroyed by their inability to keep His commandment to be perfect, because they have no power to connect themselves to all the other groups of righteous persons who have lived on this planet, nor to Adam, He ordained that in the last days He would gather all things together in one (and this includes all the saints of all ages into one body of Christ), and He would do this before His Son Jesus Christ came back, so that the gathered body of Christ could be group-saved. How would God accomplish this feat that would span all of time, all of earth and also all of heaven? By using a very special instrument of exceeding faith, even the appointed rod of power that would be in His hands, which rod is that miracle-working seer known as Joseph-Nephi, the Elias who restores all things.
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. (Psalms 110:1-2)
And his disciples asked him, saying,
Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
And Jesus answered and said unto them,
Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. (Matthew 17:10-11)
Thus, Joseph-Nephi must come, meaning that it is vital to our salvation that he comes (and he will come out of Zion, which is America), otherwise we won’t be group-saved, or be accounted as the body of Christ. And also Joseph-Nephi shall come out of Zion (America) and perform that mighty and necessary work of making Christ’s “whole body fitly joined together” (Eph. 4:16) to perfection.
Joseph-Nephi is the Lord’s salvation unto the ends of the earth
Isaiah chapter 49 contains the words of Joseph-Nephi. Notice what he says here:
And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him,
Though Israel be not gathered,
yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And he said,
It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. (Isaiah 49:5-6)
Jesus Christ is our individual Savior, saving us individually, but when it comes to group salvation, we all participate, becoming saviors on mount Zion:
And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s. (Obadiah 1:21)
The principle is that we are to perform the works we are commanded to perform, and do all within our power, and then we are saved by the grace of God, who makes up for our lack.
For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. (2 Nephi 25:23)
Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed. (D&C 123:17)
Each of us does some small amount of group salvation work, according to our faith, and when you count it all up, when all that work is added together, it is not enough to complete the full task of group salvation, thus the group remains unsaved, because the work of salvation must be done to full completion and it must be done perfectly, otherwise it is insufficient to save. In other words, just as Jesus worked out, and needed to work out, a perfect atonement, in order to save us individually, so the group salvation work must be done perfectly and completely, in order to group-save us.
The Restoration brought about by Joseph Smith, then, being a partial restoration, is insufficient to accomplish the task of group salvation. Mormons have no power to connect themselves to Adam, nor to the Nephite fold of saints, nor to any other group of saints of antiquity. And the same goes for the primitive saints of Jerusalem, the saints of the Nephite dispensation, and of every other dispensation that ever existed. None of that was perfect, none of that was done to completion, none of that connected the various folds of the Lamb into one fold, nor did any of that connect the future souls, the as-yet unborn souls, into the fold. All of that, then, is insufficient to save us, and given that there is no individual salvation without group salvation, nor group salvation without individual salvation, this planet is toast unless God shows forth His grace.
God’s group salvation grace is Joseph-Nephi
Joseph-Nephi, then, is the manifestation of God’s grace, because this man will be endowed with all the gifts, fully empowered to godlike levels, so that he will be enabled to accomplish the entire workload, thus completing the salvation of man to perfection. It won’t matter that it is impossible for an imperfect man to do anything perfectly, he, being the greatest miracle-worker of all time, will perform a mighty miracle and do it perfectly anyway.
Now, because Joseph-Nephi is accounted as one of us, as part of the fold, as one of the many group saviors, the work he accomplishes is accounted as part of the work done by the fold, and thus is accounted as having been accomplished by the group (all of us) and thus we all are accounted as having complied with God’s commandments. We do an infinitesimally small amount of the work, and then Joseph-Nephi re-does our work perfectly, and also does the infinitely large amount of work that is left, completing everything perfectly. Thus, he quite literally does it all, because he has to re-do our lousy efforts so that all things are perfect.
The numbering of Israel
Now, I wish to impress upon the reader that John the Revelator is not up to the task of doing what Joseph-Nephi needs to, and will, do. Normal servants cannot accomplish such grand works, because they lack the necessary faith. God loves each and every one of His servants, and they all exercised mighty faith, including John the apostle, but the workload of the Elias who restores all things is essentially infinite, and neither John nor anyone else (nor perhaps the entire group’s faith combined,) is equal to the task. It will take a man who has all the gifts; and not just spiritual gifts, but all the physical gifts, as well; nor just fully maxed out gifts, but with their limits taken off, so that his faith is beyond the limitations. So, I’m talking of a super special servant who desires, and obtains by his faith, godlike powers, for only the power of God can accomplish the task.
Anyway, to more fully demonstrate what I’m talking about, I will expound upon the great numbering of Israel.
Moses gathered the house of Israel from the land of Egypt and numbered them (see the Book of Numbers, chapters 1-4 and 26), intending to restore them to the land of their inheritance. This same scenario will play out a second time during the last days. Israel will be gathered out from the nations and then numbered.
As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: and I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 20:33-38)
Ezekiel’s words: “And I will cause you to pass under the rod,” mean that Israel is “to be numbered as the flock.” The rod or staff is held out over the flock by the shepherd and as each head of sheep passes under it, the flock is numbered by the shepherd, one-by-one. This great event (the numbering of Israel) only occurs after Israel is gathered, and is yet another impossible miracle to be accomplished by the rod, who is Joseph-Nephi.
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: (Isaiah 11:1)
The reason why the numbering of Israel is impossible is because God promised Abraham his seed would be numberless:
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. (Genesis 13:16)
And he brought him forth abroad, and said,
Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them:
and he said unto him,
So shall thy seed be. (Genesis 15:5)
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; (Hosea 1:10)
So God set up the parameters whereby His end times miracle-working seer (Joseph-Nephi) could perform yet another impossible miracle, for God numbers all His sheep and thus all His sheep must be numbered by Joseph-Nephi:
And the time cometh speedily that the righteous must be led up as calves of the stall, and the Holy One of Israel must reign in dominion, and might, and power, and great glory. And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth; and he numbereth his sheep, and they know him; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture. (1 Nephi 22:24-25)
Hearken, O ye Gentiles, and hear the words of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, which he hath commanded me that I should speak concerning you, for, behold he commandeth me that I should write, saying:
Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways; and repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your idolatries, and of your murders, and your priestcrafts, and your envyings, and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, that ye may receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, that ye may be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel. (3 Nephi 30:1-2)
God never varies from what He says
Lest some claim that “the numbering” mentioned in the scriptures is merely a symbolic token and not a literal occurrence to be performed by Joseph-Nephi, consider these scriptures:
And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you. (Mosiah 2:22)
I perceive that it has been made known unto you, by the testimony of his word, that he cannot walk in crooked paths; neither doth he vary from that which he hath said; neither hath he a shadow of turning from the right to the left, or from that which is right to that which is wrong; therefore, his course is one eternal round. (Alma 7:20)
For God doth not walk in crooked paths, neither doth he turn to the right hand nor to the left, neither doth he vary from that which he hath said, therefore his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal round. (D&C 3:2)
So, as He has said His sheep shall be numbered, they shall be literally numbered, even though that is entirely impossible to do, because He has made them as numerous as the dust of the earth.
The purpose of the vision of all mankind
The scriptures record that the brother of Jared and also Moses saw visions in which all mankind, from beginning to end, were shown to them:
And when the Lord had said these words, he showed unto the brother of Jared all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth. (Ether 3:25)
And it came to pass that Moses looked, and beheld the world upon which he was created; and Moses beheld the world and the ends thereof, and all the children of men which are, and which were created; of the same he greatly marveled and wondered. (Moses 1:8)
And it came to pass, as the voice was still speaking, Moses cast his eyes and beheld the earth, yea, even all of it; and there was not a particle of it which he did not behold, discerning it by the Spirit of God. And he beheld also the inhabitants thereof, and there was not a soul which he beheld not; and he discerned them by the Spirit of God; and their numbers were great, even numberless as the sand upon the sea shore. (Moses 1:27-28)
This “vision of all mankind” was a privilege given to these servants (and perhaps to others) in which they were shown the vast numbers of people Joseph-Nephi would have to deal with. This vision serves a purpose; it was not merely eye-candy, or for God to show off. Neither the brother of Jared, nor Moses, had the capability of numbering all those people, let alone gathering them, sealing them, and so on. So for them the vision was wondrous and marvelous. And also for us who read the accounts of these visions. But for Joseph-Nephi this “vision of all mankind” is a necessary part of his ministry, for he needs to see what he’s working with, in order to number them, etc. So, that’s what the vision is for. That’s its purpose.
How is it that there will be so many of the house of Israel?
It is because all saved Israel must be numbered, which includes both all the saved living and all the saved dead who have existed since the days of Adam, and will also include all the unborn souls who will be saved. In addition to all these saved of Israel, the Gentiles who repent, from the days of Adam to the end of time, both the living, dead and unborn of them, will also be numbered among the house of Israel.
There are about 7 billion known people living on the planet right now, and it is estimated that there have been about 100 billion people that have lived here so far. (Estimates vary.) 100 billion people is not “numberless,” but that number does not take into account the unborn, who also will be numbered by Joseph-Nephi. Nor does it take into account the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.
The Lost Ten Tribes, alone, will be numberless
Ten of the twelve tribes of Israel went “missing” over 2000 years ago and haven’t been heard from since. Some people think that all these people were incorporated into the Gentile nations when they traveled “to the north countries.” Some stragglers of these tribes may have stayed behind in Gentile nations, but the bulk of them continued trekking north until they reached a hidden place on planet Earth that no one knows anything about. God has kept these people there, in this “hidden place” on Earth, multiplying like rabbits on steroids, so that now, over 2000 years later, they are as numberless as the sands of the seashore or the stars in the heavens. Their numbers are simply incalculable, thus fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham.
Gathering all things: the return of the Lost Ten Tribes
One of the endlessly many missions given to Joseph-Nephi will be to gather all things in one. This includes gathering all the living tribes of Israel, including the Lost Ten Tribes.
After this vision closed, the heavens were again opened unto us; and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north. (D&C 110:11)
The keys mentioned in the above scripture are currently with the LDS church, but are only used to gather spiritual Israel (the Gentiles) into the true church and fold of God. They are not used to gather literal Israel from the four parts of the earth, nor to lead the ten tribes back from the land of the north. For these functions, the leaders of the church are merely holding onto the keys until Joseph-Nephi shows up fully empowered, at which point he will receive them from the church leaders, for as the root of Jesse, he has a right to them:
What is the root of Jesse spoken of in the 10th verse of the 11th chapter?
Behold, thus saith the Lord, it is a descendant of Jesse, as well as of Joseph, unto whom rightly belongs the priesthood, and the keys of the kingdom, for an ensign, and for the gathering of my people in the last days. (D&C 113:5-6)
Given that these keys are for the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north, this means that Joseph-Nephi will personally go to where these tribes are hiding, and then personally lead them back. He is the point man in all this end times work, taking the lead of everything.
When the Lost Ten Tribes return from wherever they’ve been hidden, their vast numbers are going to cause great problems:
Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live,
saith the Lord,
thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth. For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears,
The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.
Then shalt thou say in thine heart,
Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? (Isaiah 49:18-21)
Despite the fact that their numbers will be essentially endless, making the land masses groan under their combined weight and causing all who behold their masses to be astonished and wonder where all these people could possibly be put (for they will crowd out every available spot), Joseph-Nephi will be tasked to number every last one of them, and he will do so:
And verily, verily, I say unto you that I have other sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister. For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them. But I have received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them, and that they shall hear my voice, and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold and one shepherd; therefore I go to show myself unto them. (3 Nephi 16:1-3)
Thus, when the Lost Ten Tribes arrive, we will all see that God’s promise to Abraham concerning the number of his seed was literal and not figurative or purely symbolic. And we will discover that all our current branches of mathematics are inadequate to ascertain the exact number of the persons making up each of the twelve tribes. Concerning the arrival of the Ten Tribes, the Lord has said:
And the boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble at their presence. (D&C 133:31)
So, their numbers will be vast, truly beyond comprehension, requiring Joseph-Nephi to restore the divine mathematics used in the heavens by God to count all His endless creations.
Why they must be numbered
The gathering of Israel is followed by the numbering of Israel, which is followed by Israel being restored to the lands of their inheritance. The tribal lands are inherited according to the number of each tribe. A tribe that has a greater number of people, receives a greater land grant; a tribe with a lesser number, receives less land for their inheritance. This is according to God’s commandment, given to Moses and Joshua, for Moses numbered the tribes of Israel (as recorded in the Book of Numbers) and then Joshua brought the tribes into their tribal lands and divvied up the land according to the numbering Moses had counted.
Joseph-Nephi will be patterned after all the prophets, seers, revelators and other servants of the Lord. So, he will be like Moses, delivering God’s people and gathering them out of the Gentile nations (and the Lost Ten Tribes from wherever they currently are), and then numbering them. And he will be like Joshua, bringing them into their tribal lands and then giving out inheritances according to their numbers. Joseph-Nephi will do all of this and much, much more.
Inheritance by tribe, and thus, numbering according to tribe
Because tribal inheritances are given out according to tribe, all who are accounted as Israel, both literal Israel and adopted Israel (Gentiles who repent and are numbered among Israel), must be placed in one of the twelve tribes. So, you don’t get placed in Israel, but in the tribe of Manasseh, or the tribe of Ephraim, or the tribe of Gad, etc. Then, when your entire tribe (let’s say it’s Gad) is counted by Joseph-Nephi, the land for Gad will be appointed, and then you will receive your inheritance on that land appointed for Gad. This is how it works. So, each tribal member must be assigned a tribe, and each tribe must be numbered, and then land must be appointed, with designated tribal land boundaries, and then you are given a piece of that land for yourself and all your descendants. It’s not a simple task, by any means.
Patriarchal blessings and lineage
The practice of receiving patriarchal blessings in which tribal lineage has been designated has been going on for about 200 years now and the LDS church is fastidious in recording every single patriarchal blessing ever given, and more especially those tribal lineages, and practically nobody knows why we do this, except that we’ve been commanded to do it.
Those tribal lineage designations we latter-day saints receive in our patriarchal blessings are going to be used by Joseph-Nephi to number us into the tribes of Israel, and for the latter-day saints to receive their future tribal land inheritances. Joseph-Nephi is going to take the tribal lineage revelations given in those patriarchal blessings, correct and perfect them, setting them in order
And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong…to set in order the house of God (D&C 85:7)
and then fully complete what Joseph Smith started, but on a grander and global scale, covering both the living, the dead and the unborn. He’s going to scale it completely up into the stratosphere (really straight into heaven), so that every saved person on this planet, from the beginning of time to the very end, gets put into a tribe of Israel, so that he can give them a land inheritance. The LDS leadership do not speak of this practice, why we do it, nor do they attempt to number the LDS population by tribe, because that is not their jurisdiction. They are merely to keep the work given to them by the Lord ongoing until Joseph-Nephi shows up to take over and finish everything to perfection.
Not enough land
The planet Earth will be too confining to fit all the new arrivals, which will include the Lost Ten Tribes as well as all the resurrected saved people who will be returning and who must also received a land inheritance (for as Jesus said, “the meek shall inherit the earth.”) Joseph-Nephi, then, will have to perform yet another glorious and astonishing miracle, and make the planet expand or enlarge in size, so that there is now plenty of room to fit everybody.
Now, this is only one of innumerable other impossible tasks that Joseph-Nephi will be given to accomplish before Jesus gets back. But this task alone, the coming numbering of Israel, is going to be as big a deal as any of the other tasks Joseph-Nephi is labored with.
Okay, back to John.
When John receives his mission
Chapters 4 and 5 of Revelation sets the stage for the opening of the seven seals of the sealed book.
Chapter 6 events occur after Jesus opens each of the six seals. These events take place after Joseph-Nephi appears on the scene fully empowered and before 11 April, 2033, which is the date that the sixth thousand years ends.
The events of chapter 7 take place after the sixth seal is opened and before 11 April, 2033.
The events of chapters 8 and 9 take place after 11 April, 2033, after the Lord has opened the seventh seal, but before the Lord’s Second Coming, and concern the sounding of the first six trumps by the angels.
Chapter 10 is when John receives his commission, even his mission and ordinance to gather the tribes of Israel, and takes place after 11 April, 2033, but before the Lord’s Second Coming, and between the sounding of the sixth and seventh angelic trumps.
Thus, John is not now gathering any tribes. The gathering of the tribes of Israel hasn’t even started yet. So, the idea that some have that John is with the 10 Lost Tribes, preparing them or whatever, is all conjecture and fantasy. Joseph-Nephi is the point man in all the end times work, therefore, John will go to Joseph-Nephi and receive his commission from Joseph-Nephi.
If we take Revelation chapters 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 to be chronological, then John’s mission of gathering the tribes of Israel will start only after the sixth angelic trump is sounded, which occurs after the 11 April, 2033 date, and before the seventh trump and before the Second Coming. And yet, the Elias who restores all things (who is Joseph-Nephi), has been active on the scene since chapter 6, for when the Lamb opens one of the seals of the sealed book, it is the Elias who restore all things (who is Joseph-Nephi) that translates that sealed record into all the languages of the world. John the apostle, though, doesn’t mention anything about having to perform any works, at all, during chapters 6, 7, 8 or 9. In other words, John receives his mission too late in end time events to be the Elias who restores all things, for that man has already been furiously working to restore all things by the time of chapter 10 of Revelation. This is yet more evidence that John is not the Elias who restores all things.
The principle of identification proves John is not the Elias who restores all things
It is my understanding that when a prophet or servant is known, he is identified. Thus, when Joseph Smith was asked, “Who is the Stem of Jesse,” he could identify the person (since Jesus had already lived) and so he gave the answer plainly:
Who is the Stem of Jesse spoken of in the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th verses of the 11th chapter of Isaiah?
Verily thus saith the Lord: It is Christ. (D&C 113:1-2)
But when Joseph Smith is asked about the rod and the root, this man (for it is the same man, Joseph-Nephi) had not been born, yet, and thus was unknown and unidentifiable to Joseph Smith, and so he answered in these vague ways:
What is the rod…?
Behold, thus saith the Lord: It is a servant in the hands of Christ…
What is the root of Jesse…?
Behold, thus saith the Lord, it is a descendant of Jesse… (D&C 113:3-6)
Another example of this principle in operation in the scriptures is concerning Joseph Smith’s translation of the Book of Mormon. When Joseph Smith came to the part which talked of a book called “the book of the Lamb of God,” Joseph Smith translated out the Nephite words word-for-word, because he couldn’t identify the book:
Wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God…And it came to pass that I beheld the remnant of the seed of my brethren, and also the book of the Lamb of God, which had proceeded forth from the mouth of the Jew, that it came forth from the Gentiles unto the remnant of the seed of my brethren. (1 Nephi 13:28,38)
But later on in the translation, when Joseph Smith came across the Nephite words, “a books,” he was able to identify it as “a Bible,” and so he did a functional translation and simply called it the Bible, which identified it for us:
And because my words shall hiss forth—many of the Gentiles shall say:
A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible.
But thus saith the Lord God:
O fools, they shall have a Bible; and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people. And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from them?…Thou fool, that shall say:
A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible.
Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews?…Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written. (2 Nephi 29:4,6,10)
Or, when Jesus was talking of John the Baptist to the people, He identified John the Baptist as the Elias who prepared all things:
And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John,
What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written,
Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Verily I say unto you,
Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. But the days will come, when the violent shall have no power; for all the prophets and the law prophesied that it should be thus until John. Yea, as many as have prophesied have foretold of these days. And if ye will receive it, verily, he was the Elias, who was for to come and prepare all things. (Matt. 11:7-12; JST Matt. 11:13-15)
Later when the disciples asked Jesus about the scribes saying that Elias must come first, Jesus again identified John the Baptist as Elias by again quoting the same scripture he quoted above, about the messenger who is sent before the Lord’s face, who prepares His way before Him. The Lord did this specifically because John the Baptist was known to the disciples, and therefore He identified him, but notice that the other Elias, the Elias who restores all things, had not yet been born, and so the Lord left him unidentified, and the apostles didn’t know who that was, only that it was someone else:
And his disciples asked him, saying,
Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? (Matthew 17:10)
And Jesus answered and said unto them,
Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things, as the prophets have written.
And again I say unto you that Elias has come already, concerning whom it is written,
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me;
and they knew him not, and have done unto him, whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. But I say unto you,
Who is Elias?
Behold, this is Elias, whom I send to prepare the way before me.
Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist, and also of another who should come and restore all things, as it is written by the prophets. (JST Matt. 17:10-14)
So, we see this principle in operation in the scriptures. Now, concerning the above scripture, which identified John the Baptist as Elias, and left another Elias unidentified, it needs to be understood that Jesus spoke these words to his disciples right after coming down from the mount of transfiguration:
And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus,
Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said,
Arise, and be not afraid.
And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying,
Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.
And his disciples asked him, saying,
Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? (Matt. 17:1-10)
Thus, Peter, James and John were there, asking Him about Elias. Jesus identified John the Baptist as one Elias, but spoke of another Elias who was yet to come and restore all things. And yet John the apostle was in that audience, hearing His words. If John was the Elias who restores all things, why didn’t Jesus simply identify John His beloved apostle as that Elias? Because John wasn’t and isn’t the Elias who restores all things. Joseph-Nephi is.
John didn’t identify himself as the angel ascending from the east
Yet another evidence using this same principle of identification when something can be identified is seen in John’s account of the Revelation vision. In chapter 7 John sees an angel ascending from the east, but does not say that this angel is himself. And yet, from Joseph Smith we know that this angel is the Elias who restores all things. Surely John the apostle should have recognized himself in vision, right? But he didn’t recognize the angel ascending from the east, because it wasn’t him. It was Joseph-Nephi. If it had been John, he would have said he saw himself ascending from the east as an angel. But he didn’t say that. So it was someone else. In fact, all the angels John saw were people other than himself.
Jesus is an Elias; and He also restores all things
Some might bring up Jesus as being the Elias who restores all things, so I will address that, too. John the Baptist testified of Jesus, saying:
He it is of whom I bear record. He is that prophet, even Elias, who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose, or whose place I am not able to fill; for he shall baptize, not only with water, but with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. (JST John 1:28)
And Joseph Smith received a revelation in which the Lord said:
I am the Lord thy God, and I gave unto thee, my servant Joseph, an appointment, and restore all things. (D&C 132:40)
So, Jesus Christ is an Elias and He also restores all things. This doesn’t mean that Jesus Christ is that Elias who restores all things. It merely means that He restores all things through the instrument in His hands, which is the rod of power, who is Elias (otherwise known as Joseph-Nephi.) Thus, He uses Joseph-Nephi’s faith to work all the wonders necessary to restore all things. And Joseph-Nephi restores all things through his faith (which He received from God), which faith also allows him to use the power and gifts of God.
So, the one is in the hands of the Other; One cannot do anything among men unless men have faith and He only works among men according to their faith, and given that the person in His hands has, essentially, endless faith, He can fully work among men and effect the restoration of all things; the other works by the power of the One, by using the faith which the One gave him. So, God claims credit for all the works that Joseph-Nephi will do, because Joseph-Nephi will do it by God’s power, using faith God gave him, acting as God’s instrument. Nevertheless, it is still Joseph-Nephi who does it, and so he also gets credit. Understand?
And there shall rise up one mighty among them, who shall do much good, both in word and in deed, being an instrument in the hands of God, with exceeding faith, to work mighty wonders, and do that thing which is great in the sight of God, unto the bringing to pass much restoration unto the house of Israel, and unto the seed of thy brethren. (2 Nephi 3:24)
What is the rod spoken of in the first verse of the 11th chapter of Isaiah, that should come of the Stem of Jesse? Behold, thus saith the Lord: It is a servant in the hands of Christ, who is partly a descendant of Jesse as well as of Ephraim, or of the house of Joseph, on whom there is laid much power. (D&C 113:3-4)
These servants are too humble and timid to accomplish the task
There is a distinct difference between Joseph-Nephi and all the other servants of God. All the others, from the beginning of time to now, have all been far too meek. Now, meekness and humility is a good thing, sure, but when you are dealing with a task that might as well be infinitely scaled up so that it is of gargantuan proportions and truly impossible to accomplish any way you look at it, such as the workload that will be put upon the shoulders of Joseph-Nephi, you need a different kind of attitude. You need cojones. Big ones. The biggest ones of all.
Every one of the servants of God in the scriptures was humbled to the dust by the callings they had received, and often wished, at first, to back out of their callings because they didn’t feel worthy or properly qualified. Moses tried to back out:
And Moses said unto the Lord,
O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.
And the Lord said unto him,
Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
And he said,
O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.
And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses (Exodus 4:10-14)
John the Baptist tried to get out of baptizing Jesus:
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying,
I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? (Matthew 3:13-14)
John the Revelator fell down before the angel and even tried to worship him!
And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me,
See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God. (Revelation 22:8-9)
Gideon was so unsure of himself that he kept asking for witnesses. And so on and so forth. Joseph-Nephi won’t be like that. He will be super tenacious, like a bulldog, ready and willing and desirous to tackle the task with all he’s got.
Also, all the other servants have been content with their missions and tasks. They desired to see the salvation of man completed, and strove to accomplish it, but they failed, each and every one. To comfort them, God simply showed them the vision of Joseph-Nephi’s ministry, so that they could see it would eventually be accomplished, and they were then content with their labors.
Nevertheless, all of these servants were astonished by what they saw Joseph-Nephi do (for the work of his ministry is truly great.) Now, you cannot perform the restoration of all things and be astonished by it at the same time. If a servant of God goes and performs a marvelous work and is astonished by what he does, the work ceases. Astonishment causes a cessation, because you are left in wide-eyed wonder, without strength. So, Joseph-Nephi is like the others in faith, but unlike them in that his mortal vision, for some reason, isn’t impressed by the great works he does.
A (prophetic) psychological profile of Joseph-Nephi
In other words, what impresses others doesn’t impress him. And he wants to be impressed. So, this is, essentially, an extremely bored individual, who loathes the things of man and who has a need or desire to only see truly great things, even the greatest things of all (which are the things of God), in order to be impressed. He needs an extra-special and an extra-difficult challenge, otherwise he’s bored out of his mind. So, God has to give him not a large task, but the whole task, the entirety of the work of group salvation and the redemption of all things. God piles on the workload, infinitely, because this man glories in doing big and wonderful things. Whereas others shout, like Martin Harris, “Tis enough! Tis enough! Mine eyes have beheld! Mine eyes have beheld!” after seeing an angel, Joseph-Nephi is the sort of person that says, “More! More! I want to see it all! Show me all the angels!” Others experience the spirit of power and wet their pants. Joseph-Nephi experiences the spirit of power and says, “Oh, yeah! That’s exactly what I want! All of the time!” The apostles of Jesus on the mount were “sore afraid” after hearing God the Father’s voice, but Joseph-Nephi in that same situation would have jumped up and down for joy and asked to hear more and to see God, too. So, this is not an ordinary person. Normal people see the light of God and retreat in fear, this man runs right into it at breakneck speed to find out what’s behind it.
Therefore, although it is a romantic notion that people have that John the Beloved is the Elias who restores all things, or that Joseph Smith will be the one to come back and accomplish the restoration of all things, and although I hate to break all yer bubbles, it simply ain’t any of these people, or anyone else of the scriptures you may think. This is an entirely new servant of God, held back for millennia, to be born in our age. And he’s unlike anyone we’ve ever seen before.
Now, I’ll use the rest of this post to expound a little bit more about Joseph-Nephi, since I’ve gained a much greater understanding about him and his mission since last I posted.
Isaiah 49:1-12
These verses speak of Joseph-Nephi and his mission, but I’m not going to expound this whole thing. I’m just going to point out a few things.
The first six verses are the words of Joseph-Nephi himself:
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; and said unto me,
Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
Then I said,
I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.
And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him,
Though Israel be not gathered,
yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And he said,
It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. (Isaiah 49:1-6)
Listen, O isles, unto me—This first part is the announcement I spoke about before on this blog. When Joseph-Nephi becomes fully empowered, going from weakness to strength, he will make an announcement that he is now on the scene, which we will all hear. Like everything else about this man, it will undoubtedly be done by some mighty miracle.
The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name—When explaining his history, Joseph-Nephi will mention his mother and her womb, so that he will begin the account of his history from before the time he was born. Also, given that Gabriel ministered and announced the birth and name of both John the Baptist and Jesus before they were born, we may see this scenario repeat.
In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; In his quiver hath he hid me—Joseph-Nephi will be hidden in a place that is impossible to find. I believe that he may be hidden in time. In other words, this man will have power to do all things, including changing times and seasons. I have already on this blog explained that he will need to alter the past, something that is altogether impossible. He will also have power to perform reset miracles, including time reset miracles, so that one instant we are in 2017 and in the next instant when he performs the miracle, all of time has been rewound to some past year or time, affecting all the living and dead, the planet locations, etc. If he does such a thing, that makes our current timeline an alternate timeline in which God can fully prepare him to be the mighty seer he is destined to become, giving him all the practice he needs to be fully expert in all the powers and gifts of God. Isaiah’s quiver symbol, then, brings up the idea of parallel timelines, for what is a quiver? Is it not a bunch of tubes (which are lines) aligned together? And Joseph-Nephi is the “polished shaft” (a long, slender cylinder, or rod, with a pointed end) that Isaiah says is hidden in one of the tubes (time lines) of that quiver. If and when he resets the time, then, he will literally “burst onto the scene” as the fully empowered Josephite, and the devil of the past will poop his spiritual pants. The devil of today knows who this man is, of course, just as he knew who Joseph Smith was, but Joseph-Nephi is hidden somewhere, as a protection to him, so the devil’s servants can’t get to him to assassinate him while he is in his weakness. Wherever he is, then, he is safe. Also, this timeline serves as a place of “hidden darkness” in which he can be hidden and prepared by the Lord, and raised up properly. The devil, knowing Joseph-Nephi’s plans (if indeed he has such plans) to perform a time reset miracle and rewind the time to a former year cannot do anything to counter this miracle. The devil cannot prepare his past self for the advent of Joseph-Nephi from the future, for the devil is likewise affected by a time reset miracle, so that when the reset occurs, the devil will have been reset to a former time and will have no knowledge of this alternate future. His past devilish self, then, will have to deal, as best he can, with a fully empowered Josephite bursting onto the scene unexpectedly.
Do you remember that I said in a previous post that I thought that Joseph-Nephi should be empowered, Joseph Smith should show up and issue the Proclamation, and the New Articles of Confederation (or something like it) should be installed, all before April of 2017? And yet none of that happened. Well, my feelings haven’t changed one bit. I still feel like this stuff is going to happen before April of 2017. Which is impossible. Unless the guy is going to perform a time reset miracle…
Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified—He is representative of Israel (he who prevails with God) and God will be glorified by the work that he accomplishes. (And why not be glorified by him? He will accomplish the whole work, after all!)
I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain—This means that Joseph-Nephi’s weak phase is a manifestation of the anti-prosperity miracle. In other words, God has placed the man in a spiritual box by this miracle, so that he cannot get ahead, not even one iota. The man then must exercise faith in order to get the miracle off of him, and when his faith gets strengthened some more, God puts even more of the miracle on him. Instead of giving up, the man exercises even more faith, and then God boxes him up even more, and so on it goes, endlessly. Eventually the man’s faith becomes super-charged and over-developed, like faith on steroids, becoming so mighty that it is impossible for God to keep him boxed-in any longer by the miracle, and the man, by his faith alone, gets himself out of the box. The anti-prosperity miracle, then, at that point, no longer works, and so it flips or reverses polarity, like the switch of a light, changing from the anti-prosperity miracle, to the prosperity miracle, and the man then prospers miraculously according to his now outrageously great and strong faith. In other words, God is applying a spiritual isometric press to the man, giving him something impossible to push against, with his faith, to super-develop it. Joseph-Nephi needs exorbitant amounts of faith in order to accomplish the mission of restoration, so God must deal with him a bit different than other servants. Mighty faith is not enough. He needs “exceeding faith,” meaning faith that exceeds all, going beyond all limits.
And there shall rise up one mighty among them, who shall do much good, both in word and in deed, being an instrument in the hands of God, with exceeding faith, to work mighty wonders, and do that thing which is great in the sight of God, unto the bringing to pass much restoration unto the house of Israel, and unto the seed of thy brethren. (2 Nephi 3:24)
So, this man’s faith will be entirely off the scales and well into godhood territory. It is the anti-prosperity miracle, which hedges up his way, which prods him continually to try to get the thing off of him. And this prod, like a button God pushes, keeps him heading in the direction he needs to go, which is the direction of more and more, and of stronger and stronger faith. No servant of God, then, will hold a candle to him when God is done with this process of over-developing his faith. He will be altogether different than any man the world has ever seen. This is why the scriptures speak of three bigwigs: Christ the Messiah, the Prophet spoken of by Moses, and Elias that restores all things. Jesus Christ is the Prophet, and He is God, so He’s obviously big. But the Elias who restores all things is right up there on the same level as Christ and the Prophet in importance, and yet he’s just a man. But his faith level pushes him up to the Christ and Prophet level, making him essential to our salvation.
Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord—This refers to his reward for having requested in faith to be the Elias who restores all things. God’s Great and Marvelous work is essentially infinitely large, so the Elias who restores all things gets certain privileges as a recompense for having to single-handedly perform so much work. What is his reward? All of his desires will be given to him in this life, without limitations. In other words, it will be done by the power of God, therefore nothing is off the table, nothing is impossible. Whatever he wants, he will get. As much as he wants, where he wants, who he wants, etc. He gets his full desires given to him…just as soon as he gets himself out of the spiritual box! This, then, is another motivation he has. I call this his “carrot on a stick” and as soon as he is free of the box, by his faith, he will have all the miraculous power of God needed to create his carrot and obtain it and be satisfied by it. Now, he needs to be satisfied and content and blissful with his carrot, because the restoration of all things is an infinite amount of responsibility, and that alone is too much stress for any one man. Should this man fail at his task, all of creation will be destroyed at the Second Coming of Christ.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (Malachi 4:5-6)
Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming. (D&C 2:1-3)
So, our salvation fully depends upon the success of his mission. Therefore, he must be entirely stress-free. His carrot then will comfort him and make his life blissful, so that he can fully concentrate on the infinite number of things he must do to group-save us all. Despite all the stress that the work God lays upon him will cause him, his divinely bestowed carrot will just as rapidly remove that stress. And thus, God has fully planned for his success, and thus our success, for he will succeed and save us all.
The Lord formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him—This shows that Joseph-Nephi’s sole life purpose is this restoration of all things. It’s what he was born for. It’s the reason for his very existence. John the apostle and all the other servants who lived out their lives in the past, served other purposes of God. Sure, other servants will participate in the end time events, but they will play a secondary role in the restoration of all things, not the primary role like Joseph-Nephi will have. This man’s mortal sojourn will be fully occupied by God’s holy work of restoration and salvation of all things.
It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel—In other words, it’s too small a thing. Bringing the house of Israel back to God, so that they repent and come to Christ, and raising them back up into tribes, gathering them, numbering them, sealing them, giving them inheritances, and so on: all of this work is too small a thing for Joseph-Nephi to do! This is what God is saying. His workload needs to be much more heavy because the man has a seemingly endless amount of faith. This means that God will intentionally pile on the workload, piling it up and up and up, to the very heavens above, so that Joseph-Nephi is absolutely swamped with impossible things to do, and has to do everything, in the process saving both Israel and the Gentiles and also the entire earth, becoming God’s salvation unto the ends of the earth. He’s got enormous faith, so he will use it all, which makes workloads less than infinite too easy to accomplish. Therefore God will make it infinite for him, so that he won’t be so bored with life. And it will be so large, a truly infinite workload, that he will need every last drop of faith he’s got to accomplish it all.
Again, because his faith will be orders of magnitude greater than anything we’ve ever seen here on earth, God must give the man a challenge, so the number of impossible tasks needed to be accomplished will multiply endlessly. Every task will be impossible and there will be infinite numbers of them and every problem he will face will be impossible to solve and there won’t be enough time to finish any of it, etc. Yet, none of that will matter, because Joseph-Nephi will accomplish it anyway, even if he has to alter all of history to do it. Most servants of God have some respect for the laws of physics and the Universe, having limitations in their brains as to what is “appropriate” to do with miraculous power. This man, though, will have no such limitations. He will have the power to do anything, and so he will alter all reality and even time itself, as he sees fit, and will bring all time, past, present and future, together, gathering everything, and everyone, into the present, so that we all enter eternity. This man, then, starts out in one point of time, one point of reference, but then using these vast powers his faith affords him, will start altering reality and conditions among men, as he sees fit and as necessary, in order to get all the work done before the deadline. Given he’s a bulldog and not a timid individual, then, God needs to make it all as difficult as possible for him, as challenging as possible, giving him impossible puzzles to solve, which perhaps involve time and space manipulations, etc. To God this is fun stuff, watching a single, solitary servant do everything that is thrown at him, no matter how hard or impossible it is, and in record time. To God this is manly stuff. And in this way God proves to man, once and for all, that by faith all things are accomplished, by having a single special servant accomplish all things. And for Joseph-Nephi, given the type of bulldoggish, bored and unimpressed person he is, to him it is all fun, too. Thus, it is a glorious time for both.
The promised carrot gives him confidence galore, even in weakness
Of note is the fact that even in the man’s weakness, he’s supremely confident that his promised carrot is assured and that he will be glorious in the eyes of God. We don’t know what his carrot will be, but Isaiah gives us a glimpse of it here:
And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:10)
That rest that Isaiah speaks of is not Joseph-Nephi’s eternal rest, for he will be a translated man, and thus will never die, or sleep in the earth. He will live and live and live and live, right here on earth, enjoying his carrot forever, after he has completed the salvation of man. So, the rest is referring to the man’s house here on earth, which Isaiah says will be “glorious.” I have previously taught on this blog that Joseph-Nephi will be working almost exclusively by miracles, therefore we can assume that his house will be something impossible, some reality-altering miracle he has conjured up in which to live, which defies the laws of physics. (Remember, he gets whatever he wants as a recompense, even if it’s impossible.)
The carrot comes before he starts the work of the Lord, for the carrot has to keep the man stress-free, so we can expect that as soon as he gets out of his box, he’ll go for his carrot. Whatever it is, it will undoubtedly alter conditions among men, given that a slew of reality-altering miracles will proceed forth from him to obtain it. It is the promised carrot, then, and the eventual release of himself from the spiritual box, that serves as the man’s motivation. And think about it. If you were told by God, “I’ll give you whatever you want; all your dreams will come true, by my power, once you get yourself out of this box I’ve put you in,” wouldn’t that be some mighty strong motivation? So, the guaranteed promise of his carrot will make the man of supreme confidence, despite being in his box.
Riches galore and a hated man
We must likewise assume that once out of his box he’ll be richer than all the world’s rich people combined. He will be the lord of this earth, and it will be done by the miraculous power of God, operating the prosperity miracle upon him according to his now over-developed faith. So, while weak, he will be a poor man, because of the super-empowered hedge miracle placed upon him, which stops his economic progress, but once off of him, a super-empowered prosperity miracle will be placed upon him, which will make his way straight in all things, all obstacles and stumbling-blocks being forever removed from his path. And thus, once freed from the box, God will bless him beyond belief and also confound all his enemies:
And thus prophesied Joseph, saying:
Behold, that seer will the Lord bless; and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise, which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of my loins, shall be fulfilled. (2 Nephi 3:14)
This dual miracle, the prosperity miracle upon him and his enemies confounded, plus the fact that he will now be the richest man alive, by a long shot, in other words, his wealth will be impossible to count, for all things about this man will be miraculous, thus, he will hold the financial destiny of the world in his hands. So, nations are going to hate him, for they will see that suddenly this man, who has come out of left field, has power and control over them:
Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers,
Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee. (Isaiah 49:7)
He will be a servant of rulers. Now, how will he serve the rulers? We don’t know. But whatever service he provides to them, it will be something they need, something that only he can supply, something that puts them in his control. In other words, he will set the terms of the service and they will have to agree to his terms and so he will have them right where he wants them, and they will know it, and they will hate him for it.
The man in control and in authority
So, Joseph-Nephi will be the end times Zerubbabel who gets put in authority over the nations of the world:
And again the word of the Lord came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,
Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying,
I will shake the heavens and the earth; and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. In that day,
saith the Lord of hosts,
will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,
saith the Lord,
and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee,
saith the Lord of hosts. (Haggai 2:20-23)
The name Zerubbabel means “born in Babylon” and as Joseph-Nephi will be a Gentile, born here in America (the USA), he fits the prophecy. Thus Zechariah’s Zerubbabel prophecy also applies to Joseph-Nephi:
And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and said unto me,
What seest thou?
And I said,
I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying,
What are these, my lord?
Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me,
Knowest thou not what these be?
And I said,
No, my lord.
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying,
This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying,
Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit,
saith the Lord of hosts.
Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying,
Grace, grace unto it.
Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it;
and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth. (Zechariah 4:1-10)
Joseph-Nephi, then, will both lay the foundation of God’s house and also finish it. He will build the whole thing, from top to bottom, and it will not be done by the might or power of man, but by the Spirit of God. So, the end times Zerubbabel (Joseph-Nephi) will be working mighty miracles to cause all the prophecies that were spoken by the holy prophets from the very beginning to now, to be precisely fulfilled, including the temple and city that Ezekiel saw in vision, as recorded in the last half of his book.
Joseph-Nephi will also be the end times Joseph who was sold into Egypt and the end times Zaphnath-paaneah:
And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him,
Bow the knee:
and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.
And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-paaneah; (Genesis 41:42-45)
According to the Bible Dictionary, Zaphnath-paaneah is:
A name given by Pharaoh to Joseph (Gen. 41:45). Although its meaning is uncertain, the Rabbinical commentaries, following the Targum, interpret the name as “he who reveals that which is hidden.”
And this is exactly what Joseph-Nephi will do, for he will translate the sealed portion of the plates of Mormon, revealing all hidden things.
Joseph-Nephi will have all the spirits
Joseph Smith gave a discourse on Mar. 10, 1844, in Nauvoo, Illinois, in which he expounded on the spirit and calling and office and power of Elias, Elijah and Messiah. Some people present during that discourse took notes, which you can read by clicking here. The gist is this: one spirit does the preparing (what Joseph referred to as the spirit of Elias), while another spirit does the finishing (what Joseph referred to as the spirit of Elijah),
and the sounding of the trumpets of the seven angels are the preparing and finishing of his work, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years—the preparing of the way before the time of his coming. (D&C 77:12)
while a third spirit does the empowering (what Joseph referred to as the spirit of Messiah.) All three spirits manifested during the Mormon Restoration, hence, the world can trust in Mormonism. It is truly the kingdom seed.
Likewise, during the ministry of Joseph-Nephi, all three spirits will manifest, except that they will manifest fully, as the fully mature kingdom tree, and not as mere shadows, or as the kingdom seed.
And so on and so forth.
This post serves as a correction
With this post I have attempted to correct a few errors found among the saints. Hopefully I have succeeded.
To recap: John the apostle is not the Elias who restores all things. That is Joseph-Nephi. John merely receives a small mission from the hand of Joseph-Nephi to gather some of the tribes of Israel, which mission he will accomplish in the future.
The deadline for the completion of the group salvation of man and the redemption of this earth is the Second Coming. All work (including all temple work) must be accomplished perfectly prior to that day, otherwise we are all doomed. Latter-day saints have been erroneously taught to believe that our work for the dead has no deadline, and that we can complete it at our leisure during the Millennium. D&C 77:12, however, proves that this teaching and belief is false. No temple work will be done during the Millennium.
The work that must be accomplished before the time of Jesus’s Second Coming is much greater than the work we are currently doing in our temples. God must sanctify the earth, complete the salvation of man (which refers to group salvation), judge all things, redeem all things, and seal all things unto the end of all things, both for the dead, the living and the unborn, through His miracle-working seer, Joseph-Nephi, otherwise this creation and everything on it will be destroyed.
Nothing done in this dispensation or in previous dispensations is sufficient to group-save us, because work done partially is insufficient. It has to be entirely done to completion, and also perfectly done, otherwise it’s useless. Thus, the Restoration produced by Joseph Smith is entirely useless to save us, because it is missing parts (such as the work for all the unborn), there is not enough work done of the parts that are intact, there is no way to connect all the folds into one and nothing is done perfectly. And everything else done in previous dispensations is also useless, missing parts, partially done and imperfect. Unless Joseph-Nephi appears and takes all that work and completes it perfectly, re-doing it perfectly, we are all toast. The good news is that that is exactly what is going to happen, and it will all happen before Jesus gets back.
In closing, what Mormonism is
The reader might ask, “If Joseph-Nephi is the actual Elias who restores all things, then what is Joseph Smith and what is Mormonism?” The answer is: Mormonism is Joseph-Nephi’s shadow, even his foreshadow.
Joseph-Nephi is the Lord’s forerunner for the Second Coming of Christ. Therefore, if Christ is a shining light, brighter than the Sun, and His forerunner is standing in front of Him, with his back towards Him, ready to sprint ahead and prepare His way, that bright and shining light of Christ hits the back of Joseph-Nephi and casts a shadow in front on him, even a foreshadow. Depending on how low the light Source is, the foreshadow might be really long.
So, between 100 and 200 years before Joseph-Nephi was born, his foreshadow arrived in the form of the church and gospel of Jesus Christ, as restored by Joseph Smith. Whereas Joseph-Nephi is the Lord’s messenger that He sends to prepare the way before Him, and is a man of flesh and blood, his foreshadow is not a man of flesh and blood, but just a silhouette of the restoration of all things that he will accomplish. Therefore, the foreshadow (Mormonism) becomes both the messenger and the covenant:
And even so I have sent mine everlasting covenant into the world, to be a light to the world, and to be a standard for my people, and for the Gentiles to seek to it, and to be a messenger before my face to prepare the way before me. (D&C 45:9)
Later on Joseph-Nephi, a man of flesh and blood, will be both the messenger and the covenant given to group-save the people:
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me:
and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in:
behold, he shall come,
saith the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3:1)
Thus saith the Lord,
In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; (Isaiah 49:8)
Just as some like to build up John the Revelator into something more than he is, so others like to build up both Joseph Smith and the Restoration he performed into something more than he and it was. Neither John the Revelator, nor Joseph Smith will be the miracle-working seer that will be known as Joseph-Nephi, nor will they perform, nor be able to perform, the work he will do. Nor is the Restoration Joseph Smith performed, which we know as Mormonism, equal to the restoration of all things that Joseph-Nephi will accomplish. It’s just a foreshadow of something infinitely greater to come.
Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist
July 26, 2017
Categories: End Times, Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, Joseph Smith, Joseph-Nephi, Patriarchal Blessings, Prophecy, Prophets, Redeeming the Dead, Scriptural Expositions, Temples, Unity . Tags: Elias, John the Apostle, John the Revelator, Joseph-Nephi, Restoration of All Things . Author: LDS Anarchist . Comments: 16 Comments
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