Repentance and faith on Jesus Christ..."his most Beloved"‏

What a blessing it is to repent. 

In the words of Nephi: “..we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ..that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” (2 Ne. 25:26)  As king Benjamin said: "I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ" (Mosiah 3:17). 

Jesus Christ is the only source for a remission of our sins.

Jacob explained to Sherem, the anti-christ “..none of the prophets have written, nor prophesied,  

save they have spoken concerning..Christ.” (Jac. 7:11) 

Jacob also wrote: “..for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory..and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but  also all the holy prophets which were before us. Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name..”  (Jacob 4:4-5)   

The chapter heading of Helaman chapter 8 reads: “Abraham, Moses, Zenos, Zenock, Ezias, 

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lehi, and Nephi all testified of Christ..” 

And like all of the holy prophets before him, President Gordon B. Hinckley also testified of Jesus Christ in the December 2002 First Presidency Message entitled “A Testimony of the Son of God.” 

President Hinckley states:  “We honor Him, we worship Him, we love Him as our Redeemer, the great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New Testament. 

The entire thrust of the testimony of the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants declares our living Lord before whom we kneel in humility and faith. .. we sing His praises and speak our words of faith and gratitude and love. It is His influence in our lives that stirs within us more kindness, more respect, more love, more concern. It is because of Him and His teachings that we reach out to those in trouble, 

distress, and need wherever they may be.” 

The Prophet Mormon wrote: “..that they may be persuaded that Jesus is the Christ, the 

Son of the living God, his most Beloved..” (Mor. 5:14) 

Alma declares:  “..cast off your sins, and not procrastinate the day of your repentance” (Alma 13:27). In these verses Alma the younger is speaking to the people at the city of Ammonihah. Earlier in verse 21 it states: “..Alma..stretched forth his hand unto them  and cried with a mighty voice, saying: Now is the time to repent, for the day of salvation draweth nigh;” Amulek while serving as Alma’s missionary companion in Ammonihah used very similar words: “I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance..” (Alma 34:33) 

   

As you will recall Alma the elder as a “young man” (Mosiah 17:2) was serving as one of the false priests of King Noah. He elieved the words of Abinadi. He was “cast out” and hid himself” and “being concealed for many days did write all the words which Abinadi had spoken”(Mosiah 17:3-4). Alma “repented of his sins and iniquities” and “went about privately ..to teach the words of Abinadi” (Mosiah 18:1). Alma organizes “the church of Christ”(Mosiah 18:17) and  “Alma having authority from God, ordained priests..and he commanded them that they should teach nothing save it were the things which he had taught, and which had been spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets. Yea, even he commanded them that they should preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord, who had redeemed his people” 

(Mosiah 18:18-20). 

Alma the Elder had ‘repented of his sins and iniquities’ and had taught those who he ordained as priests to ‘preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord’. Repentance and faith on the Lord are not separate concepts. Repentance is only possible by having faith on the Lord. 

  The bible dictionary states: “..by faith one obtains a remission of sins..” (B.D. pg. 670- Faith)  and  “repentance comes to mean a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined” (B.D. pg.760 -Repentance). 

"Repentance is an act of faith in Jesus Christ--an acknowledgement of the power of His Atonement." (True to the Faith, Repentance, page 133)

  Elder Neal A. Maxwell has spoken several times about our will. On one occasion he said: 

“..the submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s alter. The many other things we ‘give’, brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our 

individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!” 

(“Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, pg.22) (Mosiah 15:7) 

Salvation is "unto all who would repent of their sins and receive the Gospel" (D & C 138:31).

We are the only religion that believes "that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel" (Articles of Faith, No. 3). 

Here is some background to D & C 138 that I thought you might find interesting:

“Section 138 describes a series of visions of the postmortal spirit world seen by President Joseph F. Smith on 3 October 1918. President Gordon B. Hinckley called it “a document without parallel” and said, “There is nothing quite like it in all of our sacred literature” DEATH haunted mankind in 1918. The Great War, or World War I, was in the process of claiming more than 9 million lives. That staggering figure paled in comparison with the number of those who died in even less time due to a global influenza pandemic. Worldwide, the virus reaped a grim harvest of perhaps 50 million souls. It killed more than 195,000 Americans in October 1918 alone, the deadliest month in American history—the month the Lord gave the visions recorded in section 138. Joseph F. Smith was president of the Church during a time of widespread intense suffering. His life’s experiences equipped him to grasp the enormity of death and its implications. His father, Hyrum, had been brutally shot to death when Joseph was five. “I lost my mother, the sweetest soul that ever lived,” he wrote, “when I was only a boy” (“Status,” 5:92). His first child, Mercy Josephine, died at age two, leaving Joseph “vacant, lonely, desolate, deserted” (Smith, Life, 456). His beloved eldest son, Hyrum Mack Smith, died unexpectedly in January 1918, creating what President Smith called his “overwhelming burden of grief.” In between these untimely deaths, President Smith buried a wife and eleven other children (Smith, Life, 476). Few people have tasted the bitterness of death more frequently. As general conference approached in October 1918, President Smith himself was less than two months from the end of his own mortal life. Very ill, he surprised the Saints by appearing at conference on 4 October. He spoke briefly, saying, “I have dwelt in the spirit of prayer, of supplication, of faith and of determination; and I have had my communication with the Spirit of the Lord continuously” (CR, 2). Indeed he had; the Lord had revealed to him this vision of the redemption of the dead just the day before. After conference he dictated it to his son Joseph Fielding Smith....The revelation declares in verse 58 that the dead can repent and be redeemed through the same gospel of Jesus Christ that saves the repentant living. The determining factor was not death but AGENCY. Individuals were not saved or damned based on when they lived or died but on what they decided to do with Christ’s offer of salvation when they learned about it. Section 138 restored and expanded Bible doctrine. In doing so it reinforced the Bible’s wholeness and truthfulness and its compatibility with the Book of Mormon and the Restoration. President Smith saw Adam, Eve, and Old Testament patriarchs and prophets, Book of Mormon prophets, Joseph Smith and others from the last dispensation, all unified by the Savior and his unbounded gospel. The vision gives coherence to God’s perfect plan for the redemption of his children; a wholeness that is lacking from most theologies. The devastating toll of death at the time the visions recorded in section 138 were given and had people understandably looking for answers. This vision of the redemption of the dead answered that need to know. On 31 October 1918, an ailing President Smith sent his son Joseph Fielding Smith to read the revelation to a meeting of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. They “accepted and endorsed the revelation as the Word of the Lord” (Talmage). The Deseret Evening News published the revelation about a month later. In the meantime, President Joseph F. Smith passed from life to death, knowing what he could expect on the other side of the veil.”  (Written by Steven Harper)

I love you,

Dad

A few photos from this week:

Snail race! 

Lady walking her goats

Elder Rameka (in the suit coat) returning to New Zealand.

The Balanga family moving to Angola. Both husband and wife are returned missionaries and very strong members. He was just released as the 2nd counselor in the Beira District Presidency.

Last Saturday, May 31st, we attended a combined marriage ceremony for four couples followed by a baptismal service for eighteen (18)!

The Mozambiquens show very little emotion.

The is Zeca Canamala receiving his missionary call. He is the first missionary to leave from the Dondo Branch. Called to Durban, South Africa, leaving September 4th but he really wants to see if he can leave sooner.

Elders Figueiredo and Maezane both from Maputo have finally received their Visas and can leave to serve in Angola. 

Elder Sergio Rasso from Munhava has been called to serve in Brazil. He will serve in Nampula, Mozambique while he awaits his Visa. The other three young men and Marianna are all waiting for their mission calls.

Elder Fernando Cambarame will serve in Maputo while he awaits his Visa to Brazil. 

Large crowd at the airport waiting to greet a victorious basketball team

Elders Peckham and Hales leaving for Swaziland. Both have served as Zone Leaders in Beira.

From our front window yesterday, we noticed this man on a narrow ledge cleaning the air conditioner. Not sure how the ladder three stories below will be able to help him.

Close up of the man on the ledge.