The Fruits of Prayer

In Alma 34:17-27, Amulek counsels us to pray constnatly both for ourselves and for those around us. The prayer that Amulek is speaking of is not simply I thank thee...., I ask thee.... type of prayer. Rather, he teaches us that we "must pour out [our] souls." I know that when we pray in faith, our Heavenly Father will hear and answer our prayers. But pouring out our souls is not the only thing we need to do in order for our "prayers to find access to [Heavenly Father" (Hymn #172, In Humility our Savior). In verse 28, Amulek teaches us a very important principle to prayer. He teaches that if we "turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart not of [our] substance, if [we] have, to those who stand in need....behold, [our] prayer is in vain and [we] are as hypocrites who do deny the faith." In other words there are two parts to our prayer. The first is speaking to the Lord in faith. The second part is to have charity for others by going forth and serving them. Amulek gives some great examples of how we can show forth charity, but I think there are many more. The most beautiful part of prayer is that as we pray in faith, the Lord will reveal to us the things that we should DO after we ASK. As we go forth and do those things, as Ammon we will be able to rejoice in the Lord because "we [will] be made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work" (Alma 26:3) which we have been called to do as holders of the Priesthood of God.

Days of Greatest Sorrow - Hope or Despair?

Despite knowing that his course in life was according to the will of the Lord, Lehi still recognized that leaving Jerusalem was a difficult and trying thing to do. This is evidenced by a statement that he made to his youngest son Joseph. He said, "thou wast born in the wilderness of mine afflictions; yea, in the days of my greatest sorrow did thy mother bear thee" (2 Nephi 3:1). That is pretty strong indication of how difficult the journey was for him and his family. The thing that I love about this statement is that he does not dwell on it. He acknowledges that it was difficult, but it stops at that. This is a great example of hope. Hope is not to create a dillusion of the mind that "everything is okay" when it is not. Our Heavenly Father expects us to acknowledge that sometimes the things he commands us to do are hard; that his commandments require sacrifice of the things that we enjoy or are comfortable doing. Rather, hope is a knowledge that no matter what happens, in the long-run we will obtain that which we are seeking --- Eternal Life.

Immediately after making this statement about the trials he endured, Lehi goes on to teach his son about Joseph "who was carried away into Egypt" (2 Nephi 3:4). This leads into a great prophesy about the restoration of the gospel. I would suggest that had Lehi taken his first statement further by murmuring about the trials rather than just acknowledging them, he would not have had the Spirit open his mind to the vision of Joesph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Likewise, when we murmur about our trials and how hard they are, we close ourselves off to the Spirit and deny ourselves simliar spiritual experiences. In this instance, Lehi gave his son a great faith promoting experience which I am sure strengthened his testimony and helped him grow closer to the Lord. May each of us follow the example of Lehi and provide faith promoting rather than faith destroying experiences by acknowledging the trials through which we pass instead of complaining about and dwelling on them. If we can learn to do so, we will be much happier and so will our friends, families and associates.

Simplicity

I have been reading 2 Nephi 2 for the last couple of weeks. I have read only a few verses each day, spending a lot of time just pondering what I read. It is one of the greatest discourses ever given on the plan of salvation. As I have been reading, I have been waiting for some grand mystery to pop out and enlighten me. I have been reading it and pondering it for over a week now and that still has not happened. In other words, I haven't really learned anything that I didn't already know. There have been a couple of new insights that have reminded me, but even those I could not put into words to communicate the ideas in any other way than simply quoting the verse. As a result I really haven't had anything to post for the last couple of weeks.

Well, I just finished the chapter and was still trying to find some grand mystery, but nothing was coming. At that point I realized that is exactly what I needed to learn. The plan of salvation is so simple and it logically makes so much sense. We all left the presence of God, sin so we can't re-enter his presence on our own, and finally we must rely on the Savior to overcome the effects of sin. That's all! The plan is so simple and so beautiful. Like I mentioned earlier, I have not learned anything new, but I have felt the Spirit. My testimony of the Savior has been strengthened. I can say with greater confidence now that I know Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that as we follow Him, we can return to live with our Father. It is our choice whether we want to obtain that blessing or not. I know that the Book of Mormon was truly a record that Joseph Smith translated. He could not have made it up on his own. This chapter that I just read is proof of that. The doctrine is so simple, yet so profound and full of wisdom.

A Vision and a Tender Mercy

In 1 Nephi 1:20, Nephi says, "[I] will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosed, because of their faith." Today in my reading I found one of the tender mercies which the Lord bestowed upon Lehi. After great tribulation, the family finally made it to the promise land. Upon arriving there Lehi spoke to his sons concerning "how merciful the Lord had been in warning [them] that they should flee out of Jerusalem" (1 Nephi 1:3). In the next verse, he tells them why the Lord was merciful despite the great afflictions which they bore during that time. I'm sure that as his sons rebelled against him during the journey in the wilderness or when the ship was about to be swallowed up in the sea, that Lehi had some doubts about the decision to leave Jerusalem. When his familiy is in danger or is suffering, any father must wonder if his decision to be obedient to the Lord's commandment is the proper course in life. Thus, the Lord gave Lehi a tender mercy to help him as he would face the decision to continue the course or to turn back. To use Lehi's words, "I have seen a vision in which I know that Jerusalem is destroyed" (1 Nephi 1:4). The record does not say when that vision was received, but it must have been welcomed by Lehi and gave him the strength to continue when times were tough. I would suggest that each of us are entitled to similar tender mercies. They may not come through a vision. However, I would suggest that if we pray in faith, the Lord will reveal in a very personal way that our course of action is according to his will and for our benefit. That confirmation will come differently to each person, but I know that those who seek it will find it (Matthew 7:7).

Pasture

When I was a little boy, I spent a lot of time at my grandparents house. They lived in a rural area and trained thoroughbred racehorses. One of my favorite things to do was to spend time wandering through the expansive pastures with my cousins. We could spend hours just wandering around and enjoying the fresh air. For the most part, the horses spent time in the pastures where they had freedom to roam and all the fresh grass that they could eat. Now, my grandparents live in Arizona durng the winter months. While there they still race horses, butsince the track is in the city the horses are confined to small stalls. As I visit them there I often think that the horses must get restless in those stalls. When they bring the horses home, there is a long ride in a horse trailer which must be worse than sitting in the stalls, but at the end of that journey is a summer of freedom. I imagine that those horses are overjoyed to return to the pastures where they can run and play without the limitations of walls and gates.

This comparison helped me to better understand a passage from 1 Nephi 22:24-25:

"And the time speedily cometh 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."

Isn't that just a wonderful metaphor that Nephi uses to teach us about how the Savior can help us. Because of sin, we are like the horses who spend all winter in a stall. We are bound and cannot have some of the greatest joys of life. Yet, the Savior is there to lead us out. The journey of repentance may be long and arduous, but the reward at the end is so grand. Like those horses, the Savior will lead us to pasture. 

Scattering of the Twelve Tribes

I just finished 1 Nephi 21, which is a prophecy of Isaiah. Nephi begins explaining this prophecy. I found a note in my margin from my mission in Taiwan. This note is related to 1 Nephi 22:4: "There are many who are already lost from the knowledge of those who are at Jerusalem." In my note I write "This time period is just 50 years after the scattering of Israel. 'Lost' in this verse can be taken to mean Lost from the knowedge of the Savior from the Old Testament. China probably didn't have those records." I have often speculated about some of the parallels between ancient Chinese and ancient Jewish customs. I dug around a little bit and found the following. I have thoughts about some of these similarities myself, but these are put together fairly nicely. The source is http://hubpages.com/hub/lost_tribe_of_Israel_Chinese. 

Note: These observations are not well formed arguments. I am presenting them here only as observations. They should not be taken as anything but some ideas to provoke further thought. For example, in my thesis, I wrote: 

One particular classroom discussion illustrates the difference between simple comparisons and continuities. During this discussion I made the observation that I thought there might be connections between the ancient Jewish Passover custom of smearing lamb’s blood around doorposts and the Chinese New Year custom of hanging writings on red strips of paper on the top and sides of the door. Eric Hutton who was teaching the class commented that we have to be careful in calling such observations “connections.” To illustrate his point he cited the example that just because people of two different regions of the world wear pants does not necessarily mean that their wearing of pants has historical linkages or significance.

I think that this anecdote applies well to the information below. For an interesting discussion on "conscious continuities" vs "connections" see Perry, Elizabeth. Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China, 1845-1945, (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1980), pp. vii.

 

Okay, now that I have thrown all the academic crap in there, here is what I Googled up. Enjoy!

 

The lost tribe of Israel - Chinese

 

We all know that Israel or Jacob, son of Isaac, fathered 12 sons who started the 12 tribes of Israel. Today, Israel as a nation is from the only surviving tribe of Jews or Judah. All others tribes were vanished with history.

But is this truly so? I remember news running for days on television many years ago about the lost tribe of Israel returning to Israel from Ethiopia. Not long later, I recall I saw on television another group of Israel tribe returning home from Russia. I would not believe the report if I had not seen the real people in the news. The Ethiopia Israelis looks just like any black African. Those returned from Russian look more like Caucasian than the Middle East Jews.

Jews has many traditions originated in the Bible they still observe today. They celebrate the pass over to remember God's mercy on the night of the plague on the first born. In the New Testament, Jews hired the wailers in a funeral to moan with commotion and cries. Today, we still see the same loud cries in a funeral to indicate sincere sorrow they feel for the parted one.

Chinese too, has some traditions and practices exactly the same like the Jews. Rich Chinese funerals still hire people to cry in the funeral with the same meaning as it is intended in the Biblical Jews. We may not see this practice much in China mainland due to some culture up rooting during the Cultural Revolution under the Communist reign. But in Taiwan and Hong Kong, hire wailing is a common phenomenon of the rich.

Another Jewish funeral tradition that Chinese still practice is for the children of the deceased to wear sackcloth and use ashes to hold the jot stick. Although not all Chinese will wear sackcloth in a family funeral today due to the effect of the influential western culture, but we can still see many Chinese who keep the old tradition of wearing sackcloth in a funeral. Those who do not wear it would cut a small piece of sackcloth and clip it to the shirt in the funeral and during the mourning period for 3 months.

For a Chinese house, it is auspicious to keep a pair of red paper on the front gate and doors to dispel evil spirit and usher good luck. Red that signifies blood is the most preferred color to all Chinese. In Chinese New Year, red paper must be hang or stick to the front door. A similar custom Jews do from the pass over tradition.

In Chinese New Year, the cake Chinese has is also unleavened bread or the Nien-Gao similar to the unleavened bread Jews has in their Abib or Nisan festive season.

There are many other customs of Chinese and Jews so similar that it can hardly be a coincidence. Jews and Chinese alike will travel the world to return home for the New Year eve family gathering feast. Jews and Chinese too would give up anything in life to enable their children for higher education.

Looking at some Chinese writing will further confirm my belief that Chinese a one of the tribe of Israel. We know that Chinese writing starts from the right and end on the left, Jews too has the way of writing from right to left.

In fact, Chinese character is more to drawing than writing. Every word is drawn from the real object of thing or person. The word sun is a circle with a line in the middle saying the sun is round with light shining in the center. The word person is a straight line down with two small lines under drawn like a man with 2 legs.

The word boat looks more like a picture of a Chinese junk. But for a big boat, it is a drawing of a boat with eight mounts in it. Why the eight mounts in a boat? It is because Noah with his family members of seven who survived the flood in the Ark

Another Chinese word "Come" is a cross with 2 persons hanging on both sides of the cross and people under the cross. Who can the 2 person on the cross be except the two robbers who were crucifies with Jesus one on his right and one on his left. The person under the cross is the one Jesus say to "Come" to me.

The most amazing of the Chinese characters is the word righteousness. It is a picture of a lamb on top of me. No one can be righteous unless he/she is under the grace of Christ Jesus.

Upon the palms of my hands

When I was about 9 years old, while my family was camping in the Nebo Loop I was riding my bike down a hill and could not stop in time to prevent myself from running into a pickup truck that was passing through the intersection at about 30 mph. My father rushed me down the canyon to the Payson hospital. I did not have any serious injuries other than scrapes, bruises and some soreness. Emotionally I was shaken up for a few days, but I soon fully recovered from those minor injuries. However, almost 20 years later I still have a small scar on my right knee. Whenever I see that scar I think back to that day nearly 20 years ago. 

In 1 Nephi 21:15-16, Nephi quotes Isaiah's Messianic prophecy. "I will not forget thee, O house of Israel. Behold, I have engraven thee upon the palms of my hands," he says. Just as each time I look at my scar I think of my bike accident, each time the Savior looks on the scarred wounds of his hands he thinks of the great sacrifice that he made for us. I'm sure that as he does so he is reminded of each of our burdens and pains that he suffered in Gethsemane. He will never forget us in our adversity. He will be there for us if we turn our hearts to Him.