1 Nephi 10:1, NC 1 Nephi 3 par. 1
And now I, Nephi, proceed to give an account upon these plates of my proceedings and my reign and ministry; wherefore, to proceed with mine account, I must speak somewhat of the things of my father and also of my brethren.
Is this the record of the moment in time when Nephi is "sent" as a minister to his brothers?
Remember what the Lord told Nephi earlier?
And inasmuch as thou shalt keep my commandments thou shalt be made a ruler and a teacher over thy brethren. (1 Nephi 2:21 - 42, NC 1 Nephi 1 par. 9)
Is this an indication that Nephi is receiving his errand from the Lord?
Nephi is particular to use the terms reign and ministry why?
I would like to copy here a part of an earlier post to explain my understanding, at present of one like Nephi beginning their "reign and ministry."
Nephi is further told that if he keeps the Lord's commandments that he will be made a ruler and a teacher over his brethren.
There are two things that come to my mind with this statement.
1) Nephi was chosen before he was born. He was one of the souls who condescended to come down to save others.
"Now the Lord had shewn unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was, and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones. And God saw these souls, that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them and he said, These I will make my rulers." (Abraham 3:22 - 23, T&C 145 Abraham 6 par. 1)
Our understanding of a ruler in God's terms is a teacher seeking to persuade all men to work righteousness before God.
"And I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ordained priests after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people. And those priests were ordained after the order of his Son in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption. And this is the manner after which they were ordained: Being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil, therefore they having chosen good and exercising exceeding great faith are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with and according to a preparatory redemption for such...And thus being called by this holy calling and ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of God to teach his commandments unto the children of men, that they also might enter into his rest,..." (Alma 13:1 - 3, NC Alma 9 par. 10)
2) Those who are priests after this order, teachers of righteousness, His rulers, have dominion.
This is how God interprets dominion.
"...the word "dominion" in the understanding of the gentile can convey the impression of a prison warden exercising control over captives. I think the word "dominion" should be understood instead to convey the idea of a gardener who is responsible for making the garden thrive, grow and bear fruit. To be clear, the three greatest examples of wielding "dominion" in the correct manner as we should understand it are, first: Christ, who is probably without any peer, unquestionably the greatest example of one holding the greatest dominion, and who also likewise showed the greatest example of how to wield dominion. He beseeched people to believe. He pled with them for their own good. He knelt to serve them. He denied that He had a kingdom of this world. (John 18:36) He tried to prepare people for a better one. But He was more intelligent than they all and He was the greatest of them all. (Abr. 3:19) Unquestionably holding the greatest dominion and He wore it as a light thing. His yoke was easy. (Matt. 11:30)
In this world, Adam, after Christ held the greatest dominion. (Gen. 1:26 -28) But Adam taught and pled and instructed (Moses 5:12) but did not abridge the agency of his children, even when one of his sons killed another of his sons. Adam did not execute Cain. Cain was sent away. Adam held dominion, but he exercised it like our Lord, pleading for the interest of others. Adam invited and solicited all to obey God, hoping for their best interests.
The third great example of holding dominion in a godly way was Moses. He is called in scripture "meek above all men which were upon the face of the earth." (Num. 12:3) and yet gentiles depict him as a bully and strongman. Moses saw no reason to be jealous when others were out prophesying. "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them." (Num. 11:26 - 29) Moses, like Adam and Christ, is an example of how the word dominion should be understood.
All three were gardeners responsible for trying to make their garden thrive, grow and bear fruit. In reality, those who have held the greatest dominion given by God have invariably lived lives of meekness and service. They were opposite of what gentiles regard as a strongman. They were the opposite of a dictator or boss. They were more like loving grandfathers, gentle gardeners, and encouraging friends -- trying to get the best from those who would allow them to teach." (Things to Keep Us Awake at Night, Denver Snuffer, St George Conference, Mar. 2017, pg. 19)
A really big question that comes to my mind with respect to all who have held dominion, all who were called to have a "reign and a ministry" here on the earth, is who were they before they condescended to come here?
The Prophet Joseph said the following and I wonder if it applies to all who have had a "reign and ministry" on the earth?
I will refer to another Scripture. “Now,” says God, when He visited Moses in the bush,2 (Moses was a stammering sort of a boy like me) God said, “Thou shalt be a God unto the children of Israel.” God said, “Thou shalt be a God unto Aaron, and he shall be thy spokesman.” I believe those Gods that God reveals as Gods to be sons of God, and all can cry, “Abba, Father!” Sons of God who exalt themselves to be Gods, even from before the foundation of the world, and are the only Gods I have a reverence for. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith pg. 375)
Are all of these individuals, who Joseph states are "sons of God" and can cry "Abba, Father", who have exalted themselves to be Gods, even before the foundation of the world those who sit on Thrones and are part of the Family of God?
That would include their wives as well, if it is so, because there is no throne without a husband and a wife together on that throne.
Are these the Elohim?
The next verse in the book of Abraham following the Lord designating His rulers and teachers states,
And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him, We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell. And we will prove them herewith to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them. And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon, and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever. (Abraham 3:24 - 26, T&C 145 The Book of Abraham 6 par. 2)
Here in the book of Abraham we are told that the Lord told His rulers and teachers "We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell."
The key phrase here is "We will go down".
And then the Lord said, Let us go down. And they went down at the beginning and they organized and formed (that is, the Gods) the heavens and the earth.(Abraham 4:1, T&C 145 The Book of Abraham, 7 par. 1)
Here in the Book of Abraham, we see that the rulers and teachers, those who were selected to condescend to have a "reign and ministry" on the earth, were as Joseph declared, Sons of God who exalt themselves to be Gods, even before the foundation of the world.
If I understand that correctly, they are in fact part of the Elohim who condescended to come here to preach righteousness; the acceptable day of the Lord or in other words faith in Christ that we might too enter into His rest and become Sons of God as well; members of the Family of God.
That would be how they "prove them (us) herewith to see if they (we) will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them (us)."
Does our response to the message they have been "sent" with determine if we "prove" ourselves to see if we will do all things whatsoever the Lord our God shall command us?
This leads to another thought concerning all the peoples of the earth.
Surely, if God loves every person on the earth equally, then the same pattern of the Elohim condescending to have a "reign and a ministry" to peoples all over the world must apply wouldn't it?
I have read and agree with the following which is part of a presented paper, which to me, suggests that this is just such the case.
Mormonism cannot, or at least should not, consider itself the exclusive possessor of THE sacred canon or that there is only one canon containing the Gods’ teachings. There are words from heaven spread throughout our world by the deliberate planting of the Gods. Continuing, for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written. These “books” hold terrible importance for Mormons because we are going to
be judged by the Gods based on a comparison between our “works” and “that which is written.” With such a warning we Mormons ought to be humble about our claims to know more than other faiths. We should be modest in thinking we are especially graced by the Gods’ words and should be anxious to scour the globe to discover the sacred texts of other cultures. In humility, we should invite them to share the truths they value most with us because we have shown that we will respect what they regard as sacred. To clarify this further the record continues, For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; … So far this describes a welcome Judeo-Christian boundary because the ancient Israelites are the backbone of the Gods’ dealings with mankind. The Lost Ten Tribes continued to compose scripture, and their records will in time be recovered.
This passage continues by including yet others who are disconnected from any disclosed connection to Israel: and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it. Who? When? What was said? “All nations of the earth” is broad enough to raise the troubling possibility that the Gods have spoken to others in India, Japan and China - to the peoples of Persia, Africa, and Native peoples of the Americas, Hawaii, Polynesia, and Australia. The Jaredite prophet, identified as “the brother of Jared,” had some of the greatest revelation in all history. He lived many centuries before Abraham, and therefore before there were Israelites. We know Egypt was founded “seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the first fathers in the first generation, in the days of the first patriarchal reign, even in the reign of Adam[.]” If we take the Book of Mormon seriously, the ecumenicalism of the Gods may have no recognizable or comprehensible limits. The Gods of
Mormonism are far more pantheistic than Trinitarian. What a cruel embarrassment that proves to be for any sect that proselytizes primarily among other Christian denominations. Imagining Gods who speak to everyone is troubling enough, but for the Gods to expect Mormons to give high regard,
even canonical credibility to the records of these truly “others” begins to buckle the knees and mangle the mantras of today’s Mormons. ("Other Sheep Indeed", Denver Snuffer, Presentation at Salt Lake City Sunstone Symposium 2017, pages 3 - 4)
Is it possible that the "deliberate planting of the Gods", referring to God's teachings all over the world, is done by members of the Elohim, the souls who were chosen as rulers and teachers before the foundation of the earth, condescending to come to all peoples or cultures or nations,even those unknown to us, to have a "reign and a ministry" among them?
Is it possible that they receive(d) their errands from the Lord, following the same pattern as Nephi, Lehi, and Jacob, and they keep (kept) their records which will be brought forth and become one in Christ with every other record that has been kept so that out of the books we may be judged?
Can we comprehend what a condescension it is for a member of the Elohim to descend to a telestial earth and live a telestial life and "stand in jeopardy every hour" (1 Corinthians 15:30, NC Corinthians 1 par. 64) after having already come to the Throne of God before the foundations of the earth?
My understanding is that even a member of the Elohim may fall and lose everything as they sacrifice by returning to a telestial world on a saving mission.
What kind of sacrifice is such a commitment?
How should we (I) feel about the message that a member of the Elohim has condescended to sacrifice and stand in jeopardy every hour in order to deliver it to me?
Does this make it more abundantly clear why I stand under much greater condemnation for rejecting such a message when a member of the Elohim has sacrificed so very much to deliver it?
Is this why the children of Israel received such condemnation after Siani and the gentile church after the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum?
Is this why Joseph could rightly proclaim, "You don’t know me; you never knew my heart. No man knows my history. I cannot tell it: I shall never undertake it. I don’t blame any one for not believing my history. If I had not experienced what I have, I could not have believed it myself." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 361)
Could he not undertake to tell it because it would entail a description of who he was before the foundation of the earth (part of the Elohim?) and that would be speaking things unlawful for man to hear or that which mortal man is incapable of speaking?
What kind of love does this type of sacrifice demonstrate?
My understanding is that none of this takes away from the sacrifice of Christ who is the only one in this round who descended below all in order to lift all.
The callings of the other members of the Elohim to sacrifice is a type that points to Christ, just like Alma taught.
And those priests were ordained after the order of his Son in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption. And this is the manner after which they were ordained: Being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God,
My understanding is that even the Elohim who have condescended to come and sacrifice in order to preach faith on Christ, are also reliant upon Christ to be able to return and "take up" their life again among the Elohim.
Does this bring greater meaning to what Joseph taught in the Lectures on Faith concerning sacrifice?
Let us here observe that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation. For from the first existence of man, the faith necessary unto the enjoyment of life and salvation never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things: it was through this sacrifice, and this only, that God has ordained that men should enjoy eternal life, and it is through the medium of the sacrifice of all earthly things that men do actually know that they are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God. When a man has offered in sacrifice all that he has for the truth’s sake, not even withholding his life, and believing before God that he has been called to make this sacrifice because he seeks to do his will, he does know most assuredly that God does and will accept his sacrifice and offering, and that he has not nor will not seek his face in vain. Under these circumstances, then, he can obtain the faith necessary for him to lay hold on eternal life.
It is in vain for persons to fancy to themselves that they are heirs with those, or can be heirs with them, who have offered their all in sacrifice, and by this means obtained faith in God and favor with him so as to obtain eternal life, unless they in like manner offer unto him the same sacrifice, and through that offering obtain the knowledge that they are accepted of him. (Teachings and Commandments, Section 110, Lecture 6th, pars. 7 - 8)
Is this principle of sacrificing all things an eternal principle even among the Elohim, Christ coming to perform the final sacrifice that must be performed by all who would be like Him?
Would such a pattern of the Elohim condescending to come and have a "reign and ministry" among us give greater meaning to what the Lord declared,
And he put forth a parable unto them concerning those who were bid to a wedding, for he knew how they chose out the chief rooms and exalted themselves one above another. Wherefore, he spoke unto them, saying, When you are bid of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest a more distinguished man than you should be bid of him, and he who bid you, with him who is more distinguished, come and say to you, Give this man place, and you begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when you are bid, go and sit down in the lowest room, that when he who bid you comes, he may say unto you, Friend, go up higher. Then shall you have honor of God in the presence of them who sit at a meal with you. For whoever exalts himself shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted. (Luke 14:7 - 11,NC Luke 9 par. 5)
Is it an eternal principle that in order to move through the heavens and learn how to become gods, as Joseph stated, we must abase ourselves by sacrifice both here and throughout the eternities in order to be exalted more and more until we arrive at the point where we are capable of abasing ourselves, even as our Lord, and descend below all things in order to be in all things and through all things we create, even as He is now in all and through all that He has created?
The Lectures say clearly that Christ is the prototype of the saved man and if anyone would be saved they must be exactly like Christ or not be saved.
Can we (I) truly understand the love and sacrifice that is shown by such a program established before the foundation of the earth to provide an opportunity for the advancement of the human family?
It boggles my mind and I can only declare How great is your goodness and mercy Lord, and also give thanks that other Sons of God, members of the Elohim, were and are also willing to condescend and sacrifice to deliver the glad tidings to men.
I didn't know this would go so long I will have to take this paragraph concerning the beginning of Nephi's reign and ministry in parts.
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