Transcript Spiritual Egypt - LDSGospelDoctrine.net

Spiritual Egypt
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Letters from the Congressional Travel
Office
A New
Mexico
Congresswoman
called
to make
reservations,
An
Illinois
Congresswoman
called
last week.
She
needed to
A"I
New
York
lawmaker
called,
and
asked,
"Do
airlines
putat
your
want
toitgo
from
Chicago
to her
Rhino,
New
York."
I was
a
know
how
was
possible
that
flight
from
Detroit
left at
physical
on your
bag
so they sure
knowthat's
whose
loss am,
for description
words.
Finally,
I said,
the
name
8:30
and got
to Chicago
at"Are
8:33you
am. I explained
that
luggage
belongs"Yes,
to whom?"
I said,do
"No,
do you
ask?"
of the town?"
what
flights
youwhy
have?"
replied
the
Michigan
was an hour
ahead
of Illinois,
but
she couldn't
She
replied, "Well, when I checked in with the airline, they
lady.
understand
the concept of time zones. Finally, I told her the
put a tag on my luggage that said (FAT), and I'm overweight.
plane went fast, and she bought that.
I After
think some
that'ssearching,
very rude!"
I came back with, "I'm sorry, ma'am,
I've looked up every airport code in the country, and can't
After
on hold for
minute
while I"Oh,
looked
into
find putting
a Rhino her
anywhere."
Thea lady
retorted,
don't
beit (I
was
laughing),
came back
and
explained
the city
code
silly!
EveryoneI knows
where
it is.
Check your
map!"
So,for
I
Fresno,
California,
(FAT),
the airline
wasfinally
just putting
a
scoured
a map of is
the
stateand
of New
York, and
offered,
destination
on Buffalo,
her luggage.
"You don'ttag
mean
do you?" The reply? "Whatever! I
knew it was a big animal"
Gatherings
Future?
The
Egypt
World
Today?
Judah
LDS
Families
Today
Promised
Land
(Jerusalem)
(Stakes)
Homes
QuestionAll these gatherings started with
Israel.
Why was Israel taken to Egypt
(the world) in the first place?
Abraham 3:22-25.
Genesis 46: 2-4
22 Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the
intelligences that were organized before the world was…
God spake unto Israel in the visions of
24 And there stood one among them that was like unto
the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And
God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will
hefor
said,
amthere,
I. And
he will
said,
I of
am
go down,
thereHere
is space
and we
take
these materials,
we will
makefather:
an earth whereon
God, theand
God
of thy
these may dwell;
fear not to go down into Egypt for I will
of thee
a great
nation;
I do
25 Andthere
we willmake
prove them
herewith,
to see
if they will
all things
Lordthee
their God
command
willwhatsoever
go downthe
with
intoshall
Egypt;
them;
and I will also surely bring thee up
again
Questions
The story of Joseph is inspiring. How is
it also symbolic?
Even though he was a slave, what was
his responsibility to his family?
…to the Egyptians?
Hugh B. Brown
Reads from “a letter written by an army nurse in the last World War from Africa to her
parents”
“It is Sunday morning, and I know you are in church. That fact, almost as sure as
sunrise and springtime, is one of the chief sources of whatever courage I may
have. It is not just that I know you are sitting in a certain building at a certain
hour of the week, but that from my earliest childhood everything you did and
encouraged me to do harmonized with, and somehow stood behind, your going to
church.
"Your church attendance was not just a gesture lightly made, nor duty grimly
performed. It was vital and real, the open avowal of your most cherished
convictions, …
"I can see the picture now-you two and us children, the light coming in through the
windows, the music, the quiet peace, that is what I mean when I say it is the
source of whatever courage I find at my command now under these conditions.
That courage you built up within me because I learned from you and your daily
experience that God is good; that right prevails even in present circumstances,
even though present circumstances indicate the opposite. And oh, how I need that
courage…
Such faith will enable you to maintain your virtue as did Joseph. He endured calumny
and imprisonment, but because of his faith and virtue he became the virtual ruler
of Egypt and the savior of his father's household.
The Moment of truth- 20 years later
1 Then Joseph could not refrain himself before
all them that stood by him; …
2 And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and
the house of Pharaoh heard.
3 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am
Joseph; doth my father yet live?
And his brethren could not answer him; for
they were troubled at his presence.
4 And Joseph said unto his brethren… I am
Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into
Egypt.
5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with
yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God
did send me before you to preserve life.
Smoot Hearings
1903-1907
Church was clearly on Trial in the US
Senate
Joseph F. Smith was called to testify
President Smith became the focus of
jokes and ridicule in the United
States and England.
New York Magazine
The Conclusion?
Senator Penrose:
"I don't see why we can't
get along just as well with
a polygamist who doesn't
polyg as we do with a lot
of monogamists who
don't monog."
President Smith
October Conference, 1907
I feel in my heart to forgive all men
in the broad sense that God requires
of me to forgive all men, … to this
extent I bear no malice toward any
of the children of my Father.
But there are enemies of the work of
the Lord, as there were enemies to
the Son of God. There are those who
speak only evil of the Latter-day
Saints.
There are those— and they abound largely in our midst,
who will shut their eyes to every virtue and to every
good thing connected with this latter-day work, and
will pour out floods of falsehood and
misrepresentation against the people of God.
I forgive them for this."
D&C 58:3,4
Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for
Question
the present time, the design of your God
What if this “tribulation” comes at
concerning those things which shall come
thehereafter,
hands of
wewhich
love shall
or that
andthose
the glory
follow
weafter
thought
loved us?
much tribulation.
For after much tribulation come the
blessings. Wherefore the day cometh
that ye shall be crowned with much glory;
the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.
From Emma Smith’s Hymnbook
1. When Joseph his brethren beheld,
Afflicted and trembling with fear,
His heart with compassion was fill'd,
From weeping he could not forbear.
4. "I am Joseph, your brother," he said,
"And still to my heart you are dear;
You sold me, and thought I was dead,
But God, for your sakes, sent me here."
2. Awhile his behavior was rough,
To bring their past sins to their mind:
But when they were humbled enough
He hasten'd to show himself kind.
5. Though greatly distressed before,
When charg'd with purloining the cup,
They now were confounded much more,
Not one of them durst to look up.
3. How little they thought it was he
Whom they had ill-treated and sold!
How great their confusion must be,
As soon as his name he had told!
6. "Can Joseph, whom we would have
slain
Forgive us the evil we did?
And will he our households maintain?
O, this is a brother indeed!"