Family of Yeshua Messiah Introduction

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Berrett
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Family of Yeshua Messiah Introduction

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Family of Yeshua Messiah Post 1
February 7, 2023

Understanding the Restoration and Second Restoration Process

The Second Restoration of the Gospel—Introduction to a Series of Gospel Discussions

I am writing this short explanation to tell how I understand the restoration of the gospel. I was born and raised in the LDS community of Provo, Utah. I descend from a long line of faithful LDS believers, many going back to the early LDS church days. I voluntarily left the LDS community in August of 2015. As part of my exit, I wrote a long letter to family and friends explaining why I "retired" from the LDS church.

In that letter I explained my personal doctrinal confusions with the LDS church's changing beliefs. I identify myself as a Mormon since I follow Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. I explained in that letter that I was still true and faithful to my God. I still had an LDS temple recommend at the time of my leaving the church, and I had not been disciplined by the church for anything.

At the time, the LDS community was throwing folks out for various reasons. I was not one of them. I made my exit by choice after much study and prayer. This was done by me after many years of service to the church I belonged to. I spent my first 63 years in a church that I later chose to leave for good reasons.

I voluntarily had my name removed from the LDS church in 2015. I am now a member of a church called the Family of Yeshua Messiah. It is primarily in Canada, and in Utah, but we also have small groups of believers in several other locations and countries. We are small, for now. We have not really started our public ministry to the extent that it will soon happen. But, it is coming, and we hope to flood the Earth with truth, including our version of the 1830 Book of Mormon which is being corrected to read as close as possible to what was originally dictated from the mouth of Joseph Smith to his various scribes. We intend to follow Joseph's original Book of Mormon doctrines. Some of these beliefs are what I intend to describe in this series of articles.

I will explain a short version of my personal view of things. I believe in the Prophet Joseph Smith. I believe he did know God, and he did begin the restoration of the complete gospel of the Lord. The early Mormon movement did obtain the fulness of the gospel during the Kirtland, Ohio era. That fulness means to me, that they had everything necessary for Father to come dwell among them and bestow upon them the fulness of His blessings. That fulness, including a fulness of priesthood, was lost according to scripture during that same Kirtland, Ohio period.

The "Patriarch" held the "sealing blessings" of the Lord's church, even the Holy Spirit of promise to seal up unto the day of redemption. (D&C 124:124) When both Joseph and Hyrum were killed what did that mean in regard to their Patriarchal Priesthood and the church? This is not describing your local church patriarch, but is referring to someone like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; you know, Patriarchal Fathers who hold High Priesthood of the Holy Order. Nephi, son of Helaman in the Book of Mormon also held that same sealing power, as did others of the Holy Order. (p. 435; Helaman 10:7)

The initial Mormon restoration attempt ended with a loss of that power as described in D&C section 124. The two patriarchs, Joseph and Hyrum were killed by their followers. This was a loss of "sealing" authority, as described in scripture including the Book of Mormon, and D&C section 124. The fulness of the priesthood was lost by the end of the Kirtland, Ohio era. That fulness was never restored to that group because the saints failed to comply with God's command to properly complete the Nauvoo temple. (D&C 124:28)

This was the loss of God's Holy Order: That is the Order that we must live to become Holy. It is the Holy Order that the Book of Mormon teaches by which we become His sons, and His daughters as described in scripture. It is His Way, His Path, and the Only Way that we must each follow to become what He hopes us to become. He is that Way He is that Path. He said: "Come follow Me." We must live the Way He lived to become like Him. And this Way is found in the Book of Mormon. It is the iron rod, the straight and narrow path, the Word of God.

Joseph Smith's first vision happened around March 26, 1820. Two hundred years later in March of 2020 some interesting things occurred to confirm that some strange things had happened, and were happening with the latter-day initial restoration effort.

A resurrected angel named Moroni had given Joseph Smith the Book of Mormon plates on Saturday September 22, 1827. This was the day of Rosh Hashanah, or the Feast of Trumpets, or the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah, a day of shouting or blasting. It is the first of the High Holy Days, "Days of Awe." It was celebrated ten days before Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is observed on the first two days of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew Calendar. It is the traditional anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve. Rosh Hashanah is when the shofar is blown. A shofar is a ram's horn. But, on top of the LDS temples it is portrayed as a trumpet.

A statute of Angel Moroni stands on top of the LDS Salt Lake City temple, the greatest symbol of that branch of Mormonism, blowing the shofar. But, 200 years after Joseph Smith had his first vision experience, and had later received the Book of Mormon plates from, Moroni, the statute of Angel Moroni did an oops! Moroni dropped his trumpet, the symbolic shofar, from his grasp on March 18, 2020.

The statute of the Angel Moroni on top of the Salt Lake City temple dropped the shofar, or trumpet he was holding. This was two hundred years that same month of March since when Joseph Smith's first vision occurred. The first vision happened March 26, 1820. Moroni dropped the shofar on March 18, 2020, eight days short of exactly 200 years.

I wonder what else happened that month? It is an easy chore to discover if one has a computer, and the internet. So, check it out. See what some churches and their public news announcements say happened that exact month, March of 2020. I will help, just a bit. Let's check out a few things that happened related to this discussion.

March Events to check out—March 1820 through March 2020 Dates

March 26, 1820 believed to be the date of Joseph Smith’s first vision.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=301231224107287

March 26, 1830: The first Book of Mormon was offered for sale exactly 10 years to the day after the first vision.
https://www.facebook.com/American.Antiq ... 415218545/

March 11, 2020: The WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.
https://www.who.int/director-general/sp ... march-2020

March 13, 2020 President Trump Proclamation 9994 Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documen ... 9-outbreak

March 13, 2020: all public gatherings of LDS church members worldwide were suspended.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.or ... -suspended

March 18, 2020: A 5.7 magnitude earthquake shook Salt Lake City. The Angel Moroni statue on top of the Salt Lake Temple dropped the symbolic shofar, his trumpet.
https://www.deseret.com/faith/2020/3/18 ... quake-utah

March 25, 2020: A letter from the First Presidency stated that all LDS temples were to be closed at the end of the day (so they would be closed beginning the next day March 26, 2020). This is interesting. All of their temples were ordered closed exactly 200 years to the day from the date of Joseph's first vision.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.or ... s-march-25 2020#:~:text=After%20careful%20and%20prayerful%20consideration,when%20the%20temples%20will%20reopen.

March 26, 2020: 200th anniversary of Joseph Smith’s vision.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=301231224107287

March 26, 2020: An article from the LDS Church News managing editor stated that COVID-19 impacts 50 percent of the 67,000 missionaries serving, and they were being impacted by returning home for reassignment or release. All 10 of the missionary training centers were closed. This almost makes one want to study what this means, when the Elders are called home.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/chu ... 0?lang=eng

March 27, 2020 President Trump signed Executive Order 13912—National Emergency Authority To Order the Selected Reserve and Certain Members of the Individual Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty.
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documen ... nd-certain

Pope Francis was elected the 266th pope of the Catholic Church March 13, 2013. So, March 13, 2020 was the seventh year anniversary of him being pope. This almost makes one want to study the Revelation of St. John, the Divine, and see the relevance of this described time, and others. https://vault.cnn.com/drops/6965

Now, I realize some may think this next event is not very relevant, but I just noticed it in February, 2023. Joseph Rockwell had first been taught in person by the Lord when Joseph was age 17. This was in 1987. I have heard Joseph relate his experience numerous times but to my knowledge it had never been publicly published in writing. At least I had never seen or found it in his posts or writings. A few days ago (I am writing this in February of 2023), I first saw Joseph's experience as written by him posted on one of his web sites, Upon the Wall blog. The dates when Joseph published the first five posts describing his experience with the Lord were on March 2, 6, 27, 30 and 31, 2020. I will publish the full transcript of those posts in a future article. And no, this was not some orchestrated plot to make the timing seem relevant as Joseph was just posting his story when prompted to do so. Joseph was unaware of all of these interesting March events, just like most of those reading this.

This is interesting to me because I believe the Book of Mormon teaches that the Gentile restoration attempt would be the first attempt to establish the fulness of the gospel of the Lord in the last days. It would restore much of the gospel. But, that initial effort, the commencement of the restoration, would end with a loss of the fulness of priesthood.

The Great and Marvelous portion of the restoration would then proceed among the House of Israel. I find it interesting that there is a public declaration of a new work being established published at the same time the initial Gentile restoration effort fails. By the way, Joseph Rockwell, was an LDS convert when he was age 16. Joseph did go on a full time LDS mission to Ohio at age nineteen. So, the Gentile restoration did succeed by converting a Lamanite who would qualify to restore the fulness again among and with the House of Israel. Joseph qualifies since he has been taught by the Lord since that first in person contact with Yeshua in 1987.

Of course it is meaningful to me since I am very familiar with this new portion of the work. This is something we are just starting to promote more fully as we are nearing completion of our version of the 1830 Book of Mormon. By the way, I see this Gentile to House of Israel concept taught throughout the scriptures. A short summary of this is the 1 Nephi 13 to 1 Nephi 14 shift. (LDS version of the Book of Mormon) The Gentiles did get "much" of the gospel, and the roots are still good. The roots are the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith's teachings.

It seems that the Great and Marvelous portion of the work will happen when the mother of abominations is among all the nations of the Gentiles fighting against the Lamb of God. It sure looks like everybody has joined with that church, I mean everybody, except a very few. These few covenant people of the Lord are armed with righteousness, and with the power of God in great glory.

And then the wrath of God is poured out upon the mother of harlots, the great and abominable church. Is that happening right now? For example, the Q Anonymous guys describe the United States military seizing the gold from the Vatican. Is that part of this process? Then the work of Father shall commence. The remainder of this vision described by Nephi was to be seen and written by John the Revelator.

So, it seems that the wrath of God is poured out upon the great church. Does that include you? Or Me? Kind of important to figure out, I suspect. I am happy my church does not play nice with the United Nations agenda.

The prophecy of the Popes was first published in 1595. Some say this prophecy identifies this last Pope as the final one. Some also say, this last Pope has already died and gone to Pope heaven. He now seems to only appear as a hologram, they say. In any event, it is time for the Great and Marvelous House of Israel portion of the work to proceed and succeed. The Gentile effort ended with no good fruit, Zenos says. Perhaps we should let the Lamanites take the next shot at the gospel restoration effort as described in scripture.

And we should add some scriptures to consider

There are some interesting scriptures to go along with these announcements. I will just list a few of the scriptures here and give a very brief explanation. These scriptures are as follows:

D&C 5:19 Tells us a desolating scourge shall go forth among the inhabitants of the Earth and shall continue to be poured out from time to time if they don't repent. This will happen until the Earth is empty and the inhabitants are consumed, and utterly destroyed by the brightness of the Lord's coming. This sounds a bit like the proclamation of the World Health Organization that declared the global pandemic on March 11, 2020. Much could be discussed about this alleged pandemic at some other time. Many folks refer to it as the pandemic of course.

D&C 45:28-32

These scriptures are familiar to many gospel students. They describe when the times of the Gentiles come in a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness. It is the fulness of the gospel. We did have that light come forth at the initial restoration attempt by Joseph Smith.

Then it says that the Gentiles will receive it not. They perceive not the light. Remember the Lord says repeatedly that He is the Light. They turn their hearts from the Lord because of the precepts of men. Well, that does not sound very good. The Gentiles will not receive the Light, the Lord.

Verse 30 says that in that generation the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled. So, does that mean the times of the Gentiles comes to an end? The Book of Mormon addresses this question often.

Verse 31 talks about men in that generation who will see the overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land.

And in verse 32 the Lord says that His disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved. The wicked, however, will curse God and die. I like this phrase about holy places. It sounds a lot like section 124 where the Lord promised in verse 45 that if His people hearkened to His voice and unto the voice of His servants who were appointed to lead His people, they would not be moved out of their place. Well, their place at the time this promise was given was Nauvoo.

I had ancestors living in Nauvoo at the time this promise was given. And my ancestors were moved out of their Nauvoo places. They were forced to leave Nauvoo. So, does this mean that they did not stand in holy places because they were forced to move? Does this identify them as being with the wicked who would curse God and die?

A third scripture to consider is Isaiah 24:5-6: Isaiah sees the Earth being defiled under the inhabitants thereof because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, and broken the everlasting covenant. Isaiah sees a curse devour the Earth, and they that dwell there are desolate. They get burned and few men left. That certainly does not sound good either.

Somebody breaks the everlasting covenant. Somebody changes the ordinance, and breaks laws. So, who has the everlasting covenant to break? Who has legitimate ordinances to change? Is it the Catholics, or the Protestants? So, it seems that some group is getting placed on the naughty list. Somebody is changing the ordinance. Somebody is breaking the everlasting covenant. That same chapter Isaiah says the Lord will make the Earth empty. Sounds a bit like the first two scriptures describing the desolating scourge doesn't it?

I only give these little facts to point out that there are some interesting things to pay attention to regarding what the Lord is doing with His work here on Earth.

I am certainly not against any Mormon group or groups. I am a complete result or product of Mormon philosophy, and it has made me what I am. (So, blame them.) I believe that the Lord's standard is always His standard works. And that is the scriptures. It is especially the Book of Mormon. The Lord's standard is not a man or men. The Lord tells us His standards are His Words. His Words shall hiss forth unto the ends of the earth for a standard unto His people which are of the House of Israel.

The Book of Mormon teaches us about the two attempts to restore the fulness of the gospel through Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon tells us that the initial restoration through the Gentiles will fail. It will end in apostasy with the loss of the fulness and a rejection of truth. The scriptures warn us of those who seek to sell Jesus. Are there any who use Jesus to get money? Are there any who build fancy buildings while abusing their poor? The Book of Mormon declares that the Lord doesn't like that kind of behavior.

The Book of Mormon says five or six times that the Lord shall set His hand again, the second time, to restore the covenant, and recover His people. I view this to mean that the Lord will initially try and establish His work through Gentiles. They will reject the restored gospel. The Gentiles fail the Lord's work but use the gospel to build themselves up in pride. The effort to graft or convert the wild Gentile branches into the natural tree of the House of Israel fails. But, the roots are still good. The Book of Mormon and the essential foundation is still able to support a second effort to restore truth. The scriptures use the word "again" to describe this second attempt. But this time instead of a Gentile work it will be the Natural tree.

The Lord tries to graft wild Gentile branches into a tame Natural, House of Israel tree. It does not take. Zenos says it ends with no good fruit. So, then the Lord is taking His work back to the House of Israel.

The Lord takes those natural branches which were originally taken from the natural tree of the House of Israel, and gathers them from where they have been hidden. Those natural branches are gathered back, and grafted back into the natural tree. The Lord calls servants to go gather or convert those natural branches and bring them back into the natural tree. In other words, God is now calling servants to go gather the natural remnant of the House of Israel before the trees are burned. This is the second effort or second restoration attempt. It is when the Lord shall set His Hand, again, to do His work, to restore the covenant, and save His children.

I am part of a church which is established called the Family of Yeshua Messiah. As noted above, we are established in Canada and here in the United States. We have members in a few different countries. We are small for now but have great expectations of growth. We use the 1830 Book of Mormon and teach the things Joseph Smith taught.

So I am going to put a few ideas out here in the next short period of time. I will discuss some of the basic teachings from the 1830 Book of Mormon. It seems to me that the initial restoration attempt progresses from the failed Gentile effort to the House of Israel effort. This is the Great and Marvelous portion of the expected successful restoration. This will become the Kingdom of God that Daniel saw. It will roll forward, not backward. We are now beginning the great and marvelous portion of the Lord's work.

Our objective is to teach the basic things from the Book of Mormon that the Lord wants taught. We hope to focus on the basic practical doctrines, the essentials of what God wants us to learn. It is not going to be to accumulate a big investment fund. It will be to teach the nature of God as described in the 1830 Book of Mormon.

We do have a few sites folks can go to and check out what we think. You can start here: FamilyofYeshua.com

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