Jesus Christ Issues Public Statement Regarding Church Investments

[InfoWarrior82]

43 And now, I will show unto you a parable, that you may know my will concerning the redemption of Zion. 44 A certain nobleman had a spot of land, very choice; and he said unto his servants: Go ye unto my vineyard, even upon this very choice piece of land, and plant twelve olive trees; 45 And set watchmen round about them, and build a tower, that one may overlook the land round about, to be a watchman upon the tower, that mine olive trees may not be broken down when the enemy shall come to spoil and take upon themselves the fruit of my vineyard. 46 Now, the servants of the nobleman went and did as their lord commanded them, and planted the olive trees, and built a hedge round about, and set watchmen, and began to build a tower. 47 And while they were yet laying the foundation thereof, they began to say among themselves: And what need hath my lord of this tower? 48 And consulted for a long time, saying among themselves: What need hath my lord of this tower, seeing this is a time of peace? 49 Might not this money be given to the exchangers? For there is no need of these things. 50 And while they were at variance one with another they became very slothful, and they hearkened not unto the commandments of their lord. 51 And the enemy came by night, and broke down the hedge; and the servants of the nobleman arose and were affrighted, and fled; and the enemy destroyed their works, and broke down the olive trees. 52 Now, behold, the nobleman, the lord of the vineyard, called upon his servants, and said unto them, Why! what is the cause of this great evil? 53 Ought ye not to have done even as I commanded you, and—after ye had planted the vineyard, and built the hedge round about, and set watchmen upon the walls thereof—built the tower also, and set a watchman upon the tower, and watched for my vineyard, and not have fallen asleep, lest the enemy should come upon you? 54 And behold, the watchman upon the tower would have seen the enemy while he was yet afar off; and then ye could have made ready and kept the enemy from breaking down the hedge thereof, and saved my vineyard from the hands of the destroyer. 55 And the lord of the vineyard said unto one of his servants: Go and gather together the residue of my servants, and take all the strength of mine house, which are my warriors, my young men, and they that are of middle age also among all my servants, who are the strength of mine house, save those only whom I have appointed to tarry; 56 And go ye straightway unto the land of my vineyard, and redeem my vineyard; for it is mine; I have bought it with money. 57 Therefore, get ye straightway unto my land; break down the walls of mine enemies; throw down their tower, and scatter their watchmen. 58 And inasmuch as they gather together against you, avenge me of mine enemies, that by and by I may come with the residue of mine house and possess the land. 59 And the servant said unto his lord: When shall these things be? 60 And he said unto his servant: When I will; go ye straightway, and do all things whatsoever I have commanded you; 61 And this shall be my seal and blessing upon you—a faithful and wise steward in the midst of mine house, a ruler in my kingdom. 62 And his servant went straightway, and did all things whatsoever his lord commanded him; and after many days all things were fulfilled.

[InfoWarrior82]

Let me know if you don't understand. I will explain it to you.

[Atrasado]

"Might not this money be given to the exchangers?" LOL Who says Joseph Smith wasn't a prophet?

I think this means we are about at the point that the leaders' works will be destroyed. Then the Lord will send His servant, Joseph, to gather the strength of His house and avenge Him.

[HereWeGo]

Let me know if you don't understand. I will explain it to you.

The apologists won't understand. The rest of us will.

[HereWeGo]

I think this means we are about at the point that the leaders works will be destroyed. Then the Lord will send His servant, Joseph, to gather the strength of His house and avenge Him.

Isaiah says that the restoration will involve a "root" and later a "rod". Joseph was the root who started the restoration. The Lord will send the rod to finish it. 2 different people.

[InfoWarrior82]

Let me know if you don't understand. I will explain it to you.

The apologists won't understand. The rest of us will.

Won't understand or cannot understand? Both?

[CuriousThinker]

What is the apologists' explanation for these scriptures? I seems so clear to me what it means.

[HereWeGo]

Won't understand or cannot understand? Both?

Some are not capable of understanding. Some do understand but will not accept it as truth. Both will apologize and defend.

[Ado]

43 And now, I will show unto you a parable, that you may know my will concerning the redemption of Zion. 44 A certain nobleman had a spot of land, very choice; and he said unto his servants: Go ye unto my vineyard, even upon this very choice piece of land, and plant twelve olive trees; 45 And set watchmen round about them, and build a tower, that one may overlook the land round about, to be a watchman upon the tower, that mine olive trees may not be broken down when the enemy shall come to spoil and take upon themselves the fruit of my vineyard. 46 Now, the servants of the nobleman went and did as their lord commanded them, and planted the olive trees, and built a hedge round about, and set watchmen, and began to build a tower. 47 And while they were yet laying the foundation thereof, they began to say among themselves: And what need hath my lord of this tower? 48 And consulted for a long time, saying among themselves: What need hath my lord of this tower, seeing this is a time of peace? 49 Might not this money be given to the exchangers? For there is no need of these things. 50 And while they were at variance one with another they became very slothful, and they hearkened not unto the commandments of their lord. 51 And the enemy came by night, and broke down the hedge; and the servants of the nobleman arose and were affrighted, and fled; and the enemy destroyed their works, and broke down the olive trees. 52 Now, behold, the nobleman, the lord of the vineyard, called upon his servants, and said unto them, Why! what is the cause of this great evil? 53 Ought ye not to have done even as I commanded you, and—after ye had planted the vineyard, and built the hedge round about, and set watchmen upon the walls thereof—built the tower also, and set a watchman upon the tower, and watched for my vineyard, and not have fallen asleep, lest the enemy should come upon you? 54 And behold, the watchman upon the tower would have seen the enemy while he was yet afar off; and then ye could have made ready and kept the enemy from breaking down the hedge thereof, and saved my vineyard from the hands of the destroyer. 55 And the lord of the vineyard said unto one of his servants: Go and gather together the residue of my servants, and take all the strength of mine house, which are my warriors, my young men, and they that are of middle age also among all my servants, who are the strength of mine house, save those only whom I have appointed to tarry; 56 And go ye straightway unto the land of my vineyard, and redeem my vineyard; for it is mine; I have bought it with money. 57 Therefore, get ye straightway unto my land; break down the walls of mine enemies; throw down their tower, and scatter their watchmen. 58 And inasmuch as they gather together against you, avenge me of mine enemies, that by and by I may come with the residue of mine house and possess the land. 59 And the servant said unto his lord: When shall these things be? 60 And he said unto his servant: When I will; go ye straightway, and do all things whatsoever I have commanded you; 61 And this shall be my seal and blessing upon you—a faithful and wise steward in the midst of mine house, a ruler in my kingdom. 62 And his servant went straightway, and did all things whatsoever his lord commanded him; and after many days all things were fulfilled.

I have heard that this parable is talking about the state of the gentile christian church, and that the faithful and wise steward at the end is Joseph Smith ushering in the beginning of the restoration. But even in the section heading, it says "The parable of the nobleman and the olive trees signifies the troubles and eventual redemption of Zion." As time goes by, it gets harder and harder to not see this as a revelation for today.
"Might not this money be given to the exchangers? For there is no need of these things." ... "Go and gather together the residue of my servants, and take all the strength of mine house, which are my warriors, my young men, and they that are of middle age also among all my servants, who are the strength of mine house..." I mean... dang. It sure sounds like a swipe at what our church current looks like. The restoration began with a boy. Leadership doesn't quite look like that anymore ... If we don't feel the sting of this prophecy, I don't know how Zion can ever be redeemed.

[Atrasado]

I think this means we are about at the point that the leaders works will be destroyed. Then the Lord will send His servant, Joseph, to gather the strength of His house and avenge Him.

Isaiah says that the restoration will involve a "root" and later a "rod". Joseph was the root who started the restoration. The Lord will send the rod to finish it. 2 different people.

Maybe, but to me D&C 103:21 makes it clear that Joseph Smith is the servant mentioned in section 101:55. It doesn't matter if he was killed because the Lord is Master of life and death.

[InfoWarrior82]

I think this means we are about at the point that the leaders works will be destroyed. Then the Lord will send His servant, Joseph, to gather the strength of His house and avenge Him.

Isaiah says that the restoration will involve a "root" and later a "rod". Joseph was the root who started the restoration. The Lord will send the rod to finish it. 2 different people.

Maybe, but to me D&C 103:21 makes it clear that Joseph Smith is the servant mentioned in section 101:55. It doesn't matter if he was killed because the Lord is Master of life and death.

I don't know if it's going to actually be a resurrected Joseph Smith or not... But I will say... That would be so awesome to see.

[Hogmeister]

I think this means we are about at the point that the leaders works will be destroyed. Then the Lord will send His servant, Joseph, to gather the strength of His house and avenge Him.

Isaiah says that the restoration will involve a "root" and later a "rod". Joseph was the root who started the restoration. The Lord will send the rod to finish it. 2 different people.

D&C 113 (Isa 11).
D&C 113:1 Who is the Stem of Jesse spoken of in the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th verses of the 11th chapter of Isaiah? 2 Verily thus saith the Lord: It is Christ. 3 What is the rod spoken of in the first verse of the 11th chapter of Isaiah, that should come of the Stem of Jesse? 4 Behold, thus saith the Lord: It is a servant in the hands of Christ, who is partly a descendant of Jesse as well as of Ephraim, or of the house of Joseph, on whom there is laid much power. 5 What is the root of Jesse spoken of in the 10th verse of the 11th chapter? 6 Behold, thus saith the Lord, it is a descendant of Jesse, as well as of Joseph, unto whom rightly belongs the priesthood, and the keys of the kingdom, for an ensign, and for the gathering of my people in the last days.

The olive tree represents God’s people. To understand the interpretation of the allegory we must understand something about the cultivation of olive trees. The olive tree does not bear fruit at first (at least not good fruit). Isaiah is describing the process that will lead the olive tree to again bear good fruit. The root spoken of here, as a servant, is not to be mistaken for the root of the whole olive tree; that makes little sense when Christ himself is identified as the stem or trunk of the tree. Instead the root refers to a graft (or sprig) that grows into a fruit bearing branch. The rod is a shoot or watersprout that sometimes shoots out from the tree trunk (a sign of life) but won’t yield any fruit but it can be left to keep the tree alive until the tree becomes strong enough to support a graft. So the rod servant comes before the root servant but they are likely connected. The unfruitful rod is cut and only the root will remain and a graft will be provided into the root.

So here we have two servants, the rod and the root, on different spiritual levels or possibly one servant at different stages of development depending on how you look at it. The second servant, the root that grows into a branch yielding good fruit, is on a higher spiritual level than the first, and is identified as Jehovah’s end time servant by Avraham Gileadi. D&C 113:6 tells us that Jehovah’s end time servant must be of the lineage of Joseph since the priesthood rightly belongs to this lineage. But in order to receive the priesthood and serve Jehovah the lineage must be gathered. They must be gathered into the church that bears his name. The rod servant has been endowed with much power but no priesthood power is mentioned. Nevertheless he is in the hands of Christ and serves his purpose. The rod servant shares some of the characteristics/lineage of the root servant. D&C 113:4 indicates Ephraim or Joseph assimilated or blended with gentiles. I believe this rod servant with power but no priesthood is more of a worldly but Christian power (the rod is connected to the stem or trunk which is Christ) that keeps the tree alive even if the good fruit is missing. The tribe of Ephraim was prophesied to become a multitude of nations Gen 48:19. Christ himself says that he inspired the creation of the USA (D&C 101:77-80). I believe the root servant which shall eventually grow into a fruitful branch is the gathered birthright tribe of Joseph endowed with the priesthood or in other words the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and that this servant is also latter day Elias, the restorer that will restore the Olive tree/God’s people. The restored church/priesthood of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints holds the keys of God’s kingdom on earth and the priesthood and thus identifies it with the root of Jesse in D&C 113:6. The restored church of the Lamb/priesthood has the mission to gather His people ISRAEL in the last days. However, the rod servant which is identified with assimilated Ephraim and gentiles, even a multitude of nations, who will not be gathered due to the deception of the whore of Babylon/church of the devil, will at some point be cut off. The wicked people, the tares, will be tied in bundles and destroyed (D&C 86:4-7).

The root servant is made up of gathered or sifted tribe of Joseph, a restored lineage of Joseph, and is no longer assimilated or blended with the gentiles (Isa 49:3) in the same sense as the rod servant. The root servant is also the latter day Elias, a righteous covenant keeping people, the sifted wheat, to whom rightly belongs the Melchizedek priesthood with whom the David and Joseph type of covenants and blessings continues.

I think we can gather a few more clues from Isa 52:13-15 (also in 3 Ne 20:43-45) and 3 Ne 21:9-11.
Isa 52:13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14 As many were astonished at thee; his visage was so marred MORE THAN ANY MAN, AND HIS FORM MORE THAN THE SONS OF MEN:...
Could this interesting wording mean that the servant is not a single individual and that “his” visage will be marred such that he will be “hid from the world” (D&C 86:9, Isa 49:2).
15 So shall HE SPRINKLE MANY NATIONS (compare Gen 48:19 “his seed shall become a multitude of nations”); the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

It is difficult to imagine a single individual that sprinkle many nations. But this description fits with how Nephi describes the church of the Lamb of God in the end times.

1 Ne 14:12 And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters; nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw.

3 Ne 21:9 For in that day, for my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall be a great and a marvelous work among them; and there shall be among them those who will not believe it, although a man shall declare it unto them. 10 But behold, THE LIFE OF MY SERVANT SHALL BE IN MY HAND; therefore they shall not hurt him, although HE SHALL BE MARRED because of them. Yet I WILL HEAL HIM, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil. 11 Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said) they shall be cut off (the rod shall be cut off and the root remain Isa 11:1) from among my people who are of the covenant.

These passages indicate that the mission of Jehovah’s end time servant (the root) will be difficult and that he will be marred because of opposition or the cunning of the devil. The cunning of the devil will likely come from within and some may give up on the servant in his marred state, when his light unto the gentiles may be diminished (even the sun will be darkened along with the moon, and the stars will fall). However, we can find comfort in the words of Christ in 3 Nephi. In that the servant’s life ultimately is in the hand of Christ and at some point he will be healed and his light will shine brightly again. And that this will be done in order that God’s wisdom will be shown to be greater than the cunning of the devil. God's work wherein the cunning of the devil will be revealed will serve as a great lesson for all mankind in eternity.

[Shawn Henry]

I think this means we are about at the point that the leaders works will be destroyed. Then the Lord will send His servant, Joseph, to gather the strength of His house and avenge Him.

Isaiah says that the restoration will involve a "root" and later a "rod". Joseph was the root who started the restoration. The Lord will send the rod to finish it. 2 different people.

Not two different people, but the same person born two different times. The servant in the parable is identified as JS, the same servant throughout the parable who finishes what he started.

[Shawn Henry]

Let me know if you don't understand. I will explain it to you.

Match it to history and I'll be impressed.

[InfoWarrior82]

Let me know if you don't understand. I will explain it to you.

Match it to history and I'll be impressed.

Timelines? Don't know. All I can say for sure is that sometime between Joseph Smith and today, church leaders became slothful and stopped keeping the commandments of the Lord. I have my own suspicions as to when this started, but I'm probably wrong. My investigation started with: who was the last church president to receive literal word for word revelation from the Lord.

[HereWeGo]

I think this means we are about at the point that the leaders works will be destroyed. Then the Lord will send His servant, Joseph, to gather the strength of His house and avenge Him.

Isaiah says that the restoration will involve a "root" and later a "rod". Joseph was the root who started the restoration. The Lord will send the rod to finish it. 2 different people.

Not two different people, but the same person born two different times. The servant in the parable is identified as JS, the same servant throughout the parable who finishes what he started.

Entirely possible. If true, the people will not know that the two are the same person. Hence, the root and the rod. The rod may even not know he was also the root.

[HereWeGo]

I think this means we are about at the point that the leaders works will be destroyed. Then the Lord will send His servant, Joseph, to gather the strength of His house and avenge Him.

Isaiah says that the restoration will involve a "root" and later a "rod". Joseph was the root who started the restoration. The Lord will send the rod to finish it. 2 different people.

D&C 113 (Isa 11).
D&C 113:1 Who is the Stem of Jesse spoken of in the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th verses of the 11th chapter of Isaiah? 2 Verily thus saith the Lord: It is Christ. 3 What is the rod spoken of in the first verse of the 11th chapter of Isaiah, that should come of the Stem of Jesse? 4 Behold, thus saith the Lord: It is a servant in the hands of Christ, who is partly a descendant of Jesse as well as of Ephraim, or of the house of Joseph, on whom there is laid much power. 5 What is the root of Jesse spoken of in the 10th verse of the 11th chapter? 6 Behold, thus saith the Lord, it is a descendant of Jesse, as well as of Joseph, unto whom rightly belongs the priesthood, and the keys of the kingdom, for an ensign, and for the gathering of my people in the last days.

The olive tree represents God’s people. To understand the interpretation of the allegory we must understand something about the cultivation of olive trees. The olive tree does not bear fruit at first (at least not good fruit). Isaiah is describing the process that will lead the olive tree to again bear good fruit. The root spoken of here, as a servant, is not to be mistaken for the root of the whole olive tree; that makes little sense when Christ himself is identified as the stem or trunk of the tree. Instead the root refers to a graft (or sprig) that grows into a fruit bearing branch. The rod is a shoot or watersprout that sometimes shoots out from the tree trunk (a sign of life) but won’t yield any fruit but it can be left to keep the tree alive until the tree becomes strong enough to support a graft. So the rod servant comes before the root servant but they are likely connected. The unfruitful rod is cut and only the root will remain and a graft will be provided into the root.

So here we have two servants, the rod and the root, on different spiritual levels or possibly one servant at different stages of development depending on how you look at it. The second servant, the root that grows into a branch yielding good fruit, is on a higher spiritual level than the first, and is identified as Jehovah’s end time servant by Avraham Gileadi. D&C 113:6 tells us that Jehovah’s end time servant must be of the lineage of Joseph since the priesthood rightly belongs to this lineage. But in order to receive the priesthood and serve Jehovah the lineage must be gathered. They must be gathered into the church that bears his name. The rod servant has been endowed with much power but no priesthood power is mentioned. Nevertheless he is in the hands of Christ and serves his purpose. The rod servant shares some of the characteristics/lineage of the root servant. D&C 113:4 indicates Ephraim or Joseph assimilated or blended with gentiles. I believe this rod servant with power but no priesthood is more of a worldly but Christian power (the rod is connected to the stem or trunk which is Christ) that keeps the tree alive even if the good fruit is missing. The tribe of Ephraim was prophesied to become a multitude of nations Gen 48:19. Christ himself says that he inspired the creation of the USA (D&C 101:77-80). I believe the root servant which shall eventually grow into a fruitful branch is the gathered birthright tribe of Joseph endowed with the priesthood or in other words the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and that this servant is also latter day Elias, the restorer that will restore the Olive tree/God’s people. The restored church/priesthood of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints holds the keys of God’s kingdom on earth and the priesthood and thus identifies it with the root of Jesse in D&C 113:6. The restored church of the Lamb/priesthood has the mission to gather His people ISRAEL in the last days. However, the rod servant which is identified with assimilated Ephraim and gentiles, even a multitude of nations, who will not be gathered due to the deception of the whore of Babylon/church of the devil, will at some point be cut off. The wicked people, the tares, will be tied in bundles and destroyed (D&C 86:4-7).

The root servant is made up of gathered or sifted tribe of Joseph, a restored lineage of Joseph, and is no longer assimilated or blended with the gentiles (Isa 49:3) in the same sense as the rod servant. The root servant is also the latter day Elias, a righteous covenant keeping people, the sifted wheat, to whom rightly belongs the Melchizedek priesthood with whom the David and Joseph type of covenants and blessings continues.

I think we can gather a few more clues from Isa 52:13-15 (also in 3 Ne 20:43-45) and 3 Ne 21:9-11.
Isa 52:13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14 As many were astonished at thee; his visage was so marred MORE THAN ANY MAN, AND HIS FORM MORE THAN THE SONS OF MEN:...
Could this interesting wording mean that the servant is not a single individual and that “his” visage will be marred such that he will be “hid from the world” (D&C 86:9, Isa 49:2).
15 So shall HE SPRINKLE MANY NATIONS (compare Gen 48:19 “his seed shall become a multitude of nations”); the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

It is difficult to imagine a single individual that sprinkle many nations. But this description fits with how Nephi describes the church of the Lamb of God in the end times.

1 Ne 14:12 And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters; nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw.

3 Ne 21:9 For in that day, for my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall be a great and a marvelous work among them; and there shall be among them those who will not believe it, although a man shall declare it unto them. 10 But behold, THE LIFE OF MY SERVANT SHALL BE IN MY HAND; therefore they shall not hurt him, although HE SHALL BE MARRED because of them. Yet I WILL HEAL HIM, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil. 11 Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said) they shall be cut off (the rod shall be cut off and the root remain Isa 11:1) from among my people who are of the covenant.

These passages indicate that the mission of Jehovah’s end time servant (the root) will be difficult and that he will be marred because of opposition or the cunning of the devil. The cunning of the devil will likely come from within and some may give up on the servant in his marred state, when his light unto the gentiles may be diminished (even the sun will be darkened along with the moon, and the stars will fall). However, we can find comfort in the words of Christ in 3 Nephi. In that the servant’s life ultimately is in the hand of Christ and at some point he will be healed and his light will shine brightly again. And that this will be done in order that God’s wisdom will be shown to be greater than the cunning of the devil. God's work wherein the cunning of the devil will be revealed will serve as a great lesson for all mankind in eternity.

Thank you for the correction and additional information.

[Shawn Henry]

Timelines? Don't know. All I can say for sure is that sometime between Joseph Smith and today, church leaders became slothful and stopped keeping the commandments of the Lord. I have my own suspicions as to when this started, but I'm probably wrong. My investigation started with: who was the last church president to receive literal word for word revelation from the Lord.

My personal opinion is that the Nauvoo timeframe is the best match.