17 But behold, the resurrection of Christ aredeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord.
18 Yea, and it bringeth to pass the condition of repentance, that whosoever repenteth the same is not ahewn down and cast into the fire; but whosoever repenteth not is hewn down and cast into the fire; and there cometh upon them again a bspiritual death, yea, a second death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness.
19 Therefore repent ye, repent ye, lest by knowing these things and not doing them ye shall suffer yourselves to come under condemnation, and ye are brought down unto this second death.
20 But behold, as I said unto you concerning another asign, a sign of his death, behold, in that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his blight unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of cthree days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead.
21 Yea, at the time that he shall yield up the aghost there shall be bthunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the earth shall shake and tremble; and the crocks which are upon the face of this earth, which are both above the earth and beneath, which ye know at this time are solid, or the more part of it is one solid mass, shall be dbroken up;
22 Yea, they shall be rent in twain, and shall ever after be afound in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments upon the face of the whole earth, yea, both above the earth and beneath.
25 And many agraves shall be opened, and shall yield up many of their dead; and many saints shall appear unto many.
26 And behold, thus hath the aangel spoken unto me; for he said unto me that there should be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours.
27 And he said unto me that while the thunder and the lightning lasted, and the tempest, that these things should be, and that adarkness should cover the face of the whole earth for the space of three days.
28 And the angel said unto me that many shall see greater things than these, to the intent that they might believe that athese signs and these wonders should come to pass upon all the face of this land, to the intent that there should be no cause for unbelief among the children of men—
29 And this to the intent that whosoever will believe might be saved, and that whosoever will not believe, a arighteous judgment might come upon them; and also if they are condemned they bring upon themselves their own condemnation.
31 He hath given unto you that ye might aknow good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might bchoose life or death; and ye can do good and be crestored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you.
THE BOOK OF HELAMAN
CHAPTER 15
The Lord chastened the Nephites because he loved them—Converted Lamanites are firm and steadfast in the faith—The Lord will be merciful unto the Lamanites in the latter days. About 6 B.C.
1 And now, my beloved brethren, behold, I declare unto you that except ye shall repent your houses shall be left unto you adesolate.
2 Yea, except ye repent, your women shall have great cause to mourn in the day that they shall give suck; for ye shall attempt to flee and there shall be no place for arefuge; yea, and wo unto them which arebwith child, for they shall be heavy and cannot flee; therefore, they shall be trodden down and shall be left to perish.
3 Yea, wo unto this apeople who are called the bpeople of Nephi except they shall repent, when they shall see all these signs and wonders which shall be showed unto them; for behold, they have been a chosen people of the Lord; yea, the people of Nephi hath he loved, and also hath he cchastened them; yea, in the days of their iniquities hath he chastened them because he loveth them.
4 But behold my brethren, the aLamanites hath he hated because their deeds have been evil continually, and this because of the iniquity of the btradition of their fathers. But behold, salvation hath come unto them through the preaching of the Nephites; and for this intent hath the Lord cprolonged their days.
5 And I would that ye should behold that the amore part of them are in the path of their duty, and they do walk circumspectly before God, and they do observe to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments according to the law of Moses.
6 Yea, I say unto you, that the more part of them are doing this, and they are striving with aunwearied diligence that they may bring the remainder of their brethren to the knowledge of the truth; therefore there are many who do add to their numbers daily.
7 And behold, ye do know of yourselves, for ye have witnessed it, that as many of them as are brought to the knowledge of the truth, and to know of the wicked and abominable traditions of their fathers, and are led to believe the holy scriptures, yea, the prophecies of the holy prophets, which are written, which leadeth them to faith on the Lord, and unto repentance, which faith and repentance bringeth aachange of heart unto them—
Chapter 14 verse 30 teaches that if we make poor choices with our agency we hurt ourselves. Even though this seems like a simple concept we don't always follow it. When Elder Bednar came to our stake conference in June he talked a lot about agency in the Saturday night adult session. He taught me to understand agency in a new way. For example, he taught that when we are baptized we commit to using our agency a certain way. After that we should realize that we have agreed to give up certain choices in exchange for the blessings and the promise we are given. Later when we receive our endowment in the temple the same thing happens. We agree to use our agency in the way God has asked in exchange for the knowledge and blessings he is willing to bestow. This is an amazing gift to all of us and one we should cherish every day of our lives.
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