34 Yea, he saith: Come
unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall
eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely;
35 Yea, come unto me
and bring forth works of righteousness, and ye shall not be hewn down and cast
into the fire—
36 For behold, the
time is at hand that whosoever bringeth forth not good fruit, or whosoever
doeth not the works of righteousness, the same have cause to wail and mourn.
37 O ye workers of
iniquity; ye that are puffed up in the vain things of the world, ye that have
professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone
astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called
after you and is still calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto his
voice!
38 Behold, I say unto
you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth
call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the
voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are
not the sheep of the good shepherd.
39 And now if ye are
not the sheep of the good shepherd, of what fold are ye? Behold, I say unto
you, that the devil is your shepherd, and ye are of his fold; and now, who can
deny this? Behold, I say unto you, whosoever denieth this is a liar and a child
of the devil. (Alma 5:34-49)
Alma continues.
·
Yea, he saith: Come unto me.
“And it came to pass that when my father had read and seen
many great and marvelous things, he did exclaim many things unto the Lord; such
as: Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy throne is high
in the heavens, and thy power, and goodness, and mercy are over all the
inhabitants of the earth; and, because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer
those who come unto thee that they shall perish” (1 Nephi 1:14).
“He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the
world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he
may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not
partake of his salvation.
“Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me?
Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the
earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price.
“Behold, hath he commanded any that they should depart out
of the synagogues, or out of the houses of worship? Behold, I say unto you,
Nay.
“Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his
salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath given it free for all men;
and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to
repentance.
“Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not
partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but all men are privileged
the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden” (2 Nephi 26:24-28).
“Tree of life allusions are so common throughout the Book of
Mormon that to posit an extensive array of allusions written before the
allegory itself complicates this theory beyond what its ideological foundation
will bear … When Alma the Younger preaches to the Nephites, he calls them to
repentance by asking a whole series of questions about their spiritual state.
He then frames their return to God in a trope from Nephi and Lehi’s records: ‘Yea,
he saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life;
yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely’ (Alma
5:34).”[1]
·
Yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the
waters of life freely.
“And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the
fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever
before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed
all the whiteness that I had ever seen” (1 Nephi 8:11).
“Wherefore, the wicked are rejected from the righteous, and
also from that tree of life, whose fruit is most precious and most desirable
above all other fruits; yea, and it is the greatest of all the gifts of God.
And thus I spake unto my brethren. Amen” (1 Nephi 15:36).
“Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and
milk without money and without price.
“Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no
worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto
me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of
Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and
let your soul delight in fatness” (2 Nephi 9:50-51).
·
The time is at hand that whosoever bringeth
forth not good fruit, or whosoever doeth not the works of righteousness, the
same have cause to wail and mourn.
“And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees:
therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast
into the fire” (Matthew 3:10).
“The ax is laid at the root of the trees; and every tree
that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the fire.
I, the Lord, have spoken it” (D&C 97:7).
·
Ye workers of iniquity; ye that are puffed up in
the vain things of the world, ye that have professed to have known the ways of
righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd,
notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you and is still calling after
you, but ye will not hearken unto his voice!
“They wear stiff necks and high heads; yea, and because of
pride, and wickedness, and abominations, and whoredoms, they have all gone
astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless,
they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the
precepts of men” (2 Nephi 28:14).
“O house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of
the Lord; yea, come, for ye have all gone astray, every one to his wicked ways”
(2 Nephi 12:5).
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every
one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah
53:6).
·
The good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his
own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ;
“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of
mine” (John 10:14).
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the
everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20).
“And he that will hear my voice shall be my sheep; and him
shall ye receive into the church, and him will I also receive” (Mosiah 26:21).
·
If ye will not hearken unto the voice of the
good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep
of the good shepherd.
“But behold, ye have both heard my voice, and seen me; and
ye are my sheep, and ye are numbered among those whom the Father hath given me”
(3 Nephi 15:24).
“But if he repent not he shall not be numbered among my
people, that he may not destroy my people, for behold I know my sheep, and they
are numbered” (3 Nephi 18:31).
“And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other
head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby
salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of
Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be
obedient unto the end of your lives” (Mosiah 5:8).
“That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye
receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves
even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit
and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and
blessings which he doth bestow upon you” (Alma 34:38).
·
And now if ye are not the sheep of the good
shepherd, of what fold are ye? Behold, I say unto you, that the devil is your
shepherd, and ye are of his fold; and now, who can deny this? Behold, I say
unto you, whosoever denieth this is a liar and a child of the devil.
“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the
one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the
other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).
“And now it shall
come to pass, that whosoever shall not take upon him the name of Christ must be
called by some other name; therefore, he findeth himself on the left hand of
God” (Mosiah 5:10).
“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?
He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22).
“And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we
become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God,
and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to
that being who beguiled our first parents, who transformeth himself nigh unto
an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations
of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness” (2 Nephi 9:9).
[1] Positivism
and the Priority of Ideology in Mosiah-First Theories of Book of Mormon
Production, Alan Goff, FARMS Review
16/1 (2004): 31.
No comments:
Post a Comment