| First Message
SECTION X.
1. And now, if you have searched my Scriptures, you know that I come a second time upon the earth; and you know also from the prophets that the time is near at hand; and I say unto you now again, in great plainness, that the day of my visitation, yea, of my personal appearance, is indeed, at the door; and you must needs be prepared, lest you perish.
2. For this cause, have I broken the silence of many generations; which silence, was because of your wickedness and the wickedness of your fathers; and the heavens, which have been sealed as brass over your heads, have I opened again; that my word might be sent forth unto you, O, inhabitants of the earth! And if you reject it at this time, and give no heed to the warnings which are sent forth unto you, then will you perish.
3. And except you seek me, to know the truth of these things, if you are in doubt, you will not be able to stand. But if you seek me, and do it with an honest desire to know the truth, and with an earnestness of reliance upon me, that I might show you, behold, I will show you. Mine ear is not heavy that I cannot hear the voice of faith that comes from the integrity of the heart.
4. But the light-minded, and the hypocrite, and the unrepentant, and the disobedient, and the unbeliever, and the false prophet, and the ministry of Satan, will I not answer, saith the Lord.
5. For they are of the wicked, though they know it not, and their answer is from him whom they will to obey. Let them beware in whom they trust. Yea, let them first repent of the evils of their hearts.
6. But, verily, I say unto you, those are blessed indeed, who will seek, in faith, to know the truth of my doctrines; and blessed are they who will deny the traditions of their fathers; and blessed they who are strong to reject the counsel of an erring ministry; and blessed those who will turn from the conflicting and confusing creeds of men; and blessed those who will set at naught their own cherished opinions; and doubly blessed shall be those who reject the forms and ceremonies, the robes and vain show of priestly pride; for all these conditions are essential to the salvation of mine Israel of this generation.
7. And hear ye the Lord in this; it is not sufficient that you possess a spirit of inward peace and joy, as from your Lord; for they that repent and turn from the commission of sin, have much cause to rejoice, and I the Lord, give them joy; for the awakening of conscience, and obedience thereto, is obedience unto God, even to the spirit of redemption.
8. But of necessity, you must seek to know the law, that your doctrines may be sound, in order that you may walk in obedience to the commandments of God, even to observe the ordinances of mine Everlasting Gospel. And I say unto you, that if you do not this, then are you damned, or in other words, then are you condemned, and cast aside; for no one can reject my Gospel and be permitted to enter into my courts.
9. For you must surely know that the Lord cannot be a respecter of persons, and mine ordinances were not given to men to be trampled under foot; neither to be changed by the will of man. The wisdom of them remaineth in me, and it is for all men to walk in obedience thereto.
10. Wherefore, O ye children of men, turn ye from all your vain delusions, and I the Lord your God, even your Savior, will show you the way; and again, as in days of old, make plain to you the path which leadeth unto life eternal.
11. And now behold, there are many ten-thousand who will do this; and they are unto me as mine Israel in the day when the Prophet Elijah sorrowed because he alone was left of all those who worshipped the true and living God, and I showed unto him that seven thousand of the children of Israel had not bent the knee unto Baal,
12. Of such is the Kingdom of heaven, They are they which have believing hearts, and are lowly of spirit; and they will hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. They are mine, saith the Lord, and I will preserve them and keep them in the hollow of my hand.
13. And after they have been tried in the furnace of affliction and the scourges are past, then will I gather them upon all the lands of their fathers; tribe for tribe, and race for race, will I place them, every tongue and every people in their own lands. And they will know me, their Lord, and walk in my statutes; and I will be in their midst, and rule over them for a thousand years to come.
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