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4/4/13

What do those crazy Mormons believe in, anyway? part 10

We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the ten tribes; that Zion, the New Jerusalem, will be built upon the American Continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and the the earth will be removed and recieve it's paradisical glory.

This talks about some historical/scriptural things.
Let's start with the gathering of Israel.

First, before something is gathered, usually it's scattered. This happened to 10 of the 12 tribes in about 600 BC, when the Babylonians took over (note: the two that weren't scattered were Judah and Benjamin, the Jews. The tribe of Benjamin had merged with the tribe of Judah)
The gathering needs to happen spiritually, and physically. To be spiritually gathered, everyone will be gathered to God, in His true church. This church was lost for a time, when most of the apostles were killed; but it was restored again in 1830-ish, by Joseph Smith. Now, Israel continues to be gathered as missionaries of the LDS church go out and preach the gospel.
The physical gathering won't happen until the Second Coming of Christ (more on that later). We believe that those from the tribe of Joseph (Ephraim and Manessah) will gather on the American continent, and that the tribe of Judah will gather in Jerusalem/Israel. The other tribes will be adopted into the tribe of Ephraim. 
For more info on this (and probably more accurate info :)) here are three resources.
This is a link to an article which was published in the Ensign (a church magazine)
Here is a link to a handbook
And, lastly, here is a video from a previous General Conference:


2) Zion, the New Jerusalem, is the church. It is founded on the American continent (specifically, Utah :)).

3) The 2nd Coming of Christ. The 1st Coming happened in 1 AD, when Christ was born. He died, and then rose again on the 3rd day. He will come again. This promise was first heard by His apostles, in Acts 1:11 ...this same Jesus, which is btaken up from you into heaven, shall so ccome in like dmanner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
When will this come? Some people in the time of the Apostles thought that it would be soon. But Paul said that "that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first..." (2 Thessalonians 2:3) This falling away was the Apostasy, that happened shortly after this revelation.
There are other signs of His coming, but no one knows exactly when it's going to happen.
This is a site that tells of some of the signs of the 2nd Coming.
Here is a paper written by another girl, sharing her thoughts on the 2nd Coming.
This is another talk, giving advice about how to prepare for it:


4) The earth will be removed and recieve her paradisical glory. What in the world does this mean? Hold on, let me look it up...
I believe that this is talking about the Millenium. This will come after the 2nd Coming. It is a 1000 year period, when the devil will be chained, and the earth will be a paradise.
For more on the Millenium, and what comes after, see ???

And that is the 10th Article of Faith. It's probably one of the most techinal, and hardest to understand.

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