Unveiling Jesus Christ

Unveiling Jesus Christ

por John Cassinat

[§158] The Second Coming Prophecies of Joel

This podcast reviews and explains the second coming prophesies of the prophet Joel from the Old Testament. Joel was the second of twelve minor prophets in the Old Testament, and probably the first to prophesy of Christ's second coming in detail. The words of Joel are echoed by prophets who came after him, including John the Revelator in the Book of Revelation. On the night of September 21, 1823, Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith and told him the prophecies of Joel were about to be fulfilled, including Joel's prophecy that in the last days the Lord's spirit would be poured out upon all flesh in a Pentecostal manner. Joel's prophecies include references to the battle of Armageddon to be waged in the valley of Jehoshaphat, also called the valley of decision, from whence Christ will execute judgment upon wicked nations and people that gather to battle against Jerusalem, and who carry out the final Abomination of Desolation against the Jews during the last 3½ days before Christ sets foot on the mount of Olives. The valley of Jehoshaphat, includes the valley of Jezreel in modern Israel also known as the plain of Esdraelon, located north and west of Jerusalem, where many famous battles have been fight in ancient and modern history.

[§158] The Second Coming Prophecies of Joel

This podcast provides an overview of the contents from John's vision in Revelation 11. The timing for this chapter is the last 3½ years before the Second Coming known as the Great Tribulation. During this time, the Two Witnesses will minister in Jerusalem. Their mission is to raise a warning voice to the Jews for them to have faith in Jesus Christ and repent of their sins, while also using the sealing powers vested in them to protect Jerusalem and her people from the Gentiles gathered against them in these last 3 ½ years of Armageddon. After 3 ½ years, the Two Witnesses will be martyred and their dead bodies shall lie in the streets unburied for 3½ days. During this brief interval, the Gentiles will overtake the city of Jerusalem. They will desecrate the Third Temple and will kill half the Jewish population in a scene of great horror. This is the predicted Abomination of Desolation that will end when Christ steps foot on the mount of Olives at his Second Coming and extends mercy to the surviving Jews as he destroys the Gentiles. This final abomination of desolation has several foreshadows including the desecration and destruction of the temple of Jerusalem by king Nebuchadnezzar in 487 BC, the desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 BC, and the desecration and destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 AD.

[§156] John’s Little Book Mission Does Not Include the Jewish Gathering

This podcast discusses ancient and modern prophecies about the latter-day gathering of the Jewish people to their homeland in Palestine. The modern Jewish gathering began after Moses appeared to Joseph Smith in the Kirtland temple and restored the priesthood keys for the gathering of scattered Israel in 1836. John the Revelator was an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he did not receive the keys to gather scattered Israel as part of his little book mission recorded in Revelation 10:8-11. The gathering of the Jews began in earnest after Orson Hyde dedicated the land of Palestine for the return of the Jews in 1840. Since then, there has been what the Jews call a mystical force called "Zionism" that compels them to gather to their homeland. Several events in history are major milestones for the gathering of Israel, including the Balfor Declaration at the end of World War I, which favored the creation of a Jewish State with the aid of other nations who serve as the nursing fathers and nursing mothers to the Jewish people as they gather. The state of Israel was born on May 15, 1948, in the midst of war. The Jews miraculously won their war for independence against their Arab neighbors, but many other conflicts and wars have followed including the Six Day War in 1967, the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the Lebanon War in 1982, the second Lebanon War in 2006, Hamas-Israel conflict in the Gaza Strip in 2008, the 2012 Hamas-Israel conflict in Gaza, the 2014 Hamas-Israel war, the 2021 conflict that began with riots in Jerusalem and ended with airstrikes in Gaza, and the 2023 Hamas-Israel war that began when Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 240 hostages. This has been the deadliest war for Palestinians since the war of 1948, and it has leveled much of the Gaza Strip. These wars are a prelude to the increasing violence that will lead to and culminate in the war of Armageddon that is still in our future as predicted in the Book of Revelation, chapter 9.

[§155] The Translated Lost Ten Tribes in Jacob 5 and Ezekiel 37

This podcast discusses the translation of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel as seen through the writings of Zenos in his allegory of the tame and wild olive trees, recorded in Jacob 5 in the Book of Mormon. The same topic is viewed from Ezekiel's vision of the valley of the dry bones recorded in Ezekiel 37 in the Old Testament. This is part of a continuing discussion of John the Revelator's little book mission in Revelation 10:8-11, where the Savior commissioned him to go among the Lost Ten Tribes as a translated person to minister among a people to be translated in preparation for their coming to Adam-ondi-Ahman and the Second Coming. John's little book mission came after the visit of Jesus Christ among the Lost Ten Tribes after his resurrection in about 34 AD. The Allegory of Zenos describes the Lost Ten Tribes as natural branches hidden in the nethermost part of the vineyard in a poor spot of ground. Despite their adversities, the Lost Ten Tribes brought forth much good fruit by the time of Christ's visit among them in 34 AD. Nevertheless, the Lost Ten Tribes became wicked and corrupt as the Great Apostasy took hold universally in all the world. In anticipation of this event, John received his little book mission to labor among the Lost Ten Tribes as recorded in Revelation 10:8-11. (See also D&C 77:14) In the face of their apostasy, the Lord did not allow the Lost Ten Tribes to be destroyed like the Nephites in 420 AD, but he instead plucked out the most bitter branches and preserved the rest by grafting in natural branches from the original tree, which describes John's mission among them and perhaps that of the Three Nephites as well. The Lost Ten Tribes were thus preserved until the time of their translation in 570 BC, which is a date 1260 years before the restoration of the Church in 1830. The 1260 years is the prophetic time given for the great apostacy as measured by the loss of earthly priesthood during the Great Apostasy. Ezekiel describes the translation and restoration of the Lost Ten Tribes as one part of his vision of dry bones in Ezekiel 37. The vision applies to the whole house of Israel represented by dry and scattered bones. Ezekiel say flesh and sinews restored to the dried up bones to represent the gathering of scattered Israel and the restoration of the Lost Ten Tribes as a great army of the latter days. This vision symbolically depicts the translation of the Lost Ten Tribes who will stand up as a great army with translated bodies during the Great Tribulation.

[§154] Translation of Lost Tribes Mirrors the People of Enoch

This podcast discusses in detail the translation of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel and how their translation after the resurrection of Christ mirrors the translation of Enoch and the city of Zion before the flood in the days of Noah. Just as the people and city of Enoch (Zion) were taken up to heaven to save them from physical death during the universal flood, the Lost Ten Tribes were taken up to protect them from the spiritual death that would have overcome them during the Great Apostasy of the dark ages. Both groups will come together at the Second Coming as the Zion of Enoch's day comes down from heaven and Zion (the New Jerusalem) of the latter-days will rise up to heaven, including the Lost Ten Tribes who are among the builders of latter-day Zion. This will fulfill, in part, the saying in Acts 3:19-21 that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, God will gather together all things in one, both in heaven and on earth. There are several parallels, patterns, and types between the people Zion in Enoch's day and the Lost Ten Tribes. Both peoples went from a state of great wickedness to a state of righteousness before their translation. Some people believe the Lost Ten Tribes fell into a state of apostasy after Jesus Christ ministered to them after his resurrection in about 34 AD, but the pattern and type given by the people of Enoch suggests an opposite outcome.

[§153] John and the Doctrine and Ordinance of Translation

This podcast explains the doctrine and ordinance of translation, including a discussion of what translation is and who has been translated in the history of the world. A translated person is mortal, but that mortal body cannot die, it does not feel pain except for the sins of the world, it does not get sick, nor does it deteriorate in any way. The body of such a person is elevated spiritually to a terrestrial condition so it can operate in both the physical and spiritual realm on this planet and on many other planets. Heaven is the dwelling place of translated persons. Thousands and perhaps millions of people of this earth have been translated and taken to heaven without tasting death, including the people of Enoch and the entire city of Zion before the flood. The righteous and faithful people of Melchizedek also had the Holy Ghost fall upon them, and they were taken up to the city of Zion, whose builder and maker was God. The Savior promised John the apostle that he would not taste death until the Second Coming of the Son of Man so that John could continue to minister to the heirs of salvations and prophesy before nations, kindreds, tongues, and people. (D&C 7:1-3) The same promise and blessing was given to the Three Nephites in 3 Nephi 28:6-7. John and the Three Nephites were the only persons known to have been translated after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but Doctrine and Covenants speaks of other "holy men that ye know not of." These undoubtedly include the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel, whom the Savior ministered to after his resurrection. John also ministered to them in his translated condition after he received his little book mission in Revelation 10:8-11.

[§152] The Physical and Spiritual Journey of the Lost Ten Tribes

This podcast explains the history of the Ten Tribes of Israel from the time of their deportation to Assyria in 721 BC, until the time of their return to the lands of their inheritance after the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Their history includes a journey that is both physical and spiritual. The northern ten tribes are consistently called the Lost Ten Tribes because they were lost to history after 721 BC. However, they are not lost to the Lord. They are a distinct people that are separate from the scattered tribes of Israel. The apocryphal book of 2 Esdras (Ezra) records that after the ten tribes were deported to Assyria, they repented of their sins and escaped from their captors by traveling north to a land where never man dwelt. They were led by prophets and had their own scriptures. Once in the north countries, they were visited by Christ after his resurrection. The scriptures prophesy that the Lost Ten Tribes shall return from the north. The word "north" has several symbolic meanings that include "dark place," "hidden place," and "heaven." Deuteronomy 30:4 speaks of the Lord fetching the lost tribes from the utmost bounds of heaven, which in symbolic terms means they will be returned from the north or heaven. They will return as a translated people to the gathering of saints at Adam-ondi-Ahman. They will be taken up into the clouds of heaven to descend with Christ at the Second Coming. Thereafter, they will be spiritually gathered as they receive their temple blessings in Zion at the hand of Ephraim and they will then be gathered physically to the lands of their inheritance after the Second Coming.

[§151] The History and End of the Northern Kingdom [Ten Tribes]

This podcast gives the historical context of the Lost Ten Tribes from the time of the United Kingdom of Israel in the days of King Solomon to the time the lost tribes were deported to Assyria in 721 BC. With the death of Solomon in about 975 BC, the United kingdom divided into the Northern Kingdom of Israel led by Jeroboam and the Kingdom of Judah in the south led by Solomon's son, Rehoboam. The Northern Kingdom consisted of ten tribes although the intermixing of the tribes makes this number somewhat symbolical. The ten tribes in the north were consistently wicked and the Lord sent prophets among them warning of their destruction. This commenced in 745 BC when the northern ten tribes became a vassal state to the Assyrian Empire. The demise of the Northern Kingdom as an independent nation came about in 721 BC when thousands of Israelites were deported to the far reaches of the Assyrian empire.

[§150] Priesthood Keys for the Latter-day Gathering of Israel

This podcast discusses the priesthood keys needed by John the apostle to carry out his "little Book Mission" described in Revelation 10:8-11. Priestood keys were restored in this gospel dispensation to Joseph Smith, who is called the Root of Jesse in Isaiah 11:10-12. Moroni quoted these verses to Joseph Smith on September 21, 1823, and said the latter-day gathering of Israel was about to commence. On April 3, 1836, the prophets Moses and Elias appeared at the Kirtland Temple and conferred on Joseph Smith the keys of "the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north. (D&C 110:11) The gathering of scattered Israel is first spiritual and second temporal. Scattered Israel is distinct from the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. Joseph Smith did not receive keys to physically gather the Lost Ten Tribes because John received these keys as part of his Little Book Mission. With these keys, John ministers as a translated person (a flaming fire) among the Lost Ten Tribes to gather them first physically before they will be gathered spiritually at Adam-ondi-Ahman. After this gathering, the Lost Ten Tribes will receive their temple blessings from the children of Ephraim at the temple of Zion (New Jerusalem). The Lost Ten Tribes will come to Zion from the north (heaven) as a physically gathered body in a translated condition and they will return with their scriptures and their prophets, including John the apostle.

[§149] Rev 10:8-11: The Meaning of the “Little Book”

This podcast explains and interprets the "Little Book Mission" given to John the Revelator in Revelation 10:8-11. In Revelation 8:10, John hears the voice of God the Father telling him to take the little book from the mighty angel, who is Jesus Christ, who stands on both land and sea as a symbol of his dominion. The little book is open in the hand of Christ and the act of taking, reading, eating, and digesting the book represents John's calling and commission to perform the contents of the book open to his view. John commenced his mission and continues his mission into the latter days as a translated person. The little book mission is an "ordinance, for him to gather the tribes of Israel [as an] Elias, who, as it is written, must come and restore all things.” (D&C 77:14) Since the time of his commission in 96 AD, John has labored among the lost ten tribes of Israel to prepare for their return to the gathering of saints at Adam-ondi-Ahman and for Christ's Second Coming. John fulfills his mission based on priesthood keys given to him anciently, which are not in conflict with the keys bestowed on Joseph Smith by Moses at the Kirtland temple, including "the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north.” (D&C 110:11) This podcast also explains the symbolism in Revelation 10:9, where the little book is bitter in John's belly, but sweet as honey in his mouth. John takes and symbolically eats the book thereby accepting his commission to "prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” (Rev 10:11) John fulfills this commission through his writings in the New Testament including the Book of Revelation, his three general epistles, and the gospel of John. He also fulfills his Little Book Mission by his preparatory work among the lost ten tribes of Israel.

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