Who Shall Build New Jerusalem?

K. Douglas Bassett

3 Ne.20:14, 22; Doctrines of Salvation, Smith, 2:247-248, 250-251; Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon, Ludlow, p. 282; History of the Church, Smith, 2:261-262; refer in this text to Ether 13:2-11; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 17

“The Latter-day Saints in these [Rocky] mountains never can have the privilege of going back to Jackson County and building that city which is to be called the New Jerusalem, until quite a large portion of the remnants of Joseph [Lamanites] go back with us. Now then, here is a work for us, and we have no need to pray to the Father to return us to Jackson County until the work is done.”

(Orson Pratt, as quoted by Paul E. Felt, The Book of Mormon, the Lamanite, and His Prophetic Destiny, pp. 32-33)

“How I wish you could go with me through the Indian reservations and particularly Navajo lands and see the poverty, want, and wretchedness, and realize again that these are sons and daughters of God; that their miserable state is the result, not only of their centuries of wars and sins and godlessness, but is also attributable to us, their conquerors, who placed them on reservations with such limited resources and facilities, to starve and die of malnutrition and unsanitary conditions, while we become fat in the prosperity from the assets we took from them. Think of these things, my people, and then weep for the Indian, and with your tears, pray; then work for him. Only through us, the ‘nursing fathers and mothers,’ may they eventually enjoy a fulfillment of the many promises made to them… . They shall prosper in the land and will, with our help, build up a holy city, even the New Jerusalem, unto their God. Only in our doing all in our power to restore these people to their heritage, can we even approach a justification for having taken their promised land.” (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, pp. 605-606)

Latter-Day Commentary on the Book of Mormon

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