Page:PlainBookOfMormon.pdf/48

 I asked them, "Have you asked the Lord to tell you their meaning?"

"No," they replied. "The Lord doesn't tell us such things."

Then I said, "Why don't you keep the Lord's commandments? Why will you allow yourselves to spiritually die because of your hard hearts? Remember, the Lord said,


 * ‘If you will humble yourselves before me and not harden your hearts, but ask of me in faith, believing that you will receive, and diligently keep my commandments, then these things will surely be made known to you.’

By the same Spirit of the Lord which was in our forefathers, I tell you that the house of Israel was compared to an olive tree. Our family is of the house of Israel, for our father discovered that we are descendants of Joseph.

We are like a natural branch, broken off an olive tree, to be planted in the promised land.

The joining again of the natural branch to the olive tree is compared to our people who will receive the fullness of the gospel in the last days. They will receive it from the Gentiles (Latter-day Saints) many generations after the Messiah will have shown Himself to their forefathers, and many generations after they have faltered in unbelief.