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1. Text The Seed of Abraham (Abraham 2)

2. Abrahamic Covenant Summary

3. Abrahamic Covenant Summary

4. Abrahamic Covenant Summary

5. “Ye Are the Children of the Covenant.” ~3 Nephi 20:26

6. The Spiritually Protective Power of the Doctrine of the Seed of Abraham

7. “A giant step toward spiritual immunity is taken when we understand the expression ‘children of the covenant.’ To what covenant did the Savior refer? The covenant which he made with Abraham.” Russell M. Nelson Quorum of the Twelve (Perfection Pending, 189)

8. “I do not know a young person who understands what it means to be ‘the seed of Abraham’ who would violate the law of chastity.” David A. BednarQuorum of the Seventy(Ricks College Campus Education Week Devotional, June 4, 1998)

9. Abraham’s Seed in Premortality and the Doctrine of Election Bible Dictionary, “Election,” p.662

10. Are all mortal situations—all time periods, all places, and all possible circumstances—equally favorable to coming in contact with the gospel?

11. If there are some time periods, places, and circumstances which offer a better chance to come in favorable contact with the gospel, who should get those seats?

12. Who should be given priority to be born in the times, and in the places, and under the circumstances where they will come in favorable contact with the gospel? What criteria should this preferential treatment be based upon?

13. “You are now born into a family to which you have come, into the nations through which you have come, as a reward for the kind of lives you lived before you came here and at a time in the world’s history … determined by [your] faithfulness … before this world was created.... Harold B. Lee President (Conference Report, Oct. 1973, pp. 7–8; or Ensign, Jan. 1974, p. 5)

14. “It would seem very clear, then, that those born to the lineage of Jacob, who was later to be called Israel, and his posterity, who were known as the children of Israel, were born into the most illustrious lineage of any of those who came upon the earth as mortal beings.” Harold B. Lee President (Conference Report, Oct. 1973, pp. 7–8; or Ensign, Jan. 1974, p. 5)

15. Is God fair?

16. Is it fair to base our placement in the next life on our faithfulness in this life? Is it fair to base our placement in this life on our faithfulness in the Premortal life?

17. “This election to a chosen lineage is based on pre-existent worthiness and is thus made “according to the foreknowledge of God.” (1 Pet. 1:2.) Those so grouped together during their mortal probation have more abundant opportunities to make and keep the covenants of salvation, a right which they earned by pre-existent devotion to the cause of righteousness. As part of this election, Abraham and others of the noble and great spirits were chosen before they were born for the particular missions assigned them in this life.” Bruce R. McConkie Quorum of the Twelve (NWFAOF,

18. “The greatest and most important talent or capacity that any of the spirit children of the Father could gain is the talent of spirituality. Most of those who gained this talent were chosen, before they were born, to come to earth as members of the house of Israel. They were foreordained to receive the blessings that the Lord promised to Abraham and to his seed in all their generations. This foreordination is an election.” Bruce R. McConkie Quorum of the Twelve (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith,p. 512)

19. “There was a group of souls tested, tried, and proven before they were born into the world, and the Lord provided a lineage for them. That lineage is the house of Israel, the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their posterity. Through this lineage were to come the true and tried souls that had demonstrated their righteousness in the spirit world before they came here.” Melvin J. Ballard Quorum of the Twelve (“The Three Degrees of Glory,” in Melvin J. Ballard, Crusader for Righteousness [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966], pp. 218–19)

20. Alma 13 In the First Place

21. Alma 13 In the First Place Qualify to receive a body Qualify to be Ordained to the Holy Priesthood

22. House of Israel Other Lineages The “Elect” The “Called” The Noble & Great The Seed of Abraham

23. Becoming Abraham’s Seed Children  Seed We are related to Abraham by lineage, but we become his “seed” by covenant. Our connection to Abraham by lineage gives us the right to become his seed by covenant. Abr. 2:10; D&C 84:33-34

24. “Children of the covenant have the right to receive His doctrine and to know the plan of salvation. They claim it by making covenants of sacred significance.” Russell M. Nelson Quorum of the Twelve (“Covenants,” Ensign, November 2011, p. 88; emphasis added)

25. Becoming Abraham’s Seed Paul’s perspective: Galatians 3:16 Christ is THE SEED of Abraham through whom all of the families of the earth are blessed.

26. Abraham Isaac Jacob (Israel) R S Z I G A D N B L Joseph Judah Ephraim Manasseh David Jesus Christ

27. Becoming Abraham’s Seed Paul’s perspective: Galatians 3:26-29 We become Abraham’s seed through covenants with Abraham’s SEED (Christ).

28. The Seed of Abraham Throughout History

29. “In the Sight of the Nations” Moses taught Israel: “Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. “Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people” (Deut. 4:5–6).

30. Israel’s Historical Struggle: Staying in “the Zone” Zone of Optimum Influence (In the World, but Not of the World) Be Isolated From the World Become Like the World

31. Some Effective Examples • Abraham • Joseph (in Egypt) • Moses (on Egypt) • Daniel(Babylon) Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-nego(Babylon) • Esther (on Persia) • Jonah (on Assyria) • Elisha (on Naaman of Syria) Be Isolated From the World Become Like the World

32. Israel’s Historical Struggle: Staying in “the Zone” • Compromises with the World • Israelites at Sinai (golden calves and flesh pots of Egypt) • King Ahab yields to Jezebel • Sampson became like the Philistines • Under Samuel, the people wanted a king “like all the nations” (1 Sam. 8:5, 19-20) • The constant idolatry problems of the Northern & Southern Kingdoms Be Isolated From the World Become Like the World

33. Moses: • “Who is on the Lord’s side?” (Ex. 32:26) • Joshua: • “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” (Josh. 24:15) • Elijah: • “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” (1 Kgs. 18:21)

34. 2 Kings 17:9-23 Israel Judah

35. 701 B.C. Israel Scattered Damascus

36. Blessing or Curse? Israel Judah

37. “The Lord always turns punishments to the accomplishment of his purposes. The scattering of the Israelites among all nations was a punishment inflicted upon them, but a great blessing extended to the nations among whom they were scattered....  Joseph Fielding Smith Quorum of the Twelve (The Restoration of All Things, p.129-137)

38. “We see, then, how through the scattering of Israel, especially the descendants of the ten tribes who mingled with the Gentile nations, the blood of Abraham had been mixed with the blood of the Gentiles, and in this way the Gentiles have been brought into the seed of Abraham, and are therefore entitled to receive, on conditions of their repentance, all the blessings promised to the seed of Abraham.” Joseph Fielding Smith Quorum of the Twelve (The Restoration of All Things, p.129-137)

39. Judah

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42. Israel’s Historical Struggle: Staying in “the Zone” After their return from Babylonian bondage, Judah overcorrects and becomes isolated and aloof from the world. Rather than embracing the world, they shun it and consider themselves superior to all other nations. They believed a Messiah was coming to save them, but not others. They did not accept their responsibility to “bless all nations.” Be Isolated From the World Become Like the World

43. Where were Abraham’s children during the Dark Ages, the Renaissance and Reformation, the founding of America, and the Restoration of the Gospel?

44. “[The Lord] has … called the children of Abraham from among the kingdoms and countries of the earth to first hear and then embrace the everlasting Gospel; and the remnants of the seed of Ephraim who were scattered from Palestine and who colonized the shores of the Caspian Sea and thence made their way into the north of Europe, western Scandinavia and northern Germany, penetrating Scotland and England, and conquering those nations and reigning as monarchs of Great Britain, and mingling their seed with the Anglo-Saxon race…. Erastus Snow Quorum of the Twelve (Journal of Discourses, 23:186–87)

45. “Their blood has permeated European society, and it coursed in the veins of the early colonists of America.  And when the books shall be opened and the lineage of all men is known, it will be found that they have been first and foremost in everything noble among men in the various nations in breaking off the shackles of kingcraft and priestcraft and oppression of every kind, and the foremost among men in upholding and maintaining the principles of liberty and freedom upon this continent and establishing a representative government, and thus preparing the way for the coming forth of the fullness of the everlasting Gospel.  Erastus Snow Quorum of the Twelve (Journal of Discourses, 23:186–87)

46. “And it is the foremost of those spirits whom the Lord has prepared to receive the Gospel when it was presented to them, and who did not wait for the Elders to hunt them from the hills and corners of the earth, but they were hunting for the Elders, impelled by a spirit which then they could not understand; and for this reason were they among the first Elders of the Church; they and the fathers having been watched over from the days that God promised those blessings upon Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Ephraim.  Erastus Snow Quorum of the Twelve (Journal of Discourses, 23:186–87)

47. “And these are they that will be found in the front ranks of all that is noble and good in their day and time, and who will be found among those whose efforts are directed in establishing upon the earth those heaven-born principles which tend directly to blessing and salvation, to ameliorating the condition of their fellow-men, and elevating them in the scale of their being; and among those also who receive the fullness of the Everlasting Gospel, and the keys of Priesthood in the last days, through whom God determined to gather up again unto himself a peculiar people, a holy nation, a pure seed that shall stand upon Mount Zion as saviors.” Erastus Snow Quorum of the Twelve (Journal of Discourses, 23:186–87)

48. The Seed of Abraham in the Latter-days 1 Nephi 15:18

49. “You are one of Gods noble and great spirits, held in reserve to come to earth at this time. In your premortal life you were appointed to help prepare the world for the great gathering of souls that will precede the Lord’s second coming. You are one of a covenant people. You are an heir to the promise that all the earth will be blessed by the seed of Abraham and that God’s covenant with Abraham will be fulfilled through his lineage in these latter days. (See 1 Ne. 15:18)” • Russell M. Nelson • Quorum of the Twelve (Ensign, November 1990, 73)

50. “One of the primary reasons we receive a patriarchal blessing is to help us more fully understand who we are as the posterity of Abraham and to recognize the responsibility that rests upon us.” David A. Bednar Quorum of the Twelve (Ensign, Nov. 2005)