3 Nephi 11

The Great White God

Many legends exist among Indian tribes of America about the appearance of a great white god to their ancestors many years ago. Stories are told of bearded European explorers coming to America and the native people falling down to worship. They thought their great white god had returned. Mexican mythology suggests that Quetzalcoatl was born of a virgin and was both god and man. The name Quetzalcoatl literally means, “bird-serpent” or “serpent of precious plumage”. Some have speculated that this title was given to the resurrected Jesus Christ because he appeared to them by descending out of the sky like a bird.

Similarities between Quetzalcoatl and Christ

• He was born of a virgin named Chimalma.• He was the God of the Morning Star.• He invented books, the calendar, and gave corn to the

people. • He was a symbol of death and resurrection.• He created a new world inhabited by people that were brought

to life with his blood. The blood came from wounds on his body.• He was the god of the Aztec Priesthood.• He was white and had a beard.• He came from the sky, and when he left he promised to

return.

“The story of the life of the Quetzalcoatl closely resembles that of the Savior; so closely, indeed, that we can come to no other conclusion than that Quetzalcoatl and Christ are the same being.”

John Taylor, Mediation and Atonement, p. 194.

Millions are converted to Jesus because of this chapter – read it and discover why.

vs3-12 As I see Him descending down from heaven, I...

vs13-15 As He calls my name, I...vs16-17 As I approach my Savior,

I...vs18-19 As I look into His eyes, I..vs18-19 If I could ask Him for

anything, I would ask....

3 Nephi 11:3-5The Voice: How do we open our ears?

(1 Kings 19:11-12)

President Harold B. Lee: “It is a great thing to be responsive to the whisperings of the spirit, and we know that when these whisperings come it is a gift and our privilege to have them. They come when we are relaxed and not under pressure of appointments… President David O. McKay took occasion to relate an experience in the life of Bishop John Wells. His son was killed in Emigration Canyon on a railroad track. His boy was run over by a freight train. Sister Wells was inconsolable. She mourned during the three days prior to the funeral, received no comfort at the funeral and was in a rather serious state of mind…

“One day soon after the funeral services while she was lying on her bed relaxed, still mourning, she said that her son appeared to her and said, ‘Mother do not mourn, do not cry. I am alright.’ He told her that she did not understand how the accident happened and explained that his foot caught on a root and he failed to catch the hand rail of the train, and his body fell under the train. It was clearly an accident…

“He said that as soon as he realized that he was in another environment he tried to see his father, but he couldn’t reach him. His father was so busy with the duties in his office he could not respond to his call. Therefore, he had come to his mother. He said to her, ‘You tell father that all is well with me, and I want you not to mourn any more.’

“After finishing the story, President McKay made the statement that when we are relaxed we are more susceptible to those things; his best thoughts come after he gets up in the morning.

“If we are worried about something and upset in our feelings, the inspiration does not come. If we so live that our minds are free from worry and our conscience is clear and our feelings are right toward one another, the operation of the spirit of the Lord upon our spirit is as real as when we pick up the telephone.” (Prayer address to Seminary and Institute faculty, BYU, 6 July 1956, 14-16).

3 Nephi 11:7 Occasions when the

Father has spoken1. At the baptism of Christ

(Matthew 3:17)2. At the Sacred Grove (JSH 1:17)3. At the visit of Christ to the

Americas (3 Nephi 11:7)4. At the Mount of Transfiguration

(Matthew 17:5)5. At the Triumphal Entry (John

12:28)1. To teach repentance and baptism (2 Nephi 31:11,

15)

“The Father has never dealt with man directly and personally since the fall, and he never appeared except to introduce and bear record of the Son” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:27).

“God the Eternal Father has manifested Himself to earthly prophets or revelators on very few occasions, and then principally to attest the divine authority of His Son, Jesus Christ’’( James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ).

3 Nephi 11:8Sometimes we just need to “not open

our mouths” or to “Righteously Shut-up!”

3 Nephi 11:11In just fifty-two words, He taught of His

earthy mission.

3 Nephi 11:14-15

“It can hardly be accepted as a fact, that these wounds have

remained in his hands, side, and feet all through the centuries from the time of his crucifixion and will remain until his Second Coming.

But they will appear to the Jews as a witness against their fathers and

their stubbornness in following the teachings of their fathers"

(Joseph Fielding Smith, D.S. 2:291-92).

“It is a significant and hopeful fact that it is the wounded Christ who comes to our rescue. He who bears the scars of sacrifice, the lesions of love, the emblems of humility and forgiveness is the Captain of our Soul. That evidence of pain in mortality is undoubtedly intended to give courage to others who are also hurt and wounded by life, perhaps even in the house of their friends.” (Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant, 259).

3 Nephi 11 (17:25)

There were 2,500 people, yet the Lord worked with them “one by one.”

“God loves us one by one” (Alexander B. Morrison, Ensign, May 1992, 14).

(If each person would have shared ten seconds with the Savior it

would have taken 7 hours!)

Are you doing this in your quorum or class or family?

3 Nephi 11:28-29Of all the doctrines He could have taught, why would He

choose the doctrine of contention?

“When there is contention, the Spirit of the Lord will depart, regardless of who is at fault” (President James E. Faust, Ensign, May 1996, 41).

“Where people have that Spirit with them, we may expect harmony. The Spirit puts the testimony of truth in our hearts, which unifies those who share that testimony. It leads to personal peace and a feeling of union with others. It unifies souls. A unified family, a unified Church, and a world at peace depend on unified souls.” (President Henry B. Eyring, Ensign, May 1998, 67).

(The Will of the Father in All Things, Elder Jeffrey R.

Holland, 17 January 1989, BYU Devotional Address)

3 Nephi 11