THE SCATTERING AND GATHERING OF ISRAEL- Brad Wilcox, BYU Education Week 2021

Brad Wilcox, in this video from BYU Education, 2021, describes the roles of the Tribes of Israel in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ. He teaches that no matter what tribe you are blessed to be from in your patriarchal blessing , each has a special role to play. Brother Wilcox also teaches about what it means to have a birthright and the responsibilities that come from that inherited role. In the latter days the House of Israel stands as messengers of the covenant, inviting all to come and partake of the good news of the gospel in preparation for Zion.   

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CITATION:
Brad Wilcox, "The Scattering and Gathering of Israel", BYU Education Week 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el0CE4HSvsA

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Hello, friends. Welcome to the Thinning of the Vell podcast. I'm your host, Tia Smith, and we have made it to the wrap-up for the week. I've chosen this particular wrap-up because it really, really ties in a nice package with a nice bow on top, what we've learned this week, more specifically within Ephraim and Manasseh and their roles in these latter days in as being preparers and saviors on Mount Zion, but also in the larger context of all of the tribes. Because honestly, my friends, no matter what tribe you're from, we all have the general invitation to gather Israel by going on missions, teaching the gospel to those on this side of the veil, but also extending that invitation to those on the other side of the veil. That is given, it doesn't need to be spelled out on our patriarchal blessings, but even within our blessings, there are very specific missions that each of us are called upon to do in relation to that wider goal. So I would encourage you to study your patriarchal blessings with the view and lens of the gathering of Israel. What gifts are in there that can help you in your mission to gather Israel? And then also visit your patriarchal blessing, read it, study it to find out what that particular mission is. It may not be spelled out. Mine generally was not spelled out in a lot of details. And I've said this before, but some of you may be surprised that temple and family history work was not in my patriarchal blessing mentioned anywhere. It just said that I had a quote special mission. And like I said, I think that there are a lot of special missions, but I believe doing this podcast and being a voice for those on the other side of the veil is part of me fulfilling the mission that I promised particularly and individually to my Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ that I would do. Regardless of whether it's hard or difficult, or if it seems like there's no way that what you're feeling your mission is can be fulfilled, I promise you that spiritual gifts will be yours as you try to meet the promises that you made to them specifically and individually as well. And within the larger whole, obviously, temples will bring about revelatory experiences in all of the ways to help us in giving us power and also spiritual gifts, thinning of the veils, experiences, revelatory experiences, even just power to get through the next day. It doesn't have to be grand and glorious all the time, but know that all of those gifts are for a purpose and for a reason, and that is uniting God's and sons and daughters, the seed of Abraham, of Isaac, and Jacob within the larger family of our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ, with our heavenly parents to go no more out. My friends, no matter what tribe you're from, and as you are holding the line for the generations and becoming saviors for them, realize, please realize that there are millions of your particular tribe that are praying that you will understand who you are, that you will remember them as your as their forefathers and foremothers as they are to you, with the promise that the gift of the Holy Ghost will be yours as you fulfill that particular mission. So here's Brad Wilcox. This is another one to keep as he teaches in his way that he does, that we all may understand as lay people the importance of this gathering. Thanks so much for joining me this week and you're continuing joining me for all the other weeks. I super appreciate it and I'm grateful. Next week, I'm actually not quite sure what we're going to be talking about. I have some things that I'm studying that I that I'm feeling pulled to, but I haven't got that confirmation yet. So stay tuned. We're all going to be surprised. But again, thank you for joining me. Thanks for spreading the word of this podcast and really testifying of your experiences because it strengthens everyone around you when you're prompted to share them. Have courage, my friends. Carry on, carry on, carry on in the work of the Lord. It is glorious and filled with joy. Have a great weekend. We'll see ya. Bye.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Now, how many have ever played hide and seek? Yeah. My kids, my grandkids just don't get it. They don't get it. As many times as I've explained it to them, they don't get it. They're like, hide, and then two seconds later, they're like, Grandma, we're behind the couch. Grandma, we're behind. How many know what I'm talking about? Yeah, you're like, no, the idea is to not be found. But they just don't get it. They like being found. Now, sadly, when we talk about the gathering of Israel, we've got people who aren't quite so anxious to be found. They are not popping out and saying, hey, we're right over here behind the couch. They're kind of hidden and they don't really know that they're missing something. So when we think about our responsibility to the house of Israel, it's not like a game of hide and seek, as much as it's like having responsibility for a child who gets lost. And you feel the responsibility to find that kid. How many know what I'm talking about? Yeah, if you've ever been responsible for a kid and then that kid is gone, oh wow, suddenly everything gets put on hold. Suddenly it doesn't matter what else is going on. Everything stops, and you are looking for that kid because you just don't know where that child is, and you are the one who's responsible. That's like the gathering of Israel. Those little kids don't even know that they're in danger. They don't know they're lost. We know they're lost. The little kid's wandering around and thinks he's just fine, doesn't realize he's lost, and that's like the house of Israel. People don't know that they're lost, but we feel this great responsibility to find them. And so, with that context in mind, then it makes what we're talking about feel very urgent. It's an urgency that we feel. Let's recap yesterday. We talked about how the gathering of Israel actually gives us the why for why we live, the commandments we live, why we live the peculiar life we live, why we choose to be in the world and not of the world. Because we have a birthright. Who can remember what that stands for? Birthright. What is it? Right back there. A double portion. And you've received a birthright, a double portion. Where did it come from? We lined the house of Israel up here. And then we talked about those that are from Ephraim, those that are from Manasseh. We didn't talk about other tribes, but there may be some from those other tribes as well. Now, how do we know we're from those tribes? Not through a DNA test, but through inspiration. When the patriarch puts his hands on your head, it's not a DNA test. He's not telling you this pure blood line that you have back to one of these ancestors. At this point, in Harry Potter language, we're all mud bloods. Because those lines have been so mixed throughout the entire earth that there's nobody who's a pureblo descendant of any one of those tribes. So the patriarch is not just talking to you about your past. He's also talking about your link to the future, your past and the future. He's telling you the tribe through which you will be blessed and the tribe through which you will bless others, the tribe through which you are blessed and receive your blessings, and the tribe through which you will bless others. So can identical twins be from different tribes? Yes, I've seen it. Can there be a whole family from Ephraim and then somebody declared from a different tribe? Yes, I've seen it. Because the patriarch is giving this blessing by inspiration, and he is not just declaring your past, he's also telling you about your future. So, what future does that entail? What role will these tribes play in your future? That's what we're going to talk a little bit about tonight. Now remember, last night we talked about how the tribes came to be. We talked about who the tribes were. Remember, they all got a land of inheritance, except Levi, because his descendants were all spread throughout all the other tribes. Joseph did not have a land of inheritance. How many did he have?

unknown 9:51

Two.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Two. He had the land of Ephraim, where the capital of the northern kingdom was, Samaria, and he had the land of Manasseh, which was actually two different lands, kind of a Manasseh East and a Manasseh West. So Joseph's tribes were there. And those were the twelve tribes. Now, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom split. And so we had the northern kingdom, which started to be called the kingdom of Israel, and the southern kingdom, which started to be called the kingdom of Judah. Now, next to Jerusalem was the land of Judah and the land of Benjamin. So which tribes weren't lost? Ultimately, which tribes weren't lost? Judah and Benjamin. But because it was called the kingdom of Judah, then the Benjaminites are found there among the Jews. And they were miraculously protected by Israel. But the northern kingdom was taken. The Assyrians, bloodthirsty warriors, some of the most ferocious warriors in the history of warfare, came in, they killed many. And then those that weren't killed, they took away captive. And when they took them away, they separated them. If they kept them together, they were afraid they would fight back. But because they separated them, then they weakened them and they started to spread them all throughout the northern countries. After a few generations, they forgot who they were. They're not lost because they don't know where they are. They're lost because they don't know who they are. Oh, but Brother Wilcox, how could you forget your heritage? How could you forget your ancestors? Way too easily. I have a cousin who left the church about 15 years ago. He lives in my ward. He lives on our street. But he left the church because of a horrific divorce, and his kids have now grown up without the gospel. His kid comes to my house one night and he says, Is this your cat? I found this cat. Is this your cat? And I said, Do you know you're related to me? He goes, What? And I said, Do you know that your dad is my first cousin? Do you know that your grandma is my aunt? Did you know that? And he goes, I just wanted to know if you lost a cat. The kid was more lost than the cat. Because he didn't know where he belonged. He didn't know that we were connected. He didn't know that he was part of a larger family. He just didn't know that. And so this is what happened to Israel. They got lost. They intermarried. Pretty soon, the generations kept going. And God still sent his chosen spirits through this bloodline. But now the blood was mixed and it was all over the earth. So what did these people who were coming from the house of Israel do when they were spread all over the earth, in the Orient, in Africa, in the Pacific Islands, in the Americas, all over the earth. And what were they doing when they didn't even know who they were? God was sending righteous spirits there, and he was sending them through this bloodline, and they didn't even know who they were, but God was still counting on them to do something special for him. Erastus Snow was an apostle who was the brother of Lorenzo Snow. If you're from Utah, if you've ever heard of Snow College, that was named for Erastus Snow. And he once spoke in general conference, and he said that these Israelites, who didn't even know they were Israelites, were on the frontier of freedom fighting throughout the entire world. What had to happen before the restoration? Religious freedom. The very thing that a lot of people are willing to give up is the very thing that they spent generation after generation after generation fighting for. And he said that it was the blood of Israel. It was those righteous spirits who were the ones that recognized the call of freedom. And they were fighting for freedom in South America, in North America, in Europe, in Africa, in Asia, in Polynesia. These were the righteous blood of Israel, the special blood of Israel, and they were fighting for freedom because they knew that the gospel could not be restored. They didn't know this, but God knew that the gospel could not be restored and it could not spread throughout the world if there was no religious freedom. And so they were fighting for freedom. So some of the blood of Israel were among the pilgrims that came to the United States. Well, not to the United States, but to North America because they wanted religious freedom. Those that fought in the Revolutionary War because they wanted religious freedom. These were some of the blood of Israel. And they came to America. And this was part of God's plan to prepare for the restoration. When I was in Chile as a mission president, this man came to me and he said, Okay, President Wilcox, I get it. All right, I get it. There was an apostasy, there had to be a restoration. I get it. This was the only place in the world. Did you catch that? The only place in the world, the world, that had freedom of religion in the year 1820. No other country had that. It had to happen here because there was the freedom. And that's why it happened here. And then that freedom spread elsewhere. But in 1820, it was only here. It couldn't have happened anywhere else. And yet now religious freedom is something we take for granted. Now religious freedom is something that people don't even value. And yet in that day, it was only here. So the gospel was restored. And the Book of Mormon came forth. Ezra Taff Benson called the Book of Mormon the instrument of gathering. It's the instrument of gathering. And the Book of Mormon came forth, then the gospel was restored, and then the Kirtland Temple was dedicated. And shortly after the dedication, Jesus came to accept the temple, and then Moses came. Moses, the very one who brought the slaves out of Israel or out of Egypt, the very one who freed the slaves of Egypt came to free people from another kind of slavery, the slavery of ignorance, of not knowing who they were. And Moses brought the keys of the gathering of Israel. And suddenly Joseph started sending missionaries out. And those missionaries started gathering. And who did they gather first? What tribes? Ephraim and Manasseh. And suddenly Ephraim was starting to be gathered, and Manasseh was starting to be gathered. Why those tribes? Because they were the children of the birthright. They were the ones who had the extra portion. And with that extra portion, they then had the responsibility to start gathering people from other tribes as well. And it's happening. A couple years ago, President and Sister Nelson spoke to the youth of the church. She stood up and talked about going to Russia. And what did she find in Russia? Do you remember? All tribes, all the tribes. She found them all. It's happening. People are being declared now from other tribes. And that means that we're getting closer to the second coming. Oh, well, so what? So somebody is called, you know, so somebody's from Zebulon. What the heck does that mean? So somebody's from Issachar. So somebody's from Naphtali. What the heck does that mean? So somebody's from Judah. What does that mean? Well, right now, it may not mean that much because their job is to help us, Ephraim and Manasseh, with our job, to gather Israel to prepare for the second coming. So they join with us in doing this work. But one day it will mean a great deal. When Jesus comes and he says, Hello. By the way, I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter des Saints. Do you think there's going to be a little interest in the church? Do you think there's going to be people who say, I want to find out more about that church? Oh, that's a good day to be a missionary. I mean, right now, missionaries just beg people to listen. On that day, they're going to say, take a number, get in line, wait your turn. That's going to be a good day to be a missionary. But will we be ready? Will we be ready? If two million people wanted to join the church tomorrow, would we have enough bishops? Would we have enough state presidents? Young women presidents? Would we have enough full-time missionaries? Would we have enough full tithe payers? Oh, we'd probably get swamped. And that's just two million. When Jesus comes, there's going to be two billion people who instantly want to join this church. I mean, we got to be ready for that. And not only do we have to be ready for the growth of the church, which means we have to have a church organization in place worldwide, but we have to be ready to run the temporal affairs of the world. When Jesus comes, the scriptures say the government shall be upon his shoulders. That means that Jesus is not going to be subject to any president or any Senate or any House of Representatives. Jesus is not going to be subject to any king or any parliament. He's not going to be subject to anybody like that. They're going to be subject to him. So if he's running the government, Who else is helping him run the government? Us. And that's where the tribes fit in. President Oaks calls the tribes the government of God. We will have an organization in place, not just a church organization, but we will have an additional level of organization that can be called up in an instant, called into action instantly to be able to help run not just the church, but also the temporal needs of people. Hurricane Harvey, second worst hurricane to hit after Katrina, which was the worst one to hit North America. And Hurricane Harvey hits, and it hits in Houston, Texas. All right, Hurricane Harvey hits. Man, everything's freaking out. Everybody's freaking out. And uh and uh what was the church's response? Everybody's like, oh no, what do we do? What do we do? Other churches, people with willing hearts, closed their doors. Because they didn't have bathroom facilities, they didn't have clothing, they didn't have bedding, they didn't have food, they didn't have, they weren't prepared to help people. But what happened from the church? You bet one phone call. One phone call from Salt Lake to an area 70 in Texas. The Area 70 called states presidents who called Relief Society presidents who called bishops, who called, and pretty soon everybody knows exactly what they're supposed to do, where they're supposed to go, and how they're supposed to help. Suddenly supplies are sent, it's just like that. And so instantly, missionaries were called into action, those missionaries were cleaning out houses. The minute that the storm was over. I saw the video clip. I saw the news clip. I mean, I didn't just hear about it, I saw the news clip in which the guy says, there were only two churches that came to help us: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Mormons. Now, why were we able to be so effective in helping when other churches were still wondering how they could help? Why? What did we have that they didn't have? Organization. Organization. We're organized. So it's that organization that makes a difference. Um, on March 2nd of this year, 2021, the young people here in Utah pulled something off that was quite dramatic. The largest food drive in the history of the country. What? Little old Utah? Poe Dunk, little old Utah? Was it California that pulled it off? No. New York? No. It was little old Utah that pulled off the largest food drive in the country. 1.7 million pounds of food. How many of you remember passing out little flyers saying, put your food donations on your porch? How many remember your leaders coming and picking you up in vans and taking you around to pick up food? Yeah, do you remember? Do you remember that? See, for you, you just went and took the food and you took it to a big truck, and the trucks took it to another truck, and they took that food to food banks all over the country. Now, why was Utah able to pull that off when other states didn't? Why? Because we have good people with good hearts. No, there's lots of good people with good hearts all over the country. So why did we pull that off? Organization. We have primary children clear across this state. And we can send out a message just like that to the leaders that says, get the primary kids. My wife's the activity days boys leader. She dragged those boys around the ward, putting flyers on everybody's door. And then Saturday, the young men, the young, the steak young men present, the stake young women president, they got all the youth and they organized them into cars and trucks, and they took them around to the different wards, and they picked up food, not just from members, but from non-members as well. And they took them to the place where they were told to take them. And then all of the stakes had different places where they were supposed to take the food. And pretty soon we had 1.7 million pounds of food gathered. Now that is pretty amazing. And it says something about organization. And that's what the tribes are. See, right now you say, so I'm from Ephraim, so I'm from Manasseh. What does that mean? Well, that means we got to get ready for the second coming. We got to get ready for that. But if I'm from Judah or I'm from Benjamin, what does that mean? Well, it means that your assignment is going to be coming. Right now, you work on gathering Israel, preparing for the second coming, but then stand ready because that's when, as the doctrine and covenant says, the gathering will commence. Commence? Well, we're not doing anything? No, we're just playing prelude music. And everybody knows that very few people listen to prelude music. They talk through it. They don't listen to it. They don't pay much attention to it, but it's still vital as it prepares for the meeting. Well, that's what we're doing. We're getting things organized. We're getting things ready so that in one instant Jesus can say, if you're from Zebulon, wherever you are in the world, you're in charge of education. I'm not a teacher. You don't have to be. Just get it organized. If you're from Isakar, wherever you are in the world, your job is to get the medical care taken care of. I'm not a doctor. You don't have to be. Just get it organized. Do you see how this instant organization worldwide will suddenly give the Savior the chance to be able to give assignments, and people will be able to take those assignments to care not just for the spiritual welfare of souls, but to care for the temporal welfare of souls. Remember, there will be two capitals in the millennium: one in Jerusalem, spiritual or temporal, spiritual, and one in, does anybody know? Jackson County, Missouri. And that will be the temporal. That will be the temporal capital during the millennium. And through those capitals, Christ will uh uh govern the world. Now remember that this house of Israel is not an end in and of itself. Our goal is not to get everybody into the house of Israel. The house of Israel, our goal is to get those who are prepared to come into the house of Israel so that the house of Israel can be in place when the Lord comes. Then the gathering will not just be to the house of Israel. Then the gathering will be for all God's children to be gathered home to Him. That's the ultimate goal. The house of Israel is just a means to that end. It's how He structures the work to be able to go forward. So, well, Brother Wilcox, you know, I thought that maybe the, I mean, gosh, I thought that we were supposed to like have the second coming in the year 2000. Well, maybe we were. And we weren't ready. Oh, but yeah, I mean, I thought it was supposed to happen in the year 20, whatever, when the Mayan calendar said that it was supposed to be the, yeah, maybe it was. And we weren't ready. See, the scriptures say no man knoweth. No man knoweth. Could it be that the reason nobody knows is because it's dependent? We gotta be ready. There's an urgency to this. When the prophet calls you into the Lord's battalion to gather Israel in preparation for the second coming, there's an urgency. Because without this organization in place, we're not gonna be ready. We're just gonna be swamped. And God is not going to allow everything to fail just because we're not prepared. So he tells President Nelson, get them ready, get them prepared, get them feeling the urgency of this. And that's what this is about is to help you understand how vital it is that we stand up and we take our place in this gathering. Everybody talks about a battalion. Do we even know what a battalion is? You've been called into the youth battalion. What the heck is a battalion? It has something to do with military, but what is it? It's a specialized unit. A battalion is a specialized unit that's prepared to do a very singular, important task. Could there be a better description of you? A battalion, a specialized unit that's being prepared to do a very important and specific task. You are to gather Israel. Now, for many people, they define that as missionary work, but that's only part of it. President Nelson has said that the gathering of Israel can be defined with four words. Live, care, invite, unite. Live, care, invite, unite. Live the gospel. Anytime you help anybody live the gospel, then you're gathering Israel. Well, what if they're already members? If you're helping them live the gospel and live it better, then you're gathering Israel. Care for those in need. If you're caring for others, if you're ministering to others, if you're reaching out and helping to take care of those who are struggling during COVID, then you are gathering Israel. Inviting others to hear the gospel. If you're inviting friends, if you're sharing the gospel in natural ways, if you're inviting others to recognize that you are a person of faith, you're gathering Israel and uniting families for eternity. If you're helping to do family history work, if you're preparing to have a temple recommend and you're going to the temple to do temple work as those temples open, then you're gathering Israel. You're gathering Israel. And as you focus on those things, then you're part of that gathering and you're preparing the world for the second coming. You know, a lot of missionaries go out and then they get discouraged. Why are you discouraged? Well, I only baptized one person. Well, I didn't even baptize anybody. Well, I baptized somebody, but the guy went totally inactive. And they get so discouraged and so down on themselves. And I say, wait, that's not your job. Jesus' job is to baptize everybody, and he'll be very effective at it. He'll be very effective at it. Your job is just to get people strengthened and ready so that he can do his job. So don't freak out because, oh, I only baptized one person. Don't freak out because you think, oh, I don't know if I can go on a mission and knock doors. That's going to stress me out. Well, then there's other ways that you can serve. The gathering of Israel is as broad as the work of salvation and exaltation. Live, care, invite, unite. And as you participate with those activities, you are gathering Israel. You don't have to go clear across the world. You can do it right where you are. Everybody today, I ask all these returned missionaries, so where did you serve? And they tell me about three places. Well, I served in Japan and then I got reassigned to North Dakota and I finished my mission in Arizona. How many know what I'm talking about? Yeah. So where'd you get called? South Africa, but I'm going to be waiting for my visa in Florida. I mean, it's just like all over the place. Don't you realize that there's a message in that? You don't have to go across the world to gather Israel. Anywhere you go, the work is the same. And you live and you care and you invite and you unite. And that's how you'll participate with this gathering of Israel. Let me just, there was one more thing I wanted to make sure I covered here. Nope, I think I covered it all. So let me end with an analogy that might help you understand this a little better. Let's say God loves all of his children. Let's just say that. Okay. Hypothetically. All right, let's just say that. Now, because he loves all of his children, he sends them on a cruise. Let's say that. Well, wait, if God loves us, why would he send us away? Well, because he wants us to have fun, wants us to grow, wants us to learn, wants us to get to know each other. So he sends us away on a cruise ship called USS Earth. And he sends us from one shore to another shore. Now, because he loves all of his children, then he looks among the cruise ship and he finds you. And he makes you members of the crew. And he entrusts you with the safe voyage of all of his children back to him. So when you look around the cruise ship and you say, gosh, how come I can't party all night? How come I can't drink all night long and sleep in all day? How come I can't do that? Well, you're not a passenger. You're a member of the crew. Well, how come I can't like wear immodest bathing suits? And how come I can't wear immodest evening gowns? You're not a passenger. You're a member of the crew. How come I can't eat at the all-you-can-eat buffet? And we're not talking just about food? How come I can't live like that? You're not a passenger. You're a member of the crew. And before you complain too long and too loud about having crew member responsibilities that passengers don't have, will you remember that crew members get something that passengers don't get? What is it?

unknown 39:31

A paycheck.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

A paycheck. A paycheck. There's nothing you could ever be asked to do in this church for which you haven't already been paid. Paid in advance and paid in full because you've been given a birthright. You've been given a birthright. So it's not too much for God to ask you to wear a little tag that says crew member, or it could say elder, or it could say sister. It's not too much for him to ask you to be a member of the crew, to worry about the safety and the happiness of the other members of your family that are on the ship. It's not too much for him to ask of you because you've already been paid. Step into the organization that will define you and refine you. If you have not yet received your patriarchal blessing, it would be a good time for you to start talking to your bishop and saying, hey, what's my next step to get ready to receive a patriarchal blessing? Patriarchs were kind of on hold during COVID because they were saying we can't have them giving blessings, you know, when the the it would be dangerous. But I think now many of the stakes, the patriarchs, are willing to give blessings again. And so it's time. If you haven't got a blessing, start talking to your bishop and say, Bishop, I need to know where I fit in to this family. I need to know the tribe through which I'm going to receive my blessings. And I need to know the tribe through which I will bless the world. Don't you dare let the world change you. When you were born to change the world. Stand strong, stand true, be loyal to the royal within you. You were prepared in the pre-existence to come forth and fight for freedom. Don't you dare give it up so easily. You were prepared to come and get the world ready for the second coming of the Savior. Don't take that responsibility lightly. You were prepared to come and be enlisted into the Lord's battalion, a specialized unit, to do a very important and specific work. That you live, care, invite, unite. And I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.