Prophets Scripture Chain

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[Seminary-Notes] ==================================== FOR YOUR INFORMATION... ==================================== The Old Testament Seminary year allows numerous opportunities for students to recognize the importance of following the living prophet. The Institute Teachers Manual for Religion 333 (Teachings of the Living Prophets, p. 3) contains an excellent scripture chain that you wish to build with your students in class. The scriptures in this chain are: D&C 1:14 D&C 1:38 D&C 50:36 D&C 52:9 D&C 84:36 D&C 90:5 D&C 124:45-46 D&C 133:71 2 Nephi 26:3 Mosiah 18:18-19 3 Nephi 28:34-35 Amos 3:7 (The complete scriptural text for all of the references in this scripture chain is found below.) Best wishes, Ken www.KenAlford.com ScriptureMastery@KenAlford.com PROPHETS SCRIPTURE CHAIN REFERENCES D&C 1:14 And the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people; D&C 1:38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same. D&C 50:36 And behold, verily I say unto you, blessed are you who are now hearing these words of mine from the mouth of my servant, for your sins are forgiven you. D&C 52:9 And let them journey from thence preaching the word by the way, saying none other things than that which the prophets and apostles have written, and that which is taught them by the Comforter through the prayer of faith. D&C 84:36 For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me; D&C 90:5 And all they who receive the oracles of God, let them beware how they hold them lest they are accounted as a light thing, and are brought under condemnation thereby, and stumble and fall when the storms descend, and the winds blow, and the rains descend, and beat upon their house. D&C 124:45-46 And if my people will hearken unto my voice, and unto the voice of my servants whom I have appointed to lead my people, behold, verily I say unto you, they shall not be moved out of their place. But if they will not hearken to my voice, nor unto the voice of these men whom I have appointed, they shall not be blest, because they pollute mine holy grounds, and mine holy ordinances, and charters, and my holy words which I give unto them. D&C 133:71 Behold, and lo, there are none to deliver you; for ye obeyed not my voice when I called to you out of the heavens; ye believed not my servants, and when they were sent unto you ye received them not. 2 Nephi 26:3 ...and great and terrible shall that day be unto the wicked, for they shall perish; and they perish because they cast out the prophets, and the saints, and stone them, and slay them; wherefore the cry of the blood of the saints shall ascend up to God from the ground against them. Mosiah 18:18-19 And it came to pass that Alma, having authority from God, ordained priests … And he commanded them that they should teach nothing save it were the things which he had taught, and which had been spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets. 3 Nephi 28:34-35 And wo be unto him that will not hearken unto the words of Jesus, and also to them whom he hath chosen and sent among them; for whoso receiveth not the words of Jesus and the words of those whom he hath sent receiveth not him; and therefore he will not receive them at the last day; And it would be better for them if they had not been born. Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

JST Verses

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[Seminary-Notes] ==================================== FOR YOUR INFORMATION... ==================================== In discussing the Joseph Smith Translation (JST) footnotes and Appendix with your students this coming year, you may be asked "Are all of the JST changes in the LDS edition of the Bible?" The short answer is "No, but the important ones are there." And here's a longer answer... There are "over six hundred JST alterations within our presently accepted and recommended Bible..." (Source: Robert L. Millet, The Joseph Smith Translation: The Restoration of Plain and Precious Things, p. 42.) But, please note that this is only a minority of the total changes made by Joseph Smith. Robert J. Matthews (who is now a BYU Emeritus Professor) did much of the initial research work that helped return the JST to active use within the church. He notes that: 3,410 verses in the printed editions of the Inspired Version of the Bible differ in textual construction from the King James Version. (Source: Robert J. Matthews, A Plainer Translation: Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible, p. 424.) Many of the 3,410 changes are minor -- punctuation, grammatical corrections, etc. The publication committee who assembled the current editions of the Standard Works did an outstanding job selecting JST verses that clarify, explain, and teach -- but they consciously did not include all of the verses where textual changes were made. (The hundreds of changes in the opening chapters of Genesis, for example, did not need to be included because we can use the Book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price.) You may occasionally find references in various places to additional JST scriptural changes that are not included in the current LDS edition of the Bible. Here's an Old Testament example... Genesis 11:9 (King James Version) states: "Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." This same verse in the JST (Genesis 11:6, which is not included in the LDS edition of the Bible) includes some additional information and insights: "And they were confounded, and left off to build the city, and they hearkened not unto the Lord, therefore, is the name of it called Babel, because the Lord was displeased with their works, and did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face thereof." (Emphasis added) Here's another Old Testament example... Genesis 20:3 (King James Version) states: "But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou [art but] a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she [is] a man's wife." JST Genesis 20:3-4 (which is not included in the LDS edition of the Bible) separates the verses differently, corrects verse 3 and then adds a new verse 4: "And Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said unto him, Behold, thou hast taken a woman which is not thine own, for she is Abraham's wife. "And the Lord said unto him, Thou shalt return her unto Abraham, for if thou do it not thou shalt die." (Emphasis added) Here's a New Testament example... Matthew 5:41 (King James Version) states: "And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain." JST Matthew 5:43 states: "And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him a mile; and whosoever shall compel thee to go with him twain, thou shalt go with him twain." (Emphasis added) Here's another New Testament example... Between verses 33 and 34 of Matthew 25 (in the King James Version), the JST adds a new verse (that is not included in the LDS edition of the Bible): "And he shall sit upon his throne, and the twelve apostles with him." (Emphasis added) Here is a final New Testament example... Some verses in the first half of Luke 21 were rearranged by the Prophet Joseph Smith, but the change is not noted in the LDS edition of the Bible. (In this instance, we get the same general meaning and intent from Joseph Smith-Matthew in the Pearl of Great Price -- which is actually a chapter from the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible.) Best wishes, Ken www.KenAlford.com ScriptureMastery@KenAlford.com

OT Reading Schedule Creator

Summer is a great time for students to "get a jump"
on the upcoming Seminary year. Each summer I like
to challenge students to read the book of scripture
for the coming year's Seminary study.

This year students can be challenged to read all
of the assigned Old Testament Seminary chapters
during their school break. (In case you're curious,
there are 251 of them.)

But since no two school systems seem to follow the
same school schedule, each Seminary has needed
to create their own summer schedule -- and, sometimes,
multiple schedules.

So, to make your job easier...

I have created a spreadsheet that will automatically
create an Old Testament reading schedule for you and
your students based on starting and ending dates that
YOU enter.

This will allow you the flexibility of creating as many
different reading schedules as you'll need.

If one student moves in during June and another student
moves in during July, no problem! If a student forgets
to read and wants to start over, no problem! You can
easily create a reading chart customized for each student.

There are two versions of the Old Testament Reading
Schedule Creator:

1) A SUMMER 2007 version -- available for everyone
to download and use. It will create reading schedules
from now through September 15, 2007. (It is available
on the "Ideas and Samples" page of my website.)

2) A YEAR-LONG [Seminary-Notes] CLUB version -- available
for CLUB members to download and use. This version can
create schedules up to 295 days long between now and
summer 2008. It is available for downloading by
[Seminary-Notes] CLUB members in the CLUB section
of my website. (Non-CLUB members may purchase a copy
of the year-long version for just $2.99.)

To create a reading schedule (with either version),
all you need to do is:

Enter the STARTING DATE
Enter the ENDING DATE
Print

The Old Testament Reading Schedule Creator schedules all 251
chapters from the Old Testament Seminary lesson reading
schedule. You can also print a reading schedule that covers
the entire Old Testament.

Please note:

A) Macros. When you load the Old Testament Reading Schedule
Creator, I recommend that you select "Enable" macros (so that
you can easily print the reading schedules that you create).

B) Printing. Your personalized Old Testament Summer Reading
Schedule should print neatly on one or two pages, and the Old
Testament Chapter Reading Assignments list should print neatly
on a second page.

I hope you'll find the Old Testament Reading Schedule Creator
useful!

Best wishes,

Ken

www.KenAlford.com
ScriptureMastery@KenAlford.com

Blessed Indeed

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[Seminary-Notes] ==================================== FOR YOUR INFORMATION... ==================================== An article I read recently reported that: ... research indicates that assets of just $2,200 per adult place a household in the top half of the world's wealthiest. ... Half the world, nearly 3 billion people, live on less than $2 a day. Source: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/News/StudyRevealsOverwhelmingWealthGap.aspx As sobering as those statistics are, they actually pale to insignificance when we recognize the blessings that can be ours, now and in the eternities, because of our church membership. Help your students understand that they truly blessed to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Best wishes, Ken www.KenAlford.com ScriptureMastery@KenAlford.com

Scripture Mastery Head Start

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[Seminary-Notes] ==================================== FOR YOUR INFORMATION... ==================================== To help your students "get a jump" on the next Seminary year (and to help them take better advantage of summer), you may wish to offer them the opportunity to learn and successfully pass Old Testament scripture mastery scriptures this summer. You can let students know that any scripture mastery scriptures successfully passed in the summer will count toward their totals during the coming Seminary year. Print and give each student (and their parents) a single sheet with all 25 of the Old Testament scripture mastery scriptures on it, and ask them to post it in a conspicuous place in their home. You may also wish to "deputize" parents so that they can have their sons and daughters "pass off" scripture mastery scriptures to them, or they can also pass them off to you. Summer is a great time for families to work on learning scripture mastery scriptures together in Family Home Evening. (To possibly save you some preparation time, please note that both the Volume 1 and volume 2 Old Testament Seminary Scripture Mastery Resource packets contain single-page scripture mastery handouts that you can copy and give to students and parents. Additional details are available here.) Best wishes, Ken www.KenAlford.com ScriptureMastery@KenAlford.com