Arabs
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Thurs., 2 Nov
President David O. McKay
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At the present time we are engaged in a project of beautifying the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem by a garden, in memory of Orson Hyde, an early apostle of the Church, and the dedicatory prayer he offered on that site. It is not because we favor one people over another. Jerusalem is sacred to the Jews, but it is also sacred to the Arabs. A cabinet minister of Egypt once told me that if a bridge is ever built between Christianity and Islam it must be built by the Mormon Church. In making inquiry as to the reason for his statement I was impressed by his recitation of the similarities and the common bonds of brotherhood. Both the Jews and the Arabs are children of our Father. They are both children of promise, and as a church we do not take sides. We have love for and an interest in each. The purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to bring about love, unity, and brotherhood of the highest order. Like Nephi of old, may we be able to say, “I have charity for the Jew. . . . I also have charity for the Gentiles.” (2 Nephi 33:8, 9.) To our friends of Judah, we say: We are your brethren of the house of Joseph—we feel close relationship to you. We are messengers of the true covenant and bear a message that God has spoken in this day and time. To our kinsmen of Abraham, we say: We are your brethren—we look upon no nation or nationality as second-class citizens. We invite all men to investigate our message and to receive our fellowship. To our brothers and sisters of all nationalities: We bear solemn witness and testify that God has spoken in our day and time, that heavenly messengers have been sent, that God has revealed his mind and will to a prophet, Joseph Smith. And, as Andrew beckoned his brother, Simon Peter, to come and hear the Messiah, we say to one and all: “Come and see” (see John 1:35–42). As our Father loves all his children, we must love all people—of every race, culture, and nationality—and teach them the principles of the gospel that they might embrace it and come to a knowledge of the divinity of the Savior. Only they are favored who keep his commandments.
Elder Howard W. Hunter
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I never cease to be amazed at all the Prophet Joseph Smith received from the Lord. Throughout my life I have discovered amazing teachings on which I had not previously focused, even in a life-time study of the gospel. One of these, which has been of recent interest for me is the Prophet’s teaching on the return of the tribe of Judah to Israel. The Jewish people had been scattered among the Gentile nations and very few lived in the Holy Land. In the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple on March 27, 1836, a prayer given to the Prophet Joseph by revelation, it states: 62 We therefore ask thee to have mercy upon the children of Jacob, that Jerusalem, from this hour, may begin to be redeemed; 63 And the yoke of bondage may begin to be broken off from the house of David; 64 And the children of Judah may begin to return to the lands which thou didst give to Abraham, their father. On April 6, 1840, the Prophet appointed Apostle Orson Hyde to dedicate the Holy Land. That assignment contained the following statement: “The Jewish nation have been scattered abroad among the Gentiles for a long period; and, in our estimation, the time of the commencement of their return to the ‘holy land’ has already arrived.” Orson Hyde, on October 21, 1841, arrived in the Holy Land and said: “My natural eyes, for the first time, beheld Jerusalem.” In Orson Hyde’s beautiful prayer on Sunday morning, October 24th he dedicated and consecrated the land “for the gathering together of Judah’s scattered remnants….” Seventy-six years later the first step in the creation of modern Israel occurred. The British had wrested the Holy Land from the Ottoman Empire. Lord Arthur James Balfour, Britain’s foreign secretary, issued what is known as the Balfour Declaration. It begins: “His Majesty’s Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” The declaration was sent to Lord Walter Rothschild, a leader of the Zionist Jewish community. It should be noted that the declaration included the language: “…nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.” (End quote) This is consistent with the position the Church has always taken. This month was the 100th anniversary of that declaration on November 2. A dinner was held commemorating the event hosted by third generation family members of Lord Balfour and Lord Rothschild. Britain Prime Minister Theresa May and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also attended the banquet. Because Orson Hyde had dedicated the land 76 years before the declaration, New York Jewish leaders invited Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and myself to Israel a year ago to celebrate the 175th year of Orson Hyde’s dedication. They wanted Prime Minister Netanyahu to be aware of that seminal event. Senator Joseph Lieberman and former New York Attorney General Robert Abrams arranged a meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu where we were greeted warmly. After Abrams and Lieberman informed Netanyahu of the commemoration, he with a big smile on his face said, “I have known about that for 25 years. My pollster, Richard Wirthlin, a Latter-day Saint, told me about that 25 years ago.” Everyone laughed.
Elder Quentin L. Cook
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