As patriarch of the stake I get the blessing of an assignment to go to each unit to speak in their sacrament meetings once a year.  I enjoy the assignment.  I have lots of new ideas that come to me on a regular basis, and would prefer to give a new and unique talk in each ward and branch.  I would prefer to give a talk tailored specifically to that unit, but I know that I would end up repeating stories that I'd already used in previous talks.  Therefore, I use the same talk in each unit all year long.

Older people tend to repeat themselves.  They can tell you the same story over and over again.  I don't want to be like that.  It can be a sign of senility.

And yet, I notice that Jesus Christ often repeats Himself.  He even repeats Himself in the same sentence.  He does it for emphasis.  For instance:

“...Ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do.”

That was 3 Nephi 27:21, and was spoken to the Nephites on the second day of His visit to them.  On the first day, one of the first things He told them was this:

“And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things.

“And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.”  (3 Nephi 11:37-38).

Those are very remarkable admonitions, given back to back.  I think He means it.  I think He wants us to take note and to pay attention.

On the first day of His visit to the Nephites He gave the people a warning meant for us, not for them.  He told them that in the latter days, if the Gentiles did not repent, that the Nephites' descendants would “go through among them, and shall tread them down, and they shall be as salt that hath lost its savor, which is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of my people, O house of Israel.”  (3 Nephi 16:15).

That warning was nothing that was of any concern to the Nephites.  They shouldn't have cared about what was going to happen 2,000 years hence.  Jesus wasn't speaking to them so much as He was speaking to us.  He knew that we would have this record, which is the Book of Mormon.  On the second day of His visit, He said:

“...If the Gentiles do not repent … then shall ye, who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, go forth among them; and ye shall be in the midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goeth through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.”  (3 Nephi 20:15-16).

That constituted the second time that Jesus warned our Gentile nation of a specific dire consequence if we didn't repent.  This point was apparently so important, however, that in the very next chapter he repeated it again.  This time He quoted almost verbatim the words of Micah in the Old Testament.  Micah's words were really His, so this became the fourth time that He gave this warning to the United States of America.

“And my people who are a remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

“Their hand shall be lifted up upon their adversaries, and all their enemies shall be cut off.

“Yea, wo be unto the Gentiles except they repent; for it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Father, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots;

“And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds;

“And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy land, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers.

Thy graven images I will also cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee, and thou shalt no more worship the works of thy hands;

“And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee, so will I destroy thy cities.”  (3 Nephi 21:12-18 and Micah 5:8-14).

As I read the account in the Book of Mormon of Jesus visiting the Nephites it is as if He had underlined and highlighted this warning to the latter-day Gentiles.  He issued the warning three times in just six chapters.  I am surprised that more is not being made of it, for He says:

“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.”  (D&C 1:38).

The remnants of Lehi's descendants are everywhere among us.  If this Gentile country does not repent, the Lord is going to use Lehi's children to trash the nation.  I don't see much movement toward repentance among our citizenry, but I am seeing a mass influx of discontented immigrants pouring across our borders.  Stay tuned.  Stay alert.  Things are going to happen.  The Lord has said so.

He also says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

“For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”  (Matthew 7:7-8).

Has He repeated anything more than that?

“And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.”  (3 Nephi 18:20).

I can't count the times that He has repeated that promise in the scriptures.

I think that He means it.  When the Lord repeats Himself, I think we would do well to pay attention.