Second Nephi — Chapter 31
1 Dear brothers and sisters, I, Nephi, will stop prophesying to you now. I can write only a few things about what will happen, and I can write only a few of the things my brother Jacob said.
2 I have written enough, but I want to say more about Christ’s teachings. I will tell you about them plainly.
3 My soul loves plainness. This is the way God works with people. He talks to them in ways they can understand, and in their own language.
4 I want you to remember that I talked to you about the prophet who would baptize Christ (who will take away the sins of the world).
5 Now, if Christ, who is holy, needed to be baptized by water to be completely righteous, doesn’t this mean that we who are not holy need to be baptized by water even more?
6 Now I ask you, dear brothers and sisters, how did Christ become completely righteous by being baptized by water?
7 Don’t you know he was holy? But even though he was holy, he showed people he would obey the Father’s commandments.
8 This was why the Holy Ghost came down on him like a dove after he was baptized with water.
9 This also showed people that the path and the gate to heaven are very narrow. He was an example for them.
10 He has said to people: “Follow me.” Brothers and sisters, how can we follow Jesus unless we keep the Father’s commandments?
11 The Father has said: “Repent and be baptized in the name of my Dear Son.”
12 Jesus spoke to me, too, and said: “The Father will give the Holy Ghost to those who are baptized in my name, just as he gave the Holy Ghost to me. So follow me, and do the things you have seen me do.”
13 Dear brothers and sisters, I know if you follow Christ honestly and sincerely, with all your hearts, and show the Father that you want to take Christ’s name on you by being baptized, you will be given the Holy Ghost, which is the baptism of fire. Then you will be able to speak as angels speak, and sing praises to Christ, the Holy One of Israel.
14 Then Christ said to me: “After you repent of your sins, and show the Father that you want to keep my commandments by being baptized, and are baptized by fire and the Holy Ghost, and can speak as the angels speak — if you deny me after that, it would have been better for you never to have known me.”
15 Then I heard the Father say: “What my Dear Son has said is true. People who endure to the end will be saved.”
16 Now, dear brothers and sisters, I know if people do not follow Christ’s example and endure to the end, they cannot be saved.
17 So do the things I have told you that I saw your Lord and Savior do. I was shown these things so you would know that the gate to heaven is repentance and baptism by water. After that, your sins are taken away by fire and the Holy Ghost.
18 Then you are on the narrow path leading to eternal life. This means you have obeyed the commandments of the Father and Christ, and that you have been given the Holy Ghost, which is what you are promised if you are baptized with water.
19 Now, dear brothers and sisters, when you are on the narrow path to eternal life, is that all you have to do? I tell you, No. You would not have gotten this far without having obeyed Christ’s words, and without having faith in Christ’s mighty power to save.
20 You must go on with firm faith in Christ, having perfect hope, and love for God and all people. If you go on feeding your spirit with Christ’s words and endure to the end, the Father will say: “You will have eternal life.”
21 Brothers and sisters, this is the only true way people can be saved in God’s kingdom, and Christ is the only name by which you can be saved. This is what the Father and Son and Holy Ghost teach, and it is true. Amen.
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