[Article from the june,  july 2011 edition of the church publication, "the green olive branch"]

The Green Olive Branch is A Publication Promoting The Original Teachings Given to Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration. Come All Who Are Called To Be Latter Day Saints, Join In The Grand Effort To Gather The Scattered Tribes Of Israel With Those Of The Gentiles Who Shall Enter Into The New And Everlasting Covenant And Together Establish Zion, A New Jerusalem And It’s Righteousness

    "MINE ELECT"

  DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS SECTION 28

Revelation given through Joseph Smith, prophet and seer to the church, in August 1830. This revelation was given at Fayette, New York, in the presence of six elders, prior to the second conference of the church which was held at that place on September 1, 1830.

“. . . ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect, for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts; wherefore the decree hath gone forth from the Father that they shall be gathered in unto one place, upon the face of this land [America], to prepare their hearts, and be prepared in all THINGS, against the day when tribulation and desolation are sent forth upon the wicked;” D&C 28:2c, d

 Four important points are revealed concerning the Elect in this revelation:

First—The Elders of the church are the ones who are called to bring about the gathering of God's Elect. *

Second—The gathering of the Elect would be to the land of America.

Third—They would be gathered into one place upon the face of the land.

Fourth—Those who were gathered would be prepared against the tribulations that were to come.

*Reference to Elders include all Members of the Melchisedec priesthood. Scriptures affirm that Apostles who are High Priest are also referred to as Elders [D&C 17:8b].  History also records that a Seventy is an Elder, selected out of the Elders Quorum.

In effect, this revelation informs us that the restored church of Jesus Christ, with all of its compliment of officers and spiritual gifts, is that organization that God ordained and brought forth under the ministry of Joseph Smith and is identified as the organization that shall bring about the promised gathering.

So we may ask the question, “Who meets or merits the term--Elect?”

 Jesus Christ is the Elect of God

  “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench; he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law.” Isaiah 42:1- 4

 All who are Baptized into Christ are also the Elect of God

“Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; but he that acknowledgeth the son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye shall continue in the Son, and also in the Father.                                   1 John 2:23- 24

Keep in mind that the Church of Jesus Christ  is called—The Body of Christ—and as such all who are in the covenant— as members—are likened to the parts of his body, each part having special functions and gifts of Spirit to make the body whole.

“. . . Every sin that a man committeth is against the body of Christ, and he who committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” 1 Corinthians 6:18- 20.

There is no doubt that when Isaiah was speaking of—Mine Elect— he is describing the Lord.  And so Jesus is called the Elect Son of God the Father, who was chosen before the foundation of the world to bring forth salvation to the world. Also keep in mind that Isaiah referred to Christ as the—Holy One of Israel—no less than twenty five times in his book of prophecy. So we see that the term, —Holy One of Israel— would be the same personage and identified as the Elect of God.  So if we are talking about the Congregation of ancient Israel under the old covenant, or the present Church of Jesus Christ under the new covenant, we are talking about the chosen, or elect people of God.

 “For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name; I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God besides me; I girded thee, though thou hast not known me;”   Isaiah 45:4, 5

“. . .And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains [nations]; and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.”      Isaiah 65:9

Notice that mountains are plural: Deuteronomy 32:8, 9: When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob [Israel] is the lot of his inheritance.

Jesus Christ is—“the Holy One of Israel”, and Israel, after King Rehoboam, was divided into two kingdoms, Judah and Israel. Both the ten tribe kingdom Israel with its capitol in the city of Samaria which went into exile 721 B.C.E. and the kingdom of Judah with its capitol at Jerusalem  that went into captivity 607 B.C.E., were mentioned, by the Lord, as two sisters who belonged to him, but were cast off because of their unfaithfulness. These two kingdoms represented the congregations of the Holy One of Israel which are in the latter days to be gathered again to him.

 “The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother; And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth; there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity. And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister; and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria [capitol of the ten tribe kingdom] is Aholah, and Jerusalem [capitol of the kingdom of Judah] Aholibah.” Ezekiel 23:1- 4

In the 26^th Chapter of Leviticus it is told of the curses God would place upon all Israel if they did not keep the commandments  and laws of the covenant.

 “And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant; I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart; and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies; they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass; And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate. And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant; and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight; and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.                                        Leviticus 26: 15-29

Ezekiel, speaking of Judah: “For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them by whom thy mind is alienated; And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labor, and shall leave thee naked and bare; and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms. I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols. Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand. Thus saith the Lord God; Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large; thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much. Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.” Ezekiel 23:28- 33

The sieges of the walled capitols of Samaria and Jerusalem fulfilled the dire prophesies of the book of Leviticus, for truly Samaria and Jerusalem had disregarded the warnings of God so given so many years before their occurrence.

Perhaps this condemnation and rejection against his congregations of the Holy One of Israel  was the reason for the eleven remaining Apostles who came to Jesus with this question. “When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? “And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.” Acts 1:6- 7

At the time this question was asked, Judah had a king siting upon the throne in Jerusalem!

The restoration of scattered Israel

The Lord taught us to pray, “thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven”.

“. . . for  as ye have looked upon the long absence of your spirits from your bodies to be a bondage, I will show unto you how the day of redemption shall come, and also the restoration of the scattered Israel. And now ye behold this temple which is in Jerusalem, which ye call the house of God, and your enemies say that this house shall never fall. But verily I say unto you that desolation shall come upon this generation as a thief in the night, and this people shall be destroyed and scattered among all nations. And this temple which ye now see shall be thrown down, that there shall not be left one stone upon another. And it shall come to pass that this generation of Jews shall not pass away until every desolation which I have told you concerning them shall come to pass. Ye say that ye know that the end of the world cometh; ye say, also, that ye know that the heavens and the earth shall pass away; and in this ye say truly, for so it is; but these things which I have told you shall not pass away until all shall be fulfilled. And this I have told you concerning Jerusalem; and when that day shall come, shall a remnant be scattered among all nations, but they shall be gathered again; but they shall remain until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”           D&C 45:2l- 3f

It appears that the time of the Gentiles was fulfilled in that generation that the Book of Mormon was brought forth which contains:—“The fullness of the gospel”

 “And verily, verily I say unto you, that this church have I established and called forth out of the wilderness; and even so will I gather mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, even as many as will believe in me, and hearken unto my voice;”  D&C 32:2a, b

 “And in that day shall be heard of wars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth shall be in commotion, and men's hearts shall fail them, and they shall say that Christ delayeth his coming until the end of the earth. And the love of men shall wax cold, and iniquity shall abound; and when the time of the Gentiles is come in, a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness, and it shall be the fullness of my gospel; but they receive it not, for they perceive not the light, and they turn their hearts from me because of the precepts of men; and in that generation shall the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; and there shall be men standing in that generation that shall not pass, until they shall see an overflowing scourge, for a desolating sickness shall come over the land; but my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices and curse God, and die.”            D&C 45:4a-e

“And thus commandeth the Father that I should say unto you, At that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and shall reject the fullness of my gospel, and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and above all the people of the whole earth, and shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischiefs, and all manner of hypocrisy, and murders, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, and of secret abominations; And if they shall do all these things, and shall reject the fullness of my gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fullness of my gospel from among them; And then will I remember my covenant which I have made unto my people, O house of Israel, and I will bring my gospel unto them; And I will shew unto thee, O house of Israel, that the Gentiles shall not have power over you, but I will remember my covenant unto you, O house of Israel, and ye shall come unto the knowledge of the fullness of my gospel.”    BoM 3 Nephi 7:34- 37

“And righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine own elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare; an holy city, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion; a New Jerusalem.”      Genesis 7:70

 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For him whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to his own image, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, him whom he did predestinate, him he also called; and him whom he called, him he also sanctified; and him whom he sanctified, him he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can prevail against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”                  Romans 8:28- 34

“Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him; Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, Circumcision Nor Uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.”                    Colossians 3:9- 13

All are changed in Jesus Christ from the natural man into the—“new creature”—becoming like him and humbly bowing the knee to the Holy One of Israel.

 “Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious; and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.”    1 Peter 2:6

The elect of God is Christ himself and those who hear and obey his voice and fulfill their covenants by  keep his commandments.■