“The Nephites officiated by virtue of the Melchizedek Priesthood from the days of Lehi to the days of the appearance of our Savior among them” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith Jr. [1957], 1:124).
In 2 Nephi 6:11, Jacob teaches that the gathering of the Jews to the lands of their inheritance will occur “when they come to the knowledge of their Redeemer.” This will mostly occur at the Second Coming of the Savior (see D&C 45:48–53; Zechariah 12:9–10; 13:6; Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah [1982], 228–29).
Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles noted that “many Jews are now gathering to Palestine,” but they are not doing so as a result of “a belief in Christ or an acceptance of the laws and ordinances of his everlasting gospel.” Therefore, this gathering “is not the gathering promised by the prophets” but rather is “a preliminary gathering” and “a preparatory work” occurring before the gathering that Jacob and other prophets spoke of (see The Millennial Messiah, 229).
“A few years ago I was asked to speak to a group of young men. I don’t remember now exactly what was said, except that near the end I made the statement that no one … present had done anything for which he could not be forgiven.
“After the meeting was over one of them came up to me and said, ‘I just have to talk to you.’ …
“… We found a little unused classroom, went in, and closed the door. ‘Did you really mean it? Did you?’ he asked.
“‘Mean what?’ I said.
“‘The part about how none of us had done anything that could not be forgiven,’ he replied.
“‘Of course I did,’ I said.
“Through his tears his story came. He was of goodly parents. All of his life his mother had told him that he was going on a mission. Before he turned nineteen he was involved in serious transgression. He didn’t know how to tell his parents. He knew it would break their hearts. He knew that he wasn’t worthy to serve a mission. In desperation, he began to look for an excuse not to go. He decided to take up smoking. He felt that his father could understand that better and would not probe for the real reason. Smoking would hurt his parents, he rationalized, but not as deeply as the truth.
“He soon found, however, that the bishop wasn’t put off by his use of tobacco. The bishop told him to just stop it and go on a mission anyway. So to get away from the bishop, he entered the military service. There he fell under the influence of some good Latter-day Saints. He stopped smoking. He was able to avoid major temptations. He served his time, received an honorable discharge, and returned home.
“There was only one problem. He felt guilty. He had run away from a mission. He had run from the Lord and sensed somehow that gnawing discontent which comes when men do not live up to the purpose of their creation” (F. Burton Howard, “Repentance,”Ensign, May 1983, 58–59).
“[The young man] said, ‘But after all of that, how can I ever know the Lord has really forgiven me?’
“‘That is the easy part,’ I replied. ‘When you have fully repented, you feel an inner peace. You know somehow you are forgiven because the burden you have carried for so long, all of a sudden isn’t there anymore. It is gone and you know it is gone.’
“He seemed doubtful still.
“‘I wouldn’t be surprised,’ I said, ‘if when you leave this room, you discover that you have left much of your concern in here. If you have fully repented, the relief and the peace you feel will be so noticeable that it will be a witness to you that the Lord has forgiven you. If not today, I think it will happen soon.’
“… I opened the door and we went out together. I didn’t know if we would ever meet again. The following Sunday evening, I received a telephone call at my home. It was from the young man.
“‘Brother Howard, how did you know?’
“‘How did I know what?’ I asked.
“‘How did you know I would feel good about myself for the first time in five years?’
“‘Because the Lord promised he would remember no more,’ I said. (See Heb. 8:12.)
“Then came the question: ‘Do you think the Church could use a twenty-four-year-old missionary? If they could, I would sure like to go’” (F. Burton Howard, “Repentance,” Ensign,May 1983, 59).