When my mother-in-law lay in the hospital bed dying, she repeatedly told her children and grandchildren to stay on ‘the gospel train’. Just prior to her death one conference talk was centered on this life being like a train journey and we think she connected this in her mind to the gospel. She died a dignified death with her testimony on her lips.
In his farewell address, Moses admonished the children of Israel, repeatedly, to worship the one true and living God and that they should have no other gods before Him. This farewell constitutes the entire book of Deuteronomy with strong emphasis on dangers of idol worship. Moses' farewell coincided with the children of Israel's entry into the promised land. Because the inhabitants of Canaan were ripe in iniquity and idol worship (1 Nephi 17:32-35) they presented a very real threat to the covenant people. As they conquered cities before them, lands were appropriated to them for their settlement. Among the first to receive land were the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Mannesah. They settled in the land of Gilead which divided them from the rest of Israel by the river Jordan (Numbers 34:14,15; Deuteronomy 3:12,13; Joshua 22:9). After they had assisted in further conquest of the land, Joshua sent them back to Gilead to live peacefully in their newly appointed inheritance. Upon their return home, these tribes built an altar by river Jordan. When the rest of Israel heard of it they were outraged presuming the altar was built for idol worship. They sent Phineas, the son of Eleazor the priest, with the heads of the remaining tribes, to call these two and a half tribes to repentance. In their defense, these tribes explained that the altar was not made for any worship but was meant to stand as a witness to the rest of Israel, for generations to come, that the tribe of Reuben, Gad and Mannesah were united with the rest of Israel in the worship of one true and living God; that they would not be the downfall of Israel. They said the altar was to be "a witness between us that the Lord is God" (Joshua 22:34). These three tribes recognised that even though they were geographically divided from the rest, they were still a link in the chain. They knew that if they turned to the worship of other gods, the ripple effect would be detrimental to the whole House of Israel.
So it is with us. We of modern Israel are individual links in a great chain which binds the covenant people. How we live our lives and how we worship God has great impact upon not only us personally but upon the body of Christ as a whole because "no one sins in isolation. We cannot say that our actions influence only ourselves for even if we do something sinful that is completely personal, our individual loss of spiritual power means a lessening of power for all mankind and contributes to the withdrawal of the Lord's spirit, and that is damaging to all......". (Old Testament Student Manual Genesis-2 Samuel, p 243).
Today the chain, being the Church of Jesus Christ, spreads across the globe. It unites me, who am an Australian, with you who are an American, European or African. It unites us through our faith in Him who is the Saviour of all, regardless of nationality, colour or culture. Our faith in Christ and our commitment to that faith is our commonality. It creates a spiritual umbilical cord that makes us one and strengthens us even though we are miles apart. I depend on you and you depend on me to keep the chain unbroken because one day this chain will bring us together to live with Him forever.
In Moses' words:
"Hear, O Israel: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might...and these words....shall be in thine heart....forever." Deut 6:4-6
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