Francis Harper Message for 4/12/2019

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Francis Harper
wbfrmsup@iowatelecom.net


Francis Harper Message for 4/12/2019

Dear Ones,

During my morning meditations on October 21, 1994, I was pondering upon the question: Why did Jesus have to die in such a cruel way? Suddenly, a scriptural answer was given in these words: “Without shedding of blood, is no remission [of sin]: (Hebrews 9:22).

I was not familiar with the scripture, nor did I know where to find it. I reached for my Bible Concordance and decided to look for the text under the word shedding. I opened the concordance, fully expecting to have to flip the pages several times to find the word, but noted that at the first opening of the 850 page book, I had opened to the exact page which listed the word shedding. I knew at once that the Holy Spirit was confirming the truth and the importance of this scripture, “Without shedding of blood, is no remission. . . . So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:22, 28). The Holy Spirit was teaching me the importance and necessity of the Lord’s death upon the cross. Without the shedding of His blood in this way, none of us would have any hope for the remission of our sins and salvation.

I feel that I should add that after the Holy Ghost had confirmed the truth and necessity of the shedding of His blood to provide for us a remission of our sins [reconciliation, at-one-ment, atonement], I learned even more. In addition, I discovered that the word shedding is found only once in the entire Bible! Next I learned that if I had selected the word blood to use in my search, I would have had to sort through four hundred thirty-nine references to find the scripture I was looking for. If I had chosen the word sin there were slightly fewer references, four hundred twenty-nine! (James Strong. Strong’s Concordance of the Bible. 1890. Nashville, TN.: Abingdon Press. 175-177, 1231, 1250-1252). The shedding of His blood is sufficient to cover every sin in the world.

On Thursday morning of Holy Week, April 13, 1995, I was reading Alma 16:208, 210, 215 which says:

According to the great plan of the eternal God, there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish . . . a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of beast . . . it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice . . . That great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God.

As I finished reading this text, I recalled the words recorded in Romans: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). I thought the scripture was recorded in Romans, Chapter 4. My Bible does not have a thumb (tabbed) index, so I have to do some searching to find a scripture. When I opened my Bible, it opened to Romans 3, and to the exact page of the text I was seeking!

The Holy Spirit is a wonderful teacher and helper. The text for which I was searching was not in Romans 4, as I had thought. I had been corrected. When this happened, all I could say was, “Oh Lord. Thank you!” I tried to duplicate what had just happened, and even though I knew the exact chapter and verse now, it took several flips of the pages back and forth before I located the exact page of the text. Surely, once again, this was more than a coincidence.

This happening, on the anniversary date of the great and last sacrifice, was more than I could immediately comprehend. Once more the Holy Spirit was confirming that the atonement is a vital necessity for our salvation. Jesus is the “Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). We all need the Savior!

My Love to All,
High Priest Francis Harper

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The World’s Greatest Bargain

The week called Holy begins with Palm Sunday, which commemorates the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This special week of long ago, was filled with events of great significance; the most notable of these being the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
Even from the dawn of creation God gave us types and shadows of the crucifixion of Jesus. Adam was commanded that man should offer the firstlings of his flocks for an offering unto the Lord. “And Adam was obedient . . . And after many days, an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying, why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him, I know not save the Lord commanded me. And then the angel spake, saying, this thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth” (Genesis 4:5-7 I.V.).



Many generations later, “God did try Abraham . . . And the Lord said, Take now thy son, thine only Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get into the land of Moriah, and offer him there upon one of the mountains of which I will tell thee” (Genesis 22:1:2). When they arrived at the place appointed, Isaac asked: Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb? And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb” (Genesis 22:9-10). And he did!

Hundreds of years later, as slaves in Egypt, the descendants of Abraham were commanded to sacrifice a lamb without blemish and “take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post” of their houses (Exodus 12:7). “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations” (Exodus 12:13-14). The Israelites were saved by the blood on their door-posts.

The descendants of Abraham had faithfully kept the Feast of Passover each year for more than fifteen hundred years before Jesus, the Lamb of God, was slain on Mount Moriah, thus fulfilling all the types and shadows of the great and last sacrifice of the Son of God.

In addition to the testimony of the types and shadows we have the beautiful words of the prophets such as Isaiah, that testify of Jesus and his crucifixion: “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

The atonement has been called the world’s greatest bargain. “Ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; . . . ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 4:49). But let us not forget the words of Jesus: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. And now for a man to take up his cross is to deny himself all ungodliness, and every worldly lust, and keep my commandments” (Matthew 16:25-26 I.V.). We must also remember the words of John: “Hereby perceive we the love of Christ, because he laid down his life for us; we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).

“O, wonderful love is the love of Jesus who on Calvary’s cruel tree, was wounded, and died to make full atonement for a poor sinner, lost, like me. There never was one like Jesus, ever, always true is He; There never was one like Jesus, There’s no love like His love to me” (Hymns of the Restoration #318).