Short Story of Christmas Manger Birth from America

I speak from the dust.  Born of the great Nephite nation I speak as one who walked and died in a blessed land far from our home in the Holy Land.  I am Gorom son of Laret.  I reach across the rugged road of time to tell you the tale of the Great Bearded Prophet’s birth.  He came and healed a broken people.  He lived with us and danced with the four winds among us.  Though He came to us on a beam of light from the great sky, His legend was known far long before we touched the prints upon his feet.  His birth and even death had been prophesied even from the days of Isaiah down through the ages.

For me, the legend started when I was a boy.  I remember the faithfulness of my father and mother.  Father was a craftsman of wood in the land of Zarahemla.  They looked forward to a sign from the heavens of a Great Birth that would usher in an era of salvation among the children of the Great Father in heaven.  My earliest recollection was of a great madness in the courts of the city.  Legions of rocks and arrows darkened the sky as they were hurled at a man upon our city wall.  The power of disbelief grew strong among my people.  So much so that many of those who believed went into hiding or remained silent out of fear.  This man on the wall was Samuel the Lamanite - and he believed.  Samuel was not silent but was the mouthpiece of the One who should come.  He didn’t always understand why but he always went where he was led to preach the word of goodwill and salvation.

Great wonders came to view as the years followed.  Wonders to be unto the convincing of the disbeliever as well as a blessing to the believer.  At the same time, all these wonders served as a preparation for all creation that a great crossroad in time and space was about to manifest itself.  Many things took place that defy all reasoning.  Flocks all around tended to protect and cherish the firstlings.  Many of our sick and infirm healed quickly and returned home to their families.  Deep quiet whisperings often spoke in many hearts causing deep reflection and reverence.  These whisperings grew louder and became more frequent in the following few years after Samuel came down from that wall.  Clouds began to divert from being directly overhead of the temple grounds.  They moved as if with knowledge of a great occurrence there and didn’t want to desecrate it.  All these and many more miracles took place especially in that year of the Light.

Contention grew dangerously in that year among my people.  Disbelievers began to dictate to God, and even dared to set a date and place for the prophesied sign of the Christ birth.  If the sign pronounced by the the man on the wall, Samuel, was not achieved then all believers would die.  I remember my father, my mother, my older brother and younger siblings and myself being stripped from our home one evening by a band of lawless robbers.  We were made to kneel in submission as we meet our fate.  I remember the peace in my father’s eyes at that moment.  He was calm and I remembered the dream he told us that he had the night before.  Father told us that the Great Spirit carried him to the motherland across the sea and showed him a fair virgin, great with birth, with battalions of angels from the unseen world standing guard about her.

At that seemingly fateful hour the sun had almost set.  Darkness would normally be readying to blanket the land.  An imposing man painted black reverted his sword to the sky and eyed the stretched neck of my father.  I knelt next to my father and mother in fear yet with humble admiration of the stalwart nature of my parents.  With the executioner’s back to the setting sky I suddenly saw a piercing light in the whites of his eyes.  Obviously coming from the eastern horizon he looks on at the light which caught his attention.  His posse of seven others also looked toward the east.  Offering a brief relief from death, my family also turned the head to look with curiosity.  Samuel was right!  Not even the fiery furnace of hell could change this fact at this moment.

The blackness of hate that raped the land fell silent.  We felt the ground shake as countless unrepentant throughout the land fell helpless to their knees.  This included our captors.  Not only was the sign given, but this was an especial sign that gave off a “living” light that permeated the heart of all life.  Unless the heart was hopelessly blackened in the mires, there was no denying at that moment that the Christ was born in a land across the seas.  A great correction took place in that hour and many hearts were cleansed.

Among the faithful many saw and heard concourses of angels singing.  Others saw even their flocks on bended knee.  Many stories of multitudes of birds spreading the news to all life manifested in numbers.  There was no tree, no river, no insect and no rock that didn’t know that the Christ was born.  The earth was created.  The earth was baptized in flood.  Now, the earth sees the prospect of salvation.

This occasion gave us all pause and engaged us in continual peace for a few years.  The prophecy is fulfilled.  Scores of martyred holy men of old now cry from the dust in victory that their words are fulfilled.  As with all things memory dims and people fall into adverse ways.  Great diversities and contentions eventually raged once again in the land.  This led up to the great arrival of the Bearded White God who came to us on that beam of light.  It was He who was testified of by a bright star that night.  That is another story.

The purpose of my words here is to testify that a baby of divine nature was born across the sea.  His inauguration was undeniable even to many who disbelieved.  All things are born spiritually before they are manifested physically.  Therefore, true faith and strong foundation must first be anchored in that which is not readily seen with the eye but felt with the heart.

My story joins the throng of innumerable others that testify of Jesus Christ.  Innumerable are they that are not known among men but shall come forth at their appointed time to further heal a dying world.  His birth and the signs thereof were witnessed by millions.  Imagine the testaments yet to be known.  His death was equally felt.  Imagine the testaments yet to be known.  As one who has witnessed both I am resolute to say that Jesus is the Christ.

Care not for riches and things of want.  They cannot enter any kingdom which you will inevitably enter.  Place your time, talents and energies into that which will enter.  Mastering goodwill, charity, love, learning science, working as a team,  loving your spouse and loving God are all things that qualify you to realms exalted.  Jesus Christ was born among the most humbled of means and settings.  Though I did not see it with mine own eyes I did see the truth of it in the living light that beamed off the robber’s eyes.

I speak to you that you may know that mortality is an essential part of your ascension.  You are one, and the One who once laid in a poor manger found you worthy to die for.  I speak to you as one who felt the prints in his hands and feet over thirty years after that star shone bright.  As promised He came to visit the lost sheep that were not of the fold in the Holy Land.  His grand gesture of sacrifice is universal and is a type and example that we are to follow.  Sacrifice for our fellow man, living and dead, enable us to be a co-heir with Jesus Christ.

Samuel was a faithful servant.  Shall we be so bold as to follow in such footsteps.