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Calvinist and Mormon beliefs contrasted…

August 29th, 2010 by admin

There was a recent comment that was very interesting.  You can read it here.  Below is my reply to that comment.

Natalie,

Sorry I’m just now getting back to you, I’ve been very busy. I think we agree with each other in many ways. I’m happy you don’t believe in the calvinist view that once you are saved you cannot fall from grace.

It’s true that motives can be wrong and works alone will never get us to heaven. Jesus is the only one that can make that happen. King Benjamin taught that we are all beggers and that no matter what we do it will never be enough.

Mosiah 4:19
19 For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?

I can assure you I didn’t purposely withhold the entire verse when quoting Paul.. it’s one of my favorite verses. King Benjamin in the same sermon referenced above also makes the point that we have no reason to boast in our own works:

Mosiah 2:20-24
20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.
24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?

Having said that, there are a couple of reasons that works are important, namely:

1. They are evidence of our faith. If we are not bringing forth fruit meet for repentance, then we don’t have true faith in Jesus Christ, and therefore, do not have access to His divine grace to save us. This is the kind of faith both you and I belive in. We don’t believe that a person who is willfully commiting murder etc is a true deciple of Jesus Christ, and thus is a parkator of His gift of Mercy and Grace.

2. God has made us so that we can do good things and He expects us to use that power. We might disagree in this point but I would like to spot-light the differences below…

Your statement “A Mormon seeks to gain access (and glorify themselves) through service.” may be true for some, but is not what the Church teaches as the right motive. The Church and the Savior Himself teaches that service should grow out of our love for Jesus and His incredible gift to us. It is evidence of our faith in Him and evidence of the sanctification that is taking place in our hearts through the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

But service is something good we CAN do. Mormons don’t believe that we are all born inherently evil. That is a fundamental difference between Calvinist belief and the LDS faith.

My presbytiern minister friend really did believe that a saved person would still be saved even if they murdered. That may not be what you believe, but it follows Calvinistic thought correctly. (Calvinists are found mostly today in the Presbyterian, Southern Baptist, and Evangelical branches of Christianity)

Point 4 of John Calvins Genevan Confession says:

IV. Natural Man

“We acknowledge man by nature to be blind, darkened in understanding, and full of corruption and perversity of heart, so that of himself he has no power to be able to comprehend the true knowledge of God as is proper, nor to apply himself to good works. But on the contrary, if he is left by God to what he is by nature, he is only able to live in ignorance and to be abandoned to all iniquity. Hence he has need to be illumined by God, so that he come to the right knowledge of his salvation, and thus to be redirected in his affections and reformed to the obedience of the righteousness of God.”

As bolded above, they believe the man is incapable of good works and is full of perversity of heart…

This doctrine has led to the idea that because Men and Women cannot do good, They also cannot fall from grace once they are saved. In other words, once they are saved, they now cannot do anything bad in the eyes of God. They believe that we are culpable for Adams sin and that every infant child is born a sinful creature full of guilt. Also every saved person is not accountable for their works anymore. That isn’t to say they believe saved people should go out and sin, but only if they did, it would not matter.

Mormons do not believe this. Our second article of faith is:

“We believe that man will be punished for his own sins and not for Adams transgression.”

Here is how it works:
Everyone is born into the world innocent. They inherit a fallen nature from Adam and Eve (not a sinful nature, but a fallen nature that is subject to temptation and the appetites of the flesh) They also inherit a divine nature from Heavenly Father because before this life each child was literally begotten of the Father who is the Father of our spirits.

Acts 17:28
28 For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

No child is accountable for any decisions made before the age of accountability. This is because they do not understand fully what they are doing wrong. All children who die before the age of 8 years old are automatically saved by Jesus Christs atonement. After the age of 8, they are accountable and everyone who has ever lived has chosen wrong or sinned at some time or another in their life except for Jesus Christ. No matter what they do, they cannot be saved without the mercy and Grace of Jesus Christ. The way to access this Grace is to:

1. Have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
2. Repent of your sins
3. Be Baptized and enter into a special covenant with Christ
4. Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the Laying on of hands by those who have authority
5. Endure faithfully to the end of their mortal lives.

Everyone who has ever lived in this world (even those who lived before Christ) will have a chance to accept His gospel in this life or the next. If they have the chance in this life but do not accept it, they will not be saved in His kingdom. If they do not have the chance in this life, but accept it in the next, they will be saved in His kingdom.

Mormonism gives the opportunity for everyone equally who has ever lived on this earth to hear the Gospel message and to accept or reject it.

Because we have a divine nature, being the literal offspring of God, we have inherited the ability to do good. It is expected that we will use this divine inheritance to show our faith in Jesus Christ and to grow to become like our Father in Heaven. When we do this, we show the evidence of our faith and because our faith is pure, we are encircled in the arms of Jesus’ grace and mercy and made clean. We also change. We become better. We go through the process of sanctification. We eventually will become like our Father in Heaven.

That is the fundamental difference. Calvinists believe we are all born sinners. We believe we are born innocent but can and do sin (often in my case!). Calvinists believe unsaved people are incapable of doing good of their own free will. We believe that God has given everyone agency to choose between the good and the evil, and the ability to repent and be forgiven of the sins we commit through the mercy of Jesus Christs atonement. Adams sin is swallowed up in Christ and no one is accountable for it. This means we are only accountable for those things that we have control over.

Calvinists beleive that once in a state of grace, there is nothing a person can do to fall from that grace. We believe that just as Adam and Eve fell we too can fall, and do fall, so we need access to the Saviors atonement to be forgiven and to be saved. After Baptism we embark on a life of learning, repentance, and sanctification. If we stay on this path we are guaranteed salvation through the merits and mercy of Jesus Christ alone.

I hope this clarifies where we agree and may disagree. I believe you are a sincere follower of Christ and may He bless you. I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is His church. I testify that the authority to baptize is found within this church. I also testify that baptisim is a pre-requiste of Salvation. If you would like to know more here is a link: CLICK HERE

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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A letter to my Nephew…

August 22nd, 2010 by admin

Tage,

So I’m staying home from church today because a disk slipped in my back yesterday.  So I’ll try to endure the pain of sitting and write you a letter.

My hope with this letter is to impress on your mind the difference between our bodies, our Spirits, and our eternal souls, and why that is important to know.

1. Intelligences

We have lived forever.  We’ve always been with God.  The difference is that until He begot us as Spirits, we were “intelligences”.  We were independent beings using as much agency as we had access to to progress.  Our agency is limited to the amount of knowledge and power we have.  We can only exercise agency if we are given the capacity (tools), knowledge to use those tools, and power to use those tools.

2. Our Spirits.

Our spirits are the literal offspring of God the Father.  It is through our spirits that we have inherited a divine nature.  Just like our bodies have inherited the fallen nature from our earthly parents, our spirits “genes” for lack of a better word, are inherited from a perfect Father and Mother in heaven.  It is this Heavenly father that joins our spirits with our bodies.  This gift of a Spirit expanded our agency in a dramatic way.  It allows us to do things we could not do as intelligences.

3. Our Bodies

As you know we inherit our bodies from our parents. It is through our bodies that we have inherited a fallen nature.  Genes passed down from generation to generation.  Science tells us that these genes change and mutate a bit with each passing of the baton.  We know from the Scriptures that Adam and Eve fell from the terrestrial state they were in.  This “Fall” was not just a change of venue, but an actual change came upon their bodies.  They became subject to the bodily appetites and weaknesses. Including hunger, thirst, pain, sexual appetites, mental illness etc.  But with that change they were able to procreate and  provide bodies to the rest of the Spirits who had kept their first estate. Our bodies allow for an unlimited expansion of our agency.

Because of the two natures that reside inside each of us, there is a war going on inside of us over which nature we will embrace as “us”.   We all have sinned and given into the temptations of the flesh.  This means at one time or another each of us have chosen our fallen nature over our divine nature.  Because of this, we have been kicked out of the Fathers family and in order to return we need a Savior.  We need someone who has not broken any of the laws that can adopt us and thus bring us back into the family.

This Savior is Jesus Christ.

3. Immortal Souls

Christ is the father of our Immortal Souls. How so?  Without Him, our bodies and spirits would have forever been separated.  Without Him, our sins would make it impossible to go back in the presence of the Father. So when we are baptized, we “take upon ourselves the name of Christ”.  He becomes our Father.  We are adopted by Him and thus are heirs to all He has.  And He has all that the Father has.  We also inherit a resurrection from Him.  This is the reuniting of our divine spirits (inherited from the Father) and our bodies (inherited from our earthly parents).  The difference is that these will never be separated again.  And the body will no longer be fallen, it will be a glorified perfected body.  It will not feel pain, there will be no sickness, there will be no mental illness there will be no temptation.

So I know that you have been taught all of this but I wanted to review it to help give you perspective.  Right now we are fighting the battle on more than one front.

We are fighting:

1. The unrighteous desires and natural weaknesses inside of us that we inherited through the fall.  (Including our own weaknesses in our minds and bodies not just sinful weaknesses)

2. Those that did not keep their first estate (i.e. the Devil and his followers who didn’t get bodies but can tempt us to do things)

3. Those who have chosen to follow Satan in this life and want you to join them.

But the good news is that we have many tools to fight the fight:

1. Our divine natures that we inherited as spirit children of God the Father (Our Spirits)

2. The Light of Christ (our Conscience)

3. The Gift of the Holy Ghost

4. The Holy Priesthood.

5. The Atonement

6. Our righteous family and friends are love and care about us.

7. Medical science and inspiration given from the Lord to help us with the problems of our minds and bodies.

This is all important to know because it helps us understand some important things about ourselves…

1. We are not inherently evil.  We are not born evil.  We just have a fallen nature to contend with as the test of this life

2. Because we are not inherently evil, we are capable to doing good.  This means our works are important.  Our works alone can never save us, but they are an important part or our salvation as the evidence of our faith in Jesus Christ.  We are required to do what we can do.  And we are capable (because of the gifts God has given us) of doing good works.

3. We will overcome our fallen natures and weak bodies because of Christ.

4.  We are only accountable for those things we have control over.  We will not be held accountable for those weaknesses we have in our bodies or minds that we cannot control.  For instance, the Prophet Ezra Taft Benson said in his book “Come unto Christ” that we are not accountable for the thoughts that come into our minds, only what we do with those thoughts.  The Atonement and Christ’s grace is sufficient to cover those things we can’t control if we will put our faith in Him.  Those weaknesses will be eliminated in the Resurrection.

No matter how hard it is right now please know that we are with you.  We love you and we know you can overcome with the help of all the tools God has provided.  He is a miracle worker.  He will work Miracles in your life if you pass the trial of your faith.

You have all the tools.  You will succeed.  In the end God wins.   I love you Tage.  You are great! And don’t you let anyone including yourself tell you otherwise.

A couple of scriptures:

Mosiah 3:19

19 For the anatural bman is an cenemy to God, and has been from the dfall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he eyields to the enticings of the Holy fSpirit, and gputteth off the hnatural man and becometh a isaint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a jchild, ksubmissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

Ether 12:27

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their aweakness. I bgive unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my cgrace is sufficient for all men that dhumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make eweak things become strong unto them.

You are an amazing man Tage. May the Lord bless you in your work.

Love,

Uncle Ben

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Forgiveness

August 15th, 2010 by admin

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Good Things to Come

August 8th, 2010 by admin

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They that be with us are more than they that be with them…

August 1st, 2010 by admin

In 2 Kings 6:8–18, we read of a remarkable event.  The king of Syria was pretty angry with Elisha the prophet because he had been using his prophetic powers to aid the king of Israel.  The Syrian king decided to send his armies to go and get Elisha.

As the hosts came in all of their might to take Elisha and destroy the land, the servant of Elisha was very dismayed and frightened.   The Syrian Host had encompassed the city.  He said “Alas, my master! how shall we do?”

The response of Elisha was amazing:

2 Kings 16-17

16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

17 And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his aeyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses andbchariots of fire round about Elisha.

There are all kinds of trials that encompass us about each day.  From the temptation that surrounds us to pain, sickness and guilt.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks or the quorum of the 12 apostles  said: “When I read this wonderful story as a boy, I always identified with the young servant of Elisha. I thought, If I am ever surrounded by the forces of evil while I am in the Lord’s service, I hope the Lord will open my eyes and give me faith to understand that when we are in the work of the Lord, those who are with us are always more powerful than those who oppose us” (in Conference

Report, Oct. 1992, 54; or Ensign, Nov. 1992, 39).

Remember that God will always be more powerful than any trial you are facing.  He is and will always be more powerful than the forces of evil that are surrounding the world today.  Have faith in Him and He  will turn your trials for your own good.  He will fight your battles.  He will make you victorious.

It really doesn’t matter what the issue is, only that you are on the Lords side of the issue.  If you have Him on your side, you cannot fail.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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A Mormon’s View of Salvation and Jesus Christ

July 25th, 2010 by admin

About 13 years ago I was sitting in the living room of a man who was studying to become  presbyterian minister.  He was in divinity school and was as interested in converting me to his faith as I was to converting him to mine.  I was a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints.

Most of our discussions centered around faith, works, and grace.  If I understand his position correctly, its very close to the evangelical idea that one needs to only have faith in Jesus Christ to be saved.  Let it be said here that his position was very well thought out and based mainly on the writings of Paul in the New Testament.

He believed that once you except the Savior, you are saved and you simply cannot fall from grace.  In other words, you are done.  It does not matter what kind of life you lead from then on because Christ has covered you.

That isn’t to say that my friend would condone a life of sin.  In fact, he would hope that you would try to model your life after Christ only because of the love that Jesus has shown to you by saving you.  But if you don’t live your life for Christ, He will still save you because you have faith in Him.  I asked him if he believed that a man who is “saved” and then went out and murdered people at will would still be “saved”.

He answered yes, it doesn’t matter if he murdered he would still be saved.  Jesus Christ takes care of it all as long as you have faith.  But back to this story a little later…

Latter-Day Saints often get painted in a dark light by our Christian friends because of our emphasis on works.  After all, didn’t Paul say:

Eph. 2:8

8 For by agrace are ye bsaved through cfaith; and that not of yourselves: it is the dgift of God

And…

Titus 3:5

5 Not by works of arighteousness which we have done, but according to his bmercy he saved us, by the cwashing of regeneration, and drenewing of the Holy Ghost;

I’m sure I could show many more scriptural examples.  To clarify the issue I would like to share with you now, and hopefully better than I did to my presbyterian friend of how Mormons view these scriptures and our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Faith And Works

Mormons often turn to the book of James to clarify the writings of Paul.  James tells us of a way we can determine if our faith is real.  Real and alive faith is always accompanied by works or action.

James 2: 14, 17-18, 20-22, 24-26

14 aWhat doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath bfaith, and have not works? can faith save him?
17 Even so afaith, if it hath not bworks, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my afaith by my bworks.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that afaith without bworks is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father ajustified by works, when he had boffered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by aworks was faith made bperfect?
24 Ye see then how that by aworks a man is bjustified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also was not aRahab the harlot bjustified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the aspirit is bdead, so faith without cworks is dead also.
Interestingly enough, the book of James has taken a beating by different Christian groups through the years because many are very confused at what seems to be a contradiction to what Paul taught.  Even Martin Luther wanted to keep this book and others  out of  the Bible.  But there really isn’t a contradiction to Paul, only a contradiction to the Evangelical interpretation of Paul.
Simply put, James is saying that faith without works is not real faith.  Or put another way, faith without works is no longer a living faith.  If Paul says we are saved by faith, and James says that works or action are evidence of true faith, then works are an important part of the true Christian life and our individual salvation.
True faith is evidenced in works and action.  But not just any action, true faith leads to the action of repentance.

Being “Saved”

What does it mean to be “Saved?”

Latter-Day Saints have a very different view of what happens after death than creedal Christianity.  Simply put, we don’t believe in a simple “Heaven” or “Hell”.

To a methodist, baptist, or Lutheran, the term “Saved” refers to Jesus’ power to save us from Hell.   To the Latter-day Saint, the term “Saved” can mean being saved from “Hell” but also can mean other things as well.

For instance, we believe that because of Jesus Christ’s atonement and resurrection ALL mankind will be resurrected. (John 5: 25-29) This is regardless of how much they sinned or if they believed in Jesus or not.  You could call that a form of Salvation.  All being saved from the grave.

We also believe that in the end there will be different glories or heavens assigned each of us depending on our (true) faith in Christ.  To the Latter-day Saint, there is only a tiny group of people called the “Sons of Perdition” that will not benefit from the great sacrifice and atonement of Jesus Christ.  These are people who commit the unpardonable sin spoken of by Jesus:

Matt. 12: 31

31 ¶ Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven aunto men: but the bblasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall cnot be forgiven unto men.

These people will be cast out with the Devil and his angels.  Everyone else will in some way be “saved,” or receive a kingdom of glory.

Having said that, most Mormons would only consider themselves “saved” if they end up in the highest kingdom which is called the Celestial Kingdom.  This is the salvation most often talked about in the scriptures.  To enter this kingdom, you must have (true) faith in Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end of your mortal life.

Beyond that there is yet a last and final form of being “Saved”.  This is called “Eternal Life” or “Exaltation.”  This is the highest level within the highest kingdom or glory.  It is reserved for those who have made sacred covenants in the temple including eternal marriage and have been true and faithful to those promises made to God.  Here you live with God Himself and with all of your family relationships in tact.

Why baptism is essential.

There are several reasons why Baptism is essential, but I would like to touch on just one.  You see, to the evangelical, once you pray the prayer of faith you have been saved and you ever more in a state of grace.  But this contradicts what the scriptures say.  I would like to cite just one scripture to prove it:

Galations 5:4

4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the alaw; ye are fallen from bgrace.

Wait! Did Paul just use the words “fallen from grace???”  Yes he did.  In context he is telling the Galations that if they go back to their faith in Moses’ Law, they are no longer under the grace of Jesus Christ.  In other words, they have lost their faith so they are fallen.

So going back to James, we can also lose our faith, or our faith can become dormant or dead if it does not include action or works.  Simply put if our works do not provide evidence of our faith, then we do not have true faith. If we do not have true faith, then we do not have access to the Grace of Jesus Christ. If we do not have access to the grace of Jesus, then we do not have access to Heaven.

I would submit to you that every time we undertake to sin (willfully) our faith has become dead and we need to repent in order to be restored to grace.

The evangelical might scoff at that and say something like “so do we just jump in and out of Christ grace constantly then?”  In fact I’ll take you back to my story now.  When I tried to explain this to my presbyterian friend he gave me a scenario.  He said in effect “what if you were in a car accident and the last thought you had was a swear word?  Would you then be damned in Hell even though you had tried to live a Christ like life?”

I believe the answer to this question is no.  And here is the reason why.

After we show true faith, and after we repent of our sins, we enter into the covenant of Baptism.  This covenant is very similar to the covenant we make at marriage.  Just like you don’t divorce your spouse for the way they eat grape fruit God is not going to disown us for the small mistakes we make as long as we are consistently showing forth works meet for repentance.

If we are striving to  overcome our weaknesses we will be found safely within the bounds of Christ’s grace.  Because of the baptismal covenant we have made with Jesus, we are His.  And just like in a marriage, only heavy, repeated infractions with no willingness to repent will fully break that covenant.

Jesus is in the business of saving souls.  He knows our hearts.  He is merciful to those who love and serve Him.  As the Apostle  Elder Jeffery R. Holland  said:

When we join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (Through Baptism) we board the Good Ship Zion and sail with her wherever she goes until she comes into that millennial port. We stay in the boat, through squalls and stills, through storms and sunburn, because that is the only way to the promised land. This Church is the Lord’s vehicle for crucial doctrines, ordinances, covenants, and keys that are essential to exaltation, and one cannot be fully faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ without striving to be faithful in the Church, which is its earthly institutional manifestation. To new convert and longtime member alike, we declare in the spirit of Nephi’s powerful valedictory exhortation: “Ye have entered in by the gate; … [but] now, … after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; … press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, … and endure to the end, behold, thus … ye shall have eternal life.” 5

Jesus said, “Without me ye can do nothing.” 6 I testify that that is God’s truth. Christ is everything to us and we are to “abide” in Him permanently, unyieldingly, steadfastly, forever. For the fruit of the gospel to blossom and bless our lives, we must be firmly attached to Him, the Savior of us all, and to this His Church, which bears His holy name. He is the vine that is our true source of strength and the only source of eternal life. In Him we not only will endure but also will prevail and triumph in this holy cause that will never fail us. May we never fail it nor fail Him I pray in the sacred and holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.

”

Of this I add my witness that faith, repentance, baptism, The Holy Ghost, and endurance to the end is how we can access to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.  And when we are found within His grace, we have true salvation.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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The Fruits of the Spirit

July 18th, 2010 by admin

In Galatians chapter 5 we read:

Gal 5:22,23

22 But the afruit of the bSpirit is clove, djoy, epeace, flongsuffering, ggentleness, goodness, hfaith,

23 aMeekness, btemperance: against such there is no law.

So when we have have the Gift of the Holy Ghost working our lives we are able to experience the above mentioned qualities as evidence of it.  These qualities become more and more a part of our own character as we listen to and obey the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

Indeed, the Holy Ghost makes us Holy.  He leads us out of our lustful and fleshy habits and fits us for the Kingdom of the Lord.  As we continually repent of our shortcomings and have faith in Jesus’ grace, we can change and become who God would like us to become.

The Holy Ghost makes this easier.  In fact it is impossible to do without the influence of the Holy Ghost.  We can only gain this powerful gift by having faith in Jesus Christ, repenting or our sins, being baptized (by the proper authority), and receiving this Gift by the laying on of hands of those who have the Authority to give the Gift of the Holy Ghost.   Just like those who received it in the New Testament.

I testify that you can have this incredible Gift in your life.  The Lord wants you to have love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith and all of the other wonderful blessings of this Gift in every aspect of your life.

I invite you to talk to missionaries so that you can get access to those who have the authority to give this Gift.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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Priesthood for Mormon Men of Every Race

July 11th, 2010 by admin

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The Promised Land

July 4th, 2010 by admin

Since it’s the 4th of July, I thought I would quote a few verses from the Book of Mormon about America, and I will leave the interpretation up to you:

2 Nephi 1:5

5 But, said he, notwithstanding our afflictions, we have obtained a aland of promise, a land which is bchoice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath ccovenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath dcovenanted this land unto me, and to my children forever, and also all those who should be eled out of other countries by the hand of the Lord.

2 Nephi 1: 9-10

9 Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a apromise, that binasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall cprosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves. And if it so be that they shall dkeep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their einheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever.

10 But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in aunbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise—behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true bMessiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is cjust shall rest upon them.

1 Nephi 13: 12-42

12 And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and awrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.

13 And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters.

14 And it came to pass that I beheld many amultitudes of the Gentiles upon the bland of promise; and I beheld the wrath of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren; and they were cscattered before the Gentiles and were smitten.

15 And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles, and they did prosper and aobtain the bland for their inheritance; and I beheld that they were white, and exceedingly fair and cbeautiful, like unto my people before they were dslain.

16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was awith them.

17 And I beheld that their mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them.

18 And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together aagainst them to battle.

19 And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were adelivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.

20 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that they did prosper in the land; and I beheld a abook, and it was carried forth among them.

21 And the angel said unto me: Knowest thou the meaning of the book?

22 And I said unto him: I know not.

23 And he said: Behold it proceedeth out of the mouth of a Jew. And I, Nephi, beheld it; and he said unto me: The abook that thou beholdest is a brecord of the cJews, which contains the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; and it also containeth many of the prophecies of the holy prophets; and it is a record like unto the engravings which are upon the dplates of brass, save there are not so many; nevertheless, they contain the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; wherefore, they are of great worth unto the Gentiles.

24 And the angel of the Lord said unto me: Thou hast beheld that the abook proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of God.

25 Wherefore, these things go forth from the aJews in purity unto the bGentiles, according to the truth which is in God.

26 And after they go forth by the ahand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews bunto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that cgreat and abominable dchurch, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have etaken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are fplain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.

27 And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.

28 Wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and aprecious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God.

29 And after these plain and precious things were ataken away it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles; and after it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles, yea, even across the many waters which thou hast seen with the Gentiles which have gone forth out of captivity, thou seest—because of the many plain and precious things which have been taken out of the book, which were plain unto the understanding of the children of men, according to the plainness which is in the Lamb of God—because of these things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, an exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them.

30 Nevertheless, thou beholdest that the Gentiles who have gone forth out of captivity, and have been lifted up by the power of God above all other nations, upon the face of the land which is choice above all other lands, which is the land that the Lord God hath covenanted with thy father that his seed should have for the aland of their inheritance; wherefore, thou seest that the Lord God will not suffer that the Gentiles will utterly destroy the bmixture of thy cseed, which are among thy brethren.

31 Neither will he suffer that the Gentiles shall adestroy the seed of thy brethren.

32 Neither will the Lord God suffer that the Gentiles shall forever remain in that awful state of blindness, which thou beholdest they are in, because of the plain and most precious parts of the gospel of the Lamb which have been kept back by that aabominable church, whose formation thou hast seen.

33 Wherefore saith the Lamb of God: I will be amerciful unto the Gentiles, unto the visiting of the remnant of the house of Israel in great judgment.

34 And it came to pass that the angel of the Lord spake unto me, saying: Behold, saith the Lamb of God, after I have avisited the bremnant of the house of Israel—and this remnant of whom I speak is the seed of thy father—wherefore, after I have visited them in judgment, and smitten them by the hand of the Gentiles, and after the Gentiles do cstumble exceedingly, because of the most plain and precious parts of the dgospel of the Lamb which have been kept back by that abominable church, which is the mother of harlots, saith the Lamb—I will be merciful unto the eGentiles in that day, insomuch that I will fbring forth unto them, in mine own power, much of my ggospel, which shall be plain and precious, saith the Lamb.

35 For, behold, saith the Lamb: I will manifest myself unto thy seed, that they shall write many things which I shall minister unto them, which shall be plain and precious; and after thy seed shall be destroyed, and dwindle in unbelief, and also the seed of thy brethren, behold, athese things shall be hid up, to come forth unto the Gentiles, by the gift and power of the Lamb.

36 And in them shall be written my agospel, saith the Lamb, and my brock and my salvation.

37 And ablessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my bZion at that day, for they shall have the cgift and the dpower of the Holy Ghost; and if they eendure unto the end they shall be flifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting gkingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall hpublish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be.

38 And it came to pass that I beheld the remnant of the seed of my brethren, and also the abook of the Lamb of God, which had proceeded forth from the mouth of the Jew, that it came forth from the Gentiles bunto the remnant of the seed of my brethren.

39 And after it had come forth unto them I beheld aother bbooks, which came forth by the power of the Lamb, from the Gentiles unto them, unto the cconvincing of the Gentiles and the remnant of the seed of my brethren, and also the Jews who were scattered upon all the face of the earth, that the records of the prophets and of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are dtrue.

40 And the angel spake unto me, saying: These alast records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall bestablish the truth of the cfirst, which are of the dtwelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the eSavior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved.

41 And they must come according to the words which shall be established by the mouth of the Lamb; and the words of the Lamb shall be made known in the records of thy seed, as well as in the arecords of the twelve apostles of the Lamb; wherefore they both shall be established in bone; for there is cone God and one dShepherd over all the earth.

42 And the time cometh that he shall manifest himself unto all nations, both unto the aJews and also unto the Gentiles; and after he has manifested himself unto the Jews and also unto the Gentiles, then he shall manifest himself unto the Gentiles and also unto the Jews, and the blast shall be first, and the cfirst shall be last.

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King David: “Create in Me a Clean Heart”

June 27th, 2010 by admin

In Psalm 51 we find King David repenting.  There are many insights to be gained in this Psalm about true repentance.

Here are a few insights  from this Psalm:

1. “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.”
God is interested in what is going on in our hearts and minds, not just what we are doing on the outside.

2. “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
Repentance is not just about seeking forgiveness, but also about changing our hearts and becoming more like God.

3. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
The sacrifice that is required for forgivness is true sorry (Godly sorrow) for our sins and an inner desire to truly change.

When we truly repent, we will find peace in the loving mercy and grace of Jesus Christ.  The atonement is wonderful because it give us access to forgiveness.  But perhaps even more grate because if we continually repent of our folly and sin, God will change us to eventually become like Him.  That means that we don’t just become reconcilled with God, we also become like Him and truly one with Him.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

To find out more about repentance and how you can become truly clean, please click here

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