Following the Savior at a Distance Or Up Close

Posted on by Jared

As members of the church we can follow the Savior at a distance, or up close, the choice is ours.

The scriptures provide examples of those who are close to the Lord, as well as those who follow Him, but at a distance. Those who follow at a distance can draw nearer to the Lord, maintain their distance, or fall away altogether. And of course, those who are close to the Lord can move even nearer to the Lord or sadly, move away, and follow at a distance, or even fall away.

The Book of Mormon provides examples of various kinds of followers.

Following—at a Distance

Amulek
Amulek understood enough about the Lord to recognize His hand in the preservation of the Nephites. He also testified that he had been “called many times” but would not hear. He had other things to do, and chose to resist the Spirit’s invitation to draw closer to the Lord. This is a form of rebellion against God, also known as a hardened heart (Alma 10:5-6).

Laman and Lemuel
Laman and Lemuel followed the Lord at a distance much of the time, however, they did have occasions when they appeared to be moving closer to the Lord. They were given many powerful witnesses that the Lord was with their father Lehi and their brother Nephi. They certainly didn’t lack testimonies. They were hot and cold followers.

The Rest of the Story
In the end, Amulek drew close to the Savior and he became a great missionary. Alma and Amulek’s faithful endurance in dealing with the inhabitants of Ammonihah is an incredible example of courage and dedication.

Laman and Lemuel offer a counter example to Alma and Amulek. They were given every opportunity to draw near to the Lord, but would not remain steadfast. In the end, they rejected the Lord and left a legacy of lies to the generations that followed them.

Following—Up Close

The Brother of Jared
The brother of Jared was described as a man “highly favored of the Lord”. Those who traveled with him understood this, and learned to rely on him to obtain blessings from the Lord that benefited them all (Ether 1:34-35). The brother of Jared drew closer to the Lord and because of his great faith and knowledge “could not be kept from within the veil”, he saw the pre-mortal Jesus (Ether 3:20). Was this an isolated experience? No, we learn, “There were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad” (Ether 12:19). Glad?—that seems like an understatement.

Church Members About 83 BC
Alma gave up the judgment seat with the hope of reclaiming those who were falling away from the church. In the ninth year of the reign of the judges the members of the church were caught up in the ways of the world. The church was failing in its progress. The members began to be scornful one to another, and there were great contentions among the people of the church.

Alma spoke to them in the energy of his soul and called them to repentance, asking them if they had experienced a change of heart, and felt to sing the song of redeeming love. Then he asked them “can ye feel so now”?

Apparently these church members were once close to God but had moved away from Him when they prospered, and enjoyed opportunities for learning (Alma 4:8, 3 Nephi 6:12).

Summary

The purpose of this post is to show from the scriptures the various ways church members can choose to follow Christ. I hope each reader will liken this post to themselves, and will search their heart to determine what kind of follower they currently are, and what kind they would like to be in the days, months, and years ahead. It’s a choice we make each day when we rise from our sleep—are we going to use this day to draw nearer to the Lord, or not.

If you will here stop, and ask yourself, why you’re not as close to the Lord as you’d like to be, as evidenced in part by the ineffectiveness of your prayers for (fill in the blank), your own heart will tell you, that it is neither through ignorance nor inability, but purely because you never thoroughly intended it. (A cut and splice of a thought from C.S. Lewis’s, The Problem of Pain, P. 66.)

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How to Procrastinate the Day of Our Repentance

Posted on by Jared

Most of those reading this post are enjoying prosperous times. We have been nurtured by prosperity unlike any other recent generation. Nearly all of us have have been free from hunger. Few, if any, have been without shelter. Educational opportunities have been plentiful. Some in the bloggernacle have advanced degrees. We live in good times.

So, what do the good times have to do with procrastinating the day of our repentance?

I’ll answer this question, by asking another question. Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness? If you have to think about this question for very long you probably hunger and thirst after after other things.

Prosperity, especially prolonged prosperity, is the enemy of righteousness (see Helaman 12: 1-6). Even the faithful, the very elect, suffer spiritually in times like we are living in. Mormon points this out in the last chapter in the Book of Mormon. He warns us not to deny the gifts of God (Moroni 10:7-8) and says “that if the day cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall be because of unbelief” (Moroni 10:24).

It’s unfortunate for followers of Christ to fall into the trap of hungering and thirsting for the things of the world more than we do for the things of God. This dual hungering and thirsting puts us in a bad position. We know about God, but we don’t know God. It can be called distracted faithfulness. This is what happened to 5 of the 10 virgins. They procrastinated the day of their repentance. They were good people, thus the term “virgin”, but they were lacking oil. Oil in the parable represents the Holy Ghost. Those virgins who lacked oil pleaded, “Lord, Lord open to us“, but were turned away by the Lord, hearing him say “Ye know me not” (JST Matthew 25:11).

Church members who are faithful in attending church, fulling their assignments, striving to keep the commandments, but who fall short in acquiring the gift of the Holy Ghost are represented in the parable of the Ten Virgins,  by the 5 unwise virgins.

The 5 unwise virgins didn’t know Christ because they procrastinated the day of their repentance. The 5 wise virgins had the companionship of the Holy Ghost because they repented and were converted. We come to know Christ when he extends the blessings of the atonement to us individually when we wrestle in mighty prayer for a remission of our sins.

Posted in Agency, Atonement, Repentance | Leave a comment

Let Us Reason Together: Is the Mormon Church Like a Pyramid Scheme?

Posted on by Jared

A former Mormon, John D. (I’m not going to give his last name, but he is now a self-employed, highly paid anti-Mormon) recently wrote the following analogy about the Mormon Church.

“Imagine that you and all of your extended family became heavily invested in a pyramid scheme, entrusting your entire life savings therein.  Then imagine one day stumbling upon a preponderance of factual evidence proving that the entire scheme was fraudulent.”

To support his oddball analogy he went on to write three reasons, after careful thought and consideration, why the Mormon church is a fraud.

  1. The LDS church was not open and honest with its history and punished people for decades for speaking openly about it;
  2. Members have given time and money to the church without having a full understanding of the church’s founding narrative — and many of them, had they been given the full and accurate narrative, might have made very different choices with their lives and money; and
  3. Precious family relationships and friendship are being destroyed over these religious differences.

To begin, I agree that the three reasons John D. provides have kernels of truth, but when closely inspected, they don’t even come close to supporting his outlandish, oddball analogy that the church is like a pyramid scheme.

#1-John D. says the LDS church was not open and honest with its history. Let’s start with President Monson. When did he know all the details of church history that John D. knows in this day and age? I would guess, because only President Monson knows for sure, but I would guess when he became an apostle in 1963, he didn’t know anywhere near what John D. knows today. Why? Because President Monson and most, if not all the apostles and prophets of his day didn’t have access, for a variety of reasons, to what we have available today.

I spent a lot of time in the Harold B. Lee library’s Special Collections in the early 1970’s studying LDS doctrine and history. In addition, I talked extensively with BYU religion teachers. Hyrum Andrus and I became good friends. We talked about everything. The big issues in that day were Adam/God doctrine and Joseph Smith using a hat and seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon. The Tanners and other critics of the church were focusing their efforts to discredit the church on those issues.

I don’t think the majority of church leaders in that day knew much about church history and doctrine outside of what the average member was aware of. They relied then, as today, on BYU scholars for help with the controversial issues. So, John D.’s argument that church leaders were conspiring to withhold information from church members to dupe them into being part of a scheme of any kind just doesn’t fit reality. Church leaders focused their time and means on the doctrines of salvation as found in the standard works. That brings us to the next point.

#1 Continued-Did church leaders punish those who spoke openly about controversial issues? To a certain extent, yes, they did. I remember some church members who wouldn’t follow church leaders counsel not to teach about Adam/God, whether Jesus was married or not, and other issues of the day, were disciplined. The primary intent wasn’t to conceal information, but to further the mission of the church, that is, missionary work, redeeming the dead, and perfecting the saints. Those like me, who wanted to know the history and doctrine, and were faithful members, were able to have access to sensitive material. Rodney Turner’s thesis on Adam/God was available in Special Collections, as was Wilford Woodruff’s journal, and all other kinds of material were available. But if you were determined to sensationalize doctrine or history contrary to the counsel of church leaders, aid the fundamentalist by preaching about controversial issues or advocating polygamy, you were subject to church discipline.

#2-Apparently, John D. thinks the church is misleading those investigating the church, as well as new members, and seasoned members, if they don’t trot out all the troubles, perplexities, and controversial issues the church has experienced in its history. Would John D. fault Jesus Christ for not disclosing to the apostles, on the first day he called them, that if they followed him they would eventually die a horrible martyr’s death? How about applying for a job at a company. Would John D. expect the company to provide a binder filled with information and details about law suits, financial challenges, outstanding loans, employee discipline issues, health information about key personal, and other disclosures that most would agree shouldn’t be provided to a job candidate. 

#3-Whether it is religion, race, or politics relationships with friends and family can to be subject to difficulty when opinions and feelings differ.  The best remedy for such challenges is to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. John D., can you offer a superior way to deal with precious family and friend relationships that suffer because of religious differences than what is taught by the church?

John D. and some others like him feel the Mormon church has betrayed them. I know and understand the issues and concerns they have. However, it is important that John D. and others who are transitioning out of the church realize that most people who have equal knowledge about church history and doctrine as they do, stay Mormon. I wonder if John D. and others like him feel that they have conclusive proof Mormonism is a complete and utter fraud. No such smoking gun evidence exist. If it did, general authorities, church leaders, teachers, and those in the know would be leaving in mass.

I’ve read the Book of Mormon many times. And each time I have been moved intellectually by Lehi’s teachings about “opposition in all things”. His discussion of this topic has provided me with many worthwhile insights. It is an intellectually stimulating topic. It has helped me understand the purpose and value in some of life’s experiences that are difficult to bear, let alone find purpose and value in.

Lately, I have been thinking about another dimension of this topic that may be worthwhile to consider for those experiencing a faith crisis. The idea of opposition is clear in its meaning, but I’ve wondered lately about the “in all things” part. He didn’t say opposition in “some” or a “few” things, but he said, “in all things”. If I apply “all” to the challenges that are currently visiting Mormondom I come away considering some things I haven’t before thought.

Did the Lord allow or could He even have arranged for circumstances to come about so that His purposes could be accomplished by the opposition church members are experiencing in our day? Is there evidence in the scriptures that God would permit or do such things?

I think there is. Go here for more on this topic.

Posted in Church History, Doubt, Trials, Unbelief | 2 Comments

Let Us Reason Together: Revelation or Emotion?

Posted on by Jared

A former Mormon, John D. (I’m not going to give his last name) recently wrote the following critique about his experience with “revelation”. 

“Did I have incredibly powerful and inspiring emotional experiences in a LDS context when I was a child, teenager, and young adult? Absolutely.  Was I explicitly instructed from a very early age — by the church — on precisely how to interpret those emotional experiences?  I believe I was…I remember very explicitly being taught in early morning seminary that if I were to feel any of these emotions in a church context, I was to interpret them as the Holy Ghost bearing witness that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the only true church on the planet. I was taught to teach my “investigators” as a missionary the same thing.  If we could ever get our investigators to feel an emotion, we would immediately say, “See!  Those are the fruits of the Holy Ghost testifying that this is the true church, and that you should be baptized!”

…And for the record, I still cannot find a believer to explain to me the meaningful difference between “emotion” and the “Holy Ghost.”  I certainly could never tell the two apart when I was a believer. This was made clear to me once when I felt as inspired by the Muppet Movie as I was by any LDS General Conference talk.  It was very confusing for me as a teen, believe it or not.”

Even though John D. is no longer Mormon, I think John brings up some good points in his critique for active, believing members to consider.

I’ve been an active member for 50 years. During this time I have pondered the points John makes many times. I’ll give an answer to John’s question based on my understanding, and more importantly, my experience.

I’ve learned that the things of the Spirit and our emotions are closely related. As John D. points out, the feelings and emotions experienced in church meetings can seem to be the same as the feelings and emotions experienced at some movies (However, at least for me, the Muppet Movie isn’t one of them).

I know by experience that it is difficult to distinguish our own feelings and emotions from those that come from the workings of the Spirit. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn to distinguish the difference, given time and experience.

I’ve had a number of occasions where I’ve followed my feelings and emotions (I will refer to them as promptings or whisperings of the Spirit hereafter) and knew they were from the Holy Ghost in answer to prayer. For example, one of my sons asked if I would approve of him purchasing a motorcycle. This surprised me. He knew how adamant I am against motorcycles. I told our children from their youth up not to ask about a motorcycle because the answer would be no. He pressed me to consider his request, saying he would accept my decision, but told me how important it was to him. He even wrote a letter explaining his strong feelings and reasons. I told him not to get his hopes up, but I was willing to go to the temple seeking an answer from the Lord. When I walked into the temple, I measured my feelings, and I was absolutely against granting my permission. When I walked out of the temple I had a changed my mind. My feelings were to give my permission. Something changed my heart during the temple session. I was amazed! 

I learned an important lesson from this experience and others similar to it. A prompting of the Spirit is easier to identify when the prompting is the opposite of what you had planned.

There are many other kinds of manifestations of the Spirit beside the kind John D. criticized. In 50 years of church activity, I have been given a variety of experiences in answer to prayer. The foundation of my testimony wasn’t built, as John D.’s appears to have been, exclusively by promptings, or as John says, emotional experiences. The Lord has used the gifts of dreams, visions, ministering of unseen but not unheard angels, and what I call serendipitous answer to prayer, in addition to whisperings of the Spirit.

Serendipitous answer to prayer can be thought of as a “packet of help” at just the right time, a gift from Heavenly Father. Someone else is generally involved. The outcome can be life changing or just helpful in some meaningful way. 

Lastly, I believe there are many active Mormons who have never completely embraced the “doctrine of Christ.  They are active in church but not so active in the gospel. Those who are inactive in the gospel will eventually lose faith, unless they have a conversion experience.

I believe we are living in an era of sifting. I think we will see more friends and loved ones leave the church. I hope they are not all like John D.. He now makes a living fighting against the church. With that said, John seems like a great individual, I hope one day he will find his way back.

Posted in Holy Ghost, Member Testimony, Testimony | 10 Comments

Five Question Book of Mormon Quiz

Posted on by Jared

1. True or False
Nephi, being led by the Spirit, knew exactly what to do to obtain the Brass plates when he and his brothers tried for the third time? 

______________________________________________________________

2. Fill in the Blank
“And it came to pass that I was _______by the Spirit that I should kill Laban.”

______________________________________________________________

3. Multiple Choice
What does it mean to come out in “open rebellion against God”?
A. To be excommunicated
B. To be convicted of a crime and sentenced to prison.
C. To dwindle in unbelief and stop attending church.
D. To withdraw yourself from the Spirit of the Lord.

______________________________________________________________

4. Recall
The Book of Mormon uses three methods to keep track of the passage of time.

Can you recall all three methods?

______________________________________________________________

5. True or False
The Book of Mormon supports the Biblical account of the flood.

 

Posted in Gospel Quiz | Leave a comment

Lord, Increase our Faith

Posted on by Jared

Those who follow Christ with real intent understand the importance of faith. The scripture teach “without faith no man pleaseth God” (D&C 63:11). Why? “For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them” (Ether 12:12). In other words, God cannot intervene in our lives without faith being present.

The apostles said to the Savior, “Lord, increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). The Savior’s answer came in two parts. First he said: “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you” (Luke 17:6). This is a straightforward answer. He taught that even with the smallest amount of faith a man can do mighty works. This parable also teaches that faith being compared to a seed can grow and increase if properly nourished (Matthew 13:32).

In the second part, the Savior used another parable to explain how faith is increased. It isn’t as straightforward, and easy to understand as the parable of the mustard seed. In this parable there is interaction between a servant and his master.

7 But who of you, having a servant plowing, or feeding cattle, will say unto him when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?

8 Will he not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward, by and by, you shall eat and drink?

9 Doth he thank that servant because he doeth the things which were commanded him? I say unto you, Nay.

10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants, We have done that which was no more than our duty to do. I.V. Luke 17:7-10

At first reading, this parable seems harsh.

Elder John K. Carmack gives an explanation of this parable:

“In the parable, the master would neither thank his servant nor release him from the balance of his duties. Though the insistence on preparing the meal after a long day of work sounds harsh and ungrateful on its face, in reality that servant is greatly indebted to his master and will always be. Similarly, if we want increased faith, such as Enoch gained, we must give ourselves over completely to our Lord, utterly trusting Him and striving to act as He would act in all circumstances. No matter how difficult and impossible the circumstances we face, we must retain the attitude that we are still in the Lord’s debt. Just keeping the commandments, while laudable, may be enough to maintain our faith but not enough to increase it. We must continue sacrificing and serving with no thought of reward. We do it out of love and gratitude for the Lord, to whom we owe everything.

Too often we allow ourselves to think or even say words like these: “I don’t deserve this setback. You’d think after all I’ve done, it would not have to be like this. Why must I prove myself over and over again? This is my time to rest from all this responsibility. I’ve done enough.”

Perhaps the Savior was teaching us that if we are serious about desiring greater faith, nothing short of maintaining a constant eternal perspective will do. If we place any condition on our willingness to serve the Lord with all our hearts, we diminish our faith. If we have complete trust in Him, our faith will increase, and that means the strength of our belief and our power to act will increase. We will not think we have done our duty and that is enough. We will continue with pure intent and total commitment the rest of our lives. Apparently we are to learn from the parable that maintaining such an attitude is the way to increase our faith…To summarize, we do not increase our faith by following a formula, although the ingredients of fasting, prayer, and righteous living are part of that process. Increasing our faith requires trusting the Lord with our whole souls. We cannot say, “We have done enough and deserve to rest.” Nor does the increase come through definitions, logic, or philosophy. Rather, we must

♦ Do what is right and serve the Lord because we know, trust, and love Him with all of our souls

♦ Harbor no thought that we deserve a reward or thanks for what we do, although rewards will surely come.

♦ Humbly ask, seek, and knock.

♦ Never demand anything of our Lord, because we are always in His debt

♦ Leave to Him the final decision in all things, having the attitude ‘Not my will, but thine be done.’

♦ Be prepared to sacrifice, even unto death, for our entire mortal lives.

As members of the Lord’s Church, we can increase our faith, if we desire, by going beyond the minimum requirements of the gospel and developing complete trust in the Lord. All of this is part of the golden ore found in Jesus’ interesting and subtle parable given in response to the early Apostles’ request, ‘Increase our faith.’ ” Ensign, March 2002

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What is the Great Destroyer of Mormon Faith?

Posted on by Jared

Hardly a week goes by without hearing of another church member losing their faith. There is even a lawyer who, for no legal fee, will help members remove their names from church records. He may even think of himself as a good Samaritan.

“The internet era is taking a toll on the faith of many church members”. This is a frequent explanation for what’s happening. Meanwhile, the Tribune and Mormon Stories increase revenue with each account of lost faith they publish.

Question: is the internet really the primary cause for loss of faith? Or is there something else at the heart of the internet generation’s dissent? I think there is.

Here’s how I see it. The Lord set up a way for his people to acquire a testimony. This is taught in Moroni 10:4-5. Those who have paid the price to gain a testimony in the Lord’s way are not the one’s dissenting from the church. They have built their faith on the rock of their redeemer (Helaman 5:12).

Students of the scriptures know the Lord permits trials of faith to come to his people. I’ve experienced these trials and know by my own experience what it is like. I am also well versed in the trials related to the internet. Starting in 2007, I began to study the content of sites that cover the troubling issues of Mormon history and doctrine. I’ve read scores of exit testimonies of church members and know about the issues that caused the excommunication of prominent intellectual dissidents. I’ve read their blogs and publications.

Am I troubled or concerned by the things I’ve learned? Yes, a rational person couldn’t help but be troubled. I am troubled and concerned, but the testimony the Lord gave me has not diminished.

The God revealed in the Book of Mormon and other scripture declares he will have a tried people. Students of the Book of Mormon understand God will both chasten and try the patience and faith of his people (Mosiah 23:21).  The trials the Lord permits his people to experience are real. Anything short of a God given testimony won’t do. Those who don’t have a God given testimony are not going to stand strong if they rely exclusively on the testimonies of their parents, loved ones, or church leaders.

Back to the question: is the internet really the primary cause for loss of faith? No, not based on what I know from scripture. The content on the internet is a secondary problem, the primary problem is taught in the Book of Mormon. One example:

The Lord’s people “forget the Lord their God…because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity“. Prosperity is the greatest destroyer of faith. It is human nature to be “slothful because of the easiness of the way“.

Harold B. Lee said:

“Today are we suffering the greatest of all the tests and temptations that have ever been given? The test of gold and affluence and ease, the like of which no people of any generation have ever experienced.” (The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, edited by Clyde J. Williams, p.329)

Prosperity can rob people of their spiritual initiative, and strength, while poverty and hardship can open the doors to heavens blessings. The Nephite cycle of being prospered when they kept the commandments, and being cut off from the Lord’s presence because of iniquity is repeated over and over in the pages of the Book of Mormon. The lesson taught is that prosperity can draw the Lord’s people into the arms of pride and harden their hearts towards God, while hardship can humble his followers and open their hearts to God.

Summary

We live in prosperous times. The availability of goods and services in America and many other countries is a measure of God’s blessings. In recent years, it has also become evident that America and other prosperous countries are moving away from God. We will be cut off from his presence as we do, resulting in the loss of blessings.

I believe the Lord intends to try his people’s faith to prepare them for the second coming of Christ. All the troubling aspects of church history and doctrine found on the internet are ways faith is being tried. I believe he is using these things for his purposes.  

In our day of prosperity, as a church are we witnessing the early stages of a decrease in faith and righteousness because of the wickedness of the rising generation (3 Nephi 1:30)? Time will tell.

In our day of prosperity, as a nation, are we witnessing the early stages of God’s judgments coming on us as we forget him?

I hope we will return to our spiritual senses as a church and nation and cease to harden our hearts towards God. Otherwise, we will bring God’s judgments on ourselves.

Additional post related to this topic:

Thinking More Deeply About “Opposition in All things” 

Are We Living in the Day Prophesied by Heber C. Kimball?

Posted in Member Testimony | 10 Comments

Gifts of the Spirit Are Awesome

Posted on by Jared

  From beginning to end, the Book of Mormon testifies of the gifts of the Spirit. It would be interesting to know the number of times the concept of gifts of the Spirit is portrayed in the Book of Mormon. A computer search of the word “spirit” shows it appears 234 times in the Book of Mormon, and 880 times in the Standard Works. Without doubt Heavenly Father wants church members to be informed about things of the Spirit.

  Whenever a manifestation of the Spirit occurs it can be considered a gift from God. We’re taught that the gifts of the Spirit come through the Holy Ghost to men and women as they seek to follow Christ.

  The following verses explain how the four sons of Mosiah were able to acquire the gifts of the Spirit:

 “They had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God. But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God.” Alma 17:2-3

What did they do to acquire the gifts of the Spirit?

  1. Searched the scriptures diligently
  2. Much prayer and fasting

What gifts of the Spirit did they acquire?

  1. Spirit of prophecy
  2. Spirit of revelation
  3. Taught with the power and authority of God

 The four sons of Mosiah taught the gospel to the Lamanites. They had great success. Many thousands of the Lamanites joined the church and became stalwart examples to the Nephites.

 It is important to understand, that even with the marvelous gifts of the Spirit they acquired, things didn’t always go smoothly. Consider this exchange between Aaron and an Amalekite:

 “Aaron entered into one of their synagogues to preach unto the people, and as he was speaking unto them, behold there arose an Amalekite and began to contend with him, saying: What is that thou hast testified? Hast thou seen an angel?  Why do not angels appear unto us?  Behold are not this people as good as thy people?

 Thou also sayest, except we repent we shall perish.  How knowest thou the thought and intent of our hearts?  How knowest thou that we have cause to repent?  How knowest thou that we are not a righteous people?  Behold, we have built sanctuaries, and we do assemble ourselves together to worship God.  We do believe that God will save all men.” Alma 21:5-6

 Aaron even related his conversion experience, explaining that an angel appeared to him and his brothers. The sons of Mosiah and Alma didn’t hesitate to bear testimony of their conversion experience. It didn’t always go over well, but they testified nonetheless (Mosiah 27:32-35).

Aaron’s experience teaches that obtaining the gifts of the Spirit doesn’t guarantee success. The Amalekite was hard hearted and rejected the Spirit of the Lord that accompanied Aaron’s teachings.

There is another aspect of the gifts of the Spirit to consider.

Question: In the Indian Ridge Ward meetings how often do you observe or experience gifts of the Spirit?  A. Often B. Rarely C. Not Sure

Question: Do you consistently search the scriptures diligently, and offer much prayer and fasting? A. Yes B. No C. Not Concerned

Our bodies need food to sustain health and well being. Likewise, our spirits need nourishment as well, otherwise we will suffer spiritual anemia.

The spirit is nurtured by eternal truths we learn at church and by searching the scriptures and much prayer and fasting, just like the four sons of Mosiah.

“For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift?”  D&C 88:33

Moroni could have closed the last chapter of the Book of Mormon focusing on any number of important gospel topics. He determined the most important topic he could pass on to the followers of Christ in our day was the gifts of the Spirit.

He cautions those in our day: “deny not the gifts of God”.

“If the day cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall be because of unbelief…I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift.” Moroni 10:24, 30

We learn from the Nephite experience that church members seek God’s blessings in times of trouble and difficulty. But when things are going well, in prosperous times, they begin to dwindle in unbelief because of the easiness of the way.

Somewhere along the line, each church member needs to become grounded and rooted in the gospel. Gifts of the Spirit can bless our lives in manifold ways that will ground and root our testimonies, and we never will fall away.

The good news about acquiring the gifts of the Spirit is that we don’t have to be perfect or hold high office in the church.

Robert Millet, former Dean of BYU Religion Department wrote:

“Such gifts are of almost infinite worth. They bless our lives in myriad ways. Certain gifts come to us more naturally than others, perhaps because these gifts were developed in our first estate (McConkie, New Witness, 359). Nevertheless, they must be received and developed in this life as well, in order for them to prove a blessing to the Saints. Though we must strive to be worthy of such gifts, they come to us almost in spite of ourselves. Because the Lord desires to bless the people of the covenant, he works his mysterious wonders through fallible, mortal creatures.” The Miracle of Spiritual Rebirth by Robert L. Millet, p. 58

Church members attend fast and testimony meeting each month. We could just as well call them fast and gifts of the Spirit meetings. Why? Because we testify of our experiences with the gifts of the Spirit. Our testimonies, answers to prayer, healings, support in our trials and afflictions, come to us through the Holy Ghost and are gifts of the Spirit.

When the saints gather together to bear testimony, Brigham Young offered his thoughts on what he liked best:

“It is always peculiarly interesting to me to hear the Saints tell their experience. It is to me one of the best of sermons to hear men and women relate to each other how the Lord has wrought upon their understanding, and brought them into the path of truth, life, and salvation. I would rather hear men tell their own experience, and testify that Joseph was a Prophet of the Lord, and that the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and other revelations of God, are true; that they know it by the gift and power of God; that they have conversed with angels, have had the power of the Holy Ghost upon them giving them visions and revelations, than hear any other kind of preaching that ever saluted my ears.” Brigham Young, JD 1:90-91

Our lives can be rich in things of the Spirit if we will follow the example set by the sons of Mosiah. God bless us in our efforts to draw near to our Father in Heaven.

Posted in God the Father, Holy Ghost, Prayer | Leave a comment

Satan Desireth to Have Thee

Posted on by Jared

Note:  All of the scriptural references below are active links.

Who is satan?

He is a son of God, and one of his names is Lucifer. D&C 76:26

Where does he come from?

He lived in the pre-mortal world before being cast down to earth.   D&C 29:36-37, Revelations 12:4

Why was he cast down?

He rebelled against the Father and the Son and sought to destroy the agency of man. D&C 76:25, Moses 4:3

Did he rebel alone, or were there others who followed Him?

A third part of the host of heaven followed him. D&C 29:36

What is he doing now that he is cast down to this earth?

He desires to have you and destroy your opportunity to become like Heavenly Father.  Moses 5:23, D&C 10:27

Why does Heavenly Father allow satan to be on earth, among us, when we didn’t rebel?

In order for mankind to have agency we need to be placed in an environment where opposition exist-good and evil. Satan’s temptations are necessary for us to be tried and proven. D&C 29:39, Abraham 3:25

Satan is a spirit and we have bodies, how can he and those who follow him influence (tempt) us?

1.  Satan and those who follow him can dwell in the bodies of some mortals. Matt 8:31-32

2.  He can influence our hearts and minds. The scripture refer to this as blinding our minds and eyes. 1 Nephi 12:17, 3 Nephi 2:1

3. The Book of Mormon teaches that satan was able to sufficiently blind the Jaredites eyes and minds so that he had full power over their hearts, and the Lord ceased to strive with them. Ether 15:19

4.  The Lord revealed that he gives men light and truth and then satan comes and takes away light and truth. D&C 93:28, 39

Church leaders have taught members all they need to know regarding Lucifer. Our job is to understand and then believe what they’ve taught.  In my opinion satan has more influence on church members than we are willing to admit. It is natural for us to feel that we are somehow immune to his power. That is what he would like each of us to believe (2 Nephi 28:22).

Church leaders have taught that members are especially prone to temptation when we fail to observe our covenants.  If we take our covenants seriously we should learn how to defend ourselves against the evil ones influences–the fiery darts of the adversary.

Ways to Deal with the Adversary

First, I hope all who read these words already have, or soon will have a child like faith. I hope your heart is teachable and not hardened by the deceptions of Lucifer.

Second, be aware of one of the most successful tactics the evil one uses to ensnare the best among us. He will seek to turn our strengthens into weakness. Take a moment and read Elders Dallin Oaks talk on this important topic. Click here

Third, practice doing the following every day, until they become a habit. President Monson said:

1. Study diligently.

2. Pray fervently.

3. Live righteously.

These suggestions are not new; they have been taught and repeated again and again. If we incorporate them into our lives, however, we will have the strength to withstand the adversary. Should we ignore them, we will be opening the door for Satan to have influence and power over us. Thomas S. Monson, “Be Your Best Self,” Ensign, May 2009, 67–70. Click here to read the entire conference talk.

Summary

The Book of Mormon gives a perspective on the power of the adversary that should give us cause to have a healthy respect, even a fear of Lucifer.

Read the following verses to see what I mean–click here


Posted in Satan, Scripture, Spiritual Experiences | Leave a comment

A Miraculous Conversion to the Mormon Church

Posted on by Jared

The following account was written by Bobby Van Rooy. It details why Bobby decided to join the Mormon church after studying, pondering, and praying for nearly two years.    

My conversion took about two years, but I’ll take it from the last 8 months. I was 27 years old and divorced already. Living in Hawaii and a professional musician/entertainer.

While performing in San Diego I decided to go to the LDS church in Mission Bay where I was staying. I was very depressed and feeling guilty about things in my life. I was a bit late and the church service was packed. I noticed the front pew was open, so I walked down to the front and sat down. I didn’t realize I came in on what they called their once a month “fast & testimony” meeting.

I had not slept much lately and was a bit exhausted, I was listening to an attractive young woman talking and, to tell you the truth, can’t remember one word she said. But as I listened, something funny happened; I started seeing an aura, a golden aura around her.

As she finished and young man came up and expressed his gratitude to his Heavenly Father and I remembered the tears welling up in my eyes as I saw an aura around him too. He looked down at his wife and two little girls and expressed his appreciation and love for them. It truly touched my heart.

As the sacrament ended, I tried to duck as many Mormons as I could to get to the exit door; I did remarkably well, until I got to the parking lot.

As I started to walk past the cars and towards my apartment in the space of one second that it takes for me to pass someone looking into the rear-view mirror, this gentleman by the name of Delbert Nichols saw me pass in that split second in his rear-view mirror. He immediately got out of his car and introduced himself to me and I to him.

He asked me if I was a visitor and I replied I was. He asked me what Ward I was from and I was not familiar with the terminology of “ward” and I told him that I wasn’t familiar with that term. He said, “You’re not a member of the Church are you?” and I replied “No, I’m not, was it OK to come to your church?” and he said, “of course, we love having visitors come”.

Then he said the magic four words that all starving musicians love to hear, “have you had dinner?” I replied “no, not yet”. He invited me to come to his house and I gladly accepted.

When I got to his house he asked me what religion I was and I replied that I was never baptized any religion, but that my father was Presbyterian and my mother Catholic and her mother 7th Day Adventist and her mother a high voodoo priestess that used to heal people. He got a kick out of that one.

He asked if I believed in my religion and I said “no” and he asked me “why not?” So I explained that I had been searching for almost two years. That the only religious knowledge I ever received was from my maternal grandmother.

I told him that I felt lost, and that I was searching but I felt that all religions where great money makers! I also felt that if there really is a God he must have His church here on this earth somewhere, but where? Then Del asked me, what made you come to our LDS Church. |

This is what I said exactly: “Because you have the balls to tell the world you have a Prophet and twelve Apostles and funny as it seems, you’re the only people I see that has a Church named after the very being Christians worship, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! Now either you guys are for real or you’re another phony Christian Church!” Del got a kick out of that one.

We sat and talked for over two hours as he proceeded to tell me about the plan of salvation. As I sat there, I could feel my brain absorbing about as much as I could in those two hours and had to stop Del from going any further and asked if I could come back the next day and learn more, but as far as for today, my brain could not handle anymore,

I had learned more in those two hours I felt than I did in the 15 years I spent in schooling or on the road as a performer!

I noticed he had a Book of Mormon and a book called “A Marvelous Work and a Wonder”, by Le Grand Richards, and Del gave me both books. I made a commitment to read both books.

Again let me lapse another 8 months and tell you that I read the Book of Mormon, D&C & The Pearl of Great Price 3 times! So by the time I went back to Hawaii I decided to go to a LDS church that I saw in Waikiki at the end of Kalakaua Street. Mind you, this was my 5th year in Hawaii, the band I was in had worked with Don Ho at Duke Kahanamoku’s when we first got to town, opened up the Hawaiian Hut and now we opened up the “Infinity Club” at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel.

We had been the opening act for a lot of top names in the music industry and had also finished a tour with Burt Bacharach’s orchestra on a two week tour in Japan and back in Hawaii for a concert with him and us.

So back to that Sunday that I decided to go back to the LDS church in Waikiki that Sunday and walked in on a Sacrament meeting and even went to Sunday school. As I approached the church they have an outdoor baptismal font (where I was later baptized) and a bench with two missionaries sitting on it.

One missionary was an Elder Judd and the other an Elder Powers (used to think it funny that they were all called “Elder so & so”, can you imagine how hard I laughed when I saw an Elder Elder!! No joke, this is true! Anyway, I approached the Elders and asked if they were missionaries for the Church, of course I could see the look in their face that was saying “DUH!!” couldn’t have blamed them if they said it out loud.

Hey, I figured I was about seven years older than they were, so I asked them if they would come to my apartment and give me the lessons, you should have seen the look on their faces then! Here I was proselytizing them, what a moment if you can imagine. So we set up the times and lessons, so now I’m going to flip the page ahead a bit again.

At about the 3rd or fourth lesson they challenged me to baptism, so I turned the table on them and challenged them and this how I thought I would ensnare them and their God too. I told them I was not ready for baptism that I had made up my mind that either God or his Angel(s) would have to let me directly know that the LDS church was true (watch what you wish for).

Elder Judd & Elder Jones (guess Elder Powers had to be transferred, didn’t know at the time that that was a regular practice of the church) asked, “What do you propose needs to be done for you to receive such a blessing?”

I could perceive that they thought I was asking it out of arrogance, I truly wasn’t, I felt it was too important for me not to know, considering I had such lack of knowledge in these matters. I really truly needed to know the truth, because I knew in my heart that if I was to stay true to any church or organization, it had better be true! Not because I felt I deserved it.

So I challenged the Elders and asked them to give me a blessing that the truth would be manifested unto me as the Book of Mormon. promises in the beginning page which is Moroni 10:3-5. Elder Jones said, “If you really believe you’ll get an answer, we’ll give you the blessing.”

I said, “If you really say you are the TRUE PRIESTHOOD on this earth and the only Priesthood that is TRUE, then I will get an answer!” Elder Judd the more seasoned Elder said, “We’ll gladly give you the blessing brother Van Rooy”.

As they proceeded to bless me, they placed their hands upon me and I don’t remember the exact words, but I do remember them saying that I would be given my testimony to the truth of all things pertaining to the truthfulness of the Church.

A few days went by and each night my work schedule was from 10 PM to 3:45 AM entertaining in the night club with the band I was in. My studio apartment. was close to work and could walk there, which I did every night.

When I got home I’d either write or read until about 6 AM and retire to bed and get up at 12 noon. This particular morning (noon for you guys) I got up and started reading “No Longer Strangers”, you may remember this book had testimonies of converts in them and I was quite fascinated by the stories.

Something strange started to happen; it got real dark in my very small apartment. I didn’t think anything of it at first; thinking it was just a tropical storm coming and it would be over soon like it usually is.

But strangely enough it got pitch black dark and I got real weak and tired and couldn’t understand why or what was happening. All I could do was turn my head to the wall of the apartment and I saw this little circular bright light, ever so small and getting bigger and bigger each moment or second, I think time stood still for me.

As the light took up almost the whole space of its area. Suddenly a being walked through it, wearing what Joseph Smith described on what Moroni wore the night Joseph was visited three times. I was a bit frightened at first and dared not say a word until spoken too.

I stood up and could see we were about the same height and build (I was a lot skinnier in those days) He had a book in his hand and opened it up and faced it towards me, I couldn’t read the writing, the being asked me to come closer and still couldn’t read it, then he said, come more closer and I did so reluctantly and all I could see was the page number.

He smiled, closed the book, and walked off back through that circle as the circle diminished and disappeared and the blackness of night faded as well.

Just a couple of things here, this being was NOT of Spirit, it was flesh & bones just like you and I. Secondly, we communicated without moving our mouths, my thoughts and his were readable to each other (can you imagine judgment day! You cannot hide from the light!).

The angel did not come to judge me although I deserved being chastised, but rather to deliver me a message that I had requested. Keep in mind that this miracle didn’t come over night to me. There were times on my only day off I would kneel down and pray for HOURS! I would purposely pray all day long unceasingly at times.

As the vision closed to me I was flabbergasted, needless to say, and didn’t know what to think of what I had just experienced. I quickly grabbed the Book of Mormon thinking the page number was in there, until I realized the Book of Mormon didn’t have that many page numbers.

So I grabbed this pocket book Bible that was given to me by my ex-mother-in-law who was Mormon by the way. It turned out to be Isaiah 29: 11-15. I read the whole chapter and it seemed as I read certain versus such as 11-15 it felt as though that someone was behind me and touched or grabbed my shoulder.

I about jumped out of my skin and felt silly realizing there was nobody behind me. But I underlined those particular versus not really knowing the reason why.

Not sure how much time went by, but I called the Elders and said “you guys got to come over right away”. They were over within the hour I think and I related my experience to them and you could feel the Spirit in my little apartment was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

I told them I didn’t quite understand why Isaiah 29 was so important and the Elders scrambled for their scriptures and opened it up. I noticed they had some markings on their scriptures on that particular chapter. I requested to see their bibles and compared it to mine. Lo and behold, they had the same versus underlined as I did, I literally slipped off the edge of the bed where I was sitting right on my keester and started to cry.

I said, “I am now ready to be baptized”. I know the Gospel is true beyond the shadow of a doubt.

I have been in the Church since August of 1975 baptized in the Waikiki Ward. I have been married now almost 30 years and have three sons. I baptized (while still a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood) 8 sisters, the eighth one became my wife Karen.

Karen has been a Relief Society President and I have been the Gospel & Doctrine teacher for over 5 years now in the Los Altos Ward in Mesa, AZ.

Bobby Van Rooy

Posted in Book of Mormon, Example of Faith | 1 Comment