One day, you hear another person talking crudely as if it was a normal conversation. Using all kinds of foul words to express his ideas and feelings. This person seems to enjoy his/her conversation, maybe even with a laugh or chuckle or two.
Does hearing this lead you to feel good or not? Do those type of foul or crude words present a good impression in sound, mind and heart?
A simple concept came to me today, so simple that it can boggle the mind.
The simple concept was as follows. For hundreds of years during the time of the Old Testament (BC), certain men prophesied the coming of Jesus Christ. Many ancient scrolls that prophesied of Christ were confirmed as existing before the birth of Jesus.
Then after Jesus Christ was born and grew into a man, he came and announced himself as the Son of God and Saviour of mankind. He performed miracles and many visions were seen to pinpoint Jesus as the Son of God. After his crucifixion, he rose from the dead and appeared before his followers, proving he was the one crucified and risen.
These events and especially what Jesus had clearly stated of himself is astonishing to say the least. The thought was that how can a man, who proclaimed himself as the Son of God, with all other evidence proving who he was, end up still denied today?
I have heard and read many personal opinions of the man we call Jesus Christ and many discount his divinity and attribute him to a minor complement, that he was a wise and good man and that was all. Just a “good man”, that was it. All the rest Jesus was and still is excluded.
To be of God, a person cannot be of a bad spirit. These two cannot co-exist in a person at the same time. A person must abide in the principles and commandments of the Lord in order that they be of God. To represent God, meaning to speak for him, requires a higher responsibility. Yet, there are people out there that will claim they are of God or with Jesus or they represent God. They may know the word of God in the Bible and be able to quote scripture and speak from that standpoint. They may appear to be very intelligent, charismatic, appealing, but how can a member of this Church know who they are really dealing with? Some may feel confused as to whether a person is of God or not?
I hope that I can provide some help, some insight to help fellow members deal with the deluge of self-proclaimed Christians. I will begin by relating this by way of a story.
One day a man was brought into the jail cell for being drunk. When locked behind a cell door, he started to ask for things and was denied. He got angry and accused the prison guard of being a “$&*?;” (using foul words), and told the guard that he (the guard) was a homosexual and an “as***” (foul words). The prisoner then claimed to the guard that the guard should ask God if he (the guard) was an “as***” (and used further references to God in a derogatory manner).
Was this man a “man of God”? – Was this man telling the truth?
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The anti-Mormon’s and some ex-Mormons play a dangerous game. A trick used by them is to create confusion. Since none of them carry the truth about anything, they will work to inject confusion, because that is all that they have to entice, coerce, and convince members and potential members that this Church is false.
Scanning some of the testimonies of anti-Mormons, some have become atheist, others joined other churches, but all of these have proclaimed that they are now “free”.
Free from what? When reading their “testimonies” of their proclaimed freedom(s), they do not speak of spiritual freedom as Jesus Christ promises, they show their freedoms to be at a temporal base; a relative & personal freedom based on personal likes and dislikes.
The question that remains is, “what kind of freedom and from what?”
Over the years attending this Church, I have seen and heard some people volley strange ideas and precepts. Some I recognized were created by what the world calls “New Age” and others are simply a wild idea that got out of hand. I wondered why these people, who attend this Church which provides the doctrine of God, having prophets write and speak on many subjects, still run off with some wild ideas?
I saw that this is not an unusual thing. When this Church began with the prophet Joseph Smith, the same thing happened. People began to expound all sorts of unusual beliefs and doctrines that did not come from the Lord. Some, who did not have the authority from God, believed that they can receive revelation for the Church. This occurred in the early Christian Church as well, so this phenomenon is something that is expected.
When a person shares a true inspiration from the Lord, what he/she says carries the spirit of truth in it. Those that are open to this spirit will receive it with feelings and thoughts of, “Umm, never thought of it that way”, spurring contemplation or deeper thought. These pearls seem to be infrequent, but what is more prevalent are ideas and precepts that are way out of line.
Are you single in the Church that advocates marriage and family? Attending to feel out of place or the odd one out, while you see couples enjoying the benefits of marriage and relationships along with their faith?
It can be hard to accept, for some, the doctrines of the Church that promotes family and marriage while you may feel unable to or cannot partake of those blessings. For some, it is not an issue. They enjoy their single life and have no intent to change it or they are fine with their single-hood despite seeing others become couples around them, families growing, etc.
Maybe you have tried to date others in the Church and that did not work out. Joining an Internet dating site did not work out or it is not in your interest to do so. Trying to find a mate in the world seems harder since there is a lot of weeding out of the undesirables. After all the world has made it a widespread practice to party, drink booze and get tattoos, it is hard to find a mate with the right state of mind and heart. Seems that no matter what you do, nothing seems to work. Frustrating isn’t it?
So what do you do about it?
There are countless blogs, stories and claims from numerous disbelievers and contenders to our faith. In their ranks are some ex-Mormons, who through their discontentment and impatience, joined their ranks. (As I write this I keep getting the thoughts of the “large spacious building” in Nephi’s vision, 1 Nephi 12:18, and how these people who attack Mormons now live within that structure. )What I would like to do is provide to those who seek understanding, information on a method to detect and understand the true spiritual nature of these complainers. This so you can know by their fruits, who they are.
Complaining is one trait that these contenders use. It is a common trait used by everyone when they are upset about something and wish some answers, action or even justice. This trait is common among people in the world who rally the governments to change policies. There are complaint oriented commissions, complaint departments, complaint forms, etc. The practice of complaint is considered by the world as a “normal” thing and, in general, something that good people use. Despite how some evil people also use this method, it is still considered an acceptable thing.
