Mormon Direction

Within the LDS Church, there are many men and women who are single and still alone. Bachelors and bachelorette alike are alone in their lives hoping to meet someone to spend their lives with. Dating sites are filled with these seekers, even LDS oriented sites as LDS Singles, LDS Mingle and so on. Many eventually find mates, but many do not and some even end their days having not one marriage in their lives.

Loneliness can be a hard thing to endure. It can lead to discouragement, emptiness and even despair, but is that something worthwhile to accept in your life? I refer to the negative emotions and state of mind. Of course, to hear only the phrase, “be more positive” is not helpful because it gives no direction and certainly no basis for a solution, but to hear “fret not, Heavenly Father is with you” are far better words for a lonely Saint to hear.

To feel Heavenly Father’s love, charity, compassion brings far more joy to our hearts than thoughts of loneliness. Certainly you will still endure the loneliness because it is mortal and human to feel these things, but it is important to remember that Heavenly Father feels your state of heart and mind.

To pray to find a partner in life is a good prayer, but have you considered the prayer asking Heavenly Father to help you overcome this loneliness as a single person?

Circumstances in this mortal life may have dealt you limited options as to finding a life-long partner, but nothing in this world has dealt you anything that takes away Heavenly Father’s love and closeness. I don’t propose ways to remove the loneliness because that is something you need to work-out with Heavenly Father’s help, as loneliness feels the same to everyone, but the underlying elements are personal to each person.

It comes down to the fundamental elements of life and faith. Love God with all your heart, mind and soul and there is no substitute for that first commandment. Even if you find a life long partner, you should never cease to live the first commandment in all things you do. If you do, I am sure, as I feel impressed saying this, Heavenly Father promises to be with you, close to your heart, mind and soul far more than any human can ever be.

Isn’t that something to smile about and feel at least some joy?  :)

Amen.

I have recently come across spiritual testimonies by other Christians who had dream-visions experiencing hell. A dream-vision, or dreaming the dream, is a spiritual vision while asleep. Such events occurred throughout the Bible and Book of Mormon (Matthew 2:12 ; 1 Nephi 2:2 as an example). These spiritual testimonies that I have read related true accounts, but some tried to explain these experiences, in vain, with the scriptures. Even the detractors of these accounts tried to use the Bible to discredit them, also in vain.

When in the spiritual experience of a vision or a spiritual presence, the person is in the spirit of it. They are able, to some extent, perceive spiritually. Once out of the spiritual experience and back into their mortal awareness, they are out of spirit and any spiritual powers of perception also leave them. Any impression left by the experience can promote understanding of that experience, over time, if they handle the experience rightly. Trying to interpret the entire spiritual vision by their own power will fail because it becomes a private interpretation from a mortal perspective, not a spiritual perspective, the latter requiring spiritual development and personal change of the mind and heart.

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An interesting event happened today at Church. During the sacrament session, there was a fellow walking about nervously in the hallway adjacent to the chapel. Periodically he would stand in the doorway, watch the speaker at the front and then retreat into the hallway again. There was a second male with him, but I did not see him until after the event occurred.

When the congregation began to sing the last hymn, this male went at the front of the congregation and started to preach out loud of how we are following a false prophet as he held his large Bible up above his shoulders for us to see. At that moment the Bishop with his counsellors and without hesitation about 15 priesthood holders approached this man and escorted him out the nearest door.

Apparently, the male walked away toward a Baptist church which was about 2 blocks down the road. At that time I saw the second male hover around the chapel door in the hallway. Within moments, other priesthood members approached that male and escorted him out as well. From what I was told, a similar event recently occurred at the local United church.

In the elders quorum session, we spoke about this event and how much danger this posed to the small children running about in the church which proved disconcerting considering that radical thinking people, as was with that male, endangers the safety of children in the Church. Also mentioned in this discussion that this type of event occurs more often in our Churches located in large cities.

This brought to mind our Articles of Faith and how important those articles are to our faith. The one in particular was,

Articles of Faith
11 We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

This eleventh article of our faith speaks of free will and choice, the right to worship God as we choose. It is no coincidence that Heavenly Father wanted to restore his Church in North America, the land of the free, with the freedom for religion. Think about that for a few minutes. Freedom of religion did not exist in the middle ages because of the Roman Catholic church (Wikipedia-Religious Intolerance). Would God restore his Church as Jesus organized in the New Testament under the heavy handed rule of the bishops found in the Roman Catholic church, or even when Constantine made Christianity his state church under his rule? (Christian State Church ). The importance to have this freedom of religion, the right to worship as we choose cannot be overstated, but this freedom does not give any person the right to interfere no matter what right he or she self-proclaims.

When this fellow interrupted the worship hymn, to attack our faith and beliefs as he announced his condemnation against our Church as he held his Bible up, is clearly not a man of God. Tolerance was not part of that man’s faith. Elder Russell M. Nelson spoke on religious tolerance,
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Here are some of my thoughts, a commentary, on prophecies and 2012.

I was pondering a few days ago when the thought came about prophecies, which said that we receive prophecies in accordance to our faith in God. This applies to all people in the world no matter the beliefs. Prophecies generally speaking, when given, are not meant to encompass all people. Said another way, there is not any one prophecy and one outcome that applies to everyone, save the prophecy of the second coming of Jesus Christ. I will explain.

Would it be proper for God to apply a prophecy to his faithful on one hand and to the people in the world of no faith on the other? Is this not what God spoke of, how the left knows not of the right?

Prophecy must fulfil its purpose, but it must apply in a just manner. Justice is one of God’s foremost requirements, to be just and true at all times. This is why God told us that he will judge each person in accordance to their faith and works. A prophecy to the wicked will certainly not apply to the faithful because that would be unjust. For example a prophecy of death and destruction because of wickedness would not be a just and fair prophecy to wield against the faithful.

When rain is to fall on the righteous and unrighteous, as described by the Bible, is a statement that refers to the principle of trial and tribulation given in a just and fair manner. All people will suffer trials in their life, yet trials for one person or a group do not apply to others, so the type and manner of the trial will vary in accordance to the people it affects. And so the same with prophecies.

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IN the scriptures, the Lord directs people who are parents to teach their children the gospel, the word of God, the light.

3 Nephi 22:13
And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.

Isaiah 54:13
And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.

When parents obey the teachings of God, practicing the principles of all goodness and righteousness with love, great will be the peace of their children when they grow into adulthood. What a child is taught, shown by example and by experience from his/her parents, will be what that child will live in adulthood (Proverbs 22:6). This is how our past makes our present, what we are at this moment. What creates our future is what we are as we sow our life and what we reap later is our future.

What then will occur if the teachings of our children are seeped in wickedness, falsehoods, pride and all manner of idolizing ambition (dark, selfish, prideful or bitterness)?

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Has anyone noticed in general, there are many people who cannot act well on their own, have problems making good choices and decisions and in general have a poor sense of spiritual direction? Do these people find their way, spiritually, all by themselves? This, of course, shows that no one is perfect and no one has the ability, by themselves and by their own personal beliefs to return to God.

For the least people, God provides direction and leadership. This is the very pattern God set up in all the scriptures in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon. When God cares for his people, if they have not fallen badly to corruption and wickedness, God provides by giving them leadership. This is called a prophet and in all cases in the scriptures throughout time, there has always been a prophet directing, teaching, supporting, caring and loving the faithful people of God. Only when the people abandon God, has God left them to their abandonment, to again later, reclaim them by and through his prophet.

Why then is it that many Christians in this world reject the idea of a prophet for God? – Well the answer is they are not faithful as they could be.

Without leadership and a structured religious organization, God’s faithful would get lost and fall to many follies. This example is seen many times within the scriptures, in particular the New Testament. Many times God’s Apostles had to address false (Greek influenced) beliefs and doctrines in the early Christian Church. How many times in the Old Testament people ignored God, resulting in the loss of the Church, their faith and spiritual direction? Of course, the number is far too many.

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The LDS Church has been active in practicing and promoting good relations between the itself and other Christian denominations. Is this because they want to parlay a good image? Nay, it is the principle of God to be of good service, kind and respectful to others, but in these last days, where God warned us of dark times to come before his Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ returns, is it of value to expect the practice of good relations to continue?

To a certain extent, yes, we must always do good and right, that is the mainstay, yet what else is to occur? As God promised, it is a division. This is the drawing of a spiritual line between the faithful who shall continue with God and the unfaithful, those who are not with God. This division is the removal of the wheat from the tares, which I believe, has already begun.

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Some believe that all they need is their personal relationship with God as being sufficient for salvation. This of course, is not true.

A personal relationship is to maintain faith and focus to God, yet a personal relationship with God does not, in itself, establish sanctity and holiness just because a person declares it so. A relationship with God must include God as the partner. The head of the relationship is not you, it is God himself. This means he leads and declares what is required for this relationship to work. Thus, a relationship with God will require the fulfillment of important elements, else this relationship will fail.

Any relationship, even that of a marriage, requires both partners to contribute and do their parts into and for the relationship. This is exactly the same for a relationship with God. Without us doing our part, the relationship with God will fail, it will not be spiritual and cannot be sanctified and accepted.

Look into the Bible about the parable of the ten virgins ( Matthew 25:1–12 ). All of them declared a relationship with God as indicated in verse one where all ten were to meet with the bridegroom. This denotes that each believed they had or have a relationship with the bridegroom who is Jesus Christ. The bridegroom required the virgins to prepare themselves with oil in their lamps so they can prepare to meet him. Five did not fulfill this element or requirement of the relationship and because of this, their belief of having a relationship with the bridegroom failed and were called strangers who were shut out or excluded from the kingdom of the bridegroom.

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Good & Right Things Ignored

I received an email from Google, at least I believe it was from them, about the class action lawsuit against Google by Gmail. The lawsuit was filed by Gmail users who claim that when Google launched their Google Buzz network, Google automatically included and exposed data and contacts of Gmail users to the public. According to the lawsuit, Gmail users accused Google of violating many of the U.S. and California electronic data usage and storage laws as well as other laws pertaining to fair business actions and professional codes. Google denied the allegations. It took many months before Google and the plaintiffs achieved a settlement. You can read this on the “Google Buzz User Privacy Blog” . The settlement appears to apply only to U.S. citizens. You can read more about it on the FAQ page.

What does this have to do with my blog here?

Nothing directly, but the manner and process by which people had to get their privacy rights respected is the point of topic here and with that comes the principles of God about “rights” and responsibility to do the right thing at all times. Basically I am addressing Christian concerns.

All people have the right to privacy, right not to be harassed or violated, right for respect and fair treatment.

It is sad to see that people have to sue others or take legal action against others for breaches of privacy or for breaches of their rights. I have seen this all over the Internet, people posting personal information about others without legal right and other places as Google allowing the violation of privacy or violation of rights to occur on their services doing nothing about it.

What this brings me to say is there is a widespread disrespect and disregard for what is right and proper and this is rampant in the world and on the Internet. Some call it freedom speech, but when a freedom causes infringement on others or harm to others, it is no longer a freedom, but a flagrant violation. God would have nothing to do with people who act in this manner toward others. It is contrary to the economy of God and his Kingdom to allow such behavior to exist. Such flagrant disregard for others is clearly unrighteous, evil and purely selfish and prideful. All aspects of a damned personage.

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Reading the Bible, a question was posed to Jesus Christ about Caesar and the “tributes” paid to him (see Luke 20:22–25). Jesus replied, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.”

From what principle, doctrine or spiritual law did Jesus speak from?

Paul addressed the same thing much later in his epistles to Titus (see Titus 3:1). Paul said that the Saints of God are subject to the principalities, powers and magistrates of the land. Peter the apostle said the same thing, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;” (1 Peter 2:13).

The statement from Jesus Christ to render to Caesar that which is Caesar is an act of “civil obedience”. The principle shown by the scriptures is God’s will of how his Saint is to act in society. Civil obedience is a trait of a true Saint of God. Abiding in the laws of the land, with government and assigned civil authorities.

This brings to question the civil disobedience caused by those Christians in the name of God. Where in the Bible does it give these Christians the right and power to disobey the laws, or cause or create civil discord? It does not matter if a person has the right to protest, what is right is first with God, not with the way the world has taken itself.

Do these Christians disbelieve in the first commandment, to love God with all their heart and mind and the second commandment, to love our neighbor? This says that our behavior and actions must first abide in the laws, commandments and principles of God and in doing so, we will then have no need to create, encourage, support or be part of any civil disobedience (D&C 58:21).

What is more disturbing is to see a Latter-day Saint move in his or her life in a manner that is rebellious against civil order. Yet, that is something that Latter-day Saint needs to learn and overcome, an obvious shortcoming.

When we see people who claim to believe in the Bible, yet act in a manner that is civilly disobedient or rebellious are therefore not true Christians. For what ever good they may have done at some other time, the act of rebellion or civil disobedience makes them as “non-Christian”. It does not matter the self-justification, such actions or behaviour is unacceptable to God.

What matters is the manner of proper accord a person operates by. For all proper order in society, laws are in place to allow a person to dispute things and in this order shall a person carry his or her concerns. It is never carried in the act of civil disobedience against the laws or government or toward anyone else for that matter. To use any form or manner of civil disobedience to push beliefs is not of God and shall never be.

Anyone who encourages, teaches, preaches, desires or acts civil disobedience, it is best to stay true to God and stay far from his or her intended discord (Romans 13:13 ; Titus 3:9).