Mormon Direction

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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Remember the instruction from the scriptures and from Church leaders to study the gospel. It has also been said that we have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion to aid and guide us in our lives, but has anyone come to realize the importance of study to increase our knowledge and understanding?

We have been warned by Church leaders that these days shall become darker all around. This is not a trivial counsel in light of the Biblical prophecies for these latter days. This Church has also instructed us to develop our own connection to the light of God and not to depend on others, because in these latter days, it is the degree of light that is within you that will determine your ability to withstand the darkness before the second coming of Jesus Christ.

How many have experienced challenges by others because you are a Latter-Day Saint? How many have felt flustered, or tongue tied, unable to respond or think of answers to deal with the challenge beset upon you? Is there a reason for this floundering?

Yes, remember what the scripture says,

D&C 11:21

Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men.

It easier for you to receive a reminder of the truth from God, than it is to learn it in times of challenges or immediate need.

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The Lord, through his Church, instituted long ago the need to establish and maintain “official doctrine”, a standard and measuring rod by which the Church is governed and salvation is taught to all the faithful. Official Doctrine is what the Church teaches and sustains as from God. This doctrine, as part of its official stamp, must be in harmony with all other laws and ordinances of the gospel (the four standard works).¹ This says that anything endorsed by the Church as official doctrine must harmonize with the revealed gospel. Anything that is not in harmony with the revealed gospel is rejected. The current four standard works held by this, the Lord’s Church are The Book of Mormon, Holy Bible, Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. The “official doctrine” applies to everyone in the Church, no matter the authority, position or status. Therefore, even the president of the Church is subject to this rule.

“You cannot accept the books written by the authorities of the Church as standards in doctrine, only in so far as they accord with the revealed word in the standard works. ”Every man who writes is responsible, not the Church, for what he writes. If Joseph Fielding Smith writes something which is out of harmony with the revelations, then every member of the Church is duty bound to reject it. If he writes that which is in perfect harmony with the revealed word of the Lord, then it should be accepted” ²

Over the century that this Church has existed, many leaders of this Church published articles, made speeches and made some profound statements. Was it all doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? That depends if what they said stands in harmony with “official doctrine”. Does the doctrine or principle expressed sanctify the soul or lead us closer to God? If it does, then it can be accepted as among the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints.³

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I have read the claims, I have heard the claims and I have read and researched the Bible and its history and having done the latter, where do these other Christians get the justification to make the claim that “only the Bible”, or “it must be based on the Bible” and so on. I have had other Christians almost demand to me that I am lost and misguided because I accepted “another gospel” (quoting Paul the Apostle from Galatians 1 and 2 Corinthians 11), but when the truth has been revealed by the Holy Ghost, I have come to understand the truth about the “Bible” and about the “gospel” showing me that these others are sorely mistaken and misguided and puffed up in their pride of their own beliefs.

The Bible the Bible, they claim they have the Bible, so let us take a hard look at the Bible and see if what they say is true.

The Bible did not exist, as it is called, during the Old and New Testament times. The word Bible or “Holy Bible” has been used to denote religious writings for either the Jews or the Christians. The Bible that I refer to here in this article is the Christian Bible.

During the time of the New Testament Christian Church, also referred to the Early Christian Church or the Ancient Church, there was no Bible. What the Ancient Church had were the Old Testament texts which was the same as the Jews, as Jesus Christ taught from them and the writings and teachings of the Apostles which they obtained through revelation of Jesus Christ. The Apostles had a difficult time dealing with false doctrines and false teachings that infiltrated into the Church Membership from Greek philosophies, Pagan influences, Gnostic groups and Jewish pressure. Paul’s epistles mentioned it many times in his writings to Church membership.

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Outside of this Church, how many Christians believe that the Holy Ghost continues to give revelation, which is direct communication? That has become a crucial question in light of worldly events that are happening and due to happen in these last days on the earth. Biblical prophecy dictates that a storm of evil is forthcoming. War skirmishes, unknown diseases and encomomic collaspe are but a small example of what this world is to suffer, which Christians agree.

Christendom has repeatedly claimed that all we need is the Bible and nothing else. They claim that the Holy Ghost is in them and all revelation they need is in the words read in the Bible. Many other Christians believe that they get all the guidance they need for their life from the Bible, but is this true in all respects? It is true the Bible holds God’s wisdom for the common aliments of life and gives counsel of what we are to do and believe, in general, but a serious problem arises in light of the ongoing fulfillment of prophecies for these last days. Will the Bible be able to provide the right counsel for these times, at the right moment, to tell or warn you of things not yet seen and give the right counsel and direction? In fact, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine of Covenants and Pearl of Great Price face the same problem. What then is the answer to this concern?

In Christendom, there are more than 34,000 different Christian denominations across the world. All are different and they do not all have the same beliefs in Christ and salvation. In other words many have differing doctrines about the same thing. Some believe in baptism by water, others believe baptism by sprinkling, others baptism by desire and others, no baptism at all. Some believe Jesus Christ is a real person and others merely an expression from a greater single being. Some believe the Holy Ghost still communicates, others claim such communication has ended with the end of the early Christian Church and believe that the Holy Ghost is no longer needed since we have all we need in the Bible. Yet there are many different Bible versions which exclude scripture, added scripture, mistranslated the original Hebrew and Greek texts or purposely left out some things for some unknown reason. It is these Bibles that other Christians claim are sufficient.

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Within the Bible, Apostle Peter had said in 2 Peter 1:20, that private interpretation does not qualify as scriptural knowledge nor does it provide the mind of the Lord. Peter continued to say that scriptural knowledge and knowing the mind of the Lord is when a man of God is “moved” by the Holy Ghost.

To be moved by the Holy Ghost clearly sets out the state of mind and heart of a person who receives revelation from God. Since the Holy Ghost does not have a physical body as ours and does not exist in this temporal realm, he then “moves” us from the spiritual realm. The Holy Ghost does this by his power more so than he enters into us, because the Holy Ghost has many people to inspire, even at the same time so he cannot be in one person to inspire and also inspire another a far distance away. Hence he “moves” us by his power which he affect many at the same time. This example was proven in the Bible at the Pentecost, where many were moved by the Holy Ghost at the same time.

Having said that, what then is the value of personal opinion? - There can be only one truth, not many truths and personal opinion has unfortunately been falsely believed as truth.

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In the recent General Conference, Vicki F. Matsumori gave a talk about recognizing when the Spirit, or Holy Ghost speaks to us. The examples and descriptions she gave of how the Spirit “whispers” are exact and true. One of the descriptions given was from the words of President Henry B. Eyring, where he said, in effect, “Almost always I have also felt a sensation of light.” ¹. The description that immediately followed was the experience by an eight-year-old boy, “It felt like sunshine”.²

All of the descriptions I recognize, having experienced the Holy Spirit many times. The latter two descriptions given by Ms. Matsumori as the experience of “light”, like “sunshine”. The mind is enlightened, gaining clarity of understanding and perception, being able to understand and perceive the scope and breadth of the subject, topic, matter or issue at hand. All doubt is erased and sureness of thought is accomplished. So long as one moves within that frame of sureness, once moved by the Holy Ghost, peace and success is assured. To some, this may also describe the experience of “being in the spirit” or “feeling enlightened”. The experience that seems to be like a bright light that has shined brightly within the mind and heart. Hand in hand with this is the feeling of peace or how peace exists in it. Such is quite distinct and in contrast to having a “sudden idea”.

Vicki Matsumori was correct when she said that it can be hard to discern these “sunshine” moments. The inability to recognize these moments is because of the lack of experience and knowledge of the Holy Ghost or worst, from a disbelief that these experiences and feelings are from the Holy Spirit.

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 Which denomination is right? Why are there so many Christian groups or churches? They either fighting with each other, contending, arguing and then believe that they have to be unified? This does not sound right, because to achieve unfiication as per the word of God, it is pretty much impossible because they all believe different things or believe in the same thing differently. I thought that the word of God speaks about “one mind” in the context of the exact same doctrine and practices. That is how I understand the Bible.

There is so much doubt created by all this. A kind of confusion that prevails even with all the investigation. When I look at this, a reasonable question is “Does God really want things this way that he would create so many different churches, with contrary doctrines causing so much confusion and misdirection? Is that what God gives to us that is suppose to save us?”

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Recently an Anti-Mormon contacted me and tried to present himself as a ex-member of this Church, likely because he wanted to gain some favour in my eyes. During our email conversation he brought up his disbelief in this Church based on his view of historic events and one of them was the story of Joseph Smith putting a stone into a hat, using it as a seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon. Suffice the say the correspondence ended quickly due to his argumentative style of writing, but that encounter spurred me to write about the “seer stone” and the Urim and Thummim which was used by Joseph Smith to translate the Book of Mormon.

Before writing, I took the position as an investigator, one who has a background in the scriptures. I investigated the validity of a seer stone within the Bible. I started with the Bible because this pertains to religious matters, not worldly matters. Here is what I found.

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With the array of differing doctrines in the general Christian community among the many Christian denominations, one wonders who is true and who is not. I say this from the perspective of a new convert or one who is investigating which church to join.

When I researched the many beliefs of the many Christian denominations, I began to find a consistent pattern among all of them. This pattern refers to “perspective”. The thing within each person that determines how he/she will view and comprehend God’s word. It is “perspective” that will either serve a person well or mislead them.

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