In this time of Christmas, we are reminded of the important things in life for ourselves and most importantly toward others.
The following video is a message for Christmas, one of the heart and of the Spirit, godly in nature and a life message
If you wish to view this video directly on the YouTube site - http://www.youtube.com/user/MormonMessages#p/c/4A73DDEE675FBC39
A man acts dishonestly, purposely lying or making false claims, acting with malicious intention or ill will. When this is done, he later claims he is an honest man as he tries to establish himself as acceptable and good.
Such a man is not honest, neither is he being honest when he claims honesty as a trait or characteristic. In order that this man establish honesty, that he can rightly claim, he must first reconcile the harm and/or error he committed when he acted dishonestly and with malicious intentions.
Without this reconciliation, that man can never claim he is honest, because honesty demands he take responsibility for his wrongs and recompense those who he has harmed or done ill toward.
A dishonest man cannot claim honesty.
I have experienced such people, both in and out of the position of authority outside of the Church, but not in this Church, especially not with any person in the position of Church authority.
It seems that those who are not of God, not working to be his faithful are the ones most prone to this dishonest man syndrome. I have experienced this problem a lot with Anti-Mormons and some Ex-Mormons, because once they break the faith, their hearts and minds become focused on wrong things and wrong beliefs.
God directs us to perform good works. He warned us that we should not fool ourselves, that what we sow so shall we reap. We find these teachings in the Bible and Book of Mormon (Alma 5:41 / Alma 7:24, 27 / Titus 2:7 / Titus 3:8 ). Yet, we see so many Christians preach, complain and debate against this Church that salvation is not by works, but only by faith and this Church in turn shows the same Bible others preach from to show that faith is dead without works and so also, works is dead without faith ( James 2: 17, 20, 26 ), both must coexist for salvation.
We know, at least most of us, that God always promotes good things as this is what draws us closer to him and all good things glorifies him. Of course, all good works cannot manifest unless the person performs them with integrity, honesty, sincerity and humbleness. This says, for example, when a person chooses to give money for a charity only as a tax break, but otherwise does not care for the charity, is not performing good works. There is no sincerity, honesty, integrity or humbleness in his or her act (2 Corinthians 9:7 ).
What God speaks of here in good works is the spirit of it. The sincere and cheerful act of good works promotes a good spirit. Applied generally to all things we do, says that quality work, with honesty, sincerity, diligence, care, produces good results. These good results are usually seen immediately and these good results, that bear the seal of quality good work, which is also the spirit of good work, will continue to reveal itself in value and goodness for sometime after. As a result, many can benefit from this value and goodness long after the work was done. A standard of good works serves all, even to serve as a beacon for those who need guidance and light in their works as well.
Yesterday, as I finished paying for some groceries at the cash till, another lady behind me went next. The lady asked for some cigarettes and the cash till clerk asked the lady for some identification, since she looked young. As the lady was getting her identification to prove her age, the cash till clerk stated in a guilty type of tone as she tried to excuse herself, saying, “Sorry, but I have to cover my butt“.
This struck me as very interesting and odd.
In Canada, it is law in most of the provinces that a person must be 19 years of age to purchase cigarettes and all merchants are under law to confirm that age by proper identification or risk a hefty fine. The purpose of this law is to reduce the use of tobacco by younger persons. Since it is law, where is the reason to be guilty or feel bad to ask another for proper identification when the there is legal right and authority to do so?
We know of good intelligence and bad. We usually equate intelligence with science or some scholarly knowledge about some subject. Intelligence, people believe, is the ability to figure out problems or devise things that no one else cannot. Intelligence is even equated to those who are crafty, smarter than another to overcome obstacles or make intricate plans. Intelligence is even attributed to the ability to figure out the Rubrics Cube on the first try.
There is one intelligence that no one really pays any attention to and in fact would consider this one as foolish or useless. This is because, this particular intelligence does not seek to “gain” something as the other ones will. With the others, there is notoriety, fame, appeal, importance, even financial advantage. The intelligence that speak of here in this article gains none of those things, because the moment you do, it is no longer that intelligence.
I speak about Intelligence of Good. The ability to know true good and exercise it no matter the circumstance.
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.
Have you had trouble sustaining local church leaders or even anyone of the leaders in the General Authorities of the Church? Some things you dislike or disagree with that held you back from raising your right arm to signify that you sustain them? This kind of issue in our membership is more common than you may think. It was such an issue that concerned the leadership of the Church, they spoke on the matter by making it part of our study books, “Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith – Sustaining Those Who Are Called to Preside“. The issue of sustaining those who we disagree with can be quite a challenge, because our personal feelings about the person can be so strong that it disallows us to raise our right hands during the sustaining call and to some, this becomes a problem in their interactions with that person during Church services and classes.
In that study book I listed just above a statement was made that I agree with, it said,
It is a serious wrong in the presence of the Almighty for one to vote to sustain the authorities of the Church and then to go away and oppose them and trample under foot the counsels that they give; and we will be judged of the Lord for it.
In short, this would be called hypocrisy, to claim we sustain them and then oppose them at every turn. I understand that we have the freedom to disagree and have our own viewpoints on matters, maybe even view doctrine a bit differently, but to be hypocritical is a sorry state to be in as it negatively affects personal state of righteousness and worthiness. If there is something about the person that is seriously wrong that the other leaders have overlooked or did not know about, then speak to your Bishop. If the matter is serious enough (means beyond differences of opinion and beyond personal affronts) and the Bishop does nothing or little, go to the Stake President, but this article is not about serious errors, this article addresses those who, at a personal level, feel adverse toward leadership and have trouble sustaining them.
I have read quite a few statements by ex-members who claim they have seen the light that this Church is false and they spent years believing in the wrong church. Reading their personal accounts I have found an alarming trait with all of them. None have claimed that God told them to leave, not one.
The beliefs that each of them held, to account for leaving the Church, have centered on some claim that the Church lied, or mistreated them, or that they claimed the Church is false after reading some book or article about some historic account that tainted the Church, etc etc. With that, they professed the Church was false.
Not one of their claims have originated from the Spirit of God, not one of their beliefs is spiritually based, not one is spiritually justified. Wouldn’t a spiritual basis be the foremost important reason for staying or leaving, knowing that it is only the spiritual that God works in and determines if a church is his?
There are some on the Internet that have called Mormons a cult, claiming that the definition of the word “cult” proves it. I read one claim from one person who said that he “pursued the most scholarly, objective approach” and proceeded to show a definition of the word cult according to the Webster Dictionary of 1913. The definition he showed was as follows:
Cult (k?lt) n .[F. culte, L. cultus care, culture, fr. colere to cultivate. Cf. Cultus.]
1. Attentive care; homage; worship.
Every one is convinced of the reality of a better self, and of. thecult or homage which is due to it. Shaftesbury.2. A system of religious belief and worship.
That which was the religion of Moses is the ceremonial or cult of the religion of Christ. Coleridge.(link: http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?resource=Webster’s&word=cult&use1913=on&use1828=on target= )
This particular person specifically used one definition of the word cult to justify his aberrant claims. Was he correct? No he was not and I will show why.
Spiritual integrity is a very important principle that Jesus Christ taught. The freedom given by truth is proof that lies are a sin and create bondage. Truth is what allows us to be truly free, allowing us to progress in life and be at peace with ourselves and with others. Peace and love cannot exist in lies and lies cannot make or sustain peace.
This is exactly what Satan wants to do with each of us, promote and propagate lies so we can be blindly or knowingly locked into the bondage of sin. This is one reason that the Father wanted us to become as gods, to know the difference between good and evil. Progression, personal and spiritual development, can only occur with truth, it can never occur with lies.
