Responce to Mike's letter

I recently received a latter from someone identifying him self only as "Mike" with a P.O. Box as a return address. I found the letter quit interesting, describing someone who had lived a sinful life and finally found the saving power of Jesus' Atonement. I decided to respond, and sent him the following in an e-mail:

Dear Mike,

Thanks you for your sincere letter. It is hard to find time to read and reply to such things these days with all that I have going on, but I wanted to applaud you in your efforts to take them time to compose and distribute such a letter. I hope that you can find the time to also read my sincere response. I believe that one of the biggest problems our country faces today is lack of people willing to share their beliefs and values. Instead we seem to be losing faith to secularism, charity to socialism, chastity to self-gratification, morality to wickedness, and so on.

However, amid all this I do find hope, in a very strong and growing group of people, from many faiths, who truly accept Jesus as their Lord and savior. These people don’t just go to church once a week, and say pray’s expecting to be saved while doing nothing more to achieve that salvation; “[these] people draw near unto [the Lord], and with their mouth, and with their lips do honor [him], but have removed their heart far from [him], and their fear toward [him] is taught by the precepts of men” - Isa. 29: 13, 2 Ne. 27: 25. No, the people I refer to, truly have charity, “the pure love of Christ” - Moro. 7: 47, and love their fellow men because they understand how much their savior also loves them.

They are more concerned with giving then receiving, more concerned with helping others then trying to make their own way to the top. They give freely of their means; paying tithing that helps build up God’s Kingdom on this earth, and even more to help the sick and the needy. They also give of their time and talents, while working hard to become perfected thru Christ’s Atonement.

It is much more than just acknowledging wrongdoings. It is a change of mind and heart that gives us a fresh view about God, ourselves, and the world. Satan wants us to think that we cannot repent, but that is absolutely not true. The Savior has promised us forgiveness if we will do what is required. The sooner we repent, the sooner we will find the blessings that come from forgiveness.

My belief in repentance includes the following steps:

1. Sorrow for sin with a sincere desire for change and a willingness to submit to every requirement for forgiveness.

2. Abandonment of sin with an unyielding, permanent resolve to not repeat the transgression.

3. Confession of sin. You always need to confess your sins to the Lord. If they are serious transgressions you may need to be confessed to a bishop or other priesthood leader who as the proper authority.

4. Restitution for your sins to restore as far as possible all that which is stolen, damaged, or defiled.

5. Obedience to all the commandments. Full obedience is the only thing that can bring the complete power of the gospel into your life.

6. Of all the necessary steps to repentance, the most critically important is for you to have a conviction that forgiveness comes because of Christ’s Atonement.

I too believe that God has a plan for us. Our lives do have a purpose. He is the father of our spirits, and as such we are all brother’s a sisters. If more people could truly understand that on simple concept, I believe this world would be a much better place. I encourage you to continue to share your testimony of this to all those you meet.

Sincerely,

SJ Hollist.

LDS Chruch Presidency gives Christmas Message

The 2009 Christmas Message of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints, was presented on Sunday to millions around the glob.

President Thomas S. Monson reminisced about Christmases past and urged those in attendance to remember the spirit of the season saying, "Finding the real joy of the season comes not in the hurrying and the scurrying to get more done or in the purchasing of obligatory gifts,” said President Monson. “Real joy comes as we show the love and compassion inspired by the Savior of the world, who said, ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me.’"

What is a Mormon Chapel Like?

The LDS Newsroom recently revised a message about LDS Church Meeting houses. You can even take a virtual tour of a fairly typical meeting house of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In the article, it also gives first hand accounts of people visiting an LDS meeting for the first time.

Having grown up in the church myself, I've not had many experience out side the church, so it interesting to get a perspective from someone visiting it for the first time.

The article also mentions the 151 LDS Temples that are currently in use, are undergoing construction or have been announced. LDS Temples are not to be confused with the over 17,000 meeting houses that can be found threw out the world, and are always open to visitors looking to join in on a Sunday worship service.

Must Babylon Fall?

I was listening to Conference Talks from October 2008, and then heard a related song by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It made me wonder if the troubled times we keep seeing in the world today are somehow necessary or inevitable. Are they are all part of God's plan to disprove and push aside the things of the world so that Zion may rise for Christ's 1000 year reign on earth?

I put them together in this video to help others get a feeling for what made this question come to my mind:



The fall of Babylon the great has been foretold:

"Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." - Revelation 18:21

". . . which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall." - D&C 1:16

However, as Babylon ripens in iniquity, a great latter-day Zion will be established:

"And it shall come to pass among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety. And there shall be gathered unto it out of every nation under heaven; and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another. And it shall be said among the wicked: Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible; wherefore we cannot stand." - D&C 45:68–70

". . . and it shall be Zion, which shall come forth out of all the creations which I have made; and for the space of a thousand years the earth shall rest." - Moses 7:64

Though there are certainly governments and nations that seek to destroy freedom and each other; perhaps the fall of Babylon is not so much a physical destruction of governments and nations, but rather more of a spiritual destruction of wickedness in general. On the other hand, such wickedness is certain to cause some hardship and destruction:

“In prophetic imagery, Babylon is the world with all its carnality and wickedness. Babylon is the degenerate social order created by lustful men who love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Babylon is the almighty governmental power that takes the saints of God into captivity; it is the false churches that build false temples and worship false gods; it is every false philosophy . . . that leads men away from God and salvation. Babylon is false and degenerate religion in all its forms and branches. Babylon is the communistic system that seeks to destroy the freedom of people in all nations and kingdoms; it is the Mafia and crime syndicates that murder and rob and steal; it is the secret combinations that seek for power and unrighteous dominion over the souls of men. Babylon is the promoter of pornography; it is organized crime and prostitution; it is every evil and wicked and ungodly thing in our whole social structure” (McConkie, Millennial Messiah, 424).

In Revelation Chapter 8, we begin to read of the seventh seal, or the seventh thousand years of the earth’s temporal existence; known to us as the 2000 A.D. Millennium. During the early part of this period is when judgments come upon the earth in a final attempt to turn mankind’s heart to God. The earth will then be cleansed, Christ will return, and his reign will begin. (see D&C 77:12–13 for further explanation).

One interesting part from Rev. 6:12–17 is the Great Earthquake that John sees. The sun also darkens and the moon turns to blood. Stars appears to fall and the Wicked Mistake these signs for the end of the world. (See also JS—M 1:33; D&C 29:14; D&C 88:87.) Compare this to the concerns may people today are having about what will occur near the end of the year 2012, mainly due to the end of the seemly accurate Mayan Calendar. Often thought to point to a "Galactic Alignment" that some fear may spell certain doom for planet earth.

Another interesting coincidence surrounding this is the 144,000 to be sealed in Rev. 7:1–8, and how the Mayan Calendar is based on cycles of 144,000 days.

Regardless of whether or not Dec. 21st 2012 will be an eventful day or not, "see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet" (Matt. 24:6). It is true that we live in a glorious time, greater then any other time in earth's history, and "if ye are prepared ye shall not fear" (D&C 38: 30), but "Woe unto wicked! it shall be ill with him" (Isa. 3: 11).

For more study references on this topic see: Doctrines of the Gospel Student Manual Chapter 35, and “Book of Revelation Overview,” Ensign, Oct 1983, 50.

Self Governance

I was reading an LDS produced church magazine called the Ensign, and in particular the message from Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 2nd counselor in the First Presidency, on Developing Christlike Attributes. President Uchtdorf grew up in Germany and had a career as an Airline Pilot, and as such always seems to have a good analogy between flying a plan and living correct principles, but what really caught my attention in this message was the following:

"The Prophet Joseph Smith explained, 'I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves.'1 To me, this teaching is beautifully straightforward. As we strive to understand, internalize, and live correct gospel principles, we will become more spiritually self-reliant. The principle of spiritual self-reliance grows out of a fundamental doctrine of the Church: God has granted us agency. I believe that moral agency is one of the greatest gifts of God unto His children, next to life itself."

I've always found myself feeling the same way about government. "The best government is self-government or in other words, freedom to chose for ourselves, and understanding the natural laws [and consequences] that God has set forth." While we need good laws to help us live together in harmony, and to help route out the "bad apples", we will always be better off if we can live in such a way that we take care of each other and be respectful of others; very much like living our lives based on Christ like attributes.

Socialism, or even worse, communism, I see as direct opposites to this ideology of self governance. As "We the People" govern ourselves in such a manner as to care for one another, help each other to lift each other, and as a consequence have very little crime or poverty among us, we need and expect very little from our government. On the other hand, as we become complacent, irresponsible, or down right immoral and unrighteous in our persons and action, we find an increasingly greater need for more laws, more government subsidies and programs, and as a result we become increasingly less free and more in bondage and servitude to the government and it's laws.

How do we obtain such freedom? I hinted at this in my post on "Life's Little Influences", but I also liked what I once heard former President Hinckley (1910-2008) call it: Self Mastery. Our natural tendancy is to ask "what's in it for me" or "nobody else is doing it, so why should I?" Our time in today's busy world is made to seam increasingly more valuble, but we need to remeamber that Christ tought "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." - Matt. 16: 25. Likewise if we give our freedom to help others, we will find it, otherwise we will loose it to an overbaring and terrantical government.

President Uchtdorf finished up his message with:

"By becoming more like the Savior, we will grow in our ability to “abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Romans 15:13). We will “lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better” (D&C 25:10).

This leads me back to my aerodynamic analogy. I spoke of focusing on the basics. Christlike attributes are the basics. They are the fundamental principles that will create the wind beneath our wings. As we develop Christlike attributes in our own lives, step-by-step, they will “bear [us] up as on eagles’ wings” (D&C 124:18). Our faith in Jesus Christ will provide power and a strong forward thrust; our unwavering and active hope will provide a powerful upward lift. Both faith and hope will carry us across oceans of temptations, over mountains of afflictions, and bring us safely back to our eternal home and destination."

- Posted By S.J. Hollist