Morning Musings, Food 4 Thought, Just For Fun, & The "Gee Wizz File"
Something you should know First:
I do not write a typical journal of my daily activities, because to me, what I did during the day doesn’t matter. I have found that if I write at the end of the day my boring life gets in the way of productive and beneficial thought. I realized years ago, that my morning mind offers a better view and spiritual perspective to start the day than it has to close the day. So, each morning I try to write down some scriptural thought, spiritual insight, or current topic that comes to mind. ‘Empty are the annals of a happy people’ (the whole BoM) and like everyone’s daily journal, I am not successful each morning, but most days there is something that triggers my thoughts which I try to write down or add to what I have already written.
The things I write in the mornings are always ‘notes’ on my phone. My thumbs and fingers are too large, and my mind too small, which creates the perfect storm for mistakes in references, quotes, auto-corrected words, spelling, tense, person, and grammar throughout. And without question, as my memory and retention are strained by age, there will be some repetition. Some thoughts may seem incomplete, fractional, or disjointed as there were written to myself and for myself, as reminders of things that should or could be expanded. The thoughts presented here, have not been edited or corrected for any type of publication. I often use acronyms and abbreviations to save time and space, such as BoM = The Book of Mormon; Xt = Christ; Xtn= Christian; and others that should be obvious.
I try to reference the scripture passage if I can, but often, perhaps too often, the scriptural reference or book may be left as blank as my mind. When this stupor of thought overtakes me, I may place question marks indicating that the reference can be found with a little work or if so obvious, the reference may be abandoned altogether. When these thoughts are written the exact wording of a referenced verse should not be expected, because I usually do not have the scriptures in front of me, nor do I have a photographic mind. Sometimes I will look up the reference to be more exact, but most times, it is just shoot and aim later.
Again, the reader should be aware that these are notes that were written to me. Not all the thoughts are original with me, but most are. I seek to do as our 13th Article of Faith admonishes, which is to seek after knowledge and eternal truths, listen to speakers, and talks from every faith that I feel or think might be virtuous, lovely, or praiseworthy. I read things that provoke thoughts or introduce concepts that I believe may help me during my life or 'for the benefit of my posterity' after I’m gone. The reader may find things that they have heard or read, which may mean I have heard or seen them too. One of the main reasons these thoughts are written down is to help in my personal goals as an individual, which is to learn something each day about: (1) The Scriptures, (2) about Christ, and (3) Come to a better understanding of the Doctrines of Salvation.
These are MY thoughts and opinions, right or wrong. Of course, I reserve the right to change my opinions at any time because of a better understanding or enlightenment. Stupidity is thinking that you have a handle on it all. What may seem true to me in my ignorance today, may not be true in my stupor of thought tomorrow. For this reason, I refuse to be held accountable for anything I have said, written, or thought in the previous 6 months. No doubt, some of these notes and thoughts might offend the traditional thinker and member of the Church, as well as those with a critical eye and mind for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. There are religious, political, and even financial thoughts, all of which may cause tinges of anger. Don't let my opinions ruin your day, no one is required to believe anything I say. The reader will realize that I have a tendency to focus on Character Change or the concept of Repentance and Faith in Christ with a strict reliance on the Scriptural Standards of the Church, of which I need a constant reminder. When writing these thoughts, there lies in the back of my mind, that I might be able to use them as notes or reminders for myself, or in preparation for a talk, presentation, or class if I take the time to expand the concept.
What is shared here is taken from my (almost) daily personal journal of thoughts and musings, as well as some humor I hear along the way. These thoughts may not make sense to many, but they do me. I didn’t write them for others to read or understand. I have been asked and convinced by a kind and talented neighbor to share a few of my daily thoughts and personal opinions (from hundreds of pages) with others. I am not a cyber guru in any sense of the word and only provide some content to those who know what they are doing. I have tried to number each thought, thinking that perhaps later in life the numbers might make it easier to organize them in some fashion.
I claim no ability to see things more clearly than another, I’m no smarter than the next person, and realize everyone is ignorant on a different subject. As Solomon states: ‘there is nothing new under the sun’, and just because I write my thoughts down (for myself) doesn’t mean I created them, I just rearranged them. Use what you like, change what you want, and discard what you don’t. My wanting wit and senseless wisdom is nothing more than chaff in the wind, and as always, there is no need to believe a thing I say.
Bruce Porter
1
Without a scriptural standard
truth we cannot know,
Like the oompah-loompah
we'll wander to and fro.
Blown by winds of doctrine
Not knowing where we go
Opinions that are built on sand
Will crumble from below.
bp
2
Commission of priesthood and Apostolic Leadership:
Matt 19; Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
3
Lk 27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
4
Wisdom is the realization that hindsight is necessary for foresight
5
Habits eat willpower for breakfast
6
Wickedness gets easier like wrapping string around your hands, each day habits become stronger than willpower. Habits eat willpower for breakfast
7
If your wrong in the way your right then your wrong when your right
8
Do you love God and use money, or love money and just use God. Where is that what you love stored? in the bank or in your heart? Where is your treasure on earth or heaven?
9
God is too good to be unkind
too wise to make mistakes
God cannot change for the better
Because he is already perfect
he will not change the perfect
to make things worse.
10
Commandments are not restrictions but recipes for happiness.
God cannot and will not command or make any law that is not for our Benefit and happiness on earth and in heaven. Commandments are a manifestation of gods love for us to help prepare us to live not only with him but like him.
11
Sex Salary and Status lay at the foundation of pride. Pride then demands the satisfaction of all desires, appetites, and passions in every aspect of life. When the individual filled with this pride seek to satisfy their ego and satisfy their desires, appetites and passions they will separate themselves from God and consequently separate themselves from their fellow man. King Benjamin teaches the same in different words: ‘when pride separates one from his fellow man, they are separating themselves from god’.
12
All commandments hang upon two; loving God and loving our fellow man
Pride is the selfish separation from God and your fellow man for the satisfaction of self-indulgence in the four pillars of the church of the devil which hold up the great and spacious walls of Babylon are: 2 Ne 30??, Mormon ?:? 1. Lusts of the Flesh. 2. Power. 3. Money and Wealth 4. Pride
13
The mask of the selfish agency we call pride is the manipulation of others which is most often by accomplished by anger and forced control through aberrant emotions, anger and selfish manipulation.
14
God is not a self-help genie or cosmic vending machine, nor is he a bellhop or Santa Clause, yet our prayers often approach God as though He is all of them.
15
Righteousness in mortality does not mean being without sin, but scriptural Righteousness is a recognition of wrongdoing, weaknesses, and limitations and having an active sincere desire to change for the better, therefore: what we call sin is just missing the mark.
“Sin” means in Hebrew and Greek to 'miss the mark'; “wickedness” is not wanting to change, and “evil” is trying to lead others away from repenting and turning to that which is right and true.
16
Wickedness is the refusal to repent. To refuse to change one’s character. To refuse to love God and love your fellow man. Therefore, sins that lead to Wickedness is an issue of severing loving and ministering relationships not so much as the breaking of commandments. If upon these two commandments hang all the law and prophets, then also upon these two commandments will hang all judgment.
17
The US closes 60 churches a week
13 % of the US claims to be deeply spiritual, by a Gallup poll.
in China, sub-Africa and Latin America A Pentecost is happening every hour as 3000 come to Christ
18
1Tim. 3:15
The church is the source of truth, with Principles, People, and Purpose working together in one accord
19
You can't wait to go to heaven to find Christ. you must first come unto Christ to find the way to heaven. "I am the way the truth and the life and no man come unto the father (heaven) but by me.
20
The secret to a celestial and joyous eternal life is learning to love because love is the emotion that will make mortality and immortality worthwhile.
21
Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us and pigs treat us as equals. All as it should be.
22
When love is chosen its twin heartache, will accompany it
To choose to love one must also choose the potential of pain
In mortality Love cannot be chosen without the pain of heartache
Yet, Heartache can only be comforted by love
23
Satisfying legitimate needs by illegitimate means is wrong, see: Gal. 5:16
24
Our life is like an airplane
When we start out in life we are in a nosedive, Pam 51:5. Rom 2:14, We need to learn to add the power and then nose up 1 Cor. 2:14, The natural man is an enemy to God: Mosiah;
Obidiah vs 1, ‘The pride of heart has deceived you’. The deceptive pride of The Book of Mormon is when the believer thinks or believes that “All is well in Zion (their personal Zion of the heart and character) which Nephi teaches is the first sign of apostasy.
25
The greatest threat to the securities of freedom and faith is thinking it can’t happen to me.
26
Even atheists have second thoughts!
27
Ignorance, like being imperfect is not a sin. The sin is thinking your not ignorant or imperfect.
The Sin of pride is believing your knowledge is sufficient and your actions are righteous
28
Check the root of our sins and weaknesses: for God Cannot look upon sin with any degree of allowance. Our hopeful wish is that God will be merciful and that there will be an absence of consequence in this life or the next for the character we have chosen to develop. The allowance we hope for, God says He does not have, for mercy cannot rob justice. And exercising ‘faith unto repentance’ Alma 34:15-17 (the change of character) is our only hope.
29
Alma states that it is ‘necessary that there be space between death and the resurrection. The spirit world is like the recycle bin. We all belong to the terrestrial or telestial trash pile at best, and the spirit world is where the recycling process is increased, and the refiner's fire is stoked. The opportunity is on earth and in the spirit world, but we make the choice, to remain as we are or to be recycled into celestial material.
30
It is the desire to change for the better by man coupled with a faith in Christ that initiates the necessary elements for mercy and salvation to take place.
31
James and John asked the Savior to set at his right and left hand: Christ taught them and us, that it wasn't in his power to give that right, but those who prepare themselves earn that right. He doesn't make favors as he is no respecter of persons.
32
A covenant-making person is one who promises to be obedient. A covenant is a promise of obedience hence the Hebrew: “karat Berith”, meaning to “cut a covenant” the ancient oath and covenant. The covenant path is a path of obedience to particular laws for the purpose of changing character, not blind or rote obedience. Duty must change into Desire.
33
Strength is choosing the harder right, rather than the easier wrong. Righteousness and wickedness are determined by choice, only when both are present. “There needs be opposition” 2 Ne. 2. Both are always there. Even though it may be between good and better, easy or easier, hard or harder, the choice is there.
34
Xt (Christ) spoke to leaders and members and almost nowhere in the NT was He complementary to either. The Leadership messages by Christ were almost always condemning and His teachings to membership and believers were always improvement and commitment with a focus on faith in Him. All was never well in the Zion of the New Testament Jews: The words of Xt were of Chastisement, Improvement, Loving, Regret, and Instruction
35
An old Jewish tradition stated that there were two types of men excommunicated from the presence of God 1. A man that will not marry a wife and 2. A man that has a wife and decides to have no child.
36
Your past becomes a hitching post or a guidepost on the path to the future
37
JFK. Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. Likewise the righteous do not ask or dwell on what God can do for us, but what we can do for God. Alma 7.
38
If there were no Jewish nation there would be no Bible, without a Jewish people there would be no Christ, and without Christ, there would be no church, without a Church there would be no change. The standard growth rate in any organization: 43% growth rate by immigration (conversion)
39
‘Preprayer’ the ground to plant the seeds of faith.
40
2 Chron 7:14 the preparation required for spiritual revival
41
Where is the spiritual revival?
What does it take to have a spiritual revival? (BOM ‘for the convincing of Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, is a spiritual revival)
Every nation has a beginning middle and end. Why is the US absent in the Bible and especially the Book of Revelation? (as some believe)
National lifetimes:
Babylon. 86 years
Persia. 208 Yrs.
Greece. 268 Yrs.
Rome. 9 Cen
British 250 Yrs.
U.S. and the Constitution ?? 250 yrs??
Amercia may not be mentioned in script because of the spiritual revivals that have taken place here, when that ends and we choose wickedness rather than righteousness the constitution will fail and the U.S. will fall from within. The greatest threat to a culture is the culture itself. Political implosions always, that’s always, take place because of spiritual wickedness. This is the testimony of the historical and scriptural record of all secular and religious empires.
Half if all Americans claim to be born again if only 1/3 were Christians that would be about 100 million Americans who could control every election in every district.
There have been 4 key Spiritual awakening time periods in American history
1-1700 Johnathon Edwards George Whitfield. Preaching to over 30000 people at one time 1740-1742. 25-50 thousand people became believers from a nation of about 300000
2- 1790-1840 the great awakening
Charles Finny camp meetings Abe Lincoln Joseph Smith
3-1857-1859. Prayer mtg in NY. With a stock mkt crash
50000 converted from March to May result in 1 million
4- 1960’s- 70s Jesus movement
Haabbuk 3:2 explains that Spiritual revivals start in the heart
Calamity is always the best backdrop for a spiritual revival, the loss of hope and need for God. People desperate for physical survival embrace spiritual revival as in the cases presented in the BOM, The wars, the Zoramites (Alma 32) and the destructions of 3 Nephi. Christ always comes and the dispensations become the resets to spiritual reformations and revivals. We need another reset, and it’s coming. When the ‘conscience is seared’ (Isaiah) like ancient Israel and the Nephites, both in their respective ‘Promised Lands’ their “destruction is made sure” (BoM)
42
2 Chron 7:14
When Israel finished their New temple, the Lord says this is what you do when you mess up
43
When troubles come God does not point his finger at nor Blame governments or nations he points his finger at the hearts and character of the people. These are the deed restrictions for the promised land of the Book of Mormon (BoM)
44
The body and the spirit are in constant underline "constant" need of nourishment. It is easy to recognize when the body is hungry and easy to find places to get filled. It can be the fridge, a restaurant, maybe fast food. When hungry our mind sends the signals to our stomach and mind to search, find, and consume. Do we spend the same amount of time and energy each day to nourish the spirit? Do we recognize spiritual hunger pains? Is the search for spiritual nourishment as pronounced and desperate as it is for McDonalds' when hungry? Have we numbed the spiritual hungry pains training the spirit to fast every day but Sunday? Are we physically obese yet spiritual skeletons because of self-starvation and a bulimic nature. Google maps Do not show the nearest spiritual restaurants like it does the favorite LDS buffets. Physical energy requires fuel on a regular basis because the fuel runs out. Spiritual energy also requires fuel and probably more often however the gauge may be broken or unused. Just as the fuel tank of the body (the stomach) holds but does retain or store fuel of food because it is just the beginning of the process of energy conversion. The spiritual tank also receives fuel for spiritual energy but likewise, this tank cannot retain because it is filled with holes and quickly leaks.
For this reason, the scriptures teach we need to be filled over and over again, with the spirit. Because of the natural man our spiritual tanks are full of holes. The spirit leaks out because of life, pride, selfishness, the people we hang out with the jokes we listen to, the things we watch, our words, works, and our thoughts. Our spiritual thanks are riddled with earthly holes that can only be patched with the glue of obedience and sealed by light and truth. This is why Alma asks those once born again "can you feel so now". All must search, discover and find your spiritual service stations (the scriptures, conference talks, good music) fill up often on the premium word of God. This must be done again and again until all the holes are patched, and the spirit becomes our constant companion, having no more disposition to do evil. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled with the HG.
45
It's not a sin to be ignorant or imperfect. It's only a sin to think your not.
46
U don't. Clean your life up to come to Xt you come to Xt to help clean your life
48
Simple things for salvation:
Hair of a dog
Naman
The serpent on the cross
BoM because of the simpleness of the way many were lost (Moses and the serpent)
Faith unto repentance. Character change
Heb 9 states that the real deal is in heaven
Rev 12 Satan’s power overcome by blood.
48a
If you don't die first you will run out of time to repent. The days of men are prolonged that they might repent.
49
The real Holy water is found in the tears of love... love of the righteous
50
God exists not to make the world around you better but to make you better able to live in a fallen world with the evils of nature and of man, Alma 7
51
The members or priesthood leaders didn't make the rules or design the plan of salvation and happiness or the physical body. God did. The rules or commandments of God are to help strengthen our spirit and improve our character amid the weakness of the flesh and mind and therefore are not restricted to an archaic time period, but the duration of human mortality. This, because the nature and constitution of mankind haven't changed since the first man (JS) and vanity, selfishness, and pride coupled with the desires of the flesh the weaknesses or ignorance of the mind, and the self-survival of the personal ego to act without consequence or condemnation and sin without guilt demands that they portray themselves as a victim of intolerance rather than their own choice. There is an eternal standard for the individual's happiness on earth and in heaven that is given by God and that standard cannot change any more than God can. Those who want the church to change to accept their weakness are subtly asking the church to accept everyone's weaknesses (for all sins are the weaknesses of flesh and mind) not understanding that these are Gods rules, God’s scriptures, and this is Gods church and God governs by His eternal standard and that the priesthood leadership MUST use this standard as the standard. Commandments are not restrictions but recipes for happiness. Therefore, God cannot change for the better, for he is already perfect, and he will not change the perfect to make things worse. God 'cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance' not for the punishment or condemnation of man but for the happiness of man in this life and in the next.
Who could believe in a God that could change his mind or violate his own laws? It is only the character that chooses to sin (willful disobedience) that separates man from God, not God.
52
Everyone has an internal GPS system that is always asking: why we are here, what is the purpose of life and where are we going after death. Heb. 11. Make sure Your spiritual GPS is plugged into the right power outlet.
53
Abraham sought (Abr 1:2; 2:12) for and found God, he desired a heavenly country.
and he sought to listen to God. He was a follower of righteousness and possessed great knowledge but wanted to be a greater follower of righteousness and possess a greater knowledge. This is one of the fundamentals of righteousness. Abraham wanted to know and understand more so that he could be more righteous, and more obedient. Righteousness like knowledge will come line upon line and precept upon precept, as Abraham explained
54
We often spend more time asking for blessings than we ever do asking for forgiveness. The greatest blessing and miracle that one can receive or give in life or death is forgiveness that comes from God and the forgiveness we give our fellow man. The angels envy mankind for two things; the ability to repent and the ability to forgive.
55
Scriptures:
the Labor of hands is for the mouth, but the soul can remain unsatisfied (Haggi)
56
Life is a game so suit up, your in the middle of life and you don't quit in the middle of the game.
57
Scriptures
Hebrews 12:14
Without holiness cannot see god
Character change
58
Forgiveness is not an emotion but an act of agency and therefore a manifestation of character.
59
We are not a body or person with a spirit, we are a spirit with a body in mortality, a body that's is weak and will sin and eventually will die. We should always be preparing for the death of the body and the life of the spirit. ‘Take no thought of the body or the life of the body but of the spirit and the life of the spirit’ (? D&C101)
60
Because the spirit is eternal, birth like Death is an event our spirits will live through. Our spirits live through birth in a physical body coming into a physical world and our spirits will live through death without that physical body the same as it did at birth. The resurrection is the inseparable connection of our spirit to a body and the glory for which each are prepared.
61
We often spend money we don’t have
to buy things we don't need
to impress people we don't even like.
62
Loving God and one another creates an intrinsic power of exaltation that transcends the dimensions of time and space.
63
What will be your answer when God asks why He should let you into heaven... because what?
64
No sinner today has yet sinned tomorrow.
65
If God has given us our life, should we not ask him how to live it? Should we not read His operator's manual.
66
Would you rather be warned of a danger or wake up in the ambulance?
??Would you rather be given rules and commandments or wake up in hell??
67
The purpose of Obedience to the commandments is to help the individual change their character
68
Submitting our will to God's will is not enough. Exaltation is dependent upon our will becoming the same as God's will.
69
The purpose of life can only found by the individual when they find Christ for their life
70
This lone and dreary world is a spiritual desert, and only the love of God and our fellow man can satisfy a spiritual thirst
71
Any pleasure that jeopardizes the sacred rights of another is an illicit pleasure and any happiness that is realized from the discomfort of another is Ungodly
72
By looking at me you can tell my mama dropped me in a good grass year
73
Chicken is one of the few things you can eat before it's born and after it's dead
73a
The most healthy foods (fruits and vegetables) available to man are directly connected to the reproductive process of the plant.
74
In Hebrew faith is not, nor does it ever appear as a noun but is only defined as a verb
75
We all know people that are unable to stop talking about High School or their Missions, If the best two years of your life were your mission then I feel sorry for you. The last year should have been the best year of your life. The past can be only a signpost or a hitching post
76
The three most important words for mortality is "get over it"
78
The victim cannot ever progress spiritually. Blaming others for your unhappiness is a fool's errand and will result in a wasted unhappy life.
79
We are living in an era of spiritual disconnection as the belief in God is overshadowed by the philosophies of Korihor and the teachings of anti-Christ
80
Almost all the New Testament was written to perfect the saints, only a few verses of the gospels and some of the passages in Acts focus on conversion, but the rest are centered on perfecting and ensuring the saints.
81
Romans 12. Is the chapter for the Renewing of the mind
82
With all the wars and natural disasters, diseases and accidents; no one has ever died that shouldn't. Everyone will die sooner or later, ‘for it is given to every man to die’
83
Our greatest enemies are money and power, lusts of the flesh, and the vain things of the world. These are the things that caused the fall of the Nephite nation according to the Historian of the Nephites, Mormon (3 Ne. 6 ?)
84
Psalms/Prov. Where there is no vision the people perish. What is the vision? The end goal? It is Xt, and the presence of God.
85
At my age it is not important to "cease the day" it's imperative that I “Survive the day”.
86
Some do not want to come to church because they feel guilty and believe others at church make them feel guilty. These are those who want to be saved in their sins rather than from their sins. Christ said that “there are none righteous, no not one”.
87
Just as the body and the spirit need nourishment so also do the body and spirit have and need pain.
Physical pain saves our lives, and Spiritual pain (guilt) is given by God to help us correct a destructive course and take a saving course of action. To save our spirit is even more important than saving our life
Guilt is a good thing when we understand the relationship of the atonement in our relationship with god rather than the guilt producers who rely on tradition and opinion to manipulate others by getting them to feel guilty for not satisfying their personal arms of flesh. Script:
Take no thought of the body...or the life of the body but of the soul and the life of the soul.
Lose your life for My sake...
88
Survey of liberals and Democrats about their feelings about the standard of scripture
Am culture and faith institute
George Barna
89
Conscience and morals are always learned by scripture, parents, friends, teachers, or the world. 'Choose wisely' Indy.
90
To be guided by the spirit you must always remember him (sacrament prayer)
91
Don't focus on raising a teenager, try and raise a righteous adult. The gospel is new to every generation
92
Everyone needs a goa, compass, and a map and guide. Christ states: ‘I am the way truth and the life and no man comes unto the Father but by me’ I will be your guide to where I am, and the glory I have. (Jn. 13-17)
93
Some are fearful and uncomfortable with becoming spiritually overweight. So they prefer; Jesus lite, Christian lite, scripture lite, and Mormon lite.
94
Knowing the score before you watch the game will change your attitude when you see the problems and issues of each play. Knowing the end of life, the score between God and Satan, Good and Evil, should change your attitude about the problems and issues of life, and should make one want to be on the wining side.
95
Love is not giving a child what they want, but what they need. It sometimes takes firm restrictions to set a child free
96
Spiritual failures exist and are recorded in history and scripture so that the following generations might have greater spiritual successes and experiences, coming ever closer to God and His Son and the establishment of Zion. However, if the scriptures are not read and understood (likening them unto ourselves) to glean the spiritual failures of the past (a record of a fallen people) then the generations of the future will leave a more mournful history to a future generation that will chronicle a greater spiritual failure than the self-deprived spiritual zombies of the scriptural past.
Scriptures exist for spiritual progression and if they are unused ignored or replaced by the arms of flesh then the ensured progression of the natural man will be away from the God who has and is speaking and teaching, through the scriptural record.
The person that believes that spiritual progress is possible without a scriptural standard does not understand the love of God. Nor do they understand how He works and His purpose in providing in scripture a spiritual history and standard for the benefit of man. Guardrails are for protection against the life-threatening dangers and pitfalls of mortality. The iron rod (scriptures) is not only a spiritual lifeline that will lead one safely to the tree of life, but a guardrail to protect the spiritual pilgrim from the raging rapids of a river of filthy water that threatens every step along the path.
To minimize the value of the guardrail and ignore the importance of the lifeline is tantamount to spiritual suicide. Despite education and station (power or money) of life, Only the bereft and blind fool will refuse to ‘grasp firmly and hold tightly' to the iron rod as they stumble through the blinding mists of spiritual darkness.
Trusting in the arms of flesh including one's own perspective and education often causes more blindness than absolute darkness. The cataracts of pride not only blind the mind but also the heart to the light and truths of scripture, even more so than the mists of spiritual darkness discussed in Lehi's dream. The scriptures that testify of Christ should be the springboard into every discipline thought and action. All of world history is nothing more than the battle that rages between Satan’s spiritual Babylon and the establishment of Zion, and we can only be on one side, as Christ stated that 'we are unable to serve two masters.' Because of this battle and knowing the end result (from scripture) that 'Babylon will fall,' should inspire everyone to prepare to stand in the winner’s circle. Knowing how the game ends beforehand should affect one's choice of team and their participatory action and reaction to the details of the game itself. The end of the game is not only predicted but prophesied with an accurate detail found in scripture that is more sure than any playbook can outline. There are two books used in every game, the “rule book” and the “playbook” the first for everyone, the second is private.
97
The night is a reset time and a magic time machine. It immediately gets me from supper to breakfast and more important, I cannot sin while sleeping. Repent today because nobody has yet sinned tomorrow. The purpose of the sacrament is a weekly reset in our covenant of obedience.
98
Are we members or attenders of church? Valiancy in the testimony of Christ is what separates those in the Celestial kingdom from the others.
99
When I wake up in the morning, I move a little slower than the second coming
100
Rom. 4:13-15 Spiritual health. If the doctor of spiritual health put the stethoscope on your spiritual would he find? Cardiac arrest? 1 John 2:6. Are we spiritual Zombies.
101
Jn. 13 becoming a disciple of Xt. Matt 5 salt and light. Jn. 15:8-10.
Act 6:7 even the priests became converted
102
The threat is always from ourselves; we make ourselves the Endangered species. And the threat is not from without but from within. Mosiah “for this is my church and nothing shall overthrow it, save it be the transgression of my people” (Mosiah 25 ??)
Men were created a little lower than the Gods and angles, not a little higher than the apes
103
Abide or continue in my word: Jn 15. Abide means "obtain life from".
If you abide in me and my word, you obtain life from Him and His words.
104
If you don't understand what you read in scripture; seek to understand three verses rather than reading three chapters just so you have bragging rights.
105
Is your horizontal behavior affecting your vertical relationships? That means, are your worldly worries affecting your heavenly goals? What on earth are you doing for heaven’s sake?
106
Romans 8; to be spiritually minded is the food of life. When we feed the physical body more than the spirit we then and willfully subject the spirit to the body until the conscience is seared (Isaiah). Romans 8:14 as many as are led by the spirit are the sons of god
107
Traditions and traditional dogma, opinions, and interpretations are (Matt 15) stronger than pure doctrine.
108
Those who serve greatest, have often hurt the deepest
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Some Receive the atonement and others neglect the atonement. The adulterous woman and the pharisee in the NT who comes to bathe the Savior’s feet. The two thieves on the crosses with Christ, one says ‘save me’ if your God, (temporally) and the other, ‘remember me’ on the other side of the veil.
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No one knows nor understands the power and strength of temptation except those who have not yielded to the temptation. The strength of will is not determined by how long you endured before giving in to your weaknesses, but the strength comes when you endured to the end of the temptation. It is then that your weakness begins to become a strength as Moroni explains in Ether.
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Why did God let this happen?
Delays from God are not necessarily denials, sometimes supposed setbacks are really set-ups for better opportunities. Seeing The big picture always involves time. Sometimes shorter sometimes longer, “where there is no vision the people perish”.
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Everything is done by God or allowed by God and always for the better because he is perfect
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We don't like to use the word death
There are Names for those who experience the death of a loved one like, Widow, widower, orphan, but there is no name for a person who loses a child.
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He that is greatest among you is the servant of all
The success and measure of a man is not based on how many servants he has but how many he serves.
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Bad company corrupts good morals. The deviant will first seek company for justification. This he will do in two steps. First: try to Seduce and tempt others to join, and Second: if the temptation doesn’t work the next move is Intimidation (see: Satan in Moses 1).
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Aberrant behavior always expands because sin is contagious. Righteousness must be cultivated and tended. Like the noxious weeds that grow freely and naturally in the lone and dreary temporal world into which Adam was cast. The bread that sustains life must be worked for, cultivated ‘by the sweat of the brow’ by labor in ‘sorrow’ we must work all our days for the righteousness of spiritual survival.
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The road-atlas to the presence of God was presented in the pre-earth council. It is here on earth that we begin to travel those roads we saw so long ago. In perfection we begin as all ‘Children are whole from the foundation of the world’ (Moses 6) when we are born (without sin). It is here that we learn to find our way back if not distracted. We must enter the right gate, for by ‘water we keep the commandment’ by the spirit we must be justified, and by the blood are we sanctified’ (Moses 6:60). While on the roads of life we are diverted by the advertisements and adventures if we would only take the next exit and follow the detour signs.
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Wickedness is not wanting to change character for the better i.e. Repent. Hence a broken heart and contrite spirit is the sacrifice required to begin the process of repentance or a humility that recognizes personal imperfections and the need for change.
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Don't worry about the woodpeckers, worry about the termites. Threats on the outside should not become the worries, it’s always the menace found on the inside that leads to a fall. It’s the unseen enemy that is always the greatest threat to our body, mind and spirit.
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All the water in the world, no matter how hard it tried, could ever sink the smallest ship, unless it got inside. A man doesn’t trip over Mount Everest but he can break his neck on a crack in the sidwalk.
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Only a repentant person can spiritually survive in an unrepentant world
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At the Tomb of Unknown Solider: After walking 21 steps and then returning, Over and over again, three words are spoken at the changing of guards: “Orders remain unchanged”
The scriptures are the orders that remain unchanged, for God is the same today yesterday and forever. Commandments are not restrictions but character recipes for happiness, that are given by a loving God to help us create the nature and character necessary to return to God.
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If your intake is greater than your output, then your upkeep will be your downfall
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Choice is a ‘give and take’ phenomena: You make (take) your choices and your choices render (give) the consequences that make your character
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God does his best work when man is asleep. The Scriptures explain that a deep sleep came upon Adam, and Eve was created. No one can sin when they are sleeping.
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Questions open the Doors of Revelation. The Revelation then Creates Clarity. And then the Clarity Instils Commitment. This is the message of Moses and Abraham.
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The meaning of Christmas
In one sentence Paul gives the purpose we rejoice at Christmas time.
4. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Gal 4:4-5)
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Do the hidden realities of a spiritual world have any effect on our visible physical world? Oh, yes!
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Classes are to supplement your study of the scriptures; not supplant or take the place of your personal scriptural study. Study the scriptures 'mingled with commentary' rather that study the commentaries mingled with scripture.
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Gen. 18:18-19 Abraham Will teach his children.
Once we know the Gospel, as did the Children of Abraham:
Det. 13:3-4 God will test us that we may know if we will follow and fear the God of Abraham.
We become our own witnesses, for the prosecution and /or the defense, at the bar of God. This because we will ‘have a bright recollection of our guilt’ becoming ‘judges of our own selves’. Our confidence will wax strong or we will shrink from the presence of God.
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The Secular World View:
Paul explains: The Worlds relationship with God. (Rom. 3:10-18)
10. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15. Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16. Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17. And the way of peace have they not known:
18. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Because of the above the restoration is needed: (D&C 1:14-16)
14. And the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people;
15. For they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant;
16. They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall.
What is the Lord going to do about it? (D&C1:17-34)
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We cannot sin against God (except blasphemy against the Holy Ghost)
We can only sin against ourselves.
Sin is the self constructed dam against personal spiritual progression, not a judgment of god.
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Psalms 111:10. Wisdom begins in the fear of God. "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom"
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Listen to the voice of faith rather than the voice fear.
Joshua and Caleb compared the strength of people of the land Canaan to the strength of the Lord. They saw that there was no comparison.
The other 10 spies compared the strength of people of the land Canaan to their own strength, the strength of man and were afraid.
The faith of Caleb is seen in the scriptural description of his spiritual character. Caleb “Wholly followed the Lord” See: Num. 14:24, 32:12, Deut. 1:34-36, Josh. 14: 8-9, 14.
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There is a big difference from being in the comfort zone and being in the end zone.
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Scriptures magnify God like a telescope can magnify the stars: Neither makes any difference to mankind until we see the grandeur of God through the scriptures and the magnificence of the starry heavens through a telescope. We are ‘as the dust of the earth’ compared to God. We all will eventually get sick and die no mater what we do. Very little happens in life that is in our total control, save it be our choice to do good or evil and therefore a choice of eternal consequence. The fascination of superheroes is because we have no control. There is an innate desire to see the superheroes use supernatural powers to control and destroy evil. The only total control is supernatural and lies only in God; His words, His works, His power, and His authority, and God will destroy evil.
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Solomon wisely taught that ‘there is nothing new under the sun’.
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Look at me, I am proof that time is a great healer, but a very poor beautician.
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Everyone will die. If there is life after death, then there is a God. If God exists, then there is a plan. If there is a plan, then there will be justice and judgment. If justice and judgments is a reality, then there IS a purpose for life. If there is purpose to life, there is potential of failure.
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What have you got to lose by being a Mormon? Nothing. You will be a better person, raise a better family with morals and values, etc. etc. What have you got to lose by being a non-Mormon? Everything. I would rather be a believer and know I’m going to hell, than a non-believer and not know where the hell I’m going.
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The average lifespan is approximately 27,375 days.
Sleeping or working you have about 500 days. "Number your days". Counting time is not as important as making time count. We should Acknowledge the shortness of life. We cannot really take this life seriously until we take the next life seriously. We cannot know the purpose of this life until we know and understand the work and glory of God. Only when we are prepared to die are we prepared to live.
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Believer or non-believer: If orthodoxy is not right then orthopraxy cannot ever be correct.
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The "explosive power of the greater force" always has control. The way to destroy darkness is turn on the explosive power of light. The darkness and power of Evil can and always be controlled and destroyed by the greater power of Good and of God.
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God will forgive sin but will not always exempt the sinner from the consequences of the forgiven sin in mortality. There are forgivable and unforgivable sins as there are pardonable and unpardonable in the next life.
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The total volume of water in a London blanket of fog covering the surface of one acre (42,000+ sq ft) and one meter deep would not quite fill an ordinary drinking glass with water.
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Faith and presumption are different
Hebrew defines faith as a ‘conviction that is a concrete assurance’ in one’s life. It is the outward behavior of an inward belief and conviction.
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Psalms. 91, The Messiah
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He has more money than God’s ex-wife
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A Sin is anything that distracts us from developing the character that loves God and our fellow man. Wickedness is not wanting to repent and change our character. Wickedness is not wanting to be better; Sin is not trying to be better. Evil is stopping others from wanting and trying to be better
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Don't mistake gods mercy for gods tolerance of sin. Mercy might do away with the eternal consequence of sin but it doesn't do away with the temporal consequences of our choices
Eccl. 8:11
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Money is life's time converted into currency. There is only 168 hours in every week, no more and no less. Money is medium that represents our life’s time that can be used to exchange for another person’s time. Every paycheck represents your limited life’s time. The terrible question that will be asked of each of us: Is your life’s time locked away in the earthly temple we call a bank (constructed to look like a temple with the ‘holy of holies’ called the safe) or is our life’s time preserved in the Temple of God. Where your heart is at, is where your treasure will be found. Where do you bank your treasures?
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Blessings of our time, talents, and income are not given by God to consume for ourselfs, but to be involved, with him, and in his work. We are not to be commanded in all things, but to do good of our own will. Our agency is given to us to do as we choose. God is just our general manager providing all we need to accomplish the requested outcome. God commands but does not compel.
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Who is your life coach?
Many pay ‘big’ money to have a life coach. (Average cost of a life coach is $200 per hour) The best LC would be the one who sees the big picture, a view of the past, present, and future. A LC with a true perspective of the future would be priceless.
What should you look for in a LC.
-Powerful
-Honest, real, true, and authentic.
-Caring, empathetic, concerned.
-Teacher, guide, leader.
-Willing to give His life for you in the process of helping you become better.
Where do you find this Life Coach? In the Yellow Pages or in the Scriptures?
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Mark 10:17-27, Wealth is not a sign of righteousness. The promise to the faithful is that their needs will be provided, not that they will be blessed with their wants and excesses. We often have the tendency to think that because a person is wealthy, that God is blessing them, and the consequential subconscious conclusion is that their wealth is a sign of their righteousness. On the contrary! The most wicked are often the wealthiest. The Greek philosopher Plutarch made an interesting observation by stating that: ‘a wealthy man is a dishonest man, or the heir of one’. The Prophet Jacob in the BoM also made a similar statement by saying: ‘wo unto the rich for they despise the poor’. Period, end of story, no ‘maybe’ or ‘might’. What Jacob was saying was that having more than you need is a sign that you ‘despise the poor’. Heaven help us all.
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James 1:12-16.
Where there is no desire there is no temptation (James 1:14). We test drive the shinny new car knowing we will be tempted. Who can pass the See’s Candy store without wanting to sample ‘anything’ they offer? In the old days I used hope for a free meal just eating samples at Costco. The marketing of Madison Ave knows that temptation is the foundation of sales, and second only to temptation is need. A good salesman will focus on both at the same time. Once you have taken the first bite the sample cannot be returned.
1 Cor. 10:13. Everyone can walk away from sin and temptation, if they want. Succumbing to sinful desires, causes a separation from the needs of reality. Reality exists in the realm of the sacred and choosing the temptations of the flesh and the world, separates us from the light of Christ. Surrendering to the temptation will condition and train one to love darkness more than the light.
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Only when you reach the point that you know and understand there is no spiritual hope without Christ, the Atonement and Resurrection, does salvation really begin. When salvation is realized the Christian heart will turn to the salvation of others. When Enos knew of his salvation he began to pray for others including his enemies.
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Destruction from God comes not because of ones vote or even the choice of leaders but because of the corrupt morals and values of the individuals within a nation
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Friends, are an apologetic gift from God for the relatives we have.
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God’s will, His works, His word and His ways: will always work for our benefit.
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When We study Gods word we can discover His will and then begin to understand the purpose of His works and by so doing, Christ will become our way, our truth and life
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Without standards your own mind, becomes your religion, your church, and your doctrine.
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The covenant virtues of the temple are as worthless as the Tower of Babel in reaching the presence of God unless these virtues become unconscious character traits.
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Do you discipline your children as severely when they put their spiritual life in jeopardy as you do or might when they put their physical life in danger? Like playing in the middle of the street.
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A person doesn't need to know everything, nor can they know everything there is on earth, but here we should learn to want to know everything.
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God’s love is not a pampering love, it is a perfecting love. ‘God chastens those whom he loves’ A truth that every teenager doesn’t believe, and every adult doesn’t want to believe
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As King Benjamin reveals: There is No salvation until there is an inward conviction, a realization of why we need Christ his atonement and resurrection. This conviction of the need of a Savior, precedes any lasting conversion.
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Joseph that was sold into Egypt by His brothers, becomes a symbol or our relationship with Christ and our conversion to Christ.
Joseph as a Savior of his family:
Despised and Rejected,
Exalted with rule and authority,
Shows mercy and love,
Forgives and restores,
Christ in the story of Joseph as Savior of Humanity.
1 Beloved Son,
2 Rejected Servant,
3 Exalted Sovereign
4 Seeking Savior.
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The "C's" of Salvation in the Story of Joseph
Gen 45:1-3.
Confrontation with Christ Gen. 42:5; 23-24 and the Gospel. Joseph "speaks roughly unknown to them." The word of God can be rough in order to "work upon the heart" some said that Christ spoke ‘hard things’. People most often come to Christ when they are in trouble and in despair. Joseph and Christ caused them pain, yet both weeps privately over them. ‘Oh Jerusalem, Oh Jerusalem’. He suffers pain also as he brings us to a personal pain to save us. Life may break our hearts, but it has already broke his heart (Alma 7)
Conviction by Christ vs 3 "I am Joseph" he declares to his brothers, we will realize who Christ is, as when Joseph revealed himself, "they were troubled" (terrified) nobody can be saved until they see the sovereignty of God. Under their own conviction they recognize their sinful state and the power to save them is only by and because of the person they rejected. We should cry God be merciful to me. They see themselves as sinners in the presumed death of Joseph their brother, worthy of judgment and death. Joseph is seen by them as resurrected and in the glory of the throne of Egypt. Then he reveals the safety in their salvation that con only come because of who he is.
Conversion to Christ vs 4 Joseph says "come near to me" Christ says come unto me. You are guilty but I have overruled justice to show mercy. God has sent me before to save you. Joseph doesn't minimize the sin of his brothers, but he exalts the wisdom and Power of God. They are now under new management. Vs. 6-7 Joseph knows the future and how to save them because of his exalted position. Vs. 8 you didn't sin against me, it was God who sent me here to save you.
The Commission. It is an invitation, Vs. 9 go up. Vs. 4 says come – vs. 9 says go the commission is to Come and be saved. Joseph makes missionaries out of those who now know. Come and live with me and bring your family. Tell your family of all my glory. Come and be saved live with me and share my glory.
The Communion: Vs. 14-15. Come embrace and weep in my kingdom. Tears of joy. Eve states about her transgression in the Garden declaring that because of the transgression her eyes were open to the “joy of our redemption”.
The Completion vs 16. Laden your beasts with your family and come unto me “regard not your stuff”, ‘take no thought’
Vs 20, go and serve me I will give you all you need, and provide for you, regard not your stuff.
When this happens, when we participate in the “C’s” of Salvation, Christ his atonement grace and mercy will become as real in your life as your spouse and more so.
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Character is not changed until our thoughts, actions, and obedience are done because of desire rather than duty.
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Enduring to the end means: when you don't understand you withstand in order to stand. This is purpose and reason to put on the armor of god
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Moses 6 teaches that because we are born into a sinful world, ‘sin conceives in our hearts’. We are fallen creatures. There are ‘none good but God’ and ‘none righteous no not one’ taught Christ. Isaiah says our righteousness is as ‘filthy rags’ and King Benjamin adds that ‘the natural man is an enemy to God’, and that if we were obedient we would still be ‘unprofitable servants’. We are ‘less than the dust of the earth’ according to Helaman, We aren't sinners (fallen) because we sin, we sin because we are fallen (they have become as one of us, knowing good from evil).
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We should be scripturally and doctrinally prepared to give an answer to every question.
1 Pet. 3:15, 15. “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”
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If you are going to be a nut make sure you are fastened to a good bolt
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The Honeymoon is in between the time when a woman says “I do” and says “you better”.
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Lukewarm is too good to be bad
And too bad to be good
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Living righteously is not just being obedient to commandments in order to be seen as better than others, because everyone will fall short. ("There are none righteous no not one" "there is none good but God") The faithful righteous are those individuals who are repenting trying (in their weaknesses) to be better than they were the day before. The Pharisees always compared their obedience to others to justify their righteousness. Humility compares itself to no other person than itself. Standing before God we see “our nakedness (nobody else's) and the glory of God” (Mormon 9:5)
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Obedience to commandments without change of character, is futile and blind obedience.
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Like the law of Moses, Obedience to the commandments is the schoolmaster of character change
Our obedience to the commandments is to help us change our character. Commandments are not restrictions but developmental aids for happiness in this life and the next. Commandments are targets of which to aim, and know when we need to take aim again (repentance)
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Salvation is free, but it is not cheap. It requires a consecrated life.
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There are Two fundamental religious beliefs for salvation. 1) Human Achievement and 2) Divine Achievement. Human Achievement is based on the works of obedience as the Jewish Doctors and Rabbi’s taught, and Abinadi questioned Noah about the law of Moses. Divine Achievement is founded in the Atonement and Resurrection of Christ and our “Faith unto Repentance”. Mercy is the combination of the sacrifice of Christ and of our contribution to the Atonement, the Human Choices to exercise ‘faith unto repentance’ while relying on Divine Power to satisfy the demands of justice.
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Righteousness is not determined by comparing Man to man but man to Christ and His Father:
‘Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect’
Satan’s greatest success, and the foundation of pride is the use of Competition or ‘competitive comparison’. No where in scripture is competition between man sanctioned as righteousness. We are not to try and be better than others but ‘seek the interest of our neighbor’ and become (loving God and Mankind) perfect like our father in heaven is perfect. The self-righteous, the proud and the hypocrite, always compare themselves to other people.
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What's the biggest difference between Belize and Miami?
They speak English in Belize
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Matt 16: “Who do men say that I am”. It is not the prophet, your priesthood leaders, your parents or friends, not even Google or Wikipedia that can answer that question. Christ asked, “who do YOU” in your heart say that he is? It doesn't matter what others may think or say, Christ wants to know, “who do you say That I am”.
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Faith accesses the power of God
Priesthood accesses the authority of God
Therefore:
Exercise your faith and Honor your priesthood
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When you reject the truth or a standard of truth you are left only one option and that is to begin to believe a lie
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God tests, and Satan tempts: The temptations of Satan are most often realized while in the test that comes from God. The Abrahamic Test, which all must go through, is to be tested in our greatest weakness at our weakest moment. When we pass that test, we know, that we have the strength to endure to the end. Satan tempts Moses after being in the presence of God, when Moses is left unto himself, as God tests his prophet to see if he will be true and faithful to the light and knowledge he had just received. (Moses1)
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Whom do you blame for your spiritual starvation? No one but yourself. Jut like your physical health you must feed yourself spiritually as well as physically there are healthy foods for our body and spirit as well as junk foods that have little nourishment. You feed your own body and your own mind.
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God has given us a way to fight temptation. Two feet and a fast run.
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If you don't want to fall into temptation don't go where it's slippery.
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There are sins of commission and sins of omission. We are condemned more in scripture for what we haven't done than for what we have done. ‘He that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is a sin’ James 4:17. The parables of Christ in Matthew 25 explain that the condemnation, of the foolish, the unfaithful, and the goats, was because of what they did not do. The cry of those cast out was: “When saw we…” Even Joseph Smith taught that we will be condemned more for what we don't believe than for what we do.
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Envy always hates the excellence it cannot reach.
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Jealously is hatred without a cure.
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‘Every saved person on this side of heaven owes it to share the gospel to every unsaved person on this side of hell’ (C.S. Lewis)
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Like Daniel you must stand by your faith in your ease and security long before your faith is tested in the Lion’s den of trials, tribulations, and losses.
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God has promised that You will not be placed in a temptation that is uncommon to man and that He has not prepared a way for your escape.
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The faithful remnant will suffer physically with the unfaithful,l but while in that suffering the faithful need not suffer spiritually for they will rejoice in the ‘joy of their redemption’ and the hope of their future, as the unfaithful morn for their physical, spiritual and emotional loss.
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Satan is not and should not be your worry in life. the greatest threat to your salvation is you, yourself, your flesh and your ignorance.
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Sin is not what you do; sin is who you are. Christ suffered, died and rose to help YOU change YOU. This is why ‘none but the penitent are saved’. He died and suffered to ‘satisfy the demands of justice’ to give us a chance to change. The hidden value and meaning of the Atonement is the chance to change. To help us develop the character of God; the character that makes God, God. Only the law-giver himself has the authority to fulfill and satisfy the demands of the law. That sacrifice must be the Son of God, a sacrifice that is infinite and eternal, with the power to satisfy the demands of Justice. This ‘mercy’ provides to those who exercise faith unto repentance (the change of character) the time to perfect change. (See Alma 34)
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To worship and love God is not calculated by the good you have done for God, but the good you have done for others while recognizing the good God has done for you. This was the message of King Benjamin sermon and culminated when he said. ‘When you are in the service of others you are in the service of God’.
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‘God’s course is one eternal round’.
If you really believed in hell you wouldn't be playing golf.
Competition is Satan’s plan to instill pride in man so that man will compare himself to man. In humility the competition ceases as one realizes our need of God and recognizing our nothingness compared to God. And should compare ourselves and our character to that of God described as the pure love of Christ in Moroni 7.
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Christ died for Adams transgression. He died for our resurrection. He suffered in the Garden and on the Cross to help us return to dwell in the presence of God. He suffered in the garden to offer the ‘mercy’ for those who want to change. Mercy is an offer of the time required to change our character into the character of God. The suffering of Christ's for this ‘mercy’ is to satisfy the demands of Justice for those who have faith unto repentance or the change of character. Justice would demand that all who sin would die and forever be separated from God. The resurrection satisfies the demand of justice for eternal death (through the resurrection) and Mercy bars or satisfies the demands of Justice which would require an eternal separation from God. Mercy provides us the “time” to develop our character, until justice has no more demand or due, and God ‘remembers your sins no more’, and our ‘confidence waxes strong in His presence’. The perfecting change necessary for exaltation is not administered by miracle, ordinance, or magic wand, but by our agency and the time it takes to change our character by choice.
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The Church leadership doesn't make the doctrinal rules. God does through the scriptures. This is why there are standards. The church is organized to administer the gospel as contained in the scriptures. Church policy exists to best administer to the members based on the doctrines taught and found in the scriptures
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Those who are in troubled times without a faith and hope in Christ have nothing.
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Some members study hard, spending hours on the internet to become a disbeliever. They foolishly choose to believe those who hate the church and seek to destroy it. The quality of scholarship depends upon the sources used, and a person cannot be any smarter than the person, organization, or internet site they choose to believe. Some members seek to find fault in the Church and priesthood leadership from Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Restoration, to their bishop. The question is why? Is it to be accepted by peers and welcome a life and lifestyle contrary to righteousness? Doing this, they foolishly believe that their disbelief alleviates guilt and opens the door to the fun they think they are missing. The fun will wean and the guilt will return.
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Exaltation depends on: duty turning to devotion which must become desire
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Just as drugs and narcotics control and destroy the physical body, pride is the drug of the spirit that will eventually control and destroy our spirit. Pride, like drugs will lead to the other destructive habits and abuses that will create a character unworthy to dwell with God.
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Evangelism vs. Evandalism
Evangelism is to declare good news, to share it with others because of love. To seek to destroy another's faith is Evandalism.
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No matter how much you think you know? Without God you know nothing.
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Three things Paul said that we need to “know”. (1) Know God (‘for this is life eternal to know God’) (2) Know who you are with God, and (3) Know the power of God unto salvation.
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There are Three ways to look at life
(1) Toward God, (2) Toward others, (3) Toward ourselves. Upward, Outward, and Inward. Inward is the wrong direction. Be not wise in your own eyes is the council from the wisdom literature. Don't feed the body and starve the spirit. Spiritual survival is looking toward God and others, the correct world view is one that, ‘enveth not’ and ‘seeketh not its own’ (Moroni 7).
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The history of France records that when one brother dethroned his fat obese brother and took over the throne, he built a special cell in prison for his overweight brother. He built the cell with the door open, but to small for him to fit through. The dethroned king was brought food and pastries each day and was told that he could leave his cell any time he wanted. He never walked through the open door to leave his cell, because the food he ate became more important than his freedom. The freedom of faith in God is much more joyous than the open cell of habitual confinement and controlled thought, and especially the unending, undeserving, and unearned safety of socialism.
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As one gets older clothes become more comfortable and the ego becomes less concerned about how others see us. Nothing is worse than wearing clothes that are too small except pants with a twisted leg seam (can't wait to take the pants off). Likewise, as one matures in salvation one should become less concerned about the fads and fashions of the world. The spiritually mature will feel more uncomfortable with the world and our ungodly character traits seeking to be more comfortable with God. And like the twisted leg seam, the spiritually minded man can't wait to make the change, to escape from the uncomfortable world. The more comfortable we are with our relationship with God and our change of character the more happy we will become.
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If you are comfortable with yourself --your sinning
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Sin effects relationships because it is centered in pride the drug of the spirit
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Scriptures are the meals that sustains life on a day to day basis, providing the balance we need to remain healthy. The Liahona is the desert that compliments and finishes off the main meals. General conferences are the Easter and Thanksgiving feasts shared with family members. Nonetheless iis the daily meals that keep you alive.
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The Book of Revelation was written to provide a hope of the future for the righteous, rather than create a fear of the end of days. The events of the last days should cause fear in the ungodly.
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In Every war the enemy is overcome by persistence (enduring to the end). In the battle of life, it is filled with those who have died and those who will die. There is a D-day and a V-day one in life the other in death.
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Happiness comes from external influences. Joy comes because of internal influences.
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The helium balloon rises high, but in a few days will be on the ground not because something is wrong with the balloon but because the helium has leaked out. Our happiness is often dependent upon our helium (the spirit or Holy Ghost), but our joy may be renewed by being filled again and again through Church and sacrament activities. The leaks become larger if we complain and murmur until the spirit is withdrawn and we are left unto ourselves.
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Can't have a negative mentality and have a positive experience.
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We should study the scriptures mingled with commentary rather than read commentaries mingled with scripture.
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Today, because of the internet, the total knowledge in the world that is available to mankind doubles every year. It is estimated that in the next few years the total knowledge available to man will double every 12 hours. The great question remains; does the amount of truth double or is it the opinion, traditions, and interpretations.
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Ecclesiastes Chapter Eight Teaches:
Humility and Happiness is:
Knowing what you don't know. Verse 1
Living with what you don't like. Verses 2-6
Accepting what you can't explain. Verse 7
Enjoying what you can't change.
Discovering what you can't discover.
All things must be left to God. Verse 17
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Children are created by God to keep parents humble.
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Were you born in the Old or New Testament?
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God provided a memory in man to help him perfect his future, and a future to practice what he learned in the past.
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Guilt like pain is an integral part of living. Without pain we will find an early grave, without guilt there will be no repentance and change. (Alma 41-42)
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The past is past, you have made the choices that cannot be changed; however, your opinions and choices are open to change and yet to be made for the future. This is always true, in order to keep the past from controlling the future. Repentance is a daily activity for past mistakes. A person can’t repent for something they have not done, nor can forgiveness be purchased on credit. Tomorrow’s choices lie before us, the past works are already done and gone, and no one has yet sinned tomorrow.
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All those doing genealogy hope to find some relation to royalty. No doubt there are nameless peasants, slaves and sinners in my direct line, but not to worry, for all humanity are related directly back to Adam in about 100 generations +/-. God gives a promise of adoption into the royalty of Abraham and becoming the sons and daughters of God, an heir and joint heir with Christ. There is no such thing as 'blue blood', Christ came to give all mankind "power to become the sons of God" (Jn, 1).
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God works with what you have. God doesn’t use those who are equipt but equipts those whom he uses.
Elijah and widow with the oil and meal (1 Kings 17). [It never ran out]
Elisha and the widow and the oil. “borrow not a few” (2 Kings 4) [Had more than they needed]
Water to wine at the marriage in Cana. [The best wine was more than expected]
Feeding 5 thousand with a basket of two fish and five loves of bread. [12 baskets full remained]
David and Goliath, David had the sling shot. ‘That all Israel shall know that the God of Israel has done this thing’. [David had four stones left and became “the man”]
When you offer what you have, God fills in the blanks and needs with miracles. God will use what you can and will provide what you can't.
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Satan’s fun is always front end loaded; Gods saves the best for last, and the joys increase
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When the milk cow gives no milk, you have to take every drop from her.
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Jn 15. Without me you can do nothing.
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1 John. The word “know” shows up 39 times.
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The fool’s infinite knowledge is but a small drop in the ocean of knowledge
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When in the presence of God all your righteousness is but wickedness. We cannot stockpile gold bricks in heaven, There are no scales that weigh good and evil works to see which you have more of. you are, or you are not. (Ezekiel. 18)
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Don't spend your life looking for fools gold. Life is short so enjoy it each day
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The “good old days” are the today’s of tomorrow.
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Learn wisdom in your youth, yea in your youth learn to keep the commandments. (Alma 37:35)
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We should learn to say: “good morning Lord’ rather than saying: “Good Lord its morning”.
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Every family has a crazy aunt or uncle or cousin; if you don't know who it is, its probably you.
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God always answer prayers, the answer may not be what we expect, but it will be better than we expect.
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Turn each Mess into a message
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The synoptic gospels focus on the life and teachings of Christ, the gospel of John focused on the meaning of Christ's life. As each gospel begins with the nativity or ministry of Christ, John begins before the creation. In the beginning.
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Like creation accounts the gospels are pictures taken from different points of view for a better understanding.
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Life is not about searching it’s is about finding. Questions are for finding answers. Don’t spend your life searching for God. Find God early in life, and all answers will be found easily. Ecc. 12:
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Reflect on the past, live in the present, with a faith in the future
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The old cliché: ‘No pain no gain’ has been overstated. Nevertheless:
Challenges are necessary for life; we cannot get stronger without adding weight to the barbells. We cannot run further or faster without suffering and pushing ourselves to the limit. We should expect the challenges of life to make us stronger, likewise we should expect spiritual challenges to make our faith stronger. Like physical challenges, we must endure through to the end to realize the results of the suffering. For we ‘receive no witness until after the trial of our faith’. (Ether 12:6)
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Don’t ever, ever assume God is on your side
Pray that you will be wise enough to be on the same side as God
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Isa. 6. ‘Who shall I send’ spiritual success is not in the seating capacity; it’s in the sending capacity.
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Pray it forward, or ahead for your posterity, and vote ahead for that posterity
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Vote righteously not selfishly
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Be active on the political issues that will protect: the freedoms of faith, freedoms of choice, and freedoms to teach family values to your children and their children. If we do nothing the government will limit our faith, take away our choices, and teach their accepted morals and values to our children.
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The political message of the BoM is one that centers around protecting the faith, freedoms, and family values of the righteous as explained by Captain Moroni.