From Dad 10/13
Good morning!
The weather outside is fallish. The leaves are beautiful and the air is crisp. It is a good time of year. We love hearing about all the activities. You are all very busy with your families and school. The growing years are full of wonderful memories.
Mom and I are experiencing some new kinds of memories. We see a greater need for the gospel of Jesus Christ in people’s lives than ever before. Conference was a time of strengthening. When President Hinckley spoke Sunday morning it was a special time for me. I have always known he was a prophet of God. As he was speaking I felt this knowledge go deeper and deeper into my heart. We may ask ourselves why the world is more accepting of dead prophets. One thing, they can usually interpret what was written they way we want and apply the meaning to it that we want. In this was they become the prophets seeking a following. With living prophets from God, who speak, if we misinterpret what is said they can come back and correct us. Being corrected is not always seen by others as being desirable.
The other day a member of the Church, who is a friend with a young mother who has been learning more about the Church, gave me a book she received from this friend. The writer of the book has an average of 15,000 people attend his church service each week. This friend suggested they read a chapter and then meet once a week to discuss it. It seemed like an opportunity to better understand the things she had been taught and to help her understand the difference that the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ offers. Here are a few thoughts from the book.
You were made for God to serve Him. You exist for His benefit and His pleasure. God planned your life for you without your input. You were made from nothing to something. God made us because He desires worshippers. We are slaves of Jesus Christ. Jesus is still the friend of sinners. God wants you to be yourself. The truth is that there is nothing wrong with you. Estrangement from God has nothing to do with sin. One of the great gifts given you was to enjoy pleasure, because you were made in His image. The most common mistake Christians make is they look for a feeling. God removes our feelings so we won’t depend on them. God is more concerned that you trust Him than that you feel Him. God didn’t need a family. He has existed in loving relationship to Himself. To accept the invitation to be part of God’s family there is one condition: faith in Jesus Christ. As children of God we get to share in the family fortune. Healthy families have family pride. Baptism doesn’t make you a member of God’s family, the only biblical condition is that you believe. Receive His forgiveness for your sins. Receive His Spirit. Whisper the prayer: Jesus, I believe in you and I receive you; welcome to the family of God. The Church is not an organization. When you were born again you automatically became a part of God’s universal family. You can spend a lifetime searching for the perfect Church, but you will never find it. We aren’t God and never will be. We are humans. When we try to be God we end up most like Satan. Adam and Eve enjoyed an intimate friendship with God (How did they know something that was good before they ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil?). There was no religion and their relationship was unhindered by guilt or fear.
Here are a few thoughts about why the restoration was necessary and what some of the things were that were restored. It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance. D & C 131:6 By the power of the Holy Ghost you may know the truth of all things. Moroni 10:5 They have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away….(to) blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men. 1 Nephi 13:26-7. What are some of these teachings that were taken away? This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Moses 1:39 God is not selfish. His only interest is how can He serve us and make things better for us. Jesus said I go my way and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. John 8:21 I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. He that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven; and he that repents not, from him shall be taken even the light which he has received; for my Spirit will not always strive with man. D & C 1:31-3 Cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things. Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? D & C 6:22-3 You must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore you shall feel that it is right. D & C 9:8 By works is a man justified and not by faith only. James 2:24 Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3:5 He that entereth not by the door but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. John 10:1 And now if the Lamb of God, He being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfill all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, even by water. 2 Nephi 31:5 And God hath set some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that…governments, diversities of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:28 The only true and living Church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the Church collectively and not individually. D & C 1:30 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:48.
I know the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness is again on the earth today. This is a great blessing. By their fruits you shall know them. We look at our family and the happy moments you share with us each week and we can feel our testimonies grow. The validity of how the gospel helps us know peace of mind and true happiness increases in our hearts from day to day. We invite everyone who has not yet experienced these feelings to plant, nurture and from the harvest their own fruits know the love and goodness we receive through working daily to live as our friend and Lord lived for us.
Have a great week! May your smiles grow larger and your hearts warmer.
Love always,
Dad
The weather outside is fallish. The leaves are beautiful and the air is crisp. It is a good time of year. We love hearing about all the activities. You are all very busy with your families and school. The growing years are full of wonderful memories.
Mom and I are experiencing some new kinds of memories. We see a greater need for the gospel of Jesus Christ in people’s lives than ever before. Conference was a time of strengthening. When President Hinckley spoke Sunday morning it was a special time for me. I have always known he was a prophet of God. As he was speaking I felt this knowledge go deeper and deeper into my heart. We may ask ourselves why the world is more accepting of dead prophets. One thing, they can usually interpret what was written they way we want and apply the meaning to it that we want. In this was they become the prophets seeking a following. With living prophets from God, who speak, if we misinterpret what is said they can come back and correct us. Being corrected is not always seen by others as being desirable.
The other day a member of the Church, who is a friend with a young mother who has been learning more about the Church, gave me a book she received from this friend. The writer of the book has an average of 15,000 people attend his church service each week. This friend suggested they read a chapter and then meet once a week to discuss it. It seemed like an opportunity to better understand the things she had been taught and to help her understand the difference that the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ offers. Here are a few thoughts from the book.
You were made for God to serve Him. You exist for His benefit and His pleasure. God planned your life for you without your input. You were made from nothing to something. God made us because He desires worshippers. We are slaves of Jesus Christ. Jesus is still the friend of sinners. God wants you to be yourself. The truth is that there is nothing wrong with you. Estrangement from God has nothing to do with sin. One of the great gifts given you was to enjoy pleasure, because you were made in His image. The most common mistake Christians make is they look for a feeling. God removes our feelings so we won’t depend on them. God is more concerned that you trust Him than that you feel Him. God didn’t need a family. He has existed in loving relationship to Himself. To accept the invitation to be part of God’s family there is one condition: faith in Jesus Christ. As children of God we get to share in the family fortune. Healthy families have family pride. Baptism doesn’t make you a member of God’s family, the only biblical condition is that you believe. Receive His forgiveness for your sins. Receive His Spirit. Whisper the prayer: Jesus, I believe in you and I receive you; welcome to the family of God. The Church is not an organization. When you were born again you automatically became a part of God’s universal family. You can spend a lifetime searching for the perfect Church, but you will never find it. We aren’t God and never will be. We are humans. When we try to be God we end up most like Satan. Adam and Eve enjoyed an intimate friendship with God (How did they know something that was good before they ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil?). There was no religion and their relationship was unhindered by guilt or fear.
Here are a few thoughts about why the restoration was necessary and what some of the things were that were restored. It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance. D & C 131:6 By the power of the Holy Ghost you may know the truth of all things. Moroni 10:5 They have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away….(to) blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men. 1 Nephi 13:26-7. What are some of these teachings that were taken away? This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Moses 1:39 God is not selfish. His only interest is how can He serve us and make things better for us. Jesus said I go my way and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. John 8:21 I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. He that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven; and he that repents not, from him shall be taken even the light which he has received; for my Spirit will not always strive with man. D & C 1:31-3 Cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things. Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? D & C 6:22-3 You must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore you shall feel that it is right. D & C 9:8 By works is a man justified and not by faith only. James 2:24 Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3:5 He that entereth not by the door but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. John 10:1 And now if the Lamb of God, He being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfill all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, even by water. 2 Nephi 31:5 And God hath set some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that…governments, diversities of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:28 The only true and living Church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the Church collectively and not individually. D & C 1:30 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:48.
I know the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness is again on the earth today. This is a great blessing. By their fruits you shall know them. We look at our family and the happy moments you share with us each week and we can feel our testimonies grow. The validity of how the gospel helps us know peace of mind and true happiness increases in our hearts from day to day. We invite everyone who has not yet experienced these feelings to plant, nurture and from the harvest their own fruits know the love and goodness we receive through working daily to live as our friend and Lord lived for us.
Have a great week! May your smiles grow larger and your hearts warmer.
Love always,
Dad
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