Mormonism Blog

The Mormon Church teaches that the eternal plans and purposes of God the Father become accomplished through Jesus Christ, “the living embodiment of the Father’s will”. Jesus Christ is also called the “word of my power” (Book of Mormon, Mosiah, 1:32, 35) meaning that the Father conferred his spiritual power upon his Son, so that he might be capacitated to fulfill those vital missions which lie at the very heart of the plan of salvation.

All Mormons also know that the unending work and ever-increasing glory of the Father is centered in the immortality and eternal life of man (Pearl of Great Price, Moses, 1:39).

According to Rodney Turner (an LDS scholar), “the atonement and resurrection wrought by Jesus Christ…is indispensable to the Father, who is added upon in glory by and through his Son. HOWEVER, each need the other: as the Father is glorified through the Son, so is the Son glorified through the father (Bible, John, 17:1). In like manner worthy Saints (members of the Mormon Church) will be glorified through their children and their children through their parents (D&C, 88:60)”.

The above paragraphs are obviously incomprehensible to those Christians who still can’t make sense of the concept that God, the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings. They are united in purpose, but not physically, as a confuse Christianity insists to believe. However, for those who understand the beauty of these simple truths, it adds a deeper meaning to family relationships, especially between parents and children.

Perhaps many people already know these topics better than I do, but yesterday I was reading from an essay by Charles R. Harrell and I learned a few interesting things about the Restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood.

For example, did you know that there are no first-hand accounts of this event and nobody knows for sure the date of such restoration? However, it happened in a time of great distress. This second-hand description comes from Mr. Everett, who overheard a conversation between Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith, a few days before their martyrdom.

Joseph and Oliver at the time of the restoration were held at the home of the Justice of Peace of Colesville because of their preaching. They were helped to escape by their attorney and it was night and they traveled through brush and water and mud, felled over logs, etc. until Oliver was exhausted; then Joseph Smith helped him along through the brush and water, almost carrying him. They traveled all night, and just at the break of day Oliver gave out entirely and exclaimed, “O Lord! Brother Joseph, how long have we got to endure this thing?” They sat down on a log to rest and Joseph said that at that very time Peter, James, and John came to them and ordained them to the Apostleship. They had 16 or 17 miles to get back to Mr. Hales, but Oliver did not complain any molre of fatigue.

I have found an interesting article by President Spencer W. Kimball, former president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church). The title is: The False Gods We Worship.

The articles is very long but it is worth of a careful reading, especially in light of the happenings of the last few years and considering that it was written in 1976.

The articles is mainly about two false gods: materialism and military might. Here I just want to comment on the second one, trust in military might as opposite to faith.

President Spencer W. Kimball wrote:

“We are a warlike people, easily distracted from our assignment of preparing for the coming of the Lord. When enemies rise up, we commit vast resources to the fabrication of gods of stone and steel—ships, planes, missiles, fortifications—and depend on them for protection and deliverance. When threatened, we become antienemy instead of pro-kingdom of God; we train a man in the art of war and call him a patriot, thus, in the manner of Satan’s counterfeit of true patriotism, perverting the Savior’s teaching:

“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:44–45.)

‘We forget that if we are righteous the Lord will either not suffer our enemies to come upon us—and this is the special promise to the inhabitants of the land of the Americas (see 2 Ne. 1:7)—or he will fight our battles for us (Ex. 14:14; D&C 98:37). This he is able to do, for as he said at the time of his betrayal, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. 26:53.) We can imagine what fearsome soldiers they would be. King Jehoshaphat and his people were delivered by such a troop (see 2 Chr. 20), and when Elisha’s life was threatened, he comforted his servant by saying, “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them” (2 Kgs. 6:16). The Lord then opened the eyes of the servant, “And he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” (2 Kgs. 6:17.)

In light of what happened on September 11 and later in the US this really seems to be an inspired advise. it is a question of where we put our trust, it is a question of faith.

“Few men have ever knowingly and deliberately chosen to reject God and his blessings. Rather, we learn from the scriptures that because the exercise of faith has always appeared to be more difficult than relying on things more immediately at hand, carnal man has tended to transfer his trust in God to material things. Therefore, in all ages when men have fallen under the power of Satan and lost the faith, they have put in its place a hope in the “arm of flesh” and in “gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know” (Dan. 5:23)—that is, in idols. This I find to be a dominant theme in the Old Testament. Whatever thing a man sets his heart and his trust in most is his god; and if his god doesn’t also happen to be the true and living God of Israel, that man is laboring in idolatry.”

I think that there is a lot to think about…

Sometimes people ask how they may know that what the Mormon Church teaches is true. Many answers can be given to this question, but this is one I like: really straightforward and…true.

Presidents Joseph F. Smith said:

“We testify that the barriers which separated man from God have been overcome, that the Lord again communicates His will to man. ‘But,’ says one, ‘How shall we become acquainted with these things? How can we know that you are not deceived?’

To all such we say, repent of your sins in all sincerity, then go forth and be baptized, and have hands laid upon you for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and that spirit will bear record to you of the truth of our testimony, and you will become witnesses of it as we are, and will be able to stand forth boldly and testify to the world as we do.”

Isn’t this clear? Do you want to know the truth? Then repent and be baptized in the true Church of Jesus Christ!

Unfortunately many times we hear people who says that Mormons are not Christians. Some people say this because of “honest” ignorance, they simply repeat what someone told them. Others do this on purpose to misrepresent the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (that is the real name of what people call the Mormon Church). In fact, how strange that the Mormons are not Christians since they are one of the very few churches in the face of the earth that uses the full name of the Savior. Other churches use names that mention principles or ordinances or some other thing, but curiously they don’t use the name of the Savior Jesus Christ. For example, we have the Baptist Church, the Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the Pentecostal Church, and so on.

In any case, I thought that this short excerpt from President Hinckley, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should once again show how how much Mormons are Christians:

“We honor His birth. But without His death that birth would have been but one more birth. It was the redemption which He worked out in the Garden of Gethsemane and upon the cross of Calvary which made His gift immortal, universal, and everlasting. His was a great Atonement for the sins of all mankind. He was the resurrection and the life, ‘the firstfruits of them that slept’ (1 Cor. 15:20). Because of Him all men will be raised from the grave.

“But beyond this He taught us the way, the truth, and the life. He gave the keys through which we may go on to immortality and eternal life.

“We love Him. We honor Him. We thank Him. We worship Him. He has done for each of us and for all mankind that which none other could have done. God be thanked for the gift of His Beloved Son, our Savior, the Redeemer of the world, the Lamb without blemish who was offered as a sacrifice for all mankind.”

(Gordon B. Hinckley, “A Season for Gratitude,” Ensign, Dec. 1997, 4 )

This is an interesting and simple presentation by President John Taylor, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church). This is the beginning of his book, The Government of God.

“The Kingdom of God, is the government of God, on the earth, or in the heavens. The earth, and all the planetary systems, are governed by the Lord; they are upheld by his power, and are sustained, directed, and controlled by his will. We are told, that “by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Collos. i. 16, 17. If all things, visible and invisible, are made by and for him, he governs and sustains all worlds to us known, together with the earth on which we live. If he governs them, they are under his dominion, subject to his laws, and controlled by his will and power.

If the planets move beautifully, and harmoniously in their several spheres, that beauty and harmony are the result of the intelligence and wisdom that exist in his mind. If on this earth we have day and night, summer and winter, seed time and harvest, with the various changes of the seasons; this regularity, beauty, order, and harmony, are the effects of the wisdom of God.

There are two kinds of rule on the earth; one with which man has nothing directly to do, another in which he is intimately concerned. The first of these applies to the works of God alone, and His government and control of those works; the second, to the moral government, wherein man is made an agent. There is a very striking difference between the two, and the comparison is certainly not creditable to man; and however he may feel disposed to vaunt himself of his intelligence, when he reflects he will feel like Job did when he said, (xlii. 6.) “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

In God’s government there is perfect order, harmony, beauty, magnificence, and grandeur; in the government of man, confusion, disorder, instability, misery, discord, and death. In the first, the most consummate wisdom and power are manifested; in the second, ignorance, imbecility, and weakness. The first displays the comprehension, light, glory, benificence, and intelligence of God; the second, the folly, littleness, darkness, and incompetency of man. The contemplation of the first elevates the mind, expands the capacity, produces grateful reflections, and fills the mind with wonder, admiration, and enlivening hopes; the contemplation of the second produces doubt, distrust, and uncertainty, and fills the mind with gloomy apprehensions. In a word, the one is the work of God, and the other that of man.