New Format & Message

I have spent the last couple of days contemplating what I want to do with this blog. It has become a bit of a metaphor for my experience the last twenty odd years. I put out a lot of information but no one is really interested. Even people who express interest are not really interested. If they were, they would be doing what I have done.

I thought about killing the blog and wiping it clean. Instead of coaching you through the process I have concluded it would be more appealing to share a few conclusions I've drawn and leave it at that.

The previous post has me thinking about about the "jist" of the Lord's message, (at least what I have come to believe is His message.)

As Denver said, the battle really is internal. We are overwhelmed with so many challenges in life we fail to condense our objective down to its lowest common denominator. Religion can only be true if it solves the great problem of overcoming the fall of Adam. I am not talking about overcoming death through the resurrection, though that is part of it. I am not talking about salvation from sin, though that is part of it as well.

What I am talking about is overcoming spiritual death in mortality which means successful bridging the gulf between us and God while we still live in mortality. I often joke that the best kept secret in the Church is the Gospel. The Gospel is more than sending the message we live forever because Christ overcame sin, death and hell. He does all of those things, some contingent on repentance and some by default. This are wonderful gifts but too many stop there. It is great to relieved of the burden of sin, but that is really only the beginning of a long journey down the road of life. At the end, if we are diligent and faithful we, like Moroni can share the hope that we will see Christ as He is and to our great joy, we hope to be like Him. That is the great secret of the Gospel. We can live guilt free as savior's of the world if we are willing to be submissive to the will of the Father as He was submissive.

We stand at a crossroads but don't understand the true nature of the crossroad or how our choices have or have not prepared us for this time. The clock began ticking for the Gentiles when Joseph saw the Father and Son in a grove of trees. For approximately 180 years Christ has beckoned to all Gentiles to "Come unto me" and become one of His covenant people. Some have heeded the call and a few have even stood in His presence like Prophets of old. As has been the pattern before, we approach the time when the Lord will requires an accounting for the way Gentiles have responded to the invitation.

The vast majority of Gentiles have been blinded, really distracted or diverted from the truth because they knew not where to find it. The voice of the Lord through their conscience has beckoned them with limited success. "Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which is from the beginning (pre-mortal existence)is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light. And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation." (D&C 93:31-32) "And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit. And every one hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father. And the Father teacheth him of the covenant..., And by this you may know they are under the bondage of sin, because they come not unto me. For whoso cometh not unto me is under the bondage of sin." (D&C 84:46-48,50-51)

For nearly two hundred years the Spirit of God has whispered sacred truths from a pre-mortal time into the hearts and minds of the Gentiles. Truth carries with it a familiar spirit and that is why converts often state they already knew it. Their spirits have never forgotten and when the truth is "plainly manifest" the Gentiles have been free to refuse or embrace it. The key to discerning whether or not someone is under the bondage of sin (control of Satan) is whether or not they come to the Father and receive His covenant. There is a track record with the latter-day Gentiles and it hasn't been particularly good.

What about those of the Gentiles who have come to the covenant? Has the Church escaped the bondage of sin because of their baptism, endowments and sealings? For the Gentiles who have become members of the Church the question has a slightly different variation. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints must account for what they have done with the covenant they enter with God. Is it sufficient to account yourself "chosen" because you belong to the Church of Christ? Not really. The better question is a question of whether or not you continued to "come unto the Father." That means when you entered the Temple of God you are taught the proper way to pray and receive answers. Then you are led to veil and invited to represent yourself before the Lord at the veil to receive light and knowledge that can only be learned by mortals but not taught. After extensive testing you are invited into the presence of God.

These things were plainly manifest to all in the pre-mortal existence and here is the agency of man and the condemnation of man, they fail to continue their search for light. They are not brought back into the presence of God and overcome that death which is spiritual.

Like the children of Israel and Moses anciently, the most members of the Church in effect remain content to live the Aaronic covenant whereby they say to President Monsen as did the children of Israel to Moses, "Just go to the temple and come back twice a year at conference and we will listen to your talks and call it good." Israel's choice gave them a ticket for a 40 year march in the wilderness and eventual destruction. For many of our dispensation a similar outcome lies in store: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face. Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord. And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord. First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord." (D&C 112:23-26)

"And now what remains to be done, under circumstances like these? I will proceed to tell you what the Lord requires of all people, high and low, rich and poor, male and female, ministers and people, professors of religion and non-professors, in order that they may enjoy the Holy Spirit of God to a fullness, and escape the judgments of God, which are almost ready to burst upon the nations of the earth. Repent of all your sins, be baptized in water for the remission of them, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and receive the ordinance of the laying on of the hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power, that ye may receive the Holy Spirit of God; and this is according to the Holy Scriptures, and the Book of Mormon; and the only way that man can enter into the celestial kingdom. These are the requirements of the new covenant, or first principles of the Gospel of Christ: then "Add to your faith, virtue; and virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge , temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience;godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness; charity [or love]; for if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful, in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 16)

Complacency is our greatest enemy and we need to avoid becoming so wrapped up in the affairs of this world that we fail to learn one very important lesson: "That the rights of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven and the powers of heaven cannot be controlled or handled only upon the principles of righteousness." (D&C 121:36)