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Jacob 7 Unlike us today, Jacob was lucky to have one Sherem to deal with. Currently , thousands of them openly seek to overthrow the doctrine of Christ by persuading people not to believe in Savior's teachings (verse 2). They just don't work slothfully, but even diligently (3), blogging daily, raising signboards in the name of equality to destroy the work of God. This people are not just ordinary people; they are learned (4). You can see their expertise by the strategy they employ; - They get Christ's proponents (3) into a confrontation.
- They use the style of flattery (4) to lure people. They study the language (carnal motives) of their potential victims and then tolerate it. This they do to get future support on whatever dark agenda they may be planning to launch.
- Their main sponsor? The devil (4)
And why are they (together w/ Korihor) succeeding with lots and lots of people(Jacob 7:3)? Because what was being taught is pleasing to the carnal mind (Alma 30:53); it satisfy the demand of the flesh, it invites lesser responsibility, and it want to eradicate accountability. It began to dawn on me however, if there are cases in my life when I had worn the face too?...mmmmmm
Tags: Apostasy
As the saying goes - "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line" - so let get started. Keep all the commandments We can't expect to enjoy this religion if we don't follow the commandments to the fullest - or at least try to. Why? Let me illustrate... Of course there are several reasons why we keep embracing the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. But for the sake of illustrating, let's assume that "HAPPINESS" is main reason why we are still Mormons; we believe by so doing, the restored gospel will and can make us happy (The motive is quite selfish but I'm confident we can live with it.) Now imagine  “HAPPINESS†being a jigsaw puzzle. It composes of many pieces, right? Suppose we compare the 'pieces' to blessings; for a particular obedience we give to a particular commandment, we get one piece of the puzzle (blessing). Cutting the chase short, if we obey 5% of all the commandments, we will only see 5% of the entire "image" - which is "HAPPINESS" by substitution. With only 10% of the image (happiness) in view, we can imagine how incomplete the picture would look like. If you can figure out the whole thing with so meager a look, consider yourself special  – you are gifted! But most of us who are average in category, we will begin to question – or doubt to make it more accurate. The problem is, most of the time the doubt is directed to the religion, not to ourselves - "How come I am not happy with this religion, what's wrong with it",  Instead of "What is it I lack in doing, what's wrong with me? Why can't I make this religion work? The latter is usually the main goal of the adversary when he (in the first place) tried to tempt us not to obey fully - it's called deception . If he can't convince us to fully disobey, he will at least settle for the "partial devotion". He knows that half hearted devotion will keep us on any kingdom except the highest. By so doing, he gets to be even with us. We can hear him from a distance whispering, "I may be lower than you, but we're both denied of posterity. What's the difference?" (Sorry, let me go back to the topic) Pray Life is most of the time handled by faith; meaning "Act first and have the evidence later" kind of a deal. With this type of a situation 90% of the time, and without God’s help – erring will be more likely than not.  The scary part is that, applying the principle President Uchtdorf used on his airplane crash analogy, a small degree of error can stretch a damage so wide in this life and in the next one. Prayer can spare us of these nightmares. Share it One leader, who has inspired me a lot (so inspired that I even forgot his/her name) compared the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ into a flower - it's on its best when given away. In fact, the more you share it, the more you will have of it. It's something we can afford to give away and won't be impoverished at the end of the day. I also found out that Gospel sharing is a good motivation therapy. It kind of sharpens the saw. But beware of the one tiny bitsy problem when you start sharing – it is habit forming. And you start not to care that people got something else to do besides reading this blog. So before you click me out, let me end by saying "just try it!"
Tags: Happiness
With the solid commitments the restored Gospel is requiring from all of us Latter Day Saints, it is not that surprising to see some of us will be caught  looking beyond the mark (Jacob 4:14) Though there are several meaning we can derive from it, looking beyond the mark, can also imply finding or subscribing to other 'easier' ways outside the perimeters set by the restored gospel of Jesus Christ – in the hope that we will find the same quality of happiness the restored gospel is offering. Well..., brace yourself and take it like a man - there is none. According to Jacob, we will not only be frustrated, but we will fall as well. One day I was surprised to see a member who came to Church (all of sudden) after five years of inactivity. I couldn't bite my tongue, so I asked him the silly question of why he came back. He retorted, "Bishop, I thought if I will go out of the Church, my life will get better. But it was not so. I got tired  of friends, teachers and preachers who know less than what I know. Life became a grind and I felt I was just circling around. I didn't get to be rich as I have planned to be - so I got back. Falling is painful not only on the moment of the impact but it becomes more awful as time goes by, especially when the damage are irreversible. Temptation to "look beyond the mark" is inspired by the false impression that God's commandments are restrictive and very limiting. Once you reset your thinking the other way around (start believing that commandments are protection and are legitimate roadmaps to genuine happiness); miracles will start to happen in your life. You will begin to see the wisdom of why the fence was put about, and you will also then feel the love and concern of that very man who place it there for you and me - Our Father in Heaven. Hence, obeying becomes voluntary and life gets better at the same time.
Tags: Genuine Happiness Jesus Christ Commandments
As I study Jaob 4:3 today, there are different learning approach we can categorized ourselves into - perhaps push us to become better learners if we don't like where we are; Learning with sorrow. I've read one person's comment that General Conferences are boring. He laments nothing new comes from it and that the way it is being delivered is structured and sanctimonious. I was feeling the guilt because in a short while in my LDS life I thought the same way. Supposedly, whenever we come to these 'every six months' kind of a gathering, our primary goal is to learn what the Lord wants us to know, feel, and do - for the next six months - and that 'entertainment' is just a bonus (if the word is even appropriate to equate it with edification). Obviously, me and my brother came into the gathering with a reverse list of priority - entertainment first and then learning next. I got tired of this attitude when I realized that I'm painting myself into a corner - leaving me with less and less to believe. It became a scary thought worthy of repenting.
Learning with contempt. The problem with the first attitude is that it leads to this more darker territory - learning with contempt. Some people scorn almost anything that is placed before them, especially when it doesn't square with their beloved and treasured 'man made wisdom'. Everything that comes along are either true or false depending on what the 'wisdom' dictates. It is discouraging to even articulate about how gloomy it is to be in that territory.
Learning with joy. This is where light starts to brighten. When we come to any meeting with the thinking that it is our responsibility to learn, and that the speaker, teacher or a preacher is just an instrument - then the Spirit starts to work by pouring in new and fresh water, substituting the old and filthy one, in which learning with joy  becomes the end result - worthy of articulating. But then again, I believe some things are best left when unspoken... 
Tags: Learning General Conference
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