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http://www.lds.net/blog/view/id_7079/title_conference/

 

As I came to a close of reading the Book of Mormon, I reflected upon the deep meaning this record has for the last man to inscribe in it, Moroni.

Moroni, son of Mormon, of whom the Book of Mormon is named after, lived around 400 AD. He was the last of his people and the last believer in Christ within his land. His land is now the Americas. His people were the Nephites, who had fallen by the sword in a mass genocide by a group whom had common ancestors.

The Lamanites (those performing the genocide) hunted down all those who were believers in Christ. They would kill those who would not deny the Christ.  Moroni stated "I, Moroni will not deny the Christ. And I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life."

The last words from Moroni before he would hide up the record in the land known now as upstate New York, have left an indelible impression on my heart. These words would never reach his people or his brethren. These words were penned for us in this day to guide us to an eternally happy life and a hope in a greater life to come.

Moroni first challenges all who read the Book of Mormon to put it to the test. He challenges us to read the Book of Mormon, to pray and ask Heavenly Father if it be true and that God would tell us by the power of the Holy Ghost. If we have real intent and a sincere heart, and a willingness to follow Christ and His teachings, this witness would come.

As a side note, many never recieve a witness and many millions do each time they read. What's so different about these groups? I am not sure of that. I have seen first hand how doubt, idleness, and an unwillingness to repent and have true faith in Christ can deture some from ever really getting an answer from God.

Some simply do not care enough about finding more. Some do not thirst after righteousness. Most people know why there comes no answer. The reasons are personal and can be embarrassing. It is hard to strip ourselves from pride and  sin and letting others know our weaknesses.But, with humility and a love for God and all that is true, it can be accomplished.

Coming back to the text, Moroni invites us to come unto Christ in a powerful way.

He says, " Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power , then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot."

I met a young man in Indiana by the name of Bob. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he read the entire book that night. He felt the power of God and God gave him a witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. This was his favorite verse. That night Bob came to Christ in a way never before in his life.

I have had this same experience many times over and I know my Redeemer lives. I know the Savior Jesus Christ atoned for my sins and if it were for only me, he would have still done it and saved me through his sacrifice. I chose to be saved because He is the Way the Truth and the Light. No record has shown me this truth more than the Book of Mormon. I know it is true.  The fruits of my life are evidence of that.

And now Moroni's challenge to those that read it, is my invitation to all who want more out of life. Read the Book of Mormon, and just try to live what it teaches. Like Peter said to the Nathanial as he inquired about this Jesus figure, I say to you, Come and see.

Reading from the words of Mormon, I gained greater insights of the prophet-historian-general.
As a young man Mormon was brought up in the ways of the Lord. He knew of the sacred record of his people and of his future role in preserving it for a future generation.
Around the age of 15, Mormon was called to be the general of the Nephite army. He fought side by side a people he thought shared common beliefs and values. Because they were united in the cause for freedom and the right to worship the Lord, the Nephites were victorious in battle. Much of their success was attributed to Mormon.
Sadly, the Nephites drew further and further from the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They drew far away from the God that had protected and upheld them for centuries. They became lustful for power and control over their enemies land. They also gradually became more bloodthirsty and mercy fled from their hearts.
This caused Mormon deep sorrow and anguish because these were the same people whom he served and fought vigorously for. He would not stand by these misguided motives in battle.
In his writings and record of these events, Mormon's feelings and emotions spill from the pages. He is seeing the end of a once righteous and prosperous people; his people.

His commission to follow the Lord becomes that much more meaningful as the reader feels empathy for Mormon.
I am grateful for Mormon the man. In times of trial and dispair, his voice echoes through the ages to love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. To such a man, who, in times where there could be none else in whom the Spirit could be found, valiance prevailed in the heart of Mormon. Becauce of such a man, I have the Book of Mormon, which drew me closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ than any other book.

Last night my wife and I continued our reading in the Book of Mormon. We have started at the beginning and are working our way through the book of 1st Nephi. It had been awhile since starting the Book of Mormon over again. Usually my past study had been scattered through out the scriptures. But it is amazing to see things in a new light with my wife.

 

As we read about the vision Nephi has about the future of his people, the birth of Christ, the Great Apostasy and the Restoration, we sat in awe of the magnitude of the Book of Mormon.

In no way could Jospeh have known and grouped the things that transpired in the history of the world like Nephi.

 

How could he know that Christopher Columbus had been inspired by God to take his journey in 1492? The discovery of Christopher Columbus's deep impressions of his inspiration by the Almighty came much later as his journals were discovered.

 

Reading about Nephi's vision showed me that God has a deep invested interest in our joy and salvation. God sees the end from the beginning and his work is to bring to pass our eternal life.

Nephi saw how the Lord had guided the children of men to bring to pass his great plan.

 

I was again reminded that God's hand is in my life too. He guided my wife to the city I was in and through the Spirit we knew we belonged together.

Our decision to follow the Lord has enabled God's plan for us to be fulfilled.

 

I am gratefull that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ visited the boy Joseph Smith and called him to bring forth the Book of Mormon. Because of this, I know the love of God.

 

 

"Many ignore consecration because it seems too abstract or too daunting. The consientious among us, however, experience divine discontent." - Elder Neal A. Maxwell

 

"The law of sacrifice and the law of consecration are not done away with and are still in effect."

            &nb sp;     - President Gordon B. Hinckley

 

Many of us in the church have this notion that the law of consecration is something that the Lord instituted in the early restored Church but the saints could not live it so God gave the lower law, the law of tithing. According to the Prophets today, the Law of Consecration is still in effect. It may be instituted and practiced in a different way, but members are still under covenant to obey this law.

Another incorrect notion is that to live the Law of Consecration is to live in poverty and dispair. This false concept can be easily corrected by reading in the Doctrine and Covenants and the book of 4th Nephi of the Book of Mormon.

 

One of the reasons why we struggle with the Law of Consecration is because our minds are fixated on the ideals of Market Capitalism. The concept of ownership clouds our minds so that we cannot see that all we have is not ours but God's. God has given us all we have and expects us to be stewards. Stewards watch over what is given them and use it for righteous purposes.

 

The Law of Consecration is based on three principles and every one is equally important.

These principles are Agency, Stewardship, and Accountability.

 

Agency is the power to act either in obedience or disobedience to the law. Stewardship is what we have to act upon. Accountability is the inevitable responsibility a steward has to explain to the actual owner of the stewardship how they used their agency to act upon it.

 

We are expected to covenant with the Lord to consecrate ALL we have. All includes not only our goods, but our talents, services, and hearts to the Lord and His Church. Afterall, it is our Church too. When we give to the Church, we are recieving much more. Think of all the chapels and facilities and services done by the Church. Have any of us given as much to fund any one of these things? The answer for 99 percent of us is no. We recieve MUCH MORE than we give.

 

In the early Church, this was the case. The Church would pool its resources and then the Bishop would give according to want and need to each family. The families would use the resources and any that were not used would be returned to the Bishop. Often the Bishop would give more than what was given.

 

Section 42 shows that the Lord wants us to be good stewards and consecrate to the Church, yet he doesn't want us to live in poverty and dispair.

Jesus tells Joseph,

"every man shall be made ^baccountable unto me, a ^csteward over his own property, or that  which he has received by consecration, as much as is sufficient for himself and ^dfamily....that every man who has need may be amply supplied and receive according to his wants. "

 

Interestingly the Lord uses the words "recieved by consecration" and "amply supplied and recieve according to wants." He does not want us to live in poverty. We will not live in poverty by living the law of consecration.

 

We can use the Nephites in the Book of Mormon. In 4th Nephi, they lived the Law of Consecration and "there were no poor among them."

 

Babylon would have us seek after the riches of the world. And as we step one closer to "wealth" another step is added to the ladder. We become in bondage to wealth.

 

The Lord told several  in the early Church to seek after the riches of the Kingdom of God.

 

"And if ye seek the ^ariches which it is the will of the Father to give unto you, ye shall be the richest of all people, for ye shall have the riches of eternity."

 

 

The great Christian paradox is taught by the Lord Jesus Christ in Mark 9, "Whosoever loseth his life for my sake, shall find it."

 

The paradox is that whatever you give, you get back in abundance. The Lord doesn't just give us life, but life in abundance.

 

So we should remember to consecrate ALL we have that we may recieve life abundantly from the Lord.

For what shall it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and lose his own soul?

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week I want to talk about how we become saved. Talking about salvation can always seem to the secular a little fanatic. But it is a deep question of the soul for those who believe in a life after this. Many want to know what is enough and what does it take. First and foremost, we must come to know that Jesus Christ is our Advocate with the Father. What does it mean to be our Advocate? Well, I thought about this a lot, and in this life there is an old saying that tends to be consistent, "It's not what you know, It's who you know." In any business, in any field or profession, one can get far by social connections and networking. In fact the job I have right now is because a friend had connections.

 

Interestingly enough, Christ is our connection to heaven. I want to portray this idea in a reverent way and steer clear of being sacriligious. Christ is our Advocate with the Father. In a revelation given by the Savior in 1831, Jesus says

 

 "Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him-

Saying: Father, behold the sufferings, and death of him who did no sin, in hwom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorfied.;

Wherefore Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life. "

 

There are some world renown scholars on the New Testament know more about the life of Jesus than any other human bieng. They believe in his existence and know his life like the back of their hand. They know a lot about Jesus, yet they do not believe Jesus is the Savior of the world, our Advocate with the Father. While they know everything about Jesus, they lack the singular most important part of Jesus, a knowledge of His divine redemptive Atonement. The one most important connection to gain the riches of eternal life is missing. No relationship with the divine Savior means they do not know Him. They will not know Him in the last day and He will profess He never knew them.

 

The Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's entire purpose is to led others to Christ and to show the one and only true way to become saved and recieve eternal life. As Christ visited the inhabitants of the American continent in the first century, He laid out His gospel in fullness.

 

"This is my gospel- That I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.

And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross;...that I might draw all men unto me.

Whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end , behold, him will I hold guiltless before the Father."

 

True faith in Christ is believing in and following these words of the Savior.

The Lord will know our hearts, and if we will come to know Him through the power of the Atonement, we will make sacred covenants through repentance and baptism. And in the last day when the world will be judged, He, the great Savior and Redeemer will be our Advocate and stand by our side saying "THis brother [or sister] knows me and I know him, let him enter."

 

 

This week I decided to write on chriskcrabb's blog.

 

Here is the link:  http://www.lds.net/public/blog/view/id_6699/title_cultivating-our-talents/#comment

Today is a world with thousands of voices and opinions. Media penetrates every home and mind with ideas of self worth that are plainly false. Women must be skinnier, more attractive, and more aggressive. Men are told to chase the money whereever it goes, even into forbidden paths. Most of these voices tell the people of the world they are of little worth, in one way or another.

 

Without the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we can easily become lost in a downward spiral of low self worth. The Lord Jesus Christ told the Prophet Joseph Smith "the worth of souls is great in the sight of the Lord." He knows this because,  "the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him."

The Lord shows how he knows the worth of souls; through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the Lord experienced the worth of every soul. For every soul he spilt his blood from every pore; through infinite and eternal pain and suffering the Lord Jesus Christ has come to know your worth and my worth. From heaven above, He descended and condescended to a mortal to stand in our place and pay the penalty for sin. Not only sin, but as Alma states in the Book

of Mormon, for iniquities, sickness, pain, and sufferings of every man and women who ever lived and will ever live. Truly the Atonement of Christ is both infinite and eternal.

So when one states that they are of little worth or that others are of little worth, quite literally, they say Christ's Atonement is of little worth.

 

Now today's world promises many things. In a similar fashion, the world says to us as Satan said to Jesus in the wilderness, "Worship me and I will give you all the riches in the world."

Empty promises. As we worship the world, we may recieve some gimmicy party toys that break shortly after use, yet in the end "we see that the [world and the] devil will not support his children in the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell."

 

The Lord makes promises on conditions of worship and repentance. He promises the greatest gift of all, eternal life. Sometimes we talk about eternal life so much that we don't realize what an amazing promise that is. Not only will we live in the presence of the Almighty Father and the Son, but our blessed family ties will continue throughout the eternities. As I lay by my wife's side and looked into her eyes, I realized what a blessing eternal life really is. I could not imagine a heaven without her, nor our future children. Our love is lasting and as God hath joined us together, man (we/ our choices) should not put asunder. I know through sincere worship and repentance, we can truly come unto Christ and He will support us in the last day.

 

God is not one who is all talk and no walk. He showes us He is serious about His promises. The scriptures are the evidence of that. Every book of scripture testifies that the Lord is willing to show us our worth. In 3rd Nephi Chapter 11 of the Book of Mormon, the Lord appears to a people He has made promises to for hundreds of years. When the Resurrected Lord appears in the Americas among His "other sheep", He proved to them that His promises are sure. This should be proof to us that we can trust the Lord and His promises.

 The worth of souls is great in the sight of the Lord and we can find out our worth through the Gospel of Christ.

Hello Friends,

 

This is another of my weekly blogs in which I share my feelings and thoughts on the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Within the Book of Mormon, several important figures stand out above the rest due to their individual accomplishments and character. Each of the these men and women are of the faithful believers in Christ and share a passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ and true freedom from all bondage (both spiritual and temporal).

Captain Moroni is a paramount figure in the Book of Mormom. About 70 B.C., Captain Moroni appears on the pages of the Book of Mormon and he immediately stands out. He is the captain of the Nephite army, who continue to be oppressed  by the Lamanites(who descend from common ancestry). The Lamanites persist to rage war on the Nephites, desiring to take over the Nephite's land and enslave them. 

Captain Moroni makes a stand for freedom and liberty for all. He is willing to defend his country for the principles of freedom, liberty, and religion.

The prophet-historian Mormon, comments on the character of Captain Moroni, saying, "Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men. "

Captain Moroni led his army to battle several times with the confidence that the Lord would aid his purposes because they were righteous. He won every battle because he did not seek for gain or power, but only sought to defend his people.

 

 Captain Moroni exemplifies true integrity in his words and deeds. The Book of Mormon teaches principles of the Gospel in an interesting way: through stories and characters. Mormon's point in revealing so much about Captain Moroni is that each of us can have a little more integrity, more passion for true principles, and more boldness to stand in the face of adversity and say we will not back down. Believers in Christ around the world, must have the will to be like Moroni and stand agaisnt temptation with true and righteous principles as a sheild and sword.

 

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