Agency- The Freedom to Choose

One thing I love about God's plan for us is that he gives us agency. Agency can be simply defined as the freedom to choose for ourselves. God will never force us to make a decision or do something. We choose our actions (but not the consequences).

God could have created a different plan where we would be forced to choose good all the time. There could have been no suffering, sin, or evil. But how would we learn? How would we grow? Without sickness, could we really understand and appreciate health? There must be opposition so that our mortal experience is full of learning and growth.

Ultimately we are choosing daily to follow God or to follow Satan by the actions we make. When we help someone in need, we are obviously following God. When we say unkind words, we are following Satan. The sum of our smaller actions determines the path that we are on.

Lehi, in the Book of Mormon, taught:

"Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and call things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself."
2 Nephi 2:27

This teaching clearly explains the consequences of choosing to follow God's plan (through Jesus Christ, the great Mediator) versus that of devil. The choice really is up to us. Living righteously is not the "popular" thing in today's world, which makes it tough. But it is the only way to obtain liberty and eternal life. All other paths, no matter how glamorous they appear, lead to captivity and death (spiritual death).

CTR: Choose the Right!

Why Is LDS Missionary Work So Successful?

I just read a promise that was given by the Lord through his prophet, Joseph Smith, back in 1840 to a couple of missionaries. This same promise holds true for today's nearly 60,000 missionaries throughout the world. First I'll give the quote, and then I'll explain why I think it is important:

"Do not be discouraged on account of the greatness of the work; only be humble and faithful...He who scattered Israel has promised to gather them; therefore inasmuch as you are to be instrumental in this great work, He will endow you with power, wisdom, might, and intelligence, and every qualification necessary; while your minds will expand wider and wider, until you can circumscribe the earth and the heavens, reach forth into eternity, and contemplate the mighty acts of Jehovah in all their variety and glory."
- Joseph Smith, May 14, 1840

First of all, you must understand what missionary work is. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God's church on the earth, so it is doing His work. The same Jehovah that scattered Israel in Old Testament times, is now gathering Israel, just as he promised dozens of times throughout the Bible. This gathering is being done by our missionaries. The house of Israel are all those who convert to Christ's church and choose to gather to it.

This post's title phrases the question, "Why is LDS missionary work so successful?" Well an obvious answer is because it's God's work. This promise quoted above from Joseph Smith is more specific. The promise is that those who are instrumental in His great work [missionary work or the gather], will be endowed with "power, wisdom, might, and intelligence, and every qualification necessary." How can anyone fail with a promise like that from God's prophet?

Think about it. Mormon missionaries are almost all between the ages of 19 and 21. How much does a 19-year-old boy know? How influential and persuasive are 19-year-olds? How smart, intelligent, wise is a 19-year-old kid? Sometimes they think they know everything, but really they are weak. Paul was not far off at all when he said:

"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;"
1 Corinthians 1:27

So, with this explanation, I hope it is a little more clear how our missionaries are so successful. They not only are on the Lord's errand, but they are also filled with his power. Feel free to see for yourself by inviting them to speak to you some time. You'll notice in just one visit that they are empowered from on high.

What Are Our Priorities?

I just wanted to share a verse that I read 5 minutes ago and that hit me really hard:

"And verily I say unto thee that thou shalt lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better."
D&C 25:10

Even though this was directed to Emma, I think it applies to all of us (if you don't believe me read verse 16). I've had a super busy week with hardly a second to breathe, so when I read this verse it made me ponder about my life for a minute. School is important; Work is important; ASM (the Association for Systems Management) is important. But they are all things of this world. How easy it is to set our focus and main attention on the things of this world when the things of a better are what will bring us happiness and eternal joy.

Life is busy for all of us- I know I'm not the only one. Sometimes all of these good things that keep us busy in our lives are also distracting us from those that really matter. Let us keep our focus on the things of a better world as we go about our busy lives!

Salvation and the Fourth Article of Faith

The fourth Article of Faith states:

"We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost."
Articles of Faith 1:4

This statement teaches us some basic things about salvation and how it is achieved. There are many people in the world that believe that God has preselected a group of people on this earth to receive salvation and that the rest of us are out of luck unless we are part of that group. What a false, sad doctrine that is! God loves us as our Father and wants ALL of us to return to him. However, he will not force us to be obedient to his commandments and live in such a way that will qualify us for the blessing of returning to him because he has given us agency to choose for ourselves.

God has given us his gospel with steps that we should follow to prove ourselves to him and qualify for his greatest gift, that of eternal life. The first principles and ordinances of the gospel are the first steps in following the path that God has prepared for us to return to him. Not only are they inspired of God, but they also make sense logically.

Faith
First we must have faith in him. We must believe and more importantly do. Faith is an action word that implies that we will not only believe but do as the Lord wants us to.

Repentance
As we begin to have faith in God and in his son, Jesus Christ, we will naturally change to be better. We will want to make changes to leave our old lives behind and start fresh. We will ask God for his forgiveness and as we do this, repenting, he will forgive us.

Baptism
We show our repentance and change of heart through the ordinance of baptism. When we are baptized, we promise to follow Jesus Christ and his teachings. We come out of the baptismal waters clean just as we were when we were born. Baptism opens the door to salvation but does not guarantee salvation.

The Gift of the Holy Ghost
There is a second part of baptism. After we are baptized with water, we must be baptized with fire, or the Holy Ghost. This ordinance is performed soon after baptism. The gift of the Holy Ghost is given by the laying on of hands by someone who has the priesthood authority. It is important to note that the Gift of the Holy Ghost does not just come upon baptized members of the Church automatically. It must be given by the laying on of hands as recorded in the New Testament in Acts 8:16-18.

Of course following these steps, the first principles and ordinances of the gospel will not guarantee salvation, but as I mentioned, these are the first steps that we must take. After we have completed these steps, we have begun on the path that will lead us to eternal life if we press on, enduring to the end. One of my favorite scriptures that talks about this responsibility is found in 2 Nephi 31:20, which reads:

"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."

Who is God?

I want to explore a little bit about what the scriptures teach about God because without a basic understanding of God, we cannot understand our relationship to Him or his plan for us.

God Is the Supreme Ruler and Creator of the Universe
God told Moses very plainly who he was when he said, "I am the Beginning and the End, the Almighty God; by mine Only Begotten I created these things; yea, in the beginning I created the heaven, and the earth upon which thou standest." (Moses 2:1)

In the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin exhorted his people, "Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." (Mosiah 4:9)

God Has a Body
We know that God is perfect, all-knowing, and all-powerful, but what is his body like? A couple scriptures teach us the answer. In Genesis Moses writes, " Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." (Genesis 1:26-27)

Likeness and image suggests that God and man are similar in their appearance, so God looks like a man, though perfect and glorious. Another insightful scripture is found in the Doctrine and Covenants where the Lord revealed to the prophet Joseph Smith, "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s..." (D&C 130:22)This scripture goes on to explain that Jesus Christ also has a tangible, physical body like the Father, but the Holy Ghost is a personage of Spirit, without a tangible body.

Other Scriptures about God
There are many other scriptures that teach us more about God. Here are a couple that I like because they testify of his love, mercy, and power:

"And my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name." (Alma 26:35)

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

"O Lord God Almighty, hear us in these our petitions, and answer us from heaven, thy holy habitation, where thou sittest enthroned, with glory, honor, power, majesty, might, dominion, truth, justice, judgment, mercy, and an infinity of fulness, from everlasting to everlasting." (D&C 109:77)

Get to Know God
Jesus Christ taught us that it is very important for us to get to know God and who he is. The Savior said, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3)

The best way to get to know God and Jesus Christ is by studying their words. As we immerse ourselves in the holy scriptures, we will get to know them on a more personal level. I also recommend sincere, heartfelt prayer to pour out our hearts to God and seek his guidance in our daily lives. We can also trust and love God more by committing ourselves to obey all of his commandments, for the Lord said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15)

Families Can Live Together Forever = Eternal Families

To most of us who have families, it rings true and seems only natural that one of the greatest rewards we could hope to receive in heaven would be having our families there with us. I know I love my family and I can think of nothing I want more than to spend eternity with my wife and our family!

Here's the dilemma for most people: When they are married, the words pronounced in their marriage ceremony is "til death do you part" or "as long as you both shall live." Why? This is because the person performing the marriage does not have the power or authority to bind in heaven what he is binding on earth. He has power only on earth.

God loves us more than I could ever express in a blog post and as a loving father, he wants us to be eternally happy. That means being with those we love. Think of it, living forever without those you love here on earth would be hell, not heaven. This is why God has prepared a way for us to be together forever with our families. This power is priesthood power, or power delegated by God to men. God gave this power to Peter and others in the New Testament:

"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Matthew 16:19

Other problem: This priesthood authority that Peter and the other apostles were given was lost in the Great Apostacy! The Great Apostacy is when the true gospel of Jesus Christ was taken from the earth because of wickedness. The Jews and Romans killed off all of the apostles who held this priesthood, and it was lost for centuries.

The solution: God in mercy and love has restored his Church, his gospel, and his priesthood in these latter days. Through his prophet, Joseph Smith, in the 19th Century, God restored his priesthood power to bind in heaven what was bound on earth. Now this sacred ordinance, known as sealing, is performed in holy temples throughout the world. What a blessing! I was able to be sealed to my wife in the St. George temple and this makes it possible for us to be together with our future family forever!!!

This blessing of being sealed to your family is available to EVERYONE who prepares themselves and is worthy to enter the temple. Questions? Feel free to comment on this post or invite missionaries to visit and share more about this with you by clicking here.

Parable of the Tares

We talked about Jesus's parable of the tares today in Sunday School, and it really got me thinking. This parable is a lot more relevant in our lives today than I had previously thought. Here is the parable:

24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Matthew 13:24-30

To make it a little easier, we also have Jesus's explanation later in this same chapter. Let me quote that below, and then I'll talk a little bit about it:

36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Matthew 13:36-43

This is an interesting parable because it begins at the time of Jesus Christ, and the end is in the last days and has not yet occurred. So Jesus planted the good seed as he started his Church and soon thereafter it fell into apostacy as the tares began to grow.

The servants in the parable wanted to gather up the tares to protect the wheat. However the wheat was young (just as the Church in the Christ's time was young) and would be damaged greatly by the gathering of the tares. This is because tares and wheat are related crops. They look nearly identical as they grow, so it is hard to distinguish between them. It is not until they are ready for the harvest that they can be told apart. At this point you can cut them all down and separate them easily. This separation is a form of judgment that will be passed upon all people.

Are you a wheat or a tare? This question is perfect for self-reflection. I know that this parable prophesies of the future (which may be closer than we think- though no man knows). An interesting comparison, is that it is hard to tell if those around us are wheat or tares. This is why we should not judge others. Just as the Lord told his servants not to judge the wheat/tares and pluck out the tares, we must not judge our fellow men and identify people as "tares". We never know when someone will change and repent. We may have days when we ourselves behave more like tares than wheat, so we must be forgiving of others who also have "tare" days.

Lastly, we know that judgment comes. Even though it will be after the end of the world, if we die a "tare," there will be no time to repent thereafter. Now is the only time that we can repent and become wheat. So let us not judge others for it truly is impossible to see their hearts (only God looketh on the heart), and let us strive to be found as wheat at the last great harvest!

How is the Mormon Church Different from Other Christian Churches?

I will try to keep this as simple as possible. Please post a comment or question if you want anything answered or discussed more in depth! (Also feel free to correct me if I have made any errors in discussing Catholicism or Protestantism as I do not wish to misrepresent their histories).

I will briefly discuss the founding of the Catholic, Protestant, and Mormon churches.

Catholic
The Catholic church claims to have received its authority from succession going all the way back to Peter the apostle. No Christians dispute the authority that Christ gave to his chief apostle, Peter. The Catholic church claims that Peter past this authority on and a couple hundred years later the Roman Catholic Church was founded.

Protestant
In the early 16th Century reformers became disenchanted with the apparent corruption in the leadership of the Catholic church, including the selling of indulgences and worship of saints and images. Martin Luther was one of the earliest reformers. Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic church for believing that ultimate authority came from the Bible and not from the Pope. He later founded the Lutheran church. Zwingli and Calvin were two other influential protestant reformers. Basically the protestant faith stemmed from Catholic church and kept some Catholic beliefs while also developing new beliefs based on the Bible. Their claim to authority comes from the scriptures.

Latter-day Saint (Mormon)
The LDS (Mormon) Church is not a Protestant church because it did not stem from the Catholic church or another Christian church. In fact, it is the only Christian church that is not Catholic or Protestant. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded on April 6, 1830 by a latter-day prophet, Joseph Smith.

As a young boy, Joseph was confused by the religious contention that surrounded him in New York during the Second Great Awakening. He wanted to know which church to join and was having difficulty resolving this question using the Bible. One night he read this verse in the New Testament:

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
James 1:5

This scripture convinced him that he must pray to God and ask for the wisdom that he lacked (which church to join). He went to the woods, prayed, and received a miraculous response. God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ appeared to the boy Joseph and answered his question, that he should join none of them. Joseph was chosen to be a prophet in these last days.

Through this prophet, God restored his gospel in its fullness, including the Priesthood (the same authority Christ gave to Peter and the other apostles). The same church organization, structure, and doctrine that Christ established over 2000 years ago was restored to the earth with Prophets, Apostles, Evangelists, Bishops, etc. Just as every prophet that lived before Joseph Smith, the Lord brought forth new scripture for our day, including the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.

Currently, Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet on the earth. The authority that God restored to the Prophet Joseph Smith has been passed down through a succession of prophets and continues with the current prophet. There is also currently a Quorum of Twelve Apostles and the same church organization that Christ had when he organized his former-day church, the Church of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion
I hope that the differences between the churches is apparent, through their histories. I went into more detail about the Mormon church because I know more about its history. The Catholic church is supposed to be a continuation of the original Christian church, the Protestant faith branched from the Catholic church a few hundred years ago, and the Mormon church is a restoration of the original Christian church after an apostacy (falling away) from the truth.