You are not alone! (Video)
God has a place for you!
You are Worthy of God’s Love
Note: This article was originally posted August 10, 2018
“God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” -1 John 4:16b
Humanity seems to be searching for something. In general, people feel lost. As we accumulate more material wealth, it seems that the hole we are trying to fill just gets bigger. How do we fill this hole in our lives? These feelings of loss, of emptiness, of loneliness; they come from the depth of our souls.
A Father’s Love
“O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed are those that trusteth in Him.” -Psalm 34:8
One question people have asked for generations throughout time is, is God really good? Philosophers have struggled with what they call “the problem of evil” for as long as the art of philosophy has existed. It is easy to there is nothing to talk about, the scriptures say God is good, end of discussion. Yet the scriptures also say that God is fierce, and cruel; God is good, yet tells His people to murder women and children in cold blood. We see pain and suffering all around us. Why doesn’t a righteous God feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and end all war?
Christ and the Spirit of Ubuntu
The following was originally posted March 17, 2018
“And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” -John 17:22
The early Christians were different than what people see Christians as today. They were pacifists, they enjoyed communal living, and their focus was on love. One might say they embodied the spirit of ubuntu.
A Broken or Pierced Heart, and a Contrite Spirit
There seems to be a duality between a hardened heart and a broken heart. The hardened heart is egoism, thinking and feeling as if we are separate from everything else, alone, and creating a need to compete, fight, and save ourselves. The open heart is when we can see that we are connected to everything and everyone else, creating a need to fulfill a bigger picture. A hard heart likens us to a single celled organism, while a broken heart makes us a functional cell in an entire body.
Finding Your Identity in Christ
“If anyone be in Christ, they are a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new; and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” -2 Corinthians 5:17-19
“Identity crisis.” We hear the term thrown around, some even saying it is not real. But everyone at some point asks the questions, “who am I?” and “why am I here?” This is not a new line of thought, as we see the even the people of the scriptures wrestled with these questions.
The Digital Age of Missionary Work
The task of the Christian today, as in the past, is to preach and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, the methods used today are different from those of the past, as the world has changed and the tools have also changed with it.
Building Homes for the Spiritually Homeless
“And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” -Acts 5:42
In the early Jewish sect that would become Christianity, worship services took place mainly in homes, as we see described in the book of Acts and various epistles (see Acts 2:46, 5:42, 2020; Romans 16:5; Colossians 4:15; and Philemon 1:2). It is clear that these brothers and sisters found fellowship and practiced their religion by walking closely in Christ together. Christianity grew and eventually dotted the lands with both simple and grand places of worship. Meanwhile, the Jewish people suffered a collective loss when the second Temple was destroyed, creating the Judaism we know today—a shadow of its former self.
Taking the Book of Mormon at Its Word
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions” -Joel 2:28
We, as Latter Day Saints, claim to be living in the last days. When we look at the life of Joseph Smith Jr., his visions and revelations, it does appear to be the case. Before, during, and after the translation of the Book of Mormon he received numerous dreams, visions, and revelations. And it wasn’t only him. Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph Smith Sr., Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and other also received dreams, visions, and revelations. Truly the Spirit of God was poured out, and Joel’s prophecy was coming true! (See Joel 2:28)
Baptism or Tevilah?
“And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water to fulfill all righteousness, O, then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water.” -2 Nephi 13:7 RAV, 31:5 OPV
When reading the Book of Mormon, we see baptism mentioned repeatedly throughout the book. However, Nephi and others would not have understood this as we understand baptism today. They would have understood baptism as tevilah, a full body ritual washing for cleansing rather than absolution.
Contend Against No Church
“Condemn not other branches of the Church of Christ, for contention is not of me; but build bridges that all may come and worship the Father in my name.” – Doctrines of the Saints 14d:18
In June of 1829, Joseph Smith received a revelation for all those called to be Apostles in these last days. In part they were commanded not to contend against any “church, save it be the church of the devil” (Avahr 25:39, DoS 12a:35). But this commandment wasn’t new.
Not to Condemn the World
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” -John 3:17
John 3:16 may be the most popular and well known scripture in the world. And that is a good thing. It teaches the Doctrine of Christ. Summing this passage up, is says all who believe in the Son, Jesus, may be saved. And this is a beautiful truth! Unfortunately, we see too many rather vocal Christians then reject the very next verse, that Jesus was sent to save the world, not to condemn it. By ignoring this important truth we find a vocal Christian minority condemning anything and everything. As we preach and teach of Christ, we must be clear that love is the way.