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D&C 93:1 Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am Proverbs 8: 17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. D&C 88: 83 He that seeketh me early shall find me, and shall not be forsaken. Moroni 7:3 Wherefore, I would speak unto you that are of the church, that are the peaceable followers of Christ, and that have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in heaven. 2 Nephi 32:4 Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark. 5 For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do. 6 Behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and there will be no more doctrine given until after he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh. And when he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh, the things which he shall say unto you shall ye observe to do.

In order to truly understand faith, one must understand in what or in WHOM one must have faith and why. Prayerfully study the Lectures on Faith written by Joseph Smith, which were once part of the Doctrine & Covenants. It will teach you empowering faith.

Merry Christmas! Peace on earth, good will toward men. | Latter-day Lamanite

Just discovered this one and it's my new favorite. Love, love, love it. "A Hallelujah Christmas" by Cloverton (OFFICIAL VIDEO) - YouTube (I wish you could embed videos on this forum already)

Gentiles are anyone outside of God's covenant people. Before Joseph Smith prayed in the grove, he was a gentile. The church was restored by gentiles. The Kirtland Temple was built by and dedicated by gentiles, as Joseph Smith declares in the dedicatory prayer, which words were given to him specifically by God: D&C 109:60 Now these words, O Lord, we have spoken before thee, concerning the revelations and commandments which thou hast given unto us, who are identified with the Gentiles.... Doctrine and Covenants 109

This.

Don't have one, but if I did, It might be this one: The Gods of the Copybook Headings Rudyard Kipling AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race, I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place. Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all. We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn: But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind, So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind. We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace, Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place, But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome. With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch, They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch; They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings; So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things. When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace. They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease. But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know." On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life (Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife) Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death." In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all, By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul; But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die." Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more. As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man There are only four things certain since Social Progress began. That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire, And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire; And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins, As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn, The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Pray and ask the Lord for guidance. His advice is best. He knows precisely how you should handle your situation. We can only offer our own limited wisdom. But whatever you do, never apologize for what you believe in, especially when it comes to Jesus Christ. You seem to have strong political convictions, let those same convictions carry you through all your mortal tribulations in Christ.

Lately, I've equated money with a means of debt, labor and bondage. Sure, it's a means of exchange, but really, we are exchanging indentured servitude for worldly, material things. Before money, man had all that he needed. You only need money if you don't labor or eat by the sweat of your brow. That said, chocoate chip cookies. Definitely chocolate chip cookies.

Interesting OP. Has anyone read the Bible lately? I used to think about his topic, but keep in mind that Christ suffered ALL our pains. Even all those violent pains. There isn't anything that anyone has suffered that He did't condescend to suffer also. Violence is a result of the agency He gave us. And the temporal earth will end in a violent, burning oven. The pains of death are temporary. We should get over it.

Happy birthday!

Furthermore: "He shall testify of me." Consider the following scripture in 1 Nephi 11 Nephi exemplifies Joseph Smith's explanation of the Comforter, which testified of the coming of the Son of God. Thereafter, Nephi is left alone, the heavens open up and an angel now begins to instruct Nephi. Before, however, it was the Holy Spirit that received Nephi and praised the most High God and then distinguished between Him and His Son, who Nephi believed. Verse six is a very telling exclamation. This is very different than the bro. of Jared's visit from the pre-mortal Jesus Christ, who specifically identifies Himself and explains why He does not yet have a body of flesh: I find it interesting and fitting that in Nephi's account, the Spirit is capitalized as it should be, whereas in the bro. of Jared's account (as recorded by Moroni), Jesus Christ's spirit is not. There is a distinction here.

I appreciate and respect your position. In my lengthy post, it was simply my object to bring to light the issue regarding the exclusion of the LoF. I have my convictions and all the other issues have no bearing on the matter. I understand the lectures. I accept them. I am accountable to God for my understanding of them. I have done my homework and am still dong my homework. Regarding Polygamy, etc, that is another matter in and of itself. Perhaps some day soon, I will study it out for myself, tracing all histories back to their sources, if possible. The Spirit has borne witness to me while studying the LoF in my mind. That suffices me. While there are two personages in the Godhead, it is clear in verse one that the Godhead consists of three members: We must therefore reconcile our understanding of personages with Joseph Smith's understanding of personages. Joseph Smith also goes on to clarify the third member of the Godhead, namely the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, as we normally say and write today. So either you are right and Joseph Smith is wrong, or Joseph is wrong and you are correct. Personally speaking, I take no issue with Joseph Smith's work here. The questions you raise are valid and things that I recommend you take to the Lord. I cannot prove anything to you. It doesn't work that way. Likewise you cannot prove anything to me. Only God can prove anything to each of us individually. The rest is anecdotal and second hand observation. I can bear my testimony to you, but that's as far as it goes. Let God teach you and the Spirit confirm. Only then can you reconcile your understanding with the Lord's as it should be. That is all I can do with what you have presented above.

One more morsel: One thing that I didn't realize was that this 7 volume series is not the same as my 6 volume series of "A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." I kept pulling my hair out trying to find references to one, while looking in the other. Little did I realize that the 7 volume HC series was originally entitled "History of Joseph Smith." Naturally, the above quote is by Joseph Smith.

Here is how I break it down (so far in my own studies) and of course it is subject to change if I should discover more information/written history and/or further light and knowledge. I will be citing the Joseph Smith Papers and possible Church History series by BH Roberts, the 1835 edition of the Doctrine & Covenants, which has been scanned and presented here. Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 From the PREFACE page (click forward to pages 11 and 12) of the 1835 Doctrine & Covenants, we read Joseph Smith's words: Not only the prophet of the restoration has held himself accountable to God and to the membership, but the publishing committee alongside him, namely Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Ridgon and F.G. Williams. Now if you scroll down the web page to the eleventh paragraph, you will read about the Presidency of the Church and of the general assembly (a few were not present, however) voting by common consent as it was supposed to be done: And so they did: The entire membership sustained it. But what should be of greater import is that Joseph Smith was the senior committee member. Joseph Smith presented the finalized Lectures On Faith as "doctrines of salvation." He attached his name to it. He vouched for it. He made himself accountable for it. Whatever is attributed to Sidney Rigdon, it was Joseph Smith who was responsible for the final edition. Any falsehoods would have been corrected by Joseph by revelation. That's how it worked. That's how we have the Book of Mormon. This is how scripture was canonized. Then in 1921 a committee decided to remove them. This committee comprised of George F. Richards, Anthony W. Ivins, Melvin J. Ballard, James E. Talmage, John A. Widstoe, andJoseph Fielding Smith. -- The Story of the Doctrine and Covenants - Ensign Dec. 1984 - ensign Brigham Young University's Dr. Thomas G. Alexander, Professor of History, has stated quite assertively in his controversial July–August 1980 "Sunstone" article, "The Reconstruction of Mormon Doctrine," that: It is obvious that the committee in 1921 erred. I will give them the benefit of the doubt that they erred honestly and that they did not intend to maliciously remove them. But it makes no sense otherwise for them to declare that the Lectures on Faith were never presented to nor accepted by the church when we have documentations that proves otherwise and establishes the Lectures On Faith as canonized scripture. Ironically, on Jan. 4, 1972, Bruce R. McConkie has said: There is no doubt in my mind that Lectures On Faith should have remained part of canonized scripture. Without them, our minds have been darkened. Our unbelief is greater. Had they remained canonized, every officer of the church, even all members from the greatest to the least would have at the very least been aware of their existence. As it is, a great many members do not bother to study the scriptures, let alone seek out the best books greater knowledge. I have every confidence in Joseph Smith's testimony regarding the Lectures on Faith and that he knew exactly what he was talking about when presenting them to the membership and finally, that they do not in any way contradict the rest of the canonized scripture, especially the Doctrine & Covenants as we have them even today. These lectures are doctrine. They are scripture. They are true.

I was at the grocery store not too long ago at the checkout and the cashier and a customer were talking about Mexicans needing to speak English. "This is America!" I was right in front of them. I just laughed and told them I speak three languages. If you speak two languages, you're bilingual. If you speak three or more languages, you're multilingual. If you speak one language, you're an "American."

I bought both books (parts 1 and 2) and will begin reading them soon. I have a lot of books I'm getting through now. Finishing up one about the Hopi Indians.

May I suggest reading the Book of Mormon often, making it a daily part of your life. Make it your constant companion. Through diligent study, the Spirit will tell you precisely what to aspire to. 2 Nephi 32 1 And now, behold, my beloved brethren, I suppose that ye ponder somewhat in your hearts concerning that which ye should do after ye have entered in by the way. But, behold, why do ye ponder these things in your hearts? 2 Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost? 3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. 4 Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark. 5 For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do. 6 Behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and there will be no more doctrine given until after he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh. And when he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh, the things which he shall say unto you shall ye observe to do.

Interesting post. The only thing I can respond with is to share a quote I once saw on a marquis sign. "We don't see the world as it is. We see the world as we are."

This is a fascinating question. I have no doubt that Joseph Smith attained celestial glory, or at least as much as one can attain while in this estate. As for the rest. I don't doubt that they eventually will attain celestial glory. Even Alvin Smith, who died before the restoration, attained (or rather shall attain it) celestial glory, as Joseph saw in a vision. Joseph Smith proved himself true and faithful, parted the veil, received of His glory, communed with God and Gods, was ministered to by them and angels while in this estate. When he said that he knew more than all the world, I believe him.

Beautifully written, Finrock. And I submit that the LoF, as well as the BoM, is a road map to understanding the attributes of God and Godliness and what kind of sacrifice is required to obtain such faith so that we can become as Christ, who sacrificed all. When we see Him we shall see Him as He is because we will be like Him. To know God (as the bro of Jared, Nephi, Jacob, etc) is salvation. It is to become celestial. But we cannot if we have misconceptions about who and what He is. And what they are. This, I believe, was the focus of Joseph Smith's teachings.

I see no contradiction in the LoF with D&C. In fact I see it with greater clarity than I did a few years go. It wasn't, however, without much laboring in the Spirit. It's simply something for each individual to realize alone through the Spirit and by the Spirit only. I don't imply that this makes me special. I am just adding my witness.

New entry. They Who Have Buried Their Weapons | Latter-day Lamanite

You have a misconception about heaven. If we cannot lay everything on the altar, we are not celestial material. That includes grudges. If we do not accuse, our Judge will not accuse us. If we cannot forgive, which implies forgetting, neither will Christ forgive and you will never forget.

I found this online. LDS Living - My Name Used to Be Muhammad: One Man's Journey from Muslim to Mormon For my dear friend, Thrushcross.