jimuk

Jesus came down preaching, He already had this authority that was from his father that was in heaven, but he dident start his ministry till much later, when he was 30yrs old. when he called his disciples, "he" gave them the authority to go out and spread his word amongst the people, to heal, cast out evil spirits.

Hi brother01. What Jesus is saying is that these people who have done these things in his name, did so without authority from god, which can only be given by those that have the authority to give. plain and simple. So basically, it really doesent matter what you preach, if you do so without authority from god it serves you no purpose.

I hope this isent to harsh or i will be in trouble again lol. I do not think you can be a non mormon lds, i think that many will be classed as this though, below is what one certain guy says about these guys and others who feel they are doing Jesus's work without the "members card" lol. So yes you do need the " members card " which is Authority from god. Mathew 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Hey there candyrprpl Cheer up, you do great work here, i love to read your posts, may not always agree with some of your stuff but most of it i do agree with, and i know i am not the only one, but your faith and love for the church certainly comes through in your posts, you are an inspiration to many here so CHEER UP lol. Yes you are correct when you say about the threads/discussions turn into arguments, I mainly read the threads now because i found that my threads sometimes caused bad feeling in themselves. I am sure that the arguments dont happen between members, its normally guys/girls that come here looking for a fight, and no matter how kind and loving they are received they just do not feel the good spirit, just the spirit of contention. Yourself and others here are in fact doing missionary work when trying to get through to these people and the stress and frustration must be very hard for all of you. So i say to all of you guys that try so very very hard God bless you and carry on, i wish i had the words like you lot have. But until then i will just read your posts, and i know i will learn a lot from them.

As i have said, it is your testimony, and when you are ready the spirit will guide you, if not there is the chance that it may come over as preaching and have an adverse affect on those listening, with the guidance of the spirit it will come across as your love for the things you are talking about. There is NO rules, anything goes, if you feel that by meeting the missionaries brought forth the spirit which overwhelmed you then this is a testimony to the work that these guys were doing. As said "Anything goes" as to why you know that the church is true. It is "Your" testimony. Do not feel pressured into it. God bless you and do not worry about it.

Hi Avrham good to talk with you, Your Testimony is given to YOU by our father in heaven through the power of the Holy Ghost, the Holy ghost cannot be turned on an off at will. You were just taken by surprise, put on the spot so to speak, you bare your testimony when you want to tell it and i guarantee the Holy spirit will fill you with so much enthusiasm you won't be able to stop. There cannot be any rules as to what to say, you go ahead and say it as it is, when you are ready, the holy ghost will guide you in your words.

"But I can NOT see the benefits in belittling one another over a survey that doesn't actually exist. I wld like to think that in some small way I/we cld help strengthen another's testimony." My sentiments exactly.

Very to the point Mike, if one doesent believe Joseph was a prophet then they cannot beleive in the lds faith/church.

Are we talking about why people stop going to meetings, or why they no longer believe in the lds faith. If people have become inactive and still retain their testomony then they have not left the church at all, and whilst they do indeed retain their testimony there is a very good chance that they will return to meetings one day, your testimony is a great thing and as long as the holy ghost keeps testifying to a person, then he/she is as much a member of the church of Jesus christ of latter day saints as any one who attends church meetings regularly. I believe that "some" inactive members love our father, as much or maybe more than "some" active members profess to do. Some People here are just guessing as to why some leave the church and why some become inactive, i myself think there is a world of difference. Why a survey, yes maybe a survey amongst "active" members would be more appropriate asking if they feel that they have shown enough love and kindness to troubled members, the way Jesus did when he walked amongst his church, he has asked us to be the same as himself, and to love one another the way that he loves us. As i have already said, if a person retains his/her testimony then they have not left the church. When their testimony is taken from them, by heavenly father for whatever reasons he seems fit, then yes, this is when they have left.

nanni, i must go to bed, its five oclock in morning lol, nite nite

Love, kindness, charity, this is all part of the fellowship that the new member must have at the beginning of their journey, this is a main part of our love for Jesus christ, he showed it whilst he himself walked this earth, and he has told us that we must do the same. I may be wrong, John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. Below is a short part from Ensign Gordon B. Hinckley, “Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep,” Ensign, May 1999, 104 From a satellite broadcast given at the Salt Lake Tabernacle 21 February 1999 Strengthening New Members Having found and baptized a new convert, we have the challenge of fellowshipping him and strengthening his testimony of the truth of this work. We cannot have him walking in the front door and out the back. Joining the Church is a very serious thing. Each convert takes upon himself or herself the name of Christ with an implied promise to keep His commandments. But coming into the Church can be a perilous experience. Unless there are warm and strong hands to greet the convert, unless there is an outreach of love and concern, he will begin to wonder about the step he has taken. Unless there are friendly hands and welcome hearts to greet him and lead him along the way, he may drop by the side. There is absolutely no point in doing missionary work unless we hold on to the fruits of that effort. The two must be inseparable. These converts are precious. Every convert is a son or daughter of God. Every convert is a great and serious responsibility. It is an absolute imperative that we look after those who have become a part of us. To paraphrase the Savior, what shall it profit a missionary if he baptize the whole world unless those baptized remain in the Church? (see Mark 8:36). I myself had never read that before, its great to find such a great person that agrees totally with the way i feel.

Just imagine the christmas presents you would have to by each year for the whole family. It would definitely be a case of "right we are only buying for the kids this year"

Hi nannysherri, You mention "should come from people in the church" But i say it "must" come from people in the church. You can not "progress" if you know there are people that need fellowship and turn your back on them, Heavenly father dont want to lose any of his flock not one, if we allow this to happen without trying to help them then it will be us that will be answerable to god, and not the person who feels they have been driven out by an unfriendly congregation. I certainly do not think that being lonely is a choice, if somebody is so lonely and gets no fellowship when they are in despair or deep depression then they would have been driven away from the church by those that chose to turn their back on one of gods children. That is no diffrent than seeing an old lady getting mugged and turning ones back because one dident want to get involved or "cause a fuss". Sorry if i have read wrongly into your post, but its as if you would be blaming the unhappy member for being lonely, when all around them is new and maybe quite daunting for them.

Hey funkymonkey dont mention it, i think it is very important that i share my experiences with others, i have not been blessed academically (big word) lol, but i do feel blessed in other ways. I get frustrated sometimes when i try to express my views on here amongst so many academically (there it is again) minded members of the church, especially when i try to stick up for the church, i seem to get myself into trouble lol, (Foot in mouth comes to mind) but i know the church members don.t mean any harm, maybe i get in the way when they are trying to debate something with people trying to discredit us. I am a true beleiver that you know heavenly father by the Holy Ghost and not from a book, if i know god then there is no need for books, the prophet lets us know now what god wants, But saying this, some need to be knowledgeable of the bible and other scriptures to be able to fight against those that would seek to destroy our faith with their own quotations and translations, i can only fight with the power of the Holy Ghost. this is how i feel anyway.

I think the time to worry would be if my Testimony was to be taken away from me, it is so strong when i am on here talking to members on this forum, i dont feel it on any of the others. Traveler, that is a good saying, i have a picture in my mind of the guy turning to someone and saying that.

Does it worry some that Joseph had more than one wife, does it really matter,all i know is i need to believe in him, he was a Prophet who's calling was to guide Jesus's church through such harsh times, and he did so to the best of his ability, he was a good, good, man, 1 wife or 100 wives who care's WE DO NOT PRACTICE POLYGAMY It is history, he restored the church for Our father, what do you want us to say about him. As already mentioned there was other prophets long before Joseph who may or may not have practiced polygamy but i never see this discussed or ridiculed. This is my own view on certain polygamous times such as the pioneers. When family's were pulling handcarts, driving oxen pulled wagons, walking sometimes barefoot with their children, it is known that they met a lot of hostility along the way by "GOOD CHRISTIAN FOLK" who sometimes just for fun would take it upon their god fearing selves to do all they could to destroy these wonderful loving family's, and what better way than to murder them, now sometimes all that was left was the mother and children, because the father was dead. Now what a loving caring people to take in these women and children into their own family and home/wagons, now we all know that it was not allowed for a woman to live with a man (under same roof) so what to do, do we leave them to starve, to freeze, no they were married to the man/family that took them in, none of gods laws were broken. What a loving Father, and a loving caring people. Please do not be so hard of heart and please do not see this as preaching. We will not go against Joseph whom we love, he was/is our brother who did all he could for us, i for one will not betray him, i testify to him being a true prophet of god, he could have turned away from the church (he may have well wanted to at times) but he couldent, who would have guided the saints and given them heavenly fathers words. Oh dear i do hope i do not get a telling off this time lol

ceeboo i am so sorry i dont know what happened there lol, i have deleted it. Very early in the morning here, bit brain dead i'm afraid.

You need to have faith in god and in his holy Priesthood to be healed. Let me tell you a little story. I was attending a very good friend of mines Baptism a long time ago, the elders that Baptized my then wife and myself were performing this baptism they were so dedicated in their calling and were terrific guys, both from the usa. Anyway for over a week i had had terrible pains in the muscles in my back, i cant remember telling these guys about it but they came up to me before the baptism and asked if i was feeling ok, i mentioned then about my back pains, one of them said "lets see if we can help you Jim" we went into the meeting room on our own, i sat on a chair, the elders put their hands on my head and prayed out aloud in the name of jesus Christ for heavenly father to help with my problem should he feel i needed his help. I was aware of a warm sensation passing from my shoulders down my back, a little like warm water, when it got to the bottom, the warmth then rose up back to my shoulders and the pain was completely gone. I felt so good and we thanked heavenly father through Jesus Christ for this wonderful thing he had shown us. Wait a minute there is more lol. After the Baptism was over i was outside waiting for some other people when a very pretty girl walked past, i turned to some other guy and made a comment about her, not a rude comment i must add, just something along the lines about how nice she looked, as soon as i said this i felt a shooting pain shoot down my back and it was gone again, i was ok. This had to be heavenly father letting me know that he was still watching me and that he was not pleased with what i had said or maybe have been thinking at the time. He could have so easily left me with this pain but he dident, but it showed me just what might have been. I testify to the power of gods heavenly Priesthood and that he works wonders through the Melchizedek priesthood (his wonders to behold).

Thanks Mike, please try to stick with it matey.

Many moons ago i was asked by my then bishop to give a talk on Fellowship within the church, this was to be the first time i had ever stood up in front of a crowd, i really dident want to do it, all my life i had hated being the centre of attention, and as hard as i tried lol, i couldn't get out of it, i even wrote it down and tried to practice it, but i just couldent remember it, it needed to come from the heart and it was sounding like a rehearsed speech, anyway the morning came and i was a bag of nerves, i was sweating and feeling sick, i nearly sneaked off home. The time came "help" i put my hand into the pocket where the notes "should have been" but they were gone, i know i had put them there, but they were nowhere upon my person. I stepped up and was introduced, I was silent for a minute, all i could see was these smiling faces all looking up at me expectantly waiting, Then all of a sudden a calm came over me, such a calm, i knew at that moment everything i was saying was by the spirit, my talk on fellowship was supposed to take about 10 minutes, but after around twenty i became mr nervous again and wound it up, The Holy Ghost had done his work, the father had let the people know what he needed to about Fellowship. There is not enough of it in the church especially towards new members who have had so much love from the missionaries before and during their baptism, that when the elders move on to another family they can feel so alone when left to themselves, it can be so very lonely for them, so strange to now be so physically by themselves in what seemed to be such a loving frendly environment. These members will fall if they are not shown the fellowship that they so much deserve and it is the duty of whatever ward these new members are in, to be shown the true love, charity, and kindness, which heavenly father expects from each and EVERY one of us, without exeption, that they do not go astray which will happen if not welcomed into the fold.

Hi there, Sometimes we do get a strong kick up the backside when we least expect it from the Holy Ghost, Look what its done to you. Bet when you sat down and got all comfy you wasn't expecting to get a visit, and you have now recieved a testimony as to Josephs Authenticity, congratulations, thats great, hang onto it.

Phew its hard being a mormon lol Loving our heavenly father so much and striving to do his will. I tell you one thing, if i was a member of any other faith and read the below statement it would defenitly make me feel better knowing that i was not going to be spending eternity in a pit of fire lol. 7) Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we will all be resurrected and receive immortal bodies, never to die again. We will be brought before the judgement bar of Christ, who not only is the Creator and the Redeemer, but is also the Judge of mankind. There we will be judged according to our works, words, thoughts, and hearts, and we will receive a just and merciful reward in the mansions of our Father.

I have to say rameumptom i go along with everything you say in the above quote, when i say anything like it i get a telling off lol. So i will just keep reading the thread and hopefully learn something, i know it makes me stronger in spirit when i see others standing up for their belief in our heavenly father and the prophets.

I am fed up with people trying yes trying with all their might to discredit Brother Joseph, a prophet of god, may i add without whom there would be no church of jesus christ of latter day saints for us today (unless of course another prophet were to have been chosen for us at that time) We love him he loves us, he was a MAN who guided the church the way our father wanted him to, isen't this what having a prophet of God on the earth is all about, so if Joseph was told that the church was to become polygamous who were the members to argue, you either believed Joseph was a prophet or you dident, if you did believe then you followed his word which we believe was the word of god our heavenly father at that time. If these dis creditors, can convince us that Joseph was a cheat, fraud, Liar and an adulterer, we may as well say the church is not the church of Jesus Christ. because it would have been built/restored on those things that brother Joseph is in fact being accused of. I am sorry but somebody needs to stand up for Joseph seeing he cannot do it himself, Yep beginning to "see red" lol.

Wow here in the uk, i think we are paying around $7.72 a gallon.