Sadliers

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Everything posted by Sadliers

  1. Leaving the church over a lack of evidence is a farce! If they leave over the lack of evidence then will they return when the evidence is proven? Of course not! They are leaving either because they did not receive a witness from God, they don't trust God, or they don't know God. It takes lots of faith to believe the sciences especially regarding the dating of the pre-flood era. The faith is that everything today was the same back then and that the cataclysmic event had no bearing on the radioactivity of the atoms when the flood happened. There will be discoveries made which reveal an energy that alters the radiation level and/or decay rates. I suspicion it will be found to be associated with earthquake fogs such as was experienced in the New Madrid quake of 1812. When it is realized that the "great deep" was broken up at the flood and that this currently unknown energy came in to play then it will have to be admitted that it could have had a profound effect on atoms and their radiation. When that happens those that had their faith in the sciences and dating methods will see how foolish it was to place such great faith in the sciences, even so much that they tried to disprove God by their ignorance. Maybe it will take 50 years but the errors of the pre-flood dating methods will be exposed...
  2. You're right that a kingdom of no glory is outer darkness. But what makes you think that a mortal can become "filthy"? Notice the definition of "filthy" as given by Nephi: "And assuredly, as the Lord liveth, for the Lord God hath spoken it, and it is his eternal word, which cannot pass away, that they who are righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy shall be filthy still; wherefore, they who are filthy are the devil and his angels; and they shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for them; and their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever and has no end." (2 Nephi 9:16) Only the devil and his angels will be "filthy still". His angels are not mortals but rather those that failed to keep their first estate. I will leave it at that because expounding on it will be fruitless. As I said, being a Son of Perdition is simply out of reach for most members. One must know Jesus before they can deny Him. Knowing Him is greater than having faith in Him and believing in Him. Few members know Him and that is according to His own words: "For strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me." (D&C 132:23) If a member cannot find the strait gate for the reason that they don't receive Him and know Him then what does it take to receive Him and know Him? That's where we go back to 2 Nephi 31 and discover that the final step in entering the straight gate is the Baptism of Fire: "17 Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost. 18 And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive." (2 Nephi 31:17-18) In verse 17 it identifies repentance, baptism, and Baptism by Fire as the steps to getting to the gate and narrow path. Although that verse does not directly say "Baptism of Fire" we see it stated on other occasions such as in verse 14, and in other scriptures such as D&C 39:6, D&C 20:41, D&C 33:11, John 3, etc. Verse 18 identifies that keeping the commandments is what brings the Baptism of Fire. Since members have already received baptism that means the criteria for the Baptism of Fire is reduced to repentance and keeping the commandments. Since few members are receiving the Baptism of Fire then it is a clear indication that repentance and/or keeping the commandments is what is holding them back from getting on to the narrow path. That also means that failing to repent and/or keeping the commandments is what keeps most members from knowing Jesus Christ. Since one must know Jesus Christ before they can commit the unpardonable sin that means there are "few" members that will reach the point of even being able to commit it (D&C 132:22 = few members will know Him). To suppose that the original poster was among the few, or that even many might be among the few, is simply not supported in scripture. But more importantly is that the Spirit has never borne witness to that conclusion.
  3. The Spirit will give you the tidbits of wisdom to help you pull through. Lean on Jesus! He offered and He has the strength so take Him up on the offer. Toss your burdens on His shoulders, especially the heaviest ones, while you take His yoke upon you (boot camp). Just remember that when you offer your burdens to Him you must let Him have them - no snatching them back and no more worrying about them. He will know how to handle them and if someone needs punished He'll know just the right way to do it - trust Him! One thing that overcoming pride does is causes one to be less concerned of what others think of them. The pride is probably rooted in wanting to feel better about ourself and if we feel we are better than others then it causes us to feel good. Just the same if we feel that we are beneath others then it is still pride because there is still a perception that one is better than the other. The opposite of pride is meekness. The pride is replaced with pleasing Heavenly Father. He is the one that offers the greatest peace and happiness, not people, so He becomes the one we strive to please. As we please Him (which is witnessed by His Spirit being with us) a shift takes place in which we care less about pleasing others. As we feel His love we gain a desire to help others experience it. Those factors result in a perspective that we are all on this earth together to help each other come back to Father. With such a perspective there's no viewing one as better than another because Father beats us all by far - therefore who is to brag or boast that they are somehow superior? It's like kindergarteners trying to compete for who is best but when the adult comes in they know there is someone that outdoes them and suddenly which of them is best becomes irrelevant since none measures up to the adult. There was one other crucial thing that helped me in the process and that was to view life situations as part of the test. When the choice was placed before me regarding choosing God or Satan I would make a conscious effort to choose God and state "I choose the Spirit". When a trigger would be hit that I would usually get angry over I would first stop and look at the choice: I could have the Spirit or I could have anger, but not both. "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Luke 16:13) Satan is the god of anger. God is the god of love and patience. If I choose to be angry then I have chosen to serve Satan. I can't have both - it will be either to choose anger or to choose the Spirit, take my pick. I would consciously choose the Spirit which meant that I had to do everything within my power to override those normal reactions. And the same applied to when someone would wrong me: I would see it as a choice to choose the Spirit or to choose revenge or justice, but I couldn't have both. So I would do everything within my power to choose the Spirit. Sometimes it was downright difficult! When I was in destitute conditions and homeless an ex brother-in-law decided to steal some of my belongings ($1k+ worth) then, using dishonest means and fraud, racked up a power bill for $800 which I would be on the hook for. Stealing from a homeless person and socking them with a bill so that they could live in comforts that I was deprived of?!? That one was a real struggle to keep to choosing the Spirit over anger and vengeance. But that's the depth at which we will be tested as we pass the smaller tests. It's all worth it, though. Knowing that Jesus already passed similar yet harder tests helped give encouragement. This much I can testify with the utmost assuredness: when one has the Spirit in great measure (even to the point of having the unspeakable joy) then it does not matter how destitute they are and it does not matter how low life has slammed them, they are happy and feel that nothing is lacking in their life! It doesn't matter if they don't know where the next meal comes from or when the next dollar can be earned, they feel like nothing is lacking at all and, ironically, even feel rich.
  4. True, but the test isn't being noticed. If we intend to return to live with Heavenly Father then we need to know Him in this life. He can't be a stranger to us and then suddenly we claim it is "home" to be with Him after we die. No, if He is a stranger in this life then He will likely be a stranger in the next. How do we get to know Him in this life? Remember that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are One. We can't know one without knowing the other and we can't ignore one without ignoring all. Our direct line to knowing Heavenly Father is by knowing the Spirit. Our direct line to obeying Father is by obeying the Spirit. This is where the test comes in every day. When we get up in the morning do we check to see that the presence of the Spirit is being felt? If not then we didn't care whether Heavenly Father was with us for the day. Then let's say I slip and fall while in the shower. Test time! I now have a choice as to whether my response will keep the Spirit with me or drive the Spirit away. Anger opposes the Spirit because it comes from the opposing god. If I get angry over the misfortune then I have chosen to serve the god of anger. Will that be my choice or will I choose to have the Spirit with me? Let's say at the breakfast table I spill orange juice on me. Test time! Will I choose the Spirit or will I choose the god of anger? I can only serve one master so which will it be? Irrespective of my lip service and beliefs, my choice at that moment of testing will determine which god I am leaning on. We will experience many tests every day to see if we will choose God (the Spirit) or Satan. Our choice is selected by our reaction to the tests.
  5. You're correct in both accounts. As a Spirit it was hard to learn faith when there was no opposition. We are now in a different world where the knowledge of God has been veiled. We are now experiencing an enticement to go against God. We each have also experienced at least one traumatic, life-changing experience in life for our opportunity to grow and prove whether or not will will continue to serve God under such circumstances. With all this working against us will we choose to have true joy and happiness in life or will we choose to abandon God? Another thing we experience here, unlike in the spirit world, are violations of our personal borders. That hits at an eternal law which prohibits violating one's personal borders yet here on earth will we violate other's personal borders when there is the opportunity to do so? And when our own borders are violated will we turn against God in anger over it? And, of course, there is this body that we have been given stewardship over. It is like a little puppy for us to teach and to train. It has its own desires for pleasure and freedom from pain but can our spirits be the master or will the body master our spirits? And to make it a little more tricky the body can receive communication from the spirit world irrespective of the brain (which is where our spirit mostly functions and controls the body). Will we permit evil spirits to have any control? It's easy to give them permission - all we have to do is have a desire to sin and it gives them some control. Will we refuse to grant them control? Though there be many aspects to life, it is designed to give us the opportunity to gain more glory than we previously had. The choice is totally ours at how much more we will gain. If it is our true desire to gain all glory then the only thing holding us back is whether or not it is actually a true desire.
  6. And you're correct. That's what it says in D&C 76. He is speaking about Sons of Perdition when this is said: "Wherefore, he saves all except them-they shall go away into everlasting punishment, which is endless punishment, which is eternal punishment, to reign with the devil and his angels in eternity, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, which is their torment-" (D&C 76:44) Because of our faithfulness in keeping our first estate (and our being here on earth is proof that we kept it) we have already been guaranteed a degree of glory: "And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever." (Abraham 3:26) The only way one can forfeit that minimal glory is by knowing Jesus then knowingly turning against Him and aligning themselves with Lucifer, as the devils did when they rebelled during their first estate. A belief in Jesus does not qualify as knowing Him.
  7. The test is inconclusive because it is not a squeamish factor that makes a liberal a liberal nor what makes a conservative a conservative.
  8. Do we agree that one must know Jesus Christ before they can become a Son of Perdition?
  9. It doesn't matter if consuming alcohol is healthy if one has made a covenant to abstain.
  10. One must have received the Baptism of Fire before they can become a Son of Perdition. "But, behold, my beloved brethren, thus came the voice of the Son unto me, saying: After ye have repented of your sins, and witnessed unto the Father that ye are willing to keep my commandments, by the baptism of water, and have received the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, and can speak with a new tongue, yea, even with the tongue of angels, and after this should deny me, it would have been better for you that ye had not known me." (2 Nephi 31:14) Getting the Baptism of Fire is no easy task. It happens after we have been confirmed and after we have diligently strived to live without ever offending the Spirit - and succeeded. We will have made great personal sacrifices in order to please God and we will have sufficiently passed all the tests placed before us. The Spirit will be with us all the time as is felt in the temple before we receive it. It signifies that we have finally passed through the straight gate and entered on to the narrow path. From that point on the Holy Spirit is our guide and takes us in obedience far beyond the commandments. One that has received the Baptism of Fire is no stranger to receiving revelations because of how close they are to the Spirit. It is not life as usual where one has to pray for the Spirit to come because they have already tuned their life so as to avoid ever offending the Spirit. Their greatest fear in life is not death, not the loss of a loved one, and not the insecurity of being jobless; their greatest fear is to lose the Spirit. Their life is one of devotion to God. They are the only ones that can become a Son of Perdition because they are the only ones that knew God well enough to have the Holy Ghost make His abode with them. There are few members that will reach that point: " For strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me." (D&C 132:22) If one has become a Son of Perdition they will know it! They will know that they have denied the Spirit after receiving the Baptism of Fire and that they actively fought against Jesus. Merely drifting away afterward will land such a person in hell but being a Son of Perdition takes an active fight against the Savior after having truly known Him - one does not truly know the Savior until they have received the Baptism of Fire. Jesus will reveal to them their torment for having knowingly turned against Him: "44 Wherefore, he saves all except them—they shall go away into everlasting punishment, which is endless punishment, which is eternal punishment, to reign with the devil and his angels in eternity, where their wormdieth not, and the fire is not quenched, which is their torment— 45 And the end thereof, neither the place thereof, nor their torment, no man knows; 46 Neither was it revealed, neither is, neither will be revealed unto man, except to them who are made partakers thereof; 47 Nevertheless, I, the Lord, show it by vision unto many, but straightway shut it up again; 48 Wherefore, the end, the width, the height, the depth, and the misery thereof, they understand not, neither any man except those who are ordained unto this condemnation." (D&C 76:44-48) Don't worry, you're not a Son of Perdition! You have given a devil an abode within you through your rebellion and it is not giving up. You can beat it but it takes dedicated and sincere effort.
  11. There's actually another apostle that also spoke on depression and it was Elder Holland. It was in General Conference a few years ago. He also went through it and gave his advice regarding it. As for me I know what got me there: anger. There was a lawyer/bishop that did dishonest tricks in court that put me in peril and a court commissioner that went along with it. The anger allowed Satan to get in and it took me down to the black abyss. Quite frankly I don't think there was any advice that could have helped me pull out of it. Hope was lost. Getting up in the morning was a burden and doing anything was worse. Even favorite activities had no appeal. There was one key thing that was very instrumental in helping me pull out of it. I went to a lecture regarding dreams an visions of "tent cities". Many dreams and visions were shared regarding a chaotic USA in which the Lord would call His people to places of safety (which was being called "tent cities") before the chaos strikes. It was pointed out that a person had to have some way to survive in such a scenario and that's where the church's recommendation for a year supply of food would be crucial. That caused enough intrigue that I began studying it more. Then I began storing food. That little bit of though and idea gave a little bit of hope and a goal. It was just a wee bit and I didn't even realize it at the time. As I began to study more on it and take further steps to get a year supply things began improving almost imperceptibly. After getting a little food and seeing it stored there arose a desire to get a little more. Just a bucket here and a bag there. After about three months it occurred to me that I was no longer in the depression! I'm still not fully sure how I got out but I think it was from that glimmer of hope in something and then finding enough energy to take one step toward the goal and seeing one simple accomplishment.
  12. It's not fun being judged like that. Those that do it aren't grasping the gospel. But why should that effect your relationship with Christ? Are you coming to church to be in a club or to worship God? Does the unrightous behavior of members dictate whether or not Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith? Do their actions prove whether or not the Book of Mormon was brought forth by the power of God? You are the reason I gave my introduction in another thread. I gave the intro in hopes that it would help you specifically. Had it not been for this I would have kept it to myself. I was in a similar type of situation of being judged because of divorce and chose a better route than previously. You may not believe me but you're missing the Spirit in your life. There is a potential in the gospel which will give you an exhilaration that has not been experienced. It sounds like you may have hit bottom and that's a good time to try something different since what has already been tried resulted in where you are. It is not an easy journey and few will make it but I'm convinced that the reason more won't make it is because they don't know how to get there from where they are. They also think that since they've been in the church all their life then they've experienced the best it has to offer. Far from it! That's a rut, not progress. That "unspeakable joy" is a joy so intense that one cannot speak and so great that merely trying to describe it to those that haven't experienced it will not convey the depth and intensity of it. If you don't mind me being so bold but speaking also from personal experience, the idea that merely doing the outward actions makes one righteous is where you're stuck and where I was stuck. We are determined to be 'righteous' if our home teaching numbers are high and our attendance is perfect. That is the same incorrect judgment that leads to the judging you're now experiencing - it's all on outward appearance. The Lord does not judge on outward appearance but rather judges the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). However when we personally get caught up in doing the outward appearances without changing the heart then we are doing as the Pharisees had done. If we couple that with pride in our beliefs then we ARE a Pharisee. Gotta change the heart and make our true desires to be in accordance with pleasing God, not ignorantly offending Him. I am 48 and a life long member. I even served a mission, been sealed, served in various callings, and so forth. But with all that it wasn't until last week that I finally know what repentance is. I stumbled through repentance without truly knowing what it was as detailed in my intro. Repentance is not merely confessing and avoiding. Repentance is to change the heart so that we won't even have the desire to commit the sin again. Sin is anything we do that offends the Spirit - it isn't just the commandments. Take a heated debate with the wife - we offended the Spirit no matter who was right and who was wrong. That was a sin and it didn't matter if we were right. If we are truly repentant then we will apologize to our wife for becoming angry at her (even if no unkind words were said), we will apologize to God for offending Him and the eternal laws, we will come up with a plan on how to avoid becoming angry again, we will role play the 'better choice' so that we can act when the time comes, and we try changing our heart so that we will not feel anger in that type of situation again. That's a true repentance. Now compare that with the "normal" procedure of apologizing because we hurt the wife and only resolve that we'll just bite our tongue next time. On the outward both scenarios look like repentance. But inside only the first scenario is true repentance. God looks on our heart and sees that as plain as day. If we are to come to God in righteousness then we need to practice true repentance in all aspects of life and every time we do something that causes the Spirit to withdraw from us.
  13. I normally don't do introductions but felt compelled to do so this time. I felt to share my story so that it will help someone that is where I have been in feeling like the wheels are spinning in the gospel yet going nowhere. My story begins in 2011 when the wife that I dearly loved had left. I knew that I was in a very dangerous situation spiritually due to a previous divorce that caused me to sink in to a deep, black hole of depression. I was facing that possibility again and knew that I would have to fly or I'd sink, there would be no bobbing. In reflecting over my life the only time that I seemed to be happiest and felt that I could take on any challenge was when I had the Spirit with me in abundance. I figured that if my days were consumed with that Spirit then there would be no chance for sinking. However if I wasn't mindful and allowed even one day to go by without the Spirit then I very likely could slip into the depression that could take a half year or more to get back out of. I also thought that I was more happy when I felt happy and the Spirit fostered that, too, so it looked like the Spirit would be the key to get me through that rough time. I came up with a plan for keeping the Spirit with me. I called it Spiritual Boot Camp because I would going to have to do it even if it killed me. And the writing on the wall seemed to indicate that it would kill me because I would have to give up so many things that I enjoyed and resign myself to a life of boredom. I made a list of rules for this boot camp and the number one rule was: the Spirit trumps everything. Each day there would be choices to make and each choice may or may not effect the Spirit. If by any chance that choice did effect the Spirit then the Spirit would win and the choice would be to go with the Spirit no matter how painful and no matter how costly. If it meant that I would stand to lose everything if a I told the truth then the truth had to prevail because any falsehood or deception would offend the Spirit so the choice to go with the Spirit would trump all my possessions. I was that serious. There were a few other rules, too, such as if the Spirit was observed to be absent then immediate action had to be taken to get the Spirit back. If I was in an important meeting and the Spirit left then I would excuse myself from the meeting to go to a closet and repent - nothing was going to be more important than the Spirit. With that I began to clean house. I went through the music and asked myself "does this bring the Spirit into my day?" Most did not. Most would make me feel good but that feeling was not the Spirit so it had to go. Bye bye The Wall, Dark Side of the Moon, and the rest that gave me hours on end of entertainment. And to make sure I wouldn't change my mind I destroyed them before throwing them away. When I began the journey I reflected on a dream my father once had. In the dream he entered the spirit world shortly after grandma did. Grandpa was giving grandma accolades on how well she had done in life. Dad approached grandpa and asked what he needed to do. With a tear in his eye grandpa said there were four things that was holding dad back which he needed to overcome. He mentioned the first and dad thought that was way too hard and didn't know if he would be able to do it. Grandpa mentioned the second one and dad thought that it was easier and probably doable. Grandpa then mentioned the third and fourth and those sounded pretty easy. Grandpa could sense what dad was thinking so he told dad that he had to start on the hardest first. Dad woke up and contemplated the dream. He decided that he would work on the easiest first so then tackle the hardest last. At that he went back to sleep. Come morning he couldn't remember what any of them were except for the hardest. I took dad's experience to heart and decided that I had to worry on the hardest one first, too, if I was going to be serious about boot camp. For me that was anger. Just refraining from being angry wouldn't work as long as there was anger in the heart so I I I diligently worked on never allowing it to even enter the heart. It was tough! I was having to do checks every 10 to 15 minutes to see if I was feeling anger over anything and, if so, then I would have to stop what I was doing, repent, get the Spirit back, then proceed with my day. It would take about 5 to 7 minutes to get the Spirit back and so this was consuming my day! I would cave to other weaknesses but this one was so tough that all I could do was ask Father to be patient with me on it because I didn't have the strength to work on two at once. He was very patient! I had to lean very heavily on Jesus because it was a great struggle to loose the bands of anger so that I could have the Spirit with me 24/7. Just to give an idea what it was like, as soon as I found the Spirit missing it was usually because there was anger welling up again. So I would have to sing or hum a church hymn and then offer up a prayer of "yep, it got me again" and counsel with God on how I could stop it the next time. Usually there were trigger points and so I would have to plan out what I would do the next time the trigger point was hit, and make sure the plan was to think and act as Jesus would think and act. I would then role play it in the mind. Eventually I could act it out as role played in the mind, both in thought and in action. But that would be just one scenarios with one trigger point. So I would have to do the same for all other known scenarios and trigger points. Each day would start out with offering a prayer to Father and asking Him for strength to overcome. I would lay out the battle plans for the day. Come evening time I would check back in with Father. I would tell Him how the day went. I would acknowledge the successes as well as the failures. I would seek for His advice or suggestions. And, most of all, I would thank Him for helping me throughout the day. Yes, some days were test days where He would send a test in some aspect of anger. It got to he point that when the test would come I would just chuckle and reply that the test was too easy. He would then send some really tough ones. LOL! It's all good! After about 3 days after starting boot camp it was simply too hard! My time and energy was being consumed with trying to overcome anger and there was so little progress! It literally felt like I had moved only an inch in a race that was one mile long! That was when the Spirit had me look back and then said "yes, but now you're an inch ahead - isn't that better than no progress?" The Spirit was right but it was tough! I finally resolved that I would only try this boot camp for one month and if it didn't look like progress was being made then I'd can it and resolve to going back to who I was. The Spirit seemed ok with that. After about two weeks I finally hit a major milestone. I went one full hour without any anger at all! That was a BIG accomplishment! So I celebrated... And didn't even get angry over it! After the first month the Spirit asked me if I was going to quit. By this time things were getting easier. I was reaching multiple hours in the day without succumbing to even the least bit of anger. The presence of the Spirit was being felt more and in a greater degree. No, I would not quit because I was enjoying my time with the Spirit, progress was being made, prayers were being more readily answered, and I was learning from the most awesome teacher - God! It was about two months before I finally had my first whole day without any anger whatsoever. That was another major mile mark with another celebration! It was only about another month and the anger was then becoming a small thing in my life. I would wake up all excited to take on the day because it was another day for honing my new skill of living without anger, though there was plenty of reason to be angry. Then one day, just as I was feeling like anger was now insignificant in my life, the Spirit told me to take what I was working on,place it on the back burner yet keep plucking at it, and now begin working on my next greatest weakness. I clearly knew what that was because I had to keep asking Father to be patient and I'd get to it. Now it was time to work on it. So I began the process again of making a focused and concentrated effort to overcoming it. By now the Spirit was with me more and more while insights were coming in greater measure. At times I would be consumed with the Spirit in what is referred to as the 'fire within'. I loved it! Overcoming that weakness didn't take as long. And just as before the Spirit one day said to now put that one on the back burner as the previous and now begin working on my next weakness. But there was a problem: I didn't know what it was. I thought really deeply and tried figuring it out but the Spirit wasn't telling me nor giving any direction. I was at a total loss! How do I work on something that I don't know? I recalled Ether 12:27 which says if man comes to Jesus He will show them their weaknesses. So I went to Father and explained that the Spirit told me to work on my next weakness but I didn't know what it was and would He please reveal it. But you know, I never realized that the verse said "I will SHOW unto them their weakness". And that is EXACTLY what He did - He showed me by sending a trial that revealed what it was. It was pride! All those years and I didn't know that I was suffering from pride!!! Normally being shown a weakness is a 'quit picking on me' thing but by this point it was exciting to find out where the shortcomings were because it meant that I could overcome them and draw closer to God - and I loved drawing closer to Them!!! With this new revelation I was given to understand that any time I elevated myself above another then it was pride. I was shown how it played out in my life. That was probably the most exciting weakness to overcome because once it was overcome then the sense of having to be right or held in esteem by others was lost. I learned how to shrug my shoulders and just say "that's who I am" rather than trying to uphold an image to others. After that one was sufficiently overcome it was just little stuff that didn't take long at all. And the neatest part was that the Spirit was with me I. A greatest degree throughout the day that it was causing the "unspeakable joy" throughout the day. Talking about being on cloud 9! I was firmly convinced that most drug users would not use drugs if they could only experience what I was experiencing because it beat the best of their drugs yet was free and pleasing to Father!!! It wasn't long after the dinky weaknesses were overcome that I was walking to the bishops house one night to ask a question. On the way over it dawned on me that the Spirit was now with me ALL the time! Then the sacrament prayer came to mind: that they may ALWAYS have His Spirit to be with them". Bingo! I finally understood what was meant by that! Up until then the Spirit was a visitor that would come and go. If I needed the Spirit for something then It would come. But because of my weaknesses the Spirit could not stay and would leave. When we overcome the weaknesses that offend the Spirit then the Spirit will come and always be with us. Such a simple concept yet it took until then for it to be understood. And the reason why it was understood was because it was revealed by the Spirit. Anything revealed by the Spirit is always simple to the understanding. After talking with the bishop that night I proceeded to walk home, contemplating about this newly revealed concept of what it meant to always have the Spirit with us. Just as I was entering the driveway the experience of the lifetime happened. I began feeling the intense burning of the Spirit, the fire, but this time it began at the crown of the head and descended down. As it descended it filled that part of the body with the glorious burning of the Spirit. It continued down through the body, down through the legs, and on down to the bottom of the feet. It was uniquely different because it descended rather than just appearing. Then the Lord spoke and said "well done; now endure to the end and you shall have Eternal Life". At first I wasn't sure what had happened. But as was typical with the Spirit the answer was revealed: I had received the Baptism of Fire. I wondered where there might be scriptures that speak of it and I was taken to 2 Nephi 31 and 32. Later when others were wanting to dispute my experience (though it never happened to them) I was pointed to the Savior's baptism and sure enough, that was the official reception of the Holy Ghost. It was about 35 years after being confirmed a member of the church and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost before the gift was finally received. Brothers and sisters, the Baptism of Fire is what we all are supposed to be striving for as the next step after baptism. I have shared with you what it took for me to get it. What it will take for you may be different but there is one thing that must take place and that is the sincere desire to follow the Spirit wherever you are led. It requires changing the heart so that the Spirit is never offended. The Holy Ghost cannot dwell in an unclean temple and our temple (body) is unclean whenever the desires of the heart are an offense to the Spirit. One has not found the straight gate and entered on to the narrow path until they have received the Baptism of Fire (see 2 Nephi 31:17-18). Jesus said that among the members there will be few that find the straight gate (D&C 132:22). Don't be one of them! Make the sacrifices and pay the price so that you, too, can experience the blissful joy that the gospel has to offer. You will truly know Jesus once you do and it is well worth the effort! I testify that I know Heavenly Father knows us and loves us. I have experienced His tender care time and again. He has answered my prayers and I know with a certainty that He will be there for me in all trials and circumstances, just as does for all that come to Him. Jesus Christ is my redeemer and I stand in awe, love, and admiration for all that He has done for me. Has has been there for me to lean on in the darkest hours and through the toughest trials yet I still know that He had trials that cause mine to pale in comparison. The love He extends melts my soul. I feel so special when I come before Jesus or Father because they give undivided attention which makes me feel like I am the only thing in the universe that matters to them. And I so testify that I am not unique or special because they treat you the exact same way when you come before Them. I truly love my Heavenly Father!!! And I am so eternally grateful for the sacrifice that Jesus willingly made for me. The best way I know to show my love and gratitude for Him is just as He suggested: "if ye love me keep My commandments".
  14. My opinion is a little different. I would HIGHLY recommend focusing on honing the skills of recognizing the Spirit over all else. There is only one way to receive truth and we learn it in D&C 50. That section is of unique interest because it was received when members were receiving spiritual manifestations and assumed them to be of God. In the process of helping the saints understand how to recognize that which is of God, we were told the great key in how to properly learn of God and be a true disciple. "17 Verily I say unto you, he that is ordained of me and sent forth to preach the word of truth by the Comforter, in the Spirit of truth, doth he preach it by the Spirit of truth or some other way? 18 And if it be by some other way it is not of God. 19 And again, he that receiveth the word of truth, doth he receive it by the Spirit of truth or some other way? 20 If it be some other way it is not of God. 21 Therefore, why is it that ye cannot understand and know, that he that receiveth the word by the Spirit of truth receiveth it as it is preached by the Spirit of truth? 22 Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together." (D&C 50:17-22) Notice that when we receive truth it MUST be by the Holy Spirit or it is not of God. No exceptions. Receiving by the Spirit entails first having the Spirit's presence readily felt. If we don't feel the Spirit's presence then we are not in a position to receive truth. From there the most basic way to receive truth is by closely monitoring the presence of the Spirit as you read, listen, or watch. Since the Spirit will NEVER testify of a falsehood we can observe the presence of the Spirit, or lack thereof, to distinguish truth. If the Spirit's presence begins diminishing then so also did the truth and we should know that it is only a partial truth. If the presence withdraws then we know that what we just read, heard, or watched was false and that we should not believe it. Of course if we personally did something offensive to the Spirit (such as entertain an angry or negative thought) then that, too, will cause the Spirit to withdraw but it wasn't because we witnessed a falsehood. Like I said, that method is the basic method. It takes practice to be able to constantly monitor the Spirit while reading or hearing something. And it can get tricky, too. I was once in a Gospel Doctrine class and was feeling the Spirit very strong. The instructor began and the Spirit began witnessing sentence after sentence. Bam, bam! But at one point the instructor paused for about 2 seconds and the Spirit fled. I was beside myself wondering what happened. The next statement the instructor gave was a falsehood. The Spirit knew what she was going to say and was not going to testify of it because it was false. The Spirit began testifying to me AND her as she was formulating how she would say it. After the instructor moved away from the falsehood the Spirit came back and again began testifying. If we are not being mindful we will miss which statements the Spirit testified of and which ones were rejected. It is that simple to recognize truth from falsehood but we must first intimately know the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 gives a list of feelings that are associated with the Spirit and in order for it to be the Spirit every single one of those feelings must be felt at the same time. If even one feeling is missing then it is not the Spirit. Of course there's other ways the Spirit reveals, too. The Spirit may speak to us directly. The Spirit may enlighten our understanding (and the presence WILL be felt if it is from the Spirit). Or we may receive full-blown revelations which give perfect clarity at all angles. The problem with resorting to books outside the scriptures is that it is not known whether they were written under the influence of the Spirit or not. I'm referring to books on doctrine or insights, not books on a person's spiritual journey or recounting of blessings and miracles. If the book was not written under the influence of the Spirit then it is not God's word (D&C 50:17-18) but rather man's. We likely will not be getting closer to God through them. Being motivated by what one says is not nearly as life changing as being inspired by God. We KNOW the scriptures were written under the influence of the Spirit and so the first criteria for receiving truth has already been met, now it's only up to us to receive it by the Spirit. By sticking with writings that are known to have been written under the influence of the Spirit you'll be able to better hone the skills of receiving by the Spirit. Looking to books as a source for God is a risky proposition when first starting out. One of the problems we humans have is that we think we can learn God as we learn the sciences. That simply is not so. When we rely on our own conclusions, even when based on the scientific method, that is "some other way" and is not of God. If we believe something merely because it makes sense to us then that is also "some other way" and also is not of God. If it was just because it tugged at the heart strings and caused tears then that is "some other way" and is not of God. Too many get busy studying the doctrines as they do the sciences and it turns against them. Believe me - I had to undo 40+ years of learning what I thought was truth to actually begin rebuilding a foundation on truth. Learning from the Spirit as I suggested is the BEST way to learn! Once the Spirit speaks the gospel becomes simple. If you try learning the gospel as the sciences then you'll miss the glorious insights that can only be obtained through the Spirit. Even worse, the simplicity of the gospel suddenly begins to become complex. Notice the promise: "And this is my gospel-repentance and baptism by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which showeth all things, and teacheth the peaceable things of the kingdom." (D&C 39:6) I promise you you that if you actively and diligently strive to have the Spirit with you always then you'll reach the point of receiving the Baptism of Fire (that's a totally new subject) and you'll gain witnesses of truths that are profoundly more interesting than what is offered in books. As as a final suggestion, if you want to know if you are receiving by the Spirit then study the Isaiah prophecies. Don't read what others say they say! Almost all of those commentators didn't go by the Spirit, either, so just make it a you-and-the-Spirit study session. If you feel the power and see the color of his words then you're getting it by the Spirit. If his words are confusion then keep working on honing the skills of learning to receive by the Spirit. If Isaiah can't be understood then it is unlikely that truth from partial truth to outright falsehoods will be detected when reading other books.
  15. Sadliers

    WWJD

    Is it possible to be willfully disobedient to man's laws yet strictly obedient to God's? Probably not because a true follower of Jesus will be obedient by habit of choice. If we have a tendency to rationalize and justify obedience man's laws then we're probably doing the same to God's laws. It is known what the duty and expectations of the speed limit is and we know it is the law therefore we obey. " Let no man break the laws of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land." (D&C 58:21)
  16. "For he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory." (D&C 88:22) If you're going to be exalted then are you living the celestial law right now? If so then what about as a teen? As for me it is a growing process. I'm much more obedient to celestial laws right now than I was 10 years ago. Heavenly Father knows where I will up... and I do too... but that doesn't mean I am perfect and it doesn't mean I can cease striving to be more compliant clear to the end. We are the ones that choose which eternal laws we are willing to obey and that determines which glory our body is quickened with at the resurrection. "28 They who are of a celestial spirit shall receive the same body which was a natural body; even ye shall receive your bodies, and your glory shall be that glory by which your bodies are quickened. 29 Ye who are quickened by a portion of the celestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness. 30 And they who are quickened by a portion of the terrestrial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness. 31 And also they who are quickened by a portion of the telestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness. 32 And they who remain shall also be quickened; nevertheless, they shall return again to their own place, to enjoy that which they are willing to receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received." (D&C 88:28-32)
  17. Science has many assumptions in the dating methods. They seem good up until the flood but anything older than the flood simply has too many unknowns to state as a fact that fossils are millions or billions of years old. The first assumption is that it is assumed everything back then was the same. We don't know because something caused a world-wide cataclysm - how do we know that whatever caused the cataclysm didn't affect the decay of the fossils? Another case in point: there is a phenomena called an "earthquake fog". It happened in the great earthquake of 1812 along the New Madrid fault. That fog is an energy yet to be discovered and replicated. How can we be absolutely sure that the energy cannot, and does not, effect the dating methods? Another are the colored clouds surrounding earthquakes. It is theorized that those are ions emitted from within the earth. If so then have there been any studies to determine whether or not those effect the fossil record? Remember that in the Bible it tells us that the great deep was broken up at the time of the flood (Genesis 7:11). How are scientists so sure that energy was not released at that time which affected the fossils? Until the atoms are truly understood along with how radiation is produced by the atom and everything that can affect the decay rate then we simply do not know whether or not something happened along the way - particularly at the time of the flood since that seems to be the teetering point of dating where things really seem to spiral - that effected the fossil record. Scientists assume that nothing changed since pre-flood era that affects the decay rate and in that they will be found to be wrong - just watch....