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Here is an article that was posted on my wall from the following URL. The title click baits with the following statement, "LDS Family's Viral Photo Shows "Angelic" Figure in a Fire Near Their Cabin" Are these post harmful, helpful, or a mixture of both. Perspective. I remember when I was first home from my mission, and my desire to increase in knowledge induced incorrect experiences. One day I served in the temple, endowment sessions, within the stars I saw animals. My heart at first jumped and I thought the Lord was giving me a special vision. The next time I went to the temple, an abashed and silly mind realized, "Well, darn it, it was just part of the temple video." (LOL) The lesson I learned is what has already been taught by prophets, that spiritual experiences (which aren't spiritual in the least) can be forced and we open ourselves to possible deceptions. I have been far more cautious in my spiritual learning since then. In light of that experience, I believe this type of show isn't helpful, but harmful. The helpful part would be simply to state a prayer was said, and our cabin was spared. Telling everyone an angel spared our cabin and I have proof with a photo that is obscure appears to be more harmful rather than helpful (e.g. Nessie the Lockness monster). The picture shows a fireman to the right of the picture. The supposed angel is even farther than the fireman, which means according to perspective, that the angel should be even smaller than the fireman, not double his size. We know that resurrected beings are individuals who have lived upon this earth, and according to revealed doctrine that angels who serve this earth have either lived or will live upon this earth. The supposed angel, a human, is double the size of the fireman, meaning that is what heck of a tall angle (human, either resurrected or a spirit of the just). Wouldn't it be better that we stick with the simple, God answered a prayer rather than subjective image that is probably a tree in the background?
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Death is something we talk about at funerals. However, should not those of us who belivee in an afterlife be the ultimate preppers? After all, we are getting ready for eternity! A 21 year old white male recently shot nine people in a predominantly black church, in South Carolina. He wanted to start a race war. Where was God? Of course, He is everywhere—especially with those who are grieving. In Matthew’s gospel Jesus said: God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. If so, how could this young man target a church, attend a prayer meeting for over an hour, and then start shooting? Should not such evil melt in the presence of God? In reality the Devil loves bringing his misery before God’s people. What does it all mean? Faith can deliver us from death. The appearance of death often masks imminent victory. The Old Testament story of Elisha and his servant are a prime example. The king of Aram is at war with the king of Israel. Elisha repeatedly warns the king of Israel about Aram’s plans, because God tells him what will happen The king of Aram decides to capture Elisha. He sends his troops to surround the city where Elisha is staying. When Elisha’s servant wakes up, he sees that they are surrounded by dangerous enemies. The prophet Elisha prays that his servant’s eyes will see as he does. Sure enough, the servant realizes that they are surrounded by fire and angels. How often have we been at the brink of spiritual victory, only to cry like Elisha’s servant, that all is lost? Years ago I was teaching elementary school in Korea. During my second year came to realize I enjoyed teaching college students and adults more. I went to the immigration office, and asked how I should go about applying to teach English at a university. The government official said that no, I would not be teaching at a Korean university. At that moment I felt like Elisha’s servant. Lord, you helped me realize I should transition to teaching adults. Why is this happening? Of course, before the immigration officer I was just silent. He paused, smiled, and said: You need to go to Pohang. My brother works at POSCO--the large steel factory there, in the learning center. He is looking for an English instructor! The LORD paved the way for me to take that position. God, open our eyes to see that we are surrounded by your banner of spiritual protection! Help us to see that the death we seem to face is likely our deliverance. Originally posted at linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/death-deliverance-tommy-ellis?trk=mp-author-card To hear the audio version of the entire series on death: http://www.anglelake.org/resources/online-sermons/?sermon_id=350
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The most cliched posts come alive when they happen to us! Thanksgiving Day, on the interstate, headed to my mother's with an SUV full of family, and one of our tires blows out. I calmly pull over, as we are about 100 ft from an exit, so there's a nice shoulder. Tow truck arrives to take the SUV, friends arrive to take us home, and we still make it to Mommy's. Angels protected us from accident and death, and even got us "home for the holidays." God. is. good!
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The year was 2004 and as a senior in High School things were going well. With concurrent college courses and an Internship at a local bank I felt successful in school and work. Though I lacked any real social life, I had befriended the girl I loved and was happy to let it develop further. Life felt good. Yet spiritually I was struggling. I grew determined that I would live on borrowed light no more. I needed my own light. Having worked with my Bishop for years I wanted to receive my Patriarchal Blessing. He agreed I could but set some personal worthiness goals for me to complete prior to receiving it. After a set period of exerting extreme will power I succeeded in receiving my blessing. It would still be years before I would begin to feel it's power or truly appreciate it. I repented of my sins and then read the Book of Mormon. Though I prayed for a witness; though I plead, cried and even begged, the Heavens were silent to my ears and I didn't know why. Perhaps I didn't... really have a sincere heart? Perhaps my intent wasn't really... real? I had faith in Christ... didn't I? I grew very discouraged and felt I had failed. That the reason why I had received no witness was my fault, that I was the one lacking. I believed that if I had truly met the requirements, I would have received the witness I sought. Perhaps I was afraid to receive an answer. I knew that upon receiving an answer there would be a greater accountability for sin and that worried me. I misunderstood what type of sin made someone a son of perdition and I was afraid that with a witness of the truth I would still sin and then become one. Then, I fell. Despair flooded through me. I knew, I knew that I had done my utmost to give up my sins and yet it hadn't been enough. I had confessed, felt remorse, and also forsaken my sins, yet the power of the atonement had not manifested itself in my life and freed me from the bonds I bore. Why? I didn't understand. It was so confusing. Then my family doctor told me he had made a mistake when charting my growth and that I had missed a major growth spurt. By then it was too late and my bones had fused. I'd never grow any taller and I didn't appreciate being comparatively short. Then one of my only friends, the girl I loved, decided upon the council of her mother that she couldn't be my friend anymore and stopped speaking to me. Already hurting from the blow to my faith, my self confidence and esteem took a dive. I no longer felt worthy of the sacrament. My peers noticed my abstinence and their perceived alienation drove me from the midst of those who could have helped me most. I left the protection of the flock and found myself scared, alone, and lost. I hurt so much inside but hid it behind a mask of forced cheer. I was a lost lamb and I saw no rescue in sight. Dark clouds promising torrential rains and thunders rolled forth as the powers of hell and darkness surrounded me. “You failed! It's impossible for you to change! This is just the way you are! The atonement isn't real! It's a lie! It doesn't work! If there is a God, he doesn't love you! You're weak! You'll never be enough! The promise isn't real! No one really loves you, no one really understands, no one ever will! Give up!” The deluge of darkness poured upon me and under the continual onslaught of guilt, shame, pain, fear, anger and sorrow... I did exactly that. I gave up. The flame of my faith, powerless against the wind without the shield of hope wavered... and then... was blown out. That was the day... I died. Gone was the color of life. Gone was the meaning and the future's luster. My self-esteem, confidence and worth plummeted to the bottom of a stormy sea where no light shown. I was down for the count. And I was not getting back up. Finding solace in gaming and reading alone, I even began to skip school. Having no hope of ever being free, I stopped struggling against my sins and embraced them instead. I knew they were wrong but I no longer cared. By this point I was also fully inactive. The darkness in my life was so great that even the mention of God was sufficient to drive me out of a room. My descent into darkness became unchecked as I fell further and further into the abyss of darkness. I still secretly was crying inside for help but no one could hear me or see past the mask I wore. Then... a hand reached down into my hell and offered me a hand. A loving teacher, whose depressed son had committed suicide, recognized something was deeply wrong. She was afraid for me and with boldness sought me out. Gently she expressing her concerns, mentioning the differences she saw, and asked if I had considered that perhaps I was suffering from depression. In a landscape devoid of light, lighting struck. A nameless foe now had a name. I was diagnosed with depression and started a course of medication. This teacher, saved my life. My doctor prescribed me a very serious anti-depressant called Lithium which instead of making things better caused sleep apnea. Now on two medications things grew even worse. For the first time in my life I entertained thoughts of suicide. “Might as well kill yourself. Life doesn't really matter anymore and you might as well. No one understands your pain but maybe they will once you're gone. It would be better if you simply cease to exist.” Again and again the dark thoughts filled my mind yet God was not finished striving with me and I rallied. No! No! I don’t want to die yet! I want to live! Scared more than perhaps I had ever been in my life I became terrified of what would happen if something wasn’t done and confronted my father with what I had just been thinking. Together we sought the aid of a specialist in depression where I was immediately taken off of Lithium. Instead he prescribed Effexor and I found I could once again function. The damage had already been done though and now I was chemically dependent upon the second medication Seroquil in order to sleep. Though I knew it not, the toll of this second medication would also cause me much grief. On the sea of life, the waves continued to pound me. Wings soaked, sky dark and the sun hid from view, I had lost my strength to fly and almost my strength to stay above the water. Just as I was about to sink, I was lead to a buoy where I gladly allowed myself to be chained. I would soon learn that as long as I was bound to this chain, I could not fly. Living by myself years passed. I would gain a job only to loose it within a year. I was fully addicted to internet gaming and struggling with my prescriptions. It only took a few nights of approaching the cusp of sleep but being unable to pass it to realize I couldn't skip even a single day of Seroquil. Again someone reached into the hell of my life and offered me a hand. My mother gave me a book called “Medical Secrets They Do Not Want You To Know About” by Kevin Trudeu. It blew my world apart. I simply couldn't deny the logic of many of his arguments. I learned of safe and effective alternatives which were never presented to me simply because no profit could be made off of them. I learned of corruption in the medical industry and decided I'd had enough. I quit my antidepressant cold turkey, weaned myself off of Seroquil within a week and spreading my wings leapt into the sky. It was glorious! Unchained from the buoy I found life beautiful. After years of winter, rays of light finally began to appear on the horizon. The sunrise was coming and color began to flood back into my life. Free from prescription's grasp I even found I wanted the light. I started conversing with those who practiced magic, with those who claimed mind talents or the Eastern Orient’s body arts. I conversed with those who claimed to be dragons or elves incarnate and was soon lost in a whole new world. Though I walked forward in seek of light, yet again interested in religion, I had turned further into the dark of night. My dreaming began to change dramatically. I started gaining control over my dreams and found I could do things there that were impossible in reality. I liked doing these things. They stimulated my mind. Yet not all that happened in dreams pleased me. I quickly learned how to wake up and flee when necessary. Consequences unforeseen followed as I kept finding myself in a situation where I would fall asleep but not start dreaming. Though unable to move or speak, I found that with effort I could wake up. How could I be both asleep and awake at the same time? I sought answers and found them. I learned of a medical term called sleep paralysis. When the body falls asleep it enters a protective paralytic state so that the sleeper does not harm themselves or act out their dreams. In normal sleep, the mind shuts down as well. Yet to some it does not and they remain awake in a body that has gone to sleep. Unable to move, they panic and eventually wake up sweating and shaking in fear. This terrifies many of those who encounter it. Normally the brain shuts down too. To those who experience sleep paralysis, the brain does not shut down and the person remains awake, trapped in a sleeping body. Confused by the inability to move, many people become terrified. I grew curious and began experimenting with vivid dreaming and began finding myself sleep paralysis more often. Yet rather than wake my body I found, through exertion of extreme willpower, I could actually move different portions of myself outside the bounds of my sleeping body. Though I have made many terrible choices in my life, the decision to explore this new phenomenon would prove to be one of the worst. I grew concerned that perhaps I was going insane or already was so. Perhaps I had a brain tumor. Perhaps all of these things were the product of a frenzied mind or indigestion. They weren't, I didn't, and I wasn't. At great cost that I yet pay, I became certain of specific truths. We are not alone. Evil spirits are very real. We are more than a physical body. Our physical body holds our spiritual body of which it resembles. There is life after death. Yet where were the spirits of goodness and light? Why did I not see them? I could not find them but instead found other spirits who at least had the appearance of being benign even if they weren’t light filled. As I learned just how many spirits there are and how very real their power to influence us, I gained a misguided desire to do good through the belief that if I could consciously control while awake this awareness, I could help the living under attack and the dead who indicated they were trapped with no voice among the living and none to send them on. I chose to share this one day with my brother and mother. They were greatly alarmed to say the least. They united in their warning. Stop! This is dangerous! I told them that I was in control and could handle it, that there were even some of the spirits who seemed quite nice and friendly. They strove more earnestly to dissuade me from my intended path yet I was determined and their pleas could not pierce me. Again, a hand reached into my life to save me from myself. They became calm and their efforts changed. You claim you’re in control? Surely you must get tired of it sometimes. Doesn’t it mess with the quality of your sleep? Why not take a vacation? Tell them to leave you alone for a month so you can make sure this is where you want to go. After all, once you peruse this, there might be no turning back. This made… sense. Sometimes it was indeed exhausting. My sleep definitely was being affected. Yes, I wanted a break from it all. I went home and put up a sign saying “come back in a month and please leave me alone until ‘x’ date.” naively believing that this request would be honored. I went to sleep only to wake up screaming. The next few days became successively worse. Somewhere was the truth of what was happening to me. I had to find it. Whatever it was, where ever it was, it no longer mattered what it would cost to gain. I knew, I had to know. I started to read books on wicca and other alternate religions. I would read a few pages and then find myself unable to continue. This confused me. I love to read, I’m a voracious reader, why could I not read these books? In the darkness that was still my soul, a voice whispered into my heart and I was reminded of the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ I had been raised under in my youth. What if. What if? What if it was true? What if it was all true? What if I already knew the truth but had turned away from it? I knew then why I could not read those books. The door of my past still stood ajar and a beam of light shown through, beckoning to me, inviting me. Yes, I knew it then. I knew I had to return to that door and open it fully one last time either to walk through it or to close it forever. Just because I didn’t have proof that what I was taught was true, did not make it false. I had tried once and failed yet it wasn’t enough. I had to try again! Yet I already tried this once before and it hadn’t worked. In remembering my first attempt to gain what I was about to seek, I grew afraid that it would happen a second time as well. I fell to my knees and in the name of Jesus Christ prayed like I had not prayed before. “Heavenly Father. Father. I don’t know if you are there or not but I really hope you are. If you are, I’m going to try once more. If you don’t reach me now, I’m afraid that you’ll never reach me. It’s all or nothing. Please, help me!” As I reaching up a hand reached down as I began to take tentative steps. I started again reading the Book of Mormon. Yet the forces of hell and darkness only stepped up their attacks. Work took up so much time and my progress was slow. I kept procrastinating and playing games instead. I became discouraged. Again, a loving hand then reached down and offer aid. A call from my mother resulted in somehow discussing her experiences at a health retreat she had visited years prior. She talked about her experiences there. It felt like lightning to my mind as I somehow knew that I needed to go there. Yet, I would need to do it right. I could allow no distractions. I needed a place where in addition to cleansing the outward vessel of my body, I could escape the worldly stresses and influences that so surrounded me. A holistic, health retreat without TV or internet access where people went to cleanse their body by drinking wheat grass, exercising, doing both colonics & enemas all the while eating only uncooked organic vegan food? A place where there was also a lot of free time for personal study? It was perfect. It wasn’t cheap. Again in the name of my Savior I prayed to my Heavenly Father. “Heavenly Father, I feel that this is what I need to do. Get me there and I’ll consecrate my time to study. I won’t bring or read anything but my scriptures. Will you help me get there? Please, oh please help me.” I began to save my money and I told my mother my plans. She approved but made a suggestion. She gave me a book called “How Great Shall Be Your Joy” by Steven A Cramer and told me how much of a difference it had made in her life when she went through what I was going through. She promised me that if I would read it, it would make a difference in mine. I accepted. That one book would prove a catalyst that would change my life forever. I will always be grateful that my mother convinced me to bring it and more so that this man lived to write it. It took near three months but finally saved enough and I went. Glorious life giving waters were soon to rush onto land long bereft. The powers of darkness knew this and to my horror I found that it could get even worse. Yet in spite of their power, I planted a very small seed of faith. Then I carefully began to nurture it. It grew and I knew... it was indeed good. I knew then that I had to repent. Yet I knew not how. As I read the book given by my mother, I began to leap for joy. There! Before my eyes was the answer! I cried as I realized why my first repentance had not succeeded. The Spirit of God bore witness to my soul of the truth in those pages and I finally understood how to repent. Again I confessed my sins before an authorized representative of the Savior Jesus Christ. Again I forsook them. Again I expressed Godly Sorrow. I broke my heart and in the name of my Savior I knelt and offered up my very soul. “Heavenly Father, I don’t want to sin anymore. I’ve confessed and forsaken them. I’m so sorry. Please, forgive me.” Yet this time there was one major difference. “Father, I’m finally willing to go all the way. I understand now that it’s all or nothing. Whatever I have to forsake, whatever I have to do, whatever I have to change, however much it may hurt, however long it make take, I don’t care. I’ll do it. Please! Save me!” This time the loving hand of my Savior Jesus Christ reached down into my heart and changed me. All along he had been there, leading me, inviting me, guiding me back into His arms. My prayer was answered. Like a dam bursting its banks living water flowed onto a sun starved land. Being dead, again I lived. Clouds of darkness were scattered as pure light flowed into my very soul. From the depths of my dark abyss I stood awed as light, love, peace, happiness and even joy, began to fill my soul. The insurmountable wall that I had failed to conquer crumbled to dust before my feet and I knew freedom. I marveled, I was amazed. The temptations of my sins, through the redeeming power of my Saviors Atonement and grace, were utterly gone. It was a miracle. I was changed. I knew that I was now was walking proof of God’s love and the power of a Savior’s loving mercy. His atonement was real. I was healed. It was only the beginning. The road has been rocky. There has been further pain. Though healed, there was more healing to come. Other trials still to face. Battles with the forces of darkness continued. I knew they existed and so did they. Fearlessly they continued to assault me. As the Makers touch continues to remake me ever stronger I know that He saved me from Hell. I’ll give up anything he asks, make any sacrifice he requires. I love Him. Yet if someone were to ask me why, my answer would be this. He loved me first.
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Hey y'all, I hope this touches you the way it touches me! YouTube - blur documentary trailer - no distance left to run :lol::lol: