Reintroduction and setting the record straight

[skalenfehl]

I suppose I'm a stranger and foreigner to this board once again and from what I have observed, I have felt it is time I reintroduced myself. My name is Marc. That is the username I've wanted and have asked for each time the forum was revamped but I'm stuck with this silly alias that no longer has any meaning to me. I was once a head moderator/admin along with Pam way back in the day. I really enjoyed my time here while I was very active. I was asked to participate in answering questions with the Ask Gramps program, but I began facing many challenges and trials in life that I had to decline and even step down as a moderator. This forum has undergone many changes since then and I pretty much just faded away to take care of many personal matters. 

There have been rumors that I am no longer a member of the church or that I left or excommunicated or am a Snufferite, promote Snufferism and what not. I know this because I have lurked a long time, have been accused directly and also because my friend Pam, who I have known now for almost a decade had the decency to ask me directly rather than believe whoever has been bearing false witness against me. I've had lunch with Pam, with Prisonchplain and many others over the years and many or most are now gone. But here I am and it probably puzzles many why I post crazy stuff. 

One day, almost thirty years ago, while serving a mission in Munich, Germany, the Lord taught me about the principle of calling and election. There was no Snufferism, Snufferite, whatever back then. It was just me and the Lord and Germany. I did not understand this principle other than the Lord made it known to me that I could have this blessing and that it was not limited to the General Authorities as I had supposed. The Lord made it known to me that He is no respector of persons and whoever diligently sought Him would obtain such blessings. That changed my life forever. 

Fast forward to today. I have faced many challenges and trials (as I know everyone does), but the trials I have endured were the result of things the Lord taught me, challenged me with, and required of me. He has required sacrifices of me, which made me fear that I was being deceived. I have spent months and years wrestling with the Lord and learning to trust Him and most importantly, learning to recognize His voice. One the most amazing and coolest things in life to experience, or at least, I think is really cool, is when the Lord calls you by name and talks to you. 

The things I have shared on this forum in the recent past are things, which I know are true. Once in a while, my own opinions and weaknesses show through as they did this week when I addressed an OP and fumbled answers when challenged by someone else. I have received a promise of the Lord in which I know that I will have eternal life. But this doesn't automatically make me perfect. Far from it. I'm still the same guy, flawed and fallible. But I have paid the price to know the Lord. I have made sacrifices, which He has required of me, often with fear and trembling. 

My witness to you all is that what I have experienced, you all can experience, if you want to. It is the same as when I was in Germany, testifying to people that they can know the truth about the church, the Book of Mormon and all that stuff. I am telling you that when Jesus Christ said, "ask and it shall be given, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened," He was not offering good advice or random suggestions. He made a solemn promise to anyone who will listen and take Him seriously. 

This does not make me a Snufferite. It does not make me a teacher of Snufferism. It is not apostate doctrine. It is eternal truth. When I was a young teenager learning about this for the first time, I had no clue how to figure out what it meant. Almost thirty years later, I can see it throughout the scriptures, in discourses and teachings, which Joseph Smith often repeated and in general conference talks and other church materials over the decades. I am a faithful member of the church and have been faithful to God and to Jesus Christ. I don't share any of this to make anyone like me or to gain anyone's approval. But I am part of this community unless you all don't want me here. Then I will leave. If I am welcome, I will continue to share my witness of things I know to be true. If anyone still wants to judge me, and if it matters, I answered honestly all my temple recommend questions and am worthy to enter the temple and serve therein. Furthermore, when I answered the questions to my stake presidency, he commented that there was a Spirit about me and he proceeded to declare to me that the Lord will have me know that I will be blessed with the gift of Revelation. I have experienced this gift throughout my life up until then and also since then. 

I have always returned to share a new blog post in the Share subforum. What I believe, what I know and what I have learned and experienced are all there and have always been there since I started writing. I may post now and again and I may put my foot in my mouth and if I do, please forgive me. I am quick to apologize because I genuinely love everyone. But I have feelings, too. I would still like my username changed to Marc if it is ever possible to do so. Thanks for your time. 

 

[Guest Godless]

It's always nice to see a familiar but long absent screen name pop up. Welcome back, Marc!

[Jane_Doe]

Nice to see you again Marc!

[anatess2]

Do you know that I honestly have no idea what a Snufferite is?

Hi Marc.  Nice to meet you.  

[Vort]

1 hour ago, anatess2 said:

Do you know that I honestly have no idea what a Snufferite is?

It's the substance that lines the countertops of Mafia hit men.

[estradling75]

2 hours ago, anatess2 said:

Do you know that I honestly have no idea what a Snufferite is?

Bro Snuffer is an author.  His best known book was about how to make ones Calling and Election Sure.  It was a pretty decent book.

For whatever reason his later books and blogs began to attack the church.  He got himself excommuncated because of it. He now has his own church and followers based on his corrections to the church doctrine and practices.

Their primary target for converts are existing Mormons.  Their primary opening line is to talk about making ones Calling and Election Sure.  The Church appears to be treating the subject of Calling and Election to be a matter of personal study... As such you have some that feel the church is ignoring or otherwise hiding the subject thus the Snufferites can play on that to win people over.

Thus when @skalenfehl opens with talking about Calling and Election he draws down the comparison.  Its kind of like someone coming on to the forum and Asking about Jesus and Satan being brothers... Alot of people see that as being straight out of the anti-mormon play book even if the person asking is innocent.

Edited January 20, 2017 by estradling75

[Guest MormonGator]

Snuff is an old fashioned word for tobacco. A snuff film is a film that purports to show an actual murder happening. So the word can be a bit confusing! 

[skalenfehl]

I'm not going to defend (or attack, spread rumors, false information, gossip about etc) Denver Snuffer. I have no interest in doing so. My experiences are my own and have always been my own. As for the church treating c&e as a personal matter, I don't know. In my ward, it is discussed regularly, along with the topic of the Second Comforter, Lectures on Faith, etc. My neighbor who is now a gospel doctrine teacher has seen the Savior in a vision and has shared it before a few times in church. A former business partner and I bumped into each other a couple months ago and it was a miracle. We lost contact for many years. It turned out that he had been in accidents, in a coma and at one point was clinically dead for 54 minutes. And when you're dead that long without brain activity, you're not coming back. The doctors kept his heart pumping while they began to harvest his organs and guess what? He came back. He endured 8 years of blindness and learning to walk again, regain some of his memory, etc.  And he has shared his experiences with me, including who he saw, talked with and what he learned on the other side. He needed to come back and do some things still. 

For some reason, in some circles, these things are taboo topics. Not long ago on another forum, I found friends who had similar experiences to my own. We set up a private subforum where we could share them and try to make sense of the things happening in our lives outside of public view because people tend to take license and assume the worst of you. Some people began to mention Denver Snuffer and his books and some discussions began to revolve around them. It wasn't long before we were accused of being "elitist," "apostate," and many other words including "snufferites." Eventually it caused our private subforum to close down and almost all of us were unwelcome in the forum and ridiculed for sharing our own experiences with them. It turned out that some were fabricating experiences while some of us were not. It soured everyone's experiences and the opportunity to learn truth had been stamped out. So I don't spend much time on public forums anymore, except an occasional post every once in a while when I see a topic that genuinely interests me and only then, I try to limit my conversation or reply to the OP of that discussion. 

The Lord speaks to me. I will add that I have not yet seen His face. He gets to decide when the time will be that I can see Him and embrace him. The topics of receiving one's calling and election and the "Other Comforter" are not taboo subjects. They are specifically taught in the Bible in 2 Peter and John 14, for example. There are examples throughout the Bible, the Book of Mormon and elsewhere. One does not have to be a Mormon to learn about them or experience them. After all, Joseph Smith experienced them. And that is how we have further light and knowledge concerning them today. I can easily guess why these topics are not covered much in church today, but if they were, chances are because people are beginning to understand better because they are experiencing it. We are in the winding up scene of the last days and the Lord promised that in these times, many would begin experiencing these things. We read about it in the book of Joel and Moroni explained this to Joseph three times. That doesn't make one "elitist" to Mormons any more than being a Mormon makes one elitist to Christianity in general. 

If I have some time in between chores and duties, I'll share some of my experiences and the things I have learned along with many of the scriptural passages, discourses, talks, etc from church materials for anyone who has that desire to experience the same things. I had nobody to guide me except the Lord and it took decades for me to understand. And maybe nobody here is interested. But maybe somebody is. I don't know. Anyway, gotta run. I will say this. I know that the Lord is eager and willing and excited to know each of us. And by that, I mean, part the veil. Have a face to face discussion. Hug you. Love you. Teach you. What more beautiful thing can one experience while in the flesh?

 

[anatess2]

Marc, your experience is awesome and magnificent and sacred.  It's this sacred part I'm worried about.  Yes, it is good to share.  But, I don't think pearls should be treated the same way as... I don't know... @zil's ink or something.  That's why we have temples, right?

Anyway, I'm just some random sinner on the internet, what do I know...

[zil]

2 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

Marc, your experience is awesome and magnificent and sacred.  It's this sacred part I'm worried about.

That was my first thought.

[skalenfehl]

Anatess, I jut happened to catch this before logging off. There is a difference between sacred and secret. Not all sacred things ought to be kept secret. Jesus taught us to let our light shine and not hide it under a bushel. I don't plan on sharing personal details of things the Lord has shown me, but there are plenty of things that I can share, which I know the Lord wants everyone to know. The entire reason for the temple endowment is to teach a person to come to the veil and part it. The ceremony is not the end in and of itself. It is a big signpost and a clue and an invitation. I mean, if you think about it, the entire first book of Nephi is an "endowment." The symbolism, the path the experiences are all the same. One must experience his or her journey in the wilderness, hearkening to the Lord until one is found once again in his promised land--the Lord's presence, etc. 

[estradling75]

6 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

Marc, your experience is awesome and magnificent and sacred.  It's this sacred part I'm worried about. 

Indeed...   Joseph Smith did teach about the Importance of Calling and Election... He also taught that one of the reasons more of the Saints don't have such revelations is that God can't trust us to keep our mouths shut about them.  Its not about keeping it secret... its about keeping it sacred.  And all we have to do is look around and see just how this worlds will blaspheme anything and everything sacred. 

[skalenfehl]

Good point, estradling75. I mean, anyone can go online and read a transcript of the temple ceremony. One can go to Youtube and find leaked videos of live ceremonies. But these unfortunate things do not stop the church from building temples or members from continuing to serve in sessions or people from joining the church. And it shouldn't stop us from sharing something that should be shared (while keeping sacred things sacred and secret things secret). There will come a day very soon when no man will say, "know ye the Lord?" For all will know Him and His ways. There are times when He shuts or stops our mouths and there are times when He opens them and causes utterance. Rest assured, I don't have anything too sacred or secret to share. Just the love of God and plenty of passages from scriptures and talks from prophets and general authorities that everyone knows and loves to give context to my own experiences. Or the other way around, anyway.

[anatess2]

14 minutes ago, skalenfehl said:

Anatess, I jut happened to catch this before logging off. There is a difference between sacred and secret. Not all sacred things ought to be kept secret. Jesus taught us to let our light shine and not hide it under a bushel. I don't plan on sharing personal details of things the Lord has shown me, but there are plenty of things that I can share, which I know the Lord wants everyone to know. The entire reason for the temple endowment is to teach a person to come to the veil and part it. The ceremony is not the end in and of itself. It is a big signpost and a clue and an invitation. I mean, if you think about it, the entire first book of Nephi is an "endowment." The symbolism, the path the experiences are all the same. One must experience his or her journey in the wilderness, hearkening to the Lord until one is found once again in his promised land--the Lord's presence, etc. 

I'm not disagreeing.  I don't suggest it be kept secret.  I'm simply pondering if internet forums, or even published books, is sacred.  The temple is sacred.  People share experiences in the sanctity of the Celestial room and others.  Our homes are sacred.  Sacrament meeting is sacred - that's the purpose of Testimony Sunday, so we can share these sacred things.  Of course, if you have the proper priesthood keys for it, you can share through any doors the keys unlock in the same manner that Joseph Smith was given the priesthood keys to share the revelation of this new dispensation.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[skalenfehl]

There was a time when I wouldn't have considered sharing things on the internet. It was actually on this forum where a talk by Elder Ballard was posted on the home page (the old format) encouraging everyone to share the gospel on the internet back in '08. It was Elder Ballard's talk that inspired me to start a new blog and share my testimony and experiences on the internet.