Gods of Mormonism?

 Quotes from the Journal of Discourses 6:1-11

2.  "...God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens."  

3.  "We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity, I will refute that idea, and will take away and do away the vail, so that you may see."

4.  "... and that he was once a man like us;"

5.  "...you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves,..."

6.  "To inherit the same power, the same glory, and the same exaltation, until you arrive at the station of a God and ascend the throne of eternal power, the same as those who have gone before."

7.  "My Father worked out his kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same; and when I get my kingdom, I shall present it to my Father, so that he may obtain kingdom upon kingdom, and it will exalt him in glory.  He will then take a higher exaltation, and I will take his place, and thereby become exalted myself.  So that Jesus treads in the track of his Father, and inherits what God did before; and God is thus glorified and exalted in the salvation and exaltation of all his children."

8.  "The mind of the intelligence which man possesses is co-equal with God himself."

9.  "The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end....  There never was a time when there were not spirits; for they co-equal with our Father in heaven."

10.  "Knowledge saves a man; and in the world of spirits no man can be exalted but by knowledge.  ...If a man has knowledge, he can be saved;"

Moroni's God

      Moroni had a vision of God.  He said, "For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity." (Moroni 8:18)  Others have spoken of an ascending God.  Lorenzo Snow stated, "As man is, God Once was; as God now is, man may be."  Others have thought that God started as a spirit being who later became a man and ascended to godhood.  The God of Moroni did not have to ascend.  He has always been God.  He is the unchangeable being who has existed "from all eternity to all eternity."
      Moroni's God is the Great Spirit revealed by Ammon in Alma18:26-29:  "And then Ammon said: Believeth thou that there is a Great Spirit? And he said, Yea. And Ammon said: this is God.  And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things which are in heaven and in the earth?  And he said: Yea, I believe that he created all things which are in the earth;..."  The exalted man that many people pray to did not create all things.  The exalted man did not create time and space.  He is limited to a physical body.  A physical body requires the existence of space to dwell.  It also requires time to exist in the created space.   The God of Moroni is not limited to a physical body.  He created physical bodies.  He created the time and space for physical bodies to exist in.  Before the beginning of time, he was God.  Before creation was created, he was God.  Moroni's God was revealed to the woman at the well in John 4:24, "God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
      For those who worship an exalted man, their god is simply one god of many.  Their god is the offspring of a father god.  This father god is the offspring of a grandfather god.  Their father god is simple one of many.  Moroni's God is spoken of by the prophet Isaiah.  "To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One." (Isaiah 40:25)  "...I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he." (Isaiah 41:4)  "...before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.  I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour." (Isaiah 43:10&11)  "...I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." (Isaiah 44:6)  God, who is onmiscient, made this statement in Isaiah 44:8:  "...Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any."  Isaiah 45:5&6 says, "I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me:...That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else."  Isaiah 45:21 says, "...there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me."  The prophet continues this message in Isaiah 45:18&22, Isaiah 46:5&9 and Isaiah 48:11&12.
      The exalted/ascended man is a god that shares his glory.  His father shared glory with him.  His father's father shared glory with his father and so on through many generations of gods.  The God of Isaiah the prophet does not share his glory.  Isaiah 42:8 says, "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."  Isaiah 48:11 says, "...I will not give my glory unto another."
      2 Nephi 24:12-15 speaks of a glory seeker that wanted to be "like" the Most High.  "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations!  For thou hast said in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."  God did not share His glory with Lucifer.
      In Genesis 11:1-9, there were glory seekers who became very proud.  The story is about the tower of Babel.  Verse 4 says, "...Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name,..."  Perhaps God saw in their hearts that they were trying to become LIKE gods.  Verse 7&8 says, "Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they many not understand one another's speech.  So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth:..."  God did not share His glory with these tower builders.
      In the garden of Eden, the serpent came and tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit.  He gave her a promise of being like God.  He said, "For God doth know that in the day yea eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5)  However, as a consequence for their sins, they were kicked out of their beautiful paradise, the garden of Eden.  God did not share his glory with Adam and Eve.
      In Luke 18:10-14, a pharisee felt exalted and proud.  He felt that he had ascended to a higher spiritual realm.  "Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying God be merciful to me a sinner.  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
      The God of Moroni does not share his glory.  He is the only true God!  He is the Great Spirit!  He did not have to ascend into godhood. He is the "unchangeable being" who is God "from all eternity to all eternity."

Kimball Quotes from the Miracles of Forgiveness

Kimball Quotes - Miracles of Forgiveness

"For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God...."  Alma 34:32    Page 1

"...God created man to live in mortality and endowed him with the potential to perpetuate the race, to subdue the earth, to perfect himself and to become as God, omniscient and omnipotent."  Page 2

"But will one receive eternal life on the basis of his good intentions?  Can one enter a country, receive a scholastic degree, and so on, on the strength of good intent unsupported by appropriate action?  Samuel Johnson remarked that 'hell is paved with good intentions.'  The Lord will not translate one's good hopes and desires and intentions into works.  Each of us must do that for himself."  Page 8

"For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors."  Alma 34:32

"This life is the time to repent. That is why I presume it will take a thousand years after the first resurrection until the last group will be prepared to come forth.  It will take them a thousand years to do what it would have taken but three-score and ten to accomplish in this life."  Melvin J. Ballard, "Three Degrees of Glory."  Page 11

"No Unclean Thing Can Enter"  Heading, page 19

"But to God who is perfection, cleanliness means moral and personal cleanliness.  Less than that is, in one degree or another, uncleanliness and hence cannot dwell with God."  Page 19

"Akin to many of the other sins is that of the covenant-breaker.  The person baptized promises to keep all the laws and commandments of God.  He has partaken of the sacrament and re-pledged his allegiance and his fidelity, promising and covenanting that he will keep all God's laws.  Numerous folks have gone to the temples and have re-covenanted that they would live all the commandments of God, keep their lives clean, devoted, worthy, and serviceable.  Yet many there are who forget their covenants and break the commandments, sometimes deliberately tempting the faithful away with them."  Page 57

"But whoso breaketh this covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come."  Doctrine and Covenants 84:41  Page 117

"When a member of the Church is adjudged guilty of murder or what seems to approach the terrible crime, consideration should be given to excommunication, which in most cases is the penalty required."  Page 131

"By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins - behold, he will confess them and forsake them."  Doctrine & Covenants 58:43

"The saving power does not extend to him who merely wants to change his life.  True repentance prods on to action."  Page 163

"Nor is repentance complete when one merely tries to abandon sin.  To try with a weakness of attitude and effort is to assure failure in the face of Satan's strong counteracting efforts.  What is needed is resolute action."  Page 164

"To 'try' is weak. To 'do the best I can' is not strong.  We must always do better than we can."
Page 165

"One must have the opportunity of committing wrong in order to be really repentant... That is why we should not wait for the life beyond but should abandon evil habits and weaknesses while in the flesh on the earth."  Page 168

"Thus when a man has made up his mind to change his life, there must be no turning back."
Page 170

"Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven."
Doctrines & Covenants 1:32   Page 201

"I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;"  D&C 132:31   Page 201

"One of the most fallacious doctrines originated by Satan and propounded by man is that man is saved alone by the grace of God; that belief in Jesus Christ alone is all that is needed for salvation.  Along with all the other works necessary for man's exaltation in the kingdom of God this could rule out the need for repentance."  Page 206

"This progress toward eternal life is a matter of achieving perfection.  Living all the commandments guarantees total forgiveness of sins and assures one of exaltation through that perfection which comes by complying with the formula the Lord gave us.  In his Sermon on the Mount he made the command to all men: 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.'  (Matt. 5:48)  Being perfect means to triumph over sin.  This is a mandate from the Lord.  He is just and wise and kind.  He would never require anything from his children which was not for their benefit and which was not attainable..  Perfection therefore is an achievable goal."  Page 209

"Advancement to perfection can nevertheless be rapid if one resolutely strides toward the goal."
Page 210

"Numerous members of the Church will be disappointed.  All will fail of these blessings who fail to live worthy lives, even though the temple ordinances have been done for them."  Page 246

"While in this probation and in this life certainly mean the period of our mortal lives."  Page 248

"But they procrastinated the day of their preparation.  The same lamentable cry of 'Too late!' will apply to many of today's Church members who did not heed the warning but who proceeded- sometimes carelessly, sometimes defiantly - to bind themselves through mortality to those who could not or would not prepare for the blessings which were in reserve for them."
"The Lord's program is unchangeable.  His laws are immutable.  They will not be modified. Your opinion or mine does not alter the laws.  Many in the world, and even some in the Church, seem to think that eventually the Lord will be merciful and give them the unearned blessing.  But the Lord cannot be merciful at the expense of justice."  Page 249

"There must be works - many works - and an all-out, total surrender, with a great humility and 'a broken heart and a contrite spirit.'  It depends upon you whether or not you are forgiven, and when.  It could be weeks, it could be years, it could be centuries before that happy day when you have the positive assurance that the Lord has forgiven you.  That depends on your humility, your sincerity, your works, your attitudes."  Page 325

"It is that the former transgressor must have reached a 'point of no return' to sin wherein there is not merely a renunciation but also a deep abhorrence of the sin - where the sin becomes most distasteful to him and where the  desire or urge to sin is cleared out of his life."  Page 355

Prophet of 1,000 wives!

Heber C Kimball believed that many wives would be available in the spirit world.  In the Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, page 209 we can read his Salt Lake City Tabernacle message.
      "Supposing that I have a wife or a dozen of them, and she should say, "You cannot be exalted without me," and suppose they all should say so, what of that?...Suppose that I lose the whole of them before I go into the spirit world, but that I have been a good, faithful man all the days of my life, and lived my religion, and had favour with God, and was kind to them, do you think I will be destitute there.  No, the Lord says there are more there than there are here. They have been increasing there; they increase there a great deal faster than we do here,...
      In the spirit world there is an increase of males and females, there are millions of them, and if I am faithful all the time, and continue right along with brother Brigham, we will go to brother Joseph and say, 'Here we are brother Joseph; we are here ourselves are we not, with none of the property we possessed in our probationary state, not even the rings on our fingers: 'He will say to us, 'come along, my boys, we will give you a good suit of clothes.  Where are your wives?' 'They are back yonder; they would not follow us.'  'Never mind,' says Joseph, 'Here are thousands, have all you want.'"
     Brigham Young walked this back some by limiting a man to 999 wives.
      "I met with the Quorum and Presidency in the temple....President Woodruff then spoke '...In searching out my genealogy I found about four hundred of my female kindred who were never married.  I asked Pres. Young what I should do with them.  He said for me to have them sealed to me unless there were more that 999 of them.'  The doctrine startled me, but I had it done,..."  Daily Journal of Abraham H. Cannon, April 5, 1894, Vol. 18, pp 66-67
      Brigham Young stated, "We are complained of for having more wives than one.  I don't begin to have a many as I shall have by and by, nor you either, if you are faithful."  (Journal of discourses, vol. 8, page 222)
      George Q. Cannon "...remarked that people wondered how many wives and children I had.  He may inform them, that I shall have wives and children by the million, and glory, and riches and power and dominion, and kingdom after kingdom, and reign triumphantly."  (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 8, page 178)

      The great prophet Moses gave a commandment about kings, "Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away;..." (Deuteronomy 17:17)
      King Solomon had a thousand women!  Although he was the wisest man on earth, 1 Kings 11:3-4 tells us, "And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.  For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father."  Because of this God promised to take the Israelite kingdom away from him and give it to one of his servants. (1 Kings 11:11)
      The Old Testament has a number of stories of disaster and heartache resulting from polygamy.  Let us go back to the beginning.  After God made Eve and presented her to Adam, he said, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." (Genesis 2:24)  He didn't say a thousand flesh but rather one flesh.
     

Choose your God this day

    President Lorenzo Snow

 "As man is, God once was; as God is man can become".  These were the words of Mormon prophet and president Lorenzo Snow.  Moroni 8:18 speaks of another God who is not a changeable being:  "For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity." This God did not begin as a spirit being.  He was not required to take on the form of a man.  He did not have to ascend into exaltation.   He definitely did not have to become God.  He always HAS BEEN God and will always BE God.

      Have you been praying to an exalted man or the eternal God found in Moroni 8:18?  If you have been worshiping an exalted man, he is not the God found in Moroni 8:18.  It is a big temptation to seek our own glory and exaltation!   It is tempting to focus on a goddess wife.  It is very tempting to try to ascend to godhood over our own world.  REPENT, REPENT, REPENT!!!  Let us bend our knee to the great God that always was, always is and always will be God!  Let us submit ourselves to His will.  Let us only worship Him in all of His majesty!!!

"...and I will not give my glory unto another."  Isaiah 48:11

"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,"  Isaiah 46:9

"Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last."  Isaiah 48:12

"I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded the, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me, I am the LORD, and there is none else."  Isaiah 45:5-6

"For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else."  Isaiah 45:18

"...there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.  Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."  Isaiah 45:21-22

"To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?"  Isaiah 46:5

"Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God."  Isaiah 44:6

"Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it?  ye are even my witnesses,  Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any."  Isaiah 44:8

"I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."  Isaiah 42:8

"To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One?"  Isaiah 40:25

"...I am the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he."  Isaiah 41:4

"And Zeezrom said unto him: Thou sayest there is a true and living God.  And Amulek said: yea, there is a true and living God.  Now Zeezrom said: Is there more than one God?  And he answered, No."  Alma 11:26-29

Global Warming & Climate Change?

      Did Jesus preached about "Global Warming" and "Climate Change"?  Here is an example of Jesus preaching about global warming and a permanent climate change in Luke 16:22-24  "...the rich man also died, and was buried;  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame."   In Matthew 10:28 Jesus said,  "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."  Apparently this warming and permanent climate change is going to affect a lot of people.   In Matthew 7:13&14, Jesus said, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."  You only have to murder one person to be a murderer.  You only have to steal one time to be a thief.  You only have to tell one lie to be a liar.  You only have to sin one time to be a sinner.  James 2:10 says, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."  Have you ever coveted your neighbors property?  Exodus 20:17 says, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's."   Matthew 5:28 says, "...whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."  Matthew 5:22 says, "...whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment":.."whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."  Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;..."   Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."  Is there any hope for the repentant sinner who wants to avoid this inclusive "hell"?  John 14:6 says, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."   Romans 5:8 expresses God's love for sinners, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."  Romans 10:13 says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."  Romans 10:9&10 says, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."  
      Please take the time to read for yourself Jesus' many messages on hell or global warming and permanent climate change.  Repent and turn to God that He may save your soul.

Sharing God's GLORY???

1 Nephi 20:11 says, "...I will not give my glory unto another."  Some people try to rationalize this away by saying God will not give His glory to people who go about it the wrong way.  They say that God wants everyone to be like Him.  However the context is not about overly ambitious people who go about it the wrong way.  We see in verse 9 that he is talking about people who are not cut off.  Verse 10 says, "...I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."  He is speaking to these people when He says He will not give His glory to another.  In verse 12 He speaks to Israel and says, "...I am the first, and I also am the last."  There was no God before Him that He had to share His glory with. And there is no god after Him that he will have to share his glory with. Isaiah 42:8 says, "I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."  Isaiah 44:8 says, "...Is there a God beside me?  yea, there is no God; I know not any."  Isaiah 44:6 says, "...I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God."  Isaiah 45:5 says, "I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me:..."

The Angry Apostle

     The apostle Paul was very angry when he wrote the book of Galatians.  The theme of the book is salvation through God's grace alone.  He wrote in very strong words that no one should add law and works to the gospel he preached.  In the first chapter he cursed those that would change the pure gospel message.  "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8&9).  Paul said that even if you are an "ANGEL from HEAVEN" and you teach another gospel, curses on you!  That is strong language.
     In Galatians chapter 3 he calls them fools for turning away from the simple gospel:  "Oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?......Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:1&3)  The apostle Paul said it was as though they were put under a spell.
     Agitators were saying that the law and circumcision were necessary for salvation.  Paul said, "I would they were even cut off which trouble you." (Galatians 5:12)  The NIV version says, "As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!"  The Apostle Paul is definitely irate in the Book of Galatians.  He thought his work with the people in Galatia may have been in vain.  He wrote in Galatians 5 1-2, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.  Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing."
     In the book Gospel Principles it is said that "Our exaltation depends on marriage." (pg. 241 Eternal Marriage)   Celestial marriage is supposed to open the gate to the Celestial Kingdom.  On the contrary, the Apostle Paul said that it is better if a man remains single. (I Corinthians 7:25-38)  He said that a single person can be more devoted to God than a married person.  He never said that heavenly marriage could save us into the Celestial Kingdom where God dwells.  Neither the Bible nor the Book of Mormon teach us that Celestial Marriage is necessary for attaining Celestial Salvation.  The celestial marriage teaching is not the gospel that the apostle Paul preached.  It is another gospel.  I think the apostle Paul would be very angry with this addition to the simple, pure gospel he preached.

A Godhood Prediction

    Photo by Daniel Giannone on Unsplash

       According to Mormonism, how long would it take for a man to become a god?  I believe I can make an accurate prediction and narrow it down to the nearest second.  In the book Miracles of Forgiveness, Spencer W. Kimball said that God is "omniscient and omnipotent".  This means that God has an infinite amount of knowledge and an infinite amount of power.  You could also say that he has all knowledge and all power.  Let's suppose that I wanted to travel an infinite number of miles.  How long would it take me to accomplish my journey?  It would take me an infinite amount of time to travel an infinite number of miles.  Likewise, it would take an infinite amount of time to gain infinite knowledge and infinite power.  So I can safely say that it would not take one second more or one second less than an infinite amount of time to become a god.

     So how can this infinite problem be solved?  How did God become God if it would take an infinite amount of time to do so?  God solved this problem by already being God.  It would not take an infinite amount of time to travel an infinite number of miles if you were all ready there at your destination.  God did not have to gain infinite knowledge or infinite power because he already had infinite knowledge and infinite power.  He was already God!  Psalm 90:2 says, "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God."  This verse is saying that God has been God at all times in the past and will be God at all times in the future.  Moroni 8:18 tells us that God did not have to change to become a God and that he already was like he is:  "For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity."  This is amazing!  Moroni 7:22 says, "For behold, God knowing all things, being from everlasting to everlasting,..."  It has not taken God any time to become God because he has always been God.  Praise God for his infinite knowledge and infinite power!  Praise God for who he is!

become a god/goddess?

Are you destined to become a god or goddess?

     1)  Do you have to go to the Celestial Kingdom to become a god?  2) To go to the Celestial Kingdom, do you have to be forgiven of your sins?  3) To be forgiven of your sins, do you have to truly repent?  4) Does true repentance involve forsaking all of your sins?  If you answered yes to these questions, then you need to ask yourself a very important question.  5) Have you forsaken all sin?  There are people who have forsaken some sin.  Few people have forsaken most sin.  Some desire to forsake all sin.  Some people are gradually trying to forsake sin but haven't done it yet.  But what matters is this:  Have you forsaken all sin?  If you have not forsaken all sin, then perhaps you have not truly repented.  If you haven't truly repented, then perhaps you haven't been forgiven.  If you haven't been forgiven, then you are not going to the Celestial Kingdom.  If you are not going to the Celestial Kingdom, then you can't become a god.
     In 2 Nephi 24, the son of the morning wanted to ascend into heaven.  He wanted to "ascend above the heights of the clouds" and "be LIKE the Most High."  His name was Lucifer and verse 15 tells us the outcome:  "Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."  His blasphemous attempt to become LIKE God was completely unsuccessful.  In Isaiah 48:11-12 God said, "...I will not give my glory unto another.  Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last."

Moroni 8:18 - The Unchangeable God

     Can God advance?  Can he attain to a higher level?  Can he learn more or become greater?  Moroni 8:18 says, "For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity."  How can God have always been God?  In the book Miracles of Forgiveness, Spencer W. Kimball said that God is "omniscient and omnipotent."  How could God attain infinite knowledge and infinite power without ever changing?  Here is an example of the question:  If I were going to run an infinite number of miles to a finish line, how long would it take?  It would take an infinite amount of time.  So how do I get to the finish line which is an infinite number of miles away?  One answer is to already be there (no running required).  How long would it take to gain infinite knowledge and infinite power?  It would take an infinite amount of time.  God is able to have infinite knowledge and power by already being God all the way into the past and all the way into the future.  Moroni 8:18 says that God is "unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity."  God is already past the finish line and he was always past the finish line!  Praise be to the God who was and is and always will be God!
     Some say they can not believe in a God that they cannot comprehend.  If you believe in a finite god that your finite mind can comprehend, is that really the true God?  I thank God that he is beyond my finite mind's comprehension.
     John 1:3 says that God has made all things.  Time and space are also things made by God.  God is not subject to his creation.  He is not confined to the time and space he created.  He is God of all and over all.  God is all-knowing, all-powerful and truly amazing!  Praise Him always!

D&C 1:31 Least Degree of Allowance

     Suppose you are doing the "best you can do."  Does God make up the rest?  We always say that "nobody is perfect."  If we have repented and stopped most of our lying, coveting and stealing, is it good enough to get us by?  Is it a gradual process of repentance and gradually forsaking sin?  If we are looking to our goodness, how good is good enough?  If you are married, you try to overlook some of your partners faults.  Does God do the same for us?
     D&C 1:31 says,  "For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;"  This verse tells us how much sin God overlooks.  Helaman 4:24 say, "...the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples."  Many people describe repentance as a gradual process.  But D&C 58:43 says, "By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins - behold, he will confess them and forsake them."  Alma 11:37 is a strong verse:  "And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven?  Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins."
     The Book of Mormon  and Doctrine and Covenants do not describe a gradual process of repentance or of doing the "best you can."  These scriptures do not speak about us doing a portion and God coming along to make up the rest.  Repentance is tied to forsaking sin.  Forsaking sin is tied to being saved.  In spite of what people say and think, it is clear what these scriptures say about repentance and salvation.  If we are looking to our works and the law, it is clear what the expectation is - perfection.