Mental Health Awareness Month

     So we are wrapping up the month of May, Mental Health Awareness month.  It seems like a cruel joke.  It is like sticking a band aid on a cancer patient.  Why is Mental Health Awareness becoming more popular?  According to Pastor John MacArthur, transgender people are 19 times as likely to commit suicide.  Secular sources sources claim that LGBTQ students are 4 times as likely to commit suicide. What are students being told?  They are NOT being told that God can deliver them from sexual addictions.  The are being told that they were born that way.  So if they were born that way and it is not a matter of choice, then there is no way out of their unhappy "life style".  Rather than continue living in bondage with no cure in sight, some kids decide to end their life.

     Why are we afraid to tell people that God can heal their mind?  Christians are falsely blamed for the mental illness of others.  If we speak up, we are called homophobic, transphobic, intolerant, haters and the list goes on.  Sometimes we just want to be left alone and live our lives in peace.  Our culture wants to force us to accept their beliefs.  If we don't accept their beliefs, they threaten to "cancel" us, destroy our reputation and ruin our lives.  We say, "just leave the kids alone."  They say they are coming for the kids first!  We should give our children to God.  We should not give them to our culture's god of sex.  So we have quite a challenge.  Do we leave our faith at the front door of the church as we leave on Sunday morning and just go with the flow?  Or do we take our faith with us?  

     If there was ever a time when we needed the power of God, it is now.  God has the power to save anyone from the bondage of addiction!  Just as God empowered David to kill the lion, the bear and  giant Goliath, no enemy is too powerful for God.  It doesn't matter what we have done or how we have messed up our life, God is able to deliver.  Perhaps we are the only question.  Christ laid down his life for us.  Are we willing to lay down our life and reputation for Him? 

LDS Survey on Forgiveness

 

LDS Survey on Forgiveness

1.                 Do you believe 1 Nephi 3:7?  Are we without excuse when it comes to fulfilling the commandments of God?  Has He prepared the way for us to accomplish every one of them?

Yes            No

 

2.                 Do you believe 2 Nephi 25:23?  Are we saved by grace “after all we can do”?  How do you know when you have done all you can do?

Yes            No

 

3.                 Do you believe Moroni 10:32?  Is God’s grace only sufficient for us when we have denied ourselves of “all ungodliness” and we have loved God with all of our “mind, might and strength”?

Yes            No

 

4.                 Do you agree with D&C 1:31?  It says that God cannot look upon sin with the “least degree of allowance”.

Yes            No

 

5.                 Do you believe D&C 58:42-43? If a man truly repents of his sins, he will confess and FORSAKE them?

Yes            No

 

6.                 Do you believe that God does not “dwell in unholy temples”?

(Helaman 4:24)

Yes            No

 

7.                 Do you believe Alma 11:37 when it states that “no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven” and we “cannot be saved in our sins”?

Yes            No

 

8.                 Is it important to be sincere when we repent?  (If your neighbor steals from you and then apologizes on a weekly basis, we would say that he is insincere.  If your neighbor steals from you, apologizes and never steals from you again, we will think that his apology was sincere.)

Yes            No

 

9.                 Do you believe D&C 82:7?  “…unto that soul who sinneth shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God.”  If we tell a lie, do all our former sins return?

Yes            No

 

10.            Do you believe Romans 10:3?  Giving us some perspective, 2 Corinthians 5:21 states, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”  When we look to Jesus, He takes our sin on the cross and we receive the righteousness of Christ in return.  Romans 10:3 states, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”  Do you believe that some people fail to submit themselves to the righteousness of God and go about to establish their own righteousness? 

Yes            No

 

11.            Where do you stand today?

Separation of Church and State

 Can we teach school without God? It is impossible. First or all, God created time and space. Our school building takes up space that was created by God. We are using time which God created to occupy that space. We have not created our own space and time for educating students. During school we breathe air that was designed by God. We enjoy the sunshine that God created. We are teaching students that have been created by God. We have not created our own children. Furthermore, the students we teach have been made in the image of God. There is no scenario where we could teach even one second without divine intervention. Nature/science itself proclaims the majesty of God. "For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse." Romans 1:20

Eternal Insecurity?

 

Eternal Insecurity

          A man on Facebook proclaimed that the “once saved, always saved” doctrine of eternal security is “leading people to hell!”  He didn’t give any reasoning for his statement, but is there any truth in his words?  A man hears a sermon, says a sinners pray and the preacher states “once saved, always saved”.  Then for the next 30 years, he doesn’t return to church.  The fruit of the spirit are not seen in his life.  He does not reach out to God because he thinks his ticket has been punched for the pearly gates.  He takes the preachers word on it.  Is he trusting in God or trusting in a mere procedure?  Do procedures save?

          Does our friend fall into the Ezekiel 18:24?  “But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live?  All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.”  Is our salvation-confident friend hell-bound?

          Is he in the lukewarm category?  Revelation 3:16 says, “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”  Is our friend going to be spat out and rejected?

          Is our friend in the “never knew you” category?  Matthew 7:21-23 states, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.  Many will say to me in that day, Lord Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

          Romans 8:35-39 tells us that circumstances do not separate us from the love of God.  “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?.... neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Is it possible to be always loved by God and on the fast track to hell at the same time?  Can we have unconditional love for those who are going the wrong way?

          So what about the preacher’s words?  A man raised his hand, walked the aisle, repeated a sinner’s prayer and the preacher stated “once saved, always saved”.  Is this saying, inadvertently, leading our overly-confident, complacent friend to the gates of hell?

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;"

A Temple Not Made With Hands

 

Heavenly Temple

Not Made with Human Hands

By Robert Jacquez

      There are many temples around the world which have been built by human hands.  But there is another sanctuary in heaven.  The Apostle Paul stood on mars hill and surprised the Athenians when he spoke of where God does not dwell.  "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands" (Acts 17:24).  Paul gave the same message to the Corinthians.  "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Corinthians 5:1).  Hebrews 9:24 continues this theme.  "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us."  We have all seen doll houses.  They can be nice but they are just a small figure of a real house.  If the glorious temple built by king Solomon is merely a figure of the true temple, then the temple in heaven must be beyond glorious!  Hebrews 9:11-12 says, "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."  Can you imagine a temple made by God, the greatest designer in the universe?

Eternal Security vs Free Choice

Photo by Francois Olwage on Unsplash

Eternal Security vs Free Choice

      Eternal Security (once saved always saved) vs Free Choice are important doctrines for many people in the church today!  But, outside of church, people probably don't really care.  I think people outside of church would be more likely to care about Ezekiel 33:12-19.  In Ezekiel 33:12, the prophet proclaimed, "...The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneh from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth."  Ezekiel continues to expound on this in Ezekiel 33:13-19.  I think this is extremely interesting to people outside the church.  Can the righteous actually become wicked and can the wicked actually become righteous?  

      Pre-millennial vs post-millennial rapture is another very important doctrine to people inside the church.  Again, I do not think most people outside the church really care about it.  But people outside the church would be likely to care about 1 John 3:6-10!  "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.  Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for  the devil sinneth from the beginning.  For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.  In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother."  So do you love your brother?  Are you a righteous person from Monday through Saturday.  I think this is very interesting to those who are not in church.

      King James version, NIV, NKJV or Holman Christian Standard?  This choice is very important for some people, but do people outside of church really care?  Probably not.  I do think people on the outside would care about John 14:15.  "If ye love me, keep my commandments."  Do we really love God?  Do we keep his commands?

      What about hymns vs worship songs?  Is one more worshipful than the other?  Here is the question: Is what we think is important really that important?  It is easy to get focused only on things inside the church.  God has called us to "go unto all the world".