Saturday, October 25, 2014
Friday, October 24, 2014
Sunday, October 19, 2014
10 Love & Dating Lessons

(Based on Elder Holland’s
BYU Devotional “How Do I Love Thee?”)
1. Dating should not be separated from discipleship.
Believe that your faith has everything to do with your
romance, because it does. You separate dating from discipleship at your peril. Jesus
Christ, the Light of the World, is the only lamp by
which you can successfully see the path of love and happiness.
Too often, we allow ourselves to take a different
approach to dating than we do the rest of our lives. We allow emotions, lusts,
and other things to silence the Spirit, and we believe we have a certain right
to be dishonest, or even sometimes mean. While dating is certainly a minefield
to navigate, and it’s not always easy to do so without hurting feelings, we
should do our very best to maintain integrity and Christ-like love for others
in all our dating endeavors.
2. Love comes from God, so you’ll need to seek Him to
find it.
“Wherefore, . . . pray unto the Father with all
the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath
bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may
become the sons [and daughters] of God; that when he
shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is;
. . . that we may be purified even as he is pure.” – Moroni
7:47–48
If your love doesn’t bring you closer to God, it’s not
love. If it doesn’t yield the fruits of the spirit – peace, joy, charity, and
all those other good things, it’s not love. I believe love is the greatest gift
God has given us, and we can’t possess it without Him. Not the kind that lasts,
anyway.
3. Love is a verb – an action word – and isn’t just a
rush of feelings.
It doesn’t come without effort and it doesn’t come
without patience, but, like salvation itself, in the end it is a gift, given by
God to the “true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ.” The solutions to life’s
problems are always gospel solutions.
True love blooms when we care more about another person
than we care about ourselves.
It’s for this reason that I don’t believe in “love at
first sight”, or getting engaged after three weeks. Love requires time. It involves regularly and constantly putting
someone else’s wellbeing before your own, and being willing to make sacrifices
for the happiness of another person. It’s very different from infatuation,
which typically involves a rush of feelings and a twitterpated obsession with
someone.
4. Love shouldn’t make you selfish.
There are many qualities you will want to look for in a
friend or a serious date—to say nothing of a spouse and eternal companion—but
surely among the very first and most basic of those qualities will be those of
care and sensitivity toward others, a minimum of self-centeredness that allows
compassion and courtesy to be evident.
We sometimes become so infatuated with the other
person that we start to neglect other important responsibilities, such as
service and friendship. Love should make you want to be better, and shouldn’t
cause you to spend all of your time watching movies on the couch with someone.
You’re not much use to Heavenly Father while you’re doing that.
5. Love that which is not fleeting.
I suppose no one is as handsome or as beautiful as he or
she wishes, or as brilliant in school or as witty in speech or as wealthy as we
would like, but in a world of varied talents and fortunes that we can’t always
command, I think that makes even more attractive the qualities we can
command—such qualities as thoughtfulness, patience, a kind word, and true
delight in the accomplishment of another. These cost us nothing, and they can
mean everything to the one who receives them.
This is one of my favorite quotes in the world, and I
invite you to read it as often as you need to – whenever you feel “not enough”.
6. Finding true love requires us to take leaps of faith and
be vulnerable.
No serious courtship or engagement or marriage is worth
the name if we do not fully invest all that we have in it and in so doing trust
ourselves totally to the one we love. You cannot succeed in love if you keep
one foot out on the bank for safety’s sake.
We need to stop being scared to commit “just in case”
there’s something better out there. If someone doesn’t feel right for you,
that’s totally fine. Don’t date them. But if they have the qualities you’re
looking for, and you make each other happy, and they love God, move forward!
Don’t be paralyzed by fear.
7. Don’t be self-absorbed.
In all that Christ was, He was not ever envious or
inflated, never consumed with His own needs. He did not once, not ever, seek
His own advantage at the expense of someone else. He delighted in the happiness
of others, the happiness He could bring them. He was forever kind.
Dating isn’t about finding someone who ticks every box on
your list. It’s about finding someone who you are truly compatible with, and
can progress with forever. Remember that you’ll need to be worthy for your
spouse – it’s not a one-way street.
8. Be with someone who makes you happy, not someone who
makes you anxious.
In a dating and courtship relationship, I would not have
you spend five minutes with someone who belittles you, who is constantly
critical of you, who is cruel at your expense and may even call it humor. Life
is tough enough without having the person who is supposed to love you leading
the assault on your self-esteem, your sense of dignity, your confidence, and
your joy. In this person’s care you deserve to feel physically safe and
emotionally secure.
I can’t even count the number of times I’ve watched
people continue dating someone who’s wrong for them because they’re infatuated,
and they’re just too scared to end it and be alone. I’ve been guilty of it
myself. God isn’t the author of confusion or fear. Keep that in mind when
dating.
9. Don’t fault-find or be quick to take offense.
Temper tantrums are not cute even in children; they are
despicable in adults, especially adults who are supposed to love each other. We
are too easily provoked; we are too inclined to think that our partner meant to
hurt us—meant to do us evil, so to speak; and in defensive or jealous response we
too often rejoice when we seethem make a mistake and find them in a fault.
Let’s show some discipline on this one. Act a little more maturely. Bite your
tongue if you have to. “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and
he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32).
Don’t spend your dating relationships looking for “red
flags”, and reasons that someone isn’t good enough for you. Recognize that you
both have weaknesses. We often make dating one big game of who can hide their
weaknesses long enough for someone to love them. That’s not what it’s about.
Love isn’t about being blind to someone’s flaws, it’s about seeing them and
loving them anyway.
Think the best of each other, especially of those you say
you love. Assume the good and doubt the bad.
10. Trust God, be believing, and try not to freak out.
Bear up and be strong. Be hopeful and believing. Some
things in life we have little or no control over. These have to be endured.
Some disappointments have to be lived with in love and in marriage.
Dating kind of sucks, and we all know it. So do your best
to stay close to the Lord, who doesn’t want you to be unhappy. He will help
you. He will lift you up and guide you.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Which Way Do You Face?
Lowering the Lord's standards to the level of society's inappropriate behavior is apostasy!
-Elder Lynn G Robbins
-Elder Lynn G Robbins
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Isaiah: An Ancient Prophet Foresees Our Day
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. --Isaiah 5:20-24
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. --Isaiah 5:20-24
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Sunday, October 5, 2014
04-05 October 2014 General Conference
Looking for peace? Looking for answers?
Go to www.lds.org and click on General Conference!
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground clove
Pinch of ground ginger
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
15 ounce can of pure pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 cups chocolate chips (depending on your need for chocolate--can cut up bars of dark and milk chocolate)
Go to www.lds.org and click on General Conference!
Pumpkin
Muffin-Top Chocolate Chip Cookies
These
come out fluffy like muffin tops. (Makes ~30 cookies) www.yumsugar.com
(Recommended
by Katie Sierer)
Ingredients
2
1/2 cups flour1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground clove
Pinch of ground ginger
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
15 ounce can of pure pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 cups chocolate chips (depending on your need for chocolate--can cut up bars of dark and milk chocolate)
Directions: Preheat oven to 375oF. Sift together (or whisk in small
bowl) flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger and set
aside. Beat butter, brown sugar and sugar together in large mixer bowl. Add pumpkin and vanilla and mix
until incorporated. Add egg
and beat well until fully combined. Gradually--in
3 batches--beat in flour mixture. Stir
in chocolate chips. Drop
rounded spoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-15 minutes until edges start to
brown. Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 2 more minutes. Move
cookies to wire rack to cool completely.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Third Time's the Charm!
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Monday, August 25, 2014
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Character of God
Joseph
Smith’s “Lectures on Faith: Lecture #3:12-19 “From the foregoing testimonies,
we learn the following things respecting the character of God. First, that he
was God before the world was created, and the same God that he was, after it
was created. Secondly, that he is merciful, and gracious, slow to anger,
abundant in goodness, and that he was so from everlasting, and will be to
everlasting. Thirdly, that he changes not, neither is there variableness with
him; but that he is the same from everlasting to everlasting, being the same
yesterday today and forever; and that his course is one eternal round, without
variation. Fourthly, that he is a God of truth and cannot lie. Fifthly, that he
is no respecter of persons; but in every nation he that fears God and works
righteousness is accepted of him. Sixthly, that he is love.
An acquaintance
with these attributes in the divine character, is essentially necessary, in
order that the faith of any rational being can center in him for life and
salvation. For if he did not, in the first instance, believe him to be God,
that is, the creator and upholder of all things, he could not center his faith
in him for life and salvation, for fear there should be a greater than he, who
would thwart all his plans, and he, like the gods of the heathen, would be
unable to fulfill his promises; but seeing he is God over all, from everlasting
to everlasting, the creator and upholder of all things, no such fear can exist
in the minds of those who put their trust in him, so that in this respect their
faith can be without wavering.”
Friday, August 15, 2014
Without the Atonement
There
is one other great and eternal truth about prayer that cannot be emphasized too
strongly. It is that if there had been no atonement of Christ; if the Son of
God, in whose name we pray, had not ransomed man from the fall; if he had not
put the great plan of redemption into operation by the shedding of his blood—except
for these things, prayer in his name or any name, offered to the Father or any
other person or thing, would be of no avail. Prayer is efficacious because of
the atonement. As we have repeatedly pointed out in other connections, if there
had been no atonement, the Father’s plan would have been frustrated and all his
purposes, including the reason for creation itself, would have become void.
Bruce R McConkie, "Promised Messiah"
Bruce R McConkie, "Promised Messiah"
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Thoughts on 'looking beyond the mark'....
In the Book of Mormon, Jacob speaks of ancient Judah as having rejected the words of its prophets because individuals living then 'despised the words of plainness' and because they 'sought for things that they could not understand.' (Jacob 4:14)
Intellectual embroidery seems to have been preferred to the whole clothing of the gospel--the frills to the fabric. In fact, one can even surmise that complexity was preferred over plainness by some because in conceptual complexity there might somehow be escape, or excuse, for noncompliance and for failure. In any event, this incredible blindness which led to the rejection of those truths spoken by prophets and which prevented the recognition of Jesus for who he was, according to Jacob, came 'by looking beyond the mark.' Those who look beyond plainness, beyond the prophets, beyond Christ, and beyond his simple teachings waited in vain then, as they will wait in vain now. For only the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us of things as they really are and as they really will be. There is more realism in the revelations than in reams of secular research, for secularism is congenitally shortsighted. Without revelation and its absolute anchors, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would also follow the fads of the day, as some churches have done; but as Samuel Callan warned, the church that weds itself to the culture of the day will 'be a widow within each succeeding age.' This is but one of the marks of the 'true and living' Church; it is spared the fruits of fadism.
-Neal A Maxwell, 2 Jan 1974
Intellectual embroidery seems to have been preferred to the whole clothing of the gospel--the frills to the fabric. In fact, one can even surmise that complexity was preferred over plainness by some because in conceptual complexity there might somehow be escape, or excuse, for noncompliance and for failure. In any event, this incredible blindness which led to the rejection of those truths spoken by prophets and which prevented the recognition of Jesus for who he was, according to Jacob, came 'by looking beyond the mark.' Those who look beyond plainness, beyond the prophets, beyond Christ, and beyond his simple teachings waited in vain then, as they will wait in vain now. For only the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us of things as they really are and as they really will be. There is more realism in the revelations than in reams of secular research, for secularism is congenitally shortsighted. Without revelation and its absolute anchors, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would also follow the fads of the day, as some churches have done; but as Samuel Callan warned, the church that weds itself to the culture of the day will 'be a widow within each succeeding age.' This is but one of the marks of the 'true and living' Church; it is spared the fruits of fadism.
-Neal A Maxwell, 2 Jan 1974
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Feel the Love of a Prophet of God!
June 2009 Pres Gordon B Hinckley's Address at BYU-Idaho Dedication
Friday, July 25, 2014
Monday, July 21, 2014
Friday, July 11, 2014
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Never Underestimate the Cost of Conversion
New Harmony: Never Underestimate the Cost of Conversion
by Jerry Earl Johnston, Deseret News, 11 June 2014
Flannery O'Connor, the Catholic novelist, said it surprised her how many people of her faith "constantly underestimated the cost of salvation."
As I've watched people come into the fold of our little Spanish branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brigham City--and watched others leave to return to their former ways--I've decided we life-long members of the LDS Church "constantly underestimate the cost" of conversion.
We're excited to see people join us, but we seldom appreciate the price that those people had to pay. For many, the price of admission involves friendships, family, security and much more.
Religious conversions, like the birth of babies, happen so often we can become a bit jaded to the anguish they entail.
Evangelism runs deep in the American grain. We probably have a thousand churches in our midst, and almost all of them are actively looking for followers.
Americans themselves, at times, seem to move from faith to faith the way they move from state to state. Choosing a faith can appear to be like choosing a home or joining a club.
But, as Terryl and Fiona Givens point out in their book, The God Who Weeps, becoming a believer in a religion is not about picking a path. It is about uncovering our true nature.
The call to faith, they write, "is not some test of a coy god, waiting to see if we 'get it right.' It is the only summons, issued under the only conditions, which can allow us to fully reveal who we are, what we love and what we most devoutly desire."
In other words, when the Apostle Paul converted to Christianity, he wasn't "transformed" from a cruel scoundrel to a spokesman for love. What happened was he peeled off the disguise he was wearing and discovered the person he had really been all along. But shedding those trappings must have been harrowing. Sometimes a rebirth can be as wrenching as a natural one.
When lifelong members of the LDS Church see others find themselves, we rejoice.
But those of us who've never been through the fire can never really fathom the cost.
I once asked the late Maya Angelou how much "steel" it took for her to go from being a madam in a brothel to being a woman who prayed for presidents.
"Oh, steel is much too supple a substance for that," she said.
We constantly underestimate the cost of conversion.
Remembering that, of course, doesn't have to tinge our rejoicing with melancholy. But it should make the moment more sobering and profound.
Switching faiths can be traumatic, filled with tension, tears, fears, and a feeling of great loss over what was left behind. And for those of us who've never had to do it, keeping that in mind can turn what seems commonplace into a unique moment of noble struggle and sacrifice.
A leap of faith is more than a mere skip across a ditch.
It is often a jump across the Grand Canyon.
And those who are willing to make it should be celebrated, not only for the choice they have made but also for the courage and force of will they've shown to do it.
A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation. -Joseph Smith, Jr.
by Jerry Earl Johnston, Deseret News, 11 June 2014
Flannery O'Connor, the Catholic novelist, said it surprised her how many people of her faith "constantly underestimated the cost of salvation."
As I've watched people come into the fold of our little Spanish branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brigham City--and watched others leave to return to their former ways--I've decided we life-long members of the LDS Church "constantly underestimate the cost" of conversion.
We're excited to see people join us, but we seldom appreciate the price that those people had to pay. For many, the price of admission involves friendships, family, security and much more.
Religious conversions, like the birth of babies, happen so often we can become a bit jaded to the anguish they entail.
Evangelism runs deep in the American grain. We probably have a thousand churches in our midst, and almost all of them are actively looking for followers.
Americans themselves, at times, seem to move from faith to faith the way they move from state to state. Choosing a faith can appear to be like choosing a home or joining a club.
But, as Terryl and Fiona Givens point out in their book, The God Who Weeps, becoming a believer in a religion is not about picking a path. It is about uncovering our true nature.
The call to faith, they write, "is not some test of a coy god, waiting to see if we 'get it right.' It is the only summons, issued under the only conditions, which can allow us to fully reveal who we are, what we love and what we most devoutly desire."
In other words, when the Apostle Paul converted to Christianity, he wasn't "transformed" from a cruel scoundrel to a spokesman for love. What happened was he peeled off the disguise he was wearing and discovered the person he had really been all along. But shedding those trappings must have been harrowing. Sometimes a rebirth can be as wrenching as a natural one.
When lifelong members of the LDS Church see others find themselves, we rejoice.
But those of us who've never been through the fire can never really fathom the cost.
I once asked the late Maya Angelou how much "steel" it took for her to go from being a madam in a brothel to being a woman who prayed for presidents.
"Oh, steel is much too supple a substance for that," she said.
We constantly underestimate the cost of conversion.
Remembering that, of course, doesn't have to tinge our rejoicing with melancholy. But it should make the moment more sobering and profound.
Switching faiths can be traumatic, filled with tension, tears, fears, and a feeling of great loss over what was left behind. And for those of us who've never had to do it, keeping that in mind can turn what seems commonplace into a unique moment of noble struggle and sacrifice.
A leap of faith is more than a mere skip across a ditch.
It is often a jump across the Grand Canyon.
And those who are willing to make it should be celebrated, not only for the choice they have made but also for the courage and force of will they've shown to do it.
A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation. -Joseph Smith, Jr.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Monday, June 30, 2014
Friday, June 27, 2014
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
Thursday, June 19, 2014
A Few Names for the Christ
![]() |
| The Great Mediator by Joseph Brickey |
from “Promised Messiah” by Bruce R McConkie
Our
Lord is and has been known by many names. Some have been revealed in one
dispensation, some in another; some have been used in a single age, some in
many; and no doubt there are many names yet to be revealed. To collect and
analyze all those by which he is known to us would be a work of major
proportions and constitute a large volume by itself. Our purpose in this work
is to note the more important instances in which he was known both before and
after his coming by the same names, thus showing that the mortal Christ and the
promised Messiah are one and the same. In addition to the designations so far
noted, and to those not scheduled for more elaborate consideration later in
this work, we here note the following:
1.
He is the Servant of the Lord.
Jesus
came to do the will of his Father because his Father sent him. (3 Nephi
27:13-14.) He was the Servant, not the master, in his relationship with his
Father. “I am among you as he that serveth,” he said. (Luke 22:27.) Also: “The
Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things
soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” (John 5:19.) Submissive,
willing, obedient, walking only in the path charted for him by his Father—such
was the course pursued by the Son.
How
natural it is to find Christ serving both the Father and his fellowmen, for so
it had been predicted. The introductory sentence of the longest single
Messianic prophecy in the Old Testament (and one of the greatest and most
comprehensive of them all) says: “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he
shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.” (Isaiah 52:13.) Another of
Isaiah’s long and plain predictions about the coming of the Messiah begins:
“Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I
have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.”
(Isaiah 42:1.) “I will bring forth my servant” (Zechariah 3:8) is the
scriptural promise, as also: “O Lord, truly I am thy servant: I am thy servant,
and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee
the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. I will
pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people, in the courts
of the Lord’s house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem.” (Psalms 116:16-19.)
And
so, truly, did our Lord act during his mortal ministry! Truly, this is he of
whom it is written: “He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in
the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; …for now shall he be great unto
the ends of the earth.” (Michah 5:4.)
2. He is the Star out of Jacob.
Of
him Balaam prophesied: “I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but
not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of
Israel….Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion.” (Numbers
24:17-19.) “In figurative language, the spirit hosts in pre-existence are
referred to as the stars of heaven.” (Mormon
Doctrine, 2nd ed., pp. 765-66.) The morning stars who joined with
all the sons of God when the foundations of the earth were laid were the noble
and preeminent spirits. As the Star who came out of Jacob, Christ is thus the
most outstanding one of all the hosts of that unnumbered house. And so he
testified of himself: “I am…the bright and morning star.” (Revelation 22:16.)
3.
He is the Beloved and Chosen One.
Before,
during, and after his mortal ministry he was and is known as the Beloved and
Chosen One, terms that carry a connotation of election and selection, of choosing
and foreordination. He is “My Beloved and Chosen from the beginning” (Moses
4:2); “My Chosen” (Moses 7:39); “My Beloved” (2 Nephi 31:15); “My Well Beloved”
(Helaman 5:47); “His most Beloved” (Mormon 5:14); and “My Beloved Son” (3 Nephi
11:7; Matthew 3:17; Joseph Smith-History 17).
4.
He is the Anointed One.
A
number of Messianic passages speak of “the Lord, and…his anointed” (Psalms
2:2), signifying that the Chosen One was consecrated and set apart for the
ministry and mission that was his. Jesus applied these passages to himself by
quoting Isaiah’s prophecy, “The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek” (Isaiah 61:1), and then saying: “This day is this scripture
fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:21). Peter made the same application by
speaking of “thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed” (Acts 4:27), and by
telling “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power”
(Acts 10:38). In a revealed prayer, given in our day, we find this petition:
“Wilt thou turn away thy wrath when thou lookest upon the face of thine
Anointed.” (D&C 109:53.)
5.
He is the Bridegroom.
“Thy
Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the
Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the Lord
hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and [as] a wife of
youth.” (Isaiah 54:5-6.) “And as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so
shall thy God rejoice over thee.” (Isaiah 62:5.) So spake the Eternal One to
his chosen Israel. Speaking of his Second Coming, this same Jesus called
himself the Bridegroom (Matthew 25:1-13), and the same terminology has been
preserved in latter-day revelation (D&C 133:10, 19).
Paul
makes quite a point of this concept. “The husband is the head of the wife,” he
says, “even as Christ is the head of the church.” That is, it is as though
Christ were married to the Church. “Therefore as the church is subject unto
Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for
it.” Then because of the figurative nature of the language used, he says: “This
is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” (Ephesians
5:23-32.)
6.
He is the Hope of Israel.
In
and through and by and because of him we and all men have a hope of peace in
this life and eternal glory in the world to come. He is our Hope. Without him
we would have no hope of immortality, no hope of eternal life, no hope of the
continuation of the family unit, no hope of eternal progress, no hope of
exaltation, no hope of any good thing. All the hopes of all the righteous of
all the ages center in him. “O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee
shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth,
because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.” (Jeremiah
17:13; 14:8; 50:7.)
“We
are saved by hope” (Romans 8:24), and the “Lord Jesus Christ…is our hope,” said
Paul (1 Timothy 1:1). The lives of the righteous are spent “Looking for that
blessed hope,” he also said, which hope is for “the glorious appearing of the
great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:13.)
7.
He is the Nazarene.
In
a prophecy no longer found in any scripture now had among us, it is written:
“He shall be called a Nazarene,” which was fulfilled, Matthew tells us, because
he dwelt “in a city called Nazareth.” (Matthew 2:23.) Subsequent developments
confirmed that he was to bear that designation during and after his mortal
probation. While he yet dwelt in mortality, he was called Jesus of Nazareth by
his disciples (John 1:45), and after he rose from the dead, he himself said to
Paul, “I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutes” (Acts 22:8). Peter spoke of
him similarly (Acts 2:22), although when he healed the lame man, he used the
more formal words, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk”
(Acts 3:6).
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Happy Father's Day 2014!
"The sacred title of 'father' is shared with the Almighty. In the Church men are called and released. Did you ever hear of a mortal father being released? ...Fatherhood is not a matter of station or wealth, it is a matter of desire, diligence, and determination to see one's family exalted in the celestial kingdom. If that prize is lost, nothing else really matters." -- Ezra Taft Benson
![]() |
| 1890 Vincent Van Gogh "First Steps, after Millet" |
Friday, June 13, 2014
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Monday, June 2, 2014
Pay Attention!
An
honest and sincere truth-seeker may receive a flash of revelation from the Holy
Ghost telling him that Jesus is the Christ; that Joseph Smith is a prophet of
God; that the Lord has restored the fullness of his everlasting gospel in this
day; that the Book of Mormon is the mind and will and voice of God to the world
today. That blaze of newly encountered light will be as lightning in a night
storm; it will show the path leading to the pure light of day; but unless the
one receiving the light walks therein, unless he follows the path, he will
remain in darkness and lose the new knowledge he was once ready to receive. -- Bruce R McConkie "The Promised Messiah"
Friday, May 30, 2014
Someone Else Who Isn't Afraid to Defend His Faith
![]() |
| Phil Robertson of "Duck Dynasty" Reality Show |
The Daily Beast reported: "In an address that was not so much a speech as a jeremiad, Robertson, the marquee speaker at this year's confab, harangued his audience to return to biblical values, reminded them that they will one day die--"Obamacare will not save you from the grave"--and told the gathered, "GOP, you can't be RIGHT for America if you are WRONG with God."
Robertson said: "And some of you are saying, 'Are you some kind of idiot?' Actually, I'm a multimillionaire...."
Thursday, May 29, 2014
The Promised Messiah: The First Coming of Christ
![]() |
| "The Messiah" series by Bruce R McConkie |
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Shawn Bradley: A Hero!
My new hero: Shawn Bradley! Click on his name for ESPN's "30 for 30" short film on this role model!
Friday, May 23, 2014
Don't Roam through Garbage!
![]() |
| "If Ye Lack Wisdom" by Elder Marcos A Aidukaitis April 2014 General Conference talk |
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
One High School's Graduates Leaving on Missions This Summer!
![]() |
These young men (and one young woman who is turning age 19 in August)
are soon leaving to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the World!
They graduate from high school 22 May 2014.
|
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
















.jpg)







.jpg)







.jpg)
