Healing and Deliverance

"The Spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has aniointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengenace of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion. To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair." Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV

John Eldredge said, "There are few passages in Scripture more beautiful and more promising than this one. This is the very passage Jesus chose to announce his purposes as recorded in Luke Chapter 4. He stands in the synagogue to read. They hand him the scroll of Isaiah, all eyes on the incarnate God himself, and he selects this passage to declare his and his Father's purposes for the human race. For you, your humanity."

"He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners."

He goes on to say, "Jesus is our Deliverer and our Healer. The two go hand in hand. Because it often takes lifting spiritual oppression to get us into deeper experiences of Jesus. And those deeper experiences are what usher in our healing. Deep experiential union with Jesus is not something that comes easily to most people - because it is opposed. Many of you know exactly what I mean. As John of the Cross reminded us, "the devil fears a soul in union with God as he fears God himself." Which means that our intimacy with Jesus, every precious experience with Him, is something that must be protected and often fought for.

"To make this clear, the metaphor of shepherd leading us to green pastures is used once in the Psalms - once - whereas the metaphor of war is used more than a hundred times. Ignorance of this reality is what keeps most people from deeply experiencing Jesus and, through Him, healing and deliverance. You live in a love story, but it is set in a very dangerous war. 

"Listen to Jesus as he describes our situation:

Matthew 10:16 NIV

"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves."

""Sheep among wolves" is a very serious situation. If those sheep don't find shelter, they are going to get hurt. Which is why the mystics and all who would be like them seek to live a consecrated life. We don't want to give our enemy any opportunies in our lives, no open doors. And so we practice the simple and beautiful act of consecration and cleansing.

Romans 12 NIV

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.

"We are urged by God to present our bodies to him in an act of consecration. This is a good example of how we put ourselves into position to receive the wonderful experience of Jesus described in Isaiah 61. If we wnat to experience the victory of Jesus, the restoration of our humanity in a particular area of our life, we need to bring that part of our life deeply into his care, under his rule, and into his kingdom. Learning to consecrate things will become a very important part of your life in Jesus.

"Step one is to bring everything of your humanity back under his authority and into him, into Christ. Step two is to then cleanse your humanity with the blood of Jesus. Let's give this a try.

Lord Jesus, I belong to you. You have purchased my life with your blood, so I return my life to you. I rededicate and reconsecrate every aspect of my life to you. I consecrate to you my spirit, soul, and body; my mind, my thoughts, all my mental life; my emotions and heartaches, all my heart's life. I consecrate to you my will and this body, which is your temple. I cleanse myself with your blood. I cleanse my spirit, soul, and body, my heart, mind and will - all that is within me. Let your blood wash away every claim of the enemy. Let your Holy Spirit sanctify me through and through. I especially consecrate and cleanse our union, Jesus, and my ability to hear you, see you, and experience you.

"Now, is there any specific part of your life you need to cleanse and bring back into Jesus?"

If this speaks to you - there is so much more! To have our 9 year old wiping tears because they heard Jesus speak eternal words to them - can you imagine. 

https://wildatheart.org/apps/one-minute-pause/

This song (attached below) came to me supernaturally. I sleep with "brown noise" playing from YouTube on my phone on my nightstand (I know...I know, someone will protest that's bad but it is what it is). The brown noise is a 12 hour video and I don't sleep long so I don't ever come near to the end. Two mornings ago the brown noise turned off suddenly and began playing drums. I had already been awake and I laid there with my brows furrowed trying to understand the sound I was hearing. This song began to play and the tears came. What a way to wake up!! It came at a time when our oldest is in great decision period...with strong desires to join the military after they serve in an orphanage in Africa. They play the trumpet and were the leader of their marching band last year. They have dressed like the leader of the band since they were six years old and asked for that costume which coincidentally looks like a military uniform. 

JESUS!!! You are Awesome.

AWESOME GOD

by

Michael W Smith

https://youtu.be/sEZDuMGp3WY?si=naA6U2ZbDX3EX871

I Am Their Inheritance

I was reading about Paul and Silas preaching in Macedonia (Acts 16) when they came upon a woman who was possessed with a spirit of divination. She was likely a slave because it said she brought "her masters much gain (money)" by her soothsaying. Divination and Soothsaying is the ability to tell the future and she was raking in the dough for her masters. But then she hears Paul and Silas and she started following them and started crying out, "These men are the servants of the most High God, which shew unto us the way of salvation!!" She goes on to do this for "many days" and Paul finally stops and sensing she was possessed, said to the demon - "I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And then...she was delivered!

When her masters see that her ability to predict the future was gone they became angry and they caught Paul and Silas and brought them to the marketplace and to the rulers and magistrates and said that they, "do exceedingly trouble our city". They must have been pretty good at whooping up a crowd because they got many to rise up against them and the magistrates start rending/ripping their clothes up (talk about watching demons in action) and then they started to whip Paul and Silas! And after they had whipped them significantly they threw them into prison and locked their feet into stocks.

Pause. 

Here Paul and Silas are doing a good thing - freeing this woman of demonic oppression and what does it lead to? Punishment and whipping and prison. 

That's going to happen to you, if it hasn't already. You will go about to bless others and things get worse. But the story doesn't stop there and we are lucky to witness, "mature faith" as my husband calls it. 

Paul and Silas are in prison instead of lamenting why God allowed this to happen them - we see that at midnight they pray and sing to God. Suddenly there is an earthquake so that the foundation of the prison is shaken and all the doors open and every single prisoner's bands are loosed! And the keeper of the prison wakes up and sees the prison doors open and draws out his sword to kill himself because he thought all the prisoners are gone! There must be a heavy price to pay for prisoners escaping if his first response is to go straight to suicide. But when Paul sees this he cries out with a loud voice and says, "Do thyself NO HARM! For we are all here." And then they bring a light and this guy who was about to kill himself is trembling and falls at their feet and says, "What must I do to be saved?!" And they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." 

This illustrates mature faith. Just because you follow Jesus Christ doesn't mean you won't suffer or have loss or be cast into prison, spiritual or physical. If you can praise Him in the valley as well as on the mountain top, you are walking in mature faith. 

It's important to ask in prayer, "Lord, where is my faith in You needing to mature? Where am I reacting instead of acting in Your Goodness?"

Later in Acts Chapter 17 Paul and Silas come to Berea and go to the synagogue of the Jews and meet a special people. Paul said they were more "noble" than those in Thessalonica. What does noble mean? It is someone possessing, characterized by, or arising from superiority of mind or character or of ideals or morals. Someone who is...mature. 

Why were they more noble/mature in their faith? 

Because they received the words they were teaching them "with all readiness of mind" because they - "searched the scriptures daily" to know whether what Paul and Silas taught aligned with scripture.  

There are many groups that do not understand scripture, though religious people say they have the most correct scripture and other groups believe they have the most perfect and sound translations. It really doesn't matter what any group professes to have if they don't understand them. 

How can you tell if your church or group understands the scriptures or not?

When a preacher, a church or an offshoot group develops a handbook or puts forth requirements that are not found in the scriptures - that's your sign. Look at what causes conflict in the LDS church and/or offshoot groups. On which topics do people get divided? You may notice in each area the derision derives solely from the fact that the things their followers are upset about do not align with scripture in the first place. Distraction abounds and the end goal, which should be Jesus Christ, instead becomes obeying the rules and aim for Zion and becoming a Zion people so that Jesus can come and harmony can be achieved. 

Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they (the scriptures!) that bear witness about Me!!" (John 5:39)

Jesus is all you need. 

Learn from me - Jesus was not my focus, though I would have told you at the time that He was. Look at the group of people you spend your time with (outside of your family). Is Jesus the topic of their conversation? Or does it usually ebb to other things? When Jesus is what you wake up with on your lips and when you can pull weeds from your yard and find you whisper His name...when you sit at your desk to work and get stuck at an impasse and call out, "JESUS!"...when He is what you think about when you don't have anything to think about - you are on the path with Him.

That God that made the world, and everything in it....He is the Lord of Heaven and Earth. And He doesn't dwell in temples made with hands...and He is not worshipped with men's hands (or Temples, or more perfect scriptures or more detailed rules or another Conference...etc.). God made of one blood all the nations of men and women to dwell on the face of the earth and He has determined everything...that we should seek the Lord, "if haply they might feel after Him....and find Him....though he be not far from every one of us. For in Him we live, and move, and have our being....For we are also His offspring." (Acts 17)

Nothing extra you do will make God love you more or come to you more. He already loves you. He is already WITH you. Building Him another Temple isn't going to make Him happier - He already told you that you are His temple. Perfecting scriptures isn't going to please Him more. He already gave them to you and asked you to use them to come to Him (Luke 24:27).

Why do we, like Adam and Eve, insist on not believing Him? Making more rules about the priesthood or newer scriptures or more interesting conferences isn't going to make Him come any sooner. You are the only thing Holding Him back from being one with you. He's right here..." for in Him we live, and move, and have our being." Stop searching out there for the next thing and go in your closet and say "Abba - Father...Papa. I'm done with not believing Your goodness. I'm done believing that I need someone or something else to get to You. From the Garden to now I have doubted Your Goodness and that walking in the cool of the day with You was enough. Help me trust that You love me, right now, just as I am and there is nothing more I can do to make You love me more." 

Just as a smart man knows he is stupid, so the awake Christian knows that he/she is a scalawag. 

Brennan Manning said:

 "The gospel declares that no matter how dutiful or prayerful we are, we can't save ourselves. What Jesus did was sufficient. To the extent that we are self-made saints like the Pharisees or neutral like Pilate (never making the leap in trust), we let the prostitutes and publicans go first into the kingdom while we are in the background having our alleged virtue burned out of us. The hookers and swindlers enter before us because they know they cannot save themselves, that they cannot make themselves presentable or lovable. They risked everything on Jesus and, knowing they didn't have it all together, were not too proud to accept the handout of amazing grace.

"Maybe this is the heart of our hang-up, the root of our dilemma. We fluctuate between castigating ourselves and congratulating ourselves because we are deluded into thinking we save ourselves. We develop a false sense of security from our good works and scrupulous observance of the law. Our halo gets too tight and a carefully disguised attitude of moral superiority results. Or we are appealed by our inconsistency, devastated that we haven't lived up to our lofty expectations of ourselves. The roller cosater rise of elation and depression continues. 

Why?

"Because we never lay hold of our nothingness before God, and consequently, we never enter into the deepest reality of our relationship with Him. But when we accept ownership of our powerlessness and helplessness, when we acknowledge that we are paupers at the door of God's mercy, then God can make something beautiful out of us.

"The saved sinner is prostrate in adoration, lost in wonder and praise. He knows repentance is not what we do in order to earn forgiveness; it is what we do because we have been forgiven. It serves as an expression of gratitude rather than an effort to earn forgiveness. Thus the sequence of forgiveness and then repentance, rather than repentance and then forgiveness, is crucial for understanding the gospel of grace." 

"From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you (realize) salvation (comes) through faith in Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 3:15)

Never forget...there is only One person that should occupy your adoration and it isn't President Nelson and it isn't the preacher you follow...God said: (Ezekiel 44:28)

 ...I am their inheritance...I am their possession.

I recommend singing this song out loud in your car or closet or wherever. Sing it to Jesus and if the tears come, let them come!

Me on Your Mind

by

Matthew West

https://youtu.be/BiUixue9cfs?si=_BsWorkwN3I7H6R5

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

 

This painting hangs in our home and is called, "My Bunkie" (meaning - the person I share a bunk with) by American artist Charles Schreyvogel. In the painting one of the men had his horse shot out from under him and his bunk mates, basically another way of saying "his brothers", are coming to rescue him.

Isn’t that a powerful visual?

Wild at Heart minister, John Eldredge, calls this painting, "The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost". Taken in that light - imagine this is God's heart towards YOU. Imagine that you are the person who has had their horse shout out from under them and the enemy is coming for you hard and FAST. No way to escape - your life is over until they come on the scene for you.

Look at the heroic fellowship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit coming to rescue this man. This is the love they have for you. The Father and Holy Ghost are watching all possible angles and Jesus is coming for you. He’s reaching down for you.

But look at the man on foot.

He’s reaching up as well.

The man on the horse wouldn’t be able to grab the man and save him without the man reaching up, so that’s one of the purposes of this blog. To remind us to get out from behind the sagebrush aka fig leaf that we’re using for cover, and run for the protection of Jesus who is reaching down to rescue and heal us.

I had a dream this weekend. It wasn't earth shattering, but it was love from the Father. I dreamed that Ryan and I were on a chase through a massive museum/airport/station with many levels. The dream landed us in the middle of a chase because we had taken something back that had been stolen and kept from those who needed it. In the dream we were running hard and fast because the people that originally stole the item wanted to kill us and were in swift persuit after us.

In the dream there were many people around (as you would see in a museum/station). After we procured the item and began to run through the crowds of people - I had the thought to turn right and run down a flight of stairs. I remember in the dream that it seemed illogical to go that route but I felt the spirit say that if I chose to go where it led me I would get out of there.

We began to run down the stairs and I thought we’d never make it because we had to keep turning down the flight of stairs but the spirit told me to keep going and the way would become faster. As it said this the stairs began to re-shape and bend to our needs and I was completely amazed and thought, "How is this happening?!" When we got to the bottom I could see the men were gaining on us and I said to the Lord, “We are going to die.” The Lord responded, “You will not die. But you will come close.” Then I asked, “Why did you ask us to do this?!” And the Lord said lovingly, “I like to give my children adventures.”

That is my Bunkie for you. He is Good, and Kind, and filled with Mystery waiting to be uncovered by those who truly seek after Him. If you want Him with all your heart - you WILL find Him. It is the law of heaven.

You just GOT to listen to this song with this post. Imagine it is Jesus singing this to you.

So good.

JESUUUUS!

Hey Brother

by

Avicii

https://youtu.be/69Fb6XozEx8?si=C428UWnaAiMnsaTT

Rebellious Children

Jesus doesn't often command people to do something, but when He does it is good if we take notice. Jesus gave a direct commandment to those at Bountiful of the importance of Isaiah...

1 And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah.

2 For surely he spake as touching all things concerning my people which are of the house of Israel; therefore it must needs be that he must speak also to the Gentiles.

Something from Isaiah that has stood out to me lately is in Chapter 30 when he pronounces woe to the "rebellious children" that "take council, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin" (v. 1)

To "take council, but not from me (i.e. the Lord)", is seeking out and placing others over your ability to hear the Lord and receive direct revelation for yourself. This can be done via church leadership or others who you believe to be special leaders whom God has called to lead a people (Jeremiah 17:5).

"After being seduced into partaking of the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve make aprons (i.e. "cover with a covering but not of my spirit") for themselves. What's interesting is that endowment patrons readily put on the apron, as Satan instructed them to do, without question. Adam and Eve (you) sincerely believe that they are doing the right thing by being obedient. The apron is the only article of clothing not bestowed by God. Placing of the apron over the clothing which God bestows is symbolic of placing ones own knowledge above that which God has given. This is what many of us find ourselves doing in this life, despite the clear instructions we have been given. This is why many are called, but few are chosen." (reference)

Isaiah tells us who exactly are the "rebellious" children so we can make no mistake who he is speaking of:

9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord:

10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

 

I googled "what is a seer" and it took me to the church website and it gave me two options. One was the Old Testament manual covering Kings through Malachi and the other reference was entirely about Joseph Smith. There is no current evidence of a Seer since Joseph Smith. There has been no real published revelations since Joseph and prophecy - none.

Is Isaiah speaking of the LDS church when he calls us "rebellious children" because we give our whole lives to the church and covenant to give everything we have, are and will become to the church (not to God)? Is he speaking of us when we raise our arm to the square to sustain 15 men who do not prophesy, see, or reveal? How can we continue to be rebellious children? The woe's pronounced on such should cause us to be very careful whom we sustain. We must ask ourselves:

How were prophets, seers, and revelators called anciently? In a line of succession of who is the oldest? Or by God directly? Did Joseph teach to call prophet's by succession? Why was there a "succession crisis" after Joseph died? Is the information in this link the pattern God used to call prophets anciently? 

It may be good to re-read Isaiah 30 and ask yourself, "Lord, is it I?" 

It is interesting that the Church claims to be "a living church" when there is no life in it. Recently we took our kids to a non-denominational church and the worship lasted 30 minutes of standing and singing only about Jesus. They all said they preferred that to the LDS sacrament which, to me, is more like going to a funeral. 

Can these dead bones live? (Ezekiel 37)

I pray they do. Lord, breathe into your children life - let them hunger and thirst for Your Presence and let anything that is not You be shaken, so that which can not be shaken will remain. (Hebrews 12:27)

I Know A Name

by

Elevation Worship

https://youtu.be/yHe71zVxlb8?si=ey5E7AKJ1_r_qFD5

Put Out Of The Synagogue

When I was in the middle part of "waking up" to the corruption of the Church (I view "corruption as any time we lie or hide or obfuscate. The definition of corruption is: "having or showing a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money OR personal gain.") I went through a lot of turmoil. What should I do? Do I keep going? Do I leave? Do I speak up? Do I stay silent? Each one had to be a revelation from the Lord.

There are many people on this path right now and I believe the Lord has told some to stay and some to leave. Some haven't received a clear answer and find scripture to help bolster their decisions. Recently I have watched someone come under the threat of excommunication to remove their content and they are complying to obey church authority. I believe they seek revelation from the Lord continually and maybe much good will come from them removing their content. I do not know the answers and I doubt they read my blog, but if they do I would refer to Jesus.

John 12:

37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him...

42 Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: (excommunication or having your Temple recommend taken away)

43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

This video below (I have shared before) is the best description I have of what it was like to let go of my fear of "being put out of the synagogue". When you, of your own free will and choice, turn in your recommend, it can not be taken from you (Luke 10:42). 

In the video the chair represents the Church when it teaches more or less than repentance and coming unto Jesus (D&C 10: 67-68). The necklace is Jesus. When you let go of the more and less than repentance and come unto Jesus, you will be blessed. It doesn't mean you won't suffer, but your suffering will be unto sanctification. 

https://youtu.be/Z8axMaBL4uo?si=wdhJT9mlU0nYUilj

Cleansed Every Whit

The Church of Jesus Christ Fishers of Men:

Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints went to small town in the Bible belt of Alabama to preach the word of the Lord. They approached the home of a sweet, elderly woman who was in her rocking chair on the porch reading her Bible. The missionaries complimented the woman on her reading the Bible and asked her if she would like to hear a message about Jesus Christ. The woman replied, "Oh YES. I love Jesus. He has saved me." Then the missionaries asked, "Did you know there is more to the gospel than being saved?" 

The woman said she didn't think there was more to the gospel than salvation through Jesus. She said, "I was once a sinner but then I found the Bible and I learned about Jesus and I prayed for the remission of my sins and a warm fire came over my body and I felt cleansed. I knew I was forgiven. I couldn't understand how it was so...but I knew it was! I felt the Holy Spirit tell me to go and submerge myself in the river and when I did, I heard the Lord say, "You are clean every whit and are adopted into my Kingdom!" That night I went to bed and had a dream where my Grandmother came and blessed me and in the dream I saw Jesus and He called me by name and also blessed me."

The missionaries listened and then asked, "Was your Grandmother baptized by one who had authority before she died?" To which the little old woman said, "No, she never did hear the Gospel." The missionaries enthusiastically said, "But did you know that you can't be with your Grandmother again unless she accepts the Gospel and is baptized? And did you know that our church alone has the authority to baptize her via proxy and then she can be saved? And if you get baptized into our church and come to our church each week and pay 10% of everything you earn to the church then in a year you will be able to go to the Temple." 

The little old woman thought for a while. "How long will all this take?" 

"Well," replied the missionaries "it can take a few weeks to listen to the discussions and then a year of waiting to go to the Temple and paying your tithing and such. Then after you go to the Temple you try to go as often as time will allow, perhaps once a week if possible." 

"And then?" she asked with wondering eyes.

"And then, well! That's the best part - you just keep going for the rest of your life. Offering salvation and exaltation to people who have died already." They replied. "If you keep doing this, then one day you  really know you are saved and exalted and can be with Heavenly Father and Jesus in Their Kingdom when you die."

"How will I know for sure if I have received this salvation and exaltation?" she asked.

"Well, that is impossible to know until you get on the other side." they said matter-of-factly.

"What is the end goal of the endowment then? What is the culmination?" she asked.

"The culmination? I mean, well - the culmination is sacred and we can't tell you exactly but essentially the culmination of the endowment is to be cleansed from the blood and sins of this generation and then to enter into the presence of the Lord... 

Wouldn't you like to receive this for yourself?" they asked.

BURN IT ALL DOWN

I don't spend much time digging in Church history anymore. There was a time where I was trying to unravel the tangled mess so that I could understand, for myself, what was going on. Once I learned how to research questionable quotes and dig into dates and corroborating accounts, etc. it became much easier to piece together history and move on with a better grasp of what was the voice of God and what wasn't.

That being said, this past week I've gotten back into emailing and texting with others that wish I would go back to church. See part 1 to understand this post better. This has caused me to get back into history in order to explain my stance (again). I told both of these people that their hope for our return to church was in vain because I would have to teach my children that Joseph Smith was a liar and he lied to his wife, his children, his brethren, and indeed a whole church and he didn't lie once, he did it constantly and I'd have to teach them that all that was okay. Both their responses: "Abraham lied."

LOOOOOOORD! LORD!!!!! Lord help me.

But they sent me quotes and things to consider as to why the Church is true and will always be true and so I got back into history to dig and find out what was actually said and how they meant it. Thanks to other bloggers and as always, my husband's insights, I sent this letter below as one of the responses (with the other person we texted and called a truce. We've been this road countless times before but we are very passionate people so we always get swept back up into discussion, then truce. A discussion, then truce. It's comical.).



Hi (Edit),

When I read the scanned document you sent I couldn't find anywhere where Joseph said to refrain from accusing the brethren. Could you underline it for me? I read it about five times but couldn't see it.

I am still struggling to understand how, if Willard Richards wasn't in America, could he have recorded what Joseph said. But I'll come your way and consider that Joseph did say it. Then I ask myself - does this quote match God's eternal pattern? For example, scripture is filled with prophets, called by God, who did indeed "rise up to condemn others, finding fault with the church, saying they are out of the way." Some examples are:

Noah
Abraham
Moses
Amos
Hosea
Isaiah
Ezekiel
Micah
Jeremiah
Lehi
Jacob
Benjamin
Abinadi
Alma the Younger
Samuel the Lamanite
John the Baptist
Jesus Christ
Joseph Smith

Why would Joseph say that, "It is an eternal principle, that has existed with God from all eternity" and then have the scriptures replete with examples which contradict that exact statement? In my understanding - the mission of any true prophet is telling people who have gone astray that they are out of the way and calling them to repentance (D&C 11:9). President Benson did that in his April 1986 General Conference Talk (link).

I have observed that in our day and age "the Church" has come to mean the organizational structure at Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, the institutional, corporate Church, and primarily its leaders. But when Joseph referenced "the church" he meant just the opposite. He was talking about the rank and file members. Joseph's definition of the church was the same as the definition given by the Lord in D&C 10:67: all who repent and come unto Christ, "the same is my church."

“I will give you one of the Keys of the mysteries of the Kingdom. It is an eternal principle, that has existed with God from all eternity: That man who rises up to condemn others, finding fault with the Church, saying that they are out of the way, while he himself is righteous, then know assuredly, that that man is in the high road to apostasy; and if he does not repent, will apostatize, as God lives.”

Whatever it was that caused Willard Richards to record that quote when he wasn't present for that meeting - I do not know. I have always thought apostasy was turning your back on Christ, abandoning religious faith, denouncing the gospel. "Losing confidence in the leaders" seems to be the polar opposite of what Nephi warned us about 34 O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm. (2 Nephi 4)

As I see it - members in the church today are instructed to center their focus on the leaders. "You keep your eyes riveted on the prophet and the Twelve apostles. We will not lead you astray. We cannot. So keep your eyes riveted on the leadership of the Church." (Elder Ballard speaking at BYU, 1996) If I am critical and on the high road to apostasy for saying I believe Elder Ballard was incorrect in that statement and it doesn't match scripture - I will accept that accusation of me. I believe they are men who can and do make mistakes, and that's okay! I can and do make mistakes daily. I tell my children to let me know where I'm wrong and if I've said something hypocritical or inconsistent - and boy they do let me know. And I always thank them and tell them to keep it coming because I'm trying to be the best parent I can be. I believe the leaders tell us they are fallible and so I choose to keep my eye on He who is infallible and I hope that's enough for Him.

I know you feel I am being critical when I make observations and say that doesn't match scripture (as I understand scripture). But to me...that isn't being critical - it is thinking critically (which can feel threatening I think). I don't mind when you tell me you don't agree with Trump. It's when you attack him personally (and I would feel that way if you did that for anyone) that I get uncomfortable. I say - think critically about what Trump is doing! And let me know the red flags you see. That is good conversation and helps me learn about policies and the constitution and look out for Gadianton robbers. But saying he's evil (not that you said that but just an example) does nothing to further my learning. I feel it is a good thing to look at the church and ask questions and see if the church today aligns with the scriptures. I believe the Book of Mormon encourages us to do this. 2 Nephi 28 warns of us following flesh:

9 Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner, false and vain and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark.

10 And the blood of the saints shall cry from the ground against them.

11 Yea, they have all gone out of the way; they have become corrupted.

12 Because of pride, and because of false teachers, and false doctrine, their churches have become corrupted, and their churches are lifted up; because of pride they are puffed up.

13 They rob the poor because of their fine sanctuaries; they rob the poor because of their fine clothing; and they persecute the meek and the poor in heart, because in their pride they are puffed up.

14 They wear stiff necks and high heads; yea, and because of pride, and wickedness, and abominations, and whoredoms, they have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men.

Matt.15: 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

D&C 93: 39 And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers.

I am not saying I am in the right way. I am saying that one person is lying (either Joseph or Brigham) and I say it was Brigham that lied and you say that it was Joseph. So we have to set that aside and see what we can prove to be true.

What is true? We both believe the Book of Mormon and Joseph said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” So as long as I do just what the Book of Mormon says, I hope to be in the right way.

I wanted to ask you: Could you define what the Standard of Truth that has been erected is?

From the quote you scanned:

Matthew 13: 31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

"Now we can discover plainly that this figure is given to represent the Church as it shall come forth in the last days. … Let us take the Book of Mormon, which a man took and hid in his field, securing it by his faith, to spring up in the last days, or in due time; let us behold it coming forth out of the ground, which is indeed accounted the least of all seeds, but behold it branching forth, yea, even towering, with lofty branches, and God-like majesty, until it, like the mustard seed, becomes the greatest of all herbs. And it is truth, and it has sprouted and come forth out of the earth, and righteousness begins to look down from heaven, and God is sending down His powers, gifts and angels, to lodge in the branches thereof."

Joseph says the parable plainly represents the church and then says what he means by that: He says the Kingdom of Heaven is the same as: The Book of Mormon. This Book of Mormon will spring up in the last days until it is the greatest of all herbs.


Love,
Ruth

To conclude I will say that if you don't know me by now - I am prone to burst of fire. I detest this about myself when it flares up. Often I take this fire to the Lord and have found He is big enough to handle it. But my prayer the last 10 or so years has been, and please forgive me if this offends you but I try to be transparent here, my prayer concerning the church has gone like this:

LORD! The Church is filled with lies! Awaken Your people! EXPOSE this corruption! Shine a light on all this darkness and bring these hidden things forth!!!

This week after digging into history and remembering all the evils that have been done...my prayer lead to this: 

LORD!! Burn it all DOWN. It is ALL corrupt! It is ALL out of the way. Burn it, expose it - let it be consumed!

When I prayed this I could feel the Lord wasn't aligning with me on this request. I waited...still no feeling of alignment. So I repeated again (I thought maybe He wasn't seeing the logic) and added, "You'll find a way to help your children that will be left reeling by this. You can do it. Burn it down and Your children will be okay. They will find You. Right?"

Heavenly displeasure settled upon me. I sat there for some time wondering what I had said wrong. I had the thought to read my scriptures so I grabbed them and opened up Luke 9, and it was as though the Lord put a heavenly magnifying glass and hovered it over these words:

"And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?.....but He turned and rebuked them, and said, Ruth - you know not what manner of Spirit you are of....For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."

A heavenly earthquake shook my soul. Forgive me Lord. Cast this spirit far from me. How can I help Your people to find You? Teach me what to pray for, Lord.

"Pray for the Lord of the Harvest to send forth laborers into the harvest."

"Yes Lord!" And then I pray. And then I pick my scriptures back up and read Luke chapter 10 and it says that exact scripture.

2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

Thanks to Tim who pointed that prayer out some time ago (if you can link that post below when you read this post). The Lord knows I learn through repetition. 

Prayer:

Lord, please send more laborers into Your Harvest. Touch those who have Awoken...to Arise. Breathe on us Your Breath of Life, Lord. Cause a famine to arise in the land, Lord. A famine for Your Word and Your Truth. Cause a hunger to pain these, Your people. A Hunger for Your Bread which is meat indeed and Your Blood which is drink indeed. Fill us with Your Spirit Lord, and cause us to reject all other spirits that would fill us and distract us from Laboring to bring in the Harvest. Fill us with You with Your good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over. You said that if a child asks their father for bread they will not be given a stone. And we, being evil, come and ask You for Your Bread and You for Your drink. Lord please - FILL US and KEEP US and send more of us that we may be able to stand at the crossroads for those coming up behind that we may illuminate the path and point the way back to You. Let us always speak of You and let no other name or idol fill our hearts. All that is not of You is dross and good for nothing but to be cast out and trampled. We need more of You Lord. Give us this day our daily Bread. Forgive us. We forgive our debtors, all of them. ALL! Thank You for forgiving our debts. Now let your Servants come along side You, shod with the gospel of Peace - let us work while it is day before it is night when no man can work. We offer ourselves to You.

In Your name Jesus. Amen. 

This song below is SO BEAUTIFUL. Thank you to UB who sent it to me. Don't let the harp and homely background fool you. This song is WONDERFUL.

All I Want Is Jesus

by

Megan Tibbits

https://youtu.be/v78Cdfsj4Wc?si=jPjjf2BBT5OSE1HP

That Man Who Rises Up To Condemn Others...

Willard Richards with his first wife, Jennetta

 

Had to break the news to a loved one today that my oldest won't be going on a mission. They know we don't attend church so it couldn't have come as a shock but it was hard for me to tell them. Because I know if I was them, I'd be heartbroken over me. That info (of our kid not going on a mission) will need to be shared with many in the next few weeks as they will be graduating soon and the question on everyone's lips will be, "What is (that kid) going to do next?"

On a side note - they are volunteering in Africa for a year in an orphanage.

But yeah, I may have had tears and, "shaky voices" (as one of my children said last week when denying they cried over the game of Risk we were playing...."No!...there weren't tears!...only shaky voices.")

So there was some seriously shaky voice going on today (blast YOU perimenopause) and I got a headache now. But of course I have to blog because this loved one let me know that they were worried of how I was so critical of the Church and I spend so much time researching how the Church is wrong and couldn't I just spend more time seeing how it's right??

Yeah...news flash. I did exactly that - for decades. I was so passionate about the Church I fought people on polygamy and being a God after this life! But it falls on deaf ears in more ways than one.

So I'll just copy and past the email I sent them after I left because, why not. The font and text is coming out weird when I post it but I'm too tired to fix it. You get the gist. 

Hi (Edit),

Thank you for listening to me today. I googled the quote you gave me about criticizing the church. Here it is below:


“I will give you one of the Keys of the mysteries of the Kingdom. It is an eternal principle, that has existed with God from all eternity: That man who rises up to condemn others, finding fault with the Church, saying that they are out of the way, while he himself is righteous, then know assuredly, that that man is in the high road to apostasy; and if he does not repent, will apostatize, as God lives.”


You can skim read this email OR you can click on the Church website links I send you to understand what I am talking about with the Church attributing things to Joseph that he never said or did.

The quote you gave me was not said by Joseph.

Here is the church website to that quote (link) scroll down to page 318

If you read that quote on the Church's website it offers you a footnote (5) in blue. If you click on that footnote it says:

History of the Church, 3:385; from a discourse given by Joseph Smith on July 2, 1839, in Montrose, Iowa; reported by Wilford Woodruff and Willard Richards.

I found two conflicts with that reference:

1. Willard Richards was not in Iowa on July 2, 1839. He was on a mission in England (link) and (link) or see the photos below:

So then I copied and pasted the footnote reference the Church gives and it took me to the Joseph Smith papers where the actual record of Willard Richards was given and you can read it here (link). There is no mention of Joseph saying that quote in the entire entry.

Hopefully this illustrates what I'm talking about with Church history. I work really hard to understand what Joseph said and what I have found is that many things we believe or are taught that are attributed to Joseph - he neither said or did.

Love,
Ruth

Fat and Sleek

The Church just released the total of its humanitarian donations for 2024. This practice of releasing their donation totals was started four years ago as a result of the LDS whistleblower coming forward in 2019. 

The Church is touting the following: 

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provided $1.45 billion in humanitarian aid in 2024.
• The increase over 2023 giving included $55.8 million for maternal and infant and toddler care in Africa and Asia.
• Welfare and humanitarian spending, up half a billion dollars in four years, is a significant portion of the church's use for the annual donations it receives.

The Church is the wealthiest religion on planet earth (link). Mathematically their donations in 2024 total less than 1% of all their wealth. 

Jeremiah 5 (NIV):

“Go up and down the streets [of Salt Lake and The Church Office Building], look around and consider, search through her squares, if you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city. 2 Although they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ still they are swearing falsely.” 3 Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent. 4 I thought, “These are only the poor; they are foolish for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. 5 So I will go to the leaders and speak to them, surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God." But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds. 6 Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many.

7 “Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods [prophets and apostles] that are not gods [prophets and apostles]. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes. 8 They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for another man’s wife (link). 9 Should I not punish them for this?” declares the Lord. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation [church] as this? 10 “Go through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not destroy them completely. Strip off her branches, for these people do not belong to the Lord. 11 The people of Israel and the people of Judah [and the Church] have been utterly unfaithful to me,” declares the Lord.

12 They have lied about the Lord; they said, “He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine.13 The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them.” 14 Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty says: “Because the people have spoken these words, I will make my words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes. 15 People of Israel,” declares the Lord, “I am bringing a distant nation against you—an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand. 16 Their quivers are like an open grave; all of them are mighty warriors.17 They will devour your harvests and food, devour your sons and daughters; they will devour your flocks and herds, devour your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust.

18 “Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not destroy you completely. 19 And when the people ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’ 20 “Announce this to the descendants of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah: 21 Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear: 22 Should you not fear me?” declares the Lord. “Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it. 23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away. 24 They do not say to themselves, ‘Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’ 25 Your wrongdoings have kept these away, your sins have deprived you of good.

26 “Among my people are the wicked who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch people. 27 Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful 28 and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not seek justice. They do not promote the case of the fatherless; they do not defend the just cause of the poor. 29 Should I not punish them for this?” declares the Lord. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?

30 “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: 31 The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?

Jeremiah 6 (NIV)

9 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine, pass your hand over the branches again, like one gathering grapes. 10 To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. 11 But I am full of the wrath of the Lord, and I cannot hold it in. “Pour it out on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together; both husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those weighed down with years. 12 Their houses will be turned over to others, together with their fields and their wives, when I stretch out my hand against those who live in the land,” declares the Lord. 13 “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. 14 They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. 15 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the Lord.

16 This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it." 17 I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But you said, ‘We will not listen." 18 Therefore hear, you nations; you who are witnesses, observe what will happen to them. 19 Hear, you earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law. 20 What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me.”

Jeremiah 7 (NIV) 

‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of [the Church] who come through these gates to worship the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.  But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.

‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to [your kindred dead] and follow [other dead works] you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.

‘Go now to the place where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people. While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. Therefore, what I did to [Nauvoo] I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors. I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your fellow Israelites, the people of Ephraim.’

“So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. Do you not see what they are doing in [the Church] and in the streets [of Salt Lake]? The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to [the Prophets and Apostles]. They pour out drink offerings to [them] to arouse my anger. But am I the one they are provoking? declares the Lord. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?

‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.

‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you. But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.’

“When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.

‘Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.

‘The people of [the Church] have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols [false prophet's and apostles] in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. 

Exaltation?

The LDS church teaches that Jesus offers you "Salvation", but that your works offer you something greater which is called: "Exaltation".

_______________

Copy and paste from the Church website (you can skim)

Requirements for Exaltation

The time to fulfill the requirements for exaltation is now (see Alma 34:32–34).

President Joseph Fielding Smith said, “In order to obtain the exaltation we must accept the gospel and all its covenants; and take upon us the obligations which the Lord has offered; and walk in the light and the understanding of the truth; and ‘live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God’” (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:43).

To be exalted, we first must place our faith in Jesus Christ and then endure in that faith to the end of our lives. Our faith in Him must be such that we repent of our sins and obey His commandments.

He commands us all to receive certain ordinances:

We must be baptized.

We must receive the laying on of hands to be confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Brethren must receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and magnify their callings in the priesthood.

We must receive the temple endowment.

We must be married for eternity, either in this life or in the next.

In addition to receiving the required ordinances, the Lord commands all of us to:

Love God and our neighbors.

Keep the commandments.

Repent of our wrongdoings.

Search out our kindred dead and receive the saving ordinances of the gospel for them.

Attend our Church meetings as regularly as possible so we can renew our baptismal covenants by partaking of the sacrament. (this is a fallacy that gets perpetuated in the church that partaking of the sacrament renews your baptismal covenants. Even Elder Anderson slips it out in a training meeting at the 14:24 minute mark of this video)

Love our family members and strengthen them in the ways of the Lord.

Have family and individual prayers every day.

Teach the gospel to others by word and example.

Study the scriptures.

Listen to and obey the inspired words of the prophets of the Lord.

Finally, each of us needs to receive the Holy Ghost and learn to follow His direction in our individual lives.

__________________

From the Church we learn that because of the sacrifice, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ - salvation is available to all who repent. Then the church also does this: "But wait! There's more!" and tells you that salvation is actually the lesser gift. The "more" is Exaltation which comes by your works.

Think of that.

To the Church - the suffering and death of Jesus Christ is a lesser gift.

This is what is known as "doctrines of devils" (1 Timothy 4:1)

To perpetually teach someone to devalue Jesus' sacrifice is cunning indeed. The church adds to Jesus' sacrifice (3 Nephi 11:39) a list of things you need to do in order to get to a higher heaven...they promote a lifetime hamster wheel of distraction. Jesus was clear:

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7)

Yes, there are differing Kingdoms in the afterlife (John 14: 2-6), but the requirements to live in each glory all have a law to be abided by (doing the Lord's will) not self-serving/self-manufactured deeds. 

Jesus illustrates this in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25: 14-30). To one is given five, another two, another one. If you multiply what you have been given (to multiply is to seek and do the Father's will), then you will increase your gift. If you hide what you are given, or in other words - if you don't seek and do the Lord's will/are self-serving/self-manufacturing a sacrifice, then by the sheer mathematics of it - you don't have more (Matthew 16:24). Another parable that illustrates this example is the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20: 1-16) who each come at different times but all are given the agreed upon payment.

Those that live in a different glory will not do so because of the works they did. They will live there because they took what they had (the life they were given) and multiplied it (asked the Lord His will and did it). There are thrones, kingdoms, principalities, powers, dominions, and eternal lives. Jacob shows us that we live in eternal progression (Genesis 28: 11-19).

Then what is Salvation and Exaltation?

I frequently use this website to research scriptures and I highly recommend it. I did a word search in the standard works to see where Jesus uses the word 'Exaltation' and aside from D&C 124: 9 where it says, "...the Gentiles to the exaltation or lifting up of Zion" the word Exaltation is only used in ONE place in all recorded scripture. Where, you might ask?

D&C 132.

In case you weren't aware, D&C 132 was not given by the Lord but was deceitfully manufactured by Brigham Young and more can be learned about it in this video by Rob Fotheringham which can be found here.

Know this, dear reader: Exaltation is a doctrine of devils and was never taught by Jesus. We have been brainwashed into believing this is an eternal principle which will get us to the highest heavens.

Jesus said that many will do works like prophesy and cast out devils (and more) - but it will fall short for one reason. He says clearly - you have to do the will of the Father (increase your talent) or it's all selfish (hiding your talent in the earth). If you prophesy, cast out devils, and do many wonderful works without it being the will of the Father - He will say that He actually never knew you. Another translation is - you never knew Him.

Here is what He asks for:

D&C 88:

67 And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things.

68 Therefore, sanctify yourselves (seek and do His will) that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will.

David was special to God and the Lord tells us why that is: "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will." (Acts 13:22)

Allow me to phrase that scripture differently: 

"I have found David the son of Jesse, a man who chased after My own Heart...who wanted such intimacy with Me he pursued My Heart by seeking and doing My will."

Are you a man/woman who is chasing after God's own heart? The Lord called people Zion (Moses 7:18) because they were of one heart and one mind...His. That is Zion. That is the intimacy that God is after. We were made for intimacy with God. As Evelyn Underhill said, those that find God don't find Him because God loves them more...they find Him because those that earnestly seek Him, "loved and attended to Him more."

I don't know who coined the phrase "parable of the prodigal son" but my husband noted it should probably be called the Parable of the Father. It truly reveals His heart towards us. 

Jesus repeatedly spells out His love for us in the Gospels but our religious brainwashing keeps us from seeing it - even when we have "woken up" to the corruption of the Church. Matthew 9:9-13 capatures a lovely glimpse of the gospel of Jesus:

As Jesus was walking on from there he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him. Now while he was at the table in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When he heard this he replied, "It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice. And indeed I came to call not the upright, but sinners." 

The next things I write are from a book by Brennan Manning (The Ragamuffin Gospel): 

"Our resistance to the furious love of God may be traced to the church, our parents and pastors, and life itself. They have hidden the face of a compassionate God, we protest and favored a God of holiness, justice, and wrath. Yet if we were truly men and women of prayer, our faces set like flint and our hearts laid waste by passion, we would discard our excuses. We would be done with blaming others. We must go out into a desert of some kind (your backyard will do) and come into a personal experience of the awesome love of God."

This is the gospel of God. "A God who, out of love for us, sent the only Son He ever had wrapped in our skin. He learned how to walk, stumbled and fell, cried for His milk, sweated blood in the night, was lashed with a whip and showered with spit, was fixed to a cross, and died whispering forgiveness on us all."

Jesus spent a disproportionate amount of time with people described in the Gospels as the poor, the blind, the lame, the lepers, the hungry, sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors, the persecuted, the downtrodden, the captives, those possessed by unclean spirits, all who labor and are heavy burdened, the rabble who know nothing of the law, the crowds, the little ones, the least, the last, and the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 

"The saved sinner is prostrate in adoration, lost in wonder and praise. He knows repentance is not what we do in order to earn forgiveness; it is what we do because we have been forgiven. It serves as an expression of gratitude rather than an effort to earn forgiveness. Thus the sequence of forgiveness and then repentance, rather than repentance and then forgiveness, is crucial for understanding the gospel of grace." 

Perhaps you've heard this story:

Years ago in a large city in the far West, rumors spread that a certain Catholic woman was having visions of Jesus. The reports reached the archbishop. He decided to check her out. There is always a fine line between the authentic mystic and the lunatic fringe. 

“Is it true ma’am, that you have visions of Jesus?” asked the cleric. 

“Yes,” the woman replied simply. 

“Well, the next time you have a vision, I want you to ask Jesus to tell you the sins that I confessed in my last confession.” 

The woman was stunned. “Did I hear you right, bishop? You actually want me to ask Jesus to tell me the sins of your past?” 

“Exactly. Please call me if anything happens.” 

Ten days later the woman notified her spiritual leader of a recent apparition. “Please come,” she said. 

Within the hour the archbishop arrived. He trusted eye-to-eye contact. “You just told me on the phone that you actually had a vision of Jesus. Did you do what I asked?” 

“Yes, bishop, I asked Jesus to tell me the sins you confessed in your last confession.” 

The bishop leaned forward with anticipation. His eyes narrowed. “What did Jesus say?” 

She took his hand and gazed deep into his eyes. “Bishop,” she said, “these are his exact words: ‘I CAN'T REMEMBER.’”

The prophetic word spoken by Jesus to a thirty-four-year-old widow, Marjory Kempe, in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1667 remains ever ancient, ever new: "More pleasing to Me than all your prayers, works, and penances is that you would believe I love you." 

Mark 14:3-9 (NCV)

Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, who had a skin disease. While Jesus was eating there, a woman approached him with an alabaster jar filled with very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She opened the jar and poured the perfume on Jesus’ head. Some who were there became upset and said to each other, “Why waste that perfume? It was worth a full year’s work. It could have been sold and the money given to the poor.” And they got very angry with the woman. Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why are you troubling her? She did an excellent thing for me. You will always have the poor with you, and you can help them anytime you want. But you will not always have me. This woman did the only thing she could do for me; she poured perfume on my body to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached in all the world, what this woman has done will be told, and people will remember her.”

What an impulsive, lovely gesture of gratitude! By human reckoning it was a foolish and wasteful thing to do. Yet Jesus was so deeply moved He wanted the tale of this woman's recklessness told and retold across the generations until the end of time!

How long will it be before we discover we cannot dazzle God with our accomplishments? 

When will we acknowledge that we need not and cannot buy God's favor?

In Dostoyevsky's incomparable novel The Brothers Karamazov, the charge flung by the Church - embodied in the Grand Inquisitor - against Jeuss who has returned to earth is, "Why have you come to disturb us?"

After fifteen hundred years the institutional Church, instead of proclaiming Jesus, had supplanted Him. Ecclesiastical traditions and man-made laws had ursurped Jesus, and the Church was living off the success of its ingenuity. 

There was too much light and truth in Jesus. His word, "You will know the truth and the truth will make you free," was intolerable. The elders decided that men and women simply were not capable of being free; so the Church ascribed to itself the protection of souls entrusted to it, only to dispense it when absolutely necessary. Ordinary people could not endure the burden of freedom, so the Church took it away from them for their own good. They would only abuse and misuse it anyway. Delivered from the anxiety and torment of personal decision and responsibility, people would feel safe and happy in the obedience to authority. 

"They will be amazed at us," says the Grand Inquisitor to Jesus, "and will think of us as gods, because we, who set ourselves at their head, are ready to endure freedom, this freedom from which they shrink in horror; and because we are ready to rule over them - so terrible will it seem to them, in the end, to be free. But we shall say that we are obeying you and tuling only in your name. Again we shall be betraying them, for we shall not let you have anything to do with us anymore." Indeed, "Why have you come to disturb us?" The Grand Inquisitor means to take this Jesus who has come again, bringing freedom once again, and burn him at the stake in the name of the Church." 

The question had become not "What does Jesus say?" but "What does the Church say?" This question is still being asked today. 

Jesus wants intimacy with us. A lasting, intimate, daily relationship with Him where you commune with Him right here, right now. I thought to experience Jesus meant that I needed to attempt to get to some distant throne in the heavens where I would need to desperately claw my way to get there. What I learned was that He is here...right here by me, in me, around me...and always has been. That He could be so close, so near was the unbelief I needed to get rid of.

The best way that I have experienced Jesus is through the Wild at Heart ministry. They experience Jesus and want others to experience Him too. They are releasing a book on March 4th called, "Experience Jesus. Really." The audio book is designed to walk you through experiencing Jesus and I recommend getting their book. Here is a podcast they recently did where they show sections of what the book is about. 

That's my wish, if I had one wish. That all would desire Him, seek Him, and find Him! There is no greater relationship and is the pearl of great price worthy of sacrificing everything for. 

The Name Lives On

by

David Phelps

https://youtu.be/ZqnLJ6Tgddw?si=Qs_RQRy_w5chTmH4