Bring Up Your Children in Light and Truth

In the 93 Section of the Doctrine and Covenants in several different verses many of the early church leaders were chastised and told of their condemnation before the Lord because of the fact that they had not taught their children light and truth. Here are some examples:

Verses 41-43:

41 But verily I say unto you, my servant Frederick G. Williams, you have continued under this condemnation;

42 You have not ^ataught your children light and truth, according to the commandments; and that wicked one hath power, as yet, over you, and this is the cause of your ^baffliction.

43 And now a commandment I give unto you—if you will be delivered you shall set in ^aorder your own house, for there are many things that are not right in your house.

And in Verse 50:

50 My servant Newel K. Whitney also, a bishop of my church, hath need to be ^achastened, and set in ^border his family, and see that they are more ^cdiligent and concerned at home, and pray always, or they shall be removed out of their ^dplace.

It seems that for them and for any believer that does not take responsibility to teach their children the Light and Truth of God and set their family in order and be diligent and pray always, they could be removed and condemned and afflicted. It seems that it is of upmost importance to teach children about God.

I have a profound and powerful testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know the Jesus Christ lives and dwells in Heaven. This is not just a hope, not just faith. I have felt the Holy Spirit testify the Truth of that to me so many, many times. Far too many to think that I could conjure the feelings of it up by myself.

I often wonder why it is that I have such a powerful testimony of Jesus and His gospel and my children do not. Didn’t they go to the same church as I did? Didn’t they all graduate from a 4 year seminary program where they were taught all about the gospel? Didn’t they go to church all the while they grew up in my house? How did they go through that and yet now not one of them desire to go to church or to serve in any capacity in this church or any other. Have I failed? I think so, and miserably. Why am I different? I think it may be because I have sought to know God diligently and I have sinned so many times and sought to have His forgiveness and through that I have found His Love and His Light and His Truth. But…

I feel like I am under condemnation from the fact that I did not teach them better. I feel like I am afflicted because of this. I feel like that wicked one has had power over me because of this. It is my children that told me to lighten up and start drinking alcohol, then I drank Coffee, then I drank Tea, then I smoked a little, then I stopped going to church, then I doubted what I have formerly believed even after having served a two year mission to teach other people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I do not blame my children for leading me astray, I blame myself for not teaching them before that with more zeal. I came back to the Light and Truth. I am very grateful to God for forgiveness. But…

Doesn’t someone have to want to know the truth for themselves? Even God does not force any man or woman into Heaven. So if I would have tried harder wouldn’t it have seemed like I was brain washing them and forcing them to be a part of what I believed to be true?

My eldest son has even told me that he felt like he was forced to go to church all his years growing up in my house. So if I had pushed harder do you think it would have been any better? Maybe I was too much of a hypocrite at the time and so my kids knew something was off because I was saying believe this thing and live this way, but I am believing it but not really living it. I should have been more of a doer of the word, instead of just a believer of the word.

So what do I do now that I have come back into Light and Truth and now I need to make sure my children know what I believe and that I want to live in this Truth now and bask in the Light of the True and Living God even Jesus Christ, the Creator of All things, the Redeemer and Savior of all mankind. I don’t even know where to begin except that I can pray always for all things and for them and attempt to teach them while I can but most importantly live the Gospel and let that be the teacher, let my example be the teacher that I never was before.

I know that they may never come into the Light and Truth, but I must at least testify of it and teach them of it so that there sins will not be poured onto my head as we see in Jacob 1:19:

19 And we did ^amagnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the ^bresponsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not ^cteach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their ^dblood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day.

May God help me bring them back into Light and Truth is my hope and prayer.

Shalom!

Only Things Eternal Will Stand the Test of Time

On November 1, 1831 God spoke to the Prophet Joseph Smith and said many important things found in Section 1 of the Doctrine and Covenants, but this one things stands out to me. If you can just pause for a moment before you browse away and just consider that God actually spoke to Joseph Smith and said these words found in Verse 38:

38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my ^aword shall not pass away, but shall all be ^bfulfilled, whether by mine own ^cvoice or by the ^dvoice of my ^eservants, it is the ^fsame.

God has given us His words through the voice of his servants the prophets as it states in Amos 3:7:

7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, ^abut he ^brevealeth his ^csecret unto his servants the ^dprophets.

If God knows all things, and God called and does now call Holy men to reveal His word to us, then God can tell us what is going to happen in the last days. I think it to be of absolute importance that we should be able to tell a true prophet called of God from a false prophet that claims to hear the word of God and yet did not actually get the message from God. For every true prophet there could be hundreds of people claiming to speak for God. I believe that one way someone takes God’s name in vain is to claim they are speaking for God and yet God did not actually speak to them.

Isn’t it interesting that one of the things that the Pharisee’s used against Jesus to condemn Him to death by crucifixion was that He claimed to be the Son of God. We also know from the New Testament that He spoke to God the Father as He often said stuff like is found in John 5:19:

Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, 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.

If you believe the Bible to be true then you can believe that Jesus spoke to the Father and saw what the Father had previously done somewhere. We do not know what that means exactly, but Jesus said it, so if the translation is correct, then Jesus saw His Father in Heaven and Our Father who art in Heaven do that same thing that Jesus was doing. Do you think for one moment that if God wanted us to know what that scripture means He could call upon a Holy man to reveal it to us? I am not saying He did, but if we think that God could not or would not do it, then we become a false prophet ourself. How? We claim to speak for God saying what He cannot do, right? And yet, he did not tell us whether or not He will now or at some future date reveal what Jesus meant when he was stating what is in John 5:19. Do you think you can put words in God’s mouth? I know I cannot and I am not a prophet either, I don’t claim to be one, but I do want to search for true prophets that God has called and see what God has told them to say.

The point I am trying to make is that if you believe in Jesus then you have to believe that there are true prophets called by God because Jesus was a prophet, and so much more. He prophesied of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (see Matthew 24:2), He prophesied of His own death and resurrection (see John 13:1), He prophesied of things that would happen before He came back to Earth in glory (see Matthew 24:7). He has not come back yet, as of this writing. At least not out of the East (see Matthew 24:27) so that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear that He is God (see Isaiah 45:23). That has not happened, but as sure as He was alive, died and came back alive and is still alive, then just as sure as that, He will come back to the Earth in Power and Great Glory and bring with Him the Hosts of Heaven. At least that is what I believe He was trying to prophesy to us, right?

But how can we know if the things we read about God are true? He gave us a way as found in John 15:26:

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

This Comforter is the Holy Ghost, the same that descended upon Jesus in the form of a Dove (see John 1:32). John even prophesied that He was told that the one to whom the Spirit descended upon was the one who would baptize with Fire and with the Holy Ghost (see John 1:33). Jesus gave the Holy Ghost to His disciples as the Comforter. He sent the Comforter and it is the Comforter that is the one that testifies of Jesus. He can testify of all truth. You can know if someone’s words are from God or not. You can know if a man is a true prophet speaking for God or if he is not speaking for God. You can know it through pray and through the Holy Ghost as James tells us in James 1:5:

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

So, going back to the beginning that “though the heavens and the earth shall pass away, [God’s] words shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled.” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:38)

God’s words are Eternal and Everlasting. His name is Eternal and He endureth forever and ever and ever. There is no end to His creations. I entitled this post: “Only Things Eternal Will Stand the Test of Time” because it makes me think of how short our life is here and how important it is for us to follow God with ALL of our HEART, MIGHT, MIND and STRENGTH; and LOVE Him will ALL of our Heart as He has asked. And Jesus asks us “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)

Sure we will make mistakes, but if we try and repent and ask God to help us and ask Him to forgive us, then He will forgive us and we can thus show Him our love with our efforts to keep His commandments and improve each day.

The lyrics of this song contain the title of this blog and I think it is a beautiful song that I believe if you listen to it, you may just hear the Comforter testify that Jesus is truly who He said He was, the Son of God.

It is ironic how the only true One that could call Himself the son of God, was the one that was hung upon a cross for Blasphemy apparently against Himself for He is God. He told them that “before Abraham was, I Am”; saying literally that He was the God of the Old Testament and they could not see Him for who He really was and IS. “[He IS] the Way, the Truth and the Life and no man cometh unto the Father but by [Him]” (see John 14:6)

I hope that through the Comforter this day you will feel of His Endless and Matchless love for you and you will desire anew to be His loyal and faithful follower. Even His friend. Enjoy this beautiful song:

Nothing Matters (not to be confused with Metallica’s version)

Lyrics:

Got up this morning
Already behind.
Can’t seem to stop this world from spinning ’round.
Sometimes it seems there’s no escape
From the daily grind.
God help me remember
When the sun goes down,

Nothing matters
Except the love we give.
Nothing matters
Except the way we live.
Only things eternal
Will stand the test of time.
Nothing matters
Except the love of Christ.

As the clock’s unwinding
And days turn into years,
I look back on what I have become.
Beyond all of the ups and downs
And my unfounded fears,
God help me remember
When all is said and done,

Nothing matters
Except the love we give.
Nothing matters
Except the way we live.
Only things eternal
Will stand the test of time.
Nothing matters
Except the love of Christ.

Wherever I may walk,
Whatever I go through
Nothing really matters except
Following You

Nothing matters
Except the love we give.
Nothing matters
Except the way we live.

Nothing matters (nothing really matters)
Except the love we give (except the love we give we give).
Nothing matters (oh)
Except the way we live (the way we live).
Only things eternal
Will stand the test of time.
Nothing matters
Except the love of Christ.

Nothing matters (nothing)
No, nothing really matters
Except the love of Christ.

Writer(s): Steve Siler, Lowell Alexander

Does the Company Vision and Mission Matter?

I am a computer programmer. I have also been addicted to porn. Bad combination since I am always on the computer, right? My point is that I have some values that could conflict with the vision of certain companies. For example, a company in the porn industry might have a mission to be provide the best quality porn images to the adult public. But now I value NOT looking at porn because I know it affects me in a negative way and causes me to look at human beings as objects of sex rather than fellow brothers and sisters and children of God. It tempts me intensely to break the commandment that Jesus said: “I say unto you that he who looketh on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Further more by looking at people having sex I am condoning them to commit adultery so they can get paid. The further point I am trying to make is to answer this simple question: “Would I work for a porn company to help them build their website and therefore help them fulfill their mission to provide the best porn services to the adult porn industry?” As one trying everything in my power to not look at porn and personally having had 56 days now of sobriety from pornography the answer would have to be a resounding “No!” The problem is that I might have to see the porn from time to time as I build the website, so then I would get sucked in to the temptation much more easily. That would be asinine and stupid which is probably redundant, but you catch my drift.

So, the question becomes the same for other companies whose values are not inline with my own, does it not? For example I just reached out to a recruiter yesterday about a job that had an enticing salary range to say the least. It was a good 20% above what I currently make so I was intrigued. The company sounded like it had a solid plan for the programming division and had merged with at least 11 other companies and was in the process of combining all 11 disparate systems into 1 truth (ie. One main system). That sounds so good to be on a team dedicated to simplifying and perfecting the programming systems. But what is the mission of the company? To be the best maker and distributor of cigars in the world.

Tobacco smoking according to the CDC is currently responsible for 460,000 deaths per year, as seen on this website. It also causes the individual that smokes to have an average of a 10 year shorter span of life. I tried to justify to myself that I could still work for the company since they seemed to be just providing a service that others could provide just as easily, right? I accepted an interview with an executive in the Information Technology department for the following day, then I tried to go to sleep.

I tossed and turned and had an uneasy feeling about something. Hmm, what could it be. I had told myself before that I would seek to do God’s will, not my own will and that has to include what I do for a living. Should I be a part of something that encourages people to smoke? I bet they have marketing plans and goals to try and convince people to smoke. Maybe these are the people that are already smoking. Then I thought of what I was trying to do in my own life which was overcoming addictive behaviors and smoking can definitely be an addictive behavior. I prayed and prayed if I should just cancel the meeting. I felt like I needed to make a decision on my own. I felt like the Holy Spirit was not with me like He has been so often before. I felt tempted to look and think at porn and I could not get rid of that feeling. I realized how much God has helped me to only desire to do good. I remembered that my church teaches that Tobacco is to be used externally for sick cattle and that it is not for man. That is from a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith directly from God: See Doctrine and Covenants Section 89:8 where it says:

8 And again, tobacco is not for the ^abody, neither for the belly, and is not good for man, but is an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be used with judgment and skill.

I have no idea if anyone even uses Tobacco for cattle. My brother in law had some sick cattle this past year, maybe he should have tried that out, but the judgment and skill part is a little elusive, eh? lol!

My point here is that not only is it not healthy but it is really against my religion and so for me to seek to do God’s will and yet help a company achieve its goal to be the best provider of cigars in the world just seems ludicrous.

So I made the decision to forego the interview and just drop the idea of working for that company. The Holy Spirit returned at that moment and I felt a peace from God that I had made the right decision. I feel that peace even now as I write that it was the right decision for me. I am sure that company will do just fine without me. I told the recruiter that I do not judge the company but that it just was not right for me. Luckily he understood so I didn’t burn any bridges there and who knows maybe he will help me find a position at another company where I won’t have this same stigma.

I also felt like a hypocrite as I am teaching others through this blog and elsewhere about my values and beliefs in God and in His Church of Jesus Christ and that we believe that members should not use tobacco at all and then if they ask me where I work I would be so embarrassed to say that I build websites for my company to sell tobacco products. Doesn’t that feel off? It does to me and I am the one who gets to live with myself and hope and pray that God will accept my efforts to serve Him in my job and outside my job. He commands us to pray over everything we do, so how would that look to ask Him: “Please help me do my job well so that these salesmen can better sale tobacco” I hope I am driving home my point that who I work for and their values and their mission matters.

If I don’t align with them two things will happen. I won’t feel a connection to seek God’s help in making me the best employee for them that I can be since their goals do not align with His; and secondly, I will not be passionate about working for them because I will not have a high belief in the products and services they provide. I think happiness and motivation can come from working with others that not only share our values, but also sell products that they value and would use themselves. When am I going to smoke a cigar? Yeah, I might be tempted to do so, but I should not enter and am not allowed to enter into a Holy Temple of God if I partake of Tobacco, so I have made a decision not to smoke or use it in any way.

Enough about that. Do your values align with the company you work with? Are you happy with the products and services they sell? Would you buy them for yourself and be glad to use them? Is God happy with the products and services they provide? If you answered no to any of these questions then you might reconsider your employment. I hope you and I both can work somewhere and with some people that share our values, whatever those values may be as I am not here to judge you, just to help you find your happiness in life which is one of the great tenants of the founding fathers for us all to have “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” I hope in your pursuit that you do find the happiness of which you seek.

Shalom!!

P.S. If you or a loved one struggles with porn or other substance addictions or just overcoming any habits and are looking for something that works, I highly recommend these services. God bless you in your struggles.

Putting on the Armor of God

I’d like to start this off with the Serenity Prayer:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and Wisdom to know the difference.
~Reinhold Niebuhr

There is only so much that I can control. The only person I can hope to control is myself and even that is difficult. So recently I have taken a different approach to self control that corresponds to the first step in the 12 Steps to recovery used by AA: “We admitted we were powerless… that our lives had become unmanageable.” But aren’t we supposed to have control of our own life? Nope, not without a higher power helping us!! See Steps 2 and 3 that show the need to believe in (2) and turn our life over to a higher power (3).

So putting two and two together I realized that in order to have the help of the higher power (God) that I needed to have the courage to do the things I could so that He would help me and make up the difference.

What are the things I can do? I can put on the Armor of God daily and realize at a PASSIONATE level that if I do not take the time to put on the FULL ARMOR OF GOD, then why should He help me with the things I cannot change. I have to treat it like I am going to war and that if I leave off a piece of that armor then I expose myself to the influence of the enemy and also God won’t take my level of effort seriously to aid me in my great time of need during the battles that I encounter with the enemy.

Let’s break down the armor:

The Armor of God – New International Version

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Shoes could represent Ministering to others as it says in verse 18. I wanted to make a parallel with the six daily tasks that we do in my recovery program but I will explain each to you and then maybe you can make the parallel:

We are taught to focus daily on 6 different aspects that form part of the word: MANPoWeR:

M: Ministry – do something to ease the burden of others

A: Action – work on a project you are passionate about and also do something physical to make you stronger

N: No – pick a goal of some other bad habit in your life that you need to over come that you are therefore Not going to give into that day.

P: Pray – Pray at least 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes at night

W: Write – Write a letter to God, your spouse, your future or past self or to another to pour out your feelings onto paper

R: Read – Read from the scriptures, words of council and good books each day.

Set appropriate time strategies in each area for your own life, but for me; like I said before, I treat these as my armor to help protect me from the enemy of my soul and from me not being able to control myself with the hope that as I do my part with great anxiety that the Lord God will make up the difference to help me learn and grow and conquer in the difficult battles against my enemy, Satan and against my own will power to control my own life in whatever is holding me back.

May God grant you His strength as you commit to put on the Full Armor of God and find protection with the aid of His Divine All-Powerful Hand! God bless you in your struggles!!

Shalom!

Why Don’t I Just Give Up

It’s been longer than I had hoped to write in this blog. I wonder who is reading it anyway. No one. LOL! Just me. I write it and read it and then read it again and again looking for errors as if some English teacher is going to correct it and give me a grade! HAHAHA!

I just learned that there are at least 7 possible hundreds or thousands if not more Satanic Fallen Angles trying to attach me at all times. That number is arrived at by realizing that about 75 billion people have lived on this earth up to this point. So that doesn’t include all the others that have yet to be born. So if one third of the hosts of heaven that were to come to this earth were cast out of heaven that would be half of that 75 billion which is about 37.5 billion. Then you can figure that they cannot tempt and torment kids under the age of Eight nor can they torment people that have mental disabilities. It only takes a few of them to keep the wicked in check since the wicked want to do evil anyway so why worry about them, then the super righteous they cannot touch either because those people have cast them out. It’s then just for the rest of us to fight with them. Those of us trying to follow the Savior but without enough faith to keep Satan and His followers away for long so they just keep attacking with a vengeance probably claiming that they are still pissed off about us kicking them out of heaven in the first place.

If you are trying to be righteous and follow Jesus, how many of Satan’s fallen angels do you think he has going up against you? And what about all the evil people that followed Satan while they were alive and then they died in their sins. It has been said that it may be 10 times harder to change there without a body than here so maybe most of those don’t even try to change they just follow Satan’s plan to torment us. So maybe that is another 37.5 billion that are added to Satan’s hosts. Now there must be 75 billion to torment and tease and tempt us and the ones that had a body and died crave the sin that they used to enjoy when they had a body and so I have read how the only way they can taste a small portion of the sin is to jump inside the living (ie possess their bodies) so that they can have an inkling of the sin. I have felt all kinds of evil temptations from probably dead lesbians, transexuals, gays, who knows but they want what they used to have and now they cannot have it so they will scream at the righteous to look at porn and do all manner of sexually deviant stuff so they can hope to feel some of it. What a nightmare!!

It seems overwhelming to say the least! So, why don’t I just give up? Wouldn’t it be easier to just give in and give up and stop trying to fight all these myriads of demons and evil departed spirits? I just read yesterday that this planet was the only one wicked enough to kill their creator. What kind of wicked world do we live in?

The Good News is that Jesus came into this world to save it from sin and death. From sin if we just repent we can become clean again and from death such that every one that ever was born into this world and received a body will likewise be resurrected into an Eternal Body depending on their desires to repent that will be raised up from the dead in such a way that not one hair of their head will be lost at all and then they will be given an incorruptible body that does not feel pain or any negative emotions and will in fact not decay ever again but will continue to live in that state forever and ever and ever and ever infinity. On the other hand this Satan who keeps trying to attack, he will never have a body no never, ever, ever, ever, and ever infinity.

So maybe not only was he just pissed that he got kicked out of heaven for rebellion, but now he is really gonna be pissed when he realizes that forever is a very, very, very, very loooooooong time infinity.

So, why don’t I just give up? Because I don’t want Satan to win my soul and cause me to suffer the unbounded turmoil that will result when I realize that I could have done more and helped more people and returned to God and Jesus and my Heavenly Mother but I chose to give into Satan cause it was the easier thing to do and so many others have done it before, so why not me too? NOOOO! I must fight!! Fight Satan and all his host of 75 billion souls if I have to just so that he has no power over me to halt my progress from returning to live with God and Jesus and my Heavenly Mother on some far distant star that is so big it makes our star look like a pinpoint on the side of the Superdome. And maybe their home is even bigger than that. We don’t know cause not only is our science not good enough, but we have a veil over our eyes to stop us from seeing what is really there in God’s presence.

But here is one of the stars God created and it is called Canis Majoris (The Big Dog) as seen next to our sun:

Yeah, your God created that!! Crazy amazing!!

Shalom!

6 Minute Demo Tape

I’d like to proposed that your life is like a 6 minute demo tape that you will present to God to see what role you’ll play in the hereafter.

Here is a quote in this regards taken from a talk by President Russel M. Nelson entitled “The Price of Priesthood Power” where he quotes President George Albert Smith as follows:

“We are not here to while away the hours of this life and then pass to a sphere of exaltation; but we are here to qualify ourselves day by day for the positions that our Father expects us to fill hereafter.”

Let us consider the length of time we are actually here in this life as compared to a day in heaven. In 2nd Peter 3:8 it reads:

8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and ^ta thousand years as one day.

So let’s break this down. If a thousand years here is one day in heaven. Then 41.6 years is an hour in heaven assuming we break a day in heaven into a 24 hour period. So if you live a life of 83 years or so you have basically been away from heaven for two hours!!

So why 6 minute demo then? How much time do we need to really focus our effort on drawing close to God, repenting and living our life for Him? An hour is 60 minutes, so break that down and 1/10th of an hour is 6 minutes which equates to 4.16 years of our time on earth. So if you think about the amount of time you spend praying, pondering, serving in the church, repenting etc. around all your work, family, sleeping and casual time then 4.16 years focusing solely on your effort to prepare for heaven is about right in 83 years, would you agree? And if that is the case then you basically have a 6 minute demo of your life to show the valiant effort you made to live with Him forever.

Maybe it is just a 30 second highlight video to show how we were a good steward and we do qualify for the work. It is important to note that bad stuff can be removed from the demo tape!! That is called repentance. You can edit it out through the Power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ!! You must be humble and ask Him to forgive you. This can be a daily or even hourly challenge to attempt to prepare your demo tape for Him so that He can determine if you are ready and willing to serve Him in the heavenly courts above forever.

So don’t while away your time on this earth!!

Now let’s compare 1 day in heaven with eternity. Eternity is hard to fathom but if we consider an Eon is 0.5 billion years it is still hard to fathom, but know that you will live forever and ever and ever and ever and ever!! How important now do you think that demo tape is?

Here is a link to some terms about amounts of time: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/exploringourfluidearth/node/1341

Even an Epoch is tens of millions of years. So, will you qualify for a position in heaven where you will live eternally? Do you consider that 2 hours is comparable with the time you will be away from heaven where you will spend eternity? Put this little test of life into consideration and into perspective where you are just spending a little time building your demo tape to see if you qualify for a grand position in the realms of heaven! Is it worth a bit of mischief that you don’t repent of just to have a little fun on this short space of time? I think not!! Eternity is waaaaaaay toooooooo important!!!! Let that sink in!!

I hope you will choose to accept the free gift of the Atonement that Jesus gives you and do all that you can to prepare yourself for the rest of eternity!!

Consider this scripture: Found in Alma 34:32-33

32 For behold, this ^alife is the time for men to ^bprepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of ^cthis life is the day for men to perform their ^dlabors.

33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many ^awitnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not ^bprocrastinate the day of your ^crepentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the ^dnight of ^edarkness wherein there can be no labor performed.

So, as Alma beseeches us, I too beseech you to comprehend how short this life is compared to even a day in heaven let alone the Eons of time (billions of years) that you will exist after this life! Prepare now and receive Jesus as your Savior and ask Him to help you prepare to meet Him so that your demo tape that you present before the Judgement Bar of God will show how you are ready, willing and able to receive responsibilities from Him to do His will forever. But the only caveat is you have to choose this because He will never force it upon you!

Finally consider this from 2 Nephi 9:15 about this final Judgement:

15 And it shall come to pass that when all men shall have passed from this first death unto life, insomuch as they have become immortal, they must appear before the ^ajudgment-seat of the Holy One of Israel; and then cometh the ^bjudgment, and then must they be judged according to the holy judgment of God.

You cannot escape that judgment, so you might as well embrace it and prepare for it!!

Shalom!

Border Patrol and Ransomware

What if you were tempted to click on a link on your phone while you worked? First off, ask yourself why you need the phone to begin with so that you had the opportunity to click on a link? Are there other ways to have people contact you? Software like Skype that you could install on your computer so that others could call in? Messaging software that you could have on your Computer like Facebook Messenger, Slack, or others so that people could reach out to you without you having access to your phone. Or maybe you could have a simple phone that was only necessary to talk to people who needed to reach out to you. Consumer Cellular has great, cheap plans and phones just for that. But what if you still needed you phone, how could you avoid clicking on stuff?

Spam Filter

I have a lot of unwanted email that comes into my box. I have clicked on it many times, but so I cannot see it I click on the email from particular addresses that send me mail consistently and then I add their address or domain to my spam filter. That way they end up in the junk mail folder where I know it is junk and I can stay away from it. I can delete everything out of that junk folder from time to time without even looking at it since I know it is junk.

Ransomware / Viruses

I have been taught for years that clicking on links inside email that I don’t know the source or the source may be malicious could be hurtful to my device (or worse to my soul) and that I just should not click on it. I could run a script that adds a virus to my computer (this has happened to me before) or it could be worse and add a ransomware to my device that locks me out of my device until I pay a fee to some random idiot that has the code to unlock my device. You were afraid to click on that link to ransomware, weren’t you? Ransomware threat can stop you from clicking on a link if you can convince your mind that it might be harmful, so why do you need to click on it?

Border Patron

So if I am tempted to click on links that take me to unworthy sites, what other kind of measures can I put up for myself so that I will not click on them? I have to think that the enemy of my soul is coming to send me links that God does not want me to click on. I can look through my email and tell myself: “There is something Satan sent to me, let me get rid of that now before I start clicking on it” and then just delete the evil email and its evil links.

Pray Always and Let God Prevail

Here is a scripture 2 Nephi 32:9:

9 But behold, I say unto you that ye must ^apray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall ^bpray unto the Father in the ^cname of Christ, that he will ^dconsecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the ^ewelfare of thy soul.

How will that help me? Well I have tried to tell myself that any time I do or am about to do anything that I should pray and ask God if that is what He wants me to do. This coincides with letting God Prevail in my life. Here is another post about that: https://eternalbindings.wordpress.com/2022/01/20/what-win-i/

So if I ask God and myself if the link I am about to click on is something that He wants me to click on or not? My wife always told me that guardian angels are watching me, do I want them to see me click on the link? I have done it many times and when I do click on the link then they get offended and go to my wife and tell her that I am doing it again. Do I want to have to apologize to them again and ask them to please come back and watch over me, and then apologize to her again for having to confront my guardian angels because I was being stupid.

Recruit / Enlist Help

No! Instead I want to recruit more of them so I am going to go to http://www.familysearch.com and do some indexing instead of clicking on a link because then I can pray for the person I am doing Indexing for and make a new friend, then perhaps I can envision that friend becoming another guardian angel to help me have strength to not click on random links that could destroy my soul!

I could also reach out to someone and tell them about the link that I want to click on and see if they think it is a good idea.

Conclusion

The point I want to pound into my brain is that there are certain things I just should not click on. So I hope that I will not because sometimes I get the thought of driving into oncoming traffic and I think about how that could be harmful to me and others and so I chose not to do it, this could be the same.

The key for me is knowing that I want to Let God Prevail in my life and to do His will.

My sister gave this to me after I told her how much I loved President Nelson’s talk Let God Prevail:

I now like to whisper the first line and then by line 9 I am yelling that line at the top of my lungs. My pc crashed right before I finished this. Thank goodness for auto save. Satan did not want you to read it.

Shalom!

Pre-Earth Life

I was just thinking that this should be consider #antiabortion since why on earth would someone abort a baby that has a spirit that lived with God before it was born? Abortionist or those who uphold that it should be a women’s choice I believe would attempt to convince that the fetus inside the womb is not yet a child and therefore is not human yet. I will let them have that quarrel with God Himself. Here is a scripture that plainly shows that God knew Jeremiah and therefore, since He is God and knows all things, He also knew us before we were born:

5 Before I ^aformed thee in the belly I ^bknew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I ^csanctified thee, and I ^dordained thee a prophet unto the ^enations. (Jeremiah 1:5)

It also says that God sanctified and ordained him before he came out of the womb. We understand that in some powerful way beyond our capacity to understand that God knows the beginning from the end and has literally showed the beginning to the end to a select few prophets. He knew that millions of His spirit children would be aborted before they had a chance to be born. I have no idea how that will work out. Do they come back to another family?

We learn in Abraham that this life is a test to see if we will do all things God commands us to do (see Abraham 3:25), but we know we will be judged according to the understanding and knowledge that we have. Little children and those who live without the understanding of God in the world will not be judged and will be automatically saved in His kingdom. Perhaps that is the fate of those unfortunate souls that are slaughtered through abortion.

I do not judge those who chose to have an abortion because God is the judge of all and has clearly mandated, no commanded that we shall not kill. But people want to adjust God’s laws to fit their own reality. We will see what He has to say concerning them at the final judgement.

Perhaps these souls that die before they are born will just go directly into heaven as will children that are not yet accountable and adults that do not have the law (See Moroni 8:11-16, 22):

11 And their little ^achildren need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the ^bremission of sins.

12 But little ^achildren are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a ^brespecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism!

13 Wherefore, if little children could not be saved without baptism, these must have gone to an endless hell.

14 Behold I say unto you, that he that supposeth that little children need baptism is in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; for he hath neither ^afaith, hope, nor charity; wherefore, should he be cut off while in the thought, he must go down to hell.

15 For awful is the wickedness to suppose that God saveth one child because of baptism, and the other must perish because he hath no baptism.

16 Wo be unto them that shall pervert the ways of the Lord after this manner, for they shall perish except they repent. Behold, I speak with boldness, having ^aauthority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for ^bperfect ^clove ^dcasteth out all fear.

22 For behold that all little children are ^aalive in Christ, and also all they that are without the ^blaw. For the power of ^credemption cometh on all them that have ^dno law; wherefore, he that is not condemned, or he that is under no condemnation, cannot repent; and unto such baptism availeth nothing

I only need to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling and hope that I can by some means help others come to know the Truth about God and why we are here to prove to Him that we can do what He commands so that we can be found purified by the Atonement of His son, Jesus Christ, and be prepared to come back into God’s presence and live with Him in Heaven for all eternity along with little children and others would did not have need of repentance in this life for they were not taught about God and His eternal laws. Only He can be the judge of any of us or those who He has ordained to judge.

May you desire to work out your own salvation before Him with fear and trembling. (See Mormon 9:27):

27 O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need. ^aDoubt not, but be believing, and begin as in times of old, and ^bcome unto the Lord with all your ^cheart, and ^dwork out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him. (Mormon 9:27)

Shalom!

Relate to Jaredite Barges

What can I learn from the story of the Jaredites crossing the ocean to the Promised Land of the Americas found in the Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon? This story of the crossing in barges is found in Chapter 6. I’d like to suggest that my life is like being in one of the barges. The only way that the barge moved forward was when the Lord caused “a ^afurious wind (to) blow upon the face of the waters, ^btowards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.” (verse 5) In this way my life only moves forward towards God when He pushes me with His mighty winds towards His Promised Land of Heaven.

These barges were dark inside, just like my life. What lit up the inside of the barge was something prepared for the people. God touched stones that lit up by His Holy Power beyond anything I can comprehend without the aid of man made electricity or any power source known to man. I think the Holy Spirit is like these lights that lit the way inside the barges. The only difference between the lights for the Jaredites and the light of the Holy Ghost for me is that if I am rebellious and do inappropriate things that I can hopefully only temporarily turn off the light emanating from the Holy Ghost. Then my life inside my barge is dark.

The Lord also explained to the Brother of Jared, Moranhi, that sometimes the barge would be in the depths of the sea and sometimes it would rise up to the surface of the ocean so that they could unstop the plug and get some fresh air. Maybe it is because I am a little Bipolar but the down days are like when the barge is buried and up days are when it comes up to the surface. But the Lord is the one that pushes the barge up for air. They were protected in both instances and I should have faith that no matter if I am up or down in my life, that God is always there.

The amazing thing that I just read is this in verse 8: “And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were ^adriven forth before the wind.” That tells me that God does His part constantly and consistently to move us towards Him. He never lets up and He never gives up to help us on our journey.

This life feels like a barge that I am within. I think we just have to stay inside the barge and do like unto the Jaredites in verse 9: “And they did ^asing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did ^bthank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord.” Life is tough riding along in a barge hoping to soon be greeted in heaven, but how often do we sing praises unto the Lord all the day long?

Yeah, we have our daily grind to take care of, but really we are on a barge headed home to the Promised Land and all we need to do is stay true to God’s commands so that we can remain in the Light of the Holy Spirit, sure we need to serve others and help them along their way and help them realize their journey is towards the promised land too, but really we need to sing praises to the Lord all the day long and not cease to praise the Lord for guiding us and delivering us from all the tempests and destructive waves that this life has to offer us.

May we forever trust in Him and sing praise to Him.

What a great story!!

Here is some songs of praise you can hear sung to Him:

Daily Journal

I need to write my thoughts daily into a Journal. This medium cannot be that journal. Maybe I should call it a diary and keep it under lock and key. It is a place for me to write down my struggles for the day and battles that I have and try to understand what I am going through. Maybe others won’t understand all of the minute details of my life. It is not for them, it is for me to receive therapy from the process of expressing myself but most of that probably doesn’t need to be read and analyzed by others.

Maybe that means that I am writing in this blog too much and I should try to come up with one thing to say here each week perhaps of what I have learned the rest of the week from living and from journaling from that experience.

I try to stay close to God but I am not perfect at it. I feel like I have ideas to share, but it is the true life that speaks volumes, not what a person thinks or believes of themselves, but how they actually live. I think this is another way to say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. A good intention does not mean that one follows through to accomplish the idea.

That is one of the characteristics of God that we should strive for. His word is His bond. He has even said to this regard that though the Heavens and the Earth shall pass away, His words shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled. (See Matthew 24:35).

May what you say you’ll set out to do become what you actually do.

Shalom!