Sometimes they are peers, or elders, or respected friends.
They deny God exists. They tell you that He does not love you. They tell you that truth isn't desirable because it can hurt. They make you feel worthless, or lost, or alone, because you have the things that they desire. Things like love, honesty, and faith.
They make good things like morality and caring about others seem as if they are foolish or terrible. These people are vain, proud, uncaring, and deceitful. They have become as Peter said, the "servants of corruption". And the hardest thing about it is, they often don't even realize they are doing it.
Sometimes all it takes is a small comment. The undermining of your self-esteem, or the claim that God is punishing your loved one or letting them suffer from illness or grief. The idea that God is vengeful and would purposely inflict pain upon anyone is false. He is the relief from all pain! It is when we are disobedient, ignore him, and try to stand on our own that we suffer most.
If anyone's words seem to undermine your faith in God, or make you question your strongly held love for your Savior, then that person is a false teacher.
Let me make this abundantly clear: God loves YOU. He cares for you with every part of his being. You are his. Every trial that you suffer through is one that will mold, define, and grow you. He doesn't like watching you hurt, and would take much of the burden of pain from you if you let him. He can even do this by sending wonderful people into your life to listen to and comfort you. His love can be a balm to your soul; a safe haven from worldly pain.
Turning away from God... listening to these falsehoods from Satan that convince you that he doesn't love you... they are all a trap. They are dragging you down into the mire after you have worked so hard to clean yourself free of the mud that lies there.
Sometimes life seems so very hard. You just want to give up, and the voices all around you are telling you that you cannot possibly succeed because they have already failed. You have already risen above the dark muck of the world and are on a path to safety, when those voices try to tug you down again. If they succeed, and you succumb to the darkness again, then you will be lost. God can only pull you out if you keep reaching for him. So don't give up!
Christ's atonement can free you of your sins, but only if you allow him to. He will help you turn from addiction and habitual sins, but if you keep turning back to them you will fail. If you mess up, however, you CAN return to Christ's loving arms. He will ALWAYS have them stretched out towards you. Don't forget that. And getting a few splashes of mud on you when you are trying to struggle free of the mire is expected. You might even fall back in by accident when you are struggling so hard to pull yourself out. Just remember that you can ALWAYS get back up and try again.
Don't give up. God's here for you. I'm here for you. You can do it!
Monday, April 15, 2013
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Faith, without Works, is DEAD
So you say that so long as you tell God that you believe in him, that he'll accept you into Heaven? Even if you ignore Christ's entire ministry where he tells you to love and serve your neighbor? So basically you think Christ lied every time he told you to serve your fellow man? You deny Christ's entire ministry, call him a liar, and deny his divinity?
No. Christ clearly taught that works were necessary to show God your true devotion. You will be resurrected by the Grace of God, but works prove your heart and the words that you speak. In James chapter 2 he states that simply telling your neighbor to be warm and fed is not enough. You have to sit him down by your fire and feed him, otherwise you are not following Christ's teachings. The best way to teach God's gospel is by being an example of a disciple in all of your actions. You can't say "love your neighbor" on one hand and then ignore your actual neighbors. That makes you a HYPOCRITE.
I will show my faith BY MY ACTIONS. My neighbors will not go hungry while I genuflect before God in an empty church, or talk loudly about how much I love Christ on facebook. Throughout the Bible God tests his prophets and disciples by putting them in situations where they have to CHOOSE to act. The Good Samaritan showed by his actions that he was more righteous than the men who passed by him who had fallen. Abraham was called to sacrifice his son Isaac. He didn't just say "I sacrifice my son to your will, oh God!" he actually took him up to the mountain and prepared to sacrifice him!
Matthew 7:21 says "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Clearly we don't just get into heaven by saying we take upon us Christ's name. We actually have to show we are becoming like Christ by our actions.
In chapter 19 Jesus tells a man that he must keep the commandments in order to enter into eternal life. How much clearer can you possibly get than from the mouth of the son of GOD? The biggest problem here is that people read things like the "New Bible" and other translations that lose much of the meaning that can be found in the earliest versions of the Bible. The more times you translate something, the more meaning you lose.
In Ephesians 2 we're told to walk in good works. In Revelations 20 it says that we will be judged out of the books that hold a record of all of our works. This makes more sense if you are mormon and understand that there are different levels to heaven, and even though everyone will be resurrected, that your works will determine what level of heaven you get sent to.
Unfortunately most Christians will not accept or even listen to scriptures from the Book of Mormon, but if you can use 2nd Nephi 25:23.m It states that we are saved by grace after all that we can do. We believe wholeheartedly in Grace, but we believe that we MUST live righteously and serve others as Christ taught. If someone refers to my religion as not Christian, I pity them. They don't understand Christ's own teachings if they say that. WE accept Christ as our savior. We know that his grace is the only way we can be saved. But we ALSO know that we must live by the commandments God has given us and live up to his expectations in order to receive that Grace.
No. Christ clearly taught that works were necessary to show God your true devotion. You will be resurrected by the Grace of God, but works prove your heart and the words that you speak. In James chapter 2 he states that simply telling your neighbor to be warm and fed is not enough. You have to sit him down by your fire and feed him, otherwise you are not following Christ's teachings. The best way to teach God's gospel is by being an example of a disciple in all of your actions. You can't say "love your neighbor" on one hand and then ignore your actual neighbors. That makes you a HYPOCRITE.
I will show my faith BY MY ACTIONS. My neighbors will not go hungry while I genuflect before God in an empty church, or talk loudly about how much I love Christ on facebook. Throughout the Bible God tests his prophets and disciples by putting them in situations where they have to CHOOSE to act. The Good Samaritan showed by his actions that he was more righteous than the men who passed by him who had fallen. Abraham was called to sacrifice his son Isaac. He didn't just say "I sacrifice my son to your will, oh God!" he actually took him up to the mountain and prepared to sacrifice him!
Matthew 7:21 says "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Clearly we don't just get into heaven by saying we take upon us Christ's name. We actually have to show we are becoming like Christ by our actions.
In chapter 19 Jesus tells a man that he must keep the commandments in order to enter into eternal life. How much clearer can you possibly get than from the mouth of the son of GOD? The biggest problem here is that people read things like the "New Bible" and other translations that lose much of the meaning that can be found in the earliest versions of the Bible. The more times you translate something, the more meaning you lose.
In Ephesians 2 we're told to walk in good works. In Revelations 20 it says that we will be judged out of the books that hold a record of all of our works. This makes more sense if you are mormon and understand that there are different levels to heaven, and even though everyone will be resurrected, that your works will determine what level of heaven you get sent to.
Unfortunately most Christians will not accept or even listen to scriptures from the Book of Mormon, but if you can use 2nd Nephi 25:23.m It states that we are saved by grace after all that we can do. We believe wholeheartedly in Grace, but we believe that we MUST live righteously and serve others as Christ taught. If someone refers to my religion as not Christian, I pity them. They don't understand Christ's own teachings if they say that. WE accept Christ as our savior. We know that his grace is the only way we can be saved. But we ALSO know that we must live by the commandments God has given us and live up to his expectations in order to receive that Grace.
Hebrews 13: How we should control our own actions.
In Hebrews 13 we are taught to greet strangers kindly and even to bring them into our homes, because we never know when it might be someone sent to us from God.
Those that are "in bonds" should be remembered consistently, as if we were there with them. Those around us who suffer should be cared for as if it were ourselves who were experiencing the suffering, and we should have compassion accordingly.
Marriage is considered an honorable thing, to be treated as extremely sacred. Anyone who breaks those sacred bonds or hurts a family by their actions will be judged of God.
We should be content with the things we have been given, because God will be there for us and provide for us. Coveting isn't worthwhile because they aren't things we even need, so why waste the energy?
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He will never go back on his word, or fail to love us. We are sanctified by his blood, and by his sacrifice for us.
We should submit humbly to those who are given the ability to rule over us. However, if those who are ruling us do not follow the teachings of God, we should uphold God's law in all things before any laws of mortal men.
Paul asked us to pray for the leaders of the church in their journeys, and we should keep this in mind even today. We should pray for these men and women who lead the church and have dominion over us to protect us because they are our first line of defense.
Those that are "in bonds" should be remembered consistently, as if we were there with them. Those around us who suffer should be cared for as if it were ourselves who were experiencing the suffering, and we should have compassion accordingly.
Marriage is considered an honorable thing, to be treated as extremely sacred. Anyone who breaks those sacred bonds or hurts a family by their actions will be judged of God.
We should be content with the things we have been given, because God will be there for us and provide for us. Coveting isn't worthwhile because they aren't things we even need, so why waste the energy?
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He will never go back on his word, or fail to love us. We are sanctified by his blood, and by his sacrifice for us.
We should submit humbly to those who are given the ability to rule over us. However, if those who are ruling us do not follow the teachings of God, we should uphold God's law in all things before any laws of mortal men.
Paul asked us to pray for the leaders of the church in their journeys, and we should keep this in mind even today. We should pray for these men and women who lead the church and have dominion over us to protect us because they are our first line of defense.
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