Prophets and Apostacy

10/23/08

The European Reformation helped prepare the way for the final Restoration.

• Joel 2:28-29 - Well this was the only scriputre to choose from, but it was a good one. It talks about how the lord will pour his spirit upon all. We will prophesy, feel the spirit, have visions etc. It gives me great hope for those who don't have the church in their lives today. It gives me a touch of reassurance, that those who don't have the opportunity now, may someday feel the ever growing love of the lord Jesus Christ. Its just a great feeling to know that even though not everyone can feel his spirit and love right now, that the lords spirit will be poured upon all, so everyone can eventually feel his love.
  

Prophets and Apostacy

10/21/08

The lord provides truth, priesthood authority, ordinances, and organization through his prophets.

• Matthew 16:18-19 - This scripture brought me back to good old primary times. It talks about building the church upon this rock. It's so simple but it reminded me about the wise man that built his house upon the rock. Its a simple thing, but if we build our lives, the church, work, anything at all upon a strong foundation, we will prosper for a long time. In all essense the church should be our strong foundation. If we stay close the the church, everything will stand strong in the end.
• D&C 1:6 - - This scripture is very powerful to me personally. It just hits deep when you know the word of God will be proclaimed forever and always. Even after he has been gone for so long, his church and his word still penetrate throughout almost the entire world. When he speaks, he speaks, and will not excuse himself. What he says is right, and what he says is doctrine we must live by to our best power.
  

Throughout history there has been a recurring pattern of apostasy and restoration.

• 2 Nephi 15:17 - No matter what happens in this earth, no matter what happens with the church, the lord will always be there. He has touched teh lives of countless people, and there are millions more to come. When we are in our lost and fallen state, he is our iron rod. He won't exactly bring us right up and out of that fallen state, but he is the thing that will help us. He is that light at the end of a dark tunnel that will bring us unto salvation.
• Amos 8:11-12 - This scripture to me reminds me of food, half because it talks about food. But i think of it in this way: If you knew there was going to be a famine, you would stock up on as much food as you could, you would eat plenty, and put away heaps of storage. If we know an apostasy is coming we should stock up on the gospel. Stock up on scripture and prayer, get as close to Christ as possible. That would be a scary thought to know all throughout the land, the entire earth is empty of the gospel. But i know in my heart, that if this were to happen, i would have the gospel in my home, and in my heart.
  

The rejection of the Savior, His teachings, and priesthoood authority resulted in the Apostasy of the New Testament Church.

• Matthew 24:24 - We need to beware of false doctrines, christs, and prophets. They will arise in the last days and try to decieve the minds of the faithfull. Sometimes you may hear material that disagrees with the church, or goes against our standards. We need to flee from it like the plague. We may be tempted to "bash" or listen, but i feel as though we should just leave like we would with a bad joke or foul language. It's not something we should let seep into our minds. Because we may dwell on it later.
• Acts 20:29-30 - We are lucky to have prophets and apostles on the earth today. They are able to give us guidance and teachings straight from the lord himself. This is a big help in keeping us on the straight and narrow path. This scripture to me warns us. I interpret it that when we find ourselves far from the lord, or from church the wolves move in. Wolves meaning the temptations of the world. Satan knows the best times to tempt us, and he will strike when we are weak. We need to remember who we are, and make choices ahead of time so when the adversary comes, we can decide quickly what we are going to do.
  

Heavenly Father's Plan

10/15/08

The Atonement of Jesus Christ makes it possible to overcome the obstacles of spiritual and physical death.

• 2 Nephi 2:25-27 - It kind of means to me that with everything we do there is a consequince, whether it be a good one or a bad one. We "need" to do the lords will in order for things to go the right way. There is a plan, and we need to do our best to stick close to it. Adam had to fall in order for us to have "joy". Without him falling, we would not have been able to multiply and replenish the earth, and follow gods plan. Christ is here to come forth in the last days and redeem us from that fall, as long as we keep his commandments and love the lord.
• Alma 34:8-10 - This set of scriptures is so powerful to me. When I read it, it just seems to scream to me that Christ will take upon our sins. When I read a scripture like this, i know, i know for 100% fact that Christ is the savior, and he did atone for all of our sins.

Heavenly Father prepared degrees of glory for His children.

• John 14:2 - To me this is a promise from the lord. We are promised if we keep the commandments and attain Celestial glory that we will live in just that, Celestial Glory. It will be beautiful and amazing beyond belief. That is exactly what this scripture talks about and promises. Is that we will have many mansions, and if there wasn't going to be many mansions, Christ wouldn't have said there were. These mansions will be prepared and waiting for those of us who do the right things in life.
  
• D&C 98:18 - I like this because it again emphasizes that we shouldn't worry. If we do our part we will get our "reward". In his Fathers house there are many mansions. And there will be some for us already prepared, and there we shall be.
  

Heavenly Father's Plan

10/14/08

There are three stages of Heavenly Father's plan: premortal, mortal, and postmortal.

• Alma 34:32(31) - The assigned scripture was vs. 32. It means a lot to me because its talks about us needing to be ready to meet god. That this lifetime here on earth is for the preperation to meet god. And we need to be prepared to serve a mission, which will in the end better prepare us to meet god. But my eyes strayed to vs 31, which i had underlined from some previous reading. 31 talked about salvation and redemption. That we need to not harden our hearts so we can take part in the plan of redemption. We are living in the last days, and need to stay close to Christ. We mustn't hearden our hearts towards any of the teachings or commandments. We need to listen and heed his word, so at the last day we can stand blameless before god.
• Moses 3:4-5 - This scripture, like many of the scriptures we read in this class seems as though it was meant just for our ears. It talks about the last days, and how these generations of the heaven and earth were saved for the last days. I think we take advantage of a lot of things in this life. We need to really sit down and ponder about life. The lord made this earth and everything in it in 6 days. He has given us everything we have, from blessings to material things. God created all, and to that we must be ever so grateful.

Jesus Christ is central to Heavenly Father's plan.

• 2 Nephi 2 - Is a very important chapter. Without the fall of adam where would we be? If we had happened to choose Satans plan, and lived life without any choices we would have never learned. We would always be the same, with no proggression in our lives. I am extremely greatfull to have free agency, to be able to make choices for myself and learn form my mistakes
• Moses 6:62-63 - Once again talking about the plan of salvation. We need to really love and appreciate the things that the lord has done for us. He bled and died for our sins. He is the reason for our religion. His teachings are in heaven, earth, and everywhere. "All things bear record of me." Everything bears a record of the Lord and his teachings. We just need to take the time to listen to the spirit, and make sure we are living by his teachings every single day to the best of our abilities.
  

We learn to teach "by study and also by Faith" Pt. 2

10/9/08

God promises the Holy Ghost to those who treasure up His word.

• Alma 17:2-3 - What i "Treasured up" about this scripture is really going the extra mile. We as missionaries are all close to the Lord. We go to church, we love the lord, and we are happy to do his work. But in order to be the best, we also need to pray hard, and fast. This will help the spirit to dwell within us. It will help us to be better teachers, and to effectively teach with the spirit.
  
• D&C 84:85 - We've discussed this scripture before, and i really really like it. It's dear to my heart, because i know that it is true. If we really treasure up the word, if we study hard and do our part, we will be ok. Good things will happen to us, and all will be well. If we have studied and worked hard in preparation, the words will come unto us. The lord will open up our minds, and bring things unto our remembrance. Our tongues will be loosed, and the word of god will flow from our mouth.
  

We learn to teach "by study and also by Faith" Pt. 2

10/7/08

Bearing testimony invites the spirit into our teaching

• 2 Nephi 33:1 - Now every missionary is not going to be the best public speaker, teacher, and learner. Some people just cant do it, it's not in their personality. But through the power of god, and the love of the spirit, all things are possible. I believe this strongly with the depths of my soul, that with the power of God, all things are possible. A simple school boy can teach and talk better than a politician.
  
• D&C 100:5-8 - There was a lot of angry things going on in these verses, but an important lesson as well. What i got out of it was important in every persons life. It seems as though some people go to church and things but are somewhat distant from god. They believe the church, but may not practice the teachings 100% all the time, because life is good and there isn't much to worry about. Yet then when the times get hard, and life isn't running so smoothly they cling to god. Praying more and more often, reading scriptures, etc. This shouldn't be the case. We need to stick close to God all the time, whether the times are good or not.
  

We obtain the word by faith

• D&C 42:14 - This scripture gets pretty straight forward and to the point. It goes back again to worthiness. If you pray with deep faith, you will gain and have with you the spirit of god. If you don't have it, you wont be able to effectively teach, and thats that.
  
• Romans 10:17 - Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes from the word of god. You need to plant that little seed by hearing what the gospel has to offer. Once you have heard the word of god, you plant that seed. From there you gain your faith. With your faith and the spirit of the lord you can effectively "farm". You can plant those small seed within peoples hearts and watch as you teach and they grow.
  

We learn to TEach "by Study and Also by Faith"

10/2/08

We obtain the word by study and by preparing to teach the restored gospel.

• D&C 88:118 - I think this can go along with companionship study. It talks about if you don't have faith to seek diligently and teach one another. All throughout life and on our mission, we are going to meet people that know more than we do. We can learn so much from them, whether it be life lessons, or lessons of the spirit. We need to listen, and treasure up the things that we are learning from our friends, teachers, and peers.