Do You Have An Eternal Family?

April 24, 2009 at 4:26 pm (Child of God, Chooses unworthy, Eternal Families, Forgiveness, Sexual abuse)
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I have a pretty awesome “little” brother. I love calling him my “baby” brother because it really irritates him. Even though he’s one year younger than me, he stands seven inches taller than me. He’s very hard-working and it seems that everything he touches turns to gold. I think one of the reasons he’s so successful is because he had to be responsible at a very young age. When we were both in middle school our father was seriously injured in an accident at the factory where he worked. He was unable to work for many years and as a result, my brother started working full-time at a local dairy at the age of 14. There were times when he helped my parents with the mortgage payment and gave them money for our older brothers while they were on their missions.

As far as his personality, my little brother can be intimidating when you first meet him. But, once you get to know him you find out how compassionate and awesome he is. If you have met my little brother, you would remember him, he’s just that kind of guy. One time when I lived on the east coast, nearly 3,000 miles away from our home town, I saw someone with an Idaho license plate at a gas station. When I started talking to him, I found out that he knew my little brother. As I said, if you have met him, you don’t easily forget him.

My brother and I have lived very similar lives. Both of us were sexually abused as children. Both of us committed sexual sins with our first spouses before we got married. Both of us desired to have an eternal family, so we became worthy to enter the temple and had our marriages sealed for time and eternity. Both of us, no matter how hard we tried, couldn’t hold our marriages together. Even though both of our spouses were unfaithful to us, we spent years trying to work things out. Looking back, it’s easy to see that we both simply made horrible choices for marriage partners. Even though we tried everything we could to make our marriages work, our spouses still abandoned us. For both my brother and I, we lived some very difficult years with lots of emotional pain and hurt. Both of us lost our testimony in LDS prophets and left the Church. We both spent several years without any church or religion.

After the Holy Spirit brought me to faith over 14 years ago, I desperately wanted my little brother to know of the joy I had found in Jesus. I shared with him the news of forgiveness as often as he would let me, but he wasn’t interested. I never ceased praying for him. I always had this vision that when he came to faith, I would be the one that led him to the truth. But God, in His wisdom, had His own plan. My little brother’s second wife is a Christian. Like me, she has spent many years in prayer, asking God to bring him to faith. I praise the Lord that He has heard our prayers and brought my brother to faith!! It happened a few months ago when he felt something missing in his life and started attending a Christian Church.

My blood brother is now my spiritual brother and a member of Heavenly Father’s eternal family!!! When I was LDS I always dreamed of being worthy enough to have an eternal family. Both my brother and I were born under the covenant. Our four older siblings are faithful LDS members and believe they will live eternally with their families. But the LDS teaching about eternal families is a mirage. There is only one eternal family and that is God’s! You become worthy to enter His eternal family the moment the Holy Spirit brings you to faith! At that moment, you become a child of God and inherit ALL of His eternal blessings.

I praise my Lord and Savior for choosing to save the weak and base things of this world (1 Corinthians 1). Because of our sinfulness, my little brother and I were well aware that we desperately needed a Savior whose blood covered over our every sin. We knew we could not gain forgiveness with our own efforts. Our siblings, whose lives seem pretty “good” in comparison to ours, still reject the Savior who did everything for them. Even though it is impossible, they still believe they can be worthy enough to gain eternal life with their own faith and works.

Do you want to spend eternity with members of your family? Then turn to Jesus and trust that His blood covers over all of your sins. Teach your children the wonderful message that the gift of eternal life is granted solely through faith alone. Then, spend the rest of your life sharing Jesus with those who don’t know that His blood gained forgiveness for all their sins!

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Through Christ’s Atonement You Have Been Reconciled To God!

April 17, 2009 at 9:20 pm (Conditional?, Consequence of, Covers Adam sin?, Eternal, Reconciled to God)
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The LDS Bible Dictionary gives the definition of Atonement as: “…the setting ‘at one’ of those who have been estranged, and denotes the reconciliation of man to God. Sin is the cause of the estrangement, and therefore the purpose of atonement is to correct or overcome the consequences of sin. From the time of Adam to the death of Jesus Christ, true believers were instructed to offer animal sacrifices to the Lord. These sacrifices were symbolic of the forthcoming death of Jesus Christ, and were done by faith in him.”

Even though this definition claims that the Atonement “denotes the reconciliation of man to God” it goes on to explain that Christ’s Atonement doesn’t apply to each person’s individual sins: “All are covered unconditionally as pertaining to the fall of Adam. …The atonement is conditional, however, so far as each person’s individual sins are concerned, and touches every one to the degree that he has faith in Jesus Christ, repents of his sins, and obeys the gospel.”

But, if the Atonement does not cover every single sin you have ever committed, then you are not reconciled to God! Your sins remain and you cannot come into God’s presence! Growing up LDS I was very familiar with the word “Atonement”. I understood the differences between the unconditional and conditional “gifts” of Christ’s Atonement. I believed that Christ’s Atonement gave me the opportunity to overcome the consequences of my many sins. I knew I was unclean and could never enter God’s presence until I washed myself clean through my own works; doing the process of repentance. I desperately clung to the hope that one day I could gain forgiveness.

Years after I left the Church I was surprised to find that the word Atonement wasn’t commonly used by Christians. This got my curiosity up so I started asking questions and searching the Bible for answers. What I found surprised me. The word Atonement appears to have come about in the sixteenth century during the translation of the Bible into the English King James Version. It was created because of the lack of an English word which could explain the Hebrew term which fully encompassed what Christ’s sacrifice accomplished: 1) through the sacrifice of Christ’s body, an atonement (appeasement) was made for all sins, which 2) caused God to forgive all sins, and 3) accomplished the reconciliation of man to God. In essence, “atonement” defines the work that Jesus did when He took care of the problem posed by the sin of man.

The most important truth I learned about the Atonement is what thrilled me!! I discovered that Christ’s Atonement is an accomplished fact! Christ atoned for our sins (paid the penalty due us) over two millennia ago. Through it, we have been given so much more than bodily resurrection and the opportunity to prove our worthiness. Christ’s blood covered over all of our sins and we are forgiven! Because of that accomplished fact—we have been reconciled to God. We can now boldly enter into His presence because through Christ’s sacrifice, He has made us holy and perfect! We read many times in the New Testament that Jesus’ followers knew their sins were forgiven and that they had been reconciled to God. They understood that to qualify for this gift one merely had to be a sinner and thereby be in need of it. They knew that Christ’s blood covered ALL sins, not just Adam’s!

The Apostle Paul testified to the Romans: “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (5:10). To the Corinthians he declared: “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5). In these words we see the fact that reconciliation was an accomplished fact through Christ’s Atonement!

The LDS teaching that the atonement is conditional “so far as each person’s individual sins are concerned” is a false teaching! But, thank God that His faithful Prophets and Apostles have faithfully proclaimed His truth! Their testimony can be found on the pages of the Bible! They proclaim that Christ’s Atonement covered over all of your sins! Your sins have been forgiven and you have been reconciled to God. Through faith in Christ’s Atonement, you will have eternal life! All of these gifts are accomplished facts granted through Christ’s Atonement! Please don’t reject these amazing gifts from your Savior. I implore you “be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Link to LDS Bible Dictionary:

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The Empty Tomb Is Proof That The Mormon Jesus Is A False Christ!!

April 12, 2009 at 7:31 pm (Credited by faith, False, False Christ's, Proof sins forgiven, Sins, Through blood)
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After the Holy Spirit brought me to faith, it took a few months before I understood the differences between Christianity and Mormonism. For a short time, I didn’t realize that the Mormon Church was not Christian. The Jesus I had been taught about while I was Mormon seemed to be the same Jesus as what the Bible taught. It wasn’t until I did a thorough Bible study on Christ’s Atonement, that I discovered the truth. The Jesus taught by Mormonism is a false Christ! He is not the “Christ” who saved us “in our sins”.

While Mormonism teaches similar aspects about the “person” of Jesus as that found in the Bible, the falseness of the LDS Christ becomes apparent when one looks at his stated purpose and mission. I have found numerous ways in which the LDS Jesus falls short of the true Jesus, as revealed on the pages of the Bible. I have already written a post comparing the LDS Jesus as Creditor with the Biblical Jesus as Savior; and, a post comparing the LDS Jesus as Exemplar with the Biblical Jesus who was our Substitute. Today, I focus on comparing the LDS Jesus who cannot save his people in their sins, with the true Christ who took away the sins of the world!

The Christ of Mormonism is a false Christ. We know this because LDS prophets testify that Christ cannot save his people “in their sins”! They make this claim because they believe the words of a false prophet, found on the pages of LDS scripture. This prophet, Amulek, taught of a false Christ who did not have the authority to save his people “in their sins“. Amulek claims that the reason, is because “no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins.”

How can we know that this Christ is not the true Christ, the very Son of God? By testing his mission and purpose, as revealed by Mormonism; with Christ’s mission and purpose, already revealed within the pages of the Bible.

The true Christ’s mission was to take away ALL our sins, leaving us “no longer in our sins”! The Apostle Paul claimed that if Christ had not been raised from the dead, then their faith was in vain because they would still be in their sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17) The fact that Christ was raised from the dead meant that they were no longer in their sins!

John the Baptist testified that Christ’s mission was to take away the sins of the world! (John 1:29). Did Jesus fulfill His mission and return to His Father with honor? Did He take away the sins of the world? Yes!! The empty tomb, the fact that God the Father raised Him from the dead, proves that Christ’s body was accepted as full payment for taking away the sins of the world.

Because the tomb was empty on that first Easter morn, we can trust that we are no longer in our sins! Through the offering of Christ’s body, every sin was taken away from you. All who believe in Jesus can boldly enter into God’s presence, because they are no longer in their sins! When Jesus took away the sins of the world, He reconciled man to God! You are no longer unclean, because Christ’s blood has washed you clean!!!

No longer “in our sins” we are perfect, righteous, and pure. Through the offering of Christ’s body, “He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:10-14). Those whose hope is in the true Christ are as pure as Jesus himself (1 John 3). Just like Abraham, you are declared righteous through faith (Romans 4:20-5:2).

Many of the Jewish leaders didn’t believe that Jesus was the Christ. They thought that Christ’s mission was to overthrow the Romans and set up an earthly kingdom. But this was a vision of a false Christ! Jesus warned the Jews who did not believe in Him: “ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins (John 8:24). The logic here is that if the Jews would just believe in the true Christ they would not die in their sins.

Similarly, if you trust in the words of your LDS prophets, you also believe in the vision of a false Christ. One who cannot, will not, save you in your sins. Just as Jesus warned the Jews, He gives you the same warning: “if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins”. Dying in your sins means Eternal Death. Do you love your children and wish to live with them eternally? Reject the false Christ of Mormonism and in faith, turn to the true Jesus who has already saved you. Then, teach your children about the true Christ, who has already saved them in their sins!

Link to Additional LDS and Bible References:

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I Can’t Wait To Get To Heaven!

April 9, 2009 at 5:31 pm (Eternal life, Eternity, Heaven, Promised, Righteousness, Robe of)
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My desire to share Jesus with you is much stronger than my ability right now and I apologize for the length of time between posts. I have many health concerns and for some reason the past few months have been more difficult than usual. My life is one of daily pain, sometimes to the point that I am not able to do much of anything but bask in God’s love. It’s times like this that I cling to God’s promises, and I share some of those promises with you today.

Very few days go by that I don’t feel some kind of longing for death. It isn’t that I don’t love my life; it’s just that through death I will actually receive many of the promises that right now, I can only long for. I can’t wait to throw my arms around my Savior Jesus and personally thank Him for saving me. When I die I will dwell forever in the presence of my Savior and the Almighty God of Heaven and earth. On this earth, God dwells in my heart, but when I die, I will live with Him eternally. This is not because of anything I have ever done, but because I trust that Jesus is my substitute! The moment I came to faith, Christ gave me His robe of righteousness and in God’s sight, I am as perfect as God himself. I know how often I sin so this gift is truly an undeserved one. The more I recognize the seriousness of my sin, the more I value the Gift of my Savior. It is only through faith in my Savior that I will dwell in the very presence of Heavenly Father and live with Him eternally.

John the Beloved, in the book of Revelation, tells us what eternal life will be like:

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Wow, no more pain! Today, I especially long for the fulfillment of that promise from God! But, because I still live, I know that God desires for me to continue with what He has called me to do here on earth. My purpose, the reason I breathe; is to give all glory to my Savior Jesus and to share His Word with you. Another promise from God is one found in Isaiah 55: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” This promise assures me that whenever I share God’s Word with you, it will accomplish exactly what God desires. If you come to faith through the hearing of this Word of God, you also will live eternally with Him! But, if you reject your Savior, when you die you will still be in your sins and on Judgment Day, you will be without excuse.

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