Have Miracles Ceased?

In this day and age we live in, God ministering to men through visions, dreams, or even in physical manifestations, seem to be all, but believable. A person is usually ridiculed and thought of as a lunatic if they make a claim similar to these. The sadder part is most of these persecutors would be ones who come from a Theological based faith. So this is the question I will pose, if we believe that there is a God in Heaven, why would He not be a God of Miracles?


No man or woman can pull down miracles from heaven unless they truly believe and have faith that it will happen. In the story I'm about to post; a man's son that is possessed by a demon is brought before the Savior and He is asked to cure the child. He is informed that His very own disciples could not cast out this devil, but Jesus cast out the devil immediately. The disciples saw this and they wondered why it was that they could not cast out the demon. They had cast out demons before and the would cast out demons after, but I want you to look for the reasons why the Savior tells them they were unable to administer to the child.


"...There came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perversegeneration, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."
(Matthew 17:14-21)


In conclusion I'm going to quote a prophet from the Book of Mormon who simply answers this question, "And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles. And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust." (Mormon 9:19-20) As an additional testimony that these scriptures are accurate and true, Jesus Christ did not perform miracles in Nazereth because of their unbelief (Matthew 13:58).  Brothers and sister, we must believe. We must. If we do not we will not be privileged to the things which could have been ours if we had, but believed. True belief. I invite you to search within your hearts and commit to follow Christ by keeping His commandments, diligently seek to know Him and understand who He is by reading the Word of God, and by emulating His example in kindness, love, and patience.

Are Mormon's Christian? Part II

So as I explained in Are Mormon's Christian blog post, the 2 reasons modern Christianity does not accept us as Christians is;
1.) We do not believe in the Trinity.
2.) We claim that God continues to speak and that the Bible is not the sole authority on Deity.

Elijah and the priests of Baal.

Today I will be explaining the second and similar to my previous post I'm not going to bash on people who do believe that the Bible is the sole authority, I'm just going to explain ourselves and why we believe that God has continued to reach out in love to His children by calling Prophets to the Earth today.


Well, taking a general look at religion should assure you that, we absolutely need a prophet. The Lord says, "he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets," (Amos 3:7) So tell me with the confusion and strife that exist between Christians churches would God reveal His secrets and will to help them be unified? Once again, yes! In fact Paul clearly says that the whole purpose for prophets and apostles is, "for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith..." (Ephesians 4:12-13)

God revealing Himself to the prophet Joseph Smith.

Okay, so maybe we do need prophet's, but what in the world classifies someone as a prophet? In the Bible we read, "If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision..." (Numbers 12:6) The Lord is quite clear here about how He will make a prophet truly known. We also read, "thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord..." (Ezekiel 3:27) Here it clearly says that a prophet will speak with power and authority given to him from the Lord. So now we know some of the many characteristics and qualities that a prophet must have. And finally in concluding the Sermon on the Mount the Lord says that not just anyone who claims these things will be a prophet, He strictly warns them that there will be several false prophets, but He gives the way to identify between the two, "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?" (Matthew 7:16) 


I have heard plenty of times that this scripture is saying that there will be no "real" prophets in the last days because Jesus says their will only be false ones. Well I say, if there was only going to be false ones why would He give a way to differentiate between the two? Because there are going to be real prophets in the last days. God has always worked with His children by calling prophets, if you don't believe that God calls prophets to help His children then, quite honestly, you don't believe the Bible. The Bible is a combination of sacred texts written by whom? The prophets. 

Are Mormon's Christian?

This question seems to be coming up quite a bit and I feel that I might address it a little more fully. In today's religious world, the general population of Christians who don't believe that Mormon's are Christians believe this for mainly 2 reasons.


1.) We do not believe in the Trinity.
2.) We claim that God continues to speak and that the Bible is not the sole authority on Deity.


I'm going to focus on topic #1 in this blog and I'll post later about #2. instead. I'm also not going to explain why we don't believe in the Trinity, but rather explain why we believe that "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit..." (Doctrine and Covenants 130:22) 

The Appearance of The Father and The Son.

We believe that God, our Heavenly Father, is the literal Father of our Spirit's.  Hebrews 12:9 refers to Him as the "Father of spirits...", Romans 8:16 refers to us as the "offspring of God" and in John 20:17 Jesus identifies the Father not only as His Father, but "our Father" as well. We believe He has a physical body, but unlike ours His is Immortal, Glorious, and Perfect. 


We believe that Jesus Christ when He was resurrected received a body exactly like our Father in Heaven's and that Jesus Christ still has His body at this very moment. Several times throughout the New Testament His Apostles testified to thousands that He was risen and that He has physical body of flesh and bone at this very moment. The Savior Himself testifies of this in Luke 24:36-39. He appears to His apostles and they are scared because they think He is a ghost, a personage of Spirit, but he calms them and says, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."


We believe that the Holy Ghost doesn't have a body, but He is a Spirit. We believe that He touches the hearts of many people and that He bears witness of the truth to all who seek for it.


Well, I can testify that Jesus Christ lives and that His kingdom is on the Earth today and it is being led by a Prophet of God. I have received that witness of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost.

God's Plan For You: Why On Earth Am I Here?

Believe it or not there is an answer to this question. There are specifically 2 reason's for us being here on Earth. Both of them deal with where we came from and where we are going, so if you haven't checked out my blog, "God's Plan For You:We Lived Before This" it will help you understand this blog. So the first reason I will explain for us being here is the objective to get a body.

You may wonder, why would getting a body be a reason for us being here, well if we remember God has a corporeal body, or a tangible physical body. And we wanted, in the pre-earth life, to be like our Father and get a body just like His. So He prepared a way for that to happen. Adam and Eve were introduced to the world and with their transgression those spirit's from Heaven were now able to receive their bodies. We have our bodies here on Earth and they will be with us in the next life because of Jesus Christ's Atonement.

The other reason we are here is to progress in righteousness. We are here to be tested and to see if we will obey God's commandments at all costs. We are faced with trials and obstacles everyday so that we can become stronger in our faith and our relationship with God. God said to Jesus Christ after creating the Earth," And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them..." Unfortunately we all mess up and make mistakes, hence the Roman's scripture,"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:" Clearly we all have fallen short of the glory of God and are not qualified to enter into the presence of God and abide with Him through all eternities, but there is hope and help that would allow us to overcome sin and death. And that is... through the atoning blood of the Good Shepherd, even Jesus Christ.

God's Plan For You: Adam Fell That Men Might Be

Many people have different theories relating to the first parents, Adam and Eve. I would like to show you how they are a part of God's plan and how what they did was a liberating and actually was best thing they could have done. The Book of Mormon teaches us that in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve didn't have the capacity to have children or the ability to increase in intelligence.

2 Nephi 2:22-23 explains, "And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end. And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin." These scriptures clearly explain that Adam and Eve had no room to grow.

Without Adam and Eve's decision to eat of the fruit, we wouldn't be here. I don't know everything about what went on in the Garden of Eden, but I do know that it was a good thing that they ate. Some may argue that it was an accident and that wasn't how God's plan was supposed to be, but 1 Peter 1:19-20 says, "But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you..." Christ was foreordained before the world was even formed to what? To make an infinite Atonement for Adam's fall. It was part of the plan. But, because of their decision that gave room for the possibility of sin and death, but with that they also allowed rightness to grow within us, and because of the pain we experience in life we are able to feel joy. My next blog, "God's Plan For You: Why On Earth Am I Here?", will teach us the purpose of life and the purpose of our creation.

Dude I Just Levelled Up!@!@!@!@

So the main goal in basically any MMORPG is to level up or advance in experience and progression. I really enjoyed these games for several reason, but this was a main reason. You could take a basic, run-of-the-mill character and with a little time, okay a lot of time and effort you could basically make him a great hero. So if we were to just look at the character progression alone we see this. In the beginning the character was weak, inexperienced and just wasn't the hero it wanted to be and knew it could be, but through determination and constant effort it progressed. It slowly, but surely increased. It gradually changed from the block of stone into a marvelous marble masterpiece. This wasn't done in the click of a mouse or the defeating of one foe, but through numerous triumphs and trials. I will now show you this relates to us and our relationship to God.

Just as the player behind the character doesn't want to stay as a "Noob" or an inexperienced player, but wants that character to become better stronger and more capable. So does our Creator want us to advance. He wants us to become better and stronger in the spiritual sense and in obedience to Him. And just like the games it doesn't come through one experience or through one small or even great action, but through an immensity of diligence and perseverance. Now it is by Christ that we can reach our full potential or "Level Up", but He has asked that we put forth our effort and show our love for Him by keeping His commandments. This is the way He has given us and this is the way He walked, this is evidence of His unshaking and unfailing love and trust in Our Father when He said, "not what I will, but what Thou will." (Mark 14:36)

Team Rocket's Blasting Off Again!



Team Rocket Blasting Off Again

Okay so now that I've roped in the fans of Pokemon and those who just like my blog. I have been pondering the philosophical potential of Pokemon and have found yet another correlation between the beloved Gospel of Jesus Christ and Pokemon. Well, as in every great story, there is always an antagonist as popular or as strong as the protagonist. Well, in the case of Pokemon that antagonist is Team Rocket. So for those of you who aren't familiar with them let me give you a better understanding of what Team Rocket's pretty much sole objective is. It is to capture and steal Ash's Pikachu. They do this by coming up with plans and cunning inventions to try and apprehend Ash's Pikachu. So this is their purpose or at least Jesse and James' purpose. May I suggest that the world of Pokemon and our world aren't too different we too are faced with an enemy that is after something a lot more precious than Ash's Pikachu. That is our happiness.

The antagonist in this situation is Lucifer, the diabolical one. He is constantly coming up with snares and traps to hopefully lure us off of our path to happiness. He does this with several things like drugs, pornography, and disbelief. These things can form addictions that impede our progression and dull our spiritual sensitivity. But, there is an Answer or better yet a Weapon that will destroy those traps and that Weapon is the, Word of God. In Helaman 3:29, it says this about the Word of God, "Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked." So this is the answer or at least the way we can avoid this miserable state. By reading the scriptures and applying them daily.