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.

Do Mormon's Worship Joseph Smith?

This is another question that missionaries and members of the church have faced and I'll address it in this post. To begin I'm going to have you take a look at the name of our Church, it is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Despite the controversy it is not The Church of Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith was called to be the prophet that restored the Church of Jesus Christ in these latter-days, but he is not the means by which salvation comes. Acts 4:12 says, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." We do not worship Joseph Smith, we do not baptize in his name, we do not pray to Joseph Smith to even say that carries a deep offense. Salvation is in Christ, and Him only.

We worship quite differently than some congregations of other faiths. We sing Hymns to glorify God and Jesus Christ His Son. The sacred ordinance of the Sacrament is blessed by ones having authority from God and is then passed by others holding authority as well. Every week, we remember our promise to God when we were baptized, to keep His commandments and remember Jesus Christ continually. Talks are given by members of the congregation about varying subjects. They are asked weeks in advance to be prepared to share their personal feelings and their testimonies of the assigned topic. Afterwards, the congregation breaks up for Sunday school, children gather with children, adults with adults and our taught about the Savior and His gospel.

Baptism in our church is an essential part of accepting Christ's redeeming Sacrifice. As Peter, John the Baptist and the Savior Himself taught, baptism is done for a remission or a removal of our sins. Christ has commanded that all must be baptized if they wish to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (John 3:5). As Peter says in Acts 2:38 "Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins..." We baptize in the name of Jesus Christ because He is our Redeemer, not Joseph Smith.

Our prayers also differ from other faiths. We do as Jesus directed to pray to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. (Matthew 6:9) We pray in the name of Jesus Christ because He is our mediator with the Father. He died for us and is the One who salvation springs from. Thus our prayers are petitioned to the Father through  Christ's sacred atonement and name. We may thank God for the many blessings each of us have. We may also ask for assistance in areas that we are struggling and we must always ask that His will may be done even if it's not what we asked for or what we want. (Luke 22:42)

I hope this helps everyone understand that we appreciate Joseph Smith for what He did, just as good people from other Christian faiths appreciate Paul and Peter, Luke and Mark and John and James. But, we hold Joseph Smith in such high regards because without the events of 1820 and thereafter we would be indistinguishable and would have no religion. Our gratitude for the prophet Joseph remains at just that, gratitude. Not worshiping, or praying to or even thinking that his name might render some portion of Salvation. I love Jesus Christ. I know He lives.

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. 

Who Could You Become

   

There is a difference in the principle of acting and becoming. Acting, is only good in movies and musicals. Being, is good in reality. So look at yourself and decide right now who you are and who you want to become. I'm not talking about what kind of job you'll have or what kind of car you'll drive or even what kind of family you'll have. I'm talking about when all of that is gone. Who do you want to be there? What kind of person are you going to be. If you are striving for the sole purpose of Christianity to become like Christ and be saved by His grace then this is the route you have to take. Christ charged us, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Take this however you want, but I take this as, "You really want to follow me? You really do? Then take up your cross and become like me." That's the whole point of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. For us to become Son's and Daughter's of God like Christ. True Son's and Daughter's. The kind that are going to live with Him.

This is what I would challenge you to do. Decide if you want to be like Christ and then do it. Don't act like it or give a hollow shell that might suggest you're Christlike. No rip that old self out and stick a new one in there. Change today. Don't give excuses. Don't tell yourself, "Oh I can't it's too tough." or "This is just how I am." That's a lie. To honestly believe that you can't change is to honestly not believe in Jesus Christ or His suffering and death which was in your behalf. So don't tell yourself you can't. Know that you can and know that there is always Someone there to help you.