No Coincidences

Category: Uncategorized

  • My Ignorance and Further Light and Knowledge

    My Ignorance and Further Light and Knowledge

    I have an embarrassing story I’m going to share. I’m not that embarrassed by it or else I wouldn’t share. Though, part of the reason I’m not embarrassed by it is probably due to how I’ve progressed from the ignorance I had at that point.

    Early on when I was coming back to church I started meeting with the missionaries and an individual who was curious about the church. One day after months of meeting together and discussing the Book of Mormon, he sat us down for a serious chat. The friend that had been meeting with us for months informed us that it wasn’t true. That’s a story for another day.

    There was a moment that has stuck with me that I haven’t forgotten. This friend, and he is a friend to this day, talked about the unity of the Christian faith. He talked about how LDS doctrine was way off, and most of Christianity, outside of us, agreed on the most important things.

    I wholeheartedly disagreed with this and still do. I see little unity in Christianity. See my post two weeks ago, A Kingdom Divided.

    This is the embarrassing part. At that time, I believed that Godhead vs. Trinity beliefs were roughly split 50/50 in Christianity. I thought for every Trinity leaning Christian sect there was a Godhead leaning sect. This was pure ignorance on my part. I had no idea that there were basically only two sects of Christianity that believed in the Godhead, and the rest followed the Trinitarian belief.

    To illustrate the divided nature of Christianity, I used the worst example. Based out of my ignorance, I stated that the issue of the Godhead vs. the Trinity was a perfect example of an important disagreement between Christianity. This friend who was essentially a Bible scholar looked at me like I was growing a second head. It was like he suddenly realized I had no idea what I was talking about and I lost all credibility.

    He said, “You know the LDS church is one of the only Christian churches that believes in the Godhead right?”

    I really didn’t. Now I did. Of course, it’s actually not that straight forward. While the belief that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are three separate and distinct beings is a minority belief, there are still many, many sects that believe in the Godhead.

    There was something important I learned from this experience, though. I’ll never know enough. There will always be things I don’t know. There will always be things I’m ignorant of. There will always be someone smarter than me. There will always be someone who understands history and the Bible and Christianity better than me.

    That said, if that “smarter,” “more learned,” or “Biblical scholar” doesn’t have the additional light and knowledge of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, whether they realize it or not, I will always have more than them. Even if I might not be what the world would call more learned on the subject, I’ve been introduced to truth and light from Heaven. Those that are biblical scholars are studying a dead text. The Bible is important, and wonderful, and a guider, but it is dead. It is no longer living. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Christ’s restored church , is a living church. Further revelation and knowledge will always beat studying an ancient and sometimes misunderstood text.

    I have confidence in what I know. But I am not cocky in my understanding. I know there is so much I don’t know. I know I can’t Bible bash with the best of them.

    What I can do, and I hope I do, is rely on the Holy Spirit, the living spirit of revelation, to help me to teach others the truth I know. I may not know everything, but the Holy Spirit does. As long as I have Him with me, and preach and teach with His guidance, I can be confident. I can be confident not in what I know, but in what the Spirit knows and what He can reveal to me.

    I’m grateful for that embarrassing moment. It taught me to never be cocky. It taught me who I need to rely on.

    Ultimately, you can battle over interpretations of Bible verses until you’re blue in the face. The truth is, Christianity is the thing that Christ preached against more than anything – separated, disjointed, contentious. Christianity doesn’t agree because Christianity no longer relies on the Holy Spirit for revelation and truth.

    This led to mass confusion and misunderstanding in Christianity. The things “Christianity” are often the most consistent on (like the Trinity) were decisions made by men who had rejected God and His guidance.

    We need God to reveal truth to us. If we push Him out, He’ll let us fumble about. We’ve seen Christianity fumble about since it rejected Christ’s apostles and started to have their debates and creeds.

    The more I study the Nicene Creed and how the Trinitarian belief came about, the more confused I get. It’s something I hope to write about. But honestly, not sure I ever will because it’s such an ambiguous and ridiculous process that led to this “unanimous” belief.

    We need answers from heaven or we are lost. Christ’s church isn’t dead. It is living. Without that living church, we are lost.

  • Ministering

    Ministering

    Alma 35:7

    “And it came to pass that Alma and his brethren did minister unto them.”

    This is referring to the poor people of the Zoramites who had been forced to leave their homes and their city because they believed in Jesus Christ. These poor Zoramites were welcomed to the city of Jershon by the Ammonites, a recently converted group of Lamanites. I’ve written about the corruption of the Zoramites before.

    The Zoramites were so mad at these poor members of their society that they had already banished that they told the Ammonites in Jershon to not allow these poor individuals to live in their city. The people of Ammon, being decent human beings, ignored the demand from the wealthy Zoramites to cast out these poor people again.

    This is where the verse quoted, verse 7, comes in.

    Alma and his brethren ministered to these poor Zoramites. It was Alma and his brethren who preached to the poor Zoramites which ultimately led to them being cast from their homes. The people of Ammon also ministered to these people.

    Doesn’t this seem like an obvious thing? To take care of an innocent group of already poor people who were forced to leave their homes?

    If there was any question whether the teachings of the rich Zoramites were corrupt and had their roots in an evil nature, this behavior seems to confirm this fact. By their fruits you shall know them.

    And what’s up with the rich Zoramites that made them leave? It wasn’t enough that they forced these people out, making them pack up and go with what little they had to another town? They had to follow these people and try to get another town to not allow them to be there? How petty is this? This makes me think of some who leave the Church. Isn’t it enough to just leave? Do you have to follow the Church around bashing it, hating it, trying to destroy it?

    It is said that adherence of the sabbath day is what separated the Jews from the rest of the world and today respecting and keeping holy the sabbath day should be a mark of Christians, though that has unfortunately changed. That was the sign in ancient sign. What is the sign today?

    What sets apart Christ’s true church? It should be ministering to the one. Christ’s church should have a clear focus on ministering to one another, and to others.

    Christ’s church is not vindictive, it is loving. Christ’s church is not exclusive, it is inclusive. Christ’s church should be a community of saints supporting each other in every physical, emotional, and spiritual way possible. Christ’s church should be like Christ’s ministry. It should be a church of ministering to the one and to the all.

    The Ammonites are an extraordinary example of ministering. “And [they] did minister unto them.” Even with the threat of war, they still ministered. Even with the threat of murder, they ministered.

    What is our excuse as members of the Church of Jesus Christ if we aren’t ministering to each other? The Church of Jesus Christ has an organized, cohesive, important program of ministering. If we aren’t doing our part to minister to one another then we aren’t doing our part in separating ourselves from the world.

    I’m grateful that Christ’s church has an organized emphasis on ministering. I’m grateful I get to be a part of it. I’m grateful that Jesus Christ was the example of a perfect minister.

  • A Kingdom Divided

    A Kingdom Divided

    The first step for Zion is to stop distinguishing ourselves from one another. We are first Children of God.

    President Russell M. Nelson has been clear about the three primary identities we should all focus on for ourselves. Those three identities are:

    First – children of God.

    The first identity is for every person on the face of the earth. Whether they realize it or not, every person is a child or God. The second and third identities are for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But this does not exclude anyone. The second and third identities are an invitation to the world.

    The second identity is child of the covenant.

    The third identity is disciple of Jesus Christ.

    President Nelson has stressed that anything we give precedence over these three identities distracts from our true potential. As children of God, children of the covenant, and disciples of Jesus Christ, we have a divine inheritance and royal home to return to. Any other worldly designation distracts from our ultimate goal of becoming everything we can be.

    Some of the other designations the world assigns include sexuality, status, race, and political affiliation. There are countless self-defined categories we assign ourselves. None of these things matter, they won’t matter at all when the veil is lifted, and we are reminded of what we always were.

    Zion are the pure in heart (D&C 97:21), Zion are one.

    All who believe in Christ are the children of Christ. But how is Zion established? How can there be unity in Christ given the divisive nature of the world and Christianity?

    A search for all the sects of Christianity brings up THOUSANDS of results. Thousands. How can one know the truth when there are so many claiming to be true? How can Christianity be united under Christ when there are thousands battling for attention, power, and patrons.

    How can God be a God of such confusion and disorder?

    In Luke 11:17 Jesus Christ says:

    Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.

    How would Jesus Christ feel about the state of the religion that espouses His name?

    I’ve heard it said that Christianity is united, despite its differences, in its faith in Christ. I think this is an admirable way to look at it. In fact, it’s how I try to look at it. It’s my opinion and belief that our faith in Jesus Christ is important and unites us. That said, what really unites us? What enduring principle is it that unites all Christians?

    Is it our belief in what Christ taught? There are a million different interpretations of what Christ taught.  

    Is it our belief in who Christ was? That couldn’t be a more divisive topic. Was He who He claimed to be? Was He the Son of God or wasn’t he?

    Is it our belief in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and what it accomplished? Again, there are different interpretations of Christ’s Atonement, why it was needed, and what it accomplished.

    Surely we can agree on Christ’s resurrection? Was Christ resurrected with His body or wasn’t He? Was there significance to Him eating fish with His disciples after His resurrection? Again, there is contention on this topic.

    What can Christianity be united on? It seems nothing.

    I believe the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides the only solution to this problem. What Christianity can be united on is a connection to Jesus Christ. A real connection. Not a belief in Him, what He taught, or who He was. The connection must be real and tangible. The connection must be a welding link. The connection must have veracity on earth and in heaven (Matthew 18:18). That connection must be through a covenant.

    A covenant is a two-way promise.

    A covenant binds us to Him.

    When we get baptized, we promise to take upon us the name of Christ, and He becomes our shepherd. From that point on we are inseparably linked with Him.

    Latter-day Saints are a covenant people. The saints of God have always been covenant keepers.

    In the podcast Church History Matters, the hosts were speaking about the early history of temples in the Church of Jesus Christ. Something they said stood out to me as I’ve been working on writing this post.

    “…through the ordinances given to both men and women, living and dead, the human family is being knit or woven or let’s just use the word sealed together into one eternal holy order which we can call the family of God, we can call it the Kingdom of God, we can call it the Church of the Firstborn, we can call it the Celestial Kingdom, or simply the priesthood.”

    In the most recent General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder McCune of the Seventy said:

    Joy and eternal perspective come through being bound to the Savior by making and keeping covenants through Christlike discipleship.

    Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Peter; they made covenants with the great Jehovah and became His, and received of His power. Over time, they became more like Him. Over time they became one with Him. Enoch created Zion and was so connected to the Lord that he and his city were taken up to Him. This connection is made through covenants.

    What can unite Christianity? It is a covenant with Jesus Christ.

    Christ’s Church has temples where these covenants can be made.

    We must strive to be one with our brothers and sisters. We can only truly be one as we are united under one banner. The disjointed nature of Christianity is unacceptable. Covenants are needed. It is the banner of covenants with Jesus Christ that will unite Christianity, and nothing else. He died for us. In return, He asked us to believe in Him, follow Him, repent, and be baptized. That was His request of us. There is only one baptism that is acceptable to God the Father and that is the baptism with His authority in the name of His Son. No other baptism is acceptable to Him because it is a baptism not by His authority.

    I wish the Christian world could see that it is covenants that unite us to God. It is covenants that can re-unite us.

    I know as the Millenium approaches that one day all knees will bow and every tongue confess. At some future date the children of God will know and understand the covenants needed to unite the heavenly and eternal family.

    It is here for us now. But the world does not listen. Jesus was sent to this world, but He was not of it. This world struggles with the eternal nature of what God has in store for us. One day the world will have to understand what was always offered to us. What is offered to us is unity under Christ. Eternal families, eternal potential, eternal happiness, eternal inheritance. That is what will come when the world covenants to join with Jesus Christ and be Zion.

  • Ministering of Angels

    Ministering of Angels

    I read something from Hugh Nibley recently that stood out to me. It was very simple, but it jumped out at me. I think there is a profound truth about our existence in the vast universe behind this simple realization.

    What I was reading was a lecture from Nibley’s Book of Mormon class in the 1990s.

    Hugh Nibley asked a question:

    What is it that angels do when they minister to an individual?

    His answer – “It’s quite simple. They talk to them.”

    When Christ was on the mount of transfiguration with Peter and John and He was ministered to by angels, what did they do with Christ at that time? They spoke to Him.

    When Nephi was taken up in vision atop a mountain and spent time with an angel, what did the angel do? Talk to him.

    When Daniel was in the Lions’ Den, the angel shut up the mouths of the lions, but what else did he likely do? Do you imagine the angel and Daniel just sat there looking at each other? I think not. I think it likely the angel was talking with Daniel while they were in the den together.

    Same goes with Shadrach, Meshach , and Abednego who were thrown in the fiery furnace. Do you imagine the angel was standing and staring at them? I don’t.

    What is the significance of this?

    What is the ministering of angels? The ministering of angels is quite often angels simply conversing with mortals.

    What is the point?

    Angels come from another realm to visit mortals, and what do they do? Talk.

    Yet we’re surrounded by mortals all day every day. How often do we really talk?

    The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a ministering program. I think this program gets overcomplicated. All the program really asks is for us to talk to each other. Angels come from other dimensions to do it. We can pull out a phone and have someone on the other end of a line in seconds. We can be angels every day. All it takes is talking to people.

    I think this a profound thing to consider. All it takes for you to be someone’s ministering angel is to reach out and talk to them. This can be the difference in someone’s life.

  • Worldwide Family

    Worldwide Family

    *This was written in 2022, thus the mention to only Ivy.

    Beth and I are blessed in our lives to have the maximum amount of support from both of our families. If we ever needed support or help in any way, we would have help from all sides. 

    Not everybody has that.

    Some have moved away from their support systems. Some don’t have support systems.

    Recently we had a rough day in our household. I was in the office so Beth was on her own with Ivy. Ivy had been slightly under the weather and Beth was not feeling well at all. I knew it was bad when Beth did something she has never done and hasn’t done since: asked me to skip practice with my basketball team and come home.

    Right at that time I was responding to a thoughtful text from someone at church. She had complimented me on a talk I had recently given at church. This person from church had noticed Beth wasn’t at church the prior week. She asked if Beth was doing ok. I mentioned that Beth was under the weather. This kind woman from church asked, as she always does, if there was anything she could do to help. Bring dinner over maybe? 

    Normally I would have said we’re ok, and thank you. But I had just received this code red from Beth and knew she was struggling. I told this saint from church that a meal would help a lot.

    A couple hours later – chicken, green beans, potato salad, rolls, mac n cheese, and ice cream sandwiches were dropped off at our doorstep.

    We are fast approaching the time where I could be ANYWHERE in the world, and a faithful servant of Jesus Christ would be there to support me. I realized what a comfort it is to know I can go anywhere and feel instant brotherhood, love, and support from members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

    I am beyond grateful for my family. I am also beyond grateful for my church family. I know that it is the light of Christ that makes someone who is busy in her own life to drop everything and bring dinner to another family. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a community of loving support and will soon cover the whole globe. 

    I hope we never forget part of why the Church of Jesus Christ exists. It exists to bring food to those in need. It exists to provide a platform for us to stand with those in need of comfort, mourn with those who mourn, succor those in need of succor (Mosiah 18:9).