Thursday, March 30, 2006
Thoughts To ponder
During the time of Adam and Eve since the beginning of time, dinosaurs roamed the earth that is why Cain was afraid of roaming the earth when Heavenly Father exiled him. The land would have been changing and it would have been dangerous out there. Volcanoes would be erupting, constant earthquakes, land constantly changing and of course dinosaurs roamed the earth. Scientists say that an ice age killed off the dinosaurs; would Noah’s flood covering the whole earth have frozen the water in some places killing off the dinosaurs? Or was that part of it raining for 40 days and nights been snow in some climates killing of the entire species
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Great Apostasy/17 points of the Church The True Church Must Possess
What have I learned about the apostasy from Christ’s original church?
The Church of Jesus Christ or The Church of the First Born is built on the foundation of apostles and prophets[i].When the last apostle died, the priesthood keys left the earth there was no one worthy
to pass the priesthood keys onto. This was to be the final apostasy before the Second Coming. In Revelations the Bible talks about seven dispensations which before another dispensation could happen, the keys had to be priesthood keys had to be removed from the earth and the restored in the next dispensation. This is known as an apostate state. Heavenly Father puts prophets here on this earth to restore the gospel
in each dispensation. The prophets are chosen by God, more than likely not one prophet would have wanted the position but they served anyways because they were called. Before our current dispensation several
things had to happen before the keys could be restored. Christians had to be ready to understand Christ truth and want His gospel.
“The gospel was first established on earth beginning with Adam and has been taught in every dispensation through such prophets as Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and others…[ii]” It was decided in the council of heaven during the preexistence that these things need to be done on earth that we may learn to appreciate the blessings of Heaven that we may enjoy and in the end the fulfillment of time when we return to the Celestial Kingdom to be found worthy that we may once again rejoin our brother Jesus Christ in the Church of the First Born.
When the last apostle died, as stated before, we were left with no one to confer the priesthood to others; therefore no one had the proper authority to lead the Church or to perform the sacred ordinances such as baptisms, conferring the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the saving ordinances of the temple. The importance of the apostles and prophets is that they were given the sacred calling to keep order and standard of worthiness for Church members, and to keep the doctrines of the gospel pure. Without the leadership of the apostles and the priesthood people relied on their lack of godly wisdom and focuses on their own intellect perverting the truth in interpreting of the scriptures and the principles and ordinances of Jesus Christ. Churches would preach even to this day, this dispensation, the corrupt or distorted doctrines of faith in Jesus Christ, the ordinance of baptism, repentance, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. [iii]Through these false beliefs many churches would emerge during the apostasy claiming to be the true church and forcing people to put their faith in the churches beliefs or face consequences that the church thought was necessary to prevent heresy. The world fell into spiritual darkness which we know as the Dark Ages. During this apostate time, many people were led and influenced by the Holy Ghost but they did not possess the Holy Ghost in their lives. People were illiterate and scriptures were not easily available. Scriptures had to be hand written usually by monks, each taking years to complete causing them to be very expensive to buy. It wouldn’t be until printing press was invented that people would learn to read and have a desire to have a copy of the scriptures. The printing press[iv] would also play an even more direct role in the restoration and new dispensation when Heavenly Father would call a prophet to translate the accounts of His prophets.
It wasn’t until the Renaissance or rebirth that truth-seeking men and women had the desire to seek the truth of the Lord’s church due to the religious practices of that time. During the time of the apostasy religion had become a way for the church to control people and to become rich off the already poor people of their congregations. Reformation happened because of these truth seeking individuals. This people would be led by the light of Christ by the influence of the Holy Ghost but would not know the power of the Holy Ghost. These individuals would do the best they could in spreading the Word and making the gospel readily available but they did not possess the proper authority of the priesthood or the full understanding of the gospel. Many churches broke off from the Catholic Church, such as the Lutherans, Pentecostals, Baptists, the Reform aka the Calvinists, any many other sects. However none was the restored church of Christ. Many religions to the name of their founders i.e. Lutherans were founded by Martin Luther, the reform or Calvinist by John Calvin etc. As these reformists grew in number and so did their martyrdom the peoples thirst for the truth increased and many looked for the religious freedom that they may serve Heavenly Father the best they knew how. However, even with the good intentions that these reformists had religion in the churches had become a pick and chooses your religion and doctrine.
[v]Throughout history, many people have sincerely believed false creeds and doctrines. The have worshipped according to the light they possessed and have received answers to their prayers. Yet they are “kept from the truth because they know not where to find it.[vi]”
When I was in the Baptist church serving as a minister the common practice I saw with all churches was that they would pick parts of the Bible to base the doctrine and beliefs of their church on and would forsake the rest. Churches would preach from part if the Bible and skip other parts if it would suit their lifestyles. These churches claim that they are based on the Bible but that it is not fully the case. There are [vii]17 points of that the true church must possess. However, all these things had to happen to make people thirst for the
truth that the restoration may happen restoring the keys to the last dispensation of our time. These key points of the apostasy had to happen in order that the restoration may happen that Heavenly Father may restore the priesthood to the last dispensation before the Second Coming of His Son Jesus Christ.
The Catholic Church became the number one church during the beginning of the Apostasy- Censoring many books and leaving out many writings and teachings from what was to become our Scriptures, the Bible. This Censoring was necessarily in order for the Catholic Church to control the people, but at the same time for the people to find the light that they may find the truth.Translation of the Bible into Latin and then into English Reformists were tried and executed for being heretics against the church making them martyrs for the truth. Printing press to be invented that copies of the Bible may become available to all people at low costsChurches breaking off from the Catholic Church- Lutherans, Baptists, Protestants, Calvinists, etc. People learning to read by reading the Bible. The Bible was used as a primer in school both in England and the America’s up to the early 1960’s[viii]Christopher Columbus had to come to the Americas in order for it to be settled and that people would find refuge to practice the religion of their choice[ix].America had to gain it’s independence from Britain. Bill of Rights had to be signed allowing for freedom to practice the religion of their choice[x].The Birth of Joseph Smith 14 years after the signing of the Bill of Rights.
(I know that there were many more key points that had to happen before the Restoration could happen, however at this time I am not writing a book.)
Many churches feel that they have the proper authority to perform the ordinances required by God, or they feel that there is no way to have the full authority so they do the best they can. However during this dispensation even with the church be restored to its fullness, many people still live in an apostate state do to their unbelief. Some may not know the truth while others still choose not to believe in the truth. Bible teaches us that there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.[xi]” In order that one may come out of their own apostasy, one must come to Jesus through the Holy Ghost, and ask sincerely what is true. Bible again teaches us that if we lack wisdom in the understanding of His word and His church all we have to do is ask
and it will be revealed unto us in the fullness.[xii]
The Book of Mormon teaches us, “Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.[xiii]”
For we are in the final dispensation, the seventh seal as talked about in revelations, and the truth has been revealed. Heavenly Father brought us out of the Apostasy through his servant and prophet that he called, Joseph Smith. We have had since Joseph Smith and currently have a prophet and will continue to have prophets until the Second Coming when our brother Jesus Christ brings us into His Church, The Church of the First Born.
Addendum A
1) Ephesians 5:23
Jesus must lead the church
2) 1 Corinthians 1: 10-13
Name of the church must be Jesus Christ
3) Ephesians 2: 20
Must be built on the foundation of apostles and prophets
4) Hebrews 5: 1
Must be called of God to priesthood and laying on of hands
5) Hebrews 13: 8-9
Should be restoration of the ancient church (same organization)
6) Acts 20: 34
No paid ministry
7) Matthew 3: 13-16
Baptism by immersion
8) Acts 8: 14-17
Receive gift of conferring of the Holy Ghost by laying on of hands
9) James 5: 14
Practice of divine healing
10) Acts 7: 55
Father and Jesus are two separate people
11) Luke 24: 36-39
Profess bodily resurrection
12) Hebrews 5:4
Officers must be called of God
13) Amos 3: 7
Practice divine revelation
14) Luke 10: 1
Must be a missionary church
15) Acts 3: 19-21
Must be a restored church
16) 1 Corinthians 15: 29
Must practice baptisms of the dead
17) Matthew 7: 15-20
Church that does good works
[i] Ephesians 2:19-20; 4:11-14
[ii] Elder Robert D Hales- Preparations for the Restoration and the Second Coming: “Thy Hand Shall Be Over Thee” November 2005 Ensign: October 2004 Conference talk pg 88
[iii] The emerging of many churches would become known as the reformation.
[iv] The printing press wouldn’t be invented until 1455 by Johaness Gutenberg- just so happens one of his first books to be printed would be the Bible.
[v] Preach My Gospel: The Great Apostasy; investigator Lesson 1: the Restoration pg 36
[vi] Doctrines and Covenants 123:12
[vii] See addendum of the 17 points of the church: The true church must possess
[viii] The government thought it was necessary for them to ban public prayer and the use of the Bible in schools because schools were an institution paid for by the tax-payer in 1962 and 63. To this day this is a controversial subject walking on the thin line of the separation of church and state.
Engel vs. Vitale declares that prayer forced upon people unconstitutional: In this country it is no part of the business of government to compose official prayers for any group of the American people to recite as part of a religious program carried on by government. – Justice Hugo Black, 1962 Also see Abington School District vs. Schempp and Murray vs. Curlett landmark cases banning the reading of the Bible in School.
[ix] Christopher Columbus founded the Americas in 1492 while looking for a new trade route to India. He also want to prove that the world was indeed round unlike the popular belief and ignorance by the people who said it was flat. Christopher Columbus was commissioned by Queen Isabella and it was a voyage ordained by God that the Americas would be found in order that the restoration may happen.
[x] 1st amendment of the Bill of Rights: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise there of; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; on the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.
[xi] Ephesians 4:5
[xii] James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him
[xiii] The Book of Mormon: Moroni 10:3-5
The Church of Jesus Christ or The Church of the First Born is built on the foundation of apostles and prophets[i].When the last apostle died, the priesthood keys left the earth there was no one worthy
to pass the priesthood keys onto. This was to be the final apostasy before the Second Coming. In Revelations the Bible talks about seven dispensations which before another dispensation could happen, the keys had to be priesthood keys had to be removed from the earth and the restored in the next dispensation. This is known as an apostate state. Heavenly Father puts prophets here on this earth to restore the gospel
in each dispensation. The prophets are chosen by God, more than likely not one prophet would have wanted the position but they served anyways because they were called. Before our current dispensation several
things had to happen before the keys could be restored. Christians had to be ready to understand Christ truth and want His gospel.
“The gospel was first established on earth beginning with Adam and has been taught in every dispensation through such prophets as Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and others…[ii]” It was decided in the council of heaven during the preexistence that these things need to be done on earth that we may learn to appreciate the blessings of Heaven that we may enjoy and in the end the fulfillment of time when we return to the Celestial Kingdom to be found worthy that we may once again rejoin our brother Jesus Christ in the Church of the First Born.
When the last apostle died, as stated before, we were left with no one to confer the priesthood to others; therefore no one had the proper authority to lead the Church or to perform the sacred ordinances such as baptisms, conferring the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the saving ordinances of the temple. The importance of the apostles and prophets is that they were given the sacred calling to keep order and standard of worthiness for Church members, and to keep the doctrines of the gospel pure. Without the leadership of the apostles and the priesthood people relied on their lack of godly wisdom and focuses on their own intellect perverting the truth in interpreting of the scriptures and the principles and ordinances of Jesus Christ. Churches would preach even to this day, this dispensation, the corrupt or distorted doctrines of faith in Jesus Christ, the ordinance of baptism, repentance, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. [iii]Through these false beliefs many churches would emerge during the apostasy claiming to be the true church and forcing people to put their faith in the churches beliefs or face consequences that the church thought was necessary to prevent heresy. The world fell into spiritual darkness which we know as the Dark Ages. During this apostate time, many people were led and influenced by the Holy Ghost but they did not possess the Holy Ghost in their lives. People were illiterate and scriptures were not easily available. Scriptures had to be hand written usually by monks, each taking years to complete causing them to be very expensive to buy. It wouldn’t be until printing press was invented that people would learn to read and have a desire to have a copy of the scriptures. The printing press[iv] would also play an even more direct role in the restoration and new dispensation when Heavenly Father would call a prophet to translate the accounts of His prophets.
It wasn’t until the Renaissance or rebirth that truth-seeking men and women had the desire to seek the truth of the Lord’s church due to the religious practices of that time. During the time of the apostasy religion had become a way for the church to control people and to become rich off the already poor people of their congregations. Reformation happened because of these truth seeking individuals. This people would be led by the light of Christ by the influence of the Holy Ghost but would not know the power of the Holy Ghost. These individuals would do the best they could in spreading the Word and making the gospel readily available but they did not possess the proper authority of the priesthood or the full understanding of the gospel. Many churches broke off from the Catholic Church, such as the Lutherans, Pentecostals, Baptists, the Reform aka the Calvinists, any many other sects. However none was the restored church of Christ. Many religions to the name of their founders i.e. Lutherans were founded by Martin Luther, the reform or Calvinist by John Calvin etc. As these reformists grew in number and so did their martyrdom the peoples thirst for the truth increased and many looked for the religious freedom that they may serve Heavenly Father the best they knew how. However, even with the good intentions that these reformists had religion in the churches had become a pick and chooses your religion and doctrine.
[v]Throughout history, many people have sincerely believed false creeds and doctrines. The have worshipped according to the light they possessed and have received answers to their prayers. Yet they are “kept from the truth because they know not where to find it.[vi]”
When I was in the Baptist church serving as a minister the common practice I saw with all churches was that they would pick parts of the Bible to base the doctrine and beliefs of their church on and would forsake the rest. Churches would preach from part if the Bible and skip other parts if it would suit their lifestyles. These churches claim that they are based on the Bible but that it is not fully the case. There are [vii]17 points of that the true church must possess. However, all these things had to happen to make people thirst for the
truth that the restoration may happen restoring the keys to the last dispensation of our time. These key points of the apostasy had to happen in order that the restoration may happen that Heavenly Father may restore the priesthood to the last dispensation before the Second Coming of His Son Jesus Christ.
The Catholic Church became the number one church during the beginning of the Apostasy- Censoring many books and leaving out many writings and teachings from what was to become our Scriptures, the Bible. This Censoring was necessarily in order for the Catholic Church to control the people, but at the same time for the people to find the light that they may find the truth.Translation of the Bible into Latin and then into English Reformists were tried and executed for being heretics against the church making them martyrs for the truth. Printing press to be invented that copies of the Bible may become available to all people at low costsChurches breaking off from the Catholic Church- Lutherans, Baptists, Protestants, Calvinists, etc. People learning to read by reading the Bible. The Bible was used as a primer in school both in England and the America’s up to the early 1960’s[viii]Christopher Columbus had to come to the Americas in order for it to be settled and that people would find refuge to practice the religion of their choice[ix].America had to gain it’s independence from Britain. Bill of Rights had to be signed allowing for freedom to practice the religion of their choice[x].The Birth of Joseph Smith 14 years after the signing of the Bill of Rights.
(I know that there were many more key points that had to happen before the Restoration could happen, however at this time I am not writing a book.)
Many churches feel that they have the proper authority to perform the ordinances required by God, or they feel that there is no way to have the full authority so they do the best they can. However during this dispensation even with the church be restored to its fullness, many people still live in an apostate state do to their unbelief. Some may not know the truth while others still choose not to believe in the truth. Bible teaches us that there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.[xi]” In order that one may come out of their own apostasy, one must come to Jesus through the Holy Ghost, and ask sincerely what is true. Bible again teaches us that if we lack wisdom in the understanding of His word and His church all we have to do is ask
and it will be revealed unto us in the fullness.[xii]
The Book of Mormon teaches us, “Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.[xiii]”
For we are in the final dispensation, the seventh seal as talked about in revelations, and the truth has been revealed. Heavenly Father brought us out of the Apostasy through his servant and prophet that he called, Joseph Smith. We have had since Joseph Smith and currently have a prophet and will continue to have prophets until the Second Coming when our brother Jesus Christ brings us into His Church, The Church of the First Born.
Addendum A
17points of the church:The True Church Must posses
1) Ephesians 5:23
Jesus must lead the church
2) 1 Corinthians 1: 10-13
Name of the church must be Jesus Christ
3) Ephesians 2: 20
Must be built on the foundation of apostles and prophets
4) Hebrews 5: 1
Must be called of God to priesthood and laying on of hands
5) Hebrews 13: 8-9
Should be restoration of the ancient church (same organization)
6) Acts 20: 34
No paid ministry
7) Matthew 3: 13-16
Baptism by immersion
8) Acts 8: 14-17
Receive gift of conferring of the Holy Ghost by laying on of hands
9) James 5: 14
Practice of divine healing
10) Acts 7: 55
Father and Jesus are two separate people
11) Luke 24: 36-39
Profess bodily resurrection
12) Hebrews 5:4
Officers must be called of God
13) Amos 3: 7
Practice divine revelation
14) Luke 10: 1
Must be a missionary church
15) Acts 3: 19-21
Must be a restored church
16) 1 Corinthians 15: 29
Must practice baptisms of the dead
17) Matthew 7: 15-20
Church that does good works
[i] Ephesians 2:19-20; 4:11-14
[ii] Elder Robert D Hales- Preparations for the Restoration and the Second Coming: “Thy Hand Shall Be Over Thee” November 2005 Ensign: October 2004 Conference talk pg 88
[iii] The emerging of many churches would become known as the reformation.
[iv] The printing press wouldn’t be invented until 1455 by Johaness Gutenberg- just so happens one of his first books to be printed would be the Bible.
[v] Preach My Gospel: The Great Apostasy; investigator Lesson 1: the Restoration pg 36
[vi] Doctrines and Covenants 123:12
[vii] See addendum of the 17 points of the church: The true church must possess
[viii] The government thought it was necessary for them to ban public prayer and the use of the Bible in schools because schools were an institution paid for by the tax-payer in 1962 and 63. To this day this is a controversial subject walking on the thin line of the separation of church and state.
Engel vs. Vitale declares that prayer forced upon people unconstitutional: In this country it is no part of the business of government to compose official prayers for any group of the American people to recite as part of a religious program carried on by government. – Justice Hugo Black, 1962 Also see Abington School District vs. Schempp and Murray vs. Curlett landmark cases banning the reading of the Bible in School.
[ix] Christopher Columbus founded the Americas in 1492 while looking for a new trade route to India. He also want to prove that the world was indeed round unlike the popular belief and ignorance by the people who said it was flat. Christopher Columbus was commissioned by Queen Isabella and it was a voyage ordained by God that the Americas would be found in order that the restoration may happen.
[x] 1st amendment of the Bill of Rights: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise there of; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; on the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.
[xi] Ephesians 4:5
[xii] James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him
[xiii] The Book of Mormon: Moroni 10:3-5
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