Troubled Thoughts

This is my thought on the ever controversial question of why it is so important to belong to the religion we as humans choose to belong to , I grew up Pentecostal, as many of you know and I thought about how important it was for me to share the truths of the restored Gospel to those whom I love so deeply in my life. My family , my parents , brother and his family, I tried so hard to explain things to the best of my ability as to why I knew they were true. I shared with them in the same fashion it had been shared to me in and the result was much like that of when the young Joseph Smith tested the verse of James 1:5 and the result was " shucks boy...That kind of stuff just doesn't happen any more ...it all of the devil" . My mother once told me she was concerned with my salvation, my father said I was going down the wrong road and my Brother after sending me anti-Mormon material dictated a letter that clearly stated his withdraw from wanting to ever hear what I had to say about religion anymore.

I 've been pondering lately as to the thought on trying so hard to bring others to Christ .... and you know I don't have to try as hard as I have been. Now I'm not saying I'm giving up, but I have come to the conclusion that the relationship with people around us needs to based off the principles of Love, the same love that the Savior had for each of us. Its not our job to judge someone on there religious preferences, does not the Bible teach us that we are to love everyone? Does God look at people as categorized as we do? We select what we think is right and we feel it is our job to tell others this is it and nothing else. I know, I grew up in it! I grew up with thought that only Pentecostals would be making Heaven, the rest well, they could try but they just weren't his pick......sounds like Jews and Jehovah's Witness doesn't it? My point , If God is the almighty and we as Christians ( That includes all that proclaim the name of Christ valiantly) ,are his chosen people then were does the statistics come in on who gets what? I believe that all ( I mean ALL ) churches have truths and all have good in them, I believe that there are those that are closer to the actual truth and some , unfortunately , that are way off. However I know that there is a church that does proclaim that they are built upon the very principles set by Christ Himself and that they follow , to a tee , the very instructions that are not only outlined in the Bible but all the standard text that are available to everyone. I would love to be able to share the restored gospel to everyone , unfortunately, persecution and the foul mockery of Christians , so called Christians, and non believers alike prevent the good word of God from speaking to man at this time in the world from being heard. Satan has such a powerful grip upon so many people that they are to blind to see truth when it slaps them in the face.

When I thought of this subject it was one that brought both good and bad feelings, I know that by sharing these thoughts I can upset some readers and honestly I'm ok with that. I am not here for a popularity contest, my calling is much greater than that! In the book of 1Corinthians 15:40-41 Paul teaches the principle of three distinct levels of glory, or heavens , One of the sun, one of the moon and one of the stars. In 2Corinthians 12:2 Paul talks of a man that was caught up to the third heaven, In the Doctrine and Covenants section 76 it outline the description of the three degrees of glory and as to there purpose, So if there is more than one account of reference to degrees of glory in the Bible alone wouldn't you think that that would be good enough to testify of truth, then if you knew or even were curious to know if there something else testifying of the same thing like section 76 , wouldn't you want to know? Ask in faith the Father on knee's is it true? He would tell you yes!

A man I value the opinion of, made a stupid statement the other day during a meeting I was in attendance in. We spoke loosely of other religions for a brief couple of minutes and to the simplicity of how some people come to believe they are saved was addressed. I shared the way I was brought up and shared how people believe that when they feel as though they would like to turn there life over to Christ they can simply say a prayer , some times directed by a pastor and following along in the prayer can then be saved after asking Jesus into there hearts. He said to me that was the stupidest thing he has ever heard. Now I will tell you from experience that when I struggled through life and had made attempts at getting straighten out that was a life saver and I felt of the Spirit of God. People that believe that concept are not stupid nor does it mean that they are not saved from the fall, it simply means that they are at the beginning of a great journey one in which we as Latter-Day saints should embrace and also try to help and nurture to grow. If we stood before our Creator and said that we didn't lend a hand, an ear, or our love because those people didn't belong to our Church , then Brethren we we ourselves are guilty of a grave sin, one in which I will not be part of! The degrees of glory were outlined because he knew not everyone would follow His Holy anointed Prophets, not everyone would be open to His true teachings because they weren't ready to commit to something that requires complete change of one's self, and especially to have to face the persecution of those that condemn the very thing they claim to stand for. I will no longer pass judgment upon someone of another religion , nor will I push someone into doing something they don't want to do. Satan's plan consisted of no agency and his plan didn't allow choices . And we all chose the plan of Christ , those of us with a body ....and that's a lot of us!

I will share a testimony with you that I know that the Church of Jesus Christ is the true church of God and that I am a Latter-Day Saint , That we have a Prophet that stands at the head of His church, The Book of Mormon is the word of God , that we have a Church that consists of Prophets and Apostles in these the latter days. Most important , because without him we would not have what we have today , I know that Joseph Smith was and is a Prophet of God and is at this moment involved in the great work beyond the veil. I have been able to stand in the waters of Baptism in the Holiest place in the world and by proxy , baptize for the dead and have a confirmation of gratitude over whelm me and testify to my spirit of the import of the work . I have been blessed to be part of a blessing that healed a very sick woman, instantly ! I have felt the Spirit of God so strong that it completely consumed my every sense , and with that was struck with a sure knowledge of the God head ,of Elohim, Jehovah , and the Holy Spirit. You can always voice your opinion, but I say to you ............. I know !

How important are other peoples lives, Written by my brother Tom Calton

I received this letter from my brother , Tom and felt inspired to share it with those whom read this blog may it lift you as it did me.

"So let us be thankful, because we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. We should worship God in a way that pleases Him with respect and fear, because our God is like a fire that burns things up"-Hebrews 12:28,29

Before we start each shift at work we all meet in the break room so the boss can inform us of important items of safety and repairs that are happening on each piece of equipment. We also find out where we will be working for the next 8 hours. The other night I was asked to start cleaning the equipment because we had the board members of our Chinese plant coming in for a tour. I gladly accepted my assignment and headed out on the floor. The comment was made by several people that this was extremely important and "we needed to make everything look like we didn't even work there". Anyone serving in our armed forces has participated in an event like this when a high ranking commander or official was coming by. I myself was volunteered once to paint rocks along the main road of the base only to turn the rocks over and paint the other side so we didn't miss anything and make the rocks look as though they appeared from the ground perfectly white and they were just there when they built the Air Force base.

How often do we make our lives with Christ appear as though nothing is wrong or it is perfect? Do we go out of our way for fellowship? Obey every word in the bible? Do we reach out for help in our small groups? At church? With our closest friends? Do we pray every day? Why are we so afraid sometimes to tell our Creator the things we have done or what we are afraid of? Did He not hear or see us and we got away with it?

1 John 1:6,7 says "So if we say we have fellowship with God, but we continue living in darkness, we are liars and do not follow the truth. But if we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other. Then the blood of Jesus, God's Son, cleanses us from every sin."

So why don't we reach out when we are struggling? What about when we see someone else struggling? We should be reaching out to each other and the person on the other side of the sales counter, no matter if they are reaching back or not. We should be praying for the lost world and each other deeply from our hearts. He will hear us. But what do we do? We hide in our shell or take care of it ourselves, we can fix it right? No, let us reach out to one another for help and prayer. Isn't that what we are there for? "Now that you have made your souls pure by obeying the truth, you can have true love for your Christian brothers and sisters. So love each other deeply with all your heart."-1 Peter 1:22. I struggle with that, don't you? .......Sometimes I only want to care about myself..........I don't have time to listen, I have to be somewhere....... It's hard to love and care sometimes. We don't want to admit we can't fix it, our pride and arrogance takes control, instead of Jesus.

It's the start of a new week. Lets reach out and help each other, support each other, and strengthen and lift up each other. "Strengthen yourselves so that you will live here on earth doing what God wants, not the evil things people want."-1 Peter 4:2. Love. Compassion. Share our hearts. "But dear friends, use your most holy faith to build yourselves up, praying in the Holy Spirit."-Jude 20

Let God consume every square inch of your life with His holy fire! Trust Him. Obey Him. Talk to Him. Pray!! Stay focused on our Lord and Saviour so we can ask for help and be there for others. Read your bible, let God talk to you. Give Him all your praises and don't complain. Put God first in everything, He will never let you down.

"Here on earth we do not have a city that lasts forever, but we are looking for the city that we will have in the future. So through Jesus let us always offer to God our sacrifice of praise, coming from lips that speak His name."-Hebrews 13:14,15

Thank God for this day we have; He made it for us.

Timing

Sometimes there is just not enough time to sit down and type out huge blogs, this one will be short.
I had the most peculiar phone call tonight one that trouble me so, my 13year old daughter the one that just got baptized, was calling from the neighbors house. Instantly my senses were enhanced and my adrenaline began to flow , I knew it wasn't gonna be good. I talked to her for a minute on the phone and found out that her mother and step-dad were fighting with her about getting home late from a church activity, ( if the kids gonna be late ...that's were I want it to be ) , any ways she was getting yelled at so much and they smacked her for back talk, so I had to call her mom and see what was going on. It turns out that Satan is up to no good as usual, now the reason I say this is because the moment I got on the phone the Spirit was with me.......I felt strong that there was evil a foot. Alex is going to go to the Columbus Temple on a youth temple trip on Saturday with me and several other members and old Satan is doing his best to keep that from happening, I instantly noticed by the way she began swearing at me and taking the Lord's name in vain, once she even referred to me and my Bible and how stupid it was. I new at that moment that the most important thing to do was play it cool and not let the situation get out of hand then all would be well and Alex will still make her first trip to the Temple.

Am I doing all I can?

Tonight we had priesthood leadership , to go over the principles of the Gospel that are in need of our support as priesthood holders. I noticed that a great deal of the topic matter was much like that of General Conference that just transpired this past weekend. I was asking friends of mine and discussing the topic of doing so much already in the church , and later this evening the thought came to mind ....Am I doing all I can? Not only as a Priesthood holder but as a Husband and Father? Do I aspire to be like Christ? I don't think so all the time. One of the topics we talked about was " The One " , for those of you not of my faith , the one is that person that you can think of that is in need of help, or maybe your neighbor when there out doing yard work , maybe they could use a hand . Maybe its the person that is latter in years loading there car at the grocery store ...do you offer to give them a hand. My thought turned about as to what I've done lately and to meet the needs of "the one" . I asked someone the other day if I could help them load a cart full of drywall, they thanked me and said someone was coming so I went on about my day . I could have helped though until the other person arrived ! I didn't do enough , does that make sense? I could have done more that's what I'm getting at , I thought about the weeks past and how I have had opportunity's to serve someone and have not . I also began to think that I , we could be more helpful to our wives and try to help her out more with the cleaning and the kids, You know they talked about that at both General Conference and Priesthood leadership ...treat our spouses better than we have been ! Even if we treat them good we can always do better , something I need to work on .I thought of my dear friend Matt and how I've never in my life seen a man as wonderful as he is with his wife and kids...he is a good example as to what we , I should be aspiring to be like .

Christ showed His service to so many ,We were asked tonight to give examples that we could think of for His display of service throughout the scriptures. Many examples came forward, the story of Lazarus , the story of John the Baptist , the story of the Woman who when being persecuted for adultery the Savior stepped in and said " Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" then He turned to the woman and said " were art thou accusers ? They have fled Lord because of Thee , arise woman for thou are forgive go and sin no more" The Savior not only rescued her from death but provided His Loving forgiveness and built her spirits up again before leaving her. That is the true power of the Priesthood ...service with unfeigned faith and love for the recipient. He went to the American continents among the Nephites and visited with them and He blessed each of there children one by one , that is a great act of kindness and compassion. Most important to me is the effort of the Atonement . Not any act of service can be greater than the offering He gave to me and you ! This is my offering ...I will give all that I have to Him for its all I can Give..My life is my offering .

Next time you see someone that might need a hand or hand up , give them a minute . I can promise you it will be worth an eternity.

Conference

I am so excited that this weekend is General Conference ! This to those of you that are not of my faith , is a chance for us Latter-Day Saint and the rest of the world if there willing with an open mind, to listen to A Prophet of God in this day and age , the very same as those from olden days , to share the message of God to the people . Also it is a great opportunity to listen to the Twelve Apostles of Christ of this dispensation as they address the general public and share the message that Our Father in Heaven has for us . Like those great Spiritual giants of today we are also blessed to be able to hear from other General Authorities and members of the Seventy and General Bishopric . It is a wonderful opportunity to learn of the lesson's that Christ has for us in the modern day.

If you look at the format of how we will be given inspiration during this General Conference , I would like to point out a very important point. That each of the titles given to those of whom I have listed are not something that Mormons have made up for our leaders but more importantly they are the very names by which Christ Himself had labeled His devoted servants. Commonly miss-conceptualized as a Church that founded itself on its own principles , the Mormon faith is truly in fact, based upon the very format of how Christ had set up His Church when He walked the earth and taught us His Law and His Commandments. This Church , His true Christian Church ( yes I say True ) is founded on His teachings not man's , it is not corrupted by the world nor does it base its decision on what is comfortable to popular opinion . We as Latter-Day Saints read from the King James version of the Holy Bible because it as close to the original writings as we can get in the English language , and it is one of the only copies of the Holy Bible in this day and and age that has not been interpreted a hundred different ways to make people more comfortable about what and how they read it .....In essence we as human have taken the words of God and have changed them so that we have them more befitting to this day and age , so that we can interpret what we think we are reading.

We have the Book of Mormon..Another Testimony of Jesus Christ , miss understood by most as the Mormon Bible , not the case at all . Yes it is a cannon of scripture , and yes it is included in all of are teachings, not because it is to be separate from the Bible but to go hand in hand with the very same teachings of the Gospels of Matthew , Mark , Luke , and John , to edify the very position that The Apostle Paul was preaching , to emphasize the ministry of Peter and most important to build up the Kingdom of God and testify of His Son , Jesus Christ .

I was told as a child and even as an adult ,when I began to investigate this Church, that what was being taught was wrong and that the Mormon teachings was a cult and not of God. That Satan had his hand in it all and they were trying to lead God's good Christians away . Well I have to say that is not true at all! I believe that it is Satan telling people not to follow the Mormon faith because he knows the true identity of Christ's true Church and he can't afford to loose anymore souls than he already has. Satan has the ability to tempt not only the weak but especially the righteous , So to those out there thinking your protected from his influence just because you show up to church on Sunday morning and feel good about praying once or twice a week , I say beware !

If you really need to ask yourself how does one know of a true Church , I say unto you pray , pray that the Spirit of the Lord will testify to your heart the truth of all things and remember that the feelings of the Spirit are listed in Galatians 5:22 , if you pray to know and don't have those feelings ....good chance it wasn't God giving those feelings to you, pray again this time with real intent to know and an open heart.

I look forward to the chance to listen to The Prophet Thomas S. Monson give talks this weekend and to the Twelve and the rest of the General Authority's ,for I know that in my heart and by the Power of God and His Holy Spirit , that as I listen as do so many others , we will blessed to Hear from God himself speaking to us through His Ordained Prophet and Holy Priesthood. To better be prepared for the second coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ . To be armed with the Spirit of righteousness and be empowered to spread the good news of Christ.

God bless all of us ,and may we find peace and happiness in our fellow man , and learn to love one another and strive to be more like Jesus , I leave you with this and say this in the name of Jesus Christ , Amen.