God can do miracles, but so can the adversary – BUT…
The word repentance may stir a variety of thoughts and feelings within our minds; fear or relief, perhaps terror or joy. It is all about learning to see differently and receiving a change of mind.
“If it hasn’t happened to you—it should.” [1] That’s what President Ezra Taft Benson had to say about the changing of the human heart and being born of God. I would argue that if this has not happened in your life, then it should rise immediately…
The following is a post created from a talk I gave in church this morning. There is an idea in thermodynamics that everything in the universe eventually moves from order to disorder. The Book of Mormon is a window into…
Joseph Smith once said: “I am at all times willing to give up that which is wrong for I wish this people to have a virtuous leader.” This quote has always been a source of personal motivation for me, especially…
I really enjoyed this quote from George MacDonald about forgiveness: “…unforgivingness to our neighbour; the shutting of him out from our mercies, from our love—so from the universe, as far as we are a portion of it—the murdering therefore of…
I love the story of Elisha and the servant when they were surrounded by the Aramean army. Early the next morning, when the servant of the man of God arose and went out, he saw the force with its horses…
Of the seven Lectures on Faith, Lecture Sixth is perhaps my personal favorite. It is the only lecture that has this footnote: This lecture is so plain, and the facts set forth so self-evident, that it is deemed unnecessary to form a…
This week, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published a new gospel topic titled Becoming Like God. Personally, I thought they did a great job with this piece, hit all the right scripture verses, and explained the doctrine…
The Lectures on Faith is a fantastic addition to the doctrinal knowledge base of the Latter-day Saints. They were part of the Doctrine and Covenants for almost 100 years and were separated from the canon on the grounds that they…
I came across this post the other day that had some interesting perspectives on repentance. How many Saints are focused way too much on the “subtraction” aspect of the repentance process? How many are locked in guilt-laden cycles focused on ceasing behavior…
In his book Increase in Learning, Elder Bednar teaches that principles arise from doctrines. If we take any principle of the gospel such as faith, repentance, obedience, etc and ask the question, “Why is this necessary?” the answer will always…
By Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, May 1998 What do we say when someone asks us, “Have you been saved?” This question, so common in the conversation of some Christians, can be puzzling to…
I’d like to thank my good friend Mike King for being the catalyst that inspired this article. The Bible verses are all from the New American Standard Version just for kicks, thanks, Andrew T. There’s a verse in the Book…
There are at least five core elements that are used in the ordinance of the sacrament. Back on June 16th of this year I took down some ideas in my notebook concerning them so here they are. I will also…
I was thinking about the whole grace/faith/works debate that seems to endlessly rage between the faiths. Now we all technically believe in salvation by grace, or in other words, salvation is impossible without grace through the atonement of Jesus Christ….
The following is taken from 2 Nephi 4:16-35, with some headings that I inserted to identify four key steps of transformation and if I were as awesome as President Monson I’m sure I could make them rhyme somehow ;) Behold, my…
My dad contacted me today about a quote that mentioned something about the atonement not being a part of the gospel but the gospel itself. I Googled the phrase and found this talk by Elder Madsen. Now I had first…
There are a lot of things that I believe are true and a lot of things that I do not believe are true. There are also things that I “know” are true like the existence of the city of Jerusalem….
Mary Sue Butch on Moderation in all things: a useless phrase: “Extremism is the biggest fault of religion. Only moderation holds humanity back from overwhelming cruelty. Look at the U.S. today:…”
