UnBlog # 495
As we turn our eyes on the times around us, and view the churning events that seem to tell us the promised days of Zion are approaching, the possibility of being deceived grows ever greater.
Let me say as strongly as I possibly can, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is operating as Jesus Christ directs it. Only a few times in history has it happened that we, the people, actually laid hold upon the full blessings being offered by the living prophet, and established Zion in our dispensation. Every other time, we gave it a shot, failed, and the Lord withdrew the privilege for a time.
The problem has never been a failure of the living prophet. It has always been a failure of the would-be saints to climb the holy mount to the face of God – which is the final step in establishing Zion. We become so caught up in the details of survival, society and seeking prosperity that we forget, or we never see, the foundations of our Zion being built all around us.
“And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins. For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day.” (D&C 45:56-57)
There are three steps we must take to not be cast down into the fire, and abide the day.
1) We must receive the truth. It is tempting to say that the truth is found within the church, but saying so sets you up for embracing a deception. The truth is found within the gospel, which is righteously and correctly being administered by the Church. But the Church cannot save us. The Church programs can’t save us. The temple can’t save us. Only Jesus Christ, and the Gospel that circumscribes his every truth and power and grace in our lives can save us. We come unto Christ and are perfected in Him. (Moroni 10:31-32) We do this in large part by ordinances, and by giving our loyalty and love to the latter-day church. But, it is Christ that saves us. This truth gives us the safety of searching all truth, and laying hold of all good things without regard to what we see others doing, and not stumbling because of real or perceived flaws in the Church.
2) We must take the Holy Spirit to be our guide. Why? Because the church publishes manuals and scripture, but the “Gospel” only publishes truth via the Holy Spirit. The only way to partake of the purest truths is by being guided there by the Holy Spirit. This is the voice of Christ, and it is what brings us to Christ in order that we might be “perfected in Him”.
3) We must not be deceived. The truth is – there are one billion or more ways to be deceived, and only one way (through the Gospel blessings and the voice of Christ) that we may not be deceived. There is one straight and narrow way through these times, and a billion other ways out.
There seems to be two types of people whose deceptions take them away from the restored gospel. There are those who never caught the spiritual power of what they have, and for some reason become disenchanted with the restored gospel and step away. They don’t like something they think is amiss in the church, or they were offended, or they were proselytized away by anti-minded imps.
The second group consists of people who view the gospel as a great blessing, and who have begun to experience great things in their personal quest. The scriptures become more clear. The Holy Spirit feeds their soul, and they leap into blessings they read about in the Scriptures, but have never heard a living person claim. Occasionally, they begin to look back at the Church and wonder why they don’t see more people rising spiritually, or why certain subjects are not more clearly taught in official church meetings. They begin to wonder what’s wrong, and if these wonderful people have not fully taken the Holy Spirit to be their guide, they sometimes step away also. They sometimes do so sadly, and at other times with a smug attitude that they have evolved beyond the church. Such is surely a most dangerous and satanically inspired deception.
Deception nearly always entices and encourages us to sever our connection with the true and living church. Pure truth always entices us to align our lives with the living church and to remain “faithful and true in all things”.
When the latter-day scenes are enacted, our living prophet, and this latter-day church will be the focal point of all that occurs. The latter-day Zion will be a blossoming of this church, not a replacement. There is no scenario wherein Jesus Christ leads someone outside of His fold.
We who stay within the latter-day fold -and- lay hold upon all the Gospel offers - are they who have not been deceived.
Next on the Unblog: Saving Ordinances
Brother John
© July 2012, John M. Pontius, all rights reserved. Non-commercial reproduction permitted.
This is such a beautiful entry….so concise and clear. I love the way that you clarified the limits of “the church”, and that it is the gospel that we must be converted to. There are so many inactive people out there who have put their trust in the church and the people of the church that when it fails them, they become disenchanted and turn away. If only people understood the difference clearly!!!!
I have often wondered about this deception. Is it true that Satan “deceiveth the whole world?” (Rev. 12:9) I wonder about those who call themselves members of His church who think they are immune to this deception – are they not part of the world?
I have come to realize that for me simple membership will not being enough for what we will need in the future. What we could get by with in the past won’t be enough in the future. Causal prayer, reading a few verses of scripture or doing the minimum of what the Lord has asked of us – will not be enough (paraphrasing Pres. Eyring).
I am also reminded of Pres. Uchdorf’s Conf. talk “Your Potential, Your Privilege.” How many of us at the end of our cruse (i.e. this life) will have the tragic epiphany that we could have had the opportunity to partake of so much more in this life but thought we couldn’t? How sad that will be when we suddenly realize that we were deceived into thinking that we somehow couldn’t receive or even strive for the promises/ blessings/ experiences of the ancients.
“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” – I take this to mean that we all have sufficient time to prepare ourselves (spiritually & temporally) before the times of tribulation or trial. The deception will become clear as the wise are gathered from the foolish.
If we are prepared in the Lord’s way then I believe we can claim the blessings of peace that comes from being temporally and & spiritually prepared where one can live in the present, without a care for tomorrow because we rely completely upon Him and the spirit for everything else we need. We will be held in the hollow of his hand and will abide the day.
Thank you for this post John.
Thank you, Brother John. Would you mind clarifying the term “living prophet” as you are using it here? Is this a person who has been caught up into heaven, been ministered to by Christ, been introduced to the Father and has received His fullness and priesthood? Or do you use this term, in connection to our latter-day leaders, as a role and office they are filling, and that they don’t necessarily have to have any heavenly contact (visited by angels or the Lord), but can be leading by inspiration through the whisperings of the holy spirit? Thank you so very much.
I love all of your blogs.
Elizabeth, I do *not* buy into the assumption that our living prophet has *not* been endowed by heavenly contact to qualify him for the position he presently holds. As a matter of personal understanding and personal testimony, I know otherwise. The reason I defend the latter-day church so vigorously is because I do believe that our prophets are in every sense true prophets.
It is also obvious to me that everything about society and the church must evolve upward in order to reach a Zion stature. I am willing to let the Lord dictate that timetable for the church. I am also willing to dictate my own timetable in seeking these things without regard to any other earthly factor. This is the reason I feel patient about whatever evolutions the Lord sees fit to lay before the church.
John,
If what you are saying here is true, then why do the scriptures seem to condemn us over and over for our actions. And they also seem to condem everyone, leaders and members. This is the one thing I struggle to understand. If the church is doing exactly what Jesus Christ WANTS it to, then why did so many of his past prophets condemn our actions?
I appreciate your being willing to address these concerns. Thanks.
The church, specifically the “children of Zion, even all” are under condemnation for:
1)Allowing our minds to be darkened because of unbelief. I have written about unbelief many times, but it includes in my opinion the inability to believe in the very things we know are true – like miracles, revelations, prophecy and the building of Zion in our day.
2)Taking lightly the things which they have received. One of these things we take lightly is the whisperings of the HOly Spirit. We take lightly our privileges and promises in the temple. We take lightly our promises of building Zion. We also take lightly the BoM by not “doing” the things the book clearly describes as our privileges.
3)And for not bringing forth fruit meet for the Father’s kingdom – which is the latter-day Zion.
These things are failures of people, not of the institution of the church.
I have experienced that everything I have believed, and then sought, I have also obtained. For me personally, there is no failure of the Gospel. Every ordinance I have received has been fulfilled in part or in total. Every time I seek something I receive it. Every time I search for further knowledge, it distills upon my soul and brings me closer to the church, not further away. I’m not saying this to boast, because it is all a gift of Christ. I’m saying it to illustrate that the failure is within individual hearts, and the condemnation can be lifted one person at a time. Every person can stop doing those three things, and lift the condemnation personally. Outside of the church you don’t have the keys and ordinances to lift the condemnation. As an expatriat you would really have become darkened by unbelief, and truly, completely taking lightly the things you had once received.
Ask any UnBlog member who has left and then returned, which side of the line was darkest.
JMP
I don’t know how to get back to church, all i want is the Gospel!! I don’t know of a fear i have more of then going back to church! and i love every thing you talked about John, and Thank you K-Jo.
Gina,
I can’t even guess at what is making it so hard for you to return, but such things can feel very real and very hard to overcome. I will pray for you, and just urge you to listen to the Holy Spirit and not let any earthly thing stop you. Do what is right let the consequence follow.
Brother John
Thank you Brother John that means a lot to me.
I wish we could focus more on following the light of Christ in the church, rather than meeting milestones. It isn’t a checklist, it is a straight and narrow path. There is only one way we get there. This would be where i have always got lost with what goes on in peoples lives in the church. How do i look the other way and not question the Gospel because of this. It tires me saddens me and makes me feel something very wrong is going on so much of peoples lives are like this and they want you to be the same way. How do i move past all that and not be affected by them. I dont want to be apart of that. Many i feel move you in this direction or try to move you to conform to this way, you dont go visiting teaching by yourself, most callings are teamed up with soneone else and maybe they run it like a check list and rush you to do the same. I dont want to feel this way! I want Christ and to do things with all my heart! Tell me John, i think i know of the truthfulness of the Gospel but feel so lost when i go to church and find i have to keep up to someone elses exspectations of the way they live it!
I don’t experience the church or the people the same as you describe. I see so many people who are doing everything they know how to do right, and who are working as diligently as they know how to do serve God. Church is imperfect because every single person within it is imperfect. The Gospel, however, which is the priesthood power, the undiluted truths of Christ’s atonement, and which embodies all the gifts, miracles and spiritual gifts of heaven – the Gospel is perfect. Perhaps you need to see the two entities separately and allow the church and her people to grow, while focussing upon the unchanging truths and virtue of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All of our blessings come from the Gospel, and all of our opportunites to learn, grow and serve come from the church.
Everywhere I go within the church there are levels of growth, degrees of mortal weakness, and degrees of understanding. People are what they are. Everywhere I go, the Gospel is unchanging and pure. I have never found it more difficult to find answers to my prayers, or miracles of faith in one place or the other.
My suggestion is to focus upon your own relationship with Christ, reach for the great blessings you see before you, and let the church take care of itself. You will step into being a giver of light, rather than a needer of light. You will go to church to give service rather than to be served, and to teach rather than be taught. You will go to bless rather than to be blessed, and your joy in the church and in the gospel will increase to greater than you ever hoped possible.
John, I like this : My suggestion is to focus upon your own relationship with Christ, reach for the great blessings you see before you, and let the church take care of itself. You will step into being a giver of light, rather than a needer of light. You will go to church to give service rather than to be served, and to teach rather than be taught. You will go to bless rather than to be blessed, and your joy in the church and in the gospel will increase to greater than you ever hoped possible. Thank you John for sharing, very true!
Having not grown up in Utah, but living here now, I have seen things differently than many of my neighbors, who did grow up here, immersed in a culture of the church. There are so many who have fallen away because of some silly thing that is not really part of the Gospel, but part of the Church: someone didn’t say Hi at church, or “I got married in the temple, and my spouse cheated/lied/stopped going/gambled/drank/etc., so now I don’t believe in the church anymore.” That stuff happens outside of Utah, but I have never encountered it like I have here, and it is sad and fascinating.
I really like what you said about the Church not saving us, but that Jesus is the only one who can. That is so true. It breaks my heart whenever people say, “Well, I got married in the temple, so everything should have worked out!” And that is not how it is. Getting married in the temple is one amazing step on a lifelong path to listening to the Spirit. I wish we could focus more on following the light of Christ in the church, rather than meeting milestones.
It isn’t a checklist, it is a straight and narrow path. There is only one way we get there.
I still love your analogy of the gospel as the medicine that will cure all ills, pains, problems, etc., and the Church as the bottle the medicine is in. Not taking the medicine because the label on the bottle is a little crooked makes no sense at all.
This is for Gina. I was inactive for 20 years. The details are not important why at this time, but the end of that inactivity is. A senior missionary couple came around and taught me the gospel again. I say again, because a lot of loss of light and truth can come from 20 years of inactivity. After a few weeks of teaching me and answering questions, they asked me to come back. I asked if they would be there. They would and were. So I went back and have (and pray I never will) break loose again.
My recommendation is this: Find someone you know or trust, and go with them. If you don’t know anyone, find your local ward/branch, and contact that Bishop/President. Ask him to send someone by your house. Tell him you are trying to find a way back. A way home.
Sister, I will pray for you. Your desires to return are righteous and I applaud this course. Like the old Nike commercial says: “Just Do It.”
Steve S, Thank you very much for replying i have been shown many times as a witness of the Gospel, i have a friend who says there is your Witness Gina again, but i loose it! Many things in the last 20 yrs have taken me far away, I am bothered cause i can’t deny and yet i keep closing my eyes to it, i was a great lover of the scriptures, and never thought i would ever loose that love for them! something went wrong in my life, and i am to afraid to face it i guess no matter the people it should never matter if i know and believe in something, i think every time i close my eyes to those witnesses the fear gets even bigger. Thank you for saying you would pray for me, i have always wanted to do what was right, but i have a great fear i need to over come. I think to i am afraid of my abilities, i fear of teaching of callings if i always struggled with a learning disability i don’t want to see myself running away being afraid, and feel that guilt that i said no to a calling, i see the part about loss of light and truth. I struggle of what people know of me because of my struggles because of my past! I fear me!!
Gina,
I go to Church because Christs wants me there, and I DO what the Spirit prompts. I have a lot of expectations put on my by others, and I am very sensitive (like you) and can feel it. One of the lessons in life I am learning is you can not please not just them all, but anyone on this earth. The Adversary uses our natures against us because we want to please (at-one) with others, but we can not. Their is ONLY ONE AT-ONE-MENT that matters, and that is Christ’s.
The Fears you experience are the Adversary Minon’s pulling you away from that which you already know to do. Pres Hinckely onced said to “dont take counsel from your fears”, and I say they will never lead you to God or the Light, Faith does that.
I Hope you see this, as I understand and feel for you much.
FYI, I struggle with everything you say about living the gospel and conforming to programs, but I know you can go to Church and live it even if others dont think you are DOING the Gospel right. I am the 1st Counselor in the Bishopric, and I feel pressue to be perfect all the time, but I remember to look up and look to Him…He is the Way.
You are my prayers, and I will ask good to show you the Way.
Love,
Brian from W Col.
Thank you Brian,
That is a sweet testimony, and right on the mark.
JMP
Brian, You filled my Heart to the Brim!! Yes very Sweet Testimony! I am very Thankful for the many prayers, for the time that has been given from others and responded, i have been struggling for a long time, ever sense i was very young i wanted to be to myself, i felt so strongly of my Savior i felt it hurt so much because i felt so much, but i let others affect me, I took it deep into my Heart of his Gospel, and always tried to do good, i was the little girl who road her bike and was always talking to Heavenly Father, but because i lacked some things i have felt i just gave up, i questioned myself because of others, i questioned me who loved, who could testify of the greatest gift of repentance, my love for others is the greatest gift i feel inside, i know i may lack some things learning, if i could just rap my arms around people, if that could be my calling i know that i would soar! i want to know me, my place, i learned i had to please others cause i could not handle the hurt of being treated like i was doing it wrong, when i think i was really always doing it right, Brian i was just the way my Savior wanted me to be, and i gave it away because i didn’t have enough to believe in myself. Brian thank you for coming!! I don’t know if that all made sense but i am trying! I feel like i just rested in the arms of my Savior, i feel like this little girl who never could just be that little child of God, i just never knew i was alright! Gina from Washington State.
Elizabeth
I had a spiritual witness I feel inclined to share in light of some who are feeling uncertain about Pr. Monson. I personally have not had any doubts, but for some reason during the April 2012 conference Priesthood session I was given a very strong witness that Pr. Monson and the First presidency were called of God and his chosen vessels. I’m not sure why it was given, I wasn’t looking or in need of it, but it was a very significant manifestation of the spirit, so maybe I’ll no someday why me why then!
But I testify they are who they say they are!