Mormons are Christians

Gordon B. Hinckley:
“The biggest misconception is that we are not followers of Jesus Christ. That is the constant allegation that is lodged against us. There is not a bit of substance to it. If there is any people in this world who believe in Jesus Christ it is the people of this Church. The Church carries His name. He is the central figure in all of our worship. That is a misconception that has been fostered and refostered and broadcast, but it is gradually breaking down. Things are changing; we are more accepted than we once were. I think this is the great era of goodwill in terms of the Church”.

(interview with Chuck Henry, KNBC, Los Angeles, 7 Mar. 1997)

New Mormon.org

From the new Mormon. org:

"New changes are coming to Mormon.org, the biggest of which is our profiles of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our goal is to have 1,000 profiles of Mormons by the end of May 2010."

Hop on over and create your profile:)

Satan's Scheme

Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said, "We can't keep the Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship experience in Christ. Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.

So let them go to their churches; let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't gain that relationship with Jesus Christ.

This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"

"How shall we do this?" shouted his angels.

"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow.

Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon, their home will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"

Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive. To keep the TV, VCR, CD's and their PC's going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."

"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards.

Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes.

Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines so the husbands will believe that external beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. That will fragment those families quickly!"

"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week.

Don't let them go out in nature to reflect on God's wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead. Keep them busy, busy, busy!

And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions." Go ahead, let them be involved in soul winning; but crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus.

Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work!"

It was quite a convention. The evil angels went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get more busy and more rushed, going here and there.

I guess the question is: Has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge! Does "busy" mean:

B-eing

U-nder

S-atan's

Y-oke?

The Slow-Track Program!

I was sent this the other day..... where do I sign up, j/k:)
----------------------------------------------------
Church Unveils "Slow-Track" Program
SALT LAKE CITY

In order to better meet the needs of "our most average members," church representative Howard S. Jeppeson announced the creation of a new slow-track membership program. "This program caters to those members of the church who may not be top-level celestial material but who are still willing to put in a nominal effort toward their own salvation," he said.

The slow-track program includes the same components of normal church membership, but at a more relaxed pace. Members who sign on for the program are required to read scriptures and have personal and family prayer once a week, attend church once a month, visit teach or home teach four times a year, and watch one session of general conference every other year. If slow-track members can commit to these requirements for five years, they can earn a temple recommend stamped with an S for "slow track," after which they are expected to attend the temple semiannually. According to Jeppeson, the church may create a shorter, condensed version of the temple ceremony for S-track members "in order to better accommodate those members' shorter attention spans and lower levels of ambition."

Social historian Jane Schippen, PhD, a long-time scholarly observer of Mormon society, hails the new slow-track program. "Mormonism pays a great deal of attention to its high achievers, like those who are stake president before they turn forty or women who have eight children and maintain a spotless house," she observed. Similarly, she continued, "Mormons spend a lot of time and energy worrying about those on the other end of the spectrum, the less-actives." She sees the slow-track program as "a way to acknowledge and honor the vast majority of Mormons, those who will never hold high positions of leadership but who are nevertheless active - the sloggers, if you will."

Logan Stake president Gary L. Hackett agrees with Schippen and says that the new slow-track program "will prod the lazy ones into progressing at least a little bit, which is an improvement." He estimates that implementing the slow track will cut administrative tasks, such as nagging phone calls to complete home or visiting teaching, by as much as 75 percent. "It's about time we recognized that not everyone in the church is that top ten percent of the celestial kingdom material," he notes. "And, really, that's okay. I mean the bottom two levels of the celestial kingdom are supposed to be pretty good too, right?"

Most members seem happy with the soon-to-be-implemented system. "Let's face it," says local member Larry K. Whiting. "I'm not cut out for this high-paced, pressure-oriented Mormon lifestyle. I mean, home teaching four families every month? The scheduling alone takes way too much time. And then I have to go over there and pretend I care about these people when I'd rather be home watching ESPN? Give me the slow-track program any day." Local member Kendra Koenig agrees. "Do you know how much fun it is trying to roust five kids out of bed for family scripture study and prayer at 6:30 AM? I am sick to death of nagging them about it, and you can believe it's not doing our family harmony any good." She praised the slow-track system for offering a more realistic temple-attendance schedule. "Like anyone who has a life can manage to get out there twice a month? This slow-track program is the answer to my infrequent prayers."

Just For Laughs!

If only it were this easy...

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Conference Learning Pt 2 - The President of the Church is here

I think it would bless our lives immeasurably if we had the kind of attitude about the words of prophets that is shared by Jeffrey R Holland in the story below:

“I was recently in Vavau, Tonga. It is a little island that is 1-1/2 hours away from Nuku’alofa by plane and twenty-four hours away by boat. By boat is the worst trip that can be made. (If you don’t believe that, ask Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, who went there recently to organize a stake and couldn’t get a plane.) When the Area Conference was announced for Tonga, it was determined that only one boat would be available for the Saints from Vavau. The boat held 150 people. If you stuffed bodies into every possible corner of the ship, you could get close to 300 people. Eight Hundred Tongans jammed onto that boat and stood up for twenty-four hours without sleep, without food, without drink, without anything—because they knew that a prophet of God was going to be in their islands and they were not going to miss him for anything in the world.

“Do you want to go to conference that badly? Do you care that a prophet of God is speaking in the neighborhood? Do you care enough to flip on a television set, a radio, or to come to [a] building to watch a priesthood meeting? Eight hundred people stood up for twenty-four hours to get to conference . . . “The President of the Church is here,” they said.

“That’s our prophet, and we may not see him again soon.” And they came.”
(“Remembered and Nourished by the Good Word of God,” Jeffrey R. Holland, BYU, Sept 26, 1976

---------------------------

If an announcement came that the Savior himself would speak in General Conference today, would our attitude and preparation for the event change at all? Of course He will. He had made his will abundantly clear in this matter. “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” (D&C 1:38) Not “almost the same,” or “very similar.” or “nearly identical.” It is the same. We are under divine directive to treat the inspired words we hear from the Lord’s servants as we would treat his words. Thus we can honestly ask ourselves. “What did the Savior ask me to do in this past Conference?”

If the Savior was going to speak and the program was going to be broadcast to your television, what other events or considerations would be significant enough to cause you to skip the opportunity? What if an announcement came that the lead article in next month’s Ensign was to be written by the Lord himself? How difficult would it be to convince you not to read it?

The Lord emphasized this point in a revelation given the day the Church was organized. “For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith.”

It is not enough to talk about conference. It is not enough to come to conference or to sit and listen to conference or to hear the words spoken in conference. We must make application to our own lives. We must be different because of the conference experience. We must do something".
(Ted Gibbons)

I hope today brings you closer to the Saviour.

Truths about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

A great video. Remember to mute the music on my blog (located just to the left of this post!).x

It's not called the 'Solution' Society!

I really love this quote:

“The very name "Relief Society" describes our purpose: to provide relief. While we often have the desire and the natural tendency as women to fix what's broken, we are not the "solution society." We are the Relief Society. We can soothe a suffering heart when we can't eliminate the trouble. We can bring reassurance and support, kindness, and calm.”

—Elaine L. Jack , Ensign, Nov. 1995

"The Publicity Dilema" by the LDS Church

A fabulous article from the Church addressing the HBO show 'Big Love', 'Prop 8', and other responses to the negative portrayal of the Church and it's members - a definite model to how we should personally act when faced with criticism.