Believing in God

    I at times found it hard to believe that there is a God, let's face it we can't see him and we can't hear his physical voice in our daily lives. We don't get to go up to his home and talk face to face with him and we can't just send him a text or email him, we can't pick up the phone and just say, hey how are you doing today God, I was hoping to have a minute of your time, are you busy? Maybe we could go for lunch sometime I want to get to know you better. These are all things that would be so helpful in believing that God is real. I can't speak for everyone but I'm sure that we have all at one point or another struggled with this concept, like why won't God just show himself to us? Why won't he call down and say hey folks I'm here, I'm real, hear my voice. There were times when I thought the idea of God was ridiculous, I mean what evidence do we have to support the idea of God. Why do we need to have a God or gods in our lives, and why does it seem that there are multiple gods in other faiths. How can we be sure we are right? Where did the concept of the many other gods come from and why? I have attended a number of Christian churches and found them all to have differening opinions, but with the one common theme, God is real. What is it that gives people so much faith in the one thing science has a hard time with; God, what does he look like? how did he do all of the things he did? How did he create the earth and the sky and the universe? Science says a big bang occurred some hundreds of millions of years ago and that all of the planets and suns and moons were a byproduct. Let's look at Earth, it is a perfect distance from the sun to sustain life, the temperature doesn't fluctuate to much and there is water, trees, and grass grows, there is oxygen, an invisible substance very critical for life ( we have faith in that). Man kind thrives here on this planet, this perfect little planet that managed to travel millions of light years in a formation with other planets and a sun and moon and just happened to be in the perfect place at the right time. So life must have started as a single cell organism and evolved dramatically, all manner of animals and plants that have very complex cell structures and have a sequence of DNA. Nature is pretty impressive, I have to give it to her she really has done well to have let evolution get to where it is. 
     I am not an evolutionist and it just makes no sense that life just happened with no design and that all the molecules and cells and DNA just happened to pop out of thin air, how is it possible that we could have evolved to a superior being? How is there such a diverse showing of life forms on this planet? And how the heck did we start? Not the big bang, so what else have we got; I guess we are back to God. There is a book called The Bible and in it contains words that people have written about God, and what he told them, get that, words that he told them to write. So God does show Himself to us, not in the sense that we physically see him, although He has revealed himself to some prophets, but more in the sense of witness, spiritual witness through the power of the Holy Ghost.
     For some one who wants to seek God, start learning about God from a variety of sources. Talk to a friend or family member who is active in their faith about their relationship with God. Go to church with a friend or family member. Read the Bible and The Book of Mormon. On a personal level, look for God in nature, see how God is moving through the works of truly compassionate people, or talk to God yourself by praying, ask Him with true intent, give Him your time and He in turn will give you His time. Don't be discouraged if at first you don't receive that moment of revelation or that "aha" moment, it takes time, pray often and be personal with God, let Him know that you are asking earnestly, open your heart and really listen, or rather really feel His answer. God's love is in our hearts and is something we can experience if we truly want to. The desire for God is also written in our heart, because we were created by God, and God never ceases to draw us to himself. I think that the key is to open yourself up to God and become aware of how God may be moving you to a deeper belief of him. God is the most powerful reality in this world and He is waiting for you to discover Him and be overwhelmed by His wonderful love and goodness. He is the One you were destined for. His love is the reason you are alive and He has a wonderful plan for your life.
    In my struggles with God I found it very helpful to write Him a letter, put it all out there then read it to Him. Read it to God as prayer, reflect afterwards quietly and wait for his answers. Be patient, God listens and ponders everything you desire to know and He will reveal to you in bits and pieces and you will gain in faith. That small seed will take off and you will grow in belief and knowing God, that is what He desires. God wants us to come to Him and He will testify to you his love and we can all realize that His true love came manifest through His son Jesus Christ, the most important gift to all of mankind.
     I bear you my testimony that God is indeed real, He is the creator of our world and our lives. He is our loving and living Father in heaven and through the redeeming love of His son Jesus Christ we will again reunite with God the Father and live eternally with Him.
     These thoughts I leave with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Where did Jesus go

     Of course we all know the happenings of Jesus during his three years of ministry before his crucifixion but what was he up to for the period of time before. This is one question I for one have never pondered, I mean why would I? If memory serves me right Herod was king at the time of the birth of Jesus and he had ordered three wise men who were seeking the newborn king of the Jews to report to him when they found him, of course they did not due to the vision they had of the intentions of Herod. In Matthew it says that Joseph was visited by an angel and told to flee to Egypt so to scuttle Herod's plan to likely kill Jesus.
Matthew 2;13 And when they were departed, behold,the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother,and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him

    There are apocryphal tales that tell of the flight to Egypt where palm trees bow before the Christ child and beasts of all sorts paying homage to him. There is a tale of thieves that encounter the holy family along the way, but change their minds about robbing Joseph and Mary. There is some speculation that two of these robbers were crucified along side of Jesus. I won't delve into the apophrical "gospels" as they are not considered to be inspired of God.

It isn't until much later when Jesus is 12 when there is mention of him in the scriptures again.
In Luke 2;41-52
⁴¹ Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.

⁴² And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.

⁴³ And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.

⁴⁴ But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.

⁴⁵ And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.

⁴⁶ And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

⁴⁷ And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

⁴⁸ And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

⁴⁹ And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

⁵⁰ And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.

⁵¹ And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

This was the first time that Jesus is mentioned in the new testament since his birth and it is not again until almost 20 years later that he is mentioned in the New Testament, so where was he and what did he do? So there isn't much information that I can find, there was a visitor to the Tibetan monks that claimed to have seen some writings in the monastery that claimed Jesus had visited them. This claim was later revealed to be fraudulent by the head lama who said no visitors had been there in quite some time and that there was no evidence to claim that the Christ had ever been in the monasteries. The author of this theory later fessed up and said he had fabricated the whole story. So on to India where it is believed by some that Jesus spent some time there, did he go on a mission to show the people there that he was the Christ, perhaps he traveled the spice trail or silk trade routes and ventured through Egypt. There is some speculation that he wandered around in England, maybe he was there to learn, maybe he went to all the places around the Middle East. He could have gone on a mission to spread God's word and to prove that the prophesies were fulfilled and that he was the Son of God the redeemer of the world. Did he spend time with Buddha and learn all the manner of miracles so he could go back to the Holy Land and perform them. I don't really know what happened it is entirely possible that he did wander, he could very well have visited these many places. The one thing we do know about the time frame is that Jesus most likely stayed in the Galilee area and worked as a carpenter, this claim is the most credible as we can read in Mark chapter 6; 3

 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

This is widely accepted that Jesus was familiar to the area although people asked who he was when he started teaching at the synagogue. It is believed this gives credibility to the claim he was a carpenter as stated in the gospel after he started his ministry. So I really had a hard time finding any credible information as to his whereabouts so when i was about to give up it came to me crystal clear, what does it matter as to his whereabouts, is it so vitally important to his ultimate goal. Not at all it really does not matter, if it did then there would be scripture pertaining to it. He simply increased in wisdom and stature and in favor of God and man, pretty simple for The Christ really. We will one day undestand and know all of the happenings of Jesus, we will know his whereabouts but for now my curiosity is curbed because if it needed to be known it would be.

     I do know this, that Jesus Christ is the savior and that his mission still continues today and will continue until all of mankind accepts this as truth. I know he lives today and he lives everywhere, his ministry continues in all of us and through all of us, we are all a part of Christ, He lives through us and in us, he helps us to grow in stature and wisdom, he makes it possible for us to grow in favor with God our Father in heaven and the rest of mankind. It is my testimony that if we continue to read scripture that is relevant and inspired of God, and do the small things required of us we will grow and we will realize our ultimate goal to be reunited with our Father in heaven and be with our brother Jesus christ. I leave these thoughts with you in his sacred name Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Book of Mormon, is it true

     This past week has been interesting to say the least. My wife and I went to a home with the Sister missionaries to follow up on a number in their contact list. We followed the "girls" to the destination and asked them about the contact before knocking on his door. They had said that he was interested in meeting with them but was not going to convert to being a Mormon. I think back to a little over a year ago when I said the exact same thing with the exception that I didn't even want to meet them, at least this guy did. So up to his door we went and knocked, when the door opened he looked a bit surprised and exclaimed that there was a whole gang of us. I have to say that both my wife and I have been to lessons before with the missionaries but this time we both felt uneasy before hand about this one. He welcomed us in and invited us all to sit down, on his table were a couple of history books, nothing really to set alarm bells off yet. After a few moments and some ice breaking questions, you know like what do you do for work? Are you a history buff? You know just conversation. Then a question was asked to the man, do you have any beliefs, like in God or what faith? His response was, oh I believe in God alright, the creator of the world the ultimate authority. He took this opportunity to ask who we thought was the ultimate authority, who did we worship. He really stared down Sister Foote so she was compelled to answer that God is the ultimate authority and Jesus Christ. He asked her not to lie so her responds was I  will not lie to you I have no reason to. So he then more stated than asked do you not worship Joseph Smith!?!? No of course not We worship God and Jesus Christ is our savior. He retorted with a rather rude tone as to when did that change?!?! He was then adamant that Sister Foote read from Doctrine and Covenant section 84 and read it out loud. She complied and read a few paragraphs, when she had got far enough the guy asked the question, did that happen? He repeated it a few times. I have to admit I was taken aback because I realized that this was a set up, that this guy had only let the girls come so he could bash. He then wanted sister Foote to read Deuteronomy 9, she was reluctant and didn't open her bible at that point knowing that this was just going to be a negative experience. He was loudly asking what are you afraid of the Bible? Read it if your not afraid of it. He then made it a point of pride that the last two girls that had come by left crying. This was enough for my wife she let this guy have it in a polite but matter of fact way. Sister Wright asked if this was only an invitation so he could bash. It was shortly after this that we as a group stood up to leave, he was saying  that we had no right to tell people what we were telling them, that it is false doctrine. False prophets like Joseph Smith will die, sister Wright replied that all men die. He was again read Deuteronomy 9 it is all about your Joseph Smith. We were at the door at this point now and his goodbye remark was at least you are not crying! We were all like thank you for your time and off we went, it was apparent that we would only engage in further negative banter if we stayed.
    This experience certainly gave me a new found respect for missionary work and opened my eyes to the challenges they can face.
    So I really had hard time over this, I was stunned and really silent because I did not know what he was taking about, what was it in section 84 that had him so riled up? Did what happen? New Jerusalem has not yet been built that I know of so I guess no it hasn't happened.... Yet. And Deuteronomy 9 I found out later was all about false prophets, so why did he say it was all about Joseph Smith? I do know that it states that a false prophet will lead you to follow a god that is not familiar or will lead one to disbelieve what is contained in the scriptures. I don't recall reading anything that would make me think that God is not the one we follow, I mean we are taught about God and we read the same bible as so many other Christians, we do not discount any part of the Bible, it is scripture and is the word of God that has been written down many years ago by scribes and get this Prophets.
   So now The Book of Mormon, what is this? Is this book truth, or is it a very well written book of a fantasy by a young uneducated man? I thought about this all night because I felt that that seed of doubt had been cast ( not a good seed) and it had kind of consumed my mind, I didn't sleep well as my mind kept wandering back and forth. I thought back to a little over a year ago when the missionaries invited me to read the book, at first it was a lot to take in, it wasn't easy to understand at all, wait a minute now maybe it was trickery, maybe this book is so well written that it tricks the reader into believing it, maybe this young man really was a genius and had tricked the people around him to think he was uneducated. What a brilliant man, he has duped even his own parents, he has not been honest in his dealings with them. He has carefully since childhood made them believe he is honest but in reality has duped them. OK now really could he have done that? I do not think so. The Book of Mormon is to well written for that time period, it could not have been fabricated even by a literary genius, it would not have been written by any man who was righteous and it certainly could not have been written by someone who was not.
    I have only remember the moment I realized that this book was true and the words contained within were righteous words written by the hand of prophets and those selected to record the history of these people and the visit by The Christ to his people in this land. I believe that this book is of divine origin and that Joseph Smith nor any of his associates could have written this book nor would they have written it, I believe that those who are critical of the text contained within have not actually read it and have certainly not prayed to know its truths. I believe that the critics are more in fear of believing it so they spend a great deal of time trying to disprove it I can't speak for others but my own experiences with this book are incredible beyond belief, instead they are experiences of knowing and of receiving witness of the truth through the Holy Ghost. This book is not about believing, it is about knowing, knowing that our Father in Heaven lives, that he loves us and wants us to return to him, that he is the one true God. I think that the crowning moment in this book is when the resurrected Christ visited his most righteous people in the Americas and organized his church just as He had done in the Holy Land before his crucifixion. If The Book of Mormon is True as I know and believe it is then Joseph Smith is truly a prophet of God, and perhaps one of the most important Prophets of all time and The Book of Mormon is of utmost importance to every person on this earth. The work must continue and the missionaries must persevere and continue to bring the truth to not only those that disbelieve but to current members of the true church , the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints.
  I know that The Book of Mormon is true and I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and that he lives in each of us, and only through him do we have the opportunity to have eternal life. God lives and he loves us all so so much. I know this and I love this and I love God the Father and Jesus the Savior and I love you all. I say this in the name of the Savior Jesus the Christ. Amen.