The Standard of Truth told from the prophet Joseph Smith

This quote from Joseph Smith which came from a letter written at the request of John Wentworth and George Barstow, Nauvoo, Illinois published in Times and Seasons, March 1, 1842, p. 709

• “The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

So even if bad people come and try to stop the work of the Lord and his Church it will not stop.  The Lord knows this and that his gospel will spread to every people, nation and tongue.  For this is his gospel and he wants to have all his children the opportunity to hear the gospel. 

Eventually the gospel will be spread to those countries who have closed their doors on religion.  With prayer we can pray that those countries will soften their hearts and open the doors to let the gospel of Jesus Christ in and be taught to the people.  One day the gospel will be spread to the Middle East. 

The Articles of Faith.

When I was a young child in the church I was taught the Articles of Faith, of what we believe in, to learn what they mean about our beliefs and know how to teach them to others.  There are 13 Articles of Faith.  They came out during the time of when Joseph Smith was the prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  They are put on cards now to be given out to anyone who wants to learn more.  They are simple and basic principles about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  

1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.
3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.
8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Joseph Smith

If interested in learning more about the beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints contact the missionaries on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.org. 

Some Latter-day Saint laughter.

We all need to laugh at times at something that is funny.  As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I laugh when using a lingo and someone else thinks it totally different. 

"I'm going over to the Stake Center for a fireside on Sunday". To some that might mean going to a building that serves steak for eating or stakes for tents to be used at a campfire for the night.  What it actually means is that it’s a church building that is usually bigger than our church buildings and is going to have a spiritual meeting that Sunday evening.  There is no stakes for tents served or steaks for eating.  They will have refreshments after the meeting is over.

"I'm going to do baptisms for the dead".  Now that doesn't mean that I'm going to go to a cemetery and bring up a casket and pour water on them or put their body in a bucket of water.  What it means is going up to the temple and stand as a proxy for that person who is dead and be put completely underwater and then come back up.

If you ever heard this one, to where I was drug to the church services, drug to fireside, drug to Family Home Evening (FHE), drug to Seminary, drug to Institute, drug to the temple.  That has nothing to do with drugs at all.  That just means I was dragged by walking to church services, fireside, FHE, Seminary, Institute and to the temple.  

Family Home Evening is where the family gets together usually on a Monday night or Sunday night.  As a family usually have prayer and song to bring in the Holy Ghost.  We also have a lesson that discusses what we need to improve our lives on or any family business that needs to be discussed.  After words we close with another prayer to end the lesson to a close.  Then afterwards we usually have treats or do an activity.  It’s a way to bring the family closer to each other.

There are pages usually in our church magazines: New Era, Ensign and Friend that usually have a page just for laughter and jokes to be told.  To say that we should not have jokes or laugh about anything involved with the church then it will be a strict religion with boredom.  We need to have laughter.  Yes, some things should not be laughed about.  We should not have to restrict 100% to every LDS thing to not be laughed about. I think some take it to extreme and others not extreme enough.  So let us laugh for that is the way to live a happy life.

My final joke:  I'm going home teaching tonight by teaching my home how to behave when visitors are stopping by for a visit, how to learn to read the weather, teach it how to count and learn the alphabet.

Coming out of comfort zone and talking a bit about UP.

I would like to continue on with the posting I did earlier about comfort zone that was posted on August 8.

We all have comfort zones in life.  We use it for social, work, church, family, etc.  The comfort zone is a nice haven to which we know we can do and still be safe.  Though every once a while we need to get out of our comfort zone.  If we stay in our comfort zone throughout life we will not get anything out of life.

     Dating- Asking a girl or boy out on a date or proposing to get married to that person.
     Work- Asking for a raise or a promotion, being unemployed and going out looking for a job. 
     Social- Asking to be friends with that person, asking a question about something.
     Church- Sharing the gospel, standing up for your beliefs.

I myself can be a timid and shy person to my friends.  At times I can by vocal because I know they are my friends and won't ridicule with what I have to say.  I enjoy my comfort zone but, at times I know I need to get out of my comfort zone so I can grow and be happier about myself.

In the movie UP a senior man goes out of his comfort zone and helps a young boy on a wonderful adventure.  He could have stayed in his comfort zone and gone to the retirement place and lived with the rest of his life there but instead he didn't.  The deal of coming out of his comfort zone was knocking on his door.  In result he got a new friend after his adventure and glad he took the opportunity to get out of his comfort zone.  We should learn from that movie and realize the great adventure we have of coming out of our comfort zone.

Families are important in this life.

I don't no what its like to have children of my own yet but, I'm sure when I do I'll be busy with them. 

For those who do have children of their own are busy with them and dealing with work, school and church duties.  They struggle everything in their life to manage equally.  I know that families come first before friends and social life.  For the friends will come and go and are not living there at the house but, the family will always be there and will always need your attention.

• Getting breakfast, lunch, dinner made.
• Cleaning the bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, living room, etc.
• Taking care of pets.
• Washing windows
• Sweeping and moping floors.
• Taking out the garbage.
• Putting stuff away.
• Helping with school projects, school homework.
• Going to recitals, sports (practices, games, tournaments).
• Reading a book.

Sometimes I forget that they have to do these things, not all of them but, at least several of them.  I have tons of time on my hands and wonder why they don't reply back then I have to realize of what I typed in earlier.  I know that they don't forget about me or want me to feel bad for I will be as busy as they are when that time comes. 

Spend time with your family (spouse, children, siblings, in laws, relatives) for they are only here on the earth for a short time for you never know when it will be their time to leave and head back to the home to where they came from. 

Families are being torn apart and when families are being torn apart the fabric of society falls apart.

• Parents leaving their children in day care centers to long.
• Children and spouse being abused.
• No communication between family members.
• Divorces happening more frequent then in the past.
• Parents going on expensive trips frequently and forgetting their children needs.
• etc.

Families are important to society as a whole and individual.  Parents need to tend to their needs of the children.  Their is greater love, peace, harmony when families are together.  Children are important and they are the future generation of us living as adults as this time. For when we die, they will be left in charge of the society. 

The Lord has trust us as parents to take care of his children while here on earth.  For if we do we will be blessed in ways that we can't imagine and when we don't take care of his children properly, then the wrath of the Lord will not be good and will have to face the judgement bar to report on how we did our duties. 

Love your children be there for them for they are only so young at a short time for then they will be in turn taking care of you.