My Peace I Give Unto You

When I was in high school, I love listening to Simon and Garfunkel’s music. One of my favorites was “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. The first verse is:

When you're weary, feeling small
When tears are in your eyes, I'll dry them all (all)
I'm on your side, oh, when times get rough
And friends just can't be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

We live in troubled times and there are many that are weary and have tears in their eyes. The second verse says:

When you're down and out
When you're on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you (ooo)
I'll take your part, oh, when darkness comes
And pain is all around
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

Paul Simon wrote the song and it was recorded as a solo by Art Garfunkel. I don’t know if Paul meant it as a gospel song but considering the times we live in today this song is comforting to me. There is one person that when times get rough and friends just can’t be found, our Savior Jesus Christ can calm the troubled waters. He was the one that laid his life down that we might have everlasting life.

Most of the world is being asked to stay isolated from everyone because of the Covid-19 Pandemic we are going through. As we follow this counsel we can feel down and out, but if we have the faith to trust in The Lord Jesus Christ we will be comforted. Christ told his disciples:

 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nether let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

I love the account in the Gospel of St. Matthew where the disciples were on a boat and it was being tossed by the wind and waves and Jesus Christ comes to them walking on the water. Peter asked if he could come out on the water and Christ simply “come”. As long as Peter’s focus was on Jesus he was able to walk on the water, but as soon as he looked away and focused on the waves, he started to sink. He cried out: “Lord, save me”. The scriptures say: “immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him” (Matthew 14:22-31)

My hope and prayer is that in the midst of these troubled times that we will keep our focus on our Savior Jesus Christ. If we do, we will surely get through this difficult season. I testify that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that he will immediately reach down and catch us when we are sinking in troubled waters and we filled with the peace that only He can give.

Please watch the 5 mintue video below "My Peace I Give Unto You". Your questions and comments are welcome.

By the Hands of Wise Men

During the period between the time when the Church of Jesus Christ established at the time of Christ was taken from the earth and the promised restoration of all things was know as the dark ages. It was a time that the Old Testament Prophet Amos called a “famine of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11-12). After all the apostles died, the priesthood authority that they held was also lost. Revelation ceased and there was no one on the earth that could hear the word of the Lord. The earth plunged into the dark ages. This lasted until the spring of 1820 when a 14-year-old boy entered a grove of trees and prayed to know which church to join.

Getting from apostacy to restoration was no easy task but Lord knew what needed to be done and an American Prophet wrote about it 600 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. He said:

And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld many nations and kingdoms.

And the angel said unto me: What beholdest thou? And I said: I behold many nations and kingdoms.

And he said unto me: These are the nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles.

And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.

And it came to pass that I beheld many multitudes of the Gentiles upon the bland of promise; and I beheld the wrath of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren; and they were scattered before the Gentiles and were smitten.

And I beheld that their mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them.

And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together against them to battle.

And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations. (1 Nephi 13:1-19)

The Lord knew that changes in religious freedom needed to happen before his Gospel could be restored. Many reformers sought for religious reforms and were persecuted and killed for their ideas. Governments and churches persecuted and killed those who worked to make changes and to bring the bible to the common person. If a restoration was to succeed, a new form of government needed to be established.

Almost 2400 years before the U.S Constitution was established; the Lord showed a prophet that Columbus and later others would come to America. He saw those who would come to America seeking religious freedom. He was shown the revolutionary war and other wars and that the Lord would bless the young nation with independence from all other nations. But before The Gospel of Jesus Christ could be restored and survive more than a new government needed to be established, true religious freedom was needed.

The Articles of Confederation did not guarantee freedom of religion. Each state had their own “state” religion and if you did not belong to that church you were persecuted. Even though the churches were not government sponsored, the people that belonged to different churches migrated to areas where common believers lived and so they might as well have been state supported.

Not until the Constitution of the United States was ratified and became law was true religious freedom guaranteed and protected by law. The first amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. The first 10 amendments were ratified on September 25, 1789. Finally, a government with a constitution was established that would allow true religious freedom.

The new constitutional government would produce the religious revivals or great awakening from 1790-1820 and would be the beginning of the restoration of all things as foretold in the Book of Acts. It is during this time when Joseph Smith and his family started attending the religious revivals in their area leading Joseph to want to know which of the many churches was the true church of Jesus Christ.

Many of the delegates that helped write the constitution acknowledged the hand of God in founding of our constitutional government. Benjamin Franklin speaking to the constitutional delegates stated: "the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this Truth--that God governs in the Affairs of Men." "I also believe," Franklin continued, that "without his concurring Aid, we shall succeed in this political Building no better than the Builders of Babel." (http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06.html#obj145)

The Lord Jesus Christ speaking to his church on December 16, 1833 said:

“for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:80)

The eleventh article of faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says:

“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.”

Joseph Smith once said:

“I am bold to declare before Heaven that I am just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist, or a good man of any denomination; for the same principle which would trample upon the rights of the Latter-day Saints would trample upon the rights of the Roman Catholics, or of any other denomination who may be unpopular and too weak to defend themselves. It is a love of liberty which inspires my soul — civil and religious liberty to the whole of the human race.” (Joseph Smith – Religious Freedom)

These “wise men” understood that having a government that protected the right of all its citizens to worship God as they desired was important to the success of the new nation. It was important then and it is still important today; however, these freedoms are being restricted so much that the first amendment guarantees are being lost. All citizens of the United States, no matter what church they belong to, must do everything in their power to elect people that will protect the rights we were given in the first amendment. The future of our country depends on religious freedom.

Your comments and questions are welcome.

Apostasy and Restoration

My last post was about Joseph Smith’s vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ and how that was the beginning of the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ in our day. You might wonder why a restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ was necessary? To answer that question, we need to find out what the Church of Jesus Christ was.

During the mortal ministry of Jesus Christ, he organized His Church. In the Gospel of Mark we read that Jesus ordained twelve apostles and gave them authority to preach the gospel and baptize others (Mark 3:14-19).  The apostle Paul talks of other offices in the church and why they were part of Christ’s Church, he said:

“And he agave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:” (Ephesians 4:11-13)

What happened to the Church of Jesus Christ that was setup by Jesus and lead by his apostles after his death and resurrection? That church after the death of the apostles no longer existed. Christ and the apostles knew that this would happen. When the apostles came to Christ and asked him when he would come again, Christ said that it would not be soon. He said that they (the apostles) would be killed, that there would be many wars, famines, iniquity would abound, and that many false prophets would take their place. He also told them of many signs that would appear before his coming (Matthew 24). The apostle Paul said that Christ would not come until the Church of Christ would be destroyed (Thessalonians 2:1-3) and the apostle Peter said that Christ would not come again until after the restitution of all things (Acts 3:19-21). The second coming of Jesus Christ would not happen until his church would fall and then be restored again.

Not long after the original twelve apostle deaths, false teachings were common and taught as truth. Lost was the teaching related to the true nature of God and that we lived with him prior to being born in mortality as well as many other teachings. Elder Bruce R. McConkie, a modern apostle, taught:

“When the gospel sun went down almost two millennia ago, when the priesthood was taken away … and when those on earth no longer were taught and directed by apostles and prophets, then spiritual darkness reigned.” The scriptures were often kept from public use, false creeds were adopted, numerous pagans were forced to convert, and thousands of people accused of heresy were put to death. “The terrors of the night were real and the night was long—long and dark and black.” (Preparing for the Restoration)

To restore something means to bring it back again which is different from a reformation. Martin Luther and other Christian Reformers knew that the original church that Christ had established was no longer on the earth. They tried as best as they could, but they could not bring back the true gospel of Jesus Christ, it required a restoration of the same authority that Christ had given the ancient apostles.

That restoration began in the spring of 1820, when a 14-year-old boy named Joseph Smith went into a grove of trees to pray and ask God which of all the churches at that time was the true church. In answer to his prayer, God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ appeared to him and told him that his sins were forgiven, that the true church of Jesus Christ was no longer on the earth, and that through him the true church would be later restored. For more information on this experience you can read “Praise to the Man” from last month.

The true church of Jesus Christ today will have this same organization, teach the same Gospel that was taught by Christ and his apostles, and will not be the church of a man but be called the Church of Jesus Christ (3 Nephi 27:3-11). The only church that meets all of these is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is God’s true church on the earth today and has the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Russell M. Nelson is the Lord’s prophet today. In addition to having a modern prophet to guide us, we also have twelve living apostles to help perfect our families and “for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”.

Your comments and questions are always welcome.

Praise to the Man

April of this year – 2020, will be the 200^th anniversary of what is called the first vision. It is the vision that Joseph Smith had when he saw God and Jesus Christ. This vision started the restitution of all things that the Apostle Peter spoke about (Acts 3:21). Part of that restitution was restoring the Priesthood that Jesus Christ said he would give to Peter (Matthew 16:15-19) and was given to Peter, James and John on the mount of transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9). This same priesthood authority was given by Peter, James and John as resurrected beings to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery as well as the Aaronic Priesthood by John the Baptist (Doctrine and Covenants 27:7-9, 12). Having the two priesthoods restored once again, Joseph Smith was commanded by Jesus Christ to establish his church again on the earth, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Doctrine and Covenants 115:3-4).

 Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!

Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer.

Blessed to open the last dispensation,

Kings shall extol him, and nations revere.

Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven!

Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain.

Mingling with Gods, he can plan for his brethren;

Death cannot conquer the hero again. (Hymn #27)

We speak of Joseph Smith with reverence and there are those that accuse us of worshiping him. We do not worship Joseph Smith, we worship our Savior, Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith opened the windows of heaven and showed us the real God of Heaven and his Son, Jesus Christ. He taught that we are all sons and daughters of Heavenly Father and we lived with him prior to being born in mortality. He also taught that families are eternal, and marriage does not end at death, it can be eternal if we are married by the proper priesthood authority and are faithful to those marriage covenants.

First let’s look at what Joseph said about that vision with God and Jesus Christ. At age fourteen, Joseph and his family attended many of the religious revival meetings that were being held at that time. Joseph indicated that the ministers of the different churches claimed that their church was the true church. This was confusing to the boy Joseph. He said:

While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.

At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture. (Joseph Smith – History 1:11-13)

Joseph Smith did decide to ask God for help. He went into a grove of trees near his home and knelt down and offered up his prayer to God. While he was praying he said he saw a light over his head that descended gradually until it fell on him. He then said:

When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him! (Joseph Smith – History 1:17)

The personages that appeared to Joseph were God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. The first thing Joseph learned that day was that God and Jesus were two distinct individuals and not part of a trinity that the religions of his day taught and most still believe today. The purpose of Joseph’s prayer was to know what church he should join. When he asked his question of the Lord, Joseph said:

I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.” (Joseph Smith – History 1:19)

What an amazing experience that must have been for a fourteen-year-old boy? Is it hard to believe that such an experience could really have happened? If it were not for the many scriptures in the Old and New Testaments that tell of experiences of other prophets, some old and some very young, that had similar experiences it would be hard to believe. The scriptures say that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. If God appeared to prophets anciently then he could and would do it today.

There are only two possible answers to the question if Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, one answer is yes and the other no. Either he was telling the truth about his first vision with God and Jesus Christ or he was not. There is no partial truth. As you examine the fruits of his teachings and revelations the answer is yes, he was a true Prophet of God. The other important thing to consider is if he was a true prophet then all his revelations and teachings are true whether we understand or believe them or not. If Joseph Smith was a true prophet, you cannot disregard some teaching or principle because you don’t like it or understand it.

The same is true about the prophet that is leading the church today. If Joseph Smith was a true prophet and he did restore the true Church of Jesus Christ on the earth again, then all the prophets since are true prophets including the current Prophet, Russell M. Nelson. What he teaches today is God’s will no matter how much the world disagrees, or others try to persuade us otherwise. There is no middle ground. Either the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ or it isn’t.

To the honest seeker of truth, the promise is the same as it was for the young boy Joseph Smith, if you want to know the truth, ask God and he will give you the answer if you ask in sincere prayer.  Not only is the promise in James 5:1 apply to us today, but also the promise that the Prophet Moroni gave us:

I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. (Moroni 10:4)

I have tested the promise and can tell you that I know that Joseph Smith did see God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, that he did receive the priesthood authority to restore the true Church of Jesus Christ again on the earth, that President Russell M. Nelson is God’s Prophet today, that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by the power of God and it is another witness of Jesus Christ and that revelation continues from God to his prophets today.

I add my voice in praise to the man who communed with Jehovah. He was and is the prophet of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that Gospel and priesthood authority is in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Your comments and questions are welcome.

Ask of God - Joseph Smith's First Vision

Enduring Joy

What brings you joy? Pictures of rainbows, or sunrises? Seeing a soldier surprise his family when coming home? Maybe children playing together and having fun? Maybe it is eating that favorite dessert? There are many things that bring us joy, but what is joy and do you have it? If someone asked you to describe joy, how would you respond?

Seeing pictures like the ones described above on Facebook or Instagram make us smile and we feel joy, but then we see another post that we disagree with and the joy is gone! Is joy only found on our good days, or is it possible to feel joy while we, like Alexander, are having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day?

President Kevin Worthen, President of Brigham Young University, recently spoke about “Enduring Joy”. In his address President Worthen quoted from a talk that President Russell M. Nelson gave in 2016, he said:

“We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year!

“My dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.

“When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy.” (Joy and Spiritual Survival)

President Worthen suggested that one of the purposes of this life is to learn how to experience the type of joy that our Heavenly Father experiences. “This much seems clear from revelation,” he said. “Joy is not merely a temporary emotion, but rather a more permanent and constant condition” that comes from living according to God’s commandments. “Although one cannot experience “a fulness of joy” during mortality, President Worthen explained that “one of the purposes of this life is to develop our capacity for joy.” Cultivating joy now will result in a corresponding increase of joy in the next life.

We can experience joy, even on bad days. President Nelson said that we can “feel joy regardless of what is happening – or not happening – in our lives”. If our lives are Christ centered and we love God and others as we would have them love us, then we experience the enduring joy that helps us get through the tough times. President Worthen cautioned that if we are not feeling joy during a bad day, we should not think that we have failed:

“Don’t let Satan fool you into thinking that you are failing in your quest for joy because you have tough days,” President Worthen said. “All of us do.”

President Worthen shared six principles about enduring joy:

1. “We need to recognize, and constantly remember, that our ability to have joy in this life — and in the eternities — is not dependent on external circumstances.”
2. “We should recognize and remember that enduring joy, constant joy, does not mean uninterrupted bliss and a life free of challenges. Suffering and adversity are part of the eternal plan, a part of the process by which we come to develop enduring joy.”
3. “Recognize and remember that true joy, enduring joy, … ultimately comes only through keeping God’s commandments.”
4. “Repentance is a critical part of experiencing enduring joy.”
5. “Recognize and remember that joy is a principle of power [that] can increase our ability to stay on the covenant path.”
6. “We begin to have joy when we focus on Christ.” (Enduring Joy)

One example of someone that was experiencing this joy was Nephi in the Book of Mormon. Nephi’s brothers were trying to kill him and so Nephi took his family and those who would follow him and they fled into the wilderness many days. Nephi then said that they “lived after the manner of happiness” (2 Nephi 5). I would think that having my brothers try to kill me would qualify for a bad day and yet Nephi described their life as happy.

So, the next time you have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, you don’t need to go to Australia like Alexander wanted to do. Instead, turn to Christ and lose yourself in service to others. Enduring joy is possible “regardless of what is happening – or not happening –in our lives.

Your comments and questions are always welcome.

Why Do We Need the Scriptures?

Many have given their lives so that we can have the scriptures. William Tindell wanted everyone to have The Bible and read it and he was burned at the stake because he translated The Bible into English. How many lives were lost while attempting to preserve the writings of the prophets so we could read them? I am grateful for all the those who wrote their prophecies down and for those who preserved them for us today.

Nephi, the first prophet in the Book of Mormon said that his purpose in writing was: “the fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved”. (1 Nephi 6:4)

Mormon and Moroni dedicated their lives to abridging the records that had been kept for a thousand years so that we could have the scriptures known as the Book of Mormon. Moroni warned us that one day we would have to face him if we rejected his writings. He said:

“then shall ye know that I have seen Jesus, and that he hath talked with me face to face, and that he told me in plain humility, even as a man telleth another in mine own language, concerning these things. . . And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen.” (Ether 12:39, 41)

How much time do we spend in the scriptures? When we do read them, are we reading them like we do a novel, or do we study hungering to learn everything we can from them? Nephi suggested how we should study the scriptures when he said:

“ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a clove of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.” (2 Nephi 31:20)

One of my new goals for the year is to feast upon the words of Christ found in all our scriptures and the modern prophets. We live in the dispensation of the fullness of times and have living prophets to guide us through troubled times. I testify that as we take time daily to feast on the words of Christ, we will be protected from those who would have us stray from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What a blessing it is to have all the scriptures that have been preserved by God for us. What are you and your family doing with the scriptures?

I invite you to take the time to watch the following video: “Scriptures Legacy”. As always, your comments and questions are welcome.

We Must All Be Born Again

A new year always brings the idea of new year’s resolutions. I have been making new year’s resolutions for many years, but they do not usually last very long. Some of my resolutions include eating better, exercising more, reading the scriptures more, and the list goes on.

New year images also include a new born baby. One of the many news stories for the new year is the first baby born on the first day of the year. We have hope when we see a new born baby; hope for the future of the child. A new born child is fresh and clean, and his parents are there to protect and teach the child everything she will need to know to succeed.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all start over like a new born child? Not that I want to repeat growing up or experience my rebellious teenage years; but how would it be if we could forget all our troubles and mistakes and start over? We can, through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Jesus told Nicodemus: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Nicodemus was confused and asked if a man could enter his mother’s womb again? Jesus then explained that he was talking of a spiritual rebirth. President James E. Faust explained:

“Our first birth takes place when we are born into mortality. Our second birth begins when we are baptized by water by one holding the priesthood of God and is completed when we are confirmed, and then cometh a remission of [our] sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.” (Born Again).

President Faust tells of a man that had polio for 22 years and was bed ridden. The missionaries taught him the Gospel and he wanted to be baptized. The man asked the missionaries to fast with him so he would have the strength to be baptized. On the day of his baptism the missionaries carried him to the car and to a bench in the chapel. When it came time for him to be baptized he said:

“Elder Peters and his companion picked up Atiati and carried him to the font. As they did so, Atiati said, “Please, put me down.” They hesitated, and he said again, “Put me down.”

As they stood in some confusion, Atiati smiled and exclaimed: “This is the most important event in my life. I know without a doubt in my mind that this is the only way to eternal salvation. I will not be carried to my salvation!” So they lowered Atiati to the ground. After a huge effort, he managed to pull himself up. The man who had lain 20 years without moving was now standing. Slowly, one shaky step at a time, Atiati went down the steps and into the water, where the astonished missionary took him by the hand and baptized him. He then asked to be carried from the font to the chapel, where he was confirmed a member of the Church.

Atiati continued to progress so that he gained the ability to walk only by a cane. He told Elder Peters that he knew that he would be able to walk on the morning of his baptism. He said, “Since faith can move a stubborn mountain, I had no doubt in my mind that it would mend these limbs of mine.”9 I believe we can say that Atiati was truly born again!” (Born Again).

In the Book of Mormon, we read of King Benjamin’s address to his people before he died. His message was so powerful that the people cried with one voice:

“we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.

“And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.” (Mosiah 5:2-7)

The prophet Alma described how he repented of his sins and was born again:

“said he, I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the Spirit.

“And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;

“And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.” (Mosiah 27:24-26)

The process of spiritual rebirth is not easy, and it does not happen in an instant. It is a process of making the choice to follow the Savior’s example, of keeping the commandments and doing God’s will. Our rebirth may begin because of a spiritual experience as it did with King Benjamin’s people and with Alma, but if we do not have a change of heart and have no “disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” the process will not be complete, and we will not be perfected.

When King Benjamin’s people said that they had no more disposition to do evil, did it mean that they never sinned again? No, that is not possible. We are all imperfect beings and make mistakes. They meant that they would try to keep the commandments and live as God wanted them to live. As it was with them, so we must not expect to live perfect lives. When we sin or make a mistake, we must rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ to wipe away our sins. We must pray daily for forgiveness and continue with our resolve to avoid evil and do good continually.

Years later, Alma asked the people that had been born again after hearing King Benjamin’s address: “if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?” (Alma 5:26)

This is a question we must ask ourselves each day. As we kneel in prayer at the beginning of the day, we should ask The Father to help us to “have no disposition to do evil, but to do good continually”. Then as we close the day we should reflect on our resolve and ask ourselves if we can “feel so now” – if our rebirth process is still on track. If we have failed in any way, we need to repent and rely on the grace of Jesus Christ to help us do better the next day.

As we begin a new year, my hope and prayer is that we will all strive for a new birth in Jesus Christ. I testify that if we have faith in Jesus Christ and repent of our sins everyday that his grace will be sufficient to raise us up, cleansed from all our sins and we will qualify to live with him along with our family.

Your comments and questions are always welcome.