THE DoC IS AT IT OVER ON THE JOHN PONTIUS SITE

Sheesh, so glad I saw this.  Terry (John’s widow) just basically said she had enough with the DoC trolls.  I have had to toss a few of my own lately who refuse to be respectful or use my platforms for recruiting.  These guys are everywhere.  Some good words here:

This site has always been a wonderful forum for gospel discussion and sweet fellowship among like-minded Latter-day Saints. However, I have noted a hint of criticism creeping in lately, and this concerns me greatly. I feel compelled to immediately stop this apostate-leaning conversation, and have deleted a few of the postings. I hope I do not offend anyone in doing so.

Let John Pontius himself bear his testimony of the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

"With words that thunder in our hearts and around the world, NOTHING IS AMISS! The Church is not damaged or asleep. We have all we need; everything is before us. The doctrine is pure, and the promises are being poured out." (Journey to the Veil II, pg. 90)

Here is another quote from my husband, which he wrote in "Following the Light of Christ Into His Presence" (and similarly in other writings):

"In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we are uniquely blessed with multiple sources of truth. The “word of God” takes many valuable forms, all of which are indispensable in our lives. The scriptures are the standard of truth and the yardstick by which all doctrine is measured. The voices of the living prophets are God’s mind and will to the church. There could not be a true church without a living prophet's divinely inspired guidance. Personal revelation (among other things) is the divine witness whereby we are able to recognize the scripture or the words of the latter-day prophets as the “word of God.” Without the inspiration of personal revelation, we would not have a testimony of any form of the “word of God” (Moroni 10:5).

"There should never be a circumstance when any of these three conflict. Particularly in the case of personal revelation, we must measure, and judge the validity of what we receive by those other two sources. If we find we have received a prompting that conflicts with either of these other two, it should be abandoned immediately as being incorrect. Any person who achieves a full and profound measure of personal revelation will be in full harmony with the Brethren, and with the scriptures."

This was John's fervent and often-expressed testimony, and it is mine as well. If you are having struggles with your faith, we will be happy to communicate with you personally; however, I do ask that this UnBlog group remains TOTALLY free from any and all criticism of the Church or the ordained Brethren. The Lord honors that priesthood line of authority, there is no doubt about it.

Let's all just take a deep breath, and accept in faith that despite all, this Church will continue through the Millennium, and will never be taken from the earth (Daniel 2:44; D&C 65). When this fact becomes a solid of our faith, we will find true peace, no matter what comes along. And we will be aligned with Christ so that we may receive His charity and better serve His children--the greatest gift of all.

Here is a response of mine to a comment on who they are - and yes, they are the worst of the worst anti-Mormons out there, who seem to fit Joseph's statements that you can leave the Church, but you can never leave it alone.  The problem being that you are not leaving the Catholic Church or some other entity to make an upward move greater light and knowledge (you would be glad to move on to the better thing, and quite frankly, be happy for the upward bump, as you would leaving a toxic relationship and being with the spouse of your dreams; you almost forget that they existed).  But, it is an entirely different scenario if you leave something because you do not measure up (WoW, tithing or adultery issues and so much else) and then have to settle for a lesser lot in life.  This is why the d'evil and his minions gnash and fight and quarrel.  They know they screwed up and have gotten the short end of the schtick and will never be truly fulfilled by the peace that true Gospel adherence brings.  Their goal then is to make everyone miserable like unto themselves.  Instead of repenting early on, they are now stuck in a cycle of misery and their flame is never quenched.  A bad place to be.

I have been at the brink of the cliff.  I recently (thanks to my wife's gentle nudging) felt to repent of my poor attitudes towards the Brethren (my criticizing of the shaht) and for the first time in some time, I have had the Spirit back in my life in some measure.  Had I continued to harden my heart, I would have just kept sliding.  Fact is this:  no one is truly happy outside the net of the Gospel.  It simply is not possible.  I could cite hundreds of cases.  It just simply never ends well with the person in a better place.  In fact, buffeting comes to mind along with much else.

The plight of the devil and his minions prove it - and it provides a quantifiable end point of where the whole thing ends up when you are finally sealed his.

It is NOT a game and the consequences are real.  They are as real as they were for 1/3 of the hosts of heaven in the last critical juncture and it was decision time on whom we would choose to follow.