If these gifts are not among us, then we are all pretty much damned and our futures are bleak. The judgment will not be well for us.
It is for this reason I am always pushing these gifts - and the free exercise of them. And doing my darndest in my exasperation at our awful state, to exercise the greatest of all - which is Charity, or the pure love of Christ. I sure hope I do not have to exercise it towards obummer. Right now, my greatest desire is to see him six feet under (along with soros and clinton), so I can save up for a day or two and take a monster pee on the headstones...... It will be quite the moment....... if I can swing it.
Here is the scrip that got me spun up. Every time I read it, I get a sinking feeling - because I realize that if you try to exercise any gift openly in any way in the Church (or out of it), you are swatted down for it. At the very least, you have to operate in hushed tones and do a little "ichthusing" to navigate the crowd without incurring damage:
24 And now I speak unto all the ends of the earth—that if the day
cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall
be because of unbelief.
25 And wo be unto the children
of men if this be the case; for there shall be none that doeth good among you,
no not one. For if there be one among you that doeth good, he shall work by the
power and gifts of God.
26 And wo unto them who shall
do these things away and die, for they die in their sins, and they cannot be
saved in the kingdom of God; and I speak it according to the words of Christ;
and I lie not.
This is part of the awful situation we are in, as a group. We have collectively largely denied the Gifts of God. There is a collective price to pay for this. We are judged individually, as couples, as families, as wards, as cities, as states, as a nation, as a world. We collectively merit our portion that was given (or not given) toward the greater good. We choose our outcome. It is quite simple - there is no mystery to it.
This is part of the awful situation we are in, as a group. We have collectively largely denied the Gifts of God. There is a collective price to pay for this. We are judged individually, as couples, as families, as wards, as cities, as states, as a nation, as a world. We collectively merit our portion that was given (or not given) toward the greater good. We choose our outcome. It is quite simple - there is no mystery to it.
It may be a minority but there are plenty who still believe wholeheartedly in the gifts of God and the free exercise of those. These include both LDS and others.
ReplyDeleteThey are here. Gifts of God include anything that can help further his work and glory. With increasing darkness can be found compensatory increasing light. "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
ReplyDeleteAnd also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke." (Joel 2:28-30)
That's our day.
The Ensign magazine recently reprinted a wonderful short discourse on the topic, written more than a hundred years ago, yet just as applicable today.
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2016/04/seeking-spiritual-gifts?lang=eng
Rhonda, don't those verses occur AFTER Christ's return in the Millennium?
ReplyDeleteTwo things regarding the verses quoted from Joel.
ReplyDeleteFirst, if theses verses occur AFTER Christ's return, then the next verse is out of order:
"The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come." (Joel 2:31)
Verse 31 very clearly states "before." My understanding is these verses are all part of the last days and events and prophesies which are to be fulfilled before the Second Coming.
Additionally there is President Hinckley's October 2001 General Conference talk, Living in the Fulness of Times. He states, "The vision of Joel has been fulfilled wherein he declared," and then he quotes Joel 2:28-32.
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2001/10/living-in-the-fulness-of-times?lang=eng