I have reached my limit trying to adhere to "Christianity." I know without a doubt that Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God, as foretold by the prophets of the Almighty Father, the creator of Earth and Heaven. This Almighty gave birth to the elements and gathered them together to form man. The breath of the Almighty has been endowed in all sons of Adam and this is our everlasting soul.
The Christian religion is in shambles and being travestied every next day. There is no currently correct established Christian faith. I argue scripture and people come out with various translations that are significantly different than the LV, but who can even be sure the LV is correct? It is the oldest complete text, but supposedly is ripe with things that are not properly contextualized. That said, the Catholics and Orthodox probably come the closest simply because they pursue virtue and the practice of virtue, right or wrong, invokes favor from God. This, I think, is why the Muslims are more resilient from Satan's tricks than modern Christians are. Christians have traded virtue for convenience and more Muslims, however wrong they are, view luxury as decadence while actively invoking the Almighty.
The True Religion only exists within the human soul. When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, we became as God and Christ the Governor, suddenly being able to discern evil from good. Being their posterity we have inherited the knowledge. It is not something that has to be taught or otherwise imputed into us at any age, we simply know how to be good. Even the evil among us speak of this: evil masquerades as good and believes itself to be so. Only complete lunatics and fruit cakes actively *think* they are evil.
How does one receive the religion of God?
1. You must invoke __the GOD__. This is the God of creation. Do not invoke lesser gods or limit GOD'S power in your contemplation of Him. He is the Father of all. Nothing has ever been created but through the Father of all.
2. Surrender yourself to the Christ. Christ is the Spirit which navigated the waters before creation. Christ is the GOD which governs the Father's creation. Christ rules over the physical world and He alone holds the key to eternity. The Christ is made manifest in the Faithful (the Church). "Any who meet in my name, I will be there in the midst of them." "Know ye not that you are the Temple of the Spirit which dwells inside you?" The Christ is invoked by virtuous physical action and responds in kind to charity, according to the will of his Father. Christ reads your actions, whereas the Father reads your heart. The Christ is Jesus, who lives forever in the flesh and will return with the resurrection.
3. Once you have invoked God and surrendered yourself to Christ, God will search your heart for your faith through temptation. Satan will follow after. Faith is a great mixture of things. First, it is utter belief in God and Jesus Christ. Second, it is practicing virtue for the sake of love. There is no selfishness in faith. Third, it is retaining virtue for the sake of love through all the trials of life. Love being love for your family and those sojourning among you. Love is actively seeking to compel them to ultimate virtue (NOT HAPPINESS OR COMFORT).. it is not a simple emotion, but the selfless actions that would and should be procured by this emotion.
4. When you have been found faithful, you will receive the Holy Spirit. The test of faith has no set time. God simply searches your heart and this search exists outside of time. If it is good, then you will receive communion with the faithful and the Holy Spirit will live within you.
5. THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL LEAVE IF FAITH IS NOT MAINTAINED. Life will continue as it always has. But now, having the Holy Spirit and the Christ watching over you, the temptations will become apparent. You will feel shame at your wicked thoughts and actions. God is watching. Follow the Commandments, follow St. Paul's advice. An unrepentant sinner will not receive eternal life. YOU ARE EXPECTED TO RESIST TEMPTATIONS. Satan will attempt to convince you otherwise, the Protestants will say "oh well, you're already saved so go be an Adulterer!" Catholics will say "sin and confess!" NO. God will hold you in his favor UNTIL YOU STRAY AGAIN.
6. God will assist you against the temptations of Satan. Call upon Him and ask him for his Seven Spirits. There is an entire host of Heaven, DO NOT WORSHIP IT, but God will send his army to you. The Saints pray for you, the Angels watch over you and the Seven Sprits will guide you in this world. These same will advocate for or condemn you in the day of your Judgement.
7. As St. Paul says, remain in constant prayer. We can come to understand concepts by the worship done by the Israelites, although they were caught in the devil's letter instead of God's spirit. They prayed outwardly and utilized action to pray. This is what the Christian ought to do, but correctly. Sacrifices are done in the spirit. As Israel fanned the life blood of the sacrifice onto the alter, we fan the life blood of Christ onto the Church. Meaning do charity. Be good to your brothers and sisters. Sacrifice your own comfort for the comfort of another. Provide a shoulder for a sister to cry on. Expect nothing in return, and accept nothing in return. This is because faith is love and love alone. Prayer is accomplished in goodness of soul and person.
8. Money is Satan. The primary thought of the Christian should be emotionally distancing oneself from money as much as possible. Raise your own food if this is possible. Make your own clothes, or do not seek vanity in choosing them but thriftiness (I speak as a hypocrite). Do not seek fancy cars and things. It is good to save money and this is what one should do with excess. A genuine character and money is what procures success in this world, and that should not be ignored because this must be by God's consent. However, money is evil and it should be used as a tool instead of a life.
9. The Christian should understand that evil is simply anything that is bad for the community. We do not have to look into the scripture and say "homosexuality is a sin because it says so here." It is a sin because it is unhealthy for society. Vanity, luxury, excessive consumption, effeminacy, promiscuity, laziness.. These personal characteristics are sins because they actively degrade society.
10. The Christian must rebuke evil by any means. Evil uses deception, and Christians should also use deception when working against Satan. This is permitted by God in the OT, where various Hebrews lied to save Israel to exact vengeance against strangers who dishonored their daughters. We are in a continuous fight against the demons who lie and mask their intentions to obtain positions of power over us. Christianity in Roman Empire used subtlety to gain the majority, then the mask fell off, words ended and the sword was drawn. Satan will do the same against us. Lie your way into power if you must. Deceive the infidel to protect the Church, but never deny Christ even with threat of death. To die for the faithful is the ultimate honor.
The Christian religion is in shambles and being travestied every next day. There is no currently correct established Christian faith. I argue scripture and people come out with various translations that are significantly different than the LV, but who can even be sure the LV is correct? It is the oldest complete text, but supposedly is ripe with things that are not properly contextualized. That said, the Catholics and Orthodox probably come the closest simply because they pursue virtue and the practice of virtue, right or wrong, invokes favor from God. This, I think, is why the Muslims are more resilient from Satan's tricks than modern Christians are. Christians have traded virtue for convenience and more Muslims, however wrong they are, view luxury as decadence while actively invoking the Almighty.
The True Religion only exists within the human soul. When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, we became as God and Christ the Governor, suddenly being able to discern evil from good. Being their posterity we have inherited the knowledge. It is not something that has to be taught or otherwise imputed into us at any age, we simply know how to be good. Even the evil among us speak of this: evil masquerades as good and believes itself to be so. Only complete lunatics and fruit cakes actively *think* they are evil.
How does one receive the religion of God?
1. You must invoke __the GOD__. This is the God of creation. Do not invoke lesser gods or limit GOD'S power in your contemplation of Him. He is the Father of all. Nothing has ever been created but through the Father of all.
2. Surrender yourself to the Christ. Christ is the Spirit which navigated the waters before creation. Christ is the GOD which governs the Father's creation. Christ rules over the physical world and He alone holds the key to eternity. The Christ is made manifest in the Faithful (the Church). "Any who meet in my name, I will be there in the midst of them." "Know ye not that you are the Temple of the Spirit which dwells inside you?" The Christ is invoked by virtuous physical action and responds in kind to charity, according to the will of his Father. Christ reads your actions, whereas the Father reads your heart. The Christ is Jesus, who lives forever in the flesh and will return with the resurrection.
3. Once you have invoked God and surrendered yourself to Christ, God will search your heart for your faith through temptation. Satan will follow after. Faith is a great mixture of things. First, it is utter belief in God and Jesus Christ. Second, it is practicing virtue for the sake of love. There is no selfishness in faith. Third, it is retaining virtue for the sake of love through all the trials of life. Love being love for your family and those sojourning among you. Love is actively seeking to compel them to ultimate virtue (NOT HAPPINESS OR COMFORT).. it is not a simple emotion, but the selfless actions that would and should be procured by this emotion.
4. When you have been found faithful, you will receive the Holy Spirit. The test of faith has no set time. God simply searches your heart and this search exists outside of time. If it is good, then you will receive communion with the faithful and the Holy Spirit will live within you.
5. THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL LEAVE IF FAITH IS NOT MAINTAINED. Life will continue as it always has. But now, having the Holy Spirit and the Christ watching over you, the temptations will become apparent. You will feel shame at your wicked thoughts and actions. God is watching. Follow the Commandments, follow St. Paul's advice. An unrepentant sinner will not receive eternal life. YOU ARE EXPECTED TO RESIST TEMPTATIONS. Satan will attempt to convince you otherwise, the Protestants will say "oh well, you're already saved so go be an Adulterer!" Catholics will say "sin and confess!" NO. God will hold you in his favor UNTIL YOU STRAY AGAIN.
6. God will assist you against the temptations of Satan. Call upon Him and ask him for his Seven Spirits. There is an entire host of Heaven, DO NOT WORSHIP IT, but God will send his army to you. The Saints pray for you, the Angels watch over you and the Seven Sprits will guide you in this world. These same will advocate for or condemn you in the day of your Judgement.
7. As St. Paul says, remain in constant prayer. We can come to understand concepts by the worship done by the Israelites, although they were caught in the devil's letter instead of God's spirit. They prayed outwardly and utilized action to pray. This is what the Christian ought to do, but correctly. Sacrifices are done in the spirit. As Israel fanned the life blood of the sacrifice onto the alter, we fan the life blood of Christ onto the Church. Meaning do charity. Be good to your brothers and sisters. Sacrifice your own comfort for the comfort of another. Provide a shoulder for a sister to cry on. Expect nothing in return, and accept nothing in return. This is because faith is love and love alone. Prayer is accomplished in goodness of soul and person.
8. Money is Satan. The primary thought of the Christian should be emotionally distancing oneself from money as much as possible. Raise your own food if this is possible. Make your own clothes, or do not seek vanity in choosing them but thriftiness (I speak as a hypocrite). Do not seek fancy cars and things. It is good to save money and this is what one should do with excess. A genuine character and money is what procures success in this world, and that should not be ignored because this must be by God's consent. However, money is evil and it should be used as a tool instead of a life.
9. The Christian should understand that evil is simply anything that is bad for the community. We do not have to look into the scripture and say "homosexuality is a sin because it says so here." It is a sin because it is unhealthy for society. Vanity, luxury, excessive consumption, effeminacy, promiscuity, laziness.. These personal characteristics are sins because they actively degrade society.
10. The Christian must rebuke evil by any means. Evil uses deception, and Christians should also use deception when working against Satan. This is permitted by God in the OT, where various Hebrews lied to save Israel to exact vengeance against strangers who dishonored their daughters. We are in a continuous fight against the demons who lie and mask their intentions to obtain positions of power over us. Christianity in Roman Empire used subtlety to gain the majority, then the mask fell off, words ended and the sword was drawn. Satan will do the same against us. Lie your way into power if you must. Deceive the infidel to protect the Church, but never deny Christ even with threat of death. To die for the faithful is the ultimate honor.
Raised people from the dead, healed an entire towns of people from malaria, had multiple visitations of multiple angels, God and Jesus with multiple witnesses present at the time.
There's so many miracles he experienced and performed it's ridiculous, honestly. Jesus prophesied that his disciples would do even greater miracles than he did, and I can testify that Joseph Smith and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have done far more miracles than were ever mentioned in the New Testament.
> what exactly did Joseph Smith do and why?
Joseph Smith is hard to put in a box. In short, he was visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ at the age of 14. He was subsequently visited by multiple angels and by God and Jesus many more times. He restored lost doctrines and histories fragments of which were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and other recently discovered texts. Under direction of Jesus Christ, Peter, James and John he restored the church organization complete with apostles and prophets and such. He also received all the keys of all the dispensations and began the work that needs to happen before Jesus Christ can come to the earth again alluded to in the last verses of Malachi. And I'm only touching the tip of the iceberg.
In terms of who he was and what his mission is, I think the closest comparison is Moses or perhaps Enoch. The difference being that Jesus is preparing the earth for his rule and reign, so the work today is much greater than then.
> Catholic church did miracles
Miracles attend to ALL the faithful saints who follow Jesus Christ. I love my brothers and sisters who worship Christ in purity but who aren't members of my church (yet). I pray that God pours out blessings on their heads too.
> Satan can pretend to be an angel of light
We're well aware of that. Early on in the work, in fact, right before he was visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ, Satan tried to destroy Joseph Smith but he was able to overcome him with the power of Christ. The early church was sorely tempted by Satan in multiple ways. We know Satan very well as an enemy to our church and our work.
If you want some examples of how Satan operates, you don't have to search very far for people who are passionately opposed to the church to find his minions. The truth of the work is testified both by its adherents and the people who are trying to destroy it.
> rejection of the flesh
This is a false idea that comes from the pagan religions of the Greeks and Hindus. The flesh is not unholy. Jesus prayed, "Thy kingdom come, they will be done, ON EARTH as it is in heaven." We cannot become fully holy without our physical bodies.
Notably, all of the earthly passions we feel are not wrong as long as they are exercised under the constraints that Jesus puts on them. For instance, sex is wonderful -- if practiced as a married couple. Outside of that, it becomes horrible and degenerate.
Having mortal passions, being tempted by the flesh, this is not a sin nor is it evil. It is just life. Learn to live with it.
> there is absolutely more to casting out Satan / temptation
There is a difference between the inward struggle we face as mortal men subject to passions and such, and Satan's corrupting power and destructive influence.
Do not think that God will instantly free you from all of your temptations. He gave them to you for a reason. You are supposed to learn how to control them and manage them. Paul mentions this in his letters. As far as I know, Paul was never freed from his temptations, but struggled with them for the rest of his life.
Rather than pray for release from mortal passions, pray that God can give you strength to overcome or control them.
> money
Christ was already taken care of, money wise. The gift of gold likely paid for his entire life, plus carpenters weren't poor in the ancient world.
In terms of being paid to preach, absolutely that is not right. Paul mentions how he worked with his own hands to provide for himself and others while he ministered. That is the pattern we should follow.
But being wealthy is no sin either, provided you use that wealth in a way that pleases God. You must understand that we in the modern world are wealthy beyond imagination compared to the ancients. They lived in absolute poverty that we can't even imagine anymore. I thank God that I am wealthy because were I not, I wouldn't be able to do a fraction of what I can do for the kingdom today.
> churches are not a bastion of tradition and morality anymore
My friend, you really need to look into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I very much disagree. It is not difficult to live in what we today would consider prude conditions if society adheres to these conditions and virtue is the premier characteristic instead of wealth or vanity. Sparta had it right. Individually they lived in poverty, but because of this, together they were the greatest among the ancients.
>Christ was already taken care of, money wise
A few of his apostles were fishermen and they appeared to keep near the rivers and coasts. Man needs 3 things: clean water, food and to keep dry within a certain temperature range. All else is excess. Jesus was not a rich man. He did not hoard gold. Anything his disciples did have was common and Acts gives us a hint of the economy of the early Church.
I MIGHT look into Mormonism a little more but my initial thoughts are that you're a heretical sect. Besides, I live in Indiana. Where am I going to find Mormons here? I think it was legal to kill them on site until like 1930.
Of course we are going to be considered heretical by degenerate Christians. They consider heterosexual relationships heretical now. And don't you say "Christ is King!" or they will scream "heresy!"
> Indiana
That was Missouri. They got butt-hurt that they got their butts kicked by a bunch of mormon boys. Pissed their pants when they had to face us off in battle and (falsely) claimed that they were all massacred by us. We also held off the US army when it tried to invade Utah with three guys and a canyon.
Look up churchofjesuschrist.org if you want to learn more and meet the missionaries. There's a bunch in Indiana. We're everywhere. The church is growing, we proselyte hard, and we marry young and have lots of babies.
Beware, it reads like a set of japanese stereo instructions written in ancient sumerian and you'll get sick of every phrase starting with "And it came to pass."
Joseph Smith was high on his own con-man farts when he wrote it.
Repent of your sins.
YOUR FATHER IS SATAN, THE LIAR
The Bible teaches explicitly against some aspects of what you call the Trinity. It teaches quite clearly that God the Father and Jesus Christ are separate just like the disciples and Jesus are separate. Read John 17 to understand what "one" means. You'll note the concepts about consubstantiality or hypostatic union were entirely foreign to early Christians and made up to try and make Christianity look more like Greek pagan philosophy. Early Christians were fine with counting to 3. Once the apologists took over all of a sudden everyone forgot how math works and what "person" means.
Also, when you see "one God" in the Old Testament, it does NOT mean what you think it means. I won't go into too many details, but you can look up the biblical research and scholarly examinations of the passages people like to cite. In both cases, the text simply says "God is really, really awesome unlike all the other loser gods".
I can give you hours of lectures on what the words "el" "elohim" "demon" etc really mean. I won't distract from this but basically the modern idea of there only being one god while all the other "gods" are just fantasy and made up is ridiculous and certainly not based on anything the Bible says about it.
We have a quote we like to share about adherents to the Trinity, something along the lines of "They believe in a God without parts or passion, in essence, nothing at all, and so they are really atheists." One of my favorite logical syllogisms is simply this: "Jesus is God; Jesus has a body; therefore God has a body."
> Satan and Jesus are brothers
Hitler is a human. Gandhi is a human. OHMYGOSH DID YOU JUST SAY THAT HITLER AND GANDHI ARE TEH SAME PERSON?!
Satan chose a different path, so he was cast out of heaven and can never, ever become like Jesus. The fact that they were once similar means nothing. Satan chose his path, Jesus chose his. They are only enemies now. We can choose to follow Satan's path or Jesus' path. It's up to us to decide.
> additional revelations
Think of it this way. When Jesus appeared in the first century, people thought he was a fake because he didn't match THEIR understanding of what the Bible said he would be. Who was right? Jesus or the people's interpretation of the Bible? Paul did the same thing, re-interpreting the Old Testament to show that Jesus was prophesied since ancient times, not the false messiah who was going to beat up Rome and conquer the world through violence.
Prophets don't change the words. They explain the words. Jesus was teaching his disciples that they misunderstood what Isaiah was saying, and so Jesus' words are more important than THEIR UNDERSTANDING of Isaiah's words.
Joseph Smith did the same. People's understanding of the Bible was wrong. He had the spirit of prophecy so he was able to explain what they got right and what they got wrong. That's all it is. We do NOT believe that subsequent revelation replaces previous revelation. In fact, we teach that subsequent revelation CANNOT contradict previous revelation. That's one sign you have a false prophet or a false spirit. Instead, subsequent scripture should **CLARIFY** previous revelation, just like the New Testament illuminated the Old Testament.
That said, because of how language and culture and tradition works, if you want to really understand what the scriptures are saying, you have to listen to the living prophet, who understands your language and culture and traditions and can explain things in a way that you can understand it too. If you want to go to ancient prophets to learn things, you also have to learn their language, tradition and culture and even then you're going to miss some things that were obvious back then but not today.
> planet
That is a lie told by people who don't understand the first thing about what the Bible has to say about it.
Look up "deification" or "theosis." It is an ancient doctrine that is well-established by the earliest writings, and even the Orthodox church teaches it today.
We believe that we will become ONE with Christ as Christ is ONE with the Father. See Rev. 3:21 and John 17 for further context. There are other great scriptures that explain this idea but those are my go-to verses. If you want some modern revelation on it, see Doctrine and Covenants 76 and 84:33-44.
We are quite open about the fact that we are destined to become **like** God. We teach quite openly that those who overcome by faith will inherit EVERYTHING the Father has. Not just a planet or two, or a galaxy or whatever. We will be joint-heirs with Christ, as the Bible says.
The fact that Western Christianity lost this key doctrine shows how corrupt Western Christianity is. It's plainly in the Bible, in multiple ways and places, and it's still a strong traditional doctrine taught in the Orthodox church. The church fathers knew all about it. It was the big reason, I think, that Christianity spread so quickly among the pagans.
> Book of Mormon
You won't know what is in the Book of Mormon unless you read it.
Satan has put forward tremendous efforts to convince good people not to read the book. That's because he knows what happens to people who read it.