General Conference, ‘If Ye Love Me Keep My Commandments,’ October 2014; “In the premortal Council in Heaven, Lucifer rebelled against Heavenly Father’s plan. Those who followed Lucifer ended their eternal progression—be careful who you follow!
Then Jesus expressed His commitment to obey, saying, “Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.”1 … Because our Savior was obedient, He atoned for our sins, making possible our resurrection and preparing the way for us to return to our Heavenly Father, who knew we would make mistakes as we learned obedience in mortality. When we obey, we accept His sacrifice, for we believe that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws, ordinances, and commandments given in the gospel.4
Jesus taught us to obey in simple language that is easy to understand: “If ye love me, keep my commandments,”5 and “Come, follow me.”6” – Robert D. Hales
John 14:15-18; “15 ¶If ye love me, keep my commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”
Melissa sent me this dilemma a few weeks ago along with the comment ‘If only he practiced what he preached’.
A hearty amen to that one sister! Why haven’t they worried about who they follow? Why haven’t the leaders who are grown men and highly educated opened up a dictionary or their Bibles?
I’ve left the links intact in our LDS quote today so you can see what they’re using as references. When Mr. Hales used John 14:15 as a reference in this talk it prompted me to take a closer look.
I’m wondering why Mr. Hales left out the rest of the passage in John 14 which goes on to explain the Trinitarian nature of God. I realize it’s a rhetorical question that I already have an answer for, yet the question begs to be asked regardless.
Of course the reason Mr. Hales didn’t use the rest of John 14 is because the Church rejects God’s promise that His Spirit is omnipresent and omnipotent. They chose Joseph’s revelation over God’s revealed word.
The Church also rejects the idea that His Spirit resides inside each believer. Joseph Smith declared in D&C 130:23 the Holy Ghost can leave whenever he wants.
“A man may receive the Holy Ghost, and it may descend upon him and not tarry with him.”
Therein lies the problem as they say…sigh…
Dear friends, if we don’t have His Spirit to guide our day, each and every day, where does that leave us? Where does it leave you?
Jesus told His disciples (us too!) that He wouldn’t leave us comfortless. In vs. 18 the transliteration for comfortless is ‘orphanos’, and yes, it means what you think! He’s telling us we won’t be left parentless or without a father. If you’ve grown up in this type of home imagine always having someone looking out for you. He’s there 24/7, always to be trusted and counted upon with no questions asked.
The rest of Mr. Hales talk is fraught with errors and without biblical merit in any of the claims he made. If you’re LDS, please, take the time to look at each thing he said in this talk and compare them with biblical standards.
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