May 10 — Is He Your Guide? Ephesians 1:22 ‘And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church.’
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When I became a Christian, watching how the body of Christ operated totally removed the blinder of lies I had always worn. It didn’t take long to see it was through the power of His Holy Spirit that people were eager to fill any needed roles.
While each member of the church is called to serve in some capacity (Eph. 4:11), their daily guidance comes from only One source, that being Jesus, and what He has said in His word. To name a few of those roles in Ephesians, we have pastors who are called to expound doctrine from His word to their congregation, teachers who provide insight on how to study His word, and evangelists who share the good news wherever they’re sent (Mark 16:15). Even with all these positions, there is only One who is in charge: Jesus Christ.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say we’re to be guided by ‘living oracles’ as claimed by Mr. Woodruff. How can Jesus be the head of all things if we’re guided by the words of Mormon leaders? History has shown their mandates have changed with whatever was/is PC at the time. Surely, Jesus can’t be the head if you’re guided by mankind.
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Journal of Discourses 9:324 “Now, we may take the Bible, the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, and we may read them through, and every other revelation that has been given to us, and they would scarcely be sufficient to guide us twenty-four hours. We have only an outline of our duties written; we are to be guided by the living oracles.” — Wilford Woodruff, Great Salt Lake, April 8, 1862
The church wants it’s members to ignore the voice of the shepherd and to follow the voice of it’s prophet. In Acts 19:15, non-believers, scuh as church leaders tried to use the power of God by using the name of Jesus to rebuke demons. They had seen Paul and other disciples do it, so they thought that the name of Jesus had some magical power to it. In one instance, a priest was trying to invoke the name of Jesus to remove a demon from a person. The demon said: “Jesus, I know and Paul I know, but who are you? The demon possessed man than became violent and jumped on those around him.
Botom line, concentrate on Jesus, accept him as your lord and savior. Pretending to be a Voice of God, such as are many Mormon church officals, is only going to draw them further from God and into the hands of the enemy.