‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?’ Jeremiah 17:9
General Conference, ‘By Union of Feeling We Obtain Power’, October 2020 “As we seek union of feeling, we will call down the power of God to make our efforts whole. …
‘…On June 9, the Prophet said… It grieves me that there is no fuller fellowship—if one member suffer all feel it—by union of feeling we obtain pow’r with God.’
…That small sentence struck me like lightning. By union of feeling we obtain power with God. … How will I create that “union of feeling” when all are so different? … What power from God might I access if I am just a little bit more unified with others? …
We may not yet be where we want to be, and we are not now where we will be. I believe the change we seek in ourselves and in the groups we belong to will come less by activism and more by actively trying every day to understand one another. Why? Because we are building Zion—a people “of one heart and one mind.”” — Sharon Eubank, First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency
John 17:3 “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
James 4:4 “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
We had a small delay in looking at a talk given at GC, but for good reason! What I thought was going to be a simple post for the day turned into one delay after another. While bemused with simple interruptions, Jesus has taught me over the years to take things as they come, and this past weekend was a good reminder of that.
My church has been doing meetings online because of COVID, and this past Sunday was the same with one exception. A guest speaker, Eugene Cho, preached a sermon using the Beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. He pointed out the dangers of cultural Christianity, and what it can mean not only to us individually, but as a society as well.
He began by stating cultural Christianity is the biggest threat to the Church today, and seeps in with complacency of accepting one seemingly benign thing after another, into our hearts. While his talk wasn’t about Mormonism per se, it pointed out the haunting danger of the end results aligning ourselves to others by trying to understand them, and not learning more about the nature and character of God. You can advocate for others (Mt 5:3-10) without compromising your integrity.
In other words, while it’s always of great import to love everyone, it’s beyond dangerous to accept sinful behavior because it’s what everyone around you believes. The Kingdom of God transcends all that, and has no room for political correctness.
Pastor Cho pointed out the disastrous results of two so-called ‘Christian’ countries who went with the flow; Rwanda, and Germany. ‘Christians’ felt more compelled to understand people, and rejected learning more about the Lord.
In 1939, 94% of Germany professed to be Christian, and 55 years later in 1994, 93% of Rwandans professed Christianity. As a reminder, 800,000 died in 100 days of the Rwandan genocide, and 6-8 million Jews died during Hitler’s regime. These were all so-called professing Christians who committed to following a government, in lieu of God.
While it may seem odd I’m using such comparisons, the reality is that following an ‘ism’, no matter its cause, has the same result when it’s not from God – death. It’s not for us to try and understand mankind. That’s the job of the Lord.
Our job as believers is to understand, and learn all we can, about the Lord instead of others. Interestingly, here’s what it says about Nazis on Wikipedia –
“Nazism wanted to transform the subjective consciousness of the German people—their attitudes, values and mentalities—into a single-minded, obedient “national community”.” — Religion in Nazi Germany
Pray for all those who listened to this woman’s talk. We’re also asking you pray Ms. Eubank would turn to Jesus, and not Joe Smith’s erroneous philosophies, and those of LDS leaders today.
Below are a handful of scriptures reminding us of how important it is to focus on our Lord, and not the world.
With Love in Christ;
Michelle
1 Chronicles 28:9 “And you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve him with single mind and willing heart; for the LORD searches every mind, and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will abandon you forever.”
Proverbs 8:17 “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.”
Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”
Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Philippians 3:10 “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death”.
2 Peter 3:18 “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Mormons encourage “feelings” as a means of recognizing God’s spirit inside the congregations. Just about every speaker I have listened to over the years, has mentioned “feeling the spirit”. What these speakers are really saying is: “I can feel the spirit, therefore, you must also “feel the spirit” God’s spirit does not reside among people that deny God’s nature nor His Word.
“See to it that nobody takes you captive by Philosophy (D&C) and deceit (Book of Abraham), according to human tradition (Brigham Young on Race), according to elemental spirits of this world (Saving Ordinances) and not according to God (Hisd Word)”