I Believe: Part 3

(Video presentation part 1part 2, and part 3) (the text and video do not exactly align)

To reiterate,

I believe we lived with our heavenly parents and fellow siblings of the human race for a very long time as intelligent spirits before we came to this earth. I believe that our Father in Heaven created this earth as an aid in our quest to become as he is, given that said quest entails the reception of bodies and the acquisition of experience therein. The pain and joy we experience in this life are critical teaching tools from our heavenly parents.

I believe that our Father in Heaven has created an immense number of planets, many of which he has tailored through specific astronomical arrangements to suit human life. I believe these planets serve the same purpose to others of his children as our earth does for us, as his desires for the complete progress of his children are universal. I believe that our Father in Heaven has power over all operations which affect us, and that he allows us to have the agency to make our own moral choices.

I believe that to make mercy available to us, Father in Heaven directed his most advanced son, a divine being named Jesus Christ, to perform a vicarious atonement in our behalf. I believe that everyone, even those who feel weak unclean or simple, can become like our Father in Heaven as they sincerely attempt to make good choices today, and, when they understand and believe in the role of Jesus Christ, access his assistance.

I believe that our Father in Heaven has made arrangements for the entire human race to eventually overcome physical death in a universal reconstitution (resurrection) of our bodies, and that this will take place at a point in time in the near future. I believe that when this happens, we will continue as intelligent corporal beings indefinitely, just like our Father in Heaven. I believe that the power of intellect and the corporal beauty will be greatly expanded at this time, especially for those who have sought to align their lives with eternal laws.

I believe our families are a prototype of the lifestyle of our Father in Heaven, intended to exist indefinitely and grow exponentially. I believe that sexual relations outside of a marriage between a man woman are not in keeping with the laws of the universe, and that they do not contribute to the progress of our species, nor the individual development of the individual eternal soul. I also believe that celibacy and ideological rejection of marriage and childbearing cut a person off from their potential to become our heavenly parents. I believe that people are best served personally and on a societal level as they adhere to social practices of modest dress, marriage, & childbearing.

I believe our Father in Heaven responds to unprecedented evil in our world by sending us unprecedented truth and power. While I believe that these gifts of truth and power are embodied in and administered through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism), I believe he has good things in store for all people of good will everywhere, regardless of their beliefs. Further, I believe that to assist us in establishing world peace and personal progress, our Father in Heaven will again send Jesus Christ to be king of all earth for 1,000 years, and that this millennium will commence in the very near future, as foretold by the prophets.

Those who elected to follow Lucifer in the pre-earth life are forever disappointed in his inability to deliver on his promises. Lucifer has been cursed by Father for his rebellion. Father participates in the administration of the just laws of the universe. This is what makes him God. If Father were to cease to uphold justice, he would cease to be God. Those who seek joy in ways not in accordance with the eternal laws of the universe seek a thing that can never be. All of those who elected to follow Lucifer elected a false paradigm, and now they suffer the natural consequences thereof. Rebellion against Father in Heaven while in pre-earth life was a very serious and open rebellion against goodness and truth.

When we have finished this short life, God will judge us to see if we have passed the final test of operating righteously without being under his constant supervision. The judgement will expose our character and show if we have again elected goodness, or if we have turned to evil.

In that judgement, he will take into account our circumstances, our abilities, and everything else he can to load all the mercy into our contract that he can, including the help of Jesus Christ which can be accessed by faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end of life while applying the teachings of Jesus Christ as found in the Holy Bible, and other holy scripture found in The Church of Jesus Christ. Not only do we have access to the words of Jehovah to people of times of old, but we also have, thanks to the never-ending goodness of Father, more revelations applicable to the entire human race which flow to us from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That church is the venue God uses to communicate his will to man on earth. That church bears the title of the name of Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ is the owner of that church. He has sanctioned it, and personally appears to his prophet speakers therein to send universal messages of light truth and hope to the human race.

Those who accept the words of the prophets as found in the church of Jesus Christ will be much better prepared for the judgement of God which is soon to come to each individual. Some core components of the judgement of God will include weather we sought truth, weather we helped others, how we treated our spouse, and how we treated our children, including the attention to individual relationships with each of them.

Because of the central role bodies play in our Father’s plan of happiness, the body is one of the key ways that we can do good in life, or evil. Taking the life of another except in self-defense or righteous defense of nation is a most serious sin, comparable only to the greatest sin called “denying the Holy Ghost”, which essentially means willful rebellion against God after God has revealed himself to you.  The sin next in seriousness is that of adultery, which involves sexual relations outside of marriage between a man and woman lawfully married. This sin frequently involves the murder of babies in the womb, and long-term anguish of spirit as a result of emotional and spiritual ties between two people which become broken, which ties were never meant to be broken. When someone commits their entire body to another person, giving full access to it, it is a holy symbol of how every other part of their lives should also be united. Marriages are intended by God to be effective not only in this life, but in the eternal world to come. Just as Father and Mother in heaven are two people who will never be separated, so are we their children meant to be. We like them are designed to pair up with each other, and remain paired forever. Man and woman are two essential halves of an eternal family. Mankind will never be long term satisfied in attempts to navigate social relationships outside of the context of marriage between man and woman. Further, children are entitled to be reared in a home with a mother and father committed to each other. Sexual misconduct leads to unfavorable circumstances for children, and such brings the wrath of God. Another reason we value marital fidelity is that it is the key venue for developing charity. Marital happiness including the maintenance of a relationship with spouse and children both require self-denial on a regular basis, and for one to confront all of their conscious and subconscious weaknesses. This unique tutelage is the only way to fully develop charity. This does not mean that a single person is not charitable, but it means that no one can reach exaltation until they have passed through the refining trials of family life. For some those refining experiences will not be accessible until a later time known to God, but those who willingly avoid and defame the institution of marriage and parenthood are cowards who unwittingly hold themselves back from progress they were sent to earth to make. Life a river blocked in its progress toward its destination, so does the deliberate procrastination of family creation hold a person back from the ultimate goal of exaltation. Exaltation entails enjoying the character and lifestyle of God, and all power that entails. Well can it be said that parenthood is the fountain of exaltation.

The ultimate outcome of our existence can take several directions. Followers of Lucifer receive no glory, and remain in a place called outer darkness forever. Among those who made it to earth, only a small few will defect to this depraved state called perdition. The rest of the 2/3 of Father’s children, including everyone who has been born on this earth, will inherit an eternal residence in a kingdom of God forever. There are 3 such kingdoms, all of which contain joy and glory to varying degrees. The lowest of these is titled the telestial kingdom. It is akin to life on this earth. Those who are assigned residence in the telestial kingdom are those who were willing to live telestial law, no more, no less. The lesser than this is perdition. They tested out of that by electing Jehovah in the pre-earth life, and by not devoting themselves to the ways of Lucifer in this life. The telestial residents are often rebellious and wicked, and must endure a temporary state of suffering as punishment for their evil deeds before they can qualify for residence in the telestial kingdom of glory. There exists a place where our spirits reside between the time of death and the time of the resurrection of the body. Depending on how we lived our lives, that state will either be pleasant, or filled with utmost despair and anguish. The wicked people of earth will live in anguish in this period directly following the death of the body. Another term for this place for spirits while they await the resurrection is the spirit world. The spirit world is on this earth, but cannot be discerned by finite mortal eyes. There exists in the spirit world both a place of suffering or hell, and a place of gladness or paradise. Those who must suffer in this hell are they who, to some degree or other, did not elect Jesus Christ to assist them in payment of the debts they owed from their offenses committed against the laws of the universe as upheld by our Father in Heaven. In addition to payment of debts, a large component of the suffering in hell will be a realization of what they could have had if they had simply chosen to follow the light of Christ. If they had not repeatedly ignored their conscience, and if they had instead chosen to figuratively lay down their weapons of rebellion, the state of their eternal enjoyment could have been so much greater. There exists another group of persons who do not enjoy paradise in the world of spirits: these are the ignorant. These are they who never knew of the plan of Father, never knew of Jehovah or Jesus Christ and his intersession and accompanying laws of baptism and repentance. These ignorant persons who, by no fault of their own, did not have access to eternal truths which could have guided their lives, will be taught the eternal truths, and given the opportunity to receive baptism and the other ordinances needed for access to the highest kingdom of glory. These ignorant persons did have access to conscience like everyone else, but without the guiding principles of true religion, they did not find expression to what they otherwise could have done in life. There exist today on earth in the Church of Jesus Christ, holy temples, wherein living persons assist their dead forefathers to learn of and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The next kingdom of glory which a person may be assigned to is the terrestrial kingdom of glory. This is a place for the good and honorable people of earth. In that kingdom, they will be frequently visited by Jesus Christ, and enjoy the association of each other, and many pleasant blessings from Father.

The next kingdom of glory is the celestial kingdom of glory. To enter this kingdom one must accept the teachings of Jesus Christ as found in His Church, and commit to follow Jesus Christ via baptism into His Church. To advance in that kingdom, one must enter holy temples to receive further training. To reach the highest level of the celestial kingdom wherein one bursts the ceiling and creates their own kingdom, one must be married. When a man marries a woman in the house of God, that marriage is the key to their exaltation, so long as they maintain that marriage in righteousness, including repenting as needed, and obeying the words of God as communicated to them through the Holy Ghost and the prophets in the Church of Jesus Christ. For those who obtain this highest degree of glory in the celestial kingdom, there is no end to their glory. They like the Gods who have come before them, sit upon thrones, create worlds, and as Jehovah promised to Abraham, have a never-ending posterity, more numerable than the sands of the sea and starts in the sky. This high glory of the celestial is far surpassing anything found in the lower kingdoms. In every kingdom of God, the basic laws of God are enforced, including the law of chastity, which states that sexual relations are only to be had between man and wife, lawfully wedded. For a marriage to be efficacious in the life to come, and to continue there what was started here, that contract of marriage, like any other contract, must be verified by Father. In the kingdom of Father, only contracts ratified by Father stand. Father is the governor there, and contracts not endorsed and endowed by himself are not valid there. This means that those who were baptized by a man who had not the authority of God will not have a valid recognized baptism, and will thus not be allowed access into the celestial kingdom of God. Further, the celestial kingdom residents who apply for access to the highest glory thereof as had in the marriage scenario, will be denied said advancement if the marriage they had created was not ratified by God. The place that a marriage ratified by God can be obtained is in his holy houses of law and order which we call temples. In and only in temples can eternal marriages not to be severed at the parting of death be performed. The teachings of Father are found in his church, and his church points candidates to his temples. The temple marriage is the only valid marriage because it is the only marriage which is created in the setting of obedience to the laws of God. To be allowed access to the holy temple, a candidate must pay their tithes, must live the law of chastity, must life the health code revealed by God, must obey the 10 commandments as revealed in the book of Exodus, must sustain the prophets leading the church of Jesus Christ, and agree to live other laws of God’s kingdom. If someone is not willing to live the laws of God’s kingdom, they are not willing to enjoy the blessings of God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom is a place of order, and those who will not abide the laws of a certain kingdom, must be demoted to the laws and blessings of the inferior kingdom. Those who reject all of God’s laws defect to perdition. Most people accept the laws of the telestial or celestial kingdom. Few accept the laws of the celestial kingdom, and thus few enjoy the blessings of fully inheriting all things which God has, including the assumption of the very character and role of a God to ones continuing posterity. Because the laws of God are strictly enforced in his kingdoms, and sexual relations are forbidden outside of marriage, and marriage is only accessible to those who abide the many high commitments of the highest glory, the only place that the union of the male and female body is enjoyed is the highest glory of the celestial kingdom of God. This strict limitation further impresses upon our minds the attitude and character of God in relation to the sacredness of the body, and the sacredness of the marriage relation. It follows that the rearing of children in eternity is another privilege reserved for the highest glory of the celestial kingdom, which also impresses upon us the seriousness of the caring for children with which one is blessed in this life. These 3 different kingdoms of glory also bring with them varying levels of enhancement in the resurrection. The higher kingdoms include the most powerful and majestic bodies.

Reader, stand back, and be joyful. Pause for a moment to remember that Father in Heaven loves you. He is YOUR Father. Contrary to the opinion of the followers of Lucifer, Father’s plan can work for YOU, and YOU can succeed therein. Jesus Christ has power sufficient to save your soul from long term misery. He will give you the gift of a resurrected immortal body. Rejoice at how far you have come, and how many blessings you have already qualified for! Fear not, and know that there is no limit to the number of residents that can fit in the celestial kingdom. Space is infinite, and matter can be organized to create more worlds. Let nothing make you afraid, only trust Jesus Christ. Find in prayer to Father the courage you need to start making better choices today. Weep for joy, for wherever you are, whoever you are, Father will hear you, and begin from the moment you bow your head to pray to him, begin to pour out exponentially more blessings upon your head than what he is already pouring upon you day by day. These blessings will include direct pleasures, and indirect pleasures in that he will enable you to be more successful in your righteous endeavors, which will bring great satisfaction and pleasure to your soul. Never give up. You have fought on the right side of truth for eons. Don’t give up just yet. Hold out a little longer, and like the widow who cast in her few pennies at the temple treasury who was mocked for her poverty and inability to give, so do you, give what you can to build God’s kingdom on earth, make every good choice you possibly can, including resting in the Lord, and then you will see the salvation of God. You will again know your Father’s face, and with him enjoy eternal life. This life isn’t just a “test”, it is also, and perhaps more so, a tutelage, a training, an apprenticeship. A large test was pre-mortality. You passed that test, and now have some amount of security to operate in. You have access to the mercy of Jesus Christ! You can make mistakes! It’s like the golden parachute clause in major corporations: some employees are so valuable to the company, that even if they make big mistakes now and then, they are given forgiveness, for their ability to grow the company is so much greater than even the damages they have done. So it is with you, 2/3’s. Everyone born to this earth has proven to Father in pre-moral life that they are a very important player, who won’t be kicked out for little or even big mistakes. However what will go against us is if we stop trying. No matter how long you’ve betrayed your conscience. No matter how many people you’ve let down. No matter how deep the hole you’re in may seem. You can trust Jesus Christ. You can come to his church. You can give your figurative pennies to build your life in a positive direction, including attempts to look beyond yourself and serve others as righteous service opportunities will continue to present themselves to you in this most choice time we call mortality. Yes, agency allows people to start wars and rob each other of bread. But life is still worth it. I’m forever glad that I elected Jesus Christ and chose to come to earth, even though it is hard. Think not that a life of hardship is a sign that you are punished for sin. Yes we all have sin and our lives would be better if we could cut more of that out. But generally speaking, life is supposed to be hard. It was hard for Jesus Christ, who was “rejected in the house of his friends”. Since life includes suffering, lets suffer together rather than alone. Come have joy with us, and share your fun personality and skills. We need you to help us, and we can help you. Let us support each other at church. Further, come have peace with us in the temple. Come learn with us more of who we really are and what we are really capable of. Come see how kind God is to those who are still willing to try. Choose the better part. Choose to believe. I believe.

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