O LORD,
Length of days does not profit me
except the days are passed
in Thy presence,
in Thy service,
to Thy glory.
Give me a grace that precedes,
follows,
guides,
sustains,
sanctifies,
aids every hour,
that I may not be one moment apart from Thee,
but may rely on Thy Spirit
to supply every thought,
speak in every word,
direct every step,
prosper every work,
build up every mote of faith,
and give me a desire
to show forth Thy praise,
testify Thy love,
advance Thy kingdom.
I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year,
With Thee, O Father, as my harbour,
Thee, O Son, at my helm,
Thee, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.
Guide me to heaven with my loins girt,
my lamp burning,
my ear open to Thy calls,
my heart full of love,
my soul free.
Give me Thy grace to sanctify me,
Thy comforts to cheer,
Thy wisdom to teach,
Thy right hand to guide,
Thy counsel to instruct,
Thy law to judge,
Thy presence to stabilize.
May Thy fear be my awe,
Thy triumphs my joy.
(The Valley of Vision, A collection of Puritan prayers and devotions, Arthur Bennett, editor)
This is truly beautiful and touching Sharon. Thank you so much for sharing it.
Happy New Year everyone!
TJT,
Thanks for posting and Happy New Year to you also.
You wrote that what Sharon posted is “truly beautiful and touching”. I couldn’t agree more with your sentiments as stated.
The post starts out with “O Lord”. Let me ask you the one critical question. Who is the “Lord”? Because really, anyone taking a 12 step program approach to this prayer, would have a definition of the “Lord” in their mind. That makes it pretty wide open, doesn’t it? You know, “…….God whoever you conceive Him to be” approach to the deity.
It’s the most critical question a person can answer. Who is God? The Bible is real clear on who God is. Anyone reading the Bible can see who He is. When it comes to the Christian religion, we not only have the Bible telling us who God is, but we also have Church history, tradition and the ancient writings of the Church Fathers amplifying, explaining who God is.
For Mormons, at least the SLC and FLDS sects, Joseph Smith conceived of a “god” quite different from the God revealed in the Bible. In fact Joseph Smith took at least four runs at it before he died. Had he lived, he may have come up with more and varied definitions of who God is. We know that at one point, in the BoA, Smith posted a picture of a “god” that turned out to be the Egyptian fertility god Min. In his ignorance, Smith posted the picture of this “god” sitting on a throne exposing himself.
We also know that Brigham Young came up with a “god”. This god of Young’s was really Adam he said. If we look at the different sects of Mormonism, we have different ideas of who God is. The CoC states the following:
“We believe in one living God who meets us in the testimony of Israel, is revealed in Jesus Christ, and moves through all creation as the Holy Spirit. We affirm the Trinity—God who is a community of three persons. All things that exist owe their being to God: mystery beyond understanding and love beyond imagination. This God alone is worthy of our worship.”
http://www.cofchrist.org/ourfaith/faith-beliefs.asp
This sounds pretty traditional as far as Christianity is concerned but is not related at all to who the LDS and FLDS sects of Mormonism say God is. I would think that would be a problem for any Mormon since there is a real discrepancy here regarding the Mormon restoration.
So, who is the “Lord”? It’s the most important question anyone can answer.
Sharon,
Thanks for sharing that poem , there’s lot’s of good stuff in there .
TjayT mentioned the LORD . I think Mormon leaders have disclosed to us who their LORD is
and we spotlighted that a couple of weeks ago in the thread about the Virgin Birth . That is one
good reason why Mormons should dismiss these latter days apostles from being an authority in
their lives . They don’t need them .
2014 is going to see multitudes of Mormons dismiss their leaders and come to find in Jesus
alone what they are longing for . No prophet, no secret temple rituals, just Jesus . Heb 7:25
In order to make the Mormon/LDS view of God and salvation work, the Bible has to be denied. The line that Mormon like to use, “…….as far as it’s translated correctly” is a way to place the Mormon prophet over the Biblical Word. Here’s the full quote:
“We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.”
With that as a disclaimer, Mormon prophets are free to run willy nilly, to and fro, coming up with whatever sort of ideas they want regarding who God is. Joseph Smith declared, “I believe the Bible as it read when it came from the pen of the original writers. Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors” (Translation of Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 327).
So is the Biblical record so mis-translated that who God is has been obscured? Such a notion of careless transcribers and corrupt priests was Smith’s means of declaring himself the sole authority of who God is. The problem for Mormons is that they don’t bother to check out whether or not what Smith declared is actually true. To question would be to question the prophet and to question the prophet may lead to questioning the veracity of the BoM and the claim as to whether the LDS church is the “one true church”.
What else have Mormon leaders declared about the Bible?
Apostle Mark E. Peterson said referring to the authenticity of our modern Bible, “Many insertions were made, some of them ‘slanted’ for selfish purposes, while at times deliberate falsifications and fabrications were perpetrated” (As Translated Correctly, p. 4).
Apostle Orson Pratt stated: “If it be admitted that the apostles and evangelists did write the books of the New Testament, that does not prove of itself that they were divinely inspired at the time they wrote…. Add all this imperfection to the uncertainty of the translation, and who, IN HIS RIGHT MIND could for one moment suppose the Bible in its present form to be a perfect guide? Who knows that even one verse of the Bible has escaped pollution, so as to convey the same sense now that it did in the original?” (Divine Authority of the Book of Mormon, pp. 45, 47)
LDS Apostle Orson Pratt further proclaimed, “The Bible has been robbed of its plainness; many sacred books having been lost, others rejected by the Romish Church, and what few we have left, were copied and re-copied so many times, that it is admitted that almost every verse has been corrupted and mutilated to that degree that scarcely any two of them read alike” (The Seer, p. 213)
It such a predictable move isn’t it? Declare the Bible inauthentic and then declare that these Mormon prophets have the real answer. And wouldn’t you know it? The God that these prophets, apostles and leaders declare to be God, bears no resemblance to who the Bible tells us God is.
The twin premises of Mormonism that the real honest to goodness Gospel proclaimed in the first century has been lost due to apostasy and that the Biblical record is corrupt are absolutely and totally false.
The Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ has been persevered in God’s Word by the Holy Spirit. It is in the Bible that Mormons will find out who God is and what the pathway to salvation is.
http://bible-truth.org/LDS8tharticle.html
Falcon,
I think that the most clever tactic used by Mormon leaders to try and convince people that
their church/gospel is the very same one which Jesus established through His original apostles ,
was to claim that there was a total/complete apostasy soon after Jesus’ apostles died off .
Then supposedly important doctrines of the gospel were altered by men in teaching positions
who succeeded in drifting away from gospel truth about God/Jesus and thus departing
significantly from what the apostles had taught . The truth was replaced by false doctrines .
While this danger was always a threat to the early church ( 2Pt 2:1 ) , Mormonism has tried
to convince people that there was a complete apostasy of Jesus’ church and from His
gospel of salvation , that christianity died off , and this lasted for 1700 years until 1830 when
salvation was ” again available ” to man —-re-established by God through Joseph Smith .
That’s the Mormon message . But this apostasy -restoration theme is a common one used by other latter days prophets , not just Mormon leaders , so it really shoul’nt impress anyone since
it;s to be expected that clever latter days prophets might use this tactic , it can make it easier
for them to look unique and their message legit , especially when it is bolstered by some Bible
verses pulled out of context or the claim that Biblical figures like John the Baptist, Peter, or
even Jesus appeared or spoke to the prophet to give them information or appoint them to
carry on the truth of God to mankind for these latter days , etc . This type of claim can look
very appealing and unfortunately it has sold well to unsuspecting souls who are’nt familiar
with the apostles counsel to test any prophet/messenger especially those who claim to be
getting their teaching from Jesus or His apostles —1 Jn 4:1-6 .
The Mormon people need to hear how they have been detoured by men who have attempted to
mimic the claims of Jesus’ true apostles to cleverly package their false doctrines as the
” restored” gospel of Jesus Christ .
The Bible has been called the bedrock of the Christian faith .
We can anchor our beliefs in what it records because God has made it possible that in these
times we should have a written testimony of the gospel of salvation to have in order to help
discern what are the imitation gospels that latter days prophets would bring .
It is prudent for the Mormon people to realize this fact . Jesus cares enough for all of us
( Mormon and non Mormon ) to warn us about the danger of our time : Matt 24:11
The following lines from what Sharon posted are beautiful :
” I launch my bark ( boat ? ) on the unknown waters of this year
with Thee O Father , as my harbor ,
Thee O Son at my helm ,
Thee O Holy Spirit , filling my sails . ”
Father, Son and Holy Spirit —the Trinity —-the great truth that the Bible reveals about our
Creator the One True and Most High God . What have Mormon leaders taught about the Father
Son and Holy Ghost ? Well, what they at one time actually called ” the true Trinity ” , consists
of a committee of three separate Gods , but neither of whom have always been such . In fact,
one of these Gods is a literal Father of the other two who are among His numerous other
sons in His heavenly home . What’s more , another Deity , one with more dominion than the
Father in this Trinity , stands above him and while He exists as the Grandfather of the other
two members ( sons Jehovah and the Holy Ghost ) , still He is not directly involved in ruling
with them over mankind here . More information about God which Mormon leaders have
introduced in their preaching consists of how one of the members of this Trinity , namely
the Lord God Jehovah ( Jesus) was once not even a God but who had to be schooled in heaven
to eventually become such there , and this process earned Him the position to be a member
of the three God committee or “presidency ” ( or ” Godhead” as Mormon leaders prefer to say).
This is what Mormon leaders have taught about the Father, Son , and Holy Ghost , and it is
some of the doctrine about God that these ” modern day” apostles have introduced to their
flock since their alleged appointment by Jesus to restore the true identity and nature about
God for these latter days , because according to these men only a correct knowledge of the
person and kind of being that God is will result in worshiping Him in truth thereby qualifying a
person to earn individual salvation — eternal life .
The danger latter days false prophets pose to followers of Jesus is that they can cleverly
distort the teachings about God or salvation that the Biblical prophets and apostles taught ,
thus diverting people to their false doctrines . This was a concern of Jesus’ original apostles in
their day ( 2 Tim 2:15-18 ; 2Jn 7-9 ) , and it would be even more so after them ( 2Tim 4:3-4 ;
Matt 24: 4-11 ) .
May the Mormon people dismiss their apostles and take some time to slowly read the God’s
word the Bible to learn just how unique the One True God is . This can happen by making
time to do so with one not published with Mormon notes therein , etc .
Mike R;
A Bark is indeed a type of boat. From Wikipedia:
” A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the foremasts rigged square and the aftermast rigged fore-and-aft.”
TjayT,
Thanks for your note about ” bark” being a boat . I thought perhaps it was a typo .
I hope you had a good time this Holiday season with you family . I pray that God will
keep you all safe and close this new year . I will praying especially for you to make the
move to walk away from Joseph’s religion over to Jesus alone this year .
Take care.