Mormon Gem - Temples to the Most High God

[omiolo]

No one of us is immune from the influences of the world. The Lord’s counsel keeps us on guard.

[omiolo]

We already knew that the Semitic consonants NHM referred to a tribal area that seemed likely to be the place called Nahom, where Nephi’s father-in-law, Ishmael, was buried (1 Nephi 16:34). I had spent years documenting the name on old maps and writings back to within a few hundred years of Nephi’s day. Always the name was in the same location.

[MormonsLoveFamilies]

@omiolo NHM=Nahom

[omiolo]

There was little to be seen then other than five and a half very tall pillars standing above the sand on which local boys would pose for pictures. It was a desolate place. A German team had unearthed the entire temple complex including the altar, dated to around 600-700 BC. What was significant was that the altar inscription named a donor who was the grandson of a man from the Nihm tribe.

[omiolo]

Mary and Joseph chose to follow the warning of an angel to flee into Egypt, and the life of the Savior was preserved. Joseph Smith chose to follow the instructions of Moroni, and the Restoration unfolded as prophesied. Whenever we choose to come unto Christ, take His name upon us, and follow His servants, we progress along the path to eternal life.

[MormonsLoveFamilies]

@omiolo There are many parallels in religious history.

[omiolo]

Evidence of this truth is found throughout the scriptures. Job lost everything he had yet chose to remain faithful, and he gained the eternal blessings of God.

[omiolo]

Though He “was in all points tempted like as we are,” 16 with every choice and every action He exercised the agency to be our Savior—to break the chains of sin and death for us. And by His perfect life, He taught us that when we choose to do the will of our Heavenly Father, our agency is preserved, our opportunities increase, and we progress.

[omiolo]

As Latter-day Saints, we need to do our best to preserve light and protect our families and communities from this assault on morality and religious freedom.

[MormonsLoveFamilies]

@omiolo We do love our families.

[omiolo]

Freedom and light have never been easy to attain or maintain. Since the War in Heaven, the forces of evil have used every means possible to destroy agency and extinguish light. The assault on moral principles and religious freedom has never been stronger.

[MormonsLoveFamilies]

@omiolo One day evil will be bound.

[omiolo]

The song reflected an optimistic hope that freedom and light would be restored. For those of us who understand the role of the Savior and the Light of Christ 3 in the ongoing conflict between good and evil, the analogy between that world war and the moral conflict today is clear. It is by the Light of Christ that all mankind “may know good from evil.

[omiolo]

Many responsibilities go along with encouraging and managing 153 missionaries in the North Atlanta area, but King remains the constant leader.

"As a mission president I have a responsibility to missionaries who are working in this area," he said. "... they are mostly 19-21-year-old young men but we also have 14 young women and 16 senior couples, people who have retired from their jobs and are now willing to serve voluntarily. They go out and do things to support the church."

[omiolo]

Devotion, Elder Perry continued, is the first essential in true love. To desire others to learn truth, and to live righteously, one must radiate such a desire in both word and deed.

"You have been called to be teachers to some of the most chosen of all of Father in Heaven's children. It is a sacred and holy calling," he said.

[MormonsLoveFamilies]

@omiolo Charity is the pure love of God

[omiolo]

I said, I cant take [it]. My service was that I watched the girls for free. A Primary child in Mongolia wrote that he had brought in water from the well so his mother would not have to do so. From a 4-year­-old boy, no doubt written by a Primary teacher: My dad is gone for army training for a few weeks. My special job is to give my mom hugs and kisses. Wrote a 9-year-old girl: I picked strawberries for my great-grandma. I felt good inside! And another: I played with a lonely kid.

[omiolo]

The best part was that we surprised my mom and made her happy because she didnt even ask us to do it. An 11-year-old girl wrote: There was a family in my ward that did not have a lot of money. They have three little girls. The mom and dad had to go somewhere, so I offered to watch the three girls. The dad was just about to hand me a $5 bill.

[omiolo]

I share with you just a few of the countless notes contained in the many gifts I received. One small child wrote, My grandpa had a stroke, and I held his hand. From an 8-year-old girl: My sister and I served my mom and family by organizing and cleaning the toy closet. It took us a few hours and we had fun.

[omiolo]

One very creative Primary sent a large jar containing hundreds of what they called warm fuzzies, each one representing an act of service performed during the year by one of the children in the Primary. I can only imagine the happiness these children experienced as they told of their service and then placed a warm fuzzy in the jar.

[omiolo]

Dozens and dozens of Primaries challenged the children to provide service, and then those acts of service were recorded and sent to me. I must say that the methods for recording them were creative. Many came in the form of pages put together into various shapes and sizes of books. Some contained cards or pictures drawn or colored by the children

[omiolo]

I was overwhelmed when this year for my birthday I received hundreds of cards and letters from members of the Church around the world telling me how they had fulfilled that birthday wish. The acts of service ranged from assembling humanitarian kits to doing yard work.

[Exodus314IAM]

Since God does not dwell in temples made with men's hands, temples cannot be the "gate" to His kingdom as LDS leaders have taught. Here on earth, God dwells in a "temple" built by the Lord Himself known as the Church or the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; Ephesians 2:21-22). He also indwells the physical bodies of believers in Christ which are called temples of God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6:16).

[MormonsLoveFamilies]

Exodus314IAM:

I want you to know that God loves you. He always has and will continue to do so.

[Exodus314IAM]

Thank you, and I do know this. He loves everyone, that will never change. But love is not enough since God is also a just God. This is where you & I need to see how we will measure up (so to speak). I am 100% positive I am going to spend eternity with God in Heaven! Are you? Have you done enough? Just keep the God of the Bible #1 and 100% in your life.

Make sure you are following the Biblical God! Not the gods of Mormonism.

God Bless!!

[MormonsLoveFamilies]

Exodus314IAM:

God still loves you and always will.

[Shulamitefire]

@Exodus314IAM Absolutely! Thank you! Soldier on!

"Thank you, and I do know this. He loves everyone, that will never change. But love is not enough since God is also a just God. This is where you & I need to see how we will measure up (so to speak). I am 100% positive I am going to spend eternity with God in Heaven! Are you? Have you done enough? Just keep the God of the Bible #1 and 100% in your life.

Make sure you are following the Biblical God! Not the gods of Mormonism.

God Bless!!

[Exodus314IAM]

Temples and temple ordinances from "Adam to the present" should be found in the Bible if LDS beliefs and practice conform "literally and completely" to it. But until God revealed the design and use of the tabernacle to Moses in Exodus 25-40, neither tabernacles nor temples were even mentioned! Instructions to Moses for the tabernacle would have been unnecessary if temples were already in use.

cont.

[Exodus314IAM]

The first time the word "temple" is used in the Bible is in 1 Samuel 1:9, where it refers to the portable tabernacle Israel received through Moses. The first permanent temple was built by King Solomon about 1,000 years before Christ (I Kings 6:17).

Apostle McConkie said a temple is a "House of the Lord... where he and his Spirit may dwell." But, Solomon questioned, "Who is able to build Him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him?

cont.

[Exodus314IAM]

Who am I, then, that I should build Him an house, save only to burn sacrifices before Him (2 Chronicles 2:6)? At the temple dedication, Solomon prayed, "But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heaven cannot contain Thee; how much less this house which I have built" (2 Chronicles 6:12)! He also prayed, "...hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place..." (1 Kings 8:30).

cont.

[Exodus314IAM]

When King Hezekiah later restored the temple, "...the priests and Levites arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, even unto heaven (II Chron. 30:27). Just before Stephen was killed, he said, "But Solomon built Him (God) an house. Nevertheless, the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as saith the prophet, Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house will ye build me? Saith the Lord.

cont.

[Exodus314IAM]

What is the place of My rest? Hath not My hand made all these things" (Acts 7:47-50)?

Paul also declared, "God, who made the world and all things in it, seeing that is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands" (Acts 17:24). The book of Hebrews explains...

cont.

[Exodus314IAM]

"Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an High Priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man... But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves...

cont.

[Exodus314IAM]

but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us...For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Heb. 8:1-2; 9:11-12; 24).

[omiolo2]

Whenever I pass the Salt Lake Temple I think it what the joy must have been like for the Saints to come to Salt Lake City and realize that this would be the city where they could build a temple to their God and worship in peace and not been hunted, tortured, and exterminated.