This is part two. If you haven't already done so, please read yesterday's post.
I sat with my feet up last Saturday and Sunday but this time it was not because of gout like the previous weekend. This time it was a highly anticipated and renewing occasion---the twice-a-year opportunity to
hear the modern day servants of our Lord and Savior, speak to us. Each conference is a time of learning and recommitment to fulfilling the covenants we make at baptism to do our best to serve the Lord by serving
His people.
If you are a follower of my blog, you probably already realize I am a Mormon. I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 50 years ago this week.
I attended several different churches over the years — seeking answers to my basic questions and gleaning the good that each religion had to offer. I found what I was seeking when I attended the “Mormon” Church. I found the straight-forward answers to
where did I come from? why am I here? and where am I going? This religion, restored in its fullness from the days of Jesus Christ, taught me how to work towards accomplishing the quote I kept at my bedside.
Governor Mitt Romney was blessed to have these teachings from his very beginning. He was fortunate to have been taught by parents and teachers and leaders who were committed to and taught these messages from the Lord.*
The teachings of Jesus and His apostles were dramatic and dynamic. They were honest, sometimes brutally so, and necessary for the good of the people. For these very same reasons they were not popular with the general public.
Jesus and His apostles did not try to charm the audiences with witty, entertaining dialog in an effort to sidestep and gloss over the real issues. Jesus Christ and His leaders did not make empty promises or predictions. Jesus addressed the real issues---the important issues---personal life- and world-saving issues ---even when they were tough. I don't believe Jesus' style was to bang the pulpit and raise his voice in His efforts to organize and incite the people. Those methods were used by those who reviled Him and feared Him and didn't want to have personal accountability.
Over the past months we have continually witnessed the media barrage berating Governor Romney's lack of showmanship and vibrancy as a lack of ability and depth. Nothing could be further from the truth. In truth, it is the attempts at wit and evasion by our current leaders that show their lack of ability and depth.
Mitt Romney is a product of his beliefs and his upbringing as a disciple of Jesus Christ. I can think of no better way to introduce you to "Mormons," and their deportment, than to let you see and hear for yourselves some of our leaders, at last week-end's conference, as they deliver the instruction and messages our Savior would have us hear.
The following will take you to very short excerpts (most are one minute or less) of messages from last week-end's world-wide conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. These could well be the most important minutes you can spend to let you know "What Makes Romney Romney."
http://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/apostles-speak-october-2012?lang=eng
To the American People:
Our lives and the many freedoms we have been granted through the Constitution of this great country of America are endangered and hang on the outcome of this upcoming election.
Please prayerfully consider what I have written, and what you witnessed for yourself as you clicked on the above.
Please share this with others who may be still be caught up in the vibrant dynamics of our current leaders, not realizing that their increasingly frantic antics are, in reality, an attempt to have us overlook the real-life matters they will not address because they cannot address them.
Please recognize that showmanship and vivaciousness are not the necessary qualities of a good president.
Above all else, please cast your vote.
Simply, Gail.
*One of the first things we’re taught as children are the Articles
of Faith — 13 statements that summarize our fundamental beliefs.
Two years before he died, the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote them in a letter to a newspaper editor, John Wentworth, who had asked for information about the Church. Ever since the Articles of Faith were written, they’ve inspired and directed us in the basic principles of our gospel. They enhance our understanding of certain doctrines and help us commit to living them. They invite further thought. And they’re a good tool for explaining our beliefs to people unfamiliar with them.
1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.
3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are:
first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ;
second, Repentance;
third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins;
fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and
by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach
the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive
Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists,
and so forth.
7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.
8. 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.
9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul:We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
One final note:
In contrast to the political rantings and ravings we have often heard from the pulpits of Obama's religious leaders, we have never and will never hear a candidate-specific political statement from the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
That's right. Not even when our conference is within a month of the election where "one of our own" is running. We have been taught the importance of educating ourselves to the facts of every person and situation and to personally and prayerfully cast our vote for the most honest and trustworthy.
