Well our peaceful message is simply this;
God wants to call prophets. Because he loves us, he wants us to know his son, Jesus Christ, and the atonement he has made for men so that we too may be healed and washed clean from our sins. God wants all to be partakers of eternal life with him in the kingdom of his father, which is also our father.Our message is that he does and that he did again in the final days before his return. The only true way to understand the will of the Lord is by knowing it through his prophets.
Even Isaiah has said,
"For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts." - Isaiah 28:8-9
Vomit meaning "partially consumed word of God spewed out having been influenced by men's interpretation." Filthiness = (blushes) erm... well, yeah. (Poop) Digested food or digested word of God. Even excrement has SOME un-digested nutrients left in it. God's word with lost meaning or lost in translation. Who is up for Poop Soup? Apparently much of the world is.
Wouldn't you and I rather take our nourishment from Mother's breast?
Most Christians consider us [Mormons] as a lesser version of Christianity because they assume that our gospel looks different than the one the way they understand it. Mainstream Christians only understand the gospel based on the source in which they draw forth living waters. What we claim, as Latter-day Saints, is access to these living waters from the "Rock," or a pure stream of living water. Just as Moses smote the rock and water came out to replenish the children of Israel, modern prophets do this for us today. [Compare Numbers Chapter 20]
Our water definitely looks different than water that has traveled downstream, picking up sediments and other influences of the earth as it travels across the ground heading towards the oceans and seas... but how can one know whether we are "Main Spring" Christians or not? We don't just say, "Hey, we're LDS! Hear and believe our message." by means of "Scriptural or Doctrinal Knowledge"
We're not converted by spiritualism either...
The Lord has promised that we could know for assurance that we have living prophets today by testing the fruits of that prophet responsible for the restoration. One way to do so is to read the Book of Mormon and ask God if this work comes from him and then subsequently, had chosen Joseph to be a prophet.
Moroni, the last steward to the Book of Mormon therein gives us a promise;
3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
Moroni 10:3-5
The experiment has been set forth in the realm of human learning and in the laboratories of our minds. What most folks now have permission to do is simply discover for themselves. Men can ignore it altogether by whatever reason they can imagine; they can listen to the opinions of others and choose not to test these things out. They can also just be disaffected by the whole thing and never get around to it. But Christ has promised great blessings to those who become,
"As a little child..." For theirs is the kingdom of heaven and always has been. But none can say that the opportunity was not provided them who now live on the earth and come into contact with it.
The question on my mind is; Who will humble themselves enough to test these things out? Satan has been busy hardening hearts even since the days of Jesus when he speaks to his disciples saying,
"He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them." John 12:40
My prayer for all men is that they soften their hearts to make the experiment, setting aside all previous opinions had by men about this book or the church that preaches from it.
If Einstein had conceded to the previous concepts written about the Universe; most of which, were made by Newton his hero, he might not ever have pushed through that barrier of understanding enough to test his theory of general relativity. In like manner, regardless of your previous understanding of things, I would exhort you, as Moroni did, that you test these things out for yourself.
My prayer is that you rely on God alone to know this "Marvelous work and a wonder" long prophesied by Isaiah should come about in our day. (Isaiah 29:11-14) That you may be the fruit harvested in the Lord's vineyard as well as a laborer in the vineyard, as the days of the Lord's return draw ever so close; even in the 11th hour does he call laborers to help lay up fruit against the season.
Josh Nelson
P.S. We believe we have a living prophet today just as God continued calling prophets after Moses. Joseph Smith was a modern day Moses for the contemporary gathering of Israel and in like manner, we have a prophet on the earth today. We have had modern day versions of Joshua, and Samuel and Isaiah and more. Thomas S. Monson is the current prophet and by him, we better understand the mission of Jesus Christ and how to be saved in the kingdom
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