According to the Bible, What Must we do to Gain Salvation?

The Case For Restoration

I have had various questions placed before me about the need or their opinions that there is lacking the need for restoration when we speak of Christianity or Christianities church. Let me see if I can bring an example about that could illustrate what I feel is a good case for restoration. I will do this in a certain language and there will not be much talk over a church... you'll have to use your spiritual ears on this one.

If someone told you that this is a Porche, would you get excited enough to ride in it? (And I don't mean just so you could laugh about it and take a 'selfie photo' while in it to share with your friends.) Seriously though, if someone told you that this is a Porche, would you believe them?

Now if anyone could find a Drivers Manual for this Porsche, then nothing about the above image could convince me that it was being operated under its proper intended use.

Agree or disagree, the only thing that could restore this Porsche to its original glory and intended use is by the Master Mechanic or the car's creator. The car owner here might not think it needs restoration to meet his needs and besides, there really isn't any gasoline (priesthood) where he lives so it's going to run a bit differently than it's intended use. Some prefer to walk everywhere they go, have no car or belong to. (ie, no organized religion) Having a vehicle capable of taking the hopefuls to their eventual destination has just gotten a brief lesson on picking the right vehicle. To the well trained eye, one may say that this isn't a Porsche at all and they're probably right if their expectation of the Porsche is different than the one presented here.

Some may ask, "an you find that anywhere outside of LDS literature? Is there any extra-LDS documentation to show that was there originally and needed to be restored?"

One might not believe me that this is a Porsche. Likewise, when people show me this Porsche, I have a perfect knowledge of what a Porsche should look like based on seeing the newer working model. I can tell that this was once a car. It is evident in the body and the two wheels that remain and from what I read in the owner's manual. I have a "Porche Perspective" and I don't have any Non-Porsche literature available to tell me that this porsche needed restoration. I just have my own observations.

When I say that this is the Porsche which was the original Porsche, one would also say no way. I am not saying that it is an exact copy of the one that fell into ruin. I'm saying that it is made by the Manufacturer, Porsche. In like manner, people will disagree and say, "I don't see where the engine is necessary. We have a mule. This is sufficient." Not that we're trying to make that older Porsche run again... but the name Porsche has been restored. And anyone can see compared to the two images, that both were cars and meant to run on Gasoline.

Now what the world says (who only knew of the further above image currently only using the above mentioned model) "I should suppose that this new car is unnecessary because there is no place to put the mule to name just one reason why this restoration of the Porsche should be necessary."

I don't have to look into much Non-LDS published material but if I can use the Bible (also LDS used) then perhaps this is something that can shed some more light on the awareness that there would be an Apostasy and its accompanying restoration needed and foreseen. Scriptures:

Acts 3:20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Isaiah 11:11 - And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

Joel 2:27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. 28 ¶And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. 30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. 32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

Matt 17:11 - And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

Revelation 14: 6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, 7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

1 Nephi 15:13 - And now, the thing which our father meaneth concerning the grafting in of the natural branches through the fulness of the Gentiles, is, that in the latter days, when our seed shall have dwindled in unbelief, yea, for the space of many years, and many generations after the Messiah shall be manifested in body unto the children of men, then shall the fulness of the gospel of the Messiah come unto the Gentiles, and from the Gentiles unto the remnant of our seed—

Isaiah 49:22-23 - Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. 23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

I testify that God has done this thing. That upon the Lord's return, this vast effort to prepare the earth for his coming has been under way for the past 200 years, thereabouts. This would be necessary for both prophecies about his coming and the further fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy about Elijah's return to the earth and our work to remember our kindred dead. We will be quite busy in the temples, night and day, to finish that all important work for the dead. (Revelation 7:15) - this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Who Would Go To Heaven?

Who would go to heaven if nobody was capable of dying?

There's the question of the ages. When folks die early or are cut down in their prime, it leaves many of us on earth to wonder what is to become of them, why didn't God save them? Didn't I pray enough? There must be no God since he did not save my brother, etc... I think we all struggle through certain thoughts but the simple fact remains. Be you and Atheist, an Agnostic or a devout Christian, I find it's true across the board in the sense that...

"Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die!" - Bob Proctor If death is the natural progression that spirit creatures must travel, having first traversed a brief sojourn on earth occupying tabernacles of flesh and blood respectively, then one should celebrate death vs fear it. Celebrate it if one looks forward with an eye single to the glory of God, naturally. If a man is a good man or a woman equally as faithful to the laws and covenants that he or she were capable of doing while on earth, then it will be well with that man or woman. We are also explained well to the truths that for he or she that is found with charity, it will be well with him or her. That charity can cover a multitude of sins, but I digress... so who would go to heaven? The only people who can go to heaven are those that can die.

This might sound strange rolling off of the tongue but it is 100% true. Now it is not that death is the magic. The body that we now live in is designed to pass on. Blood, blood borne pathogens, free radicals, radiation, and many other factors contribute to our very short lifetime but it was to happen for a reason. If we could not die, our bodies could not then be changed from mortal to immortal. We could then not be raised from corruption and then slip into an incorruptible tabernacle; one that could never die, one like that of Jesus the first fruits of those who have lived after death. Part of God's plan of happiness for us is that we should die... but most specifically, that 2 aspects of us should die. Our life, our sinful ways or our imperfections should eventually die off, and our current bodies should die off so that the latter could also be true. Our bodies and spirits could then be renewed.

In the words of Yoda, almost prophetic, we hear this... “Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.” - “Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealously. The shadow of greed, that is.”

Much good or much evil has been done with the loss of a loved one. I have seen an entire new generation of kids grow up without the knowledge of God and his plan of happiness for his children simply because he thought God to be unfair for letting someone die before he was currently willing to let him go. Hence, yoda made sense on this one. We must be prepared to let people go much like others must do the same for us. Where we are going from here will have been worth it. It will have seemed silly to attempt to hold people back all things considered. Let's not go out look for quicker ways to die but just know that our days may be long upon the land and the Lord won't take us before he feels it's time. He is both fair and just. Rejoice!

Passages of Scripture to reference:

"And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:29

"...I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." John 11:25

Help Us Please To "Come Out Of Mormonism!"

But come out of Mormonism and into WHAT?

They always say to 'come out of Mormonism" but into what? not ONE of my Christian brothers could agree on anything except for, "Just Not Mormon." (BY THE WAY, All credits to this piece goes to: D Lawrence Barksdale of the "Fair Mormon Apologetics Page" on Facebook)

This is an open invitation to our non-LDS friends, who are so eager to help us "come out of" Mormonism.

Here it is: "Witness to us." Really. We'd love to hear your witness, as long as it centers on what you DO believe, and not what you DON'T.

Speaking for myself, I'm ready to accept the Jesus of the Bible as my personal Savior and walk away from Mormonism forever..

But here's my deal...

1) Since you've told us (repeatedly) that we worship the "wrong" Jesus, you need to show us from the Bible where the 'homoousios' ("One-in-actual-substance-or-being") Jesus of the consubstantial Trinity is taught in the Bible. I'll need at least one passage that includes that all-important word, "homoousios," to be be acceptable. After all, it is the ONLY word in Koine Greek that means "one-in-actual-substance-or-being." I need the assurance that the Jesus YOU want me to believe in is the "right" Jesus.

2) Since you've told us that the "Bible Alone" is the ONLY source of spiritual truth, I need you to show me with irrefutable, incontrovertible evidence WHICH Bible I should accept... the one WITH the apocrypha, or the one WITHOUT. Which translation? They all differ. Which Codex? None of them agree. Then I need you to explain to me how a collection of books with over 350,000 textual variants is "infallible" and/or "inerrant."

3) Since the doctrine of salvation is so important, I need to be assured that you're not inviting me to believe in "another gospel" than what Paul taught. Therefore, you need to show me a) where Jesus taught Sola Fidianism, b) Where the NT teaches that obedience is not necessary, c) Why the Early Church Fathers never taught Sola Fidianism, and d) why NO ONE in Christianity taught Sola Fidianism until Martin Luther.

4) Since Jesus Himself established a very specific church organizational structure, complete with offices and authority, I need you to show me who your proposed church's prophets and apostles are. They are, after all, the very foundation of the church Christ established.

I have more, but these will suffice for now. I'm an open book. I'm ready to be "saved." The requests I have above are more than reasonable. The Bible teaches, if I'm not mistaken, to "give a good answer" to those who ask. Thanks in advance.

The Day That The Earth Stood Still?

Joshua's Miracle. Isaiah's Sign, and More! Could this be real? I'll report, you decide.

The Missing Day


Thought this was pretty amazing and interesting!

For all the scientists out there, and for all the students who have a hard time convincing these people regarding the truth of the Bible, here's something that shows God's awesome creation, and that He is still in control.

Did you know that the NASA space program is busy proving that what has been called 'myth' in the Bible is true?

Mr. Harold Hill, President of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore, Maryland, and a consultant in the space program, relates the following development.

'I think one of the most amazing things that God has done for us today happened recently to our astronauts and space scientists at Green Belt, Maryland .

They were checking out where the positions of the sun, moon, and planets would be 100 years and 1,000 years from now. We have to know this so we won't send up a satellite and have it bump into something later on in its orbits.

We have to lay out the orbits in terms of the life of the satellite and where the planets will be so the whole thing will not bog down.

They ran the computer measurement back and forth over the centuries, and it came to a halt. The computer stopped and put up a red signal, which meant that there was something wrong with either the information fed into it or with the results as compared to the standards.


They called in the service department to check it out, and they said, 'What's wrong?' Well, they found there is a day missing in space in elapsed time.

They scratched their heads and tore their hair out. There was no answer.

Finally a Christian man on the team said, 'You know, one time I was in Sunday School, and they talked about the sun standing still.' While they didn't believe him, they didn't have an answer either, so they said, 'Show us, '

He got a Bible and went to the book of Joshua where they found a pretty ridiculous statement for any one with 'common sense.'

There they found the Lord saying to Joshua, 'Fear them not, I have delivered them into thy hand; there shall not a man of them stand before Thee.'

Joshua was concerned because he was surrounded by the enemy! And if darkness fell, they would overpower them. So Joshua asked the Lord to make the sun stand still! That's right... 'The sun stood still and the moon stayed and lasted not to go down about a whole day!'
(Joshua 10:12-13)

The astronauts and scientists said, There is the missing day! They checked the computers going back into the time it was written and found it was close but not close enough. The elapsed time that was missing back in Joshua's day was 23 hours and 20 minutes, not a whole day.

They read the Bible, and there it was about [approximately] a day. These little words in the Bible are important, but they were still in trouble because if you cannot account for 40 minutes, you'll still be in trouble 1000 years from now.

Forty minutes had to be found because it can be multiplied many times over in orbits. As the Christian employee thought about it, he remembered somewhere in the Bible where it said the sun went BACKWARDS.

The scientists told him he was out of his mind, but they got out the Book and read these words in 2 Kings that told of the following story: Hezekiah, on his death bed, was visited by the prophet Isaiah who told him that he was not going to die. Hezekiah asked for a sign as proof. Isaiah said 'Do you want the sun to go ahead 10 degrees?'

Hezekiah said, 'It is nothing for the sun to go ahead 10 degrees, but let the shadow return backward 10 degrees.' Isaiah spoke to the Lord, and the Lord brought the shadow ten degrees BACKWARD! Ten degrees is exactly 40 minutes!'

Twenty-three hours and 20 minutes in Joshua, plus 40 minutes in Second Kings make the missing day in the universe! Isn't it amazing?

References : Joshua 10:8 and 12,13 and 2 Kings 20:9-11.



Forward this to as many people who you believe would think this is equally as cool.
If God could do this then; how much more can he do for us today. If we only believe in his word.

All I have and all that I am is by the Grace of God!

A still small voice and a burning of the bosom;

A modified copy of a letter written to a recent you tub'er who commented on a Book of Mormon video by DefendingMormonism. (To visit DM, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/DefendingMormonism)

Dear freetube1to1,

There are a lot of opinions made about the Book of Mormon and whether it is real or not; I use this passage in the Bible as a test to see where people are at on faith;

How do you know that Jesus Is the Christ?

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say aye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Matt 16:13-17

Without the spirit of God or an answer from him, how can we know? Christ died? Was buried but we're expected to believe that he rose from the dead? He played peekaboo with his disciples for 40 days and disappeared? To most, this would seem unreasonable.

Unless you had a "Great pastor" who convinced you that Jesus did all these things, teaching you that Christ was divine (instead of grave robbers stealing his body) and he was resurrected (and not just removed from the tomb so that it looks like it) how are we to believe?

The old testament talks about the "voice of the Lord as the "still small voice." God does not speak with a voice of thunder to convey truth.

"Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."
1 Kgs.19: 11-12

Furthermore, 2 men from Palestine, discovered the savior. After walking with him for a short time, they recognized who he was and he vanished straight away. They asked themselves, "Did our hearts not burn within us?" (Luke 24:13-32) In this same manner do men receive witness of all things spiritual A still small voice... a burning in our bosom.

Some say... that the Book of Mormon is a sham... it was written by Joseph Smith. But what does God say about it? Flesh and Blood can NOT reveal truth to another; I don't care if its Mr. Solomon Spaulding or the prophet, "Thomas S. Monson" Neither of these men have the final word. Only God does.

I know Jesus is the Christ. I have my answer from the Lord. In like manner, I find the words of Christ are found in the Book of Mormon just as powerfully as I find them in the Bible. Read the Book of Mormon for yourself; or remain ignorant of it. Its your choice! Ignorance, in this case, is not bliss.

But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. (D&C 9:8)
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
Proverbs 6:27

Who are your heroes?

Be sure to vote on my poll. Vote only once though!

Kudos!

Josh Nelson