Free Republic

Blessed by Living Water     Kathleen H. HughesFirst Counselor in the Relief Society General PresidencyKathleen H. Hughes, "Blessed by Living Water", Ensign, May 2003, 13–15  Living water heals. It nourishes and sustains. It brings peace and joy.  Early in Christ’s ministry, He traveled from Jerusalem to His boyhood home of Nazareth, in Galilee. He passed through Samaria and, weary from His journey, stopped to rest at Jacob’s ancient well. As Jesus waited and His disciples sought food in a nearby town, a Samaritan woman approached the well. You know the story. When Jesus asked for a drink, she was surprised that a...

Sweet Power of Prayer      Elder Russell M. NelsonOf the Quorum of the Twelve ApostlesRussell M. Nelson, "Sweet Power of Prayer", Ensign, May 2003, 7–9  We should pray in accord with the will of our Heavenly Father. He wants to test us, to strengthen us, and to help us achieve our full potential.   In this day of computers, phones, and pagers, people communicate with one another better than ever before. Even so, good communication is often lacking. Recently while visiting a nursing care facility, I spoke with a woman about her family. She told me that she had three sons, two of...

The following is a list of men in the Iron Military District of Utah Territory’s Nauvoo Legion militia whose names have been associated with the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The names have been gathered from a variety of sources that include eyewitness accounts, arrest warrants, criminal indictments, and newspaper articles. A completely accurate list of those who participated in or witnessed the murder of the California-bound emigrants may be impossible to compile. Many of the participants kept silent about their roles. The testimonies of many witnesses were given fifteen years or more after the massacre. Those who admitted being at the...

Seventh-day Adventists won't tell you they are behind the "Revelation Seminars" they sponsor. They act all" interdenominational" if questioned. Watch out for these SDA outreaches as well: Voice of Prophecy, Faith for Today, It is Written, The Quiet Hour, Amazing Facts etc. They also hide behind Heath oriented shows on the networks, and sponsor stop-smoking clinics etc, all as introductions to Seventh-day Adventism. They very much want to be perceived as Evangelical Christians, seeking a place on the ministerial fellowships. All this is good PR for them, but what do they really believe? What facts won't they tell you? They...

..."It is charged," said Stephen A. Douglas in a speech at Springfield, Illinois, on the 12th of June, 1857 10—..."that the Mormon government, with Brigham Young at its head, is now forming alliances with Indian tribes in Utah and adjoining territories, stimulating the Indians to acts of hostility, and organizing bands of his own followers, under the name of Danites or destroying angels, to prosecute a system of robbery and murders upon American citizens who support the authority of the United States, and denounce the infamous and disgusting practices and institutions of the Mormon government." SNIP 10. The speech appears...

Parables of Jesus: The Great Supper      By Elder F. Melvin HammondOf the SeventyF. Melvin Hammond, "Parables of Jesus: The Great Supper", Ensign, Apr. 2003, 51  Four modern applications teach us how to be better guests and servants at the Lord’s feast.   While I served as a mission president in Bolivia years ago, Sister Hammond and I gathered all of the new native-born Bolivian missionaries to our home for dinner. From the scattered villages of their native land they came, humble and dedicated.Following a brief meeting, each was ushered into the dining room, where a feast awaited. The table had been carefully...

It’s official: Britain is no longer a Christian nation. In banning Eunice and Owen Johns, a devout Christian couple, from fostering children, Lord Justice Munby and Mr Justice Beatson declared that we live in a secular state, and that the Johns’ religious convictions disqualified them from raising citizens of that state. We’ve outgrown Christianity, the judges professed. Instead, we have graduated to the status of a multicultural nation, blessed by a plurality of faiths. Ironically, the justices who have pronounced that Britain is no longer Christian did so in a court where witnesses swear on the Bible and invoke God’s...

My children die from a lack of knowledge that I AM The King of their temple and not their own mindset that seeks to dethrone Me for it is in itself unholy . Therefore take on the all of Me Yes , but I must remain at all times both your denominator your True Foundation Stone and also you must believe I AM The numerator of your ways your All Provider for truly I AM That , your I AM in and through all things my children . Surrender to Me everything you are that I may "rise up" in...

Words of Jesus: Death and Resurrection     By Elder Walter F. GonzálezOf the SeventyWalter F. González, "Words of Jesus: Death and Resurrection", Ensign, Apr. 2003, 22   “I am the resurrection, and the life” (John 11:25).  About 2,000 years ago in a small village outside Jerusalem, two sisters saw their brother become ill and die. Mary and Martha dearly loved their brother Lazarus, so their anguish was great. Their friends and neighbors tried to comfort them but failed. Their sorrow was so great that upon seeing them Jesus was filled with compassion and wept (see John 11:30–35). We can perhaps imagine how Martha...

America has probably supplied the world with more new religions than any other nation...the country's atmosphere of religious experimentation has produced dozens of movements, from Mormonism to a wide range of nature-based practices grouped under the name Wicca. ...how do we tell when a religious movement ceases to be novel or unusual and becomes a cult? ...Hollywood writer-director Paul Haggis...left the Church of Scientology and has accused it of abusive practices, including demands that members disconnect from their families... In the early 19th century, the "Burned-over District" of central New York state—so named for the religious passions of those who...

Words of Jesus: Humility     By Elder Athos M. AmorimOf the SeventyAthos M. Amorim, "Words of Jesus: Humility", Ensign, Mar. 2003, 48–51  “Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matt. 11:29).   Many times, the Savior used only a few words or a simple act to emphasize a wondrous eternal principle. For example, after feeding the 5,000, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost” (John 6:12), teaching them and us to avoid wastefulness. And when the Apostles returned from their missions, Jesus took them by ship and “departed … into a...

Since its inception in 1881, the Watchtower Bible and Tract society, A.K.A. Jehovah’s Witnesses, has proclaimed that only 144,000 human beings will go to heaven. They get that number, of course, from Revelation 14:1-5, where we read that they are those who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are chaste; it is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes; these have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are spotless. They are identified as “male virgins” who have not defiled themselves with...

 Salvation: By Grace or by Works?     By Gerald N. LundGerald N. Lund, "Salvation: By Grace or by Works?", Ensign, Apr. 1981, 17   When the Apostle Paul was imprisoned at Philippi, he was asked by a distressed jailer, “What must I do to be saved?”Without reference to obedience or repentance or good works that he himself so often spoke of, Paul simply answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” (Acts 16:30–31.)But in a church that also has many ancient and modern scriptural passages stressing works of righteousness and the importance of obedience to the laws and...

(I’m repeating this post from over a year ago because some LDS members remarked that it helped them understand our position on faith and works.) A topic that frustrates both Christians and Mormons is the topic of faith and works. It usually creates much more heat than light. Therefore I would like to approach this somewhat differently in an attempt, at the very least, to clarify some of the issues involved. I would like to address the question in the title. What qualifies people to live with Heavenly Father for all eternity? I worded it that way because I have...

JESSE DUPLANTIS CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE GOD KIND: PART 1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp1UMwZEUHk&playnext=1&list=PL816708F436BC1426PART 2http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2igwF4NTR8Q&playnext=1&list=PL816708F436BC1426PART 3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOKfC5JoB14&playnext=1&list=PL816708F436BC1426PART 4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5todV21iDvU&feature=related

But someone may well say, 'You have faith, and I have works.' (James 2:18) With some fifty percent of Americans claiming to have had a born again experience, and with thirty percent saying they are evangelicals1 should we not expect a mighty societal impact resulting in a more just society, the abolition of abortion, the rejection of gay marriage, just to name a few things? And should we not also expect fewer divorces among us? Should we not expect our children to live out their profession, to walk in a manner worthy of their calling? Sadly this is not the...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Polygamy practiced by some 19th century Mormon men had the curious effect of suppressing the overall offspring numbers of Mormon women in plural marriages, say scientists from Indiana University Bloomington and three other institutions in the March 2011 issue of Evolution and Human Behavior. Simply put, the more sister-wives a Mormon woman had, the fewer children she was likely to produce. "Although it's great in terms of number of children for successful males to have harems, the data show that for every new woman added to a male's household, the number each wife produced goes down by...

Parables of Jesus: The Parable of the Empty House     By Elder Victor D. CaveArea Authority SeventyVictor D. Cave, "Parables of Jesus: The Parable of the Empty House", Ensign, Mar. 2003, 45–47  True repentance is not merely eliminating the negative but replacing it with positive attitudes and actions.   As Jesus traveled through the cities and villages of Galilee performing miracles, a man who was possessed with a devil was brought to Him; the man was also blind and unable to speak. Jesus healed him, causing many to be amazed and wonder if He was the promised Messiah (see Matt. 12:22–23). When certain...

SALT LAKE CITY — With her hair pulled back under a hijab, an Islamic headdress, Sonya Cherifi sat on a pew in the Tabernacle on Temple Square beside her Mormon parents watching members of many religious groups perform dance and song significant to their faith. "I want my parents to understand Islam is not all the media puts it out to be," Cherifi said, explaining why she invited her parents to the first interfaith event she's attended. "They feel more at home being on their grounds." Her German mother, Inga Lang, said she lived through World War II because of...

There is a wave event coming through the sun for as a bolt of lightning strikes so a flare up shall cause a tetonic wave event rippling across these channels causing faults to buckle ,fail ,uprise ,sheer ,tear and come apart all as if a hand of God has stretched forth across the face of the earth and shall . Tetonic plates shall rise up as mountains and in places the earth shall swallow up itself in great measure ! John 4:24 24God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and...