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Words of Jesus: Forgiveness     By Elder Cecil O. Samuelson Jr.Of the Presidency of the SeventyCecil O. Samuelson Jr., "Words of Jesus: Forgiveness", Ensign, Feb. 2003, 48  “Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:37).  It is the Savior’s desire that we each feel His peace. He said: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. … Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). In these troubled times, a familiar hymn assures us: Sweet is the peace the gospel brings To seeking minds and true. With light refulgent on its wings It clears...

The Ensign (official LDS monthly magazine) has a regular column entitled “Questions and Answers”. Each month a different question is posed with answers supplied by LDS members. The February issue poses this question: “I often feel overwhelmed because I don’t feel I measure up to all that’s expected of me in living the gospel. How can I learn to rejoice in the gospel when I feel like I may never by able to become or do all the Lord requires of me?” This question is followed by the answers of eight different individuals. (To see the whole article, go to...

“One of God’s better jokes, on us,” writes Lewis B. Smeeds, “was to give us the power to remember the past and leave us no power to undo it.” We all wish that we had a magic cloth to wipe away the past. But there it is--as close to us as our present memories. We deeply believe that it happened like we remember it, and the hurt is buried within the soul like an open wound. And for some, the memories are not just of yesterday, but of today. How does a wife deal with the lingering pain of coming...

(Lev 16.31-32) It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. 32 And the priest who is anointed and be consecrated as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. This is the famous Day of Atonement passage. In Leviticus 16 God communicates to the Nation of Israel how they would have their sin dealt with. This annual event was to deal with their uncleanness due to their sin. Embedded in the pronouncement of cleansing (Lev.16.30) is this reminder of repetition. The feast will be...

Marilyn Monroe said, “In Hollywood, they give you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.” To illustrate Christ's power to break destructive relationships, I shall tell the story of a woman who was guilty of numerous illicit bonds but was brought to emotional and spiritual wholeness. Women are sensitive and often feel the pain of immorality more deeply than men. The fact that she was given a new identity and inner peace should be an encouragement to all who are haunted by a sexual past. Jesus does two things. First, He forgives her, but second,...

No Forgiveness for John Edwards The National Enquirer reports that when John Edwards realized that the end was near he begged his betrayed wife for forgiveness, but Elizabeth refused to relent. On her deathbed, a hurt, angry Elizabeth screamed at John, saying ‘You ruined my life — I’ll NEVER forgive you!’ Reports say that John Edwards repeatedly broke down in tears, and actually doubled over with grief at Elizabeth’s bedside. But she showed John no remorse. Nothing he said could change Elizabeth’s mind. The only concession Elizabeth was willing to grant her cheating husband was to pray with him that...

How do I deal with pain from the past?Posted on August 9th, 2010 by Father John BartunekQ: “The truth is that we cannot remain prisoners of the past; people need a sort of ‘healing of the memories’ so that past evils will not come back again.”  My question arises from this quote. HOW, HOW do I make it so that the past evils not come back, when the Hurt is there. The Mistrust is there?A: This question is relevant for all of us, because all of have wounds from the past, whether wounds caused by our own sins, or by...

Sunday, October 24, 2010 3:00 - 5:00 pm is Prayer Fever time for the world to pray. It doesn't matter where you are, just pray. Pray for our country, for our soldiers, for those in law enforcement, for teachers, for one another that lives can be changed,and for broken families to come together. Pray for God's guidance to vote for candidates who support Biblical principles of life for the unborn, tradtional marriage, limited federal government, fiscal rsponsibility, and personal liberty in your life.

And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.(Acts 10:41-45) Cornelius, a Roman centurion had assembled a house full of his closest friends and family, to hear a message from Peter. He had never known or met Peter before, but an Angel arranged the meeting,...

Nine years later, I am still angry about 9/11. Many people are not. In fact, many people barely remember 9/11. They see nothing wrong with building a mosque at Ground Zero. They do not realize that Ground Zero is already a holy place. They do not realize that it would be similar to building a Japanese Shinto shrine at Pearl Harbor, near the USS Arizona Memorial. They do not realize that, like our troops raising our flag on Iwo Jima, it would be a symbol of victory − but not our victory. The problem with 9/10 thinking is that it...

WEST PALM BEACH — The Palm Beach County Convention Center filled again today with tales of mortgage woe. Before dawn, with a plump moon overhead, a line of desperate homeowners trailed around the outside of the building. They slept in beach chairs or on blankets on the ground, refugees from a bad economy, bad loans, or bad decisions. They stayed even as the rain poured down on them. Because for most of the people in the queue, the Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America is the end of the line. The last chance to save their home. The non-profit group will...

Just Because Day When : August 27th Today is Just Because Day. Finally, you have a chance to do something without a rhyme or reason. Most often in life, we do things because we have to, or we want to, or it's expected of us. None of those reasons apply today. Is there something you'd like to do, but there isn't a reason or logic for doing it? Well, today is the day to go out and do something "just because". It is most enjoyable if it is an uncommon, or unexpected activity or action. Perhaps, you have something...

CBN.com – As children, Charles Dudrey and his siblings endured every form of abuse at the hands of their own father. One violent episode sent Charles to the Mayo Clinic. His father slammed Charles’s head against a wall, sending him into a seizure. “The diagnosis for me was grim, and the doctors wanted to do a frontal lobotomy on me to scrape the scar tissue off my brain from the physical abuse," Charles tells The 700 Club. "But my mother said no.” At the age of 11, Charles witnessed the unthinkable, his mother’s murder. He later discovered that his father...

The statement asks for forgiveness “from God and from our Mennonite sisters and brothers” for past wrongdoings and the ways in which Lutherans subsequently forgot or ignored this persecution and have continued to describe Anabaptists in misleading and damaging ways.

Monday night I watched with hands over half open eyes the torturous scene the character Jack Bauer inflicted on the villain of the episode. The bad guy was a Russian terrorist involved with the murder of Jack’s love interest and colleague, Renee Walker. If I had been watching the episode in a movie theater, I’m pretty sure it would have been Rated “R”. It was a gruesome and difficult scene. During the climax of the scene, Jack needs a SD card that the terrorist swallowed. In what appeared to be a psychotic rage, the episode ends with a very dead...

"Our children will look to that day and say, 'My ancestors, they stood before the government. They stood before the Church. They stood as a people. They recognized who God is in our nation. And they did not back down. And they believed for the healing of our nation. They believed for a revival in our people—and the freedom. That's what it's all about.'" (Canada)—Canadian Christianity reports that moments after Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologized and asked for forgiveness for the federal government's catastrophic residential schools policy, Native leader and former MP Elijah Harper and 100 Huntley Street's David...

Many of us don’t understand the full meaning of grace. We think of grace as a girl’s name or a church word and don’t really understand the full impact of God’s grace on our lives. But the whole foundation of our faith centers on the concept of grace so let’s explore what’s so amazing about grace.

“What Does It Give? The Benefit of the Sacrament of the Altar”In this midweek Lenten series, we’re looking at the Sacrament of the Altar--Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, are other names by which we know this sacrament instituted by Christ. Last week we began by focusing on “The Nature of the Sacrament.” We asked the foundational question, “What Is It?” And the answer came, “It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ himself for us Christians to eat and to drink.” Our answer was based on what Jesus...

Mike Huckabee talks to Gayle Haggard, the wife of Pastor Ted Haggard, about her reasons for staying in her marriage after her husbands marital infidelity became public. (there are 2 parts)

A Dream A Lot Like Mine(Click here for audio. It will open in a new window, so you can listen and follow along simultaneously.) From time to time I wonder if she ever has a dream a lot like mine Where wrong we did back then is back again An’ hittin’ right between the eyes Like the life that we denied because it somehow seemed not worth the sacrifice Of things we thought we needed–now long vanished–and still I pay the price And, from time to time, I wonder if she ever has a dream a lot like mine Each...