So, the restorationist movement had its first conference a year ago, April, in Colorado. There was a lot of mistrust and fear amongst people in regards to it (it turned out to be a very good conference). In spite of that, there have been several since then. Some have been small and private. Here is one that is coming up that is being widely advertised.
I doubt I will go as I don't have a way up there and I don't know what my financial or work situation will be at that time, but I wanted to spread the word.
A general conference for all people seeking to follow the Doctrine of Jesus Christ
September 10 - 11, 2016 — Boise, Idaho, USA
More info can be found at the site below:
http://doctrineofchristconference.com/
Okay, lame title. I couldn't think of a better one.
I think the words below from a true messenger of God bears repeating. This stuff is real. Jesus is real. He is really going to come. From here on out, in the world, it will be less and less fun.
The Lord's return is always a subject He wants us to keep in mind. All the latter-day events that will mark the time for His return will happen in a single generation. (D&C 45:30; JS-M 1:34.) Therefore, when that generation begins to witness the signs of His coming, they should prepare so the return of the Master does not find them abusing others. (Matt. 24:44-51; JS-Matt. 1:49-55.)
. . .
I am sent as another witness to testify He will return. Signs have been, and are being given both in the heavens and on earth.
. . .
He has authorized baptism as His own covenant to preserve all who receive it. I have seen His return and I know this newly offered baptism will be respected at His return by those who will return with Him. Baptism is offered as a covenant between you and the Lord. There are no institutional demands made upon you as a result of receiving the ordinance. It is an invitation to renew your relationship with Christ and take an act of faith to show Him you keep Him in your heart.
. . .
Every nation, kindred, tongue and people, black and white, male and female, young and old, are invited to be baptized. There is no charge, and you make no commitment to men. You only covenant to follow Christ.
He is aligning events to complete His work, and the signs of His return are being given to this generation. The time will soon come when it will not be possible to receive this invitation any longer. Do not procrastinate the day of your repentance.
denversnuffer.com/2015/12/come-unto-christ/
How long is a generation? I don't know that God counts it in years. Speaking of only one genealogical line, I had two generations in Nauvoo: Shadrach and Lorenzo Wesley Roundy. Then, there was Joel Jesse, Sarah Elizabeth, then my mother. Counting from Nauvoo, I am the 4th and 5th generation. (LW-JJ=1 JJ-SE=2 SE-Mom=3 Mom-me=4)
How to translate that into now, I don't know, but if we take the year the "saints" were kicked out of Nauvoo and subtract it from 2015, then divide it by 4 (generations), we may come up with a general ball park number. However, the time when "it will not be possible to receive this invitation any longer" will probably be sooner than that. If the Book of Mormon is any indication, there comes a time when people cannot repent (because of their mindsets). They are "past feeling."
I don't know about you, but the possible fact that Jesus could return as early as 40 years from now gives me cause for concern. Who will be ready? Will I? But my concern is more for my loved ones. My children, my siblings and their families, my cousins and other relatives, my friends and acquaintances, even those who seem to be enemies of some sort.
Would to God that all people might repent, turn to Christ, and follow Him.
Why must we suffer?
Why must we harden our hearts?
Why must we hurt each other?
Why must we live in fear, anger, vengeance, and contention?
Let us lift up our hearts together.
Let us unite in love!
Let us cease contending.
Let us cease lifting up ourselves or others on pedestals as one(s) to be heeded above others.
Let us humbly turn to our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Let us see ourselves for the fools we really are.
Holy, holy, holy is the most High - for it is by His grace and His grace alone that we are saved, not by any act of ourselves.
We may repent, we may accept His awesome grace and incredible mercy, but it is He who has trodden the winepress alone. It is He who has opened the door to our salvation and peace. With all my heart and mind, I throw out into the "ethers" the invitation to come unto Christ, and to be one with Him. Amen.
I have been interested in Akhenaten for quite a while, wondering if he was inspired by God. You know, on the order of a true prophet. He changed the worship of many gods to one god, for example. Just now, I came across this (emphasis mine):
When historians first began to study
Akhenaten carefully, in the late 1800s, the first thing that naturally
came to everyone's mind was that Akhenaten was divinely inspired. However,
it does not seem likely that Akhenaten simply decided out of the blue to
make such a major change. Many early historians, determined to link Akhenaten's
religion somehow to the Jewish religion, said that he was inspired by Joseph
or Moses (Redford, p. 4, 1984). This is a possibility, considering that
Joseph, at least, was around in roughly the same time period as Akhenaten.
However, after close examination of Akhenaten's religion, this hypothesis
seems unlikely. Akhenaten's religion did center on one god, but his major
emphasis was on the Aten's visibility, tangibility, and undeniable realness.
Akhenaten placed no emphasis, therefore, on faith. (source)
Holy Cow! If that isn't the best proof that he was inspired of God, I don't know what was. We have inherited a Christianity that says God is unknowable, that says He cannot be seen. And here, Akhenaten was preaching (like Denver Snuffer does in his 10-lecture circuit) that the Lord is visible, tangible, and undeniably real.
Akhenaten's name was originally Amenhotep IV, but he changed it. His new name meant "living spirit of Aten". He was the younger son (his older brother had died). (source) A different source says the name meant "He who is of service to the Aten" or "Effective Spirit of Aten" (source)
Another interesting bit of the puzzle (emphasis mine): (source)
Akhenaten was the son of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiyee, a descendent of a Hebrew tribe.
Amon was one of the deities that Akhenaten replaced. Apparently, he "presented the Aten as a variant of Amun-Ra." (source) (Could it be that Amun had roots in the true God, but had been changed and perverted over time? I don't know. I'm just wondering.)
He was King Tut's father. Tut was the boy-king who died young (we don't really know if it was "natural" or if someone did him in so that they could revert back to their old religion).
About Akhenaten's wife:
The Eighteenth Dynasty was characterised by powerful women, but Akhenaten seems to have granted his chief wife, Nefertiti,
with power surpassed only by the Pharaoh himself. Some scholars even
suggest that she ruled as co-regent for part of his reign. (source)
That shows an equality that is rarely suggested among apostate religions, an equality that it seems God believes in.
Anyway, here are the sources, if you want to go to any of the links:
http://www.crystalinks.com/akhenaten.html
http://discoveringegypt.com/ancient-egyptian-kings-queens/akhenaten/
http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/akhenaten.html
http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/akhenaten.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun
http://www.heptune.com/Akhnaten.html#Akhenaten%20of%20Amarna
I had the most curious dream last night.
First, I was visiting a family who was pretty much a merger of two families I know in real life. Violently contentious families (the parents were not kind to their children while raising them). In the dream, the children were still young.
Then I visited a friend whose name is Denise. She lived in a house or an apartment (I'm not sure which; I only saw the inside, as far as I recall). Then I visited my mother, who lived in a house. The inside walls of both places were "exceedingly" white.
I was trying to decide which one to room with, and came up with the idea of all three of us rooming together. Denise was willing, but as I visited my mother, I was pretty sure she wouldn't go for it because Denise was a worse housekeeper than my mother.
While I was visiting my mother, she was washing clothes and/or dishes. It was a curious machine. Apparently, you could open the front and put in dishes or open the top and put in clothing. It was running when a man came. His job was to make sure the machine was running correctly before it was used for the first time. However, my mother had been using this machine for a long time (a month or two, I would guess), and the man was so unacquainted with this machine he was supposed to be an expert on that he didn't even know it was running when he opened its door. Mom had to tell him to close it because the water was about to be poured in (he had opened the dishwasher side).
My mother was explaining to me how the washer was automated/had its own mind so to speak. You put a row of detergent in (They looked like short upside-down test tubes, maybe 2-3 inches wide and 4-5 inches tall, two rows of 6 each, inserted into a board made of ... it looked like plastic, but it wasn't) and the machine would take one tube of detergent each time it ran (but it may not have used the whole beaker of powder in one wash load). A person rarely had to put soap in. I guess it practically put the clothing/dishes in for you.
Both my mother and friend were living in what looked like it could be St. George, Utah. Definitely Utah, and I knew that I had been brought to Utah from Arizona because I had failed in my Arizona life. Basically exiled to the lesser place. I was trying to find a place to live, and in my plan to room with these two people, I was looking for a place for the three of us. I thought of my uncle's apartments, but realized they were long gone. Besides, I wanted a place that was much better than that.
I never became aware of the fact that I was dreaming, but I did become aware of one real life fact: Both of these women are dead. That startled me.
When I woke up and went over the dream, I realized that the homes these two were living in - the walls were more white than any earthly thing could ever be. I also realized that they were both perfectly happy where they were, and I had no right to disrupt that by insisting they move.
I also wondered about the fact that they are dead. Was it telling me that my time on earth is about done? Have I failed at what I came here for? I'm not ready to die. I haven't done what I believe I need to do to be saved (see the Lord in person, not in a dream, nor simply sensing that He is standing near me), and my children are not all settled in their own place (one they can afford without my input - not that my input is much. I'm rather a beggar at the moment). Were my children settled in homes they can afford, with jobs to keep them there, I would be more willing to go, though I would prefer to know that I have accomplished what I came here to accomplish.
It was a troubling dream, in a way, though both Denise and Mom were very happy where they were and with their lives.
After proofreading this post, it occurred to me that it wasn't my time to go because, if it was, there would have been a house for me. Even the contentious, angry family had a house, so being a failure at life (AZ being life) would not have prevented me from being given a home immediately upon my arrival into the place I was.
If anyone would like to take a shot at interpretation, I would like you to post it (I have to approve posts -too much spam- so don't be discouraged when/if your reply is not immediately visible). Also, Denise is the real name of the real friend. We met 40 years ago. She died around 2000, of cancer. My mother also had cancer, but died of the treatment around 1998.
