On Serpents and Trust

I've been thinking of the story about the Israelites today. It's the one where many of them got bitten, and God told Moses to make a brazen (is that brass?) serpent. All the people had to do was look at it and they would be healed. Many did not look, and they died.

Dang Israelites didn't have faith. Or was that really it? Was faith the root of the lesson God was trying to teach? What if He was trying to teach them to trust Him? Trust Him for food, for protection, for everything.

For these last 2 1/2 years, God has been in the process of teaching me to trust Him. I thought He was trying to teach me to trust Him for food, shelter, transportation, and so forth. Today, it occurred to me that it was so, so much more. I caught a glimpse. Not enough to really explain well, but enough that I would like to share it.

He wants me (and all of us, I'm sure) to trust Him not only for food, shelter, clothing, transportation, but also for the direction our lives go, as well as salvation. In other words, I screw up. I don't understand. I'm going to continue to screw up. I'm going to continue to not understand what God is doing in my life. I really don't know where I should live, what I should do, how to be "good" (whatever that really is). I don't know enough to be someone worth the time the Lord invests in me. If I can trust Him with everything, trust Him to the point that He wishes I would, then I can rest assured of my salvation because I have turned it over to Him. Submission to Him is trusting Him.

This is in no way "resting on my laurels" (I don't have any, anyway). This is trusting the Lord Jesus Christ for my salvation, for my protection, and that everything is going to work together for my good.

A while back, I had a convo with my good friend, Meili. She has a tendency to charge forward, doing what she thinks she should, with the idea that God will correct her if she's wrong. He has. It may have taken longer than would have suited other people, but her life is between her and God, not between her and onlookers. And, in my view, she has learned wisdom in the process, wisdom she probably could not have learned in any other way. I'm not exactly sure what this has to do with the topic at hand, except-perhaps-that trusting that God will correct us if need be is a part of trusting God as a whole. Perhaps we needn't be so afraid that we'll screw up that we make no decisions at all (that's pretty much where I stand/sit a lot of the time). Perhaps, after we have learned the lessons, God will correct us and set us straight - as long as we remain trusting, humble, and teachable. Rather like that child God keeps telling us to be like to inherit His kingdom.

The Lord's Coming in Glory

This is an excerpt from Denver's talk that was shared with me, and I think it is important enough to share here. I haven't listened to his talk yet. I am in the process of listening to Dan Rogers' talk, though, and would highly recommend it. It is about Christ. I have not listened to any other talks, but they are all supposed to be shared at some point by those who hosted the Boise Conference. Many thanks to them and their selfless efforts.

 I saw His return in glory and recorded what He revealed. I was lying at home in my bed when The Lord spoke to me, calling me by name. When it ended I was commanded to write an account. As I wrote, the words were given to me and I recorded the following.

 "On 13th of February, 2003, I saw the Lord coming in His glory. At first a sign appeared in the heavens, a light emanating from a single point and turning first this way and that. All the world saw it and men debated over it's meaning. At length the light turned upon us and within it was the Lord showing His glory with concourses of angels and the hosts of heaven following in his wake. And when we saw that it was the Lord we rejoiced and were filled with joy. I turned to my wife and said, "Look, it is Christ"! And she said, "yes, it is!" And we were filled with joy and peace of mind for the long awaited day of the Lord had come. But others were filled with dread. They feared and lamented and wanted the mountains to cover them and hide them from His presence for He was clothed in red and came in judgement. And Christian ministers knew they had taught falsely and that their faith could not save and they begged for relief from the saints. This caused me to marvel at how this could be. It was given unto me to understand that without the ordinances of salvation through the authorized ministers of the Gospel, it was not possible for men to shed their sins. And they could not look upon a just and holy being without being racked with torment and guilt for their sins. And they pled with the saints to minister to them but we could not for we were constrained by the Spirit and were forbidden to do so. For this was the day of judgement which the Lord had in His heart and He was now come to preach His own sermon, clothed in red and to deliver those who waited on Him and to convict and condemn those who had not. I write this with my own hand and bear solemn testimony that it is true. Amen"
When I finished recording the foregoing account, I replied to the Lord that it was not complete and that I could give a much fuller account. The Lord replied, "when the time comes to bear testimony of this, these are the words you shall use".

 And many other things were told me that cannot be written. These are the words I can use to testify of that event. Therefore this is my testimony of that visit in early in 2003.

 The first appearance of the Lord was in the 50th year of my life, an age considered suitable for more than 1000 years for a man to qualify for service in the holy order after the order of the son of God. The Lord has visited with and taught me on many occasions since then but never at my insistence. I have never controlled His appearing. My experience is that he cannot be conjured nor controlled. I can petition but he comes when he decides. The Lord has never appeared to me in a dream. I have always been awake, fully aware of my surroundings and with my senses unimpeded. When awakened during the night, sleep has always fled and following such an encounter I was always unable to return to sleep. The Lord does everything according to His higher way of teaching. By beginning with a vision of His return, He set out the foundation for understanding His course which is one eternal round. Since his first appearance, He has sent diverse angels from Adam, or Michael to Hyrum or Joseph Smith, giving line upon line to confirm my hope in Christ.

May God grant us all soft hearts and true repentance. I worry about myself, my children, my siblings, my other family members, and many friends and acquaintances, as well as all of us on planet earth. Oh, that I had the voice of an angel and that the whole world would hear and turn to Christ!

Belief

Our belief that we know the answer blinds us to our ignorance. As a result, we ignore the signs that we might be mistaken (Madeleine L van Hecke, Ph.D, Blind Spots, Prometheus books 2007 P. 52)

Our natural tendency is to assume that the answers we have are the right ones, not to habitually question what we think we know.
(IBID)

Lamentation

LDS remnant
Facebook posts are flowing
Complaints of LDS policies,
estate, and priesthood errors
growing.
Book of Mormon preaching,
filtered through Pratt and Hyde
Bible reasoning.
False traditions are dropping
as new ones
from mystical popcorn trees
are popping.

LDS remnant posts all
bitchin' and moanin'
rather than discussing Jesus
And His power atoning.
A seed planted,
with the claim to be watered
Well,
We see the roots are drying,
over posts of polygamy
crying.
A remnant we claim
of what, indeed?
Have we only managed to escape
The Corporate Greed?
A remnant, a remnant! But what of the fruit? 
Endless division, debate, 
and a name (the Remnant) to boot.
My God.
What have we done?
A remnant ... 
the repetition has begun.

By

Jaxon Peterson