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How realistic is the First Vision? One of the seminal events in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the First Vision of Joseph Smith. Missionaries today around the world in their very first lesson with those interested in the Church recount the story of Joseph Smith praying in the…
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When I was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I saw additional commandments such as the Word of Wisdom to be “blessings from above.” (D&C 59:3–4). I thought that it was a pleasure to be asked to give up something like tea or coffee to more fully serve God and…
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One of the most common accusations leveled against Paul the Apostle was that he was teaching his followers that it was appropriate to sin and to embrace a kind of cheap grace. This same accusation is leveled by Latter-day Saints against Protestant Christians today. I want to invite you to look carefully at the criticism…
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One day, Jesus healed ten lepers who cried out to him in their affliction. Yet only one of the ten came back to Jesus with gratitude “praising God in a loud voice.” That man alone heard Jesus declare: “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:12-19). How often are we like those…
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On the topic of what we need to do to be saved, the most famous verse in the Book of Mormon is 2 Nephi 25:23: “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is…
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In the April 2023 General Conference, Elder Allen D. Haynie emphasized the need to follow the prophet without equivocation, declaring emphatically “We are never spiritually at risk in following prophetic counsel” Elder Haynie was echoing a concept that has been taught by Latter-day Saint leaders many times before. President Wilford Woodruff exclaimed that: “The Lord…
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The Wayward One (Acts 9:1-18) A Pharisee among the pharisees. Pure born son of Benjamin Circumcised on the Eighth Day Confident in the flesh Righteous according to the law Abstaining from all that is unclean Boasting in his own merits Believing himself blameless before the bar of God …
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Reason to Boast (Acts 26:4-18) If anyone had reason to boast, I did. I was born of the house of Israel, but then baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an illustrious pedigree. I served a mission in Russia. I graduated first in my class from Brigham Young University’s law…