I'm Peddling Salvation

Once upon a time I was teaching a young man in Glenwood Iowa. He was young, bright and open. He listened and participated and accepted our invitations. At the conclusion of our lesson, he looked at us and said, "So, I'll read your book. I'll pray about it. That sounds cool. You mentioned baptism and, I've already been baptised but if you say I need to again and if I find this all to be for real, I guess that makes sense. Just, .. are you guys trying to sell me something?" We responded that we weren't salesmen and that he can keep his money. His concern got me thinking though. I'm not a salesman of anything, except maybe salvation. On that thought, I wrote the following poem. If anything in it is unfamiliar to you, check out www.mormon.org


I'm Peddling Salvation!
Would you like some?.. Would you like some?
I've got a little in this bag. Free sample?
Free sample?

Have you seen our commercials?
On TV?
On internet?
Yeah. That's the one!
His name though, I forget.
Why might he be happy?
His job?
His kids?
His wife?
Did you see that other guy, that didn't have that life?
I'll write the url for you,
But sir, what is your name?
God knows it. He loves you.
He knows you're not the same as anyone else in the whole world.
I can't help you with anything,
But He can.

You see, there was this boy
Wanting to know the king.
He was confused.
Troubled.
He didn't know anything.
Then one day he sat and read James one, verse five
And suddenly, to Joseph,
The scripture came ALIVE!
If any man lacked wisdom
He did.
That was sure.
Which church was Christ's?
The clean. The pure.
So for the first time in Joseph's life, he knelt and prayed aloud
And the world, once lost, again by God was found,
But no.
He knew us all along.
We just had left his side.
Like a kid who stole a cookie
We just felt we had to hide
But MAN! Salvation's FREE!
Eternal life's a choice.
I see what you are thinking.
Go ahead.
You can rejoice.
Here's a Book of Mormon.
Read. Pray. Learn it's true.
The God of heaven and earth is reaching out to you.
Will you follow Christ's example?
Repent and be baptised.
Let your divine potential
Today be realized.
Your family can be FOREVER!
You'll be healed through Christ's Blood.
Though blind, You'll see!
Here's a little clay and mud.

Jesus Christ.
The Saviour of mankind.
The Victor over death.
The Truth we long to find.
The Word.
The Prince.
The Son of Man.
The Son of God.
The great "I Am"
Transformer of "I can't" to "CAN"
The Rod.
The Tree.
The Fruit.
The creeping serpent's Crushing Boot.
The Rock.
The Shepherd of the flock.
Nephi's brother's With'ring Shock.
The Burning Bush,
The Holy One.
The Stars.
The Moon.
The Westbound Son,

We're sharing HIS SALVATION.
Can we help you help Him
Change you?
There's enough for every nation.
When can we come back and share more.

Plain and Precious: Four Fundamental Truths of the Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ contains precious truths we need for happy mortal and eternal life. I hope to talk more about these subjects, but for now, on this temporary blog, I'd just like to run a few thoughts through the system and see how it goes. Also, HEY! I'm Josh! What's your name?

Pre existence: While the Bible alludes to spiritual pre-earth life, the Book of Mormon teaches that priesthood leaders were “called and prepared from the foundation of the world” and that the spirit children of God had varying stages of progression in the pre-existence. Further modern revelation helps us understand what happened in the pre mortal spirit world and how it effects us today. (Alma 13:3-4)

Knowledge concerning pre mortality is important because it gives life purpose. Where did we come from? Why are we here? The answer lies in a correct understanding of the plan of salvation. God did not wake up one morning and think, “I’d like to make a world and populate it with peons.” He’s not the divine artist. He’s our Father. He loves us. The purpose of our existence is to gain a glorified, immortal, perfect body like our Father.  It is to gain the experience of mortality and progression. The Lord has taught us, “This is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” Jesus Christ was “prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem (his) people.” We were created in His image. “Yea, even all men were created in the beginning after (his) own body.” (Ether 3:14-15) 

The Purpose of the Fall: The Biblical account of the Fall of Adam has lead most of  Christianity to demonize Adam and his temptress wife, Eve. The doctrine set forth in the Book of Mormon, that “Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy.” and that the fall was an essential part in the plan of happiness glorifies Adam as Father and gives meaning to life and the eternal plan of God. 

God created a perfect paradise for his children and provided for them the opportunity to taste the bitter that they might learn to prize the sweet. He had everything under control. Book of Mormon readers understand that that God’s plan is perfect. He’s got this under control. Mainstream christianity often narrates a divine theater in which our Eternal Father makes something great for His children, who screw it up, and he has to kill His only son. The Book of Mormon teaches us of a God who gives his children a chance to “become subjects to follow after their own will,” a “probationary state for them to prepare.” “for behold this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God.” Look at the world around you. No pain no gain. No fall, no freedom, no feeling no Victory.  Knowing that the Fall of Adam was a necessary part of God’s plan, helps us understand why God lets “bad”things happen, and helps us appreciate our opportunity to make our own mistakes. 

Gethsemane: What happened in the Olive Garden? Biblical knowledge of the happening sin the garden of Gethsemane is very limited. The witnesses slept and so does christianity, skipping the agony in favor of the passion of the cross. Latter day knowledge of pre existence, the fall ad the atonement help us understand the “why” behind the suffering and death of Christ and the Book of Mormon teaches us the important “what” of Gethsemane. 

In Gethsemane, Christ went “forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temtations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of His people.” and He took upon him “death, that He may loose the bands of death, which bind his people; and ... their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according tot the flesh that he may know according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.” Need help? Feel like you just can’t do this on your own? I don’t know what you’re going through. Jesus does. The atonement is more than just a payment for universal treason. The atonement provides enabling, saving, empowering grace, that we can experience now, when we most need it. (Alma 7: 11-13; Mosiah 3:7)

This is His gospel: In the new testament account of the life and death of Christ, which truths describe “The Gospel” of Jesus Christ, the central focus of our worship?Only the Book of Mormon teaches clearly the Doctrine of Christ and shows men what they must do to return to their Heavenly home and enter into their exaltation. Christ explains to the Nephites, “Behold I have given unto you y gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given you - that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me. And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up my en, even so should en be lifted up by the father to stand before e, to be judged of their works, wether they be good or whether they be evil. And it shall come to pass that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world.”(3 Nephi 27: 13-16)

The Book of Mormon also helps us understand the eternal nature of the Gospel. While new and everlasting, it aint new, and God doesn’t change between Malachi and Matthew. Because we understand Apostasies and Restorations, we know truth is eternal, the Doctrine of Christ is everlasting, God is unchanging. Only People change and loose hold of the gospel. The Book of Mormon testifies of Christ in every page. It teaches his gospel 600 years before his birth, and chronicles the lives of chosen people who knew the God in whom they trusted. If you want to know Jesus Christ, find Him in the pages of the Book of Mormon.