la restauración y la apostasía
Throughout history, evil people have tried to destroy the work
of God. This happened while the Apostles were still alive and supervising the
young, growing Church. Some members taught ideas from their old pagan or Jewish
beliefs instead of the simple truths taught by Jesus. Some rebelled openly. In
addition, there was persecution from outside the Church. Church members were
tortured and killed for their beliefs. One by one, the Apostles were killed or
otherwise taken from the earth. Because of wickedness and apostasy, the
apostolic authority and priesthood keys were also taken from the earth. The
organization that Jesus Christ had established no longer existed, and confusion
resulted. More and more error crept into Church doctrine, and soon the
dissolution of the Church was complete. The period of time when the true Church
no longer existed on earth is called the Great Apostasy.
Soon pagan beliefs dominated the thinking of those called
Christians. The Roman emperor adopted this false Christianity as the state
religion. This church was very different from the church Jesus organized. It
taught that God was a being without form or substance.
The Lord
had foreseen these conditions of apostasy, saying there would be “a famine in
the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the
words of the Lord. … They shall … seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find
it” (Amos 8:11–12).
A lo largo de la historia, ha habido gente inicua que ha tratado
de destruir la obra de Dios. Eso fue lo que sucedió mientras los apóstoles se
encontraban aún con vida y supervisaban la nueva y floreciente Iglesia. Algunos
miembros enseñaban ideas relacionadas con sus antiguas creencias paganas o
judías en lugar de las sencillas verdades que había enseñado Jesús y algunos de
ellos se rebelaron abiertamente. Además, hubo persecución de fuera de la
Iglesia y los miembros de la Iglesia fueron torturados y asesinados debido a
sus creencias. Uno por uno los apóstoles fueron muertos o de otra manera
quitados de la tierra. Debido a la iniquidad y a la apostasía, la autoridad
apostólica y las llaves del sacerdocio también fueron quitadas de la tierra. La
organización que Jesucristo había establecido dejó de existir y, como
resultado, hubo confusión. Cada vez se introducían más conceptos equivocados en
la doctrina de la Iglesia y, poco tiempo después, la disolución de la Iglesia
fue total. Al período que abarca la época durante el cual la Iglesia verdadera
no estuvo en la tierra se le llama la Gran Apostasía.
Pronto las
creencias paganas dominaron la forma de pensar de los llamados cristianos. El
emperador romano adoptó ese cristianismo falso como la religión del estado. Esa
iglesia era muy diferente de la Iglesia que Jesús había organizado; enseñaba
que Dios era un ser sin forma ni substancia.
El
Señor había previsto esas condiciones de apostasía y dijo que enviaría “…hambre
a la tierra, no hambre de pan ni sed de agua, sino de oír la palabra de Jehová.
E irán… buscando la palabra de Jehová y no la hallarán” (Amós 8:11–12).
Then came the First Vision. In the spring of 1820, one of the most
important events in the history of the world occurred. The time had come for
the marvelous work and wonder of which the Lord had spoken.
An unschooled boy, seeking knowledge fromthe ultimate source, saw two personages of indescribable brightness andglory and heard one of them say, while pointing to the other, “This is MyBeloved Son. Hear Him!” (JS—H 1:17.) The divine teaching in that visionbegan the restoration of the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Godthe Son told the boy prophet that all the “creeds” of the churches of thatday “were an abomination in his sight” (JS—H 1:19). We affirm that thisdivine declaration was a condemnation of the creeds, not of the faithfulseekers who believed in them. Joseph Smith’s first vision showed that theprevailing concepts of the nature of God and the Godhead were untrueand could not lead their adherents to the destiny God desired for them.
After a subsequent outpouring of modern scripture and revelation, thismodern prophet declared, “The Father has a body of flesh and bones astangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body offlesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit” (D&C 130:22).
Luego vino la Primera Visión. En la primavera del año 1820, ocurrió uno de los acontecimientos más
importantes en la historia del mundo. Había llegado el momento para la obra
maravillosa y un prodigio, del cual había hablado el Señor. Un joven sin educación básica, en busca del
conocimiento de la fuente suprema, vio a dos Personajes de un fulgor y gloria
indescriptibles, y oyó a uno de ellos decir, mientras señalaba al otro: “Este
es mi Hijo Amado. ¡Escúchalo!” (José Smith-Historia 1:17.) La enseñanza divina
de esa visión dio comienzo a la restauración de la plenitud del Evangelio de
Jesucristo. Dios el Hijo dijo al joven Profeta que todos los “credos” de las
iglesias de ese día “eran una abominación a su vista” (v. l9). Afirmamos que
esta declaración divina fue una condena de los credos, no de los fieles
seguidores que creían en ellos. La Primera Visión de José Smith demostró que
los conceptos que prevalecían con respecto a la naturaleza de Dios y de la Trinidad
no eran verdaderos y que no podrían conducir a sus adherentes al destino que
Dios deseaba para ellos. Después de recibir Escrituras y revelaciones modernas,
este Profeta contemporáneo declaró:
“El Padre tiene un cuerpo de carne y huesos, tangible como el
del hombre; así también el Hijo; pero el Espíritu Santo no tiene un cuerpo de
carne y huesos, sino es un personaje de Espíritu …” (D. y C. 130:22).
Every
key or power necessary for the salvation of man which has ever been on the
earth has been restored in our time. In addition to the keys of former
dispensations, the dispensation of the fulness of times includes additional
knowledge and keys that are necessary to our time in preparing all things for
the coming of the Savior (see D&C
101:32-35;121:26-32; 124:41; 128:18).
2 Verily I say unto
you, blessed are you for receiving mineaeverlasting covenant, even the fulness of my gospel, sent
forth unto the children of men, that they might have blife and be madecpartakers of the dglories which are to be revealed in the last days, as
it was written by the prophets and apostles in days of old.
The
gospel is the new and everlasting covenant—new because it has been restored,
everlasting because it is always the same gospel message. That which would save
a man from death and sin in former days will save a man from sin and death
today.
After all
the apostles of Christ's time had died or been killed the apostasy began.
"For many years people lived in spiritual darkness." They
did not have prophets or apostles on the earth. They didn't have any authority
from Jesus Christ to perform priesthood ordinances. They didn't have
revelation.
Now the greater
question is WHY do we choose to live in spiritual darkness
when we have the light and fullness of the gospel around us? With prophets,
apostles, authority, and continuing revelation through the prophet and
personally through the Holy Ghost. Why do we choose spiritual
darkness? It is all available to us. Do we read our scriptures everyday?
Do we make time and watch General Conference on Saturday and Sunday and
then study their words after? Do we share it with people we meet. We truly live in a glorious time. The work of the Lord is hastening, we see
evidence with the increase in missionaries that is taking place.
NO
REGRETS:
Steve M.
When I began working for the county I was out on a home visit with one of my
new co-workers he asked me a question. His teenage son had just passed
away and he asked me what the best book I had read on grief was. The
first thing that came to my mind was the Book of Mormon. Then I thought
about a book by CS Lewis that he wrote after his wife's death. Both books
discussed grief. I'm ashamed to say that I told him about CS Lewis book
and I didn't share the Book of Mormon with him. And I have regretted it
ever since.
A sister
on my mission went running after a person on the street to offer them a Book of
Mormon. As we yelled to her, "where are you going?" She called back
"No Regrets." We all have regrets in life. How can those
experiences help us to change the future so that we can live with No Regrets.
Although I will always regret not telling him about the Book of Mormon
during his time of greatest grief. I remembered this experience again
recently and it gave me the courage I needed to give my good friend a Book of
Mormon.
Our Stake
Presidency has been inspired to ask each family in the stake to
"Invite" four families into our homes for a meal or games
or dessert. Are we following their counsel? Will we
have regrets if we don't? We have been told that if we don’t find people
for the missionaries to teach we will lose our missionaries in this branch. I think our inspired Stake Presidency has
already given us the solution to the problem.
Have we invited nonmembers into our homes? Not to share the gospel but
to talk and build friendships. We have 2
months left. I invited over my friend and
her family and because of it conversations led me to be able to give her a Book
of Mormon. Let us experiment upon the
good word and see what good can come of it.
As we do what our Stake Presidency has asked, God will work the
miracles.
No comments:
Post a Comment