Comments by "" (@gwengold8154) on "Peter Santenello" channel.

  1. Thank you for your kind words. We are the only faith group that I am aware of who are actively seeking to bring about the re-gathering of the 12 tribes of Israel. We absolutely love our Jewish brothers and sisters as part of our Israelite family ❤️
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  2.  @sharaharper2253  maybe wacky to one isn't wacky to all. :-) Also, people aren't converted by what they think sounds good. The Holy Spirit speaks truth to the heart. It is the most beautiful thing in this world. 😍
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  3. @snowdroog1  Our current president was a world-renowned heart surgeon. Absolute top of his field. His counselor was a Utah Supreme Court Judge and extremely successful in his career. Others have been president s of universities and other stellar careers. They made good money in their careers and have nice things as a result of hard work. Their work as apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ requires them to travel all over the world preaching the gospel. They get a small stipend for this. It does not come from tithing. They literally work until the grave claims them in the cause of Christ! The president is in his 100th year of life and still serving. To try to muddy their contributions to the world, the church, and the work of Jesus Christ is reprehensible!
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  4.  @euphoria2339  I absolutely love the Amish, but I'd much, much rather be a latter-day saint ❤️
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  5. @jamesricks  to declare that people live "in fabulous luxury on member tithing" is not an opinion. It's a slander. If he said that he doesn't like the leaders, that's an opinion.
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  6.  @DesertPrimrose  same here. 😀 some of my favorite videos are the ones Peter did with the Amish/Mennonites.
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  7. What a kind heart you have. Thank you ❤️
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  8. It is so fun that you are in the same ward as these people in the video 😀 That's so cool 😎 You should watch Peter's video series on the Amish and his series on the orthodox Jewish community and his series on the people of Iran. They are my favorites 😍
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  9. msbkay, our greatest desire is to return to the presence of God the Eternal Father. Everyone needs baptism for this to happen. Hence, the need for proxy baptism for the dead. But, you definitely don't go to hell if you are unbaptized. It is telling that you've kept that little blue book all these years. You have a good heart. God loves you so much. ❤️
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  10. Loved your comments! So well said.
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  11. @marcusthegreat2944  In our culture, it is not considered flirting to hug someone or to admire their work. That is all I saw the lady doing. Maybe in some cultures it would be. It seems to me that you just have disdain for the latter-day saints and seek to find fault everywhere. We are called to a higher place. We are called to love one another as Jesus Christ loved us. It doesn't mean that we have to agree on everything or even anything. But we are supposed to cease from gossip and contention and the spirit of fault finding and wear ourselves out in service and love one towards another.
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  12. @marcusthegreat2944  I don't know what you are talking about. Men and women hug each other in my culture. Married or single. If anyone is not a "hugger" they just politely say so, and no one hugs them.
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  13. Thanks, Peter! I've been watching your channel for quite a while now, and I thought sometime you'd wind up exploring the church that I belong to and today's the day! 😀 It was delightful. My favorite vlogs are still the ones you did on the people of Iran. That was amazingly beautiful! I just wanted to comment on the "hard sell" comment. It would be a hard sell if any of the members of the church had to "sell" the doctrine. Luckily for us, absolutely none of us converts anyone. Not a single person. Conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit. His role in the world is to speak (reveal) truth, and He does just that. When you have heard the Holy Spirit, you don't forget it. When you witness first hand miracles and irrefutable answers to prayers, then your faith is fortified. I think that is what people misunderstand about us most. When the Holy Spirit is the agent of conversion, nothing is a "hard sell." And we would never want to live a life without the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
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  14. What a lovely comment, Janice. Thank you. ❤️ Every Monday night is meant to be set aside to do things together as a family and build strong bonds. It is called Family Home Evening or FHE. Wherever humanly possible, families are encouraged to carve out this family time together. We also believe in keeping the Sabbath day holy. This means that to the extent possible, we should not work or shop or recreate or cause others to work on this holy and sacred day. It should be a day set apart from the other 6 days and offered to the Lord.
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  15. The bonnets part made me think of trek! :-) we should get Peter to go on trek sometime 😀
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  16. @kristofp2488  me too! I didn't know anything about Iran except that they hated America. Then I watched Peter's video series, and I was blown away! The country is breathtakingly beautiful, and the people are warm and friendly. It opened my eyes. I have always loved the Amish and their values and their way of life, but it was fun to see them and hear their thoughts. ❤️
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  17. Thank you for your kind words ❤️. God bless you 🙏
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  18. It's the latter. Your family is in the wrong to alienate you. It isn't the gospel. I am so sad that you are experiencing that. 😢 Did you know that Elder Christofferson of the quorum of 12 apostles has a brother who is gay? The brother left the church and lived with his male partner. The family still treated him well. He and his boyfriend apparently went to family functions and things. When his brother decided he wanted to come back to the church, it was Elder Christofferson who baptized him, I believe. I think that Elder Gong has an inactive son whom he still loves as much as ever. (Elder Gong is a member of the 12 apostles if you don't know.) The leaders are modeling the love that we should have for everyone. <3
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  19. @Sarah-rp1kt  Amen! I'm a latter-day saint and I love the Shema prayer. I have a copy of it in Hebrew on my wall.
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  20. I'm LDS, and I would love to see that too. I hope Peter takes your suggestion 😀
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  21. I agree! I hope that Peter will take you up on your suggestion.
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  22. Congratulations. That is wonderful news. 🎉
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  23. She didn't call the people trash. She said that they could come, no problem, but leave the trash behind. She meant drug use, prostitution, violence, etc. If you want to establish zion, you have to get people to leave behind things of a telestial world and create things of a celestial world. If a smoker or a fornicator wants to join the church, they must first leave those things behind. It's the same idea. We welcome the individual. We don't welcome the telestial elements.
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  24. Adam, you have to understand that many of us have literally had sticks or stones or swear words hurled at us. Some tell of actually being hit. I heard of one girl who was smacked in the head by the Book of Mormon! Basically, we expect to be attacked in some way by outsiders. It breeds a certain cautiousness. But if you are a friend to a latter-day saint then you will find a true friend. We have genuine love for others in our hearts.
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  25. @jedbradshaw4192  Okay, say you have a large, passionate family. A stranger comes over to dinner. You have a lovely dinner, and you truly open your heart about your life and your experiences and your beliefs. Does that person leave and call you a fake and a liar because you didn't divulge every single thing that has ever been said or done in your family at this 1st social dinner? Would YOU seriously do that? Love thinks the best about people. Hate is automatically thinking the worst. My point is, think the best about these people and their sincere intentions. Everything is not a conspiracy and/or cover-up.
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  26. Thank you so much for your comment. You sound like a wonderfully fair-minded person. The world could use more like you. <3 I have to remember to extend a lot of grace to people. I remember seeing orthodox Jewish men wearing phylactories on their foreheads for the first time and laughing at them. I'm not proud of my younger self. It was something very, very foreign and different, and I reacted out of legitimate ignorance. It takes maturity and understanding to see spiritual things through the prism they ought to be seen through. Sometimes, we need to extend grace. I'm sure glad that I matured enough to see the incredible beauty of a phylactory on a forehead. Among other things. <3
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  27. I'm LDS, and I'm not sure exactly what she meant. She was referencing the apostasy that we believe happened. We say that the church the Lord Jesus Christ founded was lost from the earth for a time. She referenced the dark ages, and she seems to have lumped Martin Luther in there. I think that the reformation needed to happen to produce fertile soil for the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.
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  28. Thank you so much for your kind words ❤️ I especially appreciate your feelings about strengthening the legitimacy of the church. We have felt that before. I mean, if there were a true church of Jesus Christ on the earth. And I know a lot of people don't believe that there is, but just IF there were a true church of Jesus Christ on the earth...wouldn't you absolutely expect it to be the most hated and vilified of any church? I know that I would. Even if I didn't belong to this church, I would look at that as an arrow pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said that the world would hate His disciples. If the world suddenly loved us, I'd be pretty worried, TBH.
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  29.  @margynelson7945  it's quite interesting. They have this special 2 handled cup that they use. They hold it in the right hand and pour water over the left hand and then vice versa. Sarah (the lady on frum it up) said that some people keep it right by the bed. So they remember God first thing in the morning.
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  30. I think Brock simply meant the most recent counsel on it. It tends to be really emphasized at times and then go on the back burner for a while. At least in terms of conference talks and the like.
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  31. It means that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the only way to heaven. In that sense, He is the gate and the door and the way. He saves us from physical death and from spiritual death. He saves us from our sins and makes it possible to return to our Father in heaven. He is my best friend and a help in trouble. I love Him with all my heart.
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  32. Do you mind me asking--what is the UPC? And, if your church left the UPC to become nondenominational, why would you like for Peter to explore the UPC?
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  33. My dad always paid 10% of his gross. Not his net. He felt like it was cheating the Lord to only go by his take-home pay. I think that many latter-day saints feel similarly. It's not for you or I to say that the church has enough money. They have millions of members to take care of if something catastrophic occurs. When Joseph (who was sold into Egypt) was stockpiling tons and tons of grain over 7 years, do you imagine that there were scoffers and finger pointers? He had prophetic vision to know that 7 years of plenty would be followed by 7 years of famine. He saved his own life, his family's life, and the Egyptians by being prudent and prophetic. Don't be so hasty to judge lest you judge unrighteously.
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  34. What a beautiful comment ❤️ thank you
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  35. Why be so cruel, Molly? If you don't like latter-day saints, it's fine. But Brock is a human being with feelings. He's a kind man who shouldn't be mocked. IMHO. Yes, we know that the world thinks that we are weird. Weird is actually the KINDEST thing they say about us generally. We are unusual. I get it. I do have friends who are outside of the religion. I have siblings who have married Catholics also. I genuinely love and value people of many faith groups. Even have a friend who is a devout atheist.
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  36. Thanks so much. We really admire the Roman Catholics for similar values ❤
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  37.  @John3.36  A wonderful, true life pro-latterday saints documentary is "Amish latter-day saints." It is how 3 Amish families became latter-day saints and still stayed in their Amish community and love the Amish. It took me about 5 views before I could watch it dry eyed. It is beautiful 😍
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  38. @NanaDandSis We didn't change our stance on polygamy because the government told us to. We changed because the Lord told us to. If He had said to continue the practice, we would have done so. No matter the cost!
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  39. Thank you for sharing your experiences and your kind comments, Robert. ❤️
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  40. Thank you for your comment. It was beautifully said, and it really touched my heart. ❤️ I have never understood the hate. I genuinely love people of all different faiths. There are amazing, kind, wonderful people in every nation and every religion.
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  41.  @purpleyeti7440  I am truly saddened by anyone who has experienced pain or trauma. My heart goes out to you. The only thing is, the haters come off feeling like people who came home and made their wife cry because their boss made them cry. If you know what I mean. All I know is that you can find people who have bad things to say about every single religious denomination on earth. Hate is never the answer. Followers of the Lord Jesus Christ are called to do good to all.
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  42. Or just live the word of wisdom 😊
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  43. We just interpret the scripture that you quoted differently than you do. We also believe in the sealing power that Jesus Christ gave to the apostle Peter. What he bound on earth would be bound in heaven still, and what he loosed on earth would be loosed still.
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  44.  @eternalbeing3339  Thank you ❤️ You seem very kind too.
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  45. @margynelson7945  she said that she has online Jewish friends. They are the ones that wash their hands 3 times, etc. She wasn't talking about latter-day saints :-) I watch a channel called frum it up. It is an orthodox Jewish lady and her daily life. She does the ritual washing of her hands 3 times and separation of meat and milk, etc. It is a really interesting and beautiful channel. 😍
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  46. Do you mean the Book of Mormon? We regard it as a second witness of the ministry and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  47. We teach the youth to fold their arms and bow their heads during a prayer to show reverence to God. It is the same reason we use thee, thou, thine, etc., in speaking to God. Morning and evening prayers are usually said on our knees. For the same reason. To kneel before the King and thus express reverence. Even very elderly people will do their best to kneel before the Lord.
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  48. You might be interested in Peter's series about the Amish and his series on the hasidic Jewish community. They are some of my favorites 😍
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  49.  @seaborntheunready6139  Ah, you do have a point. Peter does go out of his way to say he's not religious :-)
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  50.  @mommazed1  Thank you for letting me share my testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a joy to do so. And thanks so much for adding your own testimony of Him. ❤️
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  51. Thank you
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  52. Interesting questions! Peter stated that he was raised as a protestant. I suspect that he might hold the protestant view of heaven if he considers the subject much at all.
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  53. 😆 great comment. We try, but as you have probably noticed , we often fall prey to the lack of moderation temptation! I myself need to implement more moderation in my own eating and drop some excess poundage. 😆
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  54. @yeahbee8237  Oh, okay 👍 yeah, to be fair, by Tongan standards, that man is pretty average, lol
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  55. And what you don't get is that the Lord Jesus Christ went willingly to the cross. No man could have ever killed him if it wasn't the Father's will to sacrifice his only begotten son. Jesus Christ, in perfect obedience, said, "Not my will, but thine be done." Jesus Christ told Peter in the garden of Gethsemane that he could call down legions of angels from heaven to defend him if he needed them. But he didn't because he was born to die. He understood the plan of salvation. Read the account of the time Jesus Christ was taken to the temple as an infant. Even Simon knew that this little child had been born to die to save many.
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  56. Jesus Christ Himself has walked in the latter-day saints temples. Every single one we build is a house for Jesus Christ.
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  57. Thanks for the lovely words. You sound like a kind person yourself. The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints is not everyone's cup of tea 😉 but maybe you could be a modern day Alexander Doniphan or something ❤
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  58. If you want to rob the Lord, Kenny, that is your prerogative. 17 million of us choose to be wise and not rob Him. (See Malachi if you need clarification)
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  59. That's what I was thinking too! Benjamin claimed that the LDS would never talk about the trouble with the government, but isn't that an LDS run museum?
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  60. @annhatch2974  Thanks! I always thought that the DUP was sponsored by the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints. I know that the church certainly supports the DUP. We used to tour the museum as a church group, and church members would volunteer to help run the museum. I think that Benjamin was rather ill-informed in his claims against our church in that segment.
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  61. I don't think that Peter gets it at all. He might as well say, "Less than 1% of Catholics are Baptist."
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  62. I thought so too. Those inclines didn't look that steep, and the poor guy was quite winded.
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  63. This is just my opinion, but I think it boils down to an obedience thing. Take bacon, for instance. The odd strip of bacon isn't going to harm you and may actually help you in times of winter or famine. Yet, orthodox Jewish communities are strictly prohibited from eating pork. I think it's a similar thing. The Lord wants a "peculiar " people who obey Him in all things. A people set apart from the world.
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  64.  @BR-ex9xp  we don't believe in the trinity. We believe that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are 3 separate persons. One in purpose and love, etc., but not literally one. This renders us as non-Christian in the eyes of many.
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  65. Peter, did you get to go inside the St. George temple? It looked like an open house might have been going on when you were there.
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  66. At church owned schools, men can't have beards. In the church, you will see many men with beards or other facial hair.
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  67. @iindiar I don't know of a single latter-day saint who is a freemason.
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  68. There is. It is called the Book of Mormon.
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  69. I love it 😀! A few comments back, we got called out by an Anabaptist for being too worldly. Maybe there's something to that.
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  70. Thank you for your kind comments. ❤️ We are taught as young children to fold our arms and bow our heads when we pray out of respect for God. We also use the phrases: thee, thou, thy, etc. For the same reason. To show respect. Our morning and evening prayers are almost always prayed on our knees. We kneel before the Lord to show respect, befitting Him. Even quite elderly people will do their best to get on their knees.
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  71. God bless Ukraine 🇺🇦 May God bring peace and autonomy to that great nation soon!
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  72.  @paintwithpastels  you are welcome 😊 our hearts are with the beautiful people of Ukraine 💙 💛
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  73. I really enjoyed reading your comments. Peter should do a series on Catholics next. There's a lot that I don't know, even though I'm fairly familiar with some Catholic beliefs. I really liked what you had to say about the Eucharist. We call it the sacrament. We do allow strangers to take it, which I've never really understood tbh. Sometimes, the members of the church are forbidden from taking it during the repentance process. Some people think this is too harsh, but it really is meant as a protection. We promise God solemnly to keep His commandments and take His name upon us and always remember Him. If someone were deep in sin and just took the sacrament anyway, they bring damnation upon themselves. It's not like they go straight to hades, but it sure isn't good. You have to mean the solemn promises that you make to God. I would say that our bishops are more like Catholic bishops than pastors in the protestant world. We have the preparatory priesthood, which is the Aaronic priesthood. Then, the Melchizedek priesthood. Generally, a boy, age twelve, is ordained and becomes a deacon. At about fourteen, he would be ordained a teacher. At about sixteen, he would be ordained a priest. At about eighteen, he would be ordained an elder. Later on in life, he would be ordained a high priest. These are some of the offices of the holy priesthood of God. Bishops are, therefore, priests, but they are elders and high priests also. :-) Patriarch is another priesthood office, but only a select few are Patriarchs. Bishops oversee a ward, and the stake president is sort of equivalent to a Catholic bishop.
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  74. @sbeasley7585 I'm not sure that is exactly correct. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Jesus Christ is definitely divine, but we only worship God the Father.
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  75. There is nothing anywhere in our doctrine that says only 144k will go to heaven. Maybe you have us confused with some other church. 😮
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  76. @John3.36  I forgot to mention the documentary "New York dolls" about a member of the band, Arthur (killer) Kane. He joined the latter-day saints. It is such a moving documentary. Absolutely loved it! And, bonus, you get Buster Poindexter singing "Come, come ye saints." How fantastic is that 😍 😀 👏
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  77. Yes. The protestant view of heaven is exactly like our view of the terrestrial kingdom. So I would say yes.
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  78. We have been studying the New Testament in Sunday school class all year.
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  79.  @Valcey777  Thank you so much ❤️ and may the Lord bless you always 🙏
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  80. @RyanSlater15  I'm not saying that you are lying. It's just that you can't serve two masters. Like Joshua told the Israelites, "Choose you this day..." Every person has to choose if they are a servant of God or not. To me, a person actively involved in gang life has not chosen God. I guess that they could go through the motions of being active in the church, but they deceive themselves.
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  81. @RyanSlater15  I believe you. It's just hard to believe, if you know what I mean. It reminds me of this conversation that I had with a non-Lds co-worker. He was wondering why I couldn't drink alcohol when he said that he had drunk alcohol with the missionaries. At first, I thought that he must be mistaken. No way it was actual missionaries that he drank with! But he was really sincere, and I think some missionaries were drinking with him. What I hope that I was able to explain to him, however, was that you can't truly be an emissary of God and behave that way! He may have had the suit and the name tag and everything, but he was not truly a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  82. I can try to answer some of your questions. All of the top leaders are men. They are what we call the first presidency and the quorum of 12 apostles. They are men because only men are ordained to the priesthood or given the authority to hold the priesthood. We do have what is called auxiliary leaders who are women. They are in charge of the global relief organization called the Relief Society and the Young Women organization and the Primary organization within the church. In every local congregation, there is a bishop who is always male, and a woman always serves as the president over the women. Most of the church leaders are Republicans. One former member of the first presidency was a Democrat. I believe that one member of the 12 apostles was also a Democrat. But it's rare. Most of the members in Utah are Republicans. You are very, very lonely as a latter-day saint Democrat in Utah. Latter-day saints exist all over America and the world, so outside of Utah, you have a wide range of political views. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada was a latter-day saint and a top Democrat in the United States Senate. We are encouraged to vote and vote our conscience. We feel about the poor that there should be no poor. We are trying to build a true zion people in anticipation of the return of Jesus Christ. In order for this to truly happen, we would need to eradicate poverty completely. It can be done. We know that the city of Enoch had no poor among them. There is a parable in the Book of Mormon about how a good father will never stand for half his sons to be in rags while half are not. Our God is a loving Father who wants all of His children provided for. The Book of Mormon also says that if a beggar begs bread of us and we say that he has brought it upon himself and we judge him, that it is a sin. It reminds us, "Are we not ALL beggars?" There are people who say bad things about every single religion in existence. You will have very many people willing to offer their opinions on what the dark side of this religion is. I guess that is up to you to decide. I would say that it is probably that we have not yet become truly one. And the Lord Jesus Christ says, "If ye are not one, ye are not mine."
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  83. I'm not sure what you mean exactly about do women have bodily autonomy. The church is very vocally against abortion if that is what you mean. But they do support exceptions for rape or incest. We believe that children are a great blessing, so women are encouraged to have large families, but it is left up to the couple to pray and council with God about their own situations. Latter-day saint women can use birth control if they choose. We marry who we want when we want, and I would say that we have bodily autonomy.
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  84. I'm glad you pointed this out. I hope Peter sees your comment. I don't think that he understands all the different groups of Book of Mormon believing people well at all.
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  85. The prophet Joseph Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont. The family had terrible financial hardships and moved to New York.
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  86. Good thing that we don't worship angels! :-)
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  87. If judging is wrong, then why are you judging the lady in the video? If you listen to what she said, she isn't against the people of California. She wants them to leave behind the bad things that they might be involved in. Gangs, drugs, prostitution, etc. No people in any city want those problems. To be baptized into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints a person has to abandon smoking if they smoke and drugs if they do drugs and prostitution if they are involved in that and if they are cohabitating without being married, they have to break up or marry. How is this any different than what she is saying? We want the person, just a better version of that person.
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  88. Men of any color can hold the priesthood and become bishop.
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  89. @anthill1510  I'm not denying that there was pressure from the government. I know the history very well. I'm just simply declaring that Jesus Christ is the head of the church. We follow Him. The prophet listens to the will of the Lord. Maybe outsiders don't understand this or don't believe it, but it is, nevertheless, true.
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  90. You are correct that the need to be prepared with food storage has been taught almost from the inception of the church. I think that Brock was referring to the latest emphasis on it. There seems to be an emphasis on this at certain times, and then it isn't specifically preached for a while.
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  91. @HonestyIntegrity  fair enough. We do say that these are the latter days--as in, getting close to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. But honestly, no member of the church that I know of is sitting around believing that the 2nd coming is happening tomorrow. We aren't living life in that doomsday mentality. There are many prophesied things that need to happen, and no one knows the timing of the Lord's return. No one. Wise latter-day saints live both as if they will live forever and as if the world may end today. Because if you happen to die today, for you, it IS the end of the world. Yet, current church prophets have told us to get on with life. To get an education, get married and raise a family, get a satisfying career, and serve the community. They in no way preach a doomsday gospel!
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  92. I am LDS, and I strongly disagree with what Benjamin said also. He is apostate, so I guess we shouldn't expect any different.
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  93. Thanks so much for your lovely comments ❤️
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  94. @jjoflower6811  I totally understand your befuddlement. I think that the lady on the video didn't understand the reformation well, or maybe she was just trying to express her thoughts too rapidly. Yes, most modern religions sprung from the reformation period. Not the Catholics or Orthodox, of course, but many others. As a church, we largely admire Martin Luther for his contributions. We think infant baptism is an abomination, for instance. We also believe that the Protestants who sprang up were much more tolerant and allowed people freedom of religious expression. We think that type of environment was absolutely necessary for the restoration of the gospel to occur. We believe that God absolutely played a part in influencing Martin Luther and others to bring religious freedom to this land.
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  95. @jjoflower6811  We don't believe in a priesthood of all believers. We believe in an actual priesthood. I think that is where some of the confusion comes in. Like the lady said, we believe that every single person born is born with the light of Christ in them. During all ages, there were good people, doing good things. Or trying their best to live a godly life. We simply believe that the authority to hold the authorized priesthood of God was missing. It had been lost to the earth. We say that John the Baptist came to Joseph Smith and ordained him to the priesthood of Aaron, or the Aaronic priesthood. Later, we believe that Peter, James, and John ordained Joseph Smith to the Melchezedek priesthood. Thus, every male in our church who holds the priesthood authority can trace his authority back to Peter, James, and John and then the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
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  96.  @jjoflower6811  I hope this helps a little. ❤️
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  97. @jjoflower6811  Sorry to bombard you. I just wanted to add that if she doesn't think much of Martin Luther (and I don't know, I'm not her) is may be because of her love for the Jewish people. She mentioned in the program that she had watched Peter's videos with the hasidic Jewish families and that she was sort of star stuck by them. Lol. Martin Luther is reported to have had some strong anti-Jewish rhetoric published. We consider ourselves to be of the house of Israel. Literally. We consider the Jewish people to be our brothers and sisters. Quite literally. We actively seek to gather the 12 tribes of Israel again as the Lord gave His word that He would do. Having said all that, we do esteem Martin Luther for what he gave to the world in terms of the reformation. We love the Lutherans and other protestant denominations. We hear quite frequently about pastors preaching awful messages against us in their congregations, but I can assure you that nothing similar has ever happened in all my years in this church. Never. We love our protestant brothers and sisters.
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  98.  @jjoflower6811  Thank you so much for your kind words. It almost made me cry to read your comment. I agree with you. We know that not everyone will agree with our beliefs, but we honestly love our brothers and sisters of other faiths and seek to live in peace and harmony with all. It is so uplifting and heartening to hear that you feel the same. ❤️
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  99.  @jjoflower6811  You are so welcome. 😊 I am glad that I could help a little.
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  100. @psalmreader We know that Joseph Smith and Brigham Young were Masons. It does not affect our testimonies of the gospel at all. We are doubly blessed. We receive revelation from the Holy Spirit ourselves, and we have a prophet of God who receives revelation from God for the church as in days of old. I am happy that you have found a church that you love. We also have found a church that we love with all of our hearts.
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  101. Loved your comments. I didn't get his obsession with "informed consent." He seemed like people could get tricked into the religion and then be stuck for life! The fact is that people who didn't get "informed consent" can just leave the religion as easily as they joined it. Even easier, actually.
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  102. I wanted to know that also.
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  103. Thank you!
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  104. @marct8326  Great points. Todd seems like someone who got married, tried to make it work, ended up divorced and hurt, and determined to forever see his ex in the worst possible light and to destroy her. It's just sad. Love always thinks the best about people. Hate always leads with suspicion and accusation and thinks the worst about people. If Todd wants to live the rest of his days in the second camp, then he has my sincere pity.
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  105. I wonder if people jumped down Joseph's (who was sold into Egypt) throat when he was hoarding and stock piling tons and tons of grain during the 7 years of plenty? My guess is that there were plenty of scoffers! But he had prophetic vision to know that it had to last them through the 7 years of famine that would follow.
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  106. I see how this could be very confusing to people. Do you recall the scripture in the Bible where Jesus Christ says that He has other sheep? We believe that the sheep He was referring to were then living on the American continent and that after His crucifixion, He went and ministered to them also. We believe that every people of God in every age and every nation have been commanded to keep a record of their interactions with God. The Book of Mormon is one such record. The Bible is one such record. We believe that when the knowledge of the Lord covers the whole earth like a flood, more records will be revealed. We look forward to that day. 😀
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  107. @Andrea-ek9cp  great point! Jesus Christ was definitely hated and despised for being different. Makes His statement all the more poignant -"by this shall men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
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  108. Thanks so much for your kind words ❤️. It is my understanding also that most other religions have tithing in some form. I don't understand why people go absolutely ballistic about our church, tithing its members.
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  109.  @StephanieBennion  I was just going to say the same thing! This lady is making stuff up.
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  110. I don't know who told you that, but it is not true.
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  111. I get it. But the great commission is a commandment from our King. So we have to obey it.
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  112. Yes, we do. :-)
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  113. @honey2badger  we just disagree 😀 no worries, we can hold different beliefs and still be friends
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  114. There is no other name by which salvation comes other than the Lord Jesus Christ. You can call us names all day long if you want. But the truth is that we know that we are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. Full stop. ❤
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  115. ​@xb00sted isn't the sinners prayer itself a "work"? We are required to keep the commandments. That's a "work." Check out David Alexander. He has a fantastic discussion about the many, many times that the Bible says works are required. Having said that, we completely agree that it is by grace that we are saved. And that every knee will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
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  116. It's just because he doesn't get it yet. The truth shall set you free is another way of saying that the Lord Jesus Christ will set you free. There is no real freedom outside of Him. Just as there is no real life outside of Him. Peter just hasn't had that lightbulb go on yet. Someday, maybe he will.
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  117. It's not disrespectful to have honest opinions ❤️ more than a few people have found the origins of the restoration strange. Lol. Luckily, we have the Holy Spirit who can and does speak truth to our hearts and minds.
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  118. That title is already taken. Steven Pynakker says that he is the "Switzerland of Mormonism." 😆
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  119. Thank you so much for your kind words ❤️
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  120. We are both Abrahamic religions. So, it is natural to have similarities. :-) Greetings to western Europe 🇪🇺 😀
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  121. Does Cornelius ring a bell?
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  122. Isn't that what Exodus in the Bible is all about? Moses led the Israelites out of bondage and persecution to a promised land where they could be free to worship God as they chose. Moses never got to enter the promised land. Aaron did. Similarly, Joseph Smith never got to enter the promised land. Brigham Young did. We are the only faith that I know of who think of ourselves in terms of the 12 tribes of Israel and who are actively seeking to gather the scattered 12 tribes of Israel. So it's not a surprise similarities exist.
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  123. I think that Judaism is such a beautiful way of living. I love the channel frum it up about orthodox Jewish living. ❤
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  124. Yes, only men can be prophets. Anyone who has a testimony of Jesus Christ is said to have the spirit of prophecy. That is different than being a prophet, though.
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  125.  @hulligans2866  awesome
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  126. ​@jeffs4483 Matthew 22:21 render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's.
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  127. Thank you for pointing that out, Stella.
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  128. I totally agree. I thought that one lady was wearing her garments quite visibly under that tan sweater. I was perplexed when they said that they couldn't show the garments. I was thinking, "Well, haven't we been looking at them the whole time?!" Maybe that was just a white blouse. But I thought that they could've shown them. I think you see pictures of them in videos about the temple.
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  129. @DannyAGray  I think so too. I've seen the temple ceremonial clothing in a temple prep video on YouTube. I don't think that it's an issue of showing them. It's just an issue of remembering that they are sacred.
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  130. We do know that we will be with our loved ones. People can believe it or not, but it doesn't mean it's not true.
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  131. It's exciting to hear from someone who is in Denmark 🇩🇰 😀 I love Denmark!
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  132. It probably is strange to others. We do it to show respect to God. We also kneel.
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  133. Have you heard of David Alexander? He says that we should wear the hatred the world has for us as a badge of honor! 😀
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  134. Doesn't your Bible also have the Lord promising to restore the 12 tribes of Israel? God promised that they wouldn't be scattered and forsaken forever. We proclaim that God has indeed set His hand to gather together scattered Israel once again! Judah is one tribe of 12.
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  135. Jesus Christ visited America after His resurrection. He still had the wounds in His hands and feet, and he let the crowds come forward and feel the wounds.
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  136. Thank you for your kind words. The world would be so beautiful if we could all just accept each other.
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  137. Thank you for your kind words, Ashley. ❤️
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  138. Just a couple of queries that come to mind from your great comments... Jesus Christ taught, "If you love me, keep my commandments." So, do we actually love Him if we don't do as He commands? That's where I see organized religion becoming important. For instance, if you are commanded to be baptized, to whom should you go to obey that command? Also wanted to ask (concerning the "original" teaching of God) what do you make of the Lord Jesus Christ instructing the apostle Peter to eat with and convert gentiles after first forbidding such a thing? Sacrifice used to be the sacrifices of animals, and the Lord Jesus Christ changed it to the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. In the Holy Bible it talks about the Lord's church being built on a foundation of prophets and apostles. We believe that to be necessary, because revelations do come that are sometimes so hard to understand that you need direction from living prophets and apostles. Just as the early church desperately needed the revelation based direction of Peter, James, and John.
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  139. The Book of Mormon is not corrupted. We love it. We also love and study the king James version of the Bible. This year, in Sunday school, we have been studying the New Testament.
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  140.  @jeffs4483  Yes, we do follow it. Let's wait until the Lord Jesus Christ returns to the earth and see what He has to say about it.
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  141.  @jeffs4483  Yes, we do.
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  142.  @jeffs4483  believe what you want.
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  143. Do you believe in the words of Abraham? Jacob? Moses? All practiced polygamy.
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  144. What about Solomon and his thousands of wives? King David had thousands of wives. We don't know what age any of them were. Even then, he had to steal another man's wife. In his youth, the Lord said that David was a man after His own heart. What do you make of that? Should we throw out the Bible?
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  145. John's story reminds me a lot of this movie, "Amish Latter-day saints." Three Amish families left the Amish for another life but stayed right there in the community. One of the couples lost their oldest 9 children 😢. They chose to remain Amish and shunned their parents. It is such a fascinating and heartbreaking story.
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  146. Not surprising since we believe that we are of the house of Israel.
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  147. They are clothing that you wear under your street clothing after you have gone to the temple. You wear them for the rest of your life. They have sacred and symbolic meaning to us.
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  148. I'm not sure Peter even knows about the Community of Christ church. He might go interview them if someone lets him know.
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  149.  @sharaharper2253  You are mistaken. Polygamy is not a requirement for the celestial kingdom.
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  150. Are you any relation to Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of 12 apostles?
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  151. You are wise to give the truth some thought.
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  152.  @MarmotCanales  I can't help you there. I didn't even know that we had an Orthodox church in Utah. I know the Catholic church in Utah quite well, but it's not exactly the same thing. Best of luck with your musings. :-)
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  153. It's not really very confusing. You know that scripture in the Bible that says God will do nothing save He reveals it to His servant the prophet? We believe that. The prophet has the right, or authority, or whatever you want to call it to receive revelation for the entire church. Your neighbor down the street doesn't have that authority to receive revelation for the whole church, but he or she can and does receive revelation from God for their own lives and anything that they have charge over. We all do receive revelation for our own lives. We are also grateful for a prophet.
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  154.  @WendyFilice-p9i  You are very welcome ❤️
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  155. Community of Christ?
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  156. Yes, we do. We strongly believe in keeping the Sabbath day holy.
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  157. Latter-day saints are not supposed to drink coffee or tea. You can get it in restaurants and there are some coffee shops. I live in Utah, and we have a coffee shop in town.
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  158. That would be awesome 😊
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  159. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father who is in heaven is perfect.
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  160. Hello! We love you, Norwegians 🇳🇴
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  161. Like David Alexander says, you have to "heed them not." That's a big part. Hold tight to the rod and heed them not.
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  162. ​@Zeett09 did your parents lie to you about Santa Claus and the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy?
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  163.  @Joshe2067  👏
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  164. I'm guessing that you are not a big fan of the Book of Mormon then. The climax of the whole book is Jesus Christ's visit to the American continent.
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  165. Men of any color could be the prophet. Currently in the quorum of 12 apostles there is an elder of Chinese descent, an elder of Brazilian descent, and an elder of Czech/German descent. Men of African descent are in the quorum of the seventy. Any of them could become the prophet. There may be some polygamy in heaven as some men are sealed to two women. (First wife dies, they marry again.) But it is not required and will not be the norm. In the temple, we covenant to give our all to building up the kingdom of God. How could you possibly keep that covenant if you balk at donating 10 percent of your income in the form of tithing? Every single thing we have is from God. Not just our material wealth, but our bodies, our health, our time, the air we breathe. It is not an imposition to return to Him a pittance to the building up of His kingdom.
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  166. Thanks for your kind comments 🙂
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  167. I agree, Simon. I wanted to hear from that missionary who was from England also! He seemed pretty shy, though, or maybe he just couldn't get a word in edge wise with all the alpha males. Lol
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  168. Oh, and congrats on having the newest apostle come from England 🇬🇧! That's awesome.
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  169. It is very messy, which is why people should avoid divorce if at all possible. Temple sealings can be reversed. The apostle Peter was given the authority to seal and to unseal. We claim that same authority. Hence, the divorced parties could be unsealed from former spouses and sealed to other people.
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  170. Faith without works is dead.
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  171. The latter-day saints probably will drink wine with the Lord when He comes again. In the early days of the restoration, the saints used wine for the sacrament ( or what Catholics call communion) They had to buy it from their enemies and this worried them. They asked the Lord about it, and He told them to use water. We use bread and water to this day.
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  172. ​ @jeffs4483 Latter-day saints are not warmongers by any stretch of the imagination. They do believe in defending their faith, their homes, and their families.
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  173. I wonder what you would make of David Alexander and his discussion of good fruit?
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  174.  @Joshe2067  👊 beautifully said
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  175. Christ did indeed give the keys of His church to Peter. When Peter died, who inherited the keys? We believe that John the revelator never died and is still alive. Wouldn't he therefore be the natural successor of Peter? In Acts, one can clearly see that the church was already heading into apostacy. Paul says that Timothy is the ONLY one who is standing by him and hasn't fallen away. We declare that there was an apostasy. That the keys of the kingdom were lost to the world until Peter, James, and John conferred them upon the person of Joseph Smith in the dispensation of the fulness of times.
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  176.  @kennypascoe4752  Tithing is not GREED.
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  177. @kennypascoe4752  If you want to change the tax laws, run for office. I sure wouldn't want to be the guy who taxes the Lord, though!
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  178.  @kennypascoe4752  Thanks for your comments. It sounded like you were against tithes completely, but I see that you just don't like a set amount.
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  179.  @kennypascoe4752  It's interesting to me that you want God to pay his or her fair share. Doesn't God give us absolutely everything already?
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  180. @kennypascoe4752  Thanks for your kind comments about the LDS faith. ❤️ I know a lot of people have an issue with how much money the church has. But remember Joseph, who was sold into Egypt? He spent 7 years stockpiling grain and goods. Tons and tons. People might have mocked him too. But he had prophetic vision to know that 7 years of famine were coming and they had to be ready! If something catastrophic happened, our church leaders have 17 million people to provide for. Maybe they have prophetic vision of what will happen in days ahead.
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  181. @kennypascoe4752  You bring up a good point. We have what are called "articles of faith. " One states this: we believe that all men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression. We see the Adam and Eve story VERY differently than any other people. I am glad that you have found a spirituality that works for you. :-)
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  182.  @jeffs4483  This is a misunderstanding that some latter-day saints have. We are promised that if we obey the commandments of God that we will prosper. Some think this equates to a promise of wealth. That is just not true. To prosper means to have God with you.
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  183. @fernemcallister6774 All latter-day saints are definitely not rich in terms of material things. We have members all over the world, and financial situations vary widely. There are many latter-day saints who are well off. Education is stressed in the culture, and that generally translates into higher paying jobs. Our president was a world-renowned heart surgeon. His counselors were a judge and a university president. The acting president of the quorum of 12 apostles was a university president. We are trying to build a zion community, and that means eradicating poverty. The hallmark of any true zion is that there are no poor among them.
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  184.  @jeffs4483  I sort of agree. :-) My point was that prosperity is having the Lord with you. It's not about money.
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  185. That's the most outrageous thing you've ever seen in your life?
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  186. Yes. Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God, and He is most definitely divine. There is no other name under heaven whereby anyone can be saved. Only through the Lord Jesus Christ. He truly is the way, the truth, and the life. Our current prophet spent his entire working life as a medical doctor. A world-renowned heart surgeon, in fact. As a medical professional, he advised people to get the covid vaccine. But everyone has their free agency. Some people got the vaccine, and many others didn't. It was an individual choice.
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  187. I think that's incredibly unkind.
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  188. This statement is just blatantly untrue.
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  189. @AaAa-pf7tj  It's very hard to explain to people who don't understand the history very well. When the prophet Joseph Smith was murdered, there was confusion over who should lead the church. There had been break off groups springing up even while Joseph was alive. Some former members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints would declare that Joseph Smith was a "fallen prophet" and lead some people away to form their own church. After Joseph Smith died, his widow stayed behind in Illinois while the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints followed Brigham Young to Utah. A new church was formed in Illinois, and Joseph Smith III (Joseph's son) was installed as the prophet. There have been quite a few splinter groups formed, but the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints headquartered in SLC, Utah, is the restored church with the true authority to act in the Lord's name.
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  190.  @AaAa-pf7tj  huh? You literally just said that you didn't know much about Mormons. Was simply trying to help. Have a good day.
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  191. @AaAa-pf7tj  I said "the history." Short for the history of the church. ( or so-called mormonism) I meant no offense, but you seem determined to take offense.
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  192. It would depend on if he was sealed to the 1st wife. Usually, the sealing is removed when a couple divorces.
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  193. Tell that to Jesus Christ's face when you meet Him.
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  194. We ARE all God's children. How about we ask Him when we see Him?
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  195. I love your point about Peter missing the point. "The truth shall set you free." Jesus Christ is the truth, and yoking yourself to Him is where true freedom lies. I think that non-religious people have a hard time seeing that.
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  196.  @snowdroog1  That is a scandalous untruth! If the leaders of the church were litigious, they could have you for slander.
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  197.  @marcusthegreat2944  Jennifer's husband didn't hug the women in the video. That's his choice. But plenty of married and single latter-day saint men have hugged married and single women.
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  198.  @marcusthegreat2944  I agree with mrKap7471. You sound like you need a hug. I'll give you one if you want.
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  199.  @marcusthegreat2944  I feel dreadfully sorry for Gen X men if what you say is right. They shouldn't ever put up with cheating. They should strive to become men of God and seek out women who are truly women of God. It would save them so much heartache and despair.
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  200. We don't "gotta" wear the garments of the holy priesthood. We choose to wear them. It is the greatest honor and privilege to do so.
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  201. Merry Christmas!! ❤️
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  202. Have you heard of the great commission?
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  203. How does that fit? It doesn't. IMHO, noncommittal makeout sessions are a way some young latter-day saints feel that they can build zion while keeping a foot in Babylon. It is folly.
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  204. It sounds like whomever told you things didn't know what they were talking about. You aren't less than because you got a divorce.
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  205. Have you ever heard of a guy named Joshua? Does "choose you this day" ring a bell?
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  206. @mienafriggstad3360  Yes, I understand about recommends, but before a temple is dedicated, the general public can go through it. The St George temple just had renovation work done on it, so I believe that it was open to the public recently before rededication.
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  207. I'm not sure that you have a clear understanding of the religion. How can everyone be gentiles if they are of the 12 tribes of Israel? Our purpose is to gather the 12 tribes of Israel from their long disbursement. If someone is kind and friendly simply to try to convert another person, then they don't understand the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ at all. Full stop.
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  208.  @intoalivinghope  I looked up the definition of gentile in the dictionary. It is interesting 🤔. I am aware that Jewish people consider latter-day saints (and everyone else) to be gentiles. Latter-day saints, on the other hand, do not see things the same way. We have patriarchal blessings largely for this specific purpose. To tell us directly from God which tribe of Israel we descend from. I don't know if you are familiar with David Alexander. He has a channel. He used to be a Catholic and then an evangelical Christian. He recently joined the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints. He is of the house of Israel. He was when he was evangelical and Catholic also. Do you see what I mean? He really wasn't a gentile even though he hadn't joined the church yet. In the world, there are people who descend from all twelve tribes of Israel. We are desiring to find them and bring them all to the Messiah. The Lord Jesus Christ.
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  209. No. It's definitely not the norm for home meals. If you go to a picnic or a social function, there might be plastic plates, glasses, and cutlery. My guess is that they used them in this instance so that the hostess wouldn't have oodles of dishes to clean afterward.
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  210. Good questions. We don't believe that prophets are infallible. They are human beings, and humans are fallible. However, the Lord will never allow a prophet to lead the church astray. The Book of Mormon says that marriage should only be between one man and one woman unless the Lord commands otherwise. In the Book of Mormon, men were taking multiple wives just because they wanted to, and the Lord strongly condemned this. At times, the Lord commands polygamy for a specific reason. But the standard is always one man, one woman.
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  211. Joseph Smith said that he was commanded by God to practice polygamy, and he dragged his heels on the issue until an angel with a drawn sword appeared to him and essentially said, " Obey God or else!"
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  212. If the fruit is good, the tree is good.
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  213. Yes, we do. Jesus Christ is God the Son. The only begotten of the Father and the only way that leads to salvation.
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  214. Of the church? No. That was the acting president of the quorum of 12 apostles who recently passed. The president of the church is in his 100th year and going strong.
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  215. Hello Martine. LDS stands for latter-day saints. It is a part of the official name of the church. The official name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are commonly called "Mormons" in the world, but we don't care for this nickname. Since the official name of the church is quite long, people generally start to refer to it as the LDS church and the members of the church as LDS or latter-day saints. The latter-day saints part simply differentiates us from the former-day saints who existed in Jesus's time. We believe that there was an apostasy from The Church of Jesus Christ of Former-day saints. And that, the church was restored in these latter days. The time leading up to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  216.  @martinepeters9891  You are so welcome, Martine. I'm glad that I could help a little. It does get really confusing with all the churches out there! God bless you 🙏 ❤️
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  217.  @WranglermanLevi  Very true 👍 praying in your heart and mind are also important.
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  218.  @WranglermanLevi  I just wanted to add that prayer on one's knees is not required, but it's a little bit like putting your hand over your heart or removing your hat when the American national anthem plays. If you are physically able, you just can't imagine NOT doing these respectful things.
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  219. I believe that the speaker was referencing the "other sheep" verse in the Bible. We know that the people who were living in America were the other sheep.
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  220. I guess that you have to experience the Holy Spirit to understand it. Having experienced the whispering of the Holy Spirit, you would never forget it. God bless Holland 🇳🇱 ❤
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  221. @VoxClamantisinDeserto-zw2mt  I know of a certainty that I have not been deceived. One day, when we stand before the Lord, you will know that, too.
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  222. You do know that we are a global church, right? Which means that we have members all over the world. Including Africa. Yes, we have many, many black members. In the United States and elsewhere.
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  223. So true! Now, you have arrived at the very heart of the issue that sent a young boy into a sacred grove to follow the admonition of James and "ask of God."
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  224. @adamr149  okay, fair enough. I've experienced both sides in my life. Some wards make you feel welcome, and some don't at all. And I am LDS, so I don't know how it is to be a non-member. In fairness, though, wouldn't it be similar in any community? For example, if I moved to a very predominantly Catholic area or a predominantly protestant area. I wouldn't have that sort of "in" with the community even though they might be superficially friendly.
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  225. @adamr149  Oh, thanks for sharing that. I thought that certain areas of the country would be comparable. Like the Bible belt, perhaps? Maybe not, though.
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  226. They probably don't want to get caught on camera shoveling pizza in. Lol. That would make me nervous.
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  227. That is 100 percent true. There are many good people who aren't religious. Our aim is not just to be good people. Our aim is to return to live with our heavenly parents again.
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  228. What do you make of Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Solomon, and King David? All polygamists. We have no idea the ages of the wives. King David even had to steal another man's wife. Should we throw out the Bible?
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  229. Why would you ever watch Mormon stories podcast to find out about us? It's like asking Judas about Jesus Christ or Nero about the Christians.
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  230. @wendyfilice7274  Yes, I understand that Joseph Smith was not in the Bible. My point is simply that prophets or kings in other times have practiced polygamy. So the idea of Joseph Smith practicing polygamy is not that shocking to me.
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  231. @wendyfilice7274  I watched Mormon stories for a while. I actually had sympathy for John Dehlin and why he got kicked out of the church and everything. My friends were dismayed that I was watching it, but I told them that it actually strengthened my testimony! It did, truly. I can't watch it anymore though. I developed such a poor opinion of John Dehlin and the program.
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  232.  @wendyfilice7274  do you mind if I ask what Christian beliefs you grew up with and what made you need to deconstruct them?
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  233. @wendyfilice7274  No, I don't agree with the information that they share there. John Dehlin has an agenda. The people who go on there seem a bit childish to me. I don't mean to be insulting. It's just kind of like Paul said. They see through a glass darkly. They seem as children who can't quite comprehend the big picture yet.
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  234. @user-fc7pr5yc8c  It's rather impossible to express my feelings in full in a format like this, but let me just boil it down to this, the guests have something wrong and/or something hard happen. Or they hear things that they hadn't heard before. Instead of asking for wisdom and guidance from the Lord directly, they use their own judgment and their own wisdom to storm out of the church. To me, it feels a little bit immature. Akin to tantrum throwing you'd see in a small child. I remember once in my own life being SO angry at a bishop. It make me actually shake how angry I felt. I went home and immediately went on my knees to cry to my heavenly father about it. I was like, this is YOUR bishop, and how is it OKAY with you that he is behaving like this, etc. Well, my anger calmed, and a peace came over me. I felt like the judgment of this man would be handled by the Lord. To leave the church is to leave the Lord. When people have an issue with a mortal bishop and in response leave their God over it....well, it really is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It is completely unwise and detrimental. We have to be spiritually mature enough to see the long game. Don't remove yourself from the field before the game is won. Even if you get tackled and bruised along the way.
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  235. @user-fc7pr5yc8c  I just wanted to add another story. My sister gave her tithing (in cash) to her bishop. Apparently, there wasn't a record of it, and she became certain that the Bishop had stolen her tithing for his personal use. The anger and disillusionment seemed to literally consume her. She told everyone around her. It affected her testimony of tithing and of the church. It didn't help that our brother refused to believe her. He is naive enough to believe that church leaders never do anything wrong. Anyway, I just never really understood her reaction. I get that it made her angry and disillusioned. I would be too! But I didn't understand the part where she let it eat at her until it destroyed her. I kept assuring her that the Lord KNOWS she paid her tithing. It has nothing to do with her anymore. If that bishop stole her tithing, it's on him. I'd hate to be him on the day of judgment. I can't recall the exact scripture verses now, but there are many verses in the Bible about how anyone in leadership roles over others will be accountable to God for how they discharged their leadership. And God is pretty clear about the consequences if they exercise unrighteous dominion. I take the Lord at his word. I don't understand why my sister can't take the Lord at his word. God sees everything. Even the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. Plus, all of our actions. We don't have to leave Him because someone did evil. Yoke yourself to God and stay there. That is ultimate wisdom. ❤️
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  236. @wendyfilice7274  I don't know what you have heard, but we believe exactly what you were talking about from the podcast that you listened to. In the Book of Mormon, there is a strong condemnation by God of people who were practicing polygamy just because they wanted to. God says marriage should be between one man and one woman unless He commands certain men otherwise. That's a doctrine in the Book of Mormon, and it's absolutely what we believe. We aren't certain of the reasons why the Lord commanded certain people to practice polygamy in the early days of the restoration. ( the church as a whole never practiced polygamy) David Alexander speculated on his channel that it was in fulfillment of a passage in the Bible that he had wondered about all his life. (He's a new convert to the church. He spent 47 years in the protestant world.) His theory seems plausible, but it's only a theory. We don't know. It is a myth about having to practice polygamy to go to the highest heaven. Wonderful, godly men like my own father, had only one wife, and wanted ONLY one wife, and I fully expect to see them in the celestial kingdom.
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  237. @wendyfilice7274  If you're interested, you can just search David Alexander polygamy, and it should pull up the one where he talks about it. If not, that's okay too. 😀
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  238.  @WendyFilice-p9i  Yes, many men have thought that they were called to practice polygamy. If it makes you feel any better, I don't know of a single person currently in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints who wants to practice polygamy. We hope that the reasons for it have been accomplished and there will be no more polygamy.
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  239. @user-fc7pr5yc8c  The thing is, we don't have to worry about things of the past. It is the Holy Spirit who converts people. When you gain a testimony of truth through the Holy Spirit, then you just know the truth. David Alexander harps on this quite often! Lol. He worked in orchards a lot, and he said that if you have a tree that is glorious and producing the best fruit you ever tasted, who in the world would say that we have to dig up the roots of that tree and inspect if they were rotten. He said that if you suggested that people would seriously think you were mental! 😆
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  240. See the JST in reference to this verse
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  241. @samsmom400 blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Peter is a peacemaker at heart. Maybe you can comprehend the statement now.
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  242. The evangelical talking point is that we can't be Christian because we worship a "different God" and a "different Jesus." It's nonsense, of course. There is no such thing as a "different Jesus" but they don't know that yet. 😊 They feel that to say Jesus Christ was an offspring of God the Father means that he was "created" and they balk at that. They feel that he always existed and there never was a time when he was born. They have huge issues with the idea of Satan being a son of God and thus the brother of Jesus Christ. This is such heresy to them that they can't wrap their heads around it. They also embrace the trinity, which we do not. All these reasons are why they keep insisting that we are not Christian and the Jesus Christ whom we believe in is not the "real" Jesus.
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  243. Have you heard of the great commission?
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  244.  @denningfamily2145  True thing. The majority of my ancestors come from England and Wales. They came to America to be with the majority body of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints.
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  245. I think he meant the same thing that Joshua told the Israelites. "Choose you this day...as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." You can't serve two masters. A house divided against itself will fall. It is that kind of side picking. I totally agree with you that in politics and other areas, there are shades of gray and things you may like or dislike about both sides. The talk he referenced was one where our prophet was encouraging everyone to gain their own testimony. Sometimes people are in a religion because their parents believe, or someone they admire subscribes to those beliefs or that it is a nice social environment. The prophet said that that might have worked in the past, but in these last days, everyone needs to know what they themselves believe or they can not stand.
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  246. Why do you have to believe? I don't believe in what the orthodox Jewish community believes, but I thought that Peter's videos about them were beautiful and moving and inspiring.
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  247. Jesus Christ did indeed visit the American continent. We just don't know if it was modern-day America or South America somewhere. One day, we will know.
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  248. " Upon this rock," we believe that the rock is the rock of revelation. Not Peter. Prevail means ultimate victory. This is true. It may look like Satan is winning at times, but he will never ultimately prevail against the Lord's church and kingdom. We believe that the beloved apostle John. Aka John, the revelator, is still living. Therefore, wouldn't HE be the natural heir of the apostolic keys that Peter held upon Peter's death? In Acts, it is quite clear that the apostacy had already begun. Paul said that he had only Timothy left who stood by him and hadn't defected.
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  249. I wondered that also. It's not usual. I think that maybe the lady of the house just didn't want to do all those dishes later!
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  250. Your comment made me chuckle 😃 as a people, I think we do eat waaaay too much pizza! 😆 We have a health code to live by, and we are meant to treat our bodies like a temple, but a lot of us struggle with this. Myself included 😌. I'm going to take your comment as impetus to do better and try harder! ❤️
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  251. Most members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints are of the tribe of Ephraim. This is to be expected since Ephraim holds the birthright and is charged with gathering the 12 tribes of Israel from their long disbursement.
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  252. Are you from Cymru? I love your name ❤️
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  253. Thank you for your kind words. Ich liebe Deutschland 🇩🇪 ❤️
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  254. Have you heard of the 3 degrees of glory?
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  255. People who have passed on most certainly do know about what is happening in this world.
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  256. @Valcey777  what about the thief on the cross? Jesus Christ says that he will see him in paradise. Clearly, he was going to be alive still after death.
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  257. @Valcey777  We just have to agree to disagree on this one. I know you have your opinion, and I respect it. But I've had personal experiences that let me know that people who have passed are not asleep in their graves.
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  258.  @Valcey777  I just totally disagree with you.
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  259. @Valcey777  Because we interpret the word of God differently, it doesn't mean that my beliefs are outside of His word. 😀
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  260.  @Valcey777  I can explain that one. Jesus Christ had gone to visit the spirits in the spirit world.
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  261. @Valcey777  His Father isn't in the world of spirits. It's a different place from the celestial kingdom.
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  262.  @Valcey777  It's fine. I don't mean to argue. We feel blessed to have additional scripture to help bring more clarity to the Bible. We feel blessed to have continuing revelation as well.
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  263. Yes. Both males and females wear the temple clothing.
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  264. I am so grateful that we are able to do baptisms on behalf of our dead. What a glorious blessing ❤
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  265. We don't believe that there are latter-day saints on the moon. We do believe that the garden of Eden was in Missouri. We believe that a temple will be there during the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  266. You are correct. I believe that Brock meant that the church leaders stressed it again around 2000. In general conference talks and the like, it seems to be a big focus at times and then on the back burner, so to speak at other times.
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  267. It's not weird, but it's not always true. My mom got called to accept 2 big responsibilities. At the same time. She told the bishop that she could do one, but not both, so choose. He did, and she served in that one calling.
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  268. We do the same thing with other denominations.
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  269. I doubt they are "very active" Mormons.
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  270. @RyanSlater15  Wow, that's awful! I know that some kids feel pressured to go on missions, and their hearts really aren't into it. Maybe those are the ones acting so dreadfully. But it would be better if they just didn't go on a mission then to go and behave like that.
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  271. When polygamy was being practiced, many men were arrested and jailed. Many additional wives had to flee with little children to other nations and hide out. It was harder and harder on the people asked to practice it. (The entire church never practiced polygamy) Our own statement of faith (the 12 articles of faith--written by the prophet Joseph Smith) proclaimed that we believe in following the laws of the land and in honoring legal and civic authority. Yet, here we were, caught between the laws of the land and the laws of the Lord. With this backdrop, the prophet of God at the time begged God for direction. He received an answer from the Lord to stop polygamy and to adhere to the laws of the land. The prophet informed the people what the Lord had said, and that ended polygamy as a practice of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints.
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  272. @johnlott518  Thanks 😊. I'm no expert on polygamy. I have read the desperate reports of some of the wives and men who were being hunted for practicing it. It was a mess. Even when the church officially abandoned it, it was a mess. Some members tried to still secretly practice it. Some left for other countries or started other churches. But eventually, it calmed down. I do think that the Lord's purposes for it had been accomplished. Also, taking the gospel to all the world would have been virtually impossible had polygamy continued. The great commission is a high priority for the Lord.
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  273. Made me laugh. Even though I am a latter-day saint 😆
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  274. @jeffs4483  Thete is no rampant abuse of women and children in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints. Unfortunately, we have bad apples just like any other religion, but if you care to back up your accusations with statistics, you will find that the statistics are much lower than the average. Of course, the number should be zero. Jesus Christ has warned about the judgment that will come to those who would hurt the vulnerable. As for the fruits, if you can't see the abundant fruits of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints, then you are stone blind and I pity you.
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  275. I don't mean to be offensive, but we cringe at ya'lls understanding of scripture and who Jesus Christ is.
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  276.  @TennisGvy  I'm not sure that I understand your comment. The 17 million is the number of people in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints. These people and other groups, such as FLDS and Community of Christ, are completely different churches.
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  277. @TennisGvy  sorry, but I think that you are missing the point. Say there were 17 million Catholics, and someone was saying that this 500-person group of Baptists were included in that 17 million. It makes no sense. Right? ( or a 500-person group of Jews, or a 500-person group of Hindus, etc.) You can't count them in the 17 million number because they aren't the same church. They aren't the same denomination. That is what we are saying.
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  278.  @lukev483  because it is a totally different church. Can you say that all Jews in America are included in the head count of Catholics?
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  279. The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints does not preach Sola scriptura. We are the most blessed people in the world to have continuing revelation and companion scripture to the Holy Bible.
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  280. ​@Bombay1618 I think that Brock is saying that it doesn't make sense to a lot of people to have a ban on coffee because coffee doesn't seem harmful to anyone. There have even been some studies suggesting that it can be beneficial in moderation. He's saying that we still abstain because we have been told to abstain.
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  281. I watched the clip you referred to again, and it is no wonder why you are confused. The tithing analogy makes absolutely no sense. We do pay tithing. We don't drink coffee. Tithing is a principle of the gospel that goes back to ancient times. As far as I know, abstaining from coffee is not. I bet that Brock would like to have a do-over on explaining things.
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  282. That is simply not true. Membership numbers only refer to living members of the church.
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  283. Any person who is not married is expected to be celibate. No matter your sexuality. If a gay person remains celibate, they can participate fully in the church.
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  284. @sharaharper2253  We believe that it is God who is the law giver. And God has given the law of man being married to woman.
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  285. We want to be called latter-day saints. It's part of the official name of the church, which is "the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints." We don't care for the term "Mormons."
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  286. Latter-day saints just is a way of distinguishing us from the former day saints since we believe that we are the restored church that the Lord Jesus Christ established on the earth during His mortal ministry.
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  287. You have such a kind heart. God bless you.
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  288. Mesa, Arizona I believe.
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  289. You can buy that picture of Jesus if you want. I'm pretty sure that deseret book sells it.
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  290. ​@trishahunter3346, you are awesome, Trisha 😊❤
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  291. Zero. The membership of the church is counted by living members only.
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  292. Yes. But not exactly like Old Testament times. 😀
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  293. It can be difficult for nonmembers to understand our church. For instance, we believe that immortality and eternal life are not synonymous. Furthermore, salvation and exaltation are not synonymous. If your desire is to attain to the terrestrial kingdom of glory and there have communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, then you do not need to be a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints for that to happen.
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  294.  @kenofken9458  scoff if you must, but ask the Lord about it yourself when you see Him. I dare you 😉
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  295. How do you get that it's a doomsday church from the name? Latter-day saints is simply an indication that we are not former-day saints. The name of the church testifies of an apostasy and a restoration.
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  296. I am a bit of a religious "nut" and yet I totally understand what you are saying here 😂 I have felt the same way on occasion.
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  297. The Book of Mormon answers this question. In case you don't care to read the book....spoiler alert, God told the native Americans that they would prosper if they kept the commandments of God. They didn't. As with all of us, if you choose not to keep the commandments of God, He has no choice but to turn you loose to the buffetings of the adversary.
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  298. Also, in the Book of Mormon, the early inhabitants of the American continent are promised that no nation will find them or disturb them if they seek the Lord always. Sadly, they didn't. One whole people were wiped out, and then another whole people were nearly wiped out and persecuted. We are told that the Lord gave us the Book of Mormon, in part, to serve as a warning for our day.
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  299. Why?
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  300. The great commission. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded his followers to go into all the world and preach the gospel to them and baptize them. Latter-day saints take the great commission very seriously. If you aren't interested, just politely refuse the message, and the missionaries will move along. There is no need to be hostile. These are very young adults who are tired and often homesick. Please let your heart feel kindness and compassion.
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  301. @AVoiceCryingInTheWildern-vt6ed This is not true. We believe that we are called by the great commission commandment to preach the gospel to all the world and offer baptism. Regardless of what path people choose, we still serve. We are the hands and feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. To symbolically die with the Lord in baptism and to symbolically rise with Him means that we are dead to the old natural man, and we we are committed to living FOR Jesus Christ. Would our Lord Jesus Christ serve and help people regardless of their denomination? Yes, He would. So we try to do likewise.
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  302. I loved your comments. ❤️
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  303. @jjoflower6811  Joan, please don't apologize for your long response. I absolutely loved hearing a bit about your life! I am a wee bit jealous that you get to spend time in Nauvoo and see the pageant and all. 😉 It is on my bucket list to make it there for a visit. I'm so happy that you got to experience it, though. Please excuse my ignorance, but what is a synod Lutheran church? I've heard of Lutherans, of course, but I don't know what the synod part means. It must be SO confusing for a non-member to understand all our beliefs and even our vocabulary! I think that you have such a beautiful heart to even want to learn. You have such a kind heart to have sympathy for our troubles in Missouri. I can tell that you are a true Christian by your love for your fellow humans ❤️. The Lord must be truly pleased with you. Don't worry about learning everything. What I mean is that it is a lifelong learning process for all of us. Every time I read the scriptures, I am truly humbled because I see how little I actually know and how much I have to learn! It can feel overwhelming. But line upon line and precept upon precept. That's a helpful mantra. 😀 My father got dragged around to numerous churches as a child. His mother was apparently on a quest to find a church she liked. When he was 12 years old, he was sent to a Sunday school class. There, he heard the story of the first vision, and he believed it immediately and asked to be baptized. He still had a lifetime of learning ahead of him, though. He got many, many religious books by LDS authors whom he admired and read constantly. I asked him one day how he got to be so smart. I wasn't being flippant. My dad was the smartest person I ever knew! He was so intelligent about everything. He thought for a minute and replied, "Well, I got old!" It made me chuckle. 😆 I guess I better end before I write a literal book! Lol. Thanks so much for your kind spirit. 😊 May God bless you forever and ever. xx
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  304.  @andrewmohlman7857  That was so beautifully said. 😍 Thank you for your wonderful contribution to the conversation.
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  305. @andrewmohlman7857  When I listen to someone like David Alexander, I see why he eventually found the Lord's church and was not ultimately deceived. Because he understood the Bible so well and was truly looking for that apostolic structure that is in the Bible.
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  306. Hi Lauber! Guten Tag! ( sorry, I don't know any Swiss)
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  307. No proxy baptism is allowed to take place unless the person is deceased.
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  308. We aren't saving money and food, etc. FOR the second coming of Jesus Christ, but rather for the hard times leading up to the second coming. The scriptures prophesied about wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes and many tumultuous things happening as we get closer and closer to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are wise to try and prepare as best we can for those hard times. You are correct about what most Christians call "the rapture." The earth will burn at His coming. Either literally, or from the brightness of His full glory. The wicked will not be able to abide it and many will die. This earth will be transformed to its terrestrial glory, and the 1000-year millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ will commence. So, there will be people on the earth, but only those who can abide at least a terrestrial glory. I hope that this helps you understand. 😊
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  309. I'm not sure that I answered your "what is he coming to do" question. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming to reign on the earth. Satan and his angels will be bound, and there will be 1000 years of peace and joy. No one will hurt anyone. We teach that it won't just be latter-day saints alive during this magnificent reign. It will be good and just people of many religions. No one will die and be put in the ground. They will pass from life to death in seconds and be resurrected. It will be an amazing time.
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  310.  @AngelGarcia-mr4pl  You are so welcome. 😊 I'm happy that I could help.
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  311. ​@VoxClamantisinDeserto-zw2mt Latter-day saints are definitely not atheists. We do, however, respect all people. Including atheists.
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  312. Thanks for pointing this out because I only learned that last year! I always thought that the cross was a symbol of the dead Lord to Protestants, but I guess that isn't so.
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  313. The Jehovah's witnesses don't vote or get involved in any politics.
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  314. We believe in a spirit world (or a world where people in their spirit form exist). When people die, we believe that they go to this spirit world to await resurrection and the judgment. We do not believe that people are instantly judged and sent to hell or heaven upon their mortal death. That is what Brock meant. We believe that life in the spirit world is similar to life on earth, except spirits do not have bodies. We believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is still being preached in the spirit world, and people can hear it and accept it if they choose.
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  315. We do not believe in reincarnation.
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  316. Your mom sounds like a wonderful person. ❤️ I don't know if you believe in the Bible or read the Bible, but the last thing Jesus Christ said before he accended to heaven was to instruct His followers to go into ALL the world, preaching the gospel of salvation to every person and baptizing every person. It's called the Great Commission. That is why religious people are always wanting to share their religion with you. They are commanded to do so and they will be in trouble with God if they don't! Please try not to think poorly of them for it. It comes from a place of duty to God and genuine love for you. If you aren't interested, just tell people.
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  317.  @Roggen45  Oh yeah, I totally understand. No means no. I get it. Religious people can be quite pushy at times. Thanks for treating everyone well like your mom taught you. <3
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  318. I loved your comments. I noticed how he seemed quite hurt by the "lazy learner " comment, but he couldn't list many basic tennets of the faith. I don't mean to be rude, but it did strike me as a lazy learner, not to know those things.
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  319. @marct8326  Thanks 😊 I'm not sure that Todd is watching general conference. I am 100 percent sure that he is parroting the talking points of John Dehlin. Todd mentioned the group sessions called Thrive. Those are the babies of John Dehlin, the person most determined to destroy the church of Jesus Christ. John has thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of followers who support his mission of destroying the Lord's church who do watch conference talks and intercept church memos and everything else they can do to try and find ammunition against the church. If Todd knew the scriptures as well as David Alexander does, then I might not think he was a lazy learner. But he doesn't seem to understand them very well.
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  320.  @awatchman-um7vy  Jesus Christ said blessed are ye if men revile you and say all manner of evil against you. For they hated and killed the prophets that went before you.
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  321. This is something that seems to bother a lot of people. We have more than enough money right now. That is true. But we don't know what things will be like the closer we get to the second coming. We truly believe that the 1st presidency and quorum of 12 apostles are prophetic. Maybe they see things we do not know. There are 17 million members of the church thereabouts, and if something catastrophic happened, the money might not go as far as people think towards caring for the church. Our church does donate millions of dollars and goods each year to help all over the world.
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  322. You ask some very good questions. It's hard to give a full answer in a format like this, but I'll say a little. We have a person called a patriarch. One for each stake usually. Patriarch is an office in the priesthood. You go to him specifically to get your patriarchal blessing. During the blessing, he has it revealed to him by God which tribe you are from. No DNA testing is involved. :-) The point to all of this is that we believe that the Lord is setting His hand to the gathering of the 12 tribes of Israel from their long disbursement as He has promised to do repeatedly in scripture. We are actively gathering all 12 tribes. I guess we are all different. You seem to have found the Joseph Smith story very hard to swallow, yet my own father heard it as a 12 year old boy and knew it was true immediately and asked to be baptized. :-)
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  323. I had a roommate in college who served a mission in Finland 🇫🇮! Much love to the Finnish people ❤️
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  324. That's wonderful 😊 Your English seems to be impeccable. Greetings to Moldova 🇲🇩
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  325. No, in fact, if you practice polygamy, you would be excommunicated. You can not be a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints and practice polygamy.
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