LDS Freedom Forum

We had a direct wire broadcast on Sunday. I wanted to share the notes I toke from Elder Cooks comments. I have some quotes, but take them all with a grain of salt. These are only my impressions of what he said, not his words, so please be cautious not to quote or draw too strong of conclusions. Let the spirit feed yo want you are to get from it. I think these are okay to share.


Elder Cook: He mentioned he was speaking to the midwest area. He loves church history, and thinks there is much for us to learn from it.
Zions Camp: 45 days, they hiked 1000 miles. It was hard to obtain food, they contracted disease, 14 died from Cholera. Joseph Smith called it an Abrahamic sacrifice. 79 of the 82 leadership positions that were called shortly after this, were filled from those on Zions Camp.

Nauvoo was equally inspiring. The challenges to build the temple at great effort and cost.
Poem: “The test of greatness is the way we meet the eternal Every Day.”

Iowa: The saints demonstrated efficiency , hard work, team work. Hand Carts, many people pulled their handcarts up until the day they died.
Missouri, Liberty Jail, “Oh God where art thou …” DC 121 Thine suffering and thine affliction …”
Challenges we face: “There will be physical storms in all of our lives.”
“These are difficult if we are not prepared.”
DC 1:14 “And the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people;”

Then he cited verse 12 “Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh;”
Quoted Pres. Hinckley 98 portent of storm
Jan 2002 Urged members to get out of debt, and to prepare
“Be Prepared”
1) Strengthen families
2) Increase our faith.
Quoted King Benjamin: Mos 2:41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.
3) Create Zion in our own homes
“As we purify our lives the spirit will guide us.”

Rand, I posted my notes too, they are here: http://www.ldsfreedomforum.com/viewtopi ... 20&t=16529 I thought it was a good meeting...

Quote:
One of the impressions that I got from Elder Cook's talk was when he mentioned Zion's Camp. It zinged me and I thought whatever we go through, it will be a test to see where we stand. Are we worthy to build Zion? I am sure there is much to learn from reading and studying the Zion Camp story...

I agree. That was the highlight of his talk for me, as well. Elder Cook seemed to stress the story surrounding Zion's Camp and how it was their "Abrahamic Test" - how most people failed and left, but those who endured it well, were truly blessed in the end (after MUCH hard trials). Great talk - lots of important lessons to be learned for our future from studying our history....

Increase our faith ??

I have been trying to increase my faith for 45 years.

Rincon wrote:Increase our faith ??

I have been trying to increase my faith for 45 years. I think it is decreasing instead.

I find that hard to believe. What is faith anyway?

Rand wrote:

Rincon wrote:Increase our faith ??

I have been trying to increase my faith for 45 years. I think it is decreasing instead.

I find that hard to believe. What is faith anyway?

Faith is a Catholic Culture word, it is from the French feid and Latin fidem. When we own property in America it is by Fee Simple which means the simple faith you give to the Emperor. Faith as it is used in the Scriptures is different than where the roots of that word come from. The word faith used to mean your trust and obedience to the Emperor and the Empire's minions who you must give your faith to, and kiss the ring on their hand.

The Book of Mormon word that explains the meaning of the modern usage of faith is the word LOOK in the Book of Mormon, i.e. "Look unto Me." Faith as it is used in our Gospel Lexicon means the focus we have upon Christ, in all of our thoughts, and as evidenced in our actions.

A 100% of walking by the light of the Holy Ghost is 100% Faith. Stepping off the path lighted by the Holy Ghost is loosing faith.

God Bless,
Darren

Darren: This is fascinating. I love the background. Can you share more of your thoughts on the application of faith. What is it in action?

I would like to share a few thoughts on this as well as get your back.

Faith is made of three parts, 1. the desire or hope. 2. The emotional evaluation of that desire. 3. The action that comes from that desire and that emotional evaluation. I will let you come up with your own applications. But when we have faith in Jesus Christ, we hope in Christ. It is the basis or all our hopes and desires. We then evaluate based on love, we have no attachment to outcome. Our desires are only out of love, which is giving, with no concern with how people receive or reject our message. We don’t personalize in love, we only give with the glory of God in mind, see Christ and his prayer in the Garden, “Father not my will, but thine be done.”

When we act out of faith in Jesus Christ, we act as Christ would have, because we will have his hopes, his motives and his actions that grow from such noble motives. Remember that our hopes, change the very fabric of the universe. We can turn water into a solid, a wall into an insubstantial gas. We will have power over evil spirits, or any physical substance in the body of the person who has that faith. Read Chapter 8 of Alma and then Chapter 14, to see how Alma was taught to let go of others decisions. Alma was very attached to others choices in Alma 8, but to do what he needed to do, God needed him to learn to be unattached. Alma 14 shows that he learned that lesson.

This is like the Bible Dictionary entry on Prayer: We pray in Christ’s name when our mind is the mind of Christ, and our wishes the wishes of Christ—when his words abide in us (John 15:7). We then ask for things it is possible for God to grant. Many prayers remain unanswered because they are not in Christ’s name at all; they in no way represent his mind, but spring out of the selfishness of man’s heart."

Rand wrote:Darren: This is fascinating. I love the background. Can you share more of your thoughts on the application of faith. What is it in action?



This is like the Bible Dictionary entry on Prayer: We pray in Christ’s name when our mind is the mind of Christ, and our wishes the wishes of Christ—when his words abide in us (John 15:7). We then ask for things it is possible for God to grant. Many prayers remain unanswered because they are not in Christ’s name at all; they in no way represent his mind, but spring out of the selfishness of man’s heart."

I don't find that quote in my Bible Dictionary. This is how mine reads:

The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.

Check the next paragraph. Both quotes are outstanding.

Rand wrote:Darren: This is fascinating. I love the background. Can you share more of your thoughts on the application of faith. What is it in action?

Faith and Believe in the Scriptures are understood well when you discover the verb "Look" from the Book of Mormon and modern scripture.

Read this book,
http://s98822910.onlinehome.us/thousand ... ctrine.pdf

God Bless,
Darren

Rincon wrote:Increase our faith ??

I have been trying to increase my faith for 45 years. I think it is decreasing instead.

I found two quotes in "To Him that Believeth" that helped me a lot. Unfortunately, I can't find anywhere to copy and paste from, so here is a link to that part of the book. The quotes are from Orson F. Whitney and James E. Talmage, on pages 20 and 21.
http://books.google.com/books?id=YNXOJN ... &q&f=false" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The most important thing I learned from this is that faith is a gift from God that we have to ask for. There is no other way to get it, and there is no other way to increase it. We have to serve Him and live the commandments, but it only comes as a result of asking.

I have a personal testimony of this approach.