“N” is for the Ninth Article of Faith

“We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.¹”

 It is a common belief these days that God no longer speaks to mankind, and yet the times we live in are more needful of God’s guidance and direction than any other time. I really wonder why people think this way? Do they think that God loves us less than before? Or that He has possibly lost his power? Perhaps they feel that we DON’T need his help, that all we need has already been written in the Bible. I’m not quite sure what people think regarding this important question, but I do know that none of the previously mentioned answers is correct.

One of the elements that distinguish the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that we are led by a prophet called by God; there has been a prophet on the earth ever since Joseph Smith was called to restore the Church back in 1820. The man that God has called to be his prophet at this time is President Thomas S. Monson; Thomas Monson receives the necessary revelations pertaining to our days for the more than 15,372,000 members of the Church. And the very good news is that these revelations are not just for the members of the church, but for every single person living on the earth today, regardless of who they are. The Lord is not a respecter of persons, but has the same love for all of His children, whether they want it or not. The first Saturday and Sunday of this month, the Church held its semi-annual Conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah. During this Conference, the leaders of the Church gave talks on a variety of subjects, receiving inspiration from Heavenly Father. If anyone would like to read or listen to these talks, please click here.

Amos, one of the last prophets in the Old Testament said, “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”² There are still many things that were prophesied in the Old and New testaments that still haven’t happened yet. According to this verse, if there are no more prophets, then nothing else that was prophesied will happen, including the second coming and the Millennium. What do you think?

¹Ninth Article of Faith

²Amos 3:7

© Mary Purpari, April 17,2015. All Rights Reserved.

“D” is for Disciples and Apostles

“We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists and so forth.”¹

Disciple: 1) a follower of a teacher or a school of thought; (2) One of the personal followers of Jesus Christ, including the twelve apostles.²

Apostle: One of the twelve disciples chosen by Christ to preach his gospel. The word comes from the Greek word meaning messenger.³

As can be seen, there is a difference between disciples and apostles, in that anyone who follows a certain person – in this case Jesus Christ – can be called a disciple, whereas an apostle is a person who has been specifically called and set apart to serve as a messenger or witness for Jesus Christ. Apostles are also disciples, since they are followers of Christ, but disciples are not necessarily apostles.

This is not to say that Christ’s disciples are unimportant; quite the opposite is true, for these are the people who take on the other roles essential to the Church’s structure. In the LDS church, these disciples take on the roles of pastors (branch presidencies or ward bishops), teachers in the various auxiliaries (primary, relief society, Sunday School, young men and young women and so on), evangelists (aka seventies⁴ and missionaries).

 

¹ Articles of Faith, 6; Ephesians 4 (see v. 11 in particular)

²  Reverso Dictionary disciple, definition

³ ibid. apostle, definition

⁴ Luke 10: 1-20

The painting on the left: The Sermon on the Mount, by Harry Anderson

The painting on the right: The Last Supper