Sunday, May 17, 2014

Warn you that the speaking gene skipped a generation

My prayer is that the spirit will be with us as I speak to you today

BYU Story
Last semester I was at BYU and one Sunday I had a really eye-opening experience during
sacrament meeting and the months following.

First speaker, Sammany of his views were known to be out of line with the gospel. I
was asked to speak on how the church the savior established is the same as the church
we have today.but I cant talk about that because its simply not true
Throughout the talk- he spoke about how we are a bunch of blind, nave followers of our
priesthood leaders in the church, we shouldnt believe anything that isnt backed up by
reason and science, our prophet today was just more or less of a motivational speaker- he
didnt speak of God, just his opinion, and while he has good advice, Pres Monson and his
apostles didnt teach doctrine.
Really uncomfortable.
Girls asked him for copy afterwards, and roommates at home agreed with him.
I was SOOOO upset afterwards more people werent bothered by the message

Talked to dad, in effort to get me to calm down, D&C 88:91 he said the world would not
glide calmly toward the second coming of the savior As the church prospers, grows and
extends, the power of Satan is also going to spread grow and extend. Think of all the
gospel resources we have accessible to usSatan is going to try harder than ever to
distract us. No longer is it just people who are Mormon haters that we have to worry
about swaying us, its the people who claim to believe the same things we do and who
belong to the same church that dont even realize they are off track!

I was still having a pretty hard time with the whole situation and similar ones that I had
experienced throughout the semester, but then at April General Conference Elder
Anderson gave a talk called Spiritual Whirlwinds.

STORY: Many years ago while we were visiting our family in Florida, a tornado
touched down not too far from us. One woman living in a mobile home went into her
bathroom for safety. The mobile home began to shake. A few moments passed. Then she
heard her neighbors voice: I am here in the front room. Coming out of the bathroom,
to her great astonishment, she discovered that the tornado had lifted and carried her
mobile home through the air, landing it perfectly upright on the top of her neighbors
mobile home.

He then talked about how spiritual whirlwinds can uproot you from your spiritual
foundations and land your spirit in places you never imagined possible, sometimes with
your barely noticing that you have been moved.

I think the worst whirlwinds are the temptations of the adversary. Sin has always been
part of the world, but it has never been so accessible and acceptable. Not all the
whirlwinds in life are of your own making. Some come because of the wrong choices of
others, and some come just because this is mortality.

In his talk, elder Anderson quoted President Monson who said: Where once the standards
of the Church and the standards of society were mostly compatible, now there is a wide chasm
between us, and its growing ever wider.This chasm, for some, stirs strong spiritual whirlwinds.

Elder Anderson read a letter he received from a girl in high school that I absolutely loved:

This past year some of my friends on Facebook began posting their position on
marriage. Many favored same-sex marriage, and several LDS youth indicated they liked
the postings. I made no comment.

I decided to declare my belief in traditional marriage in a thoughtful way.

With my profile picture, I added the caption I believe in marriage between a man and a
woman. Almost instantly I started receiving messages. You are selfish. You are
judgmental. One compared me to a slave owner. And I received this post from a great
friend who is a strong member of the Church: You need to catch up with the times.
Things are changing and so should you.

I did not fight back, she said, but I did not take my statement down.

She concludes: Sometimes, as President Monson said, You have to stand alone.
Hopefully as youth, we will stand together in being true to God and to the teachings of
His living prophets.

I realized, People are swayed by ideas that are socially acceptable, and dont even
realized they are out of line with teachings of Jesus Christ. In my situation with sam It
was really hard for me to have to defend my beliefs to people who were supposed to
stand with me and who claimed to believe the same as me. But if one thing, it made me
know better than ever what my position on those issues were.
Now Im not saying that just because people disagree with our beliefs or struggle with
things that our church teaches, we should avoid them or persecute them. I think that those
who struggle with same-sex attraction, depression, addictions of all kinds are incredible
because those are whirlwinds with enormous velocity.
I think it is really inspiring to see those who confront these trials of faith and stay true to
the commandments of God! But everyone, regardless of their decisions and beliefs,
deserves our kindness and consideration.
The Savior taught us to love not only our friends but also those who disagree with us
and even those who repudiate us. In the gospel of Jesus Christ there is no place for
bullying and ridicule.
PREVENTIONS:
I want to talk about now, ways we can prevent spiritual whirlwinds in our lives.
1. Our prophet and his apostles who tell us exactly what expects us to do.

Harold B. Lee: The only safety we have as members of this church is to learn to give heed to
the words and commandments that the Lord shall give through His prophet. There will be
some things that take patience and faith. You may not like what comes. It may contradict your
political views your social views interfere with your social life. But if you listen to these
things, as if from the mouth of the Lord Himself, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you
and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you

2. Another powerful protection is the Book of Mormon
The B of M is pretty straight up. It puts forth the doctrines of the gospel, outlines the plan
of salvation, and tells us what we have to do to gain peace in this life and eternal
salvation in the next. We are promised safety if we read from it daily.

3. The last one I want to speak about is found in Helaman 5:12

That foundation in Christ makes it so that nothing at all can drag us down. That is pretty
reassuring to me- a sure way to know we will end up in the right place at the end of this life.
TESTIMONY:
I have a testimony that with the help of our Savior Jesus Christ, these whirlwinds dont have to have
power over us. I know that when I build my foundation more firmly upon the rock of my Redeemer, I am
able to see whirlwinds for what they are- Tempatations, distractions, challengesand that they are
meant to help me grow. They cant uproot me without my permission. To Satan it doesnt matter
HOW he distracts us from living the gospel, he just cares that he DISTRACTS us.
I know that Jesus Christ is all the he professes to be and that he loves me. I know that if we will
CHOOSE to access the power of Christs atonement we will have power over the whirlwinds of
the adversary. I have seen in over and over again in my own life.
AMEN!!