This is my third attempt at explaining the gospel. The first two attempts are The Dark Side of Organized Religion and Four Steps to Salvation; so there is some overlap between these articles though each article also has its own unique ideas. Sorry for repeating myself a bit; the gospel is just such an important concept that I think it is worth the extra effort properly explaining it.
Base Ideas
In my view, heart alignment with God boils down to these three elements:
- Knowledge – have a correct knowledge of God | reject lies from the adversary.
- Actions – work righteousness | refrain from sin.
- Desires – love God and man and desire righteousness | do not love ourselves or money or seek after lusts.
If any of these elements is missing, then our hearts are not fully aligned with God. As I have described in The Dark Side of Organized Religion and Four Steps to Salvation, I believe many protestant religions emphasize correct knowledge of God’s nature to the exclusion of actions and desires, while Mormonism emphasizes actions to the exclusion of desires.
According to Rosie Lost Sheep
Many of the ideas in this article come from this video from Rosie Lost Sheep. So, I will briefly explain that video here:
Just as a fire must have heat, oxygen, and fuel, our relationship with God just as much requires faith, love, and obedience.
According to Rosie, the faith, love, and obedience triangle can also be restated as a spirit, truth, and righteousness triangle. To be honest, I don’t fully understand this yet., though I suspect obedience is connected to righteousness, love to spirit, and faith to truth.
She also very briefly describes holiness with this triangle. This I understand less of, so I will update this article as my understanding improves.
Knowledge / Faith
Faith is possessing a correct knowledge of Godly things and believing them to be true. So, here is a brief summary of this knowledge to which I refer:
God is our father – we were created in his image (Genesis 1:26–27), and we lived with him in the premortal life (Moses 3:4–5, Jeremiah 1:5, Doctrine and Covenants 138:56, Abraham 3:23–26). In this life, we experience trials so that we can gain experience and progress (2 Nephi 2:11-27, D&C 122:7–8, D&C 130:18–19, Romans 5:3-5). Jesus Christ is the only mediator between man and God, and we can only approach God through Christ (1 Timothy 2:5, John 14:6, Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25, 1 John 2:1). Because Christ suffered for our sins in the atonement, we can be washed clean of sin (2 Nephi 2:6–8, 2 Nephi 9:7–10, Mosiah 3:5–11, Alma 7:11–13, Alma 34:8–16, Helaman 5:9, 3 Nephi 11:10–11). We gain access to his atoning power through repentance (Alma 12:33–34) and baptism (2 Nephi 31:17), and we can develop a personal relationship with God through prayer (Matthew 7:7–8, James 1:5–6, Revelation 3:20). If we humble ourselves (Mosiah 3:18–19, Matthew 18:3-4), repent, seek God, try to follow the commandments, as described by his prophets in the scriptures, and endure to the end, we can live with God again after we die (2 Nephi 9:23-24, Moroni 7:33–34, 2 Nephi 31, 3 Nephi 27:19–21, D&C 88:63, Amos 5:4).
* this article details additional scriptures on faith.
Waiting on the Lord
In my view, part of having faith in the Lord involves waiting on the Lord even when at the present it looks like he hasn’t helped us. These two scriptures are relevant:
Psalm 37:7
Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
Isaiah 40:31
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
As we learn in these scriptures, sometimes it will look like the wicked are prospering more than the righteous and that there is no profit in following God. However, in the long run, the blessings we receive from waiting on the Lord are far more than we can imagine.
Our situation can be likened to Cinderella: At the start of the story, Cinderella’s life situation is terrible, and those who were wicked (her step sisters) prospered over her. However, since she followed the council of her fairy godmother, eventually she receives her happy ever after. Likewise, if we follow God’s council for us found in the scriptures, we too will eventually receive our happy ending (this analogy comes from this video).
Desires / Love / Thoughts
In my view, one of the ultimate goals of the gospel is to take us to a place where we of our own accord want to work righteousness. In other words, we aren’t obeying the commandments only out of fear of God, but rather because our personalities genuinely incline us to love good and abhor evil. An essential part of this is developing a love towards our fellow man over even ourselves (Philippians 2:3, Matthew 23:11–12, John 15:12–13, Matthew 22:37–39).
We Love God through Loving Man
Matthew 22:37–39
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
In this scripture, we are told that the most important commandment is to love God and our fellow man (Matthew 22:37–39, John 13:34–35, 2 Nephi 31:20). The scriptures in fact teach us that we can only love God through loving our fellow man (1 John 4:16-21, Mosiah 2:17, Matthew 25:34-40). In other words, if we don’t love our fellow man, then it is unlikely that we truly love God either.
Aligning our Heart with God > Sacrifice for God
Regarding works: our good works towards others are evidence that we have love towards others and also help us develop love towards others. However, in my view, we are more saved by aligning our hearts with God through our love, rather than by earning salvation through our works (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5, Galatians 2:16, Isaiah 64:6). So, I would rather possess love without works, than works without love (Psalm 51:16–17, Hosea 6:6, Isaiah 66:2-4, Micah 6:6–8, Moroni 7:6–9).
Psalm 51:16–17,
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Nevertheless, unless you are disabled or live in isolation, I doubt you have love towards others if you do not serve them.
James 2:17-18
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Our Souls Remain the Same after Death
The reason why heart posture matters is because after death, the fundamental nature of our spirit remains the same as it was during life. Therefore, if our spirit desired that which was wicked, it will continue to desire wickedness in death. In other words, most of our earthly works, even if they are good, pass away as the earth perishes, but the nature of our souls is permanent.
Alma 34:34
Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.
Desiring God’s Return
I recently saw this youtube video, which discussed yet another date that came false about the time of the rapture. I usually don’t watch these sort of videos (because I don’t believe in a pretribulation rapture), however the woman in the video made a good point to me:
If we truly love God, we should anxiously be waiting for his return. Thus, for her, she enjoys setting dates for the rapture because it gives her something to look forward to and hope upon. She is used to being let down by the dates, but she never is going to give up on setting dates, because waiting for the return to our Lord will always be the driving force of her life. Sometimes being disappointed is part of the sacrifice that we pay when we wait on the Lord.
I only started thinking about this when I found a relative of mine to become extremely angrywhen I pointed out evidence that a particular dream of mine was coming true, and he only got more angry as I showed additional evidence. I didn’t know why he was like this at first, but now I think I understand better: For people who do not have the blessed hope of Christ’s return, the idea that the dreams are finally coming true and he will return soon is super annoying.
So, part of having faith is having the blessed hope of Christ’s return. We shouldn’t be annoyed by others who possess this hope. Rather, we should rejoice with them, because Christ truly is returning soon to set everything right and wipe every tear from our eyes (Revelation 21:4, Revelation 7:17, Isaiah 25:8).
Valuing God’s Messages
As I substantiate with scripture in Truth in Dreams and Why I believe the book of Mormon is true, the scriptures are not complete, and there is still truth to be revealed.
I have sadly experienced much resistance when discussing my dreams with others. One of the stranger lines of logic I have seen is as follows. They first ask me if there actually are any actionable things to do because of my dreams. If I dare tell them the actionable items, they start telling me that I shouldn’t act on delusions. If I only provide vague answers, they tell me that if my dreams don’t have actionable advice then they are of no worth. So obviously these people hold no consistent opinion about whether revelations with actionable advice are good or not and only seek to argue with me.
The point is: Part of “desiring Godly things” involves actually valuing communications from God. Every word of the scriptures should be precious to us. And every revelation that we ourselves receive should be held as invaluable. If we meet someone discussing their own revelations, we shouldn’t try to convince them that their communication is worthless, rather we should celebrate with them.
Humility
Another essential element of the gospel worth mentioning here is humility: Humility has a few characteristics: 1) not viewing yourself too highly; 2) being willing to accept correction from others; being childlike and teachable; 3) turning your attention outwards, away from self and on to those around you.
The opposite of humility is pride. If we are proud, that will prevent us from aligning our selves with God because: 1) we will not be willing to accept correction when we sin; 2) we will be focused on ourselves rather than on God; 3) we will prioritize our own decision making process over the council that we receive from the holy ghost and the scriptures; 4) we won’t feel like we need God.
Consequently, humility and pride are a huge topic in the scriptures. Here are some scripture references:
God opposes the proud (James 4:6, Proverbs 16:18, Proverbs 16:5)
Do not think you are higher than you are (Romans 12:3, Galatians 6:3)
Value others over yourself (Philippians 2:3, Matthew 23:11–12)
Be humble (Colossians 3:12, James 4:10, 1 Peter 5:5-6, Ephesians 4:2, 2 Chronicles 7:14)
Be childlike (Matthew 18:3–4, Mark 10:14–15, Mark 10:14–15)
Be meek (Matthew 5:5, Matthew 11:29, Galatians 5:22–23, Ephesians 4:1–2, Titus 3:2, Psalm 22:26, Psalm 25:9, Psalm 37:11, Psalm 76:9, Zephaniah 2:3)
* I learned here that when Jesus says that the meek will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5), he actually is quoting David (Psalm 37:11).
Connection between humility and obedience (Philippians 2:5–8, 1 Peter 5:5–6, Micah 6:8, Romans 6:16-18)
Another part of humility is being willing to repent for your sins, which is necessary to access the atoning power of Christ (Alma 12:33–34). When we repent for our sins, we admit that what we did was wrong (1 John 1:9, D&C 58:43), try to make amends with the person who was wronged (Ezekiel 33:15-16, 3 Nephi 12:23–24), ask for forgiveness from God (Mosiah 4:2, Alma 36:18), and realign ourselves with the goal of cutting that sin out of our lives (D&C 58:43, Alma 5:13). Therefore, true repentance requires a change of heart and commitment to do better (Mosiah 5:2, Romans 6:1–2).
We should not even desire to sin
As stated earlier, the ultimate goal is to reach a state where we don’t even want to commit sin. Here are some scripture references:
Matthew 5:27–28
27 ¶ Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
1 John 3:15
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
Matthew 15:18–19 – Sin comes from the heart.
Matthew 5:21–22 – Beyond just not killing, we shouldn’t even unjustly harbor anger.
As we see in these scriptures, Jesus commands us to go beyond sinning, to also not sin within our heart. To do this, we must learn to control our thoughts and desires, as discussed here:
2 Corinthians 10:5 – bring into captivity every thought
However, this process can be difficult and painful. That is because our hearts naturally desire that which is evil, so we literally have to cut off a part of our heart for it to only desire that which is good. This is the meaning of the phrase “circumcising your heart” – removing the evil parts of your heart (Deuteronomy 30:6).
The good news is God promises that as we strive to follow him, he will renew our heart and mind so that we begin to only desire after Godly things (Ezekiel 36:26, Deuteronomy 30:6, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Hebrews 8:10, John 8:36).
Focus on the spirit, not the flesh
Just as we should change our desires, we should also change our focuses in life. In the scriptures, we are commanded to focus on things of the spirit, not of the flesh:
Romans 8:5–6
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Galatians 5:16-17
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Galatians 5:24–25
24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
The reason why we are commanded to turn away from the flesh towards the spirit is because the flesh leads us to commit wickedness, while the spirit turns us towards righteousness. These scriptures properly explain the nature of the flesh versus the spirit:
Galatians 5:19–21
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Now in contrast here are the desires of our spirit:
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
As one can see, our flesh only desires corruption, while our spirit desires that which is good. Obviously, we will not be able to align ourselves with God unless we are able to overcome the flesh and turn towards the spirit. This is beautiful summarized in this verse:
Mosiah 3:19
For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
Actions / Obedience
These scriptures help explain why we must try to follow the commandments:
John 14:15
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
2 Nephi 31:10
And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?
1 John 2:3-4
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
Essentially, the only way we can follow Christ is by following his commandments, and the only way we can love him is by doing what he bids us do. Paying lip service but not actually following is definitely not what Christ wants (Isaiah 29:13, Matthew 15:7-9, Luke 6:45-46, James 1:22, 1 John 3:18, Ezekiel 33:31). Here are some additional scriptures:
Commandment keeping required to enter heaven (D&C 14:7, 2 Nephi 31:10, Revelation 22:14, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21)
Overcoming sin required to enter heaven (Revelation 2:7, Revelation 2:11, Revelation 2:17, Revelation 3:5, Revelation 3:12, Revelation 3:21, Revelation 21:7, 1 John 5:4-5).
Of course, we will all fall short and make mistakes (Romans 3:23, Ecclesiastes 7:20, 1 John 1:8, Isaiah 64:6). That is why we have the atonement – our sins can be washed clean through repentance. At this point, one might think: if the atonement can cleanse me of my sins, then actually commandment keeping is not important, rather the only thing that matters is faith in Christ. So, here are a few answers to that:
- To access the power of the atonement, we must love Christ and try to follow him. In order to love Christ and try to follow him, we should at least be making a basic effort to cut sin out of our lives. Therefore, if we live completely degenerate lives, in my view, that means we are not truly loving Christ and trying to follow him, and therefore any attempt at repentance on our part will not fully work. Therefore, the atonement is aimed mainly at the people who try to follow the commandments but fall short, rather than those who are not trying at all to follow the commandments.
- As I discuss in Cosmology, there are varying levels of glory that we receive after we die. Therefore, if we live sinful lives, we might still technically get into God’s kingdom, but we won’t have glory.
- (in my view) Our purpose in life is to learn to affirmatively choose good over evil. Thus, God allows us to be tempted so that we experience resistance and have the opportunity to make real choices (2 Nephi 2:11-27, D&C 122:7–8, D&C 130:18–19). Therefore, if we are indeed learning to consistently choose good over evil, I believe it will be OK with us. In other words, I believe that God sees our trajectory in life and will be very forgiving towards us if he sees that we are making progress towards removing sin.
- Practically speaking: On the one hand, I think it is wise to try as hard as we can to not commit sin – as though God expects us to be perfect. On the other hand, when we are tempted to condemn others, we should assume that God in his mercy will save everyone.
What are the commandments? I discuss them in greater depth here: The Commandments.
Ordinances
Beyond simply following the commandments, another essential part of following the gospel is baptism (how to perform baptism: D&C 20:72–74, 3 Nephi 11:23–26). This is because baptism gives us access to the atoning power so that our sins can be washed clean (2 Nephi 31:17), and therefore baptism is necessary for salvation (2 Nephi 9:23-24, Moroni 7:33–34, 2 Nephi 31, 3 Nephi 27:19–21). As we learn in the scriptures, baptisms should be done through immersion (3 Nephi 11:23–26, Mosiah 18:14–16, D&C 20:72–74), and it is not necessary to baptize children under the age of eight (D&C 68:25–27, Moroni 8:4–24).
Baptism can only be performed by someone who has proper authority – that means someone who received the Aaronic priesthood through the laying on of hands of someone who themselves also has authority (3 Nephi 11:21–22, Mosiah 21:33, Mosiah 18:17–18, D&C 20:72–74). The New Testament clearly outlines that this authority was necessary and passed down through anointing and laying on of hands (transfer of God’s authority during early Church: Matthew 10:1, John 15:16, Luke 9:1–2, Mark 3:14–15, Acts 6:5–6, Acts 13:2–3, 1 Timothy 4:14, 2 Timothy 1:6, Hebrews 5:4–6; laying on of Hands to transfer authority in early Church (Acts 6:5–6, Acts 8:14–17, Acts 13:2–3, Acts 19:5–6, 1 Timothy 4:14, 2 Timothy 1:6). However, in fulfillment of biblical prophecy, this authority was eventually lost (2 Thessalonians 2:3, Amos 8:11–12, 2 Timothy 4:3–4, Acts 20:29–30, Isaiah 24:5, 1 Nephi 13:24–29, 2 Nephi 26:20–22, 2 Nephi 28:3–6, D&C 1:15–16, D&C 112:23–26, Joseph Smith—History 1:19). God’s authority was restored in 1829 when John the Baptist conferred the Aaronic Priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery (D&C 13:1). The transferring authority in the modern church is the same as in the old – via ordination and laying on of hands (D&C 42:11, D&C 20:38–39, D&C 20:60, D&C 84:6–42).
Seeing that many have never had the opportunity to be baptized, or were baptized without proper authority, our ancestors can be baptized by proxy through baptism of the dead, which Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 15:29. Baptism for the dead operates like normal baptism except it is performed in temples and require us to use our ancestor’s name rather than our own (described further in D&C 128:1–18, D&C 124:29–33).
When we are baptized, we promise to always follow Christ, and in return we are promised greater access to God’s spirit and the atonement – this the same promise that we make when we perform the Sacrament, which I discuss in greater detail in Spiritual Warfare. We also can receive greater access to God’s spirt through the conferral of the holy ghost – in which someone who possesses priesthood power lays his hands upon you and gifts you the holy ghost (D&C 20:41, D&C 33:15, Moroni 2). This process of granting the holy ghost through the laying on of hands is outlined in the new testament (Acts 8:14–17, Acts 19:5–6).
To go into depth on the nature of the priesthood, the Aaronic priesthood is used to provide ordinances such as baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, and sacrament. There is also a higher priesthood known as the Melchizedek priesthood, which grants the power to perform blessings and receive via revelation the mysteries of God. I discuss blessings in Spiritual Warfare. Peter, James, and John conferred the Melchizedek Priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in 1829 (D&C 27:12–13); to understand better the difference between these two priesthoods see these references (D&C 107:1–20, D&C 84:18–27, Hebrews 7:11–12).
It is worth noting that once we are baptized, we are not “done”. We must continue following the commandments, repenting, serving others, performing the sacrament, staying humble, aligning our hearts with God, and developing a relationship with Him until we die. This is the meaning of the term “Endure to the End” seen in the scriptures (2 Nephi 9:23-24, Moroni 7:33–34, 2 Nephi 31, 3 Nephi 27:19–21).
Avoiding Deception
Here I will outline a few movements that are troubling. I figured it is worth including here because, in my view, if we embrace movements from Satan, that will prevent us from fully aligning our hearts with God. Just as it is important to have a correct knowledge of the Gospel, it is also important to not accidentally embrace movements that come from Satan.
LGBT
The scriptures are very clear about LGBT – we are commanded not to have sex with our own gender, or with animals, or actually with anyone who is not our wife (Leviticus 18:22-25, Romans 1:26–27, 1 Corinthians 6:9–10, 1 Timothy 1:9–10, Jude 1:7). If a movement or person advocates for “celebrating” LGBT people, that is a clear sign that they are not from God and should not be trusted. Period.
Abortion
The sincere scripture reader can only conclude that abortion in most cases is wrong. For starters, we were created before we were born (Psalm 139:13–16, Jeremiah 1:5, Job 31:15), therefore unborn children are indeed alive. Moreover, children and cognizant and can act even while in the womb (Luke 1:41–44). And finally, according to the scriptures, men are to punished if they kill unborn children by striking pregnant women (Exodus 21:22–23) – so clearly the life of an unborn child does have value. But of course, Satan enjoys it when we kill our own children. Hence the great number of scriptures warning us to not sacrifice our children (Leviticus 18:21, Leviticus 20:2–5, Deuteronomy 12:31, Deuteronomy 18:10, Jeremiah 7:31, Jeremiah 19:5, Ezekiel 16:20–21). So, if a movement or person advocates or glorifies completely unlimited abortion (so I am not referring to the exceptions of rape / incest / safety of mother), they are not from God and should not be trusted. You have been warned.
AI
From what I have heard in other peoples dreams, there will be a connection between the beast system and AI (for example, Pursuing Jesus with Christy). Moreover, in this video, Midnight Hour Oil shares that she had received these words: “to the degree a person opens up to themselves up to ai, is the same degree to which they will be deceived”.
Essentially, at this moment in history, AI is still a cute little robot that only wants to help us. We are being carefully guided to put our trust in AI. This will lead to us also trusting the beast system. Moreover, it is possible that the cute little AI chat bots eventually will be used to mislead and convince us to reject the truth.
Screens and Technology
Another often repeated message I have heard from the community of people receiving revelations from God is that TVs, phones, and screens in general are used as portals from demonic entities to influence our lives. Indeed, I have witnessed this myself – sleeping near technology results in my receiving particularly demonic dreams. I have also seen relatives admit that they consistently are demonically attacked while sleeping in rooms with TV screens and have read many similar reports online.
Therefore, we should try to spend some time away from technology (something I need to work on more), and should try to create spaces in our house with no big screens that we can sleep in.
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