About 10 years ago, I found myself yearning for personal revelation from Father in Heaven (Jesus Christ, the Father of this heaven and Earth). My life was out of balance as I was not devoting enough of my effort towards spiritual growth. Even worse, I couldn’t hear His voice! Eventually, I was gently reminded that for most of my life, I had only been interested in seeking my will, and not His. I started praying more frequently while asking for guidance and forgiveness.
I prayed for help on what to read and study. My course of study, thus far, had always been the Book of Mormon. I’m thankful for that book, which should be regarded as a “second comforter guide book”. The book is full of examples of people visiting with Jesus Christ in person (face to face), which is considered receiving a second comforter. Joseph Smith received his own second comforter experience while seeking for truth and praying in a grove of trees near his home in the year 1820.
Joseph Smith was very familiar with the second comforter promise, which was given by Jesus and is available to each person that has "ears to hear". Joseph taught the following..
Then it will be his privilege to receive the other (Second) Comforter which the Lord hath promised the saints as is recorded in the testimony of St John in the XIV (14th) chapter from the 12th to the 27th verses:
And I will pray the father and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. If a man love me he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Now what is this other Comforter?
It is no more or less than the Lord Jesus Christ himself and this is the sum and substance of the whole matter, that when any man obtains this last (Second) Comforter he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him or appear unto him from time to time and even He will manifest the Father unto him and they will take up their abode with him, and the visions of the heavens will be opened unto him and the Lord will teach him face to face and he may have a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God. And this is the state and place the Ancient Saints arrived at when they had such glorious vision Isaiah, Ezekiel, John upon the Isle of Patmos, St Paul in the third heavens, and all the saints who held communion with the general Assembly and Church of the First Born.".
From Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (TPJS), pp. 150-51, and also found in the Joseph Smith Papers:
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/discourse-between-circa-26-june-and-circa-2-july-1839-as-reported-by-willard-richards/5#full-transcript
As I prayed for guidance and direction, I began receiving instruction on what to read. The information came in the form of books, websites, blogs, podcasts and new friends, who were willing to share their wisdom and experience.
One of the first books I read was called "Following the Light of Christ, into His Presence" by John Pontius. The book was great! I really appreciated the author's simple explanations of the Light of Christ and how to recognize personal revelation from God, in our own lives. The book also does a nice job of explaining what a second comforter is (a personal visit with Jesus Christ). I loved learning about the opportunity that is available for each of us to visit personally with Him. I wondered why I had never learned these important truths at church.
I continued seeking direction from heaven and Jesus led me to the resources contained within this post. I highly recommend each of these authors and believe each of them are seeking to serve our Lord and Savior, even the Great Jehovah. Glory to God!
Avraham Gileadi, studied in Jerusalem and has devoted his life's work to understanding and explaining the prophecies of Isaiah. I have really enjoyed spending time studying Avraham's website: http://www.isaiahexplained.com/.
On the site, Gileadi, has listed the 66 chapters of Isaiah, each containing extensive explanations and detailed historical background. There is so much information here! Be sure to check this out! There are four tabs in the menu, above the 66 chapters of Isaiah. By clicking on the "Apocalyptic Commentary" tab, a wealth of information is available in analytical commentary format. Each verse is broken down and explained in text format. A voice recording is also available with insightful additional cultural and period background information, by clicking on the play button.
I continued seeking direction from heaven and Jesus led me to the resources contained within this post. I highly recommend each of these authors and believe each of them are seeking to serve our Lord and Savior, even the Great Jehovah. Glory to God!
Avraham Gileadi, studied in Jerusalem and has devoted his life's work to understanding and explaining the prophecies of Isaiah. I have really enjoyed spending time studying Avraham's website: http://www.isaiahexplained.com/.
On the site, Gileadi, has listed the 66 chapters of Isaiah, each containing extensive explanations and detailed historical background. There is so much information here! Be sure to check this out! There are four tabs in the menu, above the 66 chapters of Isaiah. By clicking on the "Apocalyptic Commentary" tab, a wealth of information is available in analytical commentary format. Each verse is broken down and explained in text format. A voice recording is also available with insightful additional cultural and period background information, by clicking on the play button.
Enoch. In addition to the record of Enoch, found within the Books of Moses in the “Pearl of Great Price”, additional Enoch records have been recovered. “The Books of Enoch Complete Edition” by Paul C. Schnieders, contains three informative records from Enoch. This book does a good job of explaining the rebellion in heaven that caused our Earth and this creation to fall. More about the fall and the rebellion in a different post, titled “The Fall”.
The King Follett Discourse. This book is a compilation of witness accounts of two powerful sermons given by Joseph Smith, shortly before his death. These two sermons are full of doctrine and provide a good understanding of the message that Joseph was trying to share with the Mormons in 1844. The two sermons have not been condensed, like the version available online. I bought the book from lulu.com and believe the book is also available from amazon. Compiler: Frederick Huchel Publisher: The Frithurex Press
http://www.lulu.com/shop/joseph-smith/the-king-follett-discourse/hardcover/product-23265157.html
The Lectures on Faith is important reading!
The King Follett Discourse. This book is a compilation of witness accounts of two powerful sermons given by Joseph Smith, shortly before his death. These two sermons are full of doctrine and provide a good understanding of the message that Joseph was trying to share with the Mormons in 1844. The two sermons have not been condensed, like the version available online. I bought the book from lulu.com and believe the book is also available from amazon. Compiler: Frederick Huchel Publisher: The Frithurex Press
http://www.lulu.com/shop/joseph-smith/the-king-follett-discourse/hardcover/product-23265157.html
The Lectures on Faith is important reading!
https://scriptures.info/scriptures/tc/lecture
This book is another great resource and should be available from Amazon. I was surprised to learn that until 1921, the "Lectures on Faith" were part of the Doctrine and Covenants.
When the committee removed the Lectures on Faith, (which is the "Doctrine") in the "Doctrine and Covenants", the committee, forgot to change the name of the book from "Doctrine and Covenants" to "the book of covenants" as the Doctrine of Faith had been removed.
I love the description of our spiritual Father, in the Fifth Lecture, "The Father, being a personage of spirit, glory, and power, possessing all perfection and fullness".
James correctly describes the Father in James 1:17, as "The Father of Lights".
James correctly describes the Father in James 1:17, as "The Father of Lights".
Denver Snuffer maintains a website and a blog. Both are great and full of Denver’s wisdom and understanding. There is so much information available here! I highly recommend the recorded version of the ten talks offered by Denver Snuffer. I have studied the written transcripts and listened to all ten of the talks. These talks are worth your time! The talks are full of solid, scriptural based understanding. The speaker of these talks is a very studious follower of Christ, who was a member of the Mormon church for 40 years. I learned much about Joseph Smith, and the Mormon scriptures while studying these talks. Denver has also written several books. My favorites are "Come Let Us Adore Him" and "Passing the Heavenly Gift". I found both to be very informative. The first book focuses on Jesus Christ, our wonderful Lord. The second book looks at Mormon history and points out some differences between the historical account given in the scriptures (Doctrine and Covenants) when compared with the church narrative regarding the same events. Denver has also written a book titled: "The Second Comforter, Conversing with The Lord Through the Veil.
I love this Denver quote from his Ten Talks: Instead of passing judgement, "we should be covering the sins and mistakes of others with charity".
www.denversnuffer.com
To access the ten talks, visit the downloads page and scroll down to the “40 years in Mormonism Lectures” https://denversnuffer.com/blog/papers/
"PR", which stands for Pure Revelation, is another powerful blog, full of real world, practical instructions concerning how to have your own second comforter experience. The author of the blog remains anonymous and has written several books that detail his experiences within the heavenly realms. I have studied each of the books and found this material to be most helpful for my personal spiritual journey.
https://purerevelations.wordpress.com/
Val Brinkerhoff. Val maintains a great website and has also authored some informative books. I was blessed to be able to spend some time with Val and he taught me about praising and worshiping God. Val said that if we want to create a stirring above, in the heavens, then we need to create a stirring, below, (here on Earth). Val taught me how to dance for the Lord, along with some friends. What a wonderful and humbling experience we shared together, thanks Val! Glory to God! I remembered reading about King David in the Bible, dancing for the Lord. It was an amazing way to praise and worship. Val's book about Jesus visiting Native Americans in 1890 at Walker Lake, is called "A Remnant Awakens".
http://www.7witnesses.com/resources.html
www.denversnuffer.com
To access the ten talks, visit the downloads page and scroll down to the “40 years in Mormonism Lectures” https://denversnuffer.com/blog/papers/
"PR", which stands for Pure Revelation, is another powerful blog, full of real world, practical instructions concerning how to have your own second comforter experience. The author of the blog remains anonymous and has written several books that detail his experiences within the heavenly realms. I have studied each of the books and found this material to be most helpful for my personal spiritual journey.
https://purerevelations.wordpress.com/
Val Brinkerhoff. Val maintains a great website and has also authored some informative books. I was blessed to be able to spend some time with Val and he taught me about praising and worshiping God. Val said that if we want to create a stirring above, in the heavens, then we need to create a stirring, below, (here on Earth). Val taught me how to dance for the Lord, along with some friends. What a wonderful and humbling experience we shared together, thanks Val! Glory to God! I remembered reading about King David in the Bible, dancing for the Lord. It was an amazing way to praise and worship. Val's book about Jesus visiting Native Americans in 1890 at Walker Lake, is called "A Remnant Awakens".
http://www.7witnesses.com/resources.html
John Pontius has authored some very good books and had a great blog, before he passed away. His book, "Journey to the Veil" is a collection of his blog posts as his mortal journey was coming to a close. Other great books from John:
"Visions of Glory" and "Following the Light of Christ, into His Presence".
John Eldredge. John in a counselor, author and minister.
I loved watching John Eldredge's Beautiful Outlaw" videos, about Jesus.
A great book from John Eldredge is titled: Waking the Dead
We are not dead, but we are all asleep! We are distracted by the false traditions passed down by our fathers! In the book, John points out 3 Eternal truths:
1. We live in a world with two parts, one part we can see and the other part we cannot see. Sometimes we can feel the spiritual world around us. There is more going on here than meets the eye, much more.
2. This fallen world of ours, is a world at war. The battle is raging between good and evil, light and dark.
3. We each have a crucial role to play in this last, desperate hour.
The book is great, although I wish for more awareness of the changes made to the Bible, during the reform of King Josiah and the Deuteronomists. More on King Josiah in the post on December 20, 2020 "Consideration for Adam and Eve, Miryam and Jesus".
earnestmormon.com
No comments:
Post a Comment