Our Heavenly Father's Plan

Most people believe in God, although some may call Him by different names. I know that God lives and I hope that I might be able to convey to you some of the feelings I have for Him.

God is perfect, all knowing and all-powerful. He is also merciful, kind and just. I know that I can trust in God and love Him with my entire heart and soul.

We are God's children. He is our Father in Heaven and we were created in His image. Because He is mankind's Father, we are all then, brothers and sisters here on this Earth.

Because God is our Father, He loves us as a father would. He wants us to progress and to be happy. He wants us to become more like Him. God has prepared a plan for us that can give us peace and happiness in this life, as well as making it possible for us to live in His presence for eternity. We call this plan the Plan of Salvation.

Jesus Christ is God's Only Begotten Son

There would be absolutely no way for us to receive any of the blessings the Plan of Salvation without the help of our Heavenly Father. Everyone sins in this life and we are all imperfect. Our sins make us unable to return to live with our perfect, sinless Father in Heaven. At the end of this life, our mortal bodies die.

God sent Jesus Christ to help us overcome sin and death so that we might be able to return to God's presence. Jesus Christ and his mission are the most important parts of the Plan of Salvation. The Bible states:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (St. John 3:16)

It is wonderful to think of the love God must have for us that He would send His son to die for you and me.

Jesus Christ fulfilled His part of the Plan. Through His crucifixion and His resurrection, we can overcome the affects of sin and we can return to live with God after or physical death.

The Plan of Salvation is simple and easy to understand but, we must choose to follow it. The Bible states:

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (St. John 14:6)

If we have faith to do what Jesus Christ taught us, we will find peace in this life. We will also become more like Christ and our Heavenly Father. We can return and live in their presence after this life.

I know that God loves each one of His children. We are ALL important to Him. I love my Savior and all that He has done for me. Living the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to achieve real peace in this life. I know that to be true.

How the Plan of Salvation Has Been Revealed

Our Heavenly Father wants every
one to understand the Plan of Salvation and Jesus Christ's mission in that plan. He has established a simple way to reveal this plan to His Children.

God chooses righteous men to be His witnesses. These witnesses learn directly from God the truth about the Plan and Jesus Christ's mission. These men are called Prophets and Apostles. The Bible states:

"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7)

God gives these Prophets authority to act in His name, in His stead. He commands them to teach others. They witness of Christ in two ways. First, they teach the people directly and secondly, they write their testimonies and Gospel truths in holy books which are called scripture.

A very important part of this pattern is this; when people hear the Prophets or when they read the words the Prophets have written, they can know, through the power of the Holy Ghost, that the Prophet's teachings are true.

Once we know the truth through the Holy Ghost, the Prophets encourage us to follow God's plan.

The Prophet Joseph Smith: A Witness of Jesus Christ in the Latter-days

God has followed His pattern for revealing truth in our days. Just like in Biblical times, God has choosen a Prophet in our day and has revealed the Plan of Salvation by talking directly to him. This Prophet was Joseph Smith.

Joseph Smith was 14 years old in 1820. He was confused by the many different ideas that were being teached the different religions in the area. All of the churches claimed to be teaching the truth about God but, there was little agreement between the sects. He described his feelings as such:

"During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; buy though my feelings were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit. In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be united with them; but so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong." (Joseph Smith History 1:8)

One day, Joseph read a scripture in the Bible that showed him how he could put an end to his confusion. The scripture is found in James 1:5 and reads:

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

Joseph decided to do just as the Bible said, he would ask God through prayer. Read his own words:

"At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to "ask of God," concluding that if He gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture.

So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.

After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.

But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction ­ not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being--just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.


It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said--pointing to the other--This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!

My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right--and which I should join.

I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong, and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that 'they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrines the commandments of men: having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.'

He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven."

With this and other events, Joseph Smith was called to become a Prophet. He became like Moses and other Prophets found in the Bible which God also called to proclaim His message.

Because Joseph Smith spoke with the resurrected Jesus Christ, Joseph has become a powerful witness for Jesus Christ. Through Joseph, God as once again revealed the Plan of Salvation including the role played by Jesus Christ in that Plan.

It is my testimony that God continues to call Prophets in our day. I know that Joseph Smith is a Prophet called of God. How wonderful it is to know that God is not dead, he continues to speak to the children He loves so much.

                                                                              

If you have comments or suggestions, email me at egoettl@asu.uswest.net