JESUS CHRIST: SON OF GOD

Testimonies of Jesus Christ

Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.

--John 1:48-49

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the King of Israel. Nathanael testified of this truthfulness. At first, Nathanael had faith, he believed that Jesus was the Son of God, but he didn’t have that sure knowledge of the fact. However, now it is apparent that the Holy Ghost bore witness to him about who Jesus actually was, that He was the Son of God. From that time onward Nathanael knew that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, the King of Israel.

Gordon B. Hinckley also bears a testimony of Jesus Christ:

“He is the central focus of our worship. He is the Lord who shall come again to reign on earth. He is our King, our Lord, our Master, the living Christ, who stands on the right hand of His Father.”

Testimony of Boyd K. Packer, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Henry B. Eyring, Thomas S. Monson.

JESUS CHRIST: CELESTIAL KINGDOM INHERITANCE

Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation

God, the Father, said,  “I am God, and have sent mine Only Begotten Son into the world for the redemption of the world, and have decreed that he that receiveth him shall be saved, and he that receiveth him not shall be damned.”

God, our Heavenly Father, sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem all from sin and death, to establish a path and pattern for happy and successful living now and how to prepare for eternal life in the hereafter. The plan and pattern that God established is for those who believe in Christ and receive Him with all their hearts, will be rewarded, and this reward is salvation in the Celestial Kingdom of Heaven. On the contrary, those who reject Christ and His true gospel, will not gain eternal life in the Celestial Kingdom, but they will inherit another degree of glory, either Terrestrial or Telestial, lesser degrees of Glory. We have the freedom to choose  which path we will follow.

 “Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself. (2 Nephi 2:27).

God forces no one to choose righteousness or evil; for, He grants us our agency to act for ourselves. Herein, all have equal opportunity for freedom of choice whether to follow Christ or not. Choose wisely,

“Decisions Determine Destiny” (Thomas S. Monson)

JESUS CHRIST: SOURCE OF ULTIMATE HAPPINESS

January 2, 2014

Alma 5:27

About 83 B.C, Alma the prophet asked these questions, “Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?”

Being blameless before God is to be clean, pure, spotless from the stains of sins of worldliness, upright, and righteous. To be humble is to be teachable, meek, modest, ‘having a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance.’ Garments are lives of people. Are our lives clean and white through obedience to God’s laws and commandments and covenants? We can become clean from the blood and sin of this generation through the sacrificed blood of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. His blood removes worldly spots from our lives and makes us clean every whit. Seeking to follow Christ is our number one concern, for when we follow Him we are in the path of righteousness leading to happiness now and eternal happiness and joy throughout eternity.

Our main objective in life is to experience happiness. “Happiness is the object and design of our existence and will be the end thereof if we pursue the path that leads to it, and that path is: Virtue, Uprightness, Faithfulness, Holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God” (Joseph Smith,  History of the Church, 5:134–35).

Benjamin De Hoyos said, “No one needs to feel alone on the road of life, for we are all invited to come unto Christ and be perfected in Him. Happiness is the purpose of the gospel and the purpose of the redeeming Atonement for all men” (See “True Happiness: A Conscious Decision,” October 2005, General Conference). The atonement of Jesus Christ brings happiness as we apply the atoning blood of Christ in our lives and access the power of His Atonement.

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Attitude of Gratitude

Isaiah 17:10

Thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength.”

Jesus is the God of our salvation, redemption, deliverance, and reclamation. He is the one true and saintly Savior and Redeemer of mankind. He is the Rock of our strength, our energy, our existence, our being, even our all. He is the light within each of us, all who enter the world through birth. He is the Light of Christ that lighteth all in all. He is the light of the sun, the moon, and the stars, and of the all-inclusive universe.

We give thanks and gratitude to Him for His countless and undeniable blessings, for His patience and longsuffering towards the children of men.  The commandment is, “Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things” (Doctrine and Covenants 59:7). ‘Thou shalt’ makes it a strict commandment that we must heed or punishment be at our door. We need to cultivate an “Attitude of Gratitude,” as counseled by Thomas S. Monson, prophet, seer, and revelator for the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Clay and the Potter

Isaiah 64:8

8 But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

God’s work is us, people, His children. All that He and Jesus Christ do point to their desired end result: immortality and eternal life of man, people. They work endlessly toward this end. Just like a potter molds and shapes clay into various forms of pottery, God desires to mold and shape us into the people He wants us to be, the type of person prepared and qualified to inherit the highest heaven of the Celestial world, exaltation, even eternal life in the future.

God doesn’t force us to do right or wrong; he gives us our agency and leaves our choices entirely up to us to choose as we see fit. We can choose but we cannot choose the consequences of our choices. We know that it is our choices that will determine what our eternal destiny will be. As Thomas S. Monson said, “Decisions Determine Destiny.” Our decisions determine whether or not we gain eternal life, the life that God lives. If we turn to the Lord and submit our selfish ways unto doing His will, He can and will be the potter He wants to be and mold us, like clay, into the people He knows we are capable of becoming, the person with Christ-like qualities that will bring us happiness not only now but eternal joy and happiness in the hereafter. Trust in God and let Him shape you into the man or woman that is achieving self-fulfillment, becoming the person who will be spiritually fit and spotless at the judgment bar, ready to enter into exaltation. The molding will require that we be tried, tested, and refined. But it is worth the experience.

How will the molded clay turn out? How will we turn out in the end? Father knows best; therefore, turn your whole soul over to Him and let Him mold and shape us as He deems necessary and desirable. He possess perfect foresight, and we do not. Trust in Him, and become the person He wants us to become.

President Thomas S. Monson: Obedience