I SHOT HIM!!

So this one time, Rodney found a new toy.

Every now and then we get these ideas that we are 'Invulnerable'.  We often forget that we only have the promise of the Lord when we do what He says.

The Spirit is much like the Protective Shield, and He will guard us from temptation as long as we turn to God with all our hearts and seek after Him.  We must do our part before the Lord will do His.

When we are serving the Lord we should not intentionally put ourselves in bad situations.  We need to do all that we can to protect ourselves first, and then ask the Lord to do thatr which we cannot.  In other words, we should not test out the Lords protection by driving twice the posted speed limit, and we should not allow our friends to shoot us, even in the leg.

The Lord has set limitations on our life, and if we are not obedient to His commandments we put ourselves in danger where He cannot help us, for God must keep His word.

Why Does it Feel so GOOD to be Baptized??

So this post comes from abyss of my minds' twisting nether.  Mostly I have a mental 'filing cabinet' where everything to do with gaming or movies and TV shows gets dumped.  It's probably the biggest filing cabinet in my brain.  But, once upon a time I was watching a movie called "Stargate", where a group of US Air Force guys use an alien device which creates a stable wormhole to another location, usually a planet, and when you pass through the event horizon, (point at which the wormhole is located), it transports you almost instantly, (about .2 seconds or something), to the other side.  No one had ever recorded being able to turn it on before.  So when they go through the first time it has a cool Computer Generated visual sequence with some intense sound effects.  You then see one of the characters standing on the other side and he says, "What a rush."  After a few minutes go by everyone calms down and they go about securing the area and doing their military thing.

Well, I'm not military, but that is kinda the best way to describe how I feel when someone follows Christ into the waters of Baptism.  I feel this RUSH every time someone comes to the waters of baptism.  However just like in the movie, a few minutes go by, or for me it is a few days, and then everything is normal again.  Nice and pleasant where I know what I need to be doing and can do so with confidence.  This is one way that the Lord prepares us for future trials in life.  He gives us a taste and when we handle it well, we prove that He can trust us.  He then trusts us with a little more the next time.

 "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept;
line upon line, line upon line;
here a little, and there a little"
-- Isaiah 28:10

"For behold, thus saith the Lord God:
I will give unto the children of men line upon line,
precept upon precept,
here a little and there a little;
and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts,
and lend an ear unto my counsel,
for they shall learn wisdom;
for unto him that receiveth
I will give more"
-- 2 Nephi 28:30

I know that as we follow the lord, we will be able to have that RUSH of Happiness, that EXCITEMENT within our soul, so that we will be sustained in our trials and carried through all our afflictions.

Types of Baptism in the Movies!??

So again with the Stargate thing.  The actual journey of going through the Stargate is like Baptism.

In order to return and live with our Heavenly Father again we must be baptized.  This has been a commandment since the days of the old testament. (Matthew 3:15)

"And the Father said:

Repent ye, repent ye,

and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son."

-- 2 Nephi 31:11

So we know that we need to be baptized, and we know that it is a commandment.  But how exactly do we learn of these things that are required to enter into the Fathers presence?

We learn what needs to be done by reading the scriptures, which were written by prophets.  The scriptures tell us everything we need to do, and how it is to be done.

In the Stargate realm the way to get somewhere is done by knowing the Gate address, or star chart location. You would need seven points to find and plot a course to an exact location.  Six to determine the destination, with the seventh point being the point of origin.



The symbols for Abydos were first uncovered with the Stargate.

This is a wall on Abydos listing a lot more Gate addresses.

The Gate address list on Abydos is kinda like Stargate Scriptures.  Without these addresses we wouldn't know how to go anywhere except Abydos and then back to Earth.  But if you read and understand the Scriptures then you can go wherever the instructions take you.

The next part is the DHD, or Dial Home Device.

Stargates need to have a DHD hooked up or they don't work properly.   The DHD is what 'authorizes' the Gate to activate and create a stable wormhole to travel to the desired destination.  It basically holds a Hard drive with programs that tell that Stargate which other Stargate to connect to, based on the order of the Symbols used in the Gate address.  Kinda like a phone number, there are only 10 different numbers to push, but with the right combinations in the right order you can call a specific phone and talk with someone.

The same is true with the gospel, the Lord has given Priesthood Authority to worthy men here on earth.  Those who hold the priesthood can perform sacred ordinances, such as baptism.

So with the DHD being the Authority to use the Stargate, actually going through the Stargate would represent being Baptized.  You can only make it to the other planet, or back into the presence of our Heavenly Father, by going through the Gate.

Thus we see that without both, it won't work.  You might know the address of where you want to go, but without actually stepping through the gate you will never get there.  Likewise it you go through the Gate without the Authority then you won't go very far.  Sure you really really want to get there, and you know where you need to go, but that Authority is what enables you to actually turn on and use the Stargate.

We have to actually go through the Stargate, or in other words, we really do have need to be Baptized by Priesthood Authority.  This is the Strait Gate by which we may enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Read the Scriptures and they will tell you all things that you should do.  Then you will be able to follow the guidance of the Spirit, as well as the words of the Prophets, in journeying back to the Fathers presence.

"For behold, again I say unto you

that if ye will enter in by the way,

and receive the Holy Ghost,

it will show unto you all things what ye should do."

-- 2 Nephi 32:5

"And it came to pass that

when Jesus had ended these sayings

he said unto his disciples:

Enter ye in at the strait gate;

for strait is the gate, and narrow is the way

that leads to life,

and few there be that find it;"

-- 3 Nephi 27:33

When Things Don't Go According to the Plan

So I am a huge Stargate fan.  SG-1 and SGA for those who watch it.  But I have found so many similarities between Stargate and the gospel it can sometimes be quite funny.

Here is a clip I found in which Teal'c, an alien from another planet who is working with the US Air Force, makes a comment that would normally be considered wrong or confusing.  However, due to him not being familiar with earth culture and American sayings, he is often found saying things that are outside what we would normally think would be said.

Here we see that from his understanding of our use of words, to calm down is to get better.  So if things were going to get worse, being the opposite of better, they would indeed calm up, the opposite of down.

Just like Teal'c had a hard time understanding how we thought, and they way we speak, so to do we often have a hard time understanding the way our Father in Heaven thinks and speaks.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, 

neither are your ways my ways, 

saith the Lord.

 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, 

so are my ways higher than your ways, 

and my thoughts than your thoughts."

-- Isaiah 55:8-9

I hope that as we speak with those around us we will have the understanding that they might not understand what exactly we are trying to say to them, and that as we pray unto the Father we may be able to listen to what He says, so that we may learn from Him what is right.

I also know that as we turn to Him in prayer, we will be able to find peace in our hearts, even when we are in a situation that appears to "calm up".