Hercules - Go the Distance

Figure out where you belong,

And then go there.

Hercules wanted to feel like he 'belonged' somewhere.  His heart told him that he was more than just the son of a farmer.  He knew that when he found his place he would be 'great' or 'awesome' or 'radical'.  But even having this in his heart he still didn't know what to do about it.

"I will find my way, I can go the distance.

I'll be there some day, if I can be strong.

I know every mile, will be worth my while."

How do we find our way in this Troubled World?

 
How Far do we really have to go?

Heavenly Father has given us the Prophets, both Ancient and Modern, to guide and direct us in His Ways.  We don't have to go very far if we don't want to, we just have to LIVE the Gospel anywhere we are.

We are not perfect at this, but through the Atonement of Christ we will 'be there someday', if we 'can be strong' and LIVE the Commandments.  Every mile WILL be worth our while, but if we don't put any effort into it then there will be no reward to look forward to.

Hercules left his parents to find what he needed to do in life.  As a Missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I have been away from my parents for two years.  As much as I have missed them I also have found out much about myself, and about the ways of God.  Sometimes we need to leave our surroundings and that which is familiar in order to grow in the Gospel. (Matthew 19:5, Mark 10:29-30)

So what are you going to Do?

Start reading the Bible and Book of Mormon everyday?

Show more Kindness to others?

Volunteer your Time in the Service of others?

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom;

that ye may learn that

when ye are in the service of your fellow beings

ye are only in the service of your God."

-- Mosiah 2:17

"And the King shall answer and say unto them,

Verily I say unto you,

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,

ye have done it unto me."

-- Matthew 25:40



Tarzan - Strangers Like Me

To continue from yesterdays Tarzan, we shall discuss how we are all alike, even when we can seem strange to others.

"there so much to Learn"

There is much to learn about Life, the Universe, and Everything.  However the answer is not 42, the answer is 'The Gospel'.

"It's all so Close, and Yet so Far"

Many people believe in Christ, but they all have their own way of expressing that Belief or Faith.  But the Bible says, "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism". (Ephesians 4:5)  But if there is only 'One Way' to return to live with our Heavenly Father, then why are there so many different Denominations?

It is because of the Great Apostasy, or Falling Away. (2 Thessalonians 2:2-3)  So all of these Denominations have come so Close to having the Truth in its Fullness, but they are Far enough away that they don't realize it.

There is something Bigger out there.  Do you want to Know?  Do you want me to Show you?

"But behold,

if ye will awake and arouse your faculties [make an effort],

even to an experiment upon my words,

and exercise a particle of faith,

yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe,

let this desire work in you,

even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place

for a portion of my words."

-- Alma 32:27

I can tell you more, and I will show you.  But first you must have a Willing Heart.

When Clayton becomes frustrated he makes an excellent point about the Gospel.  If we spend all our time on what We want, but it is not the pursuit of Truth and increased Knowledge, which is what the Lord wants, then we are putting our spiritual life at risk.  As he states, the 'boat' could arrive any day, and we should ask questions Straight Out, or Without Reservation.

Give a Question in the Comments, or go to LDS.org and MORMON.org for a greater understanding of the Gospel.

Son of Man

Sometimes we don't see our own potential.

But if we do our best to do what the Lord has planned for us, we can do things that have never been done before.

Tarzan was having a bad day.  We all have bad days sometimes.

Sometimes I have

But, "The Son of Man hath descended below them all." (Doctrine and Covenants 122:8)

Once Tarzan learns that he is the same on the inside as everyone else, he does everything he can to prove his worth to Kerchak.

Sure he has a few mistakes there in the beginning, but as he grows he learns how to be more efficient and also gains more Strength.  Likewise must we start out by acting on Faith, and then grow until we have a Strong Testimony of the Gospel.

"I have fed you with milk,

and not with meat:

for hitherto ye were not able to bear it,

neither yet now are ye able."
-- 1 Corinthians 3:2

A particular set of Lyrics for the clip is, "Son of Man, LOOK TO THE SKY."

Where are we to find the Son of Man?  The Lord addresses Ezekiel as 'son of man' (such as Ezekiel 37:16), but this is lower case and designates the mortality of Ezekiel.  THE Son of Man has ascended to Heaven, and we shall need to Look to the Sky if we are to find Him.  Perhaps the Sky should be herein considered as a Symbol of the Scriptures.

"Which also said, Ye men of Galilee,

why stand ye gazing up into heaven?

this same Jesus,

which is taken up from you into heaven,

shall so come in like manner

as ye have seen him go into heaven."

-- Acts 1:11

Next set of Lyrics to evaluate, "Lift your Spirit, Set it FREE."

We all know, 'Freedom comes with a Price.'  What is the Price of Spiritual Freedom?  And How do we 'Lift our Spirit?

Much as the laws of the land are there to keep us safe physically, the Laws of God are there only to keep us safe Spiritually.  You wouldn't want to be going 112 miles an hour and have an unexpected sharp turn, so the posted speed limit is going to be something like 35-45 miles an hour for your safety.  Sometimes this Law, or Commandment, is uncomfortable.  However, if we choose not to follow it, the consequence could turn out with us badly hurt.

The same is true Spiritually, if we Choose not to obey one of God's Commandments, then we will have to deal with the consequence of our actions.  Doing drugs limits our ability to make other choices.  Having Inappropriate Sexual Relations with anyone results in shame, guilt, and diseases.  There are many blessings which we do not receive if we do not keep the Sabbath day Holy. (Leviticus 26:1-13)

If we Keep the Commandments of God, we the Serpent comes after us he will not have power to harm us, and we will be able to be a blessing to others around us.

"The purpose of the gospel is to make bad men good and good men better, and to change human nature."

-- David O. McKay

In essence, the Gospel of Christ intends for us to BECOME, more like Christ.

Do what Christ has taught, and

"A [son of] Man in Time You'll BE."

Pocahontas - Is Your Heart Feeling Savage?

Ask yourself, "Am I 'Savage' towards others?"

Interdenominational differences often cause people to raise aggressive defense against each other.  This is not intended to happen if we truly lived the Gospel as taught by Jesus Christ.

"And he gave some, apostles;

and some, prophets;

and some, evangelists;

and some, pastors and teachers;

For the perfecting of the saints,

for the work of the ministry,

for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Till we all come in the unity of the faith,

and of the knowledge of the Son of God,

unto a perfect man,

unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:"

-- Ephesians 4:11-13

All of the offices of the Priesthood listed were given specifically for us to come into a 'Unity of the Faith'.  Are we Unified in our faith in the Savior Jesus Christ?  Is there only One 'Faith', or 'Church' on the Earth?

Jesus Christ set up His church when He was on the Earth.  Jesus Christ is Perfect, therefore anything He does or establishes must needs be perfect.  Futhermore, if there are any changes made to that church which He established it would become imperfect, because you simply can't make something 'more than perfect'.

If Christ's Church had the offices of Prophet (Adam, Noah, Moses), Apostles (Peter, James, John), Seventy (Luke 10:1,17), Pastor/Bishop (1 Timothy 3:1), Teachers (1 Corinthians 12:28), Deacons (1 Timothy 3:8), Patriarch/Evangelist (Hebrews 7:4), Elder (James 5:14), Priest and High Priest (Hebrews 5:10, Hebrews 9:6-7).

Christ is the Head of the Church. (Ephesians 5:23, Mosiah 5:8)

So how can we know of ourselves which Church is True to the organization of Christ's Church?

Prayer.  That's it.  Prayer is the only way to know if any particular Church is right.  Don't bother asking some mortal, even myself, because they will tell you as far as their understanding allows.  God however cannot lie, and has all the understanding of the Universe.  He is also your Heavenly Father and you can Trust Him without any reservation.

When Pocahontas goes to speak to 'Grandmother Willow', she seeks guidance.  This represents prayer. The Spirit, like the Spinning Arrow guides us in Truth, and tells us what we should do.  Once we know the path we need to have the courage to run the course.  Much as Pocahontas could have received her revelation that she should save John Smith, had she not run as fast as she could to save him, or in other words to Live the Gospel, then he would have been killed by her father, and many others would have been killed in war.

Search the Scriptures, for in them ye find direction.  Pray to your Heavenly Father and He will give you direction, but you must listen with your Heart.

It is Unfortunate That so Many Seek the Ways of the Devil

Sometimes things happen that are not so good.  This is 'Unfortunate'.

"For the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord."
-- Romans 6:23

Some decisions we have to make in life can be very hard.

Like when Ariel Finds this guy, and she thinks he is attractive.

She kinda wants to spend time with him.  Lots of Time.

So she went to the nearest person who could give her Immediate Gratification.

Ariel Foolishly signed a Contract 'For ALL Eternity'.

Satan (the Sea Witch) puts on a pretty good show, and Ariel got a good set of Legs.  However, Satan will not care if you dont know how to swim with legs, and drown before even finding Prince Eric.

Satan will give you everything you want, and he gives it to you right away.  However the one thing you Should want the he cannot give you is Eternal Life.

"And thus we see that the devil

will not support his children at the last day,

but doth speedily drag them down to hell."

-- Alma 30:60

Eternal Life is the Greatest gift that God can give us, but we must Patiently Endure to the End, being obedient to His Commandments.

Getting something that we think is good now, isn't what is always best for us in the long term.

God will never ask us to give away our talents as payment for his blessings.  He gave us our Talents in the first place, and wants us to share them to bless the lives of others.  He gives open reward when we seek to develop and improve our talents.

Ariel's talent was Singing, and 'the devil' took it away.

NEVER GIVE YOUR TALENTS AWAY FOR ANYTHING.

"And so he that had received five talents came

and brought other five talents, saying,

Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents:

behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

His lord said unto him,

Well done, thou good and faithful servant:

thou hast been faithful over a few things,

I will make thee ruler over many things:

enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

-- Matthew 25:20-21

"I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth:

lo, there thou hast that is thine.

His lord answered and said unto him,

Thou wicked and slothful servant,

thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not,

and gather where I have not strawed:

...

Take therefore the talent from him,

and give it unto him which hath ten talents."

-- Matthew 25:25-26,28

.

Goofy Movie Stand out and Eye to Eye

Don't be distracted by the world.

We should see everything the same way that God sees things.  We should want what He wants.

In A Goofy Movie, Goofy and his son Max go on a fishing trip, which Max didn't actually want to go on.  Max was a bit of a trouble maker in school, and somewhat rebellious at home. (much like most teenagers)

Goofy just wanted to spend time with his son, but he didn't take into account what his son wanted to do while spending time together.  This meant that Max was simply more rebellious while they were on their trip.

Meanwhile, Max just wants to impress a girl, Roxanne, and get her to think that he is 'cool'.

So Goofy entrusts Max with the map, which Max subsequently alters to take them to the Powerline concert, instead of going Fishing.  Most parents would not be very happy with this.

However, after they talk about it some, Goofy and Max both accept that they still love each other and want to help when things don't go the way they wanted it too.

 

When he needed help, Max spoke with his Father.

"Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other." -- LDS Bible Dictionary When we Pray to our Heavenly Father, we align our will to His. Sometimes we find out that He is ok with what we had planned, but that we just needed to ask Him for help before He would grant those blessings. As seen in the first clip at the beginning of this blog, Goofy and Max did make it on stage with Powerline, and in the end Max did get Roxanne to really like him.

It is when we have an Eye Single to the Glory of God, that we are able to do the most good and achieve the best things in this life.

"And faith, hope, charity and love,

with an eye single to the glory of God,

qualify him for the work."

-- Doctrine and Covenants 4:5

.

For the Birds ~ Or, For the FOWLS

This is my Favorite Pixar Short.

My First thought is that of the Law of Chastity.  There is no need to be running around without any Feathers(Clothing) to cover our body.  We should maintain modest dress standards no matter what the occasion is.

The second point is that we should always show 'Brotherly Kindness' to those around us.  Just because someone thinks Different, Acts Different, Believes Different, and is simply DIFFERENT from us, doesn't mean we should whisper rumors back and forth, and we should also probably not peck at their toes.

A third item on the agenda is that we should have Patience.  Just because someone or something cause us some level of discomfort now, doesn't mean that making them go away will immediately make everything better.  Sometimes God will let us struggle a bit before He sends help.  Sometimes we have to figure out how to fix the problem on our own.  We have several options with this clip.  The little birds could have flown somewhere else and not been bothered by the big bird.  They could have sat farther apart from each other in the first place.  They could have spread out on one of the other wires.  All the other birds could have flown away when they realized that the wire was going to project them into the air.  God gives us many options, but we have to make our own choices.

Lastly I wish to point out that all of the birds are blue.  I personally believe that the big bird is either the little birds Mom or Grandma.  If this was the case, the little teenager birds were well animated.  However, just because they think they are so clever as to run away from Mommy and talk amongst themselves, Mommy still knew what they were doing, and Mommy always knows best.

Notice, Mommy didn't lose any feathers.

Only ONE More

So I only have one more month as a Missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I have some mixed feeling about going home, as I have spent Two Years away from everything (no movies, no TV, no Video Games, no College, no Dating, no Job) to teach others about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This next month I will draw from the great power of the Film industry to teach the Gospel by similarities and comparison to those things which most people are already familiar with.

Most of the clips I will be using are musical, and the from Disney movies.  I hope you enjoy them and learn at the same time.

Why Should WE Worry?

So this song is by Dodger, and he is wondering why he should care about anything.

Why should we care?  What great need do we have to worry?

Many people believe that they can be 'Saved' and then they are good for the rest of forever.  This is not exactly the best line of thinking.  We cannot 'Be Saved' in this life.  It is possible to 'fall' even after being Baptized, or accepting Christ.

We should take major precations with our choices in life.  As today is the Fourth of July, and most Americans will be celebrating the Day of our Independance, which usually includes Fireworks.

As a missionary I am held to particular rules that are for personal safety, which I am not held to outside of the Two Years that I wear a Name Tag.  One of those rules is to not handle fireworks.  some people think that this is ridiculous, and that being 22 years old 'I should be able to do things like this safely'.

Well I have handled many fireworks before my mission, and I too am pretty sure that I can still do so safely.  so "Why Should I Worry, or Care"?  The point is that God, through His Prophet, has given His Divine Counsel to avoid doing so.

So if I am able to follow God's counsel for Two Years, I will have His blessings with me.

Even after we accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we still need to give heed to the Commandments that God has given us.  We can't just sit back and think that everything will go along just fine.  We must continue to repent from sin, and make things right when we do something wrong.

No one can 'Be Saved' until AFTER they are dead, and AFTER ALL of their choices have been finalized.


.

YOU are NOT WORTHLESS

Sometimes we all have to go through the dark times in order to 'transform' into what the lord whats us to be.

And when we get there we will find that others need our help as well.

When Shang begins training, he doesn't think Mulan (Ping) is really capable of anything.  Ping is the worst at all of the training exercises, and even tries to cheat the system.(Mushu's Fault)

However, after he sends her home she feels like she can't do anything, and that she really is worthless.  These feeling come from the Devil.  When she comes into the shadow of the Tree with the Arrow, she realizes that if she could get to that Arrow she would prove her worth.

God does not ask us to 'Prove' that we are of worth in this world.  He simply says that WE ARE.

After everyone wakes up in the Morning and they see that she can "Retrieve the Arrow" (while thinking she is a man) they realize that each of them have their own Talents and Abilities.

Chien-Po is no longer afraid of water, and can do flips to each platform across the river.

Yao can run through blazing arrows, even when they are 10 times as thick as before.

Ling can smash stone with his face without losing any teeth, or hurting himself.

We all have Talents and Abilities, sometimes we just need to figure out what they are before giving up and going home.