Dead Baptizing

What about the Dead??

I can't even begin to explain the look of horror that we, as missionaries, get when we first bring up "baptisms for the dead". At one point I actually pictured what someone probably sees in their head if they've never heard of that practice before. Not pretty. So if this is your first time reading about this incredible, saving ordinance, than I'll let you know straight up that all bodies remain in the ground. No shovels required!

"Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?" 1 Corinthians 15:29 

Many Christian religions believe that baptism is a required ordinance for salvation. “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Scenario time. A little boy (let's name him Fred) is born in the jungle of Madagascar. Fred parent's raise him wonderfully. He knows to be good to his elders, to provide for his family, etc. But he's never been taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. He doesn't know that in order to be saved in the highest kingdom of glory, you need to be baptized with proper priesthood authority. Well Fred goes on throughout his life, doing good things and passes away when he's 89. He passes away without ever being baptized. Is Fred damned? Is God waiting for Fred on the other side ready to say, "Sorry Fred. You just didn't make the cut because you're not baptized. You should have been born to some other family, in some other place. No much I can do for you!" NO! Of course God's all loving and merciful to EVERY SINGLE ONE of His children. He's going to make sure everyone gets the chance to come live with him.

Now I have to touch on the most important factor of this ordinance though. That's proper priesthood authority. There are baptisms done every day, all over the world. When Christ was on the earth, He made sure that His authority was given only to those that He chose and who were worthy. Why would should that be any different now? There wasn't a school for the apostles; "Here Peter, if you pass this one class, you can be my apostle!"  He picked those who followed the gospel and commandments exactly as He wanted them. The priesthood authority of God was taken off the earth when the last apostle was killed off. I know with my whole heart that God's authority was given to Joseph Smith by his resurrected apostles. I know that the proper authority resides within this church and ANYONE can receive of the blessings of it, if they come and show their desire! Baptism, when done with proper priesthood authority within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, is eternal. "How totes awesome is that!" in the words of my sister.


"So Sister Vercillo, you baptism for the dead sounds cool and everything, but WHAT actually happens during the ordinance? It sounds kind of shady!" Well my dear friends, I'll tell you. When a member of the church is baptized for someone that is passed on, they are baptized in "proxy"for them. In other words, they are "acting" like they are that person for the baptism. They will take on the name of the deceased person for the baptism and the confirmation (the gift of the Holy Ghost). I had the amazing opportunity to be baptized for my great grandma a few years ago. It was incredible to know that, if she accepted the baptism, I was helping her to return to her Heavenly Father.

So you noticed that I said "if she accepted the baptism". A common misconception about baptisms for the dead is that Mormons are just "force baptizing everyone into our church and not giving them a choice." No sir! When a baptism is done for someone that has died, we believe that they still have their agency and can choose whether or not they would like to be baptized. They are being taught in the spirit world about the true gospel! Some people will choose to accept it, and other's won't. We just want to make sure that everyone gets the chance to.

I know that this might be a strange concept for anyone that is investigating the Mormon church, but I can promise you that it is the most incredible saving ordinance. God is giving everyone an equal chance! Ask Heavenly Father about it in your prayers tonight.
Ask Him if this really is His want. Prepare yourself to one day be worthy to enter the temple and do baptisms for the dead. The Lord will pour out so many blessings as you become and active hand in his work.



http://mormon.org/faq/baptism-for-the-dead

Why a Prophet?

The Man In Charge?

Eggs Benedict, Hollandaise Sauce, cinnamon rolls. Because of my wonderful momma's love for tradition, General Conference each year brings smells of wonderful foods wafting into my bedroom twice a year, nearly tempting me to get up early. Nearly. The sweet sound of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir gets louder and louder, until it's not so sweet and I finally give in to my parents and shuffle out to the family room. We settle down together and together in front of the TV and then he comes on. The room instantly is filled with the spirit as we hear our beloved prophet speak to the world. Why though?

If you haven't been raised in the church like me, the concept of a man being over the church might seem kind of tyrannical (one point for big word) huh? Why do I need to trust that ONE guy is getting revelation from God for millions of people? Why should I trust a word he says? How do I know he's not just living the high life in Beverly Hills with the church's money? These are all completely valid questions. And trust me, I've asked them before. Well young grasshopper, you needn't wonder anymore! Because I know that President Monson (and the previous presidents of the church) have been and are called of God. That they are special witnesses of Christ's divinity on this earth.

"We thank thee, O God, for a prophet

To guide us in these latter days.

We thank thee for sending the gospel

To lighten our minds with its rays.

We thank thee for every blessing

Bestowed by thy bounteous hand.

We feel it a pleasure to serve thee

And love to obey thy command."

-LDS Hymns

"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of god. And are built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone."   -Ephesians 2: 19-20  The church MUST be built like it was originally when Christ walked the earth. Prophets of of old (Noah, Moses, Abraham, etc.) did so much good for the world. When the people were obedient and followed their teachings, they were blessed. When they didn't, famines hit, wars started, and floods happened!

 So I guess a good question is why do we even need a living prophet? "Surely the Lord will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." -Amos 3:7 We see Moses as the ultimate example of a prophet. He received revelation that he needed to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt and slavery. The Children of Israel were still allowed to pray to God! The fact that they had a prophet didn't diminish their capability of having a personal relationship and even receiving revelation for themselves! Yet Moses was there to HELP the people. He was the person they could look to for direction, for all of them, from God.

The prophet is the only one that is allowed to receive revelation, from God, for the entire church. And what a blessing that is! I'm glad that I don't have to worry about some random person "receiving revelation" that the Lord wants us all to give up chocolate, or something life threatening like that. If I know that the prophet is a man of God, then I can trust that he will only tell us what's best for us.
"And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream." -Numbers 12:6  Sound like a familiar story to anyone? Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ in a vision! You can know that he did by praying and asking. I did that for myself as well.
 

"I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

20 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?

22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him." -Deuteronomy 18: 18-22

 

 God is unchanging. That's been emphasized throughout all of the Bible and Book of Mormon. Why would he ever leave us these days without someone to lead and guide the church in complete righteousness? Those scriptures are pretty bold when saying that if the prophet were to say something against God's will, HE WOULD DIE. Someone who's willing to spend day after day discussing the sin of the world and how to bring the gospel to everyone; someone who prepares talk after talk, gets mocked for his beliefs, has the weight of 15 million souls on his shoulders, and isn't paid a thing for it? I don't know about you but I'm grateful someone else is willing and worthy to do it.

 

I'm sorry that these posts keep getting longer and longer. I just get so excited! I know President Monson is the true prophet of God. I can feel it in my heart when he speaks. I know he is the mouthpiece for the Lord and he will only maintain his calling as long as he is speaking truth. Watch General Conference in October and listen to our wonderful prophet and the apostles. Ask God if these are His men. Or thank goodness for the Internet! Go to lds.org and check out the videos of the prophet speaking. They're incredible and they will give you so much strength. Go do it right now! I double dog dare you!

 

PS: Here are some amazing resources/revelations that the past prophets and apostles have released. Read them!

 

Word of Wisdom

http://www.lds.org/topics/word-of-wisdom?lang=eng

 

Proclamation to the Family

http://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation

 

The Living Christ

http://jesuschrist.lds.org/SonOfGod/eng/testimonies-of-him/articles/the-living-christ-the-testimony-of-the-apostles-of-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints

A Bible, we have got a bible!

Why the Book of Mormon?

 

531 pages. Who knew that 266 (doubled sided pages) pieces of flattened tree could change so many lives? No I'm not talking about any of the Harry Potter books (surprised right?), I am talking about a book that we, as missionaries, give out to anyone that makes eye contact with us; The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

"But Sister Vercillo! We have the bible! And in Revelations John clearly says that we should not accept any more word than what is in the bible!" you may be telling your computer right now. Good point! I'll have to admit that the first time I heard someone tell me that, I was really taken off guard. I looked it up and sure enough it says that! But rather than question my whole upbringing, I decided to use my detective skills and search for myself. And here's what I came up with. A list of "Did you knows?"
1. Did you know that there were books written after Revelations? By different people!
2. Did you know that John himself actually wrote more scripture after he wrote Revelations? John was clearly speaking about the prophecy that he was speaking of at that SPECIFIC time, and not referring to the entire bible.
3. Did you know that Moses wrote the same thing as John, but in the book of Deuteronomy way before John's time? That would mean that we'd have to throw out books in the Old Testament, and that the New Testament is completely against God's will.
4. Did you know that no where in the scripture in Revelations does it say that GOD cannot add to the scripture? It says that MAN cannot. "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."
5. Did you know that John saw, in a vision, an angel delivering the fullness of the gospel to the world? Revelations 14: 6 speaks of this. As Howard W. Hunter said, "The fact that John saw a messenger from God reveal anew a lost gospel negates the argument that further revelation could not be added to the Bible."

This research blew my mind. Wow! "So Sister Vercillo, it's cool that you found this and all that jazz but WHY do we even need a Book of Mormon? Doesn't the bible have it all?" Well have you ever heard of The Great Apostasy? In Amos 8: 11-12 it says, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word and the Lord, and shall not find it." When the last apostle died, the spirit of the Lord was taken off the earth! It needed to be restored. I can testify that the Book of Mormon is that restoration.

 2 Nephi 29 says "Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea even upon the nations of the earth?
Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nations like unto another? Wherfore I speak the same words unto one nations like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together.
And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever... because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from the time henceforth and forever."

Factual evidence about the Book of Mormon is wonderful and all that, but the most important thing that I can tell you is this; Go read it right now. Right after you finish reading this, go pick up the Book of Mormon that's been sitting on the end table right where the elders left it, and read. I can tell you all day how it changed my life, and how it's true, but you will NEVER know until you read and ask God, in the name of Jesus Christ, if this book is true. I can promise you with ever fiber of my being (on every Harry Potter book I own) that this book is "the most correct book of any book on earth" like Joseph Smith Said. I know that it will change your life when you read it and abide by the precepts it speaks of. Not it MAY change your life, it WILL change your life. So click the red x on the right top of the screen (or left for you mac users) and go read. Make sure to start and end with a prayer. Why wait to have your life changed?

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1981/04/no-man-shall-add-to-or-take-away?lang=eng

Do Mormons Believe in Being Saved?

Do Mormons Believe in Being Saved?

 

So the first thing someone will ask you when you get off the plane into Utah is, "Have you tried fry sauce?" The first thing that someone will ask you when you get off the plane into Kentucky is "Have you been saved?" While both of these are life changing questions, the second one really took me off guard. "Have I been saved?" I asked myself. I had no idea what that meant. Of course I wanted to be saved! But HOW?
 

 

We were all saved through Christ's atonement. There's not one of us on this earth that isn't saved because of Him! But this salvation is "conditional," as Dallin H. Oaks says. He also explains through scripture use, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee,” Jesus taught, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5; see also Mark 16:16; Acts 2:37–38). "Believers who have had this required rebirth at the hands of those having authority have already been saved from sin conditionally, but they will not be saved finally until they have completed their mortal probation with the required continuing repentance, faithfulness, service, and enduring to the end."

If there's one thing that I've learned on my mission, it's that salvation is not easy. Nor should it be! "We are saved on the condition of continued faithfulness." says Stephen E. Robinson. "Members of the church are "in until they're out." That is, all who are in the covenant are God's children now, and they will remain in the kingdom until they choose to leave. And if we accept His training and His discipline- if we endure to the end- we will STILL be His children at the great day."

How can we expect to live in a perfect Heaven, with a perfect God if we have not, ourselves, been perfected. We need to be refined in the "refiner's fire". Baptism and accepting Christ into our lives are indeed the first step toward becoming saved. But salvation is a process. The hardest part of it is enduring to the end.

 

"If we use the word salvation to mean “exaltation,” it is premature for any of us to say that we have been “saved” in mortality. That glorious status can only follow the final judgment of Him who is the Great Judge of the living and the dead" says Elder Oaks. Christ did not just make sure that He was baptized and felt God's love for Him at one point in His life. He knew that in order to return to His Father in Heaven, He needed to endure faithfully, keeping the commandments, and repenting daily in order to fulfill the requirements of salvation. Yes we are saved by grace! But we are only saved by grace after ALL we can do. And the only judge of our salvation is God Himself. We are continually going to be tested until the last day.

 

Robinson gives the example of a fishing trip that he took his daughter on (I went fishing for the first time the other day, by the way!). He really wanted her to catch the fish, so he set the line up for her, and waited until he felt a bite. Then he gave the pole to his daughter and she got to reel it in. Once we are baptized with the proper priesthood authority, our "fish is caught". The only way that we will be saved though, is if we reel that fish in. We can do so by following the commandments, going to the temple, and enduring to the end. The fish will always be hooked, but we need to do our part as well.

 

Brother Robinson then goes to speak about how when we are baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, we reach the kingdom of God; we are inside the gates of Heaven. Nothing on that side of the gates will kick us out. It is us STAYING in the Kingdom that is the hard part, and is up to us. If we sin and don't repent, fall away from the church, break our covenants, or don't do our best, we are stepping out of those gates and further away from the Kingdom. I picture God trying to grab me and keep me in the gates as I play a game of stupidly jumping in and out of the Kingdom throughout my life.

 

So the question that people should ask you when you step off the plane into Kentucky is not "Have you BEEN saved?" but "Have you STAYED saved?" The only judge is God, and it will be up to Him to save us with His grace "after all we can do"; after all He is a just God as well. I know that if we continue doing what we're supposed to, staying as close to Christ as we can, and always using the atonement as we try and perfect ourselves, that we will not need to fear our salvation. You are given a place in the Kingdom of God when you are baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority. Try your hardest to stay in the Kingdom.

 

• http://www.lds.org/ensign/1998/05/have-you-been-saved?lang=eng
• http://www.amazon.com/Following-Christ-Parable-Divers-More/dp/1590383230

          "Following Christ (The parable of the divers and more good news)- Stephen E. Robinson

 

Believe Christ

Do you Believe Christ? 

Do you ever struggle with never feeling good enough? Are you one of those people that's said "I can never make it to the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, I'm not perfect enough!" Well unless I'm the only one that's had these thoughts, then listen up because you're 105% wrong! If I am the only one, then you might as well keep reading and make fun of me talking to myself...

A missionary recently gave me a book called "Believing Christ" to read. The author, Stephen E. Robinson is a genius. He talks about how the great dilemma of life is that God cannot look on sin with any degree of allowance, yet we sin every day! We catch ourselves looking at others and telling ourselves "we're the only sinner, and the distance back to Christ is unattainable. So we might as well give up and just go to the terrestrial kingdom. That second kingdom doesn't sound so bad after all.."
Once again, you're 105% wrong!

You remember the story of Peter right? He told Christ to leave him because he wasn't worthy enough to be in his presence. "Are we talking about the same Peter? You mean the APOSTLE Peter?" Yes! Other scriptural accounts in the Book of Mormon speak of very righteous people (the brother of Jared, etc.) not feeling perfect enough to be with Christ. Well what does Brother Robinson say about this? He says, "The Lord says that "It doesn't matter what you did. Whatever it was, no matter how horrible or vile, is not the issue. The issue here is that whatever your sin was or is, I can erase it, I can clean you up and make you innocent, pure, and of worth, and I can do it today; I can do it now."

If you believe IN Christ, do you BELIEVE Christ? He says we are never to far gone to be saved in the celestial kingdom through the atonement. Brother Robinson says "until we accept the real possibility of our own exaltation in the kingdom of God, we do not yet have faith in Christ; we do not yet believe."

I know I've been guilty of this. I can picture Heavenly Father just banging His head against a brick wall as He picks through my skewed thought processes of "not being worthy enough for the atonement". He's saying "Sister Vercillo, if you're perfect, you don't need the atonement at all! You don't need your Savior. That's the point of this earthly life! Use the atonement!"

Robinson says "there's a trick to perfection- a short cut. And you can burn yourself out trying to become perfect on your own. The great secret is this: Jesus Christ WILL share HIS perfection, HIS sinlessness, HIS righteousness, HIS merits with us." Here's where the word "atonement" comes in, and where the math nerd comes out. If Christ's perfection is infinite, and our sins are (let's say) a perfection level of 1, then together you get 1 plus infinity. And guess what?! That equals infinity! With Christ, we will be made perfect if we do our best. He makes up the rest of the way, always.


Robinson ends with this astounding paragraph. "At the point when we realize our inability to perfect ourselves, the Savior steps in and says, "so you've done all you can do, but it's not enough. Well, don't despair. I'll tell you what, let's try a different arrangement. How much DO you have? How much can be fairly expected of you? You give me exactly that much and all you can do, and I will provide the rest for now. you give me all you've got and a hug and a kiss (that is, make it a personal relationship) and the kingdom is yours! Perfection will still be our ultimate goal, but until you can get it on your own, I'll let you use mine. What do you say? You do everything that you can do, and I'll do what you can't yet do. Between the two of us, we'll have it all covered. you will be 100% justified."

Now that you've fallen asleep 3 times (wipe the drool off) and have finally finished this novel, I'll end just for you! If you believe IN Christ, you need to BELIEVE Christ. Believe that He will save you, no matter where you are, and that you (by trying your best) will one day live with Him in the Celestial Kingdom. I know you can do it! The Kingdom will be filled not with perfect people, but with "tryers" and "repenters".

http://www.lds.org/liahona/1992/04/believing-christ?lang=eng