Every one of us needs to be challenged.  None of us should be complacent about how we live, the words we speak or write, and the thoughts we entertain.  If this blog does not stir you up and make you reconsider what you are doing and how you are living your life everyday, then it is a waste of time.  If I am not personally challenging you, then I am not worth taking the time to read.

 

It is a doctrine of the devil to tell you that “all is well.”  (2 Ne. 28: 20-21.) The obligation of any true messenger is to continually cry repentance. Satan employs ministers to satisfy itching ears with a smooth message.  (2 Tim. 4: 3.)  They lead people carefully down to hell.  The Lord commissions His messengers to deliver the opposite message. If I am really engaged in working for Him, then the words should challenge, even offend you.

 

Only fools think there are institutional prerogatives that entitle people to God’s favor.  There is no magic ordinance. There is no certificate that can be issued to you or your group, by any person or institution, that entitles you to enter heaven. It does not exist. Those who believe there is some institutional voodoo that will guarantee you entrance into heaven are sadly mistaken.

 

Assume for a moment that you have indeed been given by the Father the promise of eternal life, what then?  Are you entitled to rest while all around you the world is filled with unsaved souls?  (Alma 13: 12.) Does such a promise remain yours if you do not labor all your remaining days to cry repentance and bring others to the tree of life so they may partake?  Having entered into the Lord’s “rest,” does not the heir then owe it to everyone else they meet for the remainder of their lives to bring them with them?  (D&C 18: 15.)

 

There is no hour here when we are not in jeopardy.  (1 Cor. 15: 30.)

So when you read something on this blog or in a book I have written which challenges you, brings you up short, or makes you think that I may be speaking about you, then I have succeeded.  On the other hand, if you believe you are justified by what you read here, then you miss entirely the obligation incumbent on both of us.

 

We all need to repent. If the Lord has extended to you the promise of eternal life, then you have moved to another plane of growth and challenge. That great promise opens the door for you to struggle and grow in your comprehension of what He has done.  You still must learn how to exercise the new prerogatives given to you in the proper way. The challenges will not relent. We are designed for growth. It will not come to an end in this life. It is to prepare us for something far greater. (D&C 132: 20.)  We must become as He is to be like Him.  (1 John 3: 1-3.)