ARTICLE OF FAITH 9 - GOD STILL SPEAKS TO MAN

THE NINTH ARTICLE OF FAITH:

We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

GOD IS ALIVE AND WELL.

God is not dead.  He is not asleep.  He has not finished His work and will not until the end of the world.  God loves His children and still guides us as He did since the beginning of the world. 

At the end of the Millennium His work will be completed and at that time, Jesus Christ will present the earth to the Father and say that it is finished.

WE ARE BEING TESTED.

Besides coming to earth and obtaining a body for our spirit to dwell in, and learn how to control it and not let it control the spirit, the earth was created for the purpose of testing His children to see what they would do with their Free Agency. 

They would have opposition in all things and He would see how they would use that agency of choice.

SATAN HAS TEMPORARY POWER ON THIS EARTH.

Satan and his followers were cast down to the earth and are being used to tempt us.  Satan has many, many ways to trick and con us into choosing the wrong way.

He creates things that look very close to the real, true doctrine or science. 

For example, the science of Astronomy which is the study of the stars and planets, he has created a fake science called Astrology.  In this way he leads the people astray and brings them closer to accepting his own doctrine and little by little he leads them down to Hell.

LIVING PROPHETS AND SCRIPTURES

As it says in the Ninth Article of Faith, we believe all that God has already revealed through the prophets of old.  They have written it under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and thus it becomes scripture.

DOCTRINE and COVENANTS 68: 3-4

3 And this is the ensample unto them, that they shall speak as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost.

4 And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.

We believe the words of Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah and all the prophets and consider their writings as scripture.

But, that is not all.  As I said, He is Not Dead. 

He speaks today to us, to guide us towards salvation.  We are His children and He wants us back to live with Him.  He will give us all the help He can through His prophets and leaders.  He has not left us alone.

Most of the world thinks that He finished His work already and what He has given to us in the Bible is everything.  This is not the case.  His work is not finished so this is why He has chosen a prophet in our day to continue guiding us.

There are many places in the Bible that tell us that more of His word is coming.  One of the main ones is this from Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 37: 15-20

15 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,

16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?

19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.

This prophesy has already come to pass.  The Bible or the Stick of Judah and the Book of Mormon which is the Stick of Joseph or Ephraim and now One in our hands.

The Book of Mormon was written for us in our day and was buried by the Last Prophet, named Moroni, to come forth in the due time of the Lord, from the dust to the Prophet Joseph Smith, the first prophet in the Last Dispensation, the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times which we are now in.

The Lord’s work is not yet finished and we are told that more scriptures will come to help us accomplish His work before the Second Coming of His Son, Jesus Christ.