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Awakening

If you’re a believer in the Book of Mormon, then you’ve probably read the opening chapters of 1 Nephi seeing the young man Nephi as the example we are to follow. As we read the scriptures – any scriptures – we tend to put ourselves in the shoes of the ‘hero’. After all, we’re to pattern ourselves after the lives of righteous men and women of the past, right? Abraham and Sarah, Enoch, Noah,…

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Rebirth

Last year I returned home for first time in over 40 years. You see, home for me is Australia. It’s where I was born and raised for the first 12 years of my life. While I’m now well into my 50’s and sound like a proper pom, my heart has always remained down under. That visit home was very special in so many ways, not least because I was able to spend loads of time with my older brother Tony and…

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Greater Things

I’ve just finished reading 3 Nephi on my latest read-through of the Book of Mormon. I’m always amazed at how much more I gain from this magnificent book of scripture each time I read it, and marvel at how much more there must be to learn, if I could only have eyes to see. Christ begins speaking to the people in the land from chapter 9 of 3 Nephi, then appears to them in chapter 11. The last…

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For Our Day

‘I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents…’ (1 Nephi 1:1). Latter-day Saints will be familiar with these words and can probably quote much of the rest of this verse, having read it and heard it countless times over the years. It’s not possible for me to put into words just how much I love the Book of Mormon, It was written specifically for our days and is so wonderfully complex, beautiful…

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Follow ... who?

‘Follow the Prophet’. Since its inclusion in the Primary songbook in the 1990’s this has become a refrain heard repeatedly in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The song was commissioned by the Church, the writer asked to write something about Old Testament prophets that children would enjoy. I recall with a smile on my face our many times singing this with our children when they…

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In the Space of Not Many Years

In the last General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder David A Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gave a prophetic warning. He reminded us that the Book of Mormon was given specifically for the days in which we live, and that its prophets had seen our day. They therefore knew what would be of most value to us. It was in this context in which Elder…

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When History Troubles Faith

This is a topic that has been on my mind for some time, but I’ve really struggled to find the right words. The purpose of this website is to build faith in Jesus Christ, but as soon as we start to talk about mortals – any mortals, no matter how ‘righteous’ they are or we think they should be, we are going to encounter problems. How can we then discuss anything potentially controversial without…

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The Gospel of Repentance

There are so many things I love about the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of these is how so many principles overlap, complement and enhance each other; and how things that we might have heard many times before can suddenly take on new meanings, or sometimes just become so much more important than they once were. I was struck a few months ago by something someone said. I don’t remember where I came…

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Of Sabbaths, Sacraments, and The Rest of the Lord

Many years ago in another part of the world, I was serving in a calling that required me to be in contact with many church leaders around the Stake. On a particular Sunday evening, I needed to make contact with several individuals and picked up the phone (this was before the days of mobile phones, text messaging and the internet). I specifically recall ringing one house, where the Bishop I spoke…

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What's in a Name?

This continues the series discussing the LDS ordinance of the sacrament. To see the previous posts in the series, see here As we continue our pondering of the Sacrament prayer wording, it’s important to pause and consider in some detail the Name of Christ. In the prayers, the Priest asks, ‘God the Eternal Father … in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ…’ to bless and sanctify the sacramental…

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I created this for you

Those who are of the LDS faith will know what I mean when I say that yesterday was our Fast and Testimony meeting at church. For those who are not of our faith, Testimony meeting takes place once a month and is an opportunity for any member of the congregation to go to the pulpit and declare their faith – their testimony – about Jesus Christ. I don’t usually take that opportunity to stand and…

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Exhausted of being exhausted

Exhausted of being exhausted

I don’t like to talk about what it’s like to “have a chronic illness”, because everyone’s illness affects them in different ways. I only know what it’s like for me. My diagnoses are ME/CFS and FND. Both of these are somewhat ephemeral in that there is no solid diagnostic test that confirms that you have the condition – it’s more a case of ruling out what you don’t have and then fitting your…

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Finding peace amongst turmoil

When I was in my teens, my Dad was diagnosed with malignant melanoma. I was born in Perth, Western Australia where we lived for many years – a city that has the unfortunate tag of “skin cancer capital of the world”. Melanoma has a high mortality rate if not caught early, but when caught early can usually be easily removed. Fortunately, Dad’s melanoma was caught early, his cancer was completely…

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That was beautiful. Can we do it again?

That was beautiful. Can we do it again?

Twice a year, members of the church from the wider area where we live gather together for what we call ‘Stake Conference’. The conference is held over Saturday and Sunday, and I was asked to speak at the session held last night. I share it here in the hopes that it provides some hope and understanding for others.

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Many years ago, I served my mission amongst the beautiful people of Chile. For…

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Taking His Name

This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for a good long while, probably about 2 years. Originally, I was going to write it as we approached a General Conference of the Church – and I might still do that sometime – but for this article (and the next couple) I’m going to focus on the sacrament.

For those who have been following, this is the 11th article in my series on the sacramentof The Church…

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Of Becoming a Saint

Of Becoming a Saint

This post continues my series on the Sacrament. And don’t worry, I’ll get to it. But there’s something important (and surprisingly relevant) I need to discuss first.

As you might know, I’m LDS. If you’re not LDS – or perhaps don’t even know what that means – you might know members of our church as Mormons.

When the church was newly organised back in the early to mid 19thcentury, the term Mormon…

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The Weakness Which is in Me

The Weakness Which is in Me

My wife and I have to take it in turns to attend church on Sundays and this week it was my turn, which I always enjoy.

Being the first Sunday of the month, our congregational meeting was a bit different from normal in that any members of the congregation are permitted to walk to the pulpit and share their feelings of the Saviour and of His gospel. Today’s meeting was particularly enjoyable, and I…