The Bloggernacle Survival List

The Bloggernacle Survival List:

1. On this forum (LDS Freedom Forum), and on every other Bloggernacle Forum, there is one book that should be required reading for every participant who hopes to survive the experience spiritually intact. That book is “The Inevitable Apostasy” by Tad R. Callister. Why? Think about it. That book lists many of the different traps that those before us fell into before they apostatized, left the Primitive Church, fell away from the Church, refused to sustain the Living Apostles, or were excommunicated from the Church. That book shows us how the Great Apostasy took place and thus shows us many different ways how our current apostasies and excommunications have taken place and are now taking place.

For example. In that book we are told and shown that in the Primitive Church, there were many different Bishops (and branch presidents) who were gathering a following around themselves; and then, when they had their following or congregation, they simply refused to let the Living Apostles (Paul, John, and others) come into their congregation and teach their congregation. Once these Bishops had achieved their following or their congregation, they simply cast out the Apostles and refused to sustain and accept the Apostles, and would not let the Apostles see or talk to their congregation members. These Bishops refused to give the Apostles a list of their church's membership. The members of their congregation were simply cut-off from access to the Apostles of the Lord.

Furthermore, these Bishops told their congregations not to listen to the Apostles because the teachings of the Apostles were wrong and inadequate. These Bishops taught their followers to hate, fear, and reject the Living Apostles. These Bishops taught their followers that they didn't need the Living Apostles in order to be saved in Christ's church. These Bishops taught their followers that all they need is Christ. Does any of this sound familiar?

It happened back during the Primitive Church, and it continues to happen today. It explains a few things why the LDS General Authorities do the things that they do. It explains why the Brethren act so quickly and decisively whenever this kind of thing starts to happen. It explains why your favorite Institute teacher suddenly gets fired and told to go do something else. It's because that Institute teacher has started to build a following and some of his (or her) students were starting to see that Institute teacher as the only True Prophet on the earth since Joseph Smith. One of the quickest ways to get excommunicated from the LDS Church (or to lose your LDS Church job) is to build a following, and then have some of your followers start saying that you are the only True Prophet or the only True Apostle since Joseph Smith. Whether you are telling your students to say that, or not, it makes no difference, because it is happening none-the-less. You are building a following, and your followers are leaving the Church so that they can follow you; and, they will follow you right into your excommunication, whether you want them to or not.

Please do NOT follow me or my past example. (I don't want to be excommunicated.) I rejected many of the teachings of the Living Prophets, and I went over ten years without sustaining any of the Leaders of the LDS Church. I walked straight into hell and spent many years there. If you follow me, you will simply end up in the same place that I did; and then, you will have to turn around, humble yourself, repent, and find some way out of the dark pit and back into the light.

If you simply can't resist and feel the overwhelming need to following some living man here on this earth (I can understand), then deliberately choose to follow one of the LDS Apostles and/or one of the LDS General Authorities, because on average they are most likely to be going where you want to go. If you don't particularly like the current President of the LDS Church (it happens), then pick one of the other LDS Apostles and follow him instead. These men hold the keys to the doors that you want to pass through and have to pass through on your way to heaven and the Celestial Kingdom.

Ironically, in the Primitive Church, many of the church members would have gotten a lot further if they had simply decided to stop following their Bishop (or Institute teacher) and go follow one of the Apostles instead. In other words, go with the best of what you have available to you. If you can get to where you can develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, so much the better. If you have developed a true relationship with Jesus Christ, He will tell you to go and seek out the words and teachings of one of the LDS Apostles anyway.

If some voice is telling you to go with someone else besides one of the 15 LDS Apostles or your Quorum President or your Local Bishop and Stake President or your own righteous Priesthood-holding father, then you know that that voice is coming from Satan or one of his followers. If you need help, a true voice will tell you to go to someone who has jurisdiction over you, has been duly called and authorized to serve you, and thus has direct responsibility for your spiritual salvation – someone like your Elder's Quorum President, Bishop, Stake President, righteous Priesthood-holding Temple-Recommend-holding father, one of the LDS General Authorities, or one of the LDS Apostles. If a voice tells you to follow and obey someone else, ignore it, because that voice is coming from Satan.

2. Those who participate in the Bloggernacle need a firm understanding of the Parable of the Ten Virgins – the implications, the results, and the ramifications of that parable. (Matthew 25: 1-13).

The Ten Virgins in the parable are the Latter-day Saints, the members of the LDS Church in our day and time. The Ten Virgins are the ones who have, through baptism and Temple Ordinances, been invited to the wedding feast of the Bridegroom, who is Jesus Christ. They are the ones who have lamps or the Holy Ghost to guide them through the dark night towards the wedding feast. Some fill their lamps with oil, some do not.

Yes, the oil represents spirituality, but it also represents so much more. The oil represents the gift of the Holy Ghost and actively receiving the Holy Ghost. The oil also represents a Temple Recommend and a determination to keep all temple covenants at all times and in all places to the end of their lives. The oil also represents standing or sitting in conference a few times a year, raising their arms to the square and willingly, deliberately, and eagerly sustaining the LDS Apostles as Prophets, Seers, and Revelators, as well as sitting in local ward conference and willingly, deliberately, and eagerly sustaining their local Bishop and ward leaders and really meaning it when they do so. The oil also represents paying an honest tithe throughout their lives. The oil represents reading the words of the Living Prophets and General Authorities and deliberately and willingly choosing to follow the counsel therein. The oil represents a willful decision or a willful desire to keep the commandments of God. The oil represents choosing your Bloggernacle forums, gurus, decisions, conclusions, and teachings carefully; and, choosing the right ones who are going to the wedding feast so that you can go with them. The oil even represents a decision to keep the Word of Wisdom.

What's the result? The result is that half of the Latter-day Saints fill their lamps or vessels or bodies with oil, which they will then use to guide themselves to this great wedding feast. And, the unfortunate result is that half of the Latter-day Saints either through apathy or deliberate choice fail to fill their lamps with oil. Half of the Latter-day Saints go to the wedding feast; and, half of the Latter-day Saints fall away into inactivity, apostasy, excommunication, a refusal to pay tithing, a loss of Temple Blessings, or a refusal to sustain their Church Leaders both local and general.

What are the ramifications of this parable? It has already been fulfilled many times, and it will continue to be fulfilled from this very moment right up to the Second Coming of Christ. During the Kirtland Apostasy in 1838, the LDS Church lost half of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to apostasy and excommunication. These Apostles who apostatized failed to fill their lamps with oil. They organized and cast out the righteous Apostles who remained, even threatening to kill them, because the apostates no longer sustained the Leaders of the Church and were no longer willing to keep the covenants they had made in baptism.

Between the Kirtland Apostasy and now, we have lost half of the Latter-day Saints to apathy, to inactivity, to a refusal to pay tithing, to a refusal to get and keep Temple Covenants, to a refusal to attend the Temple, to a refusal to keep the commandments of God, to rebellion, to a refusal to sustain the Apostles and President of the Church, to hurt feelings, to a determination to take offense whenever they get the chance to take offense, to false theories of men, to apostate groups that have broken away from the church, to false prophets who seem more desirable than the duly Anointed Prophets, to anger and dissatisfaction, to a refusal to pray and study the LDS Scriptures, to deliberate sin, to a refusal to keep the Word of Wisdom, to addictions, to excommunication, to a refusal to attend church and partake of the sacrament, to laziness, to entertainment and entitlement, to pride, to apostasy, and to a refusal to sustain Church Leaders both local and general. The list could go on for many pages more. Suffice it to say that for one reason or another, half of the Latter-day Saints have failed to fill their lamps with oil throughout the history of our Gospel Restoration during the Fullness of Times.

So, do you want to predict the future? It should be rather simple to do so, unfortunately. Between now and the Second Coming of Christ, half of the Latter-day Saints are going to fail to fill their lamps with oil. It has already happened in the past, and it will continue to happen into the future. Half of us are going to fall away somewhere along the way. I see it happening around me each and every day, especially on the Bloggernacle. It has happened all around us in the past, and it will continue to happen from here-on until the Second Coming of Christ, where some of us will not be recognized by the Lord and will be burned as a result. Why? It's because some of us will not have the Holy Ghost within us to protect us from Christ's full glory when He comes. We didn't sustain His Duly Authorized Anointed Ones while we had the chance to do so; and thus, Christ and the Holy Ghost will not and cannot sustain us when He comes.

The good news is that half of us are going to find some way to fill our lamps with oil and then keep our lamps filled.

3. Those who participate in the Bloggernacle need a firm understanding of Paul's conversion story (Acts 9: 1-31), and the conversion story of Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah. (Mosiah 27 and Alma 36.) They need to understand how these men murdered the Saints of God, both physically and spiritually, including committing spiritual suicide. And then, they need to understand the steps that these men had to take in order to come back and be fully restored to Christ's grace. These men were led astray (and then led others astray), and because of their fore-ordination in the pre-existence, Christ had to intervene in their lives and cause a course correction.

Why is this important?

If someone on the Bloggernacle leads you away from the Church, gets you excommunicated, or gets you disaffected with your Church Leaders so that you have apostatized from the Church, Paul and Alma and the Sons of Mosiah show you the humbling steps you have to take in order to repent and come back into the Church.

In Paul's case, after Christ appeared to him and blinded him, Christ sent Paul to his Local Bishop, Ananias, so that Paul could receive his sight, receive further teachings, receive support, receive baptism, receive food, receive a forgiveness of his sins through the Saving Ordinances, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, receive the Priesthood, and receive the Brethren or Church Leadership. If you have fallen away and been excommunicated, you are going to have to go see your Bishop and go through the same exact process in order to come back. There is no other way. The person who led you away from the Church isn't going to be able to bring you back.

In Alma's case, he was taken to his Priesthood-holding father and Prophet of the Church, who gave him priesthood blessings to sustain his life, and then taught him and baptized him and confirmed him and gave him the Priesthood, after it had become clear that Alma the Younger had truly repented and had been converted to Christ.

The Sons of Mosiah went to their righteous Priesthood-holding father for a similar treatment. They had to turn around and start over. It's as if they were reborn. They then went out and tried to repair the damage that they had done.

Observe that Paul was guilty of murdering the Saints of God; yet, Christ's grace was sufficient to absolve such a sin, after Paul's repentance and baptism. Alma says that he and the sons of Mosiah were guilty of murdering the spirituality of their followers and the spirituality of Saints of God. We also know that Alma and the sons of Mosiah were also guilty of spiritual suicide and had suffered a spiritual death as a result. These are serious crimes. Yet, the scriptures show us and teach us that Christ's grace is sufficient to cover and redeem these kinds of crimes and sins.

If the Bloggernacle or one of the pretenders succeeds in getting you excommunicated, know that it has happened to others before you; and more importantly, know that there are steps already in place that you can take in order to come back. For many who have been excommunicated or have left the Church, the greatest obstacle that they usually have to overcome is a lack of desire to come back. They have to overcome their pride. My Bishop told me that every sin can be overcome and surmounted, except for a lack of desire to come back. If you can't overcome a lack of desire to come back, then you simply will not be able to come back because you will have no desire to do so. Everything else can be handled and dealt with in a proper manner, even if it means spending some time in prison or spending some time as an excommunicated member of the church.

After I had apostatized from the LDS Church, these are the exact same steps I had to go through in order to come back. In the beginning, I had to be willing to open my door and let my Bishopric come see me and minister to me. I let my younger brother (a Priesthood holder) teach me, when I told him that I no longer believed in God. He came to see me often after I had hit rock bottom. I had to be willing to open my door and let the Ward Missionaries come see me and teach me. I had to then be willing to repent of my addictions and many of my sins. I had to be willing to go to church. I had to be willing to go to ward socials. I had to be willing to listen to my wife and do as she said. I had to be willing to open my door and let my High Priest Group leader come in and minister to me. I had to be willing to open my door and let my Home Teachers teach me and serve me. I eventually had to be willing to accept a calling to be a Home Teacher, with my High Priest Group Leader as my senior companion.

I had to be willing to take my dogs on long walks and learn the lessons that they had to teach me. By helping a small little dog to overcome some of her fears, she helped me to overcome my own. I got to see their love for life, and try to bring some of that into my soul. The dogs taught me how to love again. Eventually, I had to go see my Bishop and develop a plan. I had to gain my testimony back again. I eventually had to be willing and eager to accept a calling as one of the Quorum Instructors in my High Priest's Group. Now, I am working and striving to get my Temple Recommend back. That's the way it goes. It takes effort and time. I had to make a decision to turn around and come back. I had to be reborn, and start all over again.

Notice that it was the duly authorized servants or duly authorized Priesthood holders directly over me and directly responsible for me who had to come to me, had to help bring me back, and had to help me make and take the steps necessary in order to come back. Eventually, when I was ready, I started going to them! I started going to church every Sunday, where I could be around a whole bunch of the Lord's Anointed. In summary, I had to learn how to come back the right way, and then choose to do so. What a blessing! Repentance is one of Christ's greatest gifts to us. It's definitely a Pearl of Great Price.

4. To survive the Bloggernacle spiritually intact, you need a firm determination to sustain all of your Church Leaders, all the way from your Local Bishop and Local Relief Society President and Local Elder's Quorum President to the LDS Apostles and Prophet of the LDS Church. You cannot turn away from these men (these Anointed Ones) and turn to someone else or to something else and then expect to survive spiritually or remain faithful to the end. It just can't be done. It's going to require more than just accepting Christ as your personal Savior; after all, the Catholics and Protestants have already done that, and it won't get them an invitation to the wedding feast. To get that precious invitation to the wedding feast, it is going to require humility, baptism into the LDS Church, a Temple Recommend, a refusal to take offense, a Temple Endowment, church attendance, a determination to stay faithful to the end, keeping your covenants, paying your tithing, prayer, reading and accepting the LDS Scriptures, reading and accepting and eagerly following the teachings of the Living Prophets, choosing the right, a decision not to turn or stray from the straight and narrow path (or the Iron Rod), and a deliberate decision to sustain the LDS Apostles, the Lord's Anointed (Temple Endowed), and the President of the LDS Church whether you like them or not. This how the righteous Latter-day Saints (the wise Virgins) before us survived, and it's how we will now survive as well.

5. Those who want to survive spiritually on the Bloggernacle have to learn and accept some hard truths. For example: The Lord's Anointed in modern times consists of the Temple Recommend holders of the LDS Church. As I see it, every baptized LDS Church member has received the Calling or has been Called. It's the LDS Temple Recommend holders who have received the Election, or have been Elected, or have been Endowed. After that, it is up to the Holy Ghost and the individual to make the calling and election Sure.

Now, for the hard truth. Those who have been excommunicated from the LDS Church are no longer a part of the Elected. The excommunicated are no longer the Lord's Anointed. They have fallen from that position. It doesn't matter what they accomplished before, even if they had become one of the Twelve Apostles before they were excommunicated. If they are excommunicated, their anointings and election have been taken away from them, and they no longer have any divine authority whatsoever. They have fallen from that position and now have to start all over again. They have to be reborn again. This reality applied to Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris – special witnesses and Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. If any of them decided to come back, they had to start all over again from scratch. They had to be re-baptized and receive the ordinances and receive the Priesthood all over again. They had to be anointed again. That's just the way it was. Why? It's because they had lost these things when they were excommunicated.

The same principles apply today. If you are excommunicated from the LDS Church, you are no longer one of the Lord's Anointed, even if you saw Christ during your prior Church membership as Oliver Cowdery and Sidney Rigdon did. If Christ's brings you back into the Church, it will be through the gate by faith, repentance, baptism, reception of the gift of the Holy Ghost, reception of the Priesthood by someone duly authorized to give you that Priesthood, and reception of your Temple Blessings or Temple Anointings. You will have to go through one of the Brethren or one of the LDS Church General Authorities, to receive these things back again.

If Christ speaks to you or brings you back into the Church, He will send you to your Priesthood Leaders to receive these blessings back.

Christ will NOT send you to the excommunicated church member down the street or to the Bloggernacle king to get your blessings back. It doesn't work that way. If some voice or prompting tells you to go to some excommunicated member of the church and follow him, you know that that voice came from Satan.

Why make this list? I have noticed that the Bloggernacle is a hotbed of apostasy and excommunication. They are apostatizing and being excommunicated right and left on the Bloggernacle. If you are determined to live on the Bloggernacle, you are going to have to learn to recognize the signs of apostasy and the lures to apostatize from the LDS Church. They are there on the Bloggernacle to be found. If you fall for one of the traps on the Bloggernacle and get excommunicated, you are going to have to know how to come back, if you want to be saved in the Celestial Kingdom. That's just the way it is. It's the hard truth. It's the reality of the situation. If you fall into a pit, you are going to need some kind of help to get out of it. You are going to need the right kind of help.

6. Of course, as with any list, there are many other things that can go on the list. Take and put on this list whatever it is that is currently giving you a desire to leave the LDS Church and to strike out on your own. And then, put on the list the steps you need to take, the covenants you need to keep, the commandments you need to obey, the teachings and people you need to reject, and the decisions you need to make in order to keep you firmly rooted in the LDS Church, devoted to the LDS Apostles, and firm in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Put on this list whatever you need to do in order to fill the oil in your lamp and in order to build a firm foundation upon the Gospel Principles and Gospel Ordinances both within your heart and in your life. Put on this list whatever you need to do (or avoid) to keep you from apostatizing and leaving the LDS Church. Put on this list whatever you need to do or find in order to overcome your pride and fear. Then, when you have been converted, strengthen your brethren and sisters.