Let The Prophet Be Your Guide! Part II: Apostasy

So last time we talked about prophets, and how sweet it is that our Heavenly Father loves us enough to guide us through prophets. Now if God had messages to give you, would you listen? I sure would, because it must be an important message. Would you ever turn your back on that message, and live contrary to it? This is a cycle we see throughout the Old Testament, and we see the same happening in several Disney films as well.

In The Lion King, we are following the story of Simba, who "apostatizes" from the kingdom, his family, and responsibilities as rightful heir after he witnesses the tragic death of his father. Simba is saved from death by Timon and Pumba, who teach him about "Hakuna Matata," which basically means live life without worries. Now, Simba and his two pals were living a pretty great life, because Simba had followed their counsel by "putting his behind in his past," or rather "putting your past behind you." (Before there is an uproar over the villainization of Timon and Pumba, please don't think I'm trying to do that: I'm merely illustrating a point here.)

Simba may be living a good life, but he turned his back on his family, the kingdom, and his responsibilities. Then his childhood friend Nala comes onto the scene, and tells him about all the awful things going on in the kingdom: the kingdom followed Simba and fell into "apostasy," which in this case means grey skies, no food, and hyenas running rampant in the kingdom. Simba doesn't want to hear it though, and remains steadfast in his "Hakuna Matata" philosophy.

But the kingdom is in need, so Rafiki appears on the scene. Rafiki is very wise, and is more in touch with spiritual things than anyone else in the Pride Lands. He comes to Simba, and offers him some counsel, pointing out the flaws in his new found philosophy, and even opening a vision of Mufasa to Simba. This helps Simba come to a realization of the error of his ways, and he runs to Pride Rock to win the kingdom back from the evil Scar and his hyena posse.

This helps to illustrate several key points when talking about prophets, apostasy, and agency, which is our God-given ability to make our own choices.  We are all like Simba, and have turned our back on God at some point or another, but because He loves us, He will always try to reach out to us and bring us back. Apostasy doesn't just happen out of the blue: people start making a little bad choice here, and small bad choice there, continuing in this pattern as the mistakes grow larger. These bad choices lead to apostasy: whether in individuals, groups of people, communities, or nations, apostasy is a result of the misuse of agency.

But the same agency we may have misused to make bad choices that didn't lead to lasting happiness can be used to make good choices that bring us closer to finding happiness that lasts. When the individual or group of people start searching for help in making better choices, God sends another prophet, with the authority and revelation, to lead these people in that path to happiness.

This is the cycle I mentioned earlier: people listen to the prophet, and they are blessed. After receiving so many blessings, the people start to love their possessions more than they love God, and they turn away from Him, and so He takes the prophet away. Eventually, the people are left to their own devices, and find that they weren't as happy as they used to be. This causes them to search for guidance, and God answers their prayers by sending them a prophet with the guidance and authority they need.

This cycle repeats itself over and over again, and because our Heavenly Father loves His children, He is always giving them another chance to come back to Him. Isn't it great to know that God loves you? I haven't always made the best choices, and you could say that I have apostatized from time to time because of my choices. But I know that God loves me, because He was always sending me another person to try and help me, or leading me towards a better path without my knowledge. I know that God loves each of us, and that's why He has always given His children guidance and direction through prophets.

Have you ever felt that you could use some guidance from a modern prophet? Click Here!

Let The Prophet Be Your Guide! Part I

Who loves the classic Disney Princess movies? I sure do, and I would have to say that my favorite is Sleeping Beauty. Of course, everyone has their favorite, and some may disagree when I say that I think this is the best princess movie. The reasoning behind this is not just the story, but also the background behind this wonderful film. Sleeping Beauty was the second animated film Disney filmed in ultra widescreen (the first being Lady and the Tramp), and the first animated film to be photographed with the Super Technirama 70 widescreen process. This allowed for beautiful backgrounds and dramatic, sweeping scenes. Disney also based the score for the movie on the work of the classical composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Both of these things came together to create, in my opinion, a work of art. There are many reasons I could talk about, but one in particular that illustrates the doctrine of the gospel I would like to discuss in this post: God working through prophets.

When Aurora is born, her parents are overjoyed, and many bring gifts to the newborn child. The three good fairies: Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, come to bless Aurora with wonderful things. But before Merryweather can perform her spell over the baby, the evil Maleficent comes around to ruin everything! Maleficent casts a spell on Aurora, cursing her to die on her sixteenth birthday from the prick of a spinning wheel. Luckily, Merryweather performs a little spell of her own, so that Aurora won't die, but just fall into a deep sleep, and that her true love will come to awake her with a kiss. The King and Queen order every spinning wheel to be burned (not very good for the cloth industry), but they still fear the curse of Maleficent. The three good fairies offer to take Aurora deep into the woods, and to raise her to the best of their ability; they only desire that the child be safe. So, they sneak off in the middle of the night with the baby, and attempt to hide her in a cottage deep in the forest.

This story parallels our own: we are all children of a Heavenly King, who only desires the best for us. Unfortunately, there is an evil adversary, who desires our misery; not cool! Our Father knew that we would have to come to this earth to learn and gain experience; this also meant that He couldn't be with us to guide us all the time. Luckily, He provided us with guides, just like the good fairies, called prophets, who can lead and guide us just like He would.

So what is a prophet? A prophet is a man who receives the priesthood, which is the authority to speak and act in the name of God. They are like the three good fairies: doing everything our Father would do for us, if He were with us, to ensure our safety and happiness. Prophets receive instruction from God, and this is called revelation. This revelation is passed from the Father to His children through the prophet.

"Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Amos 3:7

The prophet receives the "secret" from the Lord, which he then passes on to us to lead and guide us in the way our Father wants us to go. This "secret" is also known as the gospel of Jesus Christ. This gospel is the plan our Heavenly Father has given us to help us find true happiness, and to help us avoid evil and misery. It is named after Jesus Christ because without His sacrifice, the plan wouldn't be possible.

I am so grateful for the scriptures: that we can have the words of prophets past to help lead and guide us today. But sometimes, it's a little hard for me to understand the scriptures, or to see how it applies to my life right now: has that ever happened to you? Maybe I'm alone, but I don't think so. Luckily, our loving Heavenly Father has once again given his children prophets to lead and guide us! The words these prophets speak, and the ways they help me further understand the teachings of Jesus Christ in the scriptures has blessed my life immensely!

Curious to hear the words of these prophets? Click Here!, find a title that sounds interesting, and watch or read it!

Want to learn more about these prophets and what they are? Click Here!

Tune in next week for part II!

I Have A Family Here On Earth; They Are So Good To Me!

These lyrics from a children's song of our church is one of my favorites. Do you know what else is my favorite? The Princess and The Frog! We can learn so many lessons from the family relationships portrayed in this film.

When Tiana is younger, she loves her mother and father, and respects them both. She especially loves her father, and learns many lessons from him that she carries throughout the rest of her life. As she sings the song titled "Almost There," she sings the lyrics:

I remember Daddy told me,

Fairy tales can come true.

But you have to make it happen;

It all depends on you!

So I work real hard, each and every day;

Good things are sure to come my way!

And later, in the song "When We're Human" we hear these lyrics:

What you give is what you get;

My Daddy taught me that and I'll never forget!

These were valuable lessons learned by Tiana, not just from the things her father said, but more importantly the things he did. She learned to work hard to make her dreams come true (a lesson that is often not learned in our day), and so she works two jobs, everyday, so that one day she can have her dream of owning a restaurant. 

Our families are ordained of God, meaning that our Heavenly Father, in His infinite love, placed us on this earth in a family. This is something that He arranged before we came here, and it is unalterable (this is the meaning of ordained in this context). Now, none of our families are perfect. We even see this in The Princess and The Frog: Tiana's father dies sometime between when she is a toddler and when she is a young adult. I'm sure this was an incredibly hard challenge for she and her mother to go through, but they had a foundation of love in their family, and so instead of crying every night about life not being fair because her father was dead, Tiana honored his memory by living the things he taught her.

Let's look at another example from another one of my favorites: Tangled. We see in this film two very different families: Rapunzel's real family, who love her and were overjoyed to have her in their lives, and heartbroken past expression when she was stolen; a family based on love and other things, which are principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We also see the "family" Mother Gothel has created for herself and Rapunzel, a "family" that wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for the selfishness of Mother Gothel and her obsession with staying beautiful and young forever; this family is based upon selfishness, greed, and other such feelings and attributes, which are in direct opposition to those found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When our families are built on a foundation of love, happiness will follow. This does not mean perfection, but there will be a greater sense of happiness and peace in our families if we are built on this foundation of love. Our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, are the perfect examples of love. We read in the scriptures:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

The Savior showed his love for us when He performed the Atonement, which constitutes His suffering in the garden of Gethsemane, His suffering and death on the cross, culminating in His resurrection. What a selfless act of love that was! I know that He truly did that, and He did it because He loves each of us. Even if it had just been for one of us, He would have done it. It's difficult to comprehend, isn't it? We've all felt love from someone in our lives: parents, siblings, friends, etc., but the love Heavenly Father and the Savior have for us is past comprehension to our finite minds.

I think the closest we can get to understanding the love God has for us is from our mothers. I don't know about you, but my Mom is pretty awesome. And considering I'm making this post so close to Mother's Day, she had to get a shout out!

My mother (and father, for that matter) have stuck with me through so much! I was not the perfect child, people! I was rebellious and rude and everything parents like mine don't deserve. Yet, through late night arguments, cold shoulders, and downright disobedience, my Mom loved me. Sure, she disagreed with some of my bad choices, and didn't like some of the things I was doing, but she loved me; our Heavenly Father is the same way! He always loves us, and is waiting for us to come back to Him. He has provided a way for us to do that, and our families will be stronger and happier when they are built upon this foundation.

I'd like to finish with the rest of the lyrics from the song I started this post with, which is entitled Families Can Be Together Forever:

I have a family here on earth

They are so good to me

I want to share my life with them

Through all eternity

Families can be together forever

Through Heavenly Father's plan

I always want to be with my own family

And the Lord has shown me how I can!

Want to learn more about why families are so important? Visit: http://www.mormon.org/faq/topic/family

Want to have your heart warmed by a video about moms? Click Here!

Remember Who You Are!

In The Lion King, we follow the life of Simba, the prince of the Pride Lands. Just like every one of us, he has a mother, Sarabi, and a father, Mufasa. One day, Mufasa takes Simba to the highest point in the kingdom, and shows him the borders of the kingdom. Mufasa tells Simba that he is welcome to roam anywhere the light touches, but to not go to those places which lie in darkness, such as the Elephant Graveyard. Now, why would Mufasa limit Simba by telling him where he could and couldn't go? That's awfully unfair: isn't the Elephant Graveyard a delightful little picnic spot? NO! That's where the evil hyenas hide out, and there are creepy bones and cobwebs and dust: NOT A PLEASANT PLACE TO BE! Mufasa knew that Simba would probably be in danger if he went there, and thus warned him to never go there, or anywhere else beyond the borders of the kingdom.

Our Heavenly Father knows us, and knows the world in which we live. He knows that some things in this world will lead to true happiness, that other things will lead to temporary and fleeting happiness, and that there are some things in this world that won't bring any happiness at all. So He warns us: He gives us the scriptures, He gives us His Son to teach and live the way we ought to live. These commandments don't limit us: the protect us and keep us safe and lead us to true joy.

We all know that Simba disobeyed Mufasa, and ended up putting himself and his friend, Nala, in danger because he went to the Elephant Graveyard and ran into some hyenas. Luckily, Mufasa came and scared the hyenas away, and rescued Simba and Nala; but Mufasa wasn't just going to let Simba off the hook for this one! Mufasa asked Simba why he disobeyed, they had a father-son talk, and Simba said he was sorry, that it wouldn't happen again (sound familiar?). What follows is one of the most heart-warming scenes ever to play on the silver screen, when we see Simba and Mufasa laughing, wrestling, and playing together. We know without a doubt that Mufasa loves Simba, and wants only the best for him; this is the same relationship we can have with our Father in Heaven.

I'm sure all of us have memories of our fathers, whether they be good or otherwise. What about our Heavenly Father? Do we have any memories of Him? We'll save that subject for a future date. But,we learn from the Bible that we do indeed have a Father in heaven. But what is He like? Lets take a look at a scripture!

"For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
"Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." -Acts 17:28-29

From this scripture, we know that we are literally his offspring! From Him we have our spirits: we are His spirit children. From our earthly father (in part), we received our physical bodies. This relationship, between body and spirit, is a bit like a hand in a glove: the glove isn't any good without the hand, and our physical bodies aren't worth anything without our spirits.

Now, from truth that has been restored in these latter-days (which means that the truth was lost somewhere along the way), we know that God isn't a spirit essence without body parts or passions. Rather, we know that He has a body like the one we have, but His is glorified and perfected (this restored truth is supported by Genesis 1:26-27). Because He is the Father of our spirits, He knows us better than we know ourselves, and He wants us to be happy, just like our earthly fathers do. Because He wants us to be happy, He gave us His Son, Jesus Christ; Jesus taught and lived certain laws and commandments by which we are to live. Let me illustrate these points with a couple stories from Disney.

Let's look at another quick example. In Tangled, we briefly meet the parents of Rapunzel before she is cruelly and selfishly stolen by Mother Gothel. Rapunzel's parents never say a word the whole movie, but we see what they are feeling in the emotions played out on their faces. We see the love and joy when Rapunzel is born, and we see the sadness and heartbreak as she is stolen away from them. The King and Queen try everything they can to get her back, even sending up thousands of lanterns every year on the missing princess' birthday. In the end, when Rapunzel is reunited with her parents, they are overjoyed at the reunion, and you can see those emotions in their faces.

Our Father in Heaven sent us to this earth to learn and to gain experience, and he so badly wants us to come back to Him, so he has given us the gospel of Jesus Christ. This gospel is a plan that we can follow, and it leads back to our Father. Sometimes, we think that other things will make us happier, things not in line with our Father's plan. These things will make us "happy," but it won't last, and eventually we will be stuck not knowing where true, lasting happiness comes from. I know that I was like this for most of my teenage life: searching for happiness in things of this world, only to end up feeling alone and unloved. When I, with the help of parents, friends, and most importantly, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, turned my life around, I knew what true joy felt like.

I know that our Father in Heaven loves us: more than Mufasa loved Simba, more than the King and Queen loved Rapunzel, even more than our earthly fathers love us. He wants us to be happy, and has given us everything we need to find it. Do you believe that God is our loving Heavenly Father? Do you believe that, because He loves us, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to show us the path that leads to happiness? If you don't yet know about these things, please take the time to pray and read the scriptures, and get to know your Heavenly Father. Just like getting to know our friends and other people around us, we have to take the time to talk with them and listen to them. We can talk to Him through prayer, and we can hear His words of counsel to us through the scriptures.

No matter your life circumstance, there is power found in the words of Mufasa to Simba: "Remember who you are." You are a child of God: the most powerful and intelligent being in the universe, who controls the movement of planets, and cares for even the smallest sparrow. He loves you more than any of His other creations, and cares deeply for you: He weeps with us when we make mistakes and feels sorrow, or when our heart is broken; He rejoices with us when we make correct choices, help our fellow brothers and sisters, and follow in the path His Son has set before us. If ever you are feeling sad, heart-broken, lost, or hopeless, follow the counsel of Mufasa: "Remember who you are!"

If you have any questions, visit mormon.org, and see what others have said about their relationship with God. If you're interested in hearing more about this plan of happiness, visit http://www.mormon.org/missionaries, and two missionaries will be sent to help you learn more about it. I know that God loves me, and if He loves me, He must love you. He wants you and I to be happy, and has given us all we need to be happy. But we have to choose to follow in the footsteps of His Son. What will you choose: misery, captivity, and spiritual death? Or will you choose to follow the Savior, and choose freedom, happiness, and eternal life with a Father who loves you?