Beliefs

We belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Most people only know us as the Mormons. And most of those people don't know much about us. I want to take this space to tell you a little about what we believe and then direct you to the official website for our church.

First off, we believe that God exists and that he is our literal Father. He knows all and is all-powerful. Best of all, he knows each of us and loves us as His children. He wants us to return to live with Him after this life. But to live with God, one must be like God.

In this life, we all do things that are bad. Doing things that we know are wrong is called sinning. When we sin we grow more unlike our Father, because he has no sin and is perfect. However, our Father knew that we would sin in this life. He also knew that we wouldn't have the power within ourselves to eradicate that sin. So, he prepared a Savior for us who would offer us a way to repent of our sins and become more like our Father. This Savior is Jesus Christ. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he suffered through what is called the Atonement. It's an interesting word when you look at its root (at-one-ment). Here Jesus took upon Himself all of the sins of the world. He was no ordinary man, no mere mortal. He called Himself "I am." This offended the Jews deeply because that is the name which the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament gave of Himself to Moses on Mount Sinai. We believe that Jesus, in His pre-mortal life, was indeed the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament. Because of His righteousness, He was able to atone or take upon Himself all of the pain and suffering associated with the sins of this world. Hence, we are indebted to Him and if we wish to ever overcome our human failings and return to live with our Father from whence we came, we must obey His laws and follow His instructions or commandments.

Lets talk for a second about Justice and Mercy. God does exist and He has set forth the laws that govern the Universe. Even He abides by these laws. These laws are consistent throughout the Universe. We can see that here on our own planet. There is no place where the laws of nature/physics/etc. don’t apply. When one of these laws is broken, a punishment must be meted out. If not, the center would not hold, God would cease to be God and we would not be. For anything in this Universe to work, there must be consistence in the laws of its functions. Hence, when we break these laws by sinning, Justice demands that we pay the price of that law. Now, for all the sins we commit in this life, there is no way that we could ever pay Justice its due. Therefore, we would be forever unworthy to enter into the presence of our Father. In fact, we would be forever in a state of misery and suffering. Here is where Christ steps in as Mercy. He has the power to intercede between Justice and ourselves. He already paid the price for our sins through the Atonement. Thus, if we will pay His price (obey his commandments) He will pay Justice’s price to amend the laws that we broke and we will be again worthy to be with God.

Jesus set forth four easy steps to repentance. The first is to recognize that we have sinned. There are many in this world who erroneously believe that whatever they do is ok. The second step is to ask the Lord for forgiveness. Remember that we are in His debt. It is His power to forgive because of the terrible price he paid. Then we must make amends for our sin. The form that will take depends on what type of sin we committed. We must take upon ourselves the responsibility to rectify the situation. And finally, we must not commit that sin again.

Heavenly Father wants us to know about His plans for us, so he chooses righteous men to speak for him. These men are called prophets and they are called to speak to everyone on this earth. The Lord has promised that he won’t do anything without revealing it to His called servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). It’s important that we have prophets who are in regular communication with God to direct us. Otherwise, we would be simply following the foolish imaginations of our hearts. Sure, we can receive our own personal revelation as to how to proceed in our own lives, but only a prophet can be instructed as to how the Lord’s work is to be carried out here on the earth. They have been given authority by God to act in His name on the earth.

In our day, God has called prophets just like He did in the days of old. In the spring of 1820, there was a young boy by the name of Joseph Smith. He was just 14 years old and he lived in up state New York. There was a lot of religious revival going on at that time. Each denomination was claiming to be the one and only true church of Christ, but they contradicted each other in their doctrine. This only made it more difficult for Joseph to decide which of the sects to align himself with. One day, while reading in the Book of James, Joseph came across a stunningly simple concept. He read Chapter 1, verse 5, " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." Joseph decided to go ask God which of all churches was true and which he should join. This is his account of what happened.

So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.

After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.

But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction--not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being--just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other--This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!

My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)--and which I should join.

I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: "they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof."

He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven.
Joseph Smith History 1:14-20

Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet in our day and there have been living prophets called after him until the present. There is a living prophet on the earth today who speaks with and for God.

Like all prophets, Joseph was given special tasks to further the work of the Lord on the earth. One of the things that Joseph was called to do was to translate an ancient book of scripture. The book was engraved on plates of gold by the ancient inhabitants of the American continents. Their original leader was named Lehi and he was lead out of Jerusalem 600 years before Christ’s birth. He and his family were lead to the Americas. They had prophets who not only wrote their history, but also their revelations. They also wrote about their visitation by the resurrected Lord. After Christ's ascension to Heaven in Jerusalem, He visited the Americas. He called them the "Other Sheep" that He spoke of in John 10:16. The ancient American prophets wrote about what Christ did among their people.

The second to last of these prophets was named Mormon. It was his job to compile all of the previous records into one book. After he died, his son Moroni finished the record and buried it in the ground. It was this same Moroni, who as an angel from God delivered the record of his people to Joseph Smith. Joseph translated the ancient record into English through the power of God. It is called the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Knowing that the book would come forth in our day, Moroni put this challenge to us in its last chapter:

If you will read the Book of Mormon, ponder on it and then pray about it, I know that the Lord will answer you. He answered me. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I also know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that what he said is true. But most of all, I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He is our Savior. He wants everyone to know about his plans. He will answer you when you pray. He will guide you to His truth.

Go to the Official Website of to learn more about the Lord’s plan for you and how you can get a Book of Mormon delivered to your home for free. Representatives of the Church would love to personally deliver one to your home and share a message of hope and love with you and your family. Isn’t it time you started working your way home?