Third Year Anniversary.. of drinking the Kool-Aid!!

      Hey Friends, Family and Enemies! This July Second marks the third year of my triumphant entry into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Now; if I were to sate my normal desires for something silly as the beginning photo to this post I would put a picture of me cannon-balling into the baptismal font before my baptism. However, that is impossible due to three reasons: First, no such photo exists. Second, they frown on taking pictures of the ordinance of baptism being done. Third, a baptismal font is nowhere near big enough to cannon-ball into without hurting yourself severally. So instead, I shall share this photo.

You best be learning something here!

     I was blessed with a dear friend, Peter Ferrin, and his family who cared enough for me to introduce me to the missionaries. Now, I shared my conversion story before, and as much as I like talking about myself, I'm not going to share it again simply for lack of time, effort, and yeah. So, instead I'm going to talk about the ordinance of Baptism and why it is so important, along with some other things like confirmation probably. I never know until I'm done typing and assume the blog is ready for publication.

   So, contrary to popular belief, being baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does not include the following: Being launched off the Salt Lake City Temple into the Salt Lake; drinking special kool-aid; and the one I do wish was true, growing horns. Can you imagine what it'd be like if all the Mormons you knew had horns? It'd be a lot harder to pick on them cause they'd just gore you! Can I get those horns? What does being baptized in the Church include? Well, it includes making a covenant with our Heavenly Father and agreeing to do the following:  

9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

 10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

  We agree to be CHRISTIANS! Who woulda thunk it? We agree to help one another, to mourn with those who have experienced a great loss, to prepare funeral potatoes whenever someone needs something to eat, and to stand in the witness of Heavenly Father's love at all times; to never deny Him, to never deny His Son!

Believe it or not; being baptized means not choking Elders....

      Having been baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I often compare the decision to signing a contract with Heavenly Father. He has informed you of all of His conditions, what He expects of you, and the blessings that He will pour out upon you in return. When you get baptized, you are signing that contract and telling Him that you now know fully what He expects of you and you agree to follow those conditions and do your best to live up to the knowledge which He has given you. When we follow through on our promise to Him, He is honor-bound to keep His side of the contract, as shown in Doctrine and Covenants section 82:

10 I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.

     How about that? How would you like a business contract with a Partner who would never back out on you? Who would never cancel the contract, or not give you what has been promised? Sounds pretty good, don't it? And it gets even better! Just about every Sunday, minus certain conference days, we get a chance to worthily partake of the Sacrament, the bread and water that represent the Body and Blood of Christ that was shed for us. When we do partake of the Sacrament, it's like getting re-baptized, minus the font part! In essence, it renews your contract with God and tells Him, "Alright, I messed up a bit this week. I did this, I mocked that person, but I'm going to try and be better this week. Will you forgive me and help me?" And of course He will help you out!!

    Now, the ordinance of Baptism is pretty dang important because it is one of the 'keys' that allows us entryway into Heaven. When Nicodemus came to Jesus in the night and asked him some pretty deep stuff, one the things that Jesus Told Nicodemus was that one had to be baptized to get into Heaven as instanced in John 3:5:
 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

So, clearly it is pretty darn important! One needs to be baptized to enter into the Kingdom of God, and further more one needs to be baptized by the proper authority of God! When Jesus Himself was baptized, He didn't go to any Joe Smhoe baptizing people, He went to John the Baptist. Now, theres a great reason for that! John the Baptist, the son of Zacharias and Elisabeth, which made him one of the few people authorized to perform baptism because he was a descendant of Aaron on both sides of his family line. So Jesus showed us the way, go to someone with the Proper Authority of God and be baptized of him, and in Jesus's Name, along with the Father and the Holy Ghost, and ye shall have one of the keys to the Gates of Heaven.

    My decision to have been baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. It has allowed me to change so much, especially in this past year of having served Him as a missionary! Next post I plan to talk about the Gift of the Holy Ghost! So stay tuned and have a blessed day, ya hear?!

My ties are much less skinny now!!

                               

The family that helped me into the Church!