He shared these words last week on the Gospel for the BYU-I devotional:
If you are asking yourself where to begin, I would suggest using the Church’s guide to missionary service, entitled Preach My Gospel. This inspired guide is a wonderful personal scripture study plan as well as a missionary guide. Chapter 3 of Preach My Gospel contains five lessons, “The Message of the Restoration,” “The Plan of Salvation,” “The Gospel of Jesus Christ,” “The Commandments,” and finally “Laws and Ordinances.” These five lessons contain a total of 42 basic gospel principles. Thirty-five of these principles need to be taught to investigators before they are eligible for baptism. The investigators not only need to understand the principles, but they also need to live them prior to baptism. It seems it would be appropriate for us as members to understand these same basic gospel principles and the corresponding scriptures that support them. The gospel principles and associated scriptures found in chapter 3 of Preach My Gospel would make a wonderful personal study plan.
Wow. Thirty-five principles? What are they again?
And listen to his definition of the Korihors in today’s culture:
So who are the Korihors of today? I submit that they are anyone or anything that would entice you to stray from the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life.
Hi Todd,
Great talk! Here’s a link to the “Preach My Gospel” manual that he’s referring to:
http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,8057-1-4424-1,00.html
Or if you want a hard copy, you can go by your local Deseret Book store or order Church Distribution center or online at http://www.ldscatalog.com.
Below is the list of the 42 principles he referred to (the first 35 are the ones that need to be taught before baptism) — see the “Preach My Gospel” manual for more details on each principle:
“The Message of the Restoration”
1. God Is Our Loving Heavenly Father
2. The Gospel Blesses Families
3. Heavenly Father Reveals His Gospel in Every Dispensation
4. The Savior’s Earthly Ministry and Atonement
5. The Great Apostasy
6. The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through Joseph Smith
7. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ
8. Pray to Know the Truth through the Holy Ghost
“The Plan of Salvation”
9. Pre-Earth Life: God’s Purpose and Plan for Us
10. The Creation
11. Agency and the Fall of Adam and Eve
12. Our Life on Earth
13. The Atonement
14. The Spirit World
15. The Resurrection, Judgment, and Immortality
16. Kingdoms of Glory (see D&C 76; 137; 1 Corinthians 15:40–42).
“The Gospel of Jesus Christ”
17. Through Christ We Can Be Cleansed from Sin
18. Faith in Jesus Christ
19. Repentance
20. Baptism, Our First Covenant
21. The Gift of the Holy Ghost
22. Endure to the End
“The Commandments”
23. Obedience
24. Pray Often
25. Study the Scriptures
26. Keep the Sabbath Day Holy
27. Baptism and Confirmation
28. Follow the Prophet
29. Keep the Ten Commandments
30. Live the Law of Chastity
31. Obey the Word of Wisdom
32. Keep the Law of Tithing
33. Observe the Law of the Fast
34. How to Donate Tithes and Offerings
35. Obey and Honor the Law
“Laws and Ordinances”
36. Priesthood and Auxiliaries
37. Missionary Work
38. Eternal Marriage
39. Temples and Family History
40. Service
41. Teaching and Learning in the Church
42. Endure to the End
Todd,
I completely agree with his definition of the Kohihors in today’s culture.
Many people are deceived by the things taught and present in today’s culture because they are pleasing unto the carnal mind. One of the great purposes of this life is to see if we will choose to overcome the natural and carnal instincts of the flesh.
“To be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal.” (2 Nephi 9:39, Romans 8:6)
In reality many people are being deceived by the devil and his angels and have lost their way along the straight and narrow path.
If you read in 1 Nephi 8 about Lehi’s vision of the Tree of Life, you will see how vitally important it is for those that obtain eternal life to continually, hold fast to the iron rod — clinging is not sufficient (1 Nephi 8: 24,30). The iron rod in this vision represents the Word of God. (1 Nephi 11:25)
This tells me that the only way to get back to the straight and narrow path, is to continually hold fast (every day and not just casually) studying the Word of God contained in the Scriptures and the words of His called and chosen Prophet and Apostles. If we do this, we know and understand the doctrine of the Gospel and can keep from being deceived by the Korihors of today’s culture.