I BELIEVE IN GOD
"I believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost." ~ PoGP AoF #1
To come to a true knowledge of the nature and character of God is essential to obtaining eternal life. There has been much discussion concerning the 'Christian' Godhead but few there be that have come to find the truth of the matter for the innovations and imaginations of men have obsured it. To this end I will present that which I know to be the truth concerning the Godhead, the Doctrine of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. And this that the truth may be known and that one might come to a more certain knowledge and develop a true relationship to and with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." ~ John 17:3
Scriptural evidence is one thing while first hand visionary evidence is
another. Yet scripturally there are two visions which have been recorded
concerning the appearance of God the Eternal Father and Jesus Christ His Son.
One vision is that as seen by Stephen of the seventy prior to him being taken
out and stones by the disbelieving Jews as recorded in Acts
chapter 7. Another vision is that as received by the latter day prophet Joseph
Smith as recorded in the Pearl of Great Price, History of Joseph Smith.
God's law of evidence is that by the mouth of two or three witness should every word be established. Here then are two visionary witnesses and either I or the Holy Ghost's witness may act as a third witness. For I trutly know and understand that God the Eternal Father, our Father Who art in Heaven, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is also Jehovah the God of the Old Testament, are two separate and distinct beings. And today, now that Jehovah/Jesus Christ has come to earth and been resurrection, he is like unto his Father, now being a Celestial being with a body of flesh and bone.
"The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us." ~ D&C 130:22
Now this we know concerning God the Eternal Father, who is Our Father Who art in Heaven, for Jesus Christ so taught us as much. And that is the simple truth that God the Father, Our Heavenly Father dwells in Heaven in that place which I have come to presume is nigh unto Kolob. (Abraham 3 and Facsimile No. 2, Hymn 284, If You Could Hie to Kolob*) When Jesus taught his followers the true order of pray, he taught them that they were to call upon the name of the Father using a certain patern as taught by Jesus in his sermon of the gospel known as the Sermon on the Mount. Which prayer follows:
"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen."
3 Nephi 13:9-13 (See also Matthew 6:9-13 & Luke 11:2-4)
Through out his earthly ministry, Jesus Christ consistently taught the 'Doctrine of the Father', that He was Jesus' and our Father as well. The references are so many that to state that it is what the scriptures do teach, particularly the gospels, seems most sufficient. And here then I will leave the Doctrine of the Father with the exception of referring to the Father and that circumstance which relates to the calling, selection, anointing and ordaining Jehovah the firstborn son in the spirit to be he who was to stand in the stead of the Father in all things pertaining to this temporal creation.
Before the foundation of the earth in the preexistent realm of heaven, it became necessary for the Father to select one from among his spirit children to be anointed and ordained as the Savior of the children of men. The Celestial Father being divinely advanced to the Celestial state, would not retrogress in violation of eternal progression and thus one was needed who was yet a spirit would yet have to come to earth in birth to obtain his body. Such were we as the children of God the Father, being his spirit children.
And when the Father called and ask, 'Whom shall I send?' the lot fell upon him whose right it was, being the firstborn of the Father in the spirit, namely upon Jehovah. And thus did Jehovah answer and state, 'Here am I send me.' God the Father chose his firstborn son as recored in the first case in Abraham, in the second case in response to Lucifer's counter offer as recorded in Moses, and also confirmed by the 'council of determination' as recored in Zechariah 3 which occurred just prior to Lucifer being cast out of heaven. (See Abraham 3:27, Moses 4:1-2; Zechariah 3)
Thus was Jehovah selected by the Father in the preexistence and upon him did the Father anoint and ordain the Power of God, by which power and under the direction of the Father did Jehovah perform the temporal creation of heaven and earth. And thus did Jehovah stand in the stead of the Father as shadowed and typed in the tabernacle and temple performances (Lev. 16:32). And it was Jehovah, our Ministering God in the stead of the Father who did come and visit such as Moses and the prophet Ether, still in the spirit before he did condescend to come to earth to obtain his body.
"And the Lord said unto him [Ether]: Because of thy faith thou
hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood; and never has man come
before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast, . . .
"And when he [Ether] had said these words, behold, the Lord showed himself
unto him, and said, Because thou knowest these things ye are
redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence;
therefore I show myself unto you.
"Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to
redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father** and the Son.
In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall
believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters.
"And never have I showed myself unto man whom I have created, for never has
man believed in me as thou hast. Seest thou that ye are created after mine
own image? Yea, even all men were created in the beginning after mine own
image." ~ (Ether 3:9 & 13-15)
And thus did the ancient prophet of the Jaredite nation so see and commune with Jehovah/Jesus Christ long before when Moses did also commune with God Jehovah, our Ministering God of the Old Testament who stand in the stead of the Father in all things pertaining to this temporal creation. And so did Adam, Enoch and Noah, who were before Moses and Abraham, know him also by the name of Jesus Christ or Jehoshua Messiah (Moses 6:55-57; 7:50-55; 8:23-24).
And when Jesus was born of woman, being that blessed seed so waited for, he was the literal Only Begotten Son of God the Father in the flesh. And this indeed as by the power of the Holy Ghost which over shadowed her did she become expecting a child, a son whose name did Gabriel did declare who would be named JESUS (JEHOSHUA). And yet to my understand was Mary yet a virgin, for in my mind if man can inseminate, by the power of God could not God do as well and more?
And thus did the Son of God come to earth and obtain a body of flesh in order that he, according to the will of the Father, might atone for and redeem the children of God from the fall of Adam. And with his resurrection did Jesus receive the fulness of the glory of God, now also with a Celestial body of flesh and bone. (D&C 130:22)
And now we prepare for and wait upon his Second Coming when Jesus will return to the earth and will thence become our Ruling King of the great Millennial Day. And then upon that culmination he will sit as our Final Judge as we enter into our various degrees of glory.
Now in short and summary, the considered role of the Holy Ghost, which remains as a spirit so as to commune between God and man on the spiritual level exclusively, being able to enter in and touch the spirit of man and to be that comforter and constant companion and joined with the mind, will and power of God serving God and also Jesus Christ in the process.
Now there has been some confusion concerning the Godhead according to the
false doctrine known as the 'Trinity'. That the divine investiture of
empowerment and the role position of Father, Son and Holy Spirit may reside
in but one being is true. And in order for Jehovah the Firstborn son in the
spirit to assume the position of Advocate, Mediator, Intercessor, Temporal
Creator, Redeemer and Final Judge; and to stand in the stead of the Father in
all things peraining unto heaven though yet be a being of this earth and to
provide the possible way of return for all of God the Father's children,
such divine investiture was needful that all heavenly position and power
would reside within but one trusted being who would bridged heaven and earth,
and by, through, in and of whom man could return and by no other way or means
for it to be done (John 14:6). And in fact, only by one who did so pertain or belong
unto this earth or second estate could such ministration so directly
take place in order to provide that means and way of return to heaven (D&C
130:5). And the scriptures do so state it, that Christ was so empowered, as
Paul the apostle so states concerning Jesus Christ:
"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Colossians 2:9
But because of the lack of understanding, certain men imagined and innovated, having supposed this to mean that the three beings of Father, Son and Holy Ghost are but one being. THIS IS NOT SO! It but means that in the one Ministering God Jehovah was the fulness of that power given, that he, when needful, could function as any one of the three in and of his own self, being the anointed and appointed Ministering God, and thus enpowering him to be the one and only means and power by which men might return unto heaven. But by no means does this divine empowerment or divine investiture preclude that Our Father Who art in Heaven, to Whom Jesus returns the glory, and the Holy Ghost who came separately upon the Apostles apart from Jesus Christ, is the same as Jesus Christ. For indeed they are three separate beings engaged but in the same eternal intent and purpose of endeavor to 'bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.' (Moses 1:39)
* From the words of Hymn 284 one might obtain the image that while Kolob is the heavenly feature, a star, which is 'nigh' unto the residence of God, it could also be considered as but a 'directional point', that is from earth in the direction of the star Kolob and then thence traveling in that direction however distant is where God lives. As I don't know more than that, I leave it at that, that there is a place where our Heavenly Father does dwell, thus 'Our Father Who art in Heaven'.
** By that divine investiture bestowed upon him by God the Father in Heaven, did Jehovah come by right to be entitled as Father, that is he did and does stand in the stead of the Father in all things, under the power and direction of the Father did Jehovah create and become the 'Father of Creation' and by that same endowment did Jehovah come to be Mediator, Advocate and Intercessor before Our Father in Heaven and between man and God. And thus further he is our Gospel Father unto whom we are born by water and spirit in the gospel to become his sons and daughters of the atonment, he Jehovah/Jesus Christ being given as the one and only means and way by which man may return unto Heaven. And thus in all meanings and sense may the Son also be addressed as the Father as also Our Father in Heaven except in the sense wherein it is Our Father in Heaven only who is and stands as the Father of our spirits.