Fear Not
Righteousness brings with it its own power and miracles. Whether or not one holds the ordained priesthood of God in the flesh. Love, truth and obedience always finds a way – God’s way.
Shane
Righteousness brings with it its own power and miracles. Whether or not one holds the ordained priesthood of God in the flesh. Love, truth and obedience always finds a way – God’s way.
Shane
Our mother earth was created to save and exalt mankind. She is our foundation. Her battles against sin, war and pollution are as real as ours. Her works, labors and fruits are a testament of her love for us, and God. Praise be to our God, for our Grand Mother Earth, Eden, and all the Lord’s creations upon her!
Shane
The definition of agency is simply, the ability to do good. It is a fruit of the Lord’s atonement. There is nothing negative about it. Everyone has choice, even the adversary, for he chooses how to carry out his purposes. He wanted no agency, therefore he denied himself that privilege. He has placed himself in a position were he cannot, and will not do anything good. We all get what we want. Let us be better agents with our agency, to act, and not be acted upon.
Shane

This post is about conversion in Jesus Christ. Not just about believing in, or even believing Him, but actually in coming to know Him, and then accepting Him as our Savior. Then we can proceed to begin the process of becoming one in Him, or as the scriptures state, atonement, or, at one with him.
I would also emphasize being like Him, as a cucumber becomes a pickle while being fully immersed in the juice formulation, even so, to be like Jesus, we too must be fully in the formulation of His character and traits, with His Spirit to always be with us, around and penetrating within us.
It’s about being like Him, doing as He does, thinking and feeling as He does, being truly converted into his likeness, image and glory. For to be like Him, we must take upon us our true selves, even becoming the best version of who we are, reflecting Him and His goodness in our very countenance and nature. For we truly are His as we become like Him. We come unto Him, to truly be who we really are meant to be.
We are not yet perfect, but can be truly perfect in Christ now, by taking upon us his name, by which we take upon us His yoke. In this we can move forward, equally yoked with him, sharing the load, and pulling side by side together with our Master. A true master is equal as a partner in gospel living. For the pulling is balanced, pulling through the “Oxen’s yoke.” In this partnered relationship of love, both His and ours, we then have the perfect opposition made possible through His perfect balance, omniscience and grace.
As we give our very best efforts, Christ bears and affects His enabling grace and strength into us, which gives us power to pull and move forward. The rest of the needed effort is given by Him in this yoked [sealed] relationship.
This is what it means to be perfect in Christ here and now. To have His yoke or, “to bear His cross.” For with Him we are perfect, until we are made perfect by and through and in him. For it is by God’s grace that we can do anything good in the first place. It is even by Him we move forward. For His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.
Because of this enabling partnership, we are never given more than we can handle, and we can always receive optimal growth, through our struggle of the challenges He gives us for our growth. We can be grateful for these hardships. As we do so together in Christ, we can truly begin to learn to be Closer in Him, and at one. For He is our example and literal life source.
Yes, we indeed need our Jesus! He is OUR Savior. Not some other God’s Son and people’s Savior, but our own! We NEED to trust in our brother Jesus Christ, the Holy and Anointed One, for our survival, perpetuation, joy, happiness and peace. We depend on Him, and we must follow the lead and directions of the Carpenter’s Son. He is ours, Let us be His!
In Him our lives are played out, for He took our lives into His body during the atonement, wherein we can deny ourselves, take up His (our) cross, and follow Him down our true road, to eventually become even as He is. This path is where we all must go. Like the Father, like the Son, like unto us.
Closer In Thee
Even as the Son is in Thee,
I want to be, growing from seed,
Giving glory in holy sanctity,
Closer in Thee.
As the earth is to tree,
I want to be rooted in peace,
Founded in holy increase,
Bound up, never to leave.
My soul’s richness,
Deepens in living waters,
Ever flowing pure and evenly,
In the time we spend in beauty.
My life enlivens with childlike excitement,
Jubilant in divine, holy love,
In unity and celestial thrill,
As we approach time on our sacred hill.
Our love is one of truth,
A tender bond of loyalty.
Giving our whole souls as proof,
Sealed in the bosom of eternity.
I cry out to all families,
Throughout all unending space,
Time and the eternities,
Remember your Godly place!
Secure your family line and home on high,
With relationships divine, husbands and wives,
Children, Fathers, Mothers, Brothers and Sisters,
All entwined throughout eternal lives.
Shane
There is a law higher than The Law of Consecration. The Law of Consecration is to fill up its measure in the fullness of times, or while there is still time on the earth. After such a time, when entropy and decay are no more, and eternal life begins, then, on the glorified, celestialized earth we now call home, we will live The Celestial Law. This is the highest law, and is such that when we interact one with another, we will treat each other as the glorified Gods we are and have become.
Shane
Shane
We as covenant followers of Jesus Christ, who at anytime listen to, and “allow Satan to enter in” by committing sin, are betraying Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. For because we have taken upon us His name, we are doing all things in His name, against Him.
Shane
One day we were solicited by a salesman. We liked the product and let him in to share more. During the presentation we also discussed the Latter-Day Saints, and how we are members of this church. He asked some questions, and with the short time we had I bore my testimony of the first vision and The Book of Mormon. He felt the Holy Spirit.
Because he was a supervising salesman, he was able to lower the price for us without getting special permission. He asked us to make a reasonable offer of what we could afford for a down payment and a monthly payment, which would have been on a three year payment plan, unless we were to pay more into the monthly payments.
He accepted our offer, and then gave us another option which would have been better for him. It was for one-third more a month, and a higher down payment. At that time I had offered him a Book of Mormon, and told him that to me this was worth more than any money could be, and that if he would read from it, I would accept his second offer. He honestly gave his reluctance to do so, and I reassured him that it was up to him, and that to help him we would take the higher price.
He had been impressed with us, and we with him. What he didn’t know, was that this higher price would make it more difficult for us financially, especially it being an obligation for the next 3 years, unless we used our next season’s tax refund to finish paying it off, which would be a while away.
It’s in my prayers, that because we were sacrificing at such a price financially to help him, that he take the opportunity to read The Book of Mormon, and learn the truth for himself.
In my mind came the urgency from Christ and His ministry, “If I have paid such a high price for you to save your soul, ought not ye with the same such urgency, share the gospel with all these My brethren, of whom I have paid so high a price for?”
Please, please, I urge you – share the gospel! Live it, love it, and rejoice in it with all your heart, mind and fellow Saints! Be open minded for the Lord’s desperate pleadings for you to follow His holy will, and share his loving, saving gospel, atoning sacrifice and care for all! Desperate is the need, urgent is the call!
Shane
The atonement and its coverage is infinite and eternal, and covers everyone with certainty through spiritual underpinnings. Yet for one to make the highest kingdom and glory, namely the Celestial Kingdom, or highest Heaven, the gospel must be learned, accepted and lived, including faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and becoming a member of Christ’s covenants and Church upon receiving the confirmation of The Gift of the Holy Ghost, and then truly living thereby. However, those who do make it to the Celestial Kingdom, will only do so, by the Lord pleading our case. For in this, there is true joy and peace.
There is forgiveness in the life hereafter, for those who have as yet not been taught by the servants of the Lord about their Redeemer, and His gospel plan of happiness. For there is much preaching and teaching taking place in the spirit world, where those who have passed, are awaiting their resurrection. But for those who have had ample understanding and have been pricked in their hearts to know the truth, but have not lived it, and have knowingly rebelled, these are they whom are sent to outer darkness, where there shall be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.
All of these, who have not partaken of repentance, will spend some time in this place of cleansing, known in The Book of Mormon as, Outer Darkness. This is where one will truly be purified, although not in an easy way. It will be through the fire and brimstone burning process, wherein their Spirits will be burned clean. Then, they will be sent to the kingdom of glory most suited for them, either the Terrestrial, or the Telestial. This is according to how they lived their life, with what they had, understood, and felt. They will also be judged according to the desires of their hearts, so Jesus’ atonement will always have a good effect.
Once those who have suffered in Outer Darkness have been fully cleansed, they are free to leave and receive either the second, or third resurrection, according to which ever Kingdom of Glory they will be restored unto. Either the second resurrection unto the Terrestrial Kingdom or the third resurrection unto the Telestial Kingdom.
All who enter into this place of Outer Darkness shall leave, except for the sons of Perdition, and Lucifer and his devils, or fallen angels. The sons of Perdition are those who fully knew the Lord in this life, and His love and grace completely, and then knowingly and purposely chose Lucifer over Jesus Christ (this will be very few in number), of which it is said, it were better for them to have not been born. These, along with Satan and his devils, will remain in the burning and brimstone of outer darkness, until they are fully clean and called up on the marvelous day of reconciliation, when ALL God’s children will be called up unto the next eternal life, of again another first, second and third estate, or, pre-earth, earth, and post earth life, in a higher phase of existence and eternal progression.
Lucifer will then, as in the story of the prodigal son, come to himself, and work his long way back to the Father’s house. By then, he and his followers will have been understood for their role in helping us acheive our eternal life, and will have been fully forgiven by all. He and they will then be able once again, to move forward in the eternal plan of progression for all God’s children. He in fact, at this time, needed to go through the experience of utter and total rebellion, to be able to see for himself that, he did everything that could have been done to destroy God’s plan, and it couldn’t be done. And now being clean, he will start over in his progress and relationship with God and his fellow man.
Shane
For a message about the atonement and the fall, the atonement is the rectification of the breaking of a universal law, in which the outcome is known in general terms as, “the fall.” This atonement is also the blessing of the entire human family throughout all the eternities. So much of how we allow the atonement’s reach to be for us in the eternities, depends on our faithfulness according to the light and knowledge we have and receive here. In other words, we are to do the very best we can, with what we have and are given.
This fall, which started in the garden of Eden, made possible the birth of sin into this world through disobedience, and introduced an unhealthy substance to the bodies of Adam and Eve, namely, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
This unhealthy fruit, coupled with their disobedience of the given commandment, introduced them to a body no longer spiritually Intune to their spirits with purity, and caused them to have a fallen body, and a separated spiritual affect as well. Because of sin however, in this state, Adam and Eve could now understand the difference between good and evil, and could be fully accountable. Christ’s atonement would no longer be automatically applied to them because they ‘knew’ no sin, in their previous pure and innocent state. They would now have to actively supplicate and seek out the Lord and His forgiveness.
Having deliberately disobeyed the Father, and partaking of this unhealthy food, their bodies were then subject to death, and because they were fallen, they became able to have seed, or children. For even as every seed must die before it can bring forth life, so too their bodies needed to die to produce seed. It is because of the atonement that their lives were prolonged, in the which space they were granted a time to repent and learn from their mistakes. This change allowed them to fully and actively exercise the gift of agency, which is the ability to do good in this fallen world, choosing the right.
Before the fall, Jesus’ forthcoming atonement covered them in any wrong choices they may have made unknowingly, because they were innocent, not comprehending the difference between right and wrong. Their choice to partake of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a transgression, because they had been specifically told by God not to do it, even though they didn’t fully understand why. Therefore, partaking is called a transgression, rather than a sin, because they didn’t understand the difference between good and evil.
Such was their predicament in being innocent, without wisdom or knowledge. Therefore, Eve needed to partake of the fruit, and Adam also, to learn for themselves, and progress from grace to grace, through the atonement of Jesus Christ. It was once they understood the opposites of right and wrong, that they could then learn from their mistakes, and repent of them.
As is stated in LDS doctrine, partaking of the fruit gave their bodies the ability to have children, through the effect the fall had on them. God, who is without sin, and who cannot create anything in sin, had to create them in this state of innocence, to then try them with the commandments to not partake of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, which would bring about sin, and a knowledge of sin for Adam and Eve, but also the ability to multiply and replenish the earth.
Even as the atonement was already part of God’s plan before sending us to this earth, so too was the fall. God knew they had to have children, and so He commanded them to do so, but He could not create Adam and Eve into a fallen state, with the opportunity to have children, so it was up to their choice to transgress, to be able to have children, and to then carry out His purposes for His children, which purpose is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
Truly this fall, which not only changed Adam and Eve by introducing death to their bodies, and the ability to have seed, or children, it also changed the earth into a corruptible state, bringing about entropy and decay.
Christ is the rectification of this fall, using it to further the growth and potential of mankind, through turning something hard and sorrowful, into something good and meaningful, even glorious, by learning from our mistakes and repenting. So is this life.
Indeed, the Tree of Life planted in the garden of Eden was God’s pinnacle creation in the garden, in terms of plant life, and man, the pinnacle of his creation, even after the image and likeness of Himself and His Son Jesus Christ. The tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was originally planted there by God as a fig tree, but through the evil influence of Satan and his devils, who were purposely cast down to earth, they wrought upon it, and it became unclean, thus unfit for Adam and Eve’s bodies to partake of.
There is always a little bit of bad to everything good, and a little bit of good to everything bad, so we know in the Garden of Eden, this had to be, for there is always opposition in all things. With a bit of bad to a greatness of good, or a lot of bad to a little of good, we know that all things must be a compound in one, for if not, it must needs be as dead or as naught. Our task is to choose the better part, or good.
Satan and his followers were cast down to earth by God, with the tree there, and helped start the process of earth life for God’s children, that they could suffer, have joy, learn, grow, have children, progress and die, all toward the purpose of becoming more like Him.
The Atonement takes something which would by itself be the destruction of mankind (the fall), and raises mankind’s course upward into the celestial realms, where attainment to godhood is made possible. For as a child can become like their parents, so too can we, as literal children of our Father in Heaven, become like Him.
As was God’s plan in the beginning, He wanted us to be like Him, and to do this, we had to pass through mortality as He once had, walk in the path wrought out by our Savior through His holy atonement, and come unto Him, repent and keep His commandments.
With such a glorious gift as this, is it any wonder that those who understand this atonement and live by it, truly rejoice in their love and relationship with our Savior? Our Savior lives! He is the course of true joy and happiness! He understands all of us and our needs and concerns, and cares perfectly. How? Through the atonement. Because He experienced it. He also carries us, and lessens the burdens we carry, only to the degree we can bear, that we too can experience growth from trial. This is essential. We need to go to Him, and not try doing things by ourselves, for this truly is, the great plan of happiness!
Shane
Originally written on PoetrySoup.com
Suplimented by Shane Brown
See end of post for reference
Poetry can be said to be a careful, inventive and creative consideration of words, written in order to convey thoughts and meaning as a literary arrangement, but it is so much more. Usually, but not always, poems are written and designed to evoke powerful emotion, and spiritual upliftment. In essence, poetry can manifest itself as a two-word phrase, in the spoken word, or a one-thousand-page book, like the scriptures, poetry can be inspired and relevant wisdom for our day and journey home.
The word poetry comes from the ancient Greek, Poieo. Translated it means, “I create.” True poetry, when it is well written, goes much deeper than words on a page. For God uses His words to create, as He did the earth and universe. Poetry then is the language of creation. It comes from the inspiration and gift of the Holy Spirit, through the experience and expertise of the artist’s life, and obedience to the truths they already know. The ability to use the written word to create, change, and impress upon the heart and mind enlightenment, such is the powerful reach of words. Poetry’s use of language to open the righteous imaginations of one’s heart of hearts, and mind of minds is unique and unprecedented.
Much like sculptors who carve in stone, and painters who bring a canvas “to life,” a poet’s medium for expressive art as a form is unending through the written word. Poetry is an art of the heart, mind and Spirit, using both the purity of any given language, to create, and bring together light, power, truth and purity. Poetry is also a state of being, known as having and living with The Gift of the Holy Ghost. This is a gift higher than just having the presence of the Holy Ghost. This gift is only found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in the which people are given the opportunity to have this gift, upon exercising faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism by one holding the proper priesthood authority and keys, and being confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ, upon receiving this, The Gift of the Holy Ghost. But in order to truly live with this, the extra power of the Gift of the Holy Ghost, one must live righteously, according to the dictates of the Holy Ghost thereof.
When people think of poetry, they think of rhythm and flow. While this is a widely known and accepted form, there are many types of poems that don’t rhyme or follow any direct rules. In fact, some of the greatest and well-loved poets in history pushed the limits and broke the mold of what was considered acceptable prose.
Something meaningful should not be restrained by trying to express it in a certain casted art form. Instead of thinking that creation should be limited in the way of its expressed nature, think of it in this way, an apple is an apple, and a melon is a melon, and they shouldn’t be attempted to be forced into a mold of any other fruit. Nor removed, or limited in the types of fruit there can be. Also, one should not try to grow an apricot tree, by planting a peach seed, but recognize that true unity is found in uniqueness.
As a means of example, Think of doing this poetic metaphorical exercise as a test: What does it mean to try to fit a fragrant rose into a teardrop? Then try to limit this metaphor into a rigid grid, or oddly shaped box, which has no complimentary form other than conformity, to rules which don’t apply to the subject at hand. Such is the limiting methods of many formal structures. Art and creation is an individual, and unique experience, and cannot be expected to fit into all the rigid rules of the early past, wherein prose were to be structured into very specific boundaries.
While there is great talent required to do so, and skilled craftsmen can do this, still, where then can be the discovery of new truths and ideas, wherein the ever changing and evolving world we live in can stretch, grow and reach out for another era of thinking and improvement.
Now consider the abilities of words to speak to us, make us feel good, hopeful, loving and faithful. Also, when something from any art medium stirs feelings and emotions, giving our imaginations the freedom to roam and discover new possibilities, uplifting ideas and truths, it is considered poetic. For example, a wholesome dance performance can also be called poetical, for showing good rhythm and worthy movement, portraying a story and creating good feelings by using the art form of expressive dance, scenery, props and music. The artists, or dancers, can help positively influence another’s thoughts and emotions.
Poetry is a form of art which uses words to express, whose expression is used to reveal, interpret, and express things which would otherwise be difficult to understand. As an example, consider these inspired writings, all the holy scriptures were written under the inspiration of revelation, the spirit of prophecy and The Gift of the Holy Ghost. This is true poetry in the written Word.
Poetry moves, speaks and creates. The Word of God brings about change in the forming of something new and wondrous in every living soul, in every eternal moment. Whether it is in sustaining life, love, nature, humor or spirituality, poetry has been, and will continue to be used to interpret these blessings.
What life cannot easily express, poetry can. What love cannot articulate, poetry will. What nature cannot say, poetry does, in a way that does not duplicate, but compliments. Under the heavens, poetry is the great interpreter of life.
Misc. Poetry Pages
Shane
Original Article Source: Poetry Soup Article (What is Poetry)