Hey Mormons,

We get to watch conference this (next) weekend. YEAH BABY! (Conference is delayed a week)

So, this week at MLC and some other meetings we got to go to, I had the wonderful opportunity to see some of my weakness! How cool! 

Something I have learned for myself this week, is that everything in this church and gospel is centered on Christ. I mean everything. I don't mean that the church is true, and the Book of Mormon is true, and they help us know that this is Christ's true church; I mean that every single darn thing we do in the gospel is made possible because of Christ and His Atonement. Yes, the Priesthood is necessary. Yes it is the governing body of the church. Yes, covenants are important, they are the way we return to our Father. Yes the sacrament and temple are essential, and salvation and exaltation cannot come without them. Yes FHE and mutual and seminary all are needed. But all of these things would be totally hallow and pointless without the Savior. Why do we feel stronger spiritually when we read the Book of Mormon daily? It strengthens our faith in Christ. And an increased faith in Christ gives us greater spiritual power from day to day. As the Book of Mormon puts it, "All things pointing to that great and last sacrifice.. an infinite and eternal sacrifice." These things that we do in the church are necessary and wonderful, but the life-source of the church is Christ, and all these other things are just appendages to Him! They are used as vehicles to help come to Him. From the name of the church to the doctrine, it's all pointing to Him. "The only way whereby man can be saved". Without Him, we are all totally done for. Gone. Ordinances of the gospel are the conditions whereby we are able to access the power and grace of Christ, made possible through His Atoning sacrifice. We are able to make covenants and receive ordinances by having faith in Jesus Christ, and repenting. But all of these things are utterly fruitless without Christ. 

So, in D&C 50 where it says "if it be another way, it is not of God", if the means to happiness and peace in this life, and ultimately exaltation in the next life, are not through Christ, than it is another way, and not of God. It is easy to "gratify our pride, our vain ambition" and to "exercise compulsion" in the church when we are not using the doctrines and ordinances of the Gospel to point ourselves and others to Christ. It's easy to please our own desires when we exclude Christ from the equation. I feel that every problem in this world is a result of us not "relying wholly upon the merits.. and mercy.. and grace" of Christ. Whatever the concern is, it is a result in putting our trust in some thing other than Christ, usually ourselves. 

I haven't realized the significance of the Savior in every single thing we do. In Moses 6 (I think) it says that "This is the plan of salvation." That's it! The Savior is the plan of salvation. 

So, that being said, I'm still imperfectly living the doctrine I am teaching. It'll take some time for the habitual thoughts and actions I have to be changed, but it is easier for me to understand when my focus is on Christ. 

I have often tried to put Christ as a second-place to the Priesthood, or to teaching by the Spirit, or to temple ordinances, or to being a son, or a brother, or a friend, or to serving, etc., and it means I'm putting my trust in myself. Unless a doctrine, teaching, ordinance, or activity is pointing individuals to Christ, it is without fruit, it is as "sounding brass, or tinkling symbol". The Savior said, "No man cometh unto the Father but by me". If that is true, and if we are all trying to return to the Father, than we can only get there through the Savior. that's it! To know the Father is to know the Son. To know the Son is to know the Father. No other book teaches the importance of the Savior and His Atonement like the Book of Mormon, the keystone of the religion of which Christ is the chief cornerstone. 

As a missionary I get to see first hand the filth in the world. I've been able to see some pretty gross things. So, this led me to think, "What could overcome this? How could this gross iniquity be overcome? And how the heck can I say or do ANYTHING to help this person? I'm only 19 and I have never experienced anything like this??" The more that I teach, the more I realize that the doctrine of the restoration doesn't heal people, and the plan of salvation doesn't heal people, and the Book of Mormon doesn't heal people, but Christ heals people, and all these things are instruments Christ uses to draw us to Him. Everything. It's all about Him. It all points to Him. Without Him, we're all lost. The plan of salvation is for Christ to perform an Atonement so that we can experience the blessing of being like Heavenly Father.   

Moses 6:62  

And now, behold, I say unto you: 

 This is the plan of salvation unto all men, 

through the blood of mine Only Begotten,

 who shall come in the meridian of time.