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HOME PAGE of PATRICK SCHONE

The Christus

RELIGION

This page provides links regarding The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also called the LDS Church or the Mormons.

The page also includes some useful materials for the High Priests Group in Columbia, MD.

INFORMATION DIRECTLY FROM THE CHURCH

  • Church's Website

  • General Church Information for those less familiar with the Church

  • How to achieve self-reliance through provident living.

  • The Church's genealogic website

  • Ward's Website (requires password)

  • Priesthood lesson schedules (requires password)

    • INTERESTING SITES: CHURCH STATS

    Interest Map of LDS in The United States

    Other Statistics / Religious Information

    PERSONAL DESCRIPTIONS ABOUT THE CHURCH

  • I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is truly as it claims to be -- the Church of Jesus Christ.
  • I have a testimony that Jesus Christ leads and direct the affairs of the Church through a living prophet today, Gordon B. Hinckley and, just as in ancient times, He has established apostles, teachers, bishops (pastors), priests, patriarchs (evangelists), and so forth -- to help lead and guide His Church.
  • I testify to you that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a restored Church, meaning that it is not a break-off of some other church but is actually the restoration of the ancient Church of Jesus Christ after there was an 1700-year apostasy (that is, a time when the Gospel and the authority thereof where removed from the earth).
  • I testify, with all feeling of my soul, that I truly know that the authority to lead the Church and administer in the ordinances thereof -- that is, the Priesthood of God -- has been restored to the earth through the first prophet in these last days -- Joseph Smith. He was a true prophet and he received the Priesthood authority from the resurrected John the Baptist and the resurrected (and translated) Peter, James, and John ... the early apostles of Jesus Christ.
  • I know that this authority has been passed down to our day by the laying on of hands by those who have that authority. With it, the affairs of the Church can be conducted and the miracles that Christ performed can again be observed in our day. I have personally been healed through a Priesthood blessing and that healing was miraculous to me. I have also received baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost through this Priesthood -- and I know the Holy Ghost is real.
  • Furthermore, Joseph Smith received additional authority -- including the keys of the literal gathering of ancient Israel (through Moses) and the keys to bind in heaven that which has been bound on earth (through Elijah). The first of these keys is actively seen in the Church's missionary work, where members try to share the Gospel with those with whom they come in contact and where young men and women (and some couples) leave house and home and pay their own ways to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and seek to find the scattered and lost Tribes of Israel. The second key, also called the key of sealing is actively observed in LDS temples, where the keys are used to seal together husbands to their wives for ALL time and eternity -- not just until death as well as sealing children to their parents. This blessed key also means that baptism and other saving ordinances can be performed by proxy in the temple so that those individuals who never knew the Gospel in this life but would have accepted it if they had known can have all the full blessings of these ordinances as those who are living. The key is also observed in the Church's extensive family history effort to seek after our kindred dead.
  • With regard to Joseph Smith, I know that he was able to bring to pass a marvelous work and was able to receive and translate an ancient record of the people who lived on the American continent. These people had prophesies and truly knew Christ, their Savior, and testified of Him. And, after His resurrection, He visited these people and established His Church among them. The records of these people are TRUE, and they are found in what is known as The Book of Mormon. I know that this Book is true, and that it stands, along with the Bible, as another witness of the divinity of the Savior Jesus Christ.
  • I testify that the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the Gospel -- meaning that it describes all things that are necessary for us to return to live with our Heavenly Father. It describes how this life is a probationary time .. a time to prepare to meet God. We lived with our Father in Heaven as spirits prior to coming to earth, and we came to earth to be tested and to receive a mortal body. Our sins and the fact that we can die would prevent us from returning to our Heavenly Father since "no unclean thing can enter the kingdom of God;" however, Christ's Atoning sacrifice and his resurrection paved the way whereby we may, through our repentence and our obedience, return to live again with our Heavenly Father.
  • As Christ returned and took upon Himself an immortal body upon His resurrection, so, too, will we all. Also, as His Atoning sacrifice paid for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane and upon the cross at Calvary, if we will have faith in Him, repent of our sins, and obey and follow Him, we truly can have eternal life -- which is to live forever as perfected immortals with our Father in Heaven and with our families, with the potential of eternal offspring and becoming inheritors of the Kingdom of God.
  • Lastly, I testify that Jesus Christ has born our sins and felt our sorrows. He was the Great Jehovah prior to taking upon Himself a mortal body. He took upon Himself a mortal body that He could show us mortals the way back to Heaven, and, at His Father's command, He was willing to bow Himself down and suffer humiliation, degradation, agony, and death so that He might pave the way for His brothers and sisters to return to Father. Without His sacrifices, all mankind would be lost. He is our mediator with the Father, and, at the last judgment, He will be our merciful judge. And in His name I testify of these things, that you may know the truth.

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