Gospel Topics

There Is A God!

All things denote that there is a God, the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, its motion, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator. There are millions of stars and planets all in perfect order. They did not get there by chance. We can see the work of God in the heavens and on the earth. The many beautiful plants, the many kinds of animals, the mountains, the rivers, the clouds that bring us rain and snow. All these things testify to us that there is a God!

God Is the Ruler of Heaven and Earth

The prophets have taught us that God is the almighty ruler of the universe. God dwells in heaven. Through his Son, Jesus Christ, he created heaven and earth and all things that are in them. He made the moon, the stars, and the sun. He organized this world and gave it form, motion, and life. He filled the air and the water with living things. He covered the hills and plains with all kinds of animal life. He gave us day and night, summer and winter, seedtime and harvest.

He made man in his own image to be a ruler over his other creations (see Genesis 1:26�27). God is the one supreme and absolute being in whom we believe and whom we worship. He is the Creator, Ruler, and preserver of all things.

What Kind of Being Is God?

Because we are made in his image, we know that God has a body that looks like ours. His eternal spirit is housed in a tangible body of flesh and bones. God�s body, however, is perfected and glorified, with a glory beyond all description. God is perfect. He is a God of love, mercy, charity, truth, power, faith, knowledge, and judgment. He has all power. He knows all things. He is full of goodness.

All good things come from God. Everything that he does is to help his children become like him � a god. He has said, �Behold, this is my work and my glory�to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man� (Moses 1:39).

Why Should We Try to Know God?

Knowing God is so important that the Savior said, �This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent� (John 17:3).

The first and greatest commandment tells us, �Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart� (Matthew 22:37). The more we know God, the more we love him and keep his commandments (see 1 John 2:3). By keeping his commandments we can become like him.

How Can We Know God?

We can know God if we will�

• Believe that he exists and that he loves us.
• Study the scriptures (see 2 Timothy 3:14�17).
• Pray to him (see James 1:5).
• Obey all his commandments as best we can (see John 14:21�23).

As we do these things, we will come to know God and eventually have eternal life.

We Are Children of Our Heavenly Father

God is not only our ruler and creator; he is also our Heavenly Father. �All men and women are . . . literally the sons and daughters of Deity. . . . Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal [physical] body.

Every person who was ever born on earth was our spirit brother or sister in heaven. The first spirit born to our heavenly parents was Jesus Christ, so he is literally our elder brother. Because we are the spiritual children of our heavenly parents, we have inherited the potential to develop their divine qualities. If we choose to do so, we can become perfect, just as they are.

We Developed Personalities and Talents While We Lived in Heaven

The scriptures teach us that the prophets prepared themselves to become leaders on earth while they were still spirits in heaven (see Alma 13:1�3). God foreordained (chose) them to be his leaders on earth before they were born into mortal bodies. Jesus, Adam, and Abraham were some of these leaders. (See Abraham 3:22�23.) Joseph Smith taught that everyone who has a calling to lead people on earth in the Church was foreordained to do so.

However, everyone is free on earth to accept or reject the calling. We were not all alike in heaven. We were given different talents and abilities, and we were called to do different things on earth. Even though we have forgotten, our Father in Heaven remembers who we were and what we did before we came here. He has chosen the time and place for each of us to be born so we can learn the lessons we personally need and do the most good with our individual talents and personalities.

Our Heavenly Parents Desired to Share Their Joy with Us Our heavenly parents provided us with a celestial home more glorious and beautiful than any place on earth. We were happy there. Yet they knew we could not progress beyond a certain point unless we left them for a time. They wanted us to develop the godlike qualities that they have. To do this, we needed to leave our celestial home to be tested and to gain experience. We needed to choose good over evil.

Our spirits needed to be clothed with physical bodies. We would need to leave our physical bodies at death and reunite with them in the Resurrection. Then we would receive immortal bodies like those of our heavenly parents. If we passed our tests, we would receive the fulness of joy that our heavenly parents have received.

Our Heavenly Father Presented a Plan for Us to Become like Him

Since we could not progress further in heaven, our Heavenly Father called a Grand Council to present his plan for our progression. We learned that if we followed his plan, we would become like him. We would have a resurrected body; we would have all power in heaven and on earth; we would become heavenly parents and have spirit children just as he does.

We learned that he would provide an earth for us where we would be tested. A veil would cover our memories, and we would forget our heavenly home. This would be necessary so we could choose good or evil without being influenced by the memory of living with our Heavenly Father. Thus we could obey him because of our faith in him, not because of our knowledge or memory of him. He would help us recognize the truth when we heard it again on earth.

At the Grand Council we also learned the purpose for our progression: to have a fulness of joy. However, we also learned that not all of our Father�s children would want to receive a fulness of joy. Some of us would be deceived, choose other paths, and lose our way. We learned that all of us would have trials in our lives: sickness, disappointment, pain, sorrow, and death. But we understood that these would be given to us for our experience and our good. If we allowed them to, these trials would purify us rather than defeat us. They would teach us to have endurance, patience, and charity.

At this council we also learned that because of our weakness, all of us would sin. We learned that a Savior would be provided for us so we could overcome our sins and overcome death with resurrection. We learned that if we placed our faith in him, obeying his word and following his example, we would be exalted and become like our heavenly parents. We would receive a fulness of joy.

A Savior and Leader Was Needed

When the plan for our salvation was presented to us in the spirit world, we were so happy that we shouted for joy.

We understood that we would have to leave our heavenly home for a time. We would not live in the presence of our heavenly parents. While we were away from them, all of us would sin and some of us would lose our way. Our Heavenly Father knew and loved each one of us. He knew we would need help, so he planned a way to help us.

We needed a Savior to pay for our sins and teach us how to return to our Heavenly Father. Our Father said, �Whom shall I send?� (Abraham 3:27). Two of our brothers offered to help. Our oldest brother, Jesus Christ, who was then called Jehovah, said, �Here am I, send me� (Abraham 3:27).

Jesus was willing to come to the earth, give his life for us, and take upon himself our sins. He, like our Heavenly Father, wanted us to choose whether we would obey Heavenly Father�s commandments. He knew we must be free to choose in order to prove ourselves worthy of exaltation. Jesus said, �Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever� (Moses 4:2).

Satan, who was called Lucifer, also came, saying, �Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor� (Moses 4:1). Satan wanted to force us all to do his will. Under his plan, we would not be allowed to choose. He would take away the freedom of choice that our Father had given us. Satan wanted to have all the honor for our salvation.

Jesus Christ Became Our Chosen Leader and Savior

After hearing both sons speak, Heavenly Father said, �I will send the first� (Abraham 3:27). Jesus Christ was chosen and ordained to be our Savior. Many scriptures tell about this. One scripture tells us that long before Jesus was born, he appeared to the brother of Jared, a Book of Mormon prophet, and said: �Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. . . . In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name� (Ether 3:14).

When Jesus lived on earth, he taught: �I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. . . . And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day� (John 6:38,40).

The War in Heaven

Because our Heavenly Father chose Jesus Christ to be our Savior, Satan became angry and rebelled. There was war in heaven. Satan and his followers fought against Jesus and his followers. In this great rebellion, Satan and all the spirits who followed him were sent away from the presence of God and cast down from heaven. One-third of the spirits in heaven were punished for following Satan: they were denied the right to receive mortal bodies.

Because we are here on earth and have mortal bodies, we know that we chose to follow Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Satan and his followers are also on the earth, but as spirits. They have not forgotten who we are, and they are around us daily, tempting us and enticing us to do things that are not pleasing to our Heavenly Father. In our premortal life, we chose the right. We must continue to choose the right here on earth. Only by following Jesus can we return to our heavenly home.

We Have the Savior�s Teachings to Follow

From the beginning, Jesus Christ has revealed the gospel, which tells us what we must do to return to our Heavenly Father. At the appointed time he came to earth himself. He taught the plan of salvation and exaltation by his word and by the way he lived. He established his Church and his priesthood on the earth. He took our sins upon himself.

By following the Lord�s teachings, we can return to live with him and our heavenly parents in the celestial kingdom. He was chosen to be our Savior when we all attended the great council with our heavenly parents. When he became our Savior, he did his part to help us return to our heavenly home. It is now up to each of us to do our part and become worthy of exaltation.

Freedom To Choose

God has told us through his prophets that we are free to choose between good and evil. We may choose liberty and eternal life by following Jesus Christ. We are also free to choose captivity and death by following Satan. The right to choose between good and evil is called free agency.

Agency Is an Eternal Principle

In the premortal life we were free agents. That means we had power to act for ourselves. One purpose of earth life is to show what choices we will make. If we were forced to choose the right, we would not be able to show what we would choose for ourselves. Also, we are happier doing things when we have made our own choices.

Agency may have been one of the first issues to arise in the premortal council in heaven. It was one of the main causes of the conflict between the followers of Christ and the followers of Satan. Satan said he would bring all of us back to our Father�s presence, but he would have taken away our agency. When his offer was rejected, he rebelled and was cast out of heaven with his followers.

Agency Is a Necessary Part of the Plan of Salvation

Agency makes our life on earth a period of testing. When planning the mortal creation of his children, God said, �We will prove [test] them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them. Without the gift of agency, we would have been unable to show our Heavenly Father whether we would do all that he commanded us. Because we are able to choose, we are responsible for our actions.

When we choose to live according to God�s plan for us, our agency is strengthened. Right choices increase our power to make more right choices. As we obey each of our Father�s commandments, we grow in wisdom and strength of character. Our faith increases. We find it easier to make right choices.

We began to make choices as spirit children in our Heavenly Father�s presence. Our choices there made us worthy to come to earth. Our Heavenly Father wants us to grow in faith, power, knowledge, wisdom, and all other good things. If we keep his commandments and make right choices, we will learn and understand. We will become like him.

Agency Requires That There Be a Choice

We cannot choose unless the opposites of good and evil are placed before us. Lehi, a great Book of Mormon prophet, told his son that in order to bring about the eternal purposes of God, there must be �an opposition in all things. If not so, . . . righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad� (2 Nephi 2:11).

God allows Satan to oppose the good

God said of Satan: �I caused that he should be cast down; �And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice� (Moses 4:3�4).

Satan does all he can to destroy God�s work. He seeks �the misery of all mankind, . . . for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself� (2 Nephi 2:18, 27). He does not love us. He does not want any good thing for us. He does not want us to be happy. He wants to make us his slaves. He uses many disguises to capture us.

When we follow the temptations of Satan, we limit our choices. The following example suggests how this works. Imagine seeing a sign on the seashore that reads: �Danger� whirlpool. No swimming allowed here.� We might think that is a restriction. But is it? We still have many choices. We are free to swim somewhere else. We are free to walk along the beach and pick up seashells. We are free to watch the sunset. We are free to go home. We are also free to ignore the sign and swim in the dangerous place. But once the whirlpool has us in its grasp and we are pulled under, we have very few choices. We can try to escape, or we can call for help, but we may drown.

Even though we are free to choose our course of action, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions. The consequences, whether good or bad, follow as a natural result of any choice we make. If we touch a hot flame, for example, we are burned.

Heavenly Father has told us how to escape the captivity of Satan. We must watch and pray always, asking God to help us withstand the temptations of Satan. Our Heavenly Father will not allow us to be tempted beyond our power to resist.

God�s commandments direct us away from danger and toward eternal life. By choosing wisely, we will gain exaltation, progress eternally, and enjoy perfect happiness.