OUR JOURNEY TO THE ETERNITIES. . .

MY 'DAILY GEM' FOR TODAY

"People need to know something of our faith as committed Christians with strong traditional values. Along with the Articles of Faith, we need to emphasize that:"We believe in the eternity of the soul, that God is the Father of our spirits, and that we can return to Him after death."We believe that Jesus Christ is our personal Savior, and we try to model our lives after Him and His teachings. We commemorate Christ's atoning sacrifice in our Sunday worship services, similar to taking communion in other churches. We accept as fellow Christians all who believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and the Savior of all mankind. . . . Joseph Smith taught that Jesus Christ is the core of our belief, and everything else is an appendage to it. The name of the Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints."We believe the original church that Jesus established was lost and has been restored again in our day. The priesthood, the authority given to man to act in the name of God, with apostles and a prophet to lead us, has been restored as have all necessary ordinances of salvation."We believe in and we use the Holy Bible, both the Old and New Testaments."And we believe in the Book of Mormon and other books of scripture which support and authenticate the Bible and testify of the ministry and divinity of Christ and of God's ongoing revelation to man. Indeed, the Book of Mormon is 'Another Testament of Jesus Christ.' "

-Elder Russell M. Ballard