"8 And again, I exhort you, my brethren, that ye deny not the gifts of God, for they are many; and they come from the same God. And there are different ways that these gifts are administered; but it is the same God who worketh all in all; and they are given by the manifestations of the Spirit of God unto men, to profit them.
"9 For behold, to one is given by the Spirit of God, that he may teach the word of wisdom;
"10 And to another, that he may teach the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
"11 And to another, exceedingly great faith; and to another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
"12 And again, to another, that he may work mighty miracles;
"13 And again, to another, that he may prophesy concerning all things;
"14 And again, to another, the beholding of angels and ministering spirits;
"15 And again, to another, all kinds of tongues;
"16 And again, to another, the interpretation of languages and of divers kinds of tongues.
"17 And all these gifts come by the Spirit of Christ; and they come unto every man severally, according as he will.
"18 And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that every good gift cometh of Christ." (Moroni 10:8-18)
In this list of gifts, I see many that aren't even talked about at all. Whenever I bring the subject up, I almost invariably get a look of disgust and an answer as if the person I just asked is keeping my question in the regard of a decomposing object held gingerly between two ten-foot poles.
So, in this light, my Mormon friends do believe in a changing God.
Ironic.
If the Mormon leaders who supposedly hold the high priesthood are really that scared of talking about scripture, I'd love to see their expressions when a voodoo practitioner walks into sacrament meeting!
What's The Word To Those Who Think That Spiritual Gifts Are Done Away With?
" 7 And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues;"
"8 Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them.
"9 For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?
"10 And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles." (Mormon 9:7-10)
Kinda Harsh, Huh?
You bet.
Some people are like old television sets; they need to be slapped a couple of times before they get the picture.
This word-slapping—as I'm going to call it—is the only way some of these people can be gotten through to. If Mormon had said something along the lines of: "If ye think that the Gifts of God aren't given to people anymore, you need to kinda repent and stuff; because you sinning a little. But, you're still—"
You see what I mean?
What Mormon does in his words to old television sets is he lays it out flat. No flowery phrases for wording; he needs to get through to people. Speaking plainly is the most effective method of communicating rebukes. Even so, some people are so very closed-minded that only a word from an angel will sway their opinions. (Alma The Younger comes to mind...)
In plain modern-day language, Mormon would've sounded something like this:
"To those of you who are under the misguided impression that Spiritual Gifts aren't around anymore: Get that ******* false doctrine out of your thick sculls this instant! You're dead wrong! God ain't gonna change his policies to suit your comfort zones!" (Moroni 9:7-10, Chalize Translation)
Now, How About That False Doctrine?
If people are misapplying scripture, how do we correct them without getting excommunicated?
Very carefully.
They don't like getting their theories blasted to bits by some member with "strange" ideas.
