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THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
WARDS -
From 1A
Jesus Christ, and in the
Holy Ghost.” They believe
that the Bible, along with
the Book of Mormon, is the
word of God. They believe in
the freedom of religion and
in the necessity to be “hon
est, true, chaste, benevolent,
virtuous, and in doing good
to all men.”
They believe that men will
be punished for their own
sins, not for Adam’s trans
gression, and that through
the atonement of Christ, all
mankind may be saved.
I spoke with two Mormon
missionaries from Utah
who are serving in Warner
Robins, Elder Alex Daily and
Elder Carter Wilford. When
they turn 19, Mormons can
choose to go on a two-year
mission to evangelize any
where in the world. They
are not paid for this work.
They have to raise their own
money to finance the mis
sion.
When asked if their church
would be considered to be
Christian, Elder Wilford said
the core belief of the Church
is that “God is our heavenly
father and he sent his Son to
Earth to die for our sins so
we could return to live with
Him.”
“We are no different from
MEDICARE
From 1A
coverage. (She is).
“There’s a thousand dif
ferent forms of confusion,
but almost everyone’s con
fused,” said Robert Hayes,
head of the Medicare Rights
Center, a consumer group.
The government has tout
ed its Web site, http://www.
medicare.gov, where senior
citizens can compare plans
on spreadsheets, and it has
urged people to consult their
families and their doctors.
Hayes said its unrealistic
to expect doctors to shoul
der the burden of explain
ing the plans. “In an ideal
world, which is long past
in this economy, physicians
could sit down and become
experts and counsel their
patients. That doesn’t hap
pen today because there’s
so much time pressure on
every doctor,” he said.
Federal and local health
officials and insurance com
panies have tried to provide
workshops on the new pro
gram.
The Philadelphia Senior
Center has hosted about a
dozen workshops and semi
nars over the past couple of
months, but not many peo
ple have been enrolling in
the program, said executive
director Tamara Moreland.
She said she suspects they
prefer to keep their current
coverage. “I hope it isn’t
that they don’t understand
it,” she added.
Philadelphia senior center
counselor Gloria Mack said
she herself was confused by
the training she received
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any other church,” said
Elder Daily. “Where they
have a pope or minister, we
have a Prophet.”
They also assured me that,
while polygamy was prac
ticed in the early years of
the church in order to raise
their numbers, it is now con
sidered to be an excommuni
cable offense.
The Book or Mormon came
about when God command
ed the Prophet Lehi in 600
B.C. to gather a small group
of people and lead them to
America. There they estab
lished a great civilization.
After Jesus was resurrected
He went to America and
ministered to these people.
God continued to call proph
ets from these people and
the Book of Mormon is a
collection of the writings of
their prophets.
The Church of Latter Day
Saints cannot be considered
a Protestant church since
they never broke off from
the Catholic Church. Its
members believe that after
the death of the original
apostles, there happened
what is called the Apostasy,
or a general falling away
from the truth of Christ’s
teachings. God then took
the priesthood authority and
His Church from the earth.
on the program. “Oh, my
God,” Mack recalled think
ing. “I’m confused, and I’m
not a senior.”
At the Clairemont
Friendship Senior Center
in San Diego, confusion ran
high even after Medicare
officials held a briefing
there in November. Several
elderly people said their
private insurers automati
cally signed them up for a
plan, but they did not know
whether they were getting
the best deal.
“The government should
have just said, 'You pay so
much and all your drugs
are covered,”’ said Dorothy
Morrill, 70, whose PacifiCare
Health Systems Inc.’s
Secure Horizons plan signed
her up for coverage with a
$44 monthly premium.
Nearby, at Allen Pharmacy
in San Diego, owner Roger
Fetterly said he worries that
some of his customers will
find that their plan does not
cover the drugs they need.
“We have a group of people
who either don’t open their
mail or open and don’t read
it,” Fetterly said. “They just
don’t know anything about
what’s going on.”
Others say they are not
good with computers or do
not want to burden their chil
dren by asking for advice.
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That authority was what
was given to Smith.
The Church of Latter Day
Saints is organized around
regional temples. The near
est to Warner Robins is in
Atlanta. Local churches are
called wards and they are
grouped into stakes, which
contain eight or ten wards.
A stake is no different from a
ward except that it is larger
so it can host meetings of the
nearby wards. There are two
wards in Warner Robins, and
one in Perry. There are also
wards in Cochran, Gray and
Milledgeville. Their stake is
located in Macon.
A temple is not an actual
church where services are
held. It is a consecrated holy
site. Sacred ceremonies such
as marriages and baptisms
have to be held in a temple,
or they will not be consid
ered to be bound for all eter
nity.
Mormons are very family
oriented and their genealogi
cal databases are legendary.
If you would like more infor
mation about the Church
of Latter Day Saints, you
can check out the Web site
at www.lds.org. Services are
held Sundays at the churches
in Warner Robins on Draper
Street and on Houston Lake
Road in Perry.
Those who have done their
homework are finding that
the new program doesn’t
always offer advantages.
Mark Silverstein, 66, of
Philadelphia, enrolled in
one of the prescription plans
because he was told his cur
rent Medicaid program would
no longer be offered after
Jan. 1. He called Medicare,
told a representative which
medications he takes, and
was signed up for a plan that
he said would cost him sls a
month.
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1. We believe in God, the
Eternal Father, and in His Son,
Jesus Christ, and in the Holy
Ghost.
2. We believe that men will be
punished for their own sins, and
not for Adam’s transgression.
3. We believe that through the
Atonement of Christ, all man
kind may be saved, by obedi
ence to the laws and ordinanc
es of the Gospel.
4. We believe that the first
principles and ordinances of
the Gospel are: first, Faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ; second,
Repentance; third, Baptism by
immersion for the remission of
sins; fourth, Laying on of hands
for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
5. We believe that a man must
be called of God, by prophecy,
and by the laying on of hands
by those who are in authority, to
preach the Gospel and adminis
ter in the ordinances thereof.
6. We believe in the same
HINCKLEY
From 1A
responsibilities for his
church. Hinckley holds
authority to convey divine
guidance to church members
and direct appointment of
the leaders of every regional
body and local congregation
worldwide and all the tens of
thousands of Mormon mis
sionaries.
This year alone, he vis
ited Africa, Russia, Iceland,
Korea, Taiwan, India and
western Europe - the most
traveled president in church
history. About half of all
Mormons live outside the
United States.
It also falls to Hinckley,
a third-generation Mormon
who was appointed presi
dent in 1995, to respond to
those who question church
practices and teachings.
The denomination has
been criticized in recent
years for the practice of
posthumously baptizing
thousands of deceased Jews
(among them Holocaust
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Mormon Articles of Faith
organization that existed in the
Primitive Church, namely, apos
tles, prophets, pastors, teach
ers, evangelists, and so forth.
7. We believe in the gift of
tongues, prophecy, revelation,
visions, healing, interpretation of
tongues, and so forth.
8. We believe the Bible to be
the word of God as far as it is
translated correctly; we also
believe the Book of Mormon to
be the word of God.
9. We believe all that God has
revealed, all that He does now
reveal, and we believe that He
will yet reveal many great and
important things pertaining to
the Kingdom of God.
10. We believe in the literal
gathering of Israel and in the
restoration of the Ten Tribes;
that Zion (the New Jerusalem)
will be built upon the American
continent; that Christ will reign
personally upon the earth; and,
that the earth will be renewed
victims) and those of other
faiths. Mormons believe
individuals’ ability to choose
a religion continues beyond
the grave.
Asked about the practice,
Hinckley said performing
the baptisms only provides
the option for non-Mormons
to convert, “so there’s no
injury done to anybody.”
The church also has tried
to distance itself from its his
tory of polygamy, but some
fundamentalist Mormons
still support the practice.
Hinckley said the doctrine
of polygamy “came of revela
tion and was discontinued
by revelation.”
“We believe in honoring,
obeying and sustaining the
law. And so, we have very
little sympathy with those
who disobey the law in this
manner,” he said.
Hinckley defended the
church’s practice of disfel
lowshipping, or excommuni
cating, ex-Mormons for what
they have written about the
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and receive its paradisiacal
glory.
11. We claim the privilege
of worshiping Almighty God
according to the dictates of
our own conscience, and allow
all men the same privilege, let
them worship how, where, or
what they may.
12. We believe in being subject
to kings, presidents, rulers, and
magistrates, in obeying, honor
ing, and sustaining the law.
13. We believe in being hon
est, true, chaste, benevolent,
virtuous, and in doing good to
all men; indeed, we may say
that we follow the admonition
of Paul - We believe all things,
we hope all things, we have
endured many things, and
hope to be able to endure all
things. If there is anything virtu
ous, lovely, or of good report
or praiseworthy, we seek after
these things.
denomination. He said this
step has been taken against
“very few” people and only
if they try to damage the
church.
“It’s only when they begin
to teach what they believe
to try to influence others
that action is taken against
them,” he said.
Relations with other
denominations has also been
an issue. Some churches
do not recognize Mormon
baptism, in effect denying
that Mormonism is fully
Christian. The Latter-day •
Saints, through their teach
ings, raise similar questions
about other churches. In
the scriptural Doctrine and
Covenants, Smith taught
that the Mormon church
is “the only true and liv
ing church upon the whole
Earth.”
Hinckley said Mormons
“believe in the virtue in
the lives of other people in
other churches,” and that all
churches “do great good.”
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