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Why Keep the New Commandment of the New Covenant

[Printable pdf copy]

Jesus Christ is the prophet we must hear in all things or be cut off from among God’s people.[1]

III Nephi 9:60,61Behold, I Am He of whom Moses spake, saying: A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you.  And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that Prophet, shall be cut off from among the people.

April 8, 2023, I received a word of warning from the Lord regarding this passage.  The essence of the message was that Jesus Christ is in the very process of cutting off individuals and groups of individuals who say they know His commandments but do not keep them.  Of chief concern is our obedience to His new commandment of the new covenant He mediates,[2] which is stated as follows:

John 13:34,35A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

John 15:10-12If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.  These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.  This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Simply put, those who defy the commands of our Redeemer Lord are being removed from His presence of light and love.[3]

When I received this word, I was assured that everyone who is being cut off from among God’s people is being cut off in accordance with Alma 17:43,44 and Matthew 17:1‑7, as well as III Nephi 9:60,61, Deuteronomy 18:15‑19, and Acts 3:22‑26Hebrews 6:3‑6 with Matthew 5:40-50 are especially important instructions in this regard.  With respect to Joseph’s land,[4] our Lord’s decrees in Ether 1:31-35 with III Nephi 7:34-42 and III Nephi 9:47-106 are in the process of being fulfilled.

Are we not called to remember Jesus Christ and His atonement in all things?  Are we not called to pray with all the energy of our hearts to be filled by the Holy Ghost with His pure and perfect love, charity?[5]  Should not our Lord’s words rule in our hearts by faith, hope, and charity?[6]  Yes they should, and unless we follow His commands,[7] we will become defiled with sensuality and bitterness unto separating ourselves from the Lord’s Spirit.[8]  For without holiness we will not see the Lord.

Hebrews 12:14-16Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord; Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

Since receiving this word of warning on April 8, I have been compelled to urge others to remember the end of our Lord’s commandment, which is charity,[9] and to put on charity as the bond of perfectness and peace[10] through the peace of God in Christ Jesus.[11]

I Timothy 1:5-7Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned;[12] from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.

Colossians 3:12-15Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Being found possessed of charity is the one sure way we know we are abiding in Jesus Christ and that His Spirit of truth is abiding in us.[13]

Moroni 7:52Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail; But charity is the pure love of Christ, And it endureth forever; And whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with them.

Those who receive God’s perfect love in Jesus will no longer have fears but will receive true peace and love in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us to make us holy.[14]

I John 4:15-18Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.  God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, so are we in this world.  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear;[15] because fear hath torment.  He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

April 9, 2023, Offertory Charge

Just before the 11 o’clock preaching service in our home congregation on April 9, 2023, the elder presiding over the service told me he felt I had a message to bring that morning.  He then said he was under the impression it was to be shared during the offertory.  To me, his words confirmed the guidance I had received April 8 from the Lord, so I agreed to deliver the message I had been given.

The following is an outline of the various elements of the offertory charge I gave that day with some added notes of clarification and explanation.

  1. Jesus Christ gave us a new commandment, which He identified as His commandment![16]
    1. This commandment is to love each other sacrificially as He has loved us.[17]
    2. Jesus Christ did not command us or call us to love others unconditionally or by some other way.[18]
    3. While the doctrine of unconditional love might appear to transcend all conditions, it fails to meet our need to address such conditions as described in I John 3:16,17 and elsewhere.
    4. Promoting unconditional love over Jesus Christ’s new covenant love is cowardice because it hides from His command to lay down our lives for Him in sacrificial love.[19]
  2. Jesus Christ requires us to offer Him the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.[20]
    1. Offering this sacrifice to Jesus involves praising Him unto keeping His command to love others as our heavenly Father loves, especially our enemies.[21]
    2. It involves taking up our cross by denying ourselves all ungodliness and following Him.[22]
  3. Jesus Christ said the Holy Ghost (the Spirit of truth, the Comforter) teaches us His words and leads us to keep His commandments.[23]
    1. To speak against or to defy Jesus Christ’s commandments or the instruction His Spirit gives us concerning His words is to speak against the Holy Ghost.
    2. Doing so has severe eternal consequences.[24]
  4. All people who know the will of the Lord but who do not prepare themselves accordingly will be cut off from the Son by the Father as described in John 15:1-14 and D&C 1:1a-3e.[25]
    1. This is true of people who teach and practice unconditional love, because by doing so they dismiss the conditions of repentance as the only true means by which we may come unto God and abide in His love.[26]
    2. To teach unconditional love is to defy the command of the Father and Son to repent and live by the conditions of repentance so we might be saved everlastingly.[27]
    3. Moreover, it is outright defiance of the latter-day command to preach nothing but repentance and faith on Jesus Christ.[28]
    4. In fine, it represents contempt of the only means by which Jesus Christ has power to save us in the everlasting kingdom of heaven.[29]
    5. Thus, to disobey our Lord’s commandments is to remain separated from Him now and on into eternity.[30]
  5. Jesus Christ’s new commandment is tied directly to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
    1. Jesus gave us His new commandment the night He established the sacrament of the Lord’s supper as the new covenant memorial of Himself and as the witness of our willingness to follow Him by keeping His commandments.[31]
    2. In this sacred remembrance of Jesus Christ, we bear witness before our heavenly Father of our willingness to keep all of His Only Begotten Son’s commandments, which includes His new commandment to love each other as He has loved us (i.e. by His example and by His Spirit).[32]
    3. If we are not keeping or seeking to keep His commandments, especially His new commandment of the new covenant, our witness before our heavenly Father is false and will be judged as such by Him.[33]

O, be wise then in the days of your probation,[34] and remember Jesus Christ’s words that He gave to the churches in Ephesus and Laodicea.  According to Jesus, both were His churches.  Even so, our Lord warned them to repent, or they would be removed from His presence.

  1. To the Ephesians, Jesus said: Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.[35]
  2. To the Laodiceans, Jesus said: …because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth… As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore, and repent.[36]

Would it not be wise then to apply these same instructions on repentance to ourselves just as Nephi applied the words of Isaiah to his people?[37]  For it is written:

Hebrews 3:14… we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.[38]

II Peter 3:11-13 – If then all these things shall be destroyed, what manner of persons ought ye to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking unto, and preparing for the day of the coming of the Lord wherein the corruptible things of the heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the mountains shall melt with fervent heat?  Nevertheless, if we shall endure, we shall be kept according to his promise. And we look for a new heavens, and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

The Spirit of truth who restrains evil in this world is now being held back from the unbelieving people of the earth as described in II Thessalonians 2:9-12 and D&C 63:9a.  His absence is allowing the enemy to come in like a flood as described by Isaiah 59:15-21.  If you hope to be preserved by the Lord in these perilous times, remember and apply His new commandment in your daily walk of faith.  Remember also the conditions of repentance by which He has power to save your souls.

Genesis 7:68,69 IVAnd the Lord said unto Enoch, As I live, even so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance, to fulfill the oath I made unto you concerning the children of Noah.  And the day shall come that the earth shall rest.  But before that day the heavens shall be darkened, and a veil of darkness shall cover the earth; and the heavens shall shake, and also the earth.  And great tribulations shall be among the children of men, but my people will I preserve

D&C 38:6a-cBehold, this I have given unto you a parable, and it is even as I am: I say unto you, Be one; and if ye are not one, ye are not mine.  And again I say unto you, that the enemy in the secret chambers seeketh your lives.  Ye hear of wars in far countries, and you say that there will soon be great wars in far countries, but ye know not the hearts of men in your own land.

Finally beloved, remember I Corinthians 3:16,17 with Ezekiel 5:11,12.  As King Benjamin explained in Mosiah 1:79-91, the Lord does not dwell in unholy temples.  Instead, our Lord calls us to repent and come unto Him so we might be made a storehouse of the fruit of His Spirit by which we as one body might bless others.[39]

April 23, 2023, Offertory Charge

On April 23, 2023, the Lord again led the elder presiding over the 11 o’clock worship service in our home congregation to ask me to bring the offertory.  Once again, I was led to draw on Jesus Christ’s new commandment to love each other by His pure and perfect love, charity.  This time I was led to draw on Mormon’s words to his son Moroni about charity and little children.

Moroni 8:18,19Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; For I fear not what man can do; For perfect love casteth out all fear; And I am filled with charity, which is everlasting love; Wherefore, all children are alike unto me; Wherefore, I love little children with a perfect love; And they are all alike and partakers of salvation.  For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable Being, But He is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity.

Late the night before and early that morning, the Lord showed me how III Nephi 9:60,61 is directly connected to Mormon’s words quoted here from Moroni 8.  The key to understanding this association is found in Mormon’s statement that people who think little children need baptism must go down to hell if they are cut off while in the thought.

Moroni 8:15-17Behold, I say unto you that he that supposeth that little children needeth baptism is in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity, for he hath neither faith, hope nor charity; Wherefore, should he be cut off while in the thought, he must go down to hell; For awful is the wickedness to suppose that God saveth one child because of baptism and the other must perish because he hath no baptism; Wo be unto him that shall pervert the ways of the Lord after this manner! For they shall perish, except they repent!

Obviously, Mormon was familiar with III Nephi 9:60,61, having included this passage in his abridgement.  As such, Mormon knew Jesus Christ had said He is the One who cuts people off who do not hear Him in all things.  Mormon also knew why certain people would be cut off and go down to hell for thinking little children need baptism, as explain in Moroni 8.

At issue again is charity and its relation to Jesus’s new commandment.  Jesus had said it is not His Father’s will that any little child should perish.

Matthew 18:12-14How think ye? If a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if it so be that he find it, verily, I say unto you, he rejoiceth more over that which was lost, than over the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

He had also testified that He came to do the will of His Father by laying down His life for the sins of the world.

John 6:38-40For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.  And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 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 in the resurrection of the just at the last day.

John 10:17,18Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.  I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.  This commandment have I received of my Father.

Who can accuse Jesus of sin?  Who can say He did not do and will not do the will of His heavenly Father?  According to the scriptures, Jesus is without sin.[40]  Therefore, by His own words, we are assured that Jesus will save all little children in His kingdom.[41]

But where exactly is the problem with thinking little children need baptism?  To believe a little child needs baptism is to: 1) disbelieve the word of the Father and to cast doubt on His will; and 2) disbelieve the purpose and efficacy of His Son’s atoning sacrifice.  Thus, all who believe or accept infant baptism are unbelievers who fail to honor and abide in the words of Jesus Christ.

Now recall again how Moses and Jesus both testified we must hear Jesus in all things or be cut off from among His people.[42]  Who specifically are the people of whom they spoke?  Little children are most definitely among them.  Who else?  Those who have become like little children according to the words of Jesus.[43]

Matthew 18:2-6And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily, I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.  Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me.  But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.  Woe unto the world because of offenses! For it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh!

Little children are alive in Christ and have been from the foundation of the world.[44]   Those who purposely harm little children are not alive in Christ, having separated themselves from His love for them.  Thus, the unloving will be cut off from the presence of little children and all of the children of Christ who have been born anew through repentance and the baptism of Holy Ghost.

Please understand, if you do not love little children with Christ’s love, you could not possibly enjoy His kingdom, for of such[45] (i.e. little children and those who have been born anew) is the kingdom of heaven.  Do you know for sure if you are indeed filled with the perfect and everlasting love of Christ?  If not, be wise and follow Mormon’s example in his letter to Moroni about little children.

After delivering the offertory on April 23, I received an impress to turn to the following passage:

D&C 108:12f-13bBehold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stinketh, and dieth for thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and make sackcloth their covering. And this shall ye have of my hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow.  Behold, and lo, there are none to deliver you, for ye obeyed not my voice when I called to you out of the heavens, ye believed not my servants; and when they were sent unto you ye received them not; wherefore, they sealed up the testimony and bound up the law, and ye were delivered over unto darkness; these shall go away into outer darkness, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Behold, the Lord your God hath spoken it. Amen.

With this impress came the instruction to seal up the testimony I have been given by writing this account as a witness unto the Lord for His purposes.

The Covenant Breaker:  Unconditional Love’s Sinister Plan

The last section of this testimony has been included to clearly identify the enemy of the new commandment of Jesus Christ’s new covenant.  It is on the deceptive and destructive nature of unconditional love and why God hates this false doctrine.  In this section you will read of its cold, uncompassionate nature and its subtle plan to destroy the new covenant of Jesus Christ.

Unconditional love knows nothing of our conditions or God’s mercy and justice revealed in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Moreover, it does not lead us to rely solely on the atoning merits of Christ.  Thus, it dismisses the conditions of repentance and puts the eternal life of its adherents in jeopardy by causing them to ignore the only means whereby Jesus is able to save them.

This section summarizes a series of five volumes of studies I wrote over a period of several years about unconditional love under the title The Covenant Breaker: Unconditional Love’s Sinister Plan.  Links to the full documents are provided with each introduction included below.

Around 1995 the Lord began teaching me about the errors of the false doctrine of unconditional love and the great harm it has done to His work of redemption and the restoration of mankind.  It is a cold love that is incapable of showing compassion because it is not moved by conditions.  I was brought to this knowledge one day while listening to a sermon on the radio on my way home from work.  The minister declared that God loves us unconditionally, so we too must love unconditionally.

A reply to the declaration came intruding into my soul, “Why then the cross?”  This question, put so plainly and clearly to me, captivated my attention, and I began inquiring of the Lord (James 1:5) about unconditional love.  Since the term is not found in the scriptures, where did it come from and what does it mean?  My experience in dealing with false doctrine of unconditional love over these many years prompted me to give an account of what I have learned in these writings.

I Corinthians 4:1,2Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.  Moreover it is required of stewards, that a man be found faithful.

Not long after I began writing on this subject, I faced substantial spiritual resistance.  This led me to pray all the more over my accounting.  One day the spiritual warfare heightened substantially, and I asked the Lord why.  I heard words in my soul to the effect, “You are unmasking Satan, and he is fighting you.”

While I was pondering the implications of this answer, I had an open vision of Satan’s fall.  In that moment, I instantly understood why Satan devised unconditional love as his plan to save everyone, regardless of any and all things, including each person’s agency.  Out of this experience, I wrote the introduction to what became the second volume in this set as summarized below.

If I am not mistaken, it was while I was writing the third volume that the Lord gave me another vision that greatly helped me understand the significance of what I was writing.  In this vision, the Lord showed me how Satan despised Jesus Christ from the beginning.  Why?  As it is written, Jesus was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death … For verily, he took not on him the likeness of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.  (Hebrews 2:9,16)

Simply put, Lucifer viewed Jesus as being beneath him because he was, as Abraham’s seed, a little lower than him and his dignity, and so he refused to worship Him.  This pride led to Satan’s fall.  Had the truth been in him, Lucifer would have worshiped God and honored His Christ, but pride overtook him, and he turned away from God to plot a way to take over God’s kingdom by force.

While there have been a great many threats levied against me for what I have written and spoken on this and related topics, yet the joy of the Lord has remained with me.  I therefore commend each of these volumes to you so the same joy will be with you in your warfare for the kingdom.  The information and messages contained in these volumes are of great worth to me, and I believe they are to everyone who seeks to become reconciled to God and dwell with Him eternally.

Volume 1:  To Turn Them from Darkness to Light

https://hisworkmanship.net/index_files/StudyLetters/CovenantBreakerSinisterPlan18Oct2012V1.pdf

John, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, wrote God is love. Have you ever wondered why it is, then, that so many people do not know God is love and that He loves them? Or why others who have heard God is love need to be convinced or continually reassured that He loves them? Based on John’s declaration that God is love, would it not be appropriate to expect love to be the characteristic of God’s nature and expression most clearly evident to mankind, to those God created in His own image?

The scriptures bear record of how God very capably brought all of creation into existence and how He readily maintains His creation moment by moment in all its great expansiveness and exquisitely fine detail and complexity. So why, then, has God not made His love known to His creation with the same apparent capability and effectiveness or clarity?  Or has He?

Volume 2:  Unconditional Love – A False God

https://hisworkmanship.net/index_files/StudyLetters/CovenantBreakerSinisterPlan18Oct2012V2e.pdf

God is love.  Satan, therefore, wanting to ascend above God’s throne, aspired to become a god with a love that would be even greater than God’s love. Satan would become unconditional love.

This once glorious angel, originally named Lucifer, planned to redeem all people. None would be lost, he said.  All would be brought back into the kingdom of heaven and, in return, he would receive God’s honor.

With Satan, everyone would experience total acceptance in the kingdom independent of any and all things. His love would be broad and boundless, without restrictions or regulations, without terms or conditions.  This meant that mankind would be saved irrespective of each one’s individual disposition or choice.

Would not all people love a god who loved them so completely, without reservation or limitations – or at least with a love that appeared to be so noble?

Volume 3:  Let No Man Deceive You by Any Means

https://hisworkmanship.net/index_files/StudyLetters/CovenantBreakerSinisterPlan18Oct2012V3.pdf

Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, warned that before our Lord returns, Satan, who is the devil, would attempt to exalt himself above God and appear as God in God’s own temple, the church.

Because God is love, perpetrating a deception about the love of God would be one of the highest (if not the highest), most decisive and influential forms of deception Satan could ever hope to achieve, especially within and through the church.

Therefore, knowing that his time is short, Satan and his servants are working harder than ever to deceive the nations, including the elect if possible, about God and His love.

Satan is attempting to supplant God with his own ideal of love, a love that would rob justice and dismiss the mercy extended to us through the atonement of Jesus Christ. He is seeking to replace the redemptive covenant love of our Lord and Savior with unconditional love.

Now more than ever, then, we must pray fervently for the Lord’s kingdom, which is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Volume 4:  Unconditional Love Versus the Conditions of Repentance

https://www.hisworkmanship.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/CovenantBreakerSinisterPlan23Nov2016V4b.pdf

For many people, loving unconditionally simply means loving others regardless of who they may or may not be and loving them regardless of what they may or may not have done. If advocates of unconditional love are to be consistent in their approach to loving others unconditionally, this will also be their approach to loving Jesus Christ.

Taking this approach to loving our Lord fails, however, to love Him for who He is as our Savior and to love Him for what He has done on the cross to save us from our sins. Thus, their choosing to love others unconditionally, including Jesus Christ, diminishes both their witness of Him as Savior and their confession of His right to rule as Creator Lord over them and those they love.

Since unconditional love does not depend upon who Jesus Christ is or what He has done, those who would choose to love others unconditionally will find no specific need to share the good news about His work of redemption attested to by His death and resurrection, and soon don’t.  Neither will they see a specific need to speak to others about Jesus’ teachings and His commandments, and soon won’t (contrary to the Great Commission).

By definition, unconditional love separates itself and sets itself apart from the conditions of the new covenant mediated by Jesus Christ.  Invoking unconditional love serves, in essence, to reject His witness that He rules in the heavens above and in the earth beneath based upon these conditions.  It disregards Jesus’ claim that our lives depend upon the salvation He alone can offer and is offering to everyone who will and does receive Him.  It does not recognize nor support Jesus’ claim that we must repent of our sins to receive salvation and rest in His everlasting kingdom.  Therefore, it dismisses His call to repent and come to Him in order to be saved from the wrath to come.

Volume 5:  Why Not Live for What Gets Heaven Excited?

https://www.hisworkmanship.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/CovenantBreakerSinisterPlan23Nov2016V5b.pdf

Luke 15:7,10I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, who need no repentance.  … Likewise I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repenteth.

Though it may be popular for a season on earth, unconditional love does not bring joy in heaven among the angels of God. Why?  It does not lead sinners to repentance; and in the event that sinners happen to be brought unto repentance by other means, unconditional love is not equipped or so inclined to lead them to go on and repent of their sins.

Yes, God is love, but He is not unconditional love. Yes, God is good and His goodness leads us to repentance; yet, unlike unconditional love, God, as light and love, rebukes and chastens those He loves, saying, “…be zealous therefore, and repent.”

Our God is righteous and holy, and He judges the unrighteous and ungodly according to His wisdom and knowledge of all things.  He does not throw out justice, nor does He hand out mercy carelessly and indiscriminately. No, His are the ways of discretion and honest assessment.  Careful, contemplative thought goes into all that our Lord does and in all that He pronounces over and upon each and every element and body in His creation.

Each volume in this set of study letters has been posted online at the following link and may be freely copied and distributed for the sake of the kingdom of our Lord.

https://hisworkmanship.net/books/

For further reading, please consider the following post on covenant love:

https://hisworkmanship.net/why-covenant-love/

To conclude, here is a quote from this study letter:

Unconditional love is an uncommitted love, a love that cannot have compassion because it cannot be moved by the conditions of others.  Unlike covenant love, unconditional love knows no commitments, nor is it limited by any constraints, including the constraints of justice.  Thus, it has no need for mercy.  It is unmoved by any and all things and is thus unable to do any work in the lives of others or for others.  Unconditional love is a monotone and insensitive love, a neutered love that is impotent because it simply cannot intentionally affect those it supposedly loves, nor can it intentionally be an intentional agent of change in anyone’s life.  Consequently, it is unable to call us out of sin or to bring us out of darkness so we may have fellowship with God in His kingdom of light and true and everlasting love.  Unconditional love simply fails to deal with sin and its consequences in our lives.

In closing, please remember these words penned by Jude:

17  But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

18  How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

19  These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

20  But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

21  Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

22  And of some have compassion, making a difference;

23  And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

24  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

25  To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

_______

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead out Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever.  Amen.  (Hebrews 13:20,21)


[1] cf. Deuteronomy 18:15-19 & Acts 3:22-26 with Matthew 17:1-17 & John 15:1-6

[2] Hebrews 8:7-13 & Hebrews 10:15-31 with Romans 11:25-36

[3] I John 1:5-10 & I John 2:1-12 with I John 3:7-16 & I John 4:20-21

[4] Deuteronomy 33:13-17 with Genesis 49:22-26

[5] Moroni 7:51-53 & Moroni 8:15-18 with Colossians 3:12-15 & Romans 5:5

[6] Colossians 3:12-15 with Moroni 7:49-53, Moroni 8:15-18 & Ether 5:29

[7] cf. Matthew 17:1-17 & II Nephi 14:1-12 with Matthew 4:4 & John 1:1-18

[8] Jude 1:17-25, Ephesians 4:29-32 & Alma 19:75 with Hebrews 10:23-31 & Moroni 8:15-18

[9] II Peter 1:5-11 with I Timothy 1:5-7

[10] D&C 85:38c with Colossians 3:12-15

[11] cf. Philippians 3:4-7 with John 14:27 & I John 4:17,18

[12] Matthew 22:34-39 and Mark 12:33-39

[13] John 15:4-10 with John 13:34,35 & Matthew 7:24-29

[14] John 14:27, Romans 5:5 & I Peter 1:13-16 with I Thessalonians 4:8,9 & D&C 83:7b-7e

[15] Matthew 12:38,39

[16] John 13:34,35 & John 15:12; see also Moroni 4:1-4 & Moroni 5:1-3

[17] I John 3:11-17 with I John 2:7-17 & Romans 12:1-3

[18] cf. John 15:10-14 with John 14:21-26; see also I John 3:16,17 & James 2:1-9 with I John 1:6-10 & I John 4:20,21

[19] cf. Luke 14:26 with Revelation 21:8

[20] D&C 59:2e with Omni 1:46,47, III Nephi 4:49-52, Romans 12:1-3, Micah 6:8,9, etc.

[21] Matthew 5:40-50 & III Nephi 5:84-92 with Matthew 11:29,30 & Hebrews 13:12-15

[22] Matthew 16:25-30 with III Nephi 6:78

[23] John 16:7-15 with John 14:15-26 & John 15:12

[24] Matthew 12:26,27 & Mark 3:21-24 with I John 5:16

[25] Luke 12:56-58 with Matthew 25:1-25, Luke 8:18, Acts 3:22,23 & III Nephi 9:60,61

[26] cf. John 10:17,18 with John 14:21-26 & John 15:10

[27] cf. Acts 17:30 with III Nephi 12:33

[28] D&C 2:6e, 6:4b, 10:4b, 12:4b, 13:3, 14:3, 16:2a-3f, 18:2l, etc. with Mosiah 9:37

[29] See D&C 16:3a-f with Helaman 2:71-75, Helaman 5:63-92, etc.

[30] cf. Matthew 24:56 with Romans 11:22

[31] Luke 22:15-20 & John 13:1-35 with III Nephi 8:30-57, Moroni 4:1-4 & Moroni 5:1-3

[32] Moroni 4:1-4 & Moroni 5:1-3 with D&C 17:22a-23b

[33] D&C 46:4a,b & D&C 17:7a-d

[34] Alma 9:38-41 with D&C 28:12a-12d

[35] Revelation 2:1-7

[36] Revelation 3:14-22

[37] II Nephi 8:3,16

[38] cf. I Nephi 3:187,188 with D&C 3:16a-18

[39] Proverbs 10:21 with Malachi 3:8-12 & Alma 16:152-173

[40] Hebrews 4:15,16 & I Peter 2:21-24

[41] https://hisworkmanship.net/why-no-little-children-are-lost/

[42] This includes scriptures like John 6:38-63 with Matthew 5:40-50 & Romans 12:1-21

[43] Matthew 18:1-11, Matthew 19:13-15, Mark 10:11-14, & Luke 18:15-17 with Moroni 8:11

[44] Moroni 8:13 with Moroni 8:25-27

[45] Matthew 19:14, Mark 10:12, and Luke 18:16