The below YouTube video from the Church of Christ features small children singing a song entitled, 'Always Submit To The Church Administration'. This song was written by a self-proclaimed "one true Church" that was founded in the Philippines. Here are the lyrics to one of their catchy "Primary" songs.
Always submit to the Church Administration.For they were placed by Lord God to lead his nation.
If we obey then we will receive salvation.Sing along with me.
LINK TO VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nmYOQIidqo
I would hope that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would cringe at the idea of indoctrinating children to sing a song with words about "always submitting to the church administration." However, do we also teach our young children to sing a song with a similiar theme?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy5qNAkJ4QA&t=2s
The 'Follow the Prophet' song is one of the first songs that the Church teaches children starting in Nursery to the two year olds. In fact to make the song more interactive for the toddlers, Nursery leaders give one of the children a large photo of President Nelson to hold as he/she marches around the room as the rest of the nursery children follow behind. Each child would then take turns holding the Prophet's photo as the children march around the room following the photo of President Nelson.
I sure wish we would change the words of this chant song from Follow the Prophet to "Follow the Savior." It would also be nice to have the children hold up a picture of Jesus instead of President Nelson.
Here is a recently released video of LDS children answering the question of why we need to follow President Nelson. I think it is interesting that Jesus Christ's name is NOT mentioned once in this video.
A few days ago I read an article about an interview with Justin Bieber who was asked about his faith in Christianity. The Pop singer called out religious leaders who put themselves on a pedestal and cause the church to be surrounded by them instead of being focused on Christ as the center of the church. Bieber, an outspoken Christian, stated, "I think so many pastors put themselves on this pedestal. And it's basically, church can be surrounded around the man, the pastor, the guy, and it's like, 'This guy has this ultimate relationship with God that we all want but we can't get because we're not this guy.' That's not the reality, though. The reality is, every human being has the same access to God."
In addition to calling out pastors who put themselves on a pedestal, Bieber reminded fans that Christianity isn't a self-help religion, rather, it is about coming to God for help and letting Him lead and change you for His will.
Justin Bieber shared his experience and said, "I came to a place where I just was like, 'God, if you're real, I need you to help me, because I can't do this on my own. Like, I'm struggling so hard,"
The rest of the article can be found here: LINK TO ARTICLE
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Sidenote:
I wanted to share an excerpt from a recent talk given last month about the Religion of our Fathers.
I wanted to share an excerpt from a recent talk given last month about the Religion of our Fathers.
Joseph Smith taught the idea of direct association with Christ as the promised Second Comforter during a visit to Ramus, Illinois on April 2, 1843. After quoting Christ’s promise to not leave His followers comfortless because He and His Father would come to them and take up their abode with them, Joseph explained, “Now what is this other Comforter? It is no more nor less than the Lord Jesus Christ himself.... When any man obtains this last Comforter he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him or appear unto him from time to time. The appearing of the Father and the Son, in that verse, is a personal appearance; and the idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man’s heart is an old sectarian notion, and is false.” This appearing of the Father and Son began with Adam, and was intended to continue in every generation. Although the teaching of Christ as the Second Comforter was taught by Joseph, and believed by LDS Mormons, it is now one of the teachings that has dwindled from LDS teaching. In a Boise LDS meeting, church apostle Dallin Oaks denounced the teaching of mortals needing to see the Lord as a “tactic of the adversary.” Following that, the LDS church removed a footnote from their KJV John 14:16 which previously referred to Jesus Christ and replaced it with a reference to “the Holy Ghost.”
