The Power of God, Becoming like God and False Traditions

A few years ago I discovered a lady named Kat Kerr on YouTube. It was right around the time I was writing The Realm and the timing couldn't have been more perfect. At first glance and just a few minutes into her video I was more curious than convinced about what she was sharing. However as I continued to listen, it didn't take long before I felt the truthfulness of her words. It was as though everything the Spirit had been teaching me, and things I just somehow just already knew, were confirmed through her message.

I love how the Lord works that way. He teaches me truths (many times the truths that most people aren't okay with learning) and then He sends me to the most unlikely and unusual places, through the most unexpected people to confirm them. I always receive the witness of the Holy Ghost confirming it the first time that He places it in my mind and then he always sends me a second and sometimes third witness.

2 Corinthians 13:1

This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

Doctrine and Covenants 6:28

And now, behold, I give unto you, and also unto my servant Joseph, the keys of this gift, which shall bring to light this ministry; and in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

Kat has an amazing story and I would love to meet her someday. Not the typical perfectly polished messenger of the Lord we are used to seeing. I love how the Lord uses His sons and daughters from all walks of life, from all different parts the world and from all backgrounds to help build His Kingdom on the Earth.

We are all doing our part with what we have been given and what we have been taught, to bring others unto Christ.

Lately the Spirit had been sending me gentle nudges to look up Kat Kerr again and watch some of her videos. It has been a couple of years since I have thought about her or watched her on YouTube and after a few nudges from the Spirit I was eager to see what the Lord wanted me to find.

The very first video that came up on YouTube was the very video the Spirit wanted me to watch. It was a recent radio interview and I listened to it while I cleaned the kitchen. There were so many things in this interview that gladdened my spirit and I want to share just a few.

The first message that really stood out to me was when she spoke about believers of Christ having the power to call down the Hosts of Heaven to help fight our battles and protect us. She shared several stories about how calling on this power through our Savior creates fear for the adversary. Evil flees out of fear. I have been teaching my children how to do this and how to ask for shields of light and protection be with them all day, so it was a sweet confirmation to hear this from her. She said if our children would do this each morning before school and called upon the Hosts of Heaven to protect their schools, all school shootings and school violence would be thwarted. When people are being controlled by evil through their own bad choices and agency, and suddenly that evil flees out of fear, those people become powerless. The evil feeds their power as it controls them, but God's power is much greater and causes even evil to shake, tremble and run away.

There is a book that I was led to at the D.I. (second hand store) several months ago and was reading yesterday. It's called The Light Within - What the Prophet Joseph Smith Taught us About Personal Revelation by Jeffery Marsh. Oh how I love this book! In Chapter 8 on page 112 under "Covenant Gifts" he talks about Cornelius and Peter and how they received the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost and how it is obtained after baptism. Speaking of Cornelius he quotes the prophet Joseph Smith when he writes, "Until he obeyed these ordinances and received the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands, according to the order of God, he could not have healed the sick or commanded an evil spirit to come out of a man, and it obey him."

Those of us who have the gift of the Holy Ghost sometimes forget how powerful we are over evil. There doesn't even need to be a power struggle - it must leave instantly! If you are having a power struggle with it, let that be a red flag and a good opportunity to re-evaluate your covenant keeping, commandment keeping and your faith.

In her interview, the radio host mentioned and spoke highly about Sarah Menet and her experience. I have Sarah's book on this website under my recommended reads. She has an amazing NDE and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. after learning what she did in the spirit world. I discovered her book several years ago. Kat also brought up that in the next life, we become creators. We create with the Lord. We create life, worlds etc. The radio host went wild with excitement upon this news. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (AKA Mormon), we are taught that we will one day become like our Father in Heaven. He wants us to be like Him and have all that He has. To many other religions and theologians, this teaching is seen as blasphemous.To hear Kat confirm this among the general Christian community was a beautiful witness of something I have always been taught and always known.

It's been on my mind quite often lately, how my home feels so much like heaven. There is so much peace, tranquility, light and happiness. The spirit has been teaching me over the last year how to turn my home into a temple through many new truths. One of the truths I was taught was about skulls. A year ago it was brought to my attention that skulls truly represent death, and wearing them or displaying them, attracts negative energy. I went home and cleaned out anything in our home that had skulls on it (there wasn't a lot but my three-year old daughter had a tiny white, skull necklace that she wore every day). Friends and family members that learned about this, ridiculed me but the Spirit told me I had done the right thing and would be blessed.

After that experience I began to think that if skulls were a tool of the adversary, then so must be all the Halloween decorations such as ghosts, vampires, withes etc. The thought came into my mind "false tradition". In an article from the November 1972 Ensign James T. Dukes says,

"Today, Latter-day Saints must learn to discern and choose between the righteous traditions of the gospel and the evil traditions that surround them."

Just so you know, Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. Over the years, I have won many Halloween decorating and costume contests and thrown some amazing family parties. I enjoyed literally turning my home into a real looking haunted house (not tacky looking, but the real deal) and watching as cars would drive past our home real slow and take pictures. I loved the music, the movies - all of it!

This year however, the Spirit told me that if I truly wanted my home to be a temple "all of the time" I had to treat it as such "all of the time". Would I adorn the Lord's temple with creepy goblins and giant spiders? Would I hang ghosts and play creepy music in the Lord's house? No way! Then why would I do it in my own?

My kids and husband were not happy with my decision to focus more on celebrating Fall and the harvest. The cute little pumpkins and leaves everywhere were enough to make them want to pull their hair out. They longed for our old traditions and seemed quite sad. My own mother even thought I was ridiculous and commented, "I'm still a good person and I have skulls all over my home". I had to clarify that decorating for Halloween doesn't make anyone a bad person. It only allows the adversary to feel welcome and comfortable in your home, place of business or worship. I can truly testify that not putting up all the creepy decorations this year has only filled our home with more light, love and peace. I have even convinced my children to pick costumes that aren't spooky. I don't think we'll be banning the holiday all together, we'll just redefine it to focus on the beautiful season of Fall and expressing gratitude four our harvest.

I remember last year at our church Halloween party, I started to feel a little strange about seeing demons, zombies, and gore inside our beautiful church building. It just didn't seem right. That is the place where we worship the Lord. Why would we defile it with images that represent Satan and his mission? We were guilty ourselves. My son was a Zombie chef and had a fake bloody kitchen knife and apron for his costume. Because Halloween is such a strong tradition in our culture, it would make so many upset to even think that it's a tradition that God doesn't approve of. It doesn't come from Him or celebrate Him. Had someone told me this even 5 years ago, I would have been angry myself. The Spirit has been showing me many false traditions in our culture and they aren't pretty. I'm in a place where I just want to do all that I can to keep the Spirit in my life and around me daily. I have been asking the Lord to show me how to always do this and He has been showing me by revealing many false traditions. Many good people are being deceived.

Now, this change is gradual with my family. They still want to put spooky cobwebs, spiders, strobe lights and play organ music in our car for the neighborhood trunk-or-treat, as well as on Halloween night. At least a step up from the creepy looking spirit decals we used to have on our windows. They were pretty frightening!

To my surprise, Kat mentioned this in her interview. I felt that warm confirmation from head to toe as the Spirit whispered, "This is truth". She talked about skulls, Halloween all of it. Around 1:24:22 into the video she talks all about it. I pasted the video below.

I thank the Spirit and praise the Father for showing me and teaching me truths that sometimes are difficult to hear or accept. But when I do, my life changes for the better in every way possible. In order to be able to win the war of good vs. evil on this Earth we have to be in constant contact with our Heavenly Father, asking Him to show us how to be worthy of the Spirit in our lives. We need to be in a good place where we can receive revelation minute by minute. If we ask, He will show us where we can improve and He will help us do it!

I testify of this in the name of Jesus Christ amen.