I Believe Podcast

Angels Around Us by Karen Trifiletti Do we have guardian angels—personal angels who walk in tandem with us, hover alongside, and go where we go? While there may not be evidence to support the idea that there is one personalized angel assigned to us, we do undoubtedly have angels in our lives. And I’m not speaking about mythical beings with wings, but real personages of spirit, some with resurrected bodies, who care about us and see us. I find that a wonderful gift and I know that it’s true--that it’s a spiritual, scriptural, given, and my own experience confirms it. Angels are closer than we may often realize and we are not often aware of the extent to which they affect our lives for good.  Stick with me while I explain some things that are often not explained in some faiths, but have been revealed by the Lord Himself about angels--and why they have special interest in you or I. Listen to this.  Psalm 91:11 tells us, "He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” And Hebrews 1:14 says of angels, "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?" And angels are involved in all our lives. We have angelic activity around us every day. Angels are at work in our lives, protecting us, guiding us, and sometimes even speaking to us. Yes, angels are real! So who are they? How do they minister to you and I? What do they do? Where do they come from? First, the “Who” of angels Angels are messengers from God who are directly concerned about you and I and our personal and spiritual well being, needs, activities, relationships, progress, feelings, spiritual growth and challenges, all that matters to us. We learn from modern revelation that there are different classes of angels; some with glorified immortal bodies of flesh and some without. Let me explain.... To understand what most of Christendom does not, we lived before this life as literal spirit children of God, and this is the second phase of our existences, ... I tell you that while talking about angels so you understand that as a spirit child of God you didn't yet have this physical body but were pre-embodied, if you will. But every whit of yourself grows as a child of God, a spirit being, in a divine family setting. Okay, so that is one class of spirits. These other spirit children, who are waiting to come to earth, will get a physical body and experience this life. They who are waiting know, see, and care about us.  They are our brothers and sisters still in the spirit.  They are considered angels and can be sent to minister to us and even to the families they will be born into, as God directs,  to impart messages, bring peace, warn, assist, comfort, deliver.  Many of them we know from our long walks and talks, learning together in pre-mortally. Cool, isn't it? Okay, now there are other angels. Now there are those who have been resurrected, who have bodies (those who had a mortal body, died--spirit and body separated--and then gained an immortal body (re-embodied) ) who also minister among us. We'll talk about those in part 2 of this series. There are also our own family members and others who have died, departed this life, whose spirits and bodies are temporarily separated until they are resurrected (not embodied, but were and will be re-embodied).  They are in the Spirit World, which is right here all around us, but not visible to us unless we are quickened by the Holy Ghost to see it and those who abide in it. But anyway, they, too, can minister to us. Often they appear to comfort relatives and friends they knew and loved in the flesh, after they've departed, or share messages of assurance, carry knowledge from the heavens, correction, solace or even soften hearts as they share clearly the love of God through their messages and interventions. They are very near. Many among us feel that we have had this experience.

Welcome to our podcast series! I Believe: Expressions of Faith is extended to all interested truth-seekers–agnostics, religiously unaffiliated, spiritual but not religious, intellectually struggling, friends of all faiths seeking to know about life’s meaning, Christianity, or Christ’s Church. Karen, your host, is a Philadelphia-born, second generation Italian, who describes herself as a “perfectly imperfect but graced follower of Christ." We invite you to immerse yourself in our casts by engaging on our Facebook page, following us on Twitter, or give us a call at 185-KNOWGOD-1 with your sincere questions. What I Believe, Part 1 Hi. Are you working out today and tuned in? I need to. Or are you in the car on your way home from work? or carpooling?  Thanks for being here. So for this cast I created an honest resource, a starting point, if you will, of core beliefs that I hold as  Christian woman and member of the Savior’s Church. This is by no means exhaustive as truth is not exhaustive, but represents some essential truths in which I believe.  I’d love to engage and befriend those of all faiths, so please join in the conversation or feel free to reach me. Other casts will address these and other subjects that really matter more fully, and that can help build faith and knowledge of God's plan for each of us. Okay, so here are 35 points reflecting what I believe…. ▪   I believe that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are separate and real beings, with tangible glorified bodies, and that the Holy Ghost is a spirit personage who bears witness of them and all truth. ▪    I believe that Jesus Christ is my personal Savior and Savior of the world, that His atonement (suffering for our sins, mistakes, infirmities, and pains unto death) and His resurrection are literal and real; that He is not “just” a man, but born of a Heavenly Being–our Father in Heaven– and an earthly being, Mary. ▪    I believe that as we accept His sacrifice and grace and follow Him and His path, we can be saved and exalted. To be exalted is to live the kind of life that He and the Father live and be in their presence, and with redeemed loved ones forever. ▪   I believe that Jesus Christ will come again as King of Kings, and is a vested Advocate in my life and our lives, giving us grace–or enabling power through His atonement– as we strive to obey Him. ▪    I believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth in its fullness.  I believe that there was a loss of truth and of God’s authority to act in His behalf after the death of the Savior and the apostles, and that while noble Reformers strove to reconstruct and piece back together original truths Jesus taught, that Reformation was insufficient to bring back both all truth and to restore of itself the power and authority to act in His name. ▪    I believe that what was required to restore the pure unadulterated truths of the Savior and His power and authority, as was predicted in scripture, was a “restoration.” This restoration started in 1820, through Joseph Smith, who prayed to know where such truth and God’s authority to administer the gospel existed. ▪   I believe that we existed before before this life as spirit children of God. I believe that there are 3 parts or phases of our existence: a pre-mortal, mortal, and post-mortal or eternal life. ▪   I believe that a hunger for our eternal home, for our purpose, for a personal relationship with God and Jesus Christ, is within each of us.  I believe that our destiny is divine, should we seek God and find Him and the path back to Him. ▪    I believe we are both body and spirit, and that blend constitutes our soul. ▪   I believe our spirit can inherently receive truth since it comes to us by the Holy Spirit who speaks to our spirit. ▪   I believe that our body and spirit separate at death, but the spirit lives on and will be reunited with a perfect immortal body in the resurrection.

We are excited to have you join us for “I Believe: Expressions of Faith,” a podcast series designed for all who are interested in learning more about life, faith, truth, purpose! Karen, your host, brings up thought provoking insights that bring peace t...

“Finding Peace and Stillness Through Jesus Christ” is one of Karen’s short video podcasts on key gospel themes. We invite you to respond, share, and engage on Facebook, Twitter, or on our website. You may be interested in some of our other podcasts, “Is Satan Real,” “Meaning of Life” and “Karen's Story Part 1, Coming to Know God” Finding Peace and Stillness Through Jesus Christ I hung up the phone after speaking with an acquaintance I’ll call Jake. His emotional and spiritual temperature seemed to change with every set of daily circumstances.  When something lent him favor, he was up and kind. When something turned around in his life, he was miffed and mean. It was like he was divided within--because he hadn’t fully committed to Christ and therefore didn’t fully know how to access His peace and stability.  Maybe you are feeling that way. Stay with me. It’s okay, God can bring you through and He may be speaking to you here today. Back to Jake, so without the gospel in his life, he often tended to dive off emotional cliffs that weren’t there. He acknowledged a miracle when he saw it and in the next breath, when an outcome wasn’t just what he expected, he was kicking and screaming.  As he spoke, what I saw in my mind’s eye was, of all things, a fly.  I saw it buzzing all over the place, never with a secure or lasting landing place, not being anchored to something that would allow it to be still, quiet. He was like that fly. I thought to myself, “He has no anchor in Christ, and is buzzing through life and changing colors with every event and happenstance.” I prayed for him. I had empathy for him for I had lived a life without Christ for years and knew the station well, and I wanted to hand him a rudder of peace. If you’re in those shoes, again, stay with me. You can know His peace. He is offering it to you now and as you come unto Him. I thought of each of us at times–bouncing around restlessly and forgetting to, or in some cases not knowing how to, avail ourselves of the peace and stillness of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Way–He provides the rest stops, the stillness of being by clear waters.  How do we avail ourselves of the Savior’s peace when anxiety seems to be an epidemic and worry and stress seem to be buzz-words or indicators of ‘a lot going on’ in our lives? Or when it rises unexpectedly?  We all need to be reminded to lay our cares before the Lord Jesus Christ, and to do it with consistency.  I can witness that I have felt that stillness in the eye of the most severe spiritual storms in my life, and I can also tell you that I have sometimes let go of it in the midst of minor confusion or pedestrian twists that arise in mortality. And then I go back to my Refuge, and to His word and promises that He is with us, and will not forsake us. He always, always, always, takes unsettledness from me, and I re-group spiritually. I walk away fine. Not that the outcome has changed yet, but knowing that He will orchestrate what’s best and use me as He needs to do so, if I will listen and respond. Having peace doesn’t mean all is resolved yet, or that I feel good because I’m taking a spiritual nap from my concerns or because I have a Pollyanna-ish attitude that filters out life’s challenges. It refers to a Godly peace that cannot be produced by us. It is produced by Jesus Christ. It comes as a spiritual gift. It comes as we really seek it and ask for it and rest in it. It comes as we read His promises and take them to the bank.  Like this one:  We have all riches and an inheritance in Jesus Christ. That means we can withdraw from a never-ending supply of help, power, strength, encouragement, hope, direction, counsel, and peace as we need it every day.   If you don’t know Jesus Christ, ask Him if He’s there, if He is really the Son of God; pour out your soul to Him. Just do it. He will answer. As you read His word and trust in His promises, you will find peace that only can come from Him. Unassailable Peace

You've Got Mail by Karen R. Trifiletti Wonder where you are today as you've come across this cast. Welcome! Hope you'll stay. I've got a word for you but more important, God has something to say to you, just to you, today. Did you get the memo? Stick around. Hey, you've got mail!! Do you, like me, admittedly sometimes get flickers of anticipation when expecting a message from someone you care about through social media, email, a phone call, or sometimes even something handwritten in snail mail?  Most of us wouldn't go very long without checking our mail. I must confess that I feel the same way about checking my scriptural mail. As I open the scriptures daily, I think, in a way, "You've Got Mail." And I wonder what God has to say to me today. Do you? I encourage you today to open your scriptures. If you don’t have a set, you might want to secure a set or contact us for a free copy.  I witness that God has mail for you today. If you haven’t ever tried, I challenge you today to dive into the Word. For me, I grew up without them and when I discovered the Bible and more, it was like water in a desert, and I marveled at how God preserved truth through the ages, for you and me... I witness that His messages never get hung up in the network. And, hooray! we don't have to sort through and delete those from other unwanted advertisers--they are all from the One perfectly selfless Sponsor worthy of our trust.  “Every word of God is pure,” reads one verse from Proverbs. These divine mailgrams come to us not in some undecipherable code but in a language we can understand--one compatible with our own spiritual ability and even preferences. Yes, they appear perfectly formatted for each of us--it’s why the word of God is “quick and powerful.” Gotta love it--no password needed, just one beautiful, continual, available network of messages--messages that define our experience before we can; messages that show us how to manage our lives, our callings, our professions; messages to show us how to dot our i's and cross our t's; how to overcome; how to see things we've never seen; to have hope; to find peace; to develop faith in Christ; to overcome fear; to know the way is right-or wrong; to find the strength to carry on to “continue in steadfastness in Christ.” I promise that there are all types of messages waiting for you. I’ve thought of the kinds I’ve received; it’s as if some of these divine messages come with their own kind of celestial stamp. Some, for example, seem to be sent overnight--stamped “Evening Express”-- and reach you perhaps in the morning after a dark or thoughtful night, bringing you the dawn. Some seem to be stamped “Urgent”--carrying immediate instructions for perplexing situations and critical needs. Others seem marked, “Special Delivery”--carrying a principle or pattern of import for a special talk, occasion, need. You may find a verse that offers a “Proposal”--offering a much welcomed solution to an intractable problem. You will find those seemingly marked “Personal and Confidential”--offering the inside story to an outward event we’re trying to figure out; others marked “Please Circulate” or “Please Forward”--with content you know is meant to be shared with a sister, friend, or daughter. At other moments, we see verses with the stamp “Paid in Full”--those providing insight into the Savior’s amazing sacrifice. In other instances, you’ll be pleasantly surprised or rewarded with a message lettered with “Just for You,” as if to say that no one else would really get this in quite the same way. Some messages seem simply stamped with a Magic Marker smiley-face in the margin or above the verse, indicating something like: “I knew you’d be traveling this way today.” Others are marked “FYI”--illustrating just how that certain something I’ve been contemplating really “fits in” with the bigger picture.  I believe there’s a stamp equivalent to “Imagine That!

"Is Satan Real?" is one of Karen's short video podcasts on key gospel themes. We invite you to respond, share, and engage on Facebook, Twitter, or on our website. You may be interested in some of our other podcasts, "How Can I Know Truth? If God Lives?,” "Karen's Story Part 1, Coming to Know God," and "God Has the Bigger Picture." Is Satan Real? In a relatively recent poll, about 40% of self-professed Christians indicated a belief that Satan is not real, “not a living being but is a symbol of evil.” An additional two out of ten (19%) agreed to some extent with that perspective (The Barna Group, 2009). Close to the same division of belief applied to the existence of the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, as a real personage. Both are real. The silencing of his reality is, in fact, a ploy that he himself authors and enforces. In the words of one writer, “Satan has pulled one great disappearing act” (A. Poelman). And behold, others he flatters away, and tells them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none—and thus he whispers in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance  (Modern Revelation: The Book of Mormon 1 Nephi (an ancient American prophet), 28:20-22). And it isn’t accidental. Why would he not remove his trump card from the deck? He hopes we’ll forget him, but he forgets that God holds the whole deck in His hand and overrules all of his attempts to masquerade, deceive, tempt, lure, and overcome His plan of happiness in our lives. I find this comment by CS Lewis both helpful and true in this context, in his preface to The Screwtape Letters: There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. Satan, according to the Savior’s teachings, is one of God’s spirit children gone awry. It was Satan, once called Lucifer, who wished to usurp God’s power and throne in a pre-mortal existence. You may remember that the Book of Revelation speaks of his demise as a ‘fallen star’; and with reason: He rebelled against the plan of God for each of us to be physically embodied, to come to an earth-school to progress to become as our Heavenly Parents are, and to enjoy their presence in an exalted state with loved ones forever. Lucifer’s big issue was essentially that he was plagued with pride and drenched in delusion, He sought to override God’s plan. He lacked the faith that the Savior would complete His role as one who would pay, or atone, for our sins and errors as we came to earth, and he wanted His glory.  He put forth a plan where salvation would be guaranteed through his kingdom control and manipulation. It died on the table in that pre-mortal council.  Each of us was present then. It was, in essence a false campaign promise. The adversary, as he is also known, then, continues to live as a disembodied spirit. He will never gain access to a body, and is zealously jealous of those of us who have one. Thus, he seeks our destruction and to win as many over to his misery as he can. He has no other objective. He will remain separate and never marry. His goal is to obliterate marriage. He tempts and entices. As one Christian, Mormon leader avers: Satan is by no means a far-off, remote figure. He is, by contrast, a familiar if not ubiquitous personage. Late prophet in modern times, Spencer W. Kimball described him as “very much a personal, individual spirit being, but without a mortal body. . . . Yes, the devil is decidedly a person” (The Miracle of Forgiveness [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969], p. 21). Each of us recognizes that there is an Author of Truth and one of lies, enticement, and deception in opposition. An apostle has asked: “Who has not heard and felt the enticings of the devil? His voice often sounds so reasonable and his message so easy to justify. It is an enticing,

Ever wonder if God really lives? If truth exists? How you can know? What if you learned you could take now 3 concrete steps towards learning for yourself if there is a God and if Jesus is really His Son?  Would you be interested? If so, you’ll want to stay tuned in for this 5-minute video cast of I Believe: Expressions of Faith, hosted by Karen Trifiletti. Feel free to comment or send us a question on Twitter or Facebook.  And now, for “How Can I Know Truth?” here’s Karen. Partial Transcript of “How Can I Know Truth? If God Lives?” God lives. And truth exists. And we are not just "drops in an ocean or dust in the wind." I don’t know precisely where you are in your spiritual journey so share that with me. Who knows but that the Lord is inviting you through this very short clip to "come and see"--to find Him and to find out for yourself that He lives. Before I share HOW you can find it for yourself, I offer my witness that God wants to be found, that as the Word says: God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Heb 11: 6). You can cash in on that promise which means when we are ready to take off layers of unbelief; belief is there for the asking and seeking. Think about that! God is assisting you not abandoning you. He never has, though our unbelief masks His care and love and makes it invisible to our spiritual sensitivities and receptors and so our spiritual eyes remained closed. But it is no less real. I think of it this way, as if you’re looking at a hologram. You've seen those.  You pick it up for the first time and, if you're like me, you only see a 2-dimensional image, but when you pay a bit more of a price of focus and seeking, and exercise your faith a bit further, something more opens to your view and you engage more fully in what was there all along but that you now see.  That's what happens on a spiritual level when you begin to exercise faith and see spiritually--a whole new world and view opens us, just as real, in fact, more real, as the temporal world. OKAY, so now HOW--how can you know truth, how can you know if God lives for yourself? Let’s say you have some hope, some desire to know it--and that that’s why you are listening today. So if you take and exercise THAT TINIEST DESIRE, mustard seed size or grape size, or quark size, don’t leave it idle!   EXERCISE JUST THAT DESIRE TO KNOW, let that be your impetus for coming to know Him Think of what you’d do if you wanted to learn to PLAY AN INSTRUMENT or develop a new skill. You would search out knowledge about that instrument, act on it, try a few notes, keep going until your knowledge was more complete, RIGHT? So likewise you take that desire to the INSTRUMENT God designed for you to know Him--the COMPOSITION OF HIS WORD OR SCRIPTURES, the scripture-- aimed to share truth about life, and God, and His plan for you. This is WHERE HE OUTLINES HIS PLAN--where He tells you he knew you before you were born, tells of His goals for you, to have exceedingly abundantly more than you can ask or imagine, and where He talks of healing and hope through Jesus sacrifice for your sins and pains, and a glorious future through His resurrection and eternal life with Him and those you love.  GO TO IT, LEARN THE SPIRITUAL SCORE. Hear His voice. Once again, come to His word where He reveals Himself, and look at His promises and reflect on them and nurture that desire and see how it grows, like a seed that is nurtured. (And by the way, if you need a copy of scriptures, we’ll gladly send you a Bible or set.) STEP 2 – So, what next: You Pray You just pour out your soul, whether you're in your car, on the treadmill, at the gym, or whether you have taken some time to kneel in a quiet place. Speak to Him as you would to a perfect Father. You can just ask Him if He's there. It's as simple and as profound as that. I like how Psalms 62:8 says it; it reads, simply “pour out your heart out to Him.

In this episode of I Believe: Expressions of Faith, our host shares her sincere quest for truth, for knowledge, to the answers to life's questions: "Why am I here?"; "Where did I come from," "Is God Real," "Is There Life After Death?"  Her search took her from the top of the stairs as a child, reared in an Italian-Catholic home, to the Word of God and to a quest that led to her finding fullness, unanticipated answers, and much joy in the gospel of Jesus Christ. She hopes that in listening to her story, your path in coming unto Christ will be blessed--and if you have not found Him, shortened by the insights she shares regarding seeking and finding truth and seeking and finding God and His Son, Jesus Christ.  Here, on this post, Karen just shares her witness of Jesus Christ with you. Karen would love to hear from honest seekers. Please also subscribe to these audio and video casts on site or via iTunes. Witness of Jesus Christ As I continued my education, worked, and married, I continued to let go and let God, to know Christ in ways that I treasure more than anything in this life besides my own family and friends. I’ve come to know His grace—His enabling power—that applies to all I do. I feel as close to Him as I do the best friend I could ever have. He converses with me through His word and as I pray and listen, repent, and grow. He marks my path. He has a million ways of delighting me. He goes before me. He opens my eyes to things I’d never see on my own. He colors my world; He changes me. He tutors me, He sends angels to minister. He finds things I’ve lost. He embraces me and reveals Himself to me continually. He challenges me; He encourages me; He corrects me. He provides me with wisdom and hope. He beckons me. He intercedes for me. He continually extends His reach towards me, and extends my reaching of Him, my understanding of His atonement. He has poured out healing and balm in times when I may otherwise have been crushed by betrayal. When I stood alone in my marriage covenants, He filled and fills the void. Through and with Him, I don’t have to go it alone. As my children have been, in a sense, spiritually fatherless, He has been their Father; He has compensated. I know He lives and knows me. He knows when I pull in the driveway, when I’m sitting on my bed, when I’m trying to sort out the best of the best to do in His kingdom, when I struggle to overcome, when I long to be better, as I strive for excellence, when I plead for my children, when I seek Him. I testify again that the Savior lives. I testify He wants to be found. I testify that all things testify of Him. I submit to you my love of Jesus Christ and my joy in my relationship with Him. His gospel has been restored in our day, and His priesthood power is on earth, which means that you and I have access to His presence again—in this life or the next. He will come again. I know that’s true and bear witness of these truths in the name of Jesus Christ. God bless you on your spiritual journey.  Please feel free to join us on Facebook, or to Tweet, or post a comment or question on our site, or to call Karen at 185-KNOWGOD-1 with sincere questions or prayer request.

Welcome, everyone! In part 2 of this episode of I Believe: Expressions of Faith, Karen’s Story, our host shares her quest for truth–which she never initially guessed had anything to do with a knowledge of God. Here are a few reflections from Karen that pertain to this series. We hope you’ll stay with us, download this cast or subscribe, and listen in, if you’re a truth-seeker yourself, a lost Mosaic, disenfranchised or disengaged Baby Boomer, wanderer, friend of any faith.