I am a member of the LDS church. I may not be able to convey my feelings as eloquently as I would like in this email, but I have some thoughts that may help shed light on "mormonism".

I pray to god, and I believe that jesus is the only TRUE son of god. This is the belief of any latter day saint. My theory is that we are all spirit children of god, for who else could have made our spirits?

Editor's Note:

1) 'god' written in lower case.

2) 'jesus' written in lower case.

3) Which Jesus? The Bible speaks of many sons of God. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2) The Bible states "that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." (1 John 4:9)

4) "We are all spirit children of god, for who else could have made our spirits? Since when were Adam and Eve spirit children? John 1:1-4,14 states that Jesus Christ created all things. From that premise go to Genesis 1:26,27 after all living creatures were created (were they spirits too?) "God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God (Jesus Christ) he him; male and female created he them." "And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:" (Genesis 5:3) Obviously this Adam was of flesh and blood. Jesus said: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, (capital S), he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:5,6) Notice again that flesh is first then spirit. The third case is 1 Corinthians 15:45-50: "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam (Jesus Christ) was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.." End of note.

No person can be perfect, no matter how hard we try, this was told to me by my Bishop. When I was baptized, I was cleansed of my sins, and every Sunday, I partake of the sacrament, to renew that promise I made with god, that I would obey his commandments.

Editor's note: Do people become cleansed, born again believers by means of a Mormon baptism? "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, (capital S), he cannot enter into the kingdom of God That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:5,6) . Sin can only be covered by a blood sacrifice and to be permanent it had to come from a person who was not under Satan's authority. All human beings are under Satan's authority until they are born again.

In Mormonism God has a body as well as does Jesus Christ to fit Mormon theology. The Mormon Jesus is the spirit brother of all human spirit children including Satan. It is obviously a different Jesus than the Jesus of Israel who came out of the line of Abraham. "Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. If Mormons had received the Holy Spirit baptism they would realize that they are under erroneous teachings as long as they remain in Mormonism. End of note.

I spent most of my life trying to believe in god, I prayed often, and no reply ever came to me that I could see. When the missionaries came to my door and explained their lessons, and gave me the book of mormon, along with a bible to read, they asked to me to pray for an answer to if this religion was true or not. I did some reading, and prayed, and an amazing thing happened..... during my prayer, a very clear thought came to my mind.

Editor's Note: Having faith in God is a matter of just believing without expecting to physically experience God. To have an experience with God would prove that He exists and would nullify faith in God. The only reason Abraham was chosen to be the Father of Nations was his faith in God. When God asked Abram to sacrifice his son, Abraham believed that God would resurrect his son Can Satan influence our minds and send messages? Thats pretty obvious. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,.." (Matthew 15:19) "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Genesis 6:5) ".. for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.." (Genesis 8:21) "Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord." (Proverbs 6:14) "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know." (Jeremiah 17:9) End of note.

There are so many religions, and so many churches with different beliefs. God has provided so many ways to worship him. There is a scripture that states "by their fruits you shall know them". Would Satan ask anyone to pray to god? would he try and make people obey the commandments? If it brings you to god, it is of god.

Editor's note: "By their fruits you shall know them.." What did the Bible mean by that? Converts to Mormonism are impressed with Mormon busyness which it is when truly examined. Their focus is getting to the Temple which promises heaven. Mormons can't get to heaven unless they go through a Mormon temple at least once. To qualify for a temple recommend they have to attend all the innumerable meetings, tithe 10% of gross wages, do their genealogy at least four generations, obey the Word of Wisdom (no smoking, drinking, coffee, pop etc..), accept callings such as teaching in various capacities, lead groups, go on missions, etc.., sometimes 3 or 4 jobs simultaneously, take on four plus families to visit monthly, and live an exemplary life of perfection.

Justification is described in Romans 10:5-11 "For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, with we preach.; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." Notice "righteousness" is the object in this sentence. Jesus is the righteousness of believers. Without His righteousness we have nothing. "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6) End of note.

I find it difficult to understand how any religion that worships god, could not have been created by his device. I know that my relationship with my savior is strong, and that the church has helped me want to become a better person, this definitly seems like good fruit to me :) I dont intend to try and change your thoughts of the "mormons", but I bet if you checked out the LDS website, you wouldn't find any slandering of other religions.

Editor's note: Even though each religion has their own god, i.e. Islam worships Allah, doesn't mean that they worship God. That is what Satan would want us to believe. Mormons believe that God had to have a physical body before he could become a god. Don't ask them who came first: the chicken or the egg? If God created everything as we read earlier, he was God or was he, since he had to have a body. All one has to do is think about these concepts and its easy to see that there is a problem.

Mormons consider not only the Book of Mormon their Bible but the KJV Bible and the Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine of Covenants as part of their Bible. When comparing these four books there are many inconsistencies. Their gods are even different. Believing in a plurality of gods, when confronted with Alma 11:44 in the Book of Mormon which describes the Trinity as Christians believe it, they are in shock because they are not taught the Trinity. How can they believe that they will become gods themselves by going to the temple, if there is only one triune God forever. It doesn't fit their theology.

"Jesus saith unto him, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." (John 14:9,10) "And I shall pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, and he may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. " (John 14:16-20)

There is no other religion outside of fundamental Christianity, that worships this very God who is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. "For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. (1 Corinthians 8:5,6)

".. our Savior; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (1 Timothy 2:..3-6). End of note.