by George & Rita Williams, former
Mormons
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. |