Jesus created the universe by the word of his power. “Let there be…” (Genesis 1:3). Effortless, raw power.
Jesus sustains the universe by the word of his power. “He upholds the universe by the word of his power.” (Hebrews 1:3) See, told you so. Jesus sustains every “Higgs boson” like a boss.
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead with mere words. “Lazarus, come out!” (John 11:43). Boom. Raised from the dead. And smelling like he had been dead, too.
Jesus reversed weather by his mere words. “Peace! Be still! And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” (Mark 4:39) That is when they soiled themselves: “And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?'” (Mark 4:41) You’d be scared too.
Jesus forgave sins by his mere words. “Your sins are forgiven.” Luke 5:20. The Pharisees rightly attribute this kind of raw authority to God alone: “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (21)
Jesus many times healed by mere words. “Pick up your bed and go home.” (Luke 5:24) Matthew 8:5-13 (cf. Luke 7:1-10) even makes a distinct point about this: those who truly understand the nature of authority know that God can remotely heal with his mere words. “Only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes…” (Matthew 8:8-9) So Jesus tells him, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” (13)
Jesus renamed the apostle Peter with mere words. He simply said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas.” (John 1:42) In America, getting a new name requires paperwork and a legal process. Not with Jesus. If Jesus wants your name to be “Bubba” or “Joe” or “Sam”, he will tell you so, and it will be so.
Jesus exorcised demons by mere words. Feel the hair raise on the back of your neck: Jesus simply tells the demons, “Go” (Matthew 8:32), and they… go. They are terrified of him. One word is enough.
So how did Jesus authorize missionary work? With a necessary ritual of touch? No, with mere words:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
To those who know the authority of Jesus — whether demons or disciples — one word is enough: “Go.”
Here’s the problem. When people “go”, by whose authority do they “go” and what message are they preaching?
Mormons “go” but their message is not going to bring eternal life to those hearing and accepting the message because the message, the words, are a false gospel.
Why is the message a false gospel? Very simply because they proclaim a false God, a false Christ and a false salvation. The Mormon gospel was created by a false prophet.
The Mormon god is one of millions perhaps billions of gods in a pantheon of gods. These gods where once sinful men who, by obedience to the Salt Lake City Mormon religious system, became gods.
The Christ is a false Christ. He is the spirit off-spring of one of these Mormon gods and one of his many wives residing on or near the planet/star Kolob.
The salvation message of Mormonism is false. It is a muti-tierd system where by everyone who ever lived is saved and then, for those who work the Mormon system, become gods.
There is no restoration of anything with the message of Mormonism which they “go” and preach. There is no power in their words.
I am so glad that Jesus is my Lord.
I wish everyone could know the peace of having Jesus as their master.
I hate seeing church, religion, and this world blinding people so that they cannot see the simplicity that is Christ.
His yolk is easy his burden is light. He wants to restore us, he wants us to be the way God made us to be. He wants us to know him and worship him.
Can anyone tell me how being LDS will make it easier to know him?
I hear it said all the time from members that the church brings them closer to Him. How?
He is RAW POWER. He is ALIVE. He is God and He bought me at a price.
What does the church really offer thats better than that?
I can heal through his power, I can cast out demons through his power, I can come to the father through him and I can be in his presence.
What is restored by the church that Jesus hasn’t already taken care of?
More evidence that annointing disciples does not require the laying on of hands is this verse in John 20:21, 22- Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
RE: John 20:21-22 — SO AWESOME!
Jesus told His disciples that they would receive “power” when the Holy Spirit came upon them. I’m going to murder the spelling of this but the Greek word is “dunimos” which is like dynamite, explosive.
People can create religious feelings and experiences that come right out of their own souls. It has nothing to do with the Spirit of God. However there are folks like the Mormons who think they’ve experienced something from God because it has a form of spiritual feeling about it. It’s nothing but the soul stimulating the emotions. It has nothing of the Spirit.
A move of the Holy Spirit is unmistakable and it has nothing to do with a religious system. During the Jesus Movement of the late 60’s through the 70’s I witnessed this movement of the Spirit and it had nothing to do with denominational labels. In fact people who were swept up into this move of the Spirit didn’t even relate to their particular brand as much as they did to each other.
It’s all about the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection. I’m struck by how Mormons who dare read the NT with a fresh pair of eyes see the folly of Mormonism and turn to the Lord.
The problem with Mormonism, and there are many, is that its roots can be traced only about to 1830 or so.
Christianity can be traced back to the Lord Jesus Christ; when He walked this earth, taught the Gospel, suffered, died, arose from the dead, sent out His disciples, ascended into heaven from which we wait for His glorious return.
We know what the Gospel is as it was revealed to His disciples who then taught others and was preserved for us by the Holy Spirit, unaltered, today.
You would think people would be smart enough to figure that out so that when some upstart prophet wannabee shows up with another message/revelation/gospel they’d dismiss it.
But Jesus warned of this as did His disciples. The power of the evil one in giving a diluted gospel to someone who would then convince people to follow another god and someone named Jesus but who isn’t the Lord, is striking.
Convincing people to follow false prophets has been a favorite trick of the devil and Mormonism is one of his creations that does seduce some people.
Falcon said: “It’s all about the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection. I’m struck by how Mormons who dare read the NT with a fresh pair of eyes see the folly of Mormonism and turn to the Lord.”
I was very stirred up by continued participation in Mormonism, yet, I couldn’t let go. My wife was still very, very much a TBM. We agreed that we continued to have common ground spiritually in our mutual belief in God and in our trust of the New Testament. Independently, we both began reading the New Testament without any outside commentary. We agreed to see what the New Testament said about itself and by itself. It didn’t take too long for us both to see the absurdity of the Mormon system and the simplicity and purity of the “Jesus System.” The so-called restoration was totally unnecessary. Mormonism is, to quote my wife (remember, she was once a Mormon’s Mormon), “a fraud.” God is with us more fully than ever before, and our marriage is sweeter than ever before. ‘Nuf said, as far as I’m concerned.
Tom,
Stories like that and your wife’s are very encouraging. It’s amazing the power of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit to transform TBMs into TBCs.
I’m always curious, what prompted you two to even begin to investigate the possibility that Mormonism was false?
It should not be surprising to see how false prophets in our day , the latter days, would seek to
convince people to follow them and embrace their teachings , and the most successful way in
which they manage to mislead people is to mimic Jesus’ apostles . Mormon apostles have
claimed to have restored the same gospel that Paul preached (Rom 1:16) and the same Church
that Jesus established through His apostles . Paul , knowing that after his preaching was over
there would come men claiming authority to introduce teachings, doctrines that were not true
2Pt 2:1 , that these men would mimic the claims of Paul and Jesus’ other apostles , but their
teachings would be inaccurate , man made , having commenced from their own wisdom .
In short, they would teach for doctrine the commandments of men .
To be on safe ground in these days in order to guard against spiritual danger , from imitation
gospels advertised by men claiming authority from Jesus , we must anchor our beliefs in the
teachings of those of long ago who witnessed Him alive after dying on the cross and whom He
sent out to preach the glorious news of how to be reconciled to God and receive eternal life .
The writers of the New Testament have given us a wonderful testimony of those who had
found their Savior and from Him had received a right relationship with God and eternal life ,
and they also delineated how to evaluate anyone who would arise and claim to be a prophet/
apostle —-2Cor 11:4,15; 1 Jn 4:1 ; Rev 2:2
When we look at the command of “go” as it is used by the LDS church; the result is that it causes 50% of MM to eventually “go” inactive. These young people don’t “go” because they are called. They “go” because it’s a right of passage within the LDS church. And what’s the message that they preach? It’s that Joseph Smith is a prophet, the BoM is scripture, that the LDS church is God’s one true church, that the current prophet of the LDS church is God’s mouth-piece on earth, and finally something about believing in Jesus. The LDS Jesus, who isn’t the Jesus revealed in the Bible, is the caboose of the LDS message.
When Christians are called to go and preach the Gospel, the message is Jesus and Him crucified. Regardless of the denomination, Christian missionaries don’t ask people to believe in their group, in the head of the group or even swear allegiance to the Bible for that matter.
When Billy Graham asked people to come forward in a meeting, what was the point of the action? To call people to a public profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that even necessary for salvation? Not really, but it was and is a way for folks to be prayed for and counseled if needed. Are they asked to get baptized into some particular group? No! It’s all about the Lord Jesus and preaching the Word of Life.
I never went forward in a meeting but if that had been the circumstances by which I came to faith, so be it. In fact when I came to Christ I was sitting alone. I didn’t cry or hear angels sing. It was a realization that I was a lost sinner and that I was in need of a Savior. No need to join a church because the “church” I then belonged to by my faith was the Mystical Body of Christ. The invisible church made up of all believers, the Bride of Christ.
To Mormons who are trying hard everyday to serve the religious system I say, forget it. Come to Jesus in faith. Draw close to Him who alone has the power to save. All that the LDS church is doing for you is standing in the way of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
falcon asked: “[Tom],what prompted you two to even begin to investigate the possibility that Mormonism was false?”
Initially,neither of us were entertaining the possibility that Mormonism was false. Speaking for myself, all I knew was that something inside was terribly out of whack. I’d go to church and come home feeling just awful. It would take me until Wednesday to stop being riled up. I finally quit going in 2003 because it was just too painful–literally painful.
I was terrified of looking at anything critical of Mormonism. They indoctrinated me well. Somewhere in 2005 I heard about Grant Palmer’s book, An Insiders View of Mormon Origins. He seemed safe, being an Institute director and all. The Book of Mormon always bugged me in that the stories are over the top–the heros are almost superhuman, the miracles are just too conveniently powerful, they even rival those of Jesus himself. Palmer’s book shed a lot of light as to why the BoM seemed so contrived. I felt that way since I was 16. I just chalked it up to Mormon and his abridgment process and a little embellishment here and there. Or maybe stories and people just seem mightier when they are described by others.
The two books that sealed the deal, so to speak, for me were Prince’s book on David O. McKay and Bushman’s book on Joseph Smith. I walked away from the book on McKay with the sense that he was a bit of a buffoon, and that the whole leadership structure of the LDS church was/is a factional, ego-centric mess. Bushman’s book really validated much of what Palmer discussed, only not in as much detail. I came away from Rough Stone Rolling with the sense that Joseph Smith was just a hick–in incredibly intelligent one, mind you–who made stuff up as he went, synthesizing all kinds of American religious beliefs into a somewhat unified whole. Yes, Joseph made it up out of whole cloth. He seems to have spent most of his time thinking and speculating about religion and theological dilemmas, and not having any training or real knowledge at all in theology, he just molded stuff together. Prince’s and Bushman’s books did nothing to assuage my growing skepticism of Joseph Smith. Indeed, they fed that skepticism even more than Palmer’s book did.
During the summer of 2006 I made the attempt to read the Book of Mormon through investigator’s eyes. I never had the ‘luxury’ of looking at the Book of Mormon and of Mormonism as an outsider. I tried as hard as I could to be neutra. If anything, due to my lifetime of being a true believer, I tended to “side” with the LDS position relative to the Book of Mormon. As I read and, yes, prayed my way through the book up until about half of Alma, I was absolutely floored by the level of improbabilities I saw. Finally, I said to myself, “I have read this with as open a mind as I could muster. I prayed as sincerely as I could. I was as consistent as I could be in my reading. And this is what I get? a series of observations and insights that it is fiction? Wait a minute, maybe it really is fiction. I did ask if it were true sans all the hype and involvement with Mormons and LDS church goings on to support the presupposed answer to such inquiry. The whole belief structure is false and manipulative. I’ll be damned. Well, I’ve got my answer.”
As far as my wife goes, she listened to the old LDS New Testament on tape with that British National Geographic narrator guy reading the text. Along with that were the LDS chapter headings the Bruce R. wrote for the 1980 edition of the scriptures. It was shocking to her that very often the heading had nothing to do with what the chapter actually said. Then, she asked to be released from her Primary calling as chorister because she didn’t feel right about teaching songs that were so heavily centered on church–missionary work, follow the prophet, that kind of stuff. Then she started coming home after Sacrament meeting because Sunday School and Relief Society lessons were just too full of cherry picked validators of the truthfulness of Mormonism. Then she started coming home after just taking the sacrament. There was nearly no Christ in sacrament meeting. It was just a rambling, free association love fest as to how wonderful the Mormon church is and we’re all happy to be led by prophets, etc. etc. No Jesus? No use going.
We found ourselves tangentially involved with a Christian church in Sandy, UT. By the summer of 2008 we were ready to give the Mormon church the heave ho. We’ve been happily involved in our Christian community ever since.
We weren’t initially motivated to test the truthfulness or falsity of Mormonism at all. We were just involved with God and the New Testament, and damning information about the Mormon church from LDS sources just happened along, especially the sources which seem to be meant to inoculate the membership from the hard truths concerning Mormon history.
Tom,
Thank you very much for sharing your account of how you and your wife made your way out of Mormonism.
You know as well as I do that any TBM reading it will claim that you two were deceived into leaving. It always amazes me how factual evidence can be seen as some form of deception. If the information were false one could consider the deception angle.
I found the interesting part of your story was the gnawing feeling you had that was unexplainable. I don’t want to go down the pathway to discussing “election” but it’s pretty obvious that the Holy Spirit troubled you into seeking some answers.
The other charge of course is that you were reading @nti-Mormon literature. It’s funny but my understanding is that Bushman is a sort of rock-star in Mormon circles. What I’ve heard is that he gets away with it, unlike Palmer, because he never fully pulls the trigger on Smith.
Well praise the Lord that He led you and your wife to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. So many former Mormons become atheists.
Please stick around and continue contributing.
falcon,
Your comment that “I found the interesting part of your story was the gnawing feeling you had that was unexplainable. I don’t want to go down the pathway to discussing “election” but it’s pretty obvious that the Holy Spirit troubled you into seeking some answers,” deserves some attention.
In 2007 I connected with a Lutheran pastor who had been raised LDS. I went to his office at the church one afternoon to discuss the spiritual dilemma I found myself in. It so happens that he was starting that very week a Bible study of sorts he conducts every year, and he invited me to join in. I was so spiritually starving that I was very ready for something like that.
The basis of the study was the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola (the founder of the Jesuits). This pastor had taken an interest in the spiritual exercises and had written a book (Sacred Listening) where he makes the exercises more appealing to a Protestant viewpoint. The point I want to make is that Ignatius describes two spiritual conditions and how the Holy Spirit operates under each condition. First is the condition of consolation. That’s where we feel connected with God and our relationship with Him is open and flowing. In that case the Holy Spirit speaks to us by beckoning us and gently drawing us into spiritual insights that lead us closer to God. The second condition is desolation. That’s where we feel distant from God and the open communication seems strained, if not closed down. We may feel a strong sense of dis-ease, of being riled up inside. Desolation can come from our own sin, but it can also come as a result of others’ sin or as a result of our weariness from living in a fallen world. Sometimes desolation is a manifestation of God at work in our lives. When in desolation the Holy Spirit will bite and nip at our heels to get us to move toward God. Sometimes that can be very painful.
Up until my introduction to this very Catholic concept, I was very distrustful of my desolate feelings. I just assumed that the devil was after me, trying to pull me away from God’s one and only true church. I had no concept that it was possible for God the Holy Spirit to be at work within me, nipping at my heels and drawing blood at times, just to get me to move closer into alignment with the Word of God (read “Word” as either the Bible or Jesus Christ–it works either way for me).
I am confident now that the Holy Spirit drove me out of the Mormon church because, in the end, that is what it was going to take to get me to move. I have told this to a few of my LDS friends, and they get an odd look of disconnect on their faces. Such a thing is totally outside their world view–The Holy Ghost causing icky feelings of confusion and pain relative to the Mormon faith claims? Impossible. Well, I’m here to say it is very possible, and Mormons who have those feelings would do well to listen to them and to be open to a Godly source for those feelings.
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Tom,
I loved reading your story. Thank God that He sent The Holy Spirit to work in both you and your wife’s heart. That is such a tremendous blessing. That is interesting what you wrote about consolation and desolation. It made me think about what was going on within me at the time I was LDS. I think I was in spiritual desolation for a long time in the LDS Church, I just didnt know it. Looking back I was constantly trying to fix it by doing more in my calling, attending all meetings, studying more, more visiting teaching. I would get to the point I was so busy it was hard to notice the desolation. The final thing that I tried to throw myself into was LDS missionary work. I was going to try to invite and bring people into the LDS Church. I was going to know Mormon history inside and out so I could be inspired by the Restoration and share it with the world. I brought people to Church, talked religion with my friends, even read, hilighted, and prayed over a Book of Mormon and handed it to someone. I live on the Bible Belt. As I was sharing the LDS gospel, I was starting to notice that all my friends I was trying to bring into the LDS CHurch already knew Christ and I thought they knew Him better than me. Realizing that my friends, totally opposed to Mormnism, who already knew and loved Christ, were not going to live with God unless they converted to Mormonism (my thoughts as an LDS person), didnt make any sense to me. The bubble burst and the wheels started turning. So LDS Missionary work was one of the things that brought me out of the LDS church.
Tom,
That’s the Mormon set-up and what keeps people in any of the cults. If I’m feeling bad it can’t possibly be God convicting me of something especially as it relates to the LDS church which is, of course, perfect.
I was raised Catholic so I have an appreciation for the meat that’s contained in the teachings of the church. You know the old saying, “Eat the meat and spit out the bones.” It’s too bad that folks have such an aversion to the Catholic faith because that’s where you can find some great scholars especially relative to early Church history and some of the foundational doctrines i.e. doctrine of the nature of God.
I have enough freedom in Christ that I don’t get hung-up on some of the things within any particular denomination that I don’t agree with. To me it’s always back to Jesus, what He said and what He did. That’s the foundation that is solid with the true cornerstone.
The Mormon prophet is a stumbling block for the LDS people. They have out-sourced their faith to a man who is more of a head of a corporation.
Jesus is the pathway to the Father not some man masquerading as a prophet.
The Book of Acts in the NT is the “go” book in the Bible. It’s here that Jesus commands His disciples to go forth into the whole world to preach the Word of salvation. What exactly is that? It’s that Jesus is the Messiah, the One who redeemed mankind from sin. The preaching in the Book of Acts is very clear as to what a person needs to do to be saved.
Mormonism is not present in the Book of Acts. Mormonism is a different gospel.
We see where Tom in His above posts found salvation in the Bible. It’s clear that when he read the NT he couldn’t find Mormonism in it. I would think that Mormons would be a little curious that the gospel that Jesus commanded His disciples to go out and preach to the whole world, is not the gospel that Mormons embrace.
One of the things that I think holds Mormons back is that they believe in their own devotion, sincerity and desire to live a godly life. Surely someone who has these qualities must have the truth of the gospel.
But the answer is no, the Mormon gospel is not the gospel that appears in the NT. The Book of Acts is also replete with signs and wonders, miracles and directives from God to the believers.
I think one thing that holds Mormons back in being able to see the folly of their belief system, is this feeling that they have had “spiritual” experiences. What they don’t understand is that people of every religious stripe have “spiritual” experiences. In this context, spiritual experiences are not a test of truth.
How can that be? Bluntly because spiritual experiences can be manufactured and come right out of the souls of men and not the Spirit of God. Desire and imagination are useful for men to garner the experiences they desire.
Tom, what a blessing to read of your journey from Joseph to Jesus . From being a member of
a powerful wealthly religious empire ruled from Salt Lake City , to being a member of Jesus’ Body
which He cares for from heaven ; from allegiance to apostles arising in the latter days to
receiving the gospel of salvation from Jesus’ true messengers —1Jn 1:1-4 .
Quite a journey .
OH, OH! Does this mean I’m going to get a knock on my door?
“Twenty million Americans consider themselves lapsed Catholics, but Pope Francis is convincing many to test the holy waters again with his bold gestures and common touch.”
“After years of disenchantment with the church’s hierarchy and teachings, former members of the flock say they are willing to give the Vatican a second chance under new leadership.”
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/10/17671252-it-was-a-sign-lapsed-catholics-lured-back-by-pope-francis?lite
No, I doubt if I will. That’s just not part of the Catholic program, to chase down former members.
We know that part of the “go” plan for MM is to call on inactive, lapsed or even those former Mormons who have formally resigned from the LDS church.
It’s one thing for a former Mormon to get their names off of the membership list, which used to be a problem, but it’s another thing to convince the corporation that they’ve sold their stock and they don’t want to buy-in again. The Utah based LDS church has a real problem in the culture with personal boundaries.
When Jesus told His disciples to “go” it was about alerting the world that the Messiah had come, had died on the cross for their sins, and that through Him they could be reconciled to the Father.
The LDS church isn’t as interested in the Lord Jesus Christ as they are building the membership base of their own false religious system.
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