Recently I was reflecting on the many thousands of hours that I arduously labored for Mormonism, from late 1970 until around the year 2000, erroneously thinking that I was commanded to work my way to exaltation, the highest degree of Mormon heaven.
The notion in my mind, at that time in my life, was that Jesus' death on the cross had meant nothing except for the resurrection, or salvation from physical death, that followed, which, to Mormons, was the only gift that Jesus gave to all mankind; that being, universal resurrection.
It was much later that I realized that Jesus' perfect sacrifice for sin, the shedding of his precious blood on the cross, was the real gift that he gave us; that through our belief and faith in him, who saved us from our sins, we could be with him in heaven.
I had even thought that water baptism was a work required of all mankind essential to the process of getting into heaven.
I had failed to realize that the process of being born again, as Jesus told Nicodemus, was entirely spiritual.
I had failed to realize that, what Jesus had meant by saying, "Unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," was that all human beings are born, immersed in water at birth, and are later born again of the Spirit if they accept Jesus as their savior.
Jesus even explained to Nicodemus what he had meant in John 3:6, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
" He was speaking of the water of birth and the Spirit of spiritual conversion.
Just before ascending into heaven, Jesus further clarified, in Mark 16:16, the necessity of teaching his gospel to the world, and of the acceptance of the Holy Spirit by those who believe in him.
He said, "Go ye into all the world, and teach the gospel to every creature.
He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.
He that believes not shall be damned.
" Belief precedes receiving the Spirit, or being baptized by the Spirit.
A person can only be baptized by the Spirit if he, or she, believes in Christ.
That's why Jesus said that the person who does not believe shall be damned.
A person can be baptized by another person with water and not believe in Jesus.
But a person cannot be baptized by the Spirit without the necessary prerequisite belief in Jesus, because the Spirit is independent of human action.
This is why a person who does not believe in Jesus will not be baptized by the Spirit.
I readily discovered in my 30 year affiliation with Mormonism that the LDS Church purposely distracts, by deliberate deception, their members from hearing the discerning Spirit of truth, and from understanding the scriptures of the Holy Bible.
The full-time Mormon missionaries, the ward bishops, and the LDS member missionaries (friends of the converts to Mormonism) will, by design, direct newly baptized converts to read and study only doctrinal materials approved by the Mormon Church, which mainly comprise manuals and study guides for the four standard works of the Mormon Church (Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Book of Abraham, and the King James Version of the Holy Bible).
During the six carefully prepared lessons provided to investigators (people learning about Mormonism) by the full-time Mormon missionaries, nothing at all is mentioned by the missionaries about the basic theology of Mormonism, which states that the Mormon father god is a resurrected and exalted human being, that Jesus is just one of many resurrected saviors in the universe, and that an earthly mortal Mormon man can eventually become a god, with a capital G, equal to the exalted-man father god, with a capital G.
The full-time Mormon missionaries tell the investigators, whom they teach, that the Book of Mormon is the keystone of the Mormon religion and the most correct book on the face of the earth.
And as they read the fictional Book of Mormon, the investigators will discover an anachronistic story-line about the ancient inhabitants of Mesoamerica (supposedly lineal descendants of the Hebrews and the ancestors of the Native Americans) and Christian doctrines taken from the Bible that could be taught from the pulpit of a Methodist Church, but which are totally different from the basic Mormon theology that they will come to know only after they become members of the Mormon Church.
The Utah Mormon Church realizes that, if investigators are fully persuaded that Joseph Smith (who supposedly translated the Book of Mormon from golden plates given to him by an angel) was a true prophet, they will consequently come to believe that the polytheistic Mormon theology (also produced by Joseph Smith 14 years after the Book of Mormon) was inspired by God.
This propagandizing approach to the Mormon missionary program will only work if the investigator has no prior knowledge of true Mormon doctrine and history.
Through its deception, the five-fold objective of the Mormon missionary program is: 1) to persuade the malleable investigator to develop a belief in Joseph Smith as a prophet of God and in the Book of Mormon as the word of God, 2) to convince the investigator that whatever Joseph Smith wrote, translated, or revealed for the Mormon Church, from 1830 to 1844, was continuing revelation inspired by God, 3) to persuade the investigator to be baptized and confirmed as a member of the Mormon Church and to follow the expectations of the Mormon Church (to pay a full tithe on all earnings, and obeying the directions given by priesthood leaders), 4) to give the newly converted Mormon a job, or calling, to immerse the person into the local ward social network in order to keep the new convert's mind on Mormonism, and 5) to ensure through home teachers (Mormon elders or high priests sent by the ward bishop to keep tabs on the new convert) that the new Latter-day Saint is learning Mormon doctrine in the deliberate fashion designed by the Utah Mormon Church.
The true facts, drawn from my personal experiences and validly researched statistics over a 40 year affiliation with the Mormons, are that approximately 33 percent of all Mormon converts leave the LDS Church within three years of their baptismal entry into Mormonism.
First they discover the truth about Mormon theology and are, afterward, extremely confused about what they have accepted as Christian truth.
Seeking answers to their questions about the theology, they go to the ward bishops and are encouraged by these defenders of Mormonism to intently pray about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith in order to receive confirmation that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God.
They are told to remember why it was that they were baptized into the Mormon Church.
Apparently through cogitative dissonance, like the person who buys a lemon of a car, believing sincerely that it was a fine piece of machinery at the time of purchase, and subsequently finding it falling apart but tries to convince himself that it is still a good car, the confused Mormon will do one of three things.
The convert will either, store the doubts in the back of his mind and continue practicing Mormon doctrine, or stop attending Mormon services and become totally inactive.
One new Mormon, out of three new converts, will ask for his name to the stricken from the records of the Mormon Church within three years.
Another, of the three, will remain a member but become totally inactive.
This is why the Mormon Church's own report of its active membership is extremely inaccurate.
Of the 13-to-14 million people, world-wide, reported to be baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, less than 33 percent of them are fully-active practicing Mormons.
Sixty-seven percent, or greater, of the preceding figure are, either, no longer members of the Mormon Church, or are completely inactive.
In a very real way, true-blue practicing Mormons, especially the many thousands young appealing full-time Mormon missionaries, are con-artists sent out to find their marks, gullible, impressionable, and confused Christians who are struggling to serve Jesus, who are willing to dedicate a tenth-or-more of their total income and much more of their time, to the up-building of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The 33 percent of the Mormon converts who remain with the LDS Church and eventually become temple-endowed (earning the worthiness of a temple recommend by keeping the Mormon commandments and accepting the Mormon temple endowment) are usually those individuals, and families, who decide to continue practicing the Christian heresy of Mormonism.
These temple-worthy Mormons swear in the Mormon temple rite to consecrate all of their money, time, and energy to the up-building of the Mormon Church.
As such, it is extremely difficult for a person to continue practicing these doctrines and rites after discovering, and fully understanding, that those doctrines and rites are not from Jesus, but doctrines of devils.
And it is equally difficult for reasonable educated Mormon converts, who continues to practice Mormonism over many decades of time, not to realize that Mormon doctrines and theology are not biblical to any degree and merely another gospel not of Jesus Christ.
It is safe to say that these people, over time, knowingly allow their consciences to be seared, and to sell their souls to Mormonism to become the cunning con-people who deliberately endeavor to deceive other human beings into joining the Mormon Church.
Much like the Apostle Paul, who spoke of the evil conduct of deceiving people who called themselves the disciples of Jesus without declaring judgment on them, I know that these Mormon deceivers are going to receive from God the rewards of their blasphemy.
Much like Alexander the metalworker, who, in 2 Timothy 4:14, did a great deal of harm to the Apostle Paul, the deceitful deceiving workers of Mormonism will "receive repayment from the Lord for the harm that they have intentionally inflicted on others.
"
The notion in my mind, at that time in my life, was that Jesus' death on the cross had meant nothing except for the resurrection, or salvation from physical death, that followed, which, to Mormons, was the only gift that Jesus gave to all mankind; that being, universal resurrection.
It was much later that I realized that Jesus' perfect sacrifice for sin, the shedding of his precious blood on the cross, was the real gift that he gave us; that through our belief and faith in him, who saved us from our sins, we could be with him in heaven.
I had even thought that water baptism was a work required of all mankind essential to the process of getting into heaven.
I had failed to realize that the process of being born again, as Jesus told Nicodemus, was entirely spiritual.
I had failed to realize that, what Jesus had meant by saying, "Unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," was that all human beings are born, immersed in water at birth, and are later born again of the Spirit if they accept Jesus as their savior.
Jesus even explained to Nicodemus what he had meant in John 3:6, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
" He was speaking of the water of birth and the Spirit of spiritual conversion.
Just before ascending into heaven, Jesus further clarified, in Mark 16:16, the necessity of teaching his gospel to the world, and of the acceptance of the Holy Spirit by those who believe in him.
He said, "Go ye into all the world, and teach the gospel to every creature.
He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.
He that believes not shall be damned.
" Belief precedes receiving the Spirit, or being baptized by the Spirit.
A person can only be baptized by the Spirit if he, or she, believes in Christ.
That's why Jesus said that the person who does not believe shall be damned.
A person can be baptized by another person with water and not believe in Jesus.
But a person cannot be baptized by the Spirit without the necessary prerequisite belief in Jesus, because the Spirit is independent of human action.
This is why a person who does not believe in Jesus will not be baptized by the Spirit.
I readily discovered in my 30 year affiliation with Mormonism that the LDS Church purposely distracts, by deliberate deception, their members from hearing the discerning Spirit of truth, and from understanding the scriptures of the Holy Bible.
The full-time Mormon missionaries, the ward bishops, and the LDS member missionaries (friends of the converts to Mormonism) will, by design, direct newly baptized converts to read and study only doctrinal materials approved by the Mormon Church, which mainly comprise manuals and study guides for the four standard works of the Mormon Church (Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Book of Abraham, and the King James Version of the Holy Bible).
During the six carefully prepared lessons provided to investigators (people learning about Mormonism) by the full-time Mormon missionaries, nothing at all is mentioned by the missionaries about the basic theology of Mormonism, which states that the Mormon father god is a resurrected and exalted human being, that Jesus is just one of many resurrected saviors in the universe, and that an earthly mortal Mormon man can eventually become a god, with a capital G, equal to the exalted-man father god, with a capital G.
The full-time Mormon missionaries tell the investigators, whom they teach, that the Book of Mormon is the keystone of the Mormon religion and the most correct book on the face of the earth.
And as they read the fictional Book of Mormon, the investigators will discover an anachronistic story-line about the ancient inhabitants of Mesoamerica (supposedly lineal descendants of the Hebrews and the ancestors of the Native Americans) and Christian doctrines taken from the Bible that could be taught from the pulpit of a Methodist Church, but which are totally different from the basic Mormon theology that they will come to know only after they become members of the Mormon Church.
The Utah Mormon Church realizes that, if investigators are fully persuaded that Joseph Smith (who supposedly translated the Book of Mormon from golden plates given to him by an angel) was a true prophet, they will consequently come to believe that the polytheistic Mormon theology (also produced by Joseph Smith 14 years after the Book of Mormon) was inspired by God.
This propagandizing approach to the Mormon missionary program will only work if the investigator has no prior knowledge of true Mormon doctrine and history.
Through its deception, the five-fold objective of the Mormon missionary program is: 1) to persuade the malleable investigator to develop a belief in Joseph Smith as a prophet of God and in the Book of Mormon as the word of God, 2) to convince the investigator that whatever Joseph Smith wrote, translated, or revealed for the Mormon Church, from 1830 to 1844, was continuing revelation inspired by God, 3) to persuade the investigator to be baptized and confirmed as a member of the Mormon Church and to follow the expectations of the Mormon Church (to pay a full tithe on all earnings, and obeying the directions given by priesthood leaders), 4) to give the newly converted Mormon a job, or calling, to immerse the person into the local ward social network in order to keep the new convert's mind on Mormonism, and 5) to ensure through home teachers (Mormon elders or high priests sent by the ward bishop to keep tabs on the new convert) that the new Latter-day Saint is learning Mormon doctrine in the deliberate fashion designed by the Utah Mormon Church.
The true facts, drawn from my personal experiences and validly researched statistics over a 40 year affiliation with the Mormons, are that approximately 33 percent of all Mormon converts leave the LDS Church within three years of their baptismal entry into Mormonism.
First they discover the truth about Mormon theology and are, afterward, extremely confused about what they have accepted as Christian truth.
Seeking answers to their questions about the theology, they go to the ward bishops and are encouraged by these defenders of Mormonism to intently pray about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith in order to receive confirmation that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God.
They are told to remember why it was that they were baptized into the Mormon Church.
Apparently through cogitative dissonance, like the person who buys a lemon of a car, believing sincerely that it was a fine piece of machinery at the time of purchase, and subsequently finding it falling apart but tries to convince himself that it is still a good car, the confused Mormon will do one of three things.
The convert will either, store the doubts in the back of his mind and continue practicing Mormon doctrine, or stop attending Mormon services and become totally inactive.
One new Mormon, out of three new converts, will ask for his name to the stricken from the records of the Mormon Church within three years.
Another, of the three, will remain a member but become totally inactive.
This is why the Mormon Church's own report of its active membership is extremely inaccurate.
Of the 13-to-14 million people, world-wide, reported to be baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, less than 33 percent of them are fully-active practicing Mormons.
Sixty-seven percent, or greater, of the preceding figure are, either, no longer members of the Mormon Church, or are completely inactive.
In a very real way, true-blue practicing Mormons, especially the many thousands young appealing full-time Mormon missionaries, are con-artists sent out to find their marks, gullible, impressionable, and confused Christians who are struggling to serve Jesus, who are willing to dedicate a tenth-or-more of their total income and much more of their time, to the up-building of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The 33 percent of the Mormon converts who remain with the LDS Church and eventually become temple-endowed (earning the worthiness of a temple recommend by keeping the Mormon commandments and accepting the Mormon temple endowment) are usually those individuals, and families, who decide to continue practicing the Christian heresy of Mormonism.
These temple-worthy Mormons swear in the Mormon temple rite to consecrate all of their money, time, and energy to the up-building of the Mormon Church.
As such, it is extremely difficult for a person to continue practicing these doctrines and rites after discovering, and fully understanding, that those doctrines and rites are not from Jesus, but doctrines of devils.
And it is equally difficult for reasonable educated Mormon converts, who continues to practice Mormonism over many decades of time, not to realize that Mormon doctrines and theology are not biblical to any degree and merely another gospel not of Jesus Christ.
It is safe to say that these people, over time, knowingly allow their consciences to be seared, and to sell their souls to Mormonism to become the cunning con-people who deliberately endeavor to deceive other human beings into joining the Mormon Church.
Much like the Apostle Paul, who spoke of the evil conduct of deceiving people who called themselves the disciples of Jesus without declaring judgment on them, I know that these Mormon deceivers are going to receive from God the rewards of their blasphemy.
Much like Alexander the metalworker, who, in 2 Timothy 4:14, did a great deal of harm to the Apostle Paul, the deceitful deceiving workers of Mormonism will "receive repayment from the Lord for the harm that they have intentionally inflicted on others.
"
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