Lynn Ridenhour with Sterling Allan a Mormon descendant, who put his arm around Ridenhour while he was seeking to regain his composure while tearfully reading the Statement of Repentance..
Posted on 10/02/2010 7:40:13 AM PDT by restornu
By Greater Things News Service (Not officially affiliated with Ezekiel Conference)
Lynn Ridenhour addresses the Ezekiel Conference at the Unitarian Church on Highland Drive in Salt Lake City, January 22, 2005
Lynn Ridenhour with Sterling Allan a Mormon descendant, who put his arm around Ridenhour while he was seeking to regain his composure while tearfully reading the Statement of Repentance..
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- Southern Baptist Minister, Lynn Ridenhour, issued a tearful public apology Saturday to the Mormons for the actions of his ancestors in persecuting and driving the Mormons from Missouri in the 1800's. Speaking at the invitation of the Ezekiel Seminar in Salt Lake City on Jan. 22, 2005, Ridenhour read a prepared statement which was warmly received by the audience of 160 predominantly Mormon participants, who embraced him and offered their forgiveness in turn.
Ridenhour's statement said that though he was raised and trained to speak against the Mormons as a cult, he came to see that while their beliefs are different, they are not a cult.
Having discovered in his family history that his Missouri ancestors "were involved in the Mormon War, running the Mormons out of the state," he took occasion in his speaking engagement to offer the apology on behalf of his ancestors and to ask for forgiveness.
Ridenhour presently resides in Independence, Missouri, where he leads a charismatic revival that includes an honored place for the Book of Mormon.
The "Statement of Repentance" was read in the course of a lecture titled, "I'm looking for a church," in which he itemized five aspects which all turned out to be features of the LDS Church at the time of Joseph Smith: Manifest presence of God, taking God out of the "box", prophetic, welcomes signs and wonders, worshippers.
Ridenhour told of going through accounts of Mormon History and documenting the number of manifestations of the various gifts of the spirit, from speaking in tongues, to raising the dead, healing the sick and appearances of angels. He also told of his experience reading the Book of Mormon for the first time. "It was like being born again -- again!" "The Book of Mormon is more Baptist than the Baptist hymnal," he said, referencing the core Baptists doctrines propounded there.
He was recently contacted by a key leader figure in the Pentecostal church who asked him if he really believed in the Book of Mormon, and then confessed that he too has been a believer for many years, but has not been able to come out of the closet because of his position in the Pentecostal church. Ridenhour has scheduled a time not long from now to have this minister come to Independence and go on record publicly as a Book of Mormon believer. Being over some 168 congregations, his confession ought to turn some heads.
At the end of the conference, Ridenhour ministered to the group assembled, performing several miracles of healing and giving "a word of knowledge" to numerous people who were astonished at the accuracy of the words of inspired wisdom being spoken to them that were so specific and timely for their unique situations. One LDS woman spoke in tongues as she was filled with the Holy Ghost, which was then interpreted to her great joy and weeping. Not all who sought healings were healed on the spot, but were promised they could be healed.
This was around the 18th Ezekiel Conference to be held, and the first time they had this kind of open manifestation of such miracles in their midst. The conferences commenced about three years ago because of many people being touched by an account of a ten-year-old girl who died from a diabetic coma and returned from death without the veil, who apparently has continued to have near daily encounters with Jesus on a level of familiarity surpassing what most people have in a best friend or parent. The purpose of the ongoing conferences is to teach about the gifts of the spirit and foster their identification and development in the lives of people for the blessing of mankind.
This was the first conference that Ridenhour attended, having been introduced to conference founder and director, Doug Mendenhall.
Ridenhour said that the "two sticks" prophecy in Ezekiel is not just about the Bible and the Book of Mormon becoming one in the hand, but that the people of the Bible and the people of the Book of Mormon will become one as well.
"In Old Testament times, God manifest his glory in the cloud, but not his person. In New Testament times, God manifest his person but not his glory. In our day, he is going to manifest both his glory and his person."
Having been numbered among the avidly anti-Mormon-cult crowd, he was miraculously converted to the gospel according to Joseph Smith upon reading the Book of Mormon.
He joined the LDS church for a few years but presently is disassociated so as to not be unfettered in his ministry. Yet he retains his commitment to the restoration gospel, though certainly not ignorant of the saints’ shortcomings in regard to their magnificent destiny.
His primary gift and mission in life seems to be to stir the coals of revival among the charismatic-inclined who are numbered among the various restoration movements. Hence his residence in Independence,
Missouri. God bless you, Lynn.
Sterling D. Allan
November 1, 2000
Updated Jan. 25, 2005
This is an Ecumenical thread!
Here is his web site: http://www.greaterthings.com/Ridenhour/index.html
I am willing--in fact eager--to disavow the bad judgment and evil acts of my ancestors and everybody else--but I am not responsible for the misdeeds of anyone but myself.
Yes, I accept full responsibility for my own misdeeds, and I apologize to all concerned for them. But I have no apologies to make for anyone but myself.
All this "apology" foolishness is just more sloppy logic from the Left:
They're going to "apologize" for the misdeed of everybody they can think of-- What they really want to do is disavow misdeeds and evil. Good! Do so.
They also want to acknowledge "hate crimes"--as though they are somehow worse than other crimes--and the other crimes are what? "love crimes"?
Then, of course, there is Leftists' (for the most part intentional) misconception that Islam is a race.
They make these confusions partly because it suits their purpose, partly because they're stupid, and partly because their Decadence interferes with their logic and clarity.
One of the worst things about the Decadence that has infected Western Civilization like the Black Plague--and promises to be far more deadly--is its disregard for logic, clarity, and honesty.
In fact, the scorn of truth is the deadliest and most fundamental--and the most odious--thing about this deadly Decadence.
Similarly, apologizing for the "sins" of ancestors who lived in different times and operated under different cultural understandings is useless. It happened. Was it morally right or wrong? We can analyze and discuss that.. and learn from their virtues and mistakes. But apologizing for it is an empty exercise.
I really don’t think his apology was so much about the action of others in his family as that he said, he was raised to be anti-Mormon and now he is no longer and confession is good for the soul to clear the air!
We will all be judge for our individual actions in life not of what others are did or doing!
The article would have been more honest to say he is a FORMER Southern Baptist. As a Southern Baptist, I’d object pretty strongly to a SBC pastor supporting the LDS church.
His apology was misplaced, regardless. One, you cannot apologize for another person, particularly one you never met. And two, the Mormons were driven out for a reason, and it wasn’t religion. The LDS tended to vote for anyone their Prophet told them to, and as they increased in numbers, they became the deciding vote. The people of Missouri and later Illinois had to decide if they wanted to live in a democracy or theocracy, and they chose freedom.
Well, that certainly was heart felt. (roll eyes)
LDS is a non-Christian cult. A non-Christian cult is an organization that claims to be Christian while at the same time denying core teachings of Christianity. One such core teaching is that there is one God. Mormons teach that there are many gods and that human beings can become gods, create their own worlds, populate them and "save" them if necessary.
LDS isn't merely "different." It is a non-Christian religion that masquerades as a Christian religion, using Christian terminology, slogans, and some Christianesque ceremonies.
Tearful "apologies" do nothing to establish LDS as Christian any more than using Christian vocabulary.
I should repent for my own sins. I should not repent for the sins of others.
Man will be punished for his own sins, not for Adams transgression.
The apologies for others generally have other motives.
Jan. 24, 2005? Wow, you’re a little slow in getting your breaking news out.
Today, October 2, 2010 I apologize to all those people I have converted and baptized into Mormonism. As a youth I just obeyed the burning in the bosom.
Please forgive me. I made a terrible mistake.
“Having been numbered among the avidly anti-Mormon-cult crowd, he was miraculously converted to the gospel according to Joseph Smith upon reading the Book of Mormon. “
How in the world can this be considered the spirit of ecumenical posting when Restornu starts with this statement??
Oh I get it. It's a proselytizing thread
Oh, snap!
“Today, October 2, 2010 I apologize to all those people I have converted and baptized into Mormonism. As a youth I just obeyed the burning in the bosom. Please forgive me. I made a terrible mistake.”
As a representative of the non-lds (read: mormon) persuasion,
I humbly and thankfully accept your true repentance and
apology. May the souls you misled find the one true God.
I also apologize and repent for not speaking up more
loudly as I allowed white-shirted mormon missionaries
to pass by me on their bicycles. I should have intervened.
Please forgive me Utah Binger. One of them probably was
not you, but as a former mormon missionary, would you
accept my apology by proxy (on a dry basis with no rituals)?
[This event will be reported on FR in 5 years, according to
the standard of news reporting.]
ecumenically yours,
ampu
I do not believe in vicarious apologies.
Ridenhour was not even born when his ancestors persecuted the Mormons in Missouri. He took no part in the persecutions; he bears no personal responsibility for them. Therefore, his apology, however heartfelt and well-intentioned, is unnecessary.
The persecutors and the persecuted are long dead. We can learn from their history; we need not wallow in it.
He should apologize for saying that LDS isn’t a cult.
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