Just like most folks...
Posted on 12/22/2010 4:15:56 PM PST by Paragon Defender
The following is a testimonial post from a former anti-Mormon.
Although I also qualify, this is not me. This is one of many examples that there is always hope for everyone:
I'm a mum of three lovely daughters, I work for a legal charity, and I am the author of four published novels.
In December 1987 I had just arrived home from a wonderful first term at University. I was sitting on the deep windowsill in my bedroom and my best friend, Ruth, was telling me what she’s been up to while I'd been away.
“I’ve found a wonderful church!” she declared.
I was delighted with this news. Just before I left, Ruth had told me that she was looking for religious faith. I was a committed born-again Evangelical Christian and so she had turned to me for advice. I had been too busy to give her much guidance, so had simply suggested she go along to a local church. She asked me to guess which church she was now attending. “It begins with M.”
“Methodists?” I ventured. Then, “Moravians?” Wrong again.
A cold fear gripped me and I felt my heart sink. I could only think of one more church beginning with M. “Mormons?” I whispered in horror.
She nodded. Immediately I berated her for being so foolish, and told her that it’s not really a Christian church at all but a cult. I told her everything I remembered hearing about Mormons – it was all bad. But to my surprise, she refused to listen.
As memorable traumatic events go, I know that might have been much worse, but for me it was horrifying. My dear friend had been brainwashed into a cult, and it was my fault! My first task was to find out all I could about it and present it to her so that she would see that she had been duped.
I bought anti-Mormon books and leaflets and set about what would become a five-year campaign against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My entreaties to Ruth failed, and two years after the bombshell in the bedroom she married a returned missionary and moved to Utah. I responded by widening my anti-Mormon activities, determined that, while unable to save Ruth, I would prevent others from being caught in the Mormon web.
Such was my obsession that it nearly broke up my relationship with my then-fiancé. He was a trainee vicar, and one day two missionaries called at my house just as he and I were about to set off for a day in London together. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to confront them with my ammunition, so invited them in. By the time they left, so had my fiancé - to the pub. While he supported my anti-Mormon position, he felt I was a little too obsessed. He was right. I was intrigued and fascinated by everything to do with the LDS Church. I drove by the local meetinghouse regularly and would often park and just look at it.
I became involved with an anti-cult organisation called Reachout Trust, distributed flyers door-to-door advising householders not to answer the door to missionaries, printed an anti-Mormon booklet which I circulated through religious newspapers, and started giving talks to church groups. I loved meeting with missionaries, often using an assumed name since I was well known among the beleaguered members in the area.
What I wanted most of all, though, were Mormon things. Manuals, books, pictures, videos. I had discovered that much of the content of anti-Mormon books was incorrect and they were generally poorly researched. I was very angry to find that I couldn’t rely on these books, and decided that I would have to use the Mormons’ own materials against them. I found out how to get them from the distribution centre and I ordered a long list of items. Missionary discussion booklets, Sunday School study guides, Relief Society manuals, magazine subscriptions, even and a missionary badge in my name. I pored over the books, fascinated to discover how well organised and structured the church was, and what a loving and supportive spirit seemed to be conveyed. I didn’t find much ammunition in those books, though. The doctrines were certainly different from those I held, but I had come to realise that different didn’t automatically mean wrong.
I think that was where I came unstuck. I had filled in the form without recognising (or admitting to myself) that I was not entitled to these things. When I later tried to order Temple Recommends, the result was a solicitor’s letter threatening to sue me for misrepresenting myself as a member of the Church, and for defamation and libel.
I was terrified, and sent all the precious items back to the Church Area office along with an apologetic letter. My husband – by then a Vicar – had stern words with me about the depths of my obsession, and I promised him that it was over. I would never have anything to do with the Mormons again.
That was OK, because I was no longer filled with the hatred I had once felt. What I felt, most of all, was sadness and envy. I saw how my own faith and church didn’t measure up. I knew that if there was a perfect and true church on the Earth, that the LDS church was it. I wanted for myself the wonderful spirit I had felt reading those manuals.
But without the Mormon element, my life felt empty. I couldn’t have anything to do with the church locally, I knew, but what about America? So I wrote to Ruth, apologised for my past behaviour, and flew over to Utah to visit her. I had the most wonderful two weeks attending church, social events, and getting to know many individual Mormons as well as renewing the friendship we had enjoyed.
Arriving home I again longed for that contact with the church, and felt painfully guilty about the way I had attacked such honest, devout people. I was too afraid to apologise directly to the local Bishop or the members, but I figured the missionaries wouldn’t have any idea who I was or what I had done. So one evening when my husband was away on a course I called to invite them, and a male fellowshipper, for Spaghetti Bolognese at the Vicarage.
Elder Bleakley and Elder Merl barely listened to my explanation and apology before launching into the first discussion, and challenging me to read the Book of Mormon. As I admitted to them that I had never read it before, I wondered why it was that the anti-Mormon groups I was involved with advised their associates not to read it. I resolved to do so.
I didn’t get much beyond the first few verses before I felt a sudden rush of knowledge and certainty which completely filled me. I could see clearly for what felt like the first time ever. I knew it was all true. I knew that I had known for years that it was true. I knew that it was time to stop fighting that strange magnetic pull and fascination which drew me to the church. In short, I knew that I had to be baptised.
I was terrified. Terrified of what it would mean for my marriage. Terrified of what my parents would think. Terrified that I wouldn’t be allowed to be baptised. Terrified of meeting with the Bishop of the local ward and throwing myself on his mercy. I remember a lot of tears during that meeting, but also a lot of warmth and forgiveness.
Area Conference was coming up, and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was then the Area President. It was arranged that I would meet with him before the conference session so that he could interview me for baptism. I was very nervous, especially when he invited me to give the prayer. He knew all about my past, but he was also very friendly, humble, direct and Christ-centred. I liked and admired him. I still do. As we left the room to where the missionaries and Bishop were waiting nervously Elder Holland said to them, “There’s going to be a baptism in your Ward tonight.”
Somehow I was never asked whether my husband gave permission for me to be baptised, only whether he would attend. I knew he wouldn’t; he was away a lot these days, and took very little interest in what I did. I later learned that he was having an affair.
The Ward took me to their hearts and I loved being part of the Church, but six months after my baptism my husband’s affair ended and he decided he needed to make of a go of his marriage. All I knew was that suddenly he cared what I did, and he wasn’t happy that I was going to the Mormon church when I had promised him I would have nothing more to do with it. He asked me to stop going, and promised that we would start a family if I agreed.
It would be eight years and two children before I was able to become active in the Church again. By this time my husband had lost his job due to his alcoholism and womanising, and our marriage broke down. Even though I had attended other churches during my marriage I had a very strong testimony that bthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was Christ's true church. Reading the scriptures and the Ensign had cemented my testimony, and as my marriage disintegrated I was finally able to attend the Preston Temple to receive my endowment, a truly wonderful day filled with happy memories. I moved back to the town where I had grown up. Six months later I started dating a returned missionary, and we were married and sealed in the London Temple in 2006.
It’s been quite a turnaround, and I'm not proud of my ignorance and stupidity, but I am so happy to have finally come to be a member of Christ's Church.
I have served in various ways during my time in the Church. I have helped organise activities for the Young Women, and I currently teach the 9-11 year-old children on Sunday Morning. I am also involved with Public Affairs, helping our local community know more about the church and arranging service projects and helping out where we can. Our ward donates clothing and provides volunteers to a homeless project run by another local church, and I helped set this up. It's really "hands on" faith, and I love being involved.
I didn’t get much beyond the first few verses before I felt a sudden rush of knowledge and certainty which completely filled me. I could see clearly for what felt like the first time ever. I knew it was all true. I knew that I had known for years that it was true. I knew that it was time to stop fighting that strange magnetic pull and fascination which drew me to the church. In short, I knew that I had to be baptised.
The 'eld' Elsie recommends you read the OTHER 'scriptures' that make up the Standard Works© and see if the same FEELINGS rush over you.
Just like most folks...
Yeah...
But these two will keep trying to foist their stuff in areas where the opposion CANNOT speak out.
That is standard MORMON training.
Yeah...
THIS article is all about LOVE for the CHURCH!
The CHURCH this and the CHURCH that: makes me wanna PUKE!
Which is MUCH better than...
...a Mormon activist and a deceiver.
You can break out of your cult Godzilla. Drop the act, humble yourself and ask God for the truth.
The purpose of this section is not to prove that the claims of the Church are true.
You can break out of your cult Godzilla. Drop the act, humble yourself and ask God for the truth.
The Bible dictionary says that God is “The Supreme Governor of the universe and the Father of mankind. We learn from the revelations that have been given that there are three separate persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. From latter-day revelation we learn that the Father and the Son have tangible bodies of flesh and bone, and that the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit without flesh and bone (Doctrine and Covenants 130:22-23).”
Mormons believe that these three gods—”separate in personality {but}. . . united as one in purpose, in plan, and in all the attributes of perfection” (Mormon Doctrine, p. 317)—are the partnership which rules the universe, with God the Eternal Father the controlling and governing power. LDS Apostle James E. Talmage states it this way: “These constitute the Holy Trinity, comprising three physically separate and distinct individuals, who together constitute the presiding council of the heavens” (Jesus the Christ, p. 32).
This belief is distinct from the traditional Christian doctrine of the Trinity, which generally maintains that they are three persons but one in essence. All three members of the Godhead are eternal and equally divine, but play somewhat different roles.
(From MORMON.wiki ---> http://www.mormonwiki.com/Godhead ) Move along: no agenda here...
You can break out of your cult Godzilla. Drop the act, humble yourself and ask God for the truth.
Our Heavenly Father, also called Elohim, stands in the exalted position above all beings.
However, Joseph Smith says that “. . . he is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! . . . .If you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form—like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, form, and image of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked, and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another” (Documentary History of the Church, p. 305).
Yup; the same source as above...
REALLY 'feel' left out...
{Terminal pouting}
Yeah..
No matter how dedicated a fellow is, the Hateful, bigoted ANTIs never seem to let up at all.
--MormonDupe(I'm glad I have my wonderful CHURCH family to console me and bear me up!)
I am pleased to offer my services for the Betterment of Mankind.
Please feel free to ask me ANYTHING and I'll sincerely post my link list again.
Remember...
I am normal too; and I am a MORMON!
Sincerely,
PD
Praise be to Joseph Smith!!
MORMONism has been proven TRUE!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahokia
—MormonDude(NOW you ANTIs will be made to look foolish!)
(See this month’s NG magazine)
You guys just keep telling yourself that. =-)
Welcome to MORMONism 101!
While we are waiting to start; enjoy the artwork on our walls.
If some of it seems shifty to you, just look at it real close and it will stop moving,
but another location will then start to crawl on you.
Do NOT think our DOCTRINE is this way!
The Truth is your friend.........
So now you use the Liberal Mode of argument...accusing your detractors...of the very same thing you are currently involved in. ( A Cult..!! )
Not a good ploy here...PD. Conservatives have seen this avenue of debate...for decades now.
I know for a fact....many people would leave mormonism in a heartbeat...but they don't want to leave family and businesses. The social ties...the family ties..and the professional ties keep them bound.
My God bless them all........and let's hope they see the Truth..and act on it.
I'm thinking you really are a Christian...doing an undercover anti-mormonism covert op...Right?
Because buddy...you aren't helping LDS, Inc......
Ha!!
huh? I am a was a single women and the wording of that plan was never given to me sommeone misunderstood that session.
In my 28 years never heard that version you gave of the plan spoken.
Matt. 22:
30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
Mark 12:
25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.
Luke 20:
35 But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:
D&C 132:
12 I am the Lord thy God; and I give unto you this commandment—that no man shall come unto the Father but by me or by my word, which is my law, saith the Lord.
13 And everything that is in the world, whether it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principalities, or powers, or things of name, whatsoever they may be, that are not by me or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown down, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God.
14 For whatsoever things remain are by me; and whatsoever things are not by me shall be shaken and destroyed.
15 Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me nor by my word, and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world and she with him, their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out of the world; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world.
16 Therefore, when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory.
17 For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever.
18 And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife, and make a covenant with her for time and for all eternity, if that covenant is not by me or by my word, which is my law, and is not sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, through him whom I have anointed and appointed unto this power, then it is not valid neither of force when they are out of the world, because they are not joined by me, saith the Lord, neither by my word; when they are out of the world it cannot be received there, because the angels and the gods are appointed there, by whom they cannot pass; they cannot, therefore, inherit my glory; for my house is a house of order, saith the Lord God.
BTW According to the everlasting gospel aka covenant which was restored in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Rev. 14: 6
6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
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