From the essay portion by Melissa G: My first Easter Sunday Service in my new church was very amazing and powerful. Everything was about Jesus, from the prayer said before the communion, and to songs sang. Not once did I hear one word about Joseph Smith or the wonderful thing he did for all of the inhabitants of the earth. The first song of the service was Via DoloRosa. I’ve heard this song a long time ago, and loved it. As I listened intently to the words of that song, it moved me very much. The message and music touched me like no LDS Easter Sunday ever did. I don’t even remember Easter Sundays being very special in the LDS church. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around what Jesus did for me. I can’t believe that he suffered the way he did for me, for all of us. He gave us a free gift; all we have to do is accept it. I can’t imagine what it was like to have people cry out that they wanted you crucified just for teaching God’s word, and doing God’s will. In the LDS church it never really hit me what Jesus did for me. I knew that he died on the cross for my sins, but I just didn’t get it. This is probably because they don’t want to you to think about that stuff. They try very hard to take the attention away from the cross. You’re not even allowed to wear a cross around your neck. When I think about it now I get upset with the LDS church because of what their leaders have done. At the same time I feel sad for the members as well. Now that I am a Christian I can see just how far away they are from the real Jesus Christ. They feel like they have to complicate Jesus and the way to Heaven. If they stay in that church they, like me will never truly get it. They will never really be able to understand what Jesus did for us. They will never be able to have a relationship with Jesus or pray to him. These things are not encouraged in the LDS church.

Few Mormons wear crosses, depicting their aversion to it. For more on this, see:

* No-Cross Protocol ["New" Mormon tradition]

* Sunstone speaker attempts to explain LDS 'aversion' to cross [published by Mormon church owned Mormon Times]

From the essay portion by Melissa G: Since I have left the LDS church I have struggled with knowing that I am saved, and that I am going to go to Heaven. After the Easter Service I can say that now I know those things. It really helped me to fully understand why Jesus came to us, why he had to take our sins upon the cross and die for us. I know that because of what Jesus endured and by accepting him, I am saved. I know that I will still be in Heaven with my family members, no matter what the LDS church says. We don’t have to jump through a bunch of hoops, do “good works”, and have a temple recommend to enter Heaven. I know that all we have to do is to come unto Jesus and accept him as our Lord and Savior.

Here's a test for Lds to discover their disaffection:

#1. Do you really believe a piece of paper (a temple recommend that pre-Gutenberg believers never had) is what ushers you into the presence of Heavenly Father forever?

#2. Have you been told that "eternal life" is eventual life in the extra-"goody" heaven -- the third heaven -- called the "Celestial Kingdom?" And that it's part of "eternal progression" and that it will take a "while" to reach it? And that it's ONLY available for married Mormons? And that it's ONLY available for temple Mormons?

IOW, have you been told that "eternal life" takes place either at death -- or, for the Mormon, much, much beyond that?

Well, that's a lie. Plain and simple.

How do we know that?

Compare that "line" to what Jesus repeatedly said about "eternal life"...read the passages below and then ask, "Is eternal life something available on this earth BEFORE we die?" The final verse below gives the best brief definitional understanding of eternal life...'tis a relationship with the ONLY TRUE God...a relationship that can start right NOW!

* 36 Whoever believes in the Son HAS eternal life... (Jesus, John 3:36)
* 24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me HAS eternal life and will not be judged but HAS CROSSED OVER from death to life. (Jesus, John 5:24)
* 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes HAS eternal life. (Jesus, John 6:47)
* 11 And this is the testimony: God HAS GIVEN us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever HAS the Son HAS life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may KNOW that you HAVE eternal life. (1 John 5:11-13)

3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (Jesus, John 17:3)

Jesus defines "eternal life" right before our very eyes! It's a relationship. That starts NOW!

Mormons, yield the lies your leaders have told you. Realize how disaffected you have done. Come to the true God....the ONLY ONE...embrace eternal life NOW thru a relationship with the True Christ!!!! Believe!!!

FR can no longer excerpt Salt Lake Trib articles...but we can still link to them. Just last week, the Trib ran this very significant article:

Mormons increasingly drawn to Holy Week rituals

IoW, Mormons are attending Christian church services during Holy Week! (And they love the services there!)

To understand this, you have to understand the backdrop -- the vacuum of Jesus and the cross within Mormonism:

1. BYU study: Disconnect between Mormons and Easter

In this article, published by the Mormon church owned Deseret News, it said that Easter has ”only 'lightly more planning than the Fourth of July,'

2. Preparing for Easter through Holy Week

From this article: While the LDS community does not formally observe Holy Week, the period from Palm Sunday to Easter morning… Suddenly I realized that my observance of Easter was rather pale by comparison…

3. What is the Significance of Easter for Mormons?

4. Mormons have sub-par Easter services [testimony from a Mormon]

5. Why don't Mormon's celebrate Easter? [Asked by a Mormon]

Few Mormons wear crosses, depicting their aversion to it. For more on this, see:

* No-Cross Protocol ["New" Mormon tradition]
* Sunstone speaker attempts to explain LDS 'aversion' to cross [published by Mormon church owned Mormon Times]

There's also this thread: The Political Surf on Mormons and the cross

According to Michael Reed, an LDS historian at the University of California in Sacramento, the LDS church’s frowning on crosses was part of a movement initiated in the 1950s, under then-President David O. McKay, that sought to emphasize the church’s differences with the Catholic Church. In 1957, McKay declared the cross off limits on jewelry, saying the cross is “purely Catholic. … Our worship should be in our hearts,” McKay said, writes Stack in her article.
According to Reed’s thesis cited in Stack’s article, McKay had been annoyed by Catholic celebrations in Belgium while a mission president. Also, anti-Catholic feelings intensified when church leaders worried a Utah Catholic radio show was designed to win converts from among Latter-day Saints.
According to Stack’s article, McKay, pointing at a Catholic church, said in 1953, “There are two great anti-Christs in the world: Communism and that church.” The late Mormon apostle Bruce R. McConkie, who wrote the book “Mormon Doctrine,” which is still widely read among LDS faithful, was also an opponent of Catholicism and use of the cross.
In a later edition of “Mormon Doctrine,” McConkie describes crucifixes and cross adornments as “inharmonious with the quiet spirit of worship and reverence that should attend a true Christian’s remembrance of our Lord’s suffering and death.” McConkie further blames the use of cross adornments and crucifixes on “an intermingling of pagan concepts with the true apostolic Christianity. …”