Posted on 04/21/2008 7:29:14 AM PDT by JRochelle
SAN ANGELO, Texas — Shortly after the raid began on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch, a group of Mormon missionaries sat down to eat at a restaurant here. A man shouted out "compound!"
"There was this guy. He held up a knife and yelled at us," said Elder Tyler Duffy from Orem.
Some of the fallout from the raid on the YFZ Ranch is being felt by members and missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While the FLDS Church is not connected in any way to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, some Mormon faithful have said they feel they are being found guilty by association.
"There are some people here that believe anything bad about Mormons and that's what they're going to do," said Charles L. Webb, who serves as president of the Abilene, Texas, stake.
The LDS Church's presence in this part of Texas is small. The Abilene stake covers an area 25,000 square miles in size with about 3,000 members. There are only two LDS chapels in San Angelo, but a number of Baptist and other evangelical Christian churches. It's the polar opposite of Utah, where the LDS Church is the dominant faith.
In repeated statements, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have differentiated between the two faiths and expressed disappointment that some news media outlets have lumped the two together.
"Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often called Mormons, do not practice polygamy and they have not practiced polygamy for over a century," Elder Quentin L. Cook, an LDS apostle, said in a video clip the church recently posted on YouTube. The LDS Church has said there is no such thing as a "fundamentalist Mormon," although an estimated 37,000 people who practice it consider themselves as such. Fundamentalists argue that the LDS Church has strayed from its original doctrine by abandoning the practice of polygamy in 1890.
Here in the Bible belt, many LDS members have had to explain the differences in their faiths — the practice of polygamy being the chief example.
Clinton Hudson, a student at Sonora High School, is a member of a Christian student fellowship. During a lunchtime meeting, he said one student said they should pray for the children taken in the raid. Another student said they should "pray for the Mormons."
"I approached her and said, 'They're not Mormons. They're fundamentalists. They broke off from the church' and described our history and how they broke off. It really helped a lot," Hudson said Sunday. "It was a great opportunity to get them to understand there's a difference between them and us."
Not everyone is interested in hearing their explanations.
Duffy said he was speaking with a man interested in converting to the LDS Church. After the raid, the man gave them back a copy of the Book of Mormon, saying he did not want to hear from them again.
"He didn't even give us time to explain," Duffy said.
As they go door-to-door, the missionaries have had to alter their introductions a little to clarify the differences between the two faiths.
"We're not from the church in Eldorado, but we share this message," said Elder Nicolas Librandi, from Murray.
Some have lashed out at the missionaries, blaming polygamy and allegations of child-bride marriages on the LDS Church. But some say there is more interest in the mainstream church, and its message.
"The purposes of God won't be frustrated," said Elder Ryan Bartley, from Carmichael, Calif.
Webb said he has discouraged members from helping out in the name of the LDS Church to avoid confusion between the two faiths, but said they should offer their services as individuals. The local Baptist congregations have contracts to provide relief services in disaster situations.
San Angelo 2nd Ward Bishop Jeffrey Bushman was contacted by a chaplain helping the FLDS women when they were being housed at Fort Concho. The women had requested copies of the Book of Mormon.
He sent them some copies.
"They didn't have anything or bring anything with them, I guess, and they wanted some scriptures and they asked for the Book of Mormon," Bushman said. "I didn't mind. We don't ever mind giving out (copies of the) Book of Mormon to people."
Oh, you mean THIS Robert Millett. The one who condones Lying for the Lord?
Perhaps it would be true. I’m surprised you actually looked at my link. Haven’t you already determined that I am an APOSTATE and everything I say is a lie?
The fact that you're repeating it, OMM, reminds me of the defensive posture some Mormons go into when they don't know how to respond to a faith challenge...They usually respond..."I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God and J..."
(It's almost like a propaganda mantra button pushes on & the same phrase comes out almost-as-if, "Boy, if we just say this enough times to each other in our meetings & when challenged in public, it'll be true & everything will just turn out alright.")
Read my post again...I said "others"
Wow! So "Elsie-like!" (Is Elsie incarnating thru you today? LOL)
Bro. Millett never advocates lying. He is only saying what I just got through saying. You have no obligation to engage with anti-Mormon bigots on their terms, and no obligation to answer their supposedly clever setup questions.
But this is the kind of distinction I don’t expect you to understand. So I will engage no further with you.
“Mormon” should never be used to describe polygamous sects.”
Except for when the polygamist women ask for a Book of MORMON.
Another example of what I addressed @ the end of post #65...a propaganda testimony mantra kicking in.
(Of course what LL doesn't tell all the historic Christians reading this is that when LDS use the term "restoration" that means they believe that what you have, faith-wise, was completely lost...hence when she accuses those of not having "an ounce of good faith in all of those people put together" she is really citing something that is standard Mormon doctrine toward ALL Christian sects:)
LDS "Scripture": "I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were ALL wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that ALL their creeds were and abomination in his sight, that those professors were ALL corrupt.... (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith--History 1:19)
I’ve read articles on the internet that this campaign against the FLDS cult has been played up by the Huckabee supporters. Is that true? They also claim that it is connected to the petition to demand that Mitt Romney be excluded from consideration for VP. Is that true, are they the same people?
The other question that is being raised on the web is who is funding the movement? Is is the same lobby group that changed their name to, Trust Huckabee?
You do have a point.
You don’t need to answer, to paraphrase Br. Millet, because as Latter Day Saints you know more about God than the rest of us. Sounds kinda bigotted to me, and against God’s word.
1 Peter 3:15 but sanctify the Lord God always in your hearts:and be ready ALWAYS to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear......
Which Missionary field is the Colorado City mission in?
Where are the headquarters, could you get me in contact with that particular Mission President? I have a few questions to ask him.
Your post is a perfect illustration of what I am talking about. You have twisted what I said, and twisted Mormon doctrine.
We believe that much truth, but not all, remains in mainstream Christianity.
At the time the Mormon Church was founded, mainstream Christians recognized the same thing. My great-great grandfather was a Methodist preacher. He and his fellow religionists knew and understood that the church at that time was, in his words “fallen,” with a hireling priesthood, for one thing. He knew that a restoration was necessary, and he recognized it when he saw it.
In fact, Protestantism exists because the Protestants believed that the “mainstream Christianity” of that time — Catholicism — had become corrupted. But the Protestants claimed no restoration of the original church. They did the best they could by interpreting the Bible. And there were and are many good people among them.
Mormons believe that all people have the Light of Christ, and that they can respond to truth no matter where they hear it.
You need to read the entire story of Joseph Smith, and what sent him into the woods to pray about which church was true. You need to read about the preachers from various denominations making speeches about Christian love in public, but in private these professors of Christian love were as vicious to each other as you are to us Mormons.
That attitude was an abomination. As are some of the “creeds” that have evolved over the centuries.
But to say that is not to deny the good faith of Christians who show some semblance of Christian love and who recognize Christ as their Savior.
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