Hi, everyone! It’s been a long while since I’ve posted; although, I have lurked a little here and there. Some of my last posts were on a thread concerning Mormonism (and, I think, maybe Buddhism).
When I was a child, I had an aunt and uncle who became Mormons (also called LDS, Latter Day Saints). As far as I knew, it was just another Christian denomination with a few unusual practices, like abstaining from coffee and storing two year’s worth of food.
A few years after I became a Christian, I read a book cowritten by an ex-Mormon, and I was shocked to learn that this group that calls itself Christian has very few beliefs that strictly line up with the Bible. I saw that this especially applies to their beliefs about Jesus Christ.
Consider what Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-5—
The gospel according to Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, was certainly “something new” and is based on what Paul would call unsubstantiated “myths.” In fact, Mormons believe that Joseph Smith preached a “restored” gospel, but it's clearly a different gospel from the Christian gospel found in the Bible.
This is what lds.org has to say about it:
Discussions about Mormonism on this forum led me to look into this organization again. But I found that it’s very difficult to get ahold of all of their beliefs partly because some of their major beliefs and practices are cloaked in secrecy. This alone sets off alarm bells in my mind. As a Christian of over forty years, I have attended churches of many different denominations, but I have never attended a church that hid any of their official beliefs or practices from anyone.
A couple of months ago, I was blessed to find a book by an ex-Mormon who had converted to Mormonism in her twenties and spent thirty years as a devout Mormon, even serving as a tenured professor at Brigham Young University. The title of the book is Unveiling Grace: the Story of How We Found Our Way out of the Mormon Church by Dr. Lynn Wilder.
Since I don’t have a background in Mormonism, I decided to let this ex-Mormon explain some of the many unbiblical doctrines and practices of the Mormon religion. As a “temple-worthy” Mormon for many years, she is certainly qualified to do this, so I will be quoting directly from her book. It is important to note that the author’s husband served in various leadership positions, including that of high priest. They also have three sons who served as Mormon missionaries.
One of the things I loved about this book is that it clearly was not written to hate on anyone. In fact, I saw the love of Jesus Christ in the heart of the author, and I found this to be very uplifting. I highly recommend this book!
The love of God compels me to speak the truth about this to anyone who has ears to hear. It is my earnest prayer that Mormons and seekers who read this will see the truth and come to know the true Jesus Christ of the Bible as their Savior and Lord.
Jesus said in John 8:32, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
***Please note that I have obtained written permission from the author to quote her work. (All emphasis in bold in the quoted text has been added.)
The following excerpt is from Chapter 3 of Unveiling Grace: the Story of How We Found Our Way out of the Mormon Church by Dr. Lynn Wilder:
The following excerpts are from Chapter 14:
When I was a child, I had an aunt and uncle who became Mormons (also called LDS, Latter Day Saints). As far as I knew, it was just another Christian denomination with a few unusual practices, like abstaining from coffee and storing two year’s worth of food.
A few years after I became a Christian, I read a book cowritten by an ex-Mormon, and I was shocked to learn that this group that calls itself Christian has very few beliefs that strictly line up with the Bible. I saw that this especially applies to their beliefs about Jesus Christ.
Consider what Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-5—
I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of His appearing and His kingdom: Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, be serious about everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
The gospel according to Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, was certainly “something new” and is based on what Paul would call unsubstantiated “myths.” In fact, Mormons believe that Joseph Smith preached a “restored” gospel, but it's clearly a different gospel from the Christian gospel found in the Bible.
This is what lds.org has to say about it:
After the deaths of the Savior and His Apostles, men corrupted the principles of the gospel and made unauthorized changes in Church organization and priesthood ordinances. Because of this widespread apostasy, the Lord withdrew the authority of the priesthood from the earth. This apostasy lasted until Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son appeared to Joseph Smith in 1820 and initiated the Restoration of the fulness of the gospel.
Source: lds.org — Apostasy
Source: lds.org — Apostasy
Discussions about Mormonism on this forum led me to look into this organization again. But I found that it’s very difficult to get ahold of all of their beliefs partly because some of their major beliefs and practices are cloaked in secrecy. This alone sets off alarm bells in my mind. As a Christian of over forty years, I have attended churches of many different denominations, but I have never attended a church that hid any of their official beliefs or practices from anyone.
A couple of months ago, I was blessed to find a book by an ex-Mormon who had converted to Mormonism in her twenties and spent thirty years as a devout Mormon, even serving as a tenured professor at Brigham Young University. The title of the book is Unveiling Grace: the Story of How We Found Our Way out of the Mormon Church by Dr. Lynn Wilder.
Since I don’t have a background in Mormonism, I decided to let this ex-Mormon explain some of the many unbiblical doctrines and practices of the Mormon religion. As a “temple-worthy” Mormon for many years, she is certainly qualified to do this, so I will be quoting directly from her book. It is important to note that the author’s husband served in various leadership positions, including that of high priest. They also have three sons who served as Mormon missionaries.
One of the things I loved about this book is that it clearly was not written to hate on anyone. In fact, I saw the love of Jesus Christ in the heart of the author, and I found this to be very uplifting. I highly recommend this book!
The love of God compels me to speak the truth about this to anyone who has ears to hear. It is my earnest prayer that Mormons and seekers who read this will see the truth and come to know the true Jesus Christ of the Bible as their Savior and Lord.
Jesus said in John 8:32, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
***Please note that I have obtained written permission from the author to quote her work. (All emphasis in bold in the quoted text has been added.)
Lynn Wilder’s bio: Lynn K. Wilder is a former tenured professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. She and her husband Michael left the Mormon Church after thirty years of devoted service to the church. Throughout those years, they held leadership positions and worked inside of the temple. In addition to raising their four children, the Wilders taught Mormon seminary, while Lynn went to doctoral school. Lynn’s previous experience teaching moved her into an instructor position at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana before being offered a prestigious professorial position at BYU, the Mormon “School of the Prophets.” As a result of their journey out of Mormonism and their desire to help others, the Wilders have formed Ex- Mormon Christians United For Jesus and their children are involved with a musical ministry, Adam’s Road, that work together to keep Christians safe from the pernicious false christs, false apostles, and false prophets, desiring that a veritable flood of Mormons will come to proclaim the Christ of the Bible and that Christians will avoid joining the Mormon Church. More information can be found at Ex-mormon Christians United For Jesus | Sharing Biblical truth in love | Home and www.adamsroadband.com.
The following excerpt is from Chapter 3 of Unveiling Grace: the Story of How We Found Our Way out of the Mormon Church by Dr. Lynn Wilder:
The LDS Church teaches that before the creation of the world, Heavenly Father had sired and Heavenly Mother had borne millions of their spirit children. After the world was created, these spirits eagerly waited to come to earth to receive physical bodies. Only the righteous spirits who had followed Jesus (not Satan) in the pre-existence war in heaven were allowed by Heavenly Father to come to earth. They longed to be born into a “righteous” family (Mormon), in which they could learn the “true gospel of Jesus Christ” (Mormonism).
Wilder, Lynn K.. Unveiling Grace (p. 45). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Emphasis in bold was added.)
Wilder, Lynn K.. Unveiling Grace (p. 45). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Emphasis in bold was added.)
The following excerpts are from Chapter 14:
In Mormonism, the three members of the godhead are separate gods. The Christ I knew was an exalted man who worked his way to become a god. Some even believed he had once been a sinner. He had a body of flesh and bones and could be in only one place at one time. His blood alone did not wash away all sins. I related to this Christ because he was like me, and I thought of him as a kindly brother. Michael and I, as a temple-attending couple, were on the same path to godhood that this Christ had taken (well, I would be a queen or a priestess to my husband in his role as god); this Mormon Christ was just farther ahead.
The Heavenly Father of Mormonism also had a body of flesh and bones. He could not be in more than one place at a time either. He lived near the star Kolob. I thought of him as a merciless judge.
The Holy Ghost of Mormonism could be in only one place at one time as well. I received the gift of the Holy Ghost after Mormon baptism by the laying on of hands, and the Holy Ghost’s influence remained with me (shining down like the sun), but only until I sinned. If I did anything wrong, his influence left me, and I would experience trials until I repented. We took the sacrament every Sunday to have the sin janitor — the Mormon priesthood, who represented Jesus — sweep away these sins so the Holy Ghost’s influence could again shine down and we could be delivered from our sin-induced suffering.
In the pages of the Bible, however, I found a different God. This was a much bigger God whose words challenged my Mormon godhead. “Biggie-size your God!” a Pastor Shaw later told us. And that’s just what happened…. This bigger God has a message that conflicts with Mormonism. As I read the New International Version (and checked with the King James Version used by Mormons), I came upon blatant contradictions between teachings in the Bible and Mormon Church doctrine. Even though I’d taught the Bible in Mormon seminary, I had never paid attention to these contradictions…. We had been taught that we could read the Bible, but since the Bible was corrupt, we could not interpret it in any way that opposed Mormon doctrine.
Wilder, Lynn K.. Unveiling Grace (pp. 194-197). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Emphasis in bold was added.)
Wilder, Lynn K.. Unveiling Grace (pp. 194-197). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Emphasis in bold was added.)
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