The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Coming Out of Obscurity and Out of Darkness
(Counter to “A Mormon Church in Need of Reform” by Carrie Sheffield)
By: Bret R. Johnson
February 4th, 2012
There has been much talk about if America is ready for a Mormon President. I say to them. Get over it. JFK was a big concern in the 1960’s whether America was ready for a Catholic President. Nothing he did as president was directly affected by him being a Catholic, and he was one of the greatest presidents of our nation.
I say it should be viewed the same with Mitt Romney. Ignore his religion and vote for the man’s morals and his business ethics. Enough said about that! (I don’t affiliate myself with Mitt Romney even though I’m a Mormon. I think political parties should be done away just like George Washington said.)
Next, I will say who cares if only a very few non-Mormons have been elected in Utah. In Rome, you would only have Catholics elected to power also –big deal! That’s just naturally going to happen. It’s part of our subconscious nature to “click” with people like us. Is that really a big surprise? No. Even Carrie Sheffield in her high school days would agree.
In light of the “I’m a Mormon” Campaign, all it is doing is teaching what these church members learned in life from trials –not put a false image. It is what it is. Everyone copies everyone else in every market, which is ironic because The LDS Church is THE fastest growing Christian church in the world, so why aren’t the other Christians churches copying us in our religious market? Too proud to join us is the main reason. Sounds pretty dumb to me they haven’t, but they are catching on to our methods in many areas such as Family Night.
I disagree strongly that families disown and estrange members for falling away from the Church. They love and pray for them, but in no ways do they kick them out of the family. The member himself/herself kicks himself/herself out by feeling awkward at family gatherings when they pray and talk about Church things that make them uncomfortable. They themselves naturally don’t want to be around a Mormon family, but the family wants them around –it’s our Church doctrine to do so with love!
Valuing unquestioning obedience over critical thinking sounds to me like the apostles with the Savior, and because of their unquestioning obedience, we have the New Testament that we have. Their critical thinking could have explained away why Jesus wasn’t the Son of God so of course unquestioning obedience isn’t easy, but it’s the right way. It’s just sad when people leave the fold because they can’t take this obedience, and go into victim mode like we should conform to their level. There are different levels in heaven buddy (1 Cor. 15:40-42) –we have a lower level for the less obedient. It’s your choice. Cheers!
I don’t blame Carrie for leaving the Church over the fact that Joseph Smith had many wives and that the Blacks weren’t allowed to have the priesthood until 1968. These are meat doctrines and are hard to swallow. The fact is though that Jesus Christ taught polygamist Jews of his day, and never once in the gospels did He ever condemn polygamy. He commanded many ancient prophets like Moses, Jacob, and Abraham to have more than one wife, and they were still righteous in His eyes. He also commanded Joseph Smith to do the same thing to help raise up even more children in the Church and restore all things from previous dispensations (including polygamy). Those who fight against this polygamy doctrine when the Lord commanded it until it became law of the land in Utah in 1890 become like Aaron and Miriam in Numbers 12, who the Lord cursed for fighting against Moses and his black Ethiopian wife. The United States did not make it officially against the law to have more than one wife until the 1860’s so we practiced the law of the land indeed!
Concerning blacks and the priesthood, the Lord’s hands must be confessed in all things. He allowed slavery for centuries, and He took it away in the 1860’s. He allowed segregation for one more century, and then He took it away through His servant Martin Luther King Jr. And then at that time, He caused according to His hand, blacks to be allowed the Priesthood since President Spencer W. Kimball noticed what the Lord had done with Martin Luther King Jr, and President Kimball inquired of the Lord and received the revelation it was time, much like Peter received the revelation in Acts 10 it was time for the heathen Gentiles dogs (which is all of us Americans!) to have the gospel preached to them and be baptized. So you can see that the Lord has segregated His Gospel and His Priesthood for centuries to keep it pure from wickedness. Dark skin came from curses for wickedness beginning with Cain, and then Ham, Noah’s son, and then Laman and Lemuel in the Book of Mormon. This isn’t racist. This is God’s hand, and we only follow what segregations He prescribed until they were taken away in Acts 10 and 1968.
The Apostles are well aware of all our trials, and they moderate the Church well, and have much scholarship in all the doctrines and history of the Church being prepared for every meat doctrine question. The Church does not label questioning the Church pronouncements as “satanic”. We desire all to gain testimonies for themselves if what the Prophet and Apostles says is true.
Just because the genes of the Native Americans don’t match with the Jews genes that doesn’t discount the Book of Mormon because: #1 the tribe of Joseph and not the tribe of Judah (Jews) came to the Americas, #2 tons of other migrations occurred that resulted in a mix of genes, and #3 the Lamanites were all that was left, and who knows what God’s skin color change did to their genes.
There is no stopping LOGIC as Spock would agree. Haha… Therefore, just based on logic, the Book of Mormon is a factual document from the hand of an ancient Native American named Mormon. Joseph Smith logically could not have known all the things that weren’t available to him in a library to look up. Therefore, he either got this supernatural information in his revelations from either God or the devil. Would Satan really write the Book of Mormon? It attacks and exposes Satan more than any other book on earth.
Despite all this anti and saying that we are a cult (lol!) that has circulated for a little less than two centuries, the Church still is the fastest growing Christian denomination in the world with more members outside the United States than in it! Those that spiritually implode do so because they have no spiritual experiences between them and God alone in their room that the Church is true. Even though the logic portrayed in my 95 THESIS is clear and shows Joseph Smith had no way of writing his revelations on his own without supernatural information, these logical gems are nothing because the Savior values the Spirit more than logical brain “flesh or blood” (Matthew 16:15-19). He told Peter that His Father revealed it him that He was the Son of God, and that it is the rock of revelation personally we all need the Church to rest on through whisperings in our minds or warmth or peace in our hearts by the Spirit and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. All of this demonstrates Carrie’s inability to identify properly the Spirit in the temple, church, or General Conferences which is obviously powerfully there to any honest in heart showing that she had no testimony spiritually, and has never really sincerely in tears prayed to God with an open mind and open heart to find out for herself. But instead, a questioning mind to everyone else but God destroyed her hearts ability to feel the Spirit.
The “doctrinal flexibility” she speaks of is the path down to hell carefully breaking down your moral defenses (2 Nephi 28). Its message is: “It’s okay to be a little immodest. It’s okay to passionately kiss. It’s okay to look a little at porn. Lie a little. Sin a little. It’s okay. Eat and drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die, and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we will be saved in the kingdom of God.” Obviously, this is the message of Satan, and not the Lord.
Carrie’s still yet lacking that obvious that God commanded and allowed polygamy in the past (Numbers 12:1-6), and it will be in heaven. She’s in denial about this, and sadly doesn’t realize it yet, but will in the next life if not here. I’ll be praying for you Carrie, and this is sincerely out of love for your soul since you have personally attacked the Church in front of millions of people because you couldn’t stomach the meat doctrine of polygamy even though it’s clearly proved okay in past circumstances, but not in our day because Peter says we must obey the laws of the land in 1 Peter 2:13-15 just as the Lord showed the example by paying his taxes to Caesar. And so did the Church in 1890 when it became a part of the United States, and conformed to the 1860’s singular marriage law. But in the afterlife are God’s laws.
Carrie, I apologize for your rude family and friends because you voiced your doubts so much. They should have just loved you and said we agree to disagree.
It’s a hard situation when a mom has to lead the children by herself, and the man of the house won’t live the gospel. Each situation is different, but abusive or adultery is the only case that I have heard that a priesthood leader would encourage divorce. An elderly couple of 60 years not of the same faith lived by my family for years in Utah and never did the Bishop ever encourage them to divorce.
Non-members aren’t allowed inside the temple because the same worthiness standards still apply to the temple. The Atonement didn’t break that rule. Point #59 of my 95 THESIS clearly proves it still applies being symbolic of the celestial kingdom that we have to live celestial laws to enter therein.
Homosexuality is a sin. Plain and simple –obviously any Christian that believes in the Bible would agree with that since Sodom and Gomorrah were two completely gay public orgy towns and were burned with fire from heaven. Paul clearly describes this in Romans 1 as a sin so I’m surprised a former Mormon wouldn’t understand this simple truth. However, just because someone is gay, doesn’t mean fire is going to come down from heaven, and neither will the Church ostracize them. We will pray for them and encourage them to pray for help. We have no homophobia. I am friends with inactive members that are gay and I keep in touch with them on face book.
The church has no secrecy about its finances. It uses it for full time seminary teachers, traveling Apostles, temples, churches, missionary work, maintenance church workers, and many other funds to help those in need.
The Church has no “anti-women” doctrine. We let women speak and hold positions of authority in Church more than any other church! If only Carrie had been to the temple, she would understand what I mean for those of you who have been in the temple. You will know the equality of what I am saying takes place in the endowment of the temple. The Church clearly teaches there is a Heavenly Mother, and teaches a couples end goal is to become a Heavenly Father and a Heavenly Mother like their Eternal Parents because they are literally little “gods” (Psalms 82:5-6; John 10:33-35)!!!
Obviously when you write an anti-Mormon article with bridled hostility like those did to Joseph Smith in the early days of the Church, you will be excommunicated for fighting against the Lord Jesus Christ’s true Church. If you aren’t scared after you read my 95 THESIS Carrie because you realize there are tons of things Joseph Smith couldn’t have known, then there is something very hard about your heart.
I am that Martin Luther you want in a thesis posting sense, but the 95 THESIS only proves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-days Saints is the Lord’s true church. And as more people read it and see the logic behind it just like the early Protestants read Martin Luther’s 95 Thesis and broke away from the apostate Church, so will those of the day break away from a Christian church with incomplete doctrines their pastors can’t answer or answer contradictory to the Bible. Then The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will “come out of obscurity and out of darkness” (just as the Isaiah 29 chapter says about the sealed Book of Mormon and the Church) and people’s “joy in the Lord will increase” when they find out the Church is indeed true. “And they that murmured (like Carrie) will learn doctrine”. But some will understand the Church is true but just don’t feel like living the laws of chastity or word of wisdom or other hard laws to live. Mormonism needs no reformer. It’s been restored from the original from heaven instead of reforming from broken shards of the past.
