If you're in the process of leaving the LDS Church, consider watching through some videos in this playlist: ruclips.net/p/PLAs5K46GJ7UIpvGSiX9g6INlZmRv6_Vx4 (This playlist is a collection of videos that may be helpful for those leaving the LDS Church. They explain the basics of Christianity in contrast to the teachings of Mormonism.) > Here's the link to the Lighthouse Biography: www.amazon.com/Lighthouse-Despised-Beloved-Critics-Mormonism/dp/1560854545/ > And here's the link to some other clips from this interview: ruclips.net/p/PLAs5K46GJ7UI8D_ZlMA5MwqgTLL-NA1ql
Leaving the Mormon church was a blessing because I now have the true God in my life. My life has been easier, and I experience more joy. I spend more time with the bible and have a much more rewarding relationship with the Lord.
Was saved in 2020 through studying the Bible with no lens/putting aside as much bias as I could, just looking at the immediate meaning on the page, reading in as many translations as I reasonably could. It took a couple years. But reading the first 5 books of the Old Testament, John-Hebrews changed everything when all I did was come to it with new eyes and asked simply: what does this say about God, humanity, and the right response God wants from the reader? I brought empty hands. Asked the one true God to show me the truth and make me right with him whatever the cost. His word changed me, my heart and mind and actions in a way I could never muscle on my own attempts at faithful obedience. My kids are the 7th generation of our family LDS legacy. Now born again❤️. Loved ones have been gentle in their shunning and mourning me as lost, deceived and confused. I never thought I would see what it looks like when others view the simple message of the cross and the triune God as foolishness. But God prepared me, taught me to trust him in everything, filled me with hope, peace and is equipping me to abide in him with solid joy he supplies. Verses and truth that had key impact: Genesis-Deuteronomy, John-Hebrews. Acts 1-5, Eph. 2, Col. 2-3, Gen. 15:6, Gal. 3, Titus 3, Rom. 4, Specifics: James 2:23 Isaiah 43-46; 48:11 Hebrews 1: 6-8 Hebrews 2, 7-13 1 Timothy 1:17, 2:5, Deut 4:35, 1 John 4:24, 5:18-20, Gen. 1:26, John 1:1-5, 1 Cor. 8:4-6, James 2:19, Col. 1:16-17, Mark 12:29-32, Isaiah 9:6, 2 Sam. 7:22, Eph. 4:6, 2 Cor. 3:17, Matt. 4:10, Malachi 2:10, Isaiah 45:21-22, Psalm 86:10, Matt. 1:23, Isaiah 44:8, James 2:10, Hebrews 9:14, Titus 2:13, Psalm 90:2, Ex. 3:14, 2: Cor 11:13-15, Matt. 7:21-23, Deut. 13: 1-18, 2 Peter 2:1-3, Mark 7:7, Eph. 2:8, biblehub.com and the Bible Project, teaching by Tim Keller, Pilgrims Progress and the biographies of Martin Luther, and the book 7 Men by Eric Metaxis were eye opening. The Voice of the Martyrs ministry and testimonies on One For Israel were helpful in revealing the false myths about Christian’s and Christianity that I didn’t realize had been influencing me so much. Doing online Bible searches really helped me see that the Bible makes clear promises and claims against a great apostasy and a against his word being lost or corrupted made me wonder why the LDS leaders’ restored Gospel claims are stronger than the claims of the Bible? I couldn’t make sense of it. But I doubted my doubts and doubled down on focusing on the covenant path. I was determined that we were in the true Life Boat leading to God’s highest blessing. Seeing for myself that the Bible claims clearly that God set up an everlasting Kingdom was surprising. Once I was saved, really helped me see that of course a great apostasy would directly contradict the promises of a God who claimed to be faithful to his kingdom/bride (the church). Online searches also helped me see clearly that God promised not only to set up a durable kingdom, but providing a durable, protected word-also because he would never be unfaithful as God. As I spent time in the Bible, I started to see just how small my view of God and sin I had grown up with and taught in every role of LDS church leadership and service I had held. I remained faithful to my LDS identity and fundamental beliefs until the day I was saved. I never had a faith crisis. God took years to soften my heart, teach me his word, and humble me to believe the simple Gospel of the God of Israel. He surrounded me by mature Christian believers in healthy churches that were providing them everything and more than the best wards I had lived in across Utah and the western U.S. I was so surprised by God. He pulled the cover off his grace and reality, one ordinary moment at a time. In 2020 he gave me eyes to see him after 40 plus years of wandering in deep devotion to the “beautiful”wilderness of the LDS faith. If he can save a willful member of the LDS faith like me, he can save anyone. I hope you and others will continue to grow in your love of God for what he has done. ❤ SDG! Col. 3:1-4❤
I am so much closer to God after leaving the church over 10 years ago.🙏 God is so Good! Praise Jesus! Maranatha! 🙏♥️🥲Let’s pray for our Mormon brothers & sisters that they may see the truth of God’s Word.🙏♥️🥲
How have you become closer to God by breaking your covenants with God? How strange🤔 but we are Latter Day Saints or members of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints. We are not Mormons, and never were Mormons. That’s a nickname the world calls us because we also believe in the Book of Mormon which is another testament of Jesus Christ. We have taken upon us the name of Jesus Christ not Mormon. The Church’s name is not Mormon. It’s in plane English. We are instructed to have faith in Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, keep his commandments, pray unto our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, search and study the Bible, Book of Mormon and the words of the living prophets and apostles, seek after and embrace all truth, live the law of chastity, be a good citizen and do the best we can and be the best we can in love towards others around us and love God first and foremost and to make and keep sacred covenants with God. So now, what do you find in these things which we are taught to not draw you closer to God?
Great comments from Sandra and Ron. I still remember how difficult it was for me to get to a place where I had studied enough about the Bible to have confidence that it was not corrupted, as Joseph Smith taught me to view it. Ironically, it was Joseph Smith who did the very thing he accused others of doing: in his own “translation”of the Bible, he added verses, changed words, and invented meaning to words with zero correspondence in the original languages. He also did not know Hebrew nor Greek to efficiently come up a faithful translation. But LDS never criticize his translation.
From Joseph to Jesus: “I still remember how difficult it was for me to get to a place where I had studied enough about the Bible to have confidence that it was not corrupted, as Joseph Smith taught me to view it.” Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints typically use the LDS Edition of the Bible which is the Authorized King James Version of the Bible. It is part of the doctrine/scripture of the standard works of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We consider it to be the most correct English version of the Bible. It is footnoted with references from the other LDS standard works. This year in Adult Sunday School we are studying the New Testament.
Actually, critical scholarship largely supports his translations. Further, there isn’t a single credible Bible scholar that will say the Bible is infallible, meaning many parts have been added and taken away, or in other words, corrupted. The Bible is is not what your pastor is telling you. HE is the one that doesn’t understand Hebrew and Greek.
@@Kapayapaanman "Actually, critical scholarship largely supports his translations. " Could you please explain in greater detail what you know about how critical scholarship supports his translations? Also, regarding " ... many parts have been added and taken away, or in other words, corrupted." I wonder if you are familiar with the process of translation? In the translation process -- that is, *translation* from existing original scriptures -- certain goals and guidelines are established regarding the purpose of the translation, generally along the lines between the degree to which the translation is to be a *literal* translation from the vocabulary and grammer of the original texts into the target language, vs. the translation is intended to convey the sense of the meaning of the original texts within the context of their original culture into the most similar meaning of the culture of the target language and culture. It is rarely possible to make a literal translation from one language to another that also conveys the cultural sense of the meaning. Is it these trade-offs that you consider to be "corruptions" ? Have you perhaps failed to consider that God -- The Holy Spirit of God -- has a vested interest in translation such that His Word may be known to all peoples? And -- by the way -- in many denominations, fully-trained pastors DO UNDERSTAND Greek and Hebrew, and rely heavily on that understanding in their ministry of preaching God's Word. I know that my pastor does. Since Mormons don't have pastors, I doubt that there is any Mormon leadership that understands Greek or Hebrew. But in any case, that is irrelevant, since Mormons don't believe the Bible. Mormons believe in Joseph Smith, and subsequently anything that Joseph Smith says -- including about the Bible. So a knowledge of Greek and Hebrew would be completly wasted on a Mormon. Finally, Christians who believe in God don't have to ask Him to show us whether the Bible is "true" - we already know that it is.
The juxtaposition of Dr. Huggins' comments about encourntering the person of Christ unfiltered in the Bible together with Sandra's references to J.B. Phillips brought to my mind what Phillips himself wrote about encountering Christ in the gospels while he was translating them: “I was not at all prepared for the unconventional man revealed in these terse gospels. No one could possibly have invented such a person: this was no puppet-hero invented out of the imaginations of adoring admirers. ‘This man Jesus’ so briefly described, rang true, sometimes alarmingly true. I began to see now why the religious establishment of those days wanted to get rid of him at all costs. He was sudden death to pride, pomposity and pretense.” (J.B. Phillips, Ring of Truth, pg. 87)
I converted to the LDS church when I was 14.I married and raised my family there. My kids went on mission and married in the Temple. Then , about 15 years ago, the 3 of them left the church.... I was surprised but not all that much since my whole life in the Church I had questions about doctrine and the way the church handle certain things and the fact that I never felt I measured up to the Lord....I felt I disappointed God all the time, that I could never be worthy enough to Him... 5 years ago I stopped attending. At the beginning of 2023 I begun to feel I needed to stay home... (I'm retired but I had a part time job I needed and I also competed in Pickleball and I did not want to quit). I pushed this feeling away, because it made no sense. March 2023 I had knee pain and couldn't play. The feeling of staying home kept bugging me and begun to think "is the Father putting this thing in my heart?. So Last May, 2023, I quit my part time job and stay home. Videos from different Born-Again leaders begun to show up in my RUclips timeline.... I began to learn to pray, listening, not just talking the normal repetitive prayer I had all my life, and I began to wait upon the Lord...... In doing this I discovered who God is! He does love me! I'm enough and he wanted me back! I remember this night when at 2 am I prayed to Heavenly Father and felt His spirit, His spirit in my room! Like never before. Summer of 2023 was an unbelievable summer! I felt I was Born Again with all that I learned and experienced. September came and my youngest son moved back to my home... he was addicted to heroin. After he left the Mormon Church he thought he did not longer believe in God. During the month of September and October I witness to my son about the most awesome God I had discovered, not the conditional God we learned in our Mormon days... but a merciful, loving God and he was waiting for him to come back. I said "Todd, leave your burdens at His feet, repent and follow Him. On October 27th 2023, I went into my son's bedroom and found him on his knees as if he was praying. He had passed away praying. The Lord later told me He had left Todd on his knees so I would know my prayers had been answered, Todd did go back to the Lord. In 2023 the Lord rescued me in time and gave me the honor to help my son go back to Him.
I agree with Sandra. When I left I left because I didn't want to be a hypocrite and was having serious doubts about the nature of God as I knew him in the Church. I did ask questions of the Bishop but he was unable to help and even said so. But even though I left, I didn't question the concept of God existing, I just wanted to know who the TRUE GOD is. This lead me to read about different faith beliefs from their own sources, including getting a copy of the Bible that wasn't King James. Amazingly so, it helped. I ended up coming to the REALY Jesus and trusting in Him for salvation but it took a little while. BTW Sandra is a lovely lady. She and her late husband, Jerald, were instrumental in getting my brain to unwrap from Mormonisms confusions.
I found ULM over twenty-five years ago. My heart was burdened for a friend who was an LDS member, but I didn't know how to witness effectively to him. After I started reading the literature produced by Jerald and Sandra, I discovered that I really had only touched the tip of the iceberg in respect to the history and doctrinal origins of the LDS canon and doctrines. The importance of Utah Lighthouse Ministries, in respect to my education, has been immense! I offer this one observation from my own experiences, when I approach someone, I am witnessing with Spirit guided love and kindness, they respond in kind. I have yet to experience a hostile response. Also, it helps me to always remember the encounter is not a monologue but a dialog. People need to be heard. May the unmerited grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be poured out upon our Mormon brothers and sisters. I pray always for them and their ultimate liberation.
The Tanners are legendary in the Exmo world. I am glad they found something with meaning. My two cents, Never stop deconstructing, it is a beautiful process that will give you critical and self-thinking skills for the rest of your life. The things that have value after the dust of deconstruction settles will remain.
Even for someone who ultimately prefers the KJV, it is healthy (as Sandra astutely points out here) to supplement your reading with a modern translation from time to time if only to force you to suddenly see with fresh eyes passages you thought you already knew and realize what you never noticed the old English of the KJV was saying all along. C.S. Lewis put it well: "Though it may seem a sour paradox, we must sometimes get away from the authorized version [i.e., the KJV], if for no other reason, simply BECAUSE it is so beautiful and so solemn. Beauty exalts, but beauty also lulls. Early associations endear but they also confuse. Through that beautiful solemnity, the transporting or horrifying realities of which the book tells may come to us blunted and disarmed and we may only sigh with tranquil veneration when we ought to be burning with shame or struck dumb with terror or carried out of ourselves by ravishing hopes and adorations." (C.S. Lewis, "Modern Translations of the Bible," Chapter 10 of "God in the Dock")
Brigham Young strongly recommended that new and more a edible translations of the Bible ought to be made. It took me so long to discover that new, reputable translations render the plain and rich meaning of the Hebrew and Greek far more accessible and provide important corrections to the KJV. I was shocked as a devout LDS believer to read the first edition of the Book of Mormon (so many errors! So many substantive changes have been made to the text!!) I wondered, privately, how is this the “most correct book on the earth?” Especially if God allowed Joseph Smith to show that the Book of Mormon prophets from times before Christ, to quoted vast sections of the 1600’s KJV with its translator errors in tact? For years, I pushed down critical thinking and just lay it aside as a “mystery.” But God was working the whole time..
CARM Videos: “Even for someone who ultimately prefers the KJV, it is healthy (as Sandra astutely points out here) to supplement your reading with a modern translation from time to time if only to force you to suddenly see with fresh eyes passages you thought you already knew and realize what you never noticed the old English of the KJV was saying all along.” “The title of the first edition of the translation, in Early Modern English, was "THE HOLY BIBLE, Conteyning the Old Teſtament, AND THE NEW: Newly Tranſlated out of the Originall tongues: & with the former Tranſlations diligently compared and reuiſed, by his Maiesties ſpeciall Cõmandement". The title page carries the words "Appointed to be read in Churches",[11] and F. F. Bruce suggests it was "probably authorised by order in council", but no record of the authorisation survives "because the Privy Council registers from 1600 to 1613 were destroyed by fire in January 1618/19".[12]” [Wikipedia/King James Version/Name] The language of the King James Bible is Early Modern English, and not old English. The www.biblegateway.com website contains about 60 English language versions of the Bible including the Authorized King James Version. Was Jesus Christ God’s only begotten Son or God’s only Son? Does that depend strictly on which English version you choose?
I am so glad listening to you .And what made me leave the Mormon church was having a Near Death experience and I knew that every thing that I was told was not true . I learned that we are reincarnated and that on the otherside that the love is more than you can imagine. My whole Mormon family disowned me and my children and told me that I am going to hell . I honestly know better. I now can see ghosts and spirits. I went to a specialist that has worked with 20 other people who died and came back and they reported the same experience as me . I know that we are here on a special mission. The Mormon church is only about abuse and making money....
If this is helpful for some people, that’s actually pretty fabulous. Personally, I didn’t leave the Mormon church, per se, but the paradigm of believing things that require “faith”-ie., an effort to ignore or override dissonance, doubt, facts, experience, etc. I left the paradigm where others hold the keys to my understanding of this stream of experience we call life. I left being told what is moral, valuable, reliable, and/or real. If I have to try to believe something; an idea, a version of events, an interpretation of experience, I don’t. I look further, longer, and I simply be with the not believing/not knowing. It’s uncomfortable at times, to be sure. Sometimes excruciatingly so. It’s nowhere near as intolerable though, as the numbing effort required to “believe”. That’s the exhausting burden I set down when I left Mormonism. For me, the Bible also goes into the discard pile, along with so much more in the way of belief systems of all sorts ( not just religious ones).
The Bible Project might interest you coming to ancient texts with a very rational, historical, sane hermeneutic. Glad you’ve recovered your hold on reality. Skeptical, critical thinking is crucial to a good life. All the best to you.
Exactly! These people are substituting one "faith" system for another. It is so hypocritical of ex-mormons to come back and criticize the beliefs of people when many still smugly believe in a Sky God and trans=substantiation, and resurrection and virgin birth. I call BS
I imagine there will be many who might scoff at Sandra's remarks about using a more modern version of the NT. Just to add some substance: One does not necessarily lose any original meaning from the text by using a modernized version. Rather, these newer versions translate the text into verbiage that is much more familiar to us today... and in many cases draw out more substance from the original text than the KJV did when it was translated. GLM has a few videos on versions of the bible, the nature of translation / transmissions, etc.
Most scholars I know don't put much credence in the KJV. Even the excellent resource folks on the Follow Me podcasts advise, if you can't understand KJV read other translations. There is outstanding scholarship out there
Thats interesting, the entire LDS church all over the world just finished studying the old testament last year. This year they are studying the new testament.
@@Imtryingtobelikejesus-m1m you filter the Bible through Mormon theology and books: how can you even think the Ancient Hebrews had those interpretations to their own writings or the New Testament that Joseph Smith copied into the Book of Mormon.
@@Imtryingtobelikejesus-m1m -- perhaps you should try reading The Bible and " ... ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true”
Revelations 22:18-19 😱⚡️💪♥️🙏 18. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If ANY man shall ADD unto these things,🤔God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:😳 19. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.😱 THE KJV BIBLE IS THE ONLY TRUE WORD OF GOD…PERIOD!!! Praise Jesus! Maranatha!🙏♥️💪
AlohaAngel: “Revelations 22:18-19 😱⚡💪♥🙏 18. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If ANY man shall ADD unto these things,🤔God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:😳 19. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Excellent Quote! Have you considered Deuteronomy 4:2? Deuteronomy 4:2 (AKJV) “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” Was Moses the last prophet? No. Amos 3:7 “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Should we still be following the old covenant of the Old Testament or should we follow the New Covenant of the New Testament? We should embrace the New Covenant complete with the Revelation of the Apostle John!
Actually -- the original scriptures written from holy men of old are the only true written Word of God. The KJV is a *translation* of the original scriptures -- Hebrew and Greek - :-)
I think another powerful tool in a Word-seeker's arsenal is not only obtaining a modern Bible (as Sandra correctly suggests), but taking it upon oneself to study Greek and Hebrew. Language conveys so much more than literal meaning, but feeling, people, and the world as it was. This was crucial for me on my journey back to God after declaring myself anti-Mormon and anti-God. Linguistics and historical study helped me see how incorrect Smith was, as well as making a personal relationship with God.
Smith was never incorrect. He was a normal man like everyone else. People make mistakes. It doesn’t make him any less of a prophet than any other man. All the biblical prophets were never perfect 100% except for Jesus. Latter-day Saints are not anti God, we are for God.
@@latter-daysaintbatman2679ave you taken time to line up the sins and mistakes of Joseph Smith and those of prophets like Abraham, Moses, and the faithful lives of prophets like Isaiah, Jonah, Jeremiah, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, Hosea, Malachi? Heavenly Father provides specific instruction for discerning false prophets and true prophets, false teachers and true teachers. Search Deuteronomy, and the New Testament. You might see some practical things not covered in LDS teaching. My best ad ice is to always look with fresh eyes, just looking at the basic meaning there on the page, not trying to uncover some obscure, hidden meaning. Use a version you can easily understand. It’s a great investment of time. The Bible does not affirm polygamy-ever. Joseph Smith never repented of polygamy or polyandry, sadly. He does not even qualify to hold the office of Elder based on the clear and simple requirement established in Christ’s church body in 1 Timothy 1 and Titus 3 which among other simple instructions say that an overseer (translated to mean elder, bishop or pastor) must be the husband of only 1 wife. This disqualifies Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff and any other LDS prophets including current leaders who practice spiritual polygamy that they plan to enjoy literally in the next world. Food for thought. For so long, I did as much mental gymnastics as it took to justify the unrepentant sin of leaders by telling myself and others that the leaders are not infallible, they are good men who sin like we all do; David and Abraham and Solomon sinned-God used them. The difference is that they repented, did not teach their followers to imitate their sin without God’s swift judgement and they trusted in God to supply them with righteousness-not of their own making or from works. Genesis 15:6. Repentance and what they taught as the words from God-are crucial to observe. Unrepentant sun and false teaching are never affirmed by God. With all respect to you. I truly hope studying your own prophets’ real history and lining up to the instructions to false and true prophets will not be time you feel is wasted.
@@latter-daysaintbatman2679 Smith corrupted the Book of Revelation in his JST and reaped the curse of Revelation 22:18,19. He made the ultimate mistake that cost him his life.
@@latter-daysaintbatman2679 you are totally and deeply blinded by deception. You do not believe in God. You believe in Joseph Smith, and what Joseph Smith says to believe about God.
Understanding Lucifer’s grasp on our world helps maintain faith in Jesus Christ as you leave the church…not all that the church teaches is false, thats how Satan works, through confusion
GLM: “People are leaving Mormonism in droves.” When I joined the Church 44 years ago, there were 11 Million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “At the end of 2021, the LDS Church had 31,315 congregations and a reported membership of 16,805,400.[1]” [Wikipedia/Membership statistics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints/Introduction] The Church has increased by 5 million members!
Burns: add and subtract all members that have come into your church and you will see growth has slowed and is on a decline overall. Don't fool yourself Mormonism's growth is slowly Reversing into less total members that they projected for this year. They might have more total members than 44 years ago: but not with a long steady decline will that be true. I like how you tried to manipulate the statistics but you failed to see the obvious trend in Mormonism's growth leveling off and starting to decline. It's on the downward side of the bell curve.
david janbaz: What you say would be true within our local ward because new wards and branches of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have received our previous members who lived in those assigned areas. That does not mean the overall membership of the Church has declined. The decline in the overall growth rate does not indicate a decline in the total number of members of the Church until the rate of overall growth is a negative number! Does your bell curve show that at the present time?
Of that 16 million, most scholars estimate that roughly 3.5-5 M worldwide are active. This includes mormon scholars. Europe and Japan are declining, with Japan recently closing 2 stakes. The US is relatively flat. Africa and the Phillipines are growing. There may be some nominal worldwide growth, but we will never know for sure because the church considers accurate figures including attendence to be sacred and does not share these publicaly. They also consider records about members involved in child abuse to be sacred.
@@Imtryingtobelikejesus-m1m unfortunately that is one of the most toxic outcomes of the deception of the mormon church -- that it counterfeits the True Jesus, and so when people leave, unless they have become true followers of Jesus, they reject the mormon jesus -- and the True Jesus. Very toxic indeed.
I find that using several translations to compare is helpful - small paperback translations of the New Testament can be purchased for just a few dollars. The NIV, NKJV, ESV, CSB, and NASB are good translations, while The Message is an "interesting" paraphrase. One should be aware of whether they are reading a *translation* or a *paraphrase* and understand both the value and differences of the two.
If you read the bible, how can you know if you interpret it correctly? (when so many sects use the bible, but say the meanings are not only different, but sometimes even the "opposite"!(?) Who has the authority to translate it for everyone? (as a whole). Or should one just read the bible, and then "rely" on the Holy Spirit to confirm its meaning? Does it matter who baptizes you? (like how Jesus was baptized)? Anyway - if this topic of discussion is "doing things a certain way" (then the Big question is why, how)? Is it opinion from this site, or another website)? Beyond the question of the LDS faith (say you don't even include Mormons in the conversation) and only include "other sects" then amongst this large group - how is doing it right? (Or again - does that matter)? Anyway food for thought. (Again the bible is a set of holy scriptures, but is really only a "tool" (and not the only one) in Gods word + arsenal (people sometime focus on this too much. The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath). Jesus is the "Word" and is "above" even the scriptures. "He is the Law, he is the "Word"). Sometimes we focus so much on 'interpreting the law" for our neighbor it almost becomes more important than finding truth for our own self and our personal relationship with the Savoir(which is confirmed by the spirit). In the end Jesus knows are hearts (regardless of which religion we worship or attend - and this will "trump" everything in the end). The chosen is a great show - which shows how Jesus really taught, loved and forgive. The sadducees and pharisees - only focused on what was "written" in the past (and couldn't get past it). Joseph Smith - for whatever one thinks of him for (good or bad) he did the "right" thing (He asked God for guidance). I think mormon "culturalism, and the imperfections of people are easy targets for someone used to try and "prove" something wrong. But if that were the case almost "all christian sects" would be in trouble! It would be like saying what Jesus taught was in question because his apostles weren't perfect (e.g. - Judas, etc). Anyway food for thought and God bless :)
The Bible can speak for itself clearly, and we are all encouraged to meditate on it daily and do our best to present ourselves to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. When we take the whole counsel of God together with a desire to let Him speak over the noise of our traditions or assumptions there's a life-giving, awakening, redemptive reality revealed on it's pages. Some discipline in hermeneutics (how to read a text for what it says in the light of it's setting, audience, time period, and purpose) can go a long way, and prevent us from making the errors of prooftexting and eisegesis common among denominations. Yes Holy Spirit leads into all truth, but can only be reliably counted on in the regenerated life of one truly born again. Baptism cannot save, only Jesus, but a born again believer will desire to make a public demonstration of belonging to the Lord by getting baptized. Questions of authority are irrelevant to baptism as the Jesus is our High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek to make intercession for us with God...an unchangeable (immutable, untrabsferrable) priesthood Hebrews 7. The aaronic or levitical priesthood is done away with for anyone who believes the sacrifice of Jesus to be sufficient, because those priesthoods were for the purpose of the mosaic temple system of animal sacrifices. Christians of most denominations and sects are in far more agreement on salvific matters than you may have been led on, I'd highly encourage you to check out a solid Bible teaching church and engage in conversations with multiple different believers to get a feel! I will just say this on the Bible being one "tool" among many... The word of God is a double edged sword for dividing asunder the soul and spirit. Our soul (or "heart", "feelings" let's say) is not a good arbiter of truth, it's actually deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it's ways? Jer. 17:9. Plenty of people, mostly nominal religionists, have a belief they are in right standing with God when they're not. Plenty believe God is okay with them being actively homosexual, or becoming a different gender than they are. Maybe you've even met couples who started sleeping together before marriage, justifying it that "God wants us together, we feel it's right". How else can we exhort one another than with the truth where it's been breathed out by God (2 Tim 3:16) to instruct us in doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness? The basis of MY relationship with Jesus is not rooted in Holy Spirit feelings, because nobody is going to have that all the time. My assurance comes from the promises He has given in his word, one of them being that he doesn't lie and is faithful to finish in me what He has started.
Luke 16: 19 ¶ There was **a certain rich man** [priesrcrafter], which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day**: 20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus [humble follower of Christ], which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the [priesrcrafter’s] table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that [the humble follower of Christ] died, and was carried by the angels [Church of the Firstborn] into Abraham’s bosom: the [priesrcrafter] also died, and was buried; 23 And **in hell he [the priesrcrafter] lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom**. 24 And he cried and said, **Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.** 25 But Abraham said, **Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.** 26 And beside all this, between [the Church of the Firstborn] and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 27 Then [the priesrcrafter] said, **I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:** 28 **For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.** Then this exchange will play out in our day. If we won't hear the prophets and repent! Why then, would we hear the word from the resurrected being. 29 Abraham saith unto him [ priestcrafter], **They have [Joseph] and the prophets; let [the Latter-day Saints] hear them.** 30 And [the priestcrafter] said, **Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.** 31 And he said unto him, **If they hear not [Joseph Smith] and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though [Joseph Smith] rose from the dead.** “If only the [practitioner of priestcraft,] could have seen beyond the grave, he might have started praying sooner; but only in hell [will] he become a praying man.”(Hugh W. Pinnock - Beginning Again 1982)
If you're in the process of leaving the LDS Church, consider watching through some videos in this playlist: ruclips.net/p/PLAs5K46GJ7UIpvGSiX9g6INlZmRv6_Vx4
(This playlist is a collection of videos that may be helpful for those leaving the LDS Church. They explain the basics of Christianity in contrast to the teachings of Mormonism.)
> Here's the link to the Lighthouse Biography: www.amazon.com/Lighthouse-Despised-Beloved-Critics-Mormonism/dp/1560854545/
> And here's the link to some other clips from this interview: ruclips.net/p/PLAs5K46GJ7UI8D_ZlMA5MwqgTLL-NA1ql
Gosh how I love Sandra and Jerald!!!! They have done so much for so many......
Sandra is a blessing to Mormons and non-Mormons alike.
Leaving mormonism was awesome! I found the real Jesus Christ.
Leaving the Mormon church was a blessing because I now have the true God in my life. My life has been easier, and I experience more joy. I spend more time with the bible and have a much more rewarding relationship with the Lord.
Me too!
Was saved in 2020 through studying the Bible with no lens/putting aside as much bias as I could, just looking at the immediate meaning on the page, reading in as many translations as I reasonably could.
It took a couple years. But reading the first 5 books of the Old Testament, John-Hebrews changed everything when all I did was come to it with new eyes and asked simply: what does this say about God, humanity, and the right response God wants from the reader?
I brought empty hands. Asked the one true God to show me the truth and make me right with him whatever the cost. His word changed me, my heart and mind and actions in a way I could never muscle on my own attempts at faithful obedience.
My kids are the 7th generation of our family LDS legacy. Now born again❤️.
Loved ones have been gentle in their shunning and mourning me as lost, deceived and confused.
I never thought I would see what it looks like when others view the simple message of the cross and the triune God as foolishness. But God prepared me, taught me to trust him in everything, filled me with hope, peace and is equipping me to abide in him with solid joy he supplies.
Verses and truth that had key impact:
Genesis-Deuteronomy, John-Hebrews.
Acts 1-5, Eph. 2, Col. 2-3, Gen. 15:6, Gal. 3, Titus 3, Rom. 4,
Specifics: James 2:23
Isaiah 43-46; 48:11
Hebrews 1: 6-8
Hebrews 2, 7-13
1 Timothy 1:17, 2:5, Deut 4:35, 1 John 4:24, 5:18-20, Gen. 1:26, John 1:1-5, 1 Cor. 8:4-6, James 2:19, Col. 1:16-17, Mark 12:29-32, Isaiah 9:6, 2 Sam. 7:22, Eph. 4:6, 2 Cor. 3:17, Matt. 4:10, Malachi 2:10, Isaiah 45:21-22, Psalm 86:10, Matt. 1:23, Isaiah 44:8, James 2:10, Hebrews 9:14, Titus 2:13, Psalm 90:2, Ex. 3:14, 2: Cor 11:13-15, Matt. 7:21-23, Deut. 13: 1-18, 2 Peter 2:1-3, Mark 7:7, Eph. 2:8,
biblehub.com and the Bible Project, teaching by Tim Keller, Pilgrims Progress and the biographies of Martin Luther, and the book 7 Men by Eric Metaxis were eye opening. The Voice of the Martyrs ministry and testimonies on One For Israel were helpful in revealing the false myths about Christian’s and Christianity that I didn’t realize had been influencing me so much.
Doing online Bible searches really helped me see that the Bible makes clear promises and claims against a great apostasy and a against his word being lost or corrupted made me wonder why the LDS leaders’ restored Gospel claims are stronger than the claims of the Bible? I couldn’t make sense of it. But I doubted my doubts and doubled down on focusing on the covenant path. I was determined that we were in the true Life Boat leading to God’s highest blessing.
Seeing for myself that the Bible claims clearly that God set up an everlasting Kingdom was surprising. Once I was saved, really helped me see that of course a great apostasy would directly contradict the promises of a God who claimed to be faithful to his kingdom/bride (the church). Online searches also helped me see clearly that God promised not only to set up a durable kingdom, but providing a durable, protected word-also because he would never be unfaithful as God.
As I spent time in the Bible, I started to see just how small my view of God and sin I had grown up with and taught in every role of LDS church leadership and service I had held.
I remained faithful to my LDS identity and fundamental beliefs until the day I was saved. I never had a faith crisis.
God took years to soften my heart, teach me his word, and humble me to believe the simple Gospel of the God of Israel.
He surrounded me by mature Christian believers in healthy churches that were providing them everything and more than the best wards I had lived in across Utah and the western U.S. I was so surprised by God. He pulled the cover off his grace and reality, one ordinary moment at a time. In 2020 he gave me eyes to see him after 40 plus years of wandering in deep devotion to the “beautiful”wilderness of the LDS faith. If he can save a willful member of the LDS faith like me, he can save anyone.
I hope you and others will continue to grow in your love of God for what he has done. ❤ SDG!
Col. 3:1-4❤
why did you leave the church ?is it by doctrine or by personal weakness or sins?
I became Christian during the pandemic. I started watching church online
I am so much closer to God after leaving the church over 10 years ago.🙏 God is so Good! Praise Jesus! Maranatha! 🙏♥️🥲Let’s pray for our Mormon brothers & sisters that they may see the truth of God’s Word.🙏♥️🥲
How have you become closer to God by breaking your covenants with God?
How strange🤔 but we are Latter Day Saints or members of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints. We are not Mormons, and never were Mormons. That’s a nickname the world calls us because we also believe in the Book of Mormon which is another testament of Jesus Christ. We have taken upon us the name of Jesus Christ not Mormon. The Church’s name is not Mormon. It’s in plane English.
We are instructed to have faith in Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, keep his commandments, pray unto our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, search and study the Bible, Book of Mormon and the words of the living prophets and apostles, seek after and embrace all truth, live the law of chastity, be a good citizen and do the best we can and be the best we can in love towards others around us and love God first and foremost and to make and keep sacred covenants with God.
So now, what do you find in these things which we are taught to not draw you closer to God?
Great comments from Sandra and Ron.
I still remember how difficult it was for me to get to a place where I had studied enough about the Bible to have confidence that it was not corrupted, as Joseph Smith taught me to view it.
Ironically, it was Joseph Smith who did the very thing he accused others of doing: in his own “translation”of the Bible, he added verses, changed words, and invented meaning to words with zero correspondence in the original languages.
He also did not know Hebrew nor Greek to efficiently come up a faithful translation. But LDS never criticize his translation.
From Joseph to Jesus: “I still remember how difficult it was for me to get to a place where I had studied enough about the Bible to have confidence that it was not corrupted, as Joseph Smith taught me to view it.” Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints typically use the LDS Edition of the Bible which is the Authorized King James Version of the Bible. It is part of the doctrine/scripture of the standard works of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We consider it to be the most correct English version of the Bible. It is footnoted with references from the other LDS standard works. This year in Adult Sunday School we are studying the New Testament.
Actually, critical scholarship largely supports his translations.
Further, there isn’t a single credible Bible scholar that will say the Bible is infallible, meaning many parts have been added and taken away, or in other words, corrupted.
The Bible is is not what your pastor is telling you. HE is the one that doesn’t understand Hebrew and Greek.
@@Kapayapaanman "Actually, critical scholarship largely supports his translations. "
Could you please explain in greater detail what you know about how critical scholarship supports his translations?
Also, regarding " ... many parts have been added and taken away, or in other words, corrupted." I wonder if you are familiar with the process of translation? In the translation process -- that is, *translation* from existing original scriptures -- certain goals and guidelines are established regarding the purpose of the translation, generally along the lines between the degree to which the translation is to be a *literal* translation from the vocabulary and grammer of the original texts into the target language, vs. the translation is intended to convey the sense of the meaning of the original texts within the context of their original culture into the most similar meaning of the culture of the target language and culture. It is rarely possible to make a literal translation from one language to another that also conveys the cultural sense of the meaning.
Is it these trade-offs that you consider to be "corruptions" ?
Have you perhaps failed to consider that God -- The Holy Spirit of God -- has a vested interest in translation such that His Word may be known to all peoples?
And -- by the way -- in many denominations, fully-trained pastors DO UNDERSTAND Greek and Hebrew, and rely heavily on that understanding in their ministry of preaching God's Word. I know that my pastor does. Since Mormons don't have pastors, I doubt that there is any Mormon leadership that understands Greek or Hebrew.
But in any case, that is irrelevant, since Mormons don't believe the Bible. Mormons believe in Joseph Smith, and subsequently anything that Joseph Smith says -- including about the Bible. So a knowledge of Greek and Hebrew would be completly wasted on a Mormon.
Finally, Christians who believe in God don't have to ask Him to show us whether the Bible is "true" - we already know that it is.
The juxtaposition of Dr. Huggins' comments about encourntering the person of Christ unfiltered in the Bible together with Sandra's references to J.B. Phillips brought to my mind what Phillips himself wrote about encountering Christ in the gospels while he was translating them:
“I was not at all prepared for the unconventional man revealed in these terse gospels. No one could possibly have invented such a person: this was no puppet-hero invented out of the imaginations of adoring admirers. ‘This man Jesus’ so briefly described, rang true, sometimes alarmingly true. I began to see now why the religious establishment of those days wanted to get rid of him at all costs. He was sudden death to pride, pomposity and pretense.” (J.B. Phillips, Ring of Truth, pg. 87)
I converted to the LDS church when I was 14.I married and raised my family there. My kids went on mission and married in the Temple. Then , about 15 years ago, the 3 of them left the church.... I was surprised but not all that much since my whole life in the Church I had questions about doctrine and the way the church handle certain things and the fact that I never felt I measured up to the Lord....I felt I disappointed God all the time, that I could never be worthy enough to Him... 5 years ago I stopped attending. At the beginning of 2023 I begun to feel I needed to stay home... (I'm retired but I had a part time job I needed and I also competed in Pickleball and I did not want to quit). I pushed this feeling away, because it made no sense. March 2023 I had knee pain and couldn't play. The feeling of staying home kept bugging me and begun to think "is the Father putting this thing in my heart?. So Last May, 2023, I quit my part time job and stay home. Videos from different Born-Again leaders begun to show up in my RUclips timeline.... I began to learn to pray, listening, not just talking the normal repetitive prayer I had all my life, and I began to wait upon the Lord...... In doing this I discovered who God is! He does love me! I'm enough and he wanted me back! I remember this night when at 2 am I prayed to Heavenly Father and felt His spirit, His spirit in my room! Like never before. Summer of 2023 was an unbelievable summer! I felt I was Born Again with all that I learned and experienced. September came and my youngest son moved back to my home... he was addicted to heroin. After he left the Mormon Church he thought he did not longer believe in God. During the month of September and October I witness to my son about the most awesome God I had discovered, not the conditional God we learned in our Mormon days... but a merciful, loving God and he was waiting for him to come back. I said "Todd, leave your burdens at His feet, repent and follow Him. On October 27th 2023, I went into my son's bedroom and found him on his knees as if he was praying. He had passed away praying. The Lord later told me He had left Todd on his knees so I would know my prayers had been answered, Todd did go back to the Lord. In 2023 the Lord rescued me in time and gave me the honor to help my son go back to Him.
Galatians 1:8 😱😱😱 “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”
I've used the Tanners material for years. I lived in Arizona for 33 years and were surrounded by dear Mormons. Bless her heart!
I agree with Sandra. When I left I left because I didn't want to be a hypocrite and was having serious doubts about the nature of God as I knew him in the Church. I did ask questions of the Bishop but he was unable to help and even said so. But even though I left, I didn't question the concept of God existing, I just wanted to know who the TRUE GOD is. This lead me to read about different faith beliefs from their own sources, including getting a copy of the Bible that wasn't King James. Amazingly so, it helped. I ended up coming to the REALY Jesus and trusting in Him for salvation but it took a little while. BTW Sandra is a lovely lady. She and her late husband, Jerald, were instrumental in getting my brain to unwrap from Mormonisms confusions.
I found ULM over twenty-five years ago. My heart was burdened for a friend who was an LDS member, but I didn't know how to witness effectively to him. After I started reading the literature produced by Jerald and Sandra, I discovered that I really had only touched the tip of the iceberg in respect to the history and doctrinal origins of the LDS canon and doctrines. The importance of Utah Lighthouse Ministries, in respect to my education, has been immense! I offer this one observation from my own experiences, when I approach someone, I am witnessing with Spirit guided love and kindness, they respond in kind. I have yet to experience a hostile response. Also, it helps me to always remember the encounter is not a monologue but a dialog. People need to be heard. May the unmerited grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be poured out upon our Mormon brothers and sisters. I pray always for them and their ultimate liberation.
We pray for yours too. The devil is a crafty fellow.
The Tanners are legendary in the Exmo world. I am glad they found something with meaning. My two cents, Never stop deconstructing, it is a beautiful process that will give you critical and self-thinking skills for the rest of your life. The things that have value after the dust of deconstruction settles will remain.
Even for someone who ultimately prefers the KJV, it is healthy (as Sandra astutely points out here) to supplement your reading with a modern translation from time to time if only to force you to suddenly see with fresh eyes passages you thought you already knew and realize what you never noticed the old English of the KJV was saying all along. C.S. Lewis put it well:
"Though it may seem a sour paradox, we must sometimes get away from the authorized version [i.e., the KJV], if for no other reason, simply BECAUSE it is so beautiful and so solemn. Beauty exalts, but beauty also lulls. Early associations endear but they also confuse. Through that beautiful solemnity, the transporting or horrifying realities of which the book tells may come to us blunted and disarmed and we may only sigh with tranquil veneration when we ought to be burning with shame or struck dumb with terror or carried out of ourselves by ravishing hopes and adorations." (C.S. Lewis, "Modern Translations of the Bible," Chapter 10 of "God in the Dock")
Brigham Young strongly recommended that new and more a edible translations of the Bible ought to be made. It took me so
long to discover that new, reputable translations render the plain and rich meaning of the Hebrew and Greek far more accessible and provide important corrections to the KJV.
I was shocked as a devout LDS believer to read the first edition of the Book of Mormon (so many errors! So many substantive changes have been made to the text!!) I wondered, privately, how is this the “most correct book on the earth?” Especially if God allowed Joseph Smith to show that the Book of Mormon prophets from times before Christ, to quoted vast sections of the 1600’s KJV with its translator errors in tact?
For years, I pushed down critical thinking and just lay it aside as a “mystery.”
But God was working the whole time..
CARM Videos: “Even for someone who ultimately prefers the KJV, it is healthy (as Sandra astutely points out here) to supplement your reading with a modern translation from time to time if only to force you to suddenly see with fresh eyes passages you thought you already knew and realize what you never noticed the old English of the KJV was saying all along.” “The title of the first edition of the translation, in Early Modern English, was "THE HOLY BIBLE, Conteyning the Old Teſtament, AND THE NEW: Newly Tranſlated out of the Originall tongues: & with the former Tranſlations diligently compared and reuiſed, by his Maiesties ſpeciall Cõmandement". The title page carries the words "Appointed to be read in Churches",[11] and F. F. Bruce suggests it was "probably authorised by order in council", but no record of the authorisation survives "because the Privy Council registers from 1600 to 1613 were destroyed by fire in January 1618/19".[12]” [Wikipedia/King James Version/Name] The language of the King James Bible is Early Modern English, and not old English.
The www.biblegateway.com website contains about 60 English language versions of the Bible including the Authorized King James Version. Was Jesus Christ God’s only begotten Son or God’s only Son? Does that depend strictly on which English version you choose?
@@le7262 "Most correct" refers to gospel principles, not grammatical errors, or adjustments. Isaiah matches, because it comes from the same source.
I am so glad listening to you .And what made me leave the Mormon church was having a Near Death experience and I knew that every thing that I was told was not true . I learned that we are reincarnated and that on the otherside that the love is more than you can imagine. My whole Mormon family disowned me and my children and told me that I am going to hell . I honestly know better. I now can see ghosts and spirits. I went to a specialist that has worked with 20 other people who died and came back and they reported the same experience as me . I know that we are here on a special mission. The Mormon church is only about abuse and making money....
When talking about using a modern Bible, one of the best I found is the NASB (New American Standard Bible) It's in the english language we use today
If this is helpful for some people, that’s actually pretty fabulous. Personally, I didn’t leave the Mormon church, per se, but the paradigm of believing things that require “faith”-ie., an effort to ignore or override dissonance, doubt, facts, experience, etc. I left the paradigm where others hold the keys to my understanding of this stream of experience we call life. I left being told what is moral, valuable, reliable, and/or real. If I have to try to believe something; an idea, a version of events, an interpretation of experience, I don’t. I look further, longer, and I simply be with the not believing/not knowing. It’s uncomfortable at times, to be sure. Sometimes excruciatingly so. It’s nowhere near as intolerable though, as the numbing effort required to “believe”. That’s the exhausting burden I set down when I left Mormonism. For me, the Bible also goes into the discard pile, along with so much more in the way of belief systems of all sorts ( not just religious ones).
The Bible Project might interest you coming to ancient texts with a very rational, historical, sane hermeneutic.
Glad you’ve recovered your hold on reality. Skeptical, critical thinking is crucial to a good life.
All the best to you.
@@le7262 Dr.Michael S.Heiser videos have a much better view of what the Bible in its Ancient Hebrew context really says.
Exactly! These people are substituting one "faith" system for another. It is so hypocritical of ex-mormons to come back and criticize the beliefs of people when many still smugly believe in a Sky God and trans=substantiation, and resurrection and virgin birth. I call BS
I imagine there will be many who might scoff at Sandra's remarks about using a more modern version of the NT. Just to add some substance: One does not necessarily lose any original meaning from the text by using a modernized version. Rather, these newer versions translate the text into verbiage that is much more familiar to us today... and in many cases draw out more substance from the original text than the KJV did when it was translated. GLM has a few videos on versions of the bible, the nature of translation / transmissions, etc.
Most scholars I know don't put much credence in the KJV. Even the excellent resource folks on the Follow Me podcasts advise, if you can't understand KJV read other translations.
There is outstanding scholarship out there
@@robertloewen7268 It was certainly a remarkable accomplishment when it was produced, but we do have far more to go off of now.
Thats interesting, the entire LDS church all over the world just finished studying the old testament last year. This year they are studying the new testament.
Yes a years’ worth of proof texting. Read the verses you skipped over in Sunday School. There’s value in ALL of God’s Word.
@@Imtryingtobelikejesus-m1m you filter the Bible through Mormon theology and books: how can you even think the Ancient Hebrews had those interpretations to their own writings or the New Testament that Joseph Smith copied into the Book of Mormon.
@@Imtryingtobelikejesus-m1m -- perhaps you should try reading The Bible and " ... ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true”
Revelations 22:18-19 😱⚡️💪♥️🙏
18. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If ANY man shall ADD unto these things,🤔God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:😳
19. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.😱
THE KJV BIBLE IS THE ONLY TRUE WORD OF GOD…PERIOD!!! Praise Jesus! Maranatha!🙏♥️💪
AlohaAngel: “Revelations 22:18-19 😱⚡💪♥🙏
18. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If ANY man shall ADD unto these things,🤔God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:😳
19. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Excellent Quote! Have you considered Deuteronomy 4:2?
Deuteronomy 4:2 (AKJV) “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” Was Moses the last prophet? No. Amos 3:7 “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Should we still be following the old covenant of the Old Testament or should we follow the New Covenant of the New Testament? We should embrace the New Covenant complete with the Revelation of the Apostle John!
Actually -- the original scriptures written from holy men of old are the only true written Word of God. The KJV is a *translation* of the original scriptures -- Hebrew and Greek - :-)
I think another powerful tool in a Word-seeker's arsenal is not only obtaining a modern Bible (as Sandra correctly suggests), but taking it upon oneself to study Greek and Hebrew. Language conveys so much more than literal meaning, but feeling, people, and the world as it was. This was crucial for me on my journey back to God after declaring myself anti-Mormon and anti-God.
Linguistics and historical study helped me see how incorrect Smith was, as well as making a personal relationship with God.
Smith was never incorrect. He was a normal man like everyone else. People make mistakes. It doesn’t make him any less of a prophet than any other man. All the biblical prophets were never perfect 100% except for Jesus. Latter-day Saints are not anti God, we are for God.
@@latter-daysaintbatman2679ave you taken time to line up the sins and mistakes of Joseph Smith and those of prophets like Abraham, Moses, and the faithful lives of prophets like Isaiah, Jonah, Jeremiah, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, Hosea, Malachi? Heavenly Father provides specific instruction for discerning false prophets and true prophets, false teachers and true teachers. Search Deuteronomy, and the New Testament. You might see some practical things not covered in LDS teaching. My best ad ice is to always look with fresh eyes, just looking at the basic meaning there on the page, not trying to uncover some obscure, hidden meaning. Use a version you can easily understand. It’s a great investment of time. The Bible does not affirm polygamy-ever. Joseph Smith never repented of polygamy or polyandry, sadly. He does not even qualify to hold the office of Elder based on the clear and simple requirement established in Christ’s church body in 1 Timothy 1 and Titus 3 which among other simple instructions say that an overseer (translated to mean elder, bishop or pastor) must be the husband of only 1 wife.
This disqualifies Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff and any other LDS prophets including current leaders who practice spiritual polygamy that they plan to enjoy literally in the next world. Food for thought. For so long, I did as much mental gymnastics as it took to justify the unrepentant sin of leaders by telling myself and others that the leaders are not infallible, they are good men who sin like we all do; David and Abraham and Solomon sinned-God used them. The difference is that they repented, did not teach their followers to imitate their sin without God’s swift judgement and they trusted in God to supply them with righteousness-not of their own making or from works. Genesis 15:6.
Repentance and what they taught as the words from God-are crucial to observe. Unrepentant sun and false teaching are never affirmed by God.
With all respect to you. I truly hope studying your own prophets’ real history and lining up to the instructions to false and true prophets will not be time you feel is wasted.
@@latter-daysaintbatman2679 Smith corrupted the Book of Revelation in his JST and reaped the curse of Revelation 22:18,19.
He made the ultimate mistake that cost him his life.
@@latter-daysaintbatman2679 you are totally and deeply blinded by deception.
You do not believe in God.
You believe in Joseph Smith, and what Joseph Smith says to believe about God.
I left the Utah church and was baptized in an RLDS based church. JSIV is the Bible I use; wow di my eyes get opened.
The Internet The Equalizer. It's called what's the true God? Never mind. Forget me
let Sandra speak
God is true
Wonderful advice, to make our own relationship with Jesus. Perhaps Jesus is both, the living word and the church🙏🙌
Understanding Lucifer’s grasp on our world helps maintain faith in Jesus Christ as you leave the church…not all that the church teaches is false, thats how Satan works, through confusion
There’s tonnes of LDS teachings in the New Testament.
GLM: “People are leaving Mormonism in droves.” When I joined the Church 44 years ago, there were 11 Million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “At the end of 2021, the LDS Church had 31,315 congregations and a reported membership of 16,805,400.[1]” [Wikipedia/Membership statistics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints/Introduction] The Church has increased by 5 million members!
This year they reported no new growth. I was told for years that by now the church would be over 20 million strong.
Burns: add and subtract all members that have come into your church and you will see growth has slowed and is on a decline overall.
Don't fool yourself Mormonism's growth is slowly Reversing into less total members that they projected for this year.
They might have more total members than 44 years ago: but not with a long steady decline will that be true.
I like how you tried to manipulate the statistics but you failed to see the obvious trend in Mormonism's growth leveling off and starting to
decline.
It's on the downward side of the bell curve.
david janbaz: What you say would be true within our local ward because new wards and branches of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have received our previous members who lived in those assigned areas. That does not mean the overall membership of the Church has declined. The decline in the overall growth rate does not indicate a decline in the total number of members of the Church until the rate of overall growth is a negative number! Does your bell curve show that at the present time?
Of that 16 million, most scholars estimate that roughly 3.5-5 M worldwide are active. This includes mormon scholars. Europe and Japan are declining, with Japan recently closing 2 stakes. The US is relatively flat. Africa and the Phillipines are growing. There may be some nominal worldwide growth, but we will never know for sure because the church considers accurate figures including attendence to be sacred and does not share these publicaly. They also consider records about members involved in child abuse to be sacred.
@@Imtryingtobelikejesus-m1m unfortunately that is one of the most toxic outcomes of the deception of the mormon church -- that it counterfeits the True Jesus, and so when people leave, unless they have become true followers of Jesus, they reject the mormon jesus -- and the True Jesus. Very toxic indeed.
Yes all we have tentations that lead us to sin.
I find that using several translations to compare is helpful - small paperback translations of the New Testament can be purchased for just a few dollars. The NIV, NKJV, ESV, CSB, and NASB are good translations, while The Message is an "interesting" paraphrase. One should be aware of whether they are reading a *translation* or a *paraphrase* and understand both the value and differences of the two.
HCSB is a very good choice
I would suggest they buy a parallel bible where they can have a KJV parallel printed with another modern translation. They can easily read together.
If you read the bible, how can you know if you interpret it correctly? (when so many sects use the bible, but say the meanings are not only different, but sometimes even the "opposite"!(?) Who has the authority to translate it for everyone? (as a whole). Or should one just read the bible, and then "rely" on the Holy Spirit to confirm its meaning? Does it matter who baptizes you? (like how Jesus was baptized)? Anyway - if this topic of discussion is "doing things a certain way" (then the Big question is why, how)? Is it opinion from this site, or another website)? Beyond the question of the LDS faith (say you don't even include Mormons in the conversation) and only include "other sects" then amongst this large group - how is doing it right? (Or again - does that matter)? Anyway food for thought. (Again the bible is a set of holy scriptures, but is really only a "tool" (and not the only one) in Gods word + arsenal (people sometime focus on this too much. The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath). Jesus is the "Word" and is "above" even the scriptures. "He is the Law, he is the "Word"). Sometimes we focus so much on 'interpreting the law" for our neighbor it almost becomes more important than finding truth for our own self and our personal relationship with the Savoir(which is confirmed by the spirit). In the end Jesus knows are hearts (regardless of which religion we worship or attend - and this will "trump" everything in the end). The chosen is a great show - which shows how Jesus really taught, loved and forgive. The sadducees and pharisees - only focused on what was "written" in the past (and couldn't get past it). Joseph Smith - for whatever one thinks of him for (good or bad) he did the "right" thing (He asked God for guidance). I think mormon "culturalism, and the imperfections of people are easy targets for someone used to try and "prove" something wrong. But if that were the case almost "all christian sects" would be in trouble! It would be like saying what Jesus taught was in question because his apostles weren't perfect (e.g. - Judas, etc). Anyway food for thought and God bless :)
The Bible can speak for itself clearly, and we are all encouraged to meditate on it daily and do our best to present ourselves to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. When we take the whole counsel of God together with a desire to let Him speak over the noise of our traditions or assumptions there's a life-giving, awakening, redemptive reality revealed on it's pages. Some discipline in hermeneutics (how to read a text for what it says in the light of it's setting, audience, time period, and purpose) can go a long way, and prevent us from making the errors of prooftexting and eisegesis common among denominations. Yes Holy Spirit leads into all truth, but can only be reliably counted on in the regenerated life of one truly born again. Baptism cannot save, only Jesus, but a born again believer will desire to make a public demonstration of belonging to the Lord by getting baptized. Questions of authority are irrelevant to baptism as the Jesus is our High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek to make intercession for us with God...an unchangeable (immutable, untrabsferrable) priesthood Hebrews 7. The aaronic or levitical priesthood is done away with for anyone who believes the sacrifice of Jesus to be sufficient, because those priesthoods were for the purpose of the mosaic temple system of animal sacrifices. Christians of most denominations and sects are in far more agreement on salvific matters than you may have been led on, I'd highly encourage you to check out a solid Bible teaching church and engage in conversations with multiple different believers to get a feel! I will just say this on the Bible being one "tool" among many... The word of God is a double edged sword for dividing asunder the soul and spirit. Our soul (or "heart", "feelings" let's say) is not a good arbiter of truth, it's actually deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it's ways? Jer. 17:9. Plenty of people, mostly nominal religionists, have a belief they are in right standing with God when they're not. Plenty believe God is okay with them being actively homosexual, or becoming a different gender than they are. Maybe you've even met couples who started sleeping together before marriage, justifying it that "God wants us together, we feel it's right". How else can we exhort one another than with the truth where it's been breathed out by God (2 Tim 3:16) to instruct us in doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness? The basis of MY relationship with Jesus is not rooted in Holy Spirit feelings, because nobody is going to have that all the time. My assurance comes from the promises He has given in his word, one of them being that he doesn't lie and is faithful to finish in me what He has started.
Luke 16:
19 ¶ There was **a certain rich man** [priesrcrafter], which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day**:
20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus [humble follower of Christ], which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the [priesrcrafter’s] table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 And it came to pass, that [the humble follower of Christ] died, and was carried by the angels [Church of the Firstborn] into Abraham’s bosom: the [priesrcrafter] also died, and was buried;
23 And **in hell he [the priesrcrafter] lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom**.
24 And he cried and said, **Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.**
25 But Abraham said, **Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.**
26 And beside all this, between [the Church of the Firstborn] and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
27 Then [the priesrcrafter] said, **I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:**
28 **For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.**
Then this exchange will play out in our day. If we won't hear the prophets and repent! Why then, would we hear the word from the resurrected being.
29 Abraham saith unto him [ priestcrafter], **They have [Joseph] and the prophets; let [the Latter-day Saints] hear them.**
30 And [the priestcrafter] said, **Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.**
31 And he said unto him, **If they hear not [Joseph Smith] and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though [Joseph Smith] rose from the dead.**
“If only the [practitioner of priestcraft,] could have seen beyond the grave, he might have started praying sooner; but only in hell [will] he become a praying man.”(Hugh W. Pinnock - Beginning Again 1982)
Maybe try reading Matthew 21 and you may find a case for the BOM.
Isn't Matthew 21 also used as the basis for validation of the Jehovah's Witnesses?
Whenever I try to humbly listen to Christians with respect for their views I make myself nauseous because they always turn out to be homophobes
I'm a Christian, and not a homophobe - would you care to listen to what I have to say? Or better yet, what God has to say ?
Yay! Read the Bible. get personal relationship with God. Just starting Woman's Bible. It is easy comfy place to start,...
YAY! for sure!
2.382 billion Christians world-wide would heartily agree with you!
@@sagesaith6354 thank so much and spread good news of LOVE
“Get a modern Bible” she says. In other words get a Bible that’s had more of its teachings diluted by men. No thanks.