Mormon Direction

I read a recent August 2010 – Ensign article entitled, “Being Worthy to Enter the Temple”. It was a basic article on temple worthiness but the word “worthy” stood out in this article. As I focused on that single word, the word “exclusion” came into my mind.

I then began to pondered why many Non-Mormons attacked this LDS Church since the first day they heard the words from Joseph Smith speak about his First Vision and what God said to him. As I pondered, I began to see a pattern appear and the single word that would describe this pattern is the word “exclusion”. The word “exclusion” is to omit or to exclude.

What God said in the First Vision about other Christian churches was in fact, an act of exclusion by God and that appears to have triggered the sour resentment by others. There were others since Joseph Smith who claimed prophecy from God, but none have suffered the persecution and attacks more than this LDS Church, because none of the others have “excluded” other Christian creeds to the extent that God had in the First Vision and none received any visions equal to the First Vision by Joseph Smith.

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According to a recent news report at Gospel for Asia UK, a Christian denomination that professes worship of Jesus Christ is under threats of death if the pastor and followers refuse to reject Jesus for another (extremist) religion. This means people who disagree with the beliefs of this Christian group are trying to impose their will and their beliefs unto them, even using threats of death.

You can read this story here >> http://www.gfauk.org/skelapp/gfa/news-IfYouGoToChurchYouDie-Nov09.asp

This example shows religious intolerance, also showing a type of dictorship and evil, to force, impose, rule over, violate freedoms and civil liberties to worship as we choose, even threaten death. Such intolerance and actions against freedoms and liberties, in any degree, shows an evil that is becoming more prominent today.

Do Mormons know this kind of intolerance? Certainly they do and Joseph Smith suffered this intolerance to his death at the hands of evil men who violated his freedoms and liberties. Then today, this intolerance toward Mormons continue, under the guise and false label of “cult”. How many ex-Mormons and Anti-Mormons would literally take up their guns and shoot down Mormons if it were not for the laws we have in North America? How many Anti-Mormons and ex-Mormons would cheer and rally for such intolerance?

To God’s dismay, many would, as intolerance is not a Christian trait or belief. So how many Anti’s and Ex’s are not Christian? – Many.

A prayer is appropriate for these Christians who are suffering threats to their right to worship God as to what their conscience dictates, an article of faith that Mormons believe and follow.

I pray for the well being, safety and support for these Christians in Uttar Pradesh India.

Amen

It is known, from the scriptures that many saints will fall in these latter-days. How the saints fall, I am sure will be by many ways. We see in these latter days members of this Church falling into apostasy and members who left the membership because they chose to take issue with other members or with the Church. When I read the many personal accounts of ex-Mormons on the Internet, I found that “taking issue” seems to be the dominate cause.

Recently, I read a blog belonging to an ex-Mormon. His blog is rather new and the content did not provide much detail as to why he left the Church. In fact it was rather vague with many generalized brief statements. He did not explain why certain things caused him to loose his belief in the Church, but what he did state was sufficient to see what caused his disbelief and it had nothing to do with the truth. It had to do his own personal distaste for things he read in the historic information about this Church.

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Scanning some of the testimonies of anti-Mormons, some have become atheist, others joined other churches, but all of these have proclaimed that they are now “free”.

Free from what? When reading their “testimonies” of their proclaimed freedom(s), they do not speak of spiritual freedom as Jesus Christ promises, they show their freedoms to be at a temporal base; a relative & personal freedom based on personal likes and dislikes.

The question that remains is, “what kind of freedom and from what?”

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One of the challenges of being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is whether a particular doctrine or practice is believable or acceptable. I have read and heard so many claims by ex-Mormons of how they were fooled or blinded to some of the doctrines or activities of the Church.

Some of the common complaints surround tithing, lack of answers to prayers, Adam-God Theory, Blacks previously refused the priesthood, men oriented church, and so on. When I looked at these claims or complaints and the stories behind them I see that they are just personal, which means that their issues are specific to them. For some things the Church has done, such as restrict Black men from the priesthood, are true, but making personal issue out of these things certainly does not gain the ear of the Lord neither does it gain any help or witness from the Holy Ghost. Why is this? It is because making personal issue is the act of contention which is the spirit of contention and such is not of God.

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