Once again, Steve Bloor has refused to publish my comments on his blog, a blog devoted to leading people away from Christ and His Church.
It pains me to see the deceived being deceived by the deceived. (Steve was once an LDS bishop! Now he doesn't even believe in Christ.) LDS leadership's resolve to preach a gospel stocked with truth, but knowingly tainted with lies, predictably now persuades some to abandon their faith when the truth is made known. Sadly, many are now leaving the table just as the "puzzle pieces" are finally fitting together!
Proverbs 26:27
27 Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.
Proverbs 28:10
10 Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit: but the upright shall have good things in possession.
Here is my comment:
I empathize with everyone here who has left comments and/or who has experienced the type of "cognitive dissonance" and loss of faith described by Steve Bloor. What he describes is real and true -- even if he does move quite a ways off base by imagining that ALL THINGS can be "explained away" by self-hypnosis, self-delusion, neuropsychology, etc. (The list of reasons for disbelieving is potentially endless.)
I invite everyone here to look to the work Denver Snuffer is producing at his blog. The error, you will find, is not that the Book of Mormon isn't true -- it is! (Yes, I know there are arguments against it, but those arguments have, and will, continue to fall by the wayside.) The error isn't that Joseph Smith wasn't a prophet -- he was! (And, I believe, still is, despite whatever flaws, faults and failings we ascribe -- rightly or wrongly -- to him.) The error isn't that God doesn't exist -- He does!
The error is that those who first embraced the Book of Mormon didn't read it, misunderstood it and, for the most part, rejected it (if not ignored it completely) and "re-interpreted" it into something it wasn't and isn't. It is virtually impossible for modern Mormons to read the Book of Mormon as it was intended, so great is the "metatext" that has been imposed upon it by the modern Church. (Thanks to Daymon Smith and his blog for revealing this truth.) Consequently, the LDS faith and the Church produced by it -- a truly "Gentile" Church, through and through -- went astray...and has been moving farther astray with every passing year.
The "solution" is not to throw out one's faith, but to dive deeper into it. I know by personal experience that the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by the Book of Mormon is true. That doctrine is this: Cry unto God with all the energy of your soul to be forgiven of your sins, having perfect faith in Jesus Christ, and He will receive you -- with the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, which spiritual element will purge you of ALL desire to sin, as if by fire, and fill your soul with unspeakable joy. You will commune with God, hear His voice, see His face, and know Him. Then, as a public witness to God and man that you have been converted and have repented of all your sins, you may enter the waters of baptism and receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is the promise that the Comforter will be in and abide with you forever, if you persist in prayer and calling upon His holy name.
Those who have this witness do not care about the "side show" evident elsewhere. These are distractions. They tear away at faith, like acid, for those who have not been initiated in the heavenly gift. I'm not talking about your "testimony" here. (Even the devils have "testimonies". Testimonies can be shaken.) I'm talking about "conversion" -- being wrought upon by the Spirit of God and made privy, by revelation, to God, by which you know Him, have seen His face, heard His words, watched Him, His mannerisms, etc. Having done this, how can you then say "I do not know Him"?
Better it would be for that person to have never been born than to deny the revelation of the Holy Ghost by which God is revealed...for what more can be done to "convert" one than to reveal GOD to him? If one rejects that, THERE IS NO GREATER WITNESS!
The problem, my friends, isn't that the doctrine of Jesus Christ isn't true. It is. It's that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has mangled that doctrine through disbelief, misapplied it, forgotten it, and perverted it beyond recognition. One may attend the Church his whole life and NEVER hear a single sermon about the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost -- so essential to salvation! -- for virtually NO ONE who now leads the Church has ever experienced it! They have not been "born again"! In fact, those who now claim to have experienced this supernal gift are routinely denigrated, dismissed, and mocked (from that "great and spacious building", which the Church has become) by those who have not tasted the fruit or who have spurned it, in shame, disbelieving, being overcome by sins.
I implore you not to reject the truth -- not to "throw out the baby with the bathwater", as it were -- just because this great error, this great stumbling block, has been exposed.
I know Jesus Christ is real, that He ministers today. Those who have been the recipient of His witness are not shaken. Those who haven't – who have merely "testimonies" of this man or of that book, without the oil of "conversion" in their lamps – will simply be left in the dark and, ultimately, shut out of His presence.
I urge you to cry unto Him with all the energy of your soul and He will hear you and answer you.
Then, together, we'll find out from Him what to do about this mess the Church has gotten itself into.
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