Beating a Dead Horse

I've had discussions with Mormon friends about Robert Smith's book Teaching for Doctrine the Commandments of Men: Tradition in Modern Mormonism. No Mormon I know wants to read it. No active, "faithful" Mormon would consider it makes any difference what anyone could say or write about the Church, its leadership, doctrines or history. No amount of error, dissembling or corruption detected in the Church could ever dissuade them from "believing" in the Church. "The Church is true," they say. "It always has been. It always will be. The Church cannot fail."

(I remember hearing that a lot on my mission in Chile...from the Catholics.)

To my Mormon friends, the Church is God.

Only worse. The Church is an imperfect God, whose imperfections are cloaked in perfection. (Their description of the Church is almost a parody of the irrational description of God proposed by the minister in the LDS temple endowment, pre-1990.) "The Church is perfect," they'll, say, "organized and led by God Himself. It's the people in the Church who aren't perfect; consequently, the Church is always changing, always correcting itself, always progressing and always moving forward." In a quixotic perversion of righteousness, these people believe The Church™, like God, is ever-enduring, everlasting, and always to be obeyed...even when it's wrong. They will "follow" this "god" wherever it goes (even if it goes nowhere, but travels in circles). They will "follow the prophet" forever. He represents God to them now. They know no other.

My latest conversation prompted me to write the following. I invite my friend (to whom it is addressed) to engage here to clarify and correct what I've written, if he cares to.

***

I woke up this morning with this thought:

You and I were talking about Thomas S. Monson ("our beloved prophet," peace be upon him) and I said I already knew what you were going to say and you asked me to quote verbatim what you would say and I said I probably couldn't quote it verbatim but I knew the gist and so you dared me to say it, so I did, etc. Remember that part of our discussion?

"If Thomas S. Monson isn't a prophet, why would you want to be a member of that organization anyway?"

Well, here's the reason: My faith isn't in Thomas S. Monson. It's in Jesus Christ.

Thomas S. Monson -- or any man, woman or child in the Mormon Church -- could fall away, sin, apostatize from the faith of Christ, reject the restored gospel, become a son of perdition, etc., and my testimony wouldn't be shaken or affected in the least. That's how strong my testimony is.

The bishop and stake president couldn't believe it.

"Then what is your faith based on [if not the prophet]?" they asked me, incredulously. 

"My faith is founded on Jesus Christ."

They couldn't accept that. There just wasn't "enough" there for them. They couldn't believe that if Thomas S. Monson -- and the whole superstructure of men in the Mormon Church -- crumbled, there would still be enough there for THEM to believe: because that's all they believe in, apparently. Therefore, they couldn't accept that I have a "testimony" -- because my "testimony" is intrinsically different from theirs.

They've put their faith and trust in the arm of flesh -- in men, who "hold the priesthood," "possess the keys," receive "power and authority from God to act in His name," etc. THEY DON'T HAVE DIRECT, PERSONAL INTERACTION WITH JESUS HIMSELF and therefore DON'T HAVE FAITH IN HIM AND HIM ALONE to carry them through, when ALL HELL BREAKS LOSE (including the collapse of the church, its hierarchy and leadership) ... because their faith is built on something other than the Rock. It is built on sand.

I know you don't see that (yet). As I said, the institutional, correlated Church has woven a "doctrine" or "creed" that numbs the mind and deadens the heart against these things. 

But the scriptures are powerful and real. You don't have another friend, I imagine, who has a stronger testimony of Joseph Smith and the restoration than I do. AND YET I'M NOT EVEN A MEMBER OF THE MORMON CHURCH! (Think about that for a minute, will you?) That's because my testimony ISN'T BASED ON MEN! It's based on my interaction with God and what HE has shown me.

Still, the Mormon Church is positively paralyzed, anesthetized and prevented from understanding the scriptures (especially the Book of Mormon), or even its own past, in any (big word) salvific way. Like the priests of king Noah who couldn't understand or recognize what the scriptures (or their own history and actions) taught them [see Mosiah 12:20-26], Mormons imagine that only glorious, good things pertain to them and do not realize that, like the Jews, even though they are God's "chosen" people, the Mormons are chosen to be damned unless they repent and come unto Christ!

Sadly (very sadly), very few Mormons now come unto Christ. Almost none.

By that, I don't mean that very few Mormons believe in Christ. (At least 1/3 of Mormons attend church at least two times a year and express token, nebulous belief in Christ, usually manifest as "I have faith in the Church and the power of the priesthood," etc.). But very few Mormons believe Christ...enough to practice His religion. Consequently, they will (almost all) be "dead" and will (almost all) fall short of the glory of God in the next life...because they fail to be valiant in the testimony of Jesus here, in this life. 

Once you are exposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ (as the Mormons have been) you get one shot -- this life -- to embrace it or reject it. [See Alma 34:32.] If you die having "rejected" the Spirit of the Lord which testifies to you that you must come unto Christ in the flesh (and you do not repent and do so)...then you are doomed...for the same spirit that possesses you in this life shall have power to possess you in the world to come...and you won't come unto Christ there, either. [See Alma 34:34.] In other words, how you are here now is how you will be there then. If you "disbelieve" now you'll disbelieve then. If you are deceived and reject the gospel here now, you will remain deceived and reject the gospel there then. If you are blinded by the craftiness of men here now, though you be a "good" person, you will inherit a terrestrial glory in the world to come, for you will have obeyed terrestrial law and will not believe another even exists!

[I was mistaken in this belief. The damnation and torment of hell is knowing another law and kingdom exist...but that you didn't live it and are now incapable of achieving it: that where God the Father and Christ dwell, you cannot come, worlds without end. (See D&C 76:112.) Those who inherit the terrestrial world, even those who endure the Lord's return in glory, shall see their Savior. They shall be ministered to by Him.]

We must return to the Father, no less, however, to inherit celestial glory. [See D&C 76:50-70.] How many saints do you know who commune now with God the Father? Or even the Son? That is the measure by which you may judge how well we are doing as a church: what glory (or law) are we living? If Christ is not ministering unto us now, here, in the flesh, then we are not even making the terrestrial grade! [See D&C 76:71-80.]

The men who excommunicated me, EVERY LAST DAMNED ONE OF THEM, raised their hand to the square and SUSTAINED the proposition, voiced by one of them, that I believed a "false doctrine" (as they put it), that "Jesus Christ is our personal savior." They simply couldn't countenance it! One of them told me later, after it was all over and I was cast out of the church, that since his father (a two-time bishop) had never beheld angels, met God, worked miracles, etc., then it was good enough for him (meaning, this guy who excommunicated me) to never experience such things and my faith in Christ and the power of God was misplaced. I was "going astray from the mainstream of the Church," he told me, and "going off on my own path," he said. Therefore I was an "apostate." 

Damned asshole. He enters not in and prevents others from doing so!

They simply don't understand what they are doing. They do NOT possess the power of God (the vaunted "authority" you speak of) nor the gifts of prophecy, revelation, visions, dreams, interpretation of tongues, etc., nor have they communed with angels, etc. In fact, they reject such things, ascribing all "power" to do such now to Satan!

The Church has become (almost entirely) what Nephi foresaw it would become (see 2 Nephi 28 in its entirety). It will get worse. You can't see it...because you're in it. The delusion is powerful! Unfortunately, what I'm telling you is the way God sees it and how the prophets saw it. How do I know? The Spirit of the Lord has enlightened my understanding.

Now you may see me as just a critic, an apostate, someone who has lost the Spirit of the Lord. And I can see how you would think that. My life is in tatters. My marriage is in ruin. My children are losing their faith in Christ and dwindling in unbelief. I get it. I am not someone you can trust or believe in. (And that's "okay," since I'm not the one anyone should be following anyway!)

But this religion you subscribe to -- that demands that you "follow," "believe in," "support" (even with your finances!) and "sustain" (even if they do and say wrong things!) the "Brethren" -- is false. It is not the church of Jesus Christ, nor does it teach the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fulness. It teaches a gospel...mixed with lies. It therefore is a lie.

A damned lie. A damning lie. And it doesn't matter if the ones doing the lying are lying intentionally or if they do it because they're simply mistaken. (From our point of view, believing in falsehood is disbelief and it will damn us just the same.)

The truth is...they're not lying unintentionally, but purposefully (even doing it in God's name)! You can't make this stuff up! The Book of Mormon prophets never lie. (But, apparently, the Mormon ones do. That's because they're not prophets.)

All those who love and make a lie (who don't repent) go to hell. [See D&C 76:98-112.]

Thomas S. Monson (PBUH) is not my god. He's not even my savior. He doesn't hold the "keys" to save me and he can't save me. He doesn't, by and large, manifest the signs of the Spirit he pretends to possess, nor do the brethren which sustain him. (Sad, but true. I wish it were otherwise.) I'm not saying they can't manifest those gifts. I'm saying, by and large, they don't. (And they persecute those who do!) That's how I know they're false prophets.

The "keys"...are knowledge. The knowledge of God. Without the knowledge of God, His doings and plans, you have nothing. Those who know God -- His works, ways and plans, even HIm personally -- have keys. They can call upon Him and He will answer. These brethren, by and large, are clueless about these things. They haven't a clue what God is doing. They call upon Him and He doesn't answer. (And they call the "silence" a "revelation": a tacit "sign" from God that whatever it is they're doing or whatever it is they're proposing is "approved" of Him, He having given HIs "power and authority" unto them!) They "clothe" themselves in the aprons of his "power and authority." Only the one they serve is not Jehovah. They are running on the fumes that Joseph Smith bequeathed to them and are striving to be the best people they can be. Unfortunately, their "best" just isn't good enough to save anyone.

If you accept what they offer (as the "restored gospel of Jesus Christ"), you're embracing a substitute that cannot save you.

A true prophet says "I would to God that all men were prophets and that the Lord's spirit was upon them!" [See Numbers 11:29.] False prophets "deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel; and they say unto the people: Hearken unto us, and hear ye our precept; for behold there is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work, and he hath given his power unto men." (2 Nephi 28:5.)

That's what those damned prophets preach today.

If you put your trust in them, you are doomed. You will be shut out of God's presence -- because He (meaning God) will allow you to have whatever god you choose besides Him! The Mormon Church -- and I know this is cliché -- promotes religion, not a relationship with Christ. It even discourages you from seeking a relationship with Christ!

Unfortunately...if we don't have a relationship with Christ, we will not be saved.

I know that's a lot to chew on. The book (I've encouraged you to read) has a completely different focus and slant than what I've presented here. It is NOT accusatory (as I have been). I don't know why I'm that way. I guess I just "call it like I see it" and haven't learned discretion. 

I'm not "against" those who lead the LDS Church now. I think they're "good" men (despite their faults). I just don't follow them anymore -- because they lied to me. They deceived me. They teach for doctrine the commandments of men. They are "false Christs" and "false prophets." 

I seek for true messengers from my Father. These men peddle religion.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, it is because the temple ceremony was changed in 1990 and these warnings the Lord gave about embracing such men as these (and their "religion") were taken out. Why do you think they did that? Why do they change the ordinances and the temple rites? Because they have become the thing the temple endowment warned against!

I think you said you are 38 years old. If so, you're too young to know.

But I'm not. I remember. And I know.

Oh, you may say: "They are inspired! They do what they do by revelation!"

Then show me the revelation. I've read the Doctrine and Covenants. I've seen where God has guided His church by revelation (in the past). Where are your prophets, your seers, your revelators who speak in the name of the Lord now? Where is the revelation by which these men change ordinances and doctrines at their whim? (Interestingly enough, in conformity to social pressure and the dictates of popular public opinion.) Who are these men that claim it is within their power to do so without direct, personal communication and directives from God?

Well, I'm beating a dead horse here. Read the book. [Click here for a free copy. See margin on right under "Free E-Books".] Or not. But I believe this book will be one of those by which the Latter-day Saints will be judged at the Last Day. For it contains the truth.

And the truth condemns them. (It condemns all of us, if we don't repent.)