Brigham Young once said; “How easy it would be for your leaders to lead you to destruction, unless you actually know the mind and will of the Spirit yourselves. That is your privilege. And when you testify in this public congregation, or in your prayer meetings, testifying of the things of God that you know and understand, you are at liberty to speak freely upon those things which you believe.” – Journal of Discourses 4:368, Salt Lake City, June 28, 1857
And likewise his counterpart LDS prophet Joseph F. Smith said, “We talk of obedience, but do we require any man or woman to ignorantly obey the counsels that are given? Do the First Presidency require it? No, never.”Journal of Discourses 16:248, Salt Lake City, October 7, 1873
While doing research I came upon the quotes above which gave me pause…
I don’t recall receiving this type of reaction from anyone in the Church when I began openly questioning my heritage. Do you? As a matter of fact the more I openly questioned, the more I found myself being pushed away by teachers and fellow Mormons. The sad part about this scenario is that I’ve found I’m not alone.
I received another e-mail this morning from a brand new ex-Mormon Christian who will hopefully be sharing her testimony here soon! PTL for her salvation!
She mentioned in her testimony of the similar experiences and felt the heaviness of not knowing how to embrace Jesus even after she’d discovered the truth.
Why is that? Why is it difficult to embrace the God who saves in a church who supposedly is the only true church with the true gospel? Wouldn’t this church be ever vigilant to teach its adherents how to do this?
The Lord spoke to her in Paul’s clear description when he pointed out who we are living our lives for and what message we’re listening to.
After warning the relatively new believers in Galatia not to believe any other gospel but the one they had delivered he asks them to think upon their actions. Galatians 1:10;
“For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”
So I’ll ask you the reader the same thing I had to ask myself twenty years ago and the same thing this new Christian had to ask herself…who are you trying to please? Is it God or those in charge on this earth?
For those of us who left Mormonism or just your average everyday unsaved lifestyle, there will be a price to pay. The Lord doesn’t require you pay for your salvation mind you, but He does want your undivided loyalty! And just as in the days of Jesus, the people today aren’t going to like your devotion to Him either.
I have to admit I finally found something I could agree with Brigham Young and Joseph F. Smith upon. The leaders can indeed lead you into a path of destruction. While they say the right things that sound amenable, the truth is far different than what they’re trying to sell here.
Like Paul we need to forego the compliments of men and wait upon the assurance of Jesus when He’ll say “Well done good and faithful servant”! – Matthew 25:23
Can you just imagine how incredibly cool that’s going to be??? And who’s going to be thinking about the person who shunned you when you asked questions? Will you be thinking about that scenario or what’s in front of you?
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