The other day I came across an article by Elder Tad R. Callister titled How the Church ruins it’s members for any other church. The title and content of the article really isn’t surprising, the Mormon Church has a long history of feeling superior to any other church. One of the first lessons you learn as you’re investigating the Church is, this is the only “true church” all the other ones are corrupt.
New members of the Mormon Church are taught that while some of the other Christian denominations have some of the truth, they are the only ones who have all the truth. Which is the beginning of the indoctrination and brainwashing. After all, how could you ever leave a church that has “all the truth” for one that has a fraction of it?
As Mormon leader Elder M. Russell Ballard stated in the October 2016 General Conference talk – “If any one of you is faltering in your faith, I ask you the same question that Peter asked: “To whom shall [you] go?” If you choose to become inactive or to leave the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where will you go? What will you do?”
In his article Elder Tad R. Callister echoes this same absurd chain of thought –
“In truth, this Church ruins its members for any other church, because, like this missionary, they know too much. If people leave this Church, they will usually end up traveling down one of two paths — either they will become a church unto themselves (because they will never find another church that has more truth than they already have) or they will head down the road of agnosticism.”
They think that there can’t possibly be anything better than the Mormon Church. I like how Callister just assumes people flounder around and never land on solid ground after leaving the Church. He can’t even conceive the thought that there’s something, someone out there that’s so much better than Mormonism. What about Jesus? What about finding a solid Bible believing church that can help you grow and learn about God?
When I left the Mormon Church, I knew nothing about the one true God of the Bible. I knew nothing about grace or how someone is truly saved. What I “had” was a lot of lies and false doctrines floating around in my head. It took me a while to be able to replace all those false teachings with God’s truth. The only thing being a member of the Mormon Church did for me was pull me further and further away from Jesus.
In the article he talks about a discussion he had with a missionary about all the major doctrines of the church. Such as a belief in a pre-mortal existence, baptisms for the dead, the Three Degrees of Glory, the family being together forever, and continuing revelation from modern day prophets and apostles.
These are all the things I had to work through when I left the Church. I had to replace their twisted view of God’s word with His truth. Through study and many wonderful teachers who loved and knew the Bible I was able to replace the toxic lies about God and how He views us with the wonderful knowledge of grace.
Like Satan, the Mormon Church is very cunning, they know exactly how to twist and use the Bible to their own advantages. Despite their claim, none of their major doctrines are found in the Bible. God never taught us that we had a pre-mortal life, there are many levels of glory in heaven, or that we should do baptisms for the dead.
At the end of his article he states –
“Once we have crossed the line of doubt and come to know that the doctrinal teachings of the Church are true, then we don’t have to agonize over and dissect every statement of the prophets. We don’t have to weigh them against our finite standards of justice or our limited understanding of eternity — instead we can accept them as the will of God and move forward in a positive, constructive way.”
Should people not doubt their leaders when they are teaching false doctrines? The trouble is Mormonism starts off with the unsubstantiated belief that “the Church is true” and all other churches teach false doctrines. When you start off with a biased point of view it makes it very difficult to see past it. For them the Church is true, it doesn’t matter what the Bible says or what their leaders have said or done in the past.
Leaving the Mormon Church hasn’t spoiled or ruined me one bit for any other church. In leaving the Church I’ve learned who God truly is, about grace and what it means to be saved. I’ve learned what my talents and gifts are, and where God has “called” me to be. Unlike in Mormonism where you’re told what your calling is, and where God wants you to serve.
Aside from our salvation, leaving the Mormon Church has been the best thing that has happened to my family.
In Christ,
Melissa Grimes
Reference –
When I left the LDS in 1972 I felt I had been had and wanted nothing to do with religion and was angry at whatever God there may have been for letting me get into a cult.
Fortunately, during the fall of 1973 I encountered a “Navigator” who talked me into going to Bibles studies. It took some doing but I decided to go and explained my reticence based on my time as a Mormon. These people knew how to address all the “proof texts” that the LDS uses, and I was able to learn the context and then the truth. Learning the truth was exciting and in January 1974 I took the Christian faith for my own, accepted that the REAL Christ was my REAL savior.
It was then that I wanted to reach Mormons with the truth and began to study as much about them as I could find in the post library. Once I got out of the Army the end of February 1975 I was able to access more information in a larger library, and then I began going to Christian book stores to get apologetics books. Over the years I ran into JWs and then studied them and before I knew it I was studying every cult I could, and began teaching classes in church about cults and how to reach them.
So, yes, leaving the LDS initially “ruined” me for God for a while, but once I learned the truth I have been a very strong believer with an apologetics ministry.
Reminds me of Dieter Uchdorf’s statement made several years ago when he said : “When you find yourself having doubts (about Mormonism), then you should doubt your doubts.”
The Mormon church has a way of indoctrinating people that causes them to have a total lack of confidence in ever considering leaving the church.
I can’t count the number of times I have heard members say: “If you left the church, where else could you go?” This belief is from members that have been so totally indoctrinated with Mormon propaganda, that they honestly don’t know that there is a whole other world outside of Mormonism.
The Mormons act like Policemen toward their members. If somebody decided to leave the Baptist church and join the Methodist church, very little would be said or done. The attitude of most Christians is, that as long as you continue living a life devoted to Jesus Christ, which church you belong to is no big deal.
In the mormon church, however, it is never quite so simple to leave the church. Late night (unannounced) visits by Ward Missionaries, the Bishop or Bishopric, Home Teachers, members of the Stake High Council etc, are what happens when a member quits going to church.
I used to be a part of the Ward Missionary group. We would have meetings every Wednesday night from 7:00 pm until 8:00 pm. The Ward Mission President had a list of names of less active members or the names of new neighbors that somebody reported to him. After the meeting was over, teams would go out to contact (visit) people on the list. Visits would happen after 8:00 pm and all visits were unannounced. The next week we would discuss who we visited and the outcomes of each visit. 90% of the time, the reports were negative. People were typically very angry at Mormons showing up at their homes and late at night. One Missionary couple went out to visit a family. They reported that before knocking on the door, they could hear the family members inside the house talking. Anyway, the Ward Missionary folks knocked, rang the bell and nobody answered the door. The couple went back two more times that night to try contacting this family. They didn’t have enough sense to realize that the family members did not want to speak to them. In my opinion, this was pure harassment on the part of the Ward folks and totally uncalled for.
Some people stay in the church in order to avoid pesky church members visiting them and calling them at all hours, trying t get them back to church
The Mormon church is like a Police State. If you leave the church, they will hunt you down and bother you endlessly. They (members) actually believe that they are doing God’s work by being nuisances