May 13 — The Church will begin a new curriculum starting in September for the youth. They have also updated the booklet For the Strength of Youth as well and it will go along with their new program. In preparation for the new curriculum the youth are encouraged to start reading one chapter of the guide a week beginning May 6th. This is going to be a huge change for the youth, there will be an app they can download, a magazine, and special music that will go along with the new program.
As Michelle and I began going through the new For the Strength of Youth booklet we found many things that broke our hearts for the young people who will participate in this new curriculum.
It begins with a message from the First Presidency it says (page 2)–
“We love you and we have confidence in you. You are truly among Heavenly Father’s choice spirits, sent to earth at this time to do important things.”
“Choice spirits”, what does that mean you might be asking yourself? Well, Mormon doctrine teaches that their god will send his most valiant spirits in the preexistence to earth before the second coming of Jesus. I’m not sure what makes one spirit more valiant than the next, but this is what their doctrine teaches.
This is not what we learn from scripture, there’s nothing in the bible that alludes to the notion that we lived as spirits before we were born. 1 Corinthians 15:44-47 reads:
“It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.”
Making Inspired Choices (page 4) –
This section has more than one thing that’s concerning for a religion that claims to want people to follow the teaches in the bible.
Jesus Christ is the way to eternal joy.
It says –
“Make Jesus Christ your standard, your rock-solid foundation. Build your life on His teachings, and measure your choices by them.”
Then it goes on to talk about covenants they made when they were baptized and will make in the temple. In the Old Testament one thing required to make a covenant with God was blood. Where is the blood that is shed from them to make these covenants? If they say it’s Jesus’s blood they need to seriously question, why they are members of the Church. The reason they have the temple is because according to the doctrine of their religion the blood Jesus shed isn’t sufficient to allow them into the presence of God when they die.
2, You are a beloved spirit child of God.
In my article Do Mormons Just Believe in Heaven and Hell in regard to how someone becomes a child of God. I said:
He refers to everyone who has ever lived as “all the children of God.” Not everyone is a child of God. The Bible tells us that those who receive Jesus are given the right to become children of God:
1 John 3:1 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore, the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
John 1:12 “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name”
3.Your Father in Heaven trusts you
Where does it say this in the bible? God doesn’t need humans to do anything to help further his will, nor does he need to put his trust in us. He knows how wicked we can be and how deceitful our hearts can be. There are many verses that refer to us trusting in God, but nothing about him specifically trusting in us. The first verse warns us about trusting man and the second explains why.
Jeremiah 17:5 Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
This section tells them why their god can trust them:
“He has given you great blessings, including the fulness of the gospel and sacred ordinances and covenants that bind you to Him and bring His power into your life. With those blessings comes added responsibility. He knows you can make a difference in the world,”
That first sentence says it all, it’s not Jesus who binds them to God, it’s their temple works. For a Christian it’s Jesus who brings us to God and it’s the Holy Spirit who seals us to Him.
Ephesians 1:13-14 teaches us –
“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of our purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
As I go through this booklet, I’m not sure how many parts there will be. There was a lot to pull out of the beginning of the book. As I go through it I’ll write about what they are teaching the youth and give biblical rebuttal where needed.
Below are some links about the program I wanted to share with you. In the next week I’ll write about the booklet and in September I’ll go into their new curriculum.
I pray for the young people in this religion. I pray they will encounter someone who can show them biblical truth, and they will be introduced to the real Jesus Christ.
In Christ,
Melissa Grimes
Resources:
Youth Around the World Invited to Prepare for New Curriculum
For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet (PDF)
See the FSY Weekly Study Plan Starting May 3 to Prepare for September
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