"FOR TIME AND ALL ETERNITY"

Why I Left the Mormon Church

In 1989 I had written in my day planner to read the Bible through. Even though I had attempted to many times before, I could never get past the "begats" in Genesis. Needless to say, I didn’t get very far. But, this time was different. This time, I was going to do it.

The same year I had married a man in a civil marriage ceremony. I loved him so much that I actually wanted to marry him in the Mormon temple. I knew I wanted to spend time and all eternity with him. I had been raised in Salt Lake City, Utah as an active Mormon. My parents were both very active in different church callings. We went to every meeting. Except for a time when I was bedridden as a young girl, I don’t ever recall missing a meeting. My father was in the bishopric for as long as I can remember serving as a counselor or bishop. Today, he is the Stake Patriarch and he and my mother are temple workers in the Jordan temple. I was taught to "choose the right", and that I was a child of God. I remember graduating after several years of Seminary (the religion classes held at the public schools). I was also taught I had done something extraordinary in the pre-existence in order to be born in America into a white family, and one that was born under the covenant. This means a child born to parents who were "temple worthy" Mormons. I also remember as a child specifically asking if we were Christians. I was told emphatically, "No, we are not Christians, we are Mormons!"

My parents meant well and today they live what they believe to the best of their ability. Dad is honest and taught us kids honesty. He taught us to "pay" a tenth of our gross income to the L.D.S. church. My parents taught us from the time we were young that my brothers would go on a two year mission for the L.D.S. church and that us girls would be married in the temple. Yet, the temple was a far away fairy princess dream to me. There was always such a mystique about it. No one is allowed to ever talk about what goes on in there to anyone. It held me both in awe and fear as I anticipated that day.

However, heartbreaking for my parents, that day never came. I was married to a high school boyfriend and at the time, we were not "worthy" to go through the temple. We later divorced. After years of carrying some sort of burden for not doing what my parents had so diligently taught me, I was anxious to finally marry in the L.D.S. temple. But, I wanted to marry in the temple for the right reasons. This time I wanted to do it because it was what God wanted me to do. Which brings me to 1990, and my search for God’s truth.

And so it began. My husband and I had two very good friends who worked with us for a well known automobile dealer here in town. For years they would "party" with us and we shared many good times with them. Then in the late 1980's, they had some difficulty in their marriage. They were having problems with their teen age son and it seemed like their lives were falling apart. They were seeking something better for their boy and so they enrolled him in Anchor Christian Academy, hoping, this would straighten him out.

It not only straightened the boy out, but soon, they both were "born again." These two very nice people were now, religious fanatics! All they wanted to do was talk to my husband and I about the Lord! I would get terribly embarrassed as my girlfriend and I would go to lunch and she would pull out a Bible and start quoting verses to me. She kept telling me I needed to be saved. Here she was a former Roman Catholic telling me, a Mormon, (though not active at this time) that I was going to Hell because of my sin. How dare her, I thought. Oh, the sin of pride I had. After all, I belonged to the ONLY TRUE CHURCH! She told me that I needed to do something about my sin nature and that only the blood of Jesus Christ the Lord would take care of it! She kept telling me, "JoDee, Jesus says, Ye MUST be born again!" Of course as a "good" Latter-Day Saint, one who was baptized when I was eight years old I thought I was already "born again." I didn’t realize the Bible definition of being born again is completely different than that of Mormonism. I also didn’t know what God meant by the word "sin"!

And so she kept after me. I would get angry when she told me something about my church that I had never heard before. At first I wouldn’t take any "anti-Mormon" literature she tried to give me. Then I realized, the materials she had were direct references from books and articles that were L.D.S. produced. More importantly, she gave me a whole stack of Bible verses. At first I would take them and put them on my dresser. Then, finally, I decided to see what the Bible had to say for myself.

What an eye opener! In the beginning, I would read it along with my Mormon literature. "The First Thousand Years" by Cleon Skousen was the first book I read. Mormon Doctrine by Bruce R. McConkie was another, and A Marvelous Work and A Wonder by LeGrand Richards. As I was questioning Skousen’s description of the creation, I would ask my husband what the Bible had to say about it. It was getting so confusing that my wise husband told me, "The Bible was here first, why don’t you just read it. Then when you have finished that, you can read your other books." What a brilliant idea! I had decided at that time -- whatever the Bible said -- I would accept it as frightening as it was, even if it contradicted my own beliefs.

As I read the Bible, I looked up the references my friend had given me over the previous year and a half. I read the Bible for the first time with a hunger and a thirst I had never known before. I couldn’t get enough of it. God was doing a work in showing me that the Bible was not just a history book like I had been taught, but the actual living Word of God!

There were verses that would literally jump out at me as if they had actually come off the page. I will never be able to describe the incredible awe and wonder I experienced during this time. This book, this Holy Book, became alive. As we read passage after passage, the Holy Spirit was doing the same sort of work inside of my husband. We would get home from long, grueling, days at the dealership, and excitedly pull out our Bibles. We would read until 3:00 or 4:00 o’clock in the morning, and then sleep a few hours and go back to work, only to return home and do the same thing all over again.

Through the Bible, God was drawing us to Himself. He opened up the Scriptures. The more we read, the more we understood. I would read in the Old Testament, Isaiah 43:10, and 11, "Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour." Then in Isaiah chapter 45:5 and 6, "I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else." So much for pre-existence, man progressing to become a god, and for there being many gods as I had always been taught in Mormonism. These are only a couple of the thousands of verses I read!

Something had to be done. At this time, I was beginning to question my own "goodness." In relation to who the Bible declares God is and His goodness, I had to admit that I was a sinner . . . nobody compared to God Almighty. Who did I think I was to actually believe that I could someday become a goddess to my human god husband????? What pride! It reminds me of Lucifer’s doctrine in the garden of Eden! What blasphemy to the Lord God of the Bible.

I read Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" That means me! and Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Do you see the difference? Who wants a god who has sinned? God says I am a sinner -- that because of my sin, I will die. But, He promised me eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ. Now this is confusing because Mormonism teaches we are ALL the children of our "Heavenly Father." However, this is NOT Biblical. The Holy Spirit tells us in John 1:1 "In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." In verse 14 He tells us, "And the Word (God) was made flesh, and dwelt among us . . ." In verse 12 we read, "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."

You can’t become a child of God if you are already one. What’s the difference between Jesus being God’s Son and you and I? Jesus has the nature of God (because He is God) who then became a human. We have only a nature that is human. The Bible says we are a creation of Christ. He is God manifest in the flesh. I Timothy 3:16, "And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh . . ." Jesus Christ, God Himself, became a man. It is through His blood that He shed on the cross at Calvary that my sins are covered. It’s His blood -- perfect, pure, without spot -- that has power to erase my sins. There is no baptismal font big enough to wipe away the sins of the world, but God’s own blood can. It is by faith in who the Lord Jesus Christ is, that He died for YOUR sins as well as mine. Faith in the fact that He was buried and that He arose again the third day. He can forgive you as well as He forgave me, if you’ll repent of your sin nature and turn from your sin, trusting in His finished work at Calvary.

Ephesians 2:8,9 says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Eternal life is not exaltation in the Celestial kingdom as I was taught in Mormonism. Eternal life is Jesus Christ. He tells us, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Not church; not baptism; not good works.

So on January 4, 1990, I bowed my head, repented of my sins and of my sinful nature, and asked the LORD Jesus Christ to forgive me and come into my heart. I prayed to God that He would cover my sins with His shed blood. I acknowledged that He came to earth and died on the cross for me. I thanked Him for doing just that. When I was through praying there were no fireworks -- no fan fare -- but there was a peace deep inside of my soul. My burden of guilt and shame (including not living up to Mormon expectations) that I had been carrying for years was gone. For the first time in my life, I knew that God had heard me. I also knew that I had been forgiven. I knew without a doubt based on His Word, that I would be with Him and He with me not only for time on earth, but for all eternity . . . because of what He did! The Bible says in Romans 10:9-10, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." And then in verse 13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Saved from your sin; saved from death; saved from an eternity in the lake of fire. Oh yeah, that’s real too. And it’s not just for the murderers and adulterers, but for all unbelievers!

I have been saved now for eleven years and I truly believe James when he says by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; "Faith without works is dead . . ." Since I bacame a real child of God, with Christ dwelling inside of me, I am ". . . His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works . . ." Ephesians 2:10. My motivation for doing good is different now. I’m saved by grace through faith, and I’m saved unto good works. Good works come because of my love and adoration of a Holy and righteous God. One who loved me so much that He was willing to leave His glory in Heaven and come to earth and die on the cross to pay for my sins. He did the same for you. But you must accept the free gift of eternal life. It’s a gift. You must choose whether to accept it or not.

The other day I had a good Mormon friend tell me, no one can ever know for sure where they’ll spend eternity. I felt so sad for him because he has been taught you cannot trust God’s Word. He doesn’t believe God’s Word is true. His god, the god of Mormonism, is not capable of preserving his word. That makes for a pretty pathetic god. What he is telling me is man has more power than his god. But then, I guess it makes sense if you’re worshiping a "man" who’s progressing into something. One who is forever learning and changing. This IS NOT the God of the Bible!

God wants us to know if we have eternal life right now. "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God: that ye may know that ye have eternal life..." I John 5:13 The Bible gives us a fool proof test to see if a person is saved. I urge you to take it and be honest with yourself before the Lord God. I’ll be praying for you.

"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, expect ye be reprobates? (Fake, pseudo, counterfeit) II Cor. 13:5 There’s only one way . . . that is JESUS.

As far as my family is concerned, it has not been easy. I know I have hurt them deeply. However, the Lord Jesus Christ has given me the same promise that He gave to Peter in Mark 10:29 when He said; "Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, (I Cor. 15:1-4 is the gospel) But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life." May I say in closing, my cup runneth over. The Lord -- He is faithful.