Confrontation and Faith

Live from the Mecca of Mormonism – Salt Lake City Utah – This is Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology. – Where Mormonism Meets Biblical Christianity . . . Face to Face Show 7 382 Calm Before the Storm February 18th 2014

And I’m your host, Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion.

We thank the true and living God for allowing us to be part of this, His ministry. May He be with you – and us – tonight.

The Situation at Hand

Holy camole, we’re in it now. In fact we’re calling tonight’s program, The Calm Before the Storm. This past week we’ve seen wind, rain, snow, and sleet . . . . . . armies, navies, and popes and priests . . . they’re all coming out of the woodwork in one giant collective to confront and refute any remaining notion that a single drop of Christian blood pulses in my veins. The attacks have been in person, through television programs, emails, texts, phone calls, but most of all over the internet (on blogs, YouTube, and on the ever ubiquitous pages and postings on Disgracebook.

I mean seriously, you’ve really got to walk in my shoes for a day or two to try and see what it’s like to have people who have been your “friends in the FAITH” that not only come forward in social media to renounce you and your faith but who fail to first sit down and hear my heart and positions firsthand. I’m really not THAT surprised – but admittedly some of the accusations have left me dumbfounded.

The Genesis of Discontent

Now whether you realize this or not the campaign began years and years ago – and not just recently over my comments on the Trinity. That is just the most recent outrage. The initial seeds of animus and rejection began – from Christians – when we published our first book, Born-Again Mormon. They disapproved of it because it undermined all the established methods and approaches they thought had to be maintained if a person was going to be involved in apologetics to the LDS. Their vitriol was palpable and unleashed without ANY consideration for an alternative view even being possible.

When we came to Salt Lake to do the TV show I was then maligned (from the Christian side) by legalists who doggedly and relentlessly insisted that I “represent Jesus with decorum and respect. To them this meant I had to shave, cut my hair, control my on-air rebukes, change my clothes, and if we heard it once we heard it a thousand times: “In order to reach the LDS I had to look and speak like the LDS.” Uggh.

The next wave of attacks (from Christians) came after I interviewed with John Dehlin of Mormon Stories fame. In that interview I voiced my view that the Holy Spirit can regenerate people of all faiths (practicing Hindu’s, Muslims, and even Atheists) and that those who are Christ’s through rebirth are His because they have had a metaphysical experience with him through the Spirit – whether their ontological experience matched up with who He was or not. I took this point out to an extreme and even suggested that some people who have been born-again by the Spirit might not even know Jesus' name (which, by the way, isn’t even His real name) but that they could still be His . . . they just hadn’t yet realized it was by and through His shed blood that their hearts had changed.

Oh boy, that wasn’t well received. Detractors came in from all around – and the online criticisms mounted – once again, with critics not taking the time to first understand, but to first assassinate . . . then understand. “Fire! Aim! Ready! Standard operational procedure by most in the church. I remember one Baptist preacher screaming in my ear over the phone that “anyone who expected ta scape da burnin, ternal fires of hell had to say the name JEEZUS, in faith, before they lef di fleshly bye!” It has to be Jeeeeeezus – not Lord, not God, not Joshua or Heyzuz . . . or any other pagan name . . . just Jesus. And he meant it.

The Controversial Beliefs

I additionally explained to John that the Bible was inerrant only in its original mss but that our translations were not free from some minor scribal errors. Holy schnit – I thought the King James onliests were gonna lynch me. Later we launched our church – C.A.M.P.U.S. – “Christian Anarchists Meeting to Prayerfully Understand Scripture.” An Orthodox Presbyterian in the area (stare) mocked the name on live television (again, without talking to me first) by comparing it to

Understanding the Controversies

Secular anarchy (which it has absolutely no association). Apparently, this pastor (stare) continues to attack me and our church right there on TV20 (who kicked me off for just mentioning my disappointment with the way ten unnamed churches were doing church) – but apparently when it comes to church assassination, 20 believes I am open game. Then of course, there was the TV20 removal – most of you know that story.

CAMPUS also falls under tremendous scrutiny because we not operate under a board of elder or directors (“no accountability has been a clarion call against me for years by men who . . . love accountability” apparently). Around the time we were building out this studio/church I began to get introduced to some concepts nobody ever bothered to share with me before. And I started sharing them with people who came to our CAMPUS gatherings on Sundays and then to viewers of Heart of the Matter. These concepts include the idea that punishment in the Lake of Fire may not be eternal (which was a thought that occurred to me in my study of Five Point Calvinism), the reception of a partial preterest view which says that the second comingChrist’s return, fulfilled in 70 A.D., ending the old covenant—not the world. of Jesus Christ (as described by Him in Matthew 24 and by the other New Testament writers and in the Book of RevelationA symbolic prophecy fulfilled in 70 A.D.—not a prediction of future global events.) occurred in 70 AD at the destruction of Jerusalem, and now, that elements of the man-made, non-biblical concept called “Trinity” presents what I believe is a faulty picture or view of God.

Reactions and Invitations

This last pronouncement has served as the icing on the cake for some men and women who previously considered me their brother in Christ. I literally had a long time brother in Christ tell me that He seriously questions my Christianity, and considers me a heretic, because of my refusal to accept the Trinity as described in the Nicene Creed. This type of thinking is absolutely astounding to me. Of course this “icing” has allowed others (who say they are Christian but have long hated my guts – and I mean really have a great disdain for my person) to pour out in public droves and, believing that they finally have enough ammunition, think they can kill me as a pastor, a teacher, a even a Christian.

(LONG BEAT)

A Call for Reconciliation

Taking Matthew 5 into account, where Jesus says: “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” . . .we have asked anyone who has issue with me or my views to come this Thursday night, 7PM, to our studio church and publicly take the microphone, and present your issues NOT to debate who is right or wrong, but so I can, on the air, clearly explain myself and my views AS A SOLD OUT BELIEVER AND FOLLOWER OF the Lord Jesus Christ.

In this way, all sides can be clearly heard, and you the audience, our viewers online, Disgracebook people, and anyone who is interested, can judge for themselves. We are doing this not only because it is the biblical method (which my brothers and sisters in the Lord have almost completely ignored with their interaction with me) but because some of you are implying some really horrible things, including that I am not Christian, that I do not believe Jesus is God, that I have gone off the deep end, etc. etc.

Foundation of the Ministry

I want to try and explain something to everyone tonight – which I will repeat Thursday night as well – though probably in a truncated manner. Everything that I do in our “public ministry” – meaning on television or streaming out through the internet – is couched in or undergirded by a few unseen factors. Even when I teach on Sunday’s (often because those who are listening have come out of Mormonism) there are times when my teaching (and my slant to the teaching) is undergirded by these same pre-suppositional yet unseen positions. To understand me, and this ministry, you have to first understand these underpinnings (or the foundation) first.

The Four M's

And I am going to summarize them with four M’s – The first is our ministry to the Mormons, the second is my views of Man, the third is the Methods we use in the face of Mormonism and Man, and the fourth is our Mission. Mormonism, Man, Methods, and Mission – they all play a role or part in what I say and do and

Understanding the Four M's

Why I say and do what I . . . say and do.

Please don’t take this out of context or wrongly – I do NOT (at least purposefully I do not) bend, add to, or take away from biblical truths in light of the four M’s – but I am cognizant of their presence when I respond and speak and teach. If a person does not have a very strong grasp of the ins and outs of Mormonism, if they rely or trust or seek the approvals of Man (and believe I should do the same), if they are resistant to unheard of or strange methodologies, and/or if they forget or are not aware of my life’s mission and our purposes at CAMPUS, it is likely they will find themselves doing a fifth M – misunderstanding me and this ministry. And often, when this is the case, some will jump to their own sixth M – maligning my person of this ministry.

Again, fail to understand ANY of the four M’s that undergirds everything we do and say – “Mormonism,” “Man,” “Methodology,” and our Mission and you are certain to “Misunderstand me,” which may even drive you to malign us the end.

Before I explain the four M’s – I want to re-affirm my Christianity to anyone who either questions it (from a biblical sense) or anyone who believes, as a Christian, that I am NOT their fellow brother in faith.

The Lord Jesus Christ is my God and King. He is the author and finisher of my faith. My salvation is solely in His grace-filled hands. As the Word He is uncreated, without beginning of days or end of years, He is God and, born of a woman, is God in flesh. He is one with the Father. One with the Holy Spirit. I trust that He lived in perfection in this flesh, that He died for the sins of the World, that He resurrected on the third day, and I worship Him as my God, King, and Mediator to the invisible God. I trust the Living Word (which we call the Bible). I seek to worship God in Spirit and Truth. I seek to walk in faith and love. I strive to forgive, introduce Him with those who do not know Him, teach Him to those who do, and sustain Him as our all in all. There is no thing, no person, no idea, no possession more important to me than my faith, love and knowledge for God – made known to me by His Son through the Holy Spirit.

If you are a believer in this God, I accept you and receive you as my brothers and sisters in Spirit. If you are not a believer in this God, I accept you as my brothers and sisters in the flesh. No matter what group you belong to I see you as either my family in Spirit or my family in flesh. I will content with anyone over points and theories and ideas, but I receive all men and women as His creations – some spiritual and others (sadly) only of the flesh. If this isn’t enough for you, it’s okay. If you are an atheist or a Calvinist or a deist or a Mormon, I do NOT stand in judgment of you or your person – that’s God’s job. I will openly and without any preferential treatment for your professed creeds challenge your beliefs and philosophies – certainly – but NOT your person. This difference seems to be lost by many modern Christians, who like the Pharisees of old, believe it their right to condemn people to social deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God..

The First M: Mormonism

Most of this stuff on the trinity is a result of this background element. My purpose is to help (and to continue to help) the LDS come to know the living God. When things get in the way of this goal, I try to discover “biblically accepted work-arounds” that will facilitate understanding. This is not syncretism nor an attempt at ecumenism. I am just setting man-made (even archaic) descriptions aside as a means to try and help comprehension. Where this approach may not please you scholars out there, if I think these clarification are in harmony with the Bible and I will use them – no matter how men of learning react.

The Second M: Man

This brings me to the second M – Man, Men, Mankind, HuMANity – while I love you individually, I care nothing about what you do or represent collectively. This attitude

Unconventional Perspectives

Really troubles some people – and they attack me for it. Remember, I love individuals – the Higleys, the Johnsons, the Obrien’s, the Shafaloves, the Wallaces (stare) – whomever, but you can take almost anything men collectively create, endorse, and support as tradition smoke it in a pipe.

I do not care for your collectives, your group-think, your most popular past-times, arts, or social medias. Now, if you enjoy them, that is okay. I will love you. But if MAN is behind it as a favored position, I will most likely challenge it and then reject it. My King and His Kingdom are NOT of this world and I do not think He endorses the man-made ways that make it spin.

The Mission

Flowing then from this general yet somewhat unconventional world view are some unusual methods of doing things. Methods that are not understood, appreciated, or readily embraced. Those who know and love me accept my idiosyncratic ways – but even they are challenged by some of them.

Try and remember, when it comes to the Mormon/Christian debate, most of the methods are couched in an already established background of Mormonism and Man . . . which then brings us to our ultimate M – our mission. Most everyone involved in this ministry on a weekly, face to face basis are well aware that our overall mission is to:

. . . worship God in Spirit and in Truth . . . to bring all to a knowledge of Jesus Christ . . . to grow in our ability to walk in faith and love . . . and . . . to manifest this in and through Christian service.

So there you have it – all we say and do springs from a foundation composed of an admixture of reaching Mormons, resisting Man and His influence, applying unconventional methods, and pursuing a relentless and abiding mission.

Addressing Misunderstandings

Those of you who have called me a deceiver, a man who rejects the deity of Christ, a modalist of any-sort, a cult leader, a fallen leader, or guy who has “gone over the edge” has somehow misunderstood some or all of these foundations to how I operate. I would encourage you to tune in online, or show up Thursday night here at our church/Studio, where I meet with my detractors face to face to publicly answer their accusations.

And with that let’s open up the phone lines: (801) 949-5754

While the operators are taking your calls, we are getting close to launching our own television network. Take a look: (RUN NETWORK SPOT HERE)

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