Heart of the Matter ESPRESSO
Live from Salt Lake City, Utah, this is Heart of the Matter ESPRESSO! where we do all we can to worship God in Spirit and in Truth. I’m Shawn McCraney, your host.
Upcoming Events and Announcements
Join us at CAMPUS Milk service as we begin our verse-by-verse study of 1st Corinthians on November 5th at 10 AM. It’s the chance to learn the contents of this very important letter in a contextual manner with the rest of the Bible. Also, remember, on Tuesday, October 31st – a Halloween and the 500th Anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Thesis on the door of Wittenberg – we are launching out in a bold (VERY BOLD) direction with Heart of the Matter. We are calling the show, Heart of the Matter II. Join us for an open house launch for the show. Hot dogs, drinks, chips and then the taping of the shows. 5:30 PM to when we end around nine. Food will be here until it’s gone.
Before we get to our guest here on the last HOTM that deals with Mormonism (Danny Larsen) I want to point something out that I think is important information. When we decided to launch a HOTM II we had a limited amount of time to interview people. And so we tapped several interviews and aired them as time allowed. Two of those taped interviews that made it to our live Tuesday night shows were of my mom and dad. But we have tapped three others that are in our archives that are well worth watching. One of my wife, Mary, one from Ruth Smart of Preston Idaho and one from Mike Norton (also known as New Name Noah). The insights and information on these interviews is superb and really shouldn’t be missed. Especially Ruth Smart who brings an honest passion that is so genuine she caused me to come to tears and the time with Mike Norton was just full of insights into the man who has no just left Mormonism but has gone after it with a vengeance. A must-see. Of course, Mary’s is fantastic as well. I wish we would have been able to air each of these so I could comment on their content but one we go and I thank Ruth and Mary and Mike for their time and understanding. They are all available NOW to be viewed in the archives at www.hotm.tv.
Reflections on HOTM 1.0
Well, that’s it – HOTM 1.0. 600 hour-long live shows where we really did all we could to inform, question, probe and teach about Mormonism and its relationship to biblical Christianity. For those of you who have been with us from the beginning we thank you. We thank our volunteers who show up every Tuesday night and run the show. We thank those of you who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes. We thank those who support and sustain us through your prayers, financial contributions, and for sharing the show with others. The content of HOTM 1.0 is not going away and we will do all we can to maintain it online so it can be accessed by people seeking to understand Mormonism and its relationship to Christianity.
We are grateful to God for the tens of thousands of people the programs have been able to reach and teach and to be a part of it. Generations of families have been affected and will continue to be moved hopefully toward the Lord and away from Mormonism and other false religious men and their practices. Over the last four years, I have become tempered by the Holy Spirit – moving toward a far more inclusive approach to the faith than exclusive. I have come to see and honestly believe that love is the determining factor – the presence of love, the actions of love, the attitudes of love – in the lives of all who are truly God’s through Christ. I have always maintained that a person can be a Mormon and also be right with God – this has never changed over the course of the past 20 years that I have been a Christian. But I also maintain that religion – Mormonism in particular through this show –
Introduction to HOTM 2.0
can and will inhibit a person in their walk of faith and love. This brings us to HOTM 2.0 – launching next week. Where HOTM 1.0 was all about what is wrong with Mormonism, HOTM 2.0 will be aimed at what is right and what to turn to and what to turn away from, in the realms of institutional religion.
Addressing Specifics in Faith
In the past I have tried to be silent about specifics in the faith – specific churches, specific pastors, specific tenets of doctrine and belief. No longer. Boldness has returned – but for good reason – which I will share with you . . . next week here, on HOTM.
