Heart of the Matter Broadcast

SALT LAKE CITY UTAH

This is Heart of the Matter, where Mormonism Meets Biblical Christianity, face to face. Show 32 BOM 54 – Peeling the Onion H August 7th, 2012

And I’m your host Shawn McCraney

WELCOME to . . .

We praise the True and Living God for allowing us to participate in this ministry. May He be with you (and us) tonight.

Special Event: Seventh Annual Burning Heart Festival

Hey, a special just for tonight!

As a means to show heartfelt support to the homosexual community, the first five gay callers will each receive a gift $100.00 gift certificate . . . to Chick Fillet!

(that was a joke)

Communal Worship and Celebration

Hey! We want to invite you to join us for our state-wide, non-denominational communion service with Christians from all over Utah. In this age of growing ecumenism, we want to have an event that celebrates Jesus as the True King.

So on Saturday, September 1st at the Murray Park Amphitheater from 3 to 9pm join us for our Seventh Annual Burning Heart festival. So this is how the event is going to go: At three PM the “doors” will open to all sorts of booths and fun for kids (including bounce houses, face painting, boxed lunches from Subway (at a very good price) popcorn machines and other tents offering giveaways and products for sale (DVD’S, books, and other paraphernalia).

At four, we will kick off our Battle for the Best Christian Worship band competition. If you attend a church with a great worship band, call 385 282-3350 to sign up. Between the performances, we will have a number of special guests present to inform and entertain you. In fact, I will be doing an interpretive dance of Lady Gaga’s “Born that Way.”

Gathering and Spiritual Reflections

Then, at about 6:45pm, after announcing the winning worship band for 2012, we will tone things down and commence with our first annual state-wide communion service – with attending pastors from the state helping to distribute the elements to those in attendance. Following this, we will adjourn to rivers edge and finish the day up with our annual open water baptisms.

Please get your pastor and church to join us, encourage your worship team leaders, and invite all your neighbors (especially your LDS family and friends) and we’ll see you on September 1st Murray Park Amphitheater, 3-9pm. And remember to go to www.hotm.tv for more information OR call 385 282-3350 if you are a band wanting to participate.

By the way, the first 500 families to attend will receive their very own FREE (thaz righ – FREE) “Joseph’s Myth” bumper-sticker – retail value seven hundred thousand dollars. And let me tell you, if your life is lacking excitement, stick one of these babies on your laptop or car and things will quickly start heating up.

Just last week I was approached by a fast-food manager and was told that my presence was “offending people.” “How?” I asked. “That sticker,” came the reply. “We’ve had a number of people complain and if it continues I’ll have to ask you to leave.” I said I would willingly do whatever he told me to do but pointed out that I was a paying customer like everyone else present, that I don’t speak or solicit anyone on the premises, and that I am merely occupying a table like all the other guests.

I felt bad for the guy and the position he was in. But he wasn’t put in that position by me – he was in it because of pressure he was getting from the LDS customers – who still believe that somehow they can offend all of my spiritual sensitivities, but I am not allowed to say one thing about their errant faith.

I mean, think about this for a minute. Every day of the year, they have over 65,000 full-time missionaries knocking on doors and recruiting people out of Christian churches and into Mormonism by telling them that Mormonism is the “only true church” on earth. But that’s okay. That’s freedom of speech, right? Then they have a book they call scripture that demeans the Catholic church without apology . . . but that’s okay too. They have prophets and apostles who have long disparaged Christianity and our Bible . . . but that’s okay. They’ve had a temple ceremony that depicts a Protestant preacher in the employment of Satan, and they freely teach “another Gospel, with other doctrine, and another Jesus that the world is supposed to receive without criticism – but if one single sticker challenges them, I am threatened with getting jack-booted for hate speech.

Topic: Addressing Worldly Perspectives in Religious Belief Systems

I despise ALL special interest appeals – all of them. Gays who boycott a business because some corporate dude shares his opinion. Calm down, girls. Christians picketing abortion clinics or cheering at executions. Gimme a break. I fully understand these attitudes present in people of the world – don’t like em, but get it. But for believers? Come on.

In John chapter 12 verse 25, Jesus has made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem and a couple of Greeks came by way of Philip to see the Lord. And in what seems to be a meeting with them, Jesus says: “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.”

I personally find this passage at great odds with the general temperament I find flowing through the lives of most Latter-day Saints – especially when compared to the outlook of most true Christians I meet. You see, the LDS earnestly seek to find and make their lives comfortable, affluent, and accomplished in the things of this world. Apostle Richard G Scott, in an article titled, “How to live well amid increasing Evil” as reported in the May 2004 Ensign, page 102 said: “God’s eternal purpose is for you to be successful in this mortal life. No matter how wicked the world becomes, you can earn that blessing.”

Biblical Teachings vs. Worldly Views

As we’ve mentioned many times in the past, the underlying focus of Mormonism is materialism, money, and accomplishment . . . and yet here, Jesus says plainly: “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” Bottom-line, there is no way to justify the two. One is of the world, one is of the Lord Jesus. One is God and one is Mammon and it is impossible to serve both.

Our King had no place to rest His head. He taught describes in the parable of the Sower the result of those who hear the Word but “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in” . . . they are unfruitful. And yet Mormonism throughout its existence has somehow managed to convince its own that this is not so?

Are you all proud of that five billion dollar shopping center full of worldly stores your church built? Are you proud of the dark alluring advertisements you see for it along the freeway, you know the one with the woman in a sleeveless dress holding a glass of wine? Can you see what your so-called “only true Church on the face of the earth” really is about? It’s NOT the Lord. It’s the world. If you see it . . . RUN . . . far away from this lie and into the arms of Him who is mighty to save.

Religious Texts and Modern Interpretations

Last week we began going through the Book of Mormonion and pulled out passages that:

• Reflect 19th Century biblical Christianity, and
• are also in conflict with present-day Mormon doctrine and/or practice.

Tonight we are going to continue with this examination and are going to observe how the Book of Mormonion describes the nature of Man, the cleansing blood of Christ, grace, works, spiritual rebirth, and salvation relative to how Mormons view and teach such things today.

So why don’t we start off by talking about the subject of the nature of man? Brigham Young said, “We are the sons and daughters of celestial Beings, and the germ of the deity dwells within us. When our spirits took possession of these tabernacles, they were as pure as the angels of God, wherefore total depravity cannot be a true doctrine.” (Discourses of Brigham Young, pgs 50-51)

LDS Apostle John Widstoe said, “God and man are of the same race, differing only in their degrees of advancement.” (Rational Theology 1915, pg 61)

Hugh B Brown, member of the LDS First Presidency said, “We proclaim the scriptural and inspiring doctrine that man should look up and not down for his source, for he is of divine lineage; that man is innocent at birth, which is the antithesis of the ball and chain doctrine of original sin and innate wickedness.” (Hugh B. Brown, Conference Reports, April 1956, pg. 105)

And yet, the Book of Mormon, written well before Joseph was led to his more (ahem) “advanced” teachings, says . . . In Alma 30:25 that . . . “people

Original Book of Mormon Teachings

(are) a guilty and a fallen people, because of the transgression of a parent.” SHAWN (meaning Adam)

2nd Nephi 2:21 says . . . “showed all men they are lost because of the transgression of their parents.”

Mosiah 3:19 says: “for the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the Fall of Adam.”

SHAWN: (How is a being who is born innocent and a child of God “an enemy of God?”)

Mosiah also teaches that . . . “all mankind is carnal, sensual, devilish . . . subjecting themselves to the Devil.”

Helaman 14:16 teaches that all mankind, due to the Fall is spiritually dead – it actually uses that phrase.

Alma 22:14, echoing the fact that Man is spiritually dead says, “Since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself.”

Mosiah 27:25-26 says a man: “ . . . must be born again; born of God, changed from the carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness . . . becoming new creatures.”

(Sounds like it came right out of the Bible, doesn’t it? Right from any one of a million Christian pulpits that have stood over the ages, huh?)

Heleman 14:6 says “All mankind . . . being cut off from the presence of the Lord are . . . as dead.”

Current Mormon Beliefs

In light of the fact that Mormonism today teaches that people are born without the effects of Adam’s sin upon them, we must admit that they do not say human beings are without sin – it's just that they believe most human sin is due to personal choice and not natural inclination.

So how does Mormonism today present the solution to sin in humanity? It certainly isn’t through the merits of Jesus' blood.

When I was a kid, LDS Prophet Spencer W. Kimball wrote (in one of the worst books ever written in the history of the world): “one of the most fallacious doctrines originated by Satan and propounded by man is that man is saved alone by the grace of God, that belief in Jesus alone is all that is needed for salvation.” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, pg. 206)

LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie said: “The second greatest heresy in Christiandom is that men are saved by grace alone without works, merely by confessing the Lord Jesus with their lips.” (The Millennial Messiah, pg. 77)

In a book called, Sermons and Writings, McConkie also said, “The blood of Christ was shed as a free gift of wondrous grace, but the Saints are cleansed by the blood after they keep the commandments.” (page 77)

This attitude remains, flowing through the self-righteous veins of members of the Mormon church from top to bottom. But in many places the Book of Mormon reflects a purely 19th Century Christian position. (I say in “many places” because there is one verse in the Book of Mormon that puts it in opposition to the Bible relative to grace) – but we’ll get to that later.

Comparison of Teachings

So in comparison to what LDS leaders say today, listen to some passages from the Book of Mormon . . .

2nd Nephi 31:19 talks of believers . . . “relying wholly upon the merits of Him who is mighty to save.”

Ether 4:6 & 12 “ . . . the Lord said . . . good cometh of none save it be of me.”

Moroni 6:4 “relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who is the author and finisher of their faith.”

Moroni 7:24 “ . . . all things which are good cometh of Christ, otherwise men were fallen.”

2nd Nephi 31:19 “ . . . ye have not come . . . save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in Him, relying wholly upon the merits of Him who is mighty to save.”

Again, the Book of Mormon, a fictional counterfeit of the Bible, espouses the doctrines of Christianity, but Mormonism’s modern-prophets and apostles renounce them. Why? What happened? What purpose does this book serve if it’s not really followed doctrinally or in practice?

Before we answer this, we have to realize that Mormonism teaches that the “First” principles of the Gospel are faith, repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by one of their priesthood holders.” For people born in the church, these “First principles of the Gospel” are assumed to be present in children when they are

Critique of Mormonism's Additional Principles

After the age of eight, Mormonism introduces a series of "added principles of the Gospel" which individuals must follow to "maintain their salvation," reach exaltation, and secure their right to become gods in the afterlife. These "additional principles and ordinances of the Mormon Gospel" often foster religious pride and piety among the LDS faithful. Many of them perceive Christians who are "saved by grace through faith alone" as juvenile in their spiritual journey, while viewing themselves as mature due to possessing what they term "the fullness of the Gospel."

Fullness of the Gospel in Mormon Texts

However, the Book of Mormon, considered a Christian text, claims in its preface to contain "the fullness of the Gospel." The narrative within does not mention these advanced doctrines that contemporary Mormons use to assert their potential as deities. Joseph Smith’s Doctrine and Covenants (42:12) also states that the Bible and Book of Mormon together contain the "fullness of the Gospel." Yet, neither the Book of Mormon nor the Bible discusses:

• God having a body of flesh and bone.
• "God being an exalted man."
• Eternal marriage as essential for exaltation.
• A mother in heaven.
• A Melchizedek Priesthood for humans.
• Lucifer as a spirit sibling.
• Jesus conceived by a fleshly Father.
• Temple Endowments.
• Temple sealings.

These elements are notably absent, even though this list only touches on the varied practices and beliefs.

2nd Nephi 2:22 states:
“And in that day thou shalt say: O Lord, I will praise thee; though thou wast angry with me thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and be not afraid; for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation. And in that day ye shall say, Praise the Lord, call upon His name, declare His doings.”

Alma 19:29:
“O blessed Jesus, who has saved me from an awful hell. O blessed God . . .”

Mosiah 4:2-7:
“And they viewed themselves in their own carnal state . . . (saying) “O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive a remission of sins . . . and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins . . . because of their exceeding faith . . . in Jesus Christ . . . that salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord, this is the man that receiveth salvation.”

Moroni 7:48:
“Pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with the love which He hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of His Son Jesus Christ; that ye may become the Sons of God; that when He shall appear we shall be like Him . . . that we may be purified even as He is pure.”

Historical Progression of Mormon Beliefs

The intention is to demonstrate how Joseph Smith initially started his religious fiction with traditional Christian elements, as evidenced by the narrative in the Book of Mormon. As time progressed in Mormon history, the faith transitioned from these traditional Christian concepts to a religion that promotes an entirely worldly institution. Here is a brief opinion on how this evolution occurred through seven basic phases.

Phase One: Joseph Smith Sr. and his son Joseph Smith Jr., poor and destitute, spent considerable time discussing Christianity's issues and convincing people they could locate buried treasures using folk-magic.

Phase Two: This focus on religion and magic eventually evolved into the tale of a buried golden book with both historical and religious significance.

Phase Three: Ultimately, the Book of Mormon emerged as a counterfeit of the Bible, using Elizabethan English and setting its stories in early America rather than Israel, reflecting Joseph's vision.

Evolution of Joseph Smith's Teachings

History, once it was printed, he ran it up the proverbial flagpole to see if anyone would salute.

Phase Four: The Book was in-fact saluted (primarily by people who did not truly understand the Bible) and as a result Joseph merged into the role of chosen prophet, seer, and revelator.

Phase Five: With this new found respect, Smith moved from his old stomping grounds, and realized that for his religion to grow, it had to somehow differentiate itself from other upstart and competing Christian churches. The Book of Mormon helped, but more revelations were necessary to totally place Joseph’s church in a category far removed from all the Bible based churches popping up around them. Advanced “revelations and prophesies” began to surface, serving this purpose.

Changing Doctrines

Phase Six: In time these revelations trumped or superseded the generally Christian contents of the Book of Mormon and in time took precedence in the church in terms of emphasis and importance.

Phase Seven: So today, the Book of Mormon, like it did from the start, continues to serve as “bait” in bringing unsuspecting people into the boat of Mormonism, without them realizing that in time they will then be gutted, filleted, and fried in a pan of totally non-biblical doctrines and practices – most of which are in conflict with their own first Book of Scripture.

Let's open up the phone lines:

(801) 973-tv20
(801) 973-8820

First time callers please. LDS callers are really appreciated. Turn down thy television sets.

D&C 42:12 – the BOM and the BIBLE together contain the “fullness of the Gospel.”

Viewer Feedback

Our ability to remain on the air and in ministry is directly related to you. We thank you for all you do which is done in the open and in secret. We could always, always, always – especially in this day and age – use your support in however you chose to give it. For information on how you might help, go to www.hotm.tv

(EMAIL) Got an email. Came from a man named Fred and Fred said:

"Even though I have only watched a couple of shows for part time you seem so rude and mean that how honestly do you serve anyone near to you. Even your dress and look is gross. Every week you look sloppy. Some weeks you look like you came from HOBO city. Something that they found in the dumpster. You look like you are having a mid-life crisis and that you want to resort to your teen years of around 12-13. Why you don't take a bath or change your clothes or cut your hair. Can’t you decide if you’re a boy or gay. Are you a man or a girl in boy's clothes? Honestly if you are a preacher you should dress more like one. Some weeks you make people barf.”

Three questions for Freddy:

• What do you think you would think of John the Baptist if you saw him?
• How do you think you would receive Jesus if He walked by you in a park? And third, to quote Paul
• From Galatians: “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” Galatians 4:16

If you’re going to pick on me, pick on what I teach and say, Freddy.

Over the years in ministry you come across men and sometimes women who believe you were created to answer their every question. They fancy themselves super intelligent and literally believe that they deserve an answer to their every query. One such email writer is a man who goes by Bob B. We used to try and answer Bob’s incessant questions but have learned that some people aren’t in it to learn – they in it to teach.

Responding to Criticism

So Bob writes:

“Shawn, when you are on the telephone with tender believers who are not knowledgeable you come across as a very informed and knowledgeable Christian, however just like Mormon Scholars, when you are asked the hard questions, either you won't answer or you become insulting. If you want your ministry to grow, this is not a good way to be……remember you can fool all of the people some of the time, but only a small amount of some of the people all of the time. And, from this I hope that I will get an intelligent empathetic remark.”

Well, Bob, you’re not getting one – just like nobodies getting one who is out to teach rather than hear and learn. Listen – as arrogant as this may sound ours is a ministry that reaches out – we have no interest…

Sharing Jesus in Truth and Love

With the limited number of hours in a day, we share Jesus and Jesus alone. People who want to debate can go find someone who wants to debate. Okay? Oh, and this is NOT because we can’t handle the tough questions. Give me someone searching and I will answer any question I can. But give me someone who just wants to dialogue and I won’t even tell them the time of day.

Listen, we have given our operators strict instructions tonight to put only the best callers through– preferably LDS callers – because of something that needs to be said. We have long stood on the premise that it is a huge mistake for the Body of Christ to try and reform the world. Our King never sought to reform the world and frankly died for a world that refused moral reformation.

For years we have strongly suggested that the Christian call is one of “sharing Jesus in truth and love” and not trying to save the world through legislation, protests, or joining hands with non-Christian elements (namely, Mormonism) as a means to rule over it. This is one giant trap. Years ago we warned our viewing audiences that it would be through Christians trying to rectify the lost and sinful world (through political means) that Mormonism would worm its way into the Body – and sadly we can see today that this insight was dead on.

The Rise of Dominion Theology

As national leaders representing our Lord and Faith have used His name and move from looking to the cross and the solutions He provided us and instead have focused their efforts and time and money on fighting evil, the LDS have seen a crack in our once resolute stance against doctrinal error and have slipped in our midst.

As we’ve said time and time again, this refocus started back in the days of Cornelius Van Til, was perpetuated by the so-called Moral Majority, inflamed by the Evangelical right, and is now in the hands of these guys who believe that the world must be dominated by the Laws of God before Jesus will return. They are known as dominionists, and presently they exist at various levels of dedication to the cause.

Some of the more zealous dominionists include: Al Dager, Rick Joyner, Jay Grimstead, Janice Rogers Brown, George Grant, but as my friend Steave C of Florida says: “Do not think that dominion theology is a movement supported only by those on the fringe of fundamentalism, as some of the leading lights who subscribe to some form of dominionism include Paul Crouch, James Dobson, Ted Haggard, Kenneth Hagin, Jack Hayford, D. James Kennedy, Tim LaHaye, Gary North, Rod Parsley, Fred Price, Pat Robertson, R.J. Rushdoony, Rick Warren, and John Whitehead.

The Shift in Christian Leadership

I don’t know this, but I would bet that every single name I have mentioned today stands completely behind the idea that Christians ought to embrace LDS political leaders – because Latter-day Saints share in the very same ideology – govern by virtue of Laws imposed in the name of God to help bring about the second coming of Christ. I mean, even in the state of Utah, where you would think believers, pastors, and Christian leaders would have the greatest understanding of Mormon doctrine and dangers of embracing the Mormon machine, most of the larger churches have chosen to stand together with Mormonism rather than apart.

How did this happen? Years ago, the self-appointed federal head of Christian churches here in the state was befriended (or befriended) a BYU professor of religion and indirectly LDS apostle Jeffery R. Holland. This politically minded brother, blinded by the dark light of Mormonism’s allure, found himself welcomed into their open arms and has ever since used his influence in the body to get the Christian leaders of this state to adopt a method of reaching the LDS in a “kinder, gentler fashion” – which in the end has meant building bridges with them.

Today, this man and his ministry stands with them in their pursuit of winning the nation's highest office…as do the cowardly churches and their pastors who have followed his lead, essentially selling out the pure cause of Christ for world unity. In this month’s edition of the LDS magazine, the Ensign, there is a re-print of a speech LDS Apostle Jeffery R. Holland delivered to an audience of national Christian leaders on May 10th of this year. Holland, again, speaking to national Christian leaders, opened his remarks by saying: “Friends, you know what I know—that there is in the modern world so much sin and

Moral Decay and the Christian Response

Moral decay affecting everyone, especially the young, and it seems to be getting worse by the day. You and I share so many concerns about the spread of pornography and poverty, abuse and abortion, illicit sexual transgression (both heterosexual and homosexual), violence, crudity, cruelty, and temptation, all glaring as close as your daughter’s cell phone or your son’s iPad. Surely there is a way for people of goodwill who love God and have taken upon themselves the name of Christ to stand together for the cause of Christ and against the forces of sin. In this we have every right to be bold and believing, for “if God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).” I can barely continue to read but I will. Holland continued: “You serve and preach, teach and labor in that confidence, and so do I. And in doing so, I believe we can trust in the next verse from Romans as well: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” I truly believe that if across the world we can all try harder not to separate each other from the “love of Christ,” we will be “more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

Constructive Theological Dialogue

Holland went on to describe the tenuous relationship that has existed between Christians and Latter-day Saints, but stated he believes things have since changed for the better, because he says of “constructive theological dialogue.” He continues saying: “The first of those formal dialogues took place in the spring of 2000 at Brigham Young University. As the dialogue began to take shape, it was apparent that the participants were searching for a paradigm of some sort, a model, a point of reference. Were these to be confrontations, arguments, debates? Were they to produce a winner and a loser? Just how candid and earnest were they expected to be? Some of the Latter-day Saints wondered: Do the “other guys” see these conversations as our “tryouts” for a place on the Christian team? Is it a grand effort to “fix” Mormonism, to make it more traditionally Christian, more acceptable to skeptical onlookers? In turn, some of the evangelicals wondered: Are those “other guys” for real, or is this just another form of their missionary proselytizing? Can a person be a New Testament Christian and yet not subscribe to later creeds that most of traditional Christianity adopted? A question that continued to come up on both sides was just how much “bad theology” can the grace of God compensate for?

A New Brotherhood and Sisterhood

Before too long, those kinds of issues became part of the dialogue itself, and in the process, the tension began to dissipate. The initial feeling of formality has given way to a much more amiable informality, a true form of brotherhood and sisterhood, with a kindness in disagreement, a respect for opposing views, a feeling of responsibility to truly understand (if not necessarily agree with) those of other faiths—a responsibility to represent one’s doctrines and practices accurately and grasp that of others in the same way. The dialogues came to enjoy “convicted civility.” “After talking about the fact that both sides certainly will remain true to their doctrinal differences, Holland added: “Furthermore, we are always looking for common ground and common partners in the “hands-on” work of the ministry. We would be eager to join hands with our evangelical friends in a united Christian effort to strengthen families and marriages, to demand more morality in media, to provide humane relief effort in times of natural disasters, to address the ever-present plight of the poor, and to guarantee the freedom of religion that will allow all of us to speak out on matters of Christian conscience regarding the social issues of our time.

In this latter regard the day must never come that you or I or any other responsible cleric in this nation is forbidden to preach from his or her pulpit the doctrine one holds to be true. But in light of recent sociopolitical events and current legal challenges stemming from them, particularly regarding the sanctity of marriage, that day could come unless we act decisively in preventing it.2 The larger and more united the Christian voice, the more likely we are to carry the day in these matters. Then, quoting the Bible, Holland says: “In that regard we should remember the Savior’s warning regarding “a house divided against [itself]”— and interpreted the verse to mean “a house that finds it cannot stand.”

Shared Devotion and Unity

Against more united foes pursuing an often unholy agenda. Holland then spoke of Christ, the LDS adoration of Him, in what I would call very carefully chosen words, and concluded: “Given our shared devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and given the challenges we face in our society, surely we can find a way to unite in a national—or international—call to Christian conscience."

Then the guy quotes Christian dominion supporter, Tim LaHaye, saying: “Some years ago Tim LaHaye wrote: “If religious Americans work together in the name of our mutually shared moral concerns, we just might succeed in re-establishing the civic moral standards that our forefathers thought were guaranteed by the [United States] Constitution. … All of our nation’s religious citizens need to develop a respect for other religious people and their beliefs. We need not accept their beliefs, but we can respect the people and realize that we have more in common with each other than we ever will with the secularizers of this country. It is time for all religiously committed citizens to unite against our common enemy.”4

The New Insights

Before concluding, Holland says: “To be sure, there is a risk associated with learning something new about someone else. New insights always affect old perspectives, and thus some rethinking, rearranging, and restructuring of our worldviews is inevitable. When we look beyond people’s color, ethnic group, social circle, church, synagogue, mosque, creed, and statement of belief, and when we try our best to see them for who and what they are—children of the same God—something good and worthwhile happens within us, and we are thereby drawn into a closer union with that God who is the Father of us all.”

And then he closes, quoting the Bible, and then the Book of Mormon. The name of the Ensign article? “Standing Together for the Cause of Christ.”

Stand for the Cause of Christ

Every single believer has to seriously ask themselves, “What is the cause of Christ?” Because the answer you give is going to determine how you stand.

Saturday, September 1st 3PM to 9PM

Bounce houses Face painting Boxed lunches from Subway (at a very good price) Products Battle for the Best Christian Worship band with a great worship band! State wide communion – with the elements distributed by the pastors in attendance. And wrapping it all up with our annual “Open Water Baptisms.”

Tell your pastor, your worship team leaders, your neighbors and your LDS family and friends who are seeking.

Saturday, September 1st Murray Park Amphitheater 3-9PM

Go to www.hotm.tv for more information OR call 385 282-3350 if you are a band wanting to participate.

See you next week here on HOTM!