Christianity and Leadership
We have the best approach to Christianity on the face of the earth. Don’t just reject it or criticize us – test us and get real responses. You will find they stand up to traditions – if you are willing. (CAMPUSCHURCH.TV)
In large part, the churches in Salt Lake City are taking people leaving the Mormon church and putting them into more religious bondage. They may mean well, they may be evil – but the end result is bondage. And it’s wrong. (CAMPUSCHURCH.TV)
Do not trust any pastor if he tells you that the end of the world is on the way, that you need to pay tithes, or that he has authority of any kind over you. Leave such men and come to CAMPUS where all people are free in Christ through contextual truth. (CAMPUSCHURCH.TV)
Change in Evangelical Leadership
The Evangelical leaders in Salt Lake need to change their ways. Start with no more tithes. I mean, why don’t THEY trust in the Lord the way they are always telling others to do. Why don’t they trust in the God to supply their church with its needs? Go on, Pastors, practice what you preach. (CAMPUSCHURCH.TV)
HOTM 2.0 Introduction
1st Show – Introduction
October 31st 2017
Board Shorts
Pre-tape the board Segment?
Start standing with Mary. A number of you have wondered why Mary wasn’t included in the live show interviews. Bottom line, it wasn’t working out and Mary repeatedly gave me an out so I could accommodate others. That is how she has been as a wife and as a Mother – always accommodating and trying to serve behind the scenes – the way all good women will do.
Her interview will be up in the archives shortly and I recommend you watch it but I want to kick off HOTM 2.0 with special thanks to Mary and our daughters for all they have done to get us – especially me – to this place where we stand tonight. A place we will get to in short order.
I’m not so sure people really understand the trip these girls have had to take for me to do what I have relentlessly insisted on doing in my life – discovering truth. They have watched all material stability that other families often enjoy evaporate at every turn. Often because I refuse to comply to things demanded of me. They have stood in the wings when I have been in the spotlight. They have had to swallow the venom cast at me – which is much harder than just being the target itself and
They have served the ministry, dealt with my absence, out of pocket costs, frequent threats to the family unit and marriage, and have been forced to uproot much of what they had once believed or been taught for new information, new views, and new considerations.
It’s one thing to be “a pastor’s wife.” That comes with its own difficulties even when the said pastor is set in what he believes and teaches. But it’s an entirely different monster when a husband and father refuses to stop searching . . . until a subject can satisfactorily be sanctioned by the Spirit as truth through the word.
Instead of having Mary on at the end of the former shows I wanted to have her with me as we launch into the new – the place where I have finally landed, a place of relative stability, a place that theologically is incontrovertible, concrete and perhaps, now – in the lives of my wife and daughters – something they can trust.
Thank you, Maria – for all of it. (Long beat)
I want to take you all back to three events in history. Two world-renown – one pretty much obscure. The first happened 100 years ago this month – really in ten powerful days in October 1917.
For 300 years the ruling family over Russia were known as the Romanov’s. They were regal, ostentatious in dress, and lived far above the lives of the Russian serf community. In addition to being wholly autocratic, they were also mad – brutal, and in some cases, very good at building empires through men and women like Peter and Catherine the greats.
But the people knew that while the City of St. Petersburg, which rivaled any European city (including Versailles, and made Joseph Smiths Nauvoo look like a prison camp) it was built on the bones of the people. The people they were supposed to protect and love.
In 1917, again after 300 years of oppression under the Romanov’s, a group of men…
Historical Revolutions
Known as the Bolshivek’s and led by Vladimir Lenin, overran the Romanov rule (or Tsarist autocracy) and in the end put all the Romanov family to death – including three little girls.
The point: The Bolshivek revolution was complete in what is known as the Great October Socialist Revolution in October 1917 – 100 years ago, at the fall of Petrograd. The way the Russian people lived under Tsarist Romanov rule had run its course – and the people were not gonna take it any more. Unfortunately, the solution offered, Lenin and Marxist communism, was not a tremendous improvement over the Tsars of Russia. So that was exactly 100 years ago this year and month.
Reformation vs. Revolution
Historical event number 2. Celebrated as happening on this very day, October 31st and 500 years ago. You know the story – Martin Luther, not armed with an army of Bolshivek’s like Lenin, but similarly tired of the power and demands of the dominant Roman Catholic church over the lives of people, nailed his 95 thesis – his complaints – to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany and the Protestant Reformation was born. Unfortunately, as with Lenin and the Bolshiveks over-running Tsarist Russia almost to the day 400 years later, what Luther and his accomplices offered in place of Roman Catholic abuse was insufficient and failed to truly liberate people from the power, control and demands of religious despots.
Luther, and perhaps even Lenin, may have meant well – but they did NOT possess the best approaches to replace all that they stood against. And Christianity, along with Russia, have suffered as a result of them failing to truly reform.
The Big Pause
Third historical event – historical to me at least and some others – is what I am going to call this event, “the Great Pause.” Let me explain it by going to the Board as a means to help me justify the bold claims I will make hereafter – claims that are going to cause mockery and laughter, that are going to be rejected out of hand, but that will hopefully not so edgy that they drive seekers away from testing and challenging them by the Word and the Spirit.
You see, when new information (approaches, views or revolutions) are presented to the world, there are pretty much two types of responses: The first response automatically rejects the claim or approach and then goes about to criticize it and the person making it. This is the reaction of zealots, dogmatists, religionists, and defenders of tradition. When it comes to the faith believers today think (for some ridiculous reason) that what has come before us is perfect and impervious to criticism. I mean all over the world pastors and churches are heralding Luther’s act of rebellion as noble and of God but crucify anyone who does the same now. Really shows their sheeple nature.
However, in the second General response to new views, the other group – typically much smaller – will say, “Okay. Let’s examine this. Let’s see if it holds water. Let’s see if there are any biblical supports for the stance.” These are the seekers – whom Jesus said the father seeks to worship Him in Spirit and truth. I am calling to seekers to not only hear but to test and challenge everything – and to then hold fast to what is good. Don’t give these bold professions to come lip service nor to embrace them without a personal investigation but to be willing to test and try and examine – and to hold fast if what you discover is true.
So let me first explain the Big Pause. (go to BOARD SEGMENT PRE-RECORDED)
Personal Journey
HOTM 2.0 1st Show – Introduction October 31st 2017
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Oct 1961-Jan 2001 (40 Years)
Lived and learned the LDS culture and doctrine for 40 years.
Mission
Temple
Elders Quorum
High Priest
Stake HC
Bishopric
Seminary Teach
Something was off and wrong with it all and in the end I discovered what it was. Personal catabasis.
Aug 1997 – Jan 2001 (4 Years)
Jesus enters in my life by a road-side experience and saves me from myself.
Remain LDS for four years.
Examine the faith with the heart of a regenerated man.
Tried to reach LDS family/friends while on the inside – to no avail.
Asked to be X’d.
Jan 1998- June 2006 (8 Years)
Tutored and discipled by Christian friends.
Entered Calvary Chapel SOM full time (2005).
2 years to learn the Bible through the eyes and mind of Chuck Smith, founder. Greek.
Went through
Early Ministry and Critique of Mormonism
The journey began with learning the Bible and subsequently writing the book BAM, which led to starting an online ministry. I received an invitation to do a show in Salt Lake with Christian leader Greg Johnson. My pitch was "Stay LDS, but get to know Jesus through rebirth," which received a tremendous response, resulting in an invitation to host my own show.
Engagement with the LDS Institution
In March 2006, I undertook my first live show, focusing weekly on calling out the deceptions of the LDS institution and the imprisonment it imposed on people. My consistent theme was that Jesus is everything and organized religion is unimportant. The show was loved by the people but not by most state leaders. For seven full years, from March 2006 to December 2012, the show featured live on-air calls, where I examined the faults of the LDS institution directly while maintaining kindness toward individuals. With 22,000 minutes of television airtime, half was spent responding to live questions. The show reached tens of thousands worldwide, leading many away from organized religion.
In December 2012, needing a break, I took a month off to visit churches within the state. Having openly promoted all churches, though not a supporter of organized religion, I witnessed first-hand the offerings of the biggest and best churches to ex-Mormons—only to find more bondage through more lies. This realization infuriated me, and by January 2013, I promised to challenge these churches with the same intensity I had used against Mormonism. However, God halted my plans.
The Big Pause and Reflection
In January 2013, Utah pastors united against me under Greg Johnson’s leadership. Five days later, Johnson's email, which was passed on to me, stated, "I am happy to report that Shawn McCraney will never be on TV again in Utah." This prediction came true as our ministry was removed from big money television stations in the US, demonstrating the inability to challenge majority rule traditions.
God initiated a pause lasting from January 2013 to October 31, 2017. During this time, faced with the impact on my reputation and financial support, Mary and I subsidized the ministry and donated to build a church studio. I fervently sought God and engaged in deep reflection. I realized the conditions of churches stemmed from false beliefs leading to false practices. Although I initially had no idea what was wrong, God was about to reveal it to me.
Shifts in Understanding
I read two books during this period, amidst numerous others, that challenged my worldview on hell and eschatology. I explored the Trinity, a concept I thought I understood. For 4.84 years, or 1,764 days, I searched for understanding. I then understood that God’s pause enabled me to discern issues within the Christian faith's institutional part, similar to my insights into the LDS institution. People trusted my insights into Mormonism's failures, yet doubted my understanding of Christianity. Nonetheless, my ideas stem from solid scripture, not conjecture or opinion.
Examination of Christian Churches in Utah
Just let me hack at the branches of the local denoms and churches back in Jan of 2013 (as I intended to do.) He wanted me to know WHY they were failing so we could provide viable solutions and not just more criticisms and then more of the same.
January 1st 2013 Announcement
The Unpause October 31st 2017
We are going to wrap the new HOTM 2.0 by showing you the introduction that will play every week before the show. Before we do I want to make things clear:
First, the so-called Christian Churches of Utah have taken exiting LDS people and are placing them wrongly in more religious bondage – which stands in OPPOSITION to the directives of the Word of God. Second, we are going after them publicly, by name, and relentlessly demand (in the name of God and His word) that they stop claiming to have any authority over people, that they stop preaching a frightful unbiblical coming end of the world, and that they stop preaching tithes. Finally, and without ANY hesitation, I publicly proclaim that “We at CAMPUS have the best approach to Christianity on the face of the earth. And we invite any and all to either join us and be free in Him.” Out!
Conclusion
RUN INTRO
