Shawn McCraney's Broadcast Highlights

Live from SLC Utah, this is HOTM – “Where we do all we can to worship God in Spirit and truth.” And I’m your host Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion..

Upcoming Interviews and Guest Appearances

Show 17 Veritable Popourri
April 23rd 2019
HOTM

Well folks, next week we are going to have a young man on the show next week who goes by the name of Kwaku El. All I know about him is he is LDS (a young LDS apologist) and that he has “debated” James White and another local guy named Aaron who set up a debate with him too. I’m gonna speak a little bit more about our Aaron in a minute. But we are going to do three parts with Kwaku in a pretaped interview series and the first will air next week. As per the course I have taken I have not watched ANYTHING the young man has done – at all – but I am certain that in all the talking he has never been really presented the Great NewsThe message that prophecy is fulfilled and we are free to pursue God in love and liberty—without fear or religious control. by any of these “guys” who have let the traditions of Man warp the Word in their lives. In any case, next week Kwaku El – an LDS apologist – part I of III.

We have had some really great responses from our recent guests – last week with Nicole and addictive personalities and the week before with Dave Donaldson and his outreach to people in prison. Dave will be joining us again after our three weeks with Kwaku El for a promised follow up and stay tuned for some other really interesting guests including David Valdez (from kehilat Beit Lechem – a Messianic Jewish pastor), Andrew Fegan, a former LDS existentialist seeker, and the Team from Zelph on the Shelf, Tanner Gilliland and Samantha Shelley. Really look forward to this.

Additionally, years ago I had the opportunity to speak at a Sunstone Symposium here in town and then the show came out on Television and my associates at Sunstone did not appreciate me much. But after my time with Lyndsay Hansen park, I have been welcomed back to speak and on Thursday, August 1st 2019 from 3:45 to 4:45 I will be delivering a message titled, "Smith, Smith, Smithereens." Go to Sunstonemagazine.com for more information and the opportunity to register.

The Transversional Apostolic Record (TVAR)

On the side, I have been laboring like a banshee on what we are calling the TVAR (or the Transversional Apostolic Record, which is a more precise way of saying another New Testament version). The Gospel of Luke is about ready to be released to our supporters in an interactive form. It’s the first run through but I am really loving it.

Take a LOOK: Run TVAR ADD of Shawn Explaining it. Please go to www.hotm.faith and in the menu lines click “TVAR” for more information, including how to support us in this effort. I honestly believe you will never regret it once the final product is out.

Last Friday our team of ten got together here in Salt Lake and discussed some coming changes that we believe are going to really make a difference in the lives of others. We are working hard as a team to bring these important advances and changes forward which will be announced in late October of this year – so hang on . . . and look out. The time is right.

CheckMyChurch.org and a New Perspective on Tithing

Speaking of timing being right, our sister Sarah who started CheckmyChurch.org came up with a fantastic phrase and has allowed us to share it by giving us some bumperstickers that contain it. What do they say? “Jesus paid your tithing on the cross.” It is a fantastic phrase isn’t it? I mean these meanvangelical pastors will tell people that Jesus paid it all, won’t they – except the demand for tithes. They draw the line with that.

But there is no better phrase for former LDS people to hear because if they can see that he paid their tithes in full, and the sabbath day, and all the rest, they will come much closer to understanding how he also paid for every single sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace., and all that is left for them to do is – to place their faith and trust in His FINISHED work. If you want one of these you can contact www.checkmychurch.org or stop in here on a Sunday or Tuesday night and pick one up.

We wholly support the ministries that do good work toward reaching people with the Truth – in particular, TalkingtoMormons.org, ExMormonfiles.com and Checkmychurch.org. Check them OUT!

I hope every Christian in this state will not only put one of these on their car or laptop…

Decline in Church Attendance

also believe what it says – and will get them to refuse to pay one red cent to any brick and mortar unless so lead by the Spirit, and not the words of a pastor behind a pulpit. Interestingly, speaking of brick and mortars empires, it was quite the tell last week when the Parisian Notre Dame caught fire. And then on the same day, Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque, also called the Dome of the Rock, also broke out in a small fire.

You’re not gonna like this, but good freakin riddance. Not because I am against the Muslims or Catholics right to pursue God, or that I am against such beautiful architecture – I appreciate these freedoms and their value. But in my estimation, anything that will contribute to the destruction of legalistic brick and mortar religion is a benefit to the Great News of Jesus Christ. I would NEVER promote any sort of arson or vandalism of property but by God I hope He will mysteriously take out another couple hundred thousand protestant structures as a means to make the point that the New Testament is where He writes on the hearts and minds of individuals, not on the concrete walls of organized religion.

Institutional Religion in Decline

To me, the fires were in the least “symbolic coincidences” that speak so loudly to the problem of institutional religion today. A Gallup poll released just five days ago headlined by saying:

US Church membership down sharply in the past two decades.

70% of the US population were going to church in 1999. That number is now 50%.

Why? The bottom line reason why? Because institutional religion was NEVER supposed to be in the first place, as described by God Himself, and we have entered into the age where individuals are beginning to see why. We have sung this song for decades and all we have gotten back is defensiveness from the men and women in charge, but the end of Material ReligionA fulfilled system of temples, rituals, and laws—replaced by direct spiritual relationship. is on its way in this country, and the fat-cat doctrinal and practical abuses will not be tolerated for much longer by any sort of a majority.

But this view (that the brick and mortars are man-made and illegitimate in the eyes of God) is NOT going to go away without a major fight. I will never live to see the day when the masses will turn to the living God directly by and through His Son and the Spirit.

There’s just too much money, political sway, and people who still love the safety of brick and mortar religion for it to die a deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. on its own. But with the growing climate of resistance to spiritual BS, it won’t be too many more decades before all the church playing will die. We represent a growing host of people who are standing up and saying,

I just want a relationship with God through His Son. Nothing more – and they really mean NOTHING more.

The Simplicity of Following Jesus

Who really really believe that:

Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe,

and who will actually love all people all the time in his name without the trappings of religion pushing them to do and be more. It would be so beautiful if those who love and follow Jesus would simply love and follow him. Pray. Read and sing His praised. But instead they merchandise his name and ways for their own needs, calling him the Bread of life but make Dagwood sandwiches dripping with tithing sauce before wrapping it all up in paper thin religious demands.

All they are selling is, “Jesus fast food,” which is void of any real eternal nutritional value, and therefore unable to sustain genuine Christian life. But boy does those Dagwoods sell – so much so that I have to step back somewhat against the pastors because I know they are feeding the masses what they want. And that’s good business. I mean it’s mind blowing that over a BILLION dollars automatically came in to fix the Hunchbacks house in Paris – when there are countries with kids selling chiclets with no shoes on their feet.

But that’s just the glaring example.

We have our own Notre Dame (with their associated hunchbacks) here at South Mountain Community Church, and K2, and the Rock Church, and the Adventure Church, and the Mission Church, and Calvary Chapel SLC. Run by blind guides that go long distances to make proselytes only to burden them in God’s name. BREATH – we’re gonna resist your bondages for as long as you dish them out – and your pathetic attempts to malign me or

LDS General Conference and Street Protests

My character will not sustain you in the end. The LDS folks deserve better than what you are giving them – and you should be as ashamed of your souls as Quazimoto was ashamed of his hunch. Set God’s people free by giving them TRUE sanctuary, not more religious bondage!

So, a few weeks ago the LDS church held their semi-annual General Conference. And last week I said I was going to cover it tonight. I am – but not what went on inside that brick and mortar conference center; not their talks.

I want to cover what was going on outside the center – all in Jesus name, of course.

Going back to 2006 when I was asked about my thoughts on what happens outside the LDS General Conferences, I said then (and my stance has never changed) that I think it’s generally deplorable, that I think it does far far far more harm than ANY good, and that after having been LDS that if I EVER was confronted by one of these street idiots I would have never left the faith. Saying that over 13 years ago on air made an automatic enemy of guys like Aaron Shafofalov who loves to go confront people in the street about their faith and others like the dude who heads a group that humbly calls itself, “Courageous Christians.” Those wounds have never healed and their animus toward me has only multiplied over the years.

Public Protests at the Conference

Let’s take a look at some of the lowlights going on at the recent LDS General Conference:

SHOW CLIPS and PICTURES FROM PATRICK HERE

To wrap up the LDS General Conference Shame fest, I was told the following from a guy who witnessed it. There was an old LDS lady walking around outside and approaching the protestors and saying that God had told her to tell each of them that he loves them, and that Jesus loves them. One by one this little old lady went from person to person sharing this message of love from God.

Do I think her theology is correct? Probably not. Do I agree with her choice of religious practices? Certainly not. But I do believe it is her right – her God given right – to believe and practice her faith in and that our job as Christian is to love her and win her over with that love – as it is defined in Holy Writ – not how men choose to define it.

Encounter with Aaron Shafovalov

So she goes from one to the next, and she gets to Aaron SHAF-OVA-LOFF and she says, I just want to tell you that,

“Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus love you,”

And he says: Which Jesus?

I have a question for brother Aaron in response to his . . . Aaron, you tell us, which Jesus. Is it the Jesus that causes you to malign people constantly behind their backs without ever facing them – except once years ago? I mean, does your Jesus authorize you to be a dick in His name? Isn’t your Jesus, Aaron, one who did not suffer for the sins of the world? Who offered up a limited atonement? And only chooses to save a few when He could save all but sends most to an eternal torment in literal flames of hell?

Isn’t this the Jesus you represent to the world? Isn’t your Jesus a co-eternal, co-equal, person that helps make up your non-sensical, non-biblical explanation God? More importantly, which Jesus is more reprehensible – yours, as I just described, or a Mormons, who certainly has some ontological things messed up about him but in their lives at least they strive to try and give people the benefit of the doubt?

Just who do you think you are? Oh, wait! I know who you think you are – you think you are one of Jesus elect, don’t you Aaron? And as such you really truly believe and think that you should go out and do what I see as his dirty work – to cleanse his body of all the riff-raff, right?

Why, you’re a guy who thinks his views of Jesus are superior to all others views – especially those who differ with you – so much so that you actually stand outside of such places and challenge Old ladies about which Jesus is causing her to share a message of love?

I honestly wish the LDS church could take a firehose and wash every one of you idiots down the street – not because they are right, but because you are so pathetically wrong about how.

Addressing Controversial Matters

I want to use the rest of our time to address the most FAQ to all the “controversial matters” that come out of my mouth . . . which are really not controversial at all – they are all biblical and I stand by that with God as my witness and can now defend most of it BY the Word. These questions speak to things people say are “cracks in my stances” or how I have fallen and so I thought I would gather them all up and put them in categories which will be in this ORDER:

1 Second ComingChrist’s return, fulfilled in 70 A.D., ending the old covenant—not the world.
2 No Hell
3 Satan Gone
4 The Afterlife
5 The Resurrection
6 The Bible
7 Church Playing
8 End of Brick and Mortar Religion
9 Subjective ChristianityA direct, personal relationship with God—free from institutional authority, guided by personal relationship, faith and agape love.
10 Trinity

What I will do is give the category name, the stance I believe the Bible clearly presents, and then the main questions I get regarding my stance:

Second Coming

You know the stance – it’s what the Bible clearly teaches:

Jesus promised to come back and take His church-bride. All the Apostles taught that He was coming back to get them. And He did – as He (and they) said He would – with judgment on the House of Israel and reward on believers in 70 at the destruction of Jerusalem and much of Judea.

The Most Common Questions

Did anyone witness this? Does anyone mention it?

It depends on how you look at it. Jesus described the signs in detail on what conditions would exist prior to the End (of that Age (which came in association with His coming) and several historians report almost word for word those signs as happening. So, in that sense, “yes.” But no Christians said that they saw Him come because all Christians were taken. And secular historians did not report it because what happened to them was not spiritually discerned.

This is not that big of a leap as 1), there were not very many real Christians to take as many had fallen away or had been put to death, and 2), this is the exact scenario futurists depict on what will happen in the raptureA misinterpreted concept—biblical “rapture” language was fulfilled in 70 A.D., not a future escape event. More of Christians in the future – all real ones will be taken and nobody will know (or care) where they went. If that is the how the rapture will happen in the future with a billion Christians on earth, it could have certainly happened in 70AD when the true, alienated, obscure hidden Christians who had been forsaken by society were taken as His bride.

If He took all Christians? Who was left to run the church?

The Holy Spirit, that’s who. Certainly, there were some who had heard of Christ, the good news, and such – perhaps thousands of them, and certainly there were some who THOUGHT that they were Christians (but really weren’t completely) – at least not at that time. If they were, they would have been taken. Perhaps after the church-bride was taken, the Holy Spirit quickened some of them who had heard the Gospel?

But I suggest – merely suggest – that perhaps those who were left behind were some of the ones who helped bring the faith into the dark ages, and that in time their innocent little heresies snowballed into what became accepted doctrines, and provided the world with the mess of approaches and beliefs that we have today?

Have you ever considered this? I mean look at the history of the church from the time Jesus left, through the apostolic age, to the early church fathers' reign, to Constantine and forward!

It was falling apart materially when Paul and Peter were roaming around, right? And doctrinally even the apostles fought tooth and nail to keep the bride pure. But listen – this scenario is okay – because the Holy Spirit has been reaching and teaching those who are His with the Truth ever since. And a Body of true believers has been present on earth ever since Christ, even though the Church-bride had been taken.

“The final question is – if this is the case, what does this mean to us today?”

It means that we are living in an age of victory over the law, sin, and death and the implications of this are unbelievable compared to the situation of the former age. Some of those implications will come forward in our next categories.

Like . . .

Category Two – Hell

The Stance:

The Bible clearly teaches the reality of a

The Concept of Hell and the Afterlife

hell. I have never said there was no hell. Hell was a place where all the dead went from the time of Adam to the death, resurrection, and return of Christ for His Church-Bride. It was called Sheol by the Jews and Hades by the Greeks. Until Jesus returned it is where all people went – both Cain and Abraham – but Abraham made righteous by faith was in the Paradise part of sheol and Cain was probably in the prison part. Once Jesus finished everything that He was called to finish, culminating in his promised return, hell was cast into the lake of fire. This is biblical.

The destination of all souls now is heaven. But to be in heaven does not mean to be with God or Jesus – they are in the Kingdom. Where someone goes is dependent on God and the individual in question.

Understanding the Afterlife

So . . . . to the QUESTIONS

If hell has been cast into the lake of fire where did Hitler/Pol Pot/Bundy etc. go?

To answer this effectively, we are lead to the next or third category – which is

Category 3 The Afterlife

The Stance

Since hell is gone, which is what the Bible maintains would be a reality in the day we are living in today, then the victory Jesus has had over the law, sin and death is complete, and having overcome hell and tossed it away everyone who dies now enters into a heavenly afterlife realm. But the heavenly afterlife realm is not a destination, like Los Angeles, so to speak. For starters, it seems to be a state of Mind, and for those who are His by faith, the mind is able to discern a Kingdom therein.

As a means to aid our understanding, let’s give that Kingdom a visual (even though Jesus clearly said, that the Kingdom of GodGod’s spiritual reign—fulfilled and present, not political or future. is within you,); The Kingdom of Heaven is described like a walled city of glorious light and is the place where God and Jesus dwell with all who are His Sons and Daughters. Outside that wall, apparently in realms of diminishing light relative to the proximity of the City and God and Christ who dwell therein, exists all who are not His.

The Book of RevelationA symbolic prophecy fulfilled in 70 A.D.—not a prediction of future global events. chapter 20 describes it this way, as the angel says to John the Revelator:

10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. (This is the New JerusalemThe spiritual reality of God's fulfilled presence with humanity—replacing Sheol after 70 A.D., which is heavenly).
11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

THEN VERSE 14
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Then to verse 22
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
24 And the tribes of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.
25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

Then verse 27

And there shall in no wise enter into it (meaning that there are those outside of the city) any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

This description lets us know clearly that there is an inside of the city and there is an outside of the city, and that those who are outside of it cannot enter into it without faith in the Son.

Addressing Questions About the Afterlife

THE QUESTIONS

I have no answers to any questions relative to this because they would all be suppositional.

I just told you what the Bible says and describes and that is the best I can do.

Category 4 Satan – He’s gone.

The Stance. Satan was an Old Testament character, who continued on in his “last days” during the period recorded in the Apostolic Record.

The Role of Satan and Human Temptation

Those were His last days on earth. His time (then) was short and he went about like a roaring lion knowing that his time was short. He came into being presumably as a created angelic being who fell from God’s grace (due to pride). Note: Something tempted Satan to rebel, which is the true and real evil and which we will discuss in a minute. Satan was made powerful by getting freewill creations of God (Adam) to rebel against Him.

He was “the accuser” against the brethren by virtue of the presence of the Law, and in and through the presence of the Law of God he was able to get human beings to sin (break God’s law) and therefore die. Once the Law was nailed to Jesus' cross, sin propitiated, and the grave overcome by the Second Adam, Satan’s days were seriously numbered. So much so that even when Jesus was alive he said:

"Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (John 12:31-32 RSV)

Understanding Human Sin

THE QUESTIONS

• If Satan is gone, who is causing us to still sin?

First of all, even though Satan is gone, darkness abides just as darkness abided before Satan was created. Darkness, the absence of God who is light and selfless love, is what caused Satan to fall, and it is a power so much more horrific than that fallen angel who succumbed to it. What is that dark power? It’s simply the absence of God, who is light, and real love. So, any and all who are absent God are operating in some ways through the dark, whether they know it or not. This is the state of the world today. Which is why horrible things continue to exist in the human realm. Who knows what we will do to ourselves as we continue forward in the absence of God.

But the point here is, we don’t need no Satan to blame anymore. We tempt ourselves. We lust ourselves. We have enough non-God in us that we are capable of doing anything to each other. In fact, listen to what the Apostle James wrote and note the absence of his mentioning any Satan:

Temptation and Personal Responsibility

He says in James 1:13
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Nothing about Satan there. He played a role especially under the Law as the accuser. But scripture clearly says his days were numbered and since Jesus has returned as promised to His own, those days are over. If you have trouble believing this, of our being evil enough on our own, ask yourself: How did Eve, PRIOR TO FALLING, choose to rebel against God? How did Adam? They had not yet fallen when they chose to eat the fruit. Once they ate the fruit, they fell, and Satan had power – but not before. So what was in them to choose their own will over God’s.

Get it?

I’ll get to the Resurrection, The Bible, Church Playing, the End of Brick and Mortar Religion, Subjective Anarchistic Christianity and the Trinity in the weeks or months to come. Remember, next week, Kwaku El, Mormon Apologist… here on Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology..