Salt Lake City Utah – The Heart of Mormonism and Biblical Christianity

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 12 A History of Deception – Part I. March 20th 2012.

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

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

Historical and Current Challenges

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PRAYER PRAYER PRAYER

We have been actively involved in examining the creation and contents of the Book of Mormon but tonight I have been impressed to use the program to attempt to get to the “Heart of a Matter . . . ” relative to Mormonism and racism. Last week we received a call from a man who said he worked in education for the LDS church. He called (in reference to some comments I made about BYU professor Randy Bott’s comments about blacks and the official church stance regarding them. Our caller both intimated things and made several direct claims.

The Burden of Truth and Deception

Now, let me take a breath here and explain something that comes with “doing what we do.” This something is called “frustration.” Sometimes my frustration is manifested in getting angry with deceptive callers. Other times it is manifested off-camera in overeating, occasional lusting, or possibly longing to go to the desert and bury my head in a rat hole. For me these are natural reactions when trying to battle deceit. In dealing with Mormonism and attempting to explain, expose, honestly articulate, and reveal the truths about it relative to biblical Christianity, the job can become EXTREMELY trying on the mind and heart . . . on a day to day basis and then cumulatively over time.

If and when I fail in my flesh, it is because I have allowed the battle to become “mine” and NOT the Lord's, and for this I apologize… first to God publicly and then to you who get offended. In my flesh I am NOT anything that anyone ought to strive to emulate and the ONLY THING I can offer are my honest attempts to reveal biblical truths relative to Mormonism.

1. However, the difficulties in effectively revealing the deceptions that are alive and well in Mormonism are multitudinous.

2. First of all, there is only one source that can authentically speak for Mormonism – the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles. We have always acknowledged this as a fact here on the show and it is why we do not typically have non-official reps as guests. (however even when we invite non-officials people to appear they refuse.)

3. However, LDS leadership have, in recent years, given a little rope to its general membership to defend the faith – so long as that member does NOT embarrass the LDS church in the process. If they do, like Professor Bott did, Mormon leaders step up and say: Professor Bott is not an official spokesman for Mormonism . . . and in the case of Bott, actually embarrass him in return.

4. When I was a member I personally attended a meeting where LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie did this very thing when he publicly ridiculed and embarrassed one George Pace for writing a book that said members ought to seek to have a personal relationship with Christ.

Challenges in Mormon Defense

Today, however some people and groups – like Brigham Young University, with its professors and spin-groups like FARMS – are given a lot of rope to speak and run. A couple of their puppets who are skilled in the arts of double-speak, have even been allowed to tour the nation with duped Evangelical Christians “apparently” representing the Church. Present-day LDS Apostle Ballard told a gathering of students at BYU Idaho a year or so back that they must “defend their faith.” He said, and I quote, ”Church members "have a big job ahead of us.” And added: "We have a tremendous responsibility as members of the church. I think we

The Challenge of Mormon Doctrine

“Are going to have to learn to be more aggressive. I think we have to learn to be a little more effective in our ability to share what we know to be true with the world." He added, “That's what the Lord expects of you and what he expects of me." Here, Apostle Ballard, using the name of the Lord, told members that they “need to be more aggressive . . . to share what they KNOW to be true and that THE LORD expects it of them.” Got that. But no matter what is said, no matter from where it is said, nor to whom it is said, IF the thing “said” does NOT come from the LDS First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles, it holds ABSOLUTELY no water or weight at all. So what is the purpose of anyone saying anything at all?

Convolution. Years ago I was in Los Angeles with a friend who introduced me to a very well known and powerful attorney. This lawyer was defending a person who was in all probability guilty, and referring to this troubling case, my friend asked the attorney, as he sat behind his giant cherrywood desk, “What are you going to do.” The attorney smiled and did this (make motion of spinning). “Mix it up?” my friend asked. “Make it so muddled with information, so confusing, so difficult to know what is truth and what is not, the jury will just let it all go.” And then he laughed.

The LDS Approach to Truth

Using elements of their long-held persecution complex, special interest tactics, a super-abundance of conflicting information, and this game between who can speak for Mormonism and who can’t, the LDS church is making the facts of their faith so convoluted and debatable, few have the tenacity to battle it. So otherwise astute people throw up their hands and begin to say things like: “They MUST be Christian.” “They don’t believe THAT anymore do they?” And, “Why don’t you just leave them alone. They’re really good people.” Such attitudes make dialogue with any Latter-day Saint on virtually ANY issue nearly impossible when it comes to determining truth or reality.

Adding to the frustration of attempting to reveal the underbelly of Mormonism is the convenient LDS belief that living Apostles and Prophets can literally obliterate what any earlier Apostles and Prophets subsequently said came from God. Brigham Young taught – taught as the Prophet – that Adam was God. Years later, LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie and Prophet Spencer Kimball taught that this teaching was theological heresy. For dozens upon dozens of years, thousands of Mormon people believed that Adam was the God we worship, but a hundred years later, Mormons are told this was a theological lie?

The Issue of Prophetic Authority

But the real problem lies in the fact that Mormons claim their prophets speak for God – so God either lied to Brigham or to Spencer in this case. But in the end, what this convenient practice amounts to (in terms of trying to determine truth) is the doctrinal equivalent of trying to catch a greased pig while standing on an extremely slippery slope because it allows the LDS to say almost anything . . . and be right, because they can pull from either the past (or from the present) to prove their point valid. These factors all have the potential to create tremendous frustration in the hearts and minds of people seeking to witness to Latter-day Saints or apologetically prove the religion is far from biblical Christianity.

As a result, some people, frustrated with the ongoing and increasingly confused and convoluted situation, go out to the street with picket signs and just march around temple square, hoping some Latter-day Saint will believe their poster-board claims. This generally serves to only prove to LDS onlookers that they are of sound mind and the picketers are wacko. And the world generally maintains a similar view. Others – good, Bible-believing Christians – seem to more and more be throwing their hands up and, not being equipped to bear the conflict, choose to “build bridges” with the LDS by “dialoguing with them” and naively believing that these Christian gestures are actually changing Mormonism from the top down.

What they refuse to realize is that from the top Mormonism is as corrupt a place as the Kremlin during the cold war and that “bridge-building” is exactly what this LDS regime desires. Why? It provides them with the perfect opportunity to blur the lines between their own faith and Biblical Christianity. And once those lines have been effectively blurred, and the nation’s “religious elite” have bought into their rhetoric, admittance into the Body of Christ, and the

The Challenge of LDS Doctrines

Listen!

The ONLY thing, the only method left, which has any merit or ability to reach people with biblical truth, is a method people like Gerald and Sandra Tanner, Marv Cowan, and Timothy Oliver realized decades ago. That is to take WHAT THE TOP LDS LEADERS HAVE OFFICIALLY SAID, WRITTEN, OR OTHERWISE ALLOWED TO EXIST AS DOCTRINE IN THE CHURCH and to then compare it to the Bible and/or what Mormonism is SAYING and CLAIMING today.

You see, if Mormonism today has not officially removed a teaching, doctrine, or practice from their books of scripture then Mormonism today (no matter what members claims from their pulpits, or whatever the general consensus states, or what is presented on blogs or forums by LDS defenders) then Mormonism today MUST be challenged by what remains in their teachings, their doctrines, and their practice. Get it?

(beat)

If this method is NOT employed then Mormonism (from the top) will continue to MANipulate its members (and the listening world) so as to have its doctrines remain while feigning to have “really changed.”

Polygamy in Mormonism

Let me offer up a simple but perfect example of this played out before the world today. When the founder of Mormonism (Joseph Smith) was alive, he began to secretly practice taking on extra wives (at least 33 with some even being teenagers). This fact has been so blurred by Mormon leadership that even last week we had some true believing Mormon people call the show and deny on the air that this was true. Then, after the fact, Joseph Smith provided a REVELATION (which is still included in the LDS scriptures today) that explains the practice is from God, is an eternal practice, and is required for exaltation.

Brigham Young brought the practice out west to Utah. In a sermon, which was reprinted in the LDS owned Newspaper the Deseret News in August of 1862, Brigham Young, Prophet, Seer, and Revelator of Mormonism said:

Historical Perspectives on Polygamy

“Monogamy, or restrictions by law to one wife, is no part of the economy of heaven among men. Such a system was commenced by the founders of the Roman empire. . . . Rome became the mistress of the world, and introduced this order of monogamy wherever her sway was acknowledged. Thus this monogamic order of marriage, so esteemed by modern Christians as a holy sacrament and divine institution, is nothing but a system established by a set of robbers. . . . Why do we believe in and practice polygamy? Because the Lord introduced it to his servants in a revelation given to Joseph Smith, and the Lord's servants have always practiced it. "And is that religion popular in heaven?" It is the only popular religion there . . .“

There are dozens of quotes from LDS Prophets and Apostles that say that Plural Marriage is an eternal principle and that it MUST be lived in order to become a God. We’ve done plenty of shows about this and the facts are available at UTLM.org

Official Stances vs. Practice

Now listen, these things were said from the pulpit, by LDS Prophets, taught as eternal doctrine and brought to light by founder of the church Joseph Smith. Got all that?

Now, in order to gain statehood, LDS leaders, through a written manifesto (not a Revelation, by the way), told its members in 1890, that the practice of plural marriage must end. What happened in light if this was that those men and women who believed in Joseph Smith’s Revelation and Brigham Young’s teachings as the Prophet refused to give it up– and they still refuse – to give it up. This is why plural marriages still exist in Colorado City and Texas with Warren Jeffs, etc. by people who claim to really be the true Latter-day Saints AND have grounds to make the claim.

But the twisted plot Mormonism creates doesn’t end here. After the manifesto of 1890 many LDS people – LISTEN – ESPECIALLY the leaders . . . continued to secretly practice plural marriage for years. In other words, the upper echelon publicly pretended polygamy was over to the world, but they continued to practice it secretly with a wink-wink among the ranks “who could handle the truth.” Again, the doctrine was taught BY LEADERS from the PULPIT, it was believed and practiced BY MEMBERS because it was taught by their leaders as being from God, it was renounced publicly in an official manifesto, but it was secretly practiced thereafter.

So here we sit in 2012. Instead of attempting to gain statehood the LDS have all sorts of people that are running for public

The Problem of Doctrinal Consistency in the LDS Church

offices across the land and they are trying to gain acceptance-hood. And in a public effort to beguile those “who can’t handle the truth,” the Mormon church is ardently striving to be SEEN as Christian while simultaneously striving to overcome the stigma of 180 years of non-Christian teachings.

But LISTEN very closely. The leaders know they are literally straddling a very treacherous chasm. One foot is trying to remain on the edge of the inerrancy of LDS Revelations and the other on trying to be seen as mainstream and normal. So what do they do? They do what they have always done – (and this gives all who are willing to hear superb insight into the heart of the Mormon matter) – they obfuscate, blur, double-talk, in an attempt to deceive.

Historical Context of Mormon Teachings

Why? They want to HOLD ONTO their earliest teachings WHILE at the same time publicly renouncing them… or saying they never really existed. This method and mindset came directly from the founder of the religion, Joseph Smith, who, when accused of adultery replied (publicly)

“What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago.” (History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 408-412)

At the time of saying this publicly, Joseph had accumulated at least 29 other wives. But let’s prove this same deceptive approach exists in the LDS church today:

In 1998, Larry King interviewed LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley. When asked about polygamy among the various splinter groups Hinckely said (and I quote) “I condemn it, yes, as a practice, because I think it is not doctrinal.” Remember, this was the PROPHET of the Mormon church at the time. And there publicly he said, “Polygamy is not doctrinal.” So the first question we have to ask is, “If it’s not doctrinal, why was it taught as doctrine by Joseph, and Brigham, and John Taylor and why is the teaching STILL in LDS scriptures?”

But this is only one problem with Gordon Hinckley’s response. The second part of Hinckley’s lie is in the fact that while Mormonism no longer practices earthly polygamy, the doctrine does allow for a living man to be sealed to another woman after the deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. of his wife and even after divorce. Hinckley said to Larry King “polygamy is not doctrinal” knowing full well that it is not only doctrinal, the practice continues to occur based on LDS doctrine!

Modern Examples of Continuing Practices

What do I mean? LDS President Howard W. Hunter was sealed to two women in his life. His first wife, Claire Jeffs (Jeffs!) died of Alzheimer’s and was buried beside Howard W. Hunter in a Salt Lake City cemetery. Speaking at the funeral of Howard W. Hunter’s second wife (Inis), who survived him, President Gordon B. Hinckley said that “Inis will now be laid to rest on the other side," (of Howard). And then he added: “They were sealed under the authority of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood for time and for all eternity.” And to top it all off it was Hinckley who sealed this second woman to Howard W. Hunter in the first place in the SL City temple in 1990!

To the public Hinckley literally said: “its NOT doctrinal” and yet he himself was performing polygamous sealings for his friends by a belief in the doctrine.

In 2006 A-a-a-a postle Russell M. Nelson married a BYU professor. She was his second wife and was also sealed to him for eternity. The BYU NewsNet for April 7, 2006 announced the temple marriage of Apostle Nelson, age 81, to Wendy Watson. Nelson’s first wife died in February of 2005 and because this was the first marriage for his new wife Wendy, A-a-a-apostle Nelson too, has been married eternally to two separate women. But the LDS church today publicly states that it has NOTHING to do with polygamy at all!

Harold B. Lee, eleventh president of the church and prophet when I was a kid, lost his wife Joan. He was then sealed to another woman named Fern for all eternity. This was 1974, nearly a hundred years after Mormonism supposedly rejected plural marriage publicly. But so excited was President and prophet Lee about his future polygamous bliss that he penned a little poem, which was printed in the Mormon owned Deseret News. It said: My lovely Joan was sent to me: So Joan joins Fern, that three might be, more fitted for eternity. “O Heavenly Father, my thanks to thee” (Deseret News 1974 Church Almanac, p. 17)

Finally, present day A,a,apostle Dallin Oaks lost

Examination of Church Practices

His first wife and was also sealed to another bride in an LDS temple. His second wife is the creator of our infamously sick “Testimony Glove” which she was able to get shelf space in the church-owned, Deseret Book stores. In 2002 A,a,apostle Oaks said: “When I was 66, my wife June died of cancer. Two years later—a year and a half ago—I married [in the LDS temple] Kristen McMain, the eternal companion who now stands at my side.” (Dallin Oaks, "Timing," speech delivered at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, January 29, 2002)

Here is the principle, after all of this: Mormonism, from its leadership down, is accustomed to the deceptive practice of publicly denouncing certain doctrines while secretly and continuously believing in them and allowing them to exist. This leads us to the topic of Racism, of skin tone relating to righteousness in the Mormon church.

Church Statements on Racism

Publicly, as recently as last week, the LDS church came forward and stated: The gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone. The Book of Mormon states, “black and white, bond and free, male and female; … all are alike unto God” (2 Nephi 26:33). This is the Church’s official teaching. People of all races have always been welcomed and baptized into the Church since its beginning. In fact, by the end of his life in 1844 Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, opposed slavery. During this time some black males were ordained to the priesthood. At some point, the Church stopped ordaining male members of African descent, although there were a few exceptions. It is not known precisely why, how or when this restriction began in the Church, but it has ended. Church leaders sought guidance regarding the issue and more than three decades ago extended the priesthood to all worthy male members. The Church immediately began ordaining members to priesthood offices wherever they attended throughout the world.

Official Doctrine and Racism

The Church unequivocally condemns racism, including any and all past racism by individuals both inside and outside the Church. In 2006, then Church president Gordon B. Hinckley declared that “no man who makes disparaging remarks concerning those of another race can consider himself a true disciple of Christ. Nor can he consider himself to be in harmony with the teachings of the Church. Let us all recognize that each of us is a son or daughter of our Father in Heaven, who loves all of His children.” Recently, the Church has also made the following statement on this subject: “The origins of priesthood availability are not entirely clear. Some explanations with respect to this matter were made in the absence of direct revelation and references to these explanations are sometimes cited in publications. These previous personal statements do not represent Church doctrine.”

Next week we are going to present Part II of this examination, and give you the low down on the doctrine and theology of Racism in Mormonism past . . . and present.

After this, maybe my personal frustrations will abate . . . for the time being.

Let’s open up the phone lines: (801) 973-8820 (801) 973-TV20

Our ability to do everything is directly related to how the Lord leads you and how you respond. That is the two-way method by which all things of God occur – how He leads and how we respond.

Please consider the following in this light:

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Hey just to let our Alathea Ambassadors out there in the Nation know, we mailed out over 100 packages to you yesterday and you ought to be receiving them in the next week. Thank you for your help in trying to reach the nation through this grass-root approach.

Ministry Objectives

We have long said that Mormons are in bondage – bondage to the demands of a non-Christian legalistic approach to salvation. Our ministry has always been aimed at reaching other people who too, feel trapped in the faith but aren’t sure why. It is our hope that the news of Jesus Christ crucified will reach to any and all who seek to escape from the clutches of Man-made religious institutions. But since moving here we have come to realize that not all people in Mormonism feel themselves in chains. You see for many Mormonism also provides an alluring sense of comfortable entitlements. Where true Christianity is certainly spiritually liberating, it does exact a price.

Faith and the Challenges of Cultural Entitlement

Living by faith and not by the things of this world is one challenge many people entirely miss in their religious walk. This is manifestly evident in the lives of Mormons who live on comfortable entitlements. For the higher-ups in the church, those with money, intelligence, a pioneer heritage, and enviable positions in the church, the false doctrine of being born a child of God from a mythical pre-existent state makes many of them not feel burdened by the demands of Mormonism (like those on the lower rungs experience), but instead entitled to do very little.

The Illusion of Entitlement

I see such attitudes expressed all over the Salt Lake valley in materialist presentations parading about seemingly impervious to how it feels not to be Mormon, white, rich, and educated. This cultural segmentation is not alive and well only in Mormonism, it thrives wherever people gather, but within Mormonism, it is particularly evident because of their insidious teachings on rights to membership and money based on pre-mortal valiance.

The Bondage of Cultural Norms

And while this attitude is also a form of bondage, it is a bondage from which very, very few will ever escape.