Heart of the Matter from Salt Lake City

March 11th, 2008

LIVE! From the “Mecca of Mormonism”
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
This is Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology.!
Show 12 State of the Ministry

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

Announcements and Updates

"I Was A Born-Again Mormon"

Where it can be purchased:
Gift of Grace Christian Supply in Springville
Utah Lighthouse Ministry
Christian Gift and Bible
Lifeway books in Murray
Oasis Books in Logan
Online at www.bornagainmormon.com

LORD’S WORD VIDEO

Last week, on Monday, March 3rd, we held our monthly traveling pastor meeting in Tooele. Pastor Pillow graciously opened up his church and prepared the baptismal font for our use and two people – Tanya and Glenn – made public professions of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and were baptized. Let’s take a look –

(Show video)

We’ve received quite a bit of criticism from people over our stance on baptism. Let me remind you of it so you can criticize us too –

We believe in baptism (obviously) and believe it is a good thing for people to do who are seeking to follow the Lord. We believe that baptism is a true public profession of faith. We do not believe baptism saves a person. We do not believe people are baptized into a denomination or that it is used as a way to obtain “membership status” in any group or institution. When we say, “no questions asked” on our website, we mean no questions regarding a person’s worthiness to obtain or participate in it. Hope this helps. We praise God for the blessing to help people express their faith in Him through this beautifully symbolic and significant rite.

Personal Reflections

Prayer

I am going to take a minute and bear my soul. It is important to share with you openly and honestly so you have the opportunity to know of our intentions and purposes.

Last week we had a caller from Illinois who claimed he was LDS. He called himself John. There are many things John said that make me think – along with most of our other viewers (especially those who have been LDS) – that John truly is who he claims to be. One of the things John asked last week (which is very typical of many accusatory LDS callers or emailers) was “What sins had I personally committed in my life which would cause me to “turn against the Church.” I told John that I had committed all of them.

I think this is a good time to lay out something we haven’t covered for a while here on Heart of the Matter that may help our newer viewers understand the intents and purposes of our show and ministry.

I worship daily at the throne of a sovereign God and King. I am His servant and slave. He has not only freed me from the bondage of sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. and deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God., but from the shackles of philosophy, the confines of ritualistic religious traditions, and the manipulations of Man.

As an LDS boy, teen, young man, and adult, I struggled greatly between two polarized inclinations. On the one hand, I had an endless thirst for knowing and pleasing God – really. I’ve always wanted to know Him. On the other hand, I was inclined toward all things of the flesh. If you thought I was self-willed, lustful, greedy, angry, violent, impetuous, and full of revenge you would have been correct. Mormonism constantly reminded me that those inclinations were faulty, but the only true solution to my nature (a regenerative relationship with Jesus Christ) was never presented to me as the first and final cure. The Church was the cure. My activity in it. My allegiance to it. My obedience to the “laws and ordinances of the LDS gospel” was the solution.

You see, as a member of the Church, I was always the one who was failing and falling short. I was always the one who couldn’t measure up to the stalwarts. I was always the one who was “morally inferior,” “emotionally challenged,” from a “less active family” or who was “occupationally different.” And let me make something clear right here and now – they were right. I was. I was morally inferior and I was to blame. Who can justify anger and rage and violence and lust or greed? Certainly God won’t! I couldn’t!

But the real question is not “what was the problem with Shawn McCraney?” The real question was “What is the solution for the Shawn McCraney’s of this world?” Get it? The LDS are not wrong in claiming that people like me are weak and sinful, but the solution they offer people like me was absolutely unacceptable and ineffective. Scouting and primary isn’t for every wayward boy. But they suggest it is.

The Challenge of Church Standards

Rules of conduct may work well for some people with high serotonin levels, but what about the rebels, the disaffected? Joseph Smith’s Word of Wisdom is fine and dandy, but what about those good hearted souls who love coffee, or tea, or a beer or cigarette every now and again? Are they banished by God like they are banished by the Church members? Mormons would lead you to believe this is so! To what lengths will Mormonism go to embrace those who are morally corrupt? Do they, like Jesus did, accept people who live at odds with their man-made standards?

What actually happens interpersonally and corporately when villainous coffee drinkers, cigarette smokers, and left-wing democrats visit what they say is the Savior's Church? Will they love and accept them as the Savior would and did? Will they give them callings of responsibility? Will the stalwarts let their children hang out with reprobates?

Realizing that no matter how hard I tried, I could not relate to the “Portrait of Authority” placed in front of me every week in priesthood and Bishopric meeting. No matter how hard I tried, I did not see or find the Jesus I read about in the Bible manifested in the week to week actions of this Church that claimed truth.

Other men and women and their families seemed to be able to live up to the Mormonism around me – but I couldn’t. And I witnessed firsthand how men and women were treated who were of a similar ilk. I remember seeing forty-five and fifty-five-year-old men sitting in classes all alone with Elders who were eighteen and twenty – because they drank coffee in the morning. Yet there were some of the most mean-spirited jack-holes in the world elevated to the High Priests group because they towed the party line. All religious organizations have good and bad people in them, but Mormonism has a built-in worthiness screening that serves to elevate the accomplished and ostracize the different, the struggling, and the lost.

Biblical Revelation

Then I started reading the Bible . . . I read things like:

1st Corinthians 1:23
But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness.

Huh, I thought. “The solution of the crucified Christ is thought of as foolishness.” Interesting.

I read where it says:

“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.”

“Wow,” I thought, “that fits me perfectly. I have nothing in which I could glory.” Then I remembered an illustration Jesus gave in Luke (18) where He said:

“Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,

”God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.”

And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,

“God be merciful to me a sinner.”

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Personal Spiritual Awakening

“Huh?” I said to myself, “this doesn’t sound like the gospel message I’ve been fed my whole life . . . a message where I need to be the righteous and holy one in order for God to save me.

A message where I am saved by grace . . . after all that I can do!” Why . . . why, this message sounds like our righteousness is nothing before God and in humility we see ourselves as truly sinful and pleading for God to save us IN OUR SINFUL STATE.”

So long story short, I was introduced to a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. A relationship that transcends religion, and rules, and my worthiness, but brings His righteousness to the forefront of the situation, causing me – for the first time in my life – to salute and bow and acquiesce, and worship something other than myself – JESUS. A relationship that actually empowered – and empowers – me to.

Discovering True Freedom

A relationship that frees me from the bondage of religion allowing me to serve and worship the true, living, sovereign God. So I look around, and I ask myself:

“Was I alone in the LDS Church?” “Was I the only reprobate who was lost?” No. “Was I the only one who didn’t fully connect to Mormonism while I faithfully served it?” No. “Are the searching LDS offered the only solution to the institutions inability to fix them or bring them peace – even a regenerative relationship with Jesus Christ? No, they are not.

Then the LORD told me to do something about it.

Calling Out for Personal Connection

And so we call out to those of you who have long sat in the LDS meetings and wondered if “that is all there is?” We call out to you with the promise of hope that awaits all who seek for Truth. We call out to those of you who do not have peace in Mormonism, who have not been accepted in Mormonism, who cannot or will not live as they tell you to live – but who want to know God personally and intimately.

We call to you. And we offer you a solution to that thing called yourself. We offer you what He offered over two thousand years ago and what He continues to offer everyone on earth today – His blood, His Life, and His liberty.

Reaching Out

Has the ministry been effective in reaching people with this message of true freedom in Jesus Christ? Before we go to the phones, let me cite a few emails we have gathered together over the last four weeks.

Let’s open the phones:
(801) 973-TV20
(801) 973-8820

Prefer LDS callers. Want first time callers only unless you are LDS. Turn your televisions down. Have a statement or question ready.

Service Information

LORD’SWORD Sundays 9:15-10:15 in the Gateway Megaplex Theaters 7-8pm at the university of Utah. Go to www.lordsword.org for more information. See you next week here on Heart of the Matter.