About This Video
Shawn McCraney discusses the idea that while Jesus has atoned for all sins globally, Christians should prioritize sharing the message of Jesus' love and truth rather than focusing on stopping sin in non-believers, reflecting on the distinction between Mormonism and Christianity in their perception of God the Father. He invites listeners to join gatherings at CAMPUS, a place for communal worship and fellowship, while encouraging participation from youth and Christian artists to foster a vibrant Christian community.
Jesus Christ came to make the unseen God known to humanity by embodying His fullness and revealing His character, since scripture underscores that no human has directly seen God. Christianity focuses on truth through scripture, emphasizing facts and faith grounded in biblical teachings over feelings, contrasting with Mormonism's approach that prioritizes feelings, which is considered misleading and untruthful by the teaching's author.
Bonneville Communications employs a strategic emotional advertising method known as "HeartSell" to engage audiences by first appealing to their emotions, then to their thoughts, and ultimately to their actions, while offering extensive distribution and production services for impactful messages. Shawn critiques the reluctance of major churches in America to accept materials aimed at educating their congregations about Mormonism, highlighting their preference for political harmony over religious truth, especially during critical political elections.
Shawn criticizes the Christian community for prioritizing political solutions over spiritual truths and warns that embracing institutions like Mormonism, which he describes as a successful yet misleading system, compromises biblical values. He highlights the choice of a Mormon conservative leader appointing an openly gay spokesperson as an example of moral relativism, urging Christians to stand for biblical truth and reject secular politics.
Heart of the Matter: State of the Union Address
The Heart of the Ministry
“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., where Mormonism Meets Biblical Christianity, face to face. State of the Union Address, April 24th 2012. And I’m your host, Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion.. We praise the True and Living God for allowing us to participate in this ministry. May He be with you (and us) tonight.
Why aren’t you going to church? WHY?! There are plenty of good ones out there and if you aren’t happy with any of them come join us at CAMPUS. Sunday at 10 am for what we call MILK and at 2:30 for what we have labeled MEAT. Join us. Go to www.C-A-M-P-U-S.com for more “info.”
And listen, beginning Sunday June 3rd we are adding a third gathering. For ages 16 to 25. Milk is at ten, Meat is at 2:30, And MAYHEM will be from 7-9. Mayhem will take on a completely different format than our other gatherings. So, if your 16 to 25 years of age, join us. If you’re a Christian band, contact us. If you are a Christian entertainer, call us. There will be food, open mic for any subject, and live music. That will begin Sunday June 3rd from 7-9 pm – ages 16-25. MAYHEM.
AM 820 The Truth! Listen to it. To what? AM 820 the Truth! Really, it is an outstanding radio station and Russ East does a great job managing it. AM 820 da trut!
I have to ask a question here. Someone please answer me – please! Call in and supply me with a New Testament response.
1st John 2:2 says, “And he (meaning Jesus) is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
And in first Timothy 4:10 it reads: “For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe.”
From this I take it that the Lord paid – propitiated – for the sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. of the whole world, not only for believers. And from this I understand that the whole world has been forgiven of sin – that the sin (and punishment demanded for sin) that once separated all people from the Father – has been made – and the world is reconciled to the Father by the Son. In other words, the whole world has been forgiven. Not saved, but forgiven.
Understanding Forgiveness and Sin
So here’s my question: If all sin has been paid for, by Christ, over two thousand years ago, why are Christians worried about and focused on stopping sin in the world today among non-believers? I understand helping members who are Christian see the need of dying to their former sinful ways, but I want someone to explain to me why any Christian today is concerned about stopping, controlling, or fighting against sin that exists in this fallen world – especially KNOWING that Jesus has paid the price for EVERYONE FOR ALL OF IT.
Isn’t the true purpose and obligation of the body of Christ to share Him as the solution to sin and eternal life, to represent Him in love and truth, to let the world go the way it is going to go but really show the world the joy of knowing the Lord? Please someone help me understand what I am missing. Call in and explain it to me.
The reason I ask is we are witnessing FIRST hand – right NOW – in the body, men and women who are willing to coddle and build bridges a wholly false religion as a means to help fight against sin like abortion, homosexual marriage, and euthanasia. But again, if Jesus paid the price for ALL sin for the ENTIRE world (whether people believe in Him or not) WHY are Christians as a whole, in the Church, in the Body, not just focusing on sharing the joy of knowing Jesus with the world?
A Moment "From The Word"
How about a Moment "From The Word"
One of the major, major, major differences between Mormonism and Christianity is the respective views on God the Father. Joseph Smith, in a series of revised and reformulated accounts, ultimately claimed that when he was a fourteen year old boy he saw God the Father in a body of flesh and bones, as tangible as mans, standing above him in the air with Jesus Christ standing next to him in his glorified body.
Opening up to John chapter five where we left off last week, turn to verse thirty-seven. Here Jesus says…
Understanding the Father
Something very different about the Father: “And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.” Earlier, in the first chapter of John, Jesus said:
John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. It’s one reason Jesus came – to declare in flesh the invisible God. In Exodus 33:20 God says, “no man shall see me and live.” The LDS will say, well how did Moses see this, or other passages say they saw God? They saw representations of God but not God Himself for if they had, according to Jesus, they would have died.
1st John 4:12 emphasized the point, saying: “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” And speaking of Himself – HIMSELF – Jesus said in John 6:46: “Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God (meaning Himself), he hath seen the Father.” How are we to understand the Father, the invisible God, the consuming fire? By and through His son whom He sent.
In Matthew 11:27 Jesus says “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Speaking of Jesus, Colossians 2:9 says “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” And Colossians 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.
Revealing Truth Through Jesus
Jesus, my friends, came and revealed the Father – all of His love, mercy, justice, and holiness – in flesh because He cannot be (and has not ever been seen) by any man – excepting our Lord. Joseph lied. His first vision was a blasphemous lie. Mormonism is built on a lie. Go to God directly and ask for eyes to see. Then let Joseph go and give it all over to Him who reconciled us to the invisible God.
Methods of Knowing Truth
For years we have examined the methods Mormonism uses to influence people and compared them with how God reaches men and women through the Bible. If you’ve watched long enough you have certainly heard me use a train as an example of Christian epistemology (how Christians claim to know truth) and Mormon epistemology (how they claim to know truth).
In Christianity, the order for knowing truth is FACTS FAITH FEELINGS (explain). But in Mormonism their method of getting people to know truth, to trust in them and their message, we find the reverse order: FEELINGS FAITH FACTS (explain). The LDS method is how the world works, how fallen men and women discern spiritual truths. Go to any urban sprawl – San Francisco, NYC, Sugarhouse – and you will find people at Haight Ashbury, Soho, and 9th and 9th talking about how they . . . “feel this way, they feel that way – and that the hard truths of God just don’t feel right.” The difference between them, the Mormons, and any other sensory-based group (including the third Reich when it existed) is, as I said, that Christians read the manual, they search out the facts stated in that manual, they place their faith in and on those facts, and then they are prepared to let their feelings operate upon this established foundation of truth.
Alathea Ministries Insights
We recently received some revelatory bits of information out of the Mormon campaign to mesmerize the world with its swooning influences. The first comes from long-time Alathea Ministries supporter, Laura. It’s an advertisement from CTR clothiers. For those of you who don’t know what CTR stands for is its Choose the Right, and it comes from a popular LDS song. Here’s what the advertisement looks like:
Laura adds with the picture: “I guess John the Baptist didn’t deliver the right message when he was on earth.” The second item is really fascinating. Mormonism owns a rather impressive collection of Media oriented companies through its for-profit business arm, Deseret Management Group. These businesses include major corporate flagship companies like:
- Temple Square Hospitality (which essentially owns and operates all the LDS attractions in and around downtown Salt Lake City).
- Beneficial Financial Group (one of the nation's largest insurance companies).
- Deseret Book (which oversees another half dozen media businesses in addition to book publishing).
- Deseret News
- Deseret Digital Media
- KSL Broadcast Division
- Bonneville International (which owns and operates radio stations in seven strategic markets across the United States).
It is on the Bonneville website that we find a clue as…
Mormon Methods of Persuasion
to the Mormon Methods of persuasion. They call it HEARTSELL. We thank Leah for forwarding this to us.
This is what it says:
“At Bonneville Communications, our ability to touch the hearts and minds of audiences makes us an essential resource for organizations with vital messages. For more than 30 years, our creative professionals have designed public service and direct response messages for national nonprofit organizations such as the Huntsman Cancer Institute, Boy Scouts of America, National Hospice Foundation, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and The Salvation Army. Our unique strength is the ability to touch the hearts and minds of our audiences, evoking first feeling, then thought and, finally, action. We call this uniquely powerful brand of creative "HeartSell"® – strategic emotional advertising that stimulates response. Our people not only create effective messages; we get them out effectively. We maintain an ongoing public service relationship with more than 11,000 radio and TV stations and networks, and cable networks and systems in North America alone. We distribute public service and paid media campaigns directly from our offices in Salt Lake City. We provide all pre-production, production, and post-production services, as well as state-of-the-art special effects and post-production facilities, closed captioning, electronic tagging, and video and audio duplication. We are an advertising agency engaged in communications for quality life. Our people are driven by the belief that advertising can – and should – be a powerful, positive influence on the values and lives of people.“
From what we see going on around the nation, the HeartSell approach must be working. (beat) We’ll explain why . . . after a WORD of PRAYER.
Historical Perspective on Mormonism
Whether we look back 180 years ago, fifty years ago, or even fifteen years ago, biblical Christianity has always viewed Mormonism for what it is – a false religion founded on the philosophies of Man which are in almost every way antithetical to the gospel of grace.
Yet today – without the LDS church having altered one single doctrine of their burgeoning religion – a large majority of the leading churches in this country have willingly turned a blind eye to their unbiblical facts and have decided to build bridges with them. Part of the reason is . . . fear . . . whimpy-whimpish fear – fear which I believe Jesus Himself would have ridiculed.
Ten weeks ago, in February of this year, our ministry sent a professional package to the 100 largest churches in America (not including Joel Osteen’s). In the pack was a cover letter explaining the contents of the package, a DVD portraying a history of our television ministry, a brochure detailing a national tour we are embarking on this Summer, and a free hardback copy of our most recent and widely distributed book – “Where Mormonism Meets Christianity Face to Face.”
We explained our hope of being able to help equip the Saints in their care through a totally FREE, no cost, “no love offering”) outreach when we passed through their area beginning in June. In addition to hitting these highly influential churches, our ministry has over one hundred individual believers living in 43 different states who we call our Ambassadors. We contacted them with the opportunity to take these very same packages out to the smaller local churches in their areas and to extend to them the same invitation . . . have Alathea ministries stop in and equip their congregates with the truth about Mormonism.
Ambassador Outreach Efforts
Seventy-eight of our Ambassadors responded and asked to receive the packages and for the past three months they have gone out to the churches and Christian radio stations in their areas with the opportunity.
The result? From the 100 largest churches in America, we received a thank you card from a Senior Pastor in Florida thanking us for the book. From our ambassadors not one single invitation was produced from any church of any size. What is going on?
Our Ambassador in Colorado, Alan, went out to eleven of the biggest churches in that state and was cooly rejected by them all. But he did get a letter from a Senior Pastor And among other things, this is what he said:
"With the critical timing of the Presidential election and candidates involved, we see the potential of (Shawn speaking) causing a divide in our church and community."
TRANSLATION:
We care MORE about political solutions to our nation than truth!
Translation?
We want to ensure that come next January ANYONE but our current President is in office – even if it means
The Challenge of Mormonism and Christianity
Electing a Mormon.
Are all things in the Lord’s time? Certainly. As a ministry, we are truly committed to the idea that where God guides, God provides. Nevertheless, the lack of response completely endorses what we have long suspected – the Body of Christ today is far more concerned with political solutions than spiritual truths. Let me tell you right here and now that the Body is gonna pay an incomprehensible price for taking this unconscionable, cowardly way out. Because like we said last week, Mormonism works.
Having been part of the mechanism for forty years, I can attest to you that it is the single best religious machine on the face of the earth. Diabolically driven? Absolutely. But in the fallen world, SUCK CESS FUL. And in this day and age, it is a system that rarely fails because it appeals to “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” To the secular world, their outward success will certainly serve to impress the impressionable, and to the uninformed believers, its ability to deceive will at a greater and greater rate draw people out of Christian pews and into their whited temples.
The Influence of Mormonism
I honestly believe that we are literally witnessing the seeds, if not the very foundation of last days, being poured. It’s at least in its preparatory stage for “that man of sin to be revealed” with a very Laodicean body choosing to build bridges with religious institutions that just fifteen years ago were wisely shunned due to doctrine, not embraced because of values. When will Christians stand for biblical truth and reject secular politics altogether? Maybe sooner than we think.
Just this morning, as Mary and I were exercising, a news flash burst across the television screen: The great “conservative hopeful,” the “anyone but the guy with the suspicious birth certificate person,” the faithful Mormon chose his foreign policy spokesman . . . a publicly, outspokenly open gay man named Richard Grenell, who waged a public battle with the State Department to add his longtime partner to a diplomatic registry in 2008 and who is also on the record as a supporter of gay marriage. In the face of where the largest churches across the nation have placed their hope, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Not that a gay man or woman has been put in a position of power – I’ve no issue with it – but that there are men of God who understand the Bible that have set the truth aside in order to support a faithful Mormon with the expectation that he will morally rectify the Union! HA!
And this is just the beginning. You see, what most people outside of the Western United States do not understand is the moral relativism that flows through the veins of Mormonism. This country has not seen nor experienced their relentless drive for power, nor do they understand that Mormonism is a faith that believes ALL people are going to some level of heaven – even those who reject Jesus! They have never learned or they have ignored the fact that Mormonism today believes God is in a body of flesh, that Jesus is humankind's created brother, and that the highest heaven exists only for those who do the most for the Mormon Church while on earth. God help us.
Open Discussions
Let’s open up the phone lines:
(801) 973-8820
(801) 973-TV20
We would show you an ad for the National Tour here but . . . shine it. The Nation can get what it deserves. While the operators are clearing your calls, let me share another eye-opener going on around the Nation presently.
