Heart of the Matter

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 Christianity Face to Face.” Show 40 The Three Big Questions September 23rd 2008

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

Broadcast Information

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Event Recap

Last Saturday afternoon we held our annual outreach – Burning Heart 08. Throughout the day we have well over 600 people show up. We were blessed by testimonies, fantastic music, tremendous food and fellowship, and a gathering of well over 600 people who came and went throughout the day. In the evening, I had the absolute blessing of baptizing thirteen people into the body of Christ – including an entire family of seven. The Lord blessed us with His spirit which brought love, peace, unity, and fellowship to all that were there. We THANK you for coming. For chancing the weather which turned out to bless us, and we invite you to all join us next year.

Alright, we are now planted and established on three college campuses on Sundays. Get your pen and paper – here we go.

Sunday Mornings from 9:15 to 10:15 we’re at:
The University of Utah (in the) Web Building (which is the Warnock Building) room 1230 72 Central Campus Drive

Then, Sunday evenings, we’re at again at
The University of Utah (in the same room)
AND
Weber State (in the) Shepherd Union Building Room 331 On Harrison Blvd.
AND
Utah State University (in the) Nutrition and Science Building Room 202 (it’s the place where they sell their ice cream on campus) 725 North and 1200 East
Got all that? Go to www.lordsword.org. Hey . . . just come and see. All are welcome.

Acknowledgments

We want to thank all of you for your support – which comes to us in a number of very meaningful ways. We appreciate your prayers. There is nothing MORE important to our ministry than your prayers. We thank you for your time to volunteer to share our ministry with your neighbors, family and friends – for telling people about Heart of the Matter – for volunteering your precious time to help us out. And we thank those of you who have been led by God to support us financially. All of these avenues of support mean more to us than you will ever know . . . at least here on earth. May the Lord bless you as you follow His leading in your lives.

JUST A LITTLE FYI – We are really behind on responding to your emails. Please forgive us. We’ll get back to you within the next week.

Outreach to LDS Community

Alright, before we get to the message tonight, let me address something here on the air. While we seek to share and teach Jesus with all peoples, it is our primary mission and ministry to reach out to the LDS with the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ.

We seek to have all Latter-day Saints experience spiritual rebirth and to establish a relationship with Jesus which transcends religious allegiance. This being the case, we are NOT here to give the LDS members equal time in an effort to combat us, argue, or muddy the waters of the truth – unless – they are official representatives of the Church. Now critics ask why we will only have official representatives on the show.

It’s not because official representatives are the only members who know Mormon doctrine and history – it’s because only official representatives of the Church are under the obligation to speak the truth and reality of Mormonism – which is probably why they won’t come on the air. Where an official representative must respond with Mormon truth, non-official LDS members can – and usually will – say whatever is necessary – to convince others about Mormonism being true.

Our position is irritating to certain small but maniacal group of LDS people who have somehow decided that it is their job to defend the church. These guys remind me of these rabid star-trek fans that were known as “Trekkies.” Make no mind that Star Trek was pure fantasy, the Trekkies insisted on spending all their free time living for and defending it as though it was a reality. Even William Shatner told them to “get a life.”

Well to these types we give NO voice. Why? First, they can and will say what they want, twist what they want, and present what they want as truth – especially when they are cornered – in order to defend the kingdom of Joseph. I don’t mind people believing.

Counter-Intuitive Communication

Things different than me, but I do mind twistianity and deception. Secondly, let’s say, for example, that our ministry focused on helping unwed pregnant girls refuse abortion and have their child. And let’s say we wanted to give them hope, and to reassure them, and to promote the concept that having the child would bless them in the long run. Wouldn’t it be counter-intuitive for us to allow people to call in and try their best to influence these same girls to abort their babies? Yes, it would.

This is the thinking of the self-appointed “Mekkies” or Mormon Trekkies. Somehow they think it is their right to call in on our show and muddy the waters with their dementia. We’ll I’ve got news for you – we don’t care who you think you or what insights you think you possess on Mormonism, from any angle relative to the Bible – it is another gospel and it is false. Now if you are a searching Latter-day Saint, or if you have a legitimate question – even as a Mormon believer – we welcome your calls and emails and comments. But if you are a Mekkie, don’t call us. Your own Church leaders won’t even give you the time of day. And neither will we.

And with that, let’s open with prayer.

Readdressing Life's Fundamental Questions

Years ago, when I went door to door through Pennsylvania representing Mormonism, I would have a flip chart in hand, often asked THREE questions so we could tell people our answers:

Where did I come from?
Why am I here?
Where am I going?

Now there are all kinds of myths and fables and stories told over the ages as a means to answer these three questions. Science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard provided his fables – and people who call themselves “Scientologists” accept them. Mary Baker Eddie had her version and people today called Christian Scientists accept her answers. If you come up with a story and press them strongly enough and long enough on unsuspecting people, you can get a following. As an LDS missionary, I presented searching people with answers that came from the mind of one man – Joseph Smith.

TONIGHT I want to re-address and re-answer those very questions . . . but instead with what the Bible has to say . . . or, what God says . . . how HE answers.

Where Did I Come From?

First, the question: WHERE DID I COME FROM?

Now Joseph Smith said all of us have always existed. Before coming to earth we were spirit matter (which even God couldn’t create) living in a pre-mortal existent state. This fantasy – this other gospel – is truly at the core of Mormon teachings today. I would suggest that more is said, taught, described, and referred to in Mormon meeting houses the world over about this “pre-mortal existence” story than stories and teachings about Jesus.

Well, where did we come from? The first four words in the Book of Genesis give each and every one of us a definitive summation of an answer: “In the beginning, God.” Not in the beginning “we,” but in the beginning God. “In the beginning God created THE HEAVEN and the EARTH.” Think about this. He created the heaven (all things above us) and the earth (all things beneath).

He created ALL THINGS? Where Genesis 1:1 says God created the heavens and the earth, John 1:1 (and speaking of JESUS) says: “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” ALL THINGS – made by God – who John says was Jesus.

(beat)

From the macro level of the universe to the micro level of the cell! All things. The Heavens – trillions upon trillions upon trillions of light years in every direction – and expanding. Galaxies without number, holding stars and planets without number, holding Solar systems without number. More than the sands of the sea . . . our God created!

Then within the heavens, concourses of angels, or different ranks, and orders, and power. And then within this unfathomably vast universe of universes, Jesus created earth. With an atmosphere, and mountains, deserts, land, sea, sky, clouds . . . . Sequoias, pines, oaks, palms . . . . whales, gorillas, giraffes, elk, lions, dogs . . . cats . . . mice . . . teetsie flies . . . mites . . .

Cells, with more complexity than any man-made industrial complex . . atoms . . . quarks . . . (BEAT)

A planet so vast, complex, and incomprehensible, He created . . . in the beginning.

Then, God decided to create a being that was different from all.

Creation of Man

The other creatures on earth – because this creature was in His own image – three parts in one. This being could reason, worship, make choices based on a higher power's influence. This being could enjoy, explore, and relate to God its creator. And God created this being to enjoy the earth He made so this being would have fellowship with him. The first of these beings was called Adam. The second, which God took from Adam, was called Eve.

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

This is where you and I came from . . . Created by God from the dust of the ground and made alive by the breath of God. Genesis does not say:

“And God took the pre-existent spirit of Adam and injected it into the body he created for him out of eternally existing matter.”

Once God breathed into the nostrils of the first Man Adam and made him a living soul, this breath of God was passed down to each of us pro-creatively and through each generation.

The Purpose of Our Existence

3. So, “Why are we here?” There are actually two parts to this question.

Why were we initially here, and why are we here now. Initially, we were created to enjoy the blessed earth God had made and to have fellowship with Him. God is the God of the living, not the God of the dead. Living things are constructed, thriving, full of light and dying things decay. God created Man perfect, and in this state, could have fellowship with Him. And told these first souls what to do and what not to do. But being God – and this is so important – He gives all of us complete and total free will. If He didn’t He would not be a good God for us to love and have fellowship with, but would be a despotic God, a demon, and horrid child who created clay figures then forced them to act. But this is not God.

He gives total liberty to all His earthly creations and His heavenly creations. Now one of those heavenly creations – because of His beauty and pride and desire to become like God – chose to rebel against Him. And this angel was cast out of heaven with one third of the heavenly hosts who seemed to have sided with him. And our forefather Adam, when tempted by the fallen angel to rebellion, chose to go against God’s do’s and don’t and corrupted God’s creations, which threw our home and our relationship with God into rebellion, introducing chaos, disease, decay, and sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. to our world – things which are not of a God of the living.

Life's Challenges and Choices

This is where every one of us find ourselves today – inheritors of the defiled spirit God breathed into our Father Adam and living in a fallen world! Therefore WHY we are here now has a very different answer than why we were initially created to be here. Why we are here NOW has a hundred billion different answers . . . all depending on . . . (beat) . . . you. In the least, God has given you life which we spend in this fallen and decaying circumstance. Some of life is good, some is bad, but we all have the choice to do with it as we so choose.

So while we are here to enjoy life and live according to how God intended us to live, the most important and pivotal issue relative to our existence is to get ourselves back to the state God wanted us to be in in the first place – as His Children and in a relationship with Him. THIS IS WHY WE ARE HERE.

Now the LDS, have a very different picture of “Why we are here.” It was their version of “Why were here” – more specifically, their explanation of the Fall and God’s appreciation of it – that got me wondering about Mormonism’s gospel. You see, I got to the point in my life where I wanted nothing to do with a God who sent me to live in a place where people – including children – are raped, murdered, imprisoned, and where most of the world lies in starvation and desperation. I could not reconcile a belief in a God like this or His plan. What helped me understand and ultimately receive the True and Living God was to recognize that God is NOT the author

The LDS Perspective on the Fall

of this fallen world or the things within it. He does not want his creations to suffer. He does not like deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God., disease, decay. How can anyone believe in a God who says: “There, there little one, being dragged behind that car because of your color is a character-building moment or a test to see if you really love me?” Not me.

But this is the God the LDS embrace. Listen to what this LDS Sunday School Lesson book teaches regarding the Fall.

(Read text)

In other words, Adam and Eve were told by God NOT to eat of the fruit and they did. To Christians, this is called Sin. To the LDS, it is called courageous. There are several ramifications of this non-biblical stance.

Ramifications of the LDS Perspective

First, it makes the Fall the will of God, which makes all the sin and decay that has resulted in the Fall His will too. I can worship a God who, because He allows Man to choose, allows things to go very badly as a result. I cannot worship a God who sends some of His spirit children to an earth that is worse than any nightmare imaginable because they need to feel pain, suffering, and death.

Secondly, the LDS version of the Fall places pain, solution, and recovery from its effects squarely upon the shoulders of each individual. To the Christian, the recovery and solution was placed on Jesus, through whom we find our only solace, comfort, and peace. If the Fall was planned and good, like the LDS suggest, then we are all down here in one giant competition to prove our holiness and worthiness. But if the Fall was evil and not required, we are all here under the burden of sin, but have a redeemer upon which we can look for survival. Get it?

Eternal Consequences

Which brings us to the final question: Where are we going after this life? Life is interesting because it seems like we are here for a very long time. At the same time, life slips through our hands like water, and before we know it, we are old, then dead, which is the result of living in a decayed and dying world. And we disappear – forever – from this mortal plane. Billions upon billions of God’s creations have simply disappeared. Poof. Gone. Our bodies reaping the harvest of living in a fallen, sinful place.

And remember the “breath that God breathed into us through Father Adam? Well that breath – that spirit – just like our bodies – has been corrupted and decayed through exposure to the conditions of this world. When we die, this spirit should return to God who gave it. But guess what? If the spirit which was corrupted from birth is not cleaned up IT CANNOT return to God the grand and holy creative fire of all things, but will instead go to a place that God created for those angels who rebelled against Him in heaven.

1. The Hebrews called this place Sheol and Tophit; Jesus called it Gehenna.
2. Scripture says it is eternal.

Well, if we are born with corrupted spirits into a corrupted world and we leave in the same manner in which we came, we are going to join those filthy spirits in the place created for them before the world was. There is nothing we can do to escape hell. Nothing. No good works. No life well lived. No good or generous heart. Whether it’s a life of sin or a little teaspoon of sin, all of it will banish us from God’s presence and place our souls in hell forever.

Now some people say that this isn’t fair! “Why would God create me,” they say, “so I can die and live eternally in hell? This doesn’t seem like a good and loving and fair God, does it?” The answer would be “no, it doesn’t” if our creator was indifferent to us, uncaring, unloving – like the king of this fallen world. But our God is not such an uncaring despotic being.

God's Alternative

He does not want any of us to suffer this. So He sent His only Son – God in the flesh, the creator of all things – to suffer for all the conditions and sins of this Fallen world. He took on the burden, the sin, and all we have to do to be saved from it is believe – have faith – in the Lord named Yeshua – Joshua- Iesuos – Jesus.

God did not say you are going to a certain kingdom if you are an unforgiven liar or adulterer or thief – He said you are going to hell. God didn’t say to live with Him.

Salvation Through Faith

You have to do temple endowments, and certain ordinances, and join this institution or that – He said you have to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord – and you will be saved!

Fundamental Questions of Existence

Where did you come from?

FROM the dust given the breath of life from God.

Why are you here? To live life more abundantly through Jesus Christ.

Where are you going?

To heaven if you have received Him in faith, and to hell if you have not.

Contact Information

Let’s open the phones:

(801) 973-TV20
(801) 973-8820

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