Heart of the Matter Broadcast Overview

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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 47

Word of Wisdom IV
November 11th 2008

About the Host and Broadcast

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

AM 820 The Truth! Listen to Heart of the Matter every Tuesday night from 8-9pm

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Got Truth? Go to 820 AM KUTR The Truth

Really have great programming for Christians seeking to know the Word, and for seekers seeking to know the Lord.

I Was a Born-Again Mormon

(read endorsements from book)

IWABAM is available at: UTLM.ORG or in the store itself. Oasis Books in Logan Christian Gift and Bible in Sandy New Life books in Layton Sam Weller’s downtown SLC Calvary Chapel and other CC book stores Dolly’s Books in Park City Gift of Grace Bible in Springville

…and at www.bornagainmormon.com

Encouragement for Personal Change

Hey! You! Yeah, the one over there who has been “pretending” in one way of another for all these years.

Have you abandoned ship yet? What? “You don’t know what to do?”

Just go to UTLM.org OR bornagainmormon.com for instructions. Then take the step to remove your name from the rolls of “the institution.”

Why?

One, why not show them up there on North Temple that you will not be controlled by their threats of damnation any longer – that Jesus is enough for you – and you don’t need their Joseph.

Maybe your departure will reemphasize that you want to hear the Bible taught – enough about the “lives of the LDS prophets,” crap.

Maybe you will pave the way for others in your life – to show them you did it and you are just fine – in spite of all the dire threats and warnings.

Finally, you will be sending a message out loud and clear, “I want out. It’s over. It’s dead. I want to stand before God someday and exclaim: “You were enough for me!”

Go to www.utlm.org or www.bornagainmormon.com, where you can learn how to write the letter, where to send the letter, and how to abandon ship!

Now get your calendars out and mark Friday, December 5th from 7 to 9 pm – for the second annual KTMW Christmas open house!

Food, give-aways, Christmas cheer. Come by and say hello to all the hosts here on their sets. Friday, December 5th from 7-9pm.

Christian Involvement in Political Issues

Well on election day last week I said that biblical Christianity has no business getting involved in political issues in order to try and save the world from itself. Christianity is to be a light, not the moral police force of the world. I said that somehow Christians today have come to equate the “precious faith” with being active in politics and social issues.

When Jesus was brought before Pilate to be condemned to deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God., He made a very interesting comment, saying:

John 18:36 “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.”

Commenting on the vitality and importance of what Jesus said before Pilate, Paul later wrote in 1st Timothy 6:13 that Jesus witnessed “a good confession. A confession that was not according to the ways of this world.

Again, should we pray? Yes. Love? Always – endlessly. Share our faith? Absolutely. But try and monitor and govern the world by our moral code – no.

Over the past week we have seen first-hand why this stance is so important. In California there was an initiative on the ballot to ban same-sex marriage. It was nick-named “the Mormon initiative” as the LDS church threw themselves behind it.

Well, Californian voters passed the initiative and in response, homosexual protesters have gathered around LDS temples to publicly display their distain for the Church’s involvement. Now, some may be of the impression that the LDS Church is to be admired for their public stance. “Good for them to “stand for something!” Bravo! Tally hoe!”

If individuals are inclined to protest or support initiatives, more power to them. But I find the collective, institutional LDS stance neither commendable nor truly Christian. All it shows me is that their kingdom is of this world.

What Mormonism did was merely use their money, muscle, and influence to have their way. Let me ask you, where will such involvements end?

“If Mormonism were big enough and strong enough, would it rally its people to reinstitute prohibition too?

What about polygamy and blood atonement? Or the requisite observance of special Sunday laws?"

These are, or were, at one time very important “moral” issues.

Influence of Dietary Laws in Religious Doctrine

What I am trying to say is there is nothing heroic or necessarily Christian about the LDS involvement in getting Prop 8 passed. I don’t think Jesus would have been publicly behind it.

But then again, what Jesus stood for has never really mattered to the LDS institution when it comes to their ways, has it?

And with this, let’s have a prayer.

PRAYER PRAYER PRAYER

Well tonight the show is really going to live up to the claim of being the place “where Mormonism meets biblical Christianity face to face.” If you want to get some ammunition, get your Bibles out, my friends.

Over the past few weeks we’ve had a brief but good look at what the LDS call their “Word of Wisdom,” or code of health – you know, no tea, coffee, alcohol, tobacco, or harmful drugs. We’ve looked at the origin of the revelation, and Joseph’s subsequent failure to obey it, and how it was optional for seventy-five years but today has become a mandate for salvation – with salvation defined as afterlife with God – and a primary indicator of being a good person.

Biblical Dietary Commands

Well, just what does the Bible say about what human beings eat and drink . . . and smoke and ingest? Let’s step back a moment and look first at what God had in mind relative to what His people consumed. Now, as we move along through this discussion, gently ask yourself why our Great God Almighty – creator of all things – created coffee beans, and tea leaves, and grapes that ferment, and animal meat that taste so good?

Now originally, it seems God granted the use of vegetables and fruits for the food of man – with the exception of the Fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil. We read in Genesis:

“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”

I am of the personal opinion that the use of animal food was probably not known to the antediluvians (or the people prior to Noah.) I may be wrong about this, though. Nevertheless, it seems like after the flood, Noah is then given a distinct law on the subject of eating animals:

(Genesis 9:2-4)

“And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.”

Pretty straightforward stuff, eh?

Dietary Laws and Cultural Separation

When the Children of Israel fled from Egypt, God, wanting to raise up and protect His peculiar people from mixing with the surrounding pagan nations, instituted a number of things that would keep them separated – and their dietary laws were very effective at accomplishing this. We can read about them in Leviticus chapter 11.

These restrictions automatically and immediately segregated the Children of Israel from the rest of the world. This was, in my opinion, the primary motivation for the law. Health too, but it primarily set them apart. But where Joseph Smith’s Word of Wisdom has God say that meat was not so good, and that strong drink and wine are not so good, there was actually a lot of “liberty” in God’s plan for the Children of Israel in what they could eat and drink.

In fact, listen to the tenor of the Lord’s commands when it came to this liberty:

Freedom of Choice in Consumption

In Deuteronomy 14:25 there is a discussion about money, then in verse 26 it says:

“And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household.”

So where God’s covenant people were permitted to eat as much of these meats as they so lusted, and to buy and drink strong drink and wine, Joseph’s God out did Himself with the Mormons and said, “No, no, no,” Even though Joseph continued to say, “yes, yes, yes.”

MANipulation.

The Evolution from Law to Grace

Living monotheist God to the COI, and the Law, and these dietary commands served to keep the COI separate and peculiar, but they did little to separate them from sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. and rebellion. This fact underscores the difference between the COI and the Law and Christians living by faith in a dispensation of grace.

Acts Chapter 15 and the Question of Circumcision

In Acts chapter 15, well after Jesus ascended into heaven, a group of Pharisees attempted to reinstitute part of the law – the rite of circumcision – back upon the backs (or other parts) of gentile converts. In response to this Pharisaical appeal to religion, Acts 15 says:

“And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them,

“Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

Now therefore, why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.”

The apostles knew what it would take to keep them – and Gentile converts – from their sinful and rebellious ways – not circumcision, special days of worship, and restrictions from eating or drinking certain things – but faith! Herein is a main difference between The Law and Grace, religion and relationship, outward adherence versus inward change.

Transition from Outward Observances to Inward Allegiance

In preparation for what He was about to accomplish, Jesus began to introduce to His followers some transitional thinking that moved them away from outward observances and toward inward allegiance, saying in Matthew 15:11:

“Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.”

Did you hear that Bishop? Stake President? Thomas Monson?

After Jesus said this, the disciples came to Him and told Him that such teachings were “offending the Pharisees.”

Jesus replied:

“Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.”

I would place ALL my money on the drunkard, the smoker, the addict who knows the Lord’s Gospel of grace a trillion times over a tea-totalling aesthetic who thinks because he has never smoked or drank makes him worthy or righteous for the Kingdom of heaven.

And yet Mormonism today, has resurrected these legalisms and requires “all to obey” who want to receive what they say is necessary for salvation – their temple rites, and rituals, and legalisms.

Paul made the point perfectly clear in Romans 14:17 where He said:

“For the kingdom of GodGod’s spiritual reign—fulfilled and present, not political or future. is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

You see, once Jesus erased sin, death, disease, and outer and inner filth permanently from the lives of all who believe – past, present, and future – what people eat or drink became a big, fat, none-event.

Excuse me? Excuse me, but did you just hear what I said?

I said:

“Once Jesus erased sin, death, disease, and outer and inner filth from the lives of all who believe . . .”

You see, there was no need for special dietary rules and regulations any longer to keep people separate and peculiar. All are invited into the kingdom as the way had been cleared of all to enter in.

Did you hear that too?

The way was open to all – black people, white people, gentile people, Jewish people, women people, men people, slave people, midget people, gay and straight people, sinful people, smoker people, drinker people, people who dress badly people, people who dress goodly people, rich people, poor people, armless and leg-less people – all freaking people – REGARDLESS of who they are, what they have done, OR what they even continue to do – to enter into the unconditional love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that comes through faith in Jesus.

You get it? Huh?

How about some more?

Paul said in 1st Corinthians 8:8

“But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we…”

Biblical Teachings on Eating and Drinking

The topic of legalismRule-based religion is over. Faith and love—not law—define life with God now. in dietary practices is addressed by Paul in Colossians 2:16, where he states:
“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.”

This challenges the strict legalistic approach observed by some religious groups. Paul further writes in 1st Timothy 4 that “in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy (that means saying one thing and doing another – Joseph), having their conscience seared with a hot iron; (that means acting and speaking outside of God’s will without a care) Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.”

Romans 14 and Christian Liberty

All this being said, there is perhaps no better summation of the biblical Christian approach to eating and drinking of any and all things than what is found in Romans chapter 14. So profound, so important, so contradictory is this chapter from the LDS demands for Word of Wisdom that I think it worth the time to read it. It won’t take too long. So open up to Romans 14 and read yet another biblical teaching that is at odds with contemporary Mormon doctrine and practice.

Romans 14:1 ¶ Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.

3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.

4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.

9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

Accountability and Avoiding Judgment

10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.

14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.

16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of:

17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.

19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.

21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of

The Liberty of the Gospel

My friends,

ANY FOOL can make a Rule and ANY Leader can talk like Peter (that second line is an original) but the liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be counterfeited or feigned. There is no “worthiness” that God sees in you because of what you eat or drink – Righteousness and worthiness was Singularly offered in the form of His Son, once and for all.

Eat well? Sure. Avoid addictions? Absolutely! It’s good. But don’t ever think you are worthy or better than another because you have been wise where others have stumbled, tripped or fallen. Because where you might have clear lungs and a healthy body, they may possess the better part – a heart for the Lord.

Contact Information

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Faith and Worthiness

faith is sin.

Conclusion