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TESTIMONIALS


BIBLE: Deuteronomy 31:6  "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee...8And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed."

 

The following are Testimonies of those who have transitioned out of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, into a genuine relationship with Christ. If you would like to share your testimony from LDS to Christ, please contact us.

 

Brian J. Mackert -Out of Polygamist Mormonism

Melissa Grimes - My testimony

 


 

mormondoctrine.net                              More Testimonies       Testimonies at mormondoctrine.net

         

                                                                

Utah Lighthouse Ministry                       Testimony                Testimonies at UTLM.org

 

 

Mormons in Transition                           Testimony                Testimonies at www.irr.org

 

 

Concerned Christians                             Site link                    Several Tesimonies

 

 

Exmormon.org                                        Site link                    Hundreds of stories of Ex-Mormons

                                                                  Site link                    Hundreds of biography messages


 

Hello, my name is Marianna, and I was intrigued by your review of Beyond Mormonism.  First of all, I am a born again believer, daughter of a pastor, and in dental school where I have come into contact with many Mormons, some of whom I count as dear friends.  I deeply desire for them to know Christ for who He really is.  But I need advice from someone who is familiar with their perspective. What things triggered or spoke to you to cause you to leave the Mormon church? Are there books that you would recommend that they would actually read? Any witnessing approaches?

Or simply refer me to other sources, I would appreciate anything, and especially your prayers! Thank you!

His, Marianna


Hi Marianna,

Thank you for your very nice message.

Praise God!  You are a born again believer.  Thank you for your interest in wanting to minister to your Mormon friends.  Many Mormons do not think that they are misguided or wrong, on the contrary they believe that everyone but them are disillusioned.  I think that when they see someone like you, who loves Jesus and lives a life in Him it catches their attention, because they are supposed to be the "only true church" according to LDS teachings.

A good book that I would recommend for a started to help you, would be one called Mormonism 101 by Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson.  It is very informative and straight forward.  Mormonism, Mamma, and Me is a well written book from a soft angle that was authored by "Granny" Geere, I think her first name was Thelma, she bet a 1830 edition of the BoM to anyone that could prove her wrong, for 16 years no one has claimed the prize.  A good site for information is www.utlm.org and it is full of literature and website links that can help you find info that you may want to read. 

Yours is a good question concerning my conversion...I believe that it is very unique for each person.  I will say that it was a number of circumstances that led to my eyes being opened to Jesus.  One of the things that had the greatest influence on me was an individual that I worked with who loved the Lord big time, and was an example of the character of Jesus with out really saying a word about it.  I brought it up to him, and we began a slow dialogue over a period of a couple of years. He eventually felt comfortable enough to share the "truth" with me about Mormonism and Christianity and I was highly offended by what he said at the time.  It took me about a year to really understand what he was trying to tell me.  Since I was born into Mormonism, I knew very little about any other way.  I was pretty bullheaded and blinded until...

About 3 years ago there was a series of deaths in my family, and in my circle of friends, and even a couple of my customers died during a 6 month period.  I became very emotional and separated from others.  I was unable to share my feelings with anyone for a long period of time and just kept it all in.  One day I went to see the movie called the Titanic and near the end a girl that was sitting behind me at the theatre was quietly sobbing and her little noises were in tune with my heart and for some reason it broke.  I started crying (I was with the guys my wife's brothers and dad), and I could not quit.  I hid it pretty well for the 1/2 hour drive home, but when I got there, I went up into my office and literally broke.  I cried for hours...If you had know me before I shed few tears.  I did not know what to do with myself, cause I could not quit crying.  Eventually, some of what my friend had said to me and some things that I was able to get from the radio during my long daily commutes, started filling my mind, and I fell to my knees and said,  "Lord, I don't know you...I want to know you.  Forgive me. I want to serve you. Show me what it is that is keeping me from you...."

When I woke up in the morning, I did OK for about 20 minutes, and then I burst into tears again, and my wife came and asked me if everything was alright, and I could not explain what was happening to me.  I went to town and during the commute, I turned my radio on to a Christian radio station and a song was playing that turned me to a complete sap, so much that I had to pull over off the road because my glassed fogged up and I could not drive.  This was really strange for me, because I was always made of steel in every situation, and was able to handle literally everything that came my way before, without much emotion, so I was not sure how to handle this new super sensitive emotional character that was surfacing.  I finally got back on the road and into town, and was driving down Fairveiw past the cemetery when the Lord began a process in me.  I noticed a woman with three children in the cemetery, she was crying at a stone and two of her children were standing looking down at her and the third was off in the distance throwing rocks at the swans in the pond. (I had three children and so did my friend who was just recently killed by a train).  Anyway, when I looked back at the road, it was as if the world temporarily went from black and white to full color and I was able to see the thoughts of those whom I saw for the remainder of that drive.  They were concerned with what they looked like in their cars, credit card debt, house payments, work, family, everything else but the concerns of the kingdom.  I had no understanding of the kingdom at that moment, nor did I have any grasp except surface reading, in the Bible. As I turned into the subdivision where my company was working, I noticed two homes that had their garage doors open and they were crammed full of stuff.  The Lord whispered in my ear, "You come here with nothing and you leave here with nothing." I was blown away by those words.  When I got to the jobsite where my employees were working, I went in and visited them for a moment to make sure they had plenty to do, and then got in my truck and drove home. 

When I turned into my drive, and hit the remote garage door opener to my shop, as the door lifted, I began to realize that that God was answering my prayer of the evening before...I asked Him to show me what was keeping me from Him.  My garage was full of stuff, I was the one who was so concerned about what I looked like in my truck, credit card debt, the house payment, family, and work, everything but the things of the kingdom!

I went to my office and sat down, put my arms behind my head and began to ponder the day.  I found myself facing the wall where I had 2 weeks previous, taped two pieces of paper together containing my goals and plans, a list that anyone would have been proud of.  As I read this list, the Lord again spoke to me, and said, " That ain't it, Eric!"  I was almost offended, so I carefully re-read the list of goal.  The first was God.  I knew that many attempt to put him first, and the Bible tells us to, but I really did not know what that meant.  Next on the list was go to church more, tithe more, read the scriptures more, etc.  Then my family graced its pages, my wife, and all the things that I thought would have been perfect.  I listed my children and work, and monetary goals, etc...I finally said out loud after re-reading the list, "If a guy could do all those things, he'd be perfect!"

God said, "That ain't it, Eric!"

I wasn't sure what to do.  There was a pair of scissors on the desk and I impulsively peeled the note from the wall, and cut the paper, right near the top, I then re-taped it to the wall, and threw the rest in the garbage.  The only thing left on the paper was the word, "God".

He said, "That's it!  You put me first and everything else will fall into place"

At that moment I was set on fire for the Lord.  I decided to seek his face, at all cost.  And what a cost it has been, but I would not change a thing.  I am more on fire for Jesus today than I was yesterday, and yesterday I was more on fire than the day before, and so on. 

He opened understanding of the Holy Bible, big time.  I took 3 months to get in the Word, and read every waking moment for a period of time.  It sure was a lonely road at first. I am now surrounded by true family no matter where I go. There is much more to the process, you see at this point of the story, I had not yet discovered that the Mormon religion was false.

Eric


Eric,                                          

What did you do with your LDS scriptures when you left the Mormon Church?


When the Bible first started getting my attention, I began to break through the blurr of non-comprehension once in a while, but the little foreign LDS descriptive snippets before each chapter kept re-blurring my vision...in my LDS Bible.  I had another Bible that was worn and did not have Jesus' words in Red print and had many references and descriptions, making it difficult to read, too. Regardless, as I read I marked these books up quite a bit.

One day the dizzy frustration was too great and I threw the LDS Bible a good distance towards the garbage can and missed. I left it on the floor, grabbed my keys and headed for my first visit to the local "Christian" bookstore, where I met the word 'Cult' for the first time. It was a label for a section of books and square below the sign was a book with a picture of the Nauvoo temple on it. This got my nerves up and I quickened my visit. I asked the gal at the store for a Bible with just the Bible words, no references or description, one that would last, that had Jesus' words in red print... She hooked my up and as I passed the Cult isle, my knee jerk reaction was to snatch up the Nauvoo temple book (The Way that Seemeth Right, L Aubrey Gard), and sneek it under my new Bible as I carried it to the sales counter.
My inbred, and learned guilt were highly sensed, so I felt like everyone was watching me...I felt like a teen in 7-11 trying to buy beer.
With sweat pouring off my brow I exited the building and and returned to the chair where earlier I had practiced hoop with my LDS Bible and missed.

The first thing my 2 year old did when he saw my new Bible was begin to rip the pages out starting with the first pages he came to. As I came into the room he was just getting ready to remove Gen. 1:1. I stopped him. Actually he did me a favor by getting rid of all the non-essentials, although later I often missed the table of contents.

This new Bible became my best friend, for months. I kept it close, I marked it up, and learned of Him.

I shelved the LDS Bible, and today 8 years later it sits on a shelf with over 75 bibles, waiting for the next missionary visitor.

This Bible went with me as I transitioned, and converted from LDS to Christ.

One thing kept bothering me though. My triple combination with my name in gold print on the front, with pages carefully crinkled so that I could easily find the verses in seminary class during our timed scripure contests. It had carefully marked pages and LDS positive verses outlined in red pencil, and meticulous notes on the sides...to make sure I would not forget them in the future. This little book tugged at my conscience.

I kept praying to God what to do with it...nothing. But it kept bothering me. It was an emotional string. One day I got the answer...It was "regarding that book, throw it away!" As soon as I got home it hit the bottom of the can.

I still have in my now extensive library, Every 'changed' Book of Mormon, the Book of Commandments, the D&C ect. for ministry purposes, but that personal book needed to go (for me).
I was pleasurable to toss it. Kind of like the relief that I felt when the Bishop informed me at my doorstep, that my LDS baptism was now "Null and void!" or like the feeling I got when I received the resignation letter for the 6 people in my family from the LDS records department. There is nothing quite like it.
God is good!

That is what happened to my LDS scriptures.


 

 

 

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