Week 10

Mormonism
Most people today believe that Mormons are just another “Christian” denomination. It is not only not part of Christianity, but it is anti-Christian. They have twisted the most fundamental doctrines of the Bible. Here are a few

Source of Authority-They don’t take the bible as the infallible word of God and they don’t believe scripture was closed with the bible. They have 3 additional books; the Book of Mormon (which has changed in 4000 places since it was written in 1830), the Doctrine of Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. Their belief is that the Bible is correct as long as it is translated correctly. If the bible contradicts their teachings or their other books, then they fall back on “it is an incorrect translation”.

Trinity-Mormons believe in polytheism, many gods. The universe has many gods that produce spirit children. They believe in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, but they believe that these are three different Gods.

God-Their view is that God was once a man like us. Through self-effort and the father-god of his plant was able to work his way to receiving his own planet and now has a physical resurrected body. They believe through their own good works and the atoning work of Jesus we to can be god and have our own planet.

Christ-They acknowledge the divinity of Christ, but not by the bible’s standard. They believe that Christ, Lucifer, the demons, and mankind are all bothers and are spirit babies from our father-god. They believe that Christ was conceived by sexual relations between god and Mary. They also believe Jesus had many wives; Mary and Martha (the sisters of Lazarus) and Mary Magdalene.

Heaven and Hell-Mormonism teaches that there are three degrees of glory: Celestial (for good Mormons able to cease sinning in this lifetime), Terrestrial (for good people who do not comply with all the teachings of Mormonism), and Telestial (for those who have lived unclean earthly lives). They don’t really believe anyone will go to hell but a few that can’t be redeemed, sons of perdition. They used to put blacks in this category up until 1978. Their belief is that the people that half-heartily fought when Lucifer got mad at God’s decision to select Jesus and fought against Him and Michael were the black race.

There are many differences these are just a few. The main thing to realize is that the lingo is the same. They use works like “salvation through Jesus”, Grace, and Trinity, but their definitions are totally different

Our Visit
Joanna and I picked up Josh this time out to make our three person team. We were scheduled to visit a family from the Church’s school. The husband was there with their 2 children. We had a good visit. When I asked what his understanding of how a person goes to heaven, he gave a “faith” answer, in Jesus only. I asked him if he as put his faith in Jesus and he told us that he has recently done that and was starting learn more and grow as a Christian. He already had a Church that he was attending and was about to start a new bible study. We didn’t want to pull him away from his church, but did tell him about Victory since the school and church were connected, this way if he ever needed anything he would know a little about us. We prayed with him and encouraged him in his new walk with the Lord.

Prayer Request
Pray for the family of a boy that was just saved. Pray for my step-father-in-law. He has is battling cancer and is taking chemotherapy. Pray for our family has we go through this with him. We only have a couple weeks left pray for our FAITH teams.

May 20, 2008

You just thought FAITH was over! Josh and I went to knock some doors in Sherwood, just down the street from Victory Baptist School. We thought it would be a good idea if we invited people in that area to our services Sunday night at the school.

We talked to a lot more people than normal. We had a little more time since we didn’t have class. The first house was a very nice lady that was saved and we had a good time talking with her. Another visit ended up being a customer of mine that I built furniture for a while back. She also used to attend church where Patty and I got hitched. She has been looking for a church and her son goes to school at Abundant Life. Since we have a lot of our teens that go to school there, he may already have connections at our church. She said they are looking for a church that is more traditional with a regular choir and not a praise band. She wants a good youth group for her son. She doesn’t want a church that is so big that you don’t know anyone. I feel she described our church exactly. We stressed the importance of Sunday School or bible study group at any church that she finds, since she is wanting that personal relationship with believers.

We then helped chase down a dog with no luck. We didn’t get to talk to that person, she was a little distracted.

The last house we went to I asked where they went to church. He said that he was a Mormon. I asked the key question “In your personal opinion, what do you understand it takes for a person to go to heaven?” He had a works answer. I presented the gospel to him, he said that he has already put his trust in Jesus. We continued our conversation by talking about his co-workers who were “bad people.” I was able to emphasize again that we are saved through faith and nothing else. I also talked about how people aren’t ready to take the cure unless they understand the sickness…SIN! Unless a person understands how bad they are and how far off they are of curing themselves, they will not turn to the cure, Jesus.

Overall it was a great night. Beautiful weather, wonderful fellowship, and a great God.

Prayer Requests

Pray for Patty’s step-father. He has been in the hospital almost three weeks. He left ICU yesterday and is in a regular room now. If things keep going the way they are, he should be home in a couple days. Pray for my Mormon friend. Pray that he understands the gospel and who Jesus truly is. Finally, remember to pray for Mr. Parsley and his family.