The Deseret News - " 'It is an attempt to preserve ... the church,' (William E.) Jessop, 41, said in an interview with The Associated Press."And so there you have it. Either they're rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic or fighting in the proverbial burning building.
I'll bottom line it for you and say that you can't have a Prophet who isn't a Prophet. If you do, you have a False Prophet and the FLDS now admits they followed a false prophet. In an authority based religion led by rule of prophets, you simply can't do that. The Catholic Church went down that path years ago when fighting over primacy among the various "Seas" of the Christian Faith and ended up bestowing "Called by Christ" Apostolic office on their bishop. They made him Pope. Popes speak without error and they are merely men, as all FLDS/LDS "prophets" are. Over time their errors snowball and you end up with a mess. This is where the FLDS is now.
I have many friends in the FLDS that I love and respect. I even still admire Warren for trying to be true to his vision, which is sadly false. He's following his vision to it's logical conclusion and it's going to get him locked up for the rest of his life.
So here we go with the shoe to drop.
I was beginning a task years ago when I started this blog, to which I now return. You'll note that I had mentioned a forum. The forum was hosted by another friend, and no longer exists, so I'll have to explain. The forum was called "New Reformation," and that was the task I was starting. I diverted into the FLDS issue because it is closely related to the issue of Legal Polygyny.
With my expulsion from an Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Vermont, I have embarked on the journey of finding a tolerant denomination, or starting my own. Of the two unlikely prospects, the latter has the best chance. That was the purpose of the forum. That is what I return to doing.
Because of all these things, the internal fight amongst the FLDS and it's leadership, and my desire to devote what little time I now have to pursuing my original purpose, I am doing what I would not do all along because of my friendship with those in the FLDS faith.
Friends in the FLDS: It is known by some of you that I respect your right to practice your religion free and unfettered in this country. I share a roughly equivalent view of marriage with you. I don't have qualms like the rest of society has, with regard to polygyny and with regard to eligibility for marriage when it comes to age. Your fight in that respect, has been my fight. I have defended you without emphasizing what I disagree with. I wanted you to win, and still do.
Because I cannot take it seems, an active role in this fight any longer, I must tell you what I have politely refrained from telling you these three years.
Yours is a false religion, a false faith.
While you may not respond positively, I will call you out none the less, out of that false faith, into the light of Christianity. I fully realize that some of you in the FLDS may indeed be saved and be believers in Christ, but the tenets of the LDS or FLDS faith preclude you from embracing the religion of the Latter Day Saints and Christianity at the same time. One excludes the other.
Your God is not my LORD. My LORD is unbegun and eternal. His only begotten Son is Jesus Christ, of David, of Nazareth and also, Son of God who is the complete and only means of Salvation. Your God is a graduate of the "God Academy" as it were, and someday the men of your faith believe that they too can be like God. This is the lie Satan told Eve in the Garden. Come out of this faith. Embrace Christ as God and Son of God, the only God, the LORD, Alpha and Omega, for he says to you:
"I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."Isaiah 45. If your respond, know that there is a place for you, a church, that will accept you, your families and all your wives and children.
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10 comments:
I really don't know how to take your last blog entry. I'm sad that you are withdrawing from the FLDS fight, but I understand why you choose to do so.
I've enjoyed our friendship. I hope we will continue to be friends.
I have never been to the FLDS church, but you are mistaken about the LDS church. I have been to many churches (Protestant, Mormon and Catholic) in my life. I've also visited a Buddhist temple. There is nothing satanic or evil about the LDS church. The Mormon church is just as good as any of the others.
Mormons are good people. Don't let any of the anti-Mormon bigots tell you otherwise.
"No man is good." - Jesus.
The worship of Joseph Smith, Jr.says otherwise Ms. April.
Hugh are you still proclaiming the charges of conjugal relations by Warren with a 12 year old bride was by proxy only? The Canadian reference trial evidence and Warren's trial will prove otherwise. You may see evidence at Warren's trial that will reveal how the raid was triggered but you have been wrong all along about Rozita Swinton, as well. Still so sure that there is no Shara or did they have her child and were able to silence her? Don't look to me for your info, just watch the trials and see what evidences are presented/proven.
Have you stopped beating your wife Jam? That's all I will say about your "congugal relations" remark. There is and was no Sarah Rozita. How are the disguises & surgeries working for you? You doing OK?
I know you are the one hurting right now Hugh and not me. From thee exclusive Vermont Polygamy lobbyist to truck driver. From Federal FBI or Texas State Ranger conspiracy to filing a bogus complaint on a North Texas campus policeman. From FLDS Polygyny Protector to wimpy Judas Escariot poster. YOU ROCK!
Gee, talk to your cohorts Ledbetter and Fullmer, they know who 'Jam Inn' is, haven't you heard?
You wouldn't eat Rozia if there weren't truck drivers. I see that you've now elevated my former endeavors to a high status. How interesting.
From now on out I will call you Rozita.
Why?
You are her.
Or you know her and front for her.
Or your utterances are from the wrong end. Sorta like what Betty said about me.
You don't know Jack or you're Rozita or you know her.
Work is good and every profession (excluding things like prostitution or drug dealing) is good and necessary. I am amazed that when you and your friends attack me, you also attack others who work hard and provide you with the essential elements of the life you live.
I'm not an elitist. I am content to be a doorkeeper in the House of my God eternally. I'll gladly empty the trash if he wants me too. Forever.
So in other words you are calling FLDS to be Christian. Every faith but Christian is false. I disagree with this.
I would be false if I said I did not think they should be Christian Marie. I count one other faith as saving. "Messianic" Judaism.
Hugh, as I told you earlier, I think this post was both courageous and on the money. I, too, believe that it is only through the saving grace of Jesus Christ that we are saved. Any denomination that adds hierarchy, works, and "hidden knowledge" to that equation is NOT of God. Chalk up all three to the LDS (both flavors).
This is all so interesting. I am a believer in Jesus Christ as God's Son who lives in us, by His Spirit, once we accept Him as our ONLY way, by grace, through repentance and faith. I have never understood how it all got from Genesis to Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon despite my efforts to learn. I have mormon friends, a copy of all the teachings and writings and have spent months pouring over it all. Holding it up to the Holy Bible, God's active and living Word through which He speaks to us, it crumbles over and over and over again. Anything that goes against the character of God cannot be of God. He does not need a "voice" on earth. He has given us not only His inerrant Word, but also His Son who has defeated sin and death on the Cross. Why then, would we need someone dubbed a prophet? It is about as insignificant as the idea of needing a Catholic Priest to make a confession. Christ died so that our relationship can be between sinners and God. Redeemed people who continue to be used by God to spread the Gospel and continue to redeem people and continue to add to His Kingdom until He comes again in Glory to judge the living and the dead once and for all a restore His precious Creation and all that is in it. It has always baffled me that people can continue to follow a religion that has unsuccessfully predicted the "end of the world" several times and puts more faith in man than in God. It is startling how much of the Bible has to be twisted and taken out of context and embellished in order to conform to the teachings of LDS and Joseph Smith. There is nothing to add to the word of God. If anyone truly believes in God, then they believe he is eternal and perfect in every way. If they believe He is perfect then they have to believe His will is perfect whether they understand it or not. If they believe the Bible is His Word then they have to believe EVERY word of it, not just what fits their liking. And if the Bible is the Word of God, then you must believe it all to be true because God says "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Wolves in sheep's clothing...NO other faith is as pure and right as the faith of a Christian firmly rooted in Jesus Christ, a professed sinner who allows Christ to slowly transform them into His likeness. No one can behave and follow all of the ten commandments perfectly every hour of every day without some stray or breach. If we could, Jesus' death would be unnecessary. I appreciate this banter...very thought provoking.
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