I don't understand something. For a Muslim, to convert from Islam to Christianity carries a death penalty. It is a cursed thing for a Muslim to do.
Obama admits he was raised as a Muslim in Indonesia, His passports at that time said he was a Muslim. Went to college here under a foreign student visa as a Muslim.
Yet he 'converts' to Christianity [Rev. Wright’s style of ‘black liberation’ anti-white and anti-American form of Christianity] and bows to Muslim leaders as required of a Muslim.
I think he is a closet Muslim and they know it. He certainly has shown a very weak commitment to Christ, afraid to use the word even at the national prayer breakfast, yet honors Mohammed in a number of his actions.
Refused to acknowledge the National Day of Prayer at the White House, yet had a House full of Muslim leaders over for dinner for Ramadan.
Schools, colleges and Military facilities are now including Muslim foot washing stalls and allowing Muslims time off to do their daily prayers while Christians cannot even bow in silent prayer.
I think that he will return to the faith of Allah at beginning of next term and the whole Islamic world will get a big chuckle out of it. They knew it all along.
Tie it into what is happening in the mid East and watch as the openly radical Muslim Brotherhood takes control in Egypt and begins its rabid anti- Israel moves, working with Hamas and Hezbollah. This is the same Muslim Brotherhood already active here in the USA.
Sharia law is already becoming part of the American Justice system. Muslims are flowing into the USA, not to assimilate, but to eliminate. They are settling in and pushing their agenda of making Islam the Religion of the world and the platform for the Anti-Christ. They are fully involved in what they call the “process of Settlement”.
"The process of settlement is a "Civilization-Jihadist Process" with all the word means. The Ikhwan ("The Muslim Brotherhood") must understand that their work in America is a king of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion (Islam) is made victorious over all other religions."
This chilling quote was written by Mohammed Akram, on the Board of Directors for the Muslim Brotherhood in North America and senior Hamas leader. It was confiscated in a raid by the FBI in Annandale, Virginia. [Conservative Alerts].
Wake up, folks.. It isn’t just our money, savings, retirements funds we are losing…It is the America we saw lead the world in Freedom, power and good for 200 years. We are now in levels of debt we can never repay to foreign governments who now own those debts and now have control over our national identity.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?
WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?
Ed Decker
Dear friends, I have been watching the news lately and it astounds me daily. Things across the world are spiraling down a rocky path at a mach 10 speed. I am not an end-times prophet by any means but I am concerned about the things I see and read every day.
The terrible earthquake and that killer tsunami in Japan was just the tip of the iceberg there, as whole cities were destroyed in minutes and radiation is spreads in the winds and into their food sources, lungs and kidneys and other organs at a pace faster than anyone will admit. Today, the news was that their run-off cooling water pumped from the sea into the atomic power plants is now high in radiation and leaking back into the sea and across the oceans. Another giant quake there would destroy Japan for a hundred years to come.
The following list of recent earthquakes is just a sampling of recent quakes taken from the government site: http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/qed/
PAPUA NEW GUINEA March 15
KURIL ISLANDS March 14
OFFSHORE EL SALVADOR March 14
WESTERN TEXAS March 13
GULF OF CALIFORNIA March 11, 12
WYOMING March 12
MINDORO, PHILIPPINES March 10
CENTRAL CALIFORNIA March 10
GUATEMALA March 10
ARKANSAS March 9
TONGA March 9
CUBA REGION March 9
OFF THE COAST OF OREGON March 8
In California, where everyone is predicting the BIG ONE, it has several plants sitting right on the edge of the Pacific and next to both the San Andreas Fault and extremely dense population centers. There is also the jet stream, running west to east that can carry radiation across the whole of the country, right across our farming belts.
People are still sleeping in the streets after the Haiti earthquake and another one there would destroy that entire nation. It may never recover from the last one.
Scientist say that the most dangerous potential earthquake in the USA is not the California mega one that will rip the state in two. It is in Yellowstone National park where there is such a powerful underground buildup is pushing its way to the surface that it would likely wipe out the state of Wyoming and all nearby states. http://www.earthmountainview.com/yellowstone/yellowstone.htm
Killer floods are sweeping across the world, From Australia to America to Asia, bringing death and disease. Cyclones and tornados are sweeping across the globe at an ever-faster pace then in recorded history.
Now, along with radical Islamic terrorist acts across the world, the mid-east is in even more turmoil and the tribal social structures that have been in place for centuries are crumbling around madness and we are now involved in our third war there, trying to take out a tyrant who we happily treated as our friend a year ago. The whole of the Muslim world is volatile, exploding in new ways and directions every day.
Yet, the underlying base of it all is radical Islam and Sharia law and the rabid hatred for America and Israel. Of course, groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda are in the middle of these riots, waiting to pick up the pieces, lauded even by our own government as peacemakers when their own leaders call out for death to Christians and Jews. Radical Islam is winning in the mid-east and coming this way soon!
Iran continues to arm itself with nukes and the promise to rain down death on Israel and we are powerless to stop them from achieving their goals. The US openly acknowledges that Syria has hundreds of missiles armed with chemical and nuclear warheads aimed directly at Israel.
Syria, Lebanon and Iran have armed both the terrorist groups of Hamas and Hezbollah – Party of God, with tens of thousands of missiles to pour down death from the skies from both the Lebanon border and the Gaza strip where terrorists are already beginning their ‘death to all Jews’ campaign afresh. Just today, another terrorist bomb went off I the middle of Jerusalem.
I do believe that while that first Syrian missile is still on its way to Jerusalem, this scripture will become true: “Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.” Isa 17:1. If you read the Bible, you know how that war will end.
Even in our own country, people are marching and screaming for money that does not exist from governments that are billions in debt already. Those leaders who resist the mobs and try to do the work of their offices are demonized by our own ‘masses’ following the radical Islamists’ methods of getting their way.
We, as a nation, have disgraced the Bible and the foundational principles within it that helped form this nation and its laws and our leaders stand in defiance of them. Being a Christian is a cursed thing to the world who is embracing Islam in its place.
Let us not even go into the problems with immigration as our country is being overrun by illegal immigrants, among who are the drug dealers and criminals that prey upon us.
Today, our economy is in the tank and jobs, homes, savings are being lost at the greatest rate since the great depression and our just this week, government gave Brazil 9 Billion dollars to beef up their oil industry while our own is bankrupt.
I pray daily for this nation, its leaders and the world. However, I sense the end times are falling upon us. Jesus, Himself, gave us a clue.
13 And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! 2 And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?
5 And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you: 6 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
7 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. 8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
9 But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.
TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE
I recently shared an article with you about the “Emergent Mormon Church” [Read it on our website] and how it was following the lead of the Christian “Seeker Friendly” and “Emergent Church” groups that have powered down their Christian witness to wash away the shed blood of Christ and turn it to water.
This month, The National Association of Evangelicals [NAE] held its semi- annual meeting in Park City, Utah, on March 10, 2011, promoting a program of reconciliation, forgiveness, acceptance and fellowship with the Mormons. Much was said privately by their leaders about Mormonism being a cult group, but their actions belied their testimony.
The panels were formed of only those people who have already thrown in with their Mormon Christian friends, men like Greg Johnson, From Standing Together, who travelled about with LDS Apologist, Robert Millet, sharing the wonderful things we all have in common.
Another example of the Christian Faith was Dr. Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Seminary in California, who had already disgraced all those who work to bring Mormons to Christ when in the historic Mormon Tabernacle on November 14, 2004, when he said,
…my evangelical forebears hurled angry accusations and vehement denunciations at the Mormon community-a practice that continues from some evangelical quarters even into this present day."
Then added:
“I am now convinced that we evangelicals have often seriously misrepresented the beliefs and practices of the Mormon community. Indeed, let me state it bluntly to the LDS folks here this evening: we have sinned against you. The God of the Scriptures makes it clear that it is a terrible thing to bear false witness against our neighbors, and we have been guilty of that sort of transgression in things we have said about you.”
LDS “apostle” Jeffrey Holland gave a speech there and then answered questions for an hour! Surprisingly, not one person or ministry to the Mormons who might say something that might break the “sweetness of the event” was invited to speak or sit on any panel. Dear people, we workers in this field have been sold out by false Christian leaders.
Forget about the harm Glenn Beck or Mitt Romney may do to this cause. The Christian church in America is being devoured by ravening wolves in our own flocks, and not just in the flocks, but the very leaders of the church. And Leith Anderson, NAE President is a leader in that pack.
ONE FINAL NOTE ON THE POSITIVE SIDE..
I received this in an email from an old acquaintance from years gone by:
When I’m approached by LDS who want to tell me how wonderful their church is, I always tell them how much I admire aspects of their religion and mention that we still have friends who are faithful members.
“But, you know,” I say, “the one thing I simply can’t get past is trying to reconcile the polytheism of your church with Christianity, which is forthrightly monotheistic.”
One “Elder” responded, “But we worship only one god,” at which point I explained that polytheism has nothing to do with the number of gods you worship but the number you believe in.
By that standard, both Joseph Smith and B.H. Roberts have made it clear that Mormonism is a polytheistic faith.
Rick
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
All The Drug Dealers Are Not on the Streets
All The Drug Dealers Are Not on The Streets
Let me do a bit of ranting. If you have a medicine cabinet full of pills, you really need to read this!
I just spent the last three years in and out of hospitals, medical clinics, specialists’ offices and being hauled with some regularity to ERs when I would go into a seizure or pass out in public. I have had every test known to the medical profession.
I gave up any chance of driving, spent my time in wheelchairs, pushed walkers across rooms and when things were doing well, I could use a cane get from room to room. The medications they gave me to control the seizures turned me into a zombie.
After a visit with one neurologist I was told there was nothing neurologically wrong with me and I should perhaps seek mental health treatment. Finally, I recently decided to do some intense research on the medications I have been taking.
Bear in mind, every one of the dozens of specialists, hospitals and medical researchers I have been seeing for these three years, demand that I bring all my medications with me for every visit. Each visit starts with them looking over my meds before they even look my way.
One of my meds was Pravastatin, for high Cholesterol. After reading the usual warnings on the pharmacy paperwork, I went to the web and Googled, “Pravastatin side effects.”
I went to www.webmd.com and it referred me to a second website that referred me to a study on the side effects of Statin medications, by some doctors for the Journal of America Medical Association.
By this time, I had only been looking for maybe twenty minutes. Not a tough study. On the second page, half way down, they described, as uncommon but dangerous side effects, every one of the debilitating symptoms I had been suffering with for three years.
Not one doctor or medical professional in the dozens who had dealt with me for three years had a clue. I threw out the bottle of pills and within a month I was back to normal, able to drive, walk, talk and almost dance. Got my clubs out and will be that wild man in the foursome ahead of you one of these days.
When I spoke to several doctors who had missed this, each sighed and shrugged saying, “Well, yeah, those statins can be bad stuff.” End of their responsibility for such harm for so long.
Last week, still feeling like I was ten years younger., I was watching a TV commercial for a med, Celebrex, that I take for osteo-arthritis.
Because my wife was on the phone, I put closed captions on and for the first time, watched an old guy [younger than me] walk down a wooden walkway to a beach to play frisbee with his dog, happy that the celebrex gave him such freedom.
Then the bewares scrolled across the screen. Do not take if you have a history of heart problems [would my heart attack qualify?], over 70 [whoooah, got me there], have high blood pressure [Isn’t that why they gave me Benicar?] because, the warning said, this drug taken with these conditions could lead to death and at the least, give you serious stomach and digestive problems [hello! Anybody out there? I live with this stuff]
It also mentioned that it can cause rashes and lot of bad itching [That’s why the doctors have given me 15 different, unsuccessful itching and rash creams, lotions, sprays and pills that never work]
Well. I won’t bore you any more with my aches and pains. I got up, threw the Celebrex in the trash and a week later, all those symptoms left.
I am so happy that I can walk and enjoy life after such a long time of medical misery. I am thrilled. Yeah, the arthritis is a pain, but better than the constant digestive problems and the itching.
However, I took control of my own health for a change. You have to wonder what has happened to the medical profession. How could that many doctors and hospitals let such things happen.
Over the years of my suffering, the only help to any of my problems have been more medicines to mask the problems with other medicines. It is an endless, dangerous cycle
Today, the doctors have these cell-phone-sized computerized indexes of every medicine out there, with all the side effects and the problems that sometimes caused by using with another med. I am inclined to think these little machines, probably provided by some drug company salesman, share more about the kick-back the doctors get for prescribing certain meds than dealing with the toxic damage they can cause the patients.
End of my Rant.
Now, get your own pill boxes out and do your own research on the side effects. Because, if you are living the kind of miserable life I just went through, chances are you are taking medications that are doing you far more harm than good.
No, all the drug dealers are not on the streets. Many of them are in doctors’ offices and hospitals. Remember the adage, Buyer Beware? Well, now it is Patient Beware! Especially as we get older and those who care for our health seem more concerned about their bottom line than your health.
Let me do a bit of ranting. If you have a medicine cabinet full of pills, you really need to read this!
I just spent the last three years in and out of hospitals, medical clinics, specialists’ offices and being hauled with some regularity to ERs when I would go into a seizure or pass out in public. I have had every test known to the medical profession.
I gave up any chance of driving, spent my time in wheelchairs, pushed walkers across rooms and when things were doing well, I could use a cane get from room to room. The medications they gave me to control the seizures turned me into a zombie.
After a visit with one neurologist I was told there was nothing neurologically wrong with me and I should perhaps seek mental health treatment. Finally, I recently decided to do some intense research on the medications I have been taking.
Bear in mind, every one of the dozens of specialists, hospitals and medical researchers I have been seeing for these three years, demand that I bring all my medications with me for every visit. Each visit starts with them looking over my meds before they even look my way.
One of my meds was Pravastatin, for high Cholesterol. After reading the usual warnings on the pharmacy paperwork, I went to the web and Googled, “Pravastatin side effects.”
I went to www.webmd.com and it referred me to a second website that referred me to a study on the side effects of Statin medications, by some doctors for the Journal of America Medical Association.
By this time, I had only been looking for maybe twenty minutes. Not a tough study. On the second page, half way down, they described, as uncommon but dangerous side effects, every one of the debilitating symptoms I had been suffering with for three years.
Not one doctor or medical professional in the dozens who had dealt with me for three years had a clue. I threw out the bottle of pills and within a month I was back to normal, able to drive, walk, talk and almost dance. Got my clubs out and will be that wild man in the foursome ahead of you one of these days.
When I spoke to several doctors who had missed this, each sighed and shrugged saying, “Well, yeah, those statins can be bad stuff.” End of their responsibility for such harm for so long.
Last week, still feeling like I was ten years younger., I was watching a TV commercial for a med, Celebrex, that I take for osteo-arthritis.
Because my wife was on the phone, I put closed captions on and for the first time, watched an old guy [younger than me] walk down a wooden walkway to a beach to play frisbee with his dog, happy that the celebrex gave him such freedom.
Then the bewares scrolled across the screen. Do not take if you have a history of heart problems [would my heart attack qualify?], over 70 [whoooah, got me there], have high blood pressure [Isn’t that why they gave me Benicar?] because, the warning said, this drug taken with these conditions could lead to death and at the least, give you serious stomach and digestive problems [hello! Anybody out there? I live with this stuff]
It also mentioned that it can cause rashes and lot of bad itching [That’s why the doctors have given me 15 different, unsuccessful itching and rash creams, lotions, sprays and pills that never work]
Well. I won’t bore you any more with my aches and pains. I got up, threw the Celebrex in the trash and a week later, all those symptoms left.
I am so happy that I can walk and enjoy life after such a long time of medical misery. I am thrilled. Yeah, the arthritis is a pain, but better than the constant digestive problems and the itching.
However, I took control of my own health for a change. You have to wonder what has happened to the medical profession. How could that many doctors and hospitals let such things happen.
Over the years of my suffering, the only help to any of my problems have been more medicines to mask the problems with other medicines. It is an endless, dangerous cycle
Today, the doctors have these cell-phone-sized computerized indexes of every medicine out there, with all the side effects and the problems that sometimes caused by using with another med. I am inclined to think these little machines, probably provided by some drug company salesman, share more about the kick-back the doctors get for prescribing certain meds than dealing with the toxic damage they can cause the patients.
End of my Rant.
Now, get your own pill boxes out and do your own research on the side effects. Because, if you are living the kind of miserable life I just went through, chances are you are taking medications that are doing you far more harm than good.
No, all the drug dealers are not on the streets. Many of them are in doctors’ offices and hospitals. Remember the adage, Buyer Beware? Well, now it is Patient Beware! Especially as we get older and those who care for our health seem more concerned about their bottom line than your health.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The Great BYU Invitational Battle to the Death
THE GREAT BYU INVITATIONAL
What is it?
A fight to the point of extinction!
Hypothetically, imagine a war between Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. Picture over 30,000 students on either side, plus their families of over a hundred thousand each. The goal? Kill every opponent from the strongest man to the feeblest adult and the smallest baby.
Yes, that is far-out, since these universities have nothing to do with such barbarianism. Yet, many people believe a similar story from the Book of Mormon, the greatest war in the history of our hemisphere. The Book of Mormon people, the Jaredites, split into warring factions as two armies fought to extinction in New York State between 600-300 BC. One army had two million “men” plus women and children, making it at least four million people (Ether 15:2).
The other side was its equal. So a mere 260,000 at BYU is nothing in comparison to an excess of eight million on the little hill Cumorah Utah has less than three million people. Eight million could fill the LA basin. Or imagine the complete population of NYC on the campus of BYU. You couldn’t breathe, let alone fight! If the other great cities of New York State converged upon Cumorah, they would include Buffalo 270,240, Rochester 207,294, Yonkers 201,066, Syracuse 138,560, Albany 93,836, Cheektowaga 77,500, New Rochelle 74,281, Mount Vernon 68,815, and Schenectady 61,469. That makes just 1,193,031, not even close to two million.
The LDS leadership urges its members to leave LDS geography alone, but everyone should know about Cumorah. The church nervously changes the locations so now it may be at one of two locations of the Mexico-Guatemala-Honduras area. How odd that a wealthy church with its own revelator cannot find Cumorah! Riley L. Dixon has a telling book on this called, “Just One Cumorah.” Apparently, the LDS leaders do not believe the Book of Mormon because it tells us exactly where Cumorah is.
The prefaces are not viewed as scripture but are regarded as true. The Ether 15 preface (before 1981) stated the obvious, “The hill Ramah or Cumorah.” Verse 11 confirms that this is where Mormon hid the records - or where Joseph found the Golden Plates. So Cumorah is at Palmyra, NY, in the land of Moroni near the Smith family home (14:11). The LDS Cumorah visitor’s center affirms, “Yes, this is the place.” That is why the LDS church holds an annual pageant of the battle there. (Mormon Doctrine, pp. 174-175; “A Marvelous Work and a Wonder,” p. 7; Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, pp. 232-243).
The Cumorah war in the New World would be far before the age of steel over here (see the Smithsonian statement to follow). Yet they had swords, shields, breastplates, and head-plates (15:15, 20-24). The standard Mormon excuse is to say that the soil has so much acid that it ate up the metal. The New York locals really laugh at this foolish yarn because the soil is fertile.
Wouldn’t you expect there to be a mountain of armor nearly as big as the hill itself? Then why doesn’t the LDS church use its wealth for excavation and lay aside the controversy? There cannot be “no evidence.” Call the Smithsonian or National Geographic and say, “Let’s dig!” Cumorah has a history of farming and even excavation with the LDS visitor’s center and a paved road near the top, so someone must know how many swords were found.
With no axe to grind, experts for these studies say there is no axe to find. Since eager Mormons claimed the Smithsonian used the Book of Mormon as a guide for archaeology, the Smithsonian grew irritated and prepared a statement exposing the folklore. The form letter is available on many sites such as:
www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2210200/posts or http://mrm.org/smithsonian.
While Mormon archaeologists are missing steel weapons, what happened to the steel mills or the mines of “mighty heaps of earth to get ore”? (Ether 10:20). It would be easier finding Nemo than one of the swords of Cumorah because arrowheads are all they have found. Animation or imagination, the Book of Mormon is simply an 1830 story that has fallen onto its own sword.
And how ridiculous is it that not one of those sadistic men of Cumorah had enough sense or love for the mothers and children to let them escape! None turned back while the hill was red, with blood flowing in every direction. Somehow, not one soul was wounded as they were all killed. Yet to find an enemy in the mounds of bodies would be practically impossible. The Indians of the Book of Mormon rode around wearing armor in their chariots, but apparently there were no horses at Cumorah? (Alma 18:9 & 12; 20:6; 3 Nephi 21:14). Not a very smart war!
The chapter heading for Ether 15 says, “Millions of Jaredites are slain in battle.” That’s an understatement! How amazing as the most evenly matched armies in history fought down to 52 from the army of Coriantumr and 69 of the army of Shiz (Ether 15:23). In comparison, if two packs of dogs fought, wouldn’t one logically prevail or does it get to one-to-one?
Millions and millions of warriors fell and it was finally one-to-one? Just coincidently, Coriantumr and Shiz were the army leaders, That’s like it just happened to be the president from the University of Utah and the president of BYU. (It sounds childish! Coriantumr went on to join the “Mulekites”? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulek ).
Considering more of the logical inconsistencies, did early Americans round up every colonist and Indian and fight to extinction? The pilgrims survived early America and our dear Native American tribes are all over the country.
Reading on, as one General faints, the other smites off his head. Then without a head, super-hero Shiz rises and struggles to breathe (15:29-31). Determination without a brain! So is it super-hero or super-fantasy? As the Mormon religion stakes its reputation on this tale, how can so many very intelligent people believe it?
Mormon productions play soft music, claiming the Book of Mormon is a “History of Ancient America.” If so, why don’t the universities teach it? BYU? Yes. You find more honest history from the National Enquirer. For example, where is ancient “Bountiful” or “Ephraim” except as being towns in Utah? You can swim the Sea of Galilee but never walk in one of the 38 cities of the Book of Mormon. Where are the maps?
American writings clearly mention the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, the Rockies, Niagara Falls, the Appalachians, or the great rivers used to describe America. Why doesn’t the Book of Mormon? Its like a truckload of tangled fishing line as LDS scholars try to unravel the knots. Any atheist can see the historical accuracy of the Bible but it would be easier to find the ruins of the bottomless pit than reality from the Book of Mormon. It takes more than any LDS faith-promoting rumors to compare to the 25,000 archaeological sites of God’s Word, the Bible.
The Book of Mormon is the baited hook to lure thousands into a faith with many defenders but no defense. Amateur archaeologists overstate their claims on Yucatan or the Mayans as being trophies of truth. Those inscriptions are pagan: idol worship, cannibalism, human sacrifice, witchcraft and animism. Nothing of Jesus!
With a motto: “The glory of God is intelligence” (D&C 93:36), it makes you wonder. LDS missionaries grasping to defend their faith flee to stories from the 1800’s, “asking God (their god) if these things are so.” Pray to a false god about a false battle to the death in a false book and you will get a false answer. Credible faith is based on relevant information, not just the claim for truth or simply wanting it to be true. Faith in religious fiction is insulting to God.
To find information about Bible lands, just dig. Isn’t there a real Hebrew language? And if the Bible was reinterpreted into endless error, how come the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls read just as the Bible? “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:25).
Is the Book of Mormon fact? In places it is, of course. Wherever Joseph Smith plagiarized the Bible, I bear witness that it is true. The Mormon church is based on fiction. At least when Mark Twain wrote about Tom Sawyer, he never claimed it was the word of God.
Picture two boys playing army at BYU. They pretend 230,000 warriors are on campus from 385 AD, calling them the Lamanites who defeat the Nephites, later to become the American Indians in the storyline (Mormon 6:9-15; 8:2-3).
Then young Joseph imagines another war and says, “Hyrum, nearly a thousand years earlier, millions of warriors and their families fought to their death here.” Little Hyrum says, “Let’s call it Cumorah.” Now logically, why would both wars be on that same insignificant spot of BYU? So really, that Palmyra hill? Did the Revolutionary War and Civil War overlook one great battlefield or was there all of America in which to fight? And wasn’t this near Joseph Smith’s childhood home? It’s pure make-believe and the LDS call it scripture.
Cumorah is just one example but there are lots of big problems in the Book of Mormon. Is it the most correct truth for the LDS faith? Yes, it is. The introduction explains, “Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: ‘I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by it’s precepts, than any other book.”
Well, sure he said it was true! Self-affirmation is like claiming the Qur’an is the most correct book according to Mohammed, the Mass is real according to the Pope, the Watchtower to Jehovah’s Witnesses. It’s like Harold Camping claiming to know prophecy, or Brigham Young boasting that his words are as good as scripture. Many LDS are shocked to hear that Joseph Smith was the actual “author” of the Book of Mormon. See the original Book of Mormon preface page: www.mormonwiki.org/File:1830_BOM_page_1.jpg
To escape the obvious ramifications, some Mormons claim that an evil, demonic printer changed the original wording. Pretty lame! Why not say he changed the Cumorah story too?
The Cumorah of Joseph and Hyrum Smith was Carthage where they were jailed after ordering the destruction of a printing press exposing polygamy. Joseph was in conflict with the Masons for stealing their ceremonies, so when a mob attacked it was like an old west gunfight. Joseph killed two men and shot one (not a lamb or martyr) before they were killed. (History of the Church, vol. 6, pp. 432, 448; vol. 7, p. 103).
For God’s record on how to have eternal life, we all must have the truth. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13). To have Jesus Christ (not the LDS church, temples, commandments and ceremonies), is to gain God’s celestial heaven.
Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that were I am, there ye may be also.” With Jesus where? The Father’s house! What is the way there? “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:2-6). LDS stuff is not the way.
To watch several DVDs on Mormonism online see:
Are you weary of the LDS missionaries? Not being able to defend their stories, they usually retreat to some gushy testimonies but the religious deceit is clear.
Thanks to Charlie Carles for the above
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
The New Mormonism : The Emergent Mormon Church
The Emergent Mormon Church
Ed Decker
I have been quietly spending a great deal of time lately on ‘unofficial’ Mormon websites, forums and blog sites, and communicating with so many Mormons, [under a pseudonym, obviously].
I didn’t do this to argue or debate. I wanted to listen, to feel the pulse of regular Mormon people.
What I have found is an astonishing discovery of something I have already suspected for some time.
The LDS Brethren have been trying to align themselves with general Christianity for the last decade or so. It was never clearer than when Mitt Romney ran for President.
It rose up to a crashing crescendo when Glenn Beck gathered up groups of Christian leaders and put on his “We are All One’ party at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall.
Mormonism can never align itself with Orthodox, biblically based Christianity for many reasons, yet the Mormon people want to be known as true Christians.
What these Mormons are saying on their forums, blogs and FB pages is that most of them generally pick and choose what they want to be the focus of their ‘religious’ experience in the Church.
They just junk the parts that make them feel uncomfortable. Sort of what American Catholics and ala-carte’ Christians have been doing for years?
Now, this is true across the general population within the LDS church. It isn’t a segment of the members; it is widespread among them.
On the part of the leadership, we see another anomaly. Rarely, if ever, are the deviant doctrines preached from the pulpits anymore.
The preaching is a feel good set of messages meant to make the members and their families happy to be there and smiling when they leave.
We talk to recent converts about some of these strange doctrines and they look at us like we are crazy. They haven’t been taught about their Mother in Heaven, or the black skin curse, or Jesus and Lucifer being brothers, as examples.
The LDS Church leadership has recently made great strides in cuddling up to the Christian body, but it isn’t where you would think, understanding the conservative DNA of Mormonism.
They are copying and using the same methods and techniques as the Seeker Friendly and Emergent Church groups and finding that they have strong compatibilities.
They also see that the leaders of these groups accept them at smiley face value and would never think to challenge them doctrinally. A Tinker Bell and Peter Pan relationship.
A Mormon could go to any one of such a church type and be openly welcomed, accepted as a Mormon ‘believer’ and be extremely comfortable… while never challenged spiritually. And leave church feeling really good.
Except for the weekly Wonder Bread and Water Sacrament, the Mormon can feel right at home…at any Seeker Friendly or Emergent church gathering.
One recent forum thread was about which non-LDS churches they felt comfortable attending.
This is what one of our Board members, Eric Barger has to say about the Emergent Church. Look at the Emergent Mormonism parallels here:
www.EricBarger.com
The Errors of the Emergent Church
I know many Emergent sympathizers would object and say that I am generalizing. However, that simply is not the case. Even without much space to elaborate in this article, and even as difficult as "Emergent Speak" can be to decipher, once one boils it down, just a partial outline of Emergent philosophies indicates glaring flaws.
To Emergents, Christianity is:
* Experience over Reason
* Images over Words
* Spirituality over Doctrine
* Subjective Feelings over Absolute Truth
Mormons are 100% in line with the first four characteristics and with a little tweaking, can accept the last two, as well. They also have their own Mormon-Speak vocabulary.
When then President Gordon B. Hinckley was interviewed by Larry King in 2004, he was asked what happens when a person dies.
Here he had the opportunity to speak as a true prophet and declare the judgment and the three degrees of Glory. Instead, God’s mouthpiece for the earth just didn’t know.
KING: What happens when you die?
HINCKLEY: When you die? Well, I'm not fully conversant with that. I haven't passed through that yet.
Sort of reminded me of a recent interview on the Piers Morgan Tonight program that replaced Larry King Live. I do like the more direct approach to issues that Piers has, compared to the King approach.
Piers was interviewing Joel Osteen, Pastor of one of the largest Seeker Friendly Churches in America. Piers worked hard to get him to reluctantly admit that homosexuality was a sin, according to the Bible, but could not get him to define what makes a person saved and going to heaven.
Pastor Osteen did not know or would not say who was going to heaven and how to get there. Millions of people were watching and the pastor of tens of thousands of Christian church members could not give the basic elements of Salvation, lest someone be offended. This is the kind of Christianity the Mormon leaders are becoming kissing cousins to, and it will get far worse as time goes on and no one speaks out about it.
One LDS Blogger wrote that the church was suffering from a case of spiritual schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder.
First schizophrenia: Any of a group of psychotic disorders usually characterized by withdrawal from reality, illogical patterns of thinking, delusions, and hallucinations, and accompanied in varying degrees by other emotional, behavioral, or intellectual disturbances
And Second, multiple personality disorder: A situation, state of mind, in which widely conflicting opinions, ideas, or practices coexist, often resulting in indecision, vacillation, wavering, etc.
While one can smile and see the sad truth in what the blogger wrote, The Emergent and Seeker Friendly Churches suffer the same maladies and they are the Christianity the Mormons are now seeking fellowship with and getting results.
Watch and be warned. The LDS Church will soon become another branch of shattered Christianity.
* Earthly Justice over Salvation
* Social Action over Eternity
Mormons are 100% in line with the first four characteristics and with a little tweaking, can accept the last two, as well. They also have their own Mormon-Speak vocabulary.
When then President Gordon B. Hinckley was interviewed by Larry King in 2004, he was asked what happens when a person dies.
Here he had the opportunity to speak as a true prophet and declare the judgment and the three degrees of Glory. Instead, God’s mouthpiece for the earth just didn’t know.
KING: What happens when you die?
HINCKLEY: When you die? Well, I'm not fully conversant with that. I haven't passed through that yet.
Sort of reminded me of a recent interview on the Piers Morgan Tonight program that replaced Larry King Live. I do like the more direct approach to issues that Piers has, compared to the King approach.
Piers was interviewing Joel Osteen, Pastor of one of the largest Seeker Friendly Churches in America. Piers worked hard to get him to reluctantly admit that homosexuality was a sin, according to the Bible, but could not get him to define what makes a person saved and going to heaven.
Pastor Osteen did not know or would not say who was going to heaven and how to get there. Millions of people were watching and the pastor of tens of thousands of Christian church members could not give the basic elements of Salvation, lest someone be offended. This is the kind of Christianity the Mormon leaders are becoming kissing cousins to, and it will get far worse as time goes on and no one speaks out about it.
One LDS Blogger wrote that the church was suffering from a case of spiritual schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder.
The Dictionary definitions of these two are,
First schizophrenia: Any of a group of psychotic disorders usually characterized by withdrawal from reality, illogical patterns of thinking, delusions, and hallucinations, and accompanied in varying degrees by other emotional, behavioral, or intellectual disturbances
And Second, multiple personality disorder: A situation, state of mind, in which widely conflicting opinions, ideas, or practices coexist, often resulting in indecision, vacillation, wavering, etc.
While one can smile and see the sad truth in what the blogger wrote, The Emergent and Seeker Friendly Churches suffer the same maladies and they are the Christianity the Mormons are now seeking fellowship with and getting results.
Watch and be warned. The LDS Church will soon become another branch of shattered Christianity.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Thank God I am Too Old to Care
Back up in the NW rain country for a few months. Sold our home in the Seattle area as it was sucking money out of our retirement savings and have moved into a great, bank owned condo we picked up at a fraction of its original price. One break in a horrible Real Estate market.
However, every day when I read the paper, I want to reach for a valium. Today, the article of interest was Washington State’s program of giving a driver’s license to anyone who could walk up to the counter and ask for one in any of the world’s many languages. No proof of citizenship or residency or literacy or even proof of birth.
Someone finally noticed that there were more licenses given out than we have citizens. There has been a travel program, a fly/drive through system that has allowed illegal aliens from everywhere to come into Washington for a few days, pick up a driver’s license and head to their desired state where the ID will help get them a job, an apartment, welfare, even a SS # and a bank account.
I personally watched a man who spoke no a word of English give the clerk an old, expired driver’s license from Guatemala and stand there until she handed him a valid Washington State license. No written or driving test, like the actual citizens sitting there waiting their turns to take the tests. She said, in an aside to several astonished citizens who questioned her actions, that she had to do it because she spoke no Spanish.
They really know how to fix things up here. The Seattle mayor, concerned that the lack of business sales taxes have hurt the City finances is fixing it by raising the city .parking rates to $4.00/hr.
Of course, that will just drive the buyers to the malls where parking is free on land the city does not own and the city center businesses who have already lost half their sales will continue to shut their doors. Pretty soon we will be paying $20.00 an hour to shop at the three stores left in the city.
The other day, the great thinkers announced that because they can’t manage the metro bus lines efficiently, we will be charged a new $40.00 fee when we renew our auto plates to pick up the slack.
The Citizens had voted in a measure that prohibits the State from adding taxes without voter approval, so they just add fees. In King County we now even have a special fee we must pay to get an official permit to bury our dead. Of course, with their usual efficiency, it could take weeks getting the needed permit. Bodies are backing up in funeral homes.
Another gang of thieves is adding another $30.00 fee to help their special deficits and now we are going to be paying around $5.00 per car to drive across the lake on a bridge we already paid for through tolls. This will send all the cars to the only other bridge or around the lake on already clogged roads. It should add an easy hour of commute time to and from the East side and down town Seattle. That is each way…
I begged my wife to let me go back to the Coachella valley and let me sit in the sun, watching the golfers go by. This economy is turning our politicians into crazy people who have an answer to every one of their failures. Take the money from the citizens while they still have a little left.
When we planned for our retirement, we made sure we had enough to last us until we die. We still do. We just have to die ten years sooner..
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
In Memorial
I don’t know.. Maybe it is just because I am getting older, but I am going to too many Memorial services lately. I just don’t like it.
Dr. Wendell Smith, our wonderful pastor for the last 16 years passed away recently after battling cancer for 6 years. Thousands of people from around the world showed up about a week ago to pay their respects and it was a mighty tribute to his life and legacy. I would have really preferred that they were all there to listen to one of his marvelous sermons. He was too young and will be greatly missed.
A few days ago, I went to the Memorial service of a dear friend of mine, John Parrott. John was a long time missionary in Mexico where he lived a poor peasant life, ministering to those around him. His skill as a mechanic kept many an old appliance, car, bus or truck running. He lived a servant’s life there as he shared the Lord along with his gifts of love, humor and grace.
John never tried to be the center of anything. He was always on the outside of the center, being a servant. When his mother became ill, John returned to this area and became not only a servant to her for the rest of her life, but also served Pastor Wendell as personal assistant, there to take on any assigned task with a joy in the doing.
John always had a hug and a kind word for anyone who crossed his path and his relationship with me was one of grace and gentleness, qualities I learned to blend into my own life through his example.
John was a serious diabetic and the disease ate away at him over the recent years, yet he never complained. He told another pastor that he could easily lay down on the sofa, close his eyes and slip into heaven if it were not that his mother needed him to care for her needs.
In late December, both John and his mother were in the hospital he was there because of her heart and John was there because the diabetes was starting to shut down his organs, as it had happened with my own sister, Judy.
On December 27th, during the mid-morning, John’s mother, Jean Peterson closed her eyes and went to heaven. Two hours later, in another part of the same hospital, John sighed deeply and slipped into heaven right behind his beloved mom.
A tenor sang the song, On Eagle’s Wings as we said goodbye to both Jean and John. The words here do not capture the joy in Christ we felt as we thought of them at home with Jesus.
Goodbye my dear brother. You made a difference in my life and the lives of all who knew you. Let it be said that you filled your life as a faithful servant of the Lord.
Dr. Wendell Smith, our wonderful pastor for the last 16 years passed away recently after battling cancer for 6 years. Thousands of people from around the world showed up about a week ago to pay their respects and it was a mighty tribute to his life and legacy. I would have really preferred that they were all there to listen to one of his marvelous sermons. He was too young and will be greatly missed.
A few days ago, I went to the Memorial service of a dear friend of mine, John Parrott. John was a long time missionary in Mexico where he lived a poor peasant life, ministering to those around him. His skill as a mechanic kept many an old appliance, car, bus or truck running. He lived a servant’s life there as he shared the Lord along with his gifts of love, humor and grace.
John never tried to be the center of anything. He was always on the outside of the center, being a servant. When his mother became ill, John returned to this area and became not only a servant to her for the rest of her life, but also served Pastor Wendell as personal assistant, there to take on any assigned task with a joy in the doing.
John always had a hug and a kind word for anyone who crossed his path and his relationship with me was one of grace and gentleness, qualities I learned to blend into my own life through his example.
John was a serious diabetic and the disease ate away at him over the recent years, yet he never complained. He told another pastor that he could easily lay down on the sofa, close his eyes and slip into heaven if it were not that his mother needed him to care for her needs.
In late December, both John and his mother were in the hospital he was there because of her heart and John was there because the diabetes was starting to shut down his organs, as it had happened with my own sister, Judy.
On December 27th, during the mid-morning, John’s mother, Jean Peterson closed her eyes and went to heaven. Two hours later, in another part of the same hospital, John sighed deeply and slipped into heaven right behind his beloved mom.
A tenor sang the song, On Eagle’s Wings as we said goodbye to both Jean and John. The words here do not capture the joy in Christ we felt as we thought of them at home with Jesus.
And he will raise you up on eagle's wings,
bear you on the breath of dawn,
make you to shine like the sun,
and hold you in the palm of his hand.
Goodbye my dear brother. You made a difference in my life and the lives of all who knew you. Let it be said that you filled your life as a faithful servant of the Lord.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
