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A Note From Ed –

I’m sitting at my desk the week before Thanksgiving, writing a Christmas note, trying to switch gears from the busy day consuming me and project myself to that manger scene so may years ago, when the Word Became Flesh. Before I do, let me tell you abut a special friend.

I received a note in today’s mail that one of our most faithful partners over the last twenty five years had passed away.  Mildred Triplett may have been what the world called elderly and tucked away in quiet retirement, but to me she was a zealous prayer warrior princess.

Mildred was not only firmly established in the Word and in His love for the lost, but she was faithfully steadfast in her constant prayers for our ministry and her monthly financial support.   The Lord knows that her gifts made us very aware that we were receiving a widow’s offering and we would account before the Lord for any penny carelessly spent in this ministry. She helped set the tone of our accountability.

I loved to open her envelopes!  Each one would have a little note to me, words of faith and encouragement. I would  try to send back notes to her, but I could never be as faithful as she. She gave me strength when things were tough, the mountains high, the rivers raging....peace in knowing God’s call on my life...and boldness to preach an uncompromising   message of truth to the lost and deceived.

I know there are hundreds of you just like Mildred who make up the fabric of this ministry. I cannot go a day without encountering your impact, being so blessed as I read your notes, pray for your prayer needs and use the gifts you send to reach so many lost in spiritual darkness.

Carol made the comment the other day as we were praying for you that so many of our partners have been with us for years, so faithful, so committed. You have no   idea how much that blesses us and pleases The Lord.

Your brother in Christ,

Ed Decker

I can’t remember a time in my life when the “blessed assurance” of Christ’s love and peace has permeated so much of my every-day life as now. With all the turmoil and grave dangers in the world and the chaos and unspeakable human acts that seems to be cascading across our beloved country like fierce ocean waves, we know that we are standing on that rock, that Petra, which is Jesus.

Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them,

I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house,

who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.

And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against

that house, and could not shake it,

for it was founded on the rock.

[Luke 6:47-48] NKJV

In spite of all the global hatred against America and Jesus, It is a joy to still have the freedom to say “Merry Christmas”. The world seems so busy trying to take Christ out of Christmas, but we know that will never happen!

Carol and I, along with our sons, Jason and Josh, want to thank all of you who have been so faithful over the years as we have stood in the gap in this difficult area of ministry. There have been times when it would have been easier to just walk away from this calling, but we always knew that we would be walking away from the Lord’s will in our lives. We would have also missed the joy that has come in seeing so many people, so many families set free from spiritual darkness.

We thank the Lord for each partner who has come alongside us in prayer and financial support, as well as those who have taken the information we have prepared and used it in their own rescue missions for their loved ones.

We give God the Glory for my continuing good health and energy. Continue to pray for Carol as she deals with recently discovered Type II Diabetes.

Every Christmas time, we take some days off to be with our families and rejoice with them in the remembering of the time when the Word became Flesh, when Jesus Christ was born and the new covenant began.

Christmas is such a great time to be a witness for the Lord to a world who thinks Christmas is in the malls, lights and a fairy tale about Santa Claus. It’s Jesus who died for them, not jolly old Saint Nick.  I pray that you will remember to use this Christmas season to bring Jesus to the forefront of every encounter you have.

A Time of Prayer and Thanksgiving

During this break I especially love the quality time I take to spend in prayer over your individual prayer needs. It is my gift back to you. While I do that regularly during the year, it has become especially meaningful to me to be interceding for you during the Christmas season.

Please, will you take a few minutes and write down your prayer needs and mail them back to me today...Write: Personal: Ed Decker...on the envelope so it will get right to me.

We pray the Lord’s blessings upon you and your loved ones. May your holiday time be precious time with the Lord and your loved ones. May the spirit of the Lord shine upon you.

“And the Angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2: 10-11

Christmas Giving

Could you prayerfully consider a generous gift to the ministry this Christmas?  It is our hearts desire to end the year in the black and we have a number of pressing bills along with the need for several mailings and two short ministry trips that very important and involve airfares, car rentals and hotel expenses. Please be assured that whatever you give to Saints Alive will be used with great care and consideration.  And if you can’t bless us with a financial gift this year, please bless us with a gift of prayer, it is so vital to our work.

The Web Site

We continue to be excited about the web site, www.saintsalive.com

Our website continues to be extremely active, receiving so many thousands of hits every week. We estimate that we are visited by people from close to 100 countries every month and up to 500,000 pages of information are downloaded each month.   Just think how those pages of information are being spread through the world!

We are in an expansion program right now and soon the website will be even more productive. Visit it often!

Gifts in Kind

I want to say a little bit at the year’s end about Gifts in Kind. These include stocks, cars, boats, RVs, real estate and even jewelry. There are many ways to help support a ministry like Saints Alive. That RV or boat you rarely use that is sitting in the storage facility that costing you $100/month could be donated at full retail value to Saints Alive, sold at market value and the money used to actively support the ministry.

Last year, when we still had about $10,000 left to pay for the printing of our three new booklets, someone donated an amount of stock to us. We sold the stock at a good price and had enough money to pay off that bill and have the booklets debt free. Hundreds of people have found Jesus through those booklets. What a direct reward for some shares of stock!

A few years earlier, we were given a late model Van, which we used for a summer missions trip to Utah and then sold it, using the proceeds to pay off the credit card bills incurred while ministering in Utah. That gift helped us lead many to Christ.

Would you think about this kind of giving? It works out great for both the giver and the receiver. If you have something that would help us out in this way, drop me a note or call.

One small point, however. The gift, if it is a boat, car, truck or RV, needs to be in a functional, saleable condition. We aren’t financially able to restore something to a saleable condition. Bless you!

www.SaintsAlive.com    NEW CHANGES!!!

We are excited and RELIEVED to announce the RE-OPENING of our ONLINE BOOKSTORE.  Please check us out!  You can now access your account online, make donations, check your orders / giving history and submit PRAYER REQUESTS!

The I-nexo Technology makes all of this possible via Micahtek – our service company.  We need to raise $ 3000 to cover cost of a complete website redesign.

Please support this vital part of Saints Alive!

Hello!

My name is Sharon. I live in a community that  is mostly LDS.   My in-laws have recently converted to the LDS church and I have found myself in need of more information on the LDS beliefs.  I have purchased your book “The God Maker’s” and have found it to be fascinating as well as informative.  A lot of the things I hear from LDS friends now makes sense.

I am and always have been a born again Christian.  I feel that God has placed me here for a purpose.  Please pray for me and that God will use me the way He intends. I would like to receive your newsletter. Thank you for all you are doing.  It surely is God’s work you are doing. God Bless you ! Sharon
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Letters that open my eyes

Good Day to you Brother.

Just  a little note to tell you that I am deeply impressed by your publishing of informal letters that you receive. It make me feel that I am not alone with my thoughts that the Mormon Church is on the wrong track

   Best Regards,  Donald

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I was raised a Mormon and went on a mission, but….

Dear Ed,

Thought I would write to express my support for your site. I’m a born in the church Mormon who was always a pretty good kid and like most, went on a mission (mine was to Korea). While on my mission I took an interest in church history and read several of the books laying around the house left behind by other missionaries.

I never thought twice about it though, just pushed through them in the not quite bored but not entertained way that any missionary does with the limited amount of reading material available to them. I was surprised to find out how much of it was new to me, I thought I had a grip on my religion from seminary and scripture study, but every time I came across something new I was like ... wow that’s our church huh?

I had one of those little one on one serious life evaluations with myself in which I came to the conclusion that I lacked any solid conviction of my own about what I was doing, and made a resolution to either get one or go home. So I took my questions to my mission president, who confirmed several of the interesting things I had never been told growing up in Mormonism (temple ritual changes, earlier doctrines taught by Brigham young such as the Adam-god theory and blood atonement and its enforcement by the ‘Danite’ organization, etc.) but I was assured that everything had its place and I could understand it someday with the help of the spirit. Well, I felt that to be true to myself I couldn’t stay out in the field and fake it, so I went home.

An interesting after effect is that I was portrayed to my entire mission as an apostate and from what I have heard back most think I left for some grievous sin. It’s interesting how that works, my little brother stopped going to church when he was younger because he got into drugs and girls without puritan views and while I don’t think he made a bad choice in leaving the church I think he did it for the wrong reasons, because he left on their terms as ‘a sinner’.

I think that is where the viewpoint expressed so often by letters to your site comes from, where the individual expresses how they were ‘so lost in darkness’ and now the gospel is bringing them so much hope and how could you criticize it, etc... They view embracing the doctrines once again as a ticket out of the choices they have made.

That’s not how it worked for me though; I’m just trying to do what I feel I should to be honest with myself. It has however been amazing to me how people I thought were my friends refuse to give me even the slightest benefit of the doubt.

 It really is too bad so much has to be wrapped up in the social aspect of things. Here I am now deeply entrenched in Mormon culture and not being understood very well. I enjoy the articles on your site and I think it’s great that you make this material available on-line.

I wish more members of the church would have the courage to question their religion, if nothing else to find out more for themselves about what they are fighting for. If their faith is as strong as they think it is it will withstand the facts they will uncover and at least then they can say they have an actual testimony of what they belief instead of being too scared to test themselves.

 I personally have made the decision to leave the church. I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, I just don’t believe in Joseph Smith. Any suggestions on a good non-denomination church to attend in the West Jordan, Utah area? Thanks.

Bob

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Ed, I have been speaking with a group a Mormons for about a year now, trying to teach them Christianity. When we discuss certain issues, (e.g. the journal of discourses) they say that text was written down by scribes, therefore accuracy of the text is uncertain and can’t be used against them. Is there a good way to respond to this claim?

Thanks & God Bless,  Shawn

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Dear Shawn,

The Journal notes were given back to Brigham Young for review, correction, etc.  He, as the prophet of the church, thought they were accurate and if their prophet didn’t know what he said or what was recorded, then he wasn’t much of a prophet, was he?

Three citations on Brigham Young show that the validity of the JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES is authoritative:

1. JOD 13:95— “I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon, and it is as good Scripture as they deserve. The people have the oracles of God continually.” (BY, 1870)

2. JOD 12:127— “What man or woman, what spirit in the spirit-world can say truthfully that I ever gave a wrong word of counsel, or a word of advice that could not be sanctioned by the heavens?” (BY, 1867)

3. JOD 8: Preface: “the JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES deservedly ranks as one of the standard works of the Church.”

That should end the argument... If they still deny the authenticity of these works, they have just denounced Brigham Young as a true prophet... and that just tanks their whole true church, true prophets business.

Spend your time with them in the Bible.. I suggest going through the Book of John, where they can find the real nature of Jesus

Ed

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Comments on Fast Facts on False Teachings

EXCELLENT BOOK!!!!!!! I am in leadership training at my church and right now we are on doctrine. I had already purchased the book way before we started so   I had time to actually research what you were saying in your book and found it to be very accurate.

I recommend that book to anyone who needs to-the-point and accurate background information on false doctrine so that when we come in contact with unbelievers, we won’t be stuck looking like a complete idiots.

So many people are apprehensive about giving their lives to Christ because we as Christians can’t explain to people why we believe what we believe.

But if you ask a Muslim or Jehovah’s witness why they believe what they believe, it may be wrong, but they can tell you. Ask the average person who attends a Baptist church why they’re Baptist and they’re most likely to tell you “cause Momma them went there” with no understanding why.

Then when we run up on a Muslim or Jehovah’s witness or anyone else with false doctrine, we’re easily fooled because we have no solid foundation of what we believe. Believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He came and died for our sins, and God is good all the time and all the time God is good is not enough information to withstand the epidemic of false teaching in this world.

Again, your book is excellent. I will definitely recommend it to my other brothers and sisters in leadership class. And I would love to know how I can acquire more literature.

Thank You,    Adron!

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