|
Dear Friends,
I want to thank the many of you who wrote in and shared such kind words about my dear friend, Ron Carlson. Carol, I, and a number of other ministry leaders with whom Ron [and I] have worked over the years attended Ron’s Memorial in Eden Prairie, MN.
It was a solemn time but uplifting in seeing the love Ron had shared with people all over the world.
His wife, Marge and his sons Jason and Jared were rocks of strength and loved on all who came to pay their respects. Both sons are pastors and committed to continuing Ron’s ministry and vision to reach the lost.
We were so blessed to know Ron and his family for 30 years. I was honored to be his co-author on Fast Facts on False Teachings, with publication in over six languages and many hundreds of thousands of copies around the world.
Ron was always an encourager and we never had a conversation that did not end with his trademark, “I’m all for you!” He certainly was…
As I mentioned above, among some the ministry people at Ron’s Memorial Service were several of Ron’s and my good friends:
Brannon Howse of WorldView Weekend http://www.worldviewweekend.com/brannon-howse/ and his family,
Jan Markell of Olive Tree Ministries
http://www.olivetreeviews.org/
Jill Martin Rische, (Dr. Walter Martin’s daughter) of Walter Martin Ministries http://www.waltermartin.com/index.html
I highly recommend these tremendous people and their work. Visit their sites and take advantage of their great ministries. I am especially thrilled to see what Jill and her husband, Kevin have done with a treasure r trove of Dr. Walter Martin’s teachings.
As a one quick aside, keep an eye on our website. We continue to add articles on a regular basis.
Your brother in Christ,
Ed Decker
Rare Mormon Books from Ed’s Library
In a rare effort to try and get control of a rather large personal library of LDS books, I have decided to release some of my rarer Mormon books of the 1800s and early 1900s. Tough call for a book hog like me, but I am out of room and most are duplicates of others on my shelves.
I am offering a group of 17 of these books and one 45 RPM single recording by Donny and Marie Osmond still in sleeve and recorded at Kolob Records.
If you are interested, email me and I will email back the list. With the set, I will also include signed copies of my three best selling books. The Godmakers, Fast Facts on False Teachings and My Kingdom Come, The Mormon Quest for godhood.
I will ship the entire set [only] to the highest bidder.
Bidding to end September 1, 2011.
The money received will go in its entirety to the ministry general fund.
FROM THE INBOX
I get many emails each week that require a lot of thought,
prayers and answers.
I have included several of them and several of my answers to show you what we deal with on a daily basis. If you want to respond to any of them, forward their email and your answer to me and I will forward, except in the cases where they fear an email from us will spark a confrontation with a loved one.
Dear Ed: I know Mormons are not Christians, but I have talked to two of them about my belief that we need to have a personal relationship with Jesus. They claim they believe in having a personal relationship with Jesus, but I know they really do not. What is their notion of a personal relationship with Jesus?
Ed: They believe that Jesus is our elder brother who suffered for our sins in the garden of Gethsemane, conditional upon our obedience to the laws and ordinances of the [LDS] gospel. His death on Calvary gives us all [Saint and sinner alike] physical resurrection, so that we may be judged for our good works vs. our 'transgressions' These Mormon laws and ordinances have been placed there, in the way of the Cross, blocking the LDS people from it and its cleansing power!
He is the LDS savior in the sense that his death gives the Mormon the means of returning to the god of this world, using the secret keys, handgrips and passwords learned only in the Mormon temple that will ensure safe passage.
Those who have fulfilled all LDS laws and have done their 'temple' work will be sent to the Celestial Kingdom and become gods, the others are sent to two lower Kingdoms.
"Here then is eternal life...to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you...To inherit the same power, the same glory and the same exaltation, until you arrive at the station of God." Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 6, page 306.
We must have Joseph Smith's Ok to 'progress'
"If we get our salvation, we shall have to pass by him; if we enter our glory, it will be through the authority he has received. We cannot get around him." President George Q. Cannon, quoted in 1988 Melchizedek Priesthood Study Guide, p. 142.
The Jesus of Mormonism was married, had children.
"Jesus was the bridegroom at the marriage of Cana of Galilee. We say it was Jesus Christ who was married...whereby he could see his seed." Orson Hyde, Apostle, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 2, p. 82.
The Jesus of Mormonism was the brother of Lucifer.
"The appointment of Jesus to be the Savior of the world was contested by one of the other sons of God. He was called Lucifer. This spirit-brother of Jesus desperately tried to become the Savior of mankind." Milton R. Hunter, The Gospel Through the Ages, p. 15.
*******************************
Hello Ed and Ministry, Thanks for continuing to send your newsletters. They are a support and help to me. I believe you have my husband, who is LDS on your prayer list. It is a very sensitive situation in regard to sending financial support as he, of course, would be very upset if he knew. Perhaps, I could send a money order sometime. It is very difficult to observe him as he gives his tithing regularly to the LDS church, as I know it is a deceptive and false religion. It is sad for me to see him following these leaders faithfully and blindly. Thank you for your love and prayers for the LDS people and their families. I see no change in him-he has been in for such a long time but I know God is able.
Ed: First, I am thrilled that you are able to receive this Newsletter. Second, do not worry about sending us any money and Third, we are upping our prayers for you. Praying for such needs is a major part of my own personal ministry life.
*******************************
Dear Ed, a couple months ago I spoke with the local missionaries. They were new and were really eager to meet with me, I had talked to the guys before them too, so we talked and they talked about the 'plan of salvation'. To their surprise, I came with questions they weren't prepared to answer. Needless to say, they haven't contacted me again. (I really wish I could remember some of the questions, but they weren't tough they should have known.)
From talking to them, it doesn't sound like it comes from their heart or what they feel to be their personal relationship with Jesus. It sounds more like a recording. I hear the same exact wording from every missionary when they talk. Also, I would like to know about talking points to stay away from and points I should attack.
Ed: It sounds canned because it is. They have memorized the material while at the Missionary training center. There is latitude, But they must get all the ' contact or teaching points' in there.
Many, many years ago, while an active member of the LDS church, I did missionary work at the local level, always with a full time missionary. He would take the first half and I would take the second half. Or visa versa. We worked out of the lessons we had 'mostly' memorized. If you want to look at something you can say to them, Read:
http://www.saintsalive.com/resourcelibrary/mormonism/who-is-that-knocking-at-my-door
And You don't have to memorize it..
*******************************
Brothers in Christ, I am the current "worshipful" master of a Masonic lodge. Due to some new information which God has brought to me I have decided to renounce masonry altogether.
Please pray for the people whom I have inducted into freemasonry with good intentions and those masons both in mine and other lodges who wish to be good Christians but have been poisoned with wrong information.
*******************************
Dear Ed: Please do not email me back, but thank you from the bottom of my heart! I am a Mormon and have been for almost 30 years. Have been "married and sealed" in the temple. It wasn't until about 2 years ago that I started questioning everything that I felt and knew. My mother died and all of a sudden, I couldn't understand all of my "teachings", they just didn't feel right.
I was very active in the LDS church, in various callings from the stake down to my ward level. I was always in leadership callings. And now I didn't believe anymore! I went inactive and went on a quest to find out what was going on inside of me. I love the Lord and I knew Heavenly Father, but why was life so confusing now. I’ve tried to pull away but I think I've been a "member" too long. The members don't care about one another; they don't go out looking for "lost sheep". They only care about getting their poor children on missions and to the "sacred castle in the sky", the temple.
None of my four children goes to church, even though they were all raised in the church. None of them has been on missions or to the temple. It was hell watching other "proud" parents send off or marry off their posterity, and then bare "testimony" of how good they were as parents or as a family. I've been a failure in the church since I joined in 1981. We were never quite good enough, because we didn't go on a mission or we weren't generational.
I can't pull myself from the church, I don't know how to live without it. I don't believe the gospel the way other churches teach it, I understand it the way the church teaches it and I love the stories in the BOM. So, sadly, I go only to sacrament every other Sunday, if I feel like it, and I will not ever go back to the temple as long as I live. And I will not pay tithes or except a calling. I am miserable. How did I ever get myself or my family involved? Just know that I appreciate all that you said about the temple. I have a long way to finding peace again. Just please know that there are many more like me out here, just keep telling it like it is.
*******************************
Dear Ed: Do you know if Glenn Beck has been born again? He says he is a Mormon but then he said on his program that his life was changed because of what a man did 2000 years ago near Jerusalem. I'm kinda paraphrasing this. He is friends with Joel Rosenberg, David Barton, and some other well-known evangelicals. He talks about Jesus and God but people say it's not the same as we Believers believe in. Has anyone really talked with him? There are some evangelicals who say he's really born again. Just thought I’d ask what you think.
Ed: Glenn Beck is not a born again Christian, but a wolf in sheep's clothing. When he says that 'his life was changed because of what a man did two thousand years ago,' he is referring to the Mormon doctrine that Christ's death on Calvary gives all mankind resurrection so that they may be judged for their works.
Those like Glenn who are temple Mormons believe that through this process, they may become gods and goddesses in the next life.
A while back, I posted a YouTube video of Beck, with his wife talking about the importance of the [LDS] gospel and how the temple was the center of his/their faith.
Here it is. Please watch it and listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uKvve0ffss&feature=related
The temple is where the worthy Mormon learns the secret oaths, handgrips, tokens and passwords to be able to enter the celestial kingdom and godhood.
Read: What's the Problem with Glenn Beck at:
http://www.saintsalive.com/eds-blog/whats-the-problem-with-glenn-beck
I am afraid that a number of Christian leaders have sold their birthright
for a bowl of face time on National TV.
*******************************
Dear Ed: Why doesn't the LDS faith recognize or use the cross as a symbol like Christians? I have been told it's almost offensive to their faith. What does it represent or not represent to them? A friend of mine shared with me that a group of LDS kids cornered her boy at school ( about 5 years ago), and got in his face about the cross he wore around his neck. They all but ripped it off of him. That might have just been an isolated incident and a bunch of mean LDS kids, but they made it clear they were LDS and they did not like the cross. This was in a very LDS populated area of Gilbert called Power Ranch. Even with that said, this isn't the first time I've heard of the "cross" being offensive to the LDS followers. Why?
Ed: They deny and curse the cross. They call it an instrument of death. The truth however, is that they deny Christ's gift of salvation by grace through the cross and say he only died there to give us all resurrection to be judged for our works where the Mormon gains his/her personal salvation. You will Never see a cross on or in an LDS building.
They use wonder bread and water in their perverted form of communion, cannot deal with the shed blood of Christ. They say he suffered for our sins in the garden conditional on our obedience to the laws and ordinances of [their] gospel. The Bible says He took the laws and ordinances against us and moved them out of the way, nailing them to the cross.
Please Consider
Summers are always a tough time for ministries such as ours. This year, because of the brutal economy that has hit us all so hard, it has been one of the toughest summers in a long time. We all have had to make cuts in our spending and giving that have not been easy. I thank God for those of you who have continued to support us with your prayers and gifts. You have literally kept us going this year.
Please, if you are not a regular donor, consider even just a one-time gift to this work, so that we can get the job of opening blind eyes to the precious gift of the real Jesus and the real gospel.
You can give through the website, through our 800 number, through the mail and especially easy for those who use it, through PayPal, where the gift shows up within a minute of you hitting the send button.
I was not disobedient
Even as Paul was called of Christ, even
so we have been called to this work of His.
He has sent us…
“To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light,
and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance
among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me [Christ].
” Acts 26:17-18
|
