General Conference
Ivan and RobHere’s the video of the first day. Many good conversations this day. An LDS guy began walking with me to the conference as soon as he saw my big sign. I had just gotten out of my car. His dad is Christian and mom LDS. I got to challenge him and he took a DVD. Then while we were talking an agnostic guy came by on a bike. He thought there's no good reason to think Christ even existed. I also challenged him to give me a credible historian who buys that. He said he would write me about this, but never did.
Later I met Ivan from Bulgaria. We had a pleasant conversation and got a picture together. I answered his questions the best I could. We left on good terms and he took a picture with me.
I met Peter, who recently moved out from Kansas City and is just learning about Mormonism. He seemed to be a Christian, but wasn't sure of his salvation. He took a DVD and I prayed for him.
I met Josh, who says he’s non-religious but his girlfriend is LDS and pushing him to join. So he said he wanted to get both sides and took my DVD.
2nd dayHere’s the video of the second day. Given the rain, I guess this is why I didn’t get into as many conversations as the day before. However, I had a great conversation similar to the way I started ministry the day before. I met Kevin at the stop light right in front of the Conference Center and walked a few blocks with him. Even though it was a good conversation, he wasn’t open enough to take the DVD.
The stats for the weekend demonstrate that people were paying attention to my preaching and advertising. The day before I only had 46 total users of my site. Saturday I had 106 and then Sunday I had 158. Monday went back down to 77.
LDS Missionaries at Our Home
Well technically they weren’t at our home. They were on our sidewalk in front of our home. I was doing some yard work out front when they walked by, and since they have never come to our door, I of course have to stop them as they walk by our home. They were a couple sister missionaries They had a difficult time understanding how they have a different Christ (it was really irrelevant for them that they held that matter was eternal and Jesus obviously never created that among many other things), and thought all I wanted to do is argue. They were even more upset that I said they were going to hell and needed to be warned. They thought that the Bible taught that judgment is for God alone, but I said the Bible never says that. In fact, why would I bother trying to persuade them to repent if I didn't think that? And if they could make a judgment that I shouldn't say something, then certainly I can make a judgment that I should. The issue isn't judging per se; it's that they simply didn't like the type of judgment I was making.
One said they hold that everyone can have a second chance after this life to go to the celestial kingdom. I told them the Bible doesn't teach that. She countered with 1 Cor. 15. I told her the passage never teaches 3 kingdoms where we can go to after we die and even if it did, there's nothing there about getting a second chance after death.
They were also quite upset when I went through a list of things they didn't need to do in order to get to the celestial kingdom (e.g., tithing, handshakes, temple garments, etc.). One responded to that by saying I shouldn't mock God. I told her I wasn't mocking God; I was trying to warn them of their burdensome Jesus.
They also were quite upset when I told them that the Book of Mormon is a fairy tale. I told them about the Comoros Islands off Eastern Africa and the capitol is named Moroni, and it's been that way since the Middle Ages. They simply dismissed it.
They started walking down the street to get to their dinner and told me not to follow them. I told them that they will never be mother gods someday to rule over other worlds. They just aren't worthy enough. There's only One who's worthy to be God. I also told them to check out JosephLied.com sometime.
Sometimes they need to get upset before they'll take what you say seriously. I hope something I said sticks!
Paris, France LDS Temple
At the end of the month, thanks to a gift from my wife’s late LDS grandfather, we were able to take a trip to France and I was able to do some witnessing at the Paris LDS Temple Open House. I went through it and then did some ministry outside it on the street. I didn’t have my sign with me, but I handed out my Seven Differences Between Mormonism and Christianity tract in French outside the temple. I got out about 50 of them. I don’t know the language well enough, so I simply said, “Bonjour,” and then when they took it, “Merci.” I had some good conversations though in English to a handful of people. I recall most of those being LDS missionaries. One of those was with a couple guys, and one of them was from Orem. They were amazed with my story and why I would travel all over to preach to LDS.
MeetTheExMormons.org Fellowship
Here’s the video of Thaine Hansen sharing with our monthly fellowship. You may also view the pictures here.
Upcoming Tucson Mission
God provided again for the next mission trip! This time I’ll be headed to Tucson, AZ on June 5th. Please pray for open hearts and strength to deal with some pretty hot weather.
Questioning Mormonism and Christianity?
Currently we have 21 people signed up to take our free six week online course on Mormonism and Christianity. If you are interested in joining, see the link near the top of the page on www.MormonInfo.org.
We Need Your Partnership!
We not only need your prayers, but we need your financial partnership as well. Keep in mind that your investment is not simply for us, but for the lives of others we reach with the gospel. The standard way to financially invest is by writing a check to Courageous Christians United (CCU). For more information on various ways to invest in this ministry, including online giving, please see our “Invest” page on any of our sites. Please keep in mind we have no financial guarantees each month. Ministry partners come and go. If you’re not a partner, please consider joining our team and let us know soon. We’d love to be your missionaries here in Utah. Many thanks to those of you who hold us up in prayer and in your financial giving!
We expect God to provide for our needs through you. Why? Because the Bible is clear: “the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:14).
Be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:6)!
Rob Sivulka
President, Courageous Christians United
(801) 738-0539
CourageousChristiansUnited.org
MormonInfo.org
JWinfo.org
MuhammadLied.Info
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I think I’ve got answers to my questions.
1. (What they call) God the Father and “heavenly mother” had relations, which created spirit bodies for the intelligences.
2. God the Father and Jehovah created Adam and Eve.
3. The Virgin Mary is one of God the Father’s spirit-children.
4. Jesus (“Jehovah”) created under the Father’s supervision, and with help from Abraham, Noah and plenty more when it came to the earth.
Joseph Smith would have made an excellent fantasy/sci-fi author…or maybe we should say that he was one. (Or maybe he was a scribe for an infernal fantasy/sci-fi author?)
[I replied:] The temple ceremony has Elohim sending out Jehovah and Michael to organize the earth and Michael becomes Adam.
Sci-fi is an apt description!
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Greetings.
What are the best questions one can ask LDS?
Here are some questions I have come up with.
It would be nice to know what the best questions and topics are to talk about and HOW to deal with their "6 lessons"- since there is not much in them that can be objected to.
Questions about MORMONISM and Book of Mormon?
-Why does Mormon 7:7 sound like the Protestant view of Heaven rather than everyone getting their own planet?
-Why name a boy Alma ( Mosiah 27:8) when almah is Hebrew for young woman? ( Isaiah 7:14)
-If the Book of Mormon is "the fullness of the gospel" and "the most perfect book upon the face of the Earth"- why does it not mention installing deacons at the age of 12?
-If the Book of Mormon was realllllllllllllly written in Hebrew or Egyptian- why are there so many Europian names in it? Such as: Isabel ( Italian), Moses ( Greek), adieu ( Jacob 7:27) ( French), and maybe others. For example if you want to make a faithful translation of Spanish to English- you would still use the Spanish name Juan and not change it into John. ( The website http://lifeafterministry.com/2011/07/04/book-of-mormon-greek-latin-word-chart/ is very interesting in showing that some words are clearly from Greek and Latin and not Hebrew.)
-Why does the Book of Mormon not have info on Jewish culture?
-Why does Ether 9:19 read elephants rather than woolly mammoths?
-Why does the Mormon church want to hide what it REALLY believes?
-Why does the Book of Mormon quote the N.T. in an O.T. time period?
-How can Mormon males be given the Aaronic priesthood if they are not Levites?
-How can LDS scriptures ( BoM, D&C, & PGP) trusted when they all have changes in them?
Thank you for your time.
[I replied:] You need to get them to question their burning in their bosoms. Until that happens, they typically file questions away as anomalies. But then again, perhaps an overload of questions gets them to question their burning in their bosoms. Anyway, there are tons of good questions to ask. Hope my www.MormonInfo.org is helpful to that end.
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Hebrews 1:8a ("but to the Son: 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever'") is a nice, clear statement of the deity of Christ. You go beyond the text, however, when you preface your citation of the passage by saying "then it's no problem for one of the persons of God to refer to the other as His God. The Father even did that to His Son in Heb. 1". The passage does not say that, and I'm not even sure that's an orthodox thing to say.
Contrast this with the next verse, Hebrews 1:9, which turns the tables: "You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; this is why God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy beyond your companions."
It makes sense to say that the Father is Jesus's God, at least because of the Incarnation and *maybe* because the Son is eternally begotten of the Father. The dependence and authority relations all point in one direction."
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Interesting review [of The Shack film]. I've seen other reviews, which when written by the theologically educated were critical, but the people I've spoken to, who have seen it, found it moving. Your review seems very charitable in the right way, though it's still probably worth worrying a little about those who becomes fans of the author's work based on the film adaptation.
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Was thinking about your response last week and how you said you believe there are prophets on earth today. I was just wondering how one would distinguish between a true prophet and a false prophet. Obviously Joseph smith was a false prophet but when I was into Mormonism I loved the idea of continuing revelation and God speaking through a prophet even today. I revered Thomas Monson for being Gods truest servant as the leader of his true, perfected church. Through my experience I came to understand that the church was founded by an adulterer and pedophile who knowingly preached a story book which he plagiarized from many publications of his time as a true account and the word of God. When I was Mormon I never fully accepted the Book of Mormon as historically accurate, because of Dna and archaeological evidence. Yet I accepted it as divinely inspired scripture that told of Jesus appearing to ancient inhabitants of America. I blocked out the racist stuff and believed it to be part of Gods continuing revelation meant to teach us lessons about how to live. I guess I cared more about being spiritually fulfilled and personal revelation and inspiration over truth. While one can grow in spirituality and become a wise and knowledgable hand of God, I'm not sure that calling them a prophet would be appropriate.
I also have a hard time calling someone today a prophet because I feel like it takes away from Jesus' divinity. Priests, preachers, missionaries, etc. all serve God in many ways that others cannot. But most don't claim to be prophets, regardless of the miracles and healings they bring to pass. I always thought of a prophet as one who speaks for God and that entails an enormous amount of power, which in the cases of many (Joseph smith, Jim jones, David koresch, l Ron Hubbard) can lead people astray and have eternally devastating results.
I guess what I'm getting at is that Jesus is Gods only begotten son..he is God incarnate and died, resurrected, and ascended to cleanse sinners and bring everyone who has faith in Him to live eternally. What can possibly be added to that? Why would God anoint prophets today? And shouldn't healings be attributed to the power of Jesus Christ interceding and not someone else?
Also, saw on Facebook that you're celebrating a birthday. Happy birthday, hope you've been enjoying it with your family.
Look forward to hearing back,
[I replied:] Did you read http://www.courageouschristiansunited.org/news/February-2017-249322? Prophets are mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments. Here's how you test the prophets. There are basically 3 tests for prophets. Some are in line with God and some are not. Those who are not are counted as false prophets, but that in no way demonstrates there's no such thing as prophets today. You may also be benefited by this FAQ I wrote.
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[In reference to our monthly Meetup:] Terrific! Thanks for the meal and ministering to the lost Mormon souls. Also, thanks for helping heal everyone who has been saved from the Mormon cult.
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Just a heads up, this is a pretty long email. I hope you read it though.
My name is Jack. Your website has been a huge help for me in my faith formation. Given that it’s Holy Week I figured it would be a good time to reach out to you and thank you for all the work you do.
… I know this may seem like a strange email to receive, but you seem like the guy to contact about leaving mormonism for the real Jesus. Thanks again for all the work you do, and I admire you for having the courage to preach at temple openings and general conference and other lds events. Joseph Smith was a wolf in sheep's clothing - I met the devil through his work. There is no path to eternal life except through Jesus Christ and the world needs to know that.
I hope to hear back from you.
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Thank you for being out at general conference last weekend. Thank you for this website
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I thank God for Rob and everyone who ministers to lost Mormon souls. God used a man much like Rob Sivulka to plant Gospel seeds in me for a month or more during my mission. I wasn't immediately saved, however it made a tremendous difference. You never know who will embrace Jesus following your witness of him.
Ecclesiastes 11:6 King James Version (KJV)
In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.
Praise Jesus!
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I saw your photos down at the GC today. I would have loved to have stopped and had a chat. It amazes me a few years ago I would have seen you as a jerk but now see you as a savior.
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