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Good friend Mark Molsberry with Rob outside the Relief Society Meeting
Good friend Mark Molsberry with Rob outside the Relief Society Meeting

 

 

 

 

Relief Society Meeting

 

Last month I witnessed to thousands of women outside the first phase of LDS General Conference known as the Relief Society Meeting.  My message: "I love you; just trying to warn you. You don't need your anti-depressants; you need the Jesus of the Bible. You'll never be worthy enough to be a mother God. But I know the worthy One; He loves you and died to save you from this burden. Please check out JosephLied.com!" Now of course having the Jesus of the Bible isn’t a guarantee that one will never need anti-depressants, but removing all the burden of Mormonism and replacing it with Jesus’ light burden (Mat. 11:29) would certainly get most LDS women off their pills. Utah, which is 60 to 70% LDS, has been #1 in all the states in prescription anti-depressant use for quite a while now. The reason for this seems obvious.   

 

Hot Tub Evangelism

 

I had a nice 10 minute chat with about 5 LDS guys in the hot tub at the gym. I got in and this “RM” (returned missionary) was talking about how difficult the transition back has been. So I told him that I'm still on my mission. Needless to say, we were off to the races, but then they all bailed on me and went in the pool. I was really nice to them, but I guess you could say I was the turd in the hot tub bowl!

 

Interview

 

Tara and I were interviewed by Natalina for a couple hours on her Extraordinary Intelligence radio podcast.  You may listen to it here.

 

Ex-Mormon Meetup


We had a great Meetup with Lisa Bautista last month. This was probably one of the most amazing testimonies I’ve ever heard. It started out slow—like going up a roller coaster. Then about the 10 minute mark it really took off and by the end, I felt like I had just watched an intense drama. You may watch the video here and see the photos here.

Film Review


I reviewed a very thoughtful LDS documentary entitled “Us and Them: Religious Rivalry in America.” I was particularly interested in this since much of it had to do with street preachers like myself.


Spanish Tracts

 

For all you Spanish speakers or those who know Spanish speakers, I am very happy to announce that a friend Leila Ovando translated my "Cheat Sheet" and Mike Norton's "Did You Know?": http://www.mormoninfo.org/tracts-13. Please get them out to the Spanish community! Their LDS numbers are way too high!

 

We Need Your Partnership!


We not only need your prayers, but we need your financial assistance 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 as jobs do. 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).

 

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Be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:6)!

 

Rob Sivulka
President, Courageous Christians United
P.O. Box 1374
West Jordan, UT 84081
(801) 738-0539
CourageousChristiansUnited.org
MormonInfo.org
JWinfo.org
MuslimInfo.org

 

****ADDITIONAL PRAYER REQUESTS****

 

1.  Health and protection for our whole family
2.  Tara’s family to be saved
3.  Wisdom in all our dealings
4.  Strength to keep going

 

****MAILBAG****

 

I wanted to tell you thank you so much ; ...I saw you at the manti temple when the mormon miracle pagent was taking place . I got so angry but am so glad I found out the truth .
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Tara sent me a link about election/free will and I just finished reading it.

Thank you for writing it in a manner that people like myself can understand!  I liked the part about remembering to not take Romans 9 out of context (keeping Romans 1 in view) in regards to our responsibility of knowing God (Romans 1:18-23)

Towards the end of your article there is a paragraph about God not being able to save everyone.  Like you said this is a hard sell for some and I am one of those people but oftentimes new things like that are difficult for me to wrap my mind around at first thought so I will give it much thought.

A few other questions I have:
How do we know that people from Esau became followers of Christ?  (the answer may be obvious but I cannot think of it)
Where can I read more about compatibilism?  I have never heard this term before and would like to look at a reliable source in regards it.
Are there other passages in the Bible that say God causes evil?  I have always believed that God allows evil but does not create it.  I want to have a right view of this issue as well. 

 

Thanks for you time,

[I replied:] This is a very difficult subject that good Christians can get really divided over.  Arthur at the end of my comments section thinks Calvinism is heresy!  Since God never directly answers the question of whether we have libertarian or compatibilist freedom regarding our salvation, we only have our best philosophical hunches and must give grace to those who disagree.

For me, judgment implies that an "ought."  Easy enough.  But if that's true, then it seems to me that ought implies can.  If one ought to do something, then one can do something.  So it makes no sense to me that people don't have some sort of libertarian agency when it comes to their salvation.  If people ought to repent, then I think we common-sensically assume they can repent.  However, if election is simply a matter of God's sovereign choice without regard to one's libertarian responsibility, then the reality is that one can't repent if one isn't elected in this sense.

As per your questions:
1) The descendants of Esau are generally known to be the Arab people.  Obviously many Arabs are followers of Christ.

2) http://www.theopedia.com/Libertarian_free_will and http://mzellen.com/2010/01/25/compatibilism-vs-libertarian-free-will-and-eternal-vs-everlasting/.

3) God doesn't create something that's a privation.  Evil is spoiled goodness.  God in this sense only creates what is good otherwise He's the author of confusion.  However, He can "create" evil in the sense that in a fallen world due to man's libertarian choice, He can utilize privations to bring about His desired effect.  I can't think of other verses other than Isaiah that speak of God creating evil, but interpretation of what Isaiah means has to take into account other things we know.

Possible worlds based on our libertarian choices seems clear enough in scripture to me.  In addition to what is meant by judgment and in addition to the Matthew passage I started my blog with where Jesus says if His miracles were done in Tyre and Sidon, they *would* have repented, you also have the story of what the Lord told David in 1 Sam. 23:6-13.  There, the Lord said that the men of Keilah *would* give David up to Saul, so David flees, and the men never turned him in.

Finally, if you want to borrow a good short intro book on this subject, I have William Lane Craig's "The Only Wise God."

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You have WAY too much time on your hands.

Heretic? What year is this again?
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I actually got stumped today and I don't know if you know this verse where it says something to the effect that only were Jesus said only the father is righteous ? ALSO what does it mean when it says that Jesus will sit at the right hand of the father?

I have a Christian friend said he died and had Jesus walking behind him in the father walking in front of him and he is a Christian

He is the one that told me about these verses and I never really thought of certain things like that and the fact that he was praying to himself numerous times.

Mathew 19 verse 16 and 17

I'm just having a hard time being able to get around some of that stuff. Why would you do that as an example when you want people to know that you are God?

How can you help me with these things and what would you say?

[I replied:] You need to get a good commentary.  If Jesus isn't God because only God is good, then Jesus isn't good.  No one would say that.  God isn't simply the Father.  He's also the Son and Spirit.  The Son was manifesting Himself through the man of Nazareth.  As a man, Jesus served as our example on placing Himself in submission to His Father by the power of the Spirit.  Since Jesus is good and without sin, the only explanation is that He is actually God... regardless of what Jesus was getting at by telling the guy, "Why do you call me good?"  My take is that Jesus was pressing the guy to realize that the one standing before Him was actually God since He really was good.

[As for the “right hand” language:] http://www.mormoninfo.org/faqs-31/Isnt-God-a-man-with-flesh-and-bones-since-Stephen-saw-Him-with-Jesus-in-Acts-755-56-3713

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Thanks for your news letter.
Blessed by your site!

Love watching your Ex Mormon meets, always a comfort and blessing  in testimony, thank you guys.

 

Shaureen's Testimony was a piece! Her singing was gracious and moving, I read the night after watching her testimony Psalm 33, would you pass that along for her Rob, as I believe it was quite fitting and maybe it will be an encouragement for her to sing out her new heart for Christ and I pray she finds and settles down in a fellowship where she can sing and serve.
I found Psalm 34 right next door, a comfort and blessing for me,a pick up, I'd like to share it to you guys, as I thought of you and your family standing right in the center of it all.
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First of all, I want to thank Renae Storms of WFI for sharing this website with me. She's been a blessing in my husbands and my life. Secondly, I want to thank you for this work. As a former Mormon myself, its always wonderful to see those who left darkness come out into the wonderful light of Christ.
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I am a member of the LDS faith, but not active and not sure I 100% believe in the teachings of the church.  But I can say I 100% disagree with you and your church.  You are a joke to try and increase your standing by putting others down.  You are a classic case of being a bully.  I am not a study of the bible or the works of the LDS but I do know that the contradictions within the Bible as well as all other religious materials can disprove every religion.  What I do believe in is that you are NOT Christian. Because Christ did not spend time defending himself or putting others down, He spent his time glorifying his father and doing good deeds unto all no matter there belief, sins or any other means by which they lived there life.   You website proves that you do not emulate Christ and there fore are not a Christian church.

[I replied:] Thanks for the feedback.  You obviously don't know Christ, since you haven't read the Bible to find out how when it came to Christ, "all his opponents were humiliated" (Lk. 13:17).  You may also try reading Matthew 23.  His apostle told us to tear down bad arguments (2 Cor. 10:4-5).  Finally, you're a hypocrite for writing to tear me down.  Nice try!

Now concerning the contradictions of the Bible, they are only the makings of your deficiency.  What exactly are the contradictions you have in mind?  Would you be open to examining them to see if Jesus' words can be trusted when He said that "scripture cannot be broken" (Jn. 10:35)?  If so, then let's take them one at a time.  As you do so, I submit that you'll gain greater confidence in the word of God.


[He replied:] you are incorrect for calling me a hypocrite as I do not call myself a teacher or preacher, in fact as I stated I am really not much of a religious person and have no desire to read an inaccurate document to decide my faith in anything.  You are the person that claims to be a preacher of the word of god and is instead being a bully.  You are the type of person that leads to the terrorist activities that are occurring all over the world, you are not confident in your own beliefs to know they are true and be willing to teach those who wish to hear more from you.  You have to go searching for a battle to fight other and put them down and I will be excited to met you in the afterlife as what we do in life will echo throughout eternity. 

[I replied:] I don't care what you call yourself.  If you are attempting to teach or preach your beliefs to me, you're acting as a teacher or preacher.  That's perfectly fine with me when people correct me, but when you're under the delusion that me correcting is wrong and yours is right, you're hypocritical. 

I don't plan on meeting you in the afterlife simply because you don't know or care to know God.  You just want to micro-manage people to keep their beliefs to themselves perhaps to assuage your own guilt.  You need to repent and trust Jesus to save you from all your sin or you will cheat yourself on the way life was meant for you and you'll end up in hell.  I pray you choose wisely.
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I know the pressures you are under and the zeal you have for the lost. I pray for you regularly bc I know the spiritual battles you face on a daily basis.

I am 80 now and with failing eyesight and severe neuropathy I can no longer go out into the streets and proclaim the gospel the way you can..  I am honored to be able to send you what little I can from the little  I have..  But peace like a river flows through my heart.
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I am a Mormon and YES Joseph Smith lied and the church continues to do so to this day. However your statement that The Bible is archeologically, historically, prophetically, and scientifically accurate is as full of crap as the Book of Mormon is. I find that statement laughable but I suppose it makes many happy to believe that.

[I replied:] did you read the links I provided for my assertion about the Bible? Instead of making a broad and unhelpful statement, please deal with the specific arguments given in those links. There is zero evidence for the Book of Mormon at least as far as its description of the New World. The Bible on the other hand has plenty of evidence for it. Now that's a different statement from saying that everything in it has been confirmed, but so what? That's the case with almost any ancient historical book.
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Wow this website is full of lies and slandering. Only one with a humble teachable heart can know if this is true.this website destroys faith and slanders which is not of God or His Son. Period.


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