Differences Between Mormonism and Christianity

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So do the differences between fundamental

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Christianity and the LDS Church, those differences, does that concern you?

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Give me some examples. So for instance, you know, the LDS Church teaches eternal progression.

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So God was once a man, and he graduated to deity, and now he has this universe, and he had a spirit wife and spirit children, and Jesus came forth from the pre -existence, and he is the spirit brother of Lucifer.

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And so this creation is Elohim Fathers, and so men like yourself who go through the ordinances and all the endowments and everything of the

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Mormon, I'm sorry, the LDS Temple and everything. Well, thank you for saying that. Yeah. We're trying to get away from that because our church isn't the

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Mormon Church. Yeah, sure. But you can do all that, and you won't be at the telestial or terrestrial, but you'll be at the celestial, and you yourself will receive knowledges and the ability to have your own universe and populate that, and you will be a god.

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So what we see in the Bible, it says in Isaiah 43 .10, God says, Before me there was no gods formed, neither shall there be after me.

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He says, I'm the first and the last, besides me there is no savior. So all throughout Scripture, God says,

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I'm the only one true and living God, but the LDS Church says, no, he was actually once a man, and he became a god, and there was many gods before him, and there's going to be many gods after him.

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So the promises in Genesis 3 of the serpent to Adam and Eve was, Eat of this fruit, and you will become like God.

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You will have knowledge of good and evil, and no offense, but we see that's exactly what the

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LDS Church promises. Do all these things, take of this fruit, and you will become a god one day.

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You will have your own universe. And the first thing Satan does is actually get Eve to question God's word.

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Sure, he does. So we have the same thing with the Mormon Church, saying the Bible is missing many plain and precious parts. That's what

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Nephi says, the prophet Nephi. He does. And if you look at history, you'll find... You'll have to excuse me,

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I have to try to remember. Oh, no worries. I got injured in my job really bad, and so... Oh yeah, take your time, sir.

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One, Christ makes a comment to them, and it says, Are ye not gods?

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So Christ is saying, yeah, we are, because who created us? Our Father in heaven.

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So his children. So he wants us to keep progressing. The other is, I was trying to remember what it was.

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I hate when I do that. I'll just be getting old. Well, I would just point out that that word for Jesus is...

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And that's not saying that you can become gods. It's a reference to Ruler's Psalm.

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Yeah, even in that psalm, it goes on to say, Yet you will die like men.

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They're not gods. So we don't see... You've got to look at that difference and go, wow.

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So they're saying, one day I will be worshipped. I will be a god. But the Bible is saying, and Christians are saying,

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No, we will all be prostrate down on our knees, and we'll be worshipping the one true and living God for all eternity.

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He is the number one. How can you believe both of those things though? I'm just curious. Okay, the way to explain it, and I'm not the best.

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Okay, sure. We appreciate that you're even... All you're talking to us. You're the first one today who's come out.

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This is what I did as a law enforcement. I got out of the car and knocked on doors. This is the way

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I am. I brought in public policing, community policing.

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And the way I look at it is, we get to know each other. First of all, we're Americans. Second of all, we're not going to agree on everything.

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Go to a restaurant. I bet you we don't agree. This is eternal significance. This is your soul. It is.

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That's why we're here. We care about your soul. There's only one... I appreciate that. Yeah, absolutely. There's only one

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God, and we just... So, I know you would say that you would give worship to that one

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God, and there's Jesus and the Holy Ghost, and we have God the Father, and they're one in purpose. My question for you is, would you receive worship?

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Sure. See, the Bible never says that man will receive worship. Oh, no. I thought you meant worshiping

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God. No, no. When you become a deity one day... I don't know all of it that's going to happen, to be honest with you.

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I don't. Well, Prophet Lorenzo Snow says, as man is, God once was, and as God is, man may become. So, that's signifying that since Elohim...

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We can elevate ourselves up to Elohim. Is Elohim worshipped? Yes. And that means you will be worshipped.

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The Bible never says you will be worshipped, sir. It says that we will be prostrate before God. Yeah, and so we...

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That's why we're out here, because we see that huge difference. So, that's why I ask you. And one other main one

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I would like to tell you real quick is the fact that the

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LDS Church teaches that Jesus was created by God in the pre -existence, and he also got to deity a little bit quicker than those who were in the pre -existence with the rest of his spirit brothers and sisters.

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But the Bible actually says in John 1, 1, in the beginning was the Word, the Logos, and that's referring to Jesus in the beginning was the

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Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then also Colossians 1 says, through him, and by him, and for him, that he's the creator.

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And he says, also in parts of John's Gospel, he says, before Abraham was even there, he says,

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I am. He says the word Ego Ami, which means I am, which if you refer back to the

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Exodus burning bush verse, God calls it, he says, what's your name? And what should

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I tell them? I am. And so Jesus says, I am

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God. Do you believe that was Jesus standing there talking to Moses? No, we believe that that was the

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Father, but that Jesus is God. We believe in what's called the Trinity. I know you've heard of it when you were at the

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Baptist Church. So Jesus is God, but Jesus is not the Father. The Father is

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God, but the Father is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is God, but he's not. They're three different ones. Yeah, yeah.

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Well, they have three different Gospels. So basically what we're trying to get at is a Jesus that's created, whereas in the

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Christian Church, we're saying he's uncreated. He says, I'm the Alpha and the Omega. I have no beginning. I have no end.

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I've been God from all eternity. He says, I'm the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

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He is eternal. He is God. That only God himself could absorb the wrath of the

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Father on that cross. So if Jesus was once a man, then he could not take the wrath of the

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Father and be a propitionary atonement for you, for me. So based off of those things,

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Jesus was created, and then you could become a God. Galatians 1 warns about that.

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Galatians 1 says that's a different Gospel. He says if anyone comes like us or an angel from heaven, and they preach a

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Gospel contrary to the one that we've preached to you, they are to be accursed. And so we take that and we go, oh my goodness, these are sweet people.

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These are beautiful people. People that I would love to take into my home and care for, because they believe in a fundamentally different Gospel.

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You know, and so we look at all those things. We look at Deuteronomy 18, the test of a prophet, and many of Joseph Smith's prophecies have failed to come to pass.

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And so God says when a prophet does not, when he prophesies of something and it doesn't come to pass, you are not to listen to him.

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So there's just so many inconsistencies. Then I remind him of the prophecy of Joseph Smith and the

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Civil War. It doesn't matter how many ones that may have been corrected, if there's one at all. If there's one at all, but we don't know when some of those prophecies will come about too.

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Well, he said that the temple was going to be built, I believe, in Missouri in his generation before it ended, and that never happened. That's very true.

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But we did get most of it. It didn't happen though. I have a whole list. I mean, I could give you if you're willing to look through them too.

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This is some of our concern too, sir. I'm going to read to you from the Bible. This is Paul. I'm going to get off this. Yeah, you want to back up in the shade?

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Let's go in the shade. So this is

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Paul, you know, an apostle, God speaking with the authority. He says this, he says, but I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

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For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

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So we have a warning there that there are people who preach different Jesuses, different gospels, and there's different spirits, and the

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Bible commands us to test the spirits. So like we would have a Muslim who would come up to us and say, I believe in Jesus.

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I'm sincere. But I believe he's just a prophet. We have a Jehovah's Witness that comes to us and says, oh yes, yes, I believe in Jesus.

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Let's say we have the LDS as well. They say, yes, I believe in Jesus. Well, one with the

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LDS, we have a created being, the offspring of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. The Jehovah's Witnesses, we have the first created being from Jehovah God, Michael the

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Archangel. And with the Muslims, we have just a mere prophet. So there's got to be a way to determine who is

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Jesus. And Jesus says in John 17, 17, sanctify them with the truth. Thy word is truth.

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It's his word, his standard. But if we have a prophet who comes along and then makes you question God's word.

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In the 1800s, no less. Saying that the Bible is missing many plain and precious parts.

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Well, the Bible is the word of God. And what does it say in John 1, 1? It says in the beginning was the word. That's saying that Jesus is missing many plain and precious parts.

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And that's what we see Joseph come and say in the King Follett discourse. He says the first principle of the gospel is to understand the nature and deity of God.

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He says, you have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. But I will refute that idea and take away the veil that you may see.

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You have got to learn to become God. At that moment in time, when Joseph Smith said that, he contradicted everything

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Orthodox Christianity has ever taught. In Psalm 90, verse 2, it says God is God from everlasting into everlasting.

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And I want to submit to you in Deuteronomy 13, another test of a prophet. It says that if a prophet or a dreamer of dreams comes around you, produces miracles, signs and wonders, even if it looks legit, but they lead you after another

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God, don't believe them. So I have God's word to rely on so I don't get deceived.

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Sir, I believe you have been deceived. And I want you to know the true and living God, Jesus Christ, who came and died on the cross so that you could live and be free, free from a yoke of an organization, free to worship

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God in spirit and in truth, to love his word, not to question his word. The devil makes us question

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God's word. I'm sure he does. I want you to know him. I want you to have that relationship with him. Yes, sir. He offers that to you freely.

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There's nothing you can give in return. There's nothing you can do to go and stand in front of God one day. You can't offer your own works or your own righteousness.

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It's by the righteousness of Christ. I stand justified to God. This is a grace that you're here listening to this today, sir.

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I know it's a lot to consider, but we're calling you to repent and to abandon this whole organization.

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We will labor alongside you to help you learn about the true scriptures that it's never had any missing parts whatsoever.

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God has preserved his word. Sir, we're here to help you, but we're calling you to no longer believe what's taught here.

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What do you think about that, sir? Well, it's a lot. Oh, you know...

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I know you do all... you head all those things and that's... You know, I can listen to all this.

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Yes, sir. And I appreciate the fact that you're out here. I really do. But I can also testify to some of the things that I have seen as myself.

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And doing work in the temple. Yeah. And I worked in the temple in Gilbert for two years.

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And the things that I saw... Sure. ...are a testimony that this church is true.

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I can testify, even though you don't believe me. And I understand that. And that's okay. I don't believe that you... Or I believe that you have seen maybe people healed or helped and everything like that.

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Yeah. But the things that I've seen and that were shown to me and the veil that thinned for me...

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Yes, sir. ...that what I saw is a testimony that I'm doing good. Now...

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Your heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. So let me submit something to you real quick.

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In Deuteronomy 13, like I said, if a prophet comes and produces signs and wonders, even if it looks legit, even if you feel it, sir, even if you...

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I'm not going to doubt your experience by any means. I believe there's different spirits that will make you experience things. But is it the truth from the

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Holy Ghost and the living God? So if he leads you after other gods, don't believe him. I totally agree with that.

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There's a lot of them out there that do that. Joseph did that, sir. That's what I'm saying. And I disagree that he didn't.

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He restored the gospel and brought things back. No, sir. But that's okay. Well, you have to contradict all of what the

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Bible says in order to say that. I believe you experienced many of these things and many good things, many of the common grace of what

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God has given. Like we all experience childbirth and children are a blessing. It says they're a blessing from the

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Lord. You know, the blessings of the priesthood that I hold. I've had people who've had cancer. And I've laid my hands on them through my

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Father in heaven and Christ because they're the ones who do it. And I've watched them get healed. But watch me, what

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I've gone through. I mean, my injury was serious. In the end,

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I lost 50 % of my airway. Doesn't show it, does it? No, you sound great. Yeah, I know. I lost 50%.

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I can't go do things I used to do. Right. I also had cancer of the esophagus. Wow. Do you know how many people survived?

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Oh my goodness. No. Probably like 10 % or 5 % or something. 3%. Wow. Praise God.

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He's testifying. One thing I want to point out is I've talked to people who are part of the

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Christian science religion and they'll say they've seen these. And they appeal to a different God. I've seen healings in the

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Baptist Church. A lot of it's your faith. You know, my faith is I know God's going to heal me if He wants to.

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And that's the key. If He wants to. Well, the thing is... That may not be my path. Our experiences don't determine truth.

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God's Word determines truth. So what do we appeal to? So, you know, you're trying to determine this is the eternal destination we're talking.

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This is serious stuff. And you're going, okay, the LDS Church is true. And I'm a part of it.

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And God has shown me all these things. And then we're telling you, no, Christianity, the

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Christian Church is true. So this is a big deal, right? How many churches are you with? We're in a Baptist Church.

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A Baptist Church, okay. And so we are... But what we're asking you to do is not to appeal to your experiences, your feelings, the things that have happened that probably have been given a grace from God.

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Yes, to see even yourself be healed. We're asking you to appeal and to look at truth through the lens of Scripture alone.

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Scripture alone. Are you all going to be out here next Sunday? We go to different ones. We go to the three locations.

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We alternate. So if you let me, what I'll do, I'll come out. We'll sit and talk some more. Okay, yeah, yeah. Can I give you, can

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I give you that list I was telling you about? You can reach me at this number. Okay, great, cool. I don't know who you want to give it to. And I'm sorry, your name again, sir?

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Oh, you know what? I'm so sorry. I'm bad with names. Yeah. I ran for office out in Missouri. And I knew so many people.

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You don't remember my name, so you kiss my baby. I remember your face, but I can't guarantee you. This is what

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I did. I got up and did a speech. And I said, y 'all listen, I'm not going to remember your names.

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It's just not going to happen. I said, I can't remember my four kids' names at times. I know. You go through the list.

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Yeah. The first one I say, hey, you, you know. Well, I had four children from my first marriage.

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Okay. And my wife's got three. So I've got seven kids, you know. Wow. I don't even know my kids' names.

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I remember my horse's name, though. So yeah, it sounds like you got some stuff to do.

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But I want to leave you with one last thing. It's from the same Second Corinthians, chapter 11. So Paul goes on to say, he says, and what am

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I, what am I doing? I will continue to do in order to undermine the claim of those who like to claim that in their boasted mission, they work on the same terms as we do.

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He's saying that there's false apostles out there. They claim to work in the name of Christ, like we do. He says, for such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

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And no wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is to no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, their end will correspond to their deeds.

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So the end there is the end of death. Just like Proverbs says that there's a way that seems right to a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.

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Paul's saying that although it may look like they're doing righteous deeds, if they're preaching a different God, a different gospel, and they accepted a different spirit, different Jesus, it's death, different God.

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It's a curse. It's anathema. And I don't want that for you, sir. I don't want you to die one day, stand before a holy

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God. You won't be able to say a word. You will be on your face prostrate before him.

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I was hoping to go up there with a burrito and a root beer. That's the thing. And then he will say, depart from me.

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I never knew you. There's many who say, Lord, Lord, and come in my name. Look at all these works I've done. But in the end, he says, depart. I've read about that.

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Yes, Matthew 7. When the apostles first started to do anything, they got kind of beat up.

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Yeah. And they were angry with Christ about that. They said, hey, we're your disciples. What happened? He said,

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I haven't given you the authority yet to do it. You have to wait. Where does it say that in the

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Bible? It's in Acts. Somewhere in Acts? Yeah. Okay. It's, I am bad with them.

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And I'm never going to look at it that way. There's not. I don't even the Book of Mormon. Yeah, I would challenge you to reread

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Acts. And it talks about them going into room. And when they came back out, all of a sudden, they went out and started preaching.

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Yeah. The upper room, just right. But they were up in the upper room. Yes. The Holy Spirit ascended on them as tongues is flaming a fire. And what did they do?

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They went out and preached that the eternal God died on the cross for their sins. Not a created being, the spirit brother of Lucifer, but the eternal

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God. That's all we're trying to do. And sometimes people are going to get angry with us. It happens.

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But we love that. We're trying not to be a stumbling block ourselves. It's the message that people get.

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Well, to me, I think it's great that you're out here. And it's great that you are standing for us, for our

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Father in heaven and our Savior, Jesus Christ. That is something we can all agree on. We may have some disagreements on philosophy and not philosophy.

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But we think these are fundamentals of the gospel. No, these are differences. Jesus says that unless you believe that Ego Ami, which is the eternal

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God, the divine name again, he says you will die in your sins. So this isn't something that we can just agree to disagree.

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It's not a different denomination or something like that. A gospel of eternal significance, that if you have a

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Christ of fiction, you have a Christ that's not real who didn't die on the cross for you, sir. That's what we're worried about.

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I mean, if he's fictional, we know what the word fiction means. Sure. He's not real. He's a figment of the creation of Joseph Smith that people are bowing and worshiping to.

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The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, sir, not to become a God and be glorified forever.

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We'll get together again. Yeah, sure. Let me know where you're going to be. Yeah. So and we'll sit down, talk to him.