When a Mormon Meets Jesus: A Study in Spiritual Paradigm Shift

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When a Mormon Meets Jesus A Study in Spiritual
Paradigm Shift

• Dean Helland

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Introduction

• Mormons consider themselves to be the chosen
  people of God.
• They claim to believe in Jesus Christ.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
  of Salt Lake City is the best known Mormon group.
  
  There are 100
  other groups, some polygamous.
• They all believe the Book of Mormon to be
  Another Testament of Jesus Christ and Joseph
  Smith to be a true prophet of God.

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The Problem

• The Bible warns against those who say they
  believe in a different Jesus Christ than the one
  the Bible presents.
• The Jesus of Mormonism is a product of Joseph
  Smiths brand of occultism and is quite different
  from the Jesus of the Bible.
• The traditional Christ of whom they speak is not
  the Christ of whom I speak. Gordon B.
  Hinkley, Mormon Prophet and President

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The Problem

• Bible-believing Christians base their faith on
  the Bible.
• The history, the cultures, lands, and people of
  the Bible exist today, but no trace can be found
  of those referred to in the Book of Mormon.
• Mormons believe that the Bible has been tampered
  with, that Christians have therefore been blinded
  by Satan.
• Christians must lay aside their blind adherence
  to the Bible (which is verifiable) and accept
  Joseph Smiths revelations (which were based on
  fantasy) to become exalted to be polygamous gods
  over their own planets.
• The highest Mormon heaven resembles more the
  Muslim paradise of sexual pleasure than the
  Bibles Heaven where marriage is non-existent.

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The Problem

• The faith of the Mormon people is misplaced.
• They must be redirected to the pure teachings of
  the Bible and the Jesus of the New Testament if
  they are to be saved.

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My Experiences with Ex-Mormons for Jesus

• It took five years from the time I actually
  accepted the real Jesus to leave Mormonism
  (1961-1966). No one tried to help me see my
  error.
• After my deliverance from Mormonism, I got a
  Masters in Divinity degree from ORU (1966-1969)
  and served as an evangelist, pastor, and then
  missionary to Chile (1969-1990).
  
• -- At ORU, I wondered why there were not more
  ex-Mormon
• students like me. I was ashamed to reveal
  my Mormon past.
• In Chile, with the help of Ed Decker of
  Ex-Mormons for Jesus,
• I held a nation-wide information campaign on
  Mormonism and saw
• many Mormons converted and to become active in
  Bible-believing
• churches.

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My Experience with Ex-Mormons for Jesus

• It was amazing for me to see those people
  experience such a sudden spiritual paradigm shift
  while it had taken me five years.

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My Doctoral Studies

• The remainder of this presentation is based on a
  questionnaire that was filled out by 56
  ex-Mormons who had made that transition.
• I circulated it in the years 1988-1989 while
  doing research for my doctoral project to be
  entitled The Rehabilitation of ex-Mormons.

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Who filled it out?

• These 56 ex-Mormons had become active in
  Bible-believing churches.
• 51 were from the USA.
• 5 were from Chile.
• 51 had belonged to the LDS (Utah).
• 5 to the RLDS (Independence, Missouri).

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Who filled it out?

• 23 men
• 33 women
• The average person was
• 45 years old
• had two years of college
• had been a Mormon for 25 years.

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How these former Mormons found their new church
home

• 45 - By invitation from family, relatives,
  or friends.
• 21 - By outreaches of the local church.
• 14 - They visited around, looking for a
  church home.
• 12 - They started going to the church
  nearest their home.

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Decisive Factors in Their Leaving Mormonism

• The lives of Christian friends 43
• Books they read. The most mentioned
• The Bible (They saw the Gospel in it.)
  16
• The Book of Mormon (They saw its errors.)
  13
• Mormonism, Shadow or Reality (ditto)
  13
• The Godmakers (They saw its errors.)
  11
• Books that influenced my own break with
  Mormonism
• The Bible, the Book of Mormon, No man Knows my
  History

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How long after leaving Mormonism was it before
you became active in a Bible-believing Church?

• While still a Mormon 5
• Immediately after 34
• Months later 18
• From one-to-twenty years later 34
• No response 7

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What denominations?

• Nondenominational 18
• Baptist
  18
• Assemblies of God 18
• Foursquare 11
• Other
  26
• Not a member 4
• No longer active 2

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Why did you join it?

• It was a good, solid, on-fire church with
  outstanding teaching from Gods Word.
• It had a bold witness in the community and a
  good youth program.
• It is Christ-centered and involved in
  witnessing.
• I distrusted all churches at first. After I was
  saved, it took about a year to join.

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How do you describe your departure from
Mormonism?

• Gradual 48
• Sudden 16
• Bitter 20
• Christ-centered 41
• Comments
• --I was angry at the Mormons for deceiving me.
• --Searching for truth, I found the answers in
  the Bible
• --It took a lot of Bible-based research and
  prayer. My sister and her family left after I
  did

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Conclusion

• I realized that Mormons who sit under Bible
  teaching get deprogrammed, and dont need
  rehabilitation.
• The Body of Christ is now reaching out to Mormons
  and ex-Mormons in ways that it did not do in the
  60s, when I had left Mormonism.
• At that time, only 1 in 40 ex-Mormons ended up
  in Bible-believing churches. That has changed
  significantly now in a positive sense.
• For help in dealing with Mormons, check out my
  website www.deanhelland.com.

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