GLOBAL CHRISTIAN OUTREACH
Preaching the Gospel to All Creation
Mark 16:15
WHY I LEFT THE MORMON CHURCH
A Former Missionary Tells His Story
By Loren Franck
HOW CAN YOU BE SAVED?
The Bible is clear. Jesus assured that "Everyone who believes in [Christ] may have eternal life" (John 3:15 ESV). The Bible also teaches, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life" (John 3:36). Scripture also declares, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31).
Want the gift of eternal life? Receive the biblical Jesus as your Savior (John 1:12; Romans 10:9).
AWARD-WINNING BLOG
Ready for cutting-edge issues regarding Mormonism and Christ-ianity? Visit our blog. It's updated frequently.
NEED A HELPING HAND?
Our staff is available to help you leave Mormonism and begin your biblical Christian walk. We can assist with other biblically related issues too. Click here to contact
us today.
DID YOU KNOW?
Jesus Christ died for your sins so you wouldn't have to (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Baptized a Mormon in November 1973, I thought I’d never leave the LDS church. My newfound religion was everything I ever searched for—or so I thought.
Reared an agnostic in a middle-class Los Angeles neighborhood, I didn’t feel the need for God until I began asking, Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going after death? Mormonism promised answers.
So, why did I leave the church? Years after joining, I discovered it's a facade, a counterfeit. Masquerading as the only true Church of Jesus Christ, Mormonism is merely another manmade religion. And while some Mormons mean well, as do misled people of other faiths, good intentions aren't the way to eternal life.
After nearly 11 years in the Mormon church, I discovered that Jesus is the only way to heaven (John 10:1–5, 7–9; 14:6; Acts 3:23; 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5). Church organizations can provide fellowship, and perhaps solid biblical instruction. But when your eternal destiny is at stake, what you believe in your heart about Jesus Christ is all that matters (Luke 8:12; John 1:6–8; 3:15, 16, 36; 6:28, 29; Romans 10:8, 9; Hebrews 10:39).
Receiving Christ’s gift of eternal life was difficult for me. From the time I resigned my Mormon church membership in 1984 until I received the biblical Jesus as Lord and Savior in 2001, I traveled some rough roads.
FORMER MORMON MISSIONARY
Before arriving at the South Dakota-Rapid City Mission in April 1975, I studied Mormonism passionately. My curriculum? The Mormon Standard Works (mainly the Book of Mormon), the Ensign and other church magazines, plus the words of church leaders, especially Mormonism’s alleged apostles and prophets. I poured over the teachings of church founder Joseph Smith; Brigham Young, his immediate successor; Joseph Fielding Smith, tenth president of the church; and Spencer W. Kimball, who presided over the church from 1973–1985. I also immersed myself in the writings of Bruce R. McConkie, Mark E. Petersen and Boyd K Packer. I was well equipped to teach the Mormon gospel.
However, early in my mission, I encountered two Christian pastors. I testified of the Book of Mormon and the church's "living prophets," but the pastors wielded the Bible as a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12) to witness for Christ and his gospel of grace.When the pastors proved from the Bible that the Mormon church president isn’t a true prophet, my testimony was shaken.
So I later prayed, following the directions of Doctrine and Covenants 9:8, 9, asking God to confirm in my heart that Spencer W. Kimball was his prophet. But despite my most ardent efforts, that confirmation never came. The Lord was apparently blessing my missionary work. My knowledge of Mormon history and doctrine was growing. But the Lord never assured me that Kimball was his prophet.
FROM MORMONISM TO CHRIST
Another Crack in the Armor. In June 1978, while I was a freshman at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, Mormon leaders announced approval for the ordination of "worthy" black males to the priesthood. I was delighted with the change, but the announcement contradicted the teachings of Brigham Young and other Mormon prophets on the subject.
The historic announcement was no mere policy change. It was a doctrinal pronouncement (see Official Declaration—2 in the Doctrine and Covenants). Besides clearly contradicting the declarations of early Mormon church presidents, it unmistakably misrepresented Brigham Young’s words. (For details, see “Blacks and the Priesthood” below in Fatal Flaw 5.)
Maze of Confusion. For the following three years, I grappled internally with Mormonism’s doctrine of blacks and the priesthood. The change didn’t sit right with me.
In 1981, while at Special Collections in BYU’s Harold B. Lee Library, I encountered Jerald and Sandra Tanner's Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? Full of fascinating facts, the book raises dozens—perhaps hundreds—of the church's contradictions, inconsistencies and other devastating problems. After listening to years of "The prophet will never lead the church astray," "Follow the brethren," and other stomach-turning rhetoric, I craved this fresh viewpoint on Mormonism.
As I delved deeply into the church’s maze of confusion, my questions in priesthood meetings and BYU religion classes remained unanswered. I even wrote letters to Bruce R. McConkie and Ezra Taft Benson but never received answers to my questions. For three years, I tried to remain in the church, faithful to its doctrines and leaders, but I couldn't. I knew Mormonism was a facade. To remain a Mormon was futile. I needed to be honest with myself, my family and with the church.
There was only one action to take: resign my church membership, which I did in 1984. Unfortunately, I wasn't ready to receive Christ. Disappointed that the church played me for a fool, I struggled spiritually for the next 17 years. But the Lord, ever patient regarding repentance (2 Timothy 2:25, 26; 2 Peter 3:9), brought me into his marvelous light and saved me in 2001. I knew I had received Christ’s gift of eternal life.
How ironic that nobody has ever tried to win me back into Mormonism. Why not? I knew hundreds of Mormons while I was active in the church. Even more incredible, few Mormons will speak with me if they know I left the church. If Mormonism is so right and I'm so wrong, why don't Mormons reach out to me like the lost sheep among the 99? Why don’t they prove me wrong?
The anger and fear they direct my way doesn't demonstrate the love Jesus referred to when he said, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you have love one to another" (John 13:35).
FIVE FATAL FLAWS
Mormonism has many doctrinal problems. In the quest to know Christ’s truth and be set free by it (John 8:31, 32, 36), five of Mormonism’s fatal flaws readily come to mind. Each is reason enough to resign your Mormon church membership.
1. THE MORMON CONCEPT OF GOD
Spirit? Or Flesh and Bone? Since April 6, 1830, when the Mormon church was established, its prophets have been confused about the nature of God. Does the Father have a physical body? Or is he a spirit? Joseph Smith taught both. For instance, in 1835, long after the alleged First Vision, he said the two personages in the Godhead are “the Father and the Son: The father being a personage of spirit . . . ” (Lectures of Faith, pp. 52, 53, italics added). In 1835 and for many years afterward, these lectures were deemed scripture by the Mormon church and were canonized in the Doctrine and Covenants. But in direct contradiction eight years later, Smith claimed that “the Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s” (Doctrine and Covenants 130:22).
Is God Learning? One of Mormonism’s most dangerous doctrines is that God is progressing in knowledge and learning new truths. Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff and most likely other Mormon prophets taught the same. For example, Woodruff, who became Mormonism’s fourth president, affirmed that “God himself is increasing and progressing in knowledge, power, and dominion, and will do so, worlds without end” (Journal of Discourses 6:120).
Young also taught this doctrine. For example, while berating Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt for proclaiming God’s omniscience, Young spewed: “ . . . Pratt, has in theory, bounded the capacity of God. According to his theory, God can progress no further in knowledge and power, but the God that I serve is progressing eternally . . . ” (Journal of Discourses 11:286, italics added). In direct contradiction, Pratt maintained that “there is no doctrine so absurd as to think that God will eternally progress in knowledge” ("Minutes of Council of the Twelve in Upper Room of Historian's Office,” April 5, 1860, cited in LDS Apostle Confesses Brigham Young Taught Adam-God Doctrine, Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1982, Part 3, no page).
But the Bible says God knows all things (John 16:30; 1 John 3:20). For Christians, all means all. Hebrews 4:13 maintains, “ . . . All things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do (italics added).” If God has limited knowledge, Isaiah could not have written that the Lord's understanding is forever “inscrutable” (Isaiah 40:28 NASB). Rhetorically, Job queries, “Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest?” (Job 21:22 NIV).
Similarly, Job explains that God “looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens” (Job 28:24, italics added). Later, the same book of the Bible reaffirms the Almighty is “perfect in knowledge” (Job 37:16). And in one of scripture’s most powerful passages of praise, the psalmist exclaims, “Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; his understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:5, italics added).
The one true God, the God of the Bible, is perfect in every attribute. This has always been so. A god that gains knowledge is simply an idol, a figment of a false prophet’s imagination.
Adam is Not God. On April 9, 1852, while addressing Mormons in his role as church president, Brigham Young proclaimed: "[Adam] is our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do. Every man upon the earth, professing Christians or non-professing, must hear it, and will know it sooner or later," (Journal of Discourses 1:50). This wasn't mere opinion or a slip of the tongue. It was a definitive doctrinal pronouncement—scripture to Mormons of Young's era.
Explaining this doctrine on another occasion, Brigham Young taught, “Some have grumbled because I believe our God to be so near to us as Father Adam. There are many who know that doctrine to be true”
(Journal of Discourses 5:332). After preaching the Adam-God doctrine for more than two decades as Mormon church president, Young lamented, "How much unbelief exists in the minds of the Latter-day Saints in regard to one particular doctrine which I revealed to them, and which God revealed to me—namely that Adam is our father and God" (Deseret News, June 18, 1873, p. 308, italics added).
Bruce R. McConkie, a vigilant 20th century Mormon apostle and theologian, admitted: "President Young did teach that Adam was the father of our spirits, and all the related things that [the Adam-God doctrine ascribes] to him . . . He expressed views that are out of harmony with the gospel" (Letter to Eugene England, February 19, 1981, p. 6).
Christ said to the Father in prayer, “And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). Contrary to what the Mormon church has maintained, this statement has nothing to do with LDS temple endowments. Clearly, Mormons don’t know the only true God, for the Bible teaches that Adam is definitely not God.
Scripture teaches that God created Adam (Genesis 1:27; 2:7; 5:1); that, at Eve’s prompting, Adam transgressed by eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6; 1 Timothy 2:14); and that Adam “fell,” thereby bringing physical and spiritual death upon all his descendants (Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:21, 22, 45–49). The Bible says God asked Adam in the Garden of Eden, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9), launching a dialogue between the two (Genesis 3:10–19), so it’s ludicrous to believe that Adam is God. When “God made garments of skin for Adam and Eve and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21), God wasn’t clothing himself.
2. HOW TO GAIN ETERNAL LIFE
Ask Mormons how to be saved—how to gain eternal life—and they usually quip, "Follow the prophet." I said that as a Mormon missionary. The trouble is it’s not a biblical response.
My answer now, Acts 16:31, is hard-core Bible: "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." Similarly, Peter, referring to Joel 2:32, said, “ . . . Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21). Unlike Mormonism, the Bible doesn’t distinguish between “general salvation” (resurrection) and “individual salvation” (eternal life). Throughout the Bible, salvation means either eternal life or deliverance from physical destruction, never resurrection.
Nobody, including current Mormon church president Thomas S. Monson and other high-ranking Mormon leaders could ever obey God's laws well enough to earn eternal life. You can’t, either. Therefore, all people need Jesus Christ as their Savior. "All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God" (Romans 3:23; also see verses 10–18).
On another occasion, Paul told the Ephesians that “we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:3 ESV, italics added.) That’s why Paul urged the Corinthians, “ . . . Be reconciled to God. He made [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:20, 21). Paul insisted we're saved by grace alone, by unmerited favor, not by our obedience or good works. Eternal life is a gift from God that cannot be earned (Romans 4:4–8; 9:15, 16; 11:6; Ephesians 2:5–9; 2 Timothy 1:9).
But aren’t good works important? Definitely! The gospel of grace doesn’t involve lip service. Through good works, we demonstrate our faith and love for God (John 14:15; James 2:18). Through good works, we glorify our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). But a holy life and good works don’t ensure eternal life. They’re the fruit, not the root, of salvation. The New Testament teaches that faith produces good works. And by the way, I've performed more good works as a Christian than I ever could as a Mormon. Truly, faith without works is dead (James 2:20, 26).
Eternal life is available only through heartfelt belief in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9). "He who hears My word, and believes Him who sent me," the Lord declared, "has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life" (John 5:24). And consider this priceless promise: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life" (John 6:47). Notice the present-tense verb has. Upon receiving Christ as your Savior, you have eternal life. It’s not a gift received in the future.
The Bible teaches that after people die they’ll go to heaven or hell. It says nothing about a Celestial Kingdom, three degrees of glory, baptism and marriage for dead people, or eternal progression. It's silent about men becoming gods, mute about bearing spirit children throughout eternity.
So whom will you trust for salvation? Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God who works mighty miracles and triumphantly rose from the dead? Or will you trust Joseph Smith and his successors, who continuously promote a manmade religion?
3. BELITTLING THE BIBLE
I've read the Book of Mormon many times. While a Mormon, I even prayed about it and received a "testimony." But like many ensnared by the LDS church, I mistook good feelings for truth. I was deceived. Except when plagiarizing or paraphrasing the Bible, the Book of Mormon is 19th century fiction.
However, I've also carefully studied the Bible, reading it numerous times as well. What a thorough and magnificent witness for Christ! The greatest book ever written, it has led many millions of people to the Lord and to eternal life, which he freely gives those who receive him as Savior. Mormon “scrip-ture”—the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price—is unnecessary. In fact, it’s blasphemy.
Pretending to speak for the Lord, especially when offering the world additional scripture, is a serious sin. The Bible says, “Every word of God is tested . . . Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar” (Proverbs 30:5, 6). And as God warned ancient Israel, “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it” (Deuteronomy 12:32).
Nothing prevents the Lord from revealing additional scripture. To believe God cannot provide more of his word would be a futile attempt to bind him. Surely, when Christ comes again to rule and reign in glory, he’ll have much to say. Meanwhile, Christians hold to the sufficiency of scripture. The Bible is what’s needed now, not the Book of Mormon or other Mormon “scripture.”
Nearly 2,000 years ago, Peter affirmed the sufficiency of scripture. He noted that God's "divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence" (2 Peter 1:3). Similarly, Paul assured Ephesian believers, " . . . I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable . . . " (Acts 20:20). Several verses later, he added, "For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:27, KJV).
Additional scripture and claims of “continuous revelation” don’t ensure eternal life. We’re saved by Christ and his finished work on the cross. He has the words of eternal life (John 6:56; 15:1–8; 1 John 2:24, 25). And he has revealed those words exclusively throughout the Bible.
4. THE TEMPLE MARRIAGE DECEPTION
Mormonism’s teaching on temple marriage is dangerous doctrine. The church has long emphasized that unless you’re married in a Mormon temple “for time and for all eternity,” you cannot receive eternal life.
“Our exaltation [eternal life] depends on marriage,” says the official Mormon publication Gospel Principles (1997 edition, p. 241). “Heavenly Father has given us the law of eternal marriage so we can become like him. We must live this law to be able to have spirit children” (p. 242).
About a year before his death in a gunfight, Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith, supposedly received a revelation validating eternal marriage. “In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees,” the passage reads. “And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; And if he does not, he cannot obtain it (Doctrine and Covenants 131:1–3). Smith expanded the doctrine two months later, explaining that if Mormons are married in the temple for time and eternity and remain faithful to church teachings throughout their lives, they’ll become gods (Doctrine and Covenants 132:19, 20).
Mormon church presidents since Smith have hailed temple marriage as the key to entering the path leading to eternal life. One memorable statement belongs to Spencer W. Kimball. “Only through celestial marriage [also known as temple marriage] can one find the strait way, the narrow path,” he said. “Eternal life cannot be had in any other way. The Lord was very definite in the matter of marriage” (Deseret News, Church Section, November 12, 1977).
But the Bible says nothing about temple marriage or its alleged relationship to eternal life. In fact, the Bible clearly says marriage is irrelevant to eternal life. “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage,” Jesus said. “But those who are considered worthy to attain . . . resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage . . . because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection” (Luke 20:34–36). Nowhere does the Bible—or the Book of Mormon, by the way—teach you must be married to gain eternal life.
The New Testament verifies that whoever believes in Jesus will have eternal life (John 3:15, 16, 36; 5:24; 6:28, 29, 47; 8:24; Acts 10:43; 13:38, 39 and many other passages). Mormons sometimes say, “Oh, I believe in Jesus. So, according to what Christians say, I’ll receive eternal life.” But only the biblical Jesus can bestow eternal life (1 Corinthians 3:11; 2 Corinthians 11:3, 4; Galatians 1:8, 9). A false Christ does nothing but dangle false hope. The Jesus of the Bible is the only way to heaven (John 10:1–5, 7–9; 14:6; Acts 4:12).
5. BLACKS AND THE PRIESTHOOD
Shortly after June 8, 1978, Mormons thought their prophet at the time, Spencer W. Kimball, had received a marvelous revelation from God. After its decades of racism and discrimination against blacks of African descent, the Mormon church would now confer its priesthood upon “worthy” black men. But this marketing and political ploy completely contradicted earlier predictions of Mormon “prophets”
For example, Brigham Young clearly outlined Mormon church doctrine relating to blacks and the priesthood. “[Cain] killed his brother,” said Young in a December 12, 1854 sermon. “The Lord put a mark on him . . . When all the other children of Adam have had the privilege of receiving the Priesthood, and of coming into the kingdom of God, and of being redeemed from the four quarters of the earth, and have received their resurrection from the dead, then it will be time enough to remove the curse from Cain and his posterity” (Journal of Discourses 2:143, italics added).
Five years later, in a comparable declaration of Mormon doctrine regarding blacks and the priesthood, Young proclaimed: “How long is that race to endure the dreadful curse that is upon them? That curse will remain upon them, and they can never hold the Priesthood or share in it until all the other descendants of Adam have received the promises and enjoyed the blessings of the Priesthood and the keys thereof. Until the last ones of the residue of Adam’s children are brought up to that favorable position, the children of Cain cannot receive the first ordinances of the Priesthood. They were the first that were cursed, and they will be the last from whom the curse will be removed. When the residue of the family of Adam come up and receive their blessings, then the curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will receive blessings in like proportion” (Journal of Discourses 7:291, italics added).
Was that merely the church president’s opinion? Was he speaking “off the cuff”? Was it a choice of “which Brigham Young shall we believe?” as Bruce R. McConkie urged us to believe? No, this was allegedly the word of God.
Speaking to Joseph Smith, the Lord supposedly said: “Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me; For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith” (Doctrine and Covenants 21:4, 5, italics added). As we saw above, Brigham Young testified that God revealed the Adam-God doctrine to him. President Ezra Taft Benson, Mormonism’s 13th church president, applied D & C 21:4, 5 to all of Smith’s successors (see Benson’s BYU address titled “14 Fundamentals in Following the Prophets.”)
Today’s Mormons would love to forget Young’s warning to the LDS church: "I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call scripture" (Journal of Discourses 13:95). Later, in the same Journal of Discourses volume, Young reminded Latter-day Saints that his sermons were scripture. “I say now,” Young uttered, “when they are copied and approved by me they are as good Scripture as is couched in this Bible, and if you want to read revelation read the sayings of him who knows the mind of God” (Journal of Discourses 13:264).
John Taylor, third Mormon church president, declared, "When Brother Brigham tells me a thing, I receive it as revelation" ("Minutes of Council of the Twelve in Upper Room of Historian's Office," April 5, 1860, cited in LDS Apostle Confesses Brigham Young Taught Adam-God Doctrine, Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1982, Part 3, no page number). Quite simply, Young considered his explanation of blacks and the priesthood as Mormon scripture, not mere opinion.
President Joseph Fielding Smith, tenth Mormon church president, forcefully wrote: “According to the doctrine of the church, the Negro, because of some condition of unfaithfulness in the spirit—or pre-existence, was not valiant and hence was not denied the mortal probation, but was denied the blessing of the Priesthood . . . Now if the Lord declared to the Prophet Joseph Smith that for some reason the Negro was not to receive the Priesthood, then that is the end of the question” (Letter to Joseph Henderson, April 10, 1963, italics added).
Joseph Fielding Smith, long heralded as a stalwart Mormon doctrinarian, also explained: “ . . . The Lord decreed that the children of Cain should not have the privilege of bearing the priesthood until Abel had posterity who could have the priesthood and that will have to be in the far distant future. When this is accomplished, on some other world, then the restrictions will be removed from the children of Cain who have been true in this ‘second’ estate” (Answers to Gospel Questions 2:188).
If Joseph Smith’s decision to withhold the priesthood from blacks was “the end of the question,” why did the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve “pleaded long and earnestly” for God to change the doctrine (Doctrine and Covenants, Official Declaration—2)? The God of the Bible does not change (Numbers 23:19; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17). So, which way do the Mormons want it? Either the doctrine presented by Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and Joseph Fielding Smith stands until after the resurrection, or the priesthood ban should have never existed in the first place. Mormonism can’t have it both ways and believe in the eternal God who doesn’t change.
Actually, Mormonism has never possessed God’s priesthood—and never will. The Bible says all biblically based Christians compose the Lord’s priesthood. Speaking to male and female Christians, the Apostle Peter said: “You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). Addressing the same believers, Peter added: “ . . . You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood . . . ” (1 Peter 2:9).
Christians reject Mormonism’s concept of priesthood. Christ is our great high priest (Hebrews 2:17; 3:1; 4:14; 7:23–28; 8:1–6). Jesus is all the authority and priesthood needed. “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of the lips that give thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:15).
A CHALLENGE
I challenge Mormons everywhere to abandon their man-made religion and receive the biblical Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (John 1:12; 3:36; Romans 10:9-10, 13). Immediately afterward, please resign your membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (see “Sample Resignation Letter” on the upper left side of this Web page.) Stop giving your hard-earned money and precious time to a counterfeit religion.
When you receive the biblical Jesus, the only way to heaven (John 8:24, 31, 32; 10:1–5; Acts 3:23; 4:12), you’ll want to separate yourself from the Mormon facade. Then Christ will bless you with consummate peace and joy on earth, and eternal life in the world to come.
This is an updated version of a previous article.
Loren Franck is president and CEO of Global Christian Outreach, Inc. Contact loren@gco4lds.org.
©2011 Global Christian Outreach, Inc. All Rights Reserved
SAMPLE RESIGNATION LETTER
Dear Bishop:
Effective immediately, I hereby resign my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Throughout all relevant LDS church records, you are to designate that this action is at my own request. I simply want my name removed from the records of the church.
I will not attend or participate in church courts, hearings or other disciplinary action. Neither will I speak with home teachers, members of bishoprics, members of stake presidencies or with other church officials unless I initiate contact.
Please notify me in writing when my name has been removed from church records.
Yours truly,
[your name and address]
The author, Loren Franck, received his endowments and was married in the Los Angeles Mormon temple (above). During his 11 years in Mormonism, he was appalled at the LDS church’s many doctrinal contradictions and cultic temple rituals.
Loren Franck, a BYU graduate and former Mormon missionary, was as-tounded that Mormon prophets dis-agreed on the nature of God, the way to eternal life and on many other fundamental doctrines. Loren resigned his Mormon church membership in 1984 and turned to the biblical Jesus in 2001.
WANT TO BE A
GOOD SAMARITAN?
You can help people who need it most. Log on to www.wshola.org for details.
IS GOD LEARNING?
“God himself is increasing and progressing in knowledge, power, and dominion, and will do so, worlds without end” (Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses 6:120).
The Bible affirms that God “is perfect in knowledge” (Job 37:16), and that “his understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:5). Even the Book of Mormon says “God . . . knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it” (2 Nephi 9:20).
A NEW CREATION
Officially leaving the LDS church broke my heart—just as it has been heartbreaking for many others who’ve discovered the biblical Jesus Christ. His body of saving truths is not found in Mormonism.
So, despite hardships it could cause in my job, among my friends and with my LDS family members, I had to be true to myself—and true to the Lord. I resigned my LDS church membership.
When you come to the Christ of the Bible, you become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Self-righteousness and other demonstrations of piety mean nothing. The new creation is all that matters (Galatians 6:15).
Since leaving Mormonism and fellowshipping with a New Testament–based Christian church, I’ve never looked back because I was too busy looking forward—and upward. Jesus said, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). Sure, I remember being a Latter-day Saint—the endless meetings, duties, tithes, Sunday school and Relief Society lessons (which were merely LDS indoctrination sessions). In those days, I wondered if I could ever be good enough to merit eternal life according to my works. Now I know better. I don’t need to rely on what I do to be saved.
The Savior offers a better way. John wrote, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:12, 13).
I know I’m a new creation through Christ’s work in me, and I know I have eternal life. It’s not a reward that awaits me. The Bible says believers have it now. When we believe in the biblical Jesus, we pass out of death into life (John 5:24).
Mormonism offers nothing of the kind. And I thank God he led me out of Mormonism and brought me to the biblical Jesus.
— J. Dawn Pratt
YOU HAVE THE POWER
When you’re ready to improve your life, empowerment is paramount.
Empowerment is especially important in your relationship with God. For instance, you need God-given power to understand Christ’s saving truths, to separate yourself from Mormonism and other religious cults, to receive forgiveness of all your sins, and to possess the gift of eternal life. Speaking of Christ’s loving outreach to “those in opposition,” Paul wrote, “ . . . God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:25, 26).
When God grants repentance to unbelievers, plus through the Bible and Holy Spirit escorts them to the truth, they obtain God’s power to escape the adversary.
How to obtain that power? Ask God for it. “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,” Jesus instructed, “how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” (Luke 11:13). Paul explained the process in these words: “For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Romans 10:11–13 ESV).
With the Lord’s help, you have power to leave the Mormon church—or any other manmade religion. You have the power to avoid their meetings, to stop tithing, and to quit obeying their leaders. You can stop believing their foolish, damning doctrines and begin to believe in Jesus as revealed in the Bible. Paul said you can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved—no tithing, no temple, no Mormon “prophet.”
You don’t need religion or its leaders. All you need is a new life in Christ. And with God on your side, you have the power to receive it.
—Loren Franck
WANT TO KNOW?
1. The Great Apostasy: Fact or Fiction? Find the truth here.
2. Did Elijah give sealing power to Joseph Smith? The answer is here.
3. What are the seven best biblical reasons to leave Mormonism? Click here to find out.
4. Was Christ the Father’s first begotten Son in the preexistence? The truth may surprise you.
5. What’s on our readers’ minds concerning Christ, his gospel and the false teachings of Mormonism? Our e-mails and letters column tells you.
