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Please download and circulate this petition:
"1. Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. "2. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. ... "7. For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. "8. I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. "9. But if they cannot contain, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn." 1 Corinthians 7:1-2, 7-9
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My Personal Testimony Dean Helland My interest in Mormonism is due to the fact that I was born in a family which belonged to the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS). This is the historic division of Mormonism which stayed with Joseph Smith's wife, Emma Smith, and his son, Joseph Smith III instead of going to Utah with Brigham Young to practice polygamy. Emma Smith held that her husband had not had other wives and declared that it was Brigham Young, not her husband, who had introduced this doctrine into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) which has its headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah.1 The Reorganized church has its headquarters in Independence, Missouri. Also it has never accepted as valid Joseph Smith's introduction of Freemasonic practices into the secret ceremonies which take place in the LDS temples. In 2001, it changed its name to the “Community of Christ” in order to distance itself more from the LDS church. My mother was raised in the RLDS from the age of nine. My father was a "Jesus Only Pentecostal" when he read the Book of Mormon and found in it the teaching of the oneness doctrine of the Godhead and joined the RLDS church.2 After they married, they continued in the RLDS for ten more years. However, after coming to the conclusion that it was not following the pure teachings of the Book of Mormon, they left it and joined a splinter group which had left the RLDS precisely to preach "the purity of the teachings of the Book of Mormon." I was five years old when we joined that group which called itself The Church of Christ. The pastor was a woman whose name was Pauline Hancock. We stayed there for four years until I was nine years old. After some problems there, we left it and began attending different Pentecostal churches in Kansas City. Three years later, nearly all my family was baptized in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, seeing visions and even witnessing miraculous healings in answer to prayer. There was the case of a deaf-mute man, for example, who began to hear and speak after we prayed for him. That convinced us that God was calling us to preach the Book of Mormon with signs following. Shortly thereafter, we had visions which showed us that we should go to preach the "gospel" of the Book of Mormon to the American Indians in the state of Arizona. My family believed that we were the only ones in the whole world who preached "pure" Book of Mormon doctrine. That is, we were unlike the Utah Mormons, who believed in polygamy and had secret temple ceremonies with blood oaths; also unlike the Reorganized church which followed the additional revelations of Joseph Smith in the Doctrine and Covenants which added many things to the teachings of the New Testament and the Book of Mormon. No, my family rejected all of Joseph Smith's revelations which he received after the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, believing that he was a fallen prophet just like King Solomon who took many wives and whose heart departed from the Lord (Deuteronomy 17:17; 1 Kings 11:1-6), and that only the Book of Mormon contained the fullness of the restored Gospel. ______________________ 1 Gibson, Margaret Wilson. Emma Smith, The Elect Lady. Independence, MO. Herald Publishing. p. 254-261, 318. 2 Book of Mormon, Mosiah 15:1-5; Alma 11:26-29; Mormon 9:12; Ether 3:14. ______________________
According to the Book of Mormon, its message was going to be preached among the American Indians with great power followed by severe judgment on the Gentiles.3 It was true that the Pentecostals had signs and miracles, but according to the Book of Mormon, all existing churches were corrupt.4 Now that my family had received powerful manifestations of the Holy Spirit, (which are very rare among the other Mormon-related groups), we believed that God was going to use us to restore the true doctrine of Jesus Christ and thus prepare the world for His soon return to Earth. I was twelve years old when my family sold everything we possessed (except our clothes and cooking utensils) and left for the state of Arizona in order to fulfill the "command of God." It is important here to outline briefly exactly what special "gospel" the Book of Mormon contains to preach to the American Indians. It teaches that the Indians will recognize its truth when it is preached to them and that they will realize that they are of Israel. That will result in (1) the removal of the curse on their skin, causing them to become "white and delightful"5 as were their Jewish forefathers, and (2) they will get their land back from the Gentiles, destroying non-believers in the Book of Mormon in the process.6 This was the "gospel" which my family preached among the Indians in the state of Arizona. However, we did not experience the success among them that the Book of Mormon promised. During this time, I attended four years of high school and another four years at Arizona State University in Tempe, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Education degree in 1966. But I was not satisfied with the poor results of our missionary efforts. So I decided to write a book defending the Book of Mormon before the Christian world. I believed this was needed not only to convince the Indians of its truth, but also the "true sheep" who were scattered about in the different churches, but who did not yet know about the truth of the Book of Mormon. How God Reached Me It is hard to be the only ones in the world with all the spiritual truth and to bear single-handedly the responsibility to win the world for God. It is still more difficult when one feels weak and almost ready to abandon one's faith when a person belongs to the only family which knows all these truths that God wants preached. That was my state of mind when I turned eighteen. I was a freshman at Arizona State University on December 7, 1961. That day, a famous spiritualist medium, Richard Ireland, was demonstrating his extraordinary psychic talents at the university. I went to see him, because I knew that while spiritism was forbidden in the Bible, I was not really living close to the Lord. What I saw take place there shook me to the core. Why? Because I knew that these things were forbidden in the Bible the power of Satan was working through this man who was completely devoted to these forbidden practices. _____________________
3 Ibid., Mormon 5:8-24; 9:19-26; Moroni 10:7-17. 4 Ibid., Mormon 8:36. 5 Ibid., 2 Nephi 30:6; Alma 23:18. 6 Ibid., 3 Nephi 16:11; 20:14-17; 21:11-13.
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Two days later, I went to Phoenix College to hear a famous Christian evangelist preach named T. L. Osborn. While he was speaking, it struck me that two days before, I had been in the presence of a man who was so dedicated to Satan that he could convince college students to his way of thinking. Now, I was in the presence of another man who was just as consecrated to God. What a difference! While listening to the Word of God being explained so simply from the Bible, I began to hear a voice within me saying, "You can do the same thing that this man of God is doing. You can preach the Gospel and pray for the sick like he does. God can use you the same way He is using him." I took it as the call of God upon my life. Before he finished the sermon, I knew that I was going to serve God with all my heart. That night, I went forward in front of all those people to confess my sins and rededicate my life to Jesus Christ. Right after that, I began searching out people with whom I could share the joy that had come into my life. My Conversations with Christian Workers At the university, there was an organization by the name of Campus Crusade for Christ that worked to bring students to Christ. I began to attend their services and learned how to use their "Four Spiritual Laws." I began to share these laws with other students, and before my very eyes, I saw students become born again. It was a miracle! But I was still convinced that I had the correct doctrine which was contained in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. On several occasions, I challenged Christian workers, saying "I know that the Bible is true because of all the archeological evidence that confirms it. I know the Book of Mormon still lacks that kind of evidence. Nevertheless, I know that it too is the Word of God, and that it restores the truths which have been taken away from the Bible." I also said, "You say that I belong to a cult and that I cannot go to heaven. Show me a single place where the Bible and the Book of Mormon do not agree and I will lay down the Book of Mormon." No one accepted my challenge, I believe, because I doubt that any of them had read the Book of Mormon. "You say that I am lost and that you are a Christian. Then you should love my soul. God is love. Why don't you at least make an effort to try to show me my error and save my soul from hell?" I was convinced that they could not answer my arguments, but I know now that they did something even more important. They prayed for me and asked God to open my eyes. Prayer is the most important step in rescuing souls from Satan! God moved in response to those prayers to prepare me for my complete deliverance. Thank God! Family Crisis I was fascinated by the fact that I was winning people to Christ using only the Bible and not the Book of Mormon. This soon began to cause problems in my family. A study group I began started growing and we soon began having meetings in our home. My father baptized the people I was reaching, but when it became evident that their lives were really changed, and some of them even began to speak in tongues, that strained my relationship with my father. I insisted that the most important thing people needed was a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. After that, we could teach them the Book of Mormon. But my father got very upset with me and said that God had sent us to preach the Book of Mormon, and that by accepting that book, people would know the Lord. Teen Challenge Such was the situation when I graduated, and I shortly thereafter received an invitation from San Francisco to work at a Christian rehabilitation center for drug addicts called Teen Challenge. I decided to accept, aware that they did not know about my faith in the Book of Mormon. They only knew that there were very few Christian young people willing to work with drug addicts and that I was one of them. And they desperately needed workers! I accepted the offer primarily because I wanted to develop the spiritual gifts in my life. I believed that at Teen Challenge, the call of God would be confirmed on my life by signs, wonders and miracles, and I would be able to leave there filled with the power of God to convincingly preach the Truth according to both the Book of Mormon and the Bible. Therefore, I passed myself off as an "independent Pentecostal." When I got there, they put me in charge of the men's dormitory and had me give the morning Bible studies. My Liberation I had a day off each week, and usually spent that day at the public library reading the Book of Mormon. My plan was to write a book showing that no doctrinal contradictions exist between the teachings of the Book of Mormon and those of the Bible. But now that I was teaching the Bible six days a week and reading the Book of Mormon one day a week, I began finding subtle differences between them. During seven months of intensive study, I kept finding more and more of these contradictions between the two books. Nobody showed them to me. I found them myself! And the errors were not in the Bible--they were in the Book of Mormon! If I had learned anything during my upbringing, it was that the Bible was full of errors and an angel had declared that the Book of Mormon had been accurately translated by the power of God! But now through my own studies, I was beginning to appreciate the Bible as never before. I was amazed by its precision, its beauty and the clarity of the teachings it contained. But the Book of Mormon was written only semi-coherently in comparison and had many plagiarisms, often using the identical words as in the King James Version of the Bible, but often with other meanings. To me, it was like comparing a real flower with an artificial one. A real flower only becomes more fascinating when examined under a microscope, while an artificial one, though pretty at a distance, is only made of plastic and becomes plain, even ugly, when closely examined. I was meditating on this when alone one day, and suddenly I had a thought that had never occurred to me before: "The Bible really was inspired by the Holy Spirit, but not the Book of Mormon. It is only a poor imitation of the Bible. Joseph Smith may have been a genius and intelligent enough to write the Book of Mormon, but he certainly was not inspired by the Holy Spirit!" At that moment, I began to get angry at Joseph Smith. I knew that he grew up in a very poor family that had even been evicted for failure to pay the rent, and no doubt he had wondered how to get the money into his own pocket that the well-dressed people in the churches obviously had. I also knew that he organized his church so that its money would be controlled from the top. No doubt, he felt the need to provide for his family in a way his father never had! I thought, "How dare he take advantage of the faith of simple, sincere people like my parents and many members of my family just to get their money! They are good people that really love God and are willing to be persecuted for their beliefs, but he intentionally set about to deceive them to get their money into his own pocket under the pretext that an angel of God had revealed to him that all existing ministers and churches were corrupt!" The very instant I thought these things, I felt an evil presence of darkness lift from me! Then it all came clear to me. Joseph Smith was not a prophet of God at all! The Book of Mormon was indeed inspired, but not by the Holy Spirit! It was Satanically inspired! I was suddenly aware that I need not fear putting my trust in the Bible alone. And suddenly I was afraid of the Book of Mormon. I knew that I would now have to study the Bible alone to find out what it really taught by itself and without other revelations, and then return to study the Book of Mormon once I had been grounded sufficiently in the teachings of the Bible. And I knew that part of my future ministry would always be to show "my people--the Mormons" the errors in the Book of Mormon which no one in the Mormon Church would show them. I realized that I had harbored the same spirit that they had, and had belonged to the same family of faith as all the different groups, by whatever name, that believed the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God! The last thought that had occurred to me before I felt that presence of darkness leave me was an irrational fear that if I ceased to believe in the Book of Mormon, I would lose my soul!7 I suddenly realized that if Jesus had really saved me—and I knew he had—the lack of faith in a book other than the Bible would certainly not send my soul to hell! The Jesus of the Book of Mormon was certainly not the Jesus of the Bible!8 I had seen many miracles of God while at Teen Challenge—sick people instantly healed, drug addicts, alcoholics and homosexuals delivered, etc. But the greatest liberation that took place while I was a counselor there was my own--from a religious spirit! Conclusion Many wonderful things have happened since the Lord delivered me from the grip of the Book of Mormon. These articles on Mormonism are just one of those results. I hope very much that you will share these things with your friends and relatives who have been misplaced their faith in the “other gospel" of the Book of Mormon and Mormonism. And I would hearing reports of their turning to the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and was resurrected for the eternal salvation of all who believe on him and follow his ways. If that describes you, please contact me and let me know! ____________________ 7 Ibid., 2 Nephi 33:10-15 8 Holy Bible, 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 Prayer of Salvation: Lord Jesus, I thank you for your Holy Word, the Bible, which reveals the plan of salvation which is so simple. I repent for thinking that a church could save me when you only ask me to come to you in simple faith. Lord, I have heard your knock at the door of my heart. I open that door and ask you to come in. I believe that you lived a sinless life, took my sins upon you when you died on the cross, and are now at the right hand of the Father, praying for me. I renounce Mormonism and everything associated it. I ask for release from all the spirits of deception I have allowed in my life by doubting your holy Word and following the teachings of men. Cleanse me with your shed blood. I believe. I receive you now as my Lord and Savior. I will seek out a church which teaches the Bible as the guide for my life. I will be re-baptized as a testimony of my new-found faith. I give you my life. Do with me what you will. I promise never leave you, with the help of the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Jesus! Amen! If you prayed this prayer sincerely, please contact Dr. Dean at the email address below and let him know about it. He will see that you receive the guidance necessary to keep you in the ways of the Lord. Of course, your name and email address will be kept confidential. ___________ NOTE: All other correspondence with Dr. Dean is with the understanding that it may be used in part or in whole on this website or elsewhere unless you specifically request confidentiality. |
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