If Then

By Shawn McCraney

Coming to a saving knowledge of the Truth - meaning a true "knowing" of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ - has without question been the most rewarding and beneficial experience of my earthly existence. What I didn't realize, however, was that while my mind is being renewed each and every day by the "washing of the Word," and that while the Holy Spirit is serving to open my eyes and ears and heart to Him with greater and clearer intimacy, God has allowed me to retain my highly abnormal characteristic of independence and has now encouraged me to readily recognize similar totalistic methodologies that exist in the general Body of Christ - and to redirect the focus of my attentions to these things (which I believe are doing far more harm the faith than good) instead of on Mormonism.

A believer's refusal to join popular Christian Culture.
"All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." 1 John 2:16
Yet in the face of this, true Christians also know from the Word of God that our response to such darkness is to be spiritual, and we are to wage against it with the weapons of spiritual warfare and not carnal conflagrations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shawn McCraney
• Release date: May 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310841415

Shawn McCraney

Shawn McCraney, the host of Heart of the Matter Live every Tusday at www.HOTM.tv. Shawn provides great entertainment value and valuable knowledge of Mormonism and what it means to be a Born-Again Christian.

Book preview

If

then

If my kingdom were of this world,

then my servants would fight.

A believer's refusal to join popular Christian culture.

by Shawn McCraney

Published by Shawn McCraney at Smashwords

Copyright © 2015 by Shawn Aaron McCraney

All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from Alathea Press before using or reproducing any portion of this book commercially. Born-Again Mormon, in whole or part, however, may be reproduced or used when teaching, preaching, discussing, or sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ or Mormonism in a non-commercial setting.

Published by Alathea Press in New York, NY.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McCraney, Shawn Aaron, 1961-

Includes Bibliographical references.

Born-Again Mormon: Moving Toward

Christian Authenticity/Shawn Aaron

McCraney

LCCN: 2005901572

1. Mormonism 2. Christianity 3. Jesus Christ

McCraney. Shawn Aaron. II Title.

Printed in the United States of America

For My Dad

Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence.

Henry David Thoreau

Table of Contents

Preface

PART I

THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD

1 - A History of Attempts

2 - The World

3 - The Fleshly Demand for Equality; the Christian Requisite to Suffer.

4 - Problems in the Modern Church

5 - Dangers of Assimilation

6 - Possible Recommendations of Refusal and/or Submission

7 - Christ's Code for Christian Living

PART II

THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND PASSIVE, PRAYERFUL CHRISTIAN INDIFFERENCE

8 - The Philosophy Behind Passive Prayerful Christian Resistance

Epilogue

Websites

Preface

I was born into and raised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more popularly known as the Mormon Church. Aside from being highly organized and efficient at the game of religion, Mormonism employs a number of operational tactics that Dr. Robert J. Lifton, an expert on mind-control, has labeled totalistic methodologies. These methods serve to not only unite Mormon congregates into a strong collective but they also serve to exact conformity while simultaneously quelling most every temptation a member may entertain to criticize LDS doctrine, history, leadership, or practice. As an expected result, abandoning the Mormon faith altogether is an extremely difficult venture for most people who have believed and practiced its tenets for any considerable length of time. Those who are blessed with the fortitude to completely walk away from the faith rarely do so without experiencing enormous amounts of emotional, social, psychological, familial, and even at times, financial and occupational conflict.

Due to some highly abnormal characteristics of independence which I believe God formed in me from the womb, I was not only able to walk away from forty years as a dedicated and inculcated Mormon, but I was additionally blessed with the opportunity and inclination to then fight against those methods the LDS use to control the lives of those who remained behind. By leaving Mormonism and subsequently becoming a Christian bent on exposing the group's doctrines and practices, I have been both the recipient of great condemnation (mostly from the LDS and atheistic post-modern humanists who do not understand criticism of anything) and some very supportive accommodation from Christians who are generally pleased to welcome defectors from any questionable group.

Coming to a saving knowledge of the Truth - meaning a true knowing of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ - has without question been the most rewarding and beneficial experience of my earthly existence. What I didn't realize, however, was that while my mind is being renewed each and every day by the washing of the Word, and that while the Holy Spirit is serving to open my eyes and ears and heart to Him with greater and clearer intimacy, God has allowed me to retain my highly abnormal characteristic of independence and has now encouraged me to readily recognize similar totalistic methodologies that exist in the general Body of Christ - and to redirect the focus of my attentions to these things (which I believe are doing far more harm the faith than good) instead of on Mormonism.

It will be of great interest to see if my brothers and sisters in Christ, who have over the course of the past six years greatly supported, and at times even relished my criticisms of Mormonism, can handle a similar critique of themselves.

Please forgive me where and when I will certainly err.

PART I

THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD

When anything is done under the banner of Christianity, it ought to be by the fruit or tools of the Spirit and never by the ways or tools of the world.

1 - A History of Attempts

The Lord Jesus Christ went to great lengths to avoid using His person and power for political means even when men tried to make Him the immediate solution to overcoming ugly social ills. He shared the good news of who He was, of what He came to do, and how the world needs Him spiritually. Yes, on a few occasions He fed the hungry masses, and yes, He was certainly in great favor of helping and serving those in need, but He was equally quick to tell all those who gnawed on miracle loaves that they ought to rather seek for the Bread of Life than just bits of perishable bread.

In spite of His efforts, it didn't take long for His great spiritual work, and the purposes for it, to undergo tremendous alterations at the hands of misguided, but possibly well-meaning, men.

We can look to the thirteenth century Inquisitions where the church and/or professed believers in Christ attempted to root out heresy through torture and even killing.

In 1095 the first of nine Crusades began when Pope Urban the II pleaded for Christians everywhere to rise up and retake Jerusalem out from under Muslim control . . . which only led to eight more Crusades aimed at further world domination by the sword. Their Christian rallying cry? Deus Volt, which ironically means, God wills it.

Really?

Was God the author of the theories and actions of sixteenth century reformation leader John Calvin, who set the stage for our ugly modern Christian predicament of saving the world from social ills by presupposing he had the authority of God in all worldly matters even to the point of inflicting death upon those who disagreed with his theological views?

Does that sound like the fruit of Christian love?

Is this where it all started - with believers in Christ somehow coming to think that hand and hand with their faith, hope and charity comes the God-authored duty, even the God- authored right, to reform social ills and condemn the sinful in the name of Christ, who Himself came not to condemn but to save?

When and where did believers and followers of Christ, who with His chosen apostles set the course for what being Christian really means, come to believe in the errant presupposition that devoted Christians must also uniformly embrace certain philosophies, modes of governing nations, apparel, music, lifestyles, and personal preferences?

When did the doors to the blood and body of Christ shut on certain groups because modern, politically motivated Christians deem them morally bankrupt? Have we lost sight of the fact that even as saved and redeemed souls, all believers, in some form or another, also remain sinful?

Did this modern piety gain steam when Princeton Seminary Professor of Theology Cornelius Van Til adopted Calvin's twisted ideas, only to forge them into a modern movement within the church which focused on social salvation rather than the salvation of individual souls by grace through faith?

Didn't