As a Latter-day Saint before our lives are through, we each will encounter some other Latter-day Saint who claims to have had his or her Calling and Election made Sure, or claims to have received the Second Comforter, or claims to have received the Second Anointing, or claims to have received additional Endowments, or claims to have received an Apostolic calling from the Lord, or claims to be a member of the Church of the Firstborn, or claims to be a True Messenger from the Father, or claims to have a Near Death experience where they left their body and saw the other Spirit World, or claims to have seen and talked to the spirit of their dead mother, or claims to have experienced some kind of miracle from God that saved their lives, or claims to have received the ministration of Angels, or claims to have conversed with the Spirits of the Dead.
I personally can place a different Latter-day Saint (or former Latter-day Saint) into each one of these particular claims.
I have no doubt in my mind that they have received or experienced something. I believe them whenever they tell me that they have had some kind of experience with God or the other side. It depends on the individual, but sometimes with some of these people, their telling of their story follows the pattern of the proverbial 'Fish Story'. They really did catch the fish, but the fish gets bigger and bigger with the re-telling of their story.
The question that invariably comes up is, “Was their experience from God, or was it from Satan?” This is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. This is indeed the million dollar question.
An LDS friend of mine asked me some very important questions when I was trying to determine if another Latter-day Saint's Special Experience came from God or came from Satan. I think any honest truth-seeker would find these questions extremely useful toward separating Divine Manifestations from satanic manifestations.
My friend asked me, “As a result of their Special Experience, is this person kinder, more loving, more compassionate, more friendly, more service-oriented, more charitable, and more Christ-like than he or she was before their Special Experience?” When I answered, “No”, then my LDS friend said to me, “There you have your answer.”
Here are some other questions that my LDS friend asked me:
“As a result of their Special Experience, is this person more eager to share the Gospel of Christ, to preach the Gospel of Christ, to bring people into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to help people find the joy in the Gospel of Christ, and wanting to help anyone they can to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ? If not, then there you have your answer.”
“As a result of their Special Experience, is this person more eager to listen to LDS General Conference waiting eagerly to experience each and every time that these men and women are moved upon by the Holy Ghost to speak Scripture? As a result of their Special Experience, is this person a lot more eager to support and sustain the LDS General Authorities than he or she was before their experience? As a result of their Special Experience, is this person eager to point his or her friends to the LDS Apostles and to tell their friends to listen to and follow the counsel of the LDS Apostles? If not, then you have your answer.”
“Remember, Satan and false prophets quote scripture and the LDS Scriptures. So, that isn't a useful guide for distinguishing the true prophets from the false prophets. It's easy to quote Scripture and make oneself seem more righteous and pious as a result. Even Satan can appear to be righteous while he is quoting the LDS Scriptures.”
“As a result of this person's Special Experience, is this person staying true to the Doctrine of Christ and remaining true to the Official Doctrine of the LDS Church; or is this person falsifying doctrine, creating his own doctrine, and twisting the Scriptures so that the Scriptures support the person's personal agenda? As a result of this person's Special Experience, is this person interpreting Scripture in a way that will lead you to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and thus lead you to Christ and His Saving Ordinances; or, is this person using the LDS Scriptures to lead people away from the LDS Church and away from the LDS Apostles? As a result of this person's Special Experience, can you actually feel the Holy Ghost speaking Scripture through the person from time to time? If not, then there you have your answer.”
“As a result of this person's Special Experience, has this person gotten more active in the LDS Church eagerly desiring to help other Latter-day Saints find and experience what he or she has experienced; or, has this person apostatized from the LDS Church or been excommunicated instead? As a result of this person's Special Experience, is this person telling his Bishop and home-teachers that he no longer has to attend church, no longer has to pay tithing, and no longer has to accept callings in the LDS Church because he or she has had his Calling and Election made Sure and is now a member of the Church of the Firstborn instead.”
Depending upon how you are able answer these questions will determine whether this person's Special Experience came from God or came from Satan. By their fruits and by the results of their Special Experience, ye shall know them.
Providing Some Examples:
When it comes to the Latter-day Saints that I have encountered who claim to have had their Calling and Election made Sure, one of them wants to write and sell books telling about their experience and the other wants to create a following in his name. One of them has turned mean and vindictive and unfriendly.
Regarding those who claim to have received the Second Comforter, a couple of them remained true and faithful to the LDS Church and kept pointing us to the LDS Apostles to the end of their lives; and a couple of the others turned mean, vindictive, and started denigrating and ridiculing the LDS Apostles and the Latter-day Saints who sustain them.
There is a former Latter-day Saint online who claims to have received the Second Anointing and additional Endowments, and this person is now ridiculing the experience and actively trying to lead people away from the LDS Church as a result.
The few that I know of who claim to have received an Apostolic calling from God, or a prophetic calling from God, or a Special Dispensation from God have either left the LDS Church or been excommunicated from the LDS Church.
Those that I have personally met who I personally believe are indeed Members of the Church of the Firstborn remain active Latter-day Saints and spend a great deal of their time and effort trying to help other find and understand the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; but, they will neither confirm nor deny that they are in fact members of the Church of the Firstborn. In contrast, others who claim to be members of the Church of the Firstborn that I have encountered are in fact members of the Cult of the Firstborn, and their goal is to lead you to Christ while at the same time leading you away from the LDS Apostles and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their goal is the same as any Television Evangelist or motivational speaker, to build a personal following who will pay to hear their message and buy their books.
The person I encountered who claimed to be a True Messenger from the Father made no effort to follow through on the claim in person and in the proper manner; and the person in fact had NO personal message from the Father to give me, nor did the person make any attempt to do so. The person was simply testifying of himself and making the claim that he is a True Messenger from the Father, without actually delivering any message from the Father. Messengers deliver messages.
The few LDS people that I have encountered so far who have claimed to have received Near Death experiences and claim to have seen the other side have all remained true and faithful Latter-day Saints to the end of their lives. They eagerly and openly point people (or pointed people) to the LDS Church, the Saving Ordinances in the LDS Church, and the LDS Apostles.
The Latter-day Saints that I have known of who claim to have seen and talked with the spirit of their dead mother have repented of their sins and become active or loyal members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints if they were not before.
The Latter-day Saints that I personally know who have been miraculously saved by the Lord, or miraculously healed by the Lord, or who have miraculously raised people from the dead using God's Priesthood Power remain true and faithful Latter-day Saints and are eager to do work for the dead in the LDS Temples and are eager to bring people into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Latter-day Saint that I have enountered who claims to have received the ministration of Angels is actively distorting the doctrines of the LDS Church, twisting scripture to suit his personal agenda, has no loyalty to the LDS Church, will never testify to the truthfulness of the Gospel of Christ or the Church of Jesus Christ, will not quote the Living Apostles, and openly ridicules those who refuse to see things the way that he sees them.
The Latter-day Saint that I knew who claimed to talk with the spirits of the dead told me that she had learned to tell the difference between the good spirits of the dead and the bad spirits of the dead. She told me that the good spirits of the dead encouraged her to open the door, let the LDS missionaries inside, and listen to what they had to say to her. As a result of the counsel and encouragement from the good spirits of the dead that she knew, she had become a Latter-day Saint. This good sister would strengthen us, cheer us up, and lift us up every time we went to her home. She would find any way she could to encourage us to remain true and faithful to our LDS Covenants and to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She would find any way she could to help us become better missionaries. She was loving and kind. The fruits of this woman's Special Experiences were written all over her, and I personally believe that she converted many LDS missionaries to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mark My Words
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