Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Fruit of the Spirit & Answered prayers

I have been blogging about Mormonism now for a few months. I also frequently visit other sites of other Christians who are witnessing to the Mormons. I have noticed one thing that I believe is very very telling.

For the most part, there is a great deal of hostility coming from the LDS towards we Christians who are blogging or commenting. I was a bit taken aback by that! In all honesty I would think it would be the other way around! LOL! I just want to send out a kuddos to my christian blogging buddies out there. You are doing a great job! You are witnessing in love and with respect and kindness... something that speaks volumes about you and about our awesome God we serve!

My heart aches when I read the comments left by many LDS here and other places. There is so much hostility, anger, frustration and condescension in their writings. I can feel and sense their angst. There lack of inner peace. It is so very sad.

I am reminded of a beautiful passage of scripture, from the book of Galatians:

" but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness, faith, temperance" Galatians 5:22


My dear readers, if we truly confess Christ -- and have that filling of the Holy Spirit..... we will have these fruit.... we will have love, joy and peace, and self control.... we will be long suffering...

Not because we , in and of ourselves, are "naturally" this way.. but truly because Christ lives within us!! His Holy Spirit indwells and as a result there will be fruit .. fruit that is visible... fruit that tastes sweet and is wonderful and glorifies our great and awesome God!

I really thought when I began to blog about Mormonism, that it would be the Christians that would be nasty and mean spirited, etc. But that has not been the case! In the months I have been blogging , it has been the LDS who have name called, been rude, attacked me personally or my family or my relationship with my husband, or have just been down right discourteous.

My goodness! How telling this is friends.

I also want to say there have been exceptions to this. A few LDS, and you know "who" you are can engage in debate without resorting to such things. Kuddos to you too!!!

Friends, if you visit my site, you will quickly notice I am not " Ed Decker" or " Bill McKeever"... I am just a former mormon, who has been redeemed and purchased by my great God, Jesus. My heart's desire is to see LDS won over to the real God, who is more than able to save. I don't want to get nasty, mean and name call...... why? Because God calls me to live differently. Because I am compelled by the Holy Spirit to show forth love, long suffering , kindness, and self control.

This is the ONE SINGLE thing I notice so glaringly now between the LDS and Christians... the gifts of the Spirit....... I am amazed at the joy I see in the lives of believers, even in the midst of heavy trials.... I am shocked by the long suffering they have for the lost in the LDS church..... how patient and kind they are... how they won't stoop to personal attacks against a person, but will focus on the argument and the facts.

Friends, it is all so telling.

You can't fake "fruit"....

There is good fruit......

And then there is stinky rotten fruit.......

For the LDS, do you really think it helps your cause when you name call and personally attack a person? Is that what your faith produces?

Something to think about.

My friends, I continue to pray for the LDS and I hope my Christian friends will join me.

This week I had a sweet experience. I have been praying for a friend of mine who is serving an LDS mission. I have been praying that the Lord would lead her to the home of born again believers who will witness to her in love. She is serving in the Midwest. She is a sweet young woman who has lived her entire life in Utah. I have been praying that God would lead her to the home of a pastor who would open the doors of his home to share Jesus with her and the good news.

This week I found out that just this very thing has happened! She has been befriended by a born again preacher ( her words not mine) and he has been sharing with her and her companion. She also has had no success in converting souls to Mormonism, but has run into a lot of Christians, saying " we have Jesus!".

Isn't that AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friends, we have a great BIG GOD who is the business of doing GREAT BIG THINGS!

Keep praying for your LDS friends, and family.

Never give up hope for them!

And when those LDS missionaries come by, open your home to them and share the GOOD NEWS!!!!!

I am so excited to hear how God is working in this young woman's life! He has answered my prayers and knocked my socks off!

I just had to share this, to encourage my Christian readers!

God is working....

God is working.....

He is parting the "red seas" in the lives of our Mormon friends and neighbors........

Praise His holy holy name!!

gloria

7 comments:

  1. The difference between a Christian anti-Mormon blogger and a Mormon blogger is that the Christian will attack your beliefs as stupid, unsupported, brainwashed, and ridiculous and THEN will put a smiley face on after it. Or will say "grace and peace."

    The Mormon blogger will just tell you your beliefs are ridiculous and unsupported.

    Really, the only difference is that we Mormons don't throw smileys on the end of our posts. And we don't say "grace and peace."

    Maybe if I start cutting and pasting "grace and peace in Jesus" on the end of all my posts, they will suddenly magically transform into civil posts - regardless of other content changes.

    Hmmm....

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  2. Seth,

    With all due respect, I have never called you stupid, brainwashed, or any such thing. Do you think that is a fair assessment?

    Seth, I have tried to be patient with you. Trying to understand your frustrations. But really seth, I don't think I am an "Ed Decker". I don't have it in me, Seth to be that mean and loud.

    I may disagree with what you say, Seth, but you are welcome to share your disagreements.

    I hope you sincerely believe that.

    I am sorry if you are so anger filled and so frustrated.

    All I can say is I'm praying for ya,

    gloria

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  3. P.S. I also know other Christian bloggers also are very patient with the LDS... todd wood, mark, jessica... these people are truly patient, respectful, they don't name call, etc.

    "Who" are you referring too?

    Maybe you frequent sites I don't. But I am not getting that message at all from the places I visit, Seth.

    Again, sorry you are so angry --

    gloria

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  4. It's mostly the commenters that show up on those blogs gloria - and it's kind of a cumulative thing over the last year.

    ReplyDelete
  5. seth,
    I can see what you are saying. I think email is not the best way to communicate. It's hard to convey the tone we want or hope to have.
    I think all of us, Christians & Mormons both can always improve in this area.

    Hope you are enjoying a lovely evening,
    gloria

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  6. jordan1hall@yahoo.comSaturday, August 29, 2009

    Hi,
    I was just preparing a talk for sacrament meeting when I came across your blog, and I was curious. I am happy that you have found joy in your new faith, and would encourage you to believe as you see fit. What I cannot understand is why you have chosen to "muse on mormonism". I read that you were a former member, and obviously you would have some knowledge of the LDS faith. You know that the church preaches love, tolerance, and peace. There are members of the church that may choose to engage in arguements, and tempers may flare, but this is true of any group of people debating over religion. In fact, many wars are fought over religious contention. I was just curious as to why you would choose to blog against the church. You know that not all members of the church are unhappy, or that they are angry. When I was on my mission, I was hit in the face by a baptist minister when i offered to teach him abou the Book of Mormon. I know that not all baptists are like this man, he was not a representative of his church (in the larger sense). Please email me and let me know what has happened to make you so angry against the church. I do not wish to engage in arguements, I am just curious.
    truely yours,
    jordan l. hall
    jordan1hall@yahoo.com

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  7. Hello, Jordan.
    Thank you for taking time to read my blog. I appreciate your courteous comments you have left here. Thank you!

    I am truly sorry about your experience on your LDS mission! How awful & how rude of that minister to treat you in such a fashion. Truly not showing forth the fruit of the Spirit.

    I hope you take time to read thru my blog here. On the right side of this blog you will read "why" this blog was birthed. :) God placed a burden in my heart to witness to the LDS. I harbor no ill feelings towards them, but rather feel a burden to share the GOOD news of Christ crucified with them. That they may be set free by the blood of Jesus, and understand that it is by grace we can receive the gift of eternal life.
    I pray daily for the Lord to use me here and on other sites to witness the truth in love.
    There is no other name under heaven whereby men can receive eterna life, no religion, no denomination, church ritual, etc that can grant man eternal life, save jesus only. That is my hope and desire for all the lost in the LDS faith.
    I have no anger against the Mormon Church. I feel sorry for my friends & family that are caught in the web of deception. I pray for them daily that God may open their eyes to see the truth. In fact, it has been my experience that it is the LDS who become very irate, and angry when former Mormons & others who share the truths about LDS teachings & doctrines. That is what I was sharing on this blog post.
    Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. I will be praying for you!

    Kind regards,
    gloria

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Hello and thanks for taking time to read my blog and for leaving a courteous comment.:) May God bless you!!

~ gloria ~