O
Hello Everyone,
I want to share with you an important part of my life story, hoping that It could be a blessing for all of those who could find themselves in a situation similar to mine.
I’ve been praying a lot about this article and now I feel free to share this story with you.
So, first of all, I can say I’ve grown up in the evangelical faith, I’ve always lived my faith with evangelical churches, evangelical friends from different denominations (Pentecostal, Baptist and many more.). My thought about other Christian religions had been like “It’s ok, but I’m better (in someway).” [Not a very good thought to be proud of lol.]
I still am evangelical but with a very different point of view about Christianity.
So, talking abut Mormons, some years ago, in my town, I noticed one of their announcement put in a shop window : They were giving some english lessons with their number. As I always have been curious about other religions (and happy to meet people to speak English with) I decided to call them and ask them to meet. I prayed for this and asked God to protect me (I didn’t know who they were and Internet was still not so famous to know something about mormons, so I felt a little bit “scared” lol). Once I’ve seen the mormon missionaries, I felt relieved to see two american young boys who looked two nice and kind people. I guess they felt the same way I did (They were going to meet someone new as they knew nothing about me: I guess they prayed for this first meeting, too, lol.) I could remember we sat on a bench, we introduced ourselves for some minutes and then they asked me if we could pray before talking. I was happy to do so and I could see/hear their sincere prayer to God in the name of Jesus. After that, I asked them the general questions about mormons: Who they are, what they preach, what are their main beliefs which differ from other religions (especially the difference with evangelicals). The more they explained to me, the more I started to feel “uncomfortable”, because many of the things they said felt like very very strange to me lol. One thing I could notice was the fact that they were very focused on what they preached and they didn’t answer to all of my questions, but they were not worried about that: they were aware of their limits and they didn’t mind a lot. We became friends soon and I could notice that even if they were saying things I didn’t agree with, I was happy to talk to nice and good people. When I went home, I’ve started praying for this meeting and honestly I felt like “It was not the time for me to know them”, but I guess the desire to know new religions and talking in English made me not accept this spiritual advice , and so I started to contact them again. Every time we met, I didn’t feel comfortable: I like to stay with them, but spiritually I felt like it wasn’t the right time. Added to this, the questions I put them were often aimed to prove that my doctrine was correct and they were wrong. They didn’t quarrel, they just listened carefully and, if they knew the answer, they responded in a very friendly way. I haven’t had a right christian spiritual attitude towards their intent of explaining the mormon doctrine, even if we were friends. We had some other meetings (more or less I guess we had met for the next 2-3 months about once a fortnight) then, before Christmas time, they called me and invited me to their Christmas time in church, but I refused and explained them that I didn’t want to have other meetings in that moment. I didn’t feel like going to a place where I didn’t feel comfortable in front of God, so I just gave up. The missionary I talked to has been disappointed but He assured me He understood .
Then I surrendered to God all of this mormon experience I’ve passed and decided to not meeting them again. The experience I had with them hasn’t been as I expected and came to the conclusion that Mormons were dangerous spiritual people: they had strange beliefs, and that led me to think it was better for me to stay away from them. I was angry at myself because I knew I had done something which I knew the Spirit had told me not to do it but, on the other hand, I was sad for not having had a very good Christian attitude towards other religions and for having disappointed these guys as friends : all of this led me to be more cautious in taking contact with other religions and I decided to not have to do with mormons anymore.
During that time I started to stay close to God and being a church goer as I got involved in different activities. Since then, many years passed (I guess 8-10 years) and all my christian experiences have led me to mature a Christian faith based mainly on a personal walk with God where I decided to experience God fully through a personal relationship with Him, Only with Him. I still used to go to churches and have Christian friends, but in the end my spiritual walk was only staying with God.
Lately, during this last four years, this personal walk with God made me reconsider my christian point of view not comparing it with other doctrines, beliefs, organizations or numbers of people in church.. but I started to realize the importance of little things in Christianity like the faith one has, the sincerity of the truth one follows, the courage to express the own belief in a very friendly way and the desire of God.. This led me to ask God to forgive me for all the times I’ve judged other people, how much pride I had, the way I thought about people who didn’t agree with me about my Christian point of view.
One day, about 1 year and a half ago, as I was praying, I felt in my heart to pray for the mormon church and felt a lot of peace in asking God, if there were any opportunity, to get in contact with them. I felt strange to have asked that, but I didn’t pay too much attention to this prayer. I did it, felt strange and then I forgot it. Lol.
One month later, I received a phone call from an unknown number. I never answer to numbers I don’t know lol. That day I felt peace to answer and it was them.. I was kinda shocked.. This new missionaries told me if I wanted to meet them, and I felt peace to do that. It was different now. I felt God’s peace, I felt His love to meet them. I thanked God and so I did.
I went to this meeting with a new approach, waiting for God to show me what He has planned. We started the meeting with a prayer and I could feel peace in staying with them : I could realize that my heart was not afraid to know something that God has approved in my life. I can’t say I was willing to accept everything they were explaining me, but I felt happy to know new things with a new perspective: I was not judging them, I was not feeling angry at their “strange” beliefs, but I could see things differently. Since then, I became a very good friend of mormons: we started having lovely conversation about God, His Love and we exchanged opinions about Christianity. I sometime have visited the local church and have met nice, kind and lovely people. I started to read the Book of Mormon and I can honestly say that It was not so dangerous as I thought at first.
I’ve prayed for all of this and God, step by step, showed me lots of things that I consider to be things often well known among evangelical churches, too.
I can’t say I agree with everything I’ve read, but I can honestly say that some of the things I have read are things I thanked God for.
In the end, even if I was told by the missionaries the importance of following some of their beliefs (baptism and taking part to their church), I prayed God and what I felt in my heart was to stay in my personal walk and seeking Him.
Lately God has talked to me first personally, then through some Christian friends about the fact of going to church for having a family. Now I attend a Pentecostal church at the moment. Because of this I have explained the mormon missionaries the spiritual choice (told by God) of being part of a Pentecostal church and how it has affect my life, but also I’ve explained them the desire to see us and being friends. They understood and I could see they’ve been very comprehensive. We still are friends and sometime we meet just for some activities in church.
Meeting the mormons have been, and still is, a wonderful opportunity to see how God’s love works in the heart of those who seek him with a sincere heart, relying more on the fact that God is leading everyone to experience faith in Him rather than teachings on Him.
I’m not saying I’m a mormon, but my point of view about them have changed and I know that everyone’s point of view can change according to personal experience that God allows in our life.
This has been mine.
My desire, as christian, is that all of us could try to experience God fully so that we could see/appreciate every person according to their own faith, love, hope rather than other things.
My desire is that my experience could lead each one of us to think about God’s love for each person seeking Him with a sincere heart.
May God Lead Us in Every Step.
With Love.
John
I want to share with you an important part of my life story, hoping that It could be a blessing for all of those who could find themselves in a situation similar to mine.
I’ve been praying a lot about this article and now I feel free to share this story with you.
So, first of all, I can say I’ve grown up in the evangelical faith, I’ve always lived my faith with evangelical churches, evangelical friends from different denominations (Pentecostal, Baptist and many more.). My thought about other Christian religions had been like “It’s ok, but I’m better (in someway).” [Not a very good thought to be proud of lol.]
I still am evangelical but with a very different point of view about Christianity.
So, talking abut Mormons, some years ago, in my town, I noticed one of their announcement put in a shop window : They were giving some english lessons with their number. As I always have been curious about other religions (and happy to meet people to speak English with) I decided to call them and ask them to meet. I prayed for this and asked God to protect me (I didn’t know who they were and Internet was still not so famous to know something about mormons, so I felt a little bit “scared” lol). Once I’ve seen the mormon missionaries, I felt relieved to see two american young boys who looked two nice and kind people. I guess they felt the same way I did (They were going to meet someone new as they knew nothing about me: I guess they prayed for this first meeting, too, lol.) I could remember we sat on a bench, we introduced ourselves for some minutes and then they asked me if we could pray before talking. I was happy to do so and I could see/hear their sincere prayer to God in the name of Jesus. After that, I asked them the general questions about mormons: Who they are, what they preach, what are their main beliefs which differ from other religions (especially the difference with evangelicals). The more they explained to me, the more I started to feel “uncomfortable”, because many of the things they said felt like very very strange to me lol. One thing I could notice was the fact that they were very focused on what they preached and they didn’t answer to all of my questions, but they were not worried about that: they were aware of their limits and they didn’t mind a lot. We became friends soon and I could notice that even if they were saying things I didn’t agree with, I was happy to talk to nice and good people. When I went home, I’ve started praying for this meeting and honestly I felt like “It was not the time for me to know them”, but I guess the desire to know new religions and talking in English made me not accept this spiritual advice , and so I started to contact them again. Every time we met, I didn’t feel comfortable: I like to stay with them, but spiritually I felt like it wasn’t the right time. Added to this, the questions I put them were often aimed to prove that my doctrine was correct and they were wrong. They didn’t quarrel, they just listened carefully and, if they knew the answer, they responded in a very friendly way. I haven’t had a right christian spiritual attitude towards their intent of explaining the mormon doctrine, even if we were friends. We had some other meetings (more or less I guess we had met for the next 2-3 months about once a fortnight) then, before Christmas time, they called me and invited me to their Christmas time in church, but I refused and explained them that I didn’t want to have other meetings in that moment. I didn’t feel like going to a place where I didn’t feel comfortable in front of God, so I just gave up. The missionary I talked to has been disappointed but He assured me He understood .
Then I surrendered to God all of this mormon experience I’ve passed and decided to not meeting them again. The experience I had with them hasn’t been as I expected and came to the conclusion that Mormons were dangerous spiritual people: they had strange beliefs, and that led me to think it was better for me to stay away from them. I was angry at myself because I knew I had done something which I knew the Spirit had told me not to do it but, on the other hand, I was sad for not having had a very good Christian attitude towards other religions and for having disappointed these guys as friends : all of this led me to be more cautious in taking contact with other religions and I decided to not have to do with mormons anymore.
During that time I started to stay close to God and being a church goer as I got involved in different activities. Since then, many years passed (I guess 8-10 years) and all my christian experiences have led me to mature a Christian faith based mainly on a personal walk with God where I decided to experience God fully through a personal relationship with Him, Only with Him. I still used to go to churches and have Christian friends, but in the end my spiritual walk was only staying with God.
Lately, during this last four years, this personal walk with God made me reconsider my christian point of view not comparing it with other doctrines, beliefs, organizations or numbers of people in church.. but I started to realize the importance of little things in Christianity like the faith one has, the sincerity of the truth one follows, the courage to express the own belief in a very friendly way and the desire of God.. This led me to ask God to forgive me for all the times I’ve judged other people, how much pride I had, the way I thought about people who didn’t agree with me about my Christian point of view.
One day, about 1 year and a half ago, as I was praying, I felt in my heart to pray for the mormon church and felt a lot of peace in asking God, if there were any opportunity, to get in contact with them. I felt strange to have asked that, but I didn’t pay too much attention to this prayer. I did it, felt strange and then I forgot it. Lol.
One month later, I received a phone call from an unknown number. I never answer to numbers I don’t know lol. That day I felt peace to answer and it was them.. I was kinda shocked.. This new missionaries told me if I wanted to meet them, and I felt peace to do that. It was different now. I felt God’s peace, I felt His love to meet them. I thanked God and so I did.
I went to this meeting with a new approach, waiting for God to show me what He has planned. We started the meeting with a prayer and I could feel peace in staying with them : I could realize that my heart was not afraid to know something that God has approved in my life. I can’t say I was willing to accept everything they were explaining me, but I felt happy to know new things with a new perspective: I was not judging them, I was not feeling angry at their “strange” beliefs, but I could see things differently. Since then, I became a very good friend of mormons: we started having lovely conversation about God, His Love and we exchanged opinions about Christianity. I sometime have visited the local church and have met nice, kind and lovely people. I started to read the Book of Mormon and I can honestly say that It was not so dangerous as I thought at first.
I’ve prayed for all of this and God, step by step, showed me lots of things that I consider to be things often well known among evangelical churches, too.
I can’t say I agree with everything I’ve read, but I can honestly say that some of the things I have read are things I thanked God for.
In the end, even if I was told by the missionaries the importance of following some of their beliefs (baptism and taking part to their church), I prayed God and what I felt in my heart was to stay in my personal walk and seeking Him.
Lately God has talked to me first personally, then through some Christian friends about the fact of going to church for having a family. Now I attend a Pentecostal church at the moment. Because of this I have explained the mormon missionaries the spiritual choice (told by God) of being part of a Pentecostal church and how it has affect my life, but also I’ve explained them the desire to see us and being friends. They understood and I could see they’ve been very comprehensive. We still are friends and sometime we meet just for some activities in church.
Meeting the mormons have been, and still is, a wonderful opportunity to see how God’s love works in the heart of those who seek him with a sincere heart, relying more on the fact that God is leading everyone to experience faith in Him rather than teachings on Him.
I’m not saying I’m a mormon, but my point of view about them have changed and I know that everyone’s point of view can change according to personal experience that God allows in our life.
This has been mine.
My desire, as christian, is that all of us could try to experience God fully so that we could see/appreciate every person according to their own faith, love, hope rather than other things.
My desire is that my experience could lead each one of us to think about God’s love for each person seeking Him with a sincere heart.
May God Lead Us in Every Step.
With Love.
John