I believe in my heart that the church is true, and I have since I felt an overwhelming, warm, peaceful presence that enveloped my entire body at a Home Sacrament Meeting at my boss' house this summer. But some of the things in the book make a lot of sense to me since I wasn't raised in the LDS church.

I am now beginning to question what I am learning through the Elders and through my LDS friends at home, at work, and at YSA meetings.

Regarding this confusion, I would simply say, remember how you felt when you heard the Gospel message for the first time. Remember that warm, peaceful feeling that comforted you when you prayed. Remember when you read the Book of Mormon for the first time, and it felt right. All of that was the spirit of the Holy Ghost testifying to you that the things that you heard and read are true. On the other hand, when you read the literature which opposes the church, you had no such feeling. There was darkness and confusion. What does that suggest to your mind? To me, it suggests that Satan never sustains any of Heavenly Father’s children. He always tempts them and tries to confuse them, but there is never any lovely, peaceful, heartwarming feeling, always confusion, often darkness and anxiety. You can always detect evil influence by those two contrasting personal feelings.

You went on in your email to tell me that you were especially concerned about what you read within the literature this woman wrote regarding the temple ceremony and that it seemed very cult-like. You continued by saying that despite her writings, you couldn’t understand why anyone who had been to the temple, like she has, would go out publicly, identifying what they had learned, and then not obey the sacred oaths and promises made therein.

First of all, the temple ceremony is not cult-like. It is the most beautiful experience anyone could ever imagine centered in and around the Lord Jesus Christ with wonderful promises and blessings of eternal happiness and glory made to those who live righteous lives. Secondly, I don't know anything about this author or her book, but I do know that throughout the ages, there have been many men and women who knew the truth but couldn't endure a lifetime of it. Subsequently, they turn from it, and it's interesting to note that those who do leave the church, usually cannot leave it without spending time trying to discredit it. I suppose they do it so they can justify their own lack of faith and faithfulness. Her desire to divulge and discredit the sacred covenants of the temple in some sinister and/or sensationalistic way, will clarify to those who carefully read it, that she is in a state of total apostasy. She does not love the Lord, she is not guided by the spirit of Christ, she speaks only for herself, and by so doing, she speaks against Him.

You further stated in your email that you believe in your heart that the church is true and that you have felt an overwhelming warm, peaceful presence that enveloped your entire body at a sacrament meeting this past summer. Don’t forget that feeling. It is that powerful but peaceful reassurance from the Holy Ghost that you have found truth and are headed in the right direction. This is our Heavenly Father's way of letting you know where truth is. There is no brainwashing going on here. It is non other than the peaceful and loving spirit of God, your Father in Heaven.

Now, in spite of all this, you are still feeling concerned and wonder if what you are learning from the missionaries as well as LDS friends of yours is really true. You then asked if I had read this book and what things should you keep in mind when pondering what it, and your dad had to say. My counsel to you, is to not spend much time pondering what is written in that book because from what I can tell, we are talking about a bitter woman here. Her views will be biased and tilted at best. I also think that your father really doesn't quite understand the full doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-days Saints and has allowed these kinds of books to take his opinion of the church in the wrong direction. If I were you, I would take all of this to the Lord in humble prayer and ask him to bless you with clarity of thought and to help you know by the power of the Holy Ghost if what you have been studying from the missionaries is true. When you ask about the specific things you are being taught, you will have that same calm, peaceful feeling that you had before. When asking about the content of that book your dad gave to you, I would imagine that you will get no such feeling at all, but you will have a kind of "stupor of thought" or a dark, confusing feeling, meaning that there won’t be any good feeling at all. You see, darkness comes from Satan, light comes from Christ.

Not only would I take all of this in prayer to your Father in Heaven, but I would also become a very serious student of the Book of Mormon. That is, study it carefully, page by page, and from cover to cover. If you will do this with an honest, prayerful heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, I know He will manifest the truth of all of that to you by the power of the Holy Ghost, and you will know that it is true.

It's either true or false. There is no grey area here. If it is in fact true, all that Joseph Smith said that he saw, actually happened. Everything that you have learned about him is actually true. Read the Book of Mormon as well as the Bible continually, then you will know whether all of these things are true and there will be no confusion in your mind.

You then asked a very legitimate question, "How could Joseph Smith see God the Father when other Christian denominations believe that man cannot see God because they would not live through it?" It is the very same way that Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob saw God. They did so by being overcome with the Spirit, so that when they beheld him, it was not with their natural eyes, but rather by eyes that had been touched by the Spirit so they could endure the presence of God. That is exactly what happened to Stephen in the book of Acts when he was being stoned to death for preaching the gospel. As he was dying he "looked up steadfastly into heaven and said, I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." (See Acts 7:55-56)

You asked an additional question, "Is it true that the church believes that through Christ’s death and resurrection, only certain sins are forgiven, and the others must be cleansed through good works?" No, that's not quite true. God does expect us to do all that we can do to live worthy and righteous lives, but it is only by his grace that our sins our forgiven, after all we can do. (See James 2: 14-20)

Your final question was, "I have read that the LDS church believes that God was once a man on another planet, then was exalted to Godhood. How could that be possible when he created everything?" The scriptures are not clear regarding that question, Casey, but the Prophet Joseph Smith learned that is was so. The word "everything" which you use is the key word here. To my knowledge, God our Eternal Father and His son Jesus Christ created everything that is relative to us; that is, this earth and everything on it including the heavens, our solar system, galaxies that we cannot even see, the sun the moon and countless other creations. However, no one knows the total expanse past this galaxy and beyond the next. We don't even know its age or its beginnings. But based on the limited studies that have been done in astrophysics, we do know that the heavens are unbelievably vast.

Christ said, "I have done nothing save that which I have seen my Father do." (See John 5:19-20) If Christ has done nothing but what he knows that his father has done, it seems to me that it would not be illogical to consider that eons of time ago, long before you and I were even created spiritually by our Heavenly Father, that He, himself, went through similar experiences that his first born son, Jehovah did. His ability to go through that experience allowed him to become God thus given the privilege and blessings of creating other worlds and other people. How wonderful and glorious that is!

How long did all that process take? I have no idea. But I am comfortable with the fact that it was a long, long time ago. In any event, that knowledge is not nearly important as what we all are doing on this earth today and what it is that we must do to qualify ourselves to live again in his presence when we leave this life.

The plan of salvation that you are learning about, is not from just modern day revelation. It goes back to that preexistent time when we all lived together with our Heavenly Father in his kingdom and were taught our first lessons by him and were schooled about the opportunity that would be ours to come to this earth and be tried and tested to learn how to become ever more like our beloved Savior Jesus Christ.

I hope that this is helpful to you and that you will continue to study and seek for that calm, peaceful reassurance of truth.

Sincerely,

Donny Osmond


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