When I was a young woman around the age of 22 I was engaged to a Morman man. I remember going to my ward (in Mormon speak a ward is a church congregation) to go to a farewell service for a young woman going off on a Mormon mission. Now, this young woman wasn't very nice to me. I really don't know why, but I do remember feeling uncomfortable around her. Nevertheless, I was required to attend this farewell service. There were a number of people who went up to the podium to speak about her and how many things she has done for the Mormon Church and the ward. As I listened to the guests speak about her I remember I started to feel tired and weary. At that moment it dawned on me how "works" oriented the Mormons are and for the first time since I had joined that church, 8 months before, I felt like I was in bondage. I remember thinking that when I was in a born-again Christian Church I never felt like I was in bondage. Sitting there in that Mormon ward I felt like I could never measure up and that no matter how much I did or tried to do it wasn't enough. Oh, I just felt so weighed down like I had a million bricks tied to me. I said to myself that in my born-again Christian upbringing there was so much freedom! I never felt this exhaustion or frustration in the born-again Christian church. I saw such a contrast between the two. There is freedom in the born-again Christian church because Jesus shed his blood for us all on the cross and paid for our sins. By grace we are saved! A few months after this farewell service I broke my engagement and left the Mormon Church.
John 3:16-18, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."
2 Corinthians 3:17, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."
Deuteronomy 13:1-4, "If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him."
The reason I felt such bondage while I was sitting in that Mormon ward is because they do not worship the same Jesus that a born-again Christian worships. I worship the Jesus found only in the Bible and the Mormons worship a made up Jesus. There is no freedom, no life, in a made up Jesus. Look at it this way. There are many people in the world with the name Karen. My name is Karen and I am nothing like all those other Karens in the world. There is only one me. Well, there are many religions who claim to know Jesus, but it is only his name that they know. So if you want true freedom, and life everlasting then you need to know the Jesus found only in the Bible. Jesus is waiting for you to open up a Bible and start reading it. He wants you to know Him. He wants you to know how much He loves you. What are you waiting for?
Let's pray: Dear Lord Jesus, I lift up everyone reading this devotional. I pray that You will touch their hearts and heal their hurts. I say these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
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