God or "gods"?

It was 1979 and I was a young 23 year old woman planning my Mormon wedding.  I had my dress, flowers, photographer, venue (Mormon temple), and reception planned.  The only thing left was the invitations.  We wanted invitations that had our picture on the front.  For some reason we could never get a good picture of the two of us so that kept us from ordering our invitations.  It was April of 1979, and my fiance, Mike, had come over to give me a birthday present from his parents.  That present was my Mormon temple robes.  When I opened up the box I saw white chiffon type material and then this big green apron.  The big green apron is what made me shudder.  It was dull green satin with green leaves stitched on it that were supposed to represent fig leaves.  It looked crazy--the way the leaves were so wavy. It reminded me of a Van Gogh painting.  Not to offend Van Gogh, but he did suffer from mental illness.  Mike and I then left for my Mormon ward to go to the church service.  I did not tell Mike what I thought of those temple clothes at that time.  My parents then came home and my mom sees a box on the coffee table and opens it.  Immediately the Holy Spirit convicts her heart and she knows the Mormon Church is not a born-again Christian Church.  Funny how the Lord opens your eyes to the truth.  Anyway, later that evening I was helping my mom dry the dishes and she had a funny look on her face.  Upon pressing her as to why--she didn't want to say.  When I asked her on the tenth time she said, "I opened up that box and saw those Mormon robes and I thought this is not a Christian church.  This is a cult.  Your father and I can't come into the Mormon temple to see you get married and that is not Christian.  Christ didn't just come for the perfect people, He came for everyone."  With that the blanket of darkness that had covered me was lifted and I said, "You're right!"  My heart sank because I was engaged to be married.  Now what do I do?  To make a long story short and I have probably told this so many times, but after praying about whether I should marry Mike or not I knew I had to speak to him.  So I called him up and said "I have lost my testimony".  He took the train out to my house.  We spoke at length and he didn't want to break up (at first).  I told him that he was NOT going to be God.  There is only ONE GOD and neither he nor myself would EVER be GOD.  What followed was shocking.  Mike sat there with his arm around me and said very coldly, "Karen, why don't you want to be a god?"  I thought, what?  Who are you?  Mike, do I know you?  During the eight months that I dated Mike I had no idea he really thought he was going to be a god.  I said to Mike, "No, I do not want to be a god.  God has a lot of responsibility and we can't be Him. He is the Great I AM.  There is only ONE GOD and we are not it!"  Mike showed me a Bible verse (1 Corinthians 8:4-6) "So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.  For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from who all things come and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live."  Mike tried to convince me that this Bible verse meant that there is more than one God.  That is not what it says.  This Bible verse is talking about that there is only ONE God, but that people create idols (like money, movie stars, etc. anything that we put first instead of God).  So people in a sinful world who love money would make that their "god".  This Bible verse clearly says that there is only one God and we are only to worship the God found in the Bible.  Once the Lord showed me the truth the false Mormon doctorine unraveled very quickly.  No one will be a god and it is just arrogant and wrong to think otherwise. Here are some Bible verses that show there is only one God and how He saved us.

"Do not tremble, do not be afraid.  Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?  You are my witnesses.  Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one." Isaiah 44:8

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into world.  1John 4:1

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

"He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit." Titus 3:5

"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." Romans 10:9-10

"You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.  Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me." Isaiah 43:10

After the Lord showed me that Mormonism is wrong I still had to go to the Mormon church one last time, but that story will be saved for my next blog devotional.

Let's pray:  Dear Lord Jesus, I pray that You will show people reading this and people in the world the truth.  The truth found in Your Word (Bible) sets us free and I pray that those lost in the darkness of Mormonism and other false religions will be set free from that darkness.  I pray that people will not be deceived into thinking Mormonism is from God, but that Mormonism will be exposed for the false religion that it is.  I pray for protection and I ask that Your favor and wisdom will be upon me and all those who seek You Lord Jesus. I say these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

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