Church News: Pageants Nearing the End

05 November

On October 27, 2018 the LDS Church released an official statement for the new policy on large scale Mormon productions.

If you’ve never heard of Mormon Pageants before: think Broadway.

The Church pulls out big names like Donny Osmond who volunteer their time to be part of the show.

Pageants are like Mormon Roadshows on steroids. The latter reminds me of earlier days when wards would compete against each other and win bragging rights for who had the best productions.

Our thoughts on this latest policy?

1.We’re wondering if they’ve done this as a means to keep Christians away from sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.

2.The latest change is reminiscent of what it was like before the 1980’s when the Church prided itself in being ‘peculiar’ by isolating itself from outsiders.

In part, here’s what they had to say;

‘…local Church leaders and members are encouraged to focus on gospel learning in their homes and to participate in Sabbath worship and the Church’s supporting programs for children, youth, individuals, and families…’

Odd…isn’t that what they’re doing now? How is this different from before?

‘…The goal of every activity in the Church should be to increase faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and to share His gospel message throughout the world. Larger productions, such as pageants, are discouraged. As it relates to existing pageants, conversations with local Church and community leaders are underway to appropriately end, modify, or continue these productions…’

Doesn’t limiting oneself to home studies make it difficult to share the gospel worldwide? It seems having pageants provided a larger pulpit from which to share their news of Joe Smith.

Furthermore, their plan is only advantageous when using the Bible to teach about Jesus Christ. LDS doctrines are a massive interpolation of God’s truth. To date, we’ve not found one biblical doctrine the Church hasn’t disseminated for their own version of the gospel.

‘the Church also discontinued youth cultural celebrations that traditionally preceded new temple dedications in favor of youth devotionals with visiting Church leaders…’

Again, they’ve withdrawn themselves from the locals, and turned to themselves for their own understanding. To read their statement in full, see LDS Pageants.

While we’re not a big proponent of these pageants, they did afford us the opportunity to witness one on one with the visitors. We pray the Mormon people will see these changes as another way the Church is trying to isolate and control its members.

With Love in Christ;

Michelle

1 Cor 1:18

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