LDS Talk of the Week: Don’t Pray to Jesus

24 October

1 John 5:14-15; “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”

General Conference, ‘The Soul’s Sincere Desire’, October 2016

It was a sad day earlier this week, and the reason why stems from ‘The Talk of the Week’ the Church posted on its front page of their website.

carol-f-mcconkie-ldsorg-articleLDS Relief Society President, Carol F. McConkie, delivered a speech at General Conference earlier this month titled ‘The Soul’s Sincere Desire’. We’re taking a look at it since they’ve highlighted it in their talk of the week, so here we go! If you’d like to read her speech in its entirety, click on the highlighted link above. For today’s purposes, we’ve simply pulled a few quotes to examine, and see if they’re biblically sound.

“We pray to our Heavenly Father and Him only because He is “God in heaven, who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting … , the framer of heaven and earth, and all things which are in them.” As our Creator, He gave commandments that we “should love and serve him, the only living and true God, and that he should be the only being whom [we] should worship.”8

Right from the get-go, Ms. McConkie pointed out the Mormon Jesus is not God by stating they pray to their ‘Heavenly Father, and Him only’. That’s obviously not a biblically sound view of our Lord as we can see in many places from the Bible telling us otherwise – Isaiah 9:6, John 1:1, 14; John 20:28; 1 Corinthians 8:4

Secondly, she’s contradicted the Mormon doctrine of who their god is. The reference (#8) listed in her talk, is for Doctrine and Covenants 20:17, 19, which is Joe Smith’s revelation God is eternal and everlasting.

How can their god be eternal when he was once a man like us? How could he be the creator of earth when Smith definitively stated on numerous occasions, their god merely organized elements for earth to come into existence? Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 350

Even Brigham Young stated their god is a finite being.

Ms. McConkie went on to share more about their prayer life…

We pray in the name of Jesus Christ because our salvation is in Christ, and “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”11 We come unto the Father in the sacred name of Jesus Christ 12 because He is our Advocate with the Father and He does plead our cause.13 He suffered, bled, and died to glorify His Father, and His merciful petition on our behalf opens the way for each of us to obtain peace in this life and everlasting life in the world to come. He does not want us to suffer longer or endure more trials than needed. He does want us to turn to Him and allow Him to ease our burdens, to heal our hearts, and to cleanse our souls through His purifying power. We never want to take His name in vain with rote and repetitious words. Sincere prayers offered in the holy name of Jesus Christ are an expression of our devoted love, our eternal gratitude, and our steadfast desire to pray as He prayed, to do as He did, and to become as He is.

For now, we’ll forego a good chunk of what she said here, and come back to it in the near future. Our focus in her statement above is on this comment –

‘He suffered, bled, and died to glorify His Father, and His merciful petition on our behalf opens the way for each of us to obtain peace in this life and everlasting life in the world to come.’

He suffered, bled and died to glorify His Father? Really?

How was God glorified as people mocked His Son during the crucifixion?

What ‘way’ was opened to us through Jesus’ death?

Why can’t they say, Jesus’ death on the cross paid for our sins, so we could be found righteous in the eyes of God?

Why is there all this fluff talk about peripheral matters?

Ms. McConkie also said –

‘We never want to take His name in vain with rote and repetitious words…

How is praying by rote, or repetition, deemed taking His name in vain?

Is reciting the Lord’s Prayer taking His name in vain? When I hear the phrase ‘taking His name in vain’, I immediately think of how my father always referred to Him, which by the way, is unworthy of repeating here.

’ Sincere prayers offered in the holy name of Jesus Christ are an expression of our devoted love, our eternal gratitude, and our steadfast desire to pray as He prayed, to do as He did, and to become as He is…’

Try as they might to make their excuses sound good, when the rubber meets the road it all means the same thing.

They don’t pray directly to Jesus, because they don’t have a relationship with Him. They don’t know Jesus, because they’ve bought into the lies of Joseph Smith and friends.

Before she closed, she spoke of how they pray, and if you weren’t confused before now, her words should take care of that.

We pray by the power of the Holy Ghost because “he that asketh in the Spirit asketh according to the will of God.”14 When we pray with faith, the Holy Ghost can guide our thoughts so that our words harmonize with the will of God. “Ask not, that ye may consume it on your lusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and living God.”15

“It is not only important that we shall know how to pray, but it is equally important that we shall know how to receive the answer to our prayer, to be discerning, to be alert, to be able to see with clear vision and understand with clear intention God’s will and purpose concerning us.”” – Carol F. McConkie, First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency

The biggest problem here is found in the fact Mormons don’t believe the Holy Ghost is omnipresent, nor do they believe he’s omniscient.

The Mormon Holy Ghost is there as a front to look good. The unknowing are none the wiser to the inner workings of true Mormonism.

Because their Holy Ghost is neither omniscient, nor omnipresent, how does he guide someone’s thoughts? If Ms. McConkie lives in Salt Lake, how can their Holy Ghost guide my mother’s thoughts when she lives in Ogden? Ogden is 30 miles north, making it impossible to guide two persons thoughts simultaneously.

By and large, most people are unaware the Mormon Holy Ghost isn’t God. D&C 130:22 They’re unaware Joseph Smith taught the Holy Ghost was still waiting to take a body, and unaware of Brigham Young’s atrocious comment if the Holy Ghost truly resided inside of us, ‘it’d be dangerous to baptize and confirm females lest he get her pregnant’. Journal of Discourses 1:51. Brigham Young, Great Salt Lake City, April 9, 1852.

The sad reality in Mormonism is how the average member hasn’t a clue who the Holy Spirit is, how He operates, or that He’s God.

Ms. McConkie looks like a nice enough lady, and I’m certain she loves her family dearly, just as we all do. But loving your family while serving a false god doesn’t get you any closer to heaven than the self-proclaimed atheist down the street.

This talk is very reminiscent of a talk given by Bruce McConkie back in March 1982. (See Prayer Life of Mormons.) Of course, Bruce was the uncle of Carol McConkie’s husband, Oscar.

Pray for their eyes to be opened, and their hearts be willing to receive the truth! Each of the leaders in Mormonism owns their own Bible so pray they open it today and start reading!

With Love in Christ;

Michelle

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