Visiting Teaching Message – October 2017

30 September

The Visiting Teaching Message for the month of October is titled Enfolding with Love Those Who Stray.

The message encourages those who have loved ones who have left Mormonism to love them and to speak to them kindly, and not speak to them in anger, or harshly. My first thought was, if the Church members need to be reminded to do this, then they have bigger problems than someone leaving the Church.

In my own walk with the Lord I’ve experienced an adult child turning his back on God, and the biblical principles I raised him in. I would never dream of speaking to him unkindly or harshly, only lovingly. What I want more than anything else for him is to see how much he needs Jesus in his life, and see the value in walking with the Lord, versus the world.

However, based on my time in the Mormon Church I don’t believe Mormons are concerned with their loved ones coming to Jesus, so much as they want them to come back to the Church. When we look at how Mormons view Jesus, and compare it to how Christians view Jesus, we see a huge contrast. Jesus is everything to the Christian, to the Mormon, not so much.

It all comes down to religion, or relationship. I want my son to have a relationship with Jesus, I want him to know Him, to desire to live for Him. If I was still was Mormon, I’d be more concerned with my son’s standing in the Church. I’d wonder how his behavior will affect my family in the eternities. In Mormonism family is everything, and keeping your family together in the Celestial Kingdom is a Mormon’s primary concern.

I pray that Mormons will see that knowing Jesus and having a relationship with Him is so much more important than returning to a religion.

In Christ,

Melissa Grimes

References

October 2017 Visiting Teaching Message

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2 Responses to “Visiting Teaching Message – October 2017”

  1. Louise October 8, 2017 at 4:24 pm #

    I am sad to hear about your son turning his back on Christ. My teenage son and husband have done the same. It pains my soul. Christ is my Redeemer and friend. He carries me when times are hard. He is my hope and Salvation. .. my Rock! How I long for my loved ones to feel the same. I pray for them to feel the love of the Lord in their lives more than anything! Life is so much better with God than without! Because I love God and my family, I long for us to be together forever, but I know they have free will to accept or reject Christ. Their choices are their choices, but I will do my best to remind them of the truths they once embraced…not in a ram it down your throat preachy way, but led by the Spirit. ..when the time is right. I know the Lord’s hand is always outstretched. .. I can but follow His example and allow myself to be an instrument in His hands! I thought the VT message was a nice reminder. .. especially as more and more young people of all faiths are turning their backs on God. Whilst we love them, the different attitudes and behaviours can cause friction .. especially when living under the same roof. Not speaking harshly is good counsel for everyone! I am a Mormon and feel sad you feel so negatively about your experience in the church. I am glad that you have maintained a relationship with God though. May you be a light to your son and pray that he finds the peace in his life that only comes in and through the Lord.

    • Anonymous October 9, 2017 at 12:58 pm #

      Louise,
      Thank you for visiting the our site and commenting. Also,, thank you for your kind words regarding my son. I’ve put the whole situation in the Lords hands, and I continue to pray for him.

      In your comment you noticed you used the words “Redeemer”, and “salvation when you talked about Jesus, and I wondered if you truly understood what those two words mean to you from a biblical perspective.

      Yes, Jesus is our redeemer. To redeem means “to purchase”, “ransom”,”deliver”, “to buy up,” and “rescue from loss”. Jesus did all those things for us, he purchased us with his blood, He delivered and rescued us from our sin, so that we wouldn’t have to be punished for them.. He did this for us 100%, there is nothing we must do to make up for what he couldn’t do.

      Which leads me to the second word “salvation”. Do you believe with all your heart that Jesus is all you need for you to leave with God when you die? This is one of the problems I have with Mormonism, they don’t believe he is all they need. The temple plays a key role in their “salvation”.

      When Jesus spoke of salvation he told us that HE was all we needed to be saved from our sins and to live with God. John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

      Jesus says nothing of temple works, or other ceremonies we need to perform before we are worthy to stand in the presence of God. He truly is our salvation, without him we have nothing.

      I encourage you to do a word study on redeemed/redeemer/redeem, and salvation. Also, I you don’t already know about it, Blue Letter Bible is a great resource when studying God’s word., it really helps you to understand God’s word more clearly.

      Praying for you and your family, and that all of you will be reconciled – Melissa Grimes.

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