Why I Joined the Mormon Church, Page 2

Why I Joined the Mormon Church, Page 2

 

 Having grown up reading the Bible and faithfully attending church three times a week, camp meetings in the summer months and special church services along the way, as well as traveling with three different gospel singing groups throughout my young life, and having attended Lee College, a church college in Tennessee for a short period of time . . . well, I thought I had, if not all, most of the knowledge I needed to sway religious doctrine to my way of understanding.  I was quite feisty and fearless in my defense of my religious beliefs and I would, and often did, take on anyone desiring a good drubbing.
 

 I was sure I would be able to persuade my new husband to my way of thinking.  I visited the library and brought home anti-mormon books.  I raised many arguments as to why his church was considered unchristian, even a “cult.”  Our first few months of marital bliss had turned into marital blisters.  The friction between us over our religion threatened to end our union as seeds of doubt as to whether we should stay married made its way into our minds.  I had my gloves on, my defenses were high  . . . until the day I heard the voice of God, either his voice or that of one of his servents, I know not, but I heard a voice.

 

In the meantime, Steve and I prayed together.  I did realize that we were praying to the same deity.  People from the mormon church gave us a lovely reception and stopped by to see us and wish us well.
 

 Not willing to admit it, I was not happy with the Church of God.  I was witness to bickering and back biting.  Scare tactics and threats were used by the minister to try to reign in his congregation.  Confidences were broken and used to cause speculation among the members.  I loved the members and had many friends there but what finally took the cake was an announcement made by the minister that the head of  our gospel group, The Bread of Life Singers, which was anchored in this church, would be leaving.  Next the minister planned a farewell party for him and The Bread if Life Singers.  In reality, our group leader had never announced that he was leaving.  I was in disbelief of what I was hearing and many were astonished at the announcement.  I was later to learn that the minister felt that too many people were not showing up at his services because they were following our singing group to their different performances and he just wanted us gone.

 

I know that God has a plan for all of us and sometimes he allows things to happen in our lives that, although hard at the time, brings us blessings and great joy.  He sometimes removes obstacles from our way to make room for the gifts he has created for us.

 

Soon after we were married, the arguments would ensue.  Whose church were we attending this Sunday?  There was something so special about Steve that it wasn’t long before I realized he was the way he was BECAUSE of his religion not in spite of it.  His honesty and integrity impressed on me that it came from his inner core that had develped from the teachings of his church and good parenting.  There was a special light resonating from him that I recognized as the light of Christ and so I started searching for answers.  I prayed fervently for answers.  I asked God to help me decide which church was His church.  I had so much turmoil going on inside that there were times when I would ask Steve to excuse me so that I could pray and be alone with God. 
 

When I was a little girl, my grandmother Sadie was my best friend.  When I was five, she was five.  When I was ten, she was ten.  As I grew into my teens I confided in her as to the type of man I wanted to marry.  I wanted to be a minister’s wife.  I wanted to marry a man of God. 
 

Shortly before I met Steve, my grandmother Sadie died of a massive heart attack.  He never had the chance to meet her.  As I was contemplating whether or not I should marry Steve, she whispered into my heart, “he is the one.”

 

I knew that my grandmother would never lead me astray.  I continued to pray for clarity of choice.  I made the decision to attend church with Steve and to find out on my own accord what was “wrong” with the mormons.  A mysterious thing happened though; every Sunday morning for several weeks in a row, our car wouldn’t start, neither one of them!  On the one Sunday when one of them did start, we didn’t get further than a couple of hundred yards from our house when the engine stalled.  Steve had gone to get gas and instead got a tank full of water.  It was just one thing after another after another.
 

At this point, I was really confused.  I could not for the life of me discern whether God was trying to keep me from going to the mormon church because it was “of the devil” or Satan was trying to keep me from going to the mormon church because he was trying to keep me from discovering a “true church of God”!

 

to be continued . . .



Why I Joined the Mormon Church, Page 1

My conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day  Saints began in July of 1981 when I first met my husband, Steve.  I had heard of the mormons, had been indoctrinated to believe that they were a cult, but had never met a real live mormon in person.

 

As a member of the Church of God, a charismatic   pentecostal religion, I had joined a gospel singing group called The Bread of Life and traveled frequently from church to church singing and worshiping with a variety of congregations.  On my way home from one of my singing engagements, I stopped by a convenience store to buy a late dinner and that’s where I met my future husband.  I was not traveling alone.  I had our alto singer with me.  As we sat eating in my car, we noticed a hungry little kitten near Steve who was sitting on a cinder block wall inhaling ice cream with his nephew and friend and they were not sharing! So, Jamie and I got out of my car and took some food over to the meowing little fur ball.  

 

That’s where my journey towards mormonism began.  Steve was extremely handsome with large biceps bulging from beneath his white velour polo with black trim.  He had dark curly hair, hazel eyes with the longest eye lashes I had ever seen and a winning smile.

 

 A long conversation ensued after lecturing the boys for not feeding the kitten.  Upon learning that Jamie and I had just come from a church service in their neighborhood, the conversation turned almost immediately to religion.  I had dated a lot of guys, some of them pastor’s sons, but there was something very different about Steve.  He was all entwined in sweetness, confidence, purity, maturity, humbleness, sincerity and knowledge—knowledge of the scriptures and life.  He seemed far beyond his years.

 

As I conversed with Steve and bantered with him over religious beliefs, he agreed to attend the next church service where we would be singing in just a few days.  I thought that night would be the last time I would ever see him but to my great surprise, he showed up, walked down the isle to where I was sitting and confidently seated himself right beside me with his Book of Mormon in tow.  Now I had been taught that mormonism was “of the devil” so I was embarrassed that he had brought his Book of Mormon with him and asked him to place it where it would be less noticeable.

 

Our relationship progressed rather quickly and although I was rockily engaged to another guy, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Steve was the person I was supposed to spend the rest of my life, even eternity, with.  Two and one half weeks after our first meeting, we eloped.

 

 

to be continued . . .