“burning in the bosom”
“godhood”
MORMON “seminary”
What I
the book of Mormon
Thought I Knew “obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel”
By Rev. Dr. Kent Heimbigner
It was the morning of July 8, 1978. I was 16. My parents were on vacation, but I had stayed at our home in Anaheim, California so that I could continue working at my job.The previous night, my prayers had been different than
ever before. Mormon missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, had been visiting my home, giving me their polished presentation of “missionary lessons.”They had urged me to read the Book of Mormon, and to pray asking God to reveal to me that it was true.They had told me that I would know its truth by a “burning in the bosom” which I would receive. So I asked God to reveal to me the truthfulness of it. Sure enough, the next morning, I awoke not only convinced in my mind that Mormonism was true, but excited enough about it to have what might reasonably pass for a “burning in the bosom” as well. Thus began a two-year episode of my life that has in some ways marked me ever since.There were repercussions, both positive and negative, almost immediately. First came the negative. I asked my parents to sign a permission slip allowing me to be baptized in the Mormon religion. My father, himself a devout Lutheran, with the support of my non-Lutheran but
You see, if you pray to the wrong god or have a false Jesus (false belief), or if you give up on God ever forgiving you (despair), then you are cut off from the forgiveness of sins and salvation. However, if you know the true God, and trust that He will forgive all of your sins, by grace, because of what Jesus did for you on the cross, then there is still a way out.
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