0:00:00 - 0:00:20 All right. So here's a question. If God wanted to fix something in a church, would he do so via that church's leadership? So, um this isn't a topic. I'm super excited about. Every time I talk about it, people come out of the woodwork and there's some echoes we gotta go through and deal with. But I'll 0:00:20 - 0:00:49 tell you, um you know, I was L DS for, for years and uh all in on that. And so um it's really weird for me to know people who are uh still in that, who believe that um who claim to believe in Joseph Smith. But they outright, I should say specifically, they, they believe that he's a prophet and that God 0:00:49 - 0:01:18 told him to do the things he was doing. But the outright reject the pattern that God followed in calling him. So um God, he's called people to set corrupt religious institutions a right. Um In the past, it's happened many times. So for example, um there were righteous kings in Israel that reformed and 0:01:18 - 0:01:47 tried to bring things back to what Moses had established. So uh Josiah Hezekiah examples, even even David was a, a reformation on what Saul had put together um there were reforming priests in Israel. Um But in any of these cases, the question is, has it ever been the case that the person ascended to 0:01:47 - 0:02:22 power within the corrupt organization fully uh following those teachings and believing them and retaining their leadership as they discovered that there were better ways. And um yes, people, people have been used in that um in that capacity as well. But the thing is you have to ask what catalyzed their 0:02:22 - 0:02:50 change. So I'm not aware of any examples, but if there are one or two, there aren't many, I'm not aware of any where the person has independently just based on, you know, whatever the spirit of God said to them where they've independently turned and um brought the organization with them. So you get stories 0:02:49 - 0:03:11 like Saul who was later, Paul where the Lord came to him and said, look, everything you're all about is just completely jacked up. And uh you're actually after all the people who are, who are way closer to what you think you have than you are and you're, you're persecuting these people. But it's not 0:03:11 - 0:03:34 like he brought tons of the Pharisees with him, right? He said he was a pharisee pharisee, he was trained, he was in that hierarchy. He was viewed as a as a an up and comer serious dude with serious responsibilities. Um but it's not like there was a mass exodus when he turned to Jesus. So what you do 0:03:34 - 0:03:58 see is uh people like Alma who is a priest for King Noah, their repentance, they're turning towards something better. Their improvement. I should say their improvement was catalyzed by an outsider. In this case, with Almos Bedi. And most of the time as with the case of Alma, they were not allowed to 0:03:58 - 0:04:21 stay in that position of authority. Alma was run out a penalty of his life. He fled for his life. So the other priests and the king didn't want anything to do with the changes that were in support, the improvements that were suggested. And and uh another example of this is Zacharias, the father of John 0:04:20 - 0:04:50 , the Baptist. He was the high priest at the time that uh Gabriel visited him and announced the subsequent birth of John the Baptist. And what did they do to him? They killed him, they killed him for what he believed. So um it usually does not go well when a leader converts to something better. And it's 0:04:49 - 0:05:26 rarely the case that that happens in the first place. So, and even when it does, it's as far as I know, it's always through the intervention of an outsider or someone who doesn't have any leadership bona fides in the organization or an angel. So an angel from heaven. Um So what happens when God sends 0:05:26 - 0:05:52 someone that is lower in the hierarchy in that organization to try to help someone who has a leadership position, sort themselves out. Well, normally they're booted, sometimes they're even killed. Right. It's not something that's tolerated. So I mentioned the, the story of Alma Senior, he was both booted 0:05:51 - 0:06:19 out, but also they tried to kill him, he ran away. Um, he fled and went into hiding. So most often those who would raise true criticisms of a system would be ejected from it rather than have their suggestions, listened to and rationally responded to. It doesn't matter if they were sent from God or not 0:06:19 - 0:06:33 . There aren't examples where people say, you know what you're saying is like the last thing we want to hear and you're incriminating us and we feel super guilty about what you're saying. But since you claim you're from God, I guess we'll just sincerely listen to what you have to say and, and really 0:06:33 - 0:06:53 take it under consideration that has never happened, right? So the whole reason they're corrupt in the first place is that although they might say that they believe in God and put him first and foremost, they don't actually do that. And it's a long history of not doing that. So they're not gonna suddenly 0:06:52 - 0:07:16 wake up from that and start making righteous decisions. Are they not usually? And like I said, when they do, usually those people that put them into power or keep them in power don't. And so that's what happens. Now, we were talking specifically about the L DS church, but I'm gonna tell you here. And 0:07:16 - 0:07:43 now anyone waiting for a reformer in that system has missed the several that God has already sent and they've been booted out. Ok. None of them have been killed as far as I know, but they have certainly been booted out. So there are many conditions where God sends someone outside of the organization 0:07:42 - 0:08:07 . Um, so we could talk about stories from the life of Jesus. You know, the man born blind in John nine. It's a great account. Lots of lessons there. Jesus goes into the city of Jerusalem. He finds this blind guy. He says, hey, you wanna see again, go all the way out of the city to this pool that's called 0:08:07 - 0:08:27 silo, which means one cent as in by God. And you know, I'm gonna smear this, this garbage in your eyes. That's on the ground here in the city, this capital city of this corrupt religion where animals poop on the ground and uh human waste is everywhere. I'm gonna pick this up and I'm gonna spit in it 0:08:27 - 0:08:51 . I'm gonna rub it in your eyes and then go tell you to walk this long way as a blind guy and wash your, your face, your eyes out in this water. So there are many such symbols where were shown that the solution to an organizational problem often lies outside of the organization. If it doesn't have what 0:08:51 - 0:09:10 you're looking for, maybe you need to look somewhere else. If you've already looked. You're in the capital city, you're, you see the high priests all the time? They don't see you because they don't pay attention to people who are, who are blind or poor or sick. But they see, they, they, I say, do you 0:09:10 - 0:09:30 see that he's blind? You're around them all the time. You're, you're, if there were something there, you'd have it. If those priests had the power to cure your blindness, you'd be able to see already. You've been there your whole life begging. So it's worth a shot when some random person comes along 0:09:29 - 0:09:49 and says, hey, you got nothing to lose. How about I wipe some garbage in your eyes and tell you to take a walk. What else are you gonna do? Right? This wasn't some like tremendous faith of I'm gonna send you on this quest to do these crazy things. It's like, look, uh you're just sitting here begging 0:09:49 - 0:10:08 anyway. How about you spend the next hour or so walking and washing your face in this pool. What do you have to lose? And that's, that's how real faith works. It's not the say II I want you to do this ridiculous thing that has no reasons. It's, here's some reasons for doing this little thing and the 0:10:08 - 0:10:30 really good reasons and you don't have any better reasons for not doing it. So why don't you do it? You got nothing to lose. And so this man was rewarded abundantly for his faith. And uh the rest of the chapters this beautiful incremental increase in his understanding of who God is. Uh and his, his desire 0:10:29 - 0:10:55 to follow Jesus against all um challenges and throwing away his reputation with these people who he thought were really important before and what they thought was really important, including his parents. Anyway, um Jesus is the chief most example, excuse me, if something, someone coming from outside 0:10:55 - 0:11:22 the organization, he was devoid of any earthly religious credentials, everything he had came to show was something different than what was connected to the hierarchy at the time. Um What were these outward, outwardly demonstrated evidences there were that he taught with wisdom that exceeded anyone else's 0:11:21 - 0:11:42 , he worked miracles beyond what anyone else could do. Now, those who acted on those preliminary evidences to draw nearer to him and get to know him better, you know, the two apostles came and said, can we see where you live? And he said, come and see those who got to know him better could also attest 0:11:42 - 0:12:04 that he bore greater burdens than any other man. And he did it better than any other man could do. He also loved people more than anything they previously imagined possible. And that was demonstrated in his life. Although it would have been clearer, the closer you came to him. But there was enough at 0:12:03 - 0:12:25 a distance that would have called anyone closer anyone looking for that would have drawn closer. Those who implemented what he taught, testified that it enabled them to have greater strength against the challenges of the world. To become more like God and to know God more than they previously did. The 0:12:25 - 0:12:49 same pattern holds for others, many others, Samuel the lemon I and notably Joseph Smith. So just focusing on the whole L DS background, but we could do this from any perspective. No matter where you are in life, there is a path directly to God and he will use all the things that you presently value to 0:12:48 - 0:13:10 convince you to take the next step towards the things that you don't yet know about. But like I said, at the beginning, it's particularly disturbing to me to see people who claim to believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet who claim to believe that the book of Mormon is scripture so freely throwing away 0:13:09 - 0:13:34 or dismissing. I guess the mechanisms that were in place in bringing all that to be. It's extremely hypocritical and nonsensical. Joseph Smith. He wasn't a Catholic priest, he wasn't a protestant pastor. He was just a little boy and he was actually, he was a little boy who wasn't even in a church. His 0:13:34 - 0:13:52 parents were, were, were religious, they were Methodists. He just kind of held back from that. And uh you know, he was one of the, the, he was the example of what Jesus was talking about with the 99 and the one the 99 were satisfied on the, on the grass right in front of them. He said, no, I'm gonna 0:13:52 - 0:14:12 hold out for something better. This doesn't satisfy me. There are holes here that I'm not ok with. And, um, it's absurd to think that God wouldn't work through people in the same exact way at all times, isn't it? Like? What reason do you have to believe that it's different now? So, and, yeah, I've heard 0:14:12 - 0:14:33 the scriptures you'll probably quote to that and we can talk about it if you want to bring them up, feel free. There's, there are great cases against them. So the L DS church is in a state where those who actually actually live, what Joseph Smith believed and taught will be excommunicated. I'm not talking 0:14:32 - 0:14:52 about fringy stuff on which people don't agree. I'm saying like the hardcore obvious. This is 101 what he was all about. Um If you want a case for that, you can read teaching for doctrines, the Commandments of men. It's a free book. You can get the PDF for free. Um You can also buy it for print costs 0:14:51 - 0:15:14 on Amazon. There's a short list in there of doctrines um taught by, believed by and enforced by the L DS church to contradict what Joseph Smith taught and believed and what the scriptures say about it. Um So I know that people would, would reply to that assertion that the L DS church and state where 0:15:14 - 0:15:35 people who actually believe this stuff would get Xed. People reply to that by saying yeah, but there are plenty of L DS members in good standing um who are zealous for God and believe these things. No, no, there aren't see what you're overlooking is the fact that every single one of those people believes 0:15:34 - 0:00:00 things personally and says things in private that they will not talk about in public. They won't bring them up at church. If they have books or youtube videos or they speak at conferences, they're not gonna mention these things. Why? Because they know that if they do, they'd be called to the carpet. 0:00:00 - 0:16:25 They know and they excuse this dishonesty and hypocrisy by persuading themselves that those things aren't that important and that the good that they're doing in helping people in the church to stay in the church is worth that it's worth staying quiet on that other stuff. Besides those are advanced things 0:16:25 - 0:16:52 or whatever, those are all excuses and it absolutely affects your standing with God. So you're, if you're in this boat and you're wondering why you don't have God's miracles in your life. You don't have heavenly beings visiting you. You haven't been to heaven. You um don't get these revelations where 0:16:52 - 0:17:16 God teaches you things that have never been revealed since the foundation of the world or anything else that Joseph Smith openly claimed to be experiencing and you don't have any of those things. It's because you're living a different gospel. That's the only reason God doesn't change. He operates this 0:17:15 - 0:17:39 based on the same law with all people. If you're not having the outcomes, it's only because you're not living the law. If you're not living the doctrines that someone else was living, you're not gonna experience what they experienced in terms of your relationship with God. It's that simple and you don't 0:17:38 - 0:18:05 have to look far for the reason why if you're L Ds and you're wondering when and how God is going to attempt to right the ship from within. You've already missed the boat. I hope you like that. That, that's pretty clever. This is a very serious topic. Ok? It, but one when you've invested everything that 0:18:05 - 0:18:30 I have into it, you have to laugh so you don't cry because these people who are still in this, you start to wonder what the heck is ever gonna cause them to wake up because it should be so obvious already, everything of value within the L DS church today is available outside of the L DS church. It's 0:18:29 - 0:18:52 a big claim. I'm telling you. It's true. If you want to talk through particulars, reach out my email is upward thought at gmail.com. Everything of value within the L DS church today is available outside of the L DS church and what comes with the L Ds church will absolutely prevent you from obtaining 0:18:51 - 0:19:27 those blessings fully within the L DS church. You cannot have what Joseph Smith had or what the apostles had or what Jesus offers in that church or any named church of which I am aware it doesn't exist. There, there are beliefs that absolutely prevent you from becoming the person. You need to be doing 0:19:27 - 0:19:58 what you need to do and not doing what you need to not do to get there. How can I say that so confidently? Because I have those things and I've been where you are. Paul said, I'm a Pharisee's pharisee. I was trained under the best of the rabbis. I was a Mormons. Mormon. You cannot find an L DS person 0:19:58 - 0:00:00 who, who was more faithful to the L DS faith than I was. I joined the church. At 18, I gave away everything I had to make it happen. My family turned away from me, my friends turned away from me and then I gave up every nickel I had and left everything that was important to me to go serve a mission. 0:00:00 - 0:20:46 And when I came back, I lost a bunch of more stuff. And it's just a, a cascading example of picking up and sacrificing everything again and again and again, I was married in the DC temple. I went to the temple more times than anybody I've ever met during the span of 12 or so years that I was in all that 0:20:46 - 0:21:09 I did more temple work, more family history. I was, I was doing missionary work like nobody's business. I did uh more temple work for my my ancestors, all that stuff. Any ask anybody who I went to church with in the, in the multiple wards I was in during those years. And they will tell you I was the 0:21:09 - 0:21:48 perfect example of what an L DS person should be. What changed the Lord came to me and he honored my sincerity and my sacrifice even though I was way off in left field with my azimuth. And he said this is not what I want. And it broke my heart worse than anything ever could have to that point. Because 0:21:48 - 0:22:17 all those years, I thought that what I was doing was pleasing him. And then the sacrifices kept rolling because I'd already lost everything from my pre L Ds world and all the people I thought were my friends turned against me, even my closest ones. And uh they accused me of um you know, being all sorts 0:22:17 - 0:22:43 of wicked, whatever. You're just doing this because this, that and the other, no one believed me. And uh you know, that just kept happening. So I know what I'm talking about. I've been where you are. And since being saved from that by Jesus himself, he has shown me the way to everything he promises in 0:22:43 - 0:23:10 the scriptures and he's led me there. So if you can stand before me and say that you've repented of all of your sins that you've found sufficient reason to always do everything that you imagine, sincerely believe that God would do in your place all the time and you never do what you don't think he would 0:23:10 - 0:23:35 do in your place all the time. And that you could stand in the very pits of hell and not doubt his love for you that there's nothing that anyone could do to you or take away from you in this life that would shake your faith in Jesus and his love for you and for everyone else, if you've seen him raise 0:23:34 - 0:24:03 the dead, heal the sick, work through unimaginable spans of time to offer what the world would dismiss as the littlest signs of his love. If you've seen his face, if you've heard his voice, if you've seen the holes in his hands, if you've seen him on the cross, if you've seen the whip landing on his 0:24:03 - 0:24:29 back when he was scourged and so many more things, if you've been to heaven, if you've seen him on his throne in his court with the concourses of angels singing around him and hearing that and there's nothing on this world, on this earth. That's like that. If you can say any of these things, please tell 0:24:29 - 0:25:04 me that you have something that I don't have because you'd have to be able to say all of that and much more before you have anything that I don't have. And every one of these things I received and found and obtained outside of the L DS church. And I would trade my supposed promises in the temple and 0:25:04 - 0:25:29 my supposed promises of baptism and ordination to the priesthood in the community in the L DS church. I'd trade all of those things in a, less than a quarter of a second, a million times over for the smallest fraction of those things that I've told you. And if you don't have them, it's because you're 0:25:29 - 0:26:03 living a lesser law. So turn and seek Jesus seek what he actually has to offer who he actually is, how he actually works. Stop seeking truth from people with organizational credentials. Start looking for people who are more like Jesus than you are, who, who know more about how he is because they've interacted 0:26:02 - 0:26:31 with him more than you have. Look for. Not just the flashy claims of this or that. Look for those with the obedience that approaches the obedience. Jesus has, look for those with the wisdom that Jesus has, the faith that Jesus has the strength that Jesus has the courage that Jesus has the tenacity that 0:26:31 - 0:27:02 Jesus has. The love that Jesus has. That one is really the only one that matters, but we're so blind and so far from it in our hearts that everything else is mercifully given like lights on a runway to lead us in, find out what they have that you do not have how they got it and you'll learn how you can 0:27:02 - 0:27:03 get it too.