My Testimony

 

I would like to share with you my own experience of how I came to the Lord. I feel that it is unfortunate that our culture often views demons, Hell, and other such things like some sort of fairy tale.

 

I was born and raised in an active Mormon family. I had kind and loving parents, for which I am thankful. I grew up believing a different gospel than that which is found in the Bible; I was taught and believed Mormon doctrine. When I became a teenager, I was very rebellious. Although I believed in God, I was much more interested in partying and getting in trouble. I did a lot of things back then that I am ashamed of today. One night some friends and I were watching a demonic movie. I remember my friends commenting on the movie. They were saying that if the things that were taking place in the movie were happening to them, they would leave that house. I did not see how that was an answer. I pointed out that the demons certainly were not confined to that house.

 

Later that night while I was working graveyard shift, I was reflecting on this. I started wondering how much Satan enjoyed my lifestyle. I wondered if he had any part in my life that led to mental anguish and anger. I know this sounds crazy but the thought of this made me mad! I began to want to retaliate against him. I was alone in the shop and so I began to yell at him. I said that for every person I robbed I would tell somebody about Jesus. Not that I cared about Jesus. I just figured that would make Satan mad.

 

Right after this I was overwhelmed by the feeling that something evil was there in the shop with me. The feeling was so strong that it scared me. I began to pray, and the feeling went away. For the next three months or so, this same awful feeling would come upon me, even if I was not thinking about such things. Each time it scared me so much that I would begin to pray. Every time I prayed the feeling would go away; but it always seemed to come back. Things began to get worse. Sometimes while I was driving it would feel like something would grab the steering wheel of my car. I would be pulling hard, trying to turn, then suddenly the steering would break free, as if something let go of the wheel, and I would almost wreck. I was becoming afraid to go anywhere or do anything.

 

One night when I went home, I was inserting my key into the lock when I saw something on the other side of the glass staring back at me. I jumped back and while I was looking at what I believe was a demon, it disappeared. If I was high on drugs perhaps, I could have brushed it off, but I wasn't. For me, this was all I could take! I got down on my knees there in my front yard and told God that if He would just make this go away, I would give my life to Him. I had prayed similar things when I thought I was going to prison, but this was different. This time I really meant it.  That night these things stopped happening to me. I have a friend who had become a Christian several months before this, so I began to go to church with him.

 

Later I took a vacation and went to see my parents. I wanted to tell them about what had happened and the changes that had taken place in my life. I figured they would be happy, considering all the hardship I had put them through in my teenage years at home. To my surprise my dad was not pleased at all. He said I might as well not go to church at all because I was going to the wrong one. He insisted that I needed to return to the Mormon Church. This caused a lot of confusion for me. I had friends who insisted that the Mormon Church was a cult, and that it did not teach Biblical truth. But my family was telling me that the Mormon Church was the only true church.

 

I began to question who or what I should believe. Why should I even believe the Bible? A good friend of mine directed me to the Christian bookstore. I began to study Mormonism as well as historic Christianity. After a lot of research, study, and prayer I found a lot of factual reasons to accept the Bible as the Word of God. I also discovered just as many reasons not to accept the Book of Mormon as the Word of God. I found that Mormon doctrine is contrary to the teachings of the Bible. I also found that it could be proven that Joseph Smith was a false prophet.

 

I accepted the Lord around 1985 and have been studying on and off since then. I am glad to say that although most of my relatives are still Mormon, my dad, who was a High Priest in the Mormon Church and served on three stake missions, has left Mormonism. My Dad  accepted Jesus and the doctrine of historic Christianity. This was a while back, my dad is with the Lord now.

 

Several years after I accepted the Lord, Mormon missionaries started coming to my house. After some discussion, one of them asked me if I wanted my name removed from the L.D.S church records. I answered, only if somebody understood why. I gave them a book that I had written and shared with my dad comparing Mormonism to Christianity.  I stated in a letter written on the inside of the cover of the book that I would be willing to listen to anybody who could show me in the Bible where I was wrong. I further stated that I would gladly accept any correction from the Bible since I believed that it is the final authority. About a month later I received a letter in the mail stating that they were removing my name as a member of the L.D.S church. I find it interesting that nobody within the L.D.S church ever even attempted to show me where I was wrong, scripturally, in what I had written. I am not surprised however, because I know that the L.D.S church is, in fact, one that has greatly abused the Word of God (the Bible).

 

I am aware of the numerous strong testimonies from L.D.S. members about supernatural experiences, particularly those involving deceased individuals expressing gratitude for being baptized on their behalf.  To this I must say, we should interpret our experiences through the Bible. We should not interpret the Bible through our experiences. The Bible warns us not to even listen to an angel if they tell us something which is contrary to the Bible. A spirit could seem good and do wonderful things for you, but if it contradicts the Bible then you know it is not from God. Some would question why a demon might do good things for anyone. Remember that if in doing so, the demon leads you away from Jesus and the truth of the Gospel, then it has accomplished its purpose.

 

Robert E. Kiser