Through college, I had read the Bible- but never made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ - so you could say that I knew enough about God to be dangerous. I wanted to study the Bible more after I graduated from college.

I was going through a particularly hard time after a 6-year relationship with a girlfriend ended. My friend Bob had been telling me that he had found the perfect church- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons). It was clear that I was living life "too fast" and needed to calm down. Perhaps I needed to learn more about God. When I visited his church, the class was reading the Bible, but I didn't realize that they were going through the 17 points of the true church - and proof-texting what the LDS church believes.

My uncle, Moorad, a Christian, was against my involvement as soon as he heard about it. He was teaching physics at a university in Mexico at the time, and did not have the opportunity to visit Rhode Island often. (I remember one visit that he made during that fifteen months). What he did primarily was to write letters, sending photocopies, and have people pray for me. Missionary friends of his would tell him to give up on me because they saw the situation as hopeless.

In August of 1981, my friend Bob baptized me into the LDS church. I went to my meetings, sometimes paid tithes, and kept the word of wisdom, which are the LDS dietary restrictions (mostly abstaining from tea and coffee). Although I never went through the LDS temple ceremony, I did have the opportunity to visit Salt Lake City and attend the LDS Church General Conference.

I remember the lines of people protesting the LDS church while I was out there. There were two groups of protesters - the people that were sympathetic to women's liberation, and the Christians. There was one woman sitting on the ground with a placard with things written on it and she was talking to two men from the LDS church. I distinctively remember her telling the men that in the LDS temple ceremony that participants took blood oaths. Jesus warned against taking oaths (Matt. 5:36).

When you are talking about God, you never know what effect your words will have. Little did this woman realize that I was "tuned in" to her conversation and that I was going to go back to Connecticut to talk about it with others! I asked my LDS bishop in Connecticut if the people going through the LDS temple ceremony took blood oaths. He denied it. I also asked Bob and he told me that the oaths were taken in the LDS temple ceremony.

Meanwhile, my uncle kept sending me letters explaining the differences between the word of God.

Mike, a friend of mine, read a statement by Brigham Young, the second Prophet, Seer and Revelator of the LDS church. He got the quote from a Jack Chick comic book, and wanted to know if I could check out the quotation for him. It was Brigham Young's Adam-God quotation:

"Now hear it, O inhabitants of the earth, Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner! When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this world. He is MICHAEL, the Archangel, the ANCIENT OF DAYS! about whom holy men have written and spoken- HE is our FATHER and our GOD and the only God with whom WE have to do. Every man upon the earth, professing Christians or non-professing must hear it, and will know it sooner or later." Brigham Young, 1852, Journal of Discourses Volume 1, Page 50

When I heard it, I couldn't believe it. I checked it out. The LDS people that I spoke with (my LDS bishop, the Elder's Quorum President and some other LDS friends) had all heard about it and dismissed it as personal opinion. Then I started to probe them further. I asked them if they had ever looked up the statement and researched it. None of them had. If Adam was your Father and your God and the only God with whom you had to do, and a prophet of the church said it, would you want to check into something like that?

Other things started to come up as well:

1. If I was married in the LDS temple ceremony, my non-LDS parents couldn't attend the ceremony - so much for family togetherness.¹

2. Eternal progression. That God was once a man and that man may become a God. Lorenzo Snow, wrote in a poem: "As man is God once was, as God is, man may become." I didn't believe that when I heard it. If my God had a God, then He couldn't be the "Most High God." Further, which came first: man or God? If God came first, how could he have progressed to be a God because He had to be a man first? If man came first, how was man created? Did man create man?

3. The gospel of the LDS church and the gospel of the Bible are different. This led me to conclude that the LDS gospel is not a restored gospel but a replaced gospel.

4. That the LDS church teaches that there are certain sins that the blood of Jesus Christ cannot cleanse - a direct contradiction of 1John 1:9! I first read this in a booklet by Dr. Walter Martin that my uncle had sent me. I put the booklet away for months and then one day I read the statement and then checked it out in the books that I had.

I finally realized that my efforts in Mormonism were in vain. Further, I still had sin and still needed forgiveness. I told God that I knew that I was a sinner and told God that I believed that Christ rose from the dead. After that, it became increasingly clear that the other teachings of the LDS church were not of God.

The next day, I wrote a letter to the Mormon bishop and told him that there was no way that I could continue in his organization and still have a clear conscience that I was serving Jesus Christ. . . Further, I requested that the Mormon church remove my name from their church rolls.

Concerning Christian ministry, I was living with two other people in the LDS church. I took every opportunity that I had to witness to them about the salvation that could be theirs only through Christ. The result of these efforts was that six people that I knew of had left the LDS church, including Bob, who had previously baptized me into the LDS church.

In July of 1986, I began my formal study for the ministry. As a Field Minister with Mission to the Americas, I planted Good News Baptist Church. I was ordained in 1994.

I thank God that some people didn't give up on me, even when things looked hopeless.

If you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I would like to tell you that doctrinal truth is not determined by prayer. You have submitted yourself to a non-Biblical test for the determining truth. It is not surprising that you have received an answer that is contrary to the Word of God. The experience or "witness" that you think you felt as an answer from God when you prayed to see if the Book of Mormon was true was either psychosomatic or demonic. It could not be of God because the Book of Mormon is contrary to the Word of God (compare 2 Nephi 25:23 with Ephesians 2:8-9) and God does not contradict Himself. We need to evaluate what is said by God; as He has already told us in the Bible (Acts 17:11).

If you are a Christian, I would urge you to know why you believe what you believe. Learn how to present the gospel message to people so that you can lead them to the Savior. Also you do have to know what other religions believe so that you will understand the different definitions that are behind the words that are being used in your conversation with a member in that sect. If you think that you don't need to know about these things, you could be caught off guard when a friend or relative tells you that they are investigating a religious sect. It will take time for you to learn about this religious sect enough to defend the faith with this person. During that time, this person may be getting deeper into the theology of this sect and it may take longer to convince this person of the errors of the sect's theology. It's like learning first aid - while you are taking the classes, you never know when you will need to use it.

If you are reading this and you're not sure that you will be in heaven if you should die tonight, then I would invite you to look at the gospel message.

-Reverend Gregory Mahdesian

^{1. Website owner's note: Non-Mormons, even the mothers or fathers of the bride and groom, will not be allowed to attend the wedding. Think carefully. If your child joins the LDS (Mormon) Church, you will not be allowed to attend. Only "temple worthy" Mormons are allowed. (back to text)}