True Believers in Christ - 2

With permission I post this letter from our friends . . .

November 2, 2015 

Dear Family and Friends, 

Let us start by expressing our love to all of you and that we are grateful for the friendships and love we have felt and for the influence for good all of you have had on our lives. 

We are writing this letter to personally reach out to those we love to give an opportunity to feel from us in our words where we are today. 

First and foremost we have a testimony of the Restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith, that he saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ and spoke with them face to face. We know he was called of God as a prophet, seer and revelator at the head of this dispensation. We know he brought forth the Book of Mormon which contains the word of God and the fullness of the gospel. We are grateful for the truths contained in the revelations he received from God, among which are the “Lectures on Faith” (the doctrine) and the covenants which are contained in sections of the D&C which we have today. We also believe the inspired words given in the 13 Articles of Faith. 

It has been a blessing to have an account of the restoration printed, known as The Joseph Smith Papers, for us to study, so we can come to a better understanding of the truths restored though Joseph Smith. It is then up to each of us to take that foundation and build upon it individually and move us closer personally to Christ as we then continue to exercise our faith in what we have been given. It is a process. 

We are striving to live the gospel and love the foundation the church has given us and our family to progress and move forward on the path that will bring us into the presence of our Savior. We have given our lives to service in the church. We know and can feel of his love for us for the sacrifices we have made. Our testimony of the gospel and the scriptures remains strong. 

We have been taught that through the words given by several prophets we have specific warning for our time of the last days. They are Isaiah, Jerimiah, Ezekiel and Daniel to name a few. If they are warnings for us, then we need to read them as warnings for us, the church. In the BoM, the “Gentiles” spoken of are US! We are the ones reading the scriptures restored for our day, they are words for us. We started to read them with this in mind and have come to a new understanding, which has caused us to repent and desire to more closely study and ponder the scriptures that we may understand the warnings written for us and repent of our unbelief to have any hope of avoiding the pitfalls they spoke of. The Book of Mormon and D&C gives us, the church, clear warning of the last days and the state of unbelief and false traditions the church is in. This puts us in a position to be chastened by the Lord and put us under condemnation. 

D&C 84:54-57 “And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received— Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation. And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all. And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written.” 

We desire clear and pure testimony as the scriptures lay out from the leaders that we may have hope of the same and gain the blessings the gospel offers. We have a continued foundational belief that the heavens are open to all as Joseph taught, and to have hope of the same through hearing the leaders current, clear and strong testimony as the prophet Joseph gave us, that they, God the Father and Christ are real and we can speak with them face to face as Joseph and they in the scriptures have done. 

Joseph had this to say on the matter- 
"If any person should ask me if I were a prophet, I should not deny it, as that would give me the lie; for, according to John, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy; therefore, if I profess to be a witness or teacher, and have not the spirit of prophecy, which is the testimony of Jesus, I must be a false witness; but if I be a true teacher and a witness, I must possess the spirit of prophecy, and that constitutes a prophet; and any man who says he is a teacher or a preacher of righteousness, and denies the spirit of prophecy, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; and by this key false teachers and impostors may be detected." TPJS pg 269 

We are trying to change our paradigms and traditions we held as truths and "philosophies of men mingled with scripture", to question all we held previously and to ask, to change our unbelief, to "help thou my unbelief", and better align ourselves with what we feel God wants us to do through the whisperings of the Spirit and not to question Him. Jesus Christ is the only sure foundation we have. He is the only one that will not let us down. 

Our path has taken us to the point where we were given a choice to follow our beliefs and understanding of the gospel truths Joseph Smith restored or face a disciplinary counsel and be excommunicated. We chose to follow the inspiration and answers from the spirit we have been given. We are willing to stand alone and ask questions as we study, seek and then take our questions to the Lord. He has given liberally to us as we ask and are patient. 

“We have heard men who hold the priesthood remark that they would do anything they were told to do by those who preside over them (even) if they knew it was wrong; but such obedience as this is worse than folly to us; it is slavery in the extreme; and the man who would thus willingly degrade himself, should not claim a rank among intelligent beings, until he turns from his folly. A man of God would despise the idea. Others, in the extreme exercise of their almighty authority have taught that such obedience was necessary, and that no matter what the saints were told to do by their presidents, they should do it without any questions. When the Elders of Israel will so far indulge in these extreme notions of obedience as to teach them to the people, it is generally because they have it in their hearts to do wrong themselves.” – Joseph Smith, Millennial Star, Vol. 14, Num. 38, pp.593-595 

It is unfortunate that our testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the BofM and the Restoration are not sufficient. We are not allowed to remain in the church and continue to search for understanding and light that will lead us to Christ without also sustaining Pres. Monson and all apostles as a “Prophet, Seers and Revelators” by only us sustaining to them to such, and assuming they are like unto Joseph and have seen Christ and God the Father. We have been excommunicated for apostasy. We are content and will continue on this path to receive the blessings, Mercy and Grace from Christ through our own individual worship and search of Jesus Christ in the way we feel best, “according to the dictates of our own conscience”. 

We know this will come as a shock to you and we regret any sadness or hard feelings this may cause. Please forgive us if this offends you. It is not our purpose to "teach" or convert you to this path. We are not out to recruit, rather to just openly discuss and explain our feelings so no misunderstandings exist between us, that we may in turn still converse freely, openly, and honestly and remain friends and family. 

“As a means of coming to truth, people in the Church are encouraged by their leaders to think and find out for themselves. They are encouraged to ponder, to search, to evaluate, and thereby to come to such knowledge of the truth as their own consciences, assisted by the Spirit of God, lead them to discover. Brigham Young said: ‘I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security. … Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not’ (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe [1941], 135). In this manner no one need be deceived.” – James E. Faust, “The Truth Shall Make You Free,” Ensign, September 1998 

We were meant and designed as spiritual beings to rise up, it's about realigning, rising up and becoming what we previously charted, promised and swore to return to and with integrity and purpose "become" who we are meant to be. The path will be different for each of us. It may not be comfortable. 

Each of us, in the way we are directed need to follow what we are given. The Lord needs us to be courageous and valiant even though it may be uncomfortable. Be Strong, Be courageous, and realign our will to His constantly, regardless of what that looks like. We desire to be firm and steadfast in our testimony of Christ and the gospel Joseph Smith restored. In the beginning of the church, it has been taught that the scriptures are our measuring stick for truth. God has allowed things to be magnified; made larger, to see better. Not changed, but magnified, just our sight to be clearer. We know what we need to change and what to repent of and are understanding more. The Lord will align us in the right way, and make adjustments when needed if our hearts stay pure and true. We are standing on the foundation of the scriptures, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Mosiah 5:5 “And we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things that he shall command us, all the remainder of our days, that we may not bring upon ourselves a never-ending torment, as has been spoken by the angel, that we may not drink out of the cup of the wrath of God.” 

Can we be deceived? Absolutely! We are willing to take that chance. We are following what we have been given and allow you to do the same. It may not look like what we thought it would, or be the same path as most of you. It is our journey and walk with God uniquely tailored for us. We pray for each of us to seek and find Christ in the path He designs for each of us. It is the most important path we can walk in. 

With Love, 

Garth and Melonie Turley 

PS. This is NOT about Polygamy! We know there have been so many people leave the church only to fall into a group living polygamy. We believe we do not have a correct historical understanding of what Joseph Smith was trying to teach. We are NOT going in that direction, just to clear that up if there was any question!

True Believers in Christ - 1

From my earliest memories I have always desired to be a servant for God on this earth and to be obedient to His voice and His commands and that living a life of obedience, sacrifice and service would garner me a place in the Celestial Kingdom. When I sinned I was devastated, I did not want to be one who had added to Christ's suffering. I met and married an amazing man from the midwest who loved Christ with all his heart, more than he loved me! We married in the Salt Lake Temple. We strove to be faithful to every word that proceeded forth from the Brethren as well as those we heard from God himself, but I am sure we fell short more often than not. We faithfully attended church, served in many leadership positions and tried to bring the best tasting food to ward potlucks. We raised our children to be faithful to Christ and in our naivete we thought this was manifested by being faithful to the LDS Church as an institution. We spoke often about the gospel with anyone and everyone who would listen, especially our children, we wanted them to grow up with the gospel of Christ as a living, vibrant thing. 

I was especially cautious of being deceived and doing anything against the handbook of instruction as I believed that the men occupying the chief seats in Salt Lake City were called of God. However, as I studied the gospel and discussed it with others (mainly my spouse and children) there were issues that I could not resolve, discrepancies between the scriptures and the Church as an institution. Assuming that the Brethren were much more spiritual than myself, and assuming that they had all been in the presence of Jesus Christ (on a daily basis) and could speak to him face to face, I put all of my concerns on a "shelf" and pacified myself with the idea that all would be answered in the next life. I saw things that were wrong in the LDS Church but attributed it to the members being in sin and error, basically "Israel gets what Israel wants"; never did I once entertain the idea that the Brethren were in error.

Several years ago I was studying Doctrine and Covenants 93:1 which states, "Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am" This scripture moved me, it gave me a hope that if I truly believed this scripture that I too could come back into the presence of the Savior, in this life! From that moment on I began studying and praying to know what the commandments were that I was not obeying. After all, I reasoned, there must be some commandment that I was not obeying because I had not yet come back into His presence and I wanted to!

About 4 years ago my husband was released from the calling of Bishop. From the first day I had conflict with our new bishop. I had been told something in confidence in regards to how he received the call to be Bishop that was disturbing and very upsetting to me. I felt that he had "stolen" the calling and conflict ensued. I was not kind to him. I am ashamed now at how I reacted to this man, I was not gracious nor forgiving.

Because of this conflict I prayed daily, sometimes throughout the day in regards to this matter of our new Bishop. Each time the answer would come, "the truth will set you free". It took me over a year to figure out that the Lord was trying to teach me that He is the Way the Truth and the Life and that by coming unto Him I would be set free. Once I understood this I began searching the scriptures and praying more earnestly to know Christ. During this same time a group of men in our ward were accused of some "apostate" behavior by a woman in the ward who had recently moved in. My husband was one of those accused. We were devastated. We had never done anything in opposition to the Church's teachings and were worthy of our temple recommends.

We began to be interrogated every couple of months by our bishop. Rumors began going around the ward, however, we were still completely innocent of the charges brought against us. We prayed often about moving but felt it wasn't the right time. We went to church every Sunday despite the abuse and being shunned by those we had served with, loved and called our friends for years. Eventually our bishop began to call in our teen aged children and interrogated them, wanting to know who we talked to, what we taught our children, etc. A counselor in the bishopric who felt that we were being honest about our beliefs and treated poorly by the bishop confided in us that the bishop had other ward members spying on our home and spying on us at church to see what we were reading, who we were talking to and who was coming to our home. Whenever a ward member was brave enough to come visit they were called in to meet with the bishop the following Sunday and interrogated as to everything we talked about. We were released from our callings. Eventually we'd had enough and went to our Stake President for help. There we learned that our Stake President believed the bishop and had gone to one of the Area Seventy for advice on how to deal with us; the Elder's response , "Bring in their wives, they'll rat out their husbands!" After crying in his office for 2 hours he never checked up on us again and continues to support the bishop in regards to dealing with us.

Throughout this entire ordeal we had prayed mightily to the Savior for deliverance and had some very sweet experiences with Him. Little did we know that He was going to truly deliver us in a way that we could not fathom nor comprehend. I began to ask the question, "what is so wrong with doing the things that we have been accused?", maybe a loss of temple recommend, but surely it's nothing so terrible that it requires excommunication. I began studying the scriptures in regards to the things we had been accused of doing some of which included questioning the Brethren and making and using wine for the sacrament. I chose to believe that the scriptures actually mean what they say. I no longer read them as a Mormon apologist, but as someone who wanted to learn truth from God. 

I began having my eyes opened to commandments in the scriptures which I was not obeying because the Church taught opposite of the scriptures, mainly partaking of the sacrament with wine (3 Nephi chapters 18 and 20) and baptism for the remission of sins in accordance with the Doctrine of Christ (all throughout the Book of Mormon but especially 3 Nephi 11). If I truly believed in the promise contained in D&C 93:1 then I needed to obey all of God's commandments. Now I was in a quandary, if I wanted to see Christ and in order to see Him I needed to obey all of His commandments then I needed to partake of the sacrament with wine and be baptized according to the Doctrine of Christ by one having authority and using the correct words (given in 3 Nephi 11: 25), however, these things are strictly prohibited by the LDS Church and doing such can result in a loss of a temple recommend and your very membership in the Church.

I also decided to believe that the Brethren actually mean what they say and not one of them has stated clearly that they have been in the presence of the Savior. I began to realize that I was an idolater, I had been doing the exact thing that Nephi warned us not to do in 2 Nephi 4:34 "O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm." I decided to no longer trust in the arm of flesh, but to trust in the Lord.

I want to see Christ. I want to know Him. I want to enter back into His rest. I want to be redeemed from the Fall and come back into the presence of the Father. I want to serve Him and to live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. I want to be welcomed into Zion. I want to be His sheep, for His sheep hear His voice (John 10). I want to preserve what is left of the Restoration. Once I chose to follow Christ there was no more vacillating, I began to partake of the sacrament with wine and I was baptized according to the Doctrine of Christ. 

My husband joined me and we began to teach our children the gospel according to the scriptures and not as Mormon apologists. One of our daughters lost a fiancee over our new beliefs and we've lost our temple recommends and are in danger of being excommunicated. One of our son-in-laws has been threatened with excommunication. One of our children is getting married soon in the temple and she will have only one sibling with her. I have cried often over this, but through the loss of my temple recommend the Lord taught me that I had been an idolater of the temple. I am striving to not allow anyone or anything between me and the Lord. I have a hope and a belief in Him and am praying that my faith will increase enough that He can no longer be withheld from my presence (see story of Brother of Jared in Ether 3). 

I believe in Joseph Smith, jr. I believe that lies have been told about him to further the desires of evil and conspiring men; I have spent considerable time researching the topic of Polygamy and I believe that Joseph Smith, Jr was NOT a polygamist and that polygamy is an abomination (Jacob 2). I believe in the Book of Mormon. I believe that this book is precious and that the promise from Joseph that a man (or woman) can get closer to God by obeying all of it's precepts is true. I have been under condemnation for taking lightly the truths contained in that book, I am striving to overcome the blind and false traditions that have kept me from entering into the Rest of the Lord. The Book of Mormon is a guidebook to help each and everyone of us to practice pure religion, to obey the Doctrine of Christ and to have a very personal relationship with the Savior. The Truth, indeed, will set us all Free, He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, no man cometh unto the Father but by Him!.

My friend wishes to remain anonymous.  I appreciate her willingness to share her experiences publicly on this blog.