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Dear Friends of Living Hope,
Happy New Year from Living Hope Ministries! Our prayer is that this coming new year, with all its joys and trials, will be one where you know the love and faithfulness of God more and more. It is also our prayer that many more Mormons will have an encounter with the real Jesus Christ, and embrace Him in Spirit and Truth, as together we co-labor with Him in this task!
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NEW YEAR, NEW CHALLENGES
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With three videos now in our repertoire, people are beginning to detect a rhythm. "What's the next project?" we get asked a lot. "And when is it going to be released?" We would love nothing better to answer those questions, but even for us there are more questions than answers. What does God want to accomplish? What are His objectives? This next video is still shrouded in mystery. But we are learning to be okay with that. After all, we are less like players on the field and more like spectators in the stands. God is really the one making the moves; yet He enjoys handing the ball to the likes of us--His eager (but often inept and clueless) servants, and somehow, by some miracle, things happen.
For now, we are working on the bits that He has placed before us--the importance of Joseph Smith, the reliability of the Bible, and the need for a clear distinction between Mormonism and Christianity. But we eagerly solicit your prayers for us and for this project as we move forward.
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REVISITING AN OLD FRIEND
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We are approaching the 20,000 mark for distribution of the video The Bible vs. The Book of Mormon. For some LDS members, this is their very first exposure to the idea that the Book of Mormon has serious historical problems, and that the Bible doesn't suffer from those same problems. This is all contrary to what most have been told in their wards and meeting houses. They hear things like "Archaeology proves the Book of Mormon true" and "The Bible has been retranslated so many times, no one knows how reliable it is."
Yet there is a growing number of Mormons who have come to the conclusion that the Book of Mormon is not true. They usually keep their doubts a secret at first. The question for them is no longer "Is the Mormon Church true?" but rather, "What am I supposed to do now?"
We recently received a note from a young man who has come to this point. He did not need to be convinced of Mormonism's falsehood; he recognized that already. He needed to know what hope there was on the other side of the deception! He stands to lose his family, his friends, and his reputation in a small and predominantly LDS community. And yet he knows he can't go on living a lie. Sadly, many Mormons do decide to give up and just live with the lie, because they fear what it will cost to face the truth. Because they have no hope that there could be anything beyond that.
It was for people like this that we originally made our second video, Called to be Free, which recounts the transformation of a former cult--the Worldwide Church of God--into an biblically-based Christian church. The story is told through the provocative and moving testimonies of the people who experienced this upheaval in their own lives.
While the video has been well received, it is not as well-known as its "siblings." It sometimes gets lost in the shuffle amid the more overtly Mormonism-focused videos we've done. People look at the enigmatic title and wonder, "What does this have to do with Mormonism?" While it's true that Called to be Free doesn't ever mention Mormonism by name, we made it with Mormons in mind. And so we were a little surprised when it didn't take off the way DNA vs. The Book of Mormon did a year earlier. If ever there was a story that we wanted Mormons to hear, this was it! It is saturated with the Gospel, presented in such a way as to clearly differentiate it from the false gospel of Mormonism. So when people ask "What does this have to do with Mormonism?" we simply say, "You need to watch it for yourself." That usually answers the question!
Former Mormons who have watched it generally agree. "That was exactly my experience!" "I can identify with everything those people went through!" "I felt like you were telling my story!" These are common responses we get from them. To them, the relevance of Called to be Free as a witnessing tool for Mormons is clear. So when we read the desperation in the e-mails we get from scared and disillusioned Mormons, we are very thankful that we have a story to share...for the story of the Worldwide Church of God is first and foremost a story of redemption and hope that speaks to the deepest need of Mormons--and anyone else, for that matter. ( Click here for more information on this video.)
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WEB PAGE UPDATES
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We are becoming more aware of how important the Internet is to ministry to Mormons. Some folks who study this sort of thing have suggested that the Internet is one of the most damaging things that ever happened to the LDS Church. And it makes sense. Especially here in the "Mormon Belt" where nearly all information resources--public school systems, universities, mass media, etc.--are influenced (if not controlled) by the LDS Church. So the flow of information, particularly anything challenging to LDS beliefs, has been restricted. And even where it is not restricted, fear of reprisal keeps many LDS members from being caught with "objectionable" material. The internet has changed all this. It means that those who have been secretly struggling with questions and doubts, now have a means to quietly, even secretly, do their investigations using the wealth of material that's out there.
So with all this in mind, we have dedicated a significant amount of energy into our website, including developing materials of of our own, and pointing to other important resources. Here are a couple of "new" developments for the website.
1. The "Quick Reference Guide". We generally try not to re-invent the wheel, but in our searches, we couldn't find a "one-stop" resource for all those doctrinal references and so forth, so we've started building one. The reference guide contains, among other things, key scripture references (both biblical and LDS) that highlight the distinctives of Mormonism, the areas of contradiction, the biblical scriptures supporting the Christian doctrines challenged by Mormonism, and a list of terminology used by both Mormons and Christians, yet with different meanings. These include links to the online scriptures themselves! It's a work in progress, so if you have any suggestions or additions, let us know. You can access this list at: www.mormonchallenge.com/scripref.htm.
2. The order page has also undergone significant revision to streamline it; we've gotten rid of that long cumbersome list of materials and broken it down into manageable pages, and we've provided a few new options as well. Check it out at www.lhvm.org/order.htm.
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WEB PAGE REVAMPING
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Now with the major thrust of the production of "Bible vs." behind us, we are turning our attention to doing some tuning and updating of the web pages. As you may know, we have two primary websites, www.lhvm.org, and www.mormonchallenge.com. They are quite well interconnected, so it's more like entering the same building through one of two doors. We've been putting in new information, tools, articles, links, etc., and will continue to do so as time and inspiration allow! So if it's been a while since you last paid us a visit online, we encourage you to do so!
If you are interested in recent or past issues of The Fieldworker you can also pay a visit to www.thefieldworker.com. It's a bit more lonely than the other websites, and might appreciate the company! In any event, we welcome your feedback, comments, and suggestions about our web sites.
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GETTING THE WORD OUT--IN TWO NEW LANGUAGES
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One project we are working on for the immediate future is to get The Bible vs. The Book of Mormon audio-dubbed into Spanish and Portuguese, which requires contracting an outside firm to do the job for approximately $5,000. This will then allow for a tri-lingual (English, Spanish & Portuguese) version of the DVD. This upgrade will make the video available (language-wise) to nearly the entire of the population of the Americas, as well as a number of other countries around the world, including several Portuguese-speaking nations in Africa, a continent which is also being heavily targeted by Mormon missionary efforts. As you can see, the expense for doing this is not insignificant. But if these videos can become more accessible to a broader audience, then we believe it is worth it! If you agree with us, we would invite you to consider making an additional donation with your next video order (you can tack it on with your order quite easily on our online order page). Or perhaps you would like to make a special contribution apart from a video order. Either way, you can donate to this project online by clicking here. We also need people who are led to contribute to our general production efforts, so we can continue producing tools to equip Christians and reach Mormons.
And as always, always, always...we sincerely desire your prayer support. Financial needs there are, but even more pressing are the spiritual needs of production. And in the same way that we can't do this on our own financially, we can't do it on our own spiritually, either. As Hudson Taylor once said, "God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply." Please pray that we truly do His work...and in His way. We are constantly in need of His steering and guidance, and protection from anything--both from the outside and from our own hearts--that put obtacles in the way of accomplishing His good and perfect will.
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IN CLOSING... |
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The year 2005 was a very busy one! About 75,000 videos were sent out in 2005. This includes about 16,000 copies of The Bible vs. The Book of Mormon which were sent out only in the last two and a half months of the year (so that gives you an idea of what fall and winter have been like around here!). This also includes a large number of the DNA video that were distributed en masse in the city of Twin Falls, Idaho last spring. We are very excited to see these tools in action and are blessed to hear back from those who are using them! Thank you to all of you who have ordered videos, helped us get the word out, who have supported us financially and with your prayers and encouragement. We are very blessed to count you as partners in ministry! Blessings to you in Jesus Christ!
--The Staff at Living Hope Ministries
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