Marv Cowan Interview Part 3

Mormonism 101 is research ministries Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson for so many more to understand what separates Mormonism from the Christian faith. Mormonism 101 is what your favorite Christian bookstore online@mrm.org .1 examines the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from a biblical perspective view .1 Mormonism sponsored by Mormonism research ministry since 1979 Mormonism research ministry has been dedicated to equipping the body of Christ with answers regarding the Christian faith in a manner that expresses gentleness and respect.

And now, your host for today's viewpoint on Mormonism are things that is rebel for that musical introduction welcome to this additional viewpoint on Mormonism. I'm your host, Bill McKeever, founder and director Mormonism research ministry and with me today is a good friend of mine Marv Cowan Marv Cowan has been a missionary to the Mormon people well for as long as I can remember Marv hi mean. As I was mentioning that an earlier show you were certainly very instrumental in my early study of Mormonism. I was talking about your book Mormon claims answered. It was revised in 1989 I noticed on Amazon.com. Some of the selling this book for $38.

If we really got up in value.

If you're still printing it. It's self self-publishing okay great and if I remember correctly Utah lighthouse bookstore is at the center cells and I've seen it there.

So now I should remember that it's a book that had a big influence on my life in my early years of study, Mormonism and folks, it's not. It's not a large book.

It's very concise but it gets right to the point it hits all the pertinent information affect you have a blurb on the back by John anchor Bergen says, citing almost exclusively from Mormon or secular sources. Marvin Cowan shows that one of Mormonism's most difficult problems rests in its own contradictory history. Even so, Cowan style remains that of a friend rather than antagonist of the fellow truth seeker rather than combatant it would be a shame for a Mormon not to read this book it would be worse. Shame if the non-Mormon did not follow Cowan's example of compassion and accuracy that statement from Jon I think is that something that I think all of us who are ministering to the Mormon people would hope for that kind of an accolade because certainly our desire is to come across with compassion for the Mormon people. They are not our enemies. I don't know how many times I've said that when I speak across the country and even outside of the country. That's one of the first ways.

Many people often view Mormons when they hear of the radical departure that its theology has from the Christian norm and they tend to look at these young missionaries more as enemies rather than people who have been deceived by a lie and need to have the lie exposed and and we been talking about your conversion as a young man your you're a teenager and you mentioned how your family history goes back to the time of Brigham Young that you were raised in Utah that you spent many years ministering in Utah but you you lived in Idaho for a long time Idaho and Colorado in Colorado and of course both states have high LDS populations, especially Idaho, but let me ask you this more because this is a common event that I find in the lives of a lot of people who come out of Mormonism that your young man in your teens and you've been talking to some Christian friends of years and as you mentioned earlier you were quite honest and I guess you could look back and say as a Mormon, you probably slipped up when you said your goal in the next life was to become a God and that naturally took your friends unaware and blew off guard, wondering where you got that you assumed at first it was in the Bible, which of course what you were thinking was the Lorenzo Snow couplet as man is God once was, as God's man may become, you thought that was in the Bible because you start looking at what the Bible has to say as well as the standard works of Mormonism. The book of Mormon doctrine and covenants Pearl of great price. And, of course, King James starting have questions. How did your family respond. Dad was sort of noncommittal. I think he was thinking through some of the stuff that I was thrown out, but my mom who had been a convert to Mormonism because of dad really thought I was becoming too much of a zealot to push something and I said I'm not pushing anything other than Christ. That's what I was seeing and but she thought I'd become a fanatic and that I needed to calm down a little bit. She said the Mormon people are nice people. I said I've never said or not the courts that are funny how they draw that kind of conclusion because you disagree with and theologically and somehow you're impugning their character and that's not what were doing now disagreeing with the theology that the theology of it concerned me because I began to see. It's going to affect eternity. I really began to see what the Bible is saying about being prepared so forth. You know that now is the accepted time.

Today's the day of salvation and when you put your trust in a church in all kinds of laws, ordinances and commandments and so forth. Instead of in Christ you're off-base. One of the things that open my eyes was reading Romans Romans is not a good book that's supportive Mormonism, that's for sure half and that third chapter were I read that the law by the law is the knowledge that that's what calls us sinners because it points out that were centers in nobody is justified by the law and all of that bug me because that's what I was Going on I was I was trying to keep every law I knew about and still I had that uneasy feeling that I hadn't done enough. I really didn't find peace until after the passages that through Jesus Christ we have peace with God.

That's Romans 51 pulse and we conclude that man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law apart from the deeds of the law. I couldn't understand that what you talking about goals are important. The third article of faith, you know, through the atonement of Christ we can all have salvation by obedience to laws and norms in the gospel know all that kind of stuff. Anyway kept reading through the New Testament when I got to first John five verses nine and following it really spoke to me. Verse nine says that you can believe the witness of men.

The witness of God is greater and then it goes on in verse 11. This is the record of the testimony that God is given to us eternal life is given to us eternal life in this life is in his son.

He that has the son has life. He has not the son of God has not life and these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God, that you made no that you have eternal life, and that you might believe on the name of the son of God, and I pondered all of that for quite a while. Then I realized what it was saying that life is in Christ, not in the church, not in the things that I've done, but in what he has done for me as my Savior.

That's the reason he's call Savior because he say that had never even crossed my mind until I began to ponder some of those things that I was reading and so I I actually accepted Christ right at home.

As I was reading the Bible. I thought there must be more to it. I heard of people that were going forward in meetings and they were no praying through her they were doing something that happened. All I did the say Lord, that's amazing. Because you site. First John five and the principal versus those in 511 through 13 these things are written that you might know that you have eternal life, and I've often commented to Latter Day Saints.

This is notice it's interesting how John uses the expression eternal life, which of course in Mormon theology that's equated with exultation godhood and yet that's what Mormons as you yourself had said that's what you're looking forward to, but at the same time you don't know if you've done enough. Now, in line with John's. What is it Johnson you may know you have eternal life, but yet when you ask a latter-day St., do you know if you have eternal life. So many of them don't know what I think you explained it perfectly because there's so many things that an individual has to do. How can a person really know that they've done all these things.

That's the experience that I've had with Latter Day Saints. So you went through that yourself, but you, your mother was the one I gave you the hardest time. This is the convert why we see that so many times a convert to the ones that seem to be more zealous in defending that and even the Jack Mormons. Those are not active at the title given to inactive Mormons, Jack Morgan. I find it. They also are very staunch defenders many times to get his is it because they have guilt that they know they're not doing enough that maybe they're gonna earn brownie points with Elohim if they defend the faith that they don't really want to live. I don't know is that he thought I remember talking to a guy. He said I'm a Mormon, but I haven't been to the church in 60 years what you think of Joseph Smith and what he said he restored but he shook his finger at me to said listen here sunny just because I don't go to church doesn't mean I don't believe that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and so forth. Lesson that's a strange waiting to express it by not doing anything. It is especially sense Mormonism is such a doing religion and you can't say like that gentleman was trying to tell you that while this because I believe it that makes everything okay not Mormonism, justified by faith in Mormon is here justified by your actions and of course you have to do the things that they tell you to do in the LDS church and that becomes I think the soft underbelly when it comes to our evangelism efforts if that's what they are supposed to be doing and it becomes apparent when you talk to them that they're not doing it, then maybe that's an area that we as Christians need to explore a little bit more with the individual. More than that.

Were talking to getting them to see their loss condition and in order for them to appreciate Jesus as the Savior we want him, not just to be the Savior. Generically we want him to be there personal saving at her and I lately and I've often asked him. Is he your Savior, use expression, the Savior, but is he your Savior and that's where the? Seem to pop up because I think a lot of Mormons want to hope that he is that when you ask him some of those pointed questions that you find out that many of them don't know that they would like that. No doubt they would like that but they really don't know we been talking to Markel and martyrs with missions door and the website that he has his Utah Christian pub.com Utah Christian pub.com and if you want to reach more through email he be glad to take any questions that you might have its pastor Marv 80 pastor Marv 80 and that's the number80@gmail.com@Gmail.com and as we been mentioning Marv has been a missionary to the Mormon people in the state of Utah for decades and he has a lot of amazing stories to tell a week. I wanted to introduce you to him.

If you've never heard about Marvin's ministry. He does have a lot of very positive things that he could tell us about and educate us on and so I want to continue this conversation in tomorrow's show.

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