Articles From Witnessing Sites
TILM has created a family of websites designed to reach out directly to Mormons. They contain carefully crafted articles for Mormons to read the truth in love. They take into account the language barrier present when witnessing to Mormons. Terms and concepts are clearly defined using words and illustrations familiar to Mormons. Often these concepts are contrasted against the definitions derived from Mormon doctrine. In this way the reader cannot miss the profound differences between Christianity and Mormonism.
These articles leverage the LDS church's technique of using stories, pictures, and emotions to convey their message. While we have borrowed this technique, our message consists of fundamental biblical law and gospel truths.
Bible and LDS references are provided in the flow of the article or in a reference section below. All biblical references come from the King James Version - the only Bible the LDS church uses.
We encourage you to look at these articles to see examples of some creative ways of witnessing to Mormons. These articles will also give you insight into some of the stresses experienced by many Mormons.
Below you will find PDF downloadable documents for each article. They are suitableto to print for or email to your Mormon friends and family.
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HisHealingNow.com
His Healing Now was developed as part of an extensive TILM media campaign targeting Mormon women who are suffering from feelings of unworthiness. In a church which predicates God's blessings on people being worthy, there is little real comfort to be found. Mormonism places high demands on women who are told to just keep 'doing' and everything will work out. They are challenged by Mormon authorities, that when things get too tough, to go ahead and cry in their closet; but when they come out smile in front of their friends and family. (This instruction specifically addressed women whose husbands had died or abandoned them.).
The articles on this site offer Heavenly Father's true relief. They empathize with the pain, expose the emptiness of the Mormon solution, and present the biblical truth in love. Written in story form, they are designed to captivate and then communicate the message these women, and many other Mormons, are dying to hear - a message which has the power to save them from eternal death.
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Healed and Forgiven
“The Day I Found Forgiveness” is based on true stories of Latter-day Saints’ struggles to gain forgiveness. A composite of their individual quests are dramatized in this account of an archetypal LDS woman’s search for the miracle of forgiveness.
The story is told through the diary entries of the fictional character of Rachel. Her story depicts a typical LDS struggle. Driven by a disabling sense of guilt and shame, Rachel’s search for forgiveness leads her to study the process of repentance – on LDS.org, in Spencer W. Kimball’s Miracle of Forgiveness and in the Relief Society Lesson on forgiveness (from President Kimball’s Teachings of Presidents of the Church). Ultimately she is led to question the sincerity of her repentance and the depth of her contrite spirit. Failing to find the solace she so desperately craves, she continues her search. With the help of a Christian neighbor, who witnesses the truth in love, she finally and triumphantly finds the forgiveness gained through Christ’s Atonement.
Listen to the audio version in Flash:
After reading Rachel’s diary entries, continue to read her story in “My Miracle of Forgiveness”. Rachel narrates her thoughts, experiences and emotions as she participates in a Christian small group study of Heavenly Father’s miracle of forgiveness. Of particular value are several instances of Mormonese translation as Rachel is helped to grasp biblical definitions by an ex-Mormon Christian.
You may also wish to download this Bible study titled “Faithful and Just to Forgive”.
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"Lost Innocence Restored" is an article written from the first person perspective of Queen Bathsheba based on the biblical account. It is a story of regret, shame, guilt, isolation, and betrayal. But it is also a story of healing, undeserved love, loyalty, and particularly forgiveness. Bathsheba details the events of King David’s sexual advance and the acts of betrayal and murder against her husband. She describes the resulting pregnancy, marriage, and despondency of David. Her story continues with a detailed account of the prophet Nathan's message of forgiveness and concludes with a dramatic depiction of the blessing of unconditional forgiveness and healing.
The guilt and shame that follow sexual sins and assaults are not foreign to Mormons. Forgiveness in Mormonism must be earned, Only the worthy may receive it and the consequences of sexual sins often leave persons feeling particularly unworthy. Many Mormons have struggled unsuccessfully for decades trying to find relief from their shame. They desperately need to hear the message of the prophet Nathan; the message of the Bible; the message that is not taught in Mormonism.
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Healing the Unworthy
"Learn What is Really Wrong with You" is a fictional account in which a Christian co-worker takes the initiative to reach out to Elaine, a struggling Mormon. Through patient listening she discovers the source of Elaine's pain and empathizes with it. Then she weaves an analogical story to compassionately deliver the hard truth of Elaine's terminal and hereditary disease, her sinful human nature. She boldly witnesses that following the Mormon prescription is death to anyone with this disease. The climatic conclusion occurs when she offers Elaine the life-saving truth in love.
Learn What is Really Wrong with You
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"God Helps Those Who Cry out for Help" is a modern parable. It uses the fictitious setting of The Great Race of Life and the ultimate trophy, the Victor's Crown. This parable exposes the great lie that is the foundation of Mormonism: that salvation is dependant on how obedient you are in your lifetime. Every Mormon is commanded by their prophets and apostles to do the impossible: meet God's demand to be perfect without substituting Christ's righteousness. But these authorities lessen God's command to a relatively tiny proposition: of merely doing all you can do. One of the great challenges in witnessing to Mormons is to show the falsehood of such statements.
The parable focuses on a participant in the Great Race who recognizes she has failed to live up to God's clear command of perfection. She is the lucky one! The recognition of her failure drives her to give up, quit the race, and call out for help. In this sorry state she can finally be reached with the victorious message that only one participant has ever won the Great Race. And He offers his trophy, the Victor's Crown, to everyone who gives up on self and believes in his victory for all.
God Helps Those Who Cry out for Help
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"The Blessing of Recognizing My Failure" is the fictional story of Susan, a typical Mormon wife and mother. This means she has many demands placed on her: service to the church, Sunday church meeting and Relief Society class, husband, children, extended family, house, appearance, church activities throughout the week ... . Add to that the edict that in everything she does she needs to make the best impression. Disheveled children are an indication of her unworthiness. You get the picture. Mormon women have abundant cause to be stressed. But when they look around, they don't see other stressed women because all are striving to put on their best appearance - pretending they are not struggling.
Susan's overburdened life leads her to see herself as a failure, as unworthy to receive Heavenly Father's blessings. She sees her life as living under a curse. She turns to her church to find answers but each is just a false prescription and fails to heal her deep distress.
Into this landscape the Holy Spirit brings a Christian friend who helps Susan see that she is a failure and is living under a curse, the truth of the law. Then she speaks the gospel truth in love. She introduces Susan to a substitute that was worthy for her: one who never failed and will never fail to bring her relief. Susan comes to see her failure as a blessing because it drove her to keep seeking answers until she found the real truth in Christ's atonement.
The Blessing of Recognizing My Failure
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His Healing Handbook.
The entries in His Healing Handbook are short straight forward presentations of God's law and gospel. Each presents a list of symptoms, makes a diagnosis (presents the law), offers a cure (presents the gospel), and suggests a treatment plan. Entries include:
I feel isolated from others (because I am unworthy)
My eternal family is in jeopardy
I struggle with forgiving others
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Healed from Shame
Hear the true story of one woman’s amazing journey from growing up in a prominent LDS family, through years of oppressive guilt, to the wonderful day when she found out she was washed clean. Cry with her. Rejoice with her. Join her. Becki Detro, an ex-Mormon member of TILM, is interviewed by Lori Malnes, TILM's prayer ministry leader. This interview presents the contrasting LDS and biblical definitions of forgiveness in an emotional story that is all too poignant to Mormons. Becki's frustration, sense of shame,and ultimate failure to find forgiveness in the LDS church will resonate with Mormons who have recognized their sinful condition. True forgiveness cannot be found in the Mormon church but it was discovered through the invitation of a little girl ... .
I Have Been Washed Clean - An Interview
Listen in Flash: Download MP3
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