Why am I a Mormon?

I am said to be a convert. That means that I was baptized into the Church as an adult, but we are told that we will not know if we are truly converted until we are across the veil (after death) and the Holy Spirit of Promise (Eph 1:13-14) tells us “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Until then we are only trying to follow our Savior ever more perfectly until we either get it right or we die.

In the Church we have a scripture that reads:

“For I will forgive you of your sins with this commandment…that you remain steadfast in your minds in solemnity and the spirit of prayer in bearing testimony to all the world of those things which are communicated unto you. Therefore, “go ye into all the world” and unto whatsoever place ye cannot go ye shall go ye shall send, that the testimony may go from you into all the world unto all the world unto every creature.” (D&C 84: 60-62)

I have received this scripture as the word of the Lord unto me and it came with power in an overwhelming witness of what the Lord expected of me for all my life. So in that spirit I express the following:

Why am I a Mormon? Because of spiritual experiences and scriptural evidences associated with the Church that told me I needed to be one. I was drawn to become a member of this Church (John 6:44)

1) Matt 7:15-20 (“By their fruits ye shall know them”)

My sister and I are direct opposites. As we grew up, she was aggressive and loud and a bit of a bully. When she married we all watched her bully and henpeck her husband. We were appalled but thought we could do nothing. She joined the Church and I went to visit her expecting her to be as she always was. Too my surprise her spirit was different, her voice was different and her home was completely different. The gospel had changed her and her family completely. They now exemplified the perfect Christian home.

2) Eph 2:19-20, 4:11-13 (Officers-“for the perfecting of the saints,…..until we all come into the unity of the faith)

I have studied churches with lay ministries, like the Mormon Church and I see that the best leaders, administrators, and the best spiritual motivators are in this church. The youth programs are remarkable in their ability to influence and keep youth on track, sending thousands on volunteer, unpaid, 2 year missions each year. The programs of welfare, employment, and building are the envy of many organizations and governments in the world.

3) Moro 10:3-5; John 17:3 (Read, pondered and Prayed about the Book of Mormon)

The first thing the Missionaries have you do when you start to investigate the Church is to start reading the Book of Mormon and praying about its teachings. I read the book and everything else the missionaries gave me to read. I studied all that and have continued to study for the last 32 years of my Church membership. Over the years I have continued to read, study, teach, and live its teachings. Jesus in John 17:3 said “If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, of whether I speak of myself.” I know the Book of Mormon and the teachings of the Church are true and the teachings of Christ for our day.

4) I Cor 2:13-14 (The Spirit can teach us what the mortal mind will not understand)

Since becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, my study of the scriptures has opened a whole new world of understanding and a closeness to God. I often feel my prayers are miraculously answered in understandings and wisdom that I know is not of myself or my own understanding.

5) John 17:3 (This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent)

Studying and living the gospel as taught by the Church has helped me to come to know God and Jesus Christ in new and special ways that I never experienced as a member of any other Church. Not only that, but I feel that God knows ME better (Gen 18: 17-19) and we are closer than we have ever been because of this Church.

6) Luke 10: 1-2, 17; James 5: 13-15 (Priesthood Experience)

After I was baptized into the Church, I was ordained under the hands of authorized servants of the Lord and commissioned to teach what I had been taught and what I had experienced in my own life to be true. I was also told to lay hands on the sick and afflicted and to heal them of their infirmities. I was later sent out on a mission to teach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof. Since then I have experienced priesthood power in my own life and I have laid hands on the sick and they have recovered. I have been able to bless people saying and knowing things that only they could have known. In doing so I have experienced the connection between heaven and earth and I have felt and know the mind and will of God much better. It is a marvelous thing to me.

7) Amos 3:7 (Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he will reveal it unto his servants, the prophets)

As I have listened to the teachings of our leaders of the Church, especially the president, whom we sustain as prophet, seer, and revelator, I have seen the effect of the voice of the Lord. Sometimes we hear “Thus saith the Lord” and other times we only feel it. There have been times when I thought “This cannot be the Lord’s will in this man’s teachings” but when I spend time in prayer I receive my answer that it is indeed the mind and will of the Lord and I am altogether turned from my previous opinion and can not even entertain that I might have been right. I know this church is true because of our Prophet’s teachings, the experience of the priesthood I hold, the Gift of the Holy Ghost in revealing things and helping me to understand scripture, The Book of Mormon, the organization and fruits the Church exhibits, and because I have previously received an absolute witness (before baptism) that these things are true. I invite all to investigate, study and pray about these things and promise them that they too, like I, may find out for themselves that the Gospel has been restored and the voice of God is once more heard from the heavens saying “This is my beloved son, Jesus Christ, hear him.”