My name is Mark Cares and I am a pastor in Idaho. For the past 25 years, I have shared the true Gospel of Jesus Christ with people throughout my community. Almost fifteen years ago, I began a project of researching and studying Mormonism for the purpose of knowing how to effective share the gosple with them. The end result is a book entitled, “Speaking the Truth in Love to Mormons.” Almost 15,000 copies have been sold. From the feedback I have received, many people and ministries are utilizing the approach and techniques that I share in my book. Now, I am excited to enter the blog world for the purpose of teaching, equipping and encouraging Christians on how to effectively witness to their Mormon friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members. A few years ago, I started a new ministry outreach called Truth in Love Ministry. If you would like more information, please visit the website, www.truthinloveministry.net.
Thanks, Mark.
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Welcome, Mark, to the wordpress community.
from a fellow Idahoan pastor,
et
Mark if you care how is it that you do not see that the “Mormon’s” have the Gospel? Do you not agree that the “True Gospel” speeks of Christ and his love for us? Do you think that there is a different message from “Mormons” than the Love of God for his children? Do you not understand that the “Mormons” also beleive in the Bible as the word of God, as long as man has not tammpered with it to contort it into their own message?
I do see that you are trying to reach out in love, but to reachout in love is not to lay heavey blame upon the people you reach out to, nor is it to tell them what it is they are doing or what they beleive when you do not understand what it is exactly. I again will caution you to pull back siglightly on you use of absolutes in your statments as they are effectively invalidating your arguments as they are too bold they do not accuratky protry the cause they discuss. i.e. you keep saying statments that some suggestions from the LDS church are requirements. The Church gives free choice to all people, they offer a standard of living that you can choose to accept and follow for your bennifit or choose to not follow to your own cost of those bennifits. it is like an excersize program, if you workout every day the program calls for you bennifit by the results of doing so, if you only do the activity once every 5th day the program calls for you do not reep those bennifits.
How can you not see that discuraging people to do what is right is helping Satin defeat the righteous? Instead why not encourage all to do right? What issue do you have if a Church suggests people read the scriptures regurally, that they perticipate in spiritual activities with their families often, or that they Pray and seek God daily? Is it your secret goal to have men fail and be sweeped away with the unfaithful?
I’d expect better form a man of God proclaiming Love.
-D
Mark,
Are you playing Devils Advocate? As you do seem to put into question reasoning for doing good, and you seem to ignore any explanation of the reasoning to do good, or any warrning about the harm you propell others towards as you discurrage them to better themselves.
If you are I will not give it away because you do have many talking here and I think you are in an ironic way stranghting some people’s resolve to follow the Guidance that helps them do right.
If you are not playing the Devils Advocate and are serious about your statments here, then maybe you should look around and be sure the Devil is not playing you.
Good day and God bless,
-D
D:
I am very serious about my statements. I truly believe that Mormonism contains very dangerous teachings. If I didn’t think that, I wouldn’t devote so much time and effort to this. That is why I posted Warning as a Sign of Caring on August 4th. Hopefully, you understand that as I take your last comment to me as a loving warning from you to me.
Mark,
I see. Well I’ll have you know that I am serious as well about the error of discuraging anyone from doing good. I feel that you have some mis-understandings about the “Mormons” and their beleifs as you have over generalized much in this blog about their teachings. I hope you will consider the many responces that try to clairify these mis-understood teachings.
I also would like to extend my compation to you and have you aware that I mean only to help you better yourself and others and that I do hope for your good. I do not mean any contention nor harbor any enimity toward you or your blog. As I see it we are Brothers in Christ, we just do not see things in the same perspective. Who knows, we may find that we are just seeing different parts of the same horse.
In truth, God bless,
-D
Mark, I’m a big fan of yours. I love your work and the book that you wrote. I’m happy to find your blog. I respect and appreciate what you are trying to do for the LDS people because that is my passion as well here in Las Vegas, Nevada. Your email to me a few months ago was the “shot in the arm” that I needed and I reflect on it often. Keep up the good work! I ran into Dave at the Compassionate Boldness Conference in Salt Lake this past May. He said that you have stepped back as an active player in the ministry that you started. I believe he told me that you have focused most of your attention on the LDS in your local area and in pastoring your church. Is that true? What is your role now? God bless you!
Berean:
For a number of years, besides pastoring a growing local congregation, I had some other responsibilities in our church body that took a lot of my time. I recently put most of those responsibilites aside so I could again start devoting some tome to reaching the LDS. I am still co-pastoring the congregation but I am in the process of taking more time away from it (I have an exceeelnt co-pastor who is really taking the reins) and devoting more time to this ministry. We have a lot of different irons in the fire so in the coming months we will see where we need to devote our energies.
May the Lord continue to be with and bless you.
Hi Pastor Cares,
Just wanted to introduce myself. Steve Brown, a Lay WELS Blogger at:
http://sjbrown58.wordpress.com
My site is named “Worship Ideas You Can Use”.
I found out about you from a post by Pastor Jeremiah Gumm. Glad to see more WELS presence on wordpress.
Keep up the great work!
Steve
Some Mormon missionaries visited my home tonight. I was busy, but I got their card and told them I would call so we could visit next week. I started brushing up on Mormonism in preparation to witness to them. This led me to find your web page. AWESOME!
I now have some questions:
1. Are you Lutheran?
2. If you are Lutheran, which “Lutheran” are you? (ELCA, LCMS, WELS, other?)
I ask this because after skimming your web page your theology (esp. your Law/Gospel approach) reveals that you seemed to be influenced by Lutheran theology.
One more question. I agree with you that we should start with proclaiming the Law and our need for Christ, trusting in the Spirit to bring them to faith, and then getting to the “false teachings” of Mormonism later. However, my question is if we can wait to deal with their false teaching about the person of Christ since the person of Christ (Christology) cannot be separated from the Gospel (the work of Christ for us). Would you suggest we simply make a positive argument (proclaim the Truth about WHO Jesus is) instead of taking a negative approach (this is the false teaching that Mormons have about Jesus!)? Any advice you could give would be appreciated. Feel free to email me: pastoreck@gmail.com
Mark,
I just picked up your book,Speaking the Truth in love to Mormons. Your book has helped me to understand better my daughter-in-law and son who are LDS. Thanks for the great resource that will help me to minister to them.
In Christ,
Richard Bland
Richard:
I’m so glad that the book was helpful. For my witnesing help, visit our website at http://www.truthinlovetomormons.com