May-June 2000 - THE MAIL BAG
I Loved Free Mason Story
Dear Ed, I was extremely blessed by your book: "What you need to know about Masons." Before reading your book, I ran into a Mason at work and I was asking him about Freemasonry. Your account matched him to a tee. The Masonic religion always gave me the creeps but now I have some facts to load in my arsenal to help win some Masons to the truth. Was the story of Jennifer and Jeff in Badger Lake a true story with changed names and places? Your descriptive writing opened my heart to their characters so much that I would love if they were real people so I could also tell them how their lives have touched mine. Keep up with the good work for your reward is great in heaven. Hold fast to sound doctrine and deliver others from the error of their way. You have touched more souls than you could imagine. MikeThanks for the kind words...
The ‘story’ was a composite of several true situations in several different churches and the characters were people I knew from a number of different places...including one of my daughters and my own father... all blended together in a town I created in Southwest Montana. The book has helped hundreds of Masons, families and churches break loose from that darkness. Again, thanks for writing. Ed DeckerThe 17 Points of the false church:
Dear Ed, Several months after I left the Mormon church, I got a wild idea. The church has a printout called "The 17 Points of the True Church". It is supposed to support the truthfulness of the teachings of the Mormon Church with Bible verses only, (i.e.: baptism for the dead, no paid ministry, God has a body of flesh and bone, etc). Well, I figured it would be worth looking these scriptures up to see of there was any validity to them. Wow, did I open a can of worms!A year and a half and about 10 pages later my husband and I completed our study of these "17 Points" and I can tell you without a doubt that NONE of these points support the truthfulness of the Mormon church. In fact, it became quite evident early on that the church has made a habit of building a whole doctrine out of one small verse without regard for the surrounding context. Their interpretation of the verses is just plain shallow. We have sent our 10 pages of research to several missionaries and friends. I wish I could say they learned as much as I did about the accuracy of the Bible, but unfortunately, I can’t. I think they were mostly scared of the truth, being taught to be suspicious of anything outside the church, especially anything that isn’t "faith promoting". Even so, I’m glad I undertook the task of researching the "17 Points". It has given me a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Bible. I wouldn’t give that up for anything. With love, Pam
Very Strange Doctrine: Dear Ed: I Just want you to know that my husband left the LDS cult in 1982 after God blessed us with your research and testimony. I never believe anything unless I research it for myself, therefore not only did I research your information in the texts supplied by my LDS in-laws I was surprised to find even more strange and unusual lies on my own. Even if I were not a Christian I would have been shocked at the information. I thank God for all your work and ability to stand up to so much scrutiny. God Bless you in your work, we keep you in our prayers. Sincerely, Kathy
The Newsletters work! Dear Ed, Just wanted to say thanks
for your insight on the Mormon church. I was raised Mormon in a very "Mormon "
family. I was saved and became a Christian three years ago. Your newsletters helped me
understand the "religion" I was raised to believe was the only true one was
totally false. I look forward to your newsletters with great anticipation. Maybe some day
I will be able to share the TRUTH with rest of my family. They are still lost the false
teachings.
Thank you for your info on Masonry. Dear Ed, I was once a Mason. I just recently decided to get out of Masonry
because after listening to some sermons, I was convicted by the Holy Spirit. I needed more
info on why Masonry is not for Christians so I went on the internet to find as much as I
could. After reading your site here, I was totally convinced and I had to write you this
letter. I thank God for your site.
I am sending this info to my Grandparents, who belong to the Masonic Order (Master Mason and Eastern Star). I also will send this to my Father who is also a Mason. I’ve printed up as much as I thought would help me out when I talk to my friends who are Masons too. I will print up copies, and with your permission, pass out as much as I can to all Masons that I know. Please pray for me as I try to help spread the Truth. Again, thank you for your site and you efforts to get out the truth to us all and may God bless you in all of your endeavors. Sincerely, Vincent
Hi Mr. Decker, I am so excited to find you online. Mr.
Decker, your ministry literally saved my life. I left the Mormon Church in 1994 and spent
many hours on the phone with people in your office, sobbing my way through the
separation of me from this "Church" thing. I am now 6 years out, in a wonderful
biblical church, and trying very hard to make sense of why I wound up in the Mormon Church
in the first place, and trying to keep others from going down that road. I am anxious to
reestablish contact with you and Saints Alive. You guys literally saved me, and I want to
be there for the next person. Anyway, thanks for any advice, input you can give me.
Sincerely, Anita
Mr. Decker, I have some close friends who are Mormon. I am a Christian and one day the subject of church came up in conversation. They suggested that I come to church with them once, to become familiar with what they believe. Now, I already knew that Mormons did not really have quite the same beliefs that I did, so I said something to the effect of "Well, if you believe as I do, that Christ died on the cross as a final payment for our sins and through faith in Him we are saved - then I don’t really need to know anything else."
He replied that, yes, that was part of it, but that there was more to it that wasn’t really talked about to those "outside the church". Well, as you can imagine, warning bells rang loud in my mind. At that point I quickly changed the subject and nothing further was said for several months.
Then, about two months ago, they talked me into going to a short seminar at their church. Although I had mixed feelings about it, I agreed to go because I wanted to know what they believed and whether or not they were truly "Christian" as I was. I must say it was an eye opening experience. Some of the things I heard that night shocked me. I decided to do further research and that brought me to read your book "The God Makers". Wow. I now have to decide how to share this with them. I can’t call myself their friend and stay quiet about this.
Looking though your web site I found the document about questions to ask on a temple visit or tour. One of them was to "Ask your guide why theTemple Mormon wife isn’t instructed that she can only be resurrected if her husband calls her forth from the grave?". Well, I can tell you that this was mentioned at the seminar and they did specifically say that the husband would be the one to call the wife forth from the grave. Thank you and God Bless, Joe