I received a Christmas gift basket yesterday. Do you want to know who sent it?

(pause for effect)

The Mormon church.

I won’t say anything more. Just know that I’m laughing right now.

[Note: if you track this blog at all, you'll know why I'm amused. What's inside? That's even better]

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g7H00jNINk]

[ht: LayGuy]

Here, Mormon American Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney claims that his LDS faith will not effect the way he would run the Presidency. He says that his faith does not “exert influence on Presidential decisions.” Ha ha, yeah right.

I’ll tell you this. My faith does influence the way I live and the decisions I make. It must if my faith has any merit at all in my life. I consider myself a follower of Christ first and my status as an American is secondary. Actually I’d say it’s much further back than that.

Here’s how I would order my life. I consider myself a:

1. Follower of Christ
2. Husband
3. Father
4. Son
5. Friend
6. Missionary
7. American

So my question for you is this: How do you order your life? Do you consider yourself a Christian first or an American first…?

Yes, I’m standing by my friend who’s getting married to a Mormon, but don’t think I’m getting soft (because remember, they tired to kill me once…).

Here’s some Mormons getting schooled by a Southern Baptist preacher (and you DON’T mess with a Southern Baptist preacher). I laughed pretty hard on this one.

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YPyvJacwUI]

Thanks Joe for showing me this one.

I received a call yesterday from someone in our community. He was calling to express his disapproval of me for a decision I have made.

You see, I’ve been asked to be the best man in one of our (Youth Dynamics) former student’s wedding. He’s a young man that’s been raised in the church, but never seen it for anything more than overbearing rules held by hypocrites. I’ve journeyed for a season with this young man and I really value some of the frank conversations about faith we’ve had. He knows where I stand and I know where he does. Our relationship has been a continuing conversation that I hope someday will grow into a lasting faith in Christ. All of that is fine and well, but here’s the kicker and reason for the phone call… he’s marrying a Mormon girl.

This is the point of contention that I’m being attacked over. They say that if I stand with him, I’m blessing this ‘unholy union’ and it ruins my witness and my ministry. They also told me that I will lose financial support from local churches and people who support me and my ministry.

My decision to stand up with this young man in his wedding was borne from my love for him and continuing desire to see him and his bride come to know Christ. My desire is to see the lines of communication open, not bridges burned. Am I condoning his actions? Nope. He knows that I don’t approve of the marriage, but also knows I love him.

We as Christians are often times so concerned with being right, that we forget to be kind. I just don’t think we’ll ever guilt or judge people into heaven. It doesn’t work that way. If we, as Christians, are to be Christ to an unbelieving world, how are we supposed to act? Judgmental or loving? Which one will show them Jesus’ true nature toward us? I firmly believe that by being a part of this couple’s lives, I’ll have a better chance of witnessing to them.

Let’s get this straight. We’re all depraved. We’re all sinners. And if we’re Christian, we’ve really done nothing to earn the saving grace of Jesus Christ. It was a free gift. So it’s a futile thing to draw line in the sand, trying to point out how we’re on one side and non-believers are on the other. We’re just fooling ourselves. The only one with the right to draw a line is Jesus, and NONE of us will ever measure up to that. Thank God for his grace, I just wish we could grant it to others.

So, I’m willing to lose face and financial support simply because I think Jesus would do the same.

I’m not kidding.

 Its been going on for a while. Every Thursday the Mormon missionaries canvas downtown Arlington. They’ll talk to anyone they pass but routinely see me and keep walking. I have never had a conversation with them. I must smell of Kingdom or something, but they avoid me like the plague. The weird thing is, I’d love to engage them, but for some reason they won’t. This has been a perpetual state of amusement to me. I know it’s Thursday walk down the street and watch them talk to everyone but me.

Okay so that’s point 1. They avoid me because they know something.

Point 2. Tuesdays and Thursdays we have an after school hang out (the Mud Hut) for kids in town. They come to play pool, xbox and drink coffee and Italian sodas. Every session we either have a devotional or read some bible story to the kids (they are sooo bible illiterate it’s shocking). Last Thursday we had one of the missionaries come and hang out undercover (he was dressed in street clothes, not the typical white shirt and black pants). How did I know this? Well, we were going through the Easter story with the kids and this guy started saying we had to believe in Jesus and Joseph Smith. Not to be confrontational we basically ignored him and kept going.

Which leads me to point 3 of why the Mormon’s are trying to kill me. I ride a motorcycle and was leaving the Mud Hut that day (the coffee house/ hang out we host after school for the kids). As I was leaving, I thought I smelled gas, but didn’t think anything of it because on a bike you smell everything when you ride. A few miles down the road, I felt something running down my leg, like I was sweating. I looked down and there was a small hole in my gas tank. Gas was pouring down my leg.

I was a few miles from home, so I covered the hole with my finger and rode home with one hand. After I parked at home, Miriam (my wife) commented that the hole looked weird. I was a small hole the size of a flat head screwdriver.  Evidently someone had tapped a hole with a screwdriver in my gas tank. I’m not kidding.

Coincidence? Mormons avoid Stuart. Mormons argue with Stuart. Mormons sabotage Stuart? Hmmmm.

WWJSD? What Would Joseph Smith Do?

I should be scared, but I don’t want to soil my holy underwear, so I’ll be brave.