President Paternoster - Watchman on the Tower

Brothers and Sisters in these last days of trouble and gloom Satan is trying harder than ever to divert us from our path towards eternal life and exaltation.  Our enemies are all around and we must ever be vigilant and alert.  The enemy of which I shall speak today is of greatest threat to our souls as it comes from those who have apostatized from the one true Church.  These once faithful members who used to bare their testimonies stating that they knew without a shadow of doubt that the Church was true have fallen from the path of righteousness and seek to bring others down to their pitiful level.

They write books and blogs and start up forums in a vain attempt to get attention.  They seek to gain a following and like Satan delight in making others miserable like unto themselves.  They are experts at making the Church look cultish and dysfunctional.  They deceive by painting a false picture of the Church and what we (the humble and faithful followers of Christ) are striving to do, which is to become as God is. 

One such example is of a person who calls himself Raptor Jesus.  I don’t usually read Anti-Mormon rubbish but as a watchman on the tower and an esteemed apologist for the Church I decided to read one such book to see what the latest tactics of the adversary were.  The book was called “The Passion of Raptor Jesus and the Road to Mormon Apostasy”

The book has received rave reviews from Ex-Mormons the world over and even some non members have read it and claim (falsely I might add) that it has given them a better understanding of our sacred religion.

One of the reasons I chose to read this particular book was because it was easily downloadable from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Passion-Raptor-Mormon-Apostasy-ebook/dp/B005IQKAQU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325788726&sr=8-1 at a cost of just $2.99.  The Amazon site also offers free kindle software so I was able to start reading on my computer right away.

Once I started reading so outrageous and blasphemous were the claims that I was unable to get any work done and I completely missed my High Council meeting that evening.  The author whom I will simply call Raptor (so as to not take the name of the Lord in vain) outlines the purpose of the book near the beginning saying basically that once you leave the Church “everything you stamped down and suppressed as a member is now finally able to be free and you can parade the freak show of Mormonism out onto the public.”  The book is clearly a desperate attempt for external validation from a deranged soul who was unwilling to submit to the life of freedom and opportunity outlined for him, for his own benefit, by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Like all former members it is easy to tell that deep down Raptor still knows the Church is true because he states on page 110 that “Mormonism is the restored and only true church on the earth. Other churches may have "some truth" but only Mormonism has the "fullness of the gospel." And this is why when talking to Mormons; they'll always refer to their church as "The Church." Because every other church is just some random silly billy church.”  I couldn’t agree more.

He talks of his upbringing, his first temple experience, his failure to serve a full time mission (due to him lacking the faith to be healed) and ultimately his loss of faith and departure from the Church. 

Just to give you an idea of the rubbish he writes I will share with you some random parts of the book where he speaks of the temple and his own sacred washing, anointing and endowment sessions.  I have put stars where I deemed the language inappropriate for this faith promoting blog. Without divulging the sacred nature of the temple I will say that as part of the temple endowment ceremony there is a film about the creation of the earth and mankind.  Here is what Raptor had to say:

“Adam and Eve are blond and white, ok? None of this science b***s**t about coming from Africa with dark skin that as simple adaptation to the sun and as mankind spread across the globe, the skin adapted as less melanin was needed…….

….Satan reminds Adam and Eve that their swimsuit areas are not covered by anything and ferchr**tsake put on some fig leaves before god sees them. Adam and Even obey Satan and put on aprons of fig leaves.  The movie stopped, and we in the audience were then instructed to also obey Satan…...”

This is ridiculous. We do not obey Satan in the temple; we simply take his suggestion to be modest and cover up just like Adam and Eve did.

“Satan answers Adams prayers and tells him that if Adam wants religion – Satan’s got it and at rock bottom prices. Adam pouts because he misses talking to his daddy, and wants the Truth and not just Religion…..

….At this point the ceremony changes from an episode of Mystery Science 3000 to a slumber party where you promise god you'll be his BFF and ever, and list all the things you'll do for his church.”

Brothers and Sisters in our sacred scriptures (D&C 59:15) we learn that “much laughter is sin” and in D&C 88:121 we are instructed to cease from all (loud) laughter and light mindedness.  Raptor seems to have a problem making a covenant with the Lord to obey this commandment.  This is what he said (I have dotted out the words of the covenant due to its sacred and holy nature and in accordance with the promise I have made to not divulge it):

“I didn't get creeped out until the covenant that I was promising to avoid all "L…L……. and L…. M………." What the f***? Why would god give a s*** about that? And to give that its own specific covenant with symbolism? I started to feel a little sick - god didn't want me to be me. And the stupid handshakes and body symbols came with a promise to not ever divulge them to prevent god being mocked! Well, if god didn't want to be mocked, he should have thought about that before making his ceremony chalk full of assclownery.”

I have never in all my days upon this earth heard such blasphemy.  Raptor concludes with these thoughts:

“The endowment ceremony is supposed to be symbolic of life. It was the pinnacle of spiritual experiences available to the elect of the elect. It is supposed to be about the nature of creation, god, religion, and man's place in the universe. Instead, the ceremony is confusing, full of lies and half-truths, and at times horrifying. You make promises that you can never live up to, and once it's done NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT IT. Instead your family is there to greet you in the Celestial Room after you pass through the veil (symbolizing death). They surround saying, "Congratulations. It's over and you made it. Now let's all go to Village Inn to get Belgian Waffles and we'll never speak of this again."

The MTC and mission stories all contain the same kind of talk which I can guarantee will be of no interest to you.  Later in the book Raptor commits a sin so grievous that I felt I could take no more.  Yes Brothers and Sisters, Raptor speaks ill of one of the Lord's anointed claiming that his Stake President had an affair.  This is completely uncalled for and unnecessary; Stake Presidents, like Joseph Smith, are amongst the most humble, chaste and Christlike men I know.  Such accusations cannot and must not go unpunished.    

To all within the sound of my voice I implore you to stay away from such material.  To the person who calls himself Raptor Jesus if you are reading this blog I President William Lilburn Godfrey Paternoster invite you to come back to the safety of the fold.  You may be far gone but it is not too late for you.  Your days of probation are not yet over and there is still time to forsake your evil ways, remove your book from Amazom.com and be happy once again.  Yea come unto Christ and be baptized with full purpose of heart and endure to the end.  Only if you do this can you be saved from that awful state which awaits the wicked. 

Lovingly,

The President