Norm

Hello,My name is Norm,and this is me.(for a closer look click on the picture)

I just got a new scanner for my computer so I thought I would put my picture here in hope that it would make my page a little more personal.

I am a real person who indeed went through everything you will read in the next few pages.

My prayer is that the Lord may do for you,what He has done for me,He set me free from the claws of the evil one,and He can free you from the bonds which you are under,whatever they may be.

Peace and Love In Jesus Christ

Norm

Helpful Links for an Honest Search

S.L. Temple
I used to have a link to the LDS website here,but as a good friend just told me there is only one side to this story and that side is Jesus
ULMUtah Lighthouse Ministry
One of my two favorite bookstores,(and not just because it's less than two miles from my house)Some of the best research materials I have found
Saints AliveSaints Alive In Jesus
Visit Ed Deckers' site and get some answers from the man who has "been there,done that"
Reason-Filling in the Missing Pieces of the Mormon History Puzzle
The name kinda says it all,doesn't it?
Recovery From Mormonism
Gotta love those self-explanitory names
Ex-Mormon Christian
I guess there's no need for my explanations of these sites,huh?
Book Of Mormon?Evidences Of Mormonism
I found this site in a search engine,Check out the explaination on this site.I find it appropriate.
Mormonism: polite discussion of truth
My discussion board for an active discussion

This page has been visited times.

I was never what anyone would call a good Mormon,I had my high points in the church,but more often than not I was inactive and apathetic towards the goings-on in the church.It is hard for me to say that I "grew up" mormon, when I think of this statement ,I visualize all the children that are forced into mormonism by their parents,who have no chance of knowing anything else.I was not this child.

Neither of my parents were practicing mormons,in fact my father has never been nor,I hope,ever will be,Mormon.And my mother was ex-communicated at a reasonably young age,so there was no driving force at home to become mormon,nor any other religion for that matter.But mormonism was prevailent in my neighborhood and in my school,so it seemed only the natural decision to make.In 1982,at the age of eight,I was baptised and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.A decision I made without having any true knowledge of the teaching or doctrine of the church,I had never even read the Articles of Faith at this point in my life.

So I carried on my career in the church in a see-saw manner, sometimes very stong in my aquired faith,(especially if any responsibility came with the package) sometimes not even realizing that the church was less than 1000 feet from my bedroom.But I was always ready to pull my "testimony"(which mirrored almost verbatim those of everyone else I had heard) to defend a church I only took at face value to be true,against people who had done the necessary research to prove the same church false.And this is the way I grew up,lukewarm in my faith,and ignorant of the truth.

It wasn't until many years later,almost 12, that I set out to find the truth about the mormons,A search that is basically still in progress(I know the church is false,But there is still more to learn)

When I was 17 I joined the U.S.Army and I was stationed in Germany.At this time in my life everything I did was based purely of "shock-value",I had pierced both of my ears,dressed in only black,and claimed Wicca as my religion,I based many decisions on the advise of a ouija board,and unknowingly had set out to ruin my own life.None of this could be blamed on bad up-bringing,My mother and father,although separately,did a fantastic job of raising me,and I thank them for it.I did all of the things I just mentioned because I had a religious void in my life,that the mormon church failed to fill,so I began to search alternative avenues.Wicca threatened to become outright Satanism,(which I claimed at one time but,never truly practiced)and social drinking and drugging(marijuana,mostly) teetered on the edge of full-blown alcaholism and addiction.

On wed. Sep.2 1992, the day after pay-day,and two-for-one night at the local nightclub,I had my first and last encounter with an alcahol induced blackout,which scared what I thought to be God back into me,and I returned for the last time to the LDS church.

Many of my friends in Germany were black,which increased an interest that I had always had in African-American culture,and I started to read about Malcolm X,then I started reading the Qu'ran,One day as I had been reading bits and pieces of The Book of Mormon,the Bible,and the Qu'ran,My bishop paid me an un-expected visit.We got to the subject(rather quickly if I recall correctly)of why I was reading the Qu'ran and why I had such a facination with Black history and culture,I told him that I believed that the Garden of Eden,according to landmarks in the Bible,was located on the African continent and that therefore we are all descended from Africans.He then told me that,as mormons,we believe the Garden to have been located in Missouri.This is the minor point that caused me to leave the church.I just figured that if they say they are "the Only True Church"and I knew they were wrong on this point,how could I believe any of it.

So at 19 years old,an age when most young mormon men are entering the MTC(Missionary Training Center), I was embarking on a mission of a different sort.A mission to find truth and light,to replace the lies and darkness I had been living in for 19 years

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