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God answers Ashley’s concerns—of all places—in the Celestial room of an LDS temple. At the time, her husband was all-in LDS. But as a Christian, she felt convicted: You know the truth.

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Ashley grew up in a home without faith but her parents got saved when she was in her 20s and now suggested she marry the guy she was living with—the marriage lasted 7 months. After the divorce, she met the nicest guy. Vince was inactive LDS which made no difference to her at the time. Although he’d served an LDS mission, he struggled on and off with alcohol. Ashley began to attend her parents’ Baptist church. One day she encountered the Holy Spirit and was all in with the Jesus of the Bible. She saw things with brand new eyes. Ashley got baptized; Vince did not come and when she got home, he was intoxicated. One day, she convinced him to attend a Bible class but the topic happened to be false religions and Mormonism was included. Vince was not interested in a faith that trashed his faith. Eventually they had a daughter and, as tends to happen, religion became important to both.

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Matt called upon the name of the Lord and received His peace and the rest that passes understanding. At the time, he was a piano performance major entering his senior year at Brigham Young University, but anyone who disaffiliates with the LDS church cannot stay at BYU. Having been dramatically changed, he began sharing the gospel of grace to friends/family (his now wife Nicole), left BYU, and became a founding member of the Adam’s Road Ministry in Florida in 2006. Having unusual giftings in piano performance, music composition, and memorizing Scripture, in 2017, Matt says God laid on his heart to expand the reach of Adam’s Road to include the Adam’s Road Piano Ministry. In addition to traveling to give his testimony at churches with Adam’s Road, Matt memorizes Scripture, puts original music he composes behind the Scripture, and bears his testimony of Jesus to church audiences in his own unique gospel presentation. He describes the details of salvations from Idaho to Nevada to Indiana, Utah, and Arizona. God is using the Adam’s Road Piano presentation as well as the Adam’s Road Podcast—which he does weekly—to change hearts toward the gospel of grace.

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Is truth what we feel to be true? What do you do when what you know to be true clashes with what you are feeling is true?
Pastor and researcher Jon Benzinger is our guest again for a fast-paced, fact-filled discussion on the top 5 reasons we can trust the Bible to be our reliable guide for life and relationship with God and others. We also talk about the importance of feelings and we explore how performance-based religion often gets it wrong when it comes to our feelings and how we know truth. Lynn and Jon also talk candidly about how God used the Bible to personally change their lives and the hope and healing that is there for anyone who is seeking transformation.

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As Richard studied the Bible and attended a small church, he felt infused by the Holy Spirit. He was drawn to read the Bible, and returned to prayer. He says, after 10 years, his heart turned back to Jesus. That’s where love was, that’s where peace was. He felt home and prayed for God to show him what he wanted him to do. Please pound me on the head, he prayed, so I can make sure to hear it. Every week at church, his friend Danny said “Hey, I just saw this 17-minute video testimony of an LDS missionary that came to faith in the Jesus of the Bible. You might want to make a movie about this. Promise me you’ll watch it.” Richard had no intention of watching it and avoided doing so for weeks. The last thing he wanted to do was make another movie about Mormonism! One Saturday night he knew Danny would ask him about it again at church in the morning, so he found the video on YouTube and watched it. He was powerfully moved, overcome with emotion. “Really [God]?! You want me to make a movie about a Mormon missionary who becomes a Christian?!” Soon after, Richard boarded a plane to Winter Garden, FL, to meet that young man with the 17-minute testimony. His first night there, sitting by the fountain in downtown Winter Garden, he just KNEW this was what he was supposed to do; the Lord had been preparing him his whole life. He moved to Florida, researched those involved in the story, and wrote a movie script titled Jesus is Enough. Richard is currently seeking funding to produce the movie. His heart is to help others know why Jesus is Enough.

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Hailed as the father of Mormon Cinema, Richard Dutcher released his independent film God’s Army in 2000. It was a critical success heralded by Larry King Live, loved by the New York Times, so his second LDS film, Brigham City, was easy to fund. For the first time, these movies showed the words of the LDS Sacrament prayer, blessing for the sick, and other LDS practices right on screen depicting Richard’s own experiences as a Latter-day Saint. Next, he intended to write/produce a film about the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, so he commenced a serious study of Joseph’s life and early church history. Larry Miller, a wealthy LDS businessman who owned the Utah Jazz, committed to partially back the film. Richard’s success in LDS films begot other LDS film makers. One day after months of exhaustive study of all things Joseph Smith—finding things that bothered him but not yet questioning his faith—Richard went to his knees beside his bed to pray. Arising to sit on his bed in a meditative state, he says God spoke to him so clearly from the deepest, truest part of him; he knew it was God. He heard, “Of course it isn’t true.” Richard’s feelings changed in seconds from peaceful to terrifying. Everything he believed wasn’t true. A final LDS movie, God’s Army 2: States of Grace, became his farewell to Mormonism. The theme was sin, forgiveness, and God’s amazing grace. Many LDS were not ready to accept the Christian view of grace nor the Christian cross seen in the movie. It was a financial failure. Soon after, Richard went public with the news that he was leaving the LDS church. All his LDS investors disappeared. His marriage dissolved; they have 7 children. Richard says knowing what he now knew, he just couldn’t stay. He didn’t have a choice.

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A devout member of the LDS church, he had known from childhood that his passion was to make films. When he got the idea to meld his cinema training with his LDS faith, he thought he had found his purpose in life. Check out his early movies God’s Army and Brigham City. Yet, in the midst of his initial success, he had a spiritual experience that rocked his world. He tells us what happened and how everything changed in that moment.

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How and when did Dr. Eklund become born again? Blue pill or red pill? Matt asks himself, “When I die, do I want Joseph Smith on my side or the Bible on my side?” Can one be born again and remain in the LDS church? These are questions we explore in this episode. When Matt decided he could no longer remain LDS, his LDS fiancé left him. But, he knew a peace he had never experienced before.

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Matt discusses how isolating and difficult an LDS mission can be for a missionary who endures rejection many times a day. We encourage Christians to befriend missionaries and engage in respectful and critical conversation. He alludes to some odd happenings in his LDS mission before his time there (the same mission Mitt Romney served in) when several missionaries eventually followed a counselor to the French Mission president into the LeBaron polygamy group in Mexico.