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Gayle and the Wilders discuss what the Bible says about how one becomes born again or saved. Gayle’s mom was generational LDS; her father was a convert to the LDS Church out of the Baptist Church. Of their 6 children, one was a traditional Christian, the other 5 were LDS. That traditional Christian sister took 16-year-old LDS Gayle to a Christian revival in New Mexico where she was so overwhelmed by the Spirit, she went forward and gave her life to Jesus. Gayle was grateful for her one year at BYU where she realized the LDS prized their unique scriptures above the Bible. She left Mormonism and never looked back. Gayle encourages us to grab onto His garment, to grab onto Jesus alone.

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After his LDS mission, Daniel attended Law School at BYU. He met an amazing wife, generational LDS; they were sealed in the Draper, Utah Temple and have 3 beautiful daughters. It was his wife who first began deconstructing her LDS faith when she read the 149-page Letter to My Wife. She grew up with a lot of shame associated with the LDS church from feeling she could never measure up, even though she was active and served a mission. An LDS friend shared with her what she had learned about Joseph Smith’s coercive and inappropriate polygamous relationships. When his wife began attending Christian churches and heard the gospel of grace, it freed her and transformed her overnight in a way that moved Daniel to attend with her. He came to love the simple gospel of grace from Romans 8 and the way Christians worshipped God.

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Although the LDS missionaries seemed to exemplify this love Lillie sought from God, she recognized that they were denying God by pursuing Him through salvation by their own works. After hearing Micah Wilder’s YouTube testimony (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0mckI8Xfl8), she realized salvation comes by grace through faith in Christ alone, not through any special church, ordinance, or priesthood power. The moment this grace-message clicked, her heart was changed, her eyes opened, and she received the baptism of fire. Lillie read in Acts that the Holy Spirit came by an act of God; God did not require LDS priesthood. Discovering, miraculously, that she lived in the same town as the former LDS missionary whose now Christian testimony had helped point her to the Truth, Lillie connected with members of the Adam’s Road ministry. Lillie’s Christian mom returned home to Texas praising God. And, Lillie developed a heart to witness to LDS. She is now a valued member of the very ministry, Adam’s Road, that helped her see that salvation came by grace through faith in Christ and that Jesus was enough.

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The LDS missionaries asked Lillie, “What do you believe about Jesus?” These missionaries seemed so zealous, so passionate, so genuine in their faith, she and another young man in the apartment complex began taking the missionary discussions. A month later, they both committed to be baptized into the LDS Church. Lillie knew nothing about LDS history or Joseph Smith, she hadn’t read the Bible, so, she explains, she didn’t even know what to ask the missionaries. The night before her LDS baptism, her Christian mom surprised her by flying in from Texas. The discussion began at midnight. Lillie was angry at her family. Didn’t they understand she was seeking faith in God by joining the LDS Church?

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Now that Alicia knew Jesus as Savior, realizing that He was God and bigger than any religious system—He alone was Prophet, King, Intercessor, and High Priest, she decided not to return to BYU. Instead, she left Utah and accepted a job in Winter Garden, Florida managing a Bed and Breakfast and working in two restaurants on the first floor of the Historic Edgewater (www.historicedgewater.com). Alicia was seeking to know a life with Jesus but without the LDS religion in which she was raised. Christ had become everything to her. She shares a scripture that helped her understand the importance of Jesus above all. Matthew 10: 34-39 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace...I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother...Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of Me...whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Weeks later, future husband, Micah Wilder, was sent home early from his LDS mission for bearing testimony in front of fellow LDS missionaries that Jesus was all he needed for salvation and his salvation was now secure in Him. According to LDS scripture, salvation comes by "obedience to the laws and ordinances of the [LDS] gospel" (Third Article of Faith), not by faith in Christ alone. Micah and Alicia eloped and had a heart for Christian ministry, Alicia ministering to guests in the Bed & Breakfast and Micah bearing his testimony to Christians and nonbelievers through the Adam's Road Ministry. For Alicia, knowing the God of the Bible had changed everything.

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Something was missing. Alicia said LDS life looked okay on the outside, but inside, she had questions. She noticed hypocrisy from her LDS peers. Their shortcomings did not seem to bother them, but didn’t they matter to God? She began to recognize her own imperfections and felt lost, destitute, and began to struggle. She clung to her friend Micah’s email that said God loves us unconditionally, giving her hope that God might love her. But she sensed her depravity and knew she could not make herself worthy of him on her own. She had been taught her perfection was required to please God and to keep the LDS Holy Ghost with her. One night in desperation, she cried out to God and asked him to take over her life. She could not measure up on her own merit. For 3 wonderful days afterward, she knew God saw her in her destitute state and yet loved her; the peace was palpable. Alicia now believed God had taken her to that place of brokenness and surrender that good might result—that she would know his love. She became open, hungry, and developed a longing to read the Bible. She took her questions to her NT class at BYU and describes herself as the “class lunatic" with so many questions.

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Michael did begin to read the Bible but he was still attending the LDS Church, paying his (and wife Lynn’s) tithing, and fulfilling his LDS calling as chairperson of the Redeem the Dead Committee. In this position, he prepared LDS members to attend the temple, often took a group with him there, and attended the temple himself perhaps once a week. One question that had always haunted Michael was whether polygamy as taught in D&C 132 really was of God. So, one day alone in the Celestial room of the Timpanogos Temple, where he believed Satan could not enter or deceive him, he asked God whether polygamy was of Him. He describes an unexpected answer. A few days later, he had a second encounter with the Living God of the Bible and knew his time in the LDS Church would soon reach an end.

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Michael declares he was a “happy Mormon.” He goes into some detail about his first temple experience: the washing and anointing, the garment of the holy priesthood, and the endowment. Mike and Lynn worked as restricted ordinance workers in an LDS temple for 10 years. Michael became a high priest in the LDS church at age 36 spending perhaps 20 hours a week or more in church work. He fully believed the LDS Scripture Third Article of Faith that reads, “saved by the [LDS] Laws and Ordinances of the [LDS] Gospel.” He also believed the Eighth Article of Faith which indicates the Bible is not always “translated correctly.”

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How does someone who has been raised in a traditional Christian home attending a Baptist church join the LDS Church, and why? Michael Wilder is the husband of Lynn Wilder, podcast host. They have been married 48 years, raised 4 children together, and have 7 grandchildren. We are excited to announce that Mike will be joining Lynn as podcast co-host, so here is his 5-part story from the LDS Church to the Jesus of the Bible. Mike tells of his fear growing up of “being hit by a bus” without being baptized and explains how when the LDS missionaries knocked on his door in his 20s, he knew enough about the Bible “to be dangerous.”