What do Mormonism and Chuck E. Cheese have in common?

As a Christian, the study of Mormonism has had many affects on me -- through Mormonism God has touched my heart and life in ways that I would never have thought possible.

Yesterday my family visited a Christian church we'd never been to before. In addition to the reverent worship of God, praise, thanks, and fellowship, the message from this pastor whom I don't know from Adam, was able to reach out and touch me.

During the message about the search for truth, and the hard-fought battle over worldly values to find God's simple plan for us, we looked at how Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. To Esau, he missed the value of his birthright for gratification of his fleshly desire to quench his hunger. The pastor then tied this example to the parable of The Pearl of Great Price, Matthew 13:45-46, where Jesus told of the man who was searching for this thing of value, and when he found it he saw how it was more valuable than everything else he owned -- he then sold everything he owned to obtain this "pearl of great price."

My first reaction was negative. A had a visceral reaction to the words "pearl of great price" because of what I know of the book by the same name.

For me, as a flesh-borne human being struggling with this earth, the writings of Joseph Smith Jr. and my knowledge of them supplanted my ability, for a moment, to appreciate the true pearl and toss it aside. My reaction to hearing the words "pearl of great price" triggered a reaction in me that I had to ponder for hours after the message, until I realized what was going on inside of me.

You see, this reaction was very similar to the first time that I visited Disneyland. Unlike so many California natives, I did not get a chance to go to Disneyland until I was an adult (this was in the 1980's), and drove myself with a friend on the 8 hour trek to kid mecca. While making the rounds on the rides at Disneyland, we finally wended our way to the Hall of Presidents, where I was absolutely left hollow and unimpressed by the animatronic Lincoln -- my jaw was dropped open, I was so absolutely astounded at how unimpressive it was to see this jerky facsimile of the lanky president "speaking" to us. It was the LOW light of my trip to Disneyland.

It wasn't until months later, when attending a nephew's birthday party at the nation-wide chain Chuck E. Cheese that I realized what had happened to me at Disneyland. I was in a moment transported back to the Hall of Presidents, and I realized what had happened.

I had been to Chuck E. Cheese many times. I was an arcade machine junkie as a teen, and sometimes the "fix" had to come from the least desirable source, Chuck E. Cheese (later I would score a job at a movie theater and make friends with the arcade room manager ... and the "freebies" arcade games went into the early morning on more weekend nights than I care to admit). What I had been exposed to at Chuck E. Cheese had affected me in ways I didn't realize. For years, the exposure to the mass-produced, computer-controlled, loud and obnoxious Chuck E. Cheese "animatronic" characters that played for the kids entertainment, had numbed me. The acceptance of the cheap facsimile had spoiled the value of the original.

When I sat at Disneyland for that first time, I was numbed to the Disney presidents. Mind you, these were absolutely ground-breaking technology in their day -- people were literally freaked out by the realism of these "robots" and there were even urban legends started about the Disney engineers working on robotic park staff, etc. In their day, these animatronics were seen as: 1. Realistic, 2. Unfathomable technologically, 3. Educational! These artificial characters were intended to teach the public; to transport the average American back in time, to almost reach out and touch past characters from the founding of our nation, and present "living history" to the public. What I saw was "the Pizza Time Players" -- Crusty the Cat, Jasper T. Jowls, Pasqually, and the Warblettes.

As I sat in church hearing the word of God preached, my mind short-circuited the living Word to justify to myself how what was being teached had nothing to do with the Book of Abraham or the Book of Moses, Papyri, Chandler's mummies and Egyptian funerary amulets. To me, I allowed my knowledge of Mormonism to implant a filter -- a logical branch that is triggered whenever terms used by the LDS Church are mentioned in a Christian setting. Quite honestly, my first reaction to hearing these words uttered, was to roll my eyes. How shameful! I had some real soul searching to do to justify my reaction to the Word of God, and this post is part of the fruit of that journey.

God really reached out to me yesterday and said this to me : If this happens to you, imagine how lost the LDS people are when they hear these terms! How sad for them not to even know the TRUE meaning of these words, at least you can discern them!

Salvation. Born Again. Grace. The Pearl of Great Price. Testimony. The Holy Ghost. The Trinity. The Holy Bible. Heaven/Hell. The list of words and terms that have been redefined by Joseph Smith in the Mormon religion are almost too numerous to list, and I just scratched the surface.

This message has two parts:
1. LDS people, seek the TRUTH of the Word of God! Search for the true Pearl of Great Price! The truth that only he who dies to himself can live for God (2 Cor 5:15).

2. Christians: Do not allow what you know about Mormonism to stand in the way of your walk with God. Embrace God's word, in spite of the redefined Biblical ideals, the deceptions that the LDS religion has introduced to us, which we are now aware of. A personal testimony is a good and powerful thing. The Pearl of Great Price is NOT a book. Salvation is not for everyone, but only those who accept the free and unmerited GIFT of salvation and the spiritual regeneration/baptism of the Holy Spirit! And the list goes on.

Examine all things; hold fast to what is good! (1Thess 5:21 ; Jer 8:5, Mark 7:4, Mark 7:8, Hebrews 4:14, Hebrews 6:18)