From: ZionicThomase@cs.com
<ZionicThomase@cs.com>
To: davids_outcasts@listbot.com <davids_outcasts@listbot.com>
Date: Saturday, September 25, 1999 1:28 PM
Subject: Hi, I'm new
David's Outcasts - www.GreaterThings.com/OpenForum/Davids_Outcasts.htm
Hi, I'm new to the david's outcasts list, although I've known our esteemed webmaster for
some time (hey, my mother-in-law used to be his Sunday School teacher!) So let me
introduce myself.
As a teenager, I was a devout agnostic who had a crisis of faith. I ended up
becoming a born-again Christian and was baptized in a Southern Baptist church, but was
unconvinced that Southern Baptists had a corner on the truth. So I kept looking.
In college, I started dating an inactive 5th-generation Mormon, and we pretty much
converted each other. She joined Campus Crusade for Christ and I started reading the
Book of Mormon. I got a testimony of the truth of the BoM, of Joseph Smith as
prophet, and of the restored priesthood.
In 1979 we were wed and in 1980 I joined the LDS Church. Tried to serve
faithfully but was always disturbed by the LDS Church's emphasis on trying to become
worthy of godhood. Saw a lot of works, not much grace, and after a bad experience in
the Salt Lake Temple in 1984, I left the Church.
I felt directed by God to join the RLDS Church, later getting involved in its
charismatic wing.
During this whole time, I have to admit I was a political liberal, and even, I must
admit, a Democrat (gasp)! Things changed though in a big way in April 1993 when I
watched my government massacre more than 80 people near Waco, Texas, the only reason being
their unorthodox religious beliefs and practises.
Well, I'm a researcher, and Waco sent me on a historical quest backwards thru a trail
of similar government actions with names like Ruby Ridge, Singer-Swapp, the 1857 Utah War,
the anti-polygamy raids of the 1880's, and more.
Things moved rather faster than I can recall, except that all of a sudden I found
myself hanging out with people in militias and selling nutritional supplements at
preparedness expos. My friends thought I'd gone nuts.
Theologically, I still consider myself a born-again Christian and a charismatic,
meaning I speak in tongues and lay hands on the sick and they get healed. I've done
"carpet time" in Toronto. I'm still a member of the RLDS Church, but I
don't limit myself to the thought or teachings of any one movement. For example,
there is a non-denominational prophet in North Carolina named Rick Joyner to whom, I
believe, God is revealing more truth than anybody in Mormonism today. And there is
an ex-Baptist preacher in Missouri named Lynn Ridenhour who, more than anybody else,
helped me reconcile the born-again charismatic movement with Joseph Smith and the
restoration.
Well. This is starting to get off the subject. I think I'll sit back and
watch david's outcasts for awhile and see what goes on . . .
Shalom!
Brief Autobiography
