I joined the military while I was a senior in high
school. After I graduated I went active duty thinking
that this was the best thing I could do for myself. I
was wrong! I hated full time military service and I was
always sick. I was able to get an earlier release and I
moved to Illinois to live with a girl I had been dating.
That didn’t work out, so I went back home to stay with
my dad until I could figure out what to do with my life.
When I got settled in, I took a job working for Ford
Security at one of their plants. There was this guy who
always witnessed to me about Christ. One day I went to
his church and I heard about being born again. It really
hit me hard, but I did profess faith in Christ and I
believe that it was genuine. I started going to a
Pentecostal church for awhile, but I didn’t stick with
it. I fell out and just wandered around. I saw a TV
commercial about the Book of Mormon and I requested one.
I never got it though.
After a move to South Carolina, guess what happened? The
Mormon missionaries somehow found me. I guess when Satan
really wants you, he will get you. They gave me a copy
of the BOM and I read it from cover to cover. It sounded
so much like the Bible that I thought this must be
Christianity. I prayed the Moroni 10:3-5 prayer and I
truly had strong feelings that Joseph Smith was a
Prophet of God. I even cried for several hours after I
made my decision to join the Mormon Church.
After being a member for awhile, I was called to serve
as a Church missionary, right back in SC. I served
diligently and faithfully as a missionary. It was
interesting even though I was in SC on a mission, I was
able to keep up a relationship with a girl I had been
dating before I joined the Church. My mission leaders
eventually were able to get me to break off the
relationship, but guess what happened? I ended up
baptizing her into the Mormon Church.
While I was out tracting, you know the missionary thing
to do ... I came into possesion of "anti-Mormon"
materials. I couldn’t believe it, there were folks who
were against God’s true church. But I read the materials
and even researched them to prove that "my church" was
true and they were wrong. The thing was, that they were
right and "my church" was in error! I went to my mission
leaders and told them about what I had found. They
didn’t like it and told me to concentrate on my mission,
etc. I continued to do more research and report my
findings. All I wanted was to make things right. At one
point my mission leaders threatened to kick me off the
mission. That's how bad it got.
One night I was just so upset at what was happening in
my life. I felt that my life was ready to fall apart. I
was believing in a different Jesus, a different God and
I was trying to work my way to Salvation. It wasn’t
sitting well with the "anti" stuff I had been reading.
It taught me that we can be saved by God’s grace (His
unmerited love to us) without working for it. And
because of His grace, we are created to do good works. I
was very confused. So, I left the home I was in and went
to a country western bar. Imagine a Mormon missionary in
a smoke infested, beer drinking bar. I stuck out like a
sore thumb!
It was there that I met my future wife. I told her I was
a Mormon (of course she could tell). I even danced with
her a few times and told her that I was going to marry
her. She said I was crazy and slapped my face for being
too forward. She proceeded to tell me about her faith in
Christ. Wow, her faith in Christ matched up with the
"anti" material I had been reading. She even invited me
to her Baptist Church. One Sunday I finally went. Had to
sneak away to go though. The message was so simple to
understand. No works, just God’s love for us who have
sinned.
Lisa (my future wife) and I kept in contact even though
the Church had forbidden me to talk with her. Every once
in awhile I would go back to her church and listen to
the message of salvation. I kept praying and asking God
(wasn’t sure which god) that I could just find peace in
my life.
Well, it all came to a boiling point. Lisa’s mother even
started witnessing to me. She said God didn’t plan for
me to be a Mormon, instead he had bigger and better
plans. Which God I wondered? She read my mind and told
me that the god of the Bible is the only true God and
not the Mormon god. It really shook me up.
Later that night I prayed and prayed until I couldn’t
any more. That morning which was Sunday, I resolved by
the true God of the Bible that I could not continue to
be a missionary for the Mormon Church. I went to the
Sacrament Meeting and turned in my name tags and told
the Bishop that I was leaving and not coming back. I
walked out, went and called Lisa and told her what I
did. I asked her about what to do, because I had nowhere
to go in SC. Her mom told me that I could stay with them
until I figured out where God wanted me. So I got what
little stuff I had and relocated to NC (near
Wilmington).
I attended the Baptist church on a regular basis and
even went to Sunday School. But I wasn’t sure about
getting involved with another organization. The SS
teacher and I became close friends and he and I would
have long talks about the Bible and how it applied to
our lives. He showed me that the Bible didn’t have
errors in it, that it was translated correctly. That I
could completely trust in the teachings and doctrines
found in it. I finally rededicated my life to the real
Jesus of the Bible and renounced all the oaths and
covenants that I took in the Mormon Church. God
proceeded to call me into the ministry of which I am in
at this time.
Lisa and I did get married on June 15th 1994. And last
year (summer 1998) I was excommunicated from The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I didn’t care how
my name was removed, I just wanted it gone from their
rolls. I now am the Senior Pastor of a Southern Baptist
Church in SC. I also am a North American Missionary with
the Southern Baptist Convention. My primary work is
evangelism to people in the Mormon Church. That is my
story up to this point.
In Christ's love,
Terry Foss
tfoss@ftc-i.net