There is only one effective tool in penetrating the darkness of any cult, be it Mormonism, Watchtower, Catholicism or whatever and that tool is the Word of God. It is sharper than any two edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). We are called sheep because we want someone to be in the lead. The shepherd is not visible and the sheep end up in one pen or another led by a human shepherd.
Cults frown on a personal relationship with our true shepherd because He reveals the truth to us. The Word is very clear that our spirit should be in subjection to the Holy Spirit who will reveal Himself to a believer and teach him and her directly.
We may have the Holy Spirit but if we are not in subjection to Him, Satan will manipulate us. It is no different then a parent and child relationship. If the child is not subjected to the parent, it will be led by someone else. The blood relationship between the parent and child doesn't change but the welfare of the child is certainly in jeopardy.
Revelation 19:13 states that Jesus was ".. clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God." If He is in us then the Word is in us (1John 2:14). What needs to happen then to us is to get to that Word in us, the veil has to be penetrated which can only happen by ".. a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;" (Hebrews 6:19,20)
I personally believe that we only confirm what we already know to be truth when we read the Bible. We receive the Holy Ghost when we repent and confess Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Truth. Truth is the Word of God and the Holy Ghost personally inspired prophets to write the truth, which has already been written. How often have we said that people know right from wrong. They choose to do wrong when they do.
The Bible confirms what we already know. Jesus Christ is God: God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. He had the Word in Him, quoting it verbatim from the Old Testament, stating over and over, that "it is written." In fact the Word was written before creation of the world (John 1:1) and is in process of being fulfilled to the smallest details.
"In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." (John 1:4) Again in John 1:9 Pointing to Jesus "..was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
Our relationship with the Lord has little to do with the Pope, LDS leadership or any "saint", "Mother of God" or other. It goes on in our hearts with the Lord Himself. It reminds me of Jacob's struggle with God which culminated in God touching the hollow of his thigh to remind him of God for the rest of his life. It was so effective that the children of Israel do not eat of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh.
"And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." (Genesis 32:30) "But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee:.. (Jeremiah 12:3) "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world:. "(John 18:36) Long before anyone ever heard of a Pope Jesus said: ".. It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4) He speaks to our hearts. ".. If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:31,32)
"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the
world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them." (1 John 4:4-5)To get a better understanding of our human makeup we can go back to Genesis 1:27 : "So God created man in his [own] image.. " This statement has to do with our soul / spirit makeup because God is essentially Spirit (John 4:24). Therefore, man, who is similar to God in certain respects (Gen. 1:26) without being equal with Him (Isa. 40:25). Man's likeness to God is what truly distinguishes him from the rest of creation. Man is a personal being with the power to think, feel and decide.
He has the ability to make moral choices and the capacity for spiritual growth or decline. In the beginning, man loved God and was a holy creature. The fall changed this. Man's spirit was so altered by sin that he fled from God and loves evil more than righteousness. (John 3:19,20)
After Adam's time, only those who lived uprightly before God were considered to be His offspring (see Matt.3:7; 13:38; John 12:36; Acts 13:10; Col. 3:6). Man is in a fallen state since Adam and does not have the same spiritual, God-like attributes and qualities of that original state. Notice in the following Scriptures: "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul;
the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit." (1 Corinthians 15:45) The last Adam was Jesus Christ. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth [them]; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will." (John 5:21)The second Adam (1Cor.15:45), came to undo Satan's works (1John 3:8) and to restore a spiritual likeness to God (2Cor. 3:18; Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10).
The Apostle Paul said, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18) "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." (Ephesians 4:24) And have put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: (Colossians 3:10)
I have often wondered about Cain and Abel. How did Abel know to offer the correct sacrifice to give to cover his sin? Adam was the first man. There was no Bible. Adam is the only one who could have instructed his sons or did Abel himself have access to the Holy Spirit who is our teacher?
Enoch, Abraham and Moses are among prophets who had direct relationships with God and knew the truth and believed it. "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which [be] the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat." (Hebrews 5:12) " And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest." (Hebrews 8:11)
THESE THINGS HAVE I WRITTEN UNTO YOU CONCERNING THEM THAT SEDUCE YOU The Scripture makes it clear how we come to the truth. "But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: [(but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also].
"Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, [even] eternal life. These [things] have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teachest you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him ." (1 John 2:20-27)
What is the meaning of "ye have an unction"? "Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, [is] God; (2 Corinthians 1:21) The reason being: "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, [even] thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." (Hebrews 1:9)
Who is the Holy One? "And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit (because the spirit's time to be cast into hell was not yet); and he cried out, Saying, Let [us] alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God." (Mark 1:23,24) To confirm that the Holy One is Jesus Christ Himself (when the people were asked which one was to be set free, Jesus or the murderer, They decided that Jesus was to be crucified): "But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; (Acts 3:14)
Following is the consequence of: "ye know all things": "And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers." (John 10:4,5)
THE COMFORTER WILL SHOW YOU ALL THINGS TO COME "But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:26)
When Jesus spoke of His death He also spoke of the Conforter who was to come to believers. "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, [that] shall He speak: and He will show you things to come. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, [that] shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come." (John 16:7-13)
"But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same amointing teachest you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taugt you, ye shall abide in Him." (1John 2:27)
THE WORD FORM THE SPIRIT OF MAN "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called [me] by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: (Galatians 1:15,16)
The reason the Apostle Paul preached the Word was to form the spirit of man within listeners with His Word (Zech. 12:1) "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name [is] Holy; I dwell in the high and holy [place], with him also [that is] of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls [which] I have made." (Isaiah 57:15,16)
"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected [us], and we gave [them] reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" (Hebrews 12:9)