She Was Mormon for 25 Years—Then Everything Changed

Cliff Buell

Download First Light and build a God-first routine by blocking apps until you read your Bible: https://firstlight.onelink.me/tenZ/qtzffd2h   After 25 years in Mormonism, one conversation caused this woman to question everything she had believed about the LDS Church. In this video, I react to her powerful testimony of leaving Mormonism, investigating the Bible for herself, and ultimately embracing Christianity.  Original video is found on Instagram: @kighleyyyym  Are You Going To Heaven OR Hell?👇 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzmENeLZzb4&t=2s  All Important Links: https://linktr.ee/cliffbuell  Become A Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ap1CNrpXD-O0wWPANhQvw/join  Connect With Me: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CliffBuell Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cliffbuell/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cliffbuell  #christian #jesus #god #bible #reaction #mormon #church #truth #religion #angel #demon #scripture #lds   FAIR USE DISCLAIMER This video may contain copyrighted material that has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is used for purposes of criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, research, or education, which constitute “fair use” under Section 107 of the Copyright Act. I do not claim ownership of any copyrighted material used in this video. All rights and credit go directly to their respective owners. This content is transformative in nature — adding new meaning, commentary, or context — and does not substitute for the original works. If any copyright owner has concerns or would like material removed, please contact me directly and I will resolve the matter promptly.

Transcript

00:00I saw this video the other day, my testimony from Mormon to Christian, and I haven't watched it yet.

00:06This is a blind reaction. I'm actually really excited about this because I never get to react

00:10to videos without already seeing them. I always just see stuff, save it, and then react to it.

00:14And so when I get to record myself reacting to a video for the first time, it's really exciting.

00:18This is a longer video. So when I noticed it was longer, I stopped watching it. And I literally

00:23have seen like the first like 30 seconds and I saved it. And I was like, let me just react

00:27to

00:27this without watching it. So you guys are watching it for the first time if you've never seen it before

00:30with me watching it for the first time. And I love that. I love that for us. I know this

00:34is going to

00:34ruffle some feathers. Obviously Mormons think that they're Christians and then your Protestant,

00:38Orthodox, and Catholic Christians don't think that Mormons are Christians. And there's good

00:44biblical reason for this. And I have no idea what she's going to say in this video, but I think

00:49we

00:49should just watch it, see what she says, and have a discussion about it. So before we get into it,

00:53my name is Cliff Buell. If you're new here, welcome. If you're not new here, welcome back. This channel

00:55exists to build a believer and reach the lost. If you like Christian content, make sure to hit that

00:59subscribe button. So what I found is she is an influencer. Uh, she makes, I think like relatable

01:06family, a funny type of content, a lot of like comedy stuff. So that's cool. I think I've seen

01:12her before, but I don't really know much about her, know her content, anything like that. Again,

01:15this video just popped up for me and I was like, let's give it a go. Let's jump into it

01:18right now.

01:19I am what you would call an ex Mormon Christian. I was a Mormon, Latter-day Saint, member of the

01:23Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the first 25 years of my life. I was born into

01:27the church. I was baptized when I was eight. We were very active members of the church as a family.

01:31I met my husband when I was about 19 years old. He thought Mormons were just like another

01:34denomination, like Methodists. And I was like, yeah, that's what it is. And then he quickly learned

01:38as we started to discuss our different religions, he realized that no, actually it is not like a

01:45Methodist. I was very zealous for what I believed and he was very zealous for what he believed. And we

01:48were

01:49constantly trying to convert each other. The first five years of our marriage, it was a huge area of

01:52contention. Every Sunday, we- That's crazy. The Bible says to be equally yoked. And I think,

01:56you know, Mormons might argue that they can be equally yoked. But even as you're hearing here,

02:01she was devoutly a Mormon and there was contention on her side as well. This is not a area to

02:06be equally

02:06yoked because there are major differences within Mormonism and Christianity. But we'll see what she

02:12gets into. I'm not going to dive into anything yet. We would go to our separate churches. He would take

02:17his daughter with him to his church and I would take my daughter with me to the LDS church. I

02:21had no

02:21intention on leaving the church ever. As a matter of fact, I had every intention on getting his work

02:25done in the temple if he died first. My oldest daughter met a friend and wanted us to start

02:28getting to know her parents so that she could play at her house. When I met this mom, this mom

02:32was an

02:32ex-Mormon and I had never met an ex-Mormon before. I was very intrigued, not because I was looking

02:37to

02:37leave Mormonism, but because I wanted to know how she was living a lie. How did you leave the true

02:42church

02:43and how are you living a lie now? That was my thought process. So I wanted to know how she

02:46was able to

02:48rationalize living that way. So me and this woman had a play date so we can get to know each

02:50other

02:50better. And I was hoping that we would bring it up, but I wasn't sure if we were going to

02:54or not.

02:54Now, pause. Previous to this, my husband had shared the gospel with me. He told me that it is by

02:59faith

02:59alone that you are saved, that you are found righteous before God by your faith in the saving

03:04work of Jesus Christ alone. And I said, that sounds cheap. There's no way. You can just say that you

03:09believe and then go do whatever you want. That's crap. That's cheap. You need to prove. You need to do

03:14works. You need to do things in order to be worthy. Now back to where we are. We're at the

03:17play date.

03:17Really quick. I just want to hit on something because this is obviously a huge argument across

03:21multiple denominations of Christianity. And a lot of people have a very poor understanding of even

03:25how this works. When you are saved by Jesus Christ by faith alone, which the scripture is very clear

03:30about that, that is not an excuse to go do whatever you want to do. Paul lays it out. I

03:34think it's from

03:35Romans 5 to 6, where he says that where sin abounds, grace abounds, meaning the grace that was given to

03:40us

03:41through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, it abounds over all sin. There's no sin

03:46that can't be covered by grace. But then he goes on to literally address this, the point here of

03:51saying, well, does that mean I can just go on sinning if it's already covered by grace? And he

03:57literally says, by no means, like the Bible is clear, by no means you don't go on sinning. And the

04:01only other thing I'll say about this is that we should have fruit. There should be good works. The Bible

04:05is very explicit again in saying there should be many good works that are produced from our faith.

04:11Christians should be doing good works, point blank, period. The good works don't get us into heaven.

04:17Jesus did the work already on the cross. The good works are a product of our salvation,

04:21our relationship with Jesus Christ, who is changing us. You do not get clean to get into the shower. You

04:26get into the shower, you get clean. Jesus is the metaphorical shower here. And as you get clean,

04:31then you show evidence that you are clean. You're presented new and you're going to walk out of faith.

04:35The Holy Spirit is going to work in you to do that. That's all I'll say about that. Just to

04:38clarify,

04:38that's a hundred percent what I believe. You may disagree with me. I know a lot of people do. I

04:42think

04:42the Bible is just explicitly clear on that. And it does come up. So I get to ask her questions.

04:46So I

04:47asked her, what about the book of Mormon, right? You read it at the end, it says, pray and know

04:51these things are true. You're supposed to get some kind of a good feeling of burning in your

04:53business, something to let you know that the Holy Spirit is telling you this is truth. What about the

04:58book of Mormon? And she said, I believe that there are truths in the book of Mormon, but I think

05:02those

05:02truths have been twisted so much that they're not truth anymore. And then I said, okay, well,

05:06the Bible says by your fruits, you will know them. Generally, the Mormon church produces good

05:11moral children and good moral family. I will agree with that. Mormons are some of the kindest

05:16people I have ever met. It's unquestionable. They're very kind, very disciplined. Most of the

05:21time as well, there is good fruit within the Mormon church. Now that doesn't necessarily make

05:26it a hundred percent true, but I'll let her, we'll see what she says here. While I have you here,

05:29I created an app that blocks your distracting apps until you read your Bible. It's called first light

05:33Bible and prayer. And you do a prayer and then you do your Bible study. When you're finished reading,

05:37you check off the chapter and book that you read. So you can track reading through the entire Bible

05:41and then it unlocks your apps. So your phone can stop distracting you from actually spending time

05:44with the Lord and getting into your word. This has helped me for the past four months. I've been

05:48using it consistently. If you think that it could help you too, I'll leave a pin comment below,

05:52or you can scan the QR code. What about that? What about the good fruits that it produces? Which is,

05:56I agree that the church does produce generally good moral people and it looks good on the outside,

06:02but Satan comes dressed as an angel of light. And when she said that immediately, the angel Moroni

06:10popped into my brain. And I, in that moment knew that the angel Moroni was in fact a demon.

06:17Now, if you don't know, the angel Moroni is the angel who appeared to Joseph Smith,

06:20who instructed him on going and finding the golden plates that would later be constructed into the book

06:25of Mormon. Now, if you don't know, the book of Mormon claims to be another revelation of Jesus

06:29Christ in the Americas, all of the plain and precious truths that had been lost over time

06:34as the Bible was translated from language to language to language through all of those

06:38translations, pieces were missing. The book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price,

06:41all of those things are meant to be the restoration of the truth in the latter days. Back to where

06:46we're at

06:46now. The angel Moroni immediately popped into my brain and it's like, I know he is a demon at that

06:51moment. And I absolutely go silent and it's like the lights flipped on. Real quick, my wife actually

06:58looked into Moroni and the name. There's no Hebrew correlation. It's actually an Italian name.

07:03And there's some correlations too that show that Joseph Smith most likely stole the story from

07:08something else using the name and the island and everything that's associated with that. I don't

07:12have all the details in front of me, so I'm not going to get into it all. But Joseph Smith

07:16was a

07:16known con man. And so the story lines up heavily with like, it was just a big con. Let's let

07:21her

07:21finish. She has the experience. I don't. And an immediate paradigm shift happened instantaneously.

07:28Wow. And I was sitting there and I said, I have to leave. So I gathered my children and like,

07:33I did

07:33not talk to this woman because I was like panicking in my brain. And I grabbed my kids. I went

07:39home. I was

07:39silent on the ride home, got home, fed my kids lunch, put them down for their nap. And I was

07:43just,

07:44everything was unraveling. Every conversation, every apologetics, everything that I'd ever believed

07:48just was unraveling. And I could not believe the thoughts that I was having about the religion

07:55that I had grown up knowing to be true. I called my husband. I want to state real quick. Some

08:00people

08:01have experienced this, but a lot of people haven't. I have not. Imagine growing up in something your

08:05entire life, you know, 25 years and then discovering it's a lie. Like everything you believe to be true for

08:11your entire life is a lie. I can only again, fathom what that is like. I have not experienced

08:16that for myself. So I think it's like, we have to have compassion on Muslims, on Mormons, on Jehovah

08:22witness, on other religions of all sorts of types, the way they grow up in these things, believing this

08:27is true. This is all I've ever known. And to learn, it's all a lie. You've been deceived. You didn't

08:32know any better, but this is what you believed and devoted your life to and spent so much time and

08:36money and energy giving into to find out it was all just a sham. It was the devil deceiving you.

08:41Like that is a huge shift for people. And I think we need to have a lot more compassion

08:44for people who are deceived and in false religions and believe false things so that we can better

08:49reach them because it's not easy to pull someone out of decades of indoctrination into lies.

08:55And I was just trying to tell him, I was like word vomiting. I was trying to tell him everything

08:59that

08:59had just happened. And finally, after I told him all the things that had just happened, I said,

09:03it's not true. The church isn't true. And as soon as I said that, I fell to my knees crying

09:11and

09:12screaming. I was in such agony and pain and despair. Yet at the same time, it was like this burden

09:21had

09:21lifted off my shoulders. I felt free. And all I could think was Jesus. That's all that I could think.

09:28Fast forward a little bit. I had the sense that Jesus was the way, right? But I knew, okay, I

09:34have

09:34literally been living in deception my whole life. If that wasn't true, how do I know that the Bible

09:40is true? So I decided, okay, I'm going to look into all of the other main religions that I know

09:45of.

09:45What I found was very interesting that they all had in common. They all relied upon one man being

09:51visited by a spiritual being and being told they needed to add things to the Bible.

09:56I was not expecting her to say this. So all major religions actually mentioned Jesus as some

10:01figure. And Christianity is the only one that claims Jesus is the way, the truth, the life,

10:05while they all say he is a way. And I thought she was going to go that route. But this

10:09is actually

10:09a really interesting point.

10:10And or every single other religion besides Christianity demotes Jesus from his deity.

10:17So he's either just a good man, a prophet, the son of God, but he is not God in the

10:22flesh,

10:23Emmanuel. And they all have to deny historical, geographical. They even have to deny

10:26like criminal charges and accusations in order for it to be standing because the men that founded

10:31them have to be these morally perfect men. And then when I looked into the Bible, I looked into

10:35the canonization of the Bible. I looked at the council of Nicaea. I looked into how the books

10:39that we have came about. I looked into the transliteration because it is not translated

10:43from language to language to language. We can literally gather the thousands of Greek manuscripts

10:48right now that we have, and we could compile them and translate them ourselves from Greek

10:53into English. It's literally the same one that they had then that we have now. The Dead Sea Scrolls,

10:58for example, completely disprove Lehi being a prophet. Lehi prophesied that many plain and

11:03precious truths would be lost after the death of the apostles. And the Dead Sea Scrolls have the

11:08entire book of Isaiah. That is the exact same book that we have today. Joseph Smith still added

11:18things in the Joseph Smith translation to the book of Isaiah, as well as many other books. Completely

11:23deny all of the thousands and thousands of manuscripts that we have. No plain and precious

11:27truths were lost. So once I discovered, okay, this book is reliable. Historically, it is an actual

11:34reliable historical document. Now the question is, does it have a divine authority over my life?

11:41So then I decided, okay, I want to read this whole book from Genesis to Revelation. And I did.

11:45I spent hours a day reading and consuming and studying this book. And through reading God's

11:50word, I have been transformed and changed and renewed and turned into a new creature for Christ.

11:55It is no longer I who lives with Christ, who lives in me. Praise the Lord. He has revealed himself

12:00to

12:00me, illuminated himself in scripture, and I no longer chase and desire after destruction. I desire God.

12:06And that was something that I had always wanted, even as a Mormon. I wanted to want to read my

12:11Bible.

12:11I wanted to want to pray. I wanted to want to go to church, but I only did those things

12:15because I

12:16knew that I was supposed to, and I hated doing them. And now the Lord has given me a new

12:20heart,

12:21changed my heart of stone into a heart of flesh who loves the Lord, who submits to the Lord. And

12:25I am so

12:25grateful that he has changed my life and he has saved me. And it was the word of God that

12:30my friend

12:32spoke to me that pierced my heart, pierced through bone and marrow. I didn't realize she was quoting the

12:37Bible, but it was the very thing that God used to flip on those lights. All of that preparation,

12:42all that calling that he had been doing for years finally came to fruition in that moment when my

12:48friend lovingly spoke the truth to me and used God's word to do it. True gospel of Jesus Christ,

12:55that he came, he lived the perfect life that we could not live. He died the death that we deserve.

13:00And when we put our faith in his saving work on the cross, we get the transactional salvation.

13:05We are clothed in his righteousness and we are presented justified, perfected in Christ before

13:12God. And what peace and joy and happiness that that is, what freedom we get to live in now.

13:19One scripture that I really wanted to look at that really encompasses this. And a lot of you

13:22already know this. She quoted that the devil will often come as an angel of light. That is very true.

13:25And in addition to that, in Galatians 1, Paul is writing to the church of Galatia because they are

13:29starting to believe in a different gospel. And he's like, what are you doing? You're deserting it so

13:33quickly. In verse 8, he says, but even if we, or we, including himself, he means, or an angel from

13:39heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed.

13:45He's saying, if I come back to you with a different gospel than what you've already received,

13:48or even an angel from heaven comes and preaches a different gospel, it's wrong. It is clearly wrong.

13:56And that person or angel should be accursed. What do we have? We have an angel Moroni coming and

14:00preaching a different gospel. Same thing with Islam. Muhammad experiences a encounter with

14:06an angel, even though he said it was a demon. And what do we have? A different gospel. I think

14:11it's

14:11very clear what happened. We need to know the truth of the scripture because the scripture

14:15consistently contradicts the book of Mormon. I do not believe Mormons are bad people, but I do

14:20believe they are deeply deceived. If you look at the prophets in Mormonism and you look at some of the

14:26history, there's some questionable things. I'm not going to make this a whole video about going into

14:30Mormonism. I think this woman's testimony is phenomenal. I think it speaks volumes and there

14:34is so much truth in what she was saying. And so if you are currently a part of the LDS

14:39church,

14:39do some research, do some real digging and ask the hard questions, look into the contradictions,

14:45face what you might be scared or not want to face. Because at the end of the day, the truth

14:49is the most

14:50important thing. And if you're not wrong, then you'll see that the truth shows that you're right.

14:54And if you are wrong, you'll see that the truth shows that you're wrong, but that it's okay

14:58because it's so easy to come into a true relationship with Jesus Christ, true saving

15:02relationship with Jesus Christ. Well, if you watch the end, you are a legend. Remember to hit that

15:07subscribe button. If you like Christian content, share this with somebody who needs to see it like

15:10the video, if you enjoyed watching it, and I cannot wait to see you on the next one. I love

15:14you and God

15:14bless.

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