Have you ever had a day where frustrations were mounting and you said a little prayer along the lines of "oh, Lord, give me patience"?  You may have noticed that G-d often seems to answer those prayers by bringing something (or someone?) into your life that will test your patience... a lot.

Being the sensible guy that I am, I have learned to curb my tongue when it comes to uttering that particular prayer.  I'm like a child at the dinner table when the spinach is being passed around: "Patience?  No, thank you, Lord.  I'm full."

On the other hand, I usually seem to have an appetite for more wisdom.  As it is with desert, my response to wisdom has usually been "May I have more, please?"

Last October, after introducing Rick Perry at the Values Voter Summit, Pastor Robert Jeffress told reporters that Republicans shouldn't vote for White House hopeful Mitt Romney because he's a Mormon and described the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a "cult".

At the time it caused a bit of a stir in the media but the question still remains: is Mormonism a cult?

Literal, linear, and analytical as always, let's begin with a definition from the American Heritage Cultural Dictionary:

cult definition

In anthropology, an organization for the conduct of ritual, magical, or other religious observances. Many so-called primitive tribes, for example, have ancestor cults, in which dead ancestors are considered divine and activities are organized to respect their memory and invoke their aid. A cult is also a religious group held together by a dominant, often charismatic individual, or by the worship of a divinity, an idol, or some other object. ( See animism, fetish, and totemism.)

Note : The term cult often suggests extreme beliefs and bizarre behavior.

Does Mormonism fit this definition?

Yes.

Mormonism is a "religious group held together by a dominant, often charismatic individual": Joseph Smith.

Given the state of the economy and the pressures and stresses that often surround the end of the year there is almost certainly someone near you that could use encouragement.

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:9)

 

Paul tells the believers in Thessalonica to encourage one another and gives them several ways to do that. Here are his 15 recommendations.