🌱 When Good Beginnings Drift — and Why I Keep My Eyes on Jesus
🌱 When Good Beginnings Drift — and Why I Keep My Eyes on Jesus
🙏 I’ve met some of the most sincere, Christ-loving people both inside and outside the LDS Church.
Good people.
Praying people.
Sacrificing people.
People who honestly want to follow Jesus.
Because of that, I’ve slowly lost interest in attacking people — and grown more interested in understanding patterns.
Especially this one:
👉 How something that begins with Christ can quietly drift over time.
🔍 Seeing the Question Beneath the Noise
📺 Every so often, I come across an old “anti-Mormon” video or critique.
Most are harsh.
Some exaggerate.
Some lump everything together without context.
But once in a while, buried underneath the tone, there’s a real question worth asking:
❓ How did we get from a simple message about repentance and Christ…
to complex systems, speculative teachings, and institutional control?
That question isn’t an attack.
It’s an invitation to reflect.
🧭 Separating Beginnings From What Came Later
📖 One thing I’ve learned is that many teachings people criticize today were not part of the original, Christ-centered message — but developed later as the movement became institutionalized.
Early on, Joseph Smith emphasized:
✨ Repentance
✨ Baptism
✨ Receiving the Holy Ghost
✨ Hearing the living voice of Christ
Whatever one thinks of Joseph personally, his central claim was simple and bold:
🕊️ Jesus still speaks.
Over time, however, as leadership structures solidified and survival became the focus, teachings expanded, hardened, and — in some cases — drifted.
Much of what critics now point to — heavy cosmology, racial theories, rigid control systems — emerged more fully under Brigham Young and the institutional era that followed.
⚖️ That distinction matters.
Not to excuse error —
but to understand how drift happens.
🐍 How the Drift Usually Works
💭 I no longer believe the adversary’s primary tactic is open destruction.
It’s substitution.
He rarely says, “Reject Christ.”
Instead, he whispers:
➡️ “Add this requirement.”
➡️ “Trust this structure.”
➡️ “Fear stepping outside the system.”
➡️ “Measure yourself by worthiness instead of relationship.”
Little by little, the center moves.
Christ doesn’t disappear —
He just slowly gets crowded out.
❤️ Good People, Real Feelings, Mixed Signals
🤲 This helps explain something I’ve wrestled with for years:
Why so many sincere people feel genuine spiritual warmth inside institutions that still teach distorted things.
The answer isn’t hypocrisy.
It’s that the Spirit still responds to sincere hearts, even when the structure around them is flawed.
🌿 Good people still pray.
🌿 Good people still serve.
🌿 Good people still speak truth by the Spirit — sometimes despite the system.
That doesn’t mean everything taught is true.
It means God is merciful.
❓ The Question I Now Ask
🪶 I no longer spend much energy asking:
❌ Who was right?
❌ Who was wrong?
❌ Who started what?
The question that matters most to me now is simpler:
👉 Does this teaching bring me closer to Jesus — or place something between us?
Any belief, ordinance, or authority claim — no matter where it comes from — deserves gentle examination if it:
⚠️ Replaces Christ with hierarchy
⚠️ Turns relationship into performance
⚠️ Uses fear to enforce obedience
⚠️ Claims exclusivity over His voice
Christ does not need protecting.
But our focus does.
🕯️ Choosing the Center Again
🌄 I believe many movements begin in light.
🌒 I also believe drift is real.
🌞 And I believe the remedy has always been the same:
👉 Return to the living Christ.
Not as an idea.
Not as a system.
But as a present, speaking Savior.
That’s where I’m choosing to stand.
Quietly.
Gently.
With my eyes on Him.
____________________________________________________________________________________
📜 THE PATTERN OF DRIFT — IN SCRIPTURE
For those who want to look directly, this pattern isn’t new.
It’s described plainly:
🌿 The Original Foundation — Christ Alone
- Book of Mormon — 2 Nephi 31:20–21
- Press forward in Christ
- Rely wholly upon Him
- This is the doctrine
👉 The beginning is always simple
⚠️ The First Shift — Adding More
- Book of Mormon — 2 Nephi 28:3–6
- “Precept upon precept” (man-made additions)
- Trusting in men
- Softening truth to fit comfort
👉 Christ is not rejected — just supplemented
📉 Pride and Structure Take Root
- Book of Mormon — Mormon 8:36–38
- Churches lifted up in pride
- Focus on wealth and appearance
- Neglect of the poor
👉 The center begins to shift
🧱 Authority Replaces Relationship
- Doctrine and Covenants — D&C 121:34–37
- Authority can be exercised in unrighteous dominion
- Many are called, few are chosen
👉 Power begins to substitute for connection
🕊️ The Correction — Come Back to Him
- Book of Mormon — 3 Nephi 11:39–40
- Build on Christ’s doctrine
- Do not add more
👉 The remedy is always the same
🔁 HOW DRIFT ACTUALLY HAPPENS
Not suddenly.
Not obviously.
But quietly:
- Christ is central
- Structure is added to support
- Structure becomes trusted
- Structure becomes required
- Structure becomes the focus
- Christ becomes assumed… but less sought
⚖️ CHRIST-CENTERED vs SYSTEM-CENTERED
| Christ-Centered Faith | System-Centered Faith |
|---|---|
| Direct relationship with Him | Mediated through structure |
| Repentance = turning to Christ | Repentance = meeting standards |
| Led by Spirit | Directed by policy |
| Simple doctrine | Expanding complexity |
| Trust in His voice | Trust in authorized voices |
| Freedom to seek | Fear of stepping outside |
🌱 A QUIET TEST
A simple question anyone can ask:
👉 Does this bring me closer to Jesus…
or
👉 Does it place something between us?
If it draws you to Him — keep it
If it replaces Him — examine it
🕊️ FINAL THOUGHT
Drift doesn’t mean everything is lost.
It just means:
👉 The center needs to be chosen again
And it has always been available.
Right where it started.
👉 With Him.
🔗 Start here:
👉 https://thetrueremnantblog.blogspot.com
(Then use the 🔍 magnifying glass at the top to search any topic.)
Comments