How a Millennial Mormon Discovered the Catholic Church

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When I asked my parish priest who the new guy with the blond ponytail in our parish was, I had no idea his conversion story would be so compelling that I'd end up asking him to be a guest on the Art of Catholic Podcast!
In fact, Stephen Johnson's entire life story is a fascinating journey, one that took him from the Mormon faith of his childhood through atheism, New Age beliefs, and Evangelical Protestantism, and finally home to the Catholic Church.
And all this while serving in the military as an Air Force Pararescueman, one of the most intense special mission units in the Armed Forces!
You've GOT to give this episode a listen.
0:00 Introduction of Stephen Johnson
1:55 Description of Air Force Pararescue Specialty Team
7:23 Overview of Mormon Beliefs
11:26 What It Was Like Growing Up in the Mormon Church
12:46 How the Mormon Understanding of Themselves As Protestants has Evolved
15:27 What is the Mormon View of the Trinity?
17:09 The Mormon Origin Story of God the Father
18:56 The Two Eternal Principles for Mormons: Matter and Intelligence
20:37 How Mormons See Christ
22:00 Mormon Justifications for Polygamy
26:10 Bastardized Echoes of Catholicism in Mormon Theology
27:01 Mormon Baptism for the Dead
32:00 How Stephen Came To Join the Military Instead of Serving a Mormon Mission
39:36 The Theological Catalyst That Led Stephen To Leave the Mormon Church
47:20 Stephen's Move into Atheism & Materialism
50:04 How the Problem of Morality Led Stephen to New Age Beliefs
53:20 How Morality and the Bible Led Stephen to Protestantism
59:15 How Teachings About the Rapture and Study of the Church Fathers Finally Led
Stephen to the Catholic Church
1:01:57 The Continuity of the Catholic Church with the Early Church
1:02:35 How Did Stephen's Wife React Throughout His Conversion Process?
1:05:22 Stephen's Advice To Anyone Seeking the Truth
1:09:00 Matthew's Perspective As a Convert of 25 Years
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15 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 96

@jimherlihy Год назад

I spent 27 years as an active member of the LDS Church, and am finally home in the Catholic Church. For the first time in my life, I have joy in my worship. Peace be with you all.

@pixieany Год назад

Welcome home!

@rhwinner Год назад

God bless you, brother. ❤

@sharalynpaetz6872 Год назад

As a former Mormon, now Protestant and converting to the Catholic church I commend Stephen for his excellent explanation of Mormon theology. What a great interview.

@trierchick 9 месяцев назад

I was also raised mormon. Never truly believed but the fear they instill of what would happen if I left kept me physically but mentally out. Wanted all my life to be catholic and become a nun. Took until 2017 before I finally found the strength to make the change. Two years later my husband converted and a year after that my youngest daughter converted. We all feel that we are doing what we should have years ago. So grateful to God for leading us home

@johnchung6777 2 месяца назад

Wonderful delightful strong testimony and conversation, I can say this that you’ll not have any regrets as long as you stay faithful to Jesus One Holy Apostolic Catholic Christian Church of Traditional Teachings and Worship Amen 🙏 🐑🕊️✨🌈

@rhwinner Год назад

If Mormons can have so much faith in their heretical beliefs, and even be motivated enough to share those beliefs and live moral lives because of them, can we as Catholics not see how ungrateful we are to be lukewarm to this great gift of God's Holy Church passed down from the apostles, and to live lives unworthy of such a calling?

@nathanoppy 10 месяцев назад

Former reformed baptist. So glad to know the truth now and be apart of the one holy apostolic Catholic Church

@marcihf217 Год назад

I lived in Italy for 15 years. There are many natural-blondes in Italy (especially in the northern regions but I also knew full-blooded Sicilians who were natural blondes). 😊❤

@MatthewLeonard Год назад

I think they all must have stayed in Sicily because I can't think of any here that I know:). LOL. God bless!

@julieigel4345 7 месяцев назад

Same with Hispanics.

@lytemar Год назад

Welcome home! You have found the Pearl of Great Price!

@SJohnson529 Год назад

Indeed. Are you a convert Mark?

@lytemar Год назад

@@SJohnson529 I am a cradle Catholic with many conversions throughout my life.

@johnsayre2038 Год назад

Those of us that were in the Air Force, oh yes, we know what a PJ is. Those guys are the real deal. Looking forward to listening to the rest of this.

@annafarago6527 Год назад

Wow - I never realized the LDS Church had such beliefs. Great interview.

@sheilatejada7748 11 месяцев назад

❤welcome home brother and your family. God bless 🙏❤️

@paigebuilli4304 Год назад

This is a clear, simple and engaging account of a path taken through personal and divine nudges, reason, intuitions, and struggles, and it gave me courage in my own path. The speaking about things that have to be let go of in order to grow spiritually brings me to point out the fallacies still left over from Mormonism (speaking as an ex-Mormon and now-Catholic) would be his references to submission and following as feminine callings, which clearly reflect the patriarchal inculcation of male 'headship' (a word also used in some charismatic circles) and special 'priesthood calling' in Mormonism which should not, and do not absolutely, translate into Catholicism. Quite the opposite. Like many other distortions of truth, Saint/Pope John Paul and Pope Francis and recent writings to clarify such fallacies, (although pope-denying factions of the faith still deny these) clearly inspired and consistent with equal dignity and mutual submission in Christ truths. While indeed one or the other partner can be willing to follow, trust, and take the spiritual leadership cues from the other in various times and seasons of life shared together, this is not "the" role assigned to women, and indeed, in my own experience, it is often women who are given spiritual gifts and leadership in both couples and families, and it's wonderful when both spouses support each other and can share in seeking revelation and guidance from the spirit which they can mutually use to guide families and their faith walk.

@stocktonking6646 11 месяцев назад

Women are to submit to their husbands. Read Steph Gordon’s book ask your husband it is made abundantly clear by popes throughout history and in the old and New Testament

@delia9431 Год назад

Wow powerful welcome Home Brother 🙏🏻❤‍🔥

@marcihf217 Год назад

Welcome Home ❤❤❤ Thank you so much for sharing your testimony.

@sue4251 Год назад

Awesome story!

@kragar4 Год назад

Thank you both for an engaging conversation 😊

@paigebuilli4304 Год назад

Dear Matthew, thank you for the courage given by sharing. Also, as a former Mormon woman and now-Catholic (cradle but derailed by one parental conversion) please leave a clarification about the fallacy introduced of submission and follower-ship of women of men, misrepresented here as if also shared by Catholicism, which are actually a leftover of Mormon teaching. More people are concerned with your thinking no blondes are Italian (or visa versa) than are commenting on this essential teaching, especially as clarified in recent revelations of the spirit through our popes, and still resisted (as are their papal authority/legitimacy) by elements in the church.

@stocktonking6646 11 месяцев назад

Women are to submit to their husbands. This has always been so if you have doubts research Steph Gordon’s book ask your husband which provides abundant proof for this.

@frvallima7024 Год назад

Matthew, you are a great man of God. Fr. Val Lima

@MatthewLeonard Год назад

You are very kind, Father:). God bless you.

@Lerian_V Год назад

@@MatthewLeonard I didn't know you have your own channel. I knew you from St. Paul's Center videos. What an amazing job you and Dr. Hahn did in those videos. They helped me immensely.

@Lerian_V Год назад

I really need some help. I haven't had a job in months and it's really difficult to pull through the day. I paypal if I could get any help. I also very much appreciate prayers in this regard. God bless everyone.

@krenomichael1812 8 месяцев назад

Refreshing!

@isabellemanaras1808 9 месяцев назад

What a beautiful testimony. ❤🙏

@joolz5747 Год назад

Excellent! Really very good and interesting. I ask about the Mormons now, because they are very involved with the series The Chosen. So how do they reconcile that since it’s very biblical and Trinitarian!? How long does it take you from? Leaving home to your final destination in the Catholic Church? How many years?

@michaelpcooksey5096 8 месяцев назад

Yup, start with the man in the mirror for conversion ... also, make sure you have the solid structure ... without assuming you already have it ... try taking the Basic and Advanced Catholic Catechist home study courses from the Marian Catechist Apostolate. Don't assume Basic is childs play. Fr. Hardon designed these courses to wake up his seminary students ... and work humilty into their nature.

@MichaelGlowacki Год назад

19:07 Two eternal principles and other rituals and beliefs that comprise Mormon theology developed into a Neo-Gnosticism that is more gnostic than Protestantism. 25:20 Special knowledge or “truths” were lost by the early church in spite of Jesus’ promises of divine protection of the Church He founded? Really that claim reeks of gnostic polemics, doesn’t it?

@elperinasoswa6772 Год назад

They are very Gnostic. They don't fit into Protestanism.

@mjfbb22 Год назад

Stephen is a very articulate speaker and intelligent observer of the distinctions between LDS and Catholicism. iMHO, the LDS assessment of Nicea is correct. The reasons for his conversion to Catholicism are well articulated. I pray that he and his family find salvation in Christ regardless of any theological practices, distinctions and beliefs between the two churches.

@ChrisEAdlay 4 месяца назад

Are you suggesting the biblical canon is incorrect?

@TexasGabe11 Год назад

Welcome. Random, has anyone ever read the original Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? It goes on an out of nowhere segway into the Mormon Church and people halfway through the first book. The back story is at the time the English were fascinated with the story of Mormons and it was making its way into popular novels.

@elperinasoswa6772 Год назад

Yes

@rhwinner Год назад

Yes, I did read one of the Sherlock Mormon tales. Not very complimentary, as I recall, toward Mormons.

@TexasGabe11 Год назад

@@rhwinner nope, implies the leadership was tyrannical murderers

@bradleytarr2482 8 месяцев назад

What bugs me about faiths like the LDS and Islam, is that they'll quote the Holy Bible often in order to prooftext their beliefs, but when we use it to prooftext our Catholic beliefs, they fall back on, "Well, the Bible is corrupted."

@michaelpcooksey5096 8 месяцев назад

The Mormons use of the KJV of the bible is no accident. Luther liked it also: Luther's bible excludes: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1st & 2nd Maccabees, and certain text from Esther and Daniel. Luther eliminated those books because they held data that countered his heretical power seizing agenda and in some cases pointed directly to church authority instituted by Christ. Thank you for the video

@josephjohnson3738 Год назад

At least the Catholics use a believable book.

@stocktonking6646 11 месяцев назад

Kind of a low blow shot, most Mormons will run circles around the average Catholic in basically every category statistically that would include yourself as well. When things are boiled down into an hr interview it’s easy to think that it Mormons are ignorant to believe but the teachings are not given in this way. They are indoctrinated in it from youth.

@ravjrsworld9796 11 месяцев назад

💗

@TexasGabe11 Год назад

Who decides which dead souls get baptized? 32:32

@frankfernandes2906 2 месяца назад

All other discussion about job etc are not necessary. Reason given is also not required

@samuelswank9653 8 месяцев назад

Didymus the Blind relates that the Marcionites practiced proxy baptism.

@rebeccamohammed8465 4 месяца назад

What is the source text for Dydymus the Blind? Is that in the Bible?

@samuelswank9653 4 месяца назад

@@rebeccamohammed8465 Didymus the Blind was a 4th century AD Church Father and Bible Scholar. As such, he is not an author of nor is he mentioned in the Bible itself. He wrote this in a commentary of 1st Corinthians: "The Marcionites baptize the living on behalf of dead unbelievers, not knowing that baptism saves only the person who receives it. " The verse he was commenting on is 1 Corinthians 15:29 which reads: "Else what shall they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?" The Apostle Paul does not state approval or disapproval of the practice, but later sources suggest that Baptisms for the Dead were practiced at Ephesus as well, but these were more in line with the Gnostic theology of the Marcionites rather than modern Latter-day Saint theology.

@zeniazenia2787 Год назад

Awesome not a grain of feminism

@dickstueland4009 6 месяцев назад

I lived among the Mormons for two years. Twin Falls , Idaho. My first interaction was about a job doing choirs twice daily. Things didn’t go well . I always felt unwelcome when going to his home for payment of service rendered. Didn’t want to keep the job so I introduced him to my older sister. He loved her. Treated her like she was his daughter. School was kind of segregated in that Mormon kids chose LDS teachers. Non Mormons tried them all. You pretty much had to have a Mormon teacher. 43 years have passed. Mormons are now part of the culture among all the Lutheran and Catholics. While researching family history it’s been found that my great great grandma from Jutland moved to Spanish Fork to be among her Mormon children . There are now Mormons in my small town. Park Rapids,Minn. We have JWs ,too. Good News is that roughly 35% of todays population do not involve themselves in religion. Now, that’s Good News!

@elperinasoswa6772 Год назад

Mormon theology is boring.

@rsmyth75 Год назад

No, it’s fantastic very strange but Mormon s have a very progressive social justice ethics I say this because the best companies to work for were Mormon companies!

@clearstonewindows Год назад

This guys is one in a million. No one Joins the Catholic Church from the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints.

@cindyhansen823 Год назад

Actually there are many converts to the Catholic Church from Mormonism. Let's just say I live in a highly Mormon populated area and I'm one of the leaders on my parish RCIA team. I have witnessed many of these conversions for myself. 😊

@clearstonewindows Год назад

@@cindyhansen823 Yes if you live in Utah, you're parish may have 5-10. But many?, let me put a number to it. For every one 1 member that joins the catholic church by number of Catholics 147 people join the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. The median age for the catholic church 52 The median age for the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints 30. The largest funder in the US of Catholic Charities... Yep the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. This guy is a unicorn. We should study him. Cindy, How is your Italian? I would suggest reading a talk by Francis and comparing it to a talk by Nelson and see which alter burns faster. Make sure to put on lots of water. Do you ski? Always looking for more people to ski with.

@paigebuilli4304 Год назад

@@clearstonewindows Speaking of one schooled fully in both faiths (completed seminary as an LDS youth and did catechism as an adult for Catholicism), this is probably because the surface appeal and reliance on references to 'scripture' of the LDS missionaries and teachers, while the Catholic church has riches and teachings which it struggles to put in an accessible form with adequate training in Biblical study that goes beyond childhood. Many, even of great faith, therefore have not been adequately spiritually formed, and end up with (also out of tradition) gestures of religion instead of a charismatic Catholic practice-- which is vastly varied and powerful-- if they could find it/were taught about it and Sunday School extended into adulthood in the Catholic church like it does in Mormonism. This lack of spiritual catechism is something acknowledged in the church, but not adequately still.

@clearstonewindows Год назад

@@paigebuilli4304 Tell me more about your life? you went to seminary, why? Did you go on a mission? When did you transition from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints to the Catholic church?

@SaintCharbelMiracleworker Год назад

@@paigebuilli4304 We also have documented unbroken historical foundations linking our Church directly to the Apostles, founded by Jesus. LDS are a cult, founded by a man who has an arrest list as long as my arm, technically they are not christians.

@velkyn1 Год назад

going from one version of the cult to another doesn't mean either is true.

@declancronin437 Год назад

How did you work that one out? 🤔

@DarkAngel-cj6sx Год назад

Are you attending those churches that were founded by the rogue catholic priest aka Luther? If yes, read the church fathers writings, the catechism of the catholic church, the catholic Bible and start by watching dr Brant pitre videos if you are wondering what our faith teaches. Or watch Steve Ray and Sr Scott Hann. Remember, words have consequences in the heaven. Faith without works is a dead faith. Fr. Carlos Martins an exorcist who talks a little bit about faith without obedience.

@velkyn1 Год назад

@@DarkAngel-cj6sx I always enjoy seeing cultists attack each other. Alas, the Roman Catholic Church has no more evidence its nonsense is true than Lutherans, Calvinists, Anabaptists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. I've read the catcheism, etc, and it's all baseles nonsense. And, since there is no heaven, no need to worry about any "consequences" from imaginary entities. No demons either so exorcists are quite the amusing liars. "Are you attending those churches that were founded by the rogue catholic priest aka Luther? If yes, read the church fathers writings, the catechism of the catholic church, the catholic Bible and start by watching dr Brant pitre videos if you are wondering what our faith teaches. Or watch Steve Ray and Sr Scott Hann. Remember, words have consequences in the heaven. Faith without works is a dead faith. Fr. Carlos Martins an exorcist who talks a little bit about faith without obedience"

@velkyn1 Год назад

@@declancronin437 By watching christians change teams. "How did you work that one out?"

@declancronin437 Год назад

@@velkyn1 to quote Edith Stein "When you seek truth, you seek God whether you know it or not.” The Truth is a person, that is Jesus Christ.." I am the Truth" Edith Stein is worth looking up as she tried to live it. She is one of the patron saints of Europe. 🙏

@DRT279 Год назад

Steven doesn’t sound like a Mormon, doesn’t use Mormon terms. I don’t think he was ever Mormon.

@DRT279 Год назад

When Steven talks about baptism for the dead and said the LDS Church gets this doctrine only from Corinthians is not 100% correct.

@DRT279 Год назад

Mission work or serving in the military is not an either or.

@kragar4 Год назад

Did you listen to the entire conversation? He certainly articulates Mormon theology and doctrines

@DRT279 Год назад

@@kragar4 Yes I listened to whole thing. The problem is that he does articulate Mormon theology but not as someone who was ever Mormon. Mormons use words and terms that Mormons can easily pick up on and say yeah that guy is Mormon. He talks as if he’s studied Mormon theology but hasn’t lived it. So the title of this video is false & clickbait!

@kragar4 Год назад

@@DRT279 he talked of his upbringing and participation in what he was obligated to do. He participated in baptism of the dead by full immersion., he mentioned his older brothers and friends did their mission years, he wrestled with what he had been taught and lived as a Mormon, he quoted the Book of Mormon and knew the directives . He left LDS over 9 years ago so maybe his language has changed but I find him credible as to his Mormon testimony.