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David F. Crane Independence, Missouri God Set Me Free! I was born in 1960 in California and was raised in the RLDS church. My mother’s father, John Wiles, joined the RLDS church as a young man and later became a "Seventy." The “Church” was a big part of my family’s life. My father, Dr. Robert A. Crane, joined the RLDS church in the 1970s. We attended the Walnut Creek and El Sobrante, California congregations in the early years of my life. I was baptized at the age of 8. During my teens at Walnut Creek I enjoyed Zion’s League and taught several Sunday School classes for children. When I was 15 I received my Patriarchal Blessing. About this time in my life I was trying to grow closer to God. During Jr. High School I did not have a very clean mind or mouth. The summer between Jr. High and High School, I was trying to make some major changes in my life. I began praying more and spent more time in the three books, Joseph Smith's Inspired Version of the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine & Covenants. Friends who knew me back in Jr. High were surprised at how different I was, one friend said, “Crane, you are different, you got Religion.” I was acting a lot different, I was no longer cussing and I enjoyed being involved in Bible Studies at school during lunch breaks. I was the only RLDS student at school and there were lots of Mormons, so that was a challenge. I had wanted to be a “Young Life” leader, but I was not accepted because I believed in the Book of Mormon. I began to get involved in the RLDS Youth Venture For Christ activities and went with the groups to San Diego, California and Bend, Oregon, and a few other places. Near the end of my 17th year I was called to be a Deacon. Two years later I moved up to Grants Pass, Oregon with my parents. After high school I went to Iowa and began 2 years at Graceland College. I was the Priesthood Coordinator for Aaron House one year. The college had lots of Religious Life activities which I enjoyed. Sadly it seemed like the classes on religion tore down the student’s faith. After college I went back to California to work with my brothers, and again attended Walnut Creek Congregation, which was a very liberal RLDS church. I did not like what I was hearing in the pulpit and one day I was invited to preach at the Napa, Calif. congregation. At least here they enjoyed hearing a message from the "three books" and one that was about Zion! My oldest brother Jim had come with me that day and he also liked what he saw, so we joined the Napa group together. Here I was working with the high school youth, which was pretty small and I tried to enlarge the numbers. A few years earlier my brothers John and Bob were called to the office of Priest, Jim was an Elder and I was still a Deacon. So here in the Crane family were 4 brothers which were all members of Joseph Smith’s Priesthood. During the 1984 RLDS World Conference, which I attended, the question of women in the priesthood came to the forefront. I felt this to be wrong. Trying to seek guidance from God I had been fasting for weeks before the conference. That week in April 1984, the Aaronic Priesthood Quorum had asked Prophet/President W.B. Smith to answer some questions they had regarding 1 Corinthians 14:34. He never answered the questions. Lack of rest and food along with being overstressed caught up with me. During the trip home after Conference, I ended up being put on a bus and did not get much sleep or food. When I got back to California I began losing control of my body. I ended up not being able to put my socks on, brush my teeth and I kept feeling like my mind was receding into an area of darkness. The turning point at this time in my life came while I was visiting some family friends, the Bryants. George was an RLDS Elder and his oldest daughter, Kim, had come through a real rough time in her life. That day in November, 1984 Kim led me to pray to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I did this and thus began my recovery. The healing did take awhile, but it had begun! Praise God! About this time I was at a County Hospital and it was there that a Doctor realized that some of the medicine that had been prescribed was harming me. In 1985 I became an RLDS Priest. I am thankful that a few years earlier I had not drowned while going rafting down the Rogue River in Oregon. My Mother had felt I was in trouble and she had prayed for my safety. I thank God that He spared my life, giving me the chance to keep breathing until I had accepted Christ as Savior! Around the mid 1980s John and Bob were buying some property around Lake Berryessa, near Sacramento, California. During this time, we had learned more about the early history of Joseph Smith. John obtained a copy of the Evening and Morning Star, the first church newspaper, a copy of the Book of Commandments, the first book of Joseph Smith's revelations, and more historical records. And we had read Saints at the Crossroads. It was a rude awakening to discover that the book of Doctrine and Covenants had undergone many additions and deletions in the “revelations” from when they had first been in print in the Book of Commandments. Much of the things in the official RLDS church history were quite different than what had really happened. We soon learned that there were a number of different versions of Joseph Smith’s first vision! My brother John ended up meeting Jack Raveill who had written a book, The Revelation Revisions, about the changes in the D&C. Many of the changes had to do with the laws of Total Consecration, “all things equal,” and soon John, his wife Julie and I began to experiment with living Zionically. Does the phrase, “Some are more equal than others” sound familiar? It is a quote from Animal Farm. Certain folks seemed to have a better claim on the funds and items in the “Storehouse” than others did. I moved to Independence, Missouri in May 1990. It was during the years of 1990-1992 that I began having some questions about Joseph Smith’s “Inspired Version” of the Bible. Many of the parts that Joseph had added did not make sense, like his version of John 1:1. I now knew the Doctrine & Covenants was messed up and now it looked like the Inspired Version was a big mess as well. I also was beginning to question the way Total Consecration was working out. I had been worshipping in the home with John’s family, but later I joined the Center Branch Restoration Group. I gave my first sermon there in July 1992. Later that day I flew to Oregon to spend time with my Mother. Dad had died in June 1990, and mom was lonely. After I had been in Oregon a year I began visiting some Christian Churches in the area. I did not want to be a part of the Grants Pass Mission, because they had accepted women in the priesthood. Between the years 1993 and 1995 I was doing some in depth Bible Study. One night I earnestly prayed for God to guide me to His Truth! I had been having doubts about the Book of Mormon and one night I felt God lead me to put away my "three books." In August 1995 I went to a Bible Store and bought a nice leather bound King James Bible. I started in Matthew and began to read a chapter each morning and night, along with prayer and singing praise. After a while I began to see that so much of what I had been taught in the RLDS church, (Joseph Smith’s teachings) were contradicting the Bible. I knew that I had a decision to make! I chose God and His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Bible rather than Joseph Smith, RLDSism and the Restoration. To this day I Praise God that He set me free! It had been about 10 years from the time I had prayed to receive Christ that I was finally fully set free. Through further Bible study I saw that Joseph’s priesthood structure was upside down as compared with the Bible’s. Melchisedec was a Priest, while Aaron was the first High Priest! I learned that Deacons can in fact baptize! Philip baptized Samaritans and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8. Philip was one of the first 7 Deacons. I learned that salvation was a gift, and it was by grace, not by works, Ephesians 2:8-9. I realized that a person could really know for sure that they would be going to Heaven when they died, not, “I hope so,” or “I might,” and that the Rock is God! and that Jesus Christ is The One and Only High Priest now! Back when I was still in High School a friend, Brett, asked me, “David, are you saved?” I answered, “Well, I was blessed as a baby, I’ve been baptized, I had my Patriarchal Blessing.... I’m a Deacon!” Brett again asked me, “David are you saved?” I told him, “Well, I’ll know for sure when I breathe my last breath.” “David, you are Not saved!” he replied. I did not understand what he was trying to tell me. I understand now though! What is really strange is that years ago during a drama at the Walnut Creek RLDS church one of the players tried to share with us about her experience of being, “Born again”, sadly I closed my mind and my ears to her testimony. I had not yet read that Jesus had said, “Ye must be born again!” in John 3:7. Presently I am a member of a wonderful, active, growing, (we had over 40 baptisms last year!) congregation, East Side Baptist Church in Independence, Missouri. I have lots of friends who were RLDS or Restorationists whom God has led out of Joseph Smith’s false system of Religion. They have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and are now Christians! They are saved, secure and Heaven Bound! God has blessed me with a ministry of helping missionaries around the world to know where they can obtain the missions resources they need, such as foreign language Bibles, CDs and tracts. [http://www.ashlock.net/esbc/missionsresources.html] My testimony is that God set me free! The Bible is true! God loves us, He
sent us His son Jesus to save us! (John 3:16) My prayer for you is that you will choose Life! Eternal Life! It is a free
gift! Our first step is to understand that, “we have all sinned” (Romans
3:23). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “The gift of God is
eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord”. Romans 5:8 says, “But God proves His
love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” and
that, “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved!” (Romans 10:13) You can know for sure, so
choose Christ today! A Few Words in Closing I was blessed with having a few years in Oregon during the mid 1990s to do the in depth Bible Study which God used to lead me out of the false teachings of Joseph Smith. While I was visiting the 3 Christian Churches in Oregon, God placed wonderful people in my path, folks like Elder Brad Weyand of Redwood Christian Church. When I first met Brad, I was sure that I could get him to accept the Book of Mormon. Pastor Paul Burns of Shan Creek Community Church who clearly presented the truths of Christ’s gospel and the folks at First Baptist Church. Here was a group of believers who praised God with joy! I felt God’s Spirit at work among these beautiful people. I was realizing that Christ’s church was composed of those people throughout the world who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior! The head of this church is Christ! Late in 1996 when I was ready to help my mother move back to Missouri, I was worried that there in Independence, I would be all alone. I had not heard of many people who had left the RLDS and Restoration Churches. I was soon to be in for a wonderful surprise. Upon my return to Missouri, I had no desire to attend any of the Restoration services. I found it so hard to sit through the spiritually dead messages and I wanted to plug my ears to the readings from Joseph Smith’s false books. I felt led to visit East Side Baptist Church and I told Pastor Otis Nixdorf about my RLDS background. Otis replied, “You need to talk with Paul Trask and Carol Hansen.” I personally knew Paul when he was Pastor of the RLDS San Francisco Congregation. When Paul gathered in he was the Pastor of Restoration Branch which met at Hope Day School. God had then led Paul to get saved and he had left the Church. He went to seminary and later wrote a book, “Part Way to Utah: the Forgotten Mormons” about the RLDS Church. Carol had been raised in the RLDS church and had been to Graceland College. She also had written a book, “The RLDS Church: Christian?” after she had left the Restoration. It was fascinating talking with Carol and Paul and seeing how God had led us through His scriptures by His Spirit to understand our need of getting saved and had led us and others to many of the same conclusions. After attending East Side Baptist for awhile, I joined by being scripturally baptized in January 1997. I realized that a person needed to be saved by accepting Christ, then they get baptized! Back when I was a child in the RLDS church, I had accepted a church instead of accepting Jesus Christ--and Him alone! Here at East Side I soon learned that many of the members had been RLDS or Restorationists. God is at work! Recently I learned that people I had known in Walnut Creek had ended up leaving the RLDS Church. Others that I had also known in California had left that church as God led them to His Word and they also were saved. Here are a few of the folks who are now sure of making it to heaven through Christ’s shed blood! Barbie and Dave McHuron, Don and Cindy Sparks, George and Betty Bryant and their family--Kim had led me to the Lord in 1984! Don Manuel and most of his family. Others are Gary Queen who is a Baptist Missionary in Venezuala, David Lidberg, my Mother, Jane Crane, Dan Sunderland, Toby Sutherlin, Ted Gibler, Marja L. Waldon, Belinda Ashlock, Chris Evans, Ten Beaty, her daughter Lori and son Brad, and many more folks have been blessed by coming to Christ! “Choose this day who you will serve… we will serve God!” You can send David an e-mail by clicking David_Baptist@hotmail.com. |