Influencer Kighley Medrano says a conversation during a children’s play date sent her on a journey out of Mormonism and into a true commitment to Jesus Christ.
“I am what you would call an ex-Mormon Christian,” Medrano said in an Instagram testimony.
Medrano identifies herself as a former member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, saying she was born into the church, baptized at age 8 and remained active with her family for the first 25 years of her life.
She met her husband when she was about 19. Because they came from different religious backgrounds, Medrano said the first five years of their marriage were marked by disagreement. The couple attended separate churches on Sundays and took their daughter with them to their respective congregations.
Medrano had no plans to leave the church. That changed after her oldest daughter became friends with another girl, leading Medrano to meet the child’s mother, whom she described as a former Mormon.
“Not because I was looking to leave Mormonism, but because I wanted to know how she was living a lie,” Medrano said, describing her mindset before the two women met for a play date.
During the conversation, the woman raised questions about the Book of Mormon and the nature of salvation. Medrano recalls that her husband had previously told her salvation comes through faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ, but she initially rejected the idea as “cheap.”
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The official Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that the Bible and the Book of Mormon are both sacred scripture and that they work together as witnesses of Jesus Christ. The church’s own history materials say Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon after the angel Moroni directed him to the record’s location, and that the book was published in 1830.
Medrano said the conversation reached a turning point when she thought about the church’s teaching that the Book of Mormon restores truths she believed had been lost from the Bible. She says the image of the angel Moroni came to mind, and she suddenly became convinced that the figure was demonic.
“It’s like the lights flipped on, and an immediate paradigm shift happened instantaneously,” Medrano said. She recalled gathering her children, going home and realizing that her understanding of the religion she had known since childhood was unraveling.
She eventually told her husband, “The church isn’t true,” before falling to her knees in tears. At the same time, she said, “this burden had lifted off my shoulders. I felt free, and all I could think was Jesus.”
Medrano also referred to the Dead Sea Scrolls, saying her study of the ancient manuscripts challenged the claim that biblical truths had been lost through transmission. The Library of Congress describes the scrolls as a major collection of Jewish documents from the Second Temple period, including biblical manuscripts and other religious writings. The scrolls are important historical evidence, but they do not by themselves settle every theological question raised in Medrano’s testimony.
After leaving the LDS Church, Medrano studied the Bible from Genesis through Revelation and spent hours each day reading and studying Scripture. She connects her experience to Galatians 2:20, which speaks of Christ living in the believer.
“And through reading God’s word, I have been transformed and changed and renewed and turned into a new creature for Christ,” Medrano said. “I desire God.”
She said a friend’s loving conversation and biblical instruction helped bring years of preparation to a moment of decision. Medrano closed by summarizing the Gospel as she now understands it: Jesus lived the perfect life people could not live, died the death they deserved and offers salvation to those who trust in His work on the cross.
“We are clothed in his righteousness,” Medrano said, describing the result as “peace and joy and happiness” and “what freedom we get to live in now.”
What a powerful testimony.
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