Report from the latest missionary visit

We spent a lot of time on the idea of praying about the Book of Mormon. I tried to really impress upon them the reality that people can talk themselves into all sorts of stuff. The people in Jonestown who drank the Kool-Aid, the followers of David Koresh, the 9/11 hijackers all sincerely believed and had convinced themselves that what they were doing was the right thing. It is little different from mormonism. Mormonism at its heart is based on a “testimony” of the book of mormon that stems from praying to be given a revelation that it is true. It then becomes a linear A-B-C, if the BoM is true, then Joseph Smith was a prophet and the church he founded is what he said it was, the “priesthood” is restored and therefore Thomas Monson is a prophet. All of this stands over and above what the Bible teaches. All of it transcends evidence to the contrary that shows the Book of Mormon to be a fabrication, the product of Joseph Smith’s imagination. There is faith and there is blind faith and mormonism falls into that. The young men who were in our home last night are captive to the same manipulation that has been used for over 150 years by mormonism to draw people into a false belief system. By clever marketing, selective misrepresentation of the Scriptures, religious language and genuinely polite, likeable and nice young men as their representatives, mormonism creates a product people want to buy and like a good salesman mormonism manipulates people into modifying their desire to belong to what seems at first blush like a great thing into feelings of “faith” bolstered by their testimony and that of others. Little wonder that so many talks in mormonism focus on the mormon church being the “true church” and the monthly testimony meetings where you are to inundated with others telling you and encouraging you to publically intone the words “I want to bear my testimony that I know this church is true, that Joseph Smith is a prophet and Thomas Monson is a prophet”. When you have a preconceived outcome and a sincere desire for whatever reason to reach that outcome bolstered by the support of people you like, it is pretty easy to manipulate yourself into an experience. A couple of other things I brought up were people who fall in love and feel all warm and fuzzy, only to break up a few months later and also that they were raised as mormons with the tacit understanding that the BoM was true and that they would be missionaries. That sort of familial pressure can create all sorts of feelings (which is true of many “Christian” kids as well). I have often wondered if they reason the mormon church sends these men out so young is that they are still heavily influenced by their family upbringing and easier to control and manipulate than a more mature adult might be.

We also spent some time on the nature of God. As I mentioned, one of the members who came with the missionaries gave us a copy of Gospel Principles, so we were able to ask about our “heavenly parents” and that this implies a “Heavenly Mother”. We were able to talk a bit about who Christ is, His nature and who He is, and why the Bible teaches that what mormonism believes about Christ is heretical (without using those words). I tried to emphasize that Jesus cannot be who He said He was in the Bible and also be a created being who is the brother of Lucifer and our elder brother, different in age but not in nature.

One new tactic they tried was to get us to preemptively commit to being baptized as mormons and working our way toward that goal even though we clearly had no interest in doing so. Kind of determines the outcome and t hen working toward it. It is kind of clever, it puts pressure on you to get a “burning in the bosom” as you get closer to your date. I think it would be a great sales pitch for a lot of products, decide at the beginning on the closing date of the sale and then work on your pitch. What we did instead was tell them that we would do so if they would similarly agree to be baptized on the same date as Christians. We would search the Scriptures for a month together, pray together and at the end of that time either we would be baptized as mormons or they would be baptized as Christians. That really threw them off. They were kind of stunned for a second. That is when we got into the conversation that either we are wrong or they are wrong but that we cannot both be right. I get the sense that the “commit to be baptized” thing was their big gun and when that didn’t work I was afraid they weren’t coming back. They did commit with no qualms to come again next week, we might have a new missionary after the change date on Monday. Please pray for these lost young men and all of the missionaries around the world who have been manipulated and deceived into earnestly and sincerely preaching a false gospel to the lost of the world.

Building a mall for the glory of God!

Watch this video on the new $1.5 billion temple of affluence that the mormon church is building in Salt Lake City! Gotta love a church that has "investments" sufficient to bankroll a $1.5 billion development.

Visitors tonight!

The missionaries are coming over tonight. Hope to have a very deep conversation who Jesus Christ is. I want to use the Gospel Principles book they left me as a springboard, and ask about our "heavenly parents". So many of the errors of mormonism come back to an aberrant view of who Jesus Christ is, who His Father is and who we are as humans. They are coming at seven o'clock, prayers would be welcome!

Abandoning the Gospel to win political fights

I read an article about the effort by some in the evangelical movement to "dialogue" with mormons. The article in Christianity Today presented a very disturbing and sobering statistics in response to the question "Are Mormons Christian?" :

Evangelical Protestants

No 45%
Don't know 15%
Yes 40%

Mainline Protestants

No 23%
Don't know 15%
Yes 62%

Black Protestants

No 30%
Don't know 27%
Yes 43%

I found the 43% yes from black Protestants troubling given mormonism teaching that their black skin is a curse and that until the late seventies when political pressure became too great, blacks were unable to become full members of the mormon church (in that they were unable to hold "the priesthood" and not permitted to do temple work). What these stats tells us is two fold. First, many Christians are completely unequipped and undiscerning to the point that they don't realize that a religion that teaches that God the Father is an "exalted man" that has a body of flesh and bones and that Jesus Christ is a created being and the brother of Satan cannot by nature be a "Christian" religion. Second, it shows us that in the effort to win the culture war, we are allowing ourselves to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For example, check this very honest quote:

One undoubted factor in the search for better relations is that evangelicals and Mormons today unite on various moral issues and feel on the defensive, especially in shared opposition to same-sex marriage. Whatever differences they may have about the nature of God, "when you've been in the trenches together, it often generates new respect," said evangelical attorney David French, who leads the Alliance Defense Fund's (ADF) campus religious freedom project. "The LDS commitment to core values is one that betters our country, without question."

Better to lose the culture war than to put the cross of Christ to shame and deny the Gospel.

Thoughts on hearing from a "General Authority"

As I mentioned, I spent last night listening to Paul Pieper, a mormon "General Authority", a member of the "Seventy". For the mormons present, this was a thrill. For me it was heartbreaking. These people were so earnest, so excited, listening so raptly to a man proclaiming a false gospel and a false god. I took a lot of notes to talk to the missionaries about when they come tomorrow night, most especially on the various ways that Paul Pieper portrayed a gospel of works salvation and human righteousness. Some of the things Pieper said were (speaking of mormons): "You don't know how much power you have in your goodness" and "All mankind can be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel" So they use words like grace when what they mean is a grace that fills in the gap between our own righteousness and God's perfection. Lots of talk last night about making sure that we are "qualified" by our own works to be baptized which equates to being born again. Not a hint of the Biblical doctrine of being born again through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is relegated to a baptismal gift, given after baptism to be a helper so we know which works we need to perform and which sins we need to repent of so we can clean ourselves.

When I left and went to my car, I wept for a moment. I was overcome by the lostness exhibited and the blasphemy celebrated. I was heartbroken but I was also thankful. I saw starkly how lost I was and how great my Savior is that in spite of my own arrogant self-righteousness He saw fit to save me. The true God, the God of the Bible is a God who saves in spite of works, who saves in spite of our own righteousness. That is the God I worship and that is the God I proclaim. I pray for those who were in attendance last night, for all mormons, for the missionaries, for the false prophets who lead them. If God can save Paul, if God can save me then He certainly can save Paul Pieper and Thomas Monson. It is my prayer that this happens. All praise and honor and glory to Jesus Christ, for He alone is worthy!

And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped. (Rev 5:9-14)

This might get interesting

The missionaries were supposed to come over tonight but they stopped over last night to tell us they couldn't make it because there is a "Fireside" Tuesday in the area. One of the "General Authorities", Paul Pieper, is speaking. They invited me to come and you can bet that I will be there. I am really hoping there is a chance to ask questions.

Let me be clear. I have a heart for the missionaries, these young men are lost and deluded. They are preaching a false gospel but many of them have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It breaks my heart to see them so eager and so zealous for such a pernicious lie.

Adult mormons are somewhat different. Many of them have little excuse outside of their own sinful, unregenerate nature for rejecting Christ. They may have family or social reasons for staying in the church. As a former mormon, I know that those ties are strong and it takes a mighty work of God to break them.

Mormon leaders are a different story. These men are mature and have been mormons for a long time. They are not only lost, they are deceivers, false prophets and wolves. These men have certainly heard the Gospel at some point and have rejected it for the false gospel of mormonism. They know the lie and they still propagate for their own motivation. This man coming to speak tonight is one of the top 100 mormons in the world. I pray that he will be saved by Christ but until that happens I plan to boldly declare the Gospel of Jesus Christ to him and rest in the comfort of knowing that God is sovereign in all things. We are meeting at seven this evening, please pray.

I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. (Acts 20:29-31)

Dissension in the ranks!

Had the boys over tonight. The one missionary has been the same one who comes every week but they were on splits tonight and he brought the zone leader with him. I think the zone leader was getting mad at him, especially when I got the other missionary to say that the index and topical guide in the book of mormon were "inspired". We spent a lot of time on justification tonight and even wandered into predestination and election. I gave the zone leader a bunch of Scriptures to look up. I was sure to schedule next Tuesday night with the primary missionary because I was a little concerned that the zone leader would forbid them from coming back to talk to us. Good talk, got to share the Gospel with these young men and pray for them.