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Mormon
Girls At My Door
Based on a true story about witnessing the Gospel of Christ to those who come to
your home for the purpose of witnessing to you in their religion
On a very hot and sunny afternoon with a slight wind from the south east, I was at home washing the dishes
in a hurry. It was my
day off, and living by myself, there was much need as usual for me to clean my
place up. I had planned on going fishing later on in the evening. Many things
crossed my mind for my adventure, then the glass I was holding slipped out of my
hand back into the sink.
I regained my composure fairly quickly while grabbing another sponge. I wondered
what the time was, so I turned to my right and looked down to see my display on
my phone. My cell indicated, I missed a call earlier in the
day and had no messages which was odd. I decided not to call the person back right away until I got some of the dishes
cleaned. A few minutes later the doorbell unexpectedly rang. I dried my hands
and then rushed down the stairs, and slowly walked up to the door
to see who it was. Peaking through a window with curiosity, I noticed two
happy faces whom I didn't know personally. They appeared to be young girls, who
were dressed in very conservative dresses which lead me to believe the girls at
my door step were not here for a mere social visit. More than likely it had
something to do with their church or religion. Continuing to peak through the
window, I also observed one of the young girls was looking down to her left
side, while the other one was looking straight ahead but not directly looking at
the window so she didn't noticed me looking at her. I decided it was time to open the door
which startled the girls for a moment. One of girls who was facing towards the
house began to talk to me in a soft voice...
"Hi, we are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" she said with
a smile on her face. "I was right", thinking to my self, they were
here on behalf of their church. What did surprise me, the fact that they were Mormons. She smiled at me
showing both lower and upper teeth, and asked with excitement, "Do you know anything about our 'church?' "Yes, I do" shaking my head
in response, while looking her in the eye and smiling back at her. "What do you know" asked the other girl who
for some reason
continued to look at her side. "Well, I know some things about your founder
Joseph Smith, and differences in such things as the trinity and the Bible" I
replied, this time looking directly at both girls with a smile. "You know then we don't believe in Jesus being
thee one and only God but a god who was married to Mary and Martha (the sisters
of Lazarus) and Mary Magdalene nor do we believe just one part of the Bible is absolute, It was
corrupted by man." she said in a cheerfully as though she was proud with
that statement. "But we have other
Scriptures which we believe are the most accurate" replied the other young girl.
"How do you know these Scriptures are the most accurate?"
I asked both girls while continuing to look at them straight in the eye. I began to notice, one
of the girls who was looking to her side began to looked bothered like I ruffled
her feathers a bit. She took a
deep breath, and titled her head upwards enabling her to look at me for the first time directly and
then tried to answer my
question, but it was to no avail. Her answer was a bit too vague. I pressed further for an answer as I continued to ask
both girls how she could trust in
man rather than God for accurate copies of the Bible. At times they looked at each other for answers
because it appeared I was the first to ask such questions and answer them. I
assume this was because most in my neighborhood are not very much into the Bible or
church to put it mildly and also I wasn't giving up easily.
Without going into a deep discussion over the history of the Bible, the
manuscripts, and how God preserved His Word through the ages
(The
Bible: The Word of God)
as I felt my time was limited with the girls
and being as young as they were the information would be overwhelming to them.
By the Lord's will, I gave them a pretty direct Gospel message in a loving way
with no intention of being mean to them, proclaiming Christ as the only way, the truth and the life
and quoted some Scripture in reference to back up what I was saying. Then continued to tell them only by God-given grace is
one saved, and the one sacrifice on the cross by Jesus was enough to atone the
sins for His people. We do not become "gods" on another Earth or anything like
that, nor can we use works to merit salvation, I stated boldly and with conviction. My comments were by then really
starting to stir their spirits. You could see it all over their faces as they
looked at each other then at me. The two girls finally decided to hand me a paper with a toll
free number on it and suggested that I ask for their free video about their
'church.' They repeated a few times to me with a lot of emphasis to order
the video before they thanking me for the conversation and then they finally
left. And so ends what was to be my first encounter with Mormons at my door.
Normally through the years I encounter Jehovah Witnesses. Some from other
religions have left tracks in the mailbox on various occasions. But even though these religions are
different in some aspects, but their arguments in general are the same. You can say
that about any false religion or cult making claims and pointing to everything
else but Christ. But in this message I want to deal with Mormonism in
particular. I believe it's important
for Christians to witness to the lost as it says in the great commission to
preach the Gospel "to all creatures." More than likely most
people in cults have never heard of the true Gospel so it's very important that
they should hear it. Even if they have heard the true Gospel once before, it
wouldn't hurt for them to hear it again when the opportunity arises. I believe it's important for
Christians to know who they witnessing too. Here is a brief overview on the doctrines of
Mormonism...
Introduction to Mormonism
“I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind.” However,
he added; “My church’s (Mormonism) beliefs about Christ may not all be the
same as those of other faiths.”
--Former Presidential
candidate Mitt Romney
Normally all religious have their central figures within a belief system or
religion. For example, Islam has Mohammad as their most important prophet,
Christianity has Christ. In Mormonism, the most important prophet is their founder Joseph Smith.
In 1820, at the age of 15 years old, Joseph Smith claimed to have a personal visit from
God himself who told him about Christ. During this visit, Joseph Smith claimed
God told him all Christian Churches were an abomination. His visions in
general were contrary to Christianity. Joseph Smith held to these visions as the
purest ( the most correct) form of truth, above all religions. Joseph Smith was murdered in 1844, Brigham Young took over the
religion and moved it to Utah which has been the heart of Mormonism ever since.
In Utah, temples were built which have a different
purpose other than the traditional meeting place to worship. These temples were constructed in
order to perform secret occult rituals for the living and the dead because
Mormons think they must perform them to have eternal life. It's part of their
works for salvation. Now let's take a look at some of the basic beliefs in
Mormonism.
The Various Cannon of Scripture
In Mormonism, there are more than one book that is deemed as Scriptures (God's
Word), and they are...
1) The Bible, the KJV in particular (contains missing parts errors, and not
translated correctly so states Mormon scholars)
2) The Book of Mormon (the most accurate and complete book of God according to
Mormon scholars)
3) The Doctrine and Covenants
4) The Pearl of Great Price
The Book of Mormon which is widely known was claimed by Joseph Smith to be
written on golden plates in an language that was unknown to man called reformed
Egyptian. Mormons claim this book was written by ancient prophets on gold plates
which were later sent to Joseph Smith who had the gift to translate them into
English. The Book of Mormon had about 4,000 errors in it that alarmed even
Mormons themselves. So the most correct book about God according to Mormons
still had to be refined. For example, "mother of God" in the original 1830
version was changed to the "mother of the son of God". Also "King Benjamin"
becomes "King Mosiah" (B of M, Ether 4:1). There was also many grammatical
errors which were in need of correction if this book was to be taken seriously.
So stated Mormon scholars...The Trinity Mormonism teaches is polytheism.
Joseph Smith stated he was preaching about "the plurality of Gods" He viewed the
trinity not as One God, but Three distinct Gods. Mormon Apostle McConkie spoke
of the trinity as "Plurality of Gods: Three separate personages: Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost."
When is comes to viewing who God is, Mormons teaches that God who is ruling
Earth was nothing more than a man on another planet, who through self effort and
the help of his own father-god, was appointed by a counsel of other gods in the
heavens to his high position as the god of the Earth. On salvation, Mormon rests
on the false hope of their good deeds, and holy living through the atonement of
Christ, with their numerous goddess wives, to populate their own planets.
Christ Mormonism does in fact believe in the divinity of Christ but in a
way that is the opposite of what the Scriptures teach on the subject...In short,
Mormon doctrine claims Jesus, Lucifer, Demons, and all of mankind are actually
all spirit brothers and sisters, born in the spirit world as spirit babies to
their man-god Heavenly Father and his goddess wives.
Temple Rituals
A typical temple ceremony would take place as follows: "The ritual began in a
small cubicle where we had to strip completely. We then put on 'the shield,' a
poncho with a hole for the head, but open on the sides (similar to a hospital
gown). We went through a series of 'washings and anointings,' as various parts
of our bodies were touched by elderly temple workers who mumbled appropriate
incantations over them. Our Mormon underwear, 'the garments,' are said to have
powers to protect us from 'the evil one.' It had occult markings, which were so
'sacred' that we were instructed to burn them when the garments wore out. The
endowment ceremony mocked all doctrines held to by Biblical Christianity, and
Christian pastors were portrayed as servants of Satan. We had to swear many
blood oaths, promising we would forfeit our lives if we weren't faithful, or if
we revealed any of the secrets revealed to us in the temple ceremonies. We were
made to pretend by grotesque gestures to cut our throats, chests, and abdomens,
indicating how we would lose our lives. We were never told who would kill us!
The inference was, and history testifies to, that it would be the Mormon
priesthood." (Testimony of a former Mormon.) (Note: The blood oaths and
portrayal of Christian pastors were removed in April of 1990, despite the fact
that the ordinance was purported to have been given originally by a revelation
and was never to be changed.)
What Ever Happened to the Mormon Girls? A Follow Up!
I know some might
be wondering what ever happened to those Mormon girls and I also wondered for
quite some time, praying for both girls salvation. About five years later on
one Saturday afternoon, I was doing a little food shopping when unexpectedly one
of the Mormon girls who I encountered happened to be there by the grace of God.
As I glanced at her, she looked at me with a smiled indicating she remembered
who I was. I could see her eyes blinking more than usual. Five seconds later, she proceeded to approach me
from an eighty degree angle but not too close into my comfort zone. "Hey, your the man who was
witnessing to us as we were trying to witness to you. "Do you remember me
and my friend?" I shook my head, "yes" and asked how her spiritual life
was doing. "My heart was pricked that day when we talked at your door, but my
friend's was harden for a long time and sadly it still is. For many months
I searched the Scriptures and remembered what you said. I realized I had no
solid ground, if the text had errors in it, how could I know for certain who God
is and who God is not or what God actually said. I replied to her, "Yes, this is
true, tell me what else was going on with your life."
She continued with
a bright smile on her face with a soft tone of being very happy,
"Well, the Lord revealed the true nature of my heart, works in any form wouldn't
save me or make me become a god on another earth nor any religious traditions.
Jesus is not just a Saviour so we can escape the punishment of hell and live as
we please like the world does, but He is Lord who shows unconditional love when
He saves His people. I remember reading John the Baptist saying, "flee from the
wrath to come" I was at God's mercy, my search was over, God by His will saved a
poor sinner like me." I shook my head and said, "Praise the Lord". "How
long has it been since the Lord saved you?" I asked with a great deal of
curiosity. "Three in a half years" She replied with a smile. Then I asked her,
"Are you assembling with local believers anywhere?" "Yes, I am....I found a
small Baptist assembly, about 20 miles where I live." She continued to
describe the type of services they had, and songs they sung. It appeared it
wasn't a liberal Baptist or just a conservative assembly, but a Christian one.
She also told me of some of the false churches she went through to find a bible
believing church.
Before we departed
ways, I prayed with her asking the Lord to strengthen her in the faith which was
under attack by her Mormon family, and friends. Also the salvation of her former
friend and the rest of her family as well. I never seen her after that day,
and often times thought about how she was doing in the Lord. Yes, true life
doesn't always end up so sad or disappointing but do have a happy ending, thanks
to the Lord!
Christ is Salvation From the Stains of Sin
Arthur Pink a well know writer and author of a
magazine of many topics from the bible called; "Studies From The Scriptures"
puts salvation this way; "The heart of fallen man is thoroughly depraved: its thoughts and imaginations
being only evil continually (Genesis 6:5). It is full of corrupt desires and
affections, which exert themselves and influence man in all he does. Now the
Gospel comes into direct opposition with these selfish lusts and corrupt
affections, both in the root and in the fruit of them (Titus 2:11,12). There is
no greater duty that the Gospel urges upon our souls than the mortifying and
destroying of them, and this indispensably, if we intend to be made partakers of
its promises (Romans 8:13; Colossians 3:5-8). Hence, the first real work of
faith is to cleanse the soul from these pollutions, and therefore we read,
"They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts"
(Galatians 5:24). Arthur Pink is indeed right concerning salvation and the
status of man's heart, thanks to the Lord.
The
Scriptures Themselves Make it Clear...
"by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift
of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9)
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he
saved us" (Titus 3:5)
Christians from all over the world should pray for these two Mormon girls who
came to my door, for they truly need the Lord who rules over all.
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