Summer 2003

“ ‘You are My witnesses,’ declares the LORD, ‘…that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me. I, even I, am the LORD; and there is no savior besides Me.’ ”—Isa. 43:10-11

Welcome to the summer edition of the Witnesses For Jesus Praise report. As many of you know, I spent the last week of June witnessing to Mormons during their annual “Mormon Miracle Pageant.” Every year, Mormons from all over Utah and surrounding states travel to Manti (a small town two hours south of Salt Lake City) to view a reenactment of Joseph Smith’s first vision and Book of Mormon account of ancient America. This production performed on the lawn of the Manti Temple (picture below), is produced by the Mormon Church and runs every evening for the last two weeks of June.

As Mormons gathered on the streets of Manti, two hours prior to the start of the pageant, roughly 150 Christians from various church groups throughout the United States carried signs, handed out tracts and shared our faith with Mormons as they lingered on the streets prior to the pageant performance.

Each morning, we started our day with prayer, fellowship, and training at Pastor Chip Thompson’s Bible church in Ephraim (10 miles north of Manti).

Using the Book of Mormon as a spring-board into sharing about Jesus, I had many productive conversations with Mormons at the Manti pageant, at Brigham Young University (BYU) and at the Mormon Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT.

ONE GOD OR THREE GODS?
One afternoon when I was visiting BYU over the lunch hour, I sat down in the cafeteria next to a gal who was in her 2nd year at the university. After explaining to her the purpose of my visit to Utah, I asked her if she would be willing to answer some questions I have concerning Mormonism. She graciously agreed and we began a discussion on the Mormon concept of “God.” I explained to her how I am puzzled by the Mormons’ claim that they “worship” only “one God” when Joseph Smith taught that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three separate “Gods.” I asked her “If these three personages are three Gods, as Joseph Smith taught, how many Gods do Mormons really worship?” She said that they worship only one God—the Father—and that they do not worship Jesus. “Really?” I replied. “Then, why does the Book of Mormon teach that Christians are to ‘worship’ Jesus just as we are to worship the Father?” (1 Nephi 11:24, 3 Nephi 11:17) At this statement, she became quite nervous and anxiously looked around the cafeteria for someone to help her answer my questions. A young returned missionary sitting at the table next to us agreed to help and he pulled up a chair, but in less than five minutes, he too became confused with how to reconcile Joseph Smith’s teaching about “three Gods” with the Book of Mormon’s emphatic statement that there is only “one true and living God.” (Alma 11:25-29). “We’ve got to go,” he exclaimed as he bore his testimony concerning the Book of Mormon and quickly left my table.

“WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO OFFER ME?”
Next stop for me was the Missionary Training Center. We pulled into the visitor’s parking lot, and I grabbed a few of the photocopies I made that document the changes Joseph Smith made to some of his revelations that he originally published in the Book of Commandments prior to producing the LDS Scripture that they now call Doctrine and Covenants. No sooner did I take my stand at the street corner between the Training Center and the parking lot, than two young Missionary “Trainers” came walking up to the corner, preparing to cross the street. “May I ask you a question?” I called out to these young men. “Sure” they replied. “I noticed that you are trainers for the missionaries, is this true?” “That’s right,” they replied. “Great!” I replied, “Then could you tell me what the Mormon Church teaches their missionaries to say regarding the changes Joseph Smith made to your revelations?” With that, I showed them the copies I had made. “I think you know that answer to that question,” they replied. “We just don’t talk about it.” “You’re kidding?” I responded. “All these changes and you don’t talk about them?” They had nothing to say. Finally, one of them turned to me and asked, “Suppose you convinced me that Mormonism is not true. What do you have to offer me?” With that I was able to take them through the Mormon requirements for salvation and contrast the Mormon gospel with the true Gospel of grace. After listening intently to my explanation of the Gospel, they cordially shook my hand and admitted that while they are not ready to embrace my views, they appreciated the time I took to share my faith with them.

During the evenings that I ministered at the pageant, I was able to hand out several hundred copies of a new tract I’ve written for Mormons. You can read the content of my new tract posted on my website at:
http://www.witforjesus.org/mormon/lds_material.php

One night, one young man who had ripped up my tract to demonstrate his disgust for our attendance, came back to me later on in the evening, (after his friend had gotten him to read my tract), and he apologized for his actions. “I’m sorry,” he explained, “I didn’t realize you were not anti-Mormon.” Then, later on that same night, I had a couple other Mormon boys come up to me and request copies of my tract to share with their friends. This was typical of the response I received from Mormons who took the time to read my tract. I found that if I could get Mormons who expressed animosity to read my tract, they would calm down and soberly walk away—being convicted by the Law of Mormonism.

There were many more positive conversations and experiences I had during my time in Utah than I have time to report. Although I personally didn’t get a chance to lead anyone to Christ, several of my Christian friends did. The last word I heard was that we had a total of 13 professions of faith during the two weeks we ministered at the Manti Pageant.

In closing, I’d like to share an update from my last newsletter. I had reported on Tressa’s daughter Meriah who had requested that I discuss the doctrine of the Trinity with her and her JW friend from the Kingdom Hall. I am happy to report that Meriah has decided not to go back to the Kingdom Hall and is actively pursuing a good church home. Also, the young Jehovah’s Witness who accepted Jesus in February of this year is still going strong in his new faith in Christ, and he is faithfully sharing his faith with other JWs and ex-JWs he is meeting on the Internet boards. God is indeed faithful!

In His Grace,
Christy Harvey