Posted in Christy Darlington Witnessing to LDS, Evangelizing Mormons

An Apostle of the Mormon Church Took My Tract

   Published Date: February 12, 2024
Christy with her sign "Does the LDS Church BLAME Jesus for Joseph Smith's FAKE Translation?"
Christy with her sign “Does the LDS Church BLAME Jesus for Joseph Smith’s FAKE Translation?”
Christy and Marshall with their Book of Abraham Signs
Christy and Marshall with their Book of Abraham Signs

It was about an hour after the last session of the LDS Fall General Conference had ended on Sunday, October 1st, 2023, when I stood at the West Temple exit with my sign “Does the LDS Church Blame Jesus for Joseph Smith’s FAKE Translation?” Right about that time, a group of professionally dressed General Conference officials came out of the gates around the Conference Center and stood at the street corner waiting to cross the street to the mall.

Looking at the crowd to see if anyone would be interested in taking my tract, my eyes caught Elder Todd Christofferson’s scowl as he read my sign, then motioned to me a “naughty” symbol with his fingers trying to shame me for displaying my sign right outside of the LDS Conference Center.

Remembering the Scripture at Romans 1:16, (“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth”), I confidently looked Todd straight in the eye and with a kind smile, I offered him my tract.  It didn’t long after he took my tract that he had the Mormon Church  modify their essay to try to make excuses for the points I raised in my tract.  But even with that, my original point still remains.   By claiming that Jesus gave Joseph Smith the text for the Book of Abraham which really isn’t the writings of Abraham at all, the Church still blames Jesus for this fraud that Joseph Smith perpetrated on his followers.

Does the LDS  Church Blame Jesus for the FAKE Translation of Joseph Smith?

For more information, see my tract: What Does the LDS Church Now Admit About the Book of Abraham? 

While I was handing out tracts outside the General Conference I was hanging out with a few of my friends in ministry when a young man who was raised LDS came by our “Friendly Anti – Let’s Chat” table and asked if he could interview us.  With mutual agreement to do a video interview with us, we filmed our dialogue.  I have to say, this was one of the best, if not the best conversations we had all weekend:

Mormon Interviews the Friendly Anti

 

During the LDS General Conference of October 2023 stood several “friendly” Christian anti Mormons sitting outside the LDS Conference center with signs encouraging Mormons to engage in loving conversations over doctrinal beliefs. David, who was raised LDS, asked several key questions and the answers he received gave him a lot to think about. This video covers: 1.) What do Christians think of Mormons, 2. ) What do Christians think of the Book of Mormon? 3.) What do Christians think of Preexistence? 4.) What do Christians think of the Mormon view of Exaltation? 5.) What do Christians think of LDS Temples?

Discussing the Book of Abraham by our Friendly Anti Table
Discussing the Book of Abraham by our Friendly Anti Table

On another amazing day at General Conference, we had quite a few conversations with people who were raised LDS but struggling to believe in Christ and the Bible after discovering, on their own, the lies of Joseph Smith. Kinderhook plates, Book of Abraham not following the papyrus, then putting together an Egyptian grammar to try to convince his people that he could “translate” Egyptian, the Kirkland Ohio anti-banking fraud

Kevin holding my sign - Are You Prepared to Meet God?
Kevin holding my sign – Are You Prepared to Meet God?

where he ran off with the saint’s money, multiple polygamous relationships with married women, and on and on Smith’s scandals go.

Is it any wonder Mormons have a hard time keeping any faith at all after they see these things?
One praise was meeting Kevin, the guy holding my sign in the first picture. When he was Mormon, after reading former LDS apostle Spencer W. Kimball’s book Miracle of Forgiveness, he began to feel he couldn’t make it to the highest level of salvation. This Mormon book said he couldn’t receive forgiveness if he didn’t stop the urge to sin. That is when he read the Bible and came to faith in Christ alone, saved by grace, not by works. That was the moment he found freedom in Christ and he didn’t leave Christ, just the Mormon Church. Praise God!
Another former Mormon, now Christian evangelist, I met on the streets outside the Mormon General Conference was with Paul Gee.  He grew up Mormon, naturally believing the claims of Joseph Smith and the LDS Church. Then one day he started reading the Bible with the eyes of a child and discovered major differences between the teachings of Christ in the Bible and those found in Mormonism. Further research uncovered the fact that Joseph Smith could not translate the text of the Book of Abraham that forms the basis of many unchristian beliefs found in Mormonism. At this point, Paul had to make a decision. Would he follow Christ or would he remain comfortable following the teachings of the LDS Church that are at odds with Christ. For Paul, the choice was clear, he stopped singing “praise to the man” Joseph Smith and began singing praises only to Jesus as his only true Lord and Savior.

 

Christy with RobPlease continue to pray for the Mormons we talked to on the street. I had some of the most amazing conversations with LDS at this conference. I just love the people. They are definitely some of the sweetest people you will ever meet, but they’re just misguided by Joseph Smith’s lies. Please pray especially for David and Amanda. One is staunch LDS and another recently left but is questioning everything. Pray they both find that Jesus is the only real foundation we can trust.

Rob Sivulka of MormonInfo.com and Matt Slick of CARM.org are two of my apologist friends who I met at General Conference this year too. What a great trip!

 

 

 

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