“How do Christian pastors and elders witness to Mormons?” That question was put into my mind by an elders’ meeting at my church when my elders told me that I was witnessing to Mormons all wrong. I was shocked.
View PDF Tract / The Older The Bolder – Marshall Almarode
They didn’t like my direct approach and told me that I didn’t know what I was doing!
I had been witnessing to Mormons for some fifteen years and learned from the “Masters of the Craft.” I read many books on witnessing and met the authors who were great ministry leaders. I attended conferences every year in Salt Lake City along with street witnessing and fair booth witnessing. I had also been a guest speaker at many conferences, Bible studies and Sunday morning and evening sermons. I personally knew Granny Geer, Sandra and Jerald Tanner, Bill McKeever, Marvin Cowan, Ed Decker, Dick Bear, Walter Martin, Ron Carlson, and Robert Morey to name just a few. My library on witnessing to Mormons is very extensive because I CARED TO BECOME THE VERY BEST I COULD BE for Jesus.
I began to think about the Elders’ accusation and realized that I had seldom met any pastors or elders from any church witnessing in the field. I heard of a pastors’ and elders’ Promise Keepers conference in Portland, Oregon and decided to go and bring one of my Mormon friends dressed as a Mormon (BYU shirt, etc.). This way I could watch the pastors and elders witness and see just how they do it. I couldn’t talk any of my Mormon friends into going with me as a Mormon. I had two shirts that had a Mormon message so I decided I could “dress up” like a Mormon and go see first-hand how the pastors and elders witness. My plan was to meet my foster son in Portland and go to the conference together. My Mexican buddy, Danny Cantu, decided to go with me at the last minute. We got to the conference early and sat in the back row seats on the left side of the main isle. I wore my Mormon T-shirt. I brought my Book of Mormon and my Mormon KJV and put them on the seat beside me. Danny decided to move about six feet to our left, because he just wanted to listen.
My initial plan was not to say I was Mormon but just ask questions and see if they would assume I was Mormon. Danny came to us later and said, “They looked at your Book of Mormon sitting on your seat after you left and stated, ‘I told you they were Mormons. See, that is a Book of Mormon!’”
The first speaker was Bill McCartney himself. Between each speaker was a break of about fifteen minutes and there were lines for the bathrooms. I would introduce myself and shake the hand of the pastor in front of me and talk for a few seconds and then turn so that he could see the back of my shirt and then do the same with the person behind me. Then I would do the same in the line next to me. Each time I turned around, that person would get to see the large Book of Mormon and the water flooding the earth and the slogan, “Flood the Earth.”
Greg watched the reactions of the pastors and elders. They all were quiet. No one even asked any questions or tried to witness to me. After the first break Greg wanted to wear my second shirt. We went to the car, and he changed. From then on, we split up and did the same thing in two places throughout the conference areas. During the second or third speaker, I decided to take pictures of the huge room and strolled around the back circular walkway to the left behind my seat. As I returned, I noticed a parson looking at me and following me as I walked around the back. I finally decided to look directly at the person and to my surprise, it was Bill McCartney himself!
I grinned at him, and he grinned at me, and I said, “Bill, we are really not Mormons.”
He said, “Ok.”
I went and sat down.
Greg said, “The big guy, huh?”
I decided that I needed a picture because no one would believe that I met Bill McCartney. So we asked, and Bill posed for both of us to get our picture with him in our Mormon shirts. After that he disappeared, and we never saw him again at the conference.
I was going to wear my Mormon shirt in the morning and my “Anti”-Mormon shirt in the afternoon. I changed my plan because someone might say, “A half day isn’t long enough.” So we both wore the shirts and paraded them everywhere for the whole conference. You guessed it, not one pastor or elder cared enough about my salvation that he would bring up God, Jesus, salvation, deception or anything else.
Toward the end of the day, I again walked up toward the front of the Church slowly looking for someone (that I never found). I turned to the left and turned to the right as I walked up the aisle so everyone got to see the back of my tee shirt with the Book of Mormon on it. When I got to the front, I noticed a 25-year-old bald black guy standing in the back walkway watching and smiling at me. I started heading his way. He just kept looking at me and smiling.
When I got close to him, I asked, “If I had a Book of Mormon (and I don’t), and I gave it to you right now, would you read it and pray about it with sincerity?”
He said, “No.”
I asked, “Why?”
He said, “Because it is wrong.”
I answered, “Oh, so you have read it.”
He said, “No, I haven’t.”
I answered, “Since you haven’t, you based your decision on feelings, not evidence. Give me one good reason why Mormonism is wrong.”
He fumbled and bumbled for about a minute. He said, “I can’t remember.”
Finally, I stated that I was not Mormon.
He yelled, “Praise the Lord!” repeatedly.
I asked, “Would you like some brochures to help you with some answers in the future?”
He excitedly said, “Yes!”
He took all of my tracts. I told him not to tell anyone that I was a Bible believer and not Mormon.
Biblical Requirements of Elders (and Pastors)
Pastors and elders should review the biblical qualifications of elders – Titus 1:9, “Hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so you can encourage others with sound doctrine and REFUTE those who oppose it.”
Paul sets us a good example in Romans 1:15 – “So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.” How anxious are our pastors and elders to preach the gospel to those from Utah? I am reminded of the two pastors in my town who many years ago, told me that Mormons were actually Christian, we just disagree with some minor things. Here at this Promise Keepers pastor’s conference twenty years later, I had to start the only conversation that I had that whole day. Greg and I didn’t have any pastor ever come up to us and start any conversation all day. Not one. They had plenty of opportunity to witness to Mormons that day (Two apparent Mormons all day!) and they wouldn’t even start. It appears that pastors are afraid to risk offending Mormons and they don’t have confidence to start any discussion whatsoever. I like many different methods, but I don’t like the way these pastors witnessed to Mormons.
