Doug and I attended our 18th Semi Annual LDS General Conference at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 3rd and 4th. We always look forward to seeing how God will use us to reach the LDS people and proclaim His truth.
As usual, Doug had his sign that reads “Is the Mormon Jesus the Same Jesus of the Bible?” And I wore my shirt that reads, “Why Don’t Mormons Believe the Book of Mormon?“. Doug also wore a new shirt he just made that reads, “The Church of JOSEPH SMITH of Latter Day Saints” with 4mormon.org on the back along with “History of the Church, vol. 6, pp. 408-409” which is the address to Joseph Smith’s boasting statement he made on May 26, 1844 about a month before his death.
“I have more to boast than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam…..Neither Paul, John, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; But the Latter-Day Saints never ran away from me yet.”–History of the Church, Vol. 6, pp. 408-409
Doug was also handing out our business card tract “Why Did Joseph Smith Die So Young?” Which has Smith’s boasting statement on it. Doug had a few people approach him about his shirt and listened to Doug’s explanation but one elderly man and his wife were very upset with Doug and got right in Doug’s face about his Joseph Smith’s church shirt.
Doug read Smith’s boasting statement to them and explained that Joseph Smith was claiming to be greater than even Jesus. They were very upset and tried to argue that Smith was saying he did a greater work than anyone except Jesus but Doug explained that Smith claimed that Jesus’ followers ran away from Jesus but not Joseph, showing Smith’s claims to be greater than Jesus Himself.
Having nothing left to argue on they left upset. The great thing about this conversation was that a large crowd of LDS were standing there waiting for the traffic light to change and listening to Doug and this couple’s lame argument about Joseph Smith’s claim to be greater than Jesus. The amazing thing was that the whole time this conversation was taking place the traffic light did not change until the conversation ended.
A large percentage of LDS that leave the church due to discovering the false claims of Mormonism become atheists. Jake is one of those ex-Mormon atheist which in our conversation admitted the fact that most ex-LDS become atheist because of the lies and false teachings of the Mormon Church. Jake argued that science proves evolution and the earth to be millions of years and I, of course, explained that as science progresses there are more and more scientists coming to the conclusion that science is showing that earth was created by a Creator. I also challenged Jake to research why there is no fossil or current evidence that evolution took place or is currently taking place.
Doug and I explained that Romans 1:18-20 states that all men will be held accountable through creation that there is God. Of coarse, Jake explained that he didn’t believe the Bible nor believe in God and I explained that just because he didn’t believe in God didn’t mean that he was right. In the end, Jake admitted that he was open to searching for truth wherever that might lead him.
I had a great conversation with another guy named Michael about the question on my shirt: Why Don’t Mormons Believe the Book of Mormon?. I explained that when I read the Book of Mormon I saw a number of biblical precepts taught in the Book of Mormon that the LDS Church denies and teaches differently. I explained that the Book of Mormon teaches that God is a triune being (2 Nephi 31:21) that has never been a man and has always been God from eternity to eternity (Moroni 8:18).
Michael explained that this was the purpose of modern day prophets, to bring new revelation from God to His people. He said that Joseph Smith founded the Church and relied on God to give him new revelations to lead the Church. I explained to Michael that one way to know if a prophet is from God is that what that prophet proclaims lines up with what God has already spoken and that any prophecy proclaimed comes 100% true.
I explained that church history shows that when Smith founded the church, he was teaching these biblical precept about the eternal Triune God found in the Book of Mormon but as time went on Smith started to teach that Father, Son and Holy Ghost were separate gods that made up the Godhead and later went on to proclaim that God was once a man like us and we needed to learn how to become Gods like Him just 3 months before his death.
I challenged Michael to do his own research into church history on Smith’s ever changing doctrine of God. I stated to Michael that the only prophecy that Joseph Smith fulfilled was Deuteronomy 13:1-5 that any prophet or dreamer of dreams that lead people to follow and serve after other gods, that this prophet would be put to death.
I explained that Joseph Smith was put to death just 3 months after he preached that God is a man like us and that we need to become Gods ourselves, thus fulfilling the Deuteronomy 13 prophecy. Michael left with a disturbed look thus confirming that the Church truly is the Church of Joseph Smith.
I had another interesting discuss with another LDS guy named Mike. He approached me wondering what point I was making with the question on my shirt. I explained that after reading the Book of Mormon and noticing many biblical precepts taught in the pages of the Book of Mormon yet knowing that these same biblical precepts are denied and even mocked by the LDS Church tells me that Mormons don’t really believe in the Book of Mormon.
Mike said my understanding was interesting but assured me that he and other Mormons believed the Book of Mormon to be true. I asked Mike if he believed in the Trinity (2 Nephi 31:21), that Jesus is our Creator not our elder brother (2 Nephi 11:7), that God was never a man (Moroni 8:18), that God is not a man of flesh and bones but a Spirit (Alma 18:24-28), that there is no baptism for the dead (Alma 34:32-35) which Mike responded with a “no.”
I then told Mike that these teachings are found in the Book of Mormon and handed him my business card tract with these Book of Mormon teachings. I explained that this is why I don’t believe that you or any other Mormon truly believes in the Book of Mormon or you would be following these teachings instead of following the false teachings of the Church that teach contrary to the Book of Mormon.
Mike admitted that my observations were very interesting and would take my advise and check it out for himself. Mike shook my hand and left.
Please pray for all those who were witnessed to by the many Christians at Temple Square.
God Bless,
Rob B
