The Corner of Main and Hobson

Obviously Easter is on Sunday. Yay. Good Friday, Easter Sunday, lunch/dinner with the fam. Good times.

This also means that the LDS church is hosting their annual Easter pageant at the temple in Mesa. The play runs in the evenings, from Tuesday to Saturday. It is a spectacular show and a remarkable production. 80,000 people are expected to view the event. Most of the obvious Mormon doctrine has been removed, and they quote mostly from the King James Version of the Bible - although a few distinct doctrines are noticeable to the informed viewer. The pageant is used primarily as a proselytizing tool for non-members.

This is my fourth year handing out tracts at the pageant, but my first year officially with AOMin. Kinda exciting =). To my surprise, I was not nervous at all tonight. I felt adequately prepared and was eager to engage in conversation with Latter-day Saints. There were only four of us tonight: Rich Pierce, Larry, Adam, and myself. But we were armed with tracts and ready to go!

My first conversation was with the King-James-Onlyists. Adam and I were waiting at the light when one of the KJVOnlyists tried to hand us a tract. Adam informed him that we were Christians also handing out tracts. This fellow then asked what church I went to. "The Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church," I said. "Isn't that James White's Church?" Lonnie, the leader of the pack, piped in. I responded, "James is one of the elders at my church, but Don Fry is our pastor." "JAMES WHITE is a false teacher! He mocks the true Word of God!" Lonnie began yelling at me. You see, Elder James wrote The King James Only Controversy years back about KJV-Onlyism, and he has been the main source of attack by KJV-Only advocates. Odd thing is, however, James said in the book that he did not write the book against the King James Version of the Bible, but only against KJV-Onlyism, and to defend modern translations. Be that as it may, these KJV-Onlyists have not actually read James' works, and choose to view him as literally the spawn of Satan. Hence, since I go to "James White's church" I must likewise be of the Devil. After I realized that Lonnie was incapable of listening to reason and engaging in a serious argument, I essentially told him that I was finished with this conversation, and turned to cross the street. He kept preaching at Adam and I until we were out of range. I turned to Adam and said, "That was the worst conversation I will have tonight." Thankfully I was correct =). Unfortunately, they crossed over to our side of the street. They held their huge, obnoxious signs, with pictures of Joseph Smith burning in hell, along with accusations of Mormons being homosexuals and rapists. Before and after the pageant they screamed through megaphones their not-so-nice message, all the while trying to convince the Mormons that they ought to read the King James Version of the Bible - but wait, ... I thought that they already used the KJV? Oh well, so much for having a coherent and relevant message.

Rich suggested that we stand across the street so as to disassociate ourselves from these whackos (I'm sorry, there is just no nice way to describe these people). Adam and I manned one corner; Rich and Larry, another corner. We still covered the same traffic as we normally would have. Although, I believe many folks were pleasantly surprised to see me and Adam's smiling faces as they left the hatefilled speech of the KJV-Only-whackos =).

The Lord blessed the two of us with a number of conversations. Adam was able to share the gospel with a guy in Spanish! (Boy am I glad he was there).

I spent about half an hour talking with 3 high schoolers - all LDS. I focused on monotheism versus polytheism (one true God, versus many true gods). They were particularly amazed at the sharp contrast between Joseph Smith's (Mormonism's Founder) statement:

"In order to understand the subject of the dead, for consolation of those who mourn for the loss of their friends, it is necessary we should understand the character and being of God and how he came to be so; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see" (The King Follett Discourse)

compared with Psalm 90:2,

"Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God."

I also quoted Malachi 3:9,

"For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed."

It was a good convo.

Adam and I had an interesting time with a return LDS missionary. This guy appeared to have learned on his mission the art of avoiding meaningful dialogue with opposition =). Rather than respond to anything we said, he persisted to attack the Christian message, our God, and even Adam and myself. After going in circles (because I wouldn't accept his presupposition that "the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true Church because I feel that it is") we finally hit the issue we needed to address - that one's experiences and feelings are not a test for truth. After arguing that Scripture is the rule of faith, I then validated this practice by referring to Acts 17 ... Paul commending the Bereans for "examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so" (NOT by praying about his message, or waiting to hear from God). His response pretty much ended the conversation: "That is the 'sorryest' thing I have ever heard." He then urged me to attend a Mormon service, read the Book of Mormon, and sincerely pray about whether the LDS Church is the true church. I informed him that I have visited LDS churches numerous times, that I have read the BoM, but I will not ask God if the LDS Church is correct, because God, through His Word, commands me to test all things by Scripture, not by prayer. I pray the Lord softens that man's heart so he might truly examine his faith by the Word of God.

Not long after this I heard someone call out my name: "Hey Casey!" I turned to greet a nice looking couple. The guy held out his hand. As we shook hands I expressed that I forgot who he was... "Austin," he said, "We spoke 3 years ago." I exclaimed, "Oh, now I remember! You were in the play, right?" "Yea. I was a torch bearer," he said. After some small talk, he and his fiance headed off to watch the pageant - they're getting married in October. Congrats Austin! ... My first year at the pageant, Austin was handing out brochures (for the pageant) near where I was standing. Each night that week, for a couple hours we had a discussion. He was a very nice guy to talk to. It made my night tonight that he felt comfortable to approach me. I will definitely be praying for him.

My final convo was with a Christian. Jacob, a junior high student was there to learn about Mormonism so he could witness to his Mormon family members. I was able to encourage him in his pursuits, and gave him aomin's web addy. I told him to send me an email so I could help him in his studies. I'll letya know if I hear from him.

After the pageant, Adam and I hung out at Stapley Bucks (I'm still trying to come up with a more creative/semi-relevant nick for my Bucks). It was a good night.

As I was driving home tonight all I could do was thank God that He has saved me. I am thankful that He has given us His Word, and that the Bible is a clear revelation. Oh, how thankful I am that He alone is the one true God. How often do I take this truth for granted? As Christians, I think we sometimes believe that this is an obvious truth. Yet, Mormons don't know this simple fact. They believe that God is an exalted man, and we may become gods like Him. I shudder at the famous couplet stated by Lorenzo Snow, "As man is, God once was. As God is, man may become." Nights like tonight are a clear reminder to me how precious God's truth really is. The one and only God, loves me, and chose to save me from my sins so that I might have eternal life with Him.

My heart goes out to the Mormon people. They are sinners like me, and desperately need to hear the good news of the gospel. They need to hear about the one true God of the Bible. My prayer is that God's truth would be proclaimed this week. I pray that the tracts handed out tonight would be blessed. I pray that, if it God's will, that He might be merciful to those we have talked to tonight. Finally, I pray that God would be honored and glorified in our proclamation of His gospel.

Thank you God, for saving me, a sinner.

Rustyrust