Romans 10:14 - A blessed week at the temple

Romans 10:14, "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?" (NASB).

Last week the Alpha and Omega Ministries crew were witnessing at the LDS temple in Mesa. The week was spectacular. We handed out a lot of tracts and had plenty of convos.

Here's a shot of the lawn, the visitor's center, and the temple in the background:

The stage:

Eddie and I:

The highlight of my week was Saturday night. Austin (also mentioned in my previous entry) approached me to talk about our conversation from 3 years earlier. He brought up a prophecy of Joseph Smith (their founding prophet) that I claimed was a false prophecy. Joseph Smith prophesied in 1832 that his generation would live to see the temple of Zion be built in Jackson County, Missouri. The Doctrine and Covenants (part of their Scriptures) not only contains this clear prophecy, but a number of other sermons by Joseph state the same thing. To make things worse, not long after Joseph's death, Mormon leaders (1850's and 60's) all believed the prophecy would be fulfilled in their lifetime. To avoid dealing with this glowing example of a false prophecy, Austin took me to Matthew 24. He focused on verse 34, that "this generation will not pass away until all this has been fulfilled." His argued one of two possibilities: (1) Jesus was wrong, thus making him a false prophet, or (2) the phrase "this generation" is not to be taken literally. Austin seemed to be saying that if Jesus gave a false prophecy, it is okay if Joseph did as well. At this moment I silently thanked the Lord that He has so thoroughly prepared me to respond to this particular objection. ... Because of my dealings with Hyper-Preterism, I was more than equipped to give a sound explanation of Matt 24 (and Luke 21) and still affirm the future Second Coming of Christ. When I finished going through the text with him, we went back to Joseph's prophecy. There was an awkward silence. He shook my hand, thanked me for my time, and went back to watch the show. I am thankful that God has kept our conversation from 3 years earlier in his mind all this time! My prayer is that God does not give him rest until he turns from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unto the God of Scripture.

If you would like to pray for the folks I witnessed to this week, here are the memorable ones:

KJV-Onlyists - that they would turn from KJV-Onlyism, and believe the gospel of grace and peace

A Return Missionary - We discussed the eternal law of progression (a foundational Mormon teaching)

Jacob - a Christian who wants to study Mormonism so he can witness to his Mormon family members. I gave him the aomin web addy, and my email.

Paul - a return missionary. We discussed the Great Apostasy (the Mormon belief that the Church completely fell away after the apostles). We exchanged phone numbers, and I will be calling him this week.

A guy who was initially upset for us being there - ended up having a decent discussion about the priesthood and our authority as Christians.

Tanner - raised LDS with a long family history in the LDS church. We discussed epistemology (how you know what you know). He recognized that my beliefs were from Scripture, his were from his feelings.

2 missionaries - They were stuck on the corner next to me waiting for their ride, so yea, we had a convo =). They were extremely rude, but nevertheless I managed to discuss the Trinity with them in great detail.

3 high schoolers - discussed monotheism versus polytheism, the eternal law of progression, and the authenticity of Scripture.

Kim - a Roman Catholic whom Jerry and I spoke with at Starbucks after the temple on Sat night from 10pm-12:30am. Spent much of our time on the gospel, and epistemology.

*** Pics/vid from the week

"Heavenly Father, I pray that you would bless the tracts that were distributed this week. We are thankful for the many conversations throughout the week, and ask that You might be pleased to save many. Deliver men from the gods of Mormonism by granting to them the ability to repent and believe in the one true God. I am honored you have used us, your servants to speak your truth to an almost unreached people group. May Your Name continue to be honored and glorified. Amen."

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