Salvation by Grace Alone

AOMin only made it out to the temple Friday and Saturday night last week. Between putting the new office together, the DL, writing articles for the CRI Journal, and prepping for debates in the upcoming months, the Easter Pageant sort of snuck up on the Doc and AOMin (here referring to the guy with the “pillow-talk voice”).

The turnout Friday night was substantially smaller than normal, probably due to the strong winds all day. There were only a few KJV-only-wackos out there– it was difficult not to laugh as they struggled to hold their signs upright against the raging weather. But it was that evening the Lord blessed me with my most productive conversation of the weekend.

We were distributing tracts near Corner 1 when I saw this kid with his Quad open walking towards the KJV-wackos. I stepped forward and handed him a tract titled “Grace plus works is dead.” Normally I prefer to hand out our tracts that deal with the doctrine of God, but we didn’t have any time to print any new tracts this year, including any about God. So I chose one that deals simply with salvation by grace alone.

“You look like you’re ready to talk about the Scriptures,” I said, handing him a tract.

Relieved that I stopped him from talking to the KJV-only-wackos, I explained my purpose for coming out to the temple and then summarized the tract.

“This tract is a positive presentation of my gospel: salvation by grace alone, apart from any works. I’m here because I believe the LDS faith teaches a false gospel, one that cannot save. My goal is to kindly explain my gospel from the Scriptures, and compare that with the gospel of the Mormon Church,” I said.

We began by discussing a key truth Mormonism denies: Original Sin. From there we went straight through Romans 1-3. After building a firm case for man’s depravity, guilt, and utter inability to contribute to his salvation in any way, we went to Romans 3:28: “28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” (NASB).

We went over the meaning “justified,” “by faith,” “apart from works,” and “of the Law.”

Right then his mom walked up and tried to convince her son to join the rest of his family in their seats (the pageant was still about 30 minutes away from beginning). When he expressed his desire to stay and talk, his mom asked me a few questions about my purpose, and the tract. I think she was a little taken aback at how kind I was (especially compared to the KJV-wackos screaming in the background). More than that, she seemed to almost approve of the way I was handling myself. For a moment I think she considered letting her son stay and chat. But in the end, she kind of pulled him back to his seat (literally). I did give him my phone # and email addy. So hopefully I’ll hear from him.

Jacob, was his name. He is a very bright kid. Only 16 and already going to the Community College. He was logical, reasonable, and kind … not something you find every day.

I thank the Lord for the opportunity to proclaim the gospel of Peace to Jacob, and I pray the Lord might be pleased to grant to him repentance unto life.

Doulos of the gospel,
Casey