Introduction: Letters To A Mormon Elder
by James R. White
I had been married only a few months when I received a phone call from my sister-in-law. Two young Mormon missionaries had come to her door, and she had made an appointment to talk with them the next Monday. Could I come over and help her.
At the time, I knew little about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormonism. I had read one book on the subject, and had run into an LDS lady while making an outreach visit for my church a few years before. I had a few days to “bone up,” so I re-read my one book on Mormonism and went back over my list of memory verses.
On the appointed day two young gentlemen came to the door of my sister-in-law’s home. Elders Reed and Reese, both 19 years of age, introduced themselves and sat down. I don’t recall many of the specifics of the conversation that day. I know we talked about grace and works, baptism — the normal areas of discussion about salvation that come up. I remember being impressed with the honesty of the missionaries, for they even came right out and said “we are not Bible scholars, and we will have to look into that verse you just quoted and get back to you on that.” The conversation was friendly, and they agreed to come back in three days — on Thursday afternoon.
When they left, my wife, her sister, and I sat down and sort of looked at each other. I had some firm convictions as a result of our talk: first, that I didn’t know nearly enough about Mormons or their beliefs to effectively share the gospel with them. Second, I didn’t know my own faith well enough to accurately and succinctly express it to someone such as a Mormon missionary. I had a lot of work to do.
In the intervening days I read three or four more books on Mormonism. I was amazed at what I found. I began making extensive notes on the differences between what I saw as Biblical teaching and that of the LDS Church. I visited my first LDS bookstore and bought my first Book of Mormon.
I read of the supposed visit of Jesus to the Americas in 3rd Nephi, and was immediately struck by the differences between the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I also began to realize that in our first discussion we had been “speaking different languages.” That is, they were speaking Mormonese and I was speaking Christianese — using the same terms, but meaning very different things. I began to see how confusing the whole situation could be for those with less Biblical background than I. When I met again with Elders Reed and Reese, I felt a little better prepared. This time I understood more of what they were trying to say and was better able to communicate with them in their own language. We spoke of God, and their concept that He was once a man over against the Bible’s clear teaching that He had always been God and would always be God. I do remember clearly how that meeting finished. with every ounce of concern and love in my heart. I spoke to them of the vast difference between salvation offered by the unchangeable, eternal, and omnipotent God, and the salvation they presented, based as it was upon a being who changed and evolved and might do so again tomorrow. With that, we parted company.
Elders Reed and Reese don’t know how much they impacted my life. Of course, I now see the providential hand of God in that meeting, but at the time I had absolutely no idea how important those two meetings would be. Of course, they had no intention of spurring me on to found Alpha and Omega Ministries and to produce many tracts and materials for sharing the gospel with Mormons. But that is exactly what happened. God put a fire in my heart for sharing with Latter-day Saints that burns brightly to this day.
Following those meetings I began to become a regular at the local LDS bookstore. I was reading both LDS and Christian books at the same time. Each time I would find a particular Mormon work being cited with any frequency by Christian writers, I would run and get the book and read it, too. I discovered the wonderful books written by Jerald and Sandra Tanner, by far the most extensively researched materials around. I also began to notice that a strange set of books called The Journal of Discourses was being cited over and over again, primarily in discussing the early Mormon theological views. So, I headed down to the Mormon bookstore to buy them, though I had no idea what they looked like or what they would cost. Imagine my surprise when, upon asking for The Journal of Discourses, I was directed to a 26-volume set of books high up on a shelf! The first thought in my mind was, “what will my wife think of this” But, I bought them anyway, and in retrospect I can again see the hand of God, for they then went out of print for a couple of years, and they were indeed a great help in doing research into Mormon theology. Next, I asked those in charge of the “Christian Training” section of the church I was attending if I could teach a 13-week class on the Mormon Church. I wanted to share all the information I was getting from my reading. That class led directly to the founding of Alpha and Omega Ministries, for it was there that some of our most important people came together to learn to share the gospel with Mormons. One of those who attended, Michael Beliveau, commented after one class that “we should start a group to witness to Mormons.” I sort of smiled at the idea, but it kept coming back into my thinking, so much so that a few months later, when speaking with a Christian attorney, I asked him about the possibilities of starting a non-profit ministry. He put the papers together very quickly, and Alpha and Omega Ministries was born. We began with a couple of books, a photocopied tract, and four people — myself and my wife Kelli, and Mike and Linda Beliveau. We had no idea what God had in store for the future. All we knew was that we wanted to share the truth with Mormon people, and anyone else for that matter.
If you want to witness to Mormons, try going where they are! That is exactly what we did. The Mormon Church sponsors an “Easter Pageant” on the front lawn of the Arizona Temple in Mesa, Arizona. Anywhere from 60,000 to 75,000 people attend during the week-long presentation. The vast majority of people have to park in public parking and walk across the street to get to the seating, so we took the opportunity of being there to pass out tracts and share the gospel. We’ve been doing the same thing ever since. Dozens of Mormon missionaries are present to pass out programs (along with a “free” offer of a Book of Mormon, that arrives at one’s home attached to two smiling missionaries!), and we have never missed the opportunity of sharing with these young men. As many as 30 people have worked with us at one time in distributing tracts and presenting the truth of the Word of God during the Easter Pageant. The experiences I have had in sharing with Mormons one-on-one or one-on twenty on the sidewalks of Mesa will form part of the basis from which the following letters to a Mormon Elder is drawn.
But tracting the Easter Pageant once a year was not enough. Michael and I soon ventured north to the state of Utah. We jokingly referred to it as “foreign missions work,” but there are many ways in which that is not an untruth.
We arrived in Salt Lake on a sunny day, and quickly recognized that Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City is the ideal tracting spot. Why Well, there are only three gates onto the square containing the Temple and the Mormon Tabernacle along with the two modern, impressive visitor’s centers. During the week, the members who are going into the Temple to do their temple work enter through one gate on the northeast corner. Two people can cover that one gate with no difficulty at all, which is what we proceeded to do. One might think that two young Christians in the midst of the hustle and bustle of downtown Salt Lake City, surrounded by LDS folks who really did not appreciate our presence, would be either naive (possibly) or foolhardy, or both. But we learned a lot and came back with another idea that would shape the future of our ministry.
Every six months, on the first weekend in April and the first weekend in October, the Mormon Church holds its semi-annual “General Conference.” Tens of thousands of Mormons pack into the Temple Square to hear the “Prophet” and the “Apostles” speak. And nearly every single one of those folks has to walk across public access sidewalks and through one of those three gates to get in. The first time we witnessed at the General Conference, we had all of three people.
Mike and I at least had an idea of what to expect; our newest volunteer got a lot of “training” on the road north! We took up stations at the North Gate, and, quite honestly, within a few hours there was a line of people waiting to talk to each of us! Soon I heard a cry for help from our newest volunteer, and, wading through the crowd, I found him backed up against the gate, surrounded by at least ten LDS folks, all throwing questions at him. Once I extricated him from his predicament, he stuck real close for the rest of the day.
That was the first of what to this date has been twelve consecutive trips to the General Conference of the Mormon Church in Salt Lake. Every time the LDS Church has met for the past six years, I have been present to share with them. We have had as many as 18 people in Salt Lake, quite a sufficient number to adequately cover all three gates and then some. I have had long, intense conversations with individuals, and have had loud, difficult conversations with entire crowds of Mormon missionaries, numbering over 25 at a time. I’ve spoken with young and old, men and women. The people who attend the Conference can be some of the “hardest” people with whom to speak. Many are former missionaries, and almost all of them think that we poor souls outside the gates are utterly unaware of even the first thing about the LDS Church. Despite the obviously volatile situation, we have been blessed of God in our work, and have had the wonderful opportunity of meeting people who have come up to us and said, “I took one of your tracts two years ago just to prove you wrong. Once I started studying, though, I found out you were right, and I am now a member of a local Christian church.”
At both the General Conference and the Mormon Easter Pageant, it has been our goal to share the Gospel with the highest integrity. To accomplish this goal we are careful to provide in-depth training for all those who would be involved with us in our work. Starting months before these missions opportunities, we hold seminars and training classes, drilling the believers in the doctrines of the faith, and training them in Mormon belief. A popular element of this training is our role-playing, where I and other “veterans” of front-line missions work take on the role of the Mormon, and present to the volunteers the common objections they will face in their work.
Why this history of Alpha and Omega Ministries and my own involvement in missions work to the Mormons? It is readily admitted that our work with Mormons is not all that we do — we are actively involved in sharing with Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roman Catholics, and atheists — we work in the entire realm of Christian apologetics. However, that work has remained one of our greatest priorities. My extensive experience in sharing with LDS people one-on-one on the street corner forms an important part of the basis upon which this book, and the letters it contains, is written. Over the past few years I have spoken with well over 1,200 Mormon missionaries in Arizona and Utah, and an equal number of plain Mormon folk. I have corresponded with many, many Mormon elders as well. I am not a newcomer to the field, simply applying high-sounding theology I earned in seminary to a problem of cult evangelism — I have taken what is in this book right to the gates of the Temple in Salt Lake, and have tested and proven it there. The information contained in the following pages is drawn not simply from the theological classroom or from the reading of this book or that; it comes as well from hundreds and hundreds of hours of witnessing to Mormon people and listening closely to their responses.
The need for Christians to be prepared to answer the challenges of the LDS Church hardly needs to be emphasized. Most real believers know the danger presented to the Christian Church by the counterfeit Christianity that is Mormonism. The average Mormon is far better prepared to deal with the Christian than vice-versa. It is hoped that this work will help countless believers fulfill their longing to be prepared to give an answer for the hope that is within, yet with gentleness and reverence.
A word concerning the format of this work. Most works on Mormonism address each of the various doctrinal or historical issues in a chapter-by-chapter format. I have chosen not to repeat what has been done by others in the past. Rather, by placing the information concerning Mormonism into the form of letters, I hope to also provide help in knowing how to present the information when the opportunity arises. This way the information is presented in a practical way, one that, it is hoped, will provide needed encouragement and direction to those who will share this information with LDS friends, relatives, and acquaintances. Also, there are a number of excellent works on Mormonism that do a tremendous job addressing the many historical issues relevant to the LDS faith. It is not my intention to attempt to “recreate the wheel” when people such as Jerald and Sandra Tanner have put so much time, and so much effort, into providing the Christian community with well-researched, solid information that is presented with the highest level of integrity. The reader is directed to their many, many fine works for in-depth material on the history and practices of the LDS Church. Therefore, only three “letters” will deal with specific historical issues such as the Book of Mormon, false prophecies of Joseph Smith, etc. The primary thrust of this work is to “fill in” where many other works do not — that being to provide a theological response to the LDS Church.
James White
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