A Visitation Story (Part 2 of 2)

IF GOD BE FOR US

It turns out the young man was surprised to meet us this night, because he had a quasi-appointment with the Mormon "missionaries." (Missionaries indeed; of the Father of Lies) And a mere 15 minutes or so after we arrived…so did they. They saw us talking to the young man; Jacob having Bible in hand as he showed him a warning from the Book of Revelation against those like the Mormons who would add or take away from Scripture. They waited in the dark by their car for a couple of minutes, appearing to assess the situation. Jacob told the young man that we would stay with him during their visit, but we would not be argumentative with them.

The Spirit of God does many things. The young man had experienced His conviction. Another occupation of the Spirit is that of Teacher. As the young Christian had read the book of Mormon, the Holy Spirit had put up red flags. He felt the teaching to be erroneous. The Spirit confirmed the Bible to him, but this other book, he felt, was not of the same author. Still, for a baby Christian, exposure to deceitful doctrine and its followers can be confusing, and therefore emasculating and dangerous.

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
2 Tim. 1:13-14

This was a spiritual battle - a battle over Truth. This young man was not left alone to fend for himself. For as Satan was sending his warriors of twisted truth, I believe God, unbeknownst to us, sent us there on that particular day, at that particular hour, as his guardians.

Although I feel compelled to share the Gospel, it was Jacob who was special for this situation. God did not send inadequate help to this young man. The Mormons had barked up the wrong tree. Not to inflate Jacob, but to show the hand of God in this man's life – God sent someone with a Master of Divinity, with a special emphasis in world religions. He has read his worn out Book of Mormon three times from cover to cover, more than most Mormons. He has taught world religions and has conversed with Mormon leaders, Muslim clerics, Buddhists, Hindus and the like. God didn't just throw this man any doctrinal guardian…he delivered Guardian Pro 2.0.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us
Eph. 3:20

Lucifer is a beautiful angel. His followers, both the willing and unwitting, maintain the same guise. Despite the heretical nature of Mormon doctrine, its disciples do not appear with horned heads and fire in their eyes. These Mormons approached us as well-meaning people, who in heartfelt sincerity were there to propagate their belief; oblivious to the posthumously fatal poison of their second "holy book."

There were three of them; a man and two younger ladies. The women had professionally made, black name tags with inscriptions similar to this:

The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints
Sister Smith

The man looked to be in his mid-thirties and was very friendly. They walked up the steps to join us on the small porch. Amid the introductions, they asked if Jacob and I were friends of the young man. They had a couple of other questions; one of which was asking the young man if he had told Jacob and I that they were coming. After fielding a few questions, Jacob again asked them their names. They ladies would refer to themselves with the title "Sister" and then their last name. Jacob asked them why they would not tell us their first name. No straight answer was given, but the young man was intrigued by their refusal. He invited all five of us into his living room.

The young man had no furniture in his living room, a byproduct of having been there all of four days. So all the visitors sat in a circle on the worn-out, formerly white carpet. Small talk ensued for the next few minutes. The young man brought out pictures of the automobile accident that he survived a year earlier. The pictures showed a red Ford truck that looked to have been through a junkyard's compaction machine. There were also pictures of him in the coma that he remained in for forty-eight days, while being given a ten percent chance of survival.

Having picked up on the fact that the two young women did not want to share their first name, he questioned them about it. One of the women said she preferred if he referred to her as Sister Jones. She asked him if it was even that important that he knew her first name. He replied that yes, it was important. After being persistently prodded by him, she finally gave in and told him her first name.

Eventually, one of the young ladies asked the young man if he had read some of the Book of Mormon, that they gave him earlier. He told them he had. She asked if he had prayed before and after he read. He said that he had. She then asked if he had any questions about what he had read. For the next few minutes, the young man expressed concerns he had over what he had read. He said the he believed what was in the Bible, and it bothered him that none of these people mentioned in the Book of Mormon were mentioned in the Bible.

Such conversation went on for about thirty to forty-five minutes. The Mormons could tell that the young man had difficulties coming to terms with their literature. Soon their attention turned to Jacob and I. The following conversation took a couple of hours. The summary of it is that with tactfulness and love, Jacob explained his experience in reading the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon says that those who read it will feel a "burning in their bosom." He did not experience that. Jacob talked about how the Book of Mormon was inconsistent with the Bible. He asked them to tell him what the crux of their religion was. He said if they only had two minutes to tell him what he needed to do to get to heaven, what would that be? They hemmed and hawed around for awhile, until Jacob made them nail it down to accepting their prophet, believing in Jesus, being baptized by someone with the authority to do so, and continuing to live and work in their faith. The bottom line of their belief was a salvation by works, and faithfulness to the Mormon prophets and their writings. Jacob told me later that Mormons typically do not know Scripture very well. Jacob (who has a photographic-like memory) took advantage of this by quoting verse, after verse, after verse of Scripture that supported doctrines they denied; these included the doctrine of Hell, debunking the idea of people existing with God before birth, the insufficiency of works and the sufficiency of Christ. Jacob was actually very gentle with them, and spoke in humility and love. Later, on the way home, Jacob told me things about Mormonism that had he wanted to, could have made the followers of the Rael cult look like rational, sensible people in comparison. Just one example, is the fact that Brigham Young, a founder of Mormonism, believed that aliens dressed like Quakers inhabit the moon. If you would like to read more about that particular point, see the website at the bottom of the article.

After a lengthy, loving, but pointed couple of hours of conversation, everyone prepared to leave. Jacob and I excused ourselves and headed home. We both agreed that the divine appointment we had just kept was probably not for the benefit of the Mormons, so much as for the young man's doctrinal protection. Looking back, I find it "just like God" to have honored and protected a young man who was seeking to right his relationship with him; and send his disciples to protect him from those that would entrap him.

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
John 17:15

But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
2 Thes. 3:3

http://www.nowscape.com/mormon/mormons5.htm