How To Witness
We receive countless e-mails and phone calls on a daily basis asking us how to witness to a friend or loved one in Mormonism. While I’ve numbered the tips below for witnessing it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re in order of importance.
However, it is important is to remember that everything I’ve listed for tips on how to witness will be a totally new experience to the Mormon. When I converted to Christianity I was a few months shy of my thirtieth birthday, and quickly learned every single thing I had known up until that time was a lie.
1- Dr. Walter Martin once said; “Don’t explain Christianity by experiential reasoning but by demonstrative explanation only”.
This isn’t the time for “goose-bump” moments. Be direct, making it perfectly clear that Jesus is God by showing them how and why the scripture has been fulfilled, how they can be saved, etc.
2-Remember they’ve given up their spirit, albeit unknowingly at times, to Ba’al.
3-Having the last word will kill your witness. Walk away.
4-Body language is of utmost importance. For example; don’t fold your arms around a Mormon, especially while praying.
5-When they give their testimony, interrupt them. For example, drop a book to bring them out of their trance. Pay attention to their eyes as they usually dilate during “bearing of their testimony”. This is a method of self-hypnosis. While they obviously don’t realize they’ve done this to themselves, it is quite common.
Bearing their testimony and praying is done by rote in Mormonism and is much like chanting which compromises their cognitive thinking.
They’ve been taught testimonies and prayers mustn’t be too lengthy or wordy, but to make sure they always include they know “Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God and the LDS Church is the only true church on the face of the earth”. They will close their testimony by saying “I bear you my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen”.
6-Ask the Mormon: “What the most significant thing is to you personally about the organization?” This causes them to think.
7-When they use scripture to defend themselves, ask them to qualify it for you. What is the location of the verse, is it in context, etc., Ninety-nine percent of the time you’ll have to show them where it is in their own Bible. Know the order of the books in the Bible. Ask them how they knew they could trust the verses they used from the Bible. LDS Article of Faith 1:8 says; “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly…”
8-Remember that as a Christian you’re dealing in the spiritual realm, not with the actual person in the cult. Eph. 6:12; “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
9-When they ask you where you got your authority from; tell them you got it from the same place John the Baptist got his – that would be God. Scriptural proof of your authority can be found in Acts 1:8 and Matt. 28:18-20.
10-While praying never allow the Mormon to do the praying. Remember they’re not worshipping the God of the Bible. You take the authority and introduce them to the idea of holding hands during prayer. It is unsettling to the Mormon, but show them with love how it is done. Remember that body language speaks louder than words at times.
11-If at all possible use a KJV Bible when witnessing to the Mormon. While their reasoning for “KJV only” seems ambiguous since they don’t believe it’s been translated correctly, we want to remember what Paul taught in 1 Cor. 9:22; “To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”
12-Please do this in love. Eph. 4:15; “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.”
20 Helps for Mormon Friends and Loved Ones
1 – Word studies. See if your Mormon friends would be interested in doing a word study with you! These are great for the new ex-Mormon as well as for the Mormon. Just pick your favorite word/topic from the Bible, find all the places in the Bible where this word is used to get the full context and share with each other what you’ve learned. Make sure you both use a reputable concordance and dictionary. Also let them know their opinion counts, that what they have to say matters to you personally. You don’t have to agree with their opinion, but their spiritual condition obviously matters to you or you wouldn’t bother trying.
2 – Go out of your way to share with the Mormon what Jesus did for you today. Use scripture to back it up. Show them how you applied that scripture to make it a personal message from the Lord to you. Teach them how to read the Bible as a personal letter from God to them personally.
3 – Invite them to non-threatening events at your church, i.e. women’s teas, men’s breakfasts, dessert theaters, etc. Let them be around Christian ‘things’ as much as possible, i.e., the cross, Bibles that usually lay around churches, actual people inside the church building in the daytime if possible during the week, etc.
4 – Listen to Christian music while they’re around you so they can hear the words. Most Christian hymns and songs contain scripture. Isaiah 55:11 says His words will not return void.
5 – Have your Bible open to various passages of scripture when they visit.
6 – Make sure you’re the one that does the praying if the occasion arises and grab their hand to hold it during prayer. Never fold your arms while praying with a Mormon and don’t allow them to do the praying. They are not praying to the true God of the Bible, therefore this isn’t something you’d want to submit yourself to either.
7 – Ask them various questions about their church. As you know this may cause animosity at some point but it does give them something to think about. Ask why they have to store food when Jesus told us in the Bible not to worry about tomorrow when it has troubles of its own – Matthew 6:34. Who is more credible to them personally – Joseph and the living prophet or Jesus Christ; then ask why.
8 – Ask what their favorite verse is in the Book of Mormon and why. Tell them you’ve learned the major tenets of Mormonism are not in the Book of Mormon and ask if this is true. If they say they are, prod them by asking what is in it and where specifically the teaching is located.
9 – Ask why they don’t have crosses in their homes or wear them in a necklace. Ask how they feel about the cross and share with them what the cross means to you personally.
10 – Ask them why God would need Satan to fulfill his plan for mankind. 2 Nephi 2:11; “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad…” This is actually a basic tenet within Witchcraft. Witchcraft believes there must be an equal balance in all things; good for bad and bad for good. In other words, yin yang.
11 – Ask them why the book of Jacob says not to practice polygamy but the Doctrine and Covenants says it means exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom (their highest kingdom of heaven). Jacob 2:24; D&C 132:4-7.
12 – Ask for their opinion about D&C 1:37 which says the commandments in that book are true and everything will be fulfilled. Polygamy was outlawed in 1890.
13 – Ask how dead people can repent. How can dead people pay a penalty for their transgressions? Why did Jesus say “It is finished” in John 19:30? How can dead people work for their salvation?
D&C 138:58-59; “The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God, 59 And after they have paid the penalty of their transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according to their works, for they are heirs of salvation.”
14 – Ask what they think of the following information;
2 Nephi 9:9 describes Satan. “…yea, to that being that who beguiled our first parents, who transformeth himself into an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness”.
1976 Introductory page of Doctrine & Covenants describes Moroni. “This took place in the early spring of 1820. In September 1823, and at later times, Joseph Smith received visitations from Moroni, an angel of light, who revealed the resting place of the ancient record from which the Book of Mormon was afterward translated”.
Joseph Smith’s Testimony 1:47; “After this third visit, he again ascended into heaven as before, and I was again left to ponder on the strangeness of what I had just experienced when almost immediately after the heavenly messenger had ascended from me for the third time, the cock crowed …” (A note to the Christian: the heavenly messenger Smith is talking about is Moroni, an angel of light.)
Matthew 26:31-4; “Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night…Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.” – Also see 2 Cor. 11:14.
15 – Ask the Mormon why they have to be baptized at the age of 8 for the remission of sins if they are considered to be without sin until then. Moroni 8:9-13.
D&C 68:27; “And their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins when eight years old, and receive the laying on of the hands.”
16 – Ask why the Book of Mormon says the earth was covered in darkness for 3 days at the crucifixion of Jesus. 1 Nephi 19:10; Helaman 14:20, 27; 3 Nephi 8:3. Compare with Matthew 27:45. Mormons will tell you earthquakes, volcanoes, etc, lasted for 3 hours and then the darkness lasted for 3 days. The Bible says no such thing.
17 – Ask your Mormon loved one if they fully accept the Bible. The answer to this question varies from person to person. If there is some hesitation to full acceptance ask why and then offer help to investigate reliable sources outside the LDS Church to find out which scriptures have not been translated correctly.
18 – Ask the Mormon: “if you died tonight would you go to heaven?” Most if not all will say they don’t know. Share your favorite passages from the Bible on how you have assurance of salvation.
19 – Have you told your Mormon friend who Jesus is from the Bible? Have you told them He is God incarnate & also prophesied about in the Old Testament 333 times? Look for other interesting facts about the Bible to share. These types of things are typically non-threatening. If they say he is the god of this world show them 2 Cor. 4:4.
20 –Do a simple Bible study with them just on Isaiah chapter 53. There are 48 prophecies of Jesus in that one chapter alone and each of them has been fulfilled! LDS doctrines teach some of these prophecies are about Joseph Smith.
Life After Ministries ©
Leading Mormons to the Real Jesus Christ
1 Cor. 1:18; “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”
michelle@lifeafter.org
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The Man Adam, pg 84; “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and he sweat as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (JST, Luke 22:41-44.) Elder Bruce R. McConkie postulated that this angel was likely Adam. If this angel was Adam (and there seems to be no reason to doubt it), here was the Messiah in the Garden of Gethsemane in his greatest of all trials, shedding his blood to redeem mankind from the effects of Adam’s transgression in the Garden of Eden and also from the results of each person’s own sins. There appeared from heaven to strengthen him the very person of Adam himself-he who brought mortality and blood and death and sin into the world. The parallel issue is unmistakable!
