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.
With that said, it’s important to remember everything listed 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.
Our new and updated version of ‘How to Witness to a Mormon’ is a result of PowerPoint presentations given at churches. The majority of it comes from copious note taking while listening to, and watching dozens of audio, and video tapes Dr. Walter Martin (1928-1969) produced during his long, and industrious career.
To say those working in the counter-cult movement owes a debt of gratitude for his work, would not be an overstatement whatsoever. Many have heralded him as the father of the counter-cult movement.
One comment he made always gives me pause, and has reminded me on a number of occasions to be dilegent in witnessing to those who don’t know our Lord.
‘The cults are the unpaid bills of the body of Christ.’
We’re listing the same first 12 points from our presentations, and 20 helps for friends and loved ones, thereafter.
POINT #1 POINT #2
POINT #3 POINT #4
POINT #5 POINT #6
POINT #7 POINT #8
POINT #9 POINT #10
POINT #11 POINT#12
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
www.lifeafter.org
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