Lack of time is the ultimate enemy of all things fun and because of that this blog has been delayed and so begins this next blog entry...

Last weekend I saw Envy and Troy. I know! Two in one weekend...crazy. Anyways, Envy is a pretty fun movie if you have the right sense of humor. It's definitely not for everyone, but I was grinning the entire time. When did Christopher Walken become such a silly guy? He used to be this creepy guy in every movie or this really mean scary guy. Now he's just hilarious in everything he does. I've decided that from now on, I must see every movie that he does from here on out, so I guess that means I'm going to see The Stepford Wives.

Troy was definitely a well done film. I would say that my only gripes with the movie are the very story itself, but I guess I can't blame the filmmakers for that. I think the hardest thing to reconcile in the movie is which side to root for because both sides have guys you hate and both sides have guys you like. Also it just seems to me that if a man steals another man's wife and she willfully leaves her husband and both full well know that it will start a war that will kill lots of their people, it is just the most selfish act worthy of no praise. It's totally shameful yet the film never really addresses this. Instead they make it out to a fight for true love. Yeah, I'm sure all those people who died in that war were really on board for the fight for true love. Anyways, there are some other things about the movie I want to gripe about, but in fairness to people who still want to see the movie, I won't mention it. I will say that both Eric Bana and Brad Pitt were way cool in this movie. The fighting is awesome and the visual effects are awesome.

Last week on Friday, I also paid a visit to the Mecca of Mormons, the Temple of Salt Lake City. No, I didn't get to go inside, it was quite sealed. If you didn't know, non-Mormons are not allowed in the temple because they consider you unclean and therefore your presence would defile it. Your only chance to see inside is when they open a new one. Then after the tour, they rip out all the carpets and replace them. I wonder, if you ever needed new carpet, could you just hang out and take it from the trash. After all, it is brand new carpet. I sure don't care if it's defiled, ha ha. Anyways, I went there to see the architecture since the Mormons have made some crazy looking buildings. I walked in the Temple Square where the visitor center is to see the temple best. I knew if I stopped for a bit someone would talk to me, so I kept walking around, but then there was some stuff I wanted to read and I thought to myself, "what do I have to fear of them? I know the Truth and I should welcome an opportunity to share it!" So I stopped to read, heh heh. It only took a minute before this attractive woman asked me if I wanted a tour. (Sidenote: I noticed that they only had hot chicks doing visitor detail. I didn't see any guys anywhere. Pretty shifty tactic on the side of the Mormons. After all, a guy will talk to a pretty girl about anything and it would be very nonconfrontational.)

I learned alot through my witnessing experience. Even though I had many Mormon friends when I was growing up, I never outright confronted them. They always wanted me to think that they were like me and that we believed the same thing. This girl's tactic was the same, but I didn't let it happen. These were the questions I asked her:

Do you believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God?
She said she did as long as it was translated accurately. This is actually stated in their doctrinal statement (or the 13 Articles of Faith). I kept probing trying to find out what versions of the Bible she felt were inaccurate, but I couldn't get a straight answer out of her. She told me she read the King James Version, however I suspect that she reads a Mormified version of the KJV since the wording of her Scripture references didn't match mine.

If someone believed the Bible and was a follower of Christ, but didn't believe the Book of Mormon, would he still go to heaven?

Basically I was told that the angels will instruct me in my error and I will attain a higher level once that purgatory is completed. I asked her if she believed in Hell, but I didn't get a straight answer from her. My guess is that the Mormon view of Hell is all relative. Mormons believe in many levels of Heaven and Hell and I can still move up in the ranks so to speak. They use 2 Corinthians 12:1-3 to support this. It doesn't hold up though. If only they read the previous chapter they would have read this and this. Which brings me to the next question I asked her.

Do you have 100% assurance in your salvation?
She said of course not, it would depend on her works. Wow, really? Have you read Ephesians 2:8-9? Her reply to that was that the Bible also says "faith without works is dead". Yeah, it sure does say that and I told her what it really meant. Clearly she was taking it out of context. Read the passage. Obviously someone can't profess Christ and not show any fruit of it. Works are the product of faith. If Abraham didn't believe that God is in control, then he wouldn't have attempted to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Clearly, his faith showed that he did trust God and that's why he performed the work of obeying God by attempting to sacrifice his son. Still not convinced? Read this in Hebrews. Or better yet, read Hebrews 11. Clearly good works are the product of faith otherwise Hebrews 11 is a lie. If there are no good works present in someone who claims to have faith, what good is his faith?? Of course his faith is dead! She didn't get it though. Not that I was able to share all that from Hebrews to her, but I did share with her the concept, but she still didn't get it.

I told her at this point (if she couldn't guess), that I was a Christian and that I believe the Bible as the true Word of God and that alone. She told me that their church has recorded that there are 80,000 Christian religions. What??? No there isn't! There is only one! She replied, "yes, you're right." But I wasn't thinking the Mormons were the "one" while I think she was. I told her there is only one Christ so obviously there can only be one faith behind it. Romans 10:9-10 is probably the most basic way the Bible can explain how a person can be saved, how a person can be a Christian. Only one Christian religion, not 80,000! I'm guessing they got that number from the number of churches in the world that have some relation to Christ. So I guess they think every church is its own religion?

How can Mormons believe the Bible and the Book of Mormon when there are clear contradictions between the two?
She said there were no contradictions. I didn't have to go deep there. All I said was clearly there are contradictions otherwise we wouldn't keep disagreeing! I don't need to read the Book of Mormon to know that.

If the need for Mormon prophets is to give us new information from God for our changing world then why did He give John (the true last prophet) a revelation of the end of the world?
She didn't know. God is everlasting and unchanging. The problems of the world are there because they don't obey God's word. We don't need more revelation to confront sin. The world only needs the gospel.

What happened to all the Christians between the time of Christ's ascension and when Joseph Smith found the gold tablets with the new prophecy?
She didn't know, but she did tell me that the tablets were written in 600, not in 1800 to which I retorted, "yeah, but nobody found them until around 1800, right?" She agreed.

Many times she would change the subject asking if I would like to receive a video or a Book of Mormon or a copy of their 13 Articles of Faith. She would show me verses in the Book of Mormon to satisfy her claims, but I told her that I didn't even believe in the Book of Mormon. I don't believe it's true, so how can you convince me in the Bible? I can show a Jewish person who only believes the Old Testament that Jesus is Messiah using only Old Testament verses. Why can't she back up what she is saying in the Bible? She explained to me she knows she is right because she can feel it. I told her you can't trust a feeling. A feeling can cause you to love a person one moment and hate them with the most bitter rage the next. The only way to know if any feeling is of the Spirit is by comparing it to Scripture. She disagreed. She would rather be led by her feelings than the Bible, I guess.

Are you familiar with the verse in Revelation that says if anyone adds to this book, let him be accursed?
She did know it. So I asked her then how could she believe the Book of Mormon in spite of that to where she replied, "it's not an addition." Really? Having seen her book a couple times now as she showed me verses, I pointed out to her what it said on the cover. Underneath "Book of Mormon" was "An ADDITIONAL Testament of Jesus Christ"!!! (emphasis mine) She emphatically reiterated that it wasn't an addition.

Well, at the end I tried to be as firm and compassionate as possible and told her that she was in a cult and was deceived and she needs to leave it and only trust the Bible and know the true God. I told her I would pray for her. She told me because I never read the Book of Mormon and since I don't want to read it, then I obviously don't know what I'm talking about. I guess I'm so clueless, that's why I stumped her on the most fundamental Biblical truths of salvation. She was not an American. She was a convert from somewhere in Europe that was there for her mission. I felt I had to be firm with her because I suspected she was not trapped in the family traditionalism of being a Mormon like most Mormons are. She was probably someone who was really seeking the way of salvation and met the wrong person. This is why I believe there is no greater enemy than the Mormons in the mission field. Their message sends people to Hell. She had to be told that she was being deceived. I tried to show her the love of Christ in doing that. I'm not sure if I succeeded in that though. Near the end of our 25 minute conversation, I noticed that there were some older men in suits hovering just outside my field of vision. It seemed I had attracted some attention from the elders. Just as well, I needed to catch my plane so she thrust out her hand and thanked me for my time. I could tell she was upset. I don't take pleasure in making Mormons look like fools. I really pity them because they don't know everything about their church since it has been shielded from them. They live in fear because their salvation is not secure. I do hate their church and what it represents and how it misguides people. I pray for God to destroy it. I don't want God's wrath on those people, but I want them to see how false it is. I pray for all Mormons just to walk away from that church and never return and know the true God, that's what I mean when I say I want God to destroy it.

Anyways, to sum up, this is what I learned:
- Mormons don't have 100% security in salvation (this boggles my mind since Christianity is the only one that does offer 100% assurance yet people still go for the works thing, it would seem if you were comparing every religion, you could easily decide for the guarantee).
- Mormons base their beliefs on a feeling or emotional experience.
- You don't need to know the Book of Mormon to confront a Mormon, you only need to know the Bible. You don't need to study error to know truth. If you are trying to convince someone of the truth, then you should know the truth as best as you can. Besides, if you learn some of the crazy things about their church or in their church's history, it is more than likely that they will never have heard of what you tell them. It doesn't add any credibility to what you say and it only convinces them that you're against their church and not for Christ.

I was a bit frustrated when I left there. She was so deceived and no matter what truth I showed her, she did not believe it, but always went back to her Book of Mormon. I do rejoice that God was glorified that day. Even though I may not see the fruits of that discussion, I know that God had preordained that appointment even though I was not even prepared to witness. Praise God for using a sinner like me for His purpose! If you have time, say a prayer for Miss Hauck so that she will no longer be blinded and God would open her eyes. Also if you have some interest in the truth about Mormons or are frustrated that Mormons don't see the truth (like me), there is a great resource online at www.exmormon.com. It's a ministry started by a guy who was high up in the Mormon church and saw the light and became a true believer. There is hope for them.

(Now I'm probably going to have Google ads for the Mormons on the top of my blog, ha ha.)