I talked with a woman named Jennifer today who was baptized last week into the Mormon Church. I got to dialog with her about some of the differences between Biblical Christianity (and it's view of the Scriptures, God, Jesus, Man and the Gospel) and what the Mormon Church teaches. She seemed interested to hear. When I told her that I would love to give her a book on Mormonism (Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Mormons by Ron Rhodes) so she could do a little more investigation, she said that she was told not to read any literature by those critical of the Mormon church. Isn't that a convenient and easy way to keep your members? Sadly, that is common within all of the cults.I explained to Jennifer that this close-minded, uncritical attitude toward faith is exactly the opposite of what the Bible advocates. I told her that 1 Thessalonians 5:21 tells us to "examine all things" and to hold fast to that which is good. I told her of the Bereans in Acts 17:11 and how the Bible commends them for daily examining the teachings of the apostle Paul and critically holding them up the light of the Scripture. God wants us to question what we hear and what we are taught. The apostle John said, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 Jn. 4:1)." How do you test the spirit of one who is making some spiritual claim? Isaiah tells us how. He says, "To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word [the Word of God, i.e., the Bible], it is because there is no light [truth] in them (Isaiah 8:20). Hold up everything you hear to the inspired, infallible Word of God, and you'll quickly discern truth from error. Jennifer was excited to hear these Scriptures and then gladly accepted the book and some of my notes on Mormonism. Say a prayer for Jennifer tonight.
