Tonight, three LDS missionaries sat down with us in our living room for what turned out to likely be the last of our weekly discussions. We have been meeting with them for several weeks now, and after dealing with what the Bible says about what the gospel of Jesus Christ is (a subject terribly misrepresented in the LDS faith) we found ourselves in the all too familiar discussion of spiritual experience and how we can know truth. This week, they showed us a prophesy of Joseph Smith trying to prove that he was a true prophet and that the Mormon Church was truly of God. The "prophesy" (found in D&C 87, if you are interested) supposedly foretold the civil war before it actually happened. But did it? It did say that the northern and southern states would go to war, but it also predicted that countries like Great Britain would get involved, that the war would be "poured out on all nations" and that "after many days slaves would rise against their masters." Not to mention it's prediction of plagues, earthquakes, and ultimately the end of days. When I pointed this out, they tried to say this was partly talking about other wars and events still to come that are entirely unrelated to the civil war, but this does not fit with the flow of the passage. We went back through it verse by verse, looking at the relationship between one event and the next. First they shut down (one young man's jaw literally dropped), then they tried to just shrug it off and move on, finally they became defensive. We reminded them of the Biblical standard in testing a prophet. NO failed predictions. Not to mention the fact that D&C Section 1 promises that ALL of the book is FROM THE LORD, and also specifically claims that EVERY prophesy within will come to pass. Even one false prophesy, and Joseph is a false prophet. If Joseph is a false prophet, then the LDS church is a false religion. We are COMMANDED in scripture to TEST prophets, spirits, and any message that claims to be from God. We urged them not to ignore these things, but to obey God's command and search these things out. We challenged them to take God's word seriously, in spite of how they might "feel" about testing Joseph Smith as a prophet, and to really deal with the fact the if Joseph Smith really did prophesy in God's name things that did not actually happen, then he is a false prophet, and they ought to put man's tradition aside for a real relationship with the one true God. They listened to us, but left left us fairly sure we would not see them again. We hope that is not true, and ask that you all pray that God will get through to them and open their eyes to the truth. Thank you all, and God Bless.
Luke and Ashley
jude.three.blog@gmail.com
