Is it wise for me to let Mormons into my house to study with me and to help me with some difficulties in my life?
Question:
I have been dealing with cancer. Morman missionaries have been coming by to offer to help me. Their women arranged meals….etc. Super sweet and loving. I tell them my convictions and read to them in Romans where it begins”Love must be sincere”. They have assured me that they will continue to love me and that we can agree to open only the Bible when they visit. They have said that they learn new things from me every time they come over. I have made them lunches. I now have a bunch of Mormans for friends. The church I am part of here has not been there for me plain and simple. It is struggling. I need help with strong study material to help my new and very loving Morman friends.They are so devoted to spreading the word…just the wrong word. They do “love” better than lots of Christians that I know. Even if you don’t want to study….they ask”is there any way that we can help or serve you today?” WOW…..that is putting that Steven Covey thing into play, “I care what you know ,when I know how much you care.” I am so convicted by that…..and like it!!! I realize…Jesus would have totally done that if he were door knocking. He met their physical needs alomost every time he saw one. I want to help these guys know the Word more adequetly. I do know the easy things to show in the Bible why the book of Morman is wrong. And, I know the Word pretty well. Will you please help me?
Answer:
I am SO sorry for your horrible situation. It is really hard to know how to advise you in this situation. It just so happens that I am now writing a book on Mormonism and have been thinking about them a lot. I know, both from all I have read, and from experience, that you should question the motives of these people. They are coming to your house so as to either increase their place in the “Kingdom” as they see it, or in order to convert you. They are NOT there out of purely unselfish motive. You should NOT assume that they are there because they love you. Mormons are trained to lie and deceive in order to gain members. There is a lot of evidence to back up this serious charge. Do not confuse deceit with love. When they say they are learning things from you this is almost certainly a lie and an attempt to deceive you. Believe me! I believe that they are not there in your spiritual interest. From a Christian perspective, they are there to destroy your faith and, ultimately, send you to hell. Even if they are sincere (which I question), this would be a very bad result!
That is a rather harsh thing to say, but given that Mormonism is not a Christian group, I feel it ought to be said.
Having said this rather hard thing, a couple of thoughts on the other side come to mind. Bottom line, you are in great need. They are meeting this need. If you are absolutely sure that there is not the slightest teensy tiny grain of a possibility that these people could corrupt your faith in the Bible, and if they are meeting a very important need you have, perhaps you should continue to receive the help simply because you need it. I am VERY skeptical of this advice. In fact, it is not my advice. My advice to you is to say thank-you very much, but I cannot accept help from a person on the basis of your desire to convert me and the fact that I am not the slightest bit open to becoming a Mormon. However, I feel I should give you some room, based on your need and a great confidence in your conviction, assuming you can get help from no one else, that perhaps you should not take my advice.
It is quite sad to me that you are not getting the help from the church there which you need. Have you mentioned this to your Bible group leader? Are they aware that Mormons are stepping in where the church is not meeting the need? Are there elders there. Surely it is part of their ministry to make sure that your needs are met. Have you mentioned your problem and the fact that you are tempted to accept help from Mormons to one of the elders there? Sometimes we are too proud to strongly ask for help. I believe you should do that.
There is quite a bit of material on Mormonism at the web site. You should do a search under the words Mormonism and Mormon. You will find an outline and a power point in the power point section. There is also a document summarizing the content of the Book of Mormon. My book on Mormonism should come out later this year. Let me suggest a couple of resources. My favorite books on the topic are “No Man Knows my History” by Fawn Brodie and “The Mormon Mirage” by LaTayne Scott. The former is a relatively unbiased biography of Joseph Smity, while the latter is a wonderful story of a former Mormon who left to become a Christian.
John Oakes
