I don’t like confrontation, nor do I like to embarrass myself, so typically I tell the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witness, that I am not interested, and they leave; but not today.

For years I have heard others talk about how they have disarmed every statement that the Elders have made. Few ever tell you that the elders gave their hearts to Jesus, but there is some twisted sense of pride, knowing that they dissembled their arguments.

As I stood there, merely trying to be polite, I heard my spirit crying out, God, I have no clue as to what to say. So, I simply listened to their pitch, which was well-rehearsed, about how Jesus called disciples to himself, anointed them to be Apostles and prophets, and how that church grew out of their ministry. But the church went a tremendously long dark time because there were no prophets. At this point, the red flags went up, but I was still constrained by the Holy Spirit.

The two elders alternated in sharing their parts of the story, but essentially they said, that “John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith and conferred upon him the Melchizedek or higher priesthood. After this Joseph Smith was directed to organize the Church of Jesus Christ again on earth, … and that through Joseph Smith, Jesus again called forth the twelve Apostles.” (I got the quote directly from their pamphlet, The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.)

They then asked me if I wanted more information on Joseph Smith – the prophet; to which I replied, it isn’t about Joseph Smith, it’s about Jesus; while it is true the church did go through a dark time, and I made the point of talking about how there were four hundred years between Malachi and Matthew where no one seemed to hear God’s voice. But you need to understand something, Mr. Smith is not and was the only prophet in the earth. To prove my point, what do you do with the instructions God gave to Moses when Aaron and Miriam rose against him, for they too wanted to be deemed prophets.

Numbers 12:6-8 NASB He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. (7) “Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; (8) With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?”

I then told them how Jesus had appeared to me in a dream or a vision and laid out my life before me. Shouldn’t that according to God’s standard, make me a prophet as well? But don’t ask me to tell you what that title prophet means because no one listens to me. At this point, I brought up the most recent turn of events, as we found out, about a year ago, that my mother may have had pancreatic cancer. The Doctor would not say affirmatively without a biopsy and my mother refused the biopsy. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and told me, at best you will only have her for six months. Well, no one was willing to hear that. Two months later, the Holy Spirit told me to go say my goodbyes to her as she would be going home within the week. I called one of my brothers, who lives a distance away and told him that he needed to come quickly. Although he berated me, he still showed up the next day to say his goodbyes to mom. She died the following Sunday.

As for false prophets and teachers, I know one personally, and today he espouses that the church MUST suffer through God’s wrath – that event in which He pours out His wrath upon Israel and the nations. This conversation then evolved into how I believe that God is out to save people and bring them into the kingdom. This can be seen in Matthew 24 and 25, where the Shepherd calls all the dead to Himself; these are people that were not part of the church, and by church standards, not worthy of God’s mercy. He separates the group called into those he designates sheep and those he terms goats; The sheep are then invited into the kingdom. Stunned, they ask why? To which Jesus says, because when I was thirsty you gave me water; when I was hungry, you fed me; and, when I was in prison you visited me. In reality, these people lived outside of their selfishness. The goats did none of those things and were cast off into outer darkness to follow their chosen leader – Satan. 

I then told the two young Mormon men, that I pray for them often, as I do not wish for them to have to endure God’s wrath when merely believing in Jesus Christ as their savior was the way into God’s eternal kingdom.

This led me to talk about the parable that Jesus told about the ten virgins. Do you realize that He was talking about the church today? I said, in a sense, you and I sit by some of those that make up the fifty percent. I looked into both their eyes. I asked, how is it that upon getting an invitation you would not prepare yourself, especially if you have a written invitation? These virgins ran out of oil, but did they ask politely? No, they demanded oil from the others, and not getting it, they went out into the night and tried to obtain oil from any of the households they could wake up. Obviously, they missed the entrance into the party, and I suppose, had to endure the potential wrath that is to come. I told them, that by the voice of the Holy Spirit, who speaks to me all the time, that I know that they have a comprehension of this Jesus I speak of. I also said I believe you have the potential of being one of those who will be caught up.

There is no Joseph Smith, it is all about Jesus, and His word. I love His word, but I don’t waste my time with false prophets.

They asked me if I would like them to come back with a book of Mormon, to which I said no, I can get several of those at the second-hand store if I needed one, but I don’t because I have Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

I told them that I had chosen to be polite and friendly, just as I must choose Joy or to not be bitter. I told them how my small group had broken up over bitterness, and how that the remaining brother, because of the Word of God, has talked lately about the changes he perceives God is making in his life.

I thanked them for indulging me and wished them a great day. As they walked away, I wiped a tear from eyes because having the Holy Spirit speak through me so powerfully, always does that to me. I then prayed a prayer, out loud, that I do not expect you to understand, but I said, God, just wreck their day. To me, that is when He steps into the middle of your life, changes everything, and turns your heart toward Him.

I noticed something about this entire process. Within moments of answering the door, the fear and intimidation left me. All the questions I had in my mind just went away as the Holy Spirit began to speak through me. Honestly, it was such a short time ago and I am struggling to remember what and how I said it. To me, that is a pretty good indication that it was the Holy Spirit because I am not that clever.