A good Christian warrior who is about to enter combat knows how important his weapon is. He would like his weapon to be efficient and decisive. Instead of having an army of good Christian warriors, however, the church today is manned by two kinds of inept, ignorant, willful recruits whose only weapon is sophistry.

The first type doesn’t believe the truly inspired, infallible Sword of the Lord exists anywhere on earth. His strength therefore must be the arm of flesh. He is not a Swordbearer; he is a “version bearer.” His weapon is an ineffective joke. Therefore when witnessing, this kind of Christian quickly bogs down with doubtful disputations, doting about questions and strifes of words. He cannot say, “Thus saith the Lord” in order to introduce The Authority into the conversation, so God and His word are never really and authoritatively part of the discussion. When our impotent Christian reads a verse, he is unable to effectively counter when his opponent replies with, “That word doesn’t mean that in the original Greek”, because he uses the same tactic. So the two of them go back and forth, neither gaining nor losing ground, until they tire and retreat to their denominations. For that reason, this type of Christian is usually only successful when his opponent is the typical appallingly ignorant churchgoer who has either a weak, easily manipulated personality, or who is already looking for more spiritual involvement.

The second type of Christian is armed with the true Sword of the Lord. But he either thinks it’s just another version, or, knowing it is the word of God, doesn’t know how to use it. He is easily knocked off balance by the above tactics. Therefore this Christian is also generally only successful when witnessing to the same kind of person with whom the first type of Christian is successful.

How do these two types of Christian recruits fare against organized and disciplined opponents such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons? They usually try to avoid all contact with them because they fear trained and disciplined opponents. Some have even prominently displayed certain books published about JWs and Mormons in a front window as a magic talisman to ward off these mighty door-to-door conquerors. It doesn’t even bother these Christians that they lack the training, the discipline, and the weaponry to be able to handle prepared opponents. Do you know what that means? It means they don’t really take this war seriously. And they are losers.

 

MORMONS

I don’t know very much about JW and Mormon doctrines and practices because learning that stuff is a waste of time. Christians have told me, for example, that Mormons have special “holey underwear” (underwear with holes in it) to pray in. That is said in such a manner that I know I’m expected to react like other Christians by saying, “Holey underwear? Ya gotta be kidding me, brother! Boy are they a cult or what!?” Instead I ask, “Is there some Scripture that prohibits holey underwear or that dictates what we are supposed to wear while praying? I know it says we are to pray without ceasing; I know I’ve prayed while in all states of dress and undress; I know my underwear hasn’t always been in the best of condition; I know I’ve prayed while sitting on the john. I must have missed something, brother, because I don’t get the importance or even the relevance of what you’ve said.”

 

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In order to witness effectively Christians must know the Bible. The best way to recognize counterfeit doctrine is to know in minute detail the real thing (apply Is 7:15). If we know and believe the Bible, the Holy Spirit will bring to our remembrance whatsoever He would have us focus on. That’s what happened to me some years ago when I had my first encounter with a Mormon: My knowledge of the Bible enabled the Holy Spirit to direct my thinking to fertile ground.

The Mormon was a pleasant guy to be around. He’d been a Mormon missionary and was quite knowledgeable about his religion. He quickly found out I was a Bible believer, but his interest in me skyrocketed when he learned I didn’t attend any church. When I continued to be relaxed and pleasant with him when he revealed he was a Mormon, he was convinced he had a convert-in-the-making. (Most Christians who meet me for the first time, when they learn I’m a Bible believer, immediately ask what church I go to so they can categorize me. When I reply with a simple, “I don’t go to church,” they assume I’m a dirtbag pseudo Christian and say all manner of things. And then when I learn a little about their appalling ignorance and lack of interest in the word of God, I can’t help but wonder why they’d attend a church that produces fruit like them.)

I asked him some “I’ve heard this about Mormonism and that about Mormonism” questions and listened attentively to his answers. Because I know the Bible I knew what directions to take in my questioning, and was soon seeing how Mormonism went wrong. My Mormon friend, however, was impressed by the fact that I wasn’t giving him the stony-faced silent treatment he usually got from fearful and resentful Christians. He asked if my wife and I would agree to come to his home some evening and meet some of the elders from his church. “Sure, no problem,” I replied. “As long as you understand it wouldn’t be for the purpose of becoming a Mormon; I just want to ask a few questions.” And, of course, that was perfectly fine with him.

In order to answer some of my questions he had referred to the Book of Mormon. He had the Book of Mormon nicely bound together with the King James Bible, and the whole thing securely closed with a clasp. I asked him if I could borrow it overnight and return it to him the next day. He was delighted. That night I quickly scanned his BOM and his KJV.

When we got together the following day, I told him I’d learned some things that revealed Mormonism to be not merely hypocritical, but also an invalid religion. “How is Mormonism hypocritical,” he wanted to know.

I pointed out to him that when scanning his KJV I’d noticed every so often the KJV text was footnoted. And at the bottom of the page the footnote would start out with, “JST:…” and then proceed to reword the KJV text. He explained that Joseph Smith had an angel from heaven, named Moroni, appear to him and give him, on gold plates or tablets, the inspired word of God in order to solve the problem of corrupt Bible versions. That inspired word of God is called the Joseph Smith Translation. The footnotes in the King James are corrections made in accordance with the inspired JST.

“I have two questions”, I replied, “about the Book of Mormon. I noticed the title of it is, The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. And inside it explains the BOM to be another gospel of Jesus Christ.” “Yes,” he interjected, “that’s what Moroni delivered.” “And that’s precisely my question,” I continued, “since Joseph Smith was supposedly a Bible-believing Christian, and since the Bible he was carrying was the King James Bible, why did he choose to reject Ga 1:6-9? In that Scripture Joseph Smith was specifically and unambiguously ordered not only to reject another gospel brought to him by an angel from heaven, but he was also told twice to let Moroni be accursed! And Ga 1:6-9 does not have any JST footnote changing it. Is it not true that God Almighty wanted Joseph Smith to reject those gold plates? And is there any other application in history you can think of that would better fit Ga 1:6-9 than Joseph Smith’s acceptance of another gospel from an angel from heaven? Does it seem likely that the Lord put that Scripture in His Book specifically so Mormons would know what they have received is not “another gospel”, but rather that there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ?” My Mormon companion was stunned and speechless at the damning clarity of the Scripture regarding that situation.

“My second point concerns apparent hypocrisy of the Mormon church. Why is it, if you have the inspired word of God in the Joseph Smith Translation, you do not carry, read, and study the JST instead of continuing to use (what you believe to be) the corrupt King James Version? And why does the Mormon Church secretly hoard the inspired JST for itself instead of publishing it so the whole world could have God’s truth? Isn’t that hypocrisy and hatefulness?”

“Now, as to the validity or invalidity of the Mormon religion itself. Your BOM claims to be another testament of Jesus Christ. You probably have written and made official your own last will and testament. It issues instructions to your family and gives your stuff to them. But even though you’ve already written that testament your family cannot use it to get your stuff because it is not valid until you die; your death puts it into effect. That is straight out of He 9:16,17. Now, I know Jesus Christ died two thousand years ago in order to make valid His New Testament, but when has He died since He gave “another” of His testaments to Joseph Smith in order to make the BOM valid? Doesn’t the Bible make it clear that the resurrected Christ will never die again (Re 1:18)?” At this point his stunned silence was beginning to take on a tinge of defensive resentment. [Note: A Mormon elder answered this point by telling me that, just as Christ was murdered to dedicate the Bible, Joseph Smith was murdered to dedicate the BOM! (Smith was murdered in his jail cell.) I then embarrassed him in front of his companion by pointing out his own religion says Joseph Smith is not the testator of the BOM – Christ is, which is why the cover says Another Testament of Jesus Christ. “If the BOM is actually Another Testament of Joseph Smith, as you say”, I asked, “what are the other testaments he died to validate? Or did your religion also screw up by putting Another in the title?” He sneered that if he’d known I was going to nit pick his words, he’d have brought a thesaurus! (He meant to say dictionary: Our problem is English!) The dog had returned to his vomit, and I knew the conversation was over.]

“My last point”, I said to my Mormon friend, “concerns the validity of your Mormon priesthood. You have correctly stated that the Levitical, or Aaronic, priesthood was flawed and had to be replaced (He 7). And you have said your Mormon priests are the priests after the order of Melchisedec. However, the reason the Levitical priesthood was flawed and had to be replaced was because the sons of Aaron were mortal; they were temporary; they died. The value of Melchisedec, priest of the most high God, is that he is immortal, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but like the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. Therefore, in order to be a Melchisedecian priest, your Mormon priests would have to satisfy those requirements. Are they immortal? Have they no father and mother who birthed them? Have they no beginning of days nor end of life? What makes the Mormon Church think they really are priests after the order of Melchisedec? In fact, haven’t you confused the Levitical and the Melchisedecian priesthoods? There were many Levitical priests. But the Melchisedecian priesthood is always spoken of as singular, never plural (He 7:11,15,17,20,21,23-28). It is done that way because only God has no parent and no beginning of days. Only Jesus Christ is spoken of as our Melchisedec.”

 

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When my Mormon companion had nothing to say about any of this, I pointed out to him that there would be good answers to all of the points I brought up if Mormonism were of God. I urged him to study the issues, to talk with his elders, and come to me for help if he wanted. I also urged him to let me know if he had any success finding valid refutations to my points because I, too, am interested in knowing the truth.

He never contacted me, never invited me to meet his Melchisedecian elders, and he never left Mormonism. That means one of two things: First, he found valid answers but hasn’t enough love for the Lord and for me to share God’s truth with me. Or, second, he is a hypocrite who is content to live in a religious system about which he [now] has serious fundamental doubts. The fact is, Mormons simply cannot handle the above truths of the Bible that invalidate their religion, their BOM, and their founding false prophet. That is why all Mormons quickly do what they’ve been taught to do – retreat from the Bible to the sanctuary of the BOM. They will tell you they know the BOM is true because they trust their “feelings” – just like the angel Moroni told them: “…ask God…and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart…he will manifest the truth of it unto you” (Moron 10:4). Notice three things: First, that laughable “test” is the same one all false religions tell their converts to use. Second, it is inconclusive because it can be effectively countered by someone else’s “sincere knowledge.” Third, the “test” is classic Age of Reason carnality because it relies on self-evidence and man being the measure of all things. Only Jesus Christ instructs His followers to reject the inputs of self and use His Book to know the truth. You must not only be able to recognize carnal Reasoning in others, you must also recognize it in you and never let yourself fall for it. All false religions will try to get you to stop using your Sword because it is the one thing they cannot handle. When witnessing you must stay focused on the Bible. If you find they are not interested in the Bible do not cast your pearls before swine. I say again, never allow yourself to be sidetracked into a discussion about the BOM, the NWT, the NAS, your “sincere feelings”, or layman’s aids based on the ERROR manuscripts. If people are interested in looking into the Bible version issue with you in order to see if the KJV really is the inspired word of God, fine, because if they don’t know the word of God exists you will be unable to get them to abandon Reason and by faith submit to the authority of the word of God. All people who reject the existence of the word of God as defined by God are Bible rejecters. Let them alone. Never be tricked by carnal Reason into fighting for the King without His Sword.

The above Mormon example is different from the JW example. The JW example involved the dependable infallibility of the KJV. The Mormon example involved the kind of attention to specific words that only comes from a belief that God selected each and every word in the Authorized Version for a reason. Both examples illustrate the importance of using the infallible King James Bible to contend for the faith. No other version can compete with The Truth. No other sword slices through doctrinal errors and exposes the thoughts and intents of the heart like the King’s Sword.