ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING FACETS OF MORMONISM IS THEIR PRACTICE OF "FRIENDSHIPPING!"
I once had an employee who had become a Mormon through a Mormon program called ‘friendshipping.’
This fellow was well educated. He had a background of church activity.
Through a series of misfortunes and tragedy he ran into a number of problems.
He was an orphan; his favorite uncle had died suddenly. His wife left him; he dropped out of the University just short of getting his Ph.D. Everything seemed to happen in just 21 days.
Some time later, as he was getting his life together, he remarried, he was not familiar with her denomination, but he went with her. Life was getting better. They had two small children. He really wasn’t happy in her church and they had talked of going to one of his denomination.
One day he was talking with a neighbor just a couple of doors down the street.
Later has they chatted, the neighbor asked about his church affiliation. He said, "Well, I’ve always been a Baptist and my wife is Lutheran, and I’m really not happy there, so we are considering another congregation."
The fellow said, "Well, why don’t you and your family go with me Sunday, I’m a Mormon."
"Oh no," my worker said, "I’m not interested in becoming a Mormon." In fact, I think he said he called it, "a cult!"
But a few days later he got home from work and his lawn had been mowed. He inquired of a neighbor who told him that another neighbor had mowed it. The Mormon neighbor!
My worker was quite a hefty guy and he did not like manual labor, but he did appreciate his neighbor and he told him so.
The fellow said, "well, I have this new riding mower and I had mowed my lawn and it took only a little while, so I mowed yours!"
A few days later he came in from work and his wife didn’t have supper ready. (We call the evening meal ‘supper.’)
She said, "You know our neighbor a couple of houses away, he’s the one who mowed our lawn. His wife is the nicest thing. She insisted that I go over to the city with her, she said we would be back in a little while."
She said, "You know she is nicest thing! We visited a large store in the city and were looking at things and I happened to say that something was pretty and she bought it for me. When we got home she said, ‘Here, I got this for you.’"
A few days later he got home from work and his wife said, "don’t take off your tie, we are going to eat with our friend the neighbor, they had expected company, and she had already thawed the steaks, so she invited us over for supper."
They had never been better treated!
So when Sunday came they went to the Mormon Church with their neighbor. His broken home, their recent move, the new job, etc., they had dropped out of church.
But after a couple or three weeks more, they joined the Mormon Church.
They immediately gave him responsibilities. When the new Mormon temple was completed in Dallas, they gave him the job of Chief of Security at the New Temple. He took off three weeks from his job when they gave him this responsible and prestigious position at the temple and arranged to give him a liberal honorarium for his time.
He had really become somebody in the world. He would probably become the Bishop soon. Or maybe even the Stake President!
Then it happened! He saw a copy of a little brochure called "Friendshipping." It told how to persuade your neighbor into becoming a Mormon.
"Mow his lawn for him, especially if he doesn’t like to do it. Just tell him you were mowing yours, so before you put the mower up, you just mowed his.
"And wait a few days and have your wife to invite his wife to go with her to the city. Do a little shopping and probably she’ll mention something that she likes. Buy it for her, but don’t tell her until you get back home!
"And then wait a few days more and call up your lady friend and say we had planned to have my husbands boss and his wife over to eat steak tonight. But his wife just called and said they had just gotten a call for her mother-in-law and they just had to go out-of-town, it was a relative who needed help.
"Could they come help them eat the steaks, they were already thawed?"
My worker enjoyed his work at the new temple. It was really a prestigious position, and especially for one who had not been a member but a little while.
But that brochure! They had just been Friendshipped!
In anger, they never returned to the Mormon Church!
HOW TO STOP MORMONISM IN ITS TRACKS!
It’s simple, just convince people to stop allowing the Mormon missionaries to make their presentation.
After all, that’s Biblical! Second John 10 – 11 says, "If come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
"For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds."
As long as Christians let them in, Mormonism will continue to grow. Our pastors should warn their people. Perhaps you should give this Newsletter to your pastor and call his attention to this article. Perhaps we should come and speak in your church. Perhaps you should order some of our material!
Almost daily I hear of someone who’s loved one has succumbed to the Mormon missionaries presentation.
The secret, just don’t let them in. It’s dangerous! Around 300,000 people a year join the church, no doubt most are already church members.
Understanding Mormon error is impossible for those uninformed. Their shrewd use of our words with their meanings makes comprehension almost impossible.
It’s not that they are that smart, they’ve been taught those tactics.
They talk about God, Jesus, Eternal Life, heaven, etc. But when they say ‘god,’ they are not thinking of the Creator of the heavens and the earth, they are thinking of an exalted man. When they speak of Jesus, they are not thinking of the Virgin Born Savior who died to make our salvation possible. They are thinking of a human being who’s existence was made possible by the incestuous relationship of a being who earned his position, and who has human parents and is related to Satan.
Unless you are informed you have no business discussing Mormonism with the Mormon missionaries! You are a potential convert to Mormonism! Remember 2nd John 10 – 11!
Do you know about Mormonism’s beginning? A fellow who boasted that even Jesus had never done such a work as he? (History of the Church, vol. 6, page 408 – 409) Their publication!
Did you know that some of the knowledgeable former Mormons reveal that he had as many as 49 plural wives, one as young as 14 when he was in his late thirties?
And you want to listen to the Mormon missionaries even you are vulnerable!
Don’t let them in!
PASSAGES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON THAT CLEARLY REFUTE MORMONISM
The Bible says: "For if he that cometh preachth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which we have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted…" then you had better watch out!
"For," Paul said, "such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ." (2nd Corinthians 11:4 & 13.)
And Paul goes further; "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preaches any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
"As we said before, so say I now again. If any man preach any other gospel, unto you than that ye have received, let him accursed."
Pretty straight advice, isn’t it!
Mormonism literally preaches "another Jesus," and brings another gospel. It says and an angel from heaven brought another message!
The Jesus of Mormonism was a polygamist. The Jesus of Mormonism was incapable of omnipresence. The Jesus of Mormonism is now incapable of omnipresence. He is literally one of three Gods.
Bruce McConkie, who was an apostle until his death in 1985 wrote a book, called Mormon Doctrine, which is still distributed by the Mormon Church. The 1966 edition says (pg. 129) that "By obedience and devotion to truth he obtained that pinnacle of intelligence which ranked him as a God…"
Of course, we would say that He is The God. He said, I and my Father are one (John 10:30, see verse 38). John 14:6, 11; 17:10, 22.
The interesting thing about this, even the Book of Mormon does not teach it!
I can use their own book to refute practically every teaching of Mormonism!
I won a former Mormon missionary and a former Institute of Religion (a Mormon program) professor at the University of Oklahoma, by using his own book sometime ago.
Now, I do not accept the Book of Mormon as scripture, but I can disprove Mormon teachings with their own book!
You see Mormons contend that God and Christ are two separate Gods. They each have a body. They each can be at only one place at a time.
But the Book of Mormon, on the title page says (with capital letters), "THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE ETERNAL GOD…."
The testimony of the Three Witnesses in the Book of Mormon says, "And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is all one God, Amen."
I challenge any Mormon to find Mormonism in the Book of Mormon. I do not accept it as scripture but much of it is taken directly from the Bible.
It teaches my understanding of creation, of God, of the Trinity, of Eternal Life.
Despite the 4,000 word changes that have been made in it since the first printing in 1830, it still plainly refutes most teachings of Mormonism!
