|
Several members of Haven Ministries went to Independence, Missouri to witness to Mormon denominations and Hare Krishna’s from May 23-28, 2019.
RLDS: My favorite interactions were with a denomination of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) with only 60 members. A member of the church invited us to his house for a barbecue. We focused on the true message of the gospel. Two members of this denomination stated that knowing about Joseph Smith is not essential to knowing the “true gospel.” They believe that Smith was a prophet; yet, their beliefs contradict Smith’s message that Jesus restored the only true gospel through him. This Mormon denomination is monotheistic while the mainline LDS Church is polytheistic. Haven Ministries brought up the famous sermon by Joseph Smith called The King Follett Discourse where Smith teaches that men can become gods. The people that we talked to said that this speech was not recorded accurately, and the LDS Church exaggerated the content. This remnant group told me they will send me some information in the near future about this sermon.
Hare Krishna: Haven Ministries decided to stop by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and dialogue with them. We spoke about divinity, karma and reincarnation. They believe that every person has the divine within them; yet they had a hard time reconciling how a divine person is used to bring about negative karma in someone else’s life. They believe that people earn their circumstances in their current life from past lives. We told them that we deserve absolutely nothing good because we have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), yet God continually provides great blessings and forgiveness apart from what we deserve. Some of us shared stories how this statement is true, much like how Jesus spoke in parables. I think my favorite part of the conversation was bringing up Romans 5:8 which says, “…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (ESV). We gave these three young men our contact information, and we hope they reach out to us! Please pray that they will realize that they are sinners and are in need of a Savior!
Please contact me if you would like more details of my adventures in May!
Upcoming Trips:
-
June 17-23 Manti, UT Mormon Miracle Pageant
-
September 20-28 Raleigh, NC Rededication of the LDS Temple
-
October 25-November 2 Baton Rouge, LA Rededication of the LDS Temple
|
