For the first time in my life, I not only had many good friends, but I was also asked out on dates by good, decent young men who respected me and who knew how to treat girls … guys I could trust and knew they wouldn’t try to hurt or take advantage of me.
The very first guy who asked me out was a young musician named Dave. He too was a recent convert and had just gotten baptized a few months earlier. We enjoyed talking and sharing our stories with each other before going out to dinner and then we went to an activity together afterwards. One day I invited Dave over for dinner at my apartment and while I was cooking he was looking at my books. I still had all of my old occult books in my bookshelf and I told Dave that I wanted to get rid of them all—I didn’t want them anywhere near my house anymore. He offered to take them to the dump for me and came by later that week and picked them all up and took them away. I was relieved to have them out of my apartment for I didn’t want anything more to do with them. They made me a bit uneasy just knowing that they were there as I recalled that experience I had had. I’m forever grateful to Dave for getting rid of them for me.
As I attended all of the activities I began meeting more and more people and I had the opportunity to date several young men. I was just so amazed at the difference between these guys and the sailors I used to go out with.
It was at one of these activities (a Young Adult Dance, I believe) that I met a young man who would become not only a good friend but someone who I could really talk with, and we found that we were soon sharing our innermost thoughts and feelings with one another. We would sit and talk for hours, and when we weren’t together we would talk for two to four hours on the phone. It wasn’t long before we were dating exclusively, but it was probably about our third date or so when I encountered my very first experience with Anti-Mormons.
Danny and I had gone to a church play that was held at the Glendale High School auditorium. This was shortly after the church officially declared that all male members of every race were now able to hold the priesthood, and the play was about the black Mormon pioneers who had come west to the Salt Lake Valley, traveling on foot or with handcarts. It was based on the stories and journal entries of the experiences of these faithful saints who sacrificed all they had for what they believed.
When the play was over, as we walked outside to the parking lot, we were all bombarded by a group of people who had gathered together with signs which had things written on them like, “Mormons are going to Hell!” and “Don’t Listen to Mormon Lies!” and “Mormons Are Not Christians—They’re A Cult of Satan!” They were calling us all kinds of names and would approach us as we came out and started ranting at us, throwing Bible verses in our faces, which they supposedly thought would justify their actions.
Being a brand new convert, I was totally shocked and just flabbergasted at what they were doing! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, especially when I knew they were saying things that weren’t true at all! I was even more amazed when I found out that these people were from another church and had the gall to call themselves Christians. I have never heard of Christians going out and attacking another group of people for exercising their right to worship God according to the dictates of their own hearts. And why were they calling us a cult and of the Devil?
In all of my searching for truth, I have never met a more Christian group of people than the Mormons. In fact, it was because of the outward actions of most traditional Christians that I had known that drove me to look elsewhere for truth because many of the ones I knew didn’t live their religion. They would preach one thing and then do another, just as this group of so-called Christians was doing now.
One young man approached Danny and me and started quoting the Bible, and tried to start an argument. Danny would quote scriptures right back at him that would contradict his point and make him look foolishly wrong because as I stood there and watched, Danny had more scriptures to back up his point of view than this young man did.
Finally, it got to the point where this young man began contradicting himself without realizing it and was confounded, and as he stammered to think of something else to say but couldn’t, he finally just broke down in tears. At that point, Danny said he was going to go and talk with another one.
I just stood there without saying a word the whole time. I was just in total shock at what I was seeing as I stood observing the whole scene. After Danny had taken off, this young man turned to me and with tears in his eyes and falling down his cheeks, asked me, “Why? Why would God lead me to the wrong church?” He then told me his story of how he was a drug addict and living on the streets when this preacher came by and told him about God and Jesus. If it hadn’t been for this preacher who had taught him he would never have found Jesus, and would still be out in the streets on drugs. Knowing how badly he needed Him, why would God lead him to the wrong church? I saw the pain in his eyes and was reminded of my own struggle with unanswered questions.
My heart went out to this young man then, and I truly empathized with him and felt his pain. I sat down on the steps there and he sat down beside me as I replied, “I don’t know why things happen the way they do. Perhaps God didn’t lead you at all. Did you ever ask God about all of these different churches? Did you ever ask Him which church was the right one, or which one was His church? Did you ever ask Him to guide you to His real church? Or did you just accept what this preacher said because he was the first one who came along and the things he told you sounded great?”
He sat there and listened as I told parts of my own story. “How do you know that the things that this preacher told you are true?” I asked. “People just automatically accept whatever a preacher tells them because he’s supposed to be a man of God. But look at this … look at what they’re doing! Do you honestly believe in your heart that this is something that Jesus would do … to verbally attack those who didn’t agree with him, and call them names? No, he taught and tried to persuade and those who didn’t agree—he just let them go their way. Everyone has the right to believe and worship how they want. But that’s not good enough for these guys. Why are you guys attacking people who have done absolutely nothing to you?”
He answered by saying they were saving other people’s souls by stopping them from believing lies. I asked him how did he know that what we teach are lies? Has he ever been to a Mormon church? Has he ever studied the history and teachings of the church and if so, from what resources? I asked him if he had ever studied the history of Christianity and how the Bible was put together and by whom? “If you had a brain tumor,” I asked, “would you go to a podiatrist for an operation? Then why would you think that someone of a different denomination would be an authority on what the Mormons believe and teach?”
I told him how I had been to nearly every major denomination, had read the Bible several times over. I explained how I had gone to God for my answers rather than accepting what everyone was telling me. No, I didn’t get answers for a long time, but when I was humbled enough to just ask God to guide me to His church and was willing to die to find His truths … He finally answered my prayer. “Perhaps you weren’t ready for the fullness of truth, I don’t know. But one thing I do know—after searching for so long, and even being willing to die in order to find truth and answers, I know that God wouldn’t lie to me. How do you know that by being here tonight, God hasn’t done the same thing for you?” I asked. “Perhaps God wanted you to experience another church before finding this one so that you can compare the differences. This isn’t just a church of believers who say one thing and do another. They do everything they can to keep and obey all of the laws and commandments of God, each and every day. God has always told people what they should and shouldn’t do. The trouble is people don’t want Him to tell them how to live their lives. They want to believe in Him and accept Him in their hearts, but they don’t want Him telling them how to live their lives. They don’t care about His laws and commandments.”
We sat there on the steps talking for about an hour, during which, I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Danny as he was still out there somewhere in the battle of scripture flinging. I invited this young man to come and check out one of our meetings. I would even wait for him outside so that he wouldn’t have to walk in alone. “No one’s going to pressure you, I’ll make sure of that,” I assured him. He agreed to come and at least check it out.
That Sunday, I waited for him in front of the church building. He never showed up. For the next two Sundays I waited, but he never came. I suspect that the preacher had found out and had talked him out of it. I still remember that young man to this day and can see his face as plainly as I did then.
Throughout the years I would encounter many more Anti-Mormon groups like this as well as individuals from all walks of life who persecute us based on what they think they know. It’s amazing to me how people are so quick to judge according to things that they hear and don’t really take the time to research from the proper sources. They seem to forget that they too, will be judged in the same manner as they judge us.
I wanted, more than ever now, to become a missionary and let people know that what they already have is good, but that there is so much more if they would only be willing to listen with their hearts instead of their minds.