Manti Musings...

Tonight was the busiest night of the pageant so far. The streets were packed with people interacting - Christians and Mormons dialoging about the truth. News cameras were out taking footage and it seemed like people were really open to talking tonight. Everywhere you looked, Christians and Mormons were in serious but friendly discussion.

Nick saw some friends, Mandy and Deanna, that he had made a couple of nights ago and had given a 'Lost Book of Abraham' video to. In addition to catching up, he was able to dialog a bit more with them about the credibility of Joseph Smith. He also had several opportunities to share the Gospel with people. Two brothers, Colin and Braden, great young guys, 15 and 16 respectively, have been raised in the LDS church but have several relatives who have left the church and have witnessed to them. Nick was able to talk to them for about 30 minutes about the differences between the Mormon and Christian concept of the Godhead as well as issues pertaining to salvation. A bit later, a girl named Taylor, who felt a bit alienated by the Mormon church, seemed to be very pleased to hear the truth about Jesus and how we are saved by trusting Him alone for the forgiveness sins. When she left, Taylor seemed excited to read her Bible and further investigate Biblical Christianity. She already knows some people from the Ephraim Bible Church - so please pray that God speaks to her through His Word and that she gets hooked up with some believers from the Ephraim church.

Mark held up the JosephLied.com sign today and was able to talk with a group of 7 or so teenage kids and a returned missionary for about an hour. Praise God for this opportunity to talk to this group about how Joseph lied about the first vision (the Father does not have a body and the Bible says that no one has seen the Father (Jn 1:18, 1 Tim 6:16), therefore the vision could not have gone down like Joseph claims it did), and about the difference between faith and works with respect to salvation. Mark was also able to field a bunch of questions about the different denominations and also how he was able to baptize his daughter Megan as part of God's 'royal priesthood' as opposed to the Aaronic or Melchezedek priesthoods that are recognized in the LDS faith.

Overall, it was a great night with many, many discussions. The truth of God's Word was shared many times over, and it seems that God is definitely working in the hearts of many in the LDS church.