MormonInfo.org

September 1, 2005

Dear Family and Friends,

I ministered in front of the Newport Beach, CA LDS temple August 6th - 20th, 2005. The temple opened to the public on July 23rd and went until August 20th. Henceforth, only temple-worthy Mormons are able to enter the temple. The temple was open every day from 9 AM to 9 PM (Sundays were closed all day and Monday evenings closed early for family home evening). Most days I put in around 8 hours standing on the street corner in front of the LDS stake center, which was directly adjacent to the temple.

Given imposed LDS and Mariner's Christian Church limitations on interacting with visitors (Mariner's offered the LDS their huge parking lot a couple miles away so that they could bus individuals to the temple, and Mariner's would not allow any Christian inoculation or evangelism on their property), I would primarily advertise using my large sign that reads MormonInfo.Org / JosephLied.Com on both sides. I also targeted large groups of people to quickly preach to--either pedestrians or buses. Depending on the time I had, I told them that I loved them and I wanted to warn them about following the false prophet of the LDS Church, Joseph Smith, who taught a blasphemous view of God. If the buses did not stop, I simply yelled, "Check it out!" and pointed to my sign. My statistics for MormonInfo.org clearly indicate that the visits were up well above normal during that time, and have since significantly dropped. Other signs that were used by others included exMormonsforJesus.org, GotForgiveness.com, SacredorSecret.com, MormonChallenge.com, and PerfectRighteousness.com.

On occasion I was able to get tracts out to pedestrians as well as cars. These tracts were published by Mormonism Research Ministry, and its president, Bill McKeever, estimated that around 10,000 of them were distributed. Eric Johnson and Conor Anderson, also of this ministry, distributed many of them on neighborhood doors surrounding the temple in the first couple weeks of the opening. Others who helped at various times with witnessing in one way or another included Jim Valentine, Matt Vessey, Lindsay Schwan, Robert Verdin, Keith Walker, Jenell McGregor, Todd Odenath, Roger Overton (check out Overton's A-Team blog for more coverage on this outreach), Brian Sterling, Dan Cuevas, Brian Bromberg, Dustin Aldridge, Bill and Charolette Pardee, Scott Couch, Marilynn Hobbs, Steve Welch, and Jerry and Renee Ellison.

On rare occasions I was able to dialogue with people coming into or going out of LDS property. Most of the people I talked with were LDS, but I was also able to witness to, among others, agnostics, Jews, a Christian Scientist, and a Buddhist. Most of the Christians that came by were very encouraging of what we were doing, but on occasion we had to respond to Christians who were quite upset and claimed, similar to LDS, that Jesus wouldn't be outside someone's church trying to tear it down; He would simply "love" them... as if we had no love for Mormons.

In the minds of many LDS though, this perception apparently justified all sorts of hostility toward us. On rare occasions, LDS would be cordial with us, even offering us bottles of water or cookies from inside the stake center. But for the most part we received a lot cursing, a lot of middle fingers, and a lot of hassles from LDS security concerning where exactly we could stand on public property. In addition to the usual gibes like, "Get a job!" or "Don't you have anything better to do with your time?", many individuals ignored us when we offered them literature or attempted to converse with them (one lady put her fingers in her ears), while others were outright physically destructive. According to Odenath, one LDS guy ripped up Jerry Ellison's sign and then took off with Odenath's sign (see the full story in the "MAILBAG"). There was also an LDS family that physically assaulted Keith Walker of Evidence Ministries after they swiped his stack of tracts.

Did our ministry generate "more heat than light"? Perhaps, but why should we expect anything different from a people who hate our God? Even "the Light of the World" experienced the same thing every so often. Nonetheless, God used the outreach to shine light, which resulted in various confrontations and inoculations that would not have happened otherwise (cf. one such inoculation account by Eric Johnson in his review of David Rowe's I Love Mormons on Amazon.com).

Also during this time, the editor of the Sanpete Messenger called me up to interview me for an article she was doing on those who come every year to minister at the Manti, UT Mormon Miracle Pageant. You may read the results here. I was also quoted in another article for this paper written by another writer. This was concerning discrimination on the part of the Sanpete County legal officials. You may read this article here.

The day after the temple outreach I spoke to an adult Sunday school class at Voyager's Bible Church in Irvine, CA. My buddy Jeff Messer, who has done ministry with me up in Utah, has been teaching a 6-week class on Mormonism. On the last day of the class, he had me play the part of a Mormon. I dressed up in a suit and tie (the only one in the whole church), and basically frustrated a group of around 20. But it was also a time for me as a Christian to encourage them to keep studying and learning the very complicated language of Mormonism. You may listen to the interaction here.

Finally at the end of the month, I took a fishing trip with my dad, some people from his work, and some of their families to Cabo San Lucas in Baja California. The day after we arrived, my dad asked me to do a chapel service on Sunday night. I wasn't too excited about this since I didn't have much time to prepare and I wasn't getting a lot of sleep on the trip. My dad told me that I was supposed to be "prepared in season and out of season" (2 Tim. 4:2), so how could I say no? I trusted the Lord to work it out, and was able to jot some notes down a couple hours before the event. It turned out really well. Most of the audience of around 15 were unbelievers, so I spoke for about 45 minutes on "What is a Christian and Why am I One?"

Thank you for every prayer said on my behalf, and for every financial contribution made on my behalf. If you'd like to continue supporting this ministry or me as I take my sabbatical, you may contribute through my PayPal link on my "Make a Donation" page, or you may send me a check directly; just e-mail me.

Contending for the faith (Jude 3),

R.M.S.
Rob@MormonInfo.org
Mormon Info

****PRAYER LIST****

"I will pray to the Lord for you" (1 Samuel 7:5).

1. For more salvations
2. For those that are coming out of the LDS Church and/or those who have recently committed themselves to the real Christ
3. For God to move more people to do street ministry downtown
4. For Utah churches and individual Christians to support each other's various ministries
5. For financial provision
6. For the ability to get my rough draft comprehensive done soon
7. For God to use my web site
8. For love, protection, and wisdom as I minister
9. For God's direction in setting up my new ministry

****MAILBAG****

It was a pleasure to meet you outside the [Newport Beach] Temple. I learned so much from you and you really motivated me to step up for my faith and the truth of the Gospel. This experience has really, in a way, changed my life. I saw the spiritual warfare that is going on with most of the people who participate in the Mormon church. They have an unwillingness to hear our point of view. Satan keeps them in the dark and in a 'faith of fear' as one of the tracts mentioned.

My heart broke when I saw the people who just didn't want to hear why we where there. And it also broke when I saw the people who where starting to realize that the Mormon church wasn't all that they thought it was. Those two girls on Thursday who were asking the security guards all the questions ended up in tears at the things they said about us. They said things that, as you said the church doesn't even believe (as in us going to 'hell', which apparently is only for apostates). That is the sad truth that is so hard for those who are in the church to begin to realize. Also when you left on Friday there was one young man who came to talk to us (me, Jerry and his wife Rene, who is an ex-mormon) he wanted to know about where our differences are and was reading out of the pamphlet that was handed out in the temple to defend the Mormon beliefs. I let the 'pros' handle this guy. Rene was very sharp being an ex-mormon. I stepped in front of them to let the cars see my sign (Bill's 'got forgiveness') and I could hear them right behind me. Moments later I could hear a struggle. This young man was ripping Jerry's sign in half and grabbing at everything. I turned around and tried to stop him. But he grabbed for the sign I was holding and ran down the street. I ran after him as he was doing his best rip it in half but it was made out of corrugated plastic and could only fold it. I was asking him if this is from God as he ran into the Mormon parking lot. But Mormon security was coming closer and he continued to run down the street. Bill said to let him go and the security guards asked if we want to call the cops but Bill said no, and that that sort of thing happens (he told us about an experience you had with a sign stealer).

I guess the truth is really hard for some people to take, but I learned that this type of ministry is effective. It shows that we are not afraid of our faith because of its truth and we are willing to stand in front of them to tell it. I plan to learn much more about Mormon beliefs and confronting them with the truth. Thanks Rob. God bless,

Todd Odenath

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During those two days I was there [at the Newport Beach temple opening], I got to interact at length with Mormon youth for the first time, and I was encouraged to find that there was a general feeling among the individuals with whom I spoke that we as Christian evangelists simply believed Mormonism to be mistaken about its theological beliefs; also, that it was not the case that we hated or disliked the people themselves. However, in contrast, speaking to an Elder at the temple about why the history of the existence of peoples described in the Book of Mormon was never covered in general history books proved frustrating when, instead of giving a reason for their absence, argued for the unimportance of objective evidence for substantiated Mormon belief.

I noted that Mormon propaganda (in the strictest sense of the word) "tugs at the heart-strings" and is very emotionally based. I wondered if this was an intentional theological reflection of Mormonism's emotional epistemic justification, or if it was simply a by-product of that history of standing by one's emotions as a legitimate source for discerning truth.

Brian Sterling

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Yes, we were at the Newport temple. We didn't see ANY people giving out literature. When we were directed to park at Mariner's Church (that was a surprise also) and then shown directly into waiting busses to take us over. On the buss we had a "welcome" speech that really was pushing Jesus & how Christian they are. It was so blatantly open I nearly threw up. Then the "guard" (that was what I called her) announced with big eyes and lots of emphasis, that ANYONE giving out literature should be rejected because it was not one of "them" and it certainly didn't tell the correct information. At that time, since I didn't see anyone trying to give out literature, I thought you were banned from the property. "They" warned us about possible strays in the parking lots, but I didn't see anyone there either. Where were you? Did you get to talk to anyone? "They" had so MANY "guards" all over, that it was a little uncomfortable. Almost like a Police State.

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The Bible has many books of antiquity that back up the claims of the events and people and places that it contains. The writings of the Apostolic fathers had reproduced parts all the books of the New Testament by 90-100 AD. Is there any books of antiquity that back up the claims and the information that is presented in the Book of Mormon?

[I responded:] LDS will of course say the Bible backs the Book of Mormon up, but other than that I'm not aware of any books of antiquity that back it up.

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I just thought that you would like to know that the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is a form of Christianity like Lutherans Baptists and Methodists and I am sure you do have friends that respect what you do and we are taught to respect other churches and we do and I am fine with it you are allowed your freedom to choose your religion and say what you want I just thought that you would like to know that Mormonism is a form of Christianity

[I responded:] Thanks for your note. I know that Mormonism isn't another form of Christianity, since none of those denominations you mention devalue Jesus from being the Creator of literally everything [like LDS do].

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ok what is with this site i am a mormon and none of this stuff is true. its not very christan like to put down other regions. we dont make whole web sites again being christan and who says were not christan you. well i hope you post what i wrote on your dumb site! and please reply to me i would like to her somthing from you

[I responded:] So what exactly is untrue about it? Note the LDS references I've listed. So if it's not Christian of me to put down other religions, then I guess you're not a Christian since you put my religion down which tries to act like Christ when He put other religions down (cf. Matthew 23, e.g.). But then again, if you can do it as a supposed Christian, then so can I. Please use a spell-check next time.

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Wow...it makes me so sad when Believers let the fear of man cloud their judgement. I have been amazed at the numerous testimonies where the Lord has used you and your boldness. I took my dad to your website and read a couple of the testimonies to him...we were both on the verge of tears and were really encouraged by what we read. Though my father doesn't usually hold signs, he is also extremely bold and will talk to anyone about the Lord. I love being around Christians who are strong in their faith...they always challenge me to do likewise. [We] have both talked about being martyred for our faith...are we really willing??!

[We] will definitely continue to pray for the Lord's leading, organization, details of your new ministry, etc. I hope it's also a time of rest!

I wanted to THANK YOU for all the information you sent about Latinos in the LDS church. I found a statistic that said 6.2 million of the 12 million Mormons worldwide are Spanish-Speaking. Amazing, huh? You're awesome, bro! We're behind you all the way!!!