Of Baptists and Mormons
Recently, while sitting on our front porch to take a break from the computer, I noticed some young people going door to door. There were two fellows and two girls, all nicely dressed and appearing like a fish out of water on this East Side of Toledo.The two young ladies approached me, and the guys continued to next door. The one started by asking if I attended any church and said they were with some Baptist church in town. I said I no longer attended church services in Toledo, but if I did it would be on the same day as Jesus Christ worshiped - the seventh day Sabbath.
I mentioned how Protestants are still bowing down to Rome, to the pagan popes and Constantine, and not following Jesus' example. She asked if she could at least leave me a Bible tract she had in hand. When I saw it talked about going to Heaven, I asked them why they were spreading such religious lies - that the Bible never offers Heaven as the reward of the saved, but that Jesus clearly stated "the meek shall inherit the Earth."
I said everybody has at least heard that Scripture, and they agreed. I said the Bible says no such thing about going to Heaven. The other girl piped up and said it did. I asked her if she would please show me then. She sort of stomped next to me and turned to a Scripture where it states we've all fallen short of the glory of God and are sinners, and I said, "Yes, that's true, but nowhere does it say anything about going to Heaven." She then turned to another Scripture that also mentions our sinful state and I again said, "Yes, but that says nothing about going to Heaven." She appeared flustered and spouted, "But they show us how to get to Heaven." And I disagreed.
I asked them to ask their minister why they're telling people they go to Heaven when Jesus taught "the meek shall inherit the Earth." I encouraged them to learn what the Bible really teaches. They practically ran off the porch, and the fellows next door - nobody answered there - who had been listening, said, "You have a nice day!" I said, "I'm not your enemy. Don't be afraid of the truth - let it set you free. Tell your minister Jesus Christ said "the meek shall inherit the Earth."
They reminded of those old dolls or toys where you pull the string and they have several recorded messages, like - "I love you!" When I broke their spell, they were at a loss and confused, the truth didn't compute with their traditional way of thinking. I hope they can learn the truth about being born again and Heaven and Hell. I've prayed for them, since I deeply appreciate how God started teaching me truths when I was a teenager.
Then a week or so later, several Mormon fellows stopped just as I was getting ready to go on a bike ride. They were also dressed nicely, with their white shirts and ties and dress pants. One "elder" was from the state of Washington and the other "elder" (both were much younger than me) was from Arizona. I asked if folks in their states didn't need to hear what they had to say. They basically said they had plenty of Mormons out there.
I mentioned how I agreed we're the so-called "Lost Ten Tribes of Israel," but that since they supposedly know that, it's all the more reason they shouldn't be keeping pagan holidays pretending to be Christian and Sunday instead of the seventh day Sabbath and biblical festivals that Jesus Christ and the Church of God kept and keep (which portray God's plan of salvation for all mankind). I reminded them the Church of God was founded on the holy day of Shavuot - Pentecost - in Jerusalem, and that Jesus commanded His followers to commemorate His death every Passover and Paul instructed the Gentiles how to properly keep it and to celebrate the Days of Unleavened Bread in spirit and in truth. The one said he wanted to do more study on the tribes, and wanted to look into why they don't keep Passover.
They were actually enjoyable to talk with, and I heard some things they had to say and then questioned them about it. I didn't do all the talking - just most of it. They wrote down my website's address - www.DavidBenAriel.org - to look up my book, Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall and for more information on Passover and the Twelve Tribes of Israel and about the dietary laws and many other topics we touched upon.
I ran into them in the parking lot of Wal-Mart in Oregon (just East of Toledo) en route to my car, just when I was telling my friend about my experience with them! I hollered over to them, getting in their car, waving, to make sure they looked up my website. Then I saw them again driving through a nearby neighborhood and waved. A Sabbath-keeping Church of God brother who lives in Sweden thought I should read the Book of Mormon to see what I think for myself. So I went to the Oregon library and checked it out and decided to donate a copy of Beyond Babylon to it...
