Cultic Trend Alert: September 1, 2007

THE MORMON MISSIONARY CHALLENGE

Not long ago I was driving down a narrow, dusty hill in Tijuana, Mexico on my way home from a daylong children’s outreach at a small, struggling evangelical church.

Suddenly I spotted two young men marching up the slope wearing white, short-sleeved shirts and dark ties. One was clearly “Anglo,” the other Latino. They appeared without warning; the hill was steep, they were traveling in the opposite direction, and there was no way I could turn around and intercept them.

A pang of frustration lingered for miles as I thought of where they were going and what they might do to the people in the neighborhood we’d been evangelizing that day.

It was a simple and sobering reminder of a frightening fact: Right now, in 145 countries, nearly 54,000 Mormon missionaries are laboring full time to empty Christian churches. (It’s a spectacular number, given that today all the evangelicals in the U.S. are only fielding some 45,000 missionaries serving two years or more.)

On June 25th the cult announced that it had commissioned its one-millionth missionary. (About 40 percent of all the Mormon missionaries ever sent have gone forth in just the last dozen years.)

On the same day, the church announced an even sadder statistic: Its worldwide membership has now climbed to 13 million.

And there’s more to the story. According to recent publications, the cult…

• Grows by a million members every three years
• Now has more than half its members outside the United States
• Operates 17 Missionary Training Centers on five continents
• Maintains web sites in nearly four dozen languages
• Is actively translating its materials in 105 languages

The harsh reality is this: Mormonism is predatory and parasitic. It feeds on nominal Christians who cannot make doctrinal distinctions. And bear in mind that Christians in the developing world — where Mormonism is growing fastest — are largely unprepared to resist the advance of this cult. How should we respond?

First we need to get beyond the myths and mind games. Personally, I believe that today’s Mormon missionaries are more actively evasive and deliberately deceptive than ever. Want proof? Just calmly ask the next pair who appear at your door if they believe in the Trinity; most will say “Yes.” (Official Mormon doctrine affirms a belief in many gods — and more to come.) Ask them if theirs is the only true church, and most will say “No” or somehow dodge the question. (Official Mormon doctrine affirms that Jesus Himself has declared all other churches false.)

The cult’s public-relations machine is working overtime to minimize and blur the distinctions between Mormonism and biblical Christianity. Making matters worse, efforts by Christians to refute Mormon claims and win Mormons to Christ are increasingly characterized as “bigotry” and “hate speech.” Are you prepared?

The antidote for deception is discernment, and discernment depends on data — namely, the truth of God’s Word, combined with carefully researched information about “deceitful workers” (2 Cor. 11:13–15) who sow spiritual destruction through their distorted doctrines.

The Mormon missionary machine presents us with a twofold challenge:
To resist its errors with conviction — and reach its victims with compassion.

So please — pray for us! Around the world, Christians need help to identify and answer the essential errors of Mormonism; thanks to your partnership, CFAR is working to meet that need. Together we can give them the right tools and training so that when cult missionaries come knocking, they will “Always be prepared to give an answer…with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

In Christ our Hope,

Paul Carden
executive director

P.S. Would you like to know more? Working with Bill McKeever, we’ve developed a new pamphlet called 10 Questions and Answers on Mormonism. It answers the cult’s errors so clearly (and kindly) that you can give it to a Mormon neighbor, co-worker, family member, or even the next missionaries you meet. To request a copy, contact us.