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When "Truth" is False
"For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand"
Matthew 24:24-25
Today we asked the question, "How Do You Determine What's True?" and had some great conversations at CSUF! One conversation that stood out to me was with a Mormon young man and his Catholic girlfriend. Certainly an odd combination, but hopefully we can sort the Mormonism part out from the conversation we started today!
I initially misread that they were both either Catholic or Christian - based on their responses to a conversation Nick was having at the time about the exclusive nature of truth. However, I was terribly mistaken and somewhat shocked when I found out that *Henry was LDS. I was moderately suspicious by the verbiage he used to describe the Holy Spirit's confirmation, but I was humorously surprised to find out he actually was LDS.
We talked about the question on the board, and he shared that he thinks truth is determined by subjective experiences with the Holy Spirit. I asked him how he reconciles the disagreement between people who both claim Holy Spirit confirmation, but he wasn't sure how to respond to that fully. I talked about 1 John 4 and the exhortation to test spirits and not blindly trust them all. *Henry agreed that we need to test spirits, but he said the way we test them is through the Holy Spirit's confirmation... And so the circular reasoning began...
I asked whether or not the Holy Spirit could ever contradict the Bible, but *Henry never really answered the question for me. I eventually laid my cards on the table and told him that I believe that the Bible gives us a hard standard to test prophets by to determine if they are from God or not, and he wanted me to show it to him. I was glad to hear that he was actually open to consider it as Mormons have been super closed to this information in my past experience.
I laid out a very simple argument that goes like this:
In Matthew 24:24, Jesus warned us about false prophets who would come.
Deuteronomy 13:1-3 says that any prophet leading you to a god you [Israelites] don't know is a false prophet.
In his King Follett Discourse, Joseph Smith taught that God was once a man like us and that we shall become like God.
Isaiah 43:10 shows that there were no Gods before YHWH and none coming after.
Deuteronomy 33:27 teaches that God is eternal and everlasting.
This shows that Joseph Smith is a false prophet as he leads people to a distinctly different god from the one described in the Bible.
*Henry had never heard about the King Follett Discourse or this biblical test for prophets, and we exchanged numbers to continue the conversation after he looks into the things I shared with him today. His Catholic girlfriend, though not talking much during our conversation, seemed quite happy to see *Henry considering serious challenges to the legitimacy of Joseph Smith as a true prophet of God. Perhaps a healthy pressure from her will end up leading *Henry to the true Gospel and true Jesus. We plan to meet again and continue the conversation, so please join me in praying for *Henry to recognize the need for grounded tests for truth that extend beyond our own feelings!
Here are some recorded conversations from earlier this week on campus if you'd like to check them out! We tried this alternative setup with two lawn chairs and a table, and we found it to be pretty effective.
Thank you so much for your prayer and support! I am blessed by your generosity and partnership in this training and ministry!
With love and peace,
Ivan Penrose
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