Refiner's Fire Ministries

It’s the first thing that happens. A little niggling of uncertainty, a teeny weeny shred of doubt. You shrug it off, ignore it, step around it, lock it in a mental vault, and you keep on going, because the love, the fellowship, the whole lifestyle is so ingrained that a little thing like that shouldn’t hamper your relationship with the one true church.

But it never really goes away. Weeks, months, or even years may pass. Then, all of a sudden, here comes another one. And another. And another. You start swiping at them, like pesky flies. Then, before you know it, you are being attacked by a swarm of killer bees. There’s no escape. You’ve been smitten by the truth and your life will never be the same. Praise the Lord! Sixth generation, recent convert, dyed-in-the-wool, it doesn’t matter where you are in your walk. God’s grace extends itself and another miracle takes place.

Recently I took a good hard look at my first question. Sadly, it popped up barely a week after my “conversion” experience. We were meeting in the living room of some friends in Las Vegas. Our leader, a recently ordained and self-proclaimed elder, had us each look up a passage in our Bibles. I, of course, had my rather dog eared New Scofield and I eagerly turned to the book of Genesis. My passage wasn’t there. I did the usual flipping back and forth; double checking to make sure I was in the right book. Duh. Even I knew Genesis is the first book of the Bible. Finally I looked up in confusion. Nobody had noticed. “It isn’t in my Bible,” I announced. “Oh no,” was the reply. “You don’t have the Inspired Version.

I looked at my Bible like it had taken on a life of its own. “What’s the Inspired Version?” I asked stupidly. And there it was: the first question. I have since learned far more than I ever wanted to know about Joseph Smith’s bible. It contains more than 3400 alterations including the insertion of himself into the book! How convenient.

The second question came the same day at the same meeting. The wife of our elder was giving a brief testimony and referred to the Restoration as the one true church. Having recently come out of the Catholic Church I could certainly relate to what she said. However, I stored it away because something about it nagged at me.

A couple of months later, as I was preparing for baptism, the elder admonished me that I was not being baptized into a particular church because the Restoration was in such disarray. Had I known then what I know now I would have run like a deer. Baptism is about Jesus Christ, not a particular church.

I mention these incidents only to point up an idea I had. Would these questions be good witnessing tools? Everyone who has come out of the Restoration or CofC has had a starting point. What better way than to say, “The reason I started searching was a question about . . .” which would open up a line of communication. It’s non-threatening, it takes the focus off the others’ hesitancy and it gives him or her something concrete to think about.

I work in a nursing home and one of the residents is Mormon. Because of my role there it seems unlikely that I will ever get a chance to witness to him. However, I don’t want to see him die in his deception. I’ve been praying about it and lately I have had an idea or two. The first idea is to ask him why Mormons don’t use the J.S. version of the Bible. I know the Bibles they use are footnoted, but it might be an opening. The other question is which first vision version does he believe? Both questions are harmless and might possibly open a door. On the other hand I might get fired, which would make some sort of statement, I suppose.

In His amazing love

Jan