Online Missions Trip Day 8

Marty the Mormon: The official name of the Mormon Church today is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Joseph Smith founded the Mormon Church when he was 24 years old, in the state of New York on April 6, 1830. It was originally named the Church of Christ , but the name was changed in 1834 to the Church of the Latter Day Saints. In 1838 it received its current name. The official LDS web site lists the December 31, 2004 worldwide church membership at 12,275,822. At the beginning of 2005, there were approximately 5,599,177 LDS members in the United States and approximately 6,676,645 members outside of the USA. Most of those outside of the USA are in Latin American countries.

Marty believes that the Church of Latter Day Saints is the one and only true church on earth. He believes that the church became utterly corrupt soon after the Apostles, so God decided to restore the true church through Joseph Smith. Because of this, Marty believes all other denominations (Baptist, Lutheran, etc.) are false churches (in other words, not following God).

Things to Remember:

Marty may not be aware of the Mormon church's official doctrine, so be sure to ask him detailed questions about what he believes. Don't get distracted with trying to prove you are right unless you believe it will help get Marty closer to trusting Christ.

Marty may use the words and phrases that sound Biblically true (Jesus Christ, Son of God, salvation by faith, etc.), but actually mean something entirely different. Because of this, it is critical that you make sure you mean the same thing. For instance, if Marty says, "I am trusting in Christ for my salvation," you can ask these questions: "What do you mean by salvation?" or "How do you define Jesus?" or "Are you trusting in Christ alone for your salvation?"