It all began in the Fall of 1974 when a friendship developed between myself and a classmate named Brad. Not only was Brad my closest friend at the time, he was also my very first "best friend" in life.

Brad and I enjoyed spending time together at school and playing at each other’s houses. I recall his family’s reverence for God and the religious devotion in their home. Yet, at the same time I could sense there was something very different about their faith from that of my own- but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.

Being raised in a Christian home, I was in church with my family nearly every Sunday. I had accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior at the age of five, so by the time I met Brad the Lord Jesus was a very important part of my life. Because it was important to me that my friends knew Jesus also, I eventually worked up the nerve to ask Brad if he was a Christian. I will never forget his simple, yet impacting response, "I’m a Mormon". That was the extent of our theological discussion, but it would be the words that would eventually spark my life-long study and missions work.

WHAT IS A MORMON?

After that talk with Brad, I went home and asked my mother what a Mormon was. She responded that she thought they were different from us, but like many Christians, she didn’t really know any specifics. She had heard that Mormons didn’t drink coffee, and that they ground their own wheat for baking bread. Needless to say my curiosity about this mysterious religion was not satisfied. I was still left needing to know what it was that made Mormonism different from my own faith. My last memories of Brad are of the two of us talking in his front yard. I remember my longing to be a witness of Jesus Christ to him, yet felt absolutely helpless and frustrated that I could not help him.

Following second grade, my parents enrolled my brother and I into a private school. That separation alone would have been enough to end most childhood friendships, but months later I received notice that Brad’s family had purchased a farm and would soon be moving away from the area. Little did I know how that short, two-year friendship would profoundly effect the course of my life!

Five years later I discovered that once again one of my classmates was a Latter-day Saint. Aaron and his sister Natasha were the first Mormons I had met since my friendship with Brad. Now as an eighth grader, the issue of Mormonism was in my life again, but this time I was determined to get answers!

THE INVESTIGATION

The following summer I attended a lecture on the subject of Mormonism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses that discussed the unique doctrines and practices of both religious groups. The lecture worked as a catalyst for my own personal study, which often included talks with LDS missionaries and other members of the Mormon Church.

My investigation revealed that Mormon doctrine promotes many non-Biblical concepts such as a belief that…

• there are many gods.
• God was once a man.
• God has a body of flesh and bones.
• men may become gods.
• Jesus is the spirit-brother of Lucifer.
• Jesus was conceived naturally-not of the Holy Ghost.
• Jesus was created by heavenly parents.
• the blood of Jesus is not sufficient to atone for all sin.
• salvation is by works.

A MISSIONARY

While it was in junior high school that I began to learn the basic beliefs of Mormonism, it was during high school that I developed several close friendships with Mormon students.

By the time of graduation, I sensed that God was calling me to be a missionary to the Mormon people. There was nothing more fulfilling for me than to talk with the LDS people about the things of the Lord. I wanted to move to Utah following graduation, but soon realized that the Lord had a different course for me to follow at that time.

In 1987 I enrolled in a college program and graduated from LIFE Pacific College in San Dimas, California in the spring of 1991. To my surprise, I found that California has a very large Mormon population, second only to Utah! During college I maintained my personal study of Mormonism and often spent time at the Los Angeles Mormon Temple in prayer.

While seeking God’s guidance upon graduation from college, it was clear to me that I was to begin a missionary work in the Inland Empire, East of Los Angeles. Soon Mission to Mormons was born. People who shared the same burden and love for the Mormon people soon came together, a support group was formed and a research library and office was established in the town of Upland.

After two years of missionary activity in Southern California, the Holy Spirit directed a relocation of Mission to Mormons to Colorado Springs, Colorado. The move was blessed, and the organization quickly experienced the expansion of its ministry into many areas of the United States. Colorado was home for nearly five years, and MTM is still highly involved in ministry in the Rocky Mountain area.

Today Mission to Mormons is an international network of Christians. From our newly established base at the historic Mormon colony of Nauvoo, Illinois (USA) we anticipate even more growth well into the new millennium.

In May of 1996, Mission to Mormons embarked on its first international outreach in Hong Kong and China. Since that time we have helped to distribute 30,000 tracts among the Mormons of the United Kingdom and have also worked among the Latter-day Saints of France, Portugal and Spain.

It is my hope and prayer that every Latter-day Saint would experience what the Apostle Paul spoke of in Romans 3:20-22:

"Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; but rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from the Law, has been made known, to which the Law and Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."

ETERNAL LIFE IS A GIFT

I testify that Jesus is the answer. Not Jesus plus what I can achieve, but the marvelous accomplishment Christ made through His sacrifice on Calvary. It stands high above anything I can do.

When we surrender ourselves, transferring our trust in our own ability to be worthy and begin to trust in the perfection and righteousness of Christ, something powerful happens! Have faith in Jesus Christ. Receive His gift of salvation. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord." (Romans 6:23) Embrace the work of redemption Jesus performed on the Cross in our behalf.

The peace you long to have with your Heavenly Father will become an eternal reality once you have complete trust in His Son. Faith that He alone is "the way, the truth and the life" and that no one comes to the Father but through Him. (John 14:6)

Steve Dealy

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