One service of Share the Son Ministries is “Great Commission” Coaching or GCC.  When Evangelicals have the opportunity to share with and learn from Latter-day Saints and feel the need to be better equipped to do so effectively they may correspond with me so as to not “go it alone.”

This past month I was contacted by Leanne who, with her husband, Bruce, put our GCC service to good use.

Leanne wrote:

Dear Mike,

Bruce & I recently completed your “Sharing Strategies with LDS” class and found it extremely helpful.  So thank you.  I had some LDS missionaries visit last week and had the opportunity to bring up the section from Doctrine & Covenants 7 about the apostle John not dying.  The "main" missionary was aware of the passage and seemed to say that John didn't hold “all the keys” to the priesthood and so it was still necessary for them all to be restored to Joseph Smith.  Even though I said John was supposed to do “a greater work” they kept bringing up the issue of all the keys needing to be present.  Could you please give me some clarification on the issue?  They are returning after Christmas.

Also Bruce and I would like to give to your ministry.  What are the ways in which we could do this?

Yours in Christ,

Leanne

My reply (with modifications) was as follows:

Okay, now for some thoughts on your and Bruce's meeting with the LDS missionaries.
 

1.       Congratulations!  I don't know if you have met with LDS missionaries before, but I can assure you that if your heads and hearts are in the right place you will learn as much the 50th time as you did the 1st.
 

2.       Addressing the apparent contradiction between the apostle John remaining on earth and the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood through Joseph Smith (or any other significant doctrine for that matter) can be a delicate conversation.  Our "Strategies" class only introduces you to the topic and gives you some basic tools to gain facility with the strategy.  Much of the fine-tuning and finesse involved in witnessing with Mormons will come with continued training and actual face time with missionaries.
 

3.       The primary intent of bringing up the discrepancy between John and Joseph (henceforth referred to as JJD) is to introduce cognitive dissonance and thus plant seeds of question and doubt to prepare the ground for the Gospel conversations.  It is not intended to be an end in itself by getting the missionaries to admit the contradiction.  Therefore, we have to be careful of just how hard we press the JJD issue.
 

4.       I believe addressing the JJD issue has its greatest impact when the Latter-day Saints with whom we are speaking have never considered it before, especially when they hear it for the first time from Evangelicals like yourselves who have been prepared to discuss it with finesse and with the aforementioned priorities well in mind.
 

5.       That the lead missionary seemed prepared for the JJD issue is not a problem for three reasons.  First, chances are that although he's encountered the discrepancy before he's not been dealt with as you and Bruce can and will as mentioned above.  Second, that he has an answer (so to speak) does not necessarily mean that he's not at the same time sensing some internal discomfort caused by the cognitive dissonance of having to deal with it yet again.  And third, we have found that many times our discussions have had the greatest impact not on the lead missionary, but on the relatively silent one(s).  Though not speaking directly to him; the LORD may have placed you there for him.

x

Okay, now let's deal specifically with the lead missionary.

If you feel that the door is still open to discuss the JJD issue and you will not risk losing the opportunity to discuss the Gospel at a later time, then proceed as recommended below.  If, however, you feel you made clear the apparent discrepancies on the JJD issue and sense that the lead missionary would really rather move on, then do so.  You have bigger fish to fry!

It's now time to turn up the heat NOT by presenting apparent discrepancies, but by asking the right questions and holding the lead missionary more accountable for his “all-the-keys” answer.  It will be difficult but try to do this with an attitude of genuine curiosity instead of an "I-got-you" one.

Here are some questions that the “main” LDS missionary should be asked along with some helpful authoritative LDS references.
 

·        Didn't Jesus and the apostles hold the Melchizedek priesthood when they ministered on earth?

The LDS Church teaches: “These keys [to the Melchizedek priesthood] were given at the transfiguration [of Christ; see Mt. 17:1-2] to these three Apostles [Peter, James and John], and they in turn gave them to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in this dispensation” (Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, 2001, p. 18).
 

·        Didn't Jesus and the apostles possess and thus preach the fullness of the Gospel so that they and others might inherit salvation in the Celestial Kingdom EVEN IF "MANY PLAIN AND PRECIOUS THINGS WERE [LATER] TAKEN AWAY FROM THE BOOK . . . OF THE LAMB" (1  Nephi 13:28) as a result of “the Great Apostasy”?

LDS apostle Bruce R. McConkie explains: “Under apostolic direction [i.e. following the bestowal of “the keys” to Peter, James and John at Christ’s Transfiguration] a kingdom of priests again was found on earth.  But after the apostles ceased to minister among mortals, there was no one left holding the keys [presupposing they once HAD them] to authorize a person to be ordained to any priestly office, and in this manner the Lord took the priesthood from the earth” (Mormon Doctrine, 1966, p. 478).
 

·        Exactly what "keys" did Christ and the apostles NOT possess BEFORE "the Great Apostasy" that Joseph Smith later received?

Second LDS prophet Brigham Young, quoting Joseph Smith, writes: “Said Joseph, ‘Will you insult the Priesthood? Is that all the knowledge you have of the office of an Apostle? Do you not know that the man who receives the Apostleship, receives all the keys that ever were, or that can be, conferred upon mortal man? What are you talking about? I am astonished!’ Nothing more was said about it” (Journal of Discourses 1:137).
 

·        What need was there for Joseph Smith if John possessed all of the keys BEFORE he (and Peter and James) gave them to Joseph Smith?
 

·        Refer to D&C 7:5 and ask: "How could John be commissioned by Christ to do 'a greater work' if he didn't posses all of the keys of the Melchizedek priesthood?"  "What exactly was John's 'greater work'?"
 

·        Refer to D&C 7:6 and ask: "Doesn't making 'heirs of salvation' mean salvation in the Celestial Kingdom according to LDS doctrine?  If so, then what need was there for Joseph Smith if John was already making 'heirs of salvation' on earth?"

LDS apostle Bruce R. McConkie explains: “Conditional or individual salvation, that which comes by grace coupled with gospel obedience, consists in receiving an inheritance in the celestial kingdom of God. This kind of salvation follows faith, repentance, baptism, receipt of the Holy Ghost, and continued righteousness to the end of one's mortal probation. (D. & C. 20:29; 2 Ne. 9:23-24.)” (Mormon Doctrine, 1966, p. 669).
 

·        Do you see how John's NOT holding "all the keys to the priesthood" could seem like a later invention of the LDS Church to reconcile the difficulties posed by the JJD?

Okay, that's it for now.  If it's not too much trouble I'd appreciate updates on your meetings after Christmas.

Please remember that besides eventually getting to the LDS and biblical gospels your primary goal should be to gear your attitudes and actions to get the missionaries to return as many times as possible.  Get to know them.  Invite them over for a meal.  Ask them about their lives, hobbies, family, mission experiences, etc. before getting down to business.  And, yes, even pray with them and for God's protection over them.

Charis kai eirene (Grace and peace), Mike