Surrounded by Mormon Missionaries: Hawaii

hey guys you guys are latter-day saints yeah hi I'm Jeff how you doing I do it how much your nails Oh Mendoza don't we from will be the Philippines what's that were you from Virginia Virginia oh yeah we're I'm Virginia Oh Fredericksburg bridge is that north south or north really okay right on like closer to DC and really close to just really right on oh yeah I love this really very large area oh sweet awesome that lives you know Maryland so not not too far awesome where you from California we're in California Oakland Oakland it's hardcore Berkeley okay all right most people don't know what it is yeah okay right on where you from Yuto Yuto well Wow the motherland can look at how did you really Wow we're on Utah Midway Midway Park Dean Park City yeah Hanover Park City okay yeah yeah right Arnold so you here on your mission yeah yeah how long has been our mission for well cool for governor to think of every year you guys are go home soon okay you guys are going home you guys are pretty years okay right on lots of pretty sweet sweetie pretty sweet gig getting Hawaii ready yeah did I it is right now it is available right on so I'm you guys latter-day saints in kawaii on your mission why what's your testimony why why'd you uh why'd you come here all them are numbers yeah well like to tell the world or people of quad worth of why people why that I love them families can be together forever through the gospel that's why we're here and it's up to them we only invite people and we don't force them when we invite them to come and surprise but it's the other choice so I pretty do our best and we pray every day find those opportunities that we can to help other people right on I mean yeah I feel like I kind of had to wade through a lot of crap to get to my face the point where it is right now okay and so for me I feel like I'm out here because I can show people where I made mistakes and where I could have gone to kind of get there faster so I can just kind of help people the game safe and gain testimony faster than I did easier than I did okay were you uh raised in the church yes look I'm like it's raw gold with okay okay gotcha but parents yeah LDS really strong so okay right on okay how about you something that made me happy and I wanted to have the chance to learn about if they want okay did you always plan to go on your mission or sort of last-minute thing no no I was always something I was on my mind but kind of like understanding here was something that I want to make sure was something I believed in before I went out that makes them yeah I did not want to just do it because I'm supposed to or do it because people expect me to I want to do it cuz there's something I want to do okay how about you man I knew that Christ died for us right and that this Gospels were bringing us closer to Christ has then be of their family okay right on so how'd you get your testimony like what happened what did you study what did you what happened in your lives to get to the point where you said just Smith a prophet and this is all true to me okay what that process looked like uh well my family also had connections at church my whole life that they encouraged me not to just do it because they're doing it want me to believe it okay so I would go to church I kind of learned that kind of thing study the Bible study back when to other churches hang out with other churches I went to college for a little bit and had some experiences there or my friend started to kind of learn for herself and she had questions just I just ended up talking to her a lot and from what she was talking about it reminded me the happiness I felt first day in my child at the time that I felt really good and I decided I was looking at him like you know what times when I was living the gospel cuz when I was doing my best to have a good life I wasn't perfectly still messed up all the time even a missionary storm as a whole is back what it got me to a point where something I wanted to pray about know if that's what was happening if that's where I needed to go I got my yeah anybody else have any profound experiences oh it always like to shake I just kind of got tired of a lot of people telling me that judgment was a problem oh c'mon Wooster and then a lot of people tell me it was it and kind of like escalated on both sides to equip myself like all right stop and I just kind of pushed everything outside of the way in your study description that's really cool so so you were in a Virginia yes and so you talked to people who didn't believe Joseph was a prophet even we're very skint so super opposed or what people call anti yes okay so what you do with that conflict how did you resolve that when you have people coming from both sides would you say you went to the scriptures yeah it was that like try to kind of like keep what I believe separate from what they believe but I also tried to listen to them okay it's like obviously they're at their point for reason so I tried to like I kept them separate from what I personally believe but I also tried to take everyone's opinion into account and it has got to a point Rose like either I believe something that's insane or I believe something that's true enough for people to think it's insane and so I I just kind of stopped talking to everybody and I studied and I made like a big list and all the stuff that I thought didn't make sense okay and I you should started checking them off what was one of those things for you that you you saw it as a conflict initially and then you started looking into it and then you resolved it well what would one of those things be probably the need for a restoration I don't know how familiar you are with a bit I raised around Mormons I live in I live in air I'll actually live in Arizona and so at Mesa Arizona uh sure if you know it's like it's like second I think well at least at one point there was like there's like the second-largest warm population all right besides you know Utah so I am familiar my son stellar let me tell our name we uh wave it to camera okay I've been wanting to yeah absolutely of course of course we love that show dialogue between latter-day saints and Christians to show that there can be love and grace and respect and gentleness and that we can listen so what was that what was that like the restoration the need for restoration for you who are the book of wood okay that was a big okay I read some scriptures been told about the scriptures in the Bible or said like you don't need any more scripture this is all you need to be safe I really struggle so Christians probably used revelation don't add to the words of this book or God will add to you the plagues that are in this book and saying well that means the whole Bible when it's really referring to revelation right the other two so it's a don't add to God's Word but specifically that would be the response yeah right okay okay I'm sorry go ahead I just had a lot of good Christian friends that disagree with me but respected what I believed yeah there are other people that did not respect what I believe and so I just went through and I studied really carefully what the scripture meant in the background of it like you were saying oh it was specifically meant for revelation yeah and all sorts of different stuff and just it really just came down to a million little things relatively okay the big stuff came later I had to get a million little answers good so how do you and we live in a time when I was one of my good good friends in high school his name was Wade sweetest family latter-day saints like I love your community I love you some of the I think you got some of the sweetest most gracious wonderful people and so my good friend in high school Wade was deeply devout latter-day Saint family and he introduced me to Mormonism and and so I I entered into like relationships with latter-day saints with a close friend and family fed me all the time and I had more missionaries in my house whole time and so like that was like that for me no ISM it was an amazing experience like I cherish it because it introduced me to a community of people that I really care about that I disagree with but but I really really care about and just I've gained a lot of respect for so in in the conflicts that I had early on with with Wade and I as I was searching the scriptures and he was giving a book of Mormon so I'm gonna pray about it anything else was my problems were like not over though good little things you know like people people get offensive at times even Christians professing Christians will get offensive a lot of those things will say things like coming about that silly underwear you know and it's offensive like there's Christians the wear strange underwear though I don't want to talk about right so it Christians would go to like silly things like how to eat or drink coffee like what's with the coffee stuff so for me was more fundamental and I think in the scriptures more fundamental it's the issue of who is God and how do you come and known and so for from my initial conflict with my of my good friends it was about Jesus and how do I come to know God and when when you were in you were studying and really trying to resolve the conflicts now that we live in this age of freedom to access to information Google is like just instant information did you do any research and then look at some of the major disputes between say Mormons and and I talked to a lot of people who are really well educated in their own religion did you okay what was that like it was fascinating I really loved it I talked to like look at me a water real fast and like Diana thirst talked to one lady to the Judeo Christian she was Jewish holy Jewish but she also believed in the Messiah okay really cool and she share a lot about like older Jewish stuff yeah I didn't know about and how it kind of enhance Christianity yeah which I should have known but I saw a Messianic Jew and now she referred to herself fascinating people all right totally and just other people like pastors of different faiths okay amber like regular members they didn't know as much but yeah I mean what they believed okay and I love just learning about what all the other ones believe in it I don't know if it clarified my understanding of the doctrine it clarified my understanding sure okay oh thank you sorry it's been so hot today really it's been humid too not just yeah a better day okay I want you guys in your foot so our Oh a little more than two weeks for me about a week about a week for him can I can I ask you like one question and see just how we would you would try to resolve it it's for me from the very beginning and talking to my Mormon friends close Mormon friends it's always been surrounding like the simple issues who is God and how do I come and know so I spend a lot of time reading Josef's writings and reading The Book of Mormon for a great price Journal of discourses history of the church those sorts of things listening to build a lot of a lot in every the reason honestly and I just be completely transparent it's I think a deep love and passion for just people in general and for the gospel for me but honestly in a practical level it was the it was the sweetness and the genuineness of my Mormon friends that caused me to want to dive in and listen so like the king fall at discourse you know the discourse yeah so it's Joseph it's his most famous message and it's the one where he really communicated with clarity everything he believes about God and he said that God Himself was once as we are known as an exalted man who sits enthroned in yonder heavens and he says we've imagined in supposed that God was God from all eternity I will refute that idea and take away the veil so that you may see you've got to learn to become gods yourselves the same way all gods had done before you so you see how much I've read it I know it by heart so for me as a Christian when when my friend said you got to read the book of Mormon you got to pray about it the gospel needed to be restored and Joseph was a prophet I was actually very young believer the time wasn't raised in church and so I had read the Gospel of John at least by then and when I read the King fall at discourse with the Gospel of John I started feeling the conflict so Joseph says that you can become a god and that that's the goal eternal life is becoming God and he said that God wasn't always God he became God and so what do you do as a genuine genuine honest sincere latter-day saint what do you do with say a Christian who says Joseph came almost 2,000 years later with a different view of God than the Scriptures had already laid down so just want one thing to aim at okay in isaiah 43:10 god says before me there was no god formed neither shall would be after me I'm the first and I'm the last besides me there is no God that's in Isaiah 44 six so God says there's no gods form before him none after him he's the first to last he doesn't even know of any other gods then Joseph comes along and says they're all wrong all the creeds are an abomination all the professor's are corrupt right quote yeah like it yeah and to join none of them because they're all wrong and so Christians have the Bible that says one thing about God and they've been teaching one thing historically about God for 2,000 years and Joseph says they're all wrong God was a man who became a god he had God before him and you can become one one day but in just one text alone and there's many God says none before none after isaiah 43:10 how do you how do you address that because I believe you're sincere and devout but how do you address that that's that's two different views of God yeah that was one that can confuse me because they were there are scriptures in the Bible itself that at least to me seem to contradict each other okay and I believe Airy to contradiction once you actually like get into it and really understand the background but there are some scriptures that seem to incinerate that you would go on to eternal procession and there are some scriptures that seem to insinuate that God was the only one that could ever would ever be perfect okay and so for me I tried to adjust the possible scriptures and they didn't match up and so I I think I just had to change the way I saw what God was saying there is no there is no other God besides God because he's the only one we're ever going to worship and the way I interpret that scripture and Isaiah is that he is our only God we're never going to worship anybody greater there never will be anybody greater for five and if we ever become a God someday it's going to be in a very different you know God's not going to turn around and worship us oh no of course then it would be miss yeah it would be a mischaracterization of your beliefs if somebody said that like you're getting two God's all of a sudden going to bow to you or something like that I would be inaccurate and you guys definitely believe that but see just that text in isaiah 43:10 says before me there was no god formed neither shall there be after me and he says is there a God beside me same text indeed there is no other God I know not one he says he doesn't even know of any other God but Joseph said that there's a Council of God and they came together and they concocted and prepared a plan to create the world and the people at in the pearl of great price early on in 1830 in the original Book of Mormon it's essentially monotheistic there's only one God but by the time 1844 comes along Joseph's views have progressed and now he believes in polytheism many gods that's why you see in the pearl of great price it says in the beginning that God's created the heavens and the earth there was a shift but in I in it just in Isaiah he says no gods were formed before him none will be after him he doesn't even know of any other gods now here's why when when I was asking you about your testimonies I was wondering because all my Mormon friends have said I prayed about it I had this experience right that's how I know it's true I felt it I felt the burning in the bosom and that's how I know that it's true and I don't mean this as an inoffensive thing but I rarely find a Mormon friend who has said it wasn't my experience simply it was the text of God's Word I tested it by Scripture so for example the test of a prophet in Deuteronomy chapter 13 one of the labor the point just keep talking but in Deuteronomy 13 one through four this is really important guys especially since you're on your mission God tells us people the way that you know somebody is from him that they're truly a prophet of God is not the signs and wonders if they even have them it's if they lead you after a different God he says God says I'm testing you to see whether you love me and the test of a prophet wasn't whether it felt good look good seem good it was whether somebody contradicted with what God had already said so here you have God telling us in his word that observe his word it'll never fall away Jesus says that the grass withers the flower fades or the word of our God stands forever the Bible saying there is only one God none before none after and he doesn't even know any other gods Joseph comes along in 1830 publishes the Book of Mormon and he ends up teaching that it's all wrong there are many gods God without number you can become one one day God had gods before him so God says test him by the scriptures did you ever do that did you ever test Joseph by the scriptures did ya hey Kirby laughs right yeah how you feeling today can we bet it glad your life surprisingly I uh so did you ever test in my scripture so might estimate sir yeah like reading all the scriptures I'm comparing every single scripture to Joseph Smith or do you mean well I mean that I guess that'd be unfair that being unfair standard to say elder did you look at every verse and compare with all the thirteen to Joseph that's a huge volume of literature but I would just has an example like say the basic stuff like what Joseph said about Jesus versus what the Bible teaches about Jesus did you do that as your did you base it solely really about upon that experience well I guess for me I've never had a burning in the bosom okay I'm kind of jealous of people that do have burning in the hog guys not really my thing okay so what I do based off of like I told you a little before is based off how I feel because I dunno I don't read the scriptures when I've read the Bible and I have no Bible scholar I'm jealous you have all these scriptures memorized that's not really my thing twenty year old man not even trained to do this but personally about what yeah when I have read it I have been told and what is leading me towards God is never going to give me the bad fruits of the spirit as they say in Galatians right it's not going to lead me astray where I'm feeling awful if not leading me astray where I know that I'm worshiping other gods but I can tell you as I have followed what Joseph Smith said and I followed the Book of Mormon I have never ever felt like I've been worshipping more than one my Eternal Father now I have read this discourse I do know what you're talking about yeah but as far as my experiences personally with the Scriptures I never have had any doubts about worshiping my father I do understand that I were suppose to just baby Jesus kind yeah the Holy Ghost is a big part of my life but I see them as three separate people are all guiding into one god thing with everything in the citrus many different prophets many different ideas Isaiah talked very differently than just the submit that is true but they're all leading to the same and of all let me do things I don't know I appreciate that explanation that's personal like for me I mean objects to us up there for everyone but sure no no no I appreciate the honesty and the transparency so you can I give you an example that wouldn't include you and I so you you mentioned father we're using the same language so we're speaking Christianese right Heavenly Father Jesus as we are right we're using the same language but we mean so in so many different things so take us out of the equation for a minute and say take for example not a lot of Muslims in Hawaii I've discovered not too bright not too many I'm not motivated but if you and I walk up together to a Muslim on the street if we found one in quiet and we said hey do you believe in Jesus what would they say yes they would say yeah he's a prophet right now if you and I together knowing some of our differences walked up to that same Muslim and we said you believe in Jesus said yeah peace be upon him he is prophet of God and we said did he die on a cross for sins and did he rise from the dead they will say Jesus never did that and if we said it's either Divine Son of God they'd say no he was a prophet of rosu right so here we have we're using the word Jesus but that Muslim doesn't believe in Jesus does he not in the way that we believe not in the way that the Bible says right because if if you walk up to that most woman you would say who's jesus he'd say he didn't die on a cross he didn't rise from the dead and he's a he's a prophet but not divine divine son of God right so that is the word Jesus but not Jesus now if we also and this is here Java's witnesses right so if we walked up together to Jehovah's Witness and we said you believe in Jesus they would say yes but humans right right they believe he's Michael the Archangel the first and greatest creation of Jehovah God right 144,000 enter into paradise with God right all that so the point is is the word Jesus is there but it's not Jesus right so the question is is this because Jesus says I'm the way the truth and the life no man comes to the Father but by me he said he was the only way to God I know you believe that I respect that you guys you guys are vigilant around that truth that whoever Christ is he's the only way to the Father and you guys are dedicated to that so I respect that but second Corinthians 11 in the first century Paul warns the church in Corinth that he's worried about them that they'll be deceived and follow another Jesus another Christ another spirit another gospel that's in the first century not long after the resurrection so the question is do you have the true Christ so break one thing one major thing I mentioned John a moment ago right it says in John chapter 1 verse 1 in the beginning was the word you can finish it right and the Word was with God and the Word was God right says he was in the beginning with God all things were created through him and nothing came into being that's coming to being it's that except for him so Jesus says in John 1 always existed always existed with the father and he was by very nature God he created everything nothing came into existence for men now I believe that but Joseph's revelation denies that because Joseph thought that there were multitudes of gods before God so created things right and he taught that Jesus and Lucifer are Spirit brothers Jesus isn't the creator of Lucifer like the Bible says he's his brother that's a different Christ first ask you I see what you're talking yeah you're talking about flow but I guess the thing that I would say experience for me is I do believe so like what you're saying is that Jesus created everything I created the world for it and all everything we are without him nothing came into being we have to agree with that but we believe that they created a head and hands with God now we're putting it with that sense and some people would say that Jesus was God you might say yes but what we see is just because they both have that same name doesn't mean they're the same person just has the same in Maine doesn't mean that there's actually able I'm with you 100% matter of fact historically based upon the scriptures the Christian Church has never taught that Jesus is the father that actually was cast out as heresy early on in the church many people think that's what the Trinity is that Jesus is the father the father is Jesus in the Holy Spirit but that's actually heretical teachings Christians have never taught that we believe there's one God by nature three eternal coexistent persons sharing the one being of God not three beings one being three persons Joseph taught that there are yeah Joseph out there are three beings who are gods of this earth right and then multiple gods outside of that but you know MoMA guy I appreciate what you said you said you you affirmed John one that Jesus created everything in existence you said I believe that let me just say this and I mean this with gentleness and respect honestly Josef's revelation doesn't allow you to agree with that because he said that Jesus and Lucifer spirit offspring of Elohim in one of his lives so Jesus is not the creator of everything according to Joseph he's one God among many he's Lucifer's brother do you see I do see which Dana and I actually still like I could go on for kind of a long time this might not I don't I'm not here though are you a fascinating oh no no I know we do believe at least for me let me up or correct me if I'm wrong I've never hooked but is that all of us have been my workers eternal Dean's like Jesus Christ even God per se doesn't mean that Jesus Christ what didn't exist before the Jesus Christ and God they created everything yes but they're still the offspring of God does that make sense no I do I think there's some some logical and biblical contradictions there and of course I mean them respectfully but just in terms of I'll give you another example might bring more clarity to what I'm saying in Colossians chapter 1 it says that Jesus for by him Jesus we're all things created whether in heaven or on earth visible or invisible says all things were created by Jesus that includes Satan so you can't have Jesus the creator of everything including Satan and be Satan's brother that's a different Christ and according to the Bible if you have a false Christ you have a Christ that can't save and that's my deep concern for my Mormon friends is is not in a sense of wanting it's rob you of your faith or to injure you in some way or out of hatred or animosity into the Bible warns me that I could be following a false Christ and then I need to examine what I believe and test all things hold fast that which is true and Jesus said thy Word is truth test what I believe tests what any prophet says by the scriptures because here's the thing whatever our disagreements we need to have Christ the true Christ for forgiveness and salvation and if I'm following a false one I need to abandon it I needed like swallow my pride in abandoning come to the true Christ right and receive forgiveness and salvation and I hope the same thing for you guys right because no matter what we're on the tail end of this Jesus is already come the Scriptures have already been laid down and now what we have to work with is God's revelation and to test right so for example and I think this would be an interesting test if you put a latter-day Saint next to a Christian next to say Roman Catholic next to a Muslim a Jehovah's Witness a Rosa Christian or Christian Science is amazing and you said elder tell everyone your experiences of God you'd share all your experiences and this passionate experience and genuine and then the Muslims shares his experience and he says the Mormons are all wrong Jesus didn't die for sins he didn't rise from the dead this is the true experience I've had these experiences and the jehovah's witness goes and now begun a line and we're all having these amazing experiences all believing in contradictory gods and Gospels contradicting will each other say about Jesus but all having genuine experiences right we can't know what is true based on our experiences we can know it's true based upon the word of the Living God and what God said in his word long before Jason Joseph Smith came along was that there is only one God none before none after that you will never become a god one day that Jesus has eternally existed as God not created not the brother of Lucifer and it says in fact this Romans 3:28 we conclude that a man is justified declared righteous through faith apart from any work of law that through faith in Jesus we are credited his righteousness not because we're good not because we deserve it because of what he did Christ lived the perfect life he was perfectly obedient he died to take our place and rose from the dead so we would get a perfect righteousness as a gift we would be made new alive changed we would have good works but they would flow from a person who was already redeemed as a gift right and it's through faith alone that's what the Bible teaches about salvation in contrast and it's laughing I'll say in contrast and you know this better than I do I'll probably misquote it articles of faith we believe that through the atonement of Jesus Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience to the Lord you see that the first part of that I go yes through the atonement of Jesus Christ all mankind may be saved and then there's an addition by obedience so not Christ not his work not a gift its grace Schloss my work my labor and the Bible says to that work Galatians chapter 5 he says you've become estranged from Christ he's become of no effect to you whosoever of you attend to be justified by the law you've fallen from grace Paul says choose it's either Christ working him alone through faith or it's yours and we know that any of us have sinned against God have broken his whole law it's a Michael Michael assign no we just ran into each other on the street we just came here with family we have to be we're meeting here and I saw you guys I love you guys genuinely care for you and let me just say this and I hope I can be as transparent as honest with you as possible I know that being on a street like this on your mission with all you've invested in this to hear a message like this if what I'm saying is true it would mean something radical in your life and it would mean it would be like it it would be like a bomb going off in your life if what I'm saying is true you don't have to accept it yet but if what I'm saying is true but what if brother's okay and I mean and it's in the humanity sense okay what if what if God sent a messenger to you today with grace and mercy while you're here on a missin mission and I'll mean this offensively I mean it's in the sense of my passion for you you're on a mission preaching a different gun on a different gospel and a person came here tonight giving you scriptures and truth and it was an act of God's love and mercy in your life what if that was what happened tonight would you would you desire eternal life right Jesus says what's the profit a man if he gains the whole world loses his soul what if you kept your family what if you kept all this up but you lost your soul what is it worth right and so that's my call to you is this the Bible says that Jesus is God eternally God not Lucifer his brother salvation is a gift of God apart from any work of law repent and believe the gospel Jesus said be reconciled to God as a gift to the true Christ that's the call that's the message I have for you guys tonight okay and I know you guys are handing stuff out tonight if you would this is just it just it's just a message with some basic teachings here quotes from Brigham Young Joseph Smith and a contrast into the Bible on the inside would you take it and just look it over do it yeah all right guys I only have three so one even have to share whatever I just talked to back to earth we live together ok perfect good and ni and to be fair give me what if you have some material I will take it and I will commit to read it do you have any we weren't actually passing anything up tonight were you ok so I interrupted your time off maybe ok alright we were still talking to people okay alright so I give you my commitment to read what you give me okay alright thank you so thank you so much I appreciate you spending time thank you so much thank you for spending time with you I really appreciate it chocolate gentleman Jeff Jeff Jeff yes hey thank you guys I really appreciate the time thank you thank you guys you to the eyes

Channel: Apologia Studios

Views: 266,247

Rating: 4.842268 out of 5

Keywords: jeff durbin, apologia church, mormon, mormonism, south park mormon, joseph smith false prophet, mormon missionairies, mormon missionairies owned, secret temple footage, mormon temple footage, black preacher mormons, jeff durbin mormon, book of mormon, i'm a mormon, mormon debate, mormonism documentary, surrounded by mormon missionaries

Id: z_dZzId_saI

Length: 34min 1sec (2041 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 15 2017