Let it go. It’s still the fastest growing, wealthiest church. It seems the more you do, the less impact you have.
“…the standard of truth has been erected; No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” – Joseph Smith, Jr.
Guess he was prophetic after all. Keep up your futile “ministry”.
Mark,
First of all, it’s a mere myth that Mormonism is the fastest growing religion. It’s growth has become somewhat stagnant, is decelerating, and the retention rate is alarming (in a negative way). I invite you to read a book by a Mormon which speaks of these problems:
The Law Of The Harvest: Practical Principles of Effective Missionary Work, by David Stewart (Amazon; online text)
Secondly, and most important, Mormonism’s growth rate and wealth have absolutely nothing to do with whether or not its claims are in fact true. Appealing to wealth and population as a measure of truth is arrogant and shows that one does not understand the power or character of God and his kingdom. Our ministry is not about numbers or money, it’s about the truth and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
God says of himself in Isaiah 43:10, “Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.” The Psalmist says of him, “from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” (Psalm 90:2)
Do you worship this God?
Grace and peace in Christ, who justifies the ungodly by faith apart from works (Romans 4:4-8),
Aaron
Very good answer Aaron. I was wondering what the dollar cost per convert is in the Mormon Church. I should probably redefine that as cost per retained memeber. Not that that is a measure of truth either, but it might reveal something regarding the effectiveness of the overall program of the Mormon Church.
I completely agree with you Aaron (is this the first time?), that growth & money have nothing to do with the church being true or not. Shoot, the church of the devil (I’m not referring to a church denomination… just the number of people that are influenced in a greater degree by the devil’s purposes than by God’s, and thus frustrate God’s purposes) is much larger and has much more political and economic power than any one denomination. Perhaps the person that wrote this letter is a bit over-zealous.
It is interesting though, that Joseph Smith’s statement was mentioned. Given the state of the Mormon church AT THE TIME, it was an incredibly bold statement to make. It was actually almost an impossibility that it could be fulfilled. Yet, here we are 177 years later, and though his words haven’t been fulfilled YET, the momentum behind the Mormon Church is in full motion, and given the state of the Mormon Church TODAY, it would almost be impossible for his words not to be fulfilled.
This goes back to an earlier post that I believe Aaron wrote as well called “Joesph Smith could sell a muzzle to a dog” (or something like that). We can see that the growth of the Mormon Church has almost NOTHING to do with Joseph Smith’s charm or charisma (though he very well could have had both). It has everything to do with the message, being that a) God is real, b) He has a central plan for everybody on earth, c) He communicated the finer details of that plan through special messengers in ancient times, d) He does the same thing today, e) there is tangible evidence of that communication in modern times, and finally (and most importantly) that faith in Jesus Christ is the key to the plan. (there are of course some catch phrases in there that really require some more description to fully understand what I just said, but the basic understanding is good enough for now)
The argument from the rate of growth and wealth would give the prize to Islam. Is this Mormon willing to keep this metric of determining God’s true church?
God is good
jpu