Mormonism increasingly draws Spanish-speakers as converts

Arizona Daily Star ^ | March 8, 2008 | Stephanie Innes

[Zakeet]

Spanish-speakers are fueling growth in the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which recently opened new worship space on Tucson's predominantly Hispanic South Side.

Many local Mormon worshippers, like 47-year-old Juan Arroyo, converted to the faith from Catholicism while living in their native countries. Arroyo, a roofer who has four children, joined the church when he lived in Guadalajara, Mexico. He's been in the United States for seven years.

"I was missing something, and my life changed greatly after meeting the missionaries," he said in Spanish.

Nationally, the number of Spanish-speaking congregations in the Mormon church grew by 64 percent between 2000 and 2006. There are 639 such congregations in the United States.

[Snip]

The church is growing quickly in Mexico.

Church officials say its presence there began in 1875 when Brigham Young, then denomination president, called on six missionaries from Salt Lake City to bring Spanish-language materials about the church to Mexico. In 1885, a group of nearly 400 colonists from Utah arrived at northern Mexico's Casas Grandes River. Mexico's first stake was created in Colonia Juárez in 1895. By 1912, more than 4,000 members had settled in Chihuahua and Sonora.

More than 1 million members now live in Mexico, a predominantly Catholic country with a population of about 108 million.

[Tennessee Nana]

So who is the true Prophet the Bible tells us to look for?

You do believe what the Bible says, don’t you?
_____________________________________________

Fred, the Bible scripture please...

[Tennessee Nana]

(1 John 4:2-3.)

2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Ps.

Since your Bible says there will be true Prophets, where are they?
___________________________________________

Fred, that passage is about discerning the spirits, not about knowing who are “true” prophets...

[Elsie]

And yet, you never mention the place in the Book of Mormon that says that from time to time He does say it is right.

That's because it isn't in there.

If you think you can spin...

I will command my people into an acceptance of polygamy, we would SURE like to see the logic.

[Elsie]

You put that out as if it is what is really going on, but it is a miss leading statement.

No, it isn't.

It's a STANDARD technique used by LDS apologists in these threads.

It's got it's own number in...

The LIST!

[Elsie]

 

If you want to know for yourself, the information is easy to find.

 

 

I know: here it is.

 

 

 FIRST VISION:VARIOUS VERSIONS OF VISIONS  

Version Number  When  Published  Brief Description	Age  Year	Pillar   of  light	No. of  Person-  ages	Father  Present	Son  Present	Question:  Join What  Sect?	Remarks-References
1. Offical version,  written 1838,  first  Published 1842  (There are minor differences between the various source references, Ensign  Jan 1985, page 14)	14   1820	yes	2	yes  Both spoke	yes	Join none	Lucy, Hyrum, Samuel, Sophronia join the Presbyterian Church - JSH, pages 49-50, 1981 edition; Times & Seasons, March, April 1842; Ensign Jan. 1985, page 14; Joseph Smith's First Vision by Milton V. Backamn, Bookcraft, 1971, 1980, Appendix C, page 160f
2. Dictated by Smith to F.G. Williams, Summer to Nov. 1832	14 or 15	yes	1	no	yes  Saw Lord, He  "spoke"	No question, told "None doeth good", sins forgiven	Joseph Smith's First Vision, Appendix A, page 155f
3. Written by Smith, his 1832 diary, in his own hand	15	yes	1	no	yes  Saw the Lord Jesus  Christ	No question,  told sins forgiven, all do no good	Ensign, Dec. 1984, pages 24-26; ibid, Jan. 1985, page 11
4. Smith's diary of 1835, recorded by Warren Cowdery, Nov. 9, 1835, conversation of Smith with Joshua	About  14	yes	One, then another like unto first	?	?  Second spoke, saw  many angels	No questions, told sins forgiven, Jesus is Son	Joseph Smith's First Vision, Appen. B
5. Letter form Smith to John Wentworth, editor of Chicago Democrat	none	no	2	?  They spoke	?	No Question	Joseph Smith's  First Vision, Appendix D; Ensign, Jan 1985, page 16; Times & Seasons, Vol  3, pages 706-707, March 1, 1842
6. Early church leaders Brigham Young, G.A.Smith, John Taylor	15	no	1  Saw an angel, and asked the angel	no	no	Join none	See Journal of Discourses,   2:17; 18:239; 13:77, 78; 20:167; 12:333, 334.

 

web/firvista.html 
5-11-95, Rev 8-8-98

 

John Farkas,     Berean Christian Ministries, P.O. Box 1091, Webster, N.Y. 14580

[Elsie]

you just proved the New testament is false.

Oh?

Show us.

[Elsie]

Where is the true living Prophet of God today that the Bible teaches of?

Good question!

Just WHERE does the BIBLE 'teach' that?

[Godzilla]

Let us look at a couple you left out, that Brother Joesph did experience.

First - the scripture passage is not a prophetic pronouncement by smith.
Second - what is the context of the verse, as context provides meaning. John was writing against the teachings of gnostics (I'll let you read up on them). They specifically taught that the "Christ" could never take material form. While this was one method of identifying false prophets, it must remain balanced with the WHOLE teaching of the Bible. Finally, this assumes that smith was truly speaking in an inspired fashion as man can very well LIE. In view of smith's track record, the latter is more likely than the former.

[Elsie]

Where is the scripture in the Bible ?????

I guess you HAVE been hangin' with ELSIE too much!

[Godzilla]

Your Bible says too look for true Prophets, and you say there is none.

The bible tell us there will be prophets, but since you fail to read the context within prophets work within the NT era today, suffice it to say that your definition of a prophet is different from Biblical definitions.

[Tennessee Nana]

I’m larnin’ from tha best...

:)

[Elsie]

 

Your statement makes no sense. please try again to define the differences in what you think I said.

 

 

Number 12...

 

How Mormon's deal with data presented to them by those they call ANTI's:

  1. How you interpret it is wrong...
  2. You are too ignorant to really understand it because you are not a member....
  3. You're not qualified to judge because you're no LONGER a member...
  4. You are just a bigot for bringing the whole ugly truth to light ...
  5. So’s yer Mama!
  6. Laugh it all off and post some silly image.  
  7. Jump down the rabbit hole; Alice!
  8. Bait & Switch
  9. The OTHER 'half' of the truth is what we are avoiding.
10. "I Know It When I See It"
11. Hand waving...
12. YOU play defense for a while.
13. HEE Hee hee... let's get the Calvinists and the Armenians fighting!
14. GREAT FUN! Let's get the Catholics and the Protestants fighting!
15. Huh? Did you say something?
16. If I repeat this enough times some folks will be fooled into thinking it's true.
17. Playing dumb.
18. Refusing to answer because your ATTITUDE offends them.
19. (Let's see if they'll fall for the 'Defend a freak' ploy.)

 

[Godzilla]

Where is the true living Prophet of God today that the Bible teaches of?
Good question!

The Bible tell us of false living prophets, but not a true singular prophet.

[Tennessee Nana]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

no wonder Fred thinks that God is confused...

Even God needs a program to keep up with Joseph Smith’s wild imagination and tall tales...

:)

[Elsie]

Because you and the rest of your LDS brothers and apologists are put into the position of continuously trying to defend the FALSE prophecies of your own leaders!

Ha!

You ain't been payin' attention!

We don't defend; we call into question YOUR beliefs and make YOU defend!

--MormonDude(Our stuff NEEDS no defense!)

[Elsie]

You do believe what the Bible says, don’t you?

#12 with a bit of "you go look for it" thrown in.

[bonfire]

Showing them scripture doesn’t mean anything to a Mormon. They don’t believe in the Bible. Their Bible is the BOM ONLY...NOT the KJV as they pretend.

Funny how the Bible is only used to show ERROR but the BOM is infallable!

[Old Mountain man]

Berean Christian Ministries? Isn’t that a Baptist group? And aren’t they now converting to Algore Environmentalism from “Christianity”?

[Elsie]

To me, this shows that you care about being an anti-mormon the a preacher of God's word.

#18

[Old Mountain man]

Careful of the references since they refer to pronouns!