Below are the quotes that were used in the video.
President Ezra Taft Benson: “The Book of Mormon exposes the enemies of Christ. … It fortifies the humble followers of Christ against the evil designs, strategies, and doctrines of the devil in our day. The type of apostates in the Book of Mormon are similar to the type we have today. God, with his infinite foreknowledge, so molded the Book of Mormon that we might see the error and know how to combat false educational, political, religious, and philosophical concepts of our time” (“The Book of Mormon Is the Word of God,” Ensign,Jan. 1988, 3).
C.S. Lewis: “I was at that time living like many atheists; in a whirl of contradictions. I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with him for creating a world” (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/questionofgod/transcript/leap.html).
C.S. Lewis: “I was at that time living like many atheists; in a whirl of contradictions. I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with him for creating a world” (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/questionofgod/transcript/leap.html).
Alma’s Response:
Critics of Christ and His Church use:
Ideas for Dealing with Anti-Christ and Anti-Mormon Literature:
Heber C. Kimball: “To meet the difficulties that are coming, it will be necessary for you to have a knowledge of the truth of this work for yourselves. The difficulties will be of such a character that the man or woman who does not possess this personal knowledge or witness will fall. …
“The time will come when no man nor woman will be able to endure on borrowed light. Each will have to be guided by the light within himself. …
“If you don’t have it you will not stand; therefore seek for the testimony of Jesus and cleave to it, that when the trying time comes you [will] not . . . fall.” (Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, 450).
President Russell M. Nelson: “But in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.
"My beloved brothers and sisters, I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation.” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/04/revelation-for-the-church-revelation-for-our-lives)
President Heber C. Kimball also declared: “I want to say to you . . . the time is coming when we will be mixed up in these now peaceful valleys to that extent that it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy to the people of God. Then . . . there will be a great sifting time, and many will fall—for I say unto you there is a test, a TEST, a TEST coming, and who will be able to stand?” (quoted by Elder Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, October 1965, 128).
President Ezra Taft Benson likewise testified: “There is a real sifting going on in the Church, and it is going to become more pronounced with the passing of time. It will sift the wheat from the tares, because we face some difficult days, the like of which we have never experienced in our lives. And those days are going to require faith and testimony and family unity, the like of which we have never had.” (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 107).
Elder Rulon G. Craven: “During the past years I have at times been asked by the Brethren to meet with repentant members of the Church and interview them for the restoration of their temple blessings. This has always been a spiritually moving experience to restore the blessings of those wonderful people who have repented. I have asked some of them the question, ‘What happened in your life that caused you to temporarily lose your membership in the Church?’ With tear-filled eyes they answered: ‘I didn’t obey the basic principles of the gospel: prayer, attending church regularly, serving in church and studying the gospel. I then gave in to temptations and lost the guidance of the Holy Spirit’” (“Temptation,” Ensign, May 1996, 76).
President Boyd K. Packer: “True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior.” (“Little Children,”Ensign, Nov. 1986, 17).
Ideas for teaching:
- Bears his testimony
- Testimony is based on evidence
- Goes on the offensive
- Asks what evidence do you have that there is no God?
- Alma’s evidence presented – “all things.”
- Testimony of ‘all of these they brethren’ – millions across the world know it.
- Testimony of prophets who have seen and spoken to God.
- Scriptures.
- All things testify there is a God.
Critics of Christ and His Church use:
- Misrepresentations. They go beyond distortion and they are unfair. They’re intended to deceive. Those can be typically addressed fairly quickly. They can be shown to be false.
- Half-truths – the distortions that have grounding in reality, but that are framed to put the church or its leaders or its past in a bad light.
- Criticisms that are in fact true.
Ideas for Dealing with Anti-Christ and Anti-Mormon Literature:
- Hold fast to the word of God.
- Trust the promises of God.
- Questions are good.
- Look to understand other’s assumptions.
- Reframing
- The old joke is too often true: “In the Catholic Church everyone says the pope is infallible but nobody believes it; and in the Mormon Church everybody says the prophet is fallible but nobody believes it.”
Heber C. Kimball: “To meet the difficulties that are coming, it will be necessary for you to have a knowledge of the truth of this work for yourselves. The difficulties will be of such a character that the man or woman who does not possess this personal knowledge or witness will fall. …
“The time will come when no man nor woman will be able to endure on borrowed light. Each will have to be guided by the light within himself. …
“If you don’t have it you will not stand; therefore seek for the testimony of Jesus and cleave to it, that when the trying time comes you [will] not . . . fall.” (Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, 450).
President Russell M. Nelson: “But in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.
"My beloved brothers and sisters, I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation.” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/04/revelation-for-the-church-revelation-for-our-lives)
President Heber C. Kimball also declared: “I want to say to you . . . the time is coming when we will be mixed up in these now peaceful valleys to that extent that it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy to the people of God. Then . . . there will be a great sifting time, and many will fall—for I say unto you there is a test, a TEST, a TEST coming, and who will be able to stand?” (quoted by Elder Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, October 1965, 128).
President Ezra Taft Benson likewise testified: “There is a real sifting going on in the Church, and it is going to become more pronounced with the passing of time. It will sift the wheat from the tares, because we face some difficult days, the like of which we have never experienced in our lives. And those days are going to require faith and testimony and family unity, the like of which we have never had.” (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 107).
Elder Rulon G. Craven: “During the past years I have at times been asked by the Brethren to meet with repentant members of the Church and interview them for the restoration of their temple blessings. This has always been a spiritually moving experience to restore the blessings of those wonderful people who have repented. I have asked some of them the question, ‘What happened in your life that caused you to temporarily lose your membership in the Church?’ With tear-filled eyes they answered: ‘I didn’t obey the basic principles of the gospel: prayer, attending church regularly, serving in church and studying the gospel. I then gave in to temptations and lost the guidance of the Holy Spirit’” (“Temptation,” Ensign, May 1996, 76).
President Boyd K. Packer: “True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior.” (“Little Children,”Ensign, Nov. 1986, 17).
Ideas for teaching:
- Identify the tactics of modern day Korihors. Give an example.
- Follow Alma’s playbook in dealing with anti-Christs.
- Roleplay.
- Teach how anti-Christs frame an issue and how to understand their assumptions. Teach how to reframe to have a more truthful and honest discussion.
- There is power in the Word of God.
- Have someone read the Rameumptom prayer.
- Discuss what doctrines you would teach the Zoramites.