September (Web-only) 2004

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Mormons open top pulpit to evangelical apologist
Indian-born apologist Ravi Zacharias has reportedly become the first evangelical invited to speak in the Mormon Tabernacle since Brigham Young extended an invitation to Dwight L. Moody in 1871. (Weblog has been unable to confirm that Moody actually did speak there.) His November 14 message will be "Who is the Truth? Defending Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life." There's no word if he will address differences between Mormon and Protestant Christologies.

Zacharias's invitation is particularly noteworthy since he was the general editor of the most recent edition of Walter Martin's The Kingdom of the Cults, which devotes one if its 20 chapters to Mormonism.

Pastor Greg Johnson, pastor of the evangelical group Standing Together Ministries, told the Deseret Morning News (owned by the Mormon church) he discussed the book with Mormon leaders. "Basically, he agreed to lend his name to it, but he didn't write any of it," Johnson said. The church leaders (called the First Presidency) are "all informed and still moving forward in great confidence," Johnson says.

They may be a bit mis-informed, however. In addition to serving as general editor of The Kingdom of the Cults, Zacharias wrote at least a two-and-a-half page introduction, in which he "applauds" the "extraordinary volume."

Johnson told the paper that his the First Presidency probably agreed to his request "because of the press conference and quiet outreach campaign that local evangelicals staged outside the Conference Center last spring during LDS general conference, designed to counter attempts by self-proclaimed Christian preachers who have sought to antagonize Latter-day ...