A "Typical" Night on the Streets

The Scene is Set
After a day of devotionals, prayer, worship, studying and training, then dinner and more prayer, the Christians head to the streets surrounding the LDS Temple in Manti. There are 14,000 chairs set up on the lawn facing the hill where the Temple stands atop. The LDS hymns and children's songs are broadcast throughout the streets and can be heard at least a block away into the main street of Manti.

Prayer and Worship
The Christians enter a blocked off public road alongside the Temple where people cross to enter the temple grounds. They meet in the center and begin singing praises to God and then pray right in the middle of LDS buildings and the growing LDS crowd. As they sing and pray, some curious onlookers wander the perimeter of the group, and others walk by rolling their eyes and making snide remarks.

Out to the Street
The Christians separate, and some sign holders take preferred positions. Most of the youth groups and college students just walk among the crowd, introduce themselves and ask opening questions, then share the True Gospel of Jesus as clearly as possible. To see direct evangelism of this sort is incredible! They walk right up to people entering the street and get into discussions. Some give out specific LDS - oriented gospel tracts, but the LDS will walk straight to the garbage cans and drop them right in front of the Christians.

But "they're Christian, too..." right?
The police and security throughout the streets make it very clear that they are there to protect the Christians in the streets. When I talked to several of them, however, they say that our being there is "antagonistic" or "confrontational", so basically, our presence initiates the contention, no matter how well-behaved the Christians are. Admittedly, there ARE some who are more confrotational in their evangelism than others. One, whose site is linked here, (MormonInfo.org, or see JosephLied.com), is extremely bold in his accusations against Mormonism, but after listening to him night after night, I would say that his message is no more confrontational than any of the ancient prophets' declaring the need for repentence and tearing down the idols of their culture.

The LDS men and young men are the most hostile. They will scream in the face of a Christian man who has NOT been confrontational, they scream at the street preachers, they scream at the sign holders, and tend to whip the crowd into a frenzy. Some of the men who were obviously leaders of packs of students (matching shirts make it obvious) egg their students on in asking pointed questions. Often it's as rude as the talk shows that let everyone talk at once, but the miraculous thing is that the Christians stay patient, are prepared for this, and get the message out.

Divine Appointments & Soft Hearts
While the main "show" can be clumps of loud crowds, throughout the streets there are quiet conversations happening with people who are miraculously matched in demeanor and conversation and who will ask and answer the questions. The prayers of the Believers, even among the crowds) is that they will find the one who is sincerely listening and seeking.

Miller Time
The pageant starts at sundown - around 9:30 pm. The Missionaries to Mormons head to a place called "Miller's Bakery" to snack and share stories from the "spiritual war zone".