My First Visit to an LDS Church

On the morning of April 27, I was preparing to travel to my usual church service in Ealing. I was meant to catch the 8:20 AM bus to Kingston. However, the bus arrived a minute early, and at that exact moment, the rail crossing barriers closed, blocking my way. I missed my bus — and with it, my only realistic opportunity to reach church on time.

As I stood there, I asked the Lord what I should do. In that moment of uncertainty, something stirred in my heart — a prompting that had been growing for some time: to visit a Latter-day Saint (Mormon) church, not out of curiosity, but on behalf of my apologetics ministry, 818Apologetics.com . I had long desired to witness firsthand what Latter-day Saints believe, how they worship, and how they present their teachings — all in order to better reach them with the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I prayed and opened the Scriptures for guidance. The Lord led me to the Book of Acts, where Paul visits Athens. There, Paul observes the many altars and idols, that they were “men of great religion”, but then preaches about the alter “To the Unknown God.” Using their religious devotion, Paul revealed to them the true, living God. On reflection, this was precisely why I had founded 8:18 Apologetics: to point to the God who does not change, the God who is everlasting to everlasting, and to contrast that unchanging truth with the ever-shifting doctrines of the Latter-day Saint faith.

With the Spirit’s confirmation, I decided to attend the Latter-day Saint service.

The service began around 10 AM, though much like our own Baptist services, it started a little late as people arrived. It opened with a prayer, followed by a hymn, after which they administered the sacrament — leavened bread and water — during the singing of a second hymn. Then came a brief message from a first speaker, another hymn sung standing, and a second speaker. However, unlike a traditional Christian sermon, their messages contained no spiritual depth, no exegesis, and no careful study of the Word. After a closing hymn and prayer, the main service concluded.

Following the service, they held an hour-long class, similar to what we might call a Bible study. That day’s study focused on Luke 17:11–19 — the account of Jesus healing the ten lepers.

Here, the wonders of God truly began to unfold.

Some weeks earlier, during the Latter-day Saints’ General Conference (a time when they present what they believe to be modern prophecy and revelation), I had briefly watched about ten minutes of a speaker addressing this very passage from Luke. I hadn’t watched more — nor thought much of it — until now. Suddenly, I realized that God had prepared me weeks in advance for this very discussion.

As the group studied the passage, they focused particularly on verse 19, pondering what it meant that the one leper was made “whole” by his faith. Interestingly, none of the men present seemed to know the answer. A gentleman raised a deeper question, asking about those who are not truly in the faith but present themselves as spiritually whole. At that moment, I felt the room tense. Several missionaries glanced at me, as if realizing that an uncomfortable truth was sitting among them.

I stayed silent at first, but I felt the Spirit urging me to speak. I hesitated, unsure whether to intervene — and regretted it momentarily. Yet the discussion moved on to Paul’s “thorn in the flesh,” his weakness that God would not remove despite Paul’s prayers (2 Corinthians 12). Again, the men wrestled with the meaning. This time, the Holy Spirit pressed strongly upon me to speak. I obeyed.

I said:

“It is a sign of faith when someone has a weakness or imperfection that doesn’t get healed straight away. It shows God’s sovereignty — and it proves that Paul’s faith was real and not fake.

If Paul had been healed instantly, people might have thought it was impressive. But when they saw him still struggling, still trusting, still preaching Christ even with his thorn in the flesh, it proved that his faith wasn’t based on appearances — it was genuine.

It’s the same with the ten lepers. All ten obeyed Jesus when He told them to go show themselves to the priests. But only one of them came back to Jesus Himself to give thanks.

It wasn’t just obedience that made the one leper whole — it was his faith.

Faith is belief. It’s trusting who Jesus really is. Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6).

It wasn’t Abraham’s obedience that saved him; it was his belief. His obedience came later, because of his faith.

True Christian faith leads to obedience

because we love Jesus

— not because we love obedience itself.

Obedience doesn’t produce faith

— faith produces obedience.”

God allowed me to miss my bus so that I could share the true Gospel with fourteen Latter-day Saint men. After the class ended, one gentleman approached me and asked where I was from. I innocently replied, “New Malden,” not realising that he was actually asking which ward I belonged to, because they had assumed I was a fellow Latter-day Saint.

They seemingly recognised an authority in what I had said — something they believe no one outside their faith can possess, especially a Christian.

I give all glory to God. Seeds were sown that day.

May the Lord water them, and may these men come to repentance and saving faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Amen.