Former Mormon missionary converted to Christian after attempting to convert a Baptist pastor

As a child, Micah Wilder was an exemplary Mormon. From adhering to the laws of his religion to serving in leadership positions in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Wilder did his best to establish a right relationship with God. This was until he was confronted with the gospel.

“In my family, the Mormon religion was not only the church we attended on Sunday morning. It really was part of the identity of our life,” – said Mika in an interview with The Christian Post. “Mormonism was who we were. Everything else was subordinate to our religious identity in Mormonism. We were the role model of a wonderful family. Yet we did not have the knowledge of God in Christ. “

After graduating from high school, Wilder attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah for one semester, where his mother worked. During this time, he worked at the Mormon temple to prepare for the most important two years of his life: a full-time mission.

“Mormonism is a faith based on works,” he said. “So I was faithful in attending church. I gave tithe, followed moral codes, went to a Mormon temple, and so on, believing that all of this would contribute to my righteous standing before God. I longed for intimacy with Him.”

At the age of 19, Wilder was sent to Orlando, Florida as a missionary, where, just months after starting his mission, the teenager confronted a Baptist minister, Pastor Alan Benson.

“I set out to convert him to our faith, and I really had a sincere desire to lead other people to what I believed to be true,” Mika said.
According to him, Christians were considered a problematic audience: as a child, he was taught that evangelicals profess “cheap faith.”

“We have been taught that Christians will claim to be born again and then use that grace as permission to sin and live as they please,” Wilder said. “Then I still did not understand what grace, the Gospel, and how saving faith transforms the heart and man.”

The Baptist pastor listened to Wilder and then began to speak softly to him about Christ.

“He told me the gospel,” Wilder said. -” He spoke about the depth of God’s love for me in Christ and that Christ’s love for humanity was so great that He died on the cross and completely paid for our sins. He told me that God’s grace is given to us as a gift, that our sins can be washed away and forgiven.”
The idea that salvation and eternal life is a gift from God that does not need to be earned was completely contrary to what I was taught and believed in as a child, and I considered it stupid.
I replied, “It’s too easy.”

But Pastor Benson challenged the guy.

“He challenged me to take the Bible and read it through the eyes of a child, to approach the Word of God without the religious prism of Mormonism, to approach it with humility and the search for truth, allowing God to reveal the truth through His Word.”

Micah found the proposal interesting and the devout Mormon spent the next 20 months reading the New Testament from beginning to end, over and over again.
“One day I realized that I could have a good relationship with God not on the basis of my virtue or righteousness and regardless of my deeds, efforts or merit, but solely because of Christ,” said Wilder.

Less than a month before the end of the two-year mission, Micah clashed with his leaders over newfound beliefs. His mission was interrupted and the young man returned to Utah, where he faced disciplinary action from church leaders.

“I was told that I was filled with the spirit of the devil and was deceived,” he said. “I was assured that I was on my way to hell and they threatened to excommunicate me.”

Wilder shared his discovery with his family, friends and high school friend Alicia.

“God worked in their hearts and minds,” he said. – Alicia read the Bible and accepted the true gospel. My parents left the Mormon church and my mother quit her job. They lost everything in this world, but gained life in Christ. “

Micah and Alicia Wilder have now been married for 15 years, they have three sons, and run Adam’s Road, a nonprofit ministry dedicated to spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ through song and testimony.

Based on materials from The Christian Post.

Photo and text: Бывший миссионер мормонской церкви стал христианином после попытки обратить баптистского пастора – ВО СВЕТЕ (inlight.news)