18,000 Jesus vs. Joseph Smith DVDs Distributed Ahead of Mormon Conference
Sunday, Apr. 1, 2007 Posted: 03:48:05 PM PDT
PHOENIX (AP) - A Christian group distributed in Arizona 18,000 copies of a film designed to sway members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to quit.
About 15,000 DVDs of the film "Jesus Christ/Joseph Smith" were dropped off at homes in Mesa, Gilbert and Tempe over the weekend, said Jim Robertson, executive director of Concerned Christians, an organization largely made up of former Mormons. Another 2,000 copies were handed out in Snowflake and Taylor and 1,000 in Tucson.
The film, which contrasts the teachings of Jesus Christ and LDS founder Joseph Smith, was given away as part of effort to persuade members to leave the ''church.''
"We've found this works very well. We need to step out in faith to do it," said Robertson, a former Mormon who founded the organization 35 years ago. "We're not against the Mormon people. If we hated the Mormons, we'd let them stew in their own juices."
Don Evans, an LDS spokesman in Arizona, said Robertson is on a lifetime crusade to attack the church.
"It won't faze members of our church one iota," Evans said. "They're strong enough in their own beliefs. It's water off their backs."
The DVD distribution was timed for the weekend before the LDS church holds its general conference in Salt Lake City.
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