David Alexander: An Amazing Testimony or Mormon Myth? (Part 1)

Over the course of the last 30 years or so, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (hereafter referred to as the 'Mormon Church') has made a carefully orchestrated effort to slowly re-brand themselves as just another Christian denomination. There are many moving parts involved with that endeavor, here are a few examples:

A.) The current President of the Mormon Church, Russel M. Nelson saying that "using the term Mormon is a victory for Satan" and insisting that it's members, but the rest of the world as well refer to them by the correct, full name of the church, and to referring its members as Latter-Day Saints.

B.) In the Church's Gospel Topics essay titled: "Are Mormons Christian?" where they freely acknowledge "they [Mormons] do not accept the creeds & confessions, and that they are not Roman Catholic, Easter Orthodox, nor Protestant." but also say "Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unequivocally affirm themselves to be Christians"

C.) In a time where growth in the Mormon church has plummeted to historic lows, leading to a massive increase in apostasy LDS leadership continues to encourage members to bear their testimonies, naturally this leads to people sharing others testimonies; moreso when individuals who have converted from a Christian denomination, in their mind this validates that the Church & it's claims are true.

Alexander, happens to be the latest convert-celebrity in Mormon circles with such a story of his own.  He has drawn notable attention to himself on his YouTube channel, at the time of writing this article, he has accumulated an estimated 453,000 views!  

On Facebook, I've seen some of his videos posted that have exceeded over 100,000 views he has done a couple of interviews with True Millennial (160k views) & one interview with CWIC Media (54k views) conservatively, I would estimate the combined views of his content on both platforms, to be somewhere in the ballpark of 750-800k. 

Let's not overlook the obvious though, some testimonies are just more interesting then others.  Alexander's background, obvious zeal, passion & charisma is clearly an effective mix that has done rather well in keeping those to whom he is speaking engaged.  

That's certainly an impressive level of attention & not a bad start whatsoever for a channel that has only been producing content of a religious nature for under 2 months!  The obvious question is "Why are people so  interested in this guy?"

I believe there are two main reasons:

First, Alexander in his own words claims to have been an Evangelical Christian for 47 years of his life and was also a Pastor/Elder for approximately 10 of those years.  Someone with that kind of background who is considering converting to Mormonism, will certainly grab the attention of the Mormon faithful in spades.

Secondly, someone like this will also grab the attention of Christians who have a burden for the Mormon people & regularly engage with them.  Many such Christians have likely seen a post from a Mormon with one of his videos, or perhaps were sent one by a Mormon to watch.  These Christians would understandably be both alarmed, and intrigued by this man's story & background.

DISCLAIMER - In writing these articles, I feel it’s only fair to state upfront to the reader that I am not a neutral party in my examination of Alexander & his claims.  I approach the subject matter as a Bible believing Christian, I affirm the Bible from cover to cover and I reject the claims of Mormonism, full stop.

For those aren't already familiar with Alexander, here's a quick summary:
In late December of 2022, he got in touch with some LDS sister missionaries & began investigating the Mormon religion.  In March of 2023, he launched his channel & started posting content on YouTube. A later that month he was baptized and became a Mormon.  Since then, he has continued creating content covering a number of topics, the majority of them aimed towards positively affirming various Mormon claims.

With this chain of events, I cannot consider Alexander a brother in the Lord.  Rather, I have to acknowledge that Alexander has gone off into apostasy & departed from the faith that was delivered once for all to the saints. (Jude 1:3) Christians who know their Bible are generally aware of the following passage as it is considered the go-to on apostasy, or those who leave the faith:

"They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.  But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” 1 John 2:19 

I believe that verse sufficiently answers the question: 'Why did they leave?' well enough.  However, it doesn't quite answer the next question that usually follows:  'How did this happen?' or ‘What led them to walk away?’

I believe scripture gives us some possibilities in two key passages that I believe could shed some light in a broad sense:

"Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.” 
Matthew 13:5-6

The second, is the parable of the prodigal son found in Luke 15:11-32.

In order to best determine which of these two passages may likely be the case here, we must primarily consider Alexander - in his own words.  This will help us develop a clearer understanding of the kind of man he is, possibly how he got to this point, and where his current trajectory appears to be leading him.  Is he fleeing towards the true & living Christ?  Or towards the fictitious Christ as presented in Mormon doctrine? 

We must be as fair as possible to Alexander and take great care not to project unfounded assumptions onto him, his life, nor his motives.  For, I will give an account to the Lord about what I write about him here (Matthew 12:36) and I would admonish the reader to guard their own thoughts as well.

Let's begin our examination of Alexander with his first video posted on March 6th, 2023:

Summary:

Alexander appears to be setting the stage for the planned content & purpose of the channel. 
He shares a few details about his spiritual background & life experiences as an Evangelical.  Evidently, he has no qualms using hasty generalizations about Evangelicals / Evangelicalism in calling it "an ungodly mess" and depending on his frame of reference & with those whom he was once associated with, perhaps there may be some things I might agree with him on there. 

However, if he’s disparaging all of Christianity in saying that – then I would certainly disagree with such a characterization.  One can certainly acknowledge that the Christian people all have something in common, they're great sinners in need of a greater Savior! 

Admittedly, this made me a little suspicious.  I'm also wondering whether Alexander might be already tipping his hand here in terms of where his loyalties truly lie.

He mentions that concerned Evangelicals in his life began sharing things with him after he expressed his interest in the Mormon religion to them.  Among what he was sent, were some videos from a YouTube channel by the name of Apologia Studios. 

Interestingly Alexander makes it a point to call them 'anti-Mormon'* which strikes this Christian as unusual & noteworthy, given that he is not yet a convert, but has already adopted some of the Mormon vocabulary.  It’s not unusual for this to occur after conversion & baptism, but for it to happen beforehand however, is.

*For the unfamiliar reader, 'anti-Mormon' is a pejorative term used by Mormons to malign, dismiss & attempt to discredit those who would question and/or criticize anything about their religion.  It’s essentially the same tactic that the radical left uses in political polemics by labeling someone a 'bigot', or 'phobic', it’s an ad hominem, plain & simple.

I must admit that I'm rather impressed with Alexander's ability to read minds & hearts in making this assertion, how exactly he is able to do this and render such a righteous judgment though I do not know.  As he is still an Evangelical, and according to Mormonism he has not yet received the gift of the Holy Ghost until he is baptized by someone with proper authority & also had hands laid on him.  So, if this isn't a judgment that stems from the spirit of discernment, one is left to wonder how he arrived at such a conclusion objectively.  He seems to be rather dismissive & laughs off 'anti-Mormon arguments' in saying the arguments against the claims of Mormonism are 'incredibly shallow & unconvincing' to him. 

He tells his audience that during his time as an Evangelical, he was introduced to Walter Martin & his book the Kingdom of the Cults and says that he read it and listened to the cassette tapes as well.

Alexander correctly cites many of the most common arguments Christians have with respect to Mormonism & it’s claims.  (They've added to the Bible, they have another Jesus, they think they're gonna become a god, etc.)  He is right about those few examples, they really do believe those things and have acknowledged the differences.

From 12:09-13:08 he says:  

"I'm telling you the truth, it's an absolute lie. Okay, the Latter Day Saints really have some extremely thought provoking and I believe very valid things that they believe in and that they're living and that's why I'm seriously becoming a Latter Day Saint."

"And the other reason I'm doing this is you know to encourage Evangelicals to take a look at the Latter Day Saints, to encourage Latter Day Saints to be true to what they have because believe the Latter Day Saints to become an Evangelical is like uh - I don't know its like jumping off the Ark into an ocean full of sharks, just it's insane.  Don't do it!  Whatever you do, if you're a Latter Day Saint, be happy and thankful because Evangelical Christianity is an absolute mess. As I will clearly demonstrate in these videos that I'm gonna make."

I would like to thank Alexander for his candid remarks here.  It's obvious that he has an agenda, and an ax to grind against Evangelical Christianity in particular.  Towards the end of the video Alexander indicates that he is strongly considering converting, and challenges people to convince him (if they can) why he shouldn't join the Mormon religion but says that he won't just believe it blindly.  Fair enough.

Given the totality of his remarks thus far, I cannot help but already wonder if his mind is made up.  But in wanting to believe & assume the best about him, I'm reminded of this verse:

"If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame." Proverbs 18:13

So, the only way to find out & be certain about Alexander & his motives is to continue listening & see what else he has to say... stay tuned, there's much more to come.

Thanks for reading!