He replied, "Come on in. I'm Reverend Miller. I've just been selected as the minister for a new church to be built in Beverly Hills. A group of investors are building a beautiful chapel, and they have been listening to various preachers in the area, and they picked me! They'll give me a certain percentage of the collections. If I say the things those people want to hear, I'm sure I can do pretty well. Isn't that great? By the way, how much do you fellows make?" 

This was the first time I had personally talked to someone who had chosen preaching as a good way to make money and I was shocked. The thought of altering teachings to bring in more money had never occurred to me. I thought how grateful we should be to have correct doctrines for people to measure up to rather than measuring our doctrine to the whims of people! 

I  asked, "What is the name of your church?" "Oh, they haven't decided that yet, but I'm sure they'll come up with a good one. They're sharp men, smart investors." I was fascinated, as the concept was new to me. "And they pay you for preaching?" I blurted out. 

"Of course," he said incredulously. "Why else would you preach? You've got to make a living. By the way, you never answered my question. How much do you get paid, and what church do you work for?" 

I told him we didn't get paid and we were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Never heard of such a thing," he said. "Where are you located?" 

I said, "Maybe you have heard us called Mormons." 

"Oh, you're Mormon missionaries?" 

I saw a gleam come over his face like a cat ready to devour two hapless mice. For the next half hour that’s just about what happened. He opened the scriptures and took us up one road and down another. We could hardly answer anything. 

He finally closed his book, stood up, and said, "Oh, fellas, this is no fun; you don't know anything." 

I nearly agreed with him. Then suddenly a feeling came over me, and I said, "Mr. Miller, I admit we don't know the Bible very well compared to you, but there's one thing I know that you don't." 

He looked at me with a somewhat contemptuous smile and said, "What do you know that I don't?" 

"I know the church I belong to, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the true church of God on earth and that it has the authority of His priesthood. I know Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. And I know we have a living prophet today. You don't know that." 

“Joseph Smith was a false prophet," he retorted. 

"You don't know that," I said. 

He replied. "I just told you. 

I responded, "You said it in words, but you don't know it. I know he was a true prophet, and you can't deny it. The only way I could have said this was by the Spirit of the Lord, because I didn't have the courage to do it on my own. I continued, 'I bear my testimony that I know the church I belong to is true and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God. Now, I challenge you to bear testimony that you know your church is true and that the founder of your church is a true prophet of God." 

He stood there for a little while and looked at us. He still had his Bible in his hand. He looked at it, looked at the floor, and looked back at us, sort of shaking his head. He looked at the Bible again and then said, "Ah, c'mon, fellas, this is no fun. Good-bye.” 

As we went out of the door, I said gently, "See, you can't do it, can you? You can't testify that you know your church is true." I don't suppose we made many points as far as he was concerned, but it was a great testimony to me. 

I should mention that some of the best people I know are preachers in other churches. Most of them are very sincere and give their all to teach the truth. I have deep respect for them, but this man's attitude was new to me and his philosophy struck me as very strange. 

I learned that one of the things that brings strength to a missionary is bearing testimony of the divine mission of Joseph Smith. When we find ourselves in places and situations in which we're not sure what to do, we can bear testimony of Joseph Smith. The very act of sincerely bearing that testimony seems to set in motion eternal processes that allow us to come up with the right words, the right feelings, and the right actions appropriate for the occasion. From Eye of the Storm by John H. Groberg, Chapter 2