Moses Mahlangu

Moses Mahlangu (born 1925) was a long-time supporter of the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in South Africa. Mahlangu first found a discarded copy of the Book of Mormon in 1964. At the time. he was a Christian preacher in South African townships.

The first copy of the Book of Mormon he found in 1964 had a torn title page, so it was a few years before he learned who had published it. He was fascinated as he read it, but it was not until the early 1970s that he saw an LDS Church sign on a building in Johannesburg, South Africa, as he was walking down a street. Mahlangu was intrigued and entered the building to learn more about the church. When he did contact the mission president in South Africa, he was given church literature. However, since apartheid laws prohibited blacks and whites from meeting together for religious purposes and because of the LDS Church's restriction on ordaining black men to the priesthood, Mahlangu was told he would have to wait to be baptized.

Moses Mahlangu accepted that decision with meekness, humility, and without resentment, but he continued to have a strong desire to learn more about the Church. He asked the Church leaders if they could leave one of the meetinghouse windows open during the Sunday meetings so he could sit outside and listen to the services. For several years, Mahlangu’s family and friends attended church regularly “through the window.”

In 1978, LDS Church President Spencer W. Kimball received a revelation extending the priesthood to all worthy male church members. In 1980, Mahlangu and his family was baptized and he was ordained to the priesthood. Also baptized at the same time were several black people he had introduced to the church since he first found the Book of Mormon. Later the Church organized a branch in his neighborhood in Soweto. This was possible only because of the determination, courage, and faithfulness of people like Moses Mahlangu who remained faithful for so many years under difficult circumstances.


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