Preface: I realize that this will be offensive to Mormons, especially those who don't know their own history or have been given false information. My audience here is mostly Christian, those who I am hoping to enlighten and inspire toward prayer and potentially toward engaging Mormon friends. Were I expressly writing to Mormons, I might have written differently. Mormons are typically wonderful people. Also, I am focusing on the history of the Mormon church rather than current beliefs. The reason for this is that in recent years the Mormon church has watered down, explained away and directly changed many teachings in order to make their doctrine more palatable. I will allude to some of these changes in the blog.
Primary source: "The Kingdom of the Cults" by Russell Martin (edited by Ravi Zacharias). Other sources also consulted.
My son, Conner has a friend named ________. She is a Mormon, a very sweet and moral girl (as they often are). He tried to share the gospel with her some time back. She said she had prayed to receive Christ as her Savior already. This statement would have never been made by a Mormon until recently. Usually they just say they are already a Christian, without getting into the details of what that means to them. I think the truth is that some Mormons today may even have saving faith, but it all depends which Jesus they believe in. But who is the saving Christ of Mormonism? Is He the Jesus of the Bible? Well, more and more it seems to depend upon which Mormon you talk to.
Officially, the Jesus of Mormonism is the literal offspring of God (well, the god of this universe anyway) and Mary. The Jesus of Mormonism is an entirely separate entity from God. He is literal offspring. Conversely, we believe Jesus was God and also was with God from the beginning per John 1, and many other verses which make clear that Jesus was both fully God and man at the same time. The Jesus of Mormonism, however, is a completely separate person, a god, but not THE God. This can be seen in the fact that Jesus supposedly appeared to Joseph Smith along with God the Father at the same time. This account is recorded in The Pearl of Great Price (Joseph Smith—History 1:1-25), which is one of the three canonical books of Mormonism (in addition to the Bible). Joseph Smith also claimed to have been visited by the likes of John the Baptist who was supposedly sent to him by Peter, James and John (The Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith—History, 1:68-73). Mormons like to question Christians about the Trinity, because the Trinity is impossible to explain in human terms. They face a more difficult conundrum, however, in the fact that they believe in multiple Gods, a clear contradiction of both New and Old Testament Scripture (In short, if Mormonism were my only other option, I would be a Jew and reject the New Testament. It's either the Trinity, or we are polytheists and idolaters).
The official doctrines of Mormonism have Jesus, not as THE God in the flesh, but more precisely as “a god” in the flesh, who was begat by another god (supposedly our God), who Himself, is actually one of many gods ruling over different planets. Additionally, God was not always a god, but became a god in the same way that we can become gods. Yes, according to the official doctrine of Mormonism, people can become gods and rule over planets in the afterlife by doing enough good works on earth.
At risk of writing a book rather than a blog, I will include just a couple of quotes from Mormon documents, which should speak for themselves:
1.) “In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 349).
2.) “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man” (Ibid., 345).
3.) “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s: the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit” (Doctrine and Covenants, 130:22).
4.) “Gods exist, and we had better strive to be prepared to be one with them” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 7:238).
I am finding quote after quote of this nature. It is difficult to choose examples, there are so many. Here is one more from Brigham Young, the second prophet (after Joseph Smith) who supposedly spoke for God. Young wrote:
"When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him.... He is our FATHER and our GOD, and the only God with whom WE have to do" (From Young’s Journal of Discourses).
Young also taught that God had previously been a man, before this universe, and that he somehow still had the physical presence to impregnate Mary with Jesus by the same means that any father would do so (sex), even saying He did so “instead of letting any other man do it” (Journal of Discourses, 4:218). Young writes,
"The birth of the Saviour was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood—was begotten of his Father, as we are of our fathers." (Journal of Discourses, 8:115)
The problem with all of this is that most Mormons reading these things will be appalled. They will scream that they don’t believe most of this, which is great to hear. I'm glad most Mormons don't currently believe most of this. I'm glad that in modern times, their leaders are culling out as much of this craziness as they can. I am aware that these teachings I have brought out do not line up with what Mormons say they believe on their primary website today. For instance, they now say they believe in the Virgin Birth. But how can they? Their prophets said otherwise. They now say they don’t really believe Jesus was the “spirit brother” of Lucifer (Satan) but their writings say this explicitly.
Mormons may have even been told this is all “drummed up,” to try to make their religion look bad, but it is not. These teachings are all right there in their own documents. These are the official teachings of their founding prophets and their founding documents. Quotation after quotation is filled with polytheistic craziness. At what point does a Mormon realize that the only parts of his faith that are correct are the parts that come from the Bible and that everything from Joseph Smith on is false teaching to be rejected? At what point does a Mormon realize he is not really a Mormon?
Another problem with Mormonism is their belief in “Continuous Revelation,” which means that they keep having new prophets who supposedly speak for God, and these prophets have historically said some really indefensible things. Mormon leaders do their best to sweep those “prophecies” under the rug, but that’s hard to do when they are recorded even in their own histories.
The question, then, for Conner’s friend is whether or not she has trusted in the Jesus of the Bible or the Jesus of Mormonism. If she does not believe Jesus was God in the flesh, can her faith save her? Conner prepared some materials (with the help of his youth pastor) and wrote a note about how he cares about her and that's why he is trying to give her the information. Today he tried to give it to her. She would not take it and said he needs to respect her religion. He, of course, backed down and their relationship is fine, but he and I are incredibly sad.
Conner has another Mormon friend named ________. Conner is trying to reach him also. This young man asks questions like "Why do you believe in a Trinity?" Conner is up to the challenge (with the Spirit's guidance, of course.) My daughter Tory also has Mormon friends and talks to them about these things. My Dad has a Mormon friend and my Mom's orthodontist is Mormon and they talk about spiritual things. We will likely have a Mormon president soon. Mormons are typically great people. That’s what makes this all so painful and hard to deal with. I don't hate Mormons, I love them more than your average Joe (sorry). However, I am increasingly burdened about the spread of this false religion wherein great people are deceived. I am literally in pain over it. It is so gut-wrenchingly painful to see people so close yet so far away. But it seems they have been taught not to listen. That’s why we need to pray.
[At this point, feel free to stop reading, or read on if interested.]
Let me start over. The Mormon religion was founded by a false prophet named Joseph Smith who was succeeded by a series of false prophets (such as Brigham Young). Unlike most Mormons today, Joseph Smith was far from moral. The stories he made up were so unbelievable, unverifiable, and in fact, utterly dis-proven that they weren't even taken seriously by anyone but a tiny few easily-fooled individuals who found an identity by following him around. Books were written in the later part of Smith’s life that were filled with statements from those who knew him... statements like this: “by reason of his extravagances of statement, his word was received with the least confidence by those who knew him best. He could utter the most palpable exaggeration of marvelous absurdity with the utmost apparent gravity” (Quoted from Pomeroy Tucker’s 1861 classic: The Origin, Rise and Progress of Mormonism).
The group was run out of town after town because of Smith’s deceptive practices, but as with Christianity, persecution only helped them grow. Finally, a mob killed Joseph Smith and his brother while they were being held in a small jailhouse near Navuoo, Illinois. Why were they in jail? Because they had sacked a newspaper office which was printing the truth about their cult. Sadly, Smith’s so-called martyrdom helped a tiny sect become a world religion.
Joseph Smith was a known adulterer in addition to his open practice of polygamy. According to many sources, the adultery came first (Martin, p. 203). In his home town of Palmyra, New York, 62 adults signed a petition stating that he and his father were more or less con artists, liars and thieves. These citizens were desperately trying to warn those who were being fooled by Smith’s newest fabrication. Many people exposed Mormonism early on, but like many cults, they just kept right on going without answering their critics. As for testimonials of how great early Mormonism was (under Smith), there quite simply are none in existence (Martin, p. 204).
As an example of his use of religion to con people and a willingness to fabricate the truth, J.S. apparently got the farmer who owned the land where he supposedly dug up the famous “golden plates" to donate to his cause, and sent the farmer to ask a certain linguistics scholar (Professor Charles Anton of Columbia University) to validate some symbols Smith had supposedly scribbled on to a paper from the plates. When the farmer was asked by the professor if he had actually seen the plates, the farmer said he was told "the curse of God" would come upon him were he to look at them. The professor found the "scrawlings" to be nonsense, certainly not reformed Egyptian hieroglyphs as Smith claimed. This is all clearly recorded in a letter written by the professor who also tried to warn the farmer that he was being conned. This letter is still extant and it is typed. That's how recent all of this is. (To read a copy of the letter, which is much more incriminating than I have even alluded to, see my primary source, p. 212.) But that's not the half of it. Joseph Smith wrote in The Pearl of Great Price (scripture to Mormons), that Professor Anton actually validated these symbols as authentic. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The well-known Professor Anton actually went on record saying it was all bits and pieces of different characters from different languages, clearly scrawled out by someone who "had before him at the time a book containing various alphabets" (Martin, p. 213). It seems that when the facts were not to his liking, Joseph Smith simply made stuff up. Several of his contemporaries powerfully testified to this fact.
The Book of Mormon was supposedly revealed to J.S. by an angel named Moroni, who he accidentally referred to as Nephi at one point, another one of his characters, and not even an angel. (The current Book of Mormon has, of course, corrected the error with no explanation of how Smith could have gotten divine revelation so wrong). The book was originally filled with errors (many of them since fixed) and is still filled with historically impossible falsehoods. For example, supposedly the Native Americans (who left behind the plates he dug up supposedly scrawled with “reformed” Egyptian hieroglyphics, which archaeologists incidentally have never discovered anywhere on the planet) were actually of Jewish descent. That’s right, according to Smith, the American Natives were actually Hebrews. His whole story rests on this, and also that a few different people groups (including the Jerudites of about 2250 B.C. and the Nephites of about 600 B.C.) existed at certain points in history on the North American continent. The problem is that these people groups have zero basis in historical or archaeological fact. [By the way a split off group of the Nephites, called the Lamanites, were supposedly cursed with “dark skin,” because of their sin. I am certainly not saying Mormons today are racists, but Joseph Smith certainly seems to have been (not a becoming characteristic for one who would supposedly speak revelations from God.)] Meanwhile, modern anthropology, genetics and historical evidence prove that Native Americans are undoubtedly of mongoloid descent, their progenitors having come over the Bering Straight from the Ancient Far East (not Israel, which, of course, is also obvious to the naked eye). Smith also believed that Native Americans originally spoke Hebrew. This is clearly not possible as philologists have proven. Unlike the Bible, The Book of Mormon simply does not stand up to any kind of scientific, historical or any other kind of scholarly criticism. Whole books have been written to show this.
The evidence against Mormonism and J.S. is so overwhelming that it boggles the mind that anyone could still be a Mormon. The evidence against the roots of Mormonism is simply incontrovertible, but Mormons are mostly taught not to look at the historical evidence or earlier teachings. Unlike Christianity, which has always been defend-able and, in fact, very well defended by brilliant scholars/apologists throughout history, there literally is no historical or even logical defense for the history of Mormonism, which incidentally has only been around for a century and a half. History clearly shows that J.S. made up a religion, and frankly he didn't even do a good job of it. Successive prophets mostly made it even worse, but because modern efforts to fit Mormonism into the mainstream have been somewhat successful, we now have millions of people following a religion that a known mid-nineteenth century con artist simply made up.
By the way, where are the golden plates, from which the heart of Smith's "scripture" was allegedly deciphered? Many wanted to see these plates in his lifetime and also the oversized golden spectacles that went with them and were necessary for reading the plates (those which Smith called the Urim and Thummim, mistakenly borrowing the terms from what were actually small marble-sized objects used by priests in the Old Testament.) The plates and the spectacles were kept "hidden" for a time and then Smith said he gave them back to the angel, Moroni (or was it Nephi?). Really? Yes, really. Only a few of the leaders who were in power were allowed to “see” these items and then after awhile, Smith gave them back to the angel. But I thought he dug them up? What, did the angel bury them back in the ground? The plates were simply never produced for the scrutiny of non-believers. Not ever. Meanwhile, we still have manuscript fragments of the New Testament dated to the First Century. We have papyrus fragments from almost 2,000 years ago and yet we can't come up with golden plates from the 1830's?
Let’s think about something even more foundational. What did Joseph Smith ever do that made him worthy of even a hearing, much less a following? Did he heal people and perform obvious miracles in front of thousands of witnesses? Did he fulfill any prophecies from the Old Testament, written down over thousands of years? Did he die on a Cross? Did he rise again? No, nothing. He founded one of the most obviously made-up religions that has ever been invented. He said there were unintelligible symbols written on golden plates which were interpreted for him by an angel, and then the angel took the plates back so nobody else can see them. One guy... and some disappearing plates. And who was this guy? Joe Smith from Palmyra, New York... known for making stuff up. (By the way, there is no disrespect in calling him Joe. That’s what he was always called until he started his religion.)
How does Mormonism still pass for truth today? Well, much of the history surrounding it as well as some of the theology has been modernized, watered down, or even changed completely. And yet for all the powerful efforts to massage it into the mainstream, the false nature of Mormonism is still obvious to those who look closely. Seriously, all you have to do is look closely, and look beyond what is being said today. Look back a little further. That’s all you have to do.
How can so many people still choose to follow Mormonism? Well, how can a billion people follow Islam (selfishly adapted from Judaism and blended with Arab paganism by a violent warlord named Muhammad in the 7th Century A.D.)? God made us religious creatures. People need religion as much as food. Even atheists have religion, they just don’t know it. (Atheists are typically deeply committed to reasoning themselves out of faith and inwardly they find their religious vacuum filled by faith in their unfaith.) Look around the world and throughout history. People are hungry for religion. The reason for false religion is this: When hungry enough, people will eat almost anything... and they'd just as soon eat something that looks good as something that really is good.
Today, even extremely intelligent people follow Mormonism. They do it by willingly wearing blinders, refusing to look at the historical facts of their own religion for fear they might find their life's foundation a lie. Do we do this ourselves as Christians? I don’t. I have looked at the historical facts of Christianity and find myself stronger in my faith. Besides, the facts of Mormonism are not hard to discover. The facts of Mormonism are not buried under thousands of years of history, potentially obscured by lost documents or the development of legend.... The incriminating facts of Mormonism are found in mounds of historical evidence from just before the Civil War. Baseball has been around for almost as long. As sure as Abraham Lincoln uttered the “Emancipation Proclamation,” Joseph Smith invented a false religion now followed by millions. I stand dumbfounded at the deceptive power of our spiritual enemy.
It all makes me profoundly sad. The antichrists have come and are coming (See 2 John 7). Good people are the casualties. True believers need to pray and point straight to the true Scriptures.
I pray that the Truth sets people free. I pray that God slices through the confusion in the minds and hearts of those who have been fooled. I pray for my precious kids as they try to speak the truth to friends they know and love and for what I will say the next time I am given the opportunity. I pray for all the precious people who Jesus died to save. I pray they don’t miss the real Jesus Christ because of a false one. I pray for Mormons. I pray many of them find the faith that saves (trusting in Christ) and that many of them realize all they need is the Bible.
