The Deceit of Mormonism

I am not interested in attacking an individual, so please do not be defensive, but I do feel that it needs to be shown why Mormonism is not from God. Please seriously consider what I have to say; I feel the evidence is overwhelming, people just need to be made aware of it. But it will take more than just evidence to show you the truth. It takes the power of God convicting people of the truth. I hope that He will partly use this evidence in doing so. The question is not what do the facts say, the question is are you willing to accept them and turn to the true Jesus Christ under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. I pray that whoever reads this will do so.

"BUT EVEN IF WE, OR AN ANGEL FROM HEAVEN, SHOULD PREACH TO YOU A GOSPEL CONTRARY TO THAT WHICH WE HAVE PREACHED TO YOU, LET HIM BE ACCURSED" --Galatians 1:8.
The Mormon church teaches a different gospel than the Bible does. In fact, they are in direct contradiction, as I will show. It also is an interesting fact that Joseph Smith (supposedly) translated the Book of Mormon from golden plates given him by an angel.

"CONTEND EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH WHICH WAS ONCE FOR ALL DELIVERED TO THE SAINTS" --Jude 3.
The Christian faith can not be added to, as the Mormon church has done. While many verses condemn adding or subtracting to the Word of God, this one clearly teaches there will be no further revelation from God of new doctrines. Since the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price are proclaimed to be further revelations from God, and contradict the Bible on numerous key points(as I will show), they add to the faith which has already been delivered once for all, cannot therefore be from God, and should therefore not be believed.

Differences between historic, Biblical Christianity and Mormonism Second John 9 tells us that "Anyone who goes ahead and does not abide in the docrine of Christ does not have God. Anyone who abides in the doctrine has both the Father and the Son."

The Bible also tells us: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God"--1 John 4:1,2. The doctrine of the Mormon church goes ahead, leaving the true Jesus Christ behind -- the Mormon teachings on Jesus squarely contradict what the Bible tells us about Him. Mormon teachings also contradict Biblical truth on many other issues. (For proof that the Bible we have now is the same as when originally written, and that the translations that historic, orthodox Christianity uses are accurate translations, while the inspired version by Joseph Smith has incorrectly translated many passages by twisting their meaning, see page 3.) Therefore, since the Bible is a revelation from God, the and Mormonism contradicts the Bible, the beliefs of the Mormon church cannot be from God. How do these teachings contradict?

1) The Mormon church teaches that Jesus Christ was not God in His very nature and essence from all eternity, but a preexistent spirit, as they say we all were, and that He was simply the firstborn of God's spirit Children (see Doctrine and Covenants 93:21-23). On the contrary, the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God -- that He is 100% God and 100% man:

Jesus Christ is God, and has always been God: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth" --John 1:1,14. This clearly shows that the Word (Jesus) did not become God, but was God (v.1). Put another way, since THE WORD=GOD (v.1) and JESUS=THE WORD (v.14), JESUS=GOD. Since Jesus is Eternal God, He was not created; we are created: "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am"--John 8:58. If Abraham was preexistent like Jesus, how then could Jesus exist before him? In addition, if Jesus is not Eternal, Almighty God, how could He say that He was still in existence before Abraham (before...I am)? Certainly you must admit that you and I could make no such claim to be existing in an eternal now as Jesus claimed for Himself. Also, I AM was the most revered divine name of God in the Old Testament. Do you catch what He was implying? Dr. A.T. Robertson, one of the greatest Greek scholars who ever lived, had this to say about John 8:58: "Undoubtedly here Jesus claims eternal existence with the absolute phrase used of God" (Word Pictures in the New Testament, Vol. V, pp. 158-159). The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus Christ is God, the Mormon Church does not, therefore the Mormon Church leaves the doctrine of Christ behind. See A Biblical Defense of Christ's Deity for further biblical evidence that Jesus is God.

While Jesus Christ is 100% God, He is also 100% man: He was born of a woman (Gal. 4:4), had a human soul and spirit (Matt. 26:38; Luke 23:46), He hungered, was thirsty, wept, had human names, and was able to die.

The Bible also teaches that the Holy Spirit is God: "Then Peter said, 'Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit...You have not lied to men, but to God'"-- Acts 5:3,4.

2) The Mormons believe in many gods (see Journal of Discourses 6:5). The Bible states that there is only one God: "...we know that there is no such thing as idols in the world, and that there is no God but one"--1 Corinthians 8:4. Hence, we see that there is one God who exists in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and eternal, the one God; three distinct persons in one essence. For a more in-depth explanation and biblical defense of the Trinity see Understanding the Trinity.

3) The Mormon church denies the doctrine of the Trinity which I just stated.

4) The Mormon church teaches that God himself was once a man: "As man is, God was." But the Bible teaches that God is immutable (He cannot change): "Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow" --James 1:17. If God was once man, then He changed, but if He changed from man to God, He is not immutable. And since God is eternal (see Genesis 21:33 and Psalm 90:2), He is free from succession of time and cannot therefore "become" anything. He simply is, always has been, and always will be everything that He is: "I AM WHO I AM" He said to Moses in Exodus 3:14. This verse emphasizes GodUs self existence. To say that God was once man is to deny His self existence, which by definition would have to be from all eternity. This is quite frankly a very low view of Almighty God -- He said, "I AM WHO I AM," not, "I am who you want me to be."

5) The Mormon church teaches that, "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's" (Joseph Smith, Doctrine and Covenants, 130:22). But Jesus said "God is spirit" --John 4:24. The belief that the Father has flesh and bones also contradicts 1 Kings 8:27 and Acts 17:24. Who created God's body? And what about God's omnipresence (Psalm 139:7-12)? Nowhere is their any support in the Bible for this Mormon doctrine, only support against it. Another addition to the faith and contradiction with the Bible.

6) The Mormon Church teaches that man can attain godhood: "As man is, God was, As God is, man may become" (Joseph Smith, King Follett Discourse, p. 9, note by Lorenzo Smith). But God said: "You shall have no other gods before me," (Exodus 20:3), "You shall not make other gods besides Me..."(v. 23), and "Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me" (Isaiah 43:10). Once again, nowhere is their Biblical support for the belief that we can become gods; this is one of the very lies Satan used to deceive Eve in the garden (Gen. 3:5). This is another contradiction and addition to the faith.

Summation of the Differences The Mormon Church directly contradicts the Bible by teaching that we can become Gods, that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three separate Gods, that Jesus Christ is not the unique Son of God, and that God once was a man. To think that we can become gods is blasphemous, to teach that there is more than one God clearly is unbiblical, to believe that Jesus Christ is not the unique Son of God leaves the doctrine of Christ behind, and a God who was once man would not be omnipotent, immutable (unchanging), sovereign, omnipresent, eternal, and infinite, as the Bible clearly teaches (and common sense demands) that God is and always has been. The Bible clearly teaches that there is an eternal chasm between the Creator and created, and condemns those who think otherwise: "Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures...for they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forevermore. Amen." --Romans 1:22,23,25.

Since the Bible is the Word of God (as even the Mormon church believes), and the Mormon church teaches doctrines contrary to the Bible, the teachings of the Mormon church are not from God (refer back to 2 John 9, Galatians 1:8, Jude 3, also see 1 John 4:1-3). The Bible and the Mormon church cannot both be right anymore than 2 + 2 can equal both 4 and 5.

The translation issue In this section we will see that the Bible translations orthodox Christianity has used throughout history are correct translations, whereas teh "inspired" version the mormon church uses is not translated correctly, but has twisted the meaning of the Scriptures to suit the teachings of Joseph Smith.

The Mormon Church claims that the Scriptures have been changed by the Church throughout the centuries and it is therefore impossible to have a correct translation (apart from Joseph SmithUs inspired version). This leaves the door wide open for the Mormon Church to add their new non-Biblical teachings by ignoring the only Standard by which we are to determine truth from error, and claiming that the Mormon doctrines originally were in the Bible, but then deliberately removed by the Church. However, when we examine the evidence we see that these claims are flat wrong and the door swings shut; the Greek and Hebrew text that Bible has been translated from have been proven to be authentic and accurate transmissions of the original autographs. Sir Frederic Kenyon, who was the director and principal librarian at the British Museum and second to none in issuing statements about manuscripts declares: "The interval then between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established."

The fact that the Bible we have now contains almost exactly what was written by the original authors assures us that the translations we have are accurate, and forcefully shows that the the inspired version of the Mormon church has twisted many passages to fit their own false teachings. If you do not believe that the Bibles that Orthodox Christianity uses are correct translations of the text, I challenge you to find a scholar who is fluent in Greek, that is neither Christian or Mormon so you can consider him unbiased, and have him translate some passages of the Greek text which the Mormon Bible and Christian Bibles translate differently. I am 100% positive that you will see that the Joseph Smith version of the King James Bible has been mistranslated. For further treatment of this subject, I suggest the book Scripture Twisting: Twenty Ways the Cults Misread the Bible, by James W. Sire (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1980).

Joseph Smith was a false prophet Deuteronomy 18:18-22 warns that a prophet must be right about his prophecies every single time, or he is not a true prophet of God. Joseph Smith made several false prophecies, hence he was not a prophet of the True God and should be ignored.

1. He claimed that the Lord told him the Latter Day Saints would build a temple in Zion (Jackson County, Missouri), during his generation: "...This generation shall not all pass away until an house shall be built unto the Lord...upon the consecrated spot as I have appointed" (Doctrine and Covenants, 84:5,31, September 1832). "Surely Zion is the city of our God, and surely Zion can not fall, neither be moved out of place, for God is there, and the hand of the Lord is there..." (Doctrine and Covenants, 97:19, August 1833). Both of these prophecies were proved false, since a temple was never built at the appointed place. In addition, two weeks before Joseph prophesied that Zion would not be Rmoved out of her placeS the Mormons were run out of Zion. Joseph was in Dirtland, Ohio at that time and was ignorant of the situation in Jackson.

2. Later that same year, Joseph prophesied a return to Zion (see Doctrine and Covenants 101:17-21, 1833). Obviously, this is another false prophecy.

Deuteronomy 13:1-4 tells us that even if a prophets predictions do come true, if he does not lead the people to believe in the True God, he is a false prophet. Joseph Smith led people away from the true God, and made several false prophesies, hence we have further proof that he was not a true prophet and should not be listened to.

If the Book of Mormon Really was the Word of God, why does it:
1. Contain False Prophecies. 2 Nephi 10:7, speaking of the Jews, predicts, "...When the day cometh that they shall believe in me, that I am the Christ, then have I covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored in the flesh, upon the earth, unto the lands of their inheritance." While the Jews are back in their land today, they do not believe that Jesus is the Christ, so this prophecy is false.

2. Fail to be demonstrated by archeology. No artifact of any kind which demonstrates the Book of Mormon is true and historical has ever been found.

3. Contail several historical inaccuracies and anachronisms. In 1 Nephi 2:5-5, it says that the river Laman emptied into the Red Sea, but never in historic or prehistoric times has there been any river in Arabia that emptied into the Red Sea. Alma 46:15 indicates that believers were called "Christians" back in 73 B.C., rather than at Antioch as Acts 11:26 informs us. And how could anyone been labeled Christian decades before Christ was even born? Helaman 12:25,26 , allegedly written in 6 B.C., quotes John 5: 29 as a prior written source, introducing it by the words, RWe readS. How could this quotation be cited when John wasn't written until decades after 6 B.C.? For a more thorough treatment on this subject, see A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, pp. 501-504, by Dr. Gleason Archer.

4. Have more than 3,000 changes made in it since the original 1830 edition. "King Benjamin had a gift from God..." the 1830 edition says, p. 200, whereas the modern version says "King Mosiah had a gift from God...", p.176, v. 8. The 1830 edition on page 25 states, "Behold the virgin which thou seest, is the Mother of God," whereas the modern version, 1 Nephi 11:18 states, "...the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God..."

Clearly this is further proof that the book of Mormon is not from God and should not therefore be believed. Since it cannot be trusted in these areas that can be tested, why base your eternity on areas that you cannot test?

The Pearl of Great Price The Book of Abraham, which is contained in The Pearl of Great Price, is a translation of an Egyptian papyrus that has been proven fraudulent. Thus, we cannot trust The Pearl of Great Price. To look further into this subject and the reliability of all the Mormon scriptures, I suggest The Mormon Papers: Are the Mormon Scriptures Reliable? by Harry L. Ropp. (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1977).

Summary Josh McDowell and Don Stuart, in their book Understanding the Cults, sum the matter up well: "When all the evidence is considered, the Mormon claim to be the restoration of Jesus ChristUs church falls to the ground. We have taken up the challenge of Bringham Young who said, 'Take up the Bible, compare the religion of the Latter-day saints with it, and see if it will stand the test' (Journal of Discourses, Volume 16, p. 46, 1873)...Our conclusion is that when Mormonism is weighed in the balances it is found wanting."

Orson Pratt said, "Convince us of our errors of Doctrine, if we have any, by reason, by logical arguments, or by the Word of God and we will ever be grateful for the information and you will ever have the pleasing reflections that you have been instruments in the hands of God in redeeming your fellow beings" (The Seer, p. 15). Clearly you should see by now your errors in doctrine based on logic, history, and the Word of God. Mormonism fails the test of Orson Pratt; the question is will you accept the evidence and...

What the Bible says about salvation Salvation is a free gift from God, and cannot be accomplished on the basis of works, but can only be received: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast"--Ephesians 2:8,9. Because "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), everyone is separated from God and deserves death (eternal separation from God), and when someone tries to earn their salvation, because of their sin, all they are earning is death: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord"--Romans 6:23. All that we need to do to receive this gift of God is believe in Jesus Christ, trusting Him alone to save us: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life"--John 3:16. There is no other way to be saved. When the people asked Jesus, "What shall we do to be doing the works of God?" (John 6:28), Jesus replied, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent" (v.29). Good works are a testimony to the accomplished fact of one's salvation, purchased not by works, but by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Christ died to pay the death penalty we deserve for our sins -- He died in our place. Good works or believing in Joseph Smith cannot save because they cannot get rid of the death penalty we are under for our sin; only Christ can do that. In order for Christ to pay the death penalty He had to be perfect and in order to pay the death penalty for more than one person He had to be infinite. Only God is perfect and infinite and, therefore, Christ had to be God in order to be qualified to pay the death penalty. Also Christ must be human to pay the death penalty for a human, but also God to satisfy the righteousness of God. Therefore Christ must be 100% man and 100% God, and He is! To deny that Christ is God is in effect denying what He did for us at the cross. In order to be saved by Christ we must acknowledge that He is who He is, the God-man -- both perfect God and sinless man. If you think you have asked Christ into your life but do not believe in Him for who He really is, by definition you have not asked in the real Jesus and therefore do not have Him in you life. Romans 10:9 declares, "If you confess with your lips Jesus as Lord and believe in you heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." Lord, or Yahweh, is the Old Testament name for God; thus he who confesses that Jesus is Lord affirms His deity. He who does not believe in ChristUs deity has not confessed Him as Lord, and therefore is not saved.

Those who die without Jesus are still in their sins: "For unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins" --John 8:24. I AM is the divine name for God (Exodus 3:14), so believing that Jesus is the I AM, as He says we must do, is believing that He is God. Also refer to page one where I quote 2 John 9. This verse makes it very clear that He who does not believe in the real Jesus does not have God. It is not a pretty subject, but there are serious consequences for never trusting the True Jesus Christ, and Him alone, for your salvation, because those who die in their sins are responsible to pay their own death penalty: "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him" --John 3:36. 1 John 5:12 says, "He who has the Son of God has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life."

Definition of a Christian: A person who has placed his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, for forgiveness for all of their sins and right standing before God. The Christian has recognized that Christ died to satisfy God's penalty for his sins and rose again, and has received Christ by faith. That faith is more than an intellectual assent to these truths, but rather an active trust in Christ alone and the rejection of all other hopes of Salvation. You can receive Christ right now by faith through prayer. God knows your heart and is more concerned with that than the words that you use. The following is a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I confess that I have exchanged your truth for a lie and not honored you for who you really are. I now open the door of my life and receive you as my savior and Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be.

If you received Christ, I encourage you to contact me or any Christian, and to find a Church where Christ is honored and His word is preached. If you have not received Christ, please continue to consider everything I have had to say.

Further Resources Anderson, Einar. The Inside Story of Mormonism (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications, 1973). This is an excellent story of a man who was a Mormon, why he got into Mormonism, what the Mormons believe, why he left it, and why he knows it is not Christian. It discusses the history of Mormonism, Mormon beginnings, Mormon Articles of Faith, and false Bible interpretations by the Mormons.

Cowan, Marvin. Mormon Claims Answered (Salt Lake City, Utah: Marvin Cowan Publisher, 1975).

Cowdrey, Davis, and Scales with Gretchen Passantino. Who Really Wrote the Book Of Mormon? (Santa Ana, California: Vision House Publishers, 1977 and 1980).

Fraser, Gordon. Is Mormonism Christian? (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press,1977).

Fraser, Gordon. Sects of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints (Eugene, Oregon: Industrial Litho Incorporated, 1978).

All Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, by the Lockman Foundation.

MP

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