Sadly, from the very first days of the apostles, attempts have been made to infiltrate the Christian Church with false and corrupted versions of the Gospel. As Christians we have a message of salvation to give out to the world and do not really wish to be distracted by using valuable time, energy and resources to pick out the faults of other peoples' faiths. But when you realise that to ignore the efforts of false religion is to in effect condemn those tricked by them to an eternity without God, being silent no longer becomes an option - it becomes a divine mandate.
In writing about false religions we are not necessarily casting their individual practicioners in the same light. There are many fine, good and honourable people in all religions. But they have been misled, as I was once, and need pointing to the facts of true religion. As this can involve considerablre research (it took me 10 years to research and finally get out of the cult I was involved in) webpages such as this can considerably shorten your search. We hope that you find the material in this page, and the linked sites, useful.
Discerning between True and False Religion
Contents: | Mormonism I (LDS) | Mormonism II (RLDS) | Mormonism III (Factions) | New Age Charismatic Christianity |
| Jehovah's Witnesses |
Mormonism I
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
As both a former Mormon (LDS) and RLDS (member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and a former leader of an independent LDS faction, I can claim to know quite a bit about these religions. The RLDS are a liberal version of the LDS. It is sometimes said that the LDS and RLDS churches are the "catholic" and "protestant" wings of Mormonism, respectively.The Mormon Church has a membership in excess of 9 million people (even though many millions of these are not active) and is present in almost every country in the world. It is an American religion (denials to the contrary) and began in an evangelical Christian milieu but has its origins in the occult. It is best described as a form of white magic/occult or paganism dressed in Christian clothes. Seeing past its pseudo-Christian exterior is not easy for the inexperienced Bible-believing Christian. It possesses its own counterfeit "Holy Ghost", a supernatural power or "white light" known to satanism, and which Mormons recognise as the "burning in the bosom". It places greater emphasis on a subjective experience with his "Holy Ghost"/White Light and on its claims to exclusive Catholic-like authority than to faithfulness to the biblical revelation, God's Word. Mormon teachings are easily shown to be disjunctive with the New Testament and we shall provide what we hope will be some new insights on the Mormon phenomenon on this page.
There is something very interesting about the two church buildings shown here. See if you can spot what it is. The one on the left is a typical American Christian church (Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, etc.) and the one on the right is a drawing of a typical LDS chapel. Look at the spires of the two buildings. Virtually all spires of traditional Christian churches are found on top of church buildings but the Mormon one is built straight into the ground. Is there a symbolic meaning behind this? If you're curious about the odd arrangement of the LDS spire, click the diagram of the Mormon chapel and find out.
The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, otherwise known as the "Saints' Church" or the RLDS Church, is a break-off of the original Church established by Joseph Smith, Jr. and is based in Independence, Missouri unlike its bigger cousin, the LDS Church, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Because it rejected Smith's more extreme practices (polytheism, LDS polygamy, baptism for the dead, etc., whom they attributed to Brigham Young) it has sometimes been called "moderate Mormonism". Since the 1960s the RLDS Church heirarchy has all but publically rejected the Book of Mormon as anything more than inspired or semi-inspired fiction and espouses a theology which is basically liberal Protestant/New Age. Though it claims to be a "Restoration Church" it has so redefined the word "restoration" as to make an identity with early Mormonism virtually non-existant. It has even tried to change its name but has been opposed by the grass-roots membership. There are many conservative break-offs that hold on to the original RLDS ideals. My experience with the latter is that they have little grasp (and even less wish to grasp) the historical realities if Mormonism, for whom tradition is more important than the truth. If the RLDS Church is the "protestant" movement within the Restoration, then the conservative RLDS are the equivalent, in some respects, of the radical Calvinists and Puritans.My own exposure to the Reorganized Church contributed to my progressively rejecting Mormonism altogether. Generally more open and honest about the past today, they (and especially the leadership, who have everything to lose) are nonetheless trapped by their own legacy. Denied full membership of the World Council of Churches because of a book (the Book of Mormon) they can't get rid of, yet want to, they have pursued an ecumenical course, winning many friends among liberal churches. Were they to reject the Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants completely it would be hard to classify them as evangelical Christians, though many of their body may have strong leanings there. The RLDS Church is best approached by looking at sites dedicated to the Mormon (LDS) Church and Liberal "Christian" movement, depending which wing of the RLDS you are looking at.
Splinter Groups and Factions
Mormonism has about as many factions and denominations as Protestantism relative to its size. Of the one hundred or so other factions, most are very small in deed, the largest numbering no more than a few thousand. This compares with the LDS (about 9 million) and RLDS (about 250,000) which are the largest groups. These factions have come into existence basically on three grounds: (1) In the Smith period (1823-1844) it evolved considerably in doctrine and practice -- there is a faction or group representing almost every stage of development; (2) Perceived 'Apostacy' - many LDS believe that the Mormon Church has departed from the 'purity' of Smith's original teachings (Fundamentalists) and have become notorious for their brand of polygamy, assassinations ('Avenging Angels') and other practices; and (3) Incomplete Restoration - some believed that Smith only completed some of his "Restoration" work and wish to bring it to completion. One group that has done that has concluded (correctly) that Joseph Smith was basically an occultist and not a 'Christian' in the biblical sense at all, and may be called "New Age Mormons". It has rejected most of the Bible, looks at the Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants as a "children's introduction" to its occultism, and makes no attempt to call itself "Christian". Had Smith not been assassinated it is my belief that he would have taken his creation -- the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- into pure occultism, having alrready introduced occultism into the LDS Church in the form of borrowed masonic rituals and Swedenborgian doctrines.
Ulf Eckman, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Jim Kaseman, John Brandström, Rodney Howard-Browne, the 'Toronto Blessing', etc.
One of the most clever counterfeits of the Christian Gospel to hit the latter half of the Second Century is what has come to be known variously as "The Prosperity Gospel", "The Faith Movement", "Faith Preaching, the "Word of Life Movement" and the "Toronto Blessing". This comes as something of a surprise to many because this cluster of closely-related teachings have become pretty well accepted in the charismatic movement. What makes discerning this counterfeit all the more difficult is that it supposedly only accepts the Bible as the Word of God and accepts the historic creeds. It is, however, heavily influenced by New Age doctrine as the articles that accompany this section show.
This page does not criticise charismatic Christianity (because we are ourselves what might broadly-speaking be called "charismatic") but non-Biblical charismata. Satan has a counterfeit of everything.
The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society
The Jehovah's Witnesses are one of the best known and most successful pseudo-Christian cults about whom a great deal has been written. What is it that makes them so successful and how is it that they, claiming to be 'Sola Scriptura' (Scripture Alone) Christians, have managed to deviate so far away from biblical Christianity?
Though I have never been a Jehovah's Witness they made a deep impression on me in my early days as I searched for the truth. I do owe them one debt - it was they who first introduced me to serious Bible study. However, it did not take me long to discover that their teachings on the soul, the deity of Christ, the activity of the Holy Spirit, and a number of other doctrines not only disagreed with the Bible but with my own personal experiences.
There are many, like myself, who have used the Jehovah's Witnesses as a lesson in contrasts. One of the best ways to illuminate the true teachings of the Bible is to be exposed to false ones. Having said this, though, we must never be so blind as to suppose that the Jehovah's Witnesses have nothing to teach us. There is much that is admirable about them and we should be as keen to absorb the good in them as we are to throw out that which is not.
