Confronting the Cults – The Mormons

The Mormon religion
was founded by Joseph Smith, on April 6th,
1830. which over a period of time has splintered into at least
100 different sects. Today, it has two main streams – The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints based in Salt Lake
City, Utah, and the reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints based
in Independence, Missouri. Its membership is in excess of 10
million people and at any one time supports 40,000 missionaries
worldwide, costing a reputed 550 million dollars annually.

Membership of this cult increases each year by 300,000
conversions and 75,000 children’s baptisms. Mormons are
instructed not to use alcohol or tobacco, tea, coffee, or
caffeine drinks like Coca Cola. Mormonism is a form of Paganism,
with Hindu and occult overtones, camouflaged by a façade
of Christianity. In 1973, a Government study found that "Mormons
take more sedatives, tranquilizers, anti-depressants, stimulants,
pep pills, heroin, cocaine and LSD than non-Mormons. Utah’s
divorce rate is higher than the national average, and its child
murder rate is 5 times the national average! Half of all babies
born in Utah have teenage mothers and 7 out of 10 are conceived
out of wedlock.’ That says something in a State which is
overwhelmingly governed by the Church like Big Brother. Obviously
the wholesome family image of Mormonism that is presented to the
world has a foulsmelling dark side.

We can gain understanding as to why this is by following the
Scriptural principle of sowing and reaping. Bad fruit simply
points to bad seed! Let’s look then at the seed. Joseph
Smith Snr was a mystic and both he and his son were avid treasure
seekers. In doing so they participated in seer stone divination
and used divining rods, talismans, and implements of ritual
magic. This was nothing less than treasure seeking by occult
means, a practice totally forbidden to Christians.

This occult involvement opened Joseph Smith up to the spirit
realm under satan’s rule and the lying, deceiving spirits
associated with it. Smith Jnr in 1820 claims he received a vision
while praying in which God the Father and God the Son
materialized, whereby they announced that a restoration of true
Christianity was needed and he, Joseph Smith Jnr was chosen to
lead it. Isn’t it strange that this was not prophesied in
God’s Holy Word, yet hundreds of end times events are?
That’s our clue as to the real identities of these
"visitors."

Then in 1823 the Angel (demon) Moroni appeared at
Joseph’s bedside and 3 times repeated the commission. Yet
in the 1851 edition of the "Pearl of Great Price," Smith
identifies the angel not as Moroni, but as Nephi. This shambles
of identification is just one example of countless
inconsistencies remedied later on by Mormon scribes who have
diligently expunged and "corrected" the glaring blunders that
appeared in Smith’s and Brigham Young’s writings.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to erase original handwritten
manuscripts which are "on the record" so this problem, along with
many others, has let the cat out of the bag. Unfortunately the
vast majority of Mormons don’t know these things or choose
to ignore them.

The Book of Mormon
Another Testament
of Jesus Christ

The Book of Mormon is claimed to be a translation of ancient
writings on gold plates given to Joseph Smith in 1827 by the
angel Moroni (or Nephi??) Moses ascended a mountain to receive
the Law, but their own records show that the angel Moroni handed
these plates to Joseph Smith UP OUT OF THE GROUND! The
significance of these plates coming upward from below, rather
than down from above, doesn’t take much thought to conclude
that Moroni is just another demon masquerading as an angel of
light, bringing lying garbage up from the pit of hell to drag
mankind into eternal death. The Bible says, every good thing
comes "from above!" As you may expect, only early accounts
printed last century show these plates being delivered upward.
The Mormon "thought Police" have been rewriting history
again!

Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, was an utterly
ruthless man, a fact also conveniently forgotten by Mormon
historians. In his determination to control Utah, he gave orders
to remain quiet about the mob who attacked a wagon train and
slaughtered 120 helpless non-Mormon immigrants, known today as
the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre. After an uproar of
protest, only one man was brought to account. On March 23rd 1877,
John D Lee was executed for his part in the massacre, but before
he died swore that he acted on the approval of Brigham Young.

Mormon Tabernacle - Salt Lake City

Mormonism today is very different from its early years. Yet
the underlying markings of a cult remain. Unfortunately, the
Christian community have too often mistaken the Mormon as a
brother in Christ, albeit a little different. The truth is, that
even though they use the Saviour’s name in their title,
they are demonstrably antichrist!! One of the beliefs that mark
most cults is also an unmoveable doctrine amongst the Mormons
– the claim that there is no salvation outside the Mormon
Church. Apostle Bruce R McConkey stated in his writings on LDS
doctrine, "If it had not been for Joseph Smith …. there
would be no salvation." That is arrogance and blasphemy beyond
measure!

They are well-known for having added their own Scriptures -
not one, but THREE documents. Along with the Bible they have
added the "Book of Mormon," the "Doctrine and Covenants", and the
"Pearl of Great Price." For the Mormon, they are taught that the
latter 3 are holy writ without error or inconsistency, but
discredit the authority of the Bible except the King James
version. They appear oblivious to the dire warning at the end of
Revelation against adding to existing Scripture, for they have
done so 3 times.

As to their doctrine, let me demonstrate for you just how
antichrist the Mormon Church is, especially when I disclose what
they consider is the real meaning behind key Christian
terminology.

• THE GOSPEL – Mormon theology.
• BORN AGAIN – water
  baptism into Mormonism
• TRUE SALVATION – Exaltation to godhood.
• THE BIBLE – unreliable/only able to be interpreted by
  Mormons.
• VIRGIN BIRTH – physical sex act between God (Elohim)
  and Mary.
• JESUS CHRIST – a self-progressing deity known as
  Jehovah in the Old Testament.
• TRINITY – Three separate deities – therefore they
  are polytheist, not monotheist, which is the Christian
  position.
• ATONEMENT – God’s provision for each to earn his
  own salvation.
• GOD – formerly a man, one of innumerable
  self-progressing deities.
• MAN – a pre-existent spirit with the ability to attain
  godhood by becoming a Mormon.
• GENTILES – non-Mormons

Portrait of Joseph Smith

Their language sounds Christian and convincing, so remember
that the next time two fresh-faced young men knock at your door,
you might as well speak in Swahili and they in Chinese, because
from the very start you will be talking about two different
things. It is impossible to witness to such when they have
totally different mind pictures of what you are saying when
compared to what you mean, unless you are aware of this problem,
and know how to overcome it.

Remember also that the Book of Mormon has suffered extensive
rewriting. This first occurred in 1920 and the latest revision
was in 1981. Even though 100 verses were changed the revisionists
never consulted the original writings taken from the missing
"golden plates." Space permits us to give just one illustration
of their duplicity and lack of integrity. In the original
edition, 1 Nephi 11.18 (and 11.21, 32, and 13.40) recorded the
same Papist nonsense that underpins Catholic theology. It says
– "behold, the virgin which thou seest, is the Mother of
God." This has now been changed by the revisionists to "behold,
the virgin which thou seest, is the mother of the Son of
God."

The testimony of the 3 witnesses recorded at the beginning of
the Book of Mormon reads, "An angel of God came down from heaven,
and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw
the plates, and the engraving thereon." One of these, Martin
Harris, denied he had actually seen them with the naked eye. When
pressed, he said "I saw them with a "spiritual" eye." All 3 of
these witnesses were later declared apostate and described as
counterfeiters, thieves and liars by their Mormon compatriots.
Oliver Cowdery, the 2nd witness, denied his "Book of Mormon"
testimony. The 3rd witness, David Whitmer, changed his testimony,
saying it was a vision, not an angelic visitation.

Statue of Angel Moroni

The lying continues. The Book of Mormon has plagiarized the
King James Bible in a significant volume of material. It also
trips up on Jewish and world history. It speaks of Nephi having a
steel bow and using a compass, and the Jaredites having glass
windows when none of these things had been invented at the time
these stories took place.

Mormonism has gone down in history as the first successful
attempt to dress up paganism as Christianity. Hundreds of new
religious movements have now joined that bandwagon promoting the
original lie in the Garden of Eden, where satan promised that man
could become a god. Scientology and TM are two of those. This is
why Mormons by and large remain Mormons, because of the
glittering prize of godhood. Not even Jesus offered that!

Until recently, 1978 to be exact, they were racist to the
core, teaching that in the pre-mortal state those who fought the
devil on Jesus side had entered this life with white skin.
Brigham Young taught that the dark skin and flat nose is the
"mark of Cain" whom God cursed. However, underlying, latent
racism still exists, with white skin being considered something
special.

If that seems weird, try this. The Mormon wife, in Temple
ritual, swears an oath of total obedience to her husband. Each
wife has a secret name that only her husband and herself know. It
is this secret name that he will use to call her out of the grave
on resurrection day. If he forgets, purposely or otherwise, to
remember this name, she has no remedy. If that isn’t
control spirit, bondage, slavery and manipulation then I’m
a cuckoo clock! In fact hordes of Mormon wives suffer depression
by oppression, with psychiatrists in Utah finding the majority of
their clients are Mormon women.

Salt Lake City Temple at night

The Mormons also baptize the dead, claiming the Bible teaches
this. (it doesn’t) Consequently genealogies have almost
become an obsession with Mormons. As usual, confusion reigns
regarding their doctrine. The dead are supposed to be in a spirit
prison, or Mormon purgatory, yet they teach that they are alive
and present in Mormon Temples, seeking the living to save them.
It’s not surprising then that stories of "spirit
visitations" abound, where a dead relative or person will appear
to members. These demonic visitations are considered proof of the
fact they are the one true church.

In 1844, some would say fittingly, Joseph Smith died through a
mob storming the jail where he was being held for treason and
riot. His lying spirit was exposed after his death through the
excavation of a mound in Kinderhook, Illinois where 6 brass
plates were found. Upon receiving and inspecting the plates (this
was a year before his death) Joseph Smith began to translate
them, with the St Louis Gazette reporting that Joseph Smith said
they were nothing less than a sequel to the Book of Mormon.

It was a month after Joseph Smith’s death that 3 men
confessed that the plates were a deliberate hoax, carefully
manufactured and planted in the mound to await discovery. What
are we to make of this? Simply that Smith was like his father the
devil – he was a deceiver! Charles A Shook has a message
for every Mormon - "Only a bogus Prophet translates bogus
plates!"

THE MASONIC CONNECTION

The LDS is riddled with Masonic tradition. Joseph
Smith’s older brother received the first 3 degrees of
Masonry at the same time as the gold plates came to light. Joseph
Smith welcomed many new church members who were already Masons.
These became some of the early leadership. As a result the Mormon
religion became flooded with Masonic symbolism – There were
secret names, secret handshakes, blood oaths, and the buildings
became decorated with squares, compasses, astrological symbols,
the all seeing single eye of Horus, and worst of all, the
upturned 5 pointed star, the undeniable symbol of satanism and
witchcraft.

The god of Mormonism is certainly not the God of true
Christianity according to the infallible Word of God. Joseph
Smith is indelibly marked as a false Prophet at best and a lying
deceiver at worst. While the Mormons have done much to meet
criticisms, we should remember that in any building, it is the
foundations that matter. One wonders whether they match the
comparison that Jesus made concerning the Pharisees when he
compared them to whited sepulchers, clean on the outside but
underneath, full of dead men’s bones.