What Mormons Say About Mormonism

Here are a few thoughts relative to the Latter Day Saints or Mormon Church. My comments are in the form of direct quotes from LDS sources and are given in the spirit of love and in the interest of truth.

According to their own writings, the God of the Mormons was a man who became God. Joseph Smith, affirmed it in Millennial Star, V:, pp. 88­89, "First, God Himself, who sits enthroned in yonder heavens, is a man like unto one of yourselves ..." He is only an "exalted man," said Joseph Smith. The Bible teaches that God is a Spirit. It teaches that God the Son became man to provide salvation for the world. There is an insurmountable difference between what J. Smith taught and Bible doctrine.

The Mormons claim that God the Father and Jesus Christ both have physical bodies and the Holy Spirit is just another, distinct, spirit being (Doctrine and Covenants, 130:22).

The Mormon Church teaches pre­existence. Orson Pratt, wrote in The Seer (p. 132), "We were begotten by our Father in Heaven. Our Father in Heaven was begotten in a previous heavenly world by His Father; and again, He was begotten by a still more ancient Father; and so on." In an LDS tract, The Purpose of Life (p. 2), are these words: "We all once lived in the presence of God the Eternal Father. In the world before your earth life you were a spirit child of His. With this divine parentage, your destiny through righteous living, is to become like your Father in Heaven and return to His presence." Mormons say mankind existed as sons of God before becoming mortal. They claim Christ (and we) earned the right to become mortal just as we earn the right to become immortal. This contradicts what the Bible teaches about Creation and salvation.

In the LDS tract, What the Mormons Think of Christ (p. 4), the claim is made that the Bible and the Book of Mormon, "... bear the same testimony." That is simply not true.

In an LDS tract, What the Mormons Think About Christ (p. 46), is this declaration: "If it had not been for Joseph Smith, the Prophet, the perfect knowledge of Christ would not be had in the world in this day. If it had not been for him and his mission, there would be no legal administrators now on earth to administer in the ordinances of salvation."

The Mormon "Apostle" Orson Pratt was editor of The Seer and in it we find the following dialogue: "Q: Who founded the Roman Catholic Church? A: The Devil, through the medium of apostates, who subverted the whole order of God." His view is based upon what the Book of Mormon says in, 1 Nephi 13:6, "And it came to pass that I beheld this great and abominable church; and I saw the devil that he was the founder of it."

Le Grand Richards, Presiding Bishop, April 10, 1952, writes in his book, A Marvelous Work And A Wonder (p. 3), "... there is no excuse for the existence of any other Christian Church." Again, in Journal of Discourses, (Vol. 8. p. 223), "Every intelligent person under heaven that does not, when informed, acknowledge that Joseph Smith, Jun., is a Prophet of God, is in darkness, and is opposed to us and to Jesus and his kingdom on the earth." In Joseph Smith's Testimony (pp. 5, 20), It is written that the world did not have the "... authority of God delegated to man on earth to act in all things for the salvation of men ...

from the apostasy until it was restored to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery." In the Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith History (1:18), is this statement about Christian Churches, "... were all wrong ... their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt." The LDS magazine, Ensign (Dec. '84. p. 9), states the official position of the Mormon Church, "Satan sits in the place of God in Christianity after the time of the apostles."

The Book of Mormon claims to be "Another Testament of Jesus Christ." Jesus called his covenant the new testament in Matthew 26:28, "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."

The Old Testament was the first testament. The New Testament was the second. Timewise that makes the Book of Mormon the third testament, if it is a testament.

The Book of Mormon and the books of Mormon doctrine all claim to be "another gospel" and that places them in direct conflict with the teachings of the Bible. Does that not bring those writings under the curse of Galatians 1:7­9 and Revelation 22:18­19 for adding to the gospel of Christ?

Truth, like love, sometimes hurts!