Mormonism's Foundation of Deception

This article explains how Joseph Smith, who claimed to be a latter-day prophet, was able to bring into being a religion that opposes every major doctrine in the Bible, in spite of the Bible being one of their standard works.

JOSEPH SMITH'S BACKGROUND

Research into Joseph Smith's early days reveals that he was a persuasive speaker who, as a youth, had frequented the local juvenile debating club (History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase 1851, page 214).

His mother revealed his exceptionally vivid imagination and his natural talent for story telling when she mentioned how (in pre-Book of Mormon days) he had entertained their family with stories of the imaginary, early inhabitants of the Americas, which were so graphic that it was as if he had been there in person. (Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and His Progenitors for Many Generations, by Lucy Mack Smith, published by Orson Pratt in Liverpool in 1853.) This raises serious doubts about Joseph's subsequent claim that the Book of Mormon was an actual historical account of the ancient inhabitants of the Americas, that he had translated from inscriptions written upon gold plates given to him by an angel named Moroni.

Consequently, in line with the LDS leadership's policy of sanitizing anything in their history that could detract from the reputation of the church or its leadership, all available copies of the above book by Joseph's mother, were later recalled. A sanitized version, omitting the section about his story telling and the imaginary, early inhabitants of the Americas, was then released.

Joseph Smith had been heavily involved in both the occult and spiritism from his youth. Many books and articles have been written on this subject. In 1995 The Mormon History Association named one such article, Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection by Lance S. Owens, as the recipient of their annual award for the best article in Mormon studies. (Owen's article was published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon thought, Volume 27, No. 3, Fall, 1994.) Mormon historian D. Michael Quinn wrote a book entitled Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, (Signature Books, 1987), and this subject is also dealt with in Mormonism Unvailed, written by Ed Howe and published in 1834. Then too, former LDS seminary teacher, Grant Palmer wrote an excellent book entitled An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, that documents the Smiths family's occultic beliefs and practices.

As a youth Joseph had earned his living by deception. He claimed to have had the ability of locating the whereabouts of hidden treasure through the use of his occultic stone. And although he had exacted a fee for his services, he never ever came up with the goods. Eventually charges were laid against him for "glass looking," amongst other demeanours. The common consensus is that although he was found guilty at his subsequent trial, because of his age at the time (twenty) and the fact that he was a first offender, he was let off with a caution. The following are links to photostats of a bill submitted by Justice Neely for his fees for this case, and a bill from Constable Philip De Zeng, concerning a warrant of arrest issued:

Justice Albert Neely's Bill

Constable De Zeng's Bill

An acquaintance named Orsemus Turner mentioned that, "after catching a spark of Methodism, Joseph became a very passable exhorter in evening meetings" (History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, 1851, page 214). So we know that that he had a keen interest in religion an that he favoured Methodism. In June, 1828 he joined the probationary class of the Methodist Church, in spite of later on coming up with the story that God had instructed him in a vision he claimed to have had in 1820, not to join any of the churches as their teachings were an abomination in his sight (see Joseph Smith History, 1:19). (Documentary evidence reveals that nobody in the LDS church or out of it, had heard the official version containing this teaching, until at least eighteen years after the event was supposed to have occurred. See Joseph Smith's First Vision and the Controversy Surrounding It .)

After a complaint about Smith by one of the members, the Methodist minister pointed out to him that his lifestyle was contrary to what the church stood for. Nevertheless they were prepared to keep him in membership provided he confessed his misdemeanours, repented and promised to reform. He was given the choice of either appearing before a committee to clarify his intentions, or of formally requesting that his name be removed from their membership list. He asked for his name to be taken off their list. (History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, 1851, page 214.)

LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR THE DECEPTION

The practice of deception was Joseph Smith's chosen way of life and he was good at it. He knew that he needed a plausible reason for starting up a brand new church (which incidentally would provide him with financial support for the rest of his life). And he also realized that he would have to come up with an innovative explanation as to why his exclusive ideas on religion didn't exactly fit in with what the Bible taught. And this was how he did it:

THE "AUTHORITY" TEACHING OF THE LDS CHURCH

On the 6th April, 1830, within two years of leaving the Methodists, Joseph Smith brought into being what is now known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS).

Declaring himself to be a latter-day prophet, Joseph claimed that God had revealed to him that after the death of Christ's apostles the early church had become completely apostate, and that the teachings of the Christian churches were an abomination in His sight. His task as God's prophet, was to restore the true church. He also maintained that God had removed the so-called "authority" for the gospel from the earth and that this authority was being restored to the LDS in those latter days.

The LDS makes a big thing of their having so-called "authority." They maintain that God restored His lost authority for the gospel through their priesthood. But the Bible makes no mention of any sort of authority being necessary to preach the gospel, to gain salvation, baptize, follow Christ or to serve God. Furthermore, nobody in the primitive church ever held the priesthood, not even the apostles. It is a fact that apostles were never priests and vice verse. Both the priesthood and the temple fell under the Old Covenant, whereas the church of Jesus Christ falls under the New Covenant. (See the explanatory articles The LDS Authority Teaching Has No Basis and The LDS Priesthood is Unbiblical .) Furthermore, one of the six foundational members of the church, David Whitmer, became deeply concerned over the deceptions being perpetrated in Mormonism, especially when it came to the LDS priesthood. This is what he says:

The next grievous error which crept into the church was in ordaining high priests in June, 1831. This error was introduced at the instigation of Sydney Rigdon. The office of high priests was never spoken of, and never thought of being established in the church until Rigdon came in. Remember that we had been preaching from August, 1829, until June, 1831 — almost two years — and had baptized about 2,000 members into the Church of Christ, [an earlier title of the LDS church] and had not one high priest. During 1829, several times we were told by Brother Joseph that an elder was the highest office in the church. In December, 1830, Sydney Rigdon and Edward Partridge came from Kirtland, Ohio, to Fayette, N.Y., to see Brother Joseph .... Rigdon would expound the Old Testament scriptures of the Bible [remember that the church falls under the New Covenant, not the Old] and Book of Mormon (in his way) to Joseph, concerning the priesthood, high priests, etc., and would persuade Brother Joseph to inquire of the Lord about this doctrine and that doctrine, and of course a revelation would always come just as they desired it. Rigdon finally persuaded Brother Joseph to believe that the high priests which had such great power in ancient times, should be in the Church of Christ to-day. He had Brother Joseph inquire of the Lord about it, and they received an answer according to their erring desires.

You have changed the revelations from the way they were first given and as they are to-day in the Book of Commandments, to support the error of Brother Joseph in taking upon himself the office of Seer to the church. You have changed the revelations to support the error of high priests. You have changed the revelations to support the error of a President of the high priesthood, high counselors, etc. You have altered the revelations to support you in going beyond the plain teachings of Christ in the new covenant part of the Book of Mormon. (An Address to All Believers in Christ David Whitmer, Richmond, Missouri, 1887, pages 35, 49.) (Emphasis inserted by editor.)

Mormon scholars confirm the following facts:

"Men were first ordained to the higher priesthood over a year after the church’s founding. No mention of angelic ordinations can be found in original documents until 1834-35." ......
"The revelation referring to the Aaronic restoration is missing from the Book of Commandments, as well as from the original church history as published in The Evening and Morning Star (edition dated March 1833, p.6). The only known manuscript copy of the revelation makes no reference to the LDS priesthoods either." (The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, D. Michael Quinn, former LDS historian, pages 15 and 16.)

"By degrees, the accounts [of LDS priesthood restoration] became more detailed and more miraculous ..... Details usually become blurred over time; in this case, they multiplied and sharpened ...... The most plausible explanation is that they were retrofitted to an 1829-30 time period to give the impression that an impressive and unique authority had existed in the church from the beginning" (An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, Grant H. Palmer, Mormon Seminary teacher and historian, pages 228-230).

With hindsight it is obvious that Mormonism is one long deception, from beginning to end. Mormons need to understand that the story about their "authority" is nothing more than a red herring that was invented to bolster up Joseph Smith's deception. And at the start their so-called authority had no connection with the LDS priesthood at all. That idea only cropped up later on.

"CORRUPTION OF THE BIBLE" TEACHING

Joseph claimed that God had told him that the Bible was unreliable as it had been corrupted due to incorrect translation, and that large sections containing covenants and important teachings on salvation had been removed from it, by evil people. This meant that right from the very start, his followers had no reliable standard of truth against which to test whether or not his teachings were correct, thereby giving him free reign to introduce whatever teachings fitted in with his agenda.

"Many important points touching the salvation of men, had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled." Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Volume 1, page 245)

"Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 327).

Joseph Smith's false assertions had effectively invalidated the standard of truth that God had given us to enable us to discern spiritual deception. So his followers had no basis on which to judge whether or not he was a false prophet.

But the Bible has been subjected to more thorough, ongoing investigation than any other book in the entire history of the world. There is a mass of historical, literary and archeological evidence available that supports its accuracy. On the other hand, the LDS church has never been able to come up with any evidence whatsoever to support their claim about its supposed unreliability. (See the article, Corruption of the Bible is an LDS Smokescreen .)

Mormons are taught to this day that the best way to gauge the correctness of any biblical verse is to compare it with the modern day revelations of Joseph Smith or the current LDS prophet, as well as with LDS scriptures:

"The most reliable way to measure the accuracy of any biblical passage is not by comparing different texts, but by comparison with the Book of Mormon and modern-day revelations." (Church News, June 20, 1992, page 3, quoting a letter from the First Presidency [Presidents Benson, Hinckley and Monson] dated May 22, 1992, to all of the Church)

The problem here is that once we start introducing our own "revelations," we can make the Bible say anything we want it to. All we need do is to claim we've had a revelation. But God would never give revelations that contradicted what He'd earlier declared to be truth. If a revelation came from God, then it would either confirm or build upon what He'd told us before. Yet Mormon teachings don't do that. Furthermore, they have changed most of their major doctrines (because of claimed ongoing revelations), some of them more than once. And that is not indicative of truth. Truth never changes.

JOSEPH SMITH'S REVELATIONS

Smith made no secret of the fact he had received revelations from God through his occultic stone. And he always carried an occultic talisman coin in his pocket, which his mother asked to have as a momento of him, after his death. But the Bible places the occult in the same category as witchcraft, spiritism and idolatry, as they all have spiritual powers behind them that oppose the purposes of God. Not a single one of God's prophets in the Bible ever had anything to do with the occult, and nor did God ever speak to any of them through an occultic stone.

In David Whitmer's, book An Address to All Believers in Christ (discussed above), he touched on the subject of Smith's revelation from God that he should send Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery to Toronto, Canada, where they would sell the copyright to the Book of Mormon. But their trip was unsuccessful as they were unable to sell the copyright. Smith told David Whitmer that he had enquired of God through his occultic stone as to why this revelation had been false. This was how he put it:

"(I Joseph) enquired of the Lord about it, and behold, the following revelation came through the stone: Some revelations are of God: some revelations are of man: and some revelations are of the devil."

All of the major Mormon doctrines came into being through Joseph Smith's so-called "revelations," in spite of the fact that he was unable to differentiate as to whether his revelations were of God, of the devil, or whether they had emanated from his own very fertile imagination. (Whitmer's book can be downloaded free of charge by Googling it on the Internet.)

THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM

Prior to the time when scholars were able to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics, Joseph Smith managed to persuade the LDS church to purchase the coffins of some Egyptian mummies, that were being exhibited, and that had scrolls inside them. He maintained that they contained the writings of Abraham, and proceeded to "translate" them into what is known as The Book of Abraham, one of the LDS's books of scripture. But scholars in all major universities are now able to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics, and Smith's so called translation has been proved to be nothing more than yet another of his deceptions. (See the article, The Book of Abraham and its Rejection by Egyptologists and Scholars .)

"TRANSLATING" THE BOOK OF MORMON

It is a fact that the supposed gold plates from which Joseph Smith maintained he had translated the Book of Mormon were carefully hidden away during his dictation of the book, as he maintained that God would strike dead anyone who looked at them, including himself. His method of "translating" was thus: He would place his occultic stone into the base of his hat, put his head over it and pull up the brim to exclude the light. Then he would call out the sentences he said were emanating from this stone, and his scribes would record them. (History of the RLDS Church, 8 volumes [Independence, Missouri: Herald House, 1951], Last Testimony of Sister Emma, 3:356, An Address to All Believers in Christ, David Whitmer, page 12.) So he was lying when he said he'd translated the Book of Mormon from inscriptions written on gold plates. And although the LDS leadership is aware of this fact, they have chosen to perpetuate his deception. If you challenge them on this point they will insist that he translated the plates through divine revelation. But if he didn't need to look at the plates in order to translate them, and that if he did look at them he would be struck dead, why did the angel give him the plates in the first place? What use were they? What was their purpose? This is a very tall story, that doesn't make any sense, and one gains the impression that the story about the gold plates was invented in order to make the Book of Mormon seem more impressive. As it is, there is a multitude of evidence that proves the book of Mormon to be nothing more than religious fiction. (See The Book of Mormon Exposed .)

None of the witnesses (whose testimonies will be found at the beginning of every Book of Mormon), ever saw the gold plates other than in dreamlike visions that came about after much prayer. They had, in fact, been reluctant to sign the testimonies (that had been composed by Joseph Smith) as they felt they were misleading. But Smith had persuaded them to do so. (See The Book of Mormon Witnesses Who Never Saw the Gold Plates .)

Originally Joseph had hoped to make a great deal of money out of selling the copyright of the Book of Mormon, but as already mentioned, he was unable to find a buyer. The printed book didn't sell either and he was in straightened circumstances. At that stage he decided to establish the LDS church, who used the Book of Mormon as scripture. (In the first edition, Joseph Smith's name was recorded as being both the author and the owner of the copyright, in spite of the fact that he claimed to have translated the BOM from Reformed Egyptian inscriptions on gold plates, given to him by an angel. But being a translator and being the author are two completely different things. So he was either lying when he claimed to be author of the Book of Mormon, or else he was lying when he said he'd translated it from inscriptions gold plates. As Mark Twain remarked, "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when at first we begin to deceive."

JOSEPH SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE

Regarding Joseph's claim to have re-translated the Bible, he had no access to ancient documents in the original languages; nor did he have any understanding of Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic at that stage. All he did was to mark the verses that he disagreed with in his copy of the KJV. Then he wrote down a list of the changes he intended making. And this was called "the translation document." But there was no scholarly reason either to support his claim that the Bible had been incorrectly translated or for his actual changes to it. In reality, all he did was to alter the KJV to fit in with his own ideas, and then deceptively call it a translation. Amongst the many casualties to the Bible was John chapter 1, that he altered in order to conform it to his idea of the fictitious Jesus of eternal progression in whom Mormons are taught to believe. (See Joseph Smith's Inspired Translation of the Bible .)

THE OFFICE OF PROPHET

God's main attribute is His holiness. The Bible consistently tells us, "Be holy, for He is holy." And as they were God's mouthpiece, the prophet's main role was to point out their sin and their need for repentance to the common people as well as to the leadership. Remember John the Baptist, who was a prophet? He constantly and fearlessly exhorted repentance, regardless of anyone's station in life, and was very unpopular with the leadership of that day, for that specific reason.

On the other hand, the main role of Mormon prophets has been to introduce unbiblical doctrines or to change those already existing. Their ministry bears no resemblance whatsoever to that of the biblical prophet (see The Organization of the LDS Church .) Furthermore, although they have always had an official prophet in the LDS church; for many, many years, all he has been is a figurehead. What biblical prophet remained silent, year after year after year? What is the task of the LDS prophet if not to prophesy? Why does his role differ so radically from that of the biblical prophet?

CHANGING DOCTRINES

Mormonism is an evolving religion. All of their major doctrines have been changed over the years. But truth is eternal. It never changes. That's why we can rely on it. Yet Mormonism has changed consistently, to the extent that it bears little resemblance to what it was at the start. That indicates that their earlier doctrines must have been wrong. But how could Joseph Smith have restored the "true church" if their doctrines at the start were wrong and had to be changed later? And how could any of their exclusive teachings have been truth, if they have had to be changed periodically?

The LDS has changed their doctrines on deity, as well as most of their other doctrines. As recently as 1978 their doctrine on the priesthood was changed to include men of colour. Prior to the 1978 revelation, their teaching was that God had forbidden the LDS to permit men of colour to enjoy the benefits of Mormon priesthood, as a consequence of their lack of valour in the pre-existence. Their teaching at that stage was that the colour of our skin depended upon our performance in our pre-existence. But now that the world has introduced racial equality, and began to make things difficult for them, they've changed their tune. In line with their normal practice, their teaching books have been changed, leaving no trace of their original racial discrimination.

Then too, God is the most important doctrine of any religion, because his person is central to our worship. And all our beliefs stem from our understanding of him. So Mormons need to ask themselves how God could have restored the "true church" through Joseph Smith, yet have neglected to tell him until a great many years after establishing the "true church" that He wasn't the eternal spirit being who is described in the Bible and whom they were worshipping at the start, but an exalted man of flesh and bone who had once been mortal. Why didn't God tell Joseph Smith at the start of the "true church" that the Bible had it wrong. Why did "God's true church" only learn about the true nature of the LDS God approximately fourteen long years after the church had been instituted? (See The Mormon Gods, Past and Present .)

This doesn't make sense at all, for the simple reason that what we believe about God determines the rest of our beliefs. And it is a fact that all the major doctrines of the LDS church changed radically when they changed their teachings on God. This indicates either that when the "only true church" was instituted, it taught false doctrine, or else that it teaches false doctrine now.

PERPETUATING DECEPTION

The doctrine that God was once a man and has progressed to become a God is unique to this church. (Official LDS Lesson Manual, 1997, page 34, "The Teachings of Brigham Young")

Why does the LDS deliberately and consistently conceal the fact that they worship an exclusive, unbiblical God? Why do they withhold the knowledge of this very important doctrine until after folk have been baptized into Mormonism and have obtained a "testimony"? The answer to this question is that nobody would be interested in joining a church who claimed to be Christian yet worshipped a God who was once a mortal man who had earned his right to godhood. (Mormon missionaries are instructed to avoid discussing their exclusive doctrines, particularly their doctrine on God, and to concentrate instead on persuading those they visit to be baptized into membership of the LDS church by deliberately diverting the conversation towards the discussion of the official story of Joseph Smith's first vision.)

Perpetuating deception has been part and parcel of Mormonism from its start. Although the LDS teaches its followers that the Bible is unreliable due to corruption, Mormon missionaries always carry a black KJV Bible with them, when they do their rounds. And in spite of the fact that they worship a different God, follow a different Christ, have a different gospel and teach a different salvation to that taught by the Bible, the following claim was made in an LDS booklet:

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (known informally by the nickname Mormons) believe the Bible. Indeed, so literally and completely do their beliefs and practices conform to the teachings of the Bible that it is not uncommon to hear informed persons say: 'If all men believed the Bible, all would be Mormons.' Bible doctrine is Mormon doctrine, and Mormon doctrine is Bible doctrine. They are one and the same (LDS Apostle and Doctrinal Writer, Bruce McConkie, What The Mormons Think of Christ, page 2)

It has always been the policy of the LDS not to disclose their exclusive teachings to anyone other than legitimate members of their church, especially their doctrine on God. However, since the advent of the Internet, ex-Mormons have been revealing LDS teachings on various websites, for all the world to see. Because of the overwhelming, negative backlash, the LDS church has been forced to spend a fortune in a public relations clean up, in an effort to portray their church as being a biblical, Christian organization. And this has resulted in a complete turn around in some of their attitudes.

For instance, many years ago, when the editor was still a member of the LDS, we were regularly exhorted from the pulpit never, ever to call ourselves Christians. We were taught that Christianity represented everything that was abhorrent to God, and that the Christian church's teachings were an abomination in His sight. But now the LDS church is doing its utmost to become accepted in the Christian fraternity. (See the article Mormonism's Claim to be a Christian Denomination .)

However, Mormonism is, as it always has been, a religion of deception. And in spite of their verbal gymnastics, their doctrines remain the same. The problem is that because of their commitment to projecting themselves as a Christian denomination, many of their membership are becoming confused about their teachings. To make things even more confusing, for some years now the LDS church has been hosting an interfaith rally in their SLC tabernacle that includes Buddhist, Hindus, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Bahai, Sikh and so on, ad in fin.

THE REASON BEHIND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MORMONISM

Because Joseph Smith had stressed at the start of his church that important teachings on salvation had been taken from the Bible, we realize with hindsight that from the very beginning his purpose had been to lead folk away from the way of salvation that God had revealed to us in the pages of the Bible, and to substitute in its place a false gospel that fitted in with his own agenda. He is the epitome of the false prophets that we are warned about in the Bible:

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many (Matthew 24:11, KJV)

If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 13:1-3, KJV)

(Paul warned) For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. (2 Corinthians 11:4, KJV)

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. (Galations 1:8, KJV)

When we substitute our own ideas about God we always detract from His glory. Bound by the dimensions of time and space, man has a very limited knowledge and understanding of eternal things. And in attempting to reduce an eternal, infinite and indescribably amazing and powerful God who had created the dimensions of time and space and who upholds and sustains the whole of the universe and everything in it by his omnipotence, to terms that fitted in with his own ideas, Joseph Smith simply denied the truth about Him in the same way as did the pagan idolaters in biblical times.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man ..... (Romans 1:18-23, KJV) (Author's italics)

THE CONSEQUENCES OF MORMON INDOCTRINATION

Because of the effectiveness of the LDS's system of indoctrination about the Bible being incorrectly translated and the Christian church being apostate, even if Mormons do become aware of the errors and deception involved in their religion, the majority of them will still remain firmly convinced that all other churches are in error and that the Bible has been corrupted. Their attitude is that if the LDS is wrong, then all the other churches must be even more so. (For that reason many ex-Mormons become atheists.) Their indoctrination has ensured that whether they stay or whether they go, most Mormons will, more likely than not, never believe the truth about God's one and only way of salvation for fallen mankind. So in any event, Joseph Smith will have succeeded in what he had set out to do.

Members of the LDS have been groomed to believe that Mormonism is the ultimate in religions, and that the teachings of all the other churches are in error as they possess only partial truth. They have also been (wrongly) taught that the LDS is the safest place in which to rear children. So a great many members who have become well aware that Mormonism is a deception, make the decision to stay in the LDS anyway, and consequently they "fake" it. I personally know Mormons who are doing just that. There are even some in leadership, who are in this situation. They are loathe to admit publicly, or to reveal to the ordinary membership, that Joseph Smith was a false prophet, and that Mormonism is a deception, for the simple reason that they have been led to believe that the LDS is the pick of the bunch out of all the churches and religions, so why destroy it? And so right or wrong, they are in it for life.

Then there are others who have become fully aware of nature of the deception to which they had fallen prey. But they are also aware of the heartrending, life changing consequences that are part and parcel of leaving the LDS church. They know that they will become outcasts and will lose their entire social structure. Their family ties will, more often than not, be severely affected. If they are employed in an LDS organization they know that sooner or later they will be forced to leave. In other words, they will lose everything that is dear to them as well as all of their support structures, and sometimes even their livelihood. For some the price is too high. And so they also stay and fake it.

I was born into Mormonism, and knew nothing else. And because of having no other spiritual foundation, by the time I eventually recognized the deception, contradictions and errors, I had been thoroughly brainwashed into believing the lie that the early church had gone into complete apostasy and that the Christian church was, therefore, an apostate organization whose teachings were an abomination in the sight of God. (This was before the LDS had changed their present, opposite tactic, of claiming to be a Christian denomination. What a turnabout!) Consequently, twenty long years went by before I allowed myself, for the first time ever, to come into contact with the true, biblical gospel of salvation. It turned my life upside down and I will never get over the wonder of it all.

But having a jaundiced attitude to Christian churches, and very often to the Bible itself, is what happens to Mormons.

GENERAL NOTE

Editors of websites such as this one (generally run by ex-Mormons), do not enjoy the difficult task of telling Mormons that their cherished beliefs are nothing more than the deceptions of a false prophet. We would much rather be involved in doing something more uplifting. But we bear a very heavy burden for the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and our ministry to them is based on love and concern.

By clicking on the button marked "home" at the end of this page, the reader will be able to access a comprehensive list of fully referenced articles that discuss different aspects of Mormonism and compare them with what the Bible teaches.

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