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MORMONISM'S
FOUNDATION OF DECEPTION
"If Joseph Smith was a deceiver who willfully attempted to
mislead people,
then he should be exposed ..........."
(Doctrines of Salvation, Volume 1, page 188;
10th LDS President and Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith).
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.
However, 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 were later recalled. A sanitized version,
omitting the section about his story telling, 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 an occultic stone. But 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:
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 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 the financial means he was lacking, for the
rest of his life). He also realized that he would have to come
up with an innovative xplanation 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 because of the apostasy, God had
removed his "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 also 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 effectively invalidated the standard
of truth God had provided to enable us to discern spiritual
deception. So his followers had no basis on which to judge whether
or not his teachings were true.
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 and historicity. 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 .)
Nevertheless, 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 AND THE OCCULT
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 Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery would
sell the copyright to the Book of Mormon if they travelled to Toronto,
Canada. But their trip was unsuccessful. 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 or of the devil, or on the other hand, 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, that had scrolls inside of them. He maintained that
they contained the writings of Abraham, and proceeded to
"translate" them into what is known as The Book of
Abraham. This was cannoized by the LDS and became one of their
scriptures. But scholars in all major universities are now able to
translate Egyptian hieroglyphics, and Smith's Book of Abraham 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, why
did the angel give them to him 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 both
the gold plates and the angel Moroni 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 and
exhortation by Joseph Smith. They had, in fact, been reluctant to
sign the testimonies (that had been composed by Smith) as they
felt they were misleading. But he 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, at which stage he
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 had 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 list was called
"the translation document." Hmm. 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 call it a translation.
Amongst the many casualties to the Bible that resulted was John
chapter 1, which Smith altered 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 biblical prophets' 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. He 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 else to change those already
existing. Their ministry bears no resemblance 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 the world introduced racial equality, and began to make things
difficult for the LDS. And buckling under pressure, they changed
their tune. In line with their normal practice, their teaching
manuals have been changed, leaving no trace of their original
racial discrimination. But how is it that the rest of the world,
who never had prophets, was able to see that racial discrimination
was wrong so long before God's "true church" did?
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
they 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.
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 official story of Joseph Smith's first
vision.)
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. 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, in spite of their verbal gymnastics, their doctrines
remain the same. And because of their commitment to projecting
themselves as a Christian denomination, many of their membership
are becoming confused about their teachings.
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,
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, the majority of 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
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. And 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
motivated by love and concern.
You are welcome to email the editor at
reply@bibtruth.com
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