The Mormon Church, preferring its name "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", was founded in 1830 in New York under the leadership of an occultist named Joseph Smith. The Church itself claims to be Christian, but many of its tenets of belief contradict Christianity. Before we can delve deeper into their beliefs, let's briefly look at their history and the background of their founder.
Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormon, was an American occultist born in 1805 to Lucy Mack Smith and her husband Joseph Smith Sr., respectively a merchant and farmer. Shortly after Smith's birth, his family was forced to move from Vermont to Palmyra due to a series of crop failures in Vermont. Based in Palmyra, his family became involved in magic and treasure-hunting. Joseph Smith, believed to have possessed some occult powers from a young age, was known as a seer and was reportedly said to have used a seer stone to tell him where he could find precious metals like silver. At the age of 14, Smith claimed to have had a vision in which God the Father and God the Son (Jesus) appeared to him and told him that all the Christian churches were wrong. Although a local minister to whom he related the vision dismissed it as a delusion, Smith firmly claimed the accuracy of his special vision that after the death of the apostles, true Christianity had fallen into complete apostasy, hence the need for restoration. Amazingly, the account of Smith's vision was constantly changing, but he consistently claimed that he had been chosen to launch the new dispensation. However, even after the supposed heavenly visitation, Joseph Smith and his friends continued to search for treasure using occult methods.
In 1823, Smith claimed to have received another revelation from an angel calling himself "Moroni" who revealed him that there was a set of gold plates buried in a stone box not far from his father's farm. The plates purportedly contained an account of history and teachings about ancient American prophets and people. Four years later, Smith claimed that Moroni asked him to remove the plates and translate the characters carved on their surfaces using special stones called "interpreters." It is this knowledge that Smith recorded in the Book of Mormon, published in 1830. This Book resembles the Bible in its length and complexity and in its division into books named after individual prophets. The book of Mormon was purported to be a new revelation, “another witness” to the truth of the Christian Gospel, despite its many theological conflicts with the Bible. It allegedly contains additional scriptures not found in the Bible, such as in its account of the history of the Israelites, who were led from Jerusalem to a promised land in the Western Hemisphere (America) and the claim that Jesus Christ would have appeared to them and preached to them after his resurrection.
As the book itself claims, the record was written by a prophet called Mormon, who inscribed history on golden plates, but the record keepers named Nephites were later wiped out by their enemies, the Lamanites, probably the ancestors of the American Indians. In short, Smith claimed that he only played the role of translating the text originally written in “reformed Egyptian” into English. However, scholarly reference works on languages do not acknowledge the existence of either a “reformed Egyptian” language or “reformed Egyptian” script as it was described by Joseph Smith. There is no archaeological, linguistic, and other evidence of the use of Egyptian writing in the ancient Americas.
What about the foundation of the Mormon church? Despite Smith's questionable background and propensity to distort the truth, many believed and followed Smith, and a new religion was born. April 6, 1830, marked the first date that Smith organized a few dozen of his followers (called Saints) into a church at their first gathering in Missouri. Since then, Smith began gathering his followers into settlements, called "cities of Zion," where he believed they would find refuge from the calamities of the last days. However, none of these communities survived, as their members were expelled as soon as their growing numbers threatened to give them political control of the towns, they settled in. Smith himself was deported three times but at the third time he tried to defend his church with arms, which caused an angry uprising from local Missourians. Consequently, the governor ordered that Mormons be driven out of the state or when they were not possible, exterminated (see Richard, 2023).
Smith never gave up, even in the most difficult circumstances. Disappointed, Smith resorted to counterfeiting money to obtain illusory wealth, which landed him in trouble with the law. He was indeed a man addicted to vicious habits to the extent that 62 neighbors in Palmyra, New York, signed a statement intending to let the public know that his family, particularly Joseph Smith and his father, were entirely devoid of moral character. Here is a quote from their statement:
We, the undersigned, have been acquainted with the Smith family ... and have no hesitation in saying that we consider them destitute of that moral character which ought to entitle them to the confidence of any community. Both Joseph Sr. and Joseph Jr. were considered entirely destitute of moral character and addicted to vicious habits. (cited in Keith Piper, nd)
In November 1838, Smith was imprisoned for robbery, arson, and treason, but escaped custody and fled to Illinois (Shepard & Marquardt, 2016). Known for his 40 wives, one of Joseph Smith's teachings that contributed to his violent death was polygamy, in 1844 in Illinois. This teaching so angered local non-Mormon residents and discontent became so great that an anti-Mormon publication – The Nauvoo Expositor – emerged. To quell this problem, Smith and his supporters destroyed the building of an anti-Mormon newspaper and were subsequently arrested and incarcerated awaiting trial. However, on June 27, 1844, a large mob of angry people forcibly removed Joseph Smith and his brother from the prison and brutally murdered them. After Smith's untimely death, there was a split in the Church, and leadership of the Church fell into the hands of Brigham Young, who devoted himself to carrying on Smith's teachings and program. Another group that refused Brigham's leadership felt under the leadership of Jason Briggs, which later adopted the name "Community of Christ” but continued upholding the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants as sacred texts.
So, what about Smith’s teachings and the church’s doctrine? Mormons have several teachings that contradict the Bible or, indeed, aim to attack Christianity. The first area in which Mormons fall short of true Christianity is their view of God. Mormons believe that God the Father was once a man on another planet but that He attained a status of a Supreme Being of the universe through righteous living. In fact, he elevated himself to that status. According to them also, God the Father had a father, who also had a father, etc. Furthermore, they teach that the Father has spouses and that all humans on Earth are children of a Heavenly Mother who mated with the Father and that Jesus is the firstborn of these unions (Mormon Doctrine, pp. 129 and 516). These teachings are blatantly a contradiction to the Bible. Christians believe in Eternal God (Psalm 90:2; 1 Timothy 1:17), the Creator who is not created (Genesis 1).
Secondly, Mormons fail to understand the Trinity. They believe that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three gods, and the three now form a council of gods called Godhead. They believe that the Father (whom they call Elohim) and the Son (whom they call Jehovah) possess both physical and spiritual attributes, while the Holy Spirit possesses only spiritual properties, but even yet, they say that all spirit is a matter (Doctrine and Covenants 131:7). ). At worst, Mormons believe that Jesus and Satan are spiritual brothers. They claim that Jesus is the first spiritual child of God born to one of God's wives. According to Mormons, Jesus had preeminence over Satan or Lucifer, who was the second “son of God” and “spiritual brother” of Jesus. They base this claim on Colossians 1:15 : “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” However, they ignore verse 16, where we see that by [Christ] all things were created that are in heaven and on earth. Obviously, believing that Jesus and Satan are spiritual brothers would require ignoring many scriptural passages, such as John 1:1–5 or John 10:30 for example.
Furthermore, Mormons believe that not only are Jesus and Lucifer “spirit children of Elohim,” but humans are spirit children as well. In other words, they believe that God, angels and men are all of the same species, one race, one family. As a result, rather than seeing the clear distinction in Scripture between God and His creation, Mormons go further in opposing scriptures like Isaiah 43:10 to teach that any human being can also become a god, just as Jesus was once not God. Although some Mormons sometimes try to sidestep this teaching due to its sensitivity, it is nevertheless part of their official doctrine (Doctrine & Covenants 132:20). This desire to usurp God's place was initially born in the heart of Satan (Isaiah 14:14) and transmitted by him to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:5). Therefore, those who shared the same desire to usurp the throne of God belong to their father, Satan.
Regarding salvation, Mormons use many of the terms that Christians use, such as salvation by grace, justification, and heaven but attribute different definition. For example, everyone has been saved by Christ to live forever, but it is each person's works that will determine where he will spend eternity and the extent of his eternal blessings. In fact, they claim to have faith in Christ, but they believe that heaven can be reached by works and they rely on keeping the commandments of the Mormon Church and practicing good works (Doctrine and Covenants 58:42–43). However, biblically speaking, salvation by grace is incompatible with salvation by human works since as no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law (Romans 3:20; 11:6; Ephesians 2:8–9).
Another heretical teaching of Mormons, related to their teachings on salvation, concerns the afterlife dwelling place. In their beliefs, there are different realms where people will spend eternity depending on their level of salvation or their works. These include the celestial kingdom, the terrestrial kingdom, the telestial kingdom, and outer darkness (Mormons Website, accessed on January 02, 2024). These contradict the biblical teaching that after death we go to heaven or hell based on whether or not we had faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior (2 Corinthians 5:6–8; Luke 16:22–23). When Jesus returns the second time, we will receive resurrected and glorified bodies (1 Corinthians 15:50-54). There will be new heavens and a new earth for believers (Revelation 21:1), and unbelievers will be thrown into an everlasting lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).
Finally, but not least, among the many elements that differentiate Mormonism from Christianity, there is the Mormons' rejection of the Bible. In fact, Mormons believe that the Bible has been irreparably corrupted over the years and is no longer reliable, as their founder claimed. Consequently, Mormons believe that there are four sources of God's divinely inspired words for their doctrine, which include extra-biblical sources. These are the [1] Bible (8th article of their faith), [2] the Book of Mormon, which was translated by Smith and published in 1830. Smith claimed that it was the “most correct book” on earth and that a person can come closer to God by following its precepts “than by any other book” (Church History 4:461); [3] Doctrine and Covenants, containing a compendium of modern revelations concerning "the restored Church of Jesus Christ"; and [4] The Pearl of Great Price, which is considered by Mormons to “clarify” doctrines and teachings that have been lost in the Bible (Articles of Faith, p. 182-185) and adds its own information on the creation of the earth. This is far beyond our imagination of what can be called apostasy. Adding additional material to Scripture and calling it inspired is to contradict God, because God has already declared His revelation complete (Revelation 22:18–19). The Bible is sufficient for instruction in Christian living (2 Timothy 3:16). Claiming that God had to rewrite implies that He was initially mistaken, which is impossible (Deuteronomy 32:4; Numbers 23:19).
After reading this article, you probably have many or few questions about Mormons, especially if you encountered them before. However, you probably no longer wonder if Mormons are Christians, if they are saved, or if you can have peace by joining them! Would you still call them Christians, or do they share the same Jesus as biblical Christians? It’s your answer! Our goal in writing has been to warn you against joining groups with false doctrine and to advocate for a potential harvest area. Although Mormons are generally friendly, loving, and kind people, they have been deceived into believing in the false Christ, thereby producing a false assurance of salvation. That’s Satan’s way of distorting the truth to eventually extend a deceptive hope of godhood (2 Corinthians 4:4). It is very sad that many members of the Mormon Church are unaware of the religion's dark past, altered scriptures and even the complete doctrine of their church. As Christians, we must treat Mormons with love and do our best to share the true Gospel with them.
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Further Resources
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