MORMONISM ASTRAY

www.mormonthink.com

 

http://www.sharpenedsword.com

 

THE STORY

 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the fastest growing Church in the world. It traces its origins back to 1830 when a young man called Joseph Smith of Palmyra, New York, founded the Church of Christ based on the Book of Mormon which he said he translated from golden plates that he found in a hill by the guidance of an angel called Moroni. The book was translated with magic glasses and firstly three witnesses saw the plates and later eight more were granted the privilege. Smith called out what he saw on the glasses to his secretary who wrote what he dictated down. The Book of Mormon was supposed to have been written in Reformed Egyptian. Smith proclaimed himself to be a Prophet and he brought out several revelations before his assassination by a mob in 1844. He had claimed that the Father and the Son appeared to him in 1820 when he prayed about what Church to join. They told him to join none for they were all abominations and the disciples of these Churches were all corrupt. There is so much religious fraud going on that one or two frauds have to strike it lucky and get away with it. The founders of Christianity and Mormonism struck it very lucky indeed.

 

THE THREE WITNESSES SAID MORMONISM APOSTATE

 

The three main witnesses who testified that Smith had the gold plates and was empowered by God to translate were Martin Harris, David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery. References are from The Case Against Mormonism, Vol Two).

 

Harris and Whitmer unlike Cowdery had no way of seeing the translation process for themselves so we can discount them as witnesses for they depended on hearsay. An angel supposedly said the translation was right. There was no end to Smith's disingenuous tactics for it did not stop him using them to validate the translating power.   

 

Martin Harris stated that the Mormons were frauds (page 30).

 

David Whitmer was told by the voice of God to depart from the Latter-day Saints and he said he was as sure of this as he was that God told him the Book of Mormon was inspired to leave the Latter-day Saints. He was chosen by God to lead the Church if Joseph should die in 1834 (page 22). God told Whitmer in a revelation that the Mormons had indulged in all manner of evil and deceit that the people of the world had never committed (page 24). The world was guilty of false religion and changing scriptures according to the Book of Mormon so could it be that the Mormon Church was based on a false Book of Mormon? Hiram Page and Jacob, John and David Whitmer all joined David’s Church and accused Smith of apostasy (page 25). David seemed to hold that all Smith could do supernaturally was translate the Book of Mormon (page 26). Whitmer was known as a man of complete honesty by his neighbours when he lived in Richmond, Missouri (page 32). When Mormons say that Whitmer told the truth about the gold plates they should believe him when he stated that Smith had fallen like David and Solomon and had a voice from Heaven to back it up.

 

The Mormons sometimes claim that when Whitmer was told by God in 1838 to separate himself from the Latter-day Saints that since he had already been excommunicated the revelation was not telling him that the Latter-day Saint movement was untrue and to leave it for he was not part of it but to keep away from the Latter-day Saints at Far West in case he would corrupt them. They have to say this because Whitmer was one of the three supreme witnesses to the Book of Mormon and he said that this voice was as sure as the voice that told him the Book of Mormon was true. But Whitmer always interpreted the revelation as telling him to keep away from the Mormon Church for it and its prophet Joseph had apostatised. God would not have misled Whitmer or risked misleading him. The Mormon Church should say then that Whitmer was a false prophet for only false prophets get revelations they can misunderstand or they should say he lied about God’s voice. But they dare not say either for that would mean that God went to the bother of appointing a man lacking in integrity in religion as a main witness to the Book of Mormon. The Mormons instead of saying that the revelation supports Mormonism should see that if it is ambiguous then they have no right to say it supports their faith for they do not know.

 

All three witnesses accused Joseph Smith of being a fallen prophet (page 10).

 

Smith originally taught that there was one God and marriage should be monogamous and contradicted these doctrines with new revelations later. He even went as far as to alter his own revelations. The witnesses therefore were telling the truth about Mormonism not being the true religion.

 

THE BOOK REFUTES MORMONISM

 

The Book of Mormon firmly teaches monotheism and says that there is no God but one (Alma 11). By contrast, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds that there are countless gods and only two are to be worshipped and they are the Father and the Son. They are one God only in purpose. The Mormons say that the texts that say there is only one God mean that there is only one supreme god over this world, the Father. But when the book never mentions any other gods this interpretation is false.

 

Under the second Prophet of the Church, Brigham Young, it was taught that God the Father was none other than Adam. He said that Adam was the only god with whom we have anything to do (Journal of Discourses 1, 50). The Mormon Church now says that since Adam was the first man and started off the human race he is the only god with whom we have to do in this sense but he is not God the Father. But Brigham complained that the Church could not accept the doctrine that God had revealed to him about Adam (page 70, Mormonism, Mama and Me) which would only be a problem if he believed that Adam and God the Father were the same. In Deseret Weekly News, June 18th 1873, Brigham stated that there was a lot of unbelief that Adam was God in the Church and that God had revealed that he was Adam to Brigham and that Adam said that the spirit children he fathered before he came to earth were to come to earth and become man. Mormons believe that God the Father is the Father of all spirits on earth. Mormons have no problem with Adam being a god and the physical origin of mankind but even they cannot stomach the idea of Adam being God the Father – showing that Mormons claiming that Young has been misinterpreted is untrue. This may be because the Book of Mormon makes a sharp distinction between Adam and the Father (Mosiah 3; Mormon 9:12). It speaks of the perfection of God and says that Adam sinned so Adam can’t be God. Also, the Church never worshipped Adam until the year 1852 when Brigham revealed that Adam was God at the General Conference which rendered the prophet totally infallible according to Doctrine and Covenants 68:4 and he also said that anything he wrote was scripture (Journal of Discourses, 13:95). Against that the Church says that Brigham said that the Bible contains the word of God and the words of the Bible are just what they are and contains the word of bad men and angels as well as good (Journal of Discourses, 13:175, 235). They try to argue that Brigham denied that scripture was perfectly reliable. But the Bible was believed by Mormons to have been altered in the first place so it was different for Brigham to say that about it. Plus what he said does not necessarily imply that the Bible was not word for word the word of God. He could have believed that God inspired his prophets to put the words of bad men in the Bible.

 

Brigham said that everybody on earth would soon know that Adam was God the Father. The Church says that this does not mean that the Adam God doctrine was being made official doctrine. But it must have been when it would have to be stressed like that. You are not going to plan to let everybody know that Adam is God if it is not official doctrine for there is enough to teach people without that complication if it is not official doctrine. He said later that the subject of Adam God did not concern the immediate welfare of the people (HDC, April 25th, 1855). But that might only mean that other things needed stressing for the people had problems accepting the doctrine. The Mormons say that if Brigham as a private person not as Prophet of the Church mistakenly thought that God the Father was Adam he is not saying that Adam is God but making a minor mistake thinking that God came to earth as Adam. They say if there is an error it is about what God has done not who God is. Mormons wouldn’t be so understanding if the pope claimed to have left his body and was replaced by God. It is still idolatry. To say that the Father came to the earth as Adam is to say he sinned and even the Book of Mormon says that Adam sinned. Yet Mormonism believes that when God made the world he was purified and no sin could attract him. To identify God and Adam is to blaspheme God.

 

One wonders how God the Father could have accepted worship coming from people who did not intend to worship Adam. Such an important doctrine would have been revealed earlier in the Church and by Joseph Smith. When Smith revealed that God was an exalted man in the King Follett Discourse he said that Adam was made in his image and likeness (page 181, Mormonism, Mama and Me). So it was revealed to Smith that God made Adam and that Adam was not God.

 

The Church teaches that an apostate priest or Prophet cannot continue the true Church or be a part of it. The Mormon Prophet, Spencer W Kimball who said that the Adam God doctrine was heresy and pretends it was not taught by Brigham Young got his priesthood in a line that stretches back to Brigham Young (page 74, Mormonism, Mama and Me). Joseph Smith produced an Inspired Version of the Bible that accepted what Deuteronomy 18 says about false prophets, that if they err even in one small revelation they are to be abandoned and murdered. The Mormon Church cannot be the true or right Church when it is led by false prophets.

 

The Mormon Church believes that some sins are so bad that one can only atone for them by dying and spilling blood in doing so. Brigham Young who claimed that his works were equal to scripture and who was the Prophet of the Church said that thieves should be murdered on the spot (Journal of Discourses, Volume I or Mormonism, Mama and Me page 121). The Book of Mormon mentions the deaths of Nehor and Zemnarihah but never says they were killed for this reason or that God approved if they were or that God approved at all though Brigham says they were – that is adding to God’s word. He’s forcing an alien interpretation on it. Laman who was slain by Nephi was killed to prevent the nation dwindling in heresy and scepticism (1 Nephi 4:13). Not once does the Book of Mormon say that God approved of the practice of capital punishment among the Nephites. 2 Nephi 9:35 and Alma 34:12 say that the murderer who kills will die but does it mean die naturally? The Mormon Prophet, Joseph Fielding Smith wrote that blood atonement was a scriptural doctrine that is all the standard scriptures (Doctrines of Salvation, Volume 1). Another false revelation.

 

The Book of Mormon says that God will show its readers that it is true (Moroni 10:29). It infers that when it seeks to persuade men that Christ should be believed in and agrees with what reason says is good and evil (Moroni 7:16) that its doctrine does that. How can it do that if it has left out the Mormon doctrines unless the Mormon doctrines are false? The feeling that the book is true has led many into the errors of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. How could God give you a testimony that the book is true when it will lead to a Church that does not really believe in the book?

 

CONCLUSION

 

Mormonism can look very convincing when you have one side of the story and I give the Church credit for ingenuity in devising its apologetics. But there are fatal blunders in the entire system. The system depends too much on speculation to have credibility when the truth is that only a religious system with the fewest problems that need speculation to solve it should be accepted. Remember Occam’s Razor. A system that is too hard to defend against fair and understandable criticisms is not from God. Mormonism to me is a warning about how dangerous religion is for this is a religion that has no credibility and lies and cheats to get converts and it gets away with it,,

 

BOOKS CONSULTED

 

A GATHERING OF SAINTS, Robert Lindsay, Corgi, London, 1990

 

A MARVELLOUS WORK AND A WONDER, LeGrand Richards, Deseret Books, Utah, 1976

 

AN ADDRESS TO ALL BELIEVERS IN CHRIST, David Whitmer, Board of Publications of The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message, Lacy Road, Independence, Missouri

 

ARE THE MORMON SCRIPTURES RELIABLE? Harry L Ropp, IVP, Illinois, 1987

 

ASK YOUR BISHOP, Ira T Ransom, 317 W 7th South, Brigham City, UT 84302

 

CHANGES IN JOSEPH SMITH’S HISTORY, Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1965

 

CHANGING OF THE REVELATIONS, Apostle Daniel McGregor, Church of Christ, Independence, Missouri

 

GOD’S WORD FINAL INFALLIBLE AND FOREVER, Floyd C McElveen, Gospel Truth Ministries, Grand Rapids, 1985

 

CONCISE GUIDE TO TODAY’S RELIGIONS, Josh McDowell and Don Stewart, Scripture Press, Bucks, 1983

 

HOW TO ANSWER A MORMON, Robert A Morey, Bethany House Publishers, Minnesota, 1983

 

JOSEPH SMITH AND MONEY DIGGING, Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1970

 

JOSEPH SMITH’S BAINBRIDGE NY COURT TRIALS, Wesley P Walters, Utah Lighthouse Ministry, Salt Lake City, 1977

 

LARSON’S BOOK OF CULTS, Bob Larson, Tyndale, Wheaton, Illinois, 1988

 

LEAVING THE SAINTS, Martha Beck, Portrait, London, 2005

 

NO MAN KNOWS MY HISTORY, Fawn M Brodie, Vintage, New York, 1995

 

MORMONISM SHADOW OR REALITY? Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1972

 

MORMONISM, AA Hoekema, Paternoster Press, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1978

 

MORMONISM, MAGIC AND MASONRY, Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1988

 

MORMONISM, MAMA AND ME, Thelma Geer, Calvary Missionary Press, Arizona, 1983

 

MORMONISM, THE PROPHET, THE BOOK AND THE CULT, Peter Bartley, Veritas, Dublin, 1989

 

NEW LIGHT ON MORMON ORIGINS, Rev Wesley P Walters, Utah Christian Tract Society, 1967

 

SOME MODERN FAITHS, Maurice C Burrell and J Stafford Wright, IVP, Leics, 1988

 

THE BOOK OF COMMANDMENTS, Church of Christ, Temple Lot, Independence, Missouri, 1995

 

THE BOOK OF MORMON, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Deseret Enterprises Ltd, Manchester, UK, 1972

 

THE CASE AGAINST MORMONISM, VOL 2, Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1968

 

THE FACTS OF MORMONISM ARE STRANGER THAN FICTION, Charles Crane and J Edward Decker, Christian Information Outreach, Kent, 1982

 

THE HUMAN ORIGIN OF THE BOOK OF MORMON, Wesley P Walters, Ex-Mormons for Jesus, Florida 1979

 

WHY THE CHURCH OF CHRIST WAS ESTABLISHED ANEW IN 1929?, Church of Christ with the Elijah Message, Independence, Missouri