“Right now, Mormonism or the ‘latter-day Saints movement’ has about fifteen million adherents worldwide with roughly 57% of them living outside the United States. These numbers stem from an aggressive form of evangelism, having a very zealous missionary program but does this movement’s doctrine align with Biblical text or could it be considered a cult? Carl investigates the origins of Mormonism and specifically its founder, Joseph Smith. Tune in now for an insightful broadcast which provides a fascinating account of this burgeoning movement…
Here is a complete transcript of the podcast…(below)
“Friend, today I’d like to talk about Mormonism or the Latter-Day Saint Movement and particularly the dangers of Mormonism because you could argue that of all the cults out there, Mormonism is the most effective counterfeit of biblical Christianity ever devised. Right now, there are about 15 million adherents of Mormonism worldwide with roughly 57 % of them living outside the United States. These numbers stem from an aggressive form of evangelism, having a very zealous missionary program; in fact, they have 18,000 missionaries and growing. They are well trained and seem to focus more on college towns.
Basically, Mormonism is run like a giant corporation with a huge annual income. All Mormons are required to give, they are required to tithe their income and have very faithful givers as a result. In fact, Mormons have a good reputation largely in the community because they focus on a high moral standard and family values, but this is a reflection of their works, rather than the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Yet they deny the doctrine of original sin and teach that Christ’s death and atonement only removes guilt for past sins, not future ones. But what exactly is Mormonism and who founded it? Well, that gentleman was Joseph Smith Jr. and he was born in 1805 in Sharon, Vermont. His father was a treasure hunter and spent time digging for the treasure of Captain Kidd (a famous pirate) in Vermont and New York State. His dad also got into some trouble for trying to mint his own money.
As a result, the young Joseph Smith was a poorly educated and superstitious youth, with no record of any biblical training whatsoever, who often accompanied his father on these pirate treasure hunts. He also made extensive use of divining rods and peek stones in an attempt to find the treasure of this famous Scottish pirate from the 17th century. As we know, diving rods are a means to find water with the use of demons or familiar spirits and are occultic tools. The treasure of Captain Kidd is the stuff of legends and for more than 300 years people have been trying to find it, to no avail and that includes Smith as there is no record, he ever found it. Not-withstanding, Smith’s treasure hunting habits and persistence earned him a bad reputation among those who knew him when he was growing up in Palmyra, New York.
Now here is where things get very interesting, and I want you to pay close attention. In 1820 Smith claimed he had received a vision in which both God the Father and God the Son appeared to him. He was told in this vision that all churches were an abomination to God and that he was being charged as a prophet to restore the ‘true gospel’ to the world. Now while we’re on the topic, let me read some words to you from the Apostle Paul who specifically warned the Corinthians of Satan’s attempt to beguile their minds with other fables, posed as truth, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 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 Cor 11:4).
Friend beware when anyone tells you about the ‘true gospel’ because if all the established churches that existed for 1800 years prior to Joseph Smith are false, I have a left-handed shovel I want to sell you. No, Joseph Smiths, supernatural visitations in the form of visions, are indeed evidence of another gospel, not the true Gospel. Then in 1823 Joseph Smith claimed that an angel called ‘Moroni and in some accounts, Nephi“, allegedly appeared to him about a number of golden plates which he would later uncover and translate. Did you notice that the source of the writings for Mormonism sounds a bit like a treasure hunt? So does the Apostle Paul have something to say about angels appearing to us and advising us about the truth…It sure does, I’m glad you asked. “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” (Gal 1:8).
Now these golden plates were inscribed with, “reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics”, which Smith was supposedly able to translate by means of a huge pair of spectacles called, “Urim and Thummim.” From 1827 to 1829 he “translated” these plates and in 1830 he published the result, The Book of Mormon. Now just for the record, the real, “Urim and Thummim“, were artifacts used during the time of the Levitical priesthood to determine the will of God. No-one can say with absolute certainty on the exact nature of these objects, but they were a means by which God expressed his will to his people through the high priest. Some scholars speculate that the Urim and Thummim were two flat stones, with the equivalent of yes, “thummim” and no, “urim”, inscribed on them but this is mere speculation at best. But categorically, no-one can validate these were, ‘giant spectacles’, from Woolworths or wherever else Joseph Smith got these supposed ‘heavenly artifacts.’
In 1829 Joseph Smith then went on to found the Church of the Latter-Day Saints in Fayette, New York. He later moved his core followers to Kirtland, Ohio and Zion, Illinois. During that time the Mormons were accused of committing several crimes and as a result were required to leave Missouri also, by order of Governor Boggs in 1839. Smith then led his followers to Illinois where he built a city named Nauvoo. There he first instituted the practice of polygamy which to this day is a still practiced within the church. A local newspaper rose up at the time criticizing Smith and his followers of polygamy and he tried to destroy the local newspaper because of its stand against Mormonism.
Consequently, Smith and his brother Hyrum were thrown in jail and unfortunately, an angry mob stormed the jail on June 27th, 1844, and shot Smith and his brother, thus making them martyrs for the cause of Mormonism. Most Mormons soon submitted to the leadership of their first new president, “Brigham Young”. He led thousands of Mormons on a strenuous journey toward the Southwest until they arrived in Salt Lake City in July 1847. There, Young announced, “This is it!” and hence the reason for so many Mormons living in that location today. Young died in 1877 but he continued and encouraged the practice of polygamy and took 25 wives for himself, up to his death.
Since that time, the Mormons have vehemently resisted the US government’s efforts to make Utah a state and later resisted the polygamy laws. Today the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints is divided up into a series of “wards” and “stakes” led by the President, a Council of Twelve Apostles and a Council of Seventy. As you can see, they deliberately choose to model their organization around the template that Christ instigated within the Gospel accounts. One of the litanies of false teachings they purvey is that they have restored the priesthood of both Aaron and Melchizedek. But friend, the word of God says there is only one high priest, who made his sacrifice once and for all, and that is Jesus Christ! In addition, this priesthood is not transferable, and we are also saints and priests in God’s sight by the blood of the Lamb, so this notion that these priestly orders have been restored is totally false. If you want to find out more about the precise role of Jesus Christ as High Priest, I urge you to read the book of Hebrews.
Now the actual texts they use as “scripture” include, The Book of Mormon, Doctrines and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price. The Book of Mormon which supposedly was written by several people from about 600 BC to 428 AD, tells of the immigration of an ancient people known as the Jaredites, from the Tower of Babel to Central America. Another false teaching, they pose is that all black people are cursed with dark skin because they are the descendants of Cain and only until recently, Mormons have not allowed African Americans to enter their priesthood. Most Mormons believe that Jesus Christ is the natural offspring of Mary and Adam, not the Holy Spirit. Therefore, they deny the true deity of Jesus Christ as God. Mormons say that Jesus is really no different from other men, and He is referred to as our elder brother and even go as far as to claim that Lucifer was the spirit brother of Jesus! Ok, so let’s go to the text itself and I will share briefly some problems with the Book of Mormon:
- There are no reliable witnesses whatsoever that Joseph Smith ever found any Golden Plates as he claims. Even by his own admission any witnesses were later denounced by Smith as men of low character.
- Even though the book of Mormon was supposedly buried in 428 AD, amazingly it contains about 25,000 words verbatim from the 1611 King James Bible! This is a 2000 yr. discrepancy. To top that, the words of Peter, James and John are all captured in this Book of Mormon before they were even born. Friend this is nothing but evidence of plagiarism from a charlatan.
- The book also contains over 2000 corrections made since 1830 and many of these changes have changed the meaning of the text. If Smiths translations were truly divinely inspired, there would be no need for these changes. Top to that, Smith even copied some of the translation errors of the King James Version, further verifying his plagiarism.
Let me say right here, that Mormons are some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. I’ve worked with several of them down the years and they would invite me into their homes and are always very welcoming and I would like to share a short story. My wife and I were vacationing in the state of Utah a few years back and I switched places with my wife on the long drive and I said, babe watch out for that boulder, you know the one, right there that we are traveling toward, that boulder right there….SOUND EFFECT…anyway, after we ran over the boulder, …it wasn’t more than 10 minutes until a lovely Mormon family stopped by to ask us if we were ok and drove us to the nearest garage to get repairs on the vehicle. They were really nice people, friendly and caring; but thought they had to earn their way into heaven by good works.
Friend, if you are a Mormon, I urge you to investigate your own organization as soon as possible. If someone claims they possess the word of God, they need to prove it is inerrant, infallible and divinely inspired. Don’t just follow an organization because you were born into it. Read the King James Version of the bible for yourself. Joseph Smith copied it because he knew in his own heart this was the real word of God and you can too. No amount of works will enable you to get into the kingdom of heaven and the Book of Mormon is not infallible. It’s time to do your own research friend. I also wish to thank Dr. Kenneth Boa for granting me permission to use some of his source material in this broadcast.”
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