http://www.exmormon.org/whyileft.htm
http://www.vftb.net/archive/vftb095.mp3
http://www.mrm.org/
http://www.mrm.org/questions-for-lds
If you are not a Mormon, listen to the above interview and view the links prior to reading my writing.
What follows is a study for Christians who don't know much about Mormons, and for anyone else who doesn't know about Mormonism and thinks it may just be another denomination of Christianity.
A few months ago, i saw two Mormons at the mall, presumably proselthyzing(sp?) to two young guys. None of them looked very joyful.
I thought about going to talk to them, but chickened out, since I'm rather poor in face to face interaction especially if I'm on the spot. I did pray for them, and maybe that was all i needed to do. Maybe i should have talked to them. One of the reasons i didn't talk to them is because it's very difficult and tricky to share the Gospel with Mormons.
Mormons for the most part are friendly and kind people. I met some in Utah once and they were decent. But Mormonism is very, very complex. Before going further, ask that God lead you in the name of Jesus Christ, and that His Holy Spirit will lead you. Since Mormonism is complex, don't let me or my words get in the way.
The tricky thing with Mormonism is they have many things and in common with main-line Christianity. The terms are all the same. To get a flavor of this, here's something from a prominent Mormon website. (http://www.aremormonschristian.org/). This of course makes it hard to evangelize Mormons-they already think they are saved.
Here's a good example from that site.
"Most will agree that Christians believe...
that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, foretold in the Old Testament of the Bible. that Jesus of Nazareth is the Savior of the world. that God loved us so he sent His Son Jesus to suffer for our sins that after Jesus died on the cross, he was resurrected. that we must accept Jesus as our Savior to return to live with God.
that the Bible is God's word."
The site goes on to say that Mormon's also believe these things. In short, many Mormons believe that they are truly Christians. But the trick is, they move from the foundation of truth (the Bible, the Gospel, who Jesus is, Jesus' death and resurrection) and begin talking about Joseph Smith and certain special revelations he is said to have received. Some of these visions were not known even by Smith's early followers. He allegedly met with Jesus and angelsd and received "hidden knowledge."
Many paint Joseph Smith as a spiritual seeker, and he very likely encountered spirits. They indicate that he went out to pray felt an evil presence, but continued to pray and had a spiritual encounter-allegedly with Jesus Christ. I say allegedly, because Mr. Smith never tested the spirit (1 John 4:1-3) and this would have been a good idea given the evil presence that he admittedly felt. It also does not specifically say who he was praying to, or for. That alone is worth looking at his theology with a wary eye.
Not to mention that seeing Jesus, or someone we believe is Jesus, does not mean it's really Him.
Lynn Dickie of Set the Captives Free has stated that she met a spirit (when she was stil into the New Age) that sold itself as Jesus, and she now states that it was not. The "Jesus" she saw, was a spirit masquerading as Jesus and led her further into the New Age, something the real Jesus would never do. Remember, that satan and his minions can present themselves as something they are not. (2 Corinthians 11:14-15; 1 Timothy 4:1) So just because Joseph Smith "saw Jesus" doesn't actually mean it was the real Jesus. That's the whole point of testing the spirits.
Later on, Smith claimed to have met Moroni, an angel who supposedly revealed "hidden knowledge," (echoes of Revelation 2:24) something common in nearly every false teaching. "Deeper truths" are often used by spirits to make an individual feel special. The angel reportedly revealed things about the "lost tribes of Israel", a theory which has been debunked quite thoroughly by Chuck Missler and I'm sure other serious scholars. They also revealed that "Jesus" allegedly visited these tribes, which gives us a Quetzalcoatl-esque vibe, after His resurrection. This is attractive, i almost fell for this too a while back and discussed this in my Quetzalcoatl blog.
But, these hidden archeological "truths" about the lost trives and Jesus coming as Quetzalcoatl have no evidence to back them up. One such claim is that the pre-columbian tribes used Egyptian/Hebrew style writing, which is completely false. The book of Mormon makes a number of these types of archaelogical claims which are easily refuted.
"There is a general consensus among non-Mormon archaeologists (and even some Mormon archaeologists) that the archaeological record does not substantiate the Book of Mormon account, and in some ways directly contradicts it."
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeology and the Book of Mormon
While i've shared some basic information about Mormonism above, as well as a few reasons to question it, it certainly does not exhaustively study or refute the many claims Mormons adhere to. It shouldn't be necessary to look at every whit of Mormon doctrine to figure out if they are truly Christians or not.
This can be revealed easily with three things.
1) What do they teach about God and His Son Jesus Christ? 2) Who was Joseph Smith really? 3) What gospel do they preach?
1) Mormons believe that God is a physical being. They also believe that "god" was a regular human being like us, but because He performed enough good works, He evolved into "god" and received a planet to rule and lives on a world called Kolob. (http://www.hiddenmysteries.org/religion/lds/mormondoctrines.shtml)
Here's an excellent article breaking down the beliefs and details of Mormonism.
http://bible-truth.org/LDStheism.html
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolob
Who created him, and gave him the planet to rule remains a mystery. As with the ancient aliens or ancient astronaut theory, the question of who made the advanced aliens and so on is shrouded in mystery. And how is it that a man can evolve into a god?
In other words, without an eternal, self-originating, self-sustaining creator God, as outlined in the Bible nothing makes any sense. To say that God was a normal being who evolved is nonsense.
Furthermore, Mormons believe that this god had physical sexual intercourse to create the souls of people, "spirit babies" and with Mary to conceive Jesus. (http://www.hiddenmysteries.org/religion/lds/mormondoctrines.shtml)
This is in direct contradiction to one of the Bible's central points of doctrine. That is, the Holy Spirit conceived Jesus in a virgin, miraculously, without sex (hence why she was still a virgin at Christ's birth) (Matthew 1:20 as cited in the below link) Mormons deny the Holy Spirit and His part in the virgin birth.
http://mmoutreachinc.com/mormons/morchristjesus.html
This link further contrasts the differences between the created, Mormon god and Mormon-jesus and the Eternal, Son of God Jesus as revealed throughout scripture, the Holy Bible.
One key item, is that Mormons believe Jesus and Lucifer are brothers (http://www.hiddenmysteries.org/religion/lds/mormondoctrines.shtml) which is completely unBiblical. In other words, Mormon doctrine makes lucifer into an equal of the Jesus. That is another common element with deceiving spirits. They downgrade Jesus and elevate themselve. Lucifer was a created being, while Jesus is uncreated and an integral part of the Godhead. Any time Jesus is dethroned from deity to equality with angels or other creatures, that's a clue a teaching is false.
Galatians 1:8-9
8 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. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
2) Who was Joseph Smith?
Getting the real dirt on Joseph Smith is like trying to organize the origin story of Boba Fett. There's a number of conflicting accounts, and they all seem plausible.
To start, the wiki on Smith (for what thats worth) indicated that his parents played fast and loose with religious beliefs, including partaking in folk religious practices (i.e. occult) which definitely sounds like an open door to false spirits to me. His father and brother were also possibly Freemasons, which would likely open that door further.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism and Freemasonry
He was also apparently inspired by Freemasonry and seems to have been a Mason.
http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/masonicsymbolsandtheldstemple.htm
"Smith and several prominent Mormons had become Freemasons and founded a lodge in Nauvoo, Illinois, in March 1842. Soon after joining Freemasonry, Smith introduced a new temple "Endowment" ceremony including a number of symbolic elements that were essentially identical with their analogues within Freemasonry. Smith remained a Freemason until his death; however, later Mormon leaders distanced themselves from Freemasonry."
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism and Freemasonry
In addition to this Mason connection, he seemed to have a general affinity for the occult.
"Mormon scholar D. Michael Quinn, has carefully documented that Smith was influenced by the culture of his day and particularly by his immediate family. His father and uncle both used divining rods.5 Luman Walters was likely the individual who introduced Joseph Smith, Jr. to using the "seer stone" for the pretense of discovering treasure.6 The Palmyra Reflector dubbed him as "Walters the Magician" who operated by the use of "familiar spirits," using instruments of witchcraft such as a "stuffed toad, an old sword," and a "seer stone."7"
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Mormons/mormon-kabbalah2.htm
With all of these obvious ties to the occult, any spiritual revelation that Smith had would in all liklihood be with fallen spirits.
3) What is the Mormon "gospel"?
True Christianity relies purely on faith, on the finished work of Jesus Christ's death on the cross and resurrection. It is purely by God's grace that we are saved through repentence and believing that what Jesus did was enough.
"The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus lived a life of perfect righteousness, of perfect obedience to God, not for His own well being but for His people. He has done for me what I couldn't possibly do for myself. But not only has He lived that life of perfect obedience, He offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice to satisfy the justice and the righteousness of God."
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-gospel/
Sounds pretty clear. Human effort is worth nothing in terms of eternal security with God, and rightly so.
So what is the Mormon gospel? Not a gospel at all, there is no good news of a sure thing. No promise or hope.
"Mormons believe that one's salvation is based on such good works as baptism, good deeds, missionary work, and following Mormon teachings. In The Articles of Faith, by James Talmage, justification by faith in Jesus Christ is called a "pernicious doctrine" twice and he states that it has been "an influence for evil."
http://www.biblebelievers.com/jmelton/Mormons.html
When examined under the light of the Bible, Mormonism's true colors are revealed. It's the same old lie Satan gave us in the garden, "ye shall be as gods". It may have Christian iconography and trappings, but in the end it's just the same old trick of turning people away from the truth of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, resurrected and glorified.
