Mormonism
An in-depth teaching series that looks at what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe and teach and how as Christians we are to respond Please click on the PDF links to read each article in full.
Part 1 - An Introduction to Mormonism
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a cult whose membership is twice the size of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. As of December 2024, the official membership of the LDS Church stands at 17.5 million. By far, the largest proportion of this amount – nearly 7 million (40%) is located in the founding country of the United States of America, with some 2.2 million living in the State of Utah. Excluding the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the second-largest Christian cult in the world with a global presence in more than 160 countries. It has 80,000 active missionaries on every mission field of the planet. It boasts more than 200 Temples worldwide, with a further 60 currently under construction and 114 more announced for future building. According to the independent research group, The Widow’s Mite, the Mormon Church received an estimated $8 billion in tithes and offerings in 2024. It is estimated that over the course of the same year, its wealth increased by $28 billion, with a significant portion of this growth coming from investments. This took the total assets in 2024 to an estimated $293 billion, making the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints one of the richest religious organisations in the world.
In this introductory teaching part, we begin to examine the core teachings and practices of Mormonism. What you shall discover will shock you.
Like every movement, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had a beginning, a period of development, and a time of stability. The LDS Church has typically been separated into three distinctive periods.
1. “Early History” under the leadership of Joseph Smith, Jr.
2. “Pioneering era” under the leadership of Brigham Young.
3. “Modern Era” beginning around the turn of the 20th century
The purpose of this second teaching part is to explore this history. To understand the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today, one must first understand the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as it began and developed. The Church makes great claims for itself and prides itself on outlandish doctrines which run counter to the Word of God. It had a founding prophet who claimed to be visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son, along with a whole host of biblical characters who have long departed from this world – John the Baptist, Peter, James and John. It claims to have restored the fullness of the lost Gospel, even though it was never lost. It has three additional books of authority besides the King James Bible -- The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. This is more sources of extra-biblical revelation than any other cult. Such claims call for a thorough examination, and what better way to begin to do this than to start at the beginning.
Part 3 - The Book of Mormon (Pt. 1)
The Book of Mormon is just under one and a half times larger than the New Testament. It comprises 15 books, which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say were written by Nephite prophets. The LDS Church believes that whilst the Bible documents the events of God’s chosen people, Israel in the Eastern Hemisphere, the Book of Mormon documents the lives of the Israelites inhabiting the Western Hemisphere, namely the ancient Americas. Interestingly, much of what the LDS Church believes doctrinally is not actually found in the Book of Mormon but in the other writings of Joseph Smith: Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. Despite this, Joseph Smith said of the Book of Mormon:
“I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than any other book.”
Joseph Smith was known for making bold statements, and the quote above is surely numbered among them. As with any claim, it ought to be able to withstand scrutiny and examination. In this teaching, the Book of Mormon will be held to the standard of modern science to see if indeed it is the most correct book on earth.
Part 4 - The Book of Mormon (Pt. 2)
The Mormon Church claim that over the centuries, the Bible has suffered the loss of many plain and precious parts. They believe that the most reliable way to measure the accuracy of the biblical text is not by comparing the many translations available today, but by comparing the Bible with the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is the measuring stick for truth, and according to Joseph Smith, it is the most correct of any book on earth. That is a very bold claim!
As we continue to examine the Book of Mormon, consideration shall be given to its historical reliability. What artefacts (if any) have archaeologists unearthed to support the historicity of the Book of Mormon? How does one explain the historical errors contained within it? How did whole portions of the 1769 King James Bible make their way into the Book of Mormon if the gold plates from which the book claimed to be translated predate the King James Bible by more than a millennium? These questions and more are answered in this fourth teaching on Mormonism.
Part 5 - The Doctrine of God
Of the many teachings contained in the Bible, there is one teaching that the Bible is unequivocal about and absolute in its declaration: there is but one true and living God. Monotheism oozes out of every page of God’s sacred record in both the Old and New Testaments. Orthodoxy demands that the adherent of Christianity hold to the belief in the existence of only one God!! Every prophet from Moses through to Jesus taught that there was but one God. At first glance, it appears that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are on the same page. However, as one begins to dig beneath the surface of its conventional publicity statements, one discovers layer after layer of heresy from the denial of the Trinity to the human anatomy of God the Father.
If one is to understand the Mormon hope as it relates to eternity, one must first understand the particular God whom they serve.
Part 6 - The Doctrine of Man
When a Christian is asked to explain why heaven will be heaven for him, it does not take him long to give his answer. Heaven will be heaven because God is there! Yet, when a Mormon is asked to explain the hope that they have in Christ, their whole concept of eternity is fashioned by the doctrine of Exaltation, namely the belief that man might one day become a god, possessing all power, glory, dominion, and knowledge.
For the Bible believing Christian, the leap from man to God is an eternal gulf that can never be spanned. Man will never be God for the simple reason that God is the creator and man is the created. However, in an ever-evolving universe, Mormons believe that God the Father was once a man who, through specific actions, achieved exaltation himself. If such a formidable feat were possible for God, then the Mormon hope is that it is also possible through Christ for them. The purpose of this sixth teaching is to understand the Mormon position and examine such claims in light of Holy Scripture.
Part 7 - The Doctrine of Christ
When one is dealing with a cult, there are always two main areas where the scope of the target is aimed. Attacking either one of these is enough to designate a group a cult, but more commonly, one will find that the cults delight in destroying both. What are these two areas of repeated attack? The person of Jesus Christ and the doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. No cult will ever discard the name of Jesus, as the devil seeks through subtilty to catch the unsuspected soul off guard. Muslims have a Jesus, Jehovah’s Witnesses have a Jesus, the Roman Catholic Church has a Jesus, and so do the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The question is not whether they have a Jesus but which Jesus. Do they have the real Jesus of Holy Scripture?
How is one to determine whether the Jesus Christ of Mormonism is the Jesus Christ of Scripture? How is one to know whether the Jesus Christ of the LDS Church is the genuine Jesus or a counterfeit imposter? The only way of ascertaining this is by examining LDS doctrine as it relates to Jesus Christ, they profess. In this seventh teaching part, careful examination shall be given to see if the Mormon Jesus is the biblical Jesus.
Part 8 - The Doctrine of Salvation
Whenever one asks a member of a cult whether they have absolute and full assurance of salvation, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, one will be met first with a stutter followed by the answer, “I hope so!” The reason for this is that cults cannot offer their members assurance of salvation, because salvation depends on remaining a member, since there is no salvation outside that particular group. This is true of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roman Catholics, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The topic of focus in this final teaching part is two-fold. Before one can understand how a member of the LDS Church qualifies for salvation, it is essential to ask the question, What is salvation?
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