"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."
- Galatians 1:8 (KJV)
History
The founder of Mormonism, or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith, Jr., was born on December 23, 1805 in Sharon, Vermont. Smith was the fourth of ten children of Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith. In 1817 the family moved to Palmyra, New York (near present day Rochester).
Most of the members of the Smith family soon joined the Presbyterian church, but young Joseph remained undecided. His argument was that all the strife and tension among the various denominations made him question which denomination was right. It was this conflict that set the stage for Joseph's alleged first vision.
The First Vision
In 1820 Joseph allegedly received a vision that became the basis for the founding of the Mormon Church. According to Mormon history, the background of Joseph's first vision was a revival that broke out in the spring of 1820, in Palmyra, New York:
"Indeed, the whole district of the county seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir and division amongst the people, some crying 'Lo, here!' and others 'Lo, there!' Some were contending for the Methodist faith, some for the Presbyterian and some for the Baptist" - Joseph Smith, The Pearl of Great Price, 2:5
This led to Joseph's inquiry of the Lord as to which of these denominations was right. Smith reported the incident as follows:
"My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right - and which I should join.
I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight; that those proffessors were all corrupt; that 'they draw near to me with thier lips, but their heart are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof" - Joseph Smith, The Pearl of Great Price, 2:18-19
The Second Vision
Joseph then recounts a second vision he had on September 21, 1823, in which he claims:
"... a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor... Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description... (He) said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil spoken of among all people. He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fullness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants; Also there were two stones in silver bows - and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim - deposited the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted 'seers' in ancient or former times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book... While he was conversing with me about the plates, the vision was opened to my mind that I could see the place where the plates were deposited, and that so clearly and distinctly that I knew the place when I visited it... Convenient to the village of Manchester, Ontario County, New York, stands a hill of considerable size, and the most elevated of any in the neighborhood. On the west side of the hill, not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a gold box... I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate, as stated by the messenger... I made an attempt to take them out, but was forbidden by the messenger, and was again informed that the time for bringing them forth had not yet arrived, neither would it, until four years from that time; but he told me that I should come to that place precisely in one year from that time; and he would be there to meet with me, and that I should continue to do so until the time should come for obtaining the plates... on the twenty-second day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, having gone as usual at the end of another year to the place where they were deposited, the same heavenly messenger delivered them up to me with this charge: that I should be responsible for them; that if I should let them go carelessly, or my endeavors to preserve them, until he, the messenger, should call for them, they should be protected." - The Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith, 2:50-54
Obeying the Heavenly Messenger
Joseph then moved to his father-in-law's house in Harmony, Pennsylvania where, with supposedly divine help, he began to copy the charactors off the plates and trnaslate them. The publication of the translation of the plates was financed by a New York farmer named Martin Harris who was told by Smith that the writing on the plates was 'Reformed Egyptian'. The translation was finally completed and placed on sale on March 26, 1830.
A little over a week later, on April 6, 1830, at Fayette, New York, 'the church of Christ' was officially organized with six members. The name was eventually changed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The number of members increased rapidly and a group of them moved to Kirtland, Ohio (near present day Cleveland). It was here that Joseph supervised the first printing of the divine revelations he had received.
First known as the Book of Commandments, the work has undergone significant and numerous changes and now constitutes one of the Mormon sacred works, retitled Doctrine and Covenants. Smith also worked on a revision ('divinely aided') of the King James Version of the Bible.
Although the Mormon church began to grow in numbers while expanding westward, it was not without persecution. Battles were fought between Mormons and thier non-Mormon counterparts in Far West, Missouri, a town founded by the Mormons. Here Smith was imprisoned along with some other Mormon leaders.
After escaping, he and his followers moved to Illinois to a town Smith named Nauvoo, where he organised a small army and gave himself the title of Lieutenant-General. During this time, the Mormons were busily constructing a temple and evangelizing the populace.
When a local paper, the Nauvoo Expositor, began publishing anti-Mormon material, Smith ordered the press destroyed and every copy of the paper burned. This act led to Smith's arrest and imprisonment. Released and then rearrested, Smith was taken to jail in Carthage, Illinios along with his brother Hyrum.
On June 27, 1844, a mob of about 20 people, thier faces blackend to avoid recognition, stormed the jail and shot and killed Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Joseph did not die without a fight. According to the church's own account he shot several of the mob members with a gun he had (see History of the Church, 6:617-18). The Mormons, however, considered Joseph Smith a martyr for thier cause.
Brigham Young
After the death of Joseph Smith the leadership went to Brigham Young, the president of the Twelve Apostles, who convinced the great majority of Mormons that he was the right successor.
Young led the group westward on a journey which saw many hardships including indian attacks, exposure and internal strife. On July 24, 1847, the members numbered approximately 150,000. Today(This text was published in 1983), the church has over four million members world wide.
The Claims of Mormonism
The Mormons claim they are the restoration of the true church established by Jesus Christ. It is not Protestant or Catholic, but claims rather, to be the only true church. "If it had not been for Joseph Smith and the restoration, there would be no salvation outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"- Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 670
"No salvation without accepting Joseph Smith... If Joseph Smith was verily a prophet, and if he told the truth... then this knowledge is of the most vital importance to the entire world. No man can reject that testimony without incurring the most dreadful consequences, for he can not enter the Kingdom of God."- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, pp. 189-190
The claims of Joseph Smith and his followers are clear. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims to be God's true church on earth while all others are wrong. Commenting on Joseph Smith's first vision, Dr. Walter Martin puts the matter into perspective:
"With one 'Special Revelation' the Mormon Church expects its intended converts to accept the totally unsupported testimony of a fifteen-year-old boy that nobody ever preached Jesus Christ's Gospel from the close of the Apostolic age until the 'Restoration' through Joseph Smith, Jr., beginning in 1820! We are asked to believe that the Church Fathers for the first five centuries did not proclaim the true Gospel - that Origen, Justin, Iraneaus, Jerome, Eusebius, Athanasius, Chrysostom, and then later Thomas Aquinas, Huss, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Tyndale, Wycliffe, Knox, Wesley, Whitefield, and a vast array of faithful servants of Jesus Christ all failed where Joseph Smith Jr., was to succeed!
With one dogmatic assertion, Joseph pronounced everybody wrong, all Christian theology an abomination, and all professing Christians corrupt - all in the name of God! How strange for this to be presented as a restored Christianity, when Jesus Christ specifically promised that 'all gates of Hell' would not prevail against the church (Matthew 16:18)! In Mormonism we find God contradicting this statement in a vision to Joseph Smith Jr., some 18 centuries later! - The Maze of Mormonism, 1978, p.31
The Mormon Church has four accepted sacred works: The Bible, the Book of Mormon, Doctrines and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price. The present prophet's words are also a source of authority.
The Bible
The Mormon articles of faith read, "We believe the Bible to be the Word of God in so far as it is translated correctly..." (Articles of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Article 8). The Book of Mormon claims that a correct translation of the Bible is impossible since the Catholic Church has taken away from the word of God "... many parts which are plan and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away. And all this they have taken away. And all this they have done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord"( - 1 Nephi 13:26b, 27).
Orson Pratt, an early apostle of the Mormon Church, put it this way, "Who knows that even one verse of the Bible has escaped pollution, so as to convey the same sense now that it did in the original?"(Orson Pratt's Works, 1891, p.218).
Thus Mormons put more trust in the other three sacred books, which have escaped pollution, than they do the Bible. This opens the door for the Mormons to add their new non-Biblical teachings by claiming they were doctrines deliberately removed by the Catholic Church. The claim that the scriptures have been changed and corrupted throughout the centuries is totally false (see Answers, Here's Life Publishers, 1980, pp. 4-6).
The Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is also considered insired: "We also believe the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God"(Articles of Faith, Article 8). The Book of Mormon is suposedly an account of the original inhabitants of America to whom Christ appeared after His resurrection.
Doctrine and Covenants
Doctrine and Covenants is a record of 138 revelations revealing some of Mormonism's distinctive doctrines such as baptism for the dead and celestial marriage.
The Pearl of Great Price
The Pearl of Great Price contains the Book of Moses, which is roughly equivalent to the first six chapters of Genesis, and The Book of Abraham, a translation from an Egyptian Papyrus that later proved to be fraudulent. It also contains an extract from Joseph Smith's translation of the Bible; extracts from the History of Joseph Smith, which is an autobiography; and the Articles of Faith.
The Living Prophets
The living prophet also occupies an important part in present-day Mormonism. Ezra Taft Benson, who at the time of this writing is (was) President of the council of Twelve Apostles, said in a speech on February 26, 1980, at Brigham Young University, that a living prophet (head of the church) is "more vital to us than the standard works". This echoed what was given to the ward teachers (similar to Christian Education adult leaders) in 1945.
"Any Latter-day Saint who denounces or opposes, whether actively or otherwise, any plan or doctrine advocated by the prophets, seers, and revelators of the Church is cultivating the spirit of apostasy,... Lucifer ... wins great victories when he can get members of the Church to speak against their leaders and do thier own thinking...
When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done. When they propose a plan - it's God's plan. When they point the way, there is no other which is safe. When they give directions, it should mark the end of controversy." - Improvement Era, June 1945, p. 354
The Bible Says
The Bible contradicts the Mormon reliance on multiple controdictory revelations. While the Mormon scriptures contradict each other and the Bible, the Bible never contradicts itself and the God of the Bible never contradicts himself. Hebrews 1:1-3 tells us what the source of our knowledge comes from:
"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:"
Any message that purports to be from God must agree with the message already brought by Jesus Christ in fulfillment of the Old Testament (Luke 24:27). Eternal life comes from the works and gifts of Jesus Christ, not from Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, or any other false Mormon prophet (John 20:31). Proverbs 30:5-6 warns those who try to add to God's Word, saying "Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." (KJV)
