Thanks for this Tim.
I understand that you were constrained by an economy of words in the section about what he taught, so I see why you summed it up as "putting his own authority over the authority of Scripture." I was hoping I could have heard a little more (even a succinct statement) about how they view the Trinity and how they view salvation (do they really believe that salvation comes through polygamy?). I'll try looking elsewhere. Thanks!

Christian- I would recommend Mormonism Unmasked by R. Phillip Roberts. It contains a thorough explanation of mormon beliefs.

I wrote on this a long time ago - http://mzellen.com/2006/02/... - They are anti-Trinitarian, as their father god is a created being, with offspring (Jesus and Satan.) People are not saved through polygamy, but in order to have the "true and saving gospel" you must be Mormon. Since they believe that children are already spirits in heaven waiting to be born, it makes since to have as many as possible born into Mormon families, which meant that polygamy made sense.

Just another ladder-climbing, self-ascendancy religion project, cooked up by man. It's just another Godless religion.

Share the Good News with one of them if you can. The Good News that Christ has done it all for us on the Cross. No more project required.

You never know. One might hear it and believe it. We did.

It is hard to get a summary of mormon doctrines in a post of this length. As a former mormon saved by the sovereign grace of God I can attest to the absolute corruption of mormon teachings in spite of the public personae of individual mormons who are often very nice people. There are a number of solid ministries that witness to mormons and equip others to do the same. I recommend Mormonism Research Ministry ( http://www.mrm.org/ ) and Utah Lighthouse Ministry ( http://www.utlm.org/ ). Both were very helpful in my own journey out of mormonism.

Snake-oil salesman come in all shapes and sizes, today is worse ever. At least in olden times you could see them coming and go hide in the barn until they passed. Now they are everywhere. My father once told me regarding religion that "most people want to be lead but do little to find out who is doing the leading or what it is they are actually promoting." After reading John Krakauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven" I was convinced of two things: 1) Joseph Smith created his religion because he saw it as good business of which he could be the leader, and 2) He and his male compatriots were playing to their base instincts, enjoying the power over woman, some so young that today we'd jail them. His followers first clue this religion was made up out of whole cloth and was pure hokum should have been Smith's rewriting of God's Word.

This is the second time I've shared these passages from 1 Cor 1:12 and 3:4-7 today:

One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” ...
When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world? After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.

We should not be blindly following any earthly teacher. They are fallen broken people just like we are. We need to follow the Bible.

Discernment then becomes the operative word of the day.

Hi, i see a typo towards the end.

[Showing that the problem 'when' the fractured church is not corrupted scriptures but corrupted hearts.]

I think it needs to be 'with' instead of 'when'

What interests me in the book of mormon was the revelation that "reformed Egyptian" was used on the golden plates rather then Hebrew. Smith says he was told that Hebrew would have been better, but that it wouldn't have fit on the plates <pause .="" .="" .="" crickets=""> Ummm didn't God make these plates and couldn't He have made the plates bigger or font smaller???

Thanks Tim!!

One note of interest: there is no historical evidence of any religious revival anywhere near where Joe Smith lived when he supposedly was visited by God.

Joseph Smith's influence and teachings have spread beyond what most people think of as the Mormon or LDS church. I have discovered in the last week that a "nondenominational" college I had been considering attending is actually affiliated with the Church of Christ, offering preference in employment and promotion, as well as enrollment to active members. Several of their instructors also participate in a program that offers philosophical teaching from "Great Books" to homeschool families. After substantial research, I found some disturbing information which was not readily available on the college website.
Some branches of the Church of Christ also adhere to Joseph Smith's teachings, claiming to be Restorationist (similar to the Stone-Campbellites), continuing Smith's practice of adding to Scripture, and misdirecting followers by superimposing their authority over God's Word. In light of Smith's claim that the confusion from the various denominational beliefs fueled his frustration, it is ironic that there are also indications that some churches affiliated with the Church of Christ (sometimes also associated with the Disciples of Christ and the Christian Church) strongly reject Smith's teachings. There is still confusion in the ranks, but Satan is using it to draw unsuspecting families into a cult based on false teaching. Thanks for pointing out the root of Smith's apostasy.

I attended a small Church of Christ college, lived in that "non-denominational" church group (which they believe is not a denomination because there is no denominational hierarchy) for over twenty years and have NEVER heard anything about them adhering to, or being influenced by, Joseph Smith's teachings. I'm curious where you found such information. If you are basing it on their association with the "Restorationist" movement, then Baptists would need to be included under this umbrella as well. But really, wanting to restore the church to the New Testament model is no reason to say that any particular group adheres to Jospeh Smith's teachings.

I think, hope and assume that you are getting "Church of Jesus Christ" mixed up with "Church of Christ" in there somewhere.

Signed,
Someone who no longer attends a Church of Christ, but knows a good deal about its function within North America.

If you go back and re-read the article, it is Community of Christ (not Church of Christ) :) - just a FYI

First, let me reiterate that in my original post I repeatedly stated that
"some" Church of Christ organizations associate themselves with
Joseph Smith's teachings, while others strongly reject them. And, let me
also state that restoration to first century Christianity is not something I am criticizing. So, I am not basing the connection with
Smith on the Restoration movement.

I am also not mixing "Church of Christ" up with "Church of Jesus
Christ" (of Latter Day Saints). There is an organization that boldly
goes by the former name, refers to its restorationist beginnings, and clearly associates itself with Joseph Smith's teachings, while rejecting some of the typical Mormon/LDS teachings and practices. As I stated, this does not appear to be true of all Churches of Christ and, in fact, may be an issue of two very different organizations utilizing the same
name. To further compound the confusion, the school I was/am (?)
considering is on a list of Restorationist Colleges, along with several
"Christian" universities and "Brigham Young University." I do not have a
Church of Christ background, and it is extremely difficult and frustrating to dig through this mix of teachings and organizations.

I have attended churches of Christ and Christian churches all my life, and I've never heard of ANY church of Christ affiliating itself with Joseph Smith or LDS.

Wanda and Caryn,
Clearly your experiences have not been with the organization I discovered as I was researching. I believe that this is a case of two organizations, both sharing some degree of restorationist teaching, but not necessarily following the same doctrinal path in other areas. I have no experience with Churches of Christ and limited experience (although good) with Christian Churches. In the process of my exploration, I found a Church of Christ statement of faith, which sounds very much like the doctrinal statement at the college I was considering, until it embraces the Book of Mormon. A further study of their teachings reveals that they do in fact believe Joseph Smith's writings to be given by God. I consistently find these church organizations mixed on websites, possibly because of the restorationist commonality. But, as someone who is attempting to be cautious, careful, and discerning, I hope you can see how confusing this is. I am certainly not desiring to offend anyone who accepts the Bible as the inerrant, infallible, and complete Word of God. Please forgive me if I have done so. I am, however, seeing the cleverness with which Satan works, by creating confusion with partial truths and blatant lies.

Tim said "Community of Christ" is affiliated with the LDS, not "Church of Christ."

I know. Based on my own research, I am saying that there is a "Church of Christ," perhaps not affiliated with other "Churches of Christ," but sharing the name, along with some common teachings, which also embraces the writings of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, while rejecting certain practices of the LDS organization. It's confusing.

Perhaps this will help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

CynPsalm1914 It might help the conversation if you would provide us with something concrete concerning your research.

Gladly . . . I got here by googling Church of Christ doctrinal statement: http://www.churchofchrist-t...

This website does not represent any Church of Christ that I ever attended (and I stepped foot in many different congregations.) The C of C would never quote a passage as scripture that is not from the 66 books of the Bible, nor would it have a statement of beliefs approved by a "Council of Apostles."

As for the universities and colleges website, that appears to be an unfortunate grouping. I know that the mainstream Church of Christ colleges (Harding, Abilene, Freed-Hardeman, York, Rochester, Great Lakes, Lipscomb, Oklahoma, and a few more) would never associate themselves with the LDS movement.

It seems to be a very unfortunate situation where two different groups are using the same name. If you look at the URL, it seems that this one says Church of Christ "TL" which, upon googling, stands for "Temple Lot" and does set it apart as a branch of LDS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Don't feel that you are being jumped upon. The mainstream (non-TL) Church of Christ has a very long-standing tradition of beliefs that would not stand up to LDS beliefs, so I think most of the folks commenting are simply looking to clear up the Church of Christ's good name. :-)

Wanda, I appreciate your comments. Frankly, I would also be attempting to clear up my church's name if they were being associated with Joseph Smith & Mormonism. Imagine my shock (I literally went into a cold sweat) when, unable to find a doctrinal statement for the college I was researching, I googled the church affiliation they acknowledged and found the aforementioned "Church of Christ" website. I live in a HEAVILY LDS area, so it's something I have to be constantly on guard about, especially in terms of my children and their friends. This conversation has been quite helpful to me. Thank you!

Also, here is the list of Christian Restorationist Colleges & Universities, which includes "Christian," "Church of Christ," and what I would consider "Mormon" or "LDS" schools: http://www.4icu.org/religio...

That is a very unfortunate pairing. I've just sent a message to an acquaintance who works at one of the Church of Christ colleges to see if they can request a change from the 4icu website. They should not be in the same category at all.

Tom1959, thank you. While I generally avoid Wikipedia articles when I'm researching, this one is quite helpful in terms of clarifying that "Church of Christ" is a much used term denoting multiple belief systems or religious organizations, both within and without Mormonism.

Another Wikipedia article, which I find honest and straightforward, details the mainstream, "non-denominational" Churches of Christ (not LDS associated):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

To sum up their beliefs, "If it's not in the Bible, then these folks aren't going to do it." ~ Carmen Renee Berry

All day, I've been thinking about one phrase from the beginning of this post...
"...a false teacher who has at least 15 million followers in the world today, many of whom have undoubtedly knocked on your front door. "

Are you confusing LDS with JW? I have never had a Mormon/LDS knock on my door. Perhaps they are not as numerous in my geographical location (just south of Toronto) and they are actively knocking on doors elsewhere... But it seems to me that the door-knockers are mostly "Jehovah's Witnesses."

Mormon missionaries are required to be out knocking on doors if they are not meeting with preset appointments. They are usually in more populous areas as many of them only have bikes and those that do have cars are limited on the number of miles they can drive. You can spot them pretty easily, typically two 19-20 year old white guys in dark suits, white shirts and ties. Usually unfailingly polite and friendly while peddling the blasphemous teachings of Joseph Smith. They are in most countries in large numbers especially in South America.

Wanda
While JWs are known for knocking on doors, on occasion Mormons do knock on doors. It seems like these are probably evangelical blitzes that don't go on for long periods of time.

I have a question concerning what is happening in Mormonism especially when it comes to their evangelism.
As many know Mormonism has gone through great lengths in order to be accepted into main stream Christianity. For instance their Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings many of the great hymns of the faith, including some that have a distinctly Trinitarian flavor to them.
I have also witnessed them boldly going to local Churches well marked in their dark suits and name tags saying "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". This is very brazen of them as you can probably imagine.
I think this has something to do with evangelism; but I am wondering if anyone knows anything more about this and related aspects?

Hello Tim. Thank you for this article. You have summarized the heart of Joseph Smiths error and his great fall from grace. My comments are based largely on the fact that I was baptized into Mormonism at age eight--yet I never believed the teachings. I lived in the Mormon Belt, if there is one--in one of the most populated areas of Mormonism, Idaho. By God's grace, He kept my heart veiled from this deceptive heresy. One of the LDS articles of states is quite clear, "We believe the Bible to true as far as it was translated correctly." This article of faith, which Mormon's hold strongly to, was summarized quite well as you mentioned what mainstream Mormons believe . . . "They continue to deny the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture while elevating personal experience above the authority of the Bible." I have never spoken with a practicing Mormon, whether a missionary or a lay believer, who has been able to explain to me in simple words what their so-called article of faith actually means. To anyone outside of Mormonism and Christianity, it would seem quite clear that the statement implies error in the Bible. I scarcely believe that an aspiring engineer student would willingly enroll in a calculus course if the professor teaching the course chose a calculus book with a similar statement on the front cover, "Practical Calculus: The mathematical proofs contained within this text are true so far as they were translated and entered correctly." The college student would be setting himself up for failure. It makes no logical sense to for the Mormon church to even use the Bible but I thank the Lord Jesus that souls are saved from within Mormonism because they're reading the Bible and the Holy Spirit is showing them that the Bible is in fact true. This God--his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.--II Samuel 22:31

As a mormon, i obviously don't agree with everything said in the article, but am truly impressed by many of the comments here, and the open discussion taking place.

And while we may not see eye to eye on everything, I DO believe that we are ultimately on the same team, and must respect each other and work together to fight evil. Satan is so strong in our day, and coming together as fellow believers in Christ is going to be the only way to hold him back.

May God bless you for your efforts.

Ryan, do you believe that God is an eternal being (not created)? Do you believe that Jesus IS God the Son (the Trinity?)

Do you believe that "Salvation is by faith, *after all that we can do*?

Do you believe that the fall in Eden was deliberate?

Do you believe that God the Father began as a mortal being and earned his Godhood?

Do you believe that you can do the same?

Out of respect to the author, i don't want to turn his page into place of contention. After all, I stand by my original post, that it is believers in Christ versus Satan.
That being said, I will say that i believe every word that is written in the bible, but may interpret it differently than you.
However the things that matter are the same: 1) Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to salvation, 2) we are saved by His grace, not by our works.
All the rest is secondary.

Your very own false scriptures testify against you, Ryan. 2 Nephi 25:23 “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do,”

Bologna sandwich, anyone?

With all due respect, I will not engage in a negative exchange. If you would like to engage off this website, I am happy to, but contention is of the devil, and I don't want to bring that spirit to this page.

With that being said, let me share what I think is a positive message that comes from your point. I fail to see an issue with the scripture you quoted, and would expect every Christian to embrace it. It clearly states that 'we know that it is by grace that we are saved...'. If you have a problem with the term 'after all we can do', then I can't help you, because that idea goes right along with the Bible.

The Bible is pretty clear on this subject. Over and over again, the New Testament says we are judged by our works, but saved by grace. In other words, we WILL be accountable to God for our works, HOWEVER, that is not what saves us. It is ONLY by grace that we are saved. No matter what works a man performs, he cannot save himself, it is up to the grace of Jesus.

I apologize if my reply came off as contentious, it was not my intention. However, there is a huge problem with the term 'after all we can do', which is that it is NOT in the Bible. Your comment stating that the idea goes right along with the Bible, is false. Works and Salvation shouldn't even be in the same sentence. Our best works are filthy rags in the presence of a Holy God. Even though we will give an account for our works, we will NOT be accepted in to heaven because of anything other than a profession of Faith in Christ Jesus. The bible is clear enough, and it doesn't need a false prophet to rewrite it and add certain phrases to it. On another note, the video that is shown in the temple ceremonies are preposterous! How dare someone recreate the story of creation by using false ideologies?! and all the hand signals for the aaronic priesthood ??? the false doctrines and heretical teachings are endless!

With all due respect, I'd rather listen to the Bible, instead of you. Matt. 16:27 "..and then he shall reward every man according to his works." And then the entire chapter of James 2, of which just a small verse in 24 states "Ye see then that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only"

Never once does it say works will save you, but it says over and over that we are rewarded, judged, justified, etc. by our good works. To dismiss works so flippantly seems to be anti-biblical.

Nobody is dismissing works, just stating with high emphasis that works won't save anyone. Interesting how you will only "rather listen to the Bible" when it's convenient for you. It's all or nothing, Ryan. You can't pick and choose what you like, and then resort over to your book of mormon when the Bible condemns your heretical doctrines and false theology. It's also interesting how you totally ignored the last part of my post...the temple endowment a.k.a masonic rituals that take place are downright demonic. Also, NO ONE has the right to recreate a false narrative of creation. NOWHERE in the bible does it mention that michael was one of the creators of the world. It's all silly stuff and you know it deep down in your heart. Repent and believe the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. If it's not in the Holy Bible, don't believe it!

I avoided the second part of your post about the temple because I find those things sacred, and don't appreciate it when someone calls them demonic. And as my mama always said, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

I had hoped to come together as fellow believers in Christ, and offer an olive branch to a group of people that seemed to be honestly asking questions about my faith, and hoped to engage in uplifting discussion that could unite instead of divide. I was naive.

I will finish our conversation by saying, may God bless you and your family.

Any doctrine that isn't derived from, or explicitly expressed in, the Holy Bible is indeed demonic. I don't say it with any spite, but rather a heavy heart that is burdened for the many (millions) deceived adherents to mormonism. I pray that God would reveal to you the one and ONLY true Gospel of Jesus Christ and that you would be loosed from the grips of the deceptive heresy known as mormonism. May God bless you and your family.

Ryan, your appeals of "can't we all get along" while sending out thousands of misguided young men and women that knock on doors and proclaim that orthodox Christianity is false and an "abomination" is hypocritical at best and dishonest at worst. We are not on the "same team" any more than Christians are on the same team as Muslims.

I have an interesting little book, titled "Witnessing effectively to Mormons", by John L. Smith, in which he goes into some detail about passages in the Book of Mormon.

I honestly appreciate your thoughts, and those that have posted, what I see is a sincere desire to save me from my failed belief system. However, after the years of religious study that I've done, I am confident in my belief; and won't try to convert you if you won't try to convert me.

After years of study focusing on the early apostles and christian fathers, the early creeds, and following the bible translations as they came down through the years; it became pretty obvious to me that the 'truth' could only be found in a handful of belief systems, including Judaism, Islam, Catholicism or Mormonism. Of course, I'm over simplifying a bit, but doing so in the interest of posting space. The main point is that modern day Christianity can't contain the whole truth because it is a break off of Catholicism, and if the tree is bad, how can it bear good fruit? Matt 7:18. Every modern day Christian church, denomination, etc. (except Mormons) traces its routes back to Catholicism in one way or another, and if it was wrong, how can a splinter group be right. Which is why there are so many sects, as they rely on a man that has interpreted what was wrong in the Catholic church, and does their best to bring the belief system back to the original early church. It started with Luther, Calvin and Wesley, and continues today with every new non-denom that springs up.

The difference between us is that I still consider all of us on the same side, and fighting the same enemy, Satan, and truly want to overlook the minor differences we have in our belief systems. At the end of the day, each and every one of us believes something a little different, and interpret the bible a bit different. Don't believe me? Ask the question here on the form, or of your fellow worshipers if Baptism is necessary to see the Kingdom of God; or if the Rapture is a biblical doctrine. These are just 2 of the many major doctrinal differences Christians disagree over today.

And the longer we spend fighting each other about the little points of doctrine between believers, the further ahead Satan gets ahead in his efforts to destroy the family, our churches, and other institutions created by God. At the end of the day, we all here believe that accepting Jesus of Israel as our Savior and Redeemer is the only way to salvation and true happiness in this life and the next. This should be our unified message, nothing more, and nothing less.

I found it interesting that you glaze over your "evidence" for the authenticity of the Bible. As an ex-mormon I agree with you that mormonism is not true, but as an atheist I can also offer you this piece of wisdom. The same brain that you used to disprove Joseph Smith is the same brain I used to disprove all men who claim to be Prophets.

BigMike

There is a world of difference between the Biblical record which includes actual places you can visit and the BoM which purports to describe an entire civilization for which there is no evidence, not to mention the vast amount of actual manuscripts that form the Bible versus the magical golden plates that are nowhere to be found. I am also an ex-mormon and I am always saddened by those turned away from God by the deception of mormonism.

Arthur, there is the same level of evidence for the the ark, stone tablets or tower of babel as there is for the book of Mormon events. Second, equating various bible manuscripts is the equivalent to historians 1000 years from now looking at the various editions of the BOM from the LDS branch, RLDS branch, Strangite Branch and FLDS branch and saying "look there's evidence" . Simply put no holy books holds up to any level of scrutiny, however; the followers will bend any law of logic or reason to avoid seeing that reality. I'm fine with it, but don't use 50% logic and expect people to be impressed. Live your life by faith, but don't judge others for doing the same exact thing, which is what Mormons and all religious people do.

Some years ago a movie, based on the true story of a missionary to some islanders, was broadcast by a local TV station. I realised from the start that it was an LDS production (Brigham Young University was a give-away!). What was interesting was that many of the same terms were used as are used by evangelical Christians, but clearly have different meanings or implications, which were glossed over in the movie, so it came across like mainstream Christianity. It had a somewhat ecumenical turn towards the end.
Did some Googling and found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...