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Every year on October 31st millions of children across the country dress up in costumes, appearing on doorsteps as ghosts, goblins, monsters, animals, cartoon characters, and other figures, all in the name of fun (and greed!) They hold out their bags and anxiously wait for some goody to be dropped inside, while anticipating getting home later that evening to count the booty. Despite the fun, the games, the parties, the pumpkin-carving, and of course---the pounds of candy---there is a dark side to the holiday, one that is rooted in pagan beliefs.
Just as Halloween presents a “fun” image that hides a darker side, cults also present a “wholesome” image that hides something sinister. The “ghoul” on the doorstep holding out a plastic pumpkin to receive treats is really a boy or girl underneath the costume. The converse is true of Mormonism, which appears as an innocent child on the outside, but is in fact, a ghoul underneath the dressing.
The Bible tells us that there are “false apostles, deceitful workmen who masquerade as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an Angel of Light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness,” and then the dire warning, “Their end will be what their actions deserve” (2 Corinthians 11:13-14).
Satan’s most insidious tactic is to come disguised as something good, desirable, and harmless. This is the same way he presented his assertion to Eve that she should partake of the forbidden fruit. He gave his sales pitch by noting the beauty of the fruit, its delicious flavor, that it was beneficial as a food product, and best of all, it was desirable for gaining wisdom. Eve looked at the fruit of the tree and saw things just the way Satan had presented it, so she “took some and ate it” (Genesis 3:6). For six thousand years we have been experiencing the tragic consequences of Satan’s deception.
Mormonism presents a wholesome image; it is family oriented, it teaches temperance, modesty, sexual purity, and patriotism. The LDS missionaries are clean-cut young men and women or sweet older couples who are grandfathers and grandmothers. Your Mormon neighbors might be on the PTA, serve in local government, volunteer for the Boy Scouts, or run a loving daycare service out of their homes. They talk about Jesus and family values. You can even hear them playing CDs by Christian artists. Their children might don rings inscribed with the initials C.T.R.; Choose The Right. Certainly they are Christians, right? Anyone who has a “Families are forever” or “Jesus loves you” bumper sticker on their minivan has to be a Christian, right? WRONG!!!
And not just wrong, but devilishly wrong! A good analogy would be a plate of brownies wrapped in colored cellophane with a shiny red ribbon, from which the sweet, fresh-baked aroma wafts through the air. It’s chocolate, right? It’s pretty, right? It’s pleasing to the taste, yes? It was a gift sent from your mother, yes? Then it must be okay! But, what if the delicious tasting, visually appealing, chocolate (what could ever be wrong with chocolate!) delicacy was laced with arsenic? What if it had your Dear Old Mom’s return address on the package but it was, in fact, from an imposter? Mormonism packages a visually appealing product; the gospel of Joseph Smith. It looks good, smells good, tastes good, but it is laced with the poison of hell. What makes it even more deceptive is that the return address label slapped on there by the LDS Church is “From Jesus Christ.” The travesty is that the Mormon Jesus is an imposter.
How can Christians keep themselves and their loved ones from being deceived? How can they respond when they encounter the “ghoul” in a Christian costume? Remember, the Mormon is not the enemy. He or she has been duped by the real enemy, who is Satan, the father of lies. Your LDS relatives, friends, co-workers, and neighbors sincerely believe Mormonism is true. As individuals, they are not out to trick you and your family; they honestly believe that the “treat” they are holding out is the restoration of Christ’s gospel, which they believe was lost shortly after his death. While we are to love the lost and be long-suffering toward them, as God is long-suffering toward us, we do not have to tolerate false doctrines or embrace false “apostles” just because a group or person insists they are Christian. The apostle Paul lamented to the believers in Corinth,
“I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough (2 Cor. 11:3-5).
It is spiritually dangerous to “put up with” false teachings and false teachers in the name of tolerance. Scripture warns us over and over to “watch out for of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15). Jesus again warns us, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many” (Matt. 24:4).
Observe how Satan deceives many people. By understanding his tactics, we can arm ourselves with truth and defend our homes. First, false teachers---in this case, the Mormon Church--- come preaching Jesus. They preach “spirituality.” They bring a “gospel message.” They look like “sheep;” in other words, they seem like regular Christians. They come in Jesus’ name; they say, “Our church has the name of Jesus Christ in the title” (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). They claim, ‘We are the Christ;” in other words, they are the “true church of Christ” through which people must go to be saved.
Second, they can perform “miracles.” LDS people pray or receive a “priesthood blessing” from their elders (a special prayer accompanied by the laying on of hands by a man holding the Mormon priesthood) and some are healed. Some LDS have visions or dreams or “spiritual experiences.” These so-called miracles do not prove Mormonism is true. We know from scripture that Pharaoh’s priests were able to perform some of the same miracles that Moses did. The book of Revelation tells us that the Antichrist will perform “great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men” (Rev. 13:13). In Paul’s day there was a girl “who had a spirit by which she predicted the future…The girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved” (Acts 16:16-17). My Bible commentary footnote explains,
What the slave girl said was true, although the source of her knowledge was a demon. Why did a demon announce the truth about Paul and why did this annoy Paul? If Paul accepted the demon’s words, he could appear to be linking the gospel with demon-related activities. This would damage his message about Christ. Truth and evil do not mix (NIV Life Application Bible, Zondervan).
Third, the LDS Church looks good from outside appearances. They seem to say the right words and do the right things---such as using Christian terminology and doing good works--- but the words mean something different than the Bible teaches and the “good works” do not get them into heaven. Jesus spoke of those who are like “white-washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean” (Matthew 23:27). It doesn’t matter how “good” something looks on the outside if the inside (the core doctrines) are corrupt.
Now, listen carefully; Jesus emphasized, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). We cannot get into heaven or come to the Father by any means other than Jesus Christ. We cannot get there through baptism, through church membership, through good works, through being sincere, through an organization, through a ritual, through an ordinance, or through a group that insists that they and they alone are the way! Jesus made this clear when He said,
“I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice…I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10: 1-10).
As Jesus stated, He is the gate into the sheep pen. A sheep pen had only one entrance and the shepherd would sleep in front of that entrance, thus literally becoming the door for the sheep to pass through. Many people came before Jesus’ time, as well as after, claiming to be the Messiah. Many come today in the name of Great Shepherd, claiming that they have a way to get into the sheep pen other than or in addition to Jesus Christ. God has made clear that the ONLY way is through Jesus Christ; those who say that they have the keys or another way to enter the pen besides through Jesus alone, are thieves and robbers, whose purpose (orchestrated by Satan) is to steal, kill, and destroy.
The LDS Church does this very thing; they offer a way other than through Jesus alone, by grace alone, through faith alone. Mormon doctrine teaches that one cannot enter where the Father is through faith in Jesus alone; rather, one must be baptized into the Mormon Church, receive the Mormon ordinances, go through the Mormon temple, and remain “temple-worthy” and true to the Mormon gospel all of his or her life.1 Furthermore, no one can enter the Celestial Kingdom of God (where the Father dwells) without the express permission of Mormon prophet and founder Joseph Smith. 2 We are warned to reject false teachers and not stray after false prophets.
How, then, are we to understand and recognize that Mormonism, despite its appearance, is a dangerous and false religion that leads to spiritual death? Let’s return to Matthew 7:15-20;
Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. .
What is the fruit of the LDS prophets and their doctrines? Mormon prophets teach their people to worship false gods; their “God” is an exalted redeemed man who earned his own godhood and lives in polygamy with numerous goddess wives 3. Their “Jesus” is a polygamist 4 who took upon himself the sins of mankind in the Garden of Gethsemane 5 and whose blood cannot atone for all sins. 6 Their Holy Ghost bears witness of the Mormon gospel through a burning in the bosom (warm, tingly feelings that are indicators of truth). Their gospel is one of works, for “It is by grace we are saved after all we can do.” 7
Joseph Smith introduced polygamy, Masonic rituals via the LDS Temple Ceremony, and preached another gospel and another Jesus other than the one revealed in the Bible. He denied the inerrancy of Scripture and added to God’s word by publishing revelations given to him through the occult practice of “channeling.” He and his family practiced magic and believed in astrology. He wore what is called a “Jupiter talisman” for protection. The list of immorality, lies, intrigue, and false doctrines goes on. In short, Joseph Smith and subsequent LDS prophets have born “bad fruit.” That is how we can distinguish them as false prophets. In all fairness, some of these doctrines are no longer taught over the pulpit, nevertheless, they are at the core of Mormonism.
The apostle John instructs us,
Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist (1 John 4:1-3).
Mormonism does not acknowledge that Jesus is God incarnate. Instead, its doctrines teach that Jesus had a beginning as “intelligence,” was born to “an Exalted Man and one of His goddess wives, and came to earth to work out his own salvation along with the rest of us. According to Mormon doctrine, Jesus is our “spirit brother” and Satan’s brother as well. Mormon leaders did not get this information about Jesus from the Bible. This is special “revelation” given to Mormon prophets; in other words, a different Jesus, revealed by another spirit, bringing another gospel. The source of this revelation is demonic.
Notice the present tense that Jesus uses when He instructs us; “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” We are to cut down the “spiritual trees” in our lives that bear bad fruit. So Christian, test the spirits! Just because something feels good or feels right, does not make it true! Remember, Satan is the Master of Deception. He can cause “supernatural experiences.” He can manifest himself in ways that appear attractive, good, and right. So when the Specter of the Mormon Jesus appears in your path, holding out to you the yummy-looking “treat” of the “restored gospel,” do not receive it; it is a trick that will lead you to hell.
1. Third Article of Faith
2. Brigham Young, 1869, Journal of Discourses, Volume 7, Page 289.
3. Deseret News on August 6, 1862 “Monogamy, or restrictions by law to one wife, is no part of the economy of heaven among men.” (Good article concerning polygamy can be found at: http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/changech9b.htm
4. Journal of Discourses, vol. 4, pp. 259-60
5. Church President Ezra Taft Benson wrote that "it was in Gethsemane that Jesus took on Himself the sins of the world, in Gethsemane that His pain was equivalent to the cumulative burden of all men, in Gethsemane that He descended below all things so that all could repent and come to Him" (Benson, p. 7). (Encyclopedia of Mormonism)
6. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses Vol. 3, p.243-249. “There is not a man or woman, who
violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it.”
7. Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 25:23 |
