Who are the Mormons?
In my previous post I made the assertion Mormons follow a false Jesus believe a different gospel, and place their trust in a false Holy Spirit. In later posts I will show the Biblical verses that demonstrate the truth of my statements.
If I am right about Mormonism then their different gospel, false Jesus and their allegiance to the teachings of Joseph Smith will determine their eternal destiny. In John 8:23-24 Jesus confronts the Jewish religious leaders; today he could be talking to Mormons. We read in verse 23, “And He [Jesus] was saying to them, ‘You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.’” Jesus told the religious leaders if you are wrong about me you will die in your sins. All Mormons who believe in the false Jesus of Joseph Smith and the false doctrines of this deceptive church will die in their sins and be separated from God for all eternity in hell. This is why I have a passion for my Mormon friends and why I share with them every chance I get. This is why you should have a passion for sharing with Mormons.
How can we show Mormonism is false? We can learn what we believe and how to show them the truth. How do we avoid being fooled? We can learn what they believe and why they are wrong. Where do we start? Best place to begin is to look at how the Mormon Church began.
1. UNDERSTANDING THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM: JOSEPH SMITH
- We do know he had many leadership qualities
Joseph Smith was intelligent and loaded with charisma; he had to be in order to start a church from scratch and have it grow like wildfire. Who in the world is going to follow a dim witted nerd who cannot speak in public? Throughout history we see examples of people of spiritual influence who were good looking, charming, intelligent and possessed good communication skills. Joseph Smith had all these qualities; he was a natural born leader.
- We also know he was a deceiver
Joseph Smith was married but slept with other women. In the early 1830s Joseph Smith said God commanded him to take more wives. He reportedly didn’t want to take more wives but God threatened to kill him if he didn’t. He said marrying other women was a terrible burden to bear.
When confronted publicly he denied he was a polygamist. Eventually, he writes in the Doctrine and Covenants that God sanctioned polygamy and by this proclamation he justified his multiple marriages. However, in public he continued to deny he was a polygamist; he even spoke out against it publicly. However, the historical record says he had 33 wives; of which 11 were still married. Another 11 were teenagers when he married them. Only 8 were close to his age and the rest younger. When his first wife, Emma complained, Joseph Smith issued a revelation from God that told her to shut up or be condemned. Joseph Smith was a liar, a deceiver and practiced polygamy.
