Mormon Scripture-Twisting

The Book of Mormon (the stick of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim,) had now been published for some time, and as the ancient prophet had predicted of it, “it was account as a strange thing.”

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, pg.373

According to Joseph Smith, the two “sticks” in Ezekiel 37:16 are the Bible and the Book of Mormon. However, as any reading of the actual text of Ez. 37:15-28 would demonstrate, the sticks represent the nations of Judah and Ephraim, and are symbolically put together to join all Israel as one nation again. Read for yourself from the King James Version (the version Mormons like):

15 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,

16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel his companions:

17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?

19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.

21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.

23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.

24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.

25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.

26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.

27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

28 And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

Smith’s citation from Hosea 8:12, about “a strange thing,” suggests the passage refers to the “stick of Ephraim” being the Book of Mormon. But “the strange thing” was how the nation of Israel (Ephraim) regarded the law.

Mormons fail to look at the context of the “two sticks” so they can learn another example of scripture-twisting by Smith to support his lies.

LDS Pamphlet Compares Islam with Mormonism

The following article was published in the MormonismResearched news letter, March-April 2022.pg.1-2. From Mormonism Research Ministry.  There was no link to an on-line version so I am copying it here. 

New LDS pamphlet compares Mormonism with Islam

By Eric Johnson

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints produced a 35-page online pamphlet in late January that compares Mormonism with Islam.

The pamphlet—titled “Muslims and Latter-day Saints: Beliefs, Values, and Lifestyles”—was written with the help of three American Islamic clerics and is intended to help Mormons “root out bias against Islam.” When the project was announced in 2021, Apostle Gerrit Gong stated how it would “help us to be more kind and more accurate in what we say and feel about each other.”

The short pamphlet has 18 sections, with topics such as “profession of faith in God,” “prophets,” “Jesus Christ,” “scriptures,” and “the role of women.” Similarities rather than differences are emphasized in the writing.

I have no problem for the church to want to “foster understanding and respect” for Muslims, as the final line in the pamphlet states. I just think that a more complete disclosure regarding the true beliefs of both faiths should have been emphasized.

The introduction discusses the origin of the LDS Church, stating that Latter-day Saints are “sometimes incorrectly referred to as Mormons” while maintaining that they “affirm themselves to be Christian.” This claim is disputed by Bible-believing Christians. According to the pamphlet’s section titled “mutual respect,” “Islam teaches esteem for other religions, including Christianity.” Unfortunately, many people throughout the world—especially this who live in some African nations—are murdered daily for their beliefs in Christianity.

The Christian mission agency Open Doors documents how 1 in 8 Christians in the world are “targeted, discriminated against, and attacked for following Jesus.” The source of persecution in 19 of the top 25 countries—including Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen—is due to Muslim persecution. This fact is ignored in the pamphlet.

In the same section, the pamphlet cites from a 1978 LDS First Presidency statement that said how “the great religious leaders of the world such as Muhammad…received…God’s light” (ellipses in original). The ellipses used in the pamphlet’s citation take away from what the original statement said.

In context, the original statement reads, “The great religious leaders of the world such as Muhammad, Confucius, and the Reformers, as well as philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and others, received a portion of God’s light (italics added). According to Mormonism’s leaders, other faiths and philosophies only have a “portion” of ultimate truth that is not enough for their adherents to attain the celestial kingdom. Consider the words of Apostle Bruce R. McConkie who described the perversion of what he felt was Mormonism’s “pure and perfect gospel”:

What is the church of the devil in our day, and where is the seat of her power?… The church of the devil is every evil and worldly organization on earth. It is all of the systems, both Christian and non-Christian, that have perverted the pure and perfect gospel; it is all of the governments and powers that run counter to the divine will; it is the societies and political parties and labor unions that sow strife and reap contention. It is communism; it is Islam; it is Buddhism; it is modern Christianity in all its parts. It is Germany under Hitler, Russia under Stalin, and Italy under Mussolini. It is the man of sin speaking in churches, orating in legislative halls, and commanding the armies of men” (The Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man, 54-55.  Ellipsis and italics mine).

The pamphlet explains how Mormonism’s Jesus is “the sinless, Only Begotten Son of God, born of the virgin Mary.” This certainly sounds like the Christian description of the Incarnation and Virgin Birth except no definition of “Only Begotten” is provided. Yet LDS leaders have consistently explained how the pregnancy was the result of God the Father having physical relations with Mary.

Consider the words of 13th President Ezra Taft Benson: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in the most literal sense. The body in which He performed His mission in the flesh was sired by that same Holy Being we worship as God, our Eternal Father. Jesus was not the son of Joseph, nor was He begotten by the Holy Ghost” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 7. See also the Church News, December 18, 2004, 16). This teaching would appall faithful Muslims. (See mrm.org/virgin-birth-doctrine.)

There are many similarities between Mormonism and Islam, including their agreement that the Trinity is a false teaching, the Bible is corrupt, and original sin or the possibility of the assurance of salvation is not true. Still, there are a number of major disagreements between the faiths that include the nature of God, creation, scripture, and the ability for anyone to receive salvation after death. (See my chart on page 1 [posted below]).

While the final section of the pamphlet (“religious diversity) does say how “there are significant differences between the two religions,” similarities such as how both religions “acknowledge the good that can be found in other religions” are emphasized.

There is no doubt that both faiths practice exclusivism, as adherents are taught that theirs is the only (true) way to God and, ultimately, eternal salvation. For example, Islam teaches that anyone who holds Jesus divine (as Mormons do) commits shirk, which is associating God with other deities.  Such a person commits blasphemy and is disqualified to spend eternity in paradise; instead, those who believe Jesus is God/a god will suffer in hell for eternity. As Surah 4:48 in the Qur’an states, “Allah forgiveth not that partners should be set up with Him…to set up partners with Allah is to devise a sin most heinous indeed.”

Meanwhile, LDS leaders teach that those who reject Joseph Smith and Mormonism cannot qualify for an exalted state in the celestial kingdom. As the church handbook explains, “Exaltation in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom can be obtained only by those who have faithfully lived the gospel of Jesus Christ and are sealed as eternal companions” (Handbook 2: Administering the Church, 2010, 3).

Muslims, of course, would never claim to “live the gospel of Jesus Christ” as defined by Mormonism nor do they get married in LDS temples.

Unfortunately, this pamphlet may confuse readers and possibly cause them to assume Islam and Mormonism are more similar than different. This is certainly not the case.

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For another comparison of the two religions, visit mrm.org/islam-christianity.

Strange Things Mormons Say

You are an eternal being. Before you were born, you existed as a spirit. In the presence of a loving Heavenly Father, you trained and prepared to come to earth for a brief moment and, well, perform.

Gary E. Stevenson, Your Four Minutes

Where in the Bible can this man, or any person, find such nonsense? Nowhere in the Bible, or even in the Book of Mormon do we find that people existed before conception as “spirit children” sired by the LDS god-man and his many spirit wives and who are just waiting for human babies to occupy once they are conceived.

This whole idea is not only ludicrous, but it totally illogical. How can we possibly have existed eternally”!?!  In accordance with this theology, everyone on earth are brothers and sisters in the spiritual realm—and so when they become physical humans and marry they are committing incest!

H/T: Life After Ministry.

Joseph Smith Never Understood the Difference Between Humans and Angels

Daniel in his seventh chapter speaks of the Ancient of Days; he means the oldest man, our Father Adam, Michael; he will call his children together and hold a council with them to prepare them for the coming of the Son of Man [see Daniel 7:9-14]. He (Adam) is the father of the human family, and presides over the spirits of men, and all that have had the keys must stand before him in this grand council.... The Son of Man stands before him, and there is given him glory and dominion. Adam delivers up his stewardship to Christ, that which was delivered to him as holding the keys of the universe, but retains his standing as head of the human family.”

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, pg.104

The title “Ancient of Days” has historically been interpreted as referring to God (or sometimes Jesus). It never, never has been a reference to Adam. And, as noted in my previous post, Michael the archangel is NOT Adam; Adam was a human and Michael, as an angel, is a completely different being. Adam does not preside over anyone because he died and had no authority over anyone even when he was alive.

When it comes to the “Son of Man,” i.e. Jesus, he is God in the flesh and never received any “stewardship” or “keys of the universe” from Adam because Adam had none to give Jesus. 

Show me from the Bible where I am wrong.

Joseph Smith Lies and Nonsense

The Priesthood was first given to Adam; he obtained the First Presidency, and held the keys of it from generation to generation. He obtained it in the Creation, before the world was formed, as in Gen. 1:26, 27, 28. He had dominion give him over every living creature. He is Michael the Archangel, spoken of in the Scriptures. Then to Noah, who is Gabriel; he stands next in authority to Adam in the Priesthood; he was called of God to this office, and was the father of all living in his day; and to him was given the dominion. The men held keys first on earth, and then in heaven.

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, pg.104

More problems for the Mormons:

First: Adam was not given any priesthood. There was no priesthood with God’s people until during the Exodus when it was given to Aaron and his sons. Show from the Bible where this is wrong. He and his wife had dominion—rule—over creation at the time they were created and there were no other people. All descendants of Adam still have dominion over the rest of creation (animals, vegetation, other creatures).

Second: Adam was not Michael the archangel nor was Noah the angel Gabriel. Angels are separate creations from mankind; people do not become angels at death.

More Unbiblical Lies By Joseph Smith and the LDS.

President John Taylor, the third President of the Church, explained: "Moses, Elijah, Elias and many other leading characters mentioned in the Scriptures, who had operated in the various dispensations, came and conferred upon Joseph the various keys, powers, rights, privileges and [permissions] which they enjoyed in their times.... Whatever of knowledge, of intelligence, of Priesthood, of powers, of revelations were conferred upon those men in the different ages, were again restored to the earth by the ministration and through the medium of those who held the holy Priesthood of God in the different dispensations in which they lived."

President Taylor also declared: "If you were to ask Joseph what sort of a looking man Adam was, he would tell you at once; he would tell you his size and appearance and all about him. You might have asked him what sort of men Peter, James and John were, and he would have told you. Why? Because he had seen them."

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, pg.103

Problems:

First: Elijah and Elias are the same person; Elias is the N.T. Greek version of his name. Of course the LDS has a really stretched explanation claiming there was another Elias who visited Smith. Smith was probably thinking of Elisha.

Second: These people noted had no “keys, powers, rights, privileges and [permissions] which they enjoyed in their time” to confer upon Smith. I challenge Mormons to demonstrate any of this from the Bible. These men had no power of the priesthood (the priesthood wasn’t given until the time of Moses and it was given to Aaron and his sons). Elijah was just a prophet.

Third: Smith could not have seen Adam, Peter, James or John; these men were dead and God gave only certain men the ability to visit earth and that was to Jesus only. Smith just plain lied.

Joseph Smith Was NOT a Martyr

In February 1847, nearly three years after the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred, he appeared to President Brigham Young and gave him this message:

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, pg.98

Two things wrong with this statement:

First, Joseph Smith was not a martyr — he shot back. And he wasn’t imprisoned or killed for his faith. He was charge with inciting a riot destroying the Nauvoo Expositor. Other charges were fornication and polygamy. Additionally, he was charged with treason against the state of Illinois for calling out the Nauvoo militia to prevent his arrest. It was this last charge that got him jailed.

Second, The dead do not appear to living people to speak to them, especially if they are people who are condemned to everlasting destruction in Hell, such as Smith

Joseph Smith's False Teachings About John the Baptist

John [the Baptist], at that time, was the only legal administrator in the affairs of the kingdom there was then on the earth, and holding the keys of power. The Jews had to obey his instructions or be damned, by their own law; and Christ Himself fulfilled all righteousness in becoming obedient to the law which He had given to Moses on the mount, and thereby magnified it and made it honorable, instead of destroying it. The son of Zacharias wrested the keys, the kingdom, the power, the glory from the Jews, by the holy anointing and decree of heaven, and these three reasons constitute him the greatest prophet born of a woman. ...

The Lord promised Zacharias that he should have a son who was a descendent of Aaron, the Lord having promised that the priesthood should continue with Aaron and his seed throughout their generations. Let no man take this honor upon himself, except he be called of God, as was Aaron, and Aaron received his call by revelation. ...

The people need not wait for the days of Pentecost to find the kingdom of God, for John had it with him, and he came forth from the wilderness crying out, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is night at hand," as much as to say, "Out here I have got the kingdom of God and I am coming after you; I have got the kingdom of God, and you can get it, and I am coming after you; and if you don't receive it, you will be damned;" ...

There was a legal administrator, and those that were baptized were subjects for a king; and also the laws and oracles of God were there; therefore the kingdom of God was there; for no man could have better authority to administer than John; and our Savior submitted to that authority Himself, by being baptized by John; therefore the kingdom of God was set up on the earth, even in the days of John...

Whenever men can find out the will of God and find an administrator legally authorized from God, there is the kingdom of God; but where these are not, the kingdom of God is not. All the ordinances, systems, and administrations on the earth are of no use to the children of men, unless they are ordained and authorized of God; for nothing will save a man but a legal administrator; for none others will be acknowledged either by God or angels. ...

John held the Aaronic Priesthood, and was a legal administrator, and the forerunner of Christ, and came to prepare the way before him....John was a priest after the order of Aaron before Christ....

The keys of the Aaronic Priesthood were committed unto him....

The Savior said unto John, "I must be baptized by you. Why so? To answer my decrees"....Jesus had no legal administrator [except] John.

There is no salvation between the two lids of the Bible without a legal administrator.

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, pg.81-85

WOW! What a lot of unbiblical nonsense! Let’s look at the errors/lies in this teaching:

1) There was no such thing biblically as someone who was a “legal administrator” of anything so John the Baptist didn’t hold such and office, nor did he have any “keys” to the Kingdom of 

God, nor was he even suggesting that "Out here I have got the kingdom of God and I am coming after you; I have got the kingdom of God, and you can get it, and I am coming after you; and if you don't receive it, you will be damned;" …. This is nothing but an unbiblical invention by Joseph Smith.

2) John didn’t “wrest” anything from the Jews and he had no “decree from heaven,” nor were Jews required to “obey his instructions or be damned.” None of this will be found in the Bible.

3) Jesus did not give Moses the Law; God wrote—inscribed—the Law on the tablets (Exodus 31:18).

4) Where in the Bible does it say that a priest was called by revelation from God? Where in the Bible does it say John was a priest? Just being a descendent of Levi (the tribe which had the priests) doesn’t make one a priest, and nothing in the Bible hints at John being a priest.

The real teachings of the New Testament regarding priests is that Christians have no priests, that Christians are a priesthood of believers with Jesus as our great high priest.  (1 Peter 2:4-5)

There is absolutely no biblical warrant for any priesthood among Christians.

Oh, Contradictions!

Looking back into my early posts about contractions in LDS publications, I seem to have missed one important one.  It was brought to my attention by an article on the Life After Ministry blog, which I highly recommend for anyone questioning the teachings of Mormonism.

So, Mormons, how do you explain the following contradictory commands of God?

D&C 49:16:  Wherefore it is lawful that he [man] should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation.

This actually agrees with the Bible and the Book of Mormon teaching on marriage.

However, D&C 132 permits multiple wives and claims that God commanded Abraham to take Hagar for a second wife and that David’s wives and concubines were given to him by God.  Beginning at vs.51 it discusses how God gave other wives to Joseph Smith and if his wife Emma didn’t accept it she would be destroyed! The interesting thing is that throughout the remainder of D&C132 “God” says these men shall take “virgins” for their wives and yet Smith took other men’s wives!  Brigham Young agreed with and taught (and practiced) the doctrine of polygamy.

This contradiction came about because Joseph Smith was trying to cover up his serial adultery and his apostles, being likewise desirous of sex with many women, continued to teach it. 

I’ve written a few articles about God’s view of polygamy and problems which arise from such immorality:

God’s View of Polygamy.

Mormon Women Fear Eternal Polygamy.

Loveless Mormon Marriages.

Sexual Abuse in the Mormon Church.

The Mormon God vs the Christian God

 God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens. That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by His power, was to make Himself visible,--I say, if you were to see Him today, you would see Him like a man in form--like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with Him, as one man talks and communes with another...

Cited in Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, pg 40. Originally in History of the Church Vol.6

The Bible tells REAL Christians that God is spirit, not man. But Smith taught that God was once a man who worked his way to exaltation and now lives near the star Kolob (some say it’s a planet but I’ll address that in a later post). The real God lives outside His creation but is always acting within His creation.

Adam was not "in the very fashion, image, and likeness of God” because God is not now nor ever was a man. One can walk and talk with God in prayer, and some patriarchs actually heard God’s voice. And, if you note, Genesis 1:26 says Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (KJV, emphasis added).

 

John MacArthur’s commentary explains the true meaning of “likeness” and “image” of God in Genesis 1:26:

1:26: Us…Our. This is the first clear indication of the triunity of God (cf. 3:22; 11:7). The very name of God, Elohim (1:1) is a plural form of El. The plural pronouns introduce  plurality of relationships in the Godhead. They suggest both communion and consultation among members of the Trinity. They also signify perfect agreement and clear purpose. man. The crowning point of creation, a living human, was made in God’s image to rule creation. Our image…likeness. This speaks of the creation of Adam in terms that are uniquely personal. It establishes a personal relationship between God and man that does not exist with any other aspect of creation. It is the very thing that makes humanity different from every other created animal. It explains why the Bible places so much stress on God’s hands-on creation of Adam. He fashioned this creature in a special way—to bear the stamp of His own likeness. It suggests that God was, in essence, the pattern for the personhood of man. The image of God is personhood [MY emphasis], and personhood can function only in the context of relationships. Man’s capacity for intimate, personal relationships needed fulfillment. Most important, man was designed to have a personal relationship with God. … In his rational life, he was like God in that he could reason and had intellect will, and emotion.  In the moral sense, he was like God because he was good and sinless. However, it did not bestow deity upon man.

As MacArthur—and multitudes of Christian commentators—notes, God was never a man so His image/likeness in man had to do with his spirituality, his personhood, his ability to have relationships, etc. Mormon theology gives all mankind the ability to work themselves to godhood. Christian (and Jewish) theology, as taught in the Bible, has ONE eternal and spiritual God and none of mankind will ever be a god.