The truth will set you free

Reuters has a report out on the major struggles that the mormon church is facing today, including mass defections. The article interviews "Elder" Marlin Jensen and he is unusually frank and honest for a mormon leader. From Special report -Mormonism besieged by the modern age

Jensen, the church's official historian, would not provide any figures on the rate of defections, but he told Reuters that attrition has accelerated in the last five or 10 years, reflecting greater secularization of society. Many religions have been suffering similarly, he noted, arguing that Mormonism has never been more vibrant.

"I think we are at a time of challenge, but it isn't apocalyptic," he said.

The LDS church claims 14 million members worldwide -- optimistically including nearly every person baptized. But census data from some foreign countries targeted by clean-cut young missionaries show that the retention rate for their converts is as low as 25 percent. In the U.S., only about half of Mormons are active members of the church, said Washington State University emeritus sociologist Armand Mauss, a leading researcher on Mormons.

Sociologists estimate there are as few as 5 million active members worldwide.

In Africa and Latin America, however, Jensen said that interest in the LDS was so strong that the church has cut back baptisms in order to better care for new members.

I think that what is interesting is that where mormonism is thriving (supposedly Africa and Latin America), people have less ready access to information about the church whereas in America anyone can read about the sordid past of mormonism at will. Unlike Christianity which has nothing to hide, no secretive doctrines that no one talks about, mormonism takes great pains to gloss over issues like racism and polygamy and hides major areas of doctrine like their sacred garments, the nature of God and man and the temple ceremony.

Mormonism simply cannot face serious investigation and the article makes that clear. When you claim 14 million members but only 5 million are active, what you have is not a vibrant and thriving church, it is a house of cards.

Are we jealous of mormonism?

That is the contention of New York Times writer David Reynolds as he examines what he perceives as the core issue behind Why Evangelicals Don’t Like Mormons. At the outset, the title itself is prejudicial. It isn't a matter of "not liking" mormons. It is a matter of recognizing mormonism as a dangerous false cult. Mr. Reynolds spends a few paragraphs getting around to his point, namely that evangelicals are just jealous of mormon "success", as if making converts to a false religion is somehow a sign of success.

The real issue for many evangelicals is Mormonism’s remarkable success and rapid expansion. It is estimated to have missionaries in 162 countries and a global membership of some 14 million; it is also, from its base in the American West, making inroads into Hispanic communities. Put simply, the Baptists and Methodists, while still ahead of the Mormons numerically, are feeling the heat of competition from Joseph Smith’s tireless progeny.

Mr. Reynolds repeats this oft quoted notion that we are just jealous of mormonism. The sheer size of mormonism is a factor but not as a matter of jealousy but concern. With millions of adherents and millions more who have turned away from mormonism and are disenchanted with faith in general, coupled with an aggressive effort to lure away church going people, makes mormonism a religious movement that cannot be ignored. There are plenty of lone wolf crackpots like Victor Hafichuk and his sad band of cult followers but other than random emails and blog posts, they are somewhat self-contained. Hopefully Christians who live near them are making an effort to witness to him or at least his deluded followers but he has little impact outside of his internet rantings. Mormonism on the other hand has spread like a cancer around the world. Every town in America has a mormon presence and the combination of their all-American virtues and carefully disguised language allows them to worm their way into the homes of many unsuspecting families. Far from jealousy or competition, evangelical Christians see mormonism as the home of one of the most dangerous pseudo-Christian cults around. If I witness to someone and they end up going to a different local church than the one I am associated with after professing Christ, that is not a win for that church and a loss for mine. It is a win-win! On the other hand someone converting to mormonism has taken a path that leads to an eternal hell and as followers of Christ that trumps any of our denomination differences or personal preferences. Souls are quite literally at stake. I can't speak for every evangelical but for myself and everyone I personally know, jealousy of mormonism is the last thing on our minds.

I think this is largely overblown. Many evangelicals, far too many, seem to care more about political victory than Gospel fidelity. Pauls admonition to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Cor 6:14) is not speaking specifically of marriage at all but that is how it is interpreted. It certainly should include political issues as well as business dealings and marriage but that doesn't seem to concern many evangelical voters and leaders. Regardless, if Mitt Romney is not the GOP nominee it will be because of his shaky conservative credentials, his past flip-flopping, his nonchalance about the race and the ugly pseudo-populist attacks on his wealth and success, not because he is a mormon.

An ad for mormonism in the Wall Street Journal

The WSJ features what basically amounts to an advertisement for mormonism on its opinion pages tomorrow. The article, From American Idol to Mormon Missionary, is written by Allison Pond, a returned missionary who is listed as "an associate editor for the Deseret News in Salt Lake City". I would encourage you to check out the article and engage in the points it raises.

Where was Joseph Smith's veil?

It is an article of faith in the mormon church that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Chris:

It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him! (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith-History, 17)

Of course it is important to point out that this "first vision" went through a number of iterations until Smith settled on the version we know today (for a listing of these visions and the myriad problems with the whole event, see First Vision from the Mormonism Research Ministry). Regardless for mormons today this is simply fact, Joseph Smith was visited by two distinct "personages" manifested before Him, one being God the Father and the other Jesus Christ.

This account begs a number of questions but I think an important issue is how the Bible treats this notion of chatting with God the Father in person. The most pertinent passage is found in Exodus 33: 18023

Moses said, "Please show me your glory." And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live." And the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen." (Exodus 33:18-23)

So here is Moses, one of the major prophets and figures in all of Scripture, and God won't even let Him see Him face to face. God instead hides him in the cleft of a rock and lets Moses just glimpse a tiny fraction of His glory because to see Him face to face in all of the fullness of His glory would destroy Moses.

When Moses came down, something had changed because he had been in the presence of the Lord...

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. Whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him. (Exo 34:29-35)

Moses was dramatically impacted by this event such that his face shone and the people were afraid to come near him, thus the veil. Apparently Smith, who allegedly had an even more direct encounter with the living God, had no such manifestation of having been in the presence of God.

That kind of leaves us with a couple of alternatives. One is that Smith was more special or less impacted than even Moses. The other is that the event never happened. Given the varying accounts, the Biblical impossibility of what Smith taught and the well documented fact that Joseph Smith was a teller of tall tales and a scoundrel, it certainly seems more plausible that this event sprang from the fertile soil of Smith's imagination, an event that fits into the fanciful tale that he spun and modified as he went along.

A very informative resource

Aaron Shafovaloff has been working on an important project, God Never Sinned. This gets to a crucial question: if God is a glorified person, did that mean that at some point in His existence He might have sinned. How you understand and approach this question is crucial to understanding the difference between mormonism and Biblical Christianity. Watch this video for a sampling:



This is the tragic fruit of mormonism, faith in a "god" who was perhaps a sinner. Check out God Never Sinned

James White on 'Is Mormonism A Cult?'

James White is going to be on the Paul Edwards show today at 5:00 PM EST discussing this topic. This is a crucial issue given the closeness of American evangelicalism and politics and the recent statements by Richard Mouw. You can tune in from Paul's webpage, God and Culture.

Check it out!

Richard Mouw, evangelical seminary president and defender of mormonism

Mr. Mouw is a frequent commenter on mormonism, often tapped for quotes because he, unlike the vast majority of Christians, understands that mormonism is a false faith with unmistakably cultic practices. As such he was predictably asked by CNN for his opinion on the recent controveray over a statement by a supporter of Rick Perry who described Mitt Romney as a member of a cult: My Take: This evangelical says Mormonism isn’t a cult. Perhaps the comment regarding Mitt Romney was politically indvisable but it certainly is theologically correct. Not according to Richard Mouw however.

According Richard Mouw, who incredibly is the President of Fuller Theological Seminary, mormonism is not a cult. He bases this on what he describes as “a behind-closed-doors dialogue between about a dozen evangelicals and an equal number of our Mormon counterparts.”

Apparently he finds that mormonism is not as different as some of us, like those of us who actually were mormons, seem to think. From the CNN piece (emphasis added)…

So are Mormons Christians? For me, that’s a complicated question.

My Mormon friends and I disagree on enough subjects that I am not prepared to say that their theology falls within the scope of historic Christian teaching. But the important thing is that we continue to talk about these things, and with increasing candor and mutual openness to correction….While I am not prepared to reclassify Mormonism as possessing undeniably Christian theology, I do accept many of my Mormon friends as genuine followers of the Jesus whom I worship as the divine Savior.

Huh? How exactly can someone be a genuine follower of Jesus Christ if they misrepresent and frankly slander the very Person of Jesus Christ? A genuine follower of an idolatrous, blasphemous version of Jesus? Either the mormons Richard Mouw is speaking with don’t hold to the basic tenets of mormonism (which would mean they aren’t mormons) or Richard Mouw has a flawed understanding of Jesus Christ or, worst of all, he is so undiscerning and eager for compromise that he can’t tell adherents of pagan religion from genuine followers of Jesus Christ. Given that he is speaking with Robert Millett and others like him I can't believe the first explanation is possible.

What gives Richard Mouw the right to accept as followers of Jesus Christ those who subscribe to a theological system that turns Christ into a created being that is part of a polytheistic faith? Being a seminary President doesn’t give you carte blanche to utter this sort of foolishness. His frequent public utterances undermine the Gospel witness of many Christians who try to evangelize mormons. People like Bill McKeever, Sandra Tanner and Aaron Shafovaloff are working daily to reach mormons with the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Richard Mouw has provided yet again ammunition for mormon apologists to undermine these efforts. They will say “look, this guy is a seminary President and he doesn’t think mormonism is a cult!”. That can only serve to hamper the Gospel witness of those who labor in this difficult field among the millions of lost individuals entrapped by the mormon cult.

It is embarrassing that a man who heads up a seminary is this ignorant of such a crucial issue, especially since he apparently spends a lot of time speaking with leading mormons. Perhaps he should have these conversations somewhere not behind closed doors where the issues being discussed can be exposed to the entire church rather than a secretive cabal of academics. I am awfully suspicious of conclusions reached outside of the view of the “little people” in the church. I would love to see the reaction of the president of a different seminary, namely Al Mohler, regarding the state of faithful mormons as genuine followers of Christ.

Not that he cares but I am publically calling Richard Mouw to repent of his support and approval of a pagan religion and a cult that entraps millions of people. As someone who has experienced first hand the cultic culture of mormonism and been exposed to the pagan practices of the mormon “temple” I can assure Mr. Mouw that for all of his study he has missed the mark by a mile. Paul had something to say about those who gave approval to those who were sinning…

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32 ESV)

I would categorize the leadership of the mormon church as slanderers and haters of God and men like Joseph Smith as inventors of evil. Mr. Mouw gives approval to men who practice these things by declaring that many of them are “genuine” followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. In doing so he treads a very dangerous line. I sincerely hope and pray that faithful Christians around Richard Mouw likewise call him to repent and if he refuses take the appropriate disciplinary steps to restore him.