Mormonism 1- Founder and Beginnings
1 John 4:1-2; 2 John 7-10
(A visit from the Mormon missionaries on Friday afternoon prompted this study.)
THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM
Joseph Smith was the founder of the Mormon church. He is the “key” to Mormonism.
- Brigham Young, the successor of Joseph Smith, stated, “No man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith.”
- Brigham Young also said, “Every spirit that confesseth that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that the Book of Mormon is true, is of God, and every spirit that does not is of antichrist.”
- In the Doctrines and Covenants 135:3 we read these humble words, “Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it.”
THE VISIONS OF JOSEPH SMITH
Mormonism is based upon two “visions” of Joseph Smith.
I. Joseph Smith’s first “vision”
A. According to Smith, in 1820, he went into the woods to “pray about” what church to join. Suddenly two “personages” appeared. One pointed to the other and said, “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”
B. The “personage” told Joseph Smith not to join any church because “they were all wrong… all their creeds were an abomination… that those professors were all corrupt.”
1. A total apostasy of all churches is essential to the premise that the Mormon church is the restoration of “the one true church.” If there were no total apostasy, no restoration would be necessary.
2. While some churches have gone into apostasy, God has always had a remanent of true Bible believing churches since the book of Acts.
3. Paul wrote, “Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus THROUGHOUT ALL AGES, would without end. Amen” (Eph. 3:21). If the church went into apostasy, there was a period when glory was not given to Christ in the church.
II. The second “vision.”
On September 21, 1823, Joseph Smith was supposedly visited in his bedroom by a so-called angel named ”Moroni.” The account is given in The Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith 2:29-46:
A brilliant light appeared in his room and immediately a personage emerged at his bedside. This personage identified himself as “Moroni” who was sent from God to give Smith a work to do. According to Smith’s account, Moroni said, “There was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants; Also that there were two stones in silver bows and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted “seers” in ancient or former times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book.
Moroni told Smith that when he got the golden plates, he should not show them to anyone except those to those he was commanded. Then Smith had a vision of where the plates were buried.
It was from these so-called golden plates that Joseph Smith supposedly translated The Book of Mormon.
This is exactly how Islam was founded. An angel revealed the new religion to Mohammed 600 years after the death of Christ. Mormons also hold in common with Islam the doctrine of multiple wives in this life and in the life to come. Thus, neither religion is Christian.
THE BOOK OF MORMON
- First, it should be noted that Satan appears as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14-15). Is it possible the “Moroni” was really a devil or seducing spirit?
- Second, we have the completed Bible (Rev. 22:17-18). We do not need any other book.
- Third, Moroni preached another Gospel (cf. Gal. 1:8-9).
PARTIAL SERMON: CLICK HERE FOR Full PDF
NOTE: ADDED INFORMATION
A CARTOON VIDEO EXPOSING THEIR DOCTRINE THAT THEY DON’T TELL YOU AT THE DOOR… CARTOON
