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Answer
When Mormon missionaries (properly known as Latter Day Saints or simply “LDS”) visit your door, they often offer a complimentary copy of the Book of Mormon and share information about its author, Joseph Smith. According to them, Smith translated the Book of Mormon from golden plates he unearthed in a hill in New York in the early 1800s. This act is believed to validate his divine calling as the new prophet on the earth in modern times. Additionally, they will mention that the Holy Ghost will confirm the truth of the Book of Mormon by eliciting positive emotions within you. Subsequently, they will encourage you to “read the Book of Mormon, pray, and ask God to reveal its truth to you.” It is essential to approach this with sincerity for it to be effective.
Before you kneel down, there are certain undisclosed aspects you should be aware of that they do not disclose (and will not unless prompted). The first pertains to numerous LDS beliefs that differentiate them from traditional, orthodox Christianity. These beliefs are not outlined in the Book of Mormon. In reality, there is very little in that book that contradicts orthodox Christian doctrine. The core tenets of Mormonism are actually found in their additional scriptures, The Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price. However, Mormons do not distribute these books at the doorstep—and for good reason. If individuals were informed upfront about what they would be required to believe (such as God having once been a man, rejection of the Trinity, Satan being Jesus’ brother, the pre-existence of souls, etc.), they might not be as willing to set aside their doubts.
The second point to understand is that by accepting the Book of Mormon, one is essentially acknowledging Joseph Smith as a prophet. So, what about the criteria for testing a prophet? Is it valid to “leave this question to God?” No, it is not. This is because God has already disclosed His criteria for potential prophets, and it does not involve prayer or emotions, and God is not obligated to respond.We pray for prayers that He has already answered! We do not have to ask God whether or not we should rob a bank or murder someone. Instead, James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God . . . and it will be given to him.” Wisdom is applied knowledge, not the lack of it.
God never instructs us to pray about what is true. When we want to know the height of a wall, we don’t pray about it; we use something that we know is true (a ruler) and compare it to the wall. The Bible, God’s Word, is true. That is our measuring stick for truth. See Acts 17:11, for example, which describes a group of people who were considered noble because when Paul presented the Christian message to them, they “received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.”
Feelings are unreliable because they are subjective, easy to produce, and are not meant to discover facts but to inform us how we feel about facts. Psychological persuasion techniques, intensity, eye contact, or mere desire can generate feelings that seem real because they are real! However, genuine feelings are still just informing us how we are reacting to something, not the truthfulness of that thing. The Mormon missionary handbook specifically outlines these techniques, and missionaries undergo training on how to persuade people before they ever leave the house.
What are the biblical tests for a prophet? They are in God’s Word: Deuteronomy 18:21-22 says, “You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?’ If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.” Did Joseph Smith ever claim “in the name of the LORD” that something would happen when it did not? Yes—many times, in fact.
Joseph Smith prophesied that New York would be destroyed if they rejected the [Mormon] gospel (D&C 84:114-115). He also prophesied that the rebellion of South Carolina and the War Between the States would result in war being poured out upon all nations; slaves would revolt; the inhabitants of the earth would mourn; famine, plague, earthquake, thunder, lightning, and a full end of all nations would result (D&C 87). Strangely, this prophecy is the one most frequently cited by Mormons to demonstrate Joseph Smith’s prophetic abilities!
Moreover, Deuteronomy 13:5 states that “if a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods you have not known) ‘and let us worship them,’ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Did Joseph Smith lead his followers to other gods? Yes.
Joseph Smith was a polytheist. History of the Church 6:474 records Smith stating, “I wish to declare I have always and in all congregations when I have preached on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods.” Joseph Smith declared that “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 345). This is clearly not the biblical God.
Galatians 1:6-7 mentions that people may be “turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all . . . trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” And Paul pronounced a curse upon them for doing so. In Romans 1:16 Paul tells us that the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation”—that’s pretty important. Did Joseph Smith teach a “different gospel”? Yes.
Mormons believe that the Book of Mormon contains the “fullness of the gospel.” The Book of Mormon states so itself in its introduction If the ability to be resurrected so that his works may be judged.
While we cannot judge another person’s motives, we can and must judge what a person does or says. Joseph Smith, and hence the Book of Mormon, fails the twin tests of Deuteronomy 13 and 18. God takes false prophets very seriously. Deuteronomy 13:1-3 says, “That prophet or dreamer must be put to death because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God…; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.” Deuteronomy 18:19-21 says, “If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account. But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death…” And Galatians 1:8-9 says, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!”
The gospel is God’s power to bring us to Him. He will not stand for those who pervert it. He has given us the ability and the responsibility to discern whether or not the gospel is being tampered with. We must carefully investigate the claims of the LDS if we are to follow what God has commanded. In fact, Mormons invite non-Mormons to examine their claims: “Convince us of our errors of doctrine if we have any” (LDS Apostle Orson Pratt, The Seer, p.15).
(Editor’s note: many of the references in our articles on Mormonism are Mormon publications, such as Mormon Doctrine, Articles of Faith, Doctrines of Salvation, History of the Church, Doctrine and Covenants, and so forth. Others are from the Book of Mormon itself, e.g., books such as 1 Nephi, 2 Nephi, and Alma.)
