Personal
Evangelism Handbook
CHAPTER XVIII
Mormonism
HISTORY
Mormonism (also known as The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) was
organized in 1830 in Fayette, New York. An angel named
Moroni was supposed to have appeared to Joseph Smith,
Jr., revealing to him the place where golden plates were
buried which contained the history of ancient America.
Also, according to Mormon
belief, Smith received a pair of special eyeglasses
(called "Urim and Thummim") which turned the
"reformed-Egyptian characters" of the plates
into English. Smith had a friend copy down the writing
on the plates as he (Smith) read it to him. This later
became the Book of Mormon, which is claimed by the
Mormons to be an additional "revelation" for
these latter days. They say it is as authoritative and
inspired as the Bible.
In the early days of its
history the members of the group were forced to migrate
from one part of the country to another. With their
pagan teaching of polygamy and frequent charges of a
criminal nature against their leaders, the followers
were pushed from "pillar to post." Joseph and
his brother, Hyrum, were finally shot to death by an
angry mob while they were awaiting trial in jail.
Today the Mormons are divided
into two groups: The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints, who followed Brigham Young after
Smith's death, and the Reorganized Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints, composed of those who gave
their support to Smith's son instead of to Brigham
Young. Those who followed Young are the larger of the
two.
THEM DOCTRINE versus THE
BIBLE
(1) They have added to the Word
of God. They claim other equally inspired books are The
Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, and The
Pearl of Great Price.
Scripture warns against adding
to what God has said. "Add thou not unto His Words,
lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar"
(Proverbs 30:6). "For I testify unto every man that
heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any
man (including Joseph Smith) shall add unto these
things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are
written in this book" (Revelation 22:18).
(2) They teach salvation by
works. In the Articles of Faith of the Mormon Church it
is stated, "The sectarian dogma of justification by
faith alone has exercised an influence for evil since
the early days of Christianity" (1925 ed., p. 479).
"Salvation" to the
Mormons is received through following a system of rules.
Their requirements for salvation are:
Belief in Christ
Public Confession
Water Baptism
Laying on of Hands
Obedience to the Ordinances of
the Church.
How different this man-made
system is from God's way of saving man through the Lord
Jesus Christ. John 1:12 says, "As many as received
Him, to them gave He power ( the right) to become the
sons of God, even to THEM THAT BELIEVE ON HIS
NAME."
(3) They believe Christ was
created . . . in the same way that we were created. They
teach men existed in eternity past as spirit beings.
Later on we were given physical bodies. Christ was
simply another spirit being before He came to earth.
If Christ is only one of us,
what would that make us? Their book A Compendium of the
Doctrines of the Gospel answers the question for us.
"God Himself was once as we are now, and is an
exalted Man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens"
( p. 190 ) . This teaching is complete blasphemy against
the clear teaching of the Word of God. A religion such
as this could never be considered "Christian"
by the Lord Jesus Christ!
SUGGESTIONS FOR WITNESSING
TO MORMONS
(l) When speaking to one,
always get him to agree to use only the Bible in the
conversation. You can do this with a statement like:
"Since you believe the Bible is God's Word, and I
do, too; and since I do not believe the Book of Mormon
is God's Word, let's confine our conversation to what
the BIBLE says. After all, if both books are from God,
they certainly wouldn't contradict one another." He
will usually agree to this. Once he does, you can make
much better progress. Because the Mormon is not familiar
with the plan of salvation, it will be good news to him.
(2) Do not allow the Mormon to
leave a passage until he has faced up to it. This is
especially important if he tries to quote from the Book
of Mormon to prove a point which is contradictory to
Scripture.
(3) Remember that the issue is
still "grace and works." Don't let the
conversation deviate from this if at ALL possible. The
more you talk about other things, the more time it will
take to lead him to the Lord, and the more difficult it
will be to do so.
(4) If the Mormon speaks of
some strange doctrine that may get your curiosity up,
just let it drop . . . or you will find he will be doing
all the talking and you won't be covering the plan of
salvation.
(5) It is always important as
you are witnessing to be praying for God to give you
wisdom and to direct the thoughts of the unsaved person
toward the gospel. "If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and
upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" (James
1:5).
"Now thanks be unto
God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and
maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in
every place" (II Corinthians 2:14).
