One of the most prolific spiritual signs of the end times that point to the soon return of Jesus Christ involves the increasing appearance of false christs and their cults (Matthew 24:5,11,24). A cult is a counterfeit religion that practices deception to present a likeness to the original. Adherents claim to be genuine Christians while redefining biblical doctrines involving God, Jesus, and salvation to reduce their chances of detection and increase being accepted as authentic Christianity.
One of the most notorious and successful of these religious counterfeiters was Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805-1844), founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), better known as the Mormons. With nearly eight million followers today, the LDS Church continues to grow at an exponential rate, even some 180 years after Smith’s death.
However, the cult of Mormonism stands precariously like a house of cards, easily toppled by two simple and unarguable facts: Smith’s immoral character and his many false prophecies. To know what these are is to gain spiritual discernment and so not be duped by a false christ “masquerading as an angel of light” who was in truth a “false apostle and deceitful worker” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4,13-14).
Smith’s Immoral Character
Many historically documented accounts of Joseph Smith’s character demonstrate a lifestyle of immorality and debauchery that lie in stark contrast to the biblical man who lives in holiness and obedience to sound biblical doctrine.
Smith’s own testimony reveals him to be a serial liar. He claimed at the tender age of 15 to have been visited by “two glorious personages surrounded with a brilliant light which eclipsed the sun at noonday,” whom he identified as “the Father and the Son.” God Himself supposedly taught young Smith to despise Christian creeds, consider denominations as abominations, and believe that the Bible had been corrupted and so in need of restoration.
Three years later, Smith next claimed that an angel named Moroni directed him to a hill called Cumorah near the village of Manchester, New York to find hidden golden plates. There he would also find the Jewish high priest’s Urim and Thummin stones, and by looking through these stones, he could translate the plates from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics into English. Coincidentally, Smith just happened to find these artifacts right near his home.
To substantiate his discovery, Smith deviously qualified three witnesses — Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, and David Whitmer — as those who could testify to the existence of the plates while Smith kept them out of sight from the world during his time translating. Nobody but these four could have viewed the plates, for Smith revealed that the angel Moroni had conveniently returned and delivered them back up to Heaven before anyone else could have a look. These witnesses’ wretched moral character makes their testimonies completely dismissible. Both Whitmer and Cowdery were later charged by their fellow Mormons as thieves and counterfeiters, and Harris eventually admitted that he never had really laid eyes on the plates, but instead gazed upon them through his “eyes of faith.”
What Smith claimed to have translated were the written words of a man named Mormon who had been a descendant of a Jewish exilic pilgrim to the New World named Lehi. Once Smith had finished “translating” the golden plates into the Book of Mormon, he then revealed that John the Baptist had appeared to him to ordain him into the Aaronic priesthood. Now commissioned, Smith launched his new religion — Mormonism — on April 6, 1830, and quickly began amassing followers from people who had become disenfranchised by traditional Christianity.
When it came to leading his new followers, Smith behaved more like a gang leader than a shepherd of God. Anyone who spoke out against Smith’s false teachings was attacked with a vengeance. In one historic account, Smith hired two Mormons to kill a man who had been outspoken against his teachings. In another historic account, Smith claimed he had a vision from God that told him that “the redemption of Zion must come by power,” and so amassed an army of 200 Mormons to march on Independence, Missouri, where he was summarily routed. Smith’s army, called the Danites, was described as “a band of murderers whose vile misdeeds were later written in blood on the blackest pages of the history of Mormonism.” Because of their treasonous actions, Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs ordered General Clark to treat the Mormons as enemies who “must be exterminated or driven from the state, if necessary, for the public good” for “their outrages are beyond description.” Porter Rockwell, chief of the Danites, was described as “a powerful man physically, with a mind of narrow perceptions, intense convictions, and utterly depraved motives,” who had been charged with close to one-hundred cold-blooded murders.
Polygamy and pedophilia also demonstrated Smith’s contempt for God’s moral law, especially Genesis 2:24 which defines marriage as being between one man and one woman for life. Smith claimed divine revelation to justify his acts of polygamy, having amassed a collection of some 33 known wives, some as young as 14 years old. This lurid behavior led the townsfolk of Kirtland, Ohio to tar and feather Joseph Smith and his friend, Sidney Rigdon. Polygamy so defined early Mormonism that Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, even went as far as blasphemously claiming Jesus Christ was a polygamist who had been married to Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, as well as to Mary Magdalene.
Wherever Smith and his followers went they sowed discord and violence, even among themselves, eventually causing the Mormons to be forced out of Ohio, then Missouri, settling in Illinois, before later finally being pushed west into Utah. While in Illinois, Smith ordered his followers to burn down the Nauvoo Expositor newspaper for publishing the horrors of Mormon rule and practice. This act of arson led to Joseph Smith’s arrest. An angry mob stormed the jail where he was being held and shot Smith and his brother Hyrum. For supposedly being a divinely appointed prophet of God, Smith died like the criminal he was on June 27, 1844.
For all of his supposedly divine proclamations, Smith proved to be a lying, thieving, violent, sexually immoral miscreant who clearly did not live a life as the Apostle Paul preached, “worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10).
Smith’s Many False Prophecies
The LDS Church made the following admission concerning their founder’s personal claim of being a divinely appointed prophet of God:
By nearly three million persons in many lands, Joseph Smith is today held in remembrance as a Prophet of God. The virtues and achievements of his followers stand as a monument to his divine calling. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has its foundation in the revelations he received, the sacred truths he taught, and the authority of the priesthood restored through him.
Within this foundational LDS statement lies Mormonism’s “Achilles’ heel” in that the authority of the Mormon priesthood and the validity of their doctrines rest entirely on Joseph Smith’s claim to be an inspired prophet of God. That means that should Smith have ever pronounced any prophecy that turned out to be false, he would end up violating Moses’ litmus test of 100% accuracy in determining whether a message had been truly spoken by the Lord or not (Deuteronomy 18:21-22). Mormonism’s own Articles of Faith admits to as much stating, “If his [Smith’s] claims to divine appointment be false, forming as they do the foundation of the Church… the superstructure cannot be stable.” Cold Case Christianity author J. Warner Wallace proves the superstructure to indeed be very unstable by providing just a few of the many false prophecies made by Joseph Smith which prove that he had indeed failed Moses’ test:
1. Joseph Smith made open-dated prophecies, such as when he predicted in 1835 that, “The coming of the Lord, which was nigh — even fifty-six years should wind up the scene” (History of the Church, Vol. 2, 182).
2. He made several self-fulfilling prophecies, such as when he claimed the Lord instructed him not to translate any more until he had arrived in Ohio. (D&C 37:1).
3. Smith made conditional prophecies, such as when he stated that if the people of Ohio repented they would not be severely judged by the Lord (D&C 40:16-18).
4. Smith even went as far as to make close-dated, unconditional prophecies, such as when in 1832 he prophesied that an LDS temple would be built in Independence, Missouri within his generation. Almost 200 years later, no temple has ever been built, especially during Smith’s generation, forcing the LDS leadership to admit this prophecy never came true. (D&C Section 84).
5. Smith also made several fanciful prophecies, such as when in 1837 he proclaimed that the Lord had told him that the moon was inhabited by men and women who looked like the people of the earth, that they lived up to a thousand years old, stood nearly six feet tall, and dressed uniformly like Quakers (The Oliver B. Huntington Journal, 1881).
Conclusion
It takes little effort to prove that Joseph Smith’s claim to being a divinely called prophet of God was fraudulent. First, Smith’s own ungodly and immoral character would cause even the most ardent hedonist to blush. Second, his failed prophecies fall well short of Moses’ test in determining a false prophet.
Many more pieces of evidence could be presented that discredit Mormonism. For example, Smith obviously plagiarized the Book of Mormon from other sources such as the Bible as well as a novel written earlier by a minister named Solomon Spaulding. Some 3,000 “revisions” were made to Joseph Smith’s writings by the LDS church over the subsequent decades. The many historic and linguistic claims Smith made were in time proven to be utterly fictitious, if not ludicrous. The evidences go on and on. Such plentiful arguments should cause Mormons to express serious doubts as to the legitimacy of their false religion and so stop them from walking blindly down the steps leading away from God.
As Evangelical Christians, we must reach out to Mormons in love while armed with the sword of the Word and these facts which prove Joseph Smith was a fraud. In doing so, we confirm that Mormonism cannot be a valid expression of Christianity but rather remains as another wide road that lures lost souls to eternal separation from God in a place of torment.
References
Bjornstad, James. Counterfeits at Your Door. Glendale, CA: G/L Publications, 1979.
Boyd, Robert Frederick. “Bible and Modern Religions, Pt 4: Mormonism.” Interpretation 10, no. 4 (October 1956): 430–46. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0000648437&site=ehost-live.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, “Joseph Smith’s Testimony,” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1972/01/joseph-smiths-testimony.
Ferguson, Charles W. The Confusion of Tongues. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1928.
Ford, Clyde D. “The Book of Mormon, the Early Nineteenth-Century Debates over Universalism, and the Development of the Novel Mormon Doctrines of Ultimate Rewards and Punishments.” Dialogue 47, no. 1 (Spr 2014): 1–23. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0001985050&site=ehost-live.
Kelly, C. and H. Birney. Holy Murder. New York, NY: Minton, Balch & Co., 1934.
Martin, Tim. “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” Watchman Fellowship, https://www.watchman.org/profiles/pdf/ldsprofile.pdf.
Martin, Walter. Walter Martin’s Cults Reference Bible. Santa Anna, CA: Vision House Publishers, 1981.
Morey, Robert A. How to Answer a Mormon. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 1983.
Rhodes, Ron. The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001.
Shook, Charles Α. Cumorah Revisited. Cincinnati, OH: Standard Publishing Co., 1910.
Snowden, James H. The Truth About Mormonism. New York, NY: George H. Doran Co., 1926.
Van Baalen, Jan K. The Chaos of the Cults. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1938.
Wallace, J. Warner. “Can We Trust the Prophecies of Joseph Smith?,” Cold Case Christianity, https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/can-we-trust-the-prophecies-of-joseph-smith/.
Thank you for this excellent article! As long-time residents of the Finger Lakes region of New York State where Hill Cumorah is located, we have long recognized Joseph Smith as a complete fraud. The book “History of Ontario County, New York” first published by Everts, Ensign & Everts in 1876 and later re-published by Lippincott in 1876 and W. E. Morrison in 1976 contains a lengthy description beginning on page 42 of the deception perpetrated by the Smith family. And on page 202 we find the following amusing account of a visit by Joseph Smith to the village of Victor, NY in 1823:
“When his bill was settled, Smith had a balance of three shillings, which he unfortunately invested in liquor. It was a custom then with the boys of the village when they found a man drunk to souse him in the water-vat in front of the tavern, and the future prophet proved no exception to the rule. Few would have thought that this awkward, drenched, and drunken young man was destined to a world-wide reputation as the originator and leader of a sect whose principles, though at variance with law, yet number thousands of followers.”
Fascinating, Lin, thanks for posting that excerpt!
I put the Mormon’s in the same category as the self-proclaimed prophet Muhamad, bunch of wacko’s.. it’s all about power and control.
As an ex-Mormon, this was an excellent article! After being in the church about 10 years, I began noticing several discrepancies within the BOM itself as well as conflict with the Bible. I spent almost 2 years gathering facts and making a decision to leave. I found a Bible-believing church with a pastor willing to take time discipling me. I embraced Jesus as my Lord & Savior and remain a strong believer almost 30 years later! So many Christian’s I encounter think Mormons are Christians because they are so “nice” and “have good families” but unfortunately they are very deceived. Your article provided believers with good information when countering LDS beliefs. Thanks!
Dianne, praise the Lord for His rescuing from the cult of Mormonism! Thank you for sharing your testimony.
Dianne,
My teenage daughter in an act of rebellion invited the ‘Mormon boys (aka evangelists) into my home to discuss the Book of Mormon. My other children were present as I began to discuss the Mormon pitch. I merely asked questions of LDS doctrine outside the Book of Mormon. Most of the boys’ answers were, “I don’t know.” After two visits the Mormon boys stopped coming around.
I asked my children what they thought? Their answer was that the Mormon boys really didn’t know much. I told them the boys’ were following a script and when they were taken outside the script they didn’t know what to do.
I told the rebellious daughter that the LDS church was primarily a social club that throws the name of Jesus around. After attending a few LDS ‘services’ she had to agree.
I’ve studied Mormonism for 3 decades. It is a cult and a multi billion dollar business. I would recommend a tv show called What Love Is This which is hosted by Doris Hansen on you tube. There must be 500 episodes. It is from a local Utah tv station. I live next door to Mormons and prayed for them 16 years. The wife just left the “church” and recommended her son not go on mission. Praise God for miracles. They are brainwashed and can not think critically. Doris Hanson has many books in a list for perusal.
You guys should be in the news business the way you can twist a story. I would suggest you read the Book of Mormon, check it against the Bible, ask yourself how an uneducated man could write such a book without any contradictions to the Bible. To write something like this article you have to be afraid of something that the Mormons have. Perhaps your incomes? You will find there are no paid leadership positions in the Mormon Church. I think they get $1/yr as required by the govt. to be an organization of type. The first pages of the B of M have the testimonies of the witnesses of the Book. You need to read that before spreading more lies. You research Bible prophecy, why don’t you research this group like you do prophecy before writing what you want to believe without real research?
Robert, you’re welcome to read through my sources as the references I’ve researched for this article are listed under the article. If you will not believe from me that you are a member of a cult, then please connect with James Walker. James was a Mormon before becoming saved and has some excellent resources on discerning the dangers of the cults on his excellent website at http://www.watchman.org/.
Here’s more first-person accounts that the LDS Church is a cult:
• Witnessing to Mormons with the Book of Mormon: https://youtu.be/NfgURrzhdmc?t=394
• The Prophecies of Joseph Smith: https://youtu.be/RuzmdtP5VRI?t=382
• Witnessing with BOM PDF: http://www.watchman.org/staff/bblevins/WitnessingWithTheBookOfMormon.pdf
A site that compares the differences between the Bible and the Mormon Bible is http://www.irr.org/mit/default.html.
Further proof that Joseph Smith’s claims were fiction – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1mFdO1wB08.
Here’s some of our ministry’s articles on Mormonism – http://christinprophecy.org/articles/the-tangled-web-of-mormonism/ and https://christinprophecyblog.org/2020/06/three-irrefutable-reasons-why-joseph-smith-was-a-fraud-part-1-of-3/. And here’s our short “The Inbox” video that teaches how to identify false prophets such as Joseph Smith at http://christinprophecy.org/programs/the-inbox-10-how-do-we-identify-a-false-prophet/.
We here at Lamb & Lion Ministries are praying that the Jesus of the Bible will open your eyes and reveal Himself to you.
I’m curious to know more about the RLDS church. I know it’s roots are in Mormonism (my ex-brother-in-law belongs, sort of) and I was told by members of the RLDS that THEY are the roots and the LDS is an offshoot. Any information on them? By the way, Joseph Smith could well have been a sociopath. They are smart, charming and able to manipulate people in words and in acts. Just because he had the intelligence to write The Book of Mormon doesn’t mean he couldn’t be a reprobate or miscreant, as well.
Jan, I recommend you connect with James Walker. James was a Mormon before becoming saved and has some excellent resources on discerning the dangers of the cults and all of their offshoots on his excellent website at http://www.watchman.org/.
You jest yes? I have read the book of Mormon and it is satanical rubbish that makes no sense; dreamed up by a psycho. It is you who are deceived and have no discernment. Satan doesn’t set out to contradict but to make things sound plausible like he did with Eve in the garden of Eden “Did God really say …”. But Jesus Christ, who is the maker of everything, the real deal, will forgive you if you turn towards him.
We get Jehovah’s Witnesses around here, I had discussions with them, but NEVER invite them in. I think I got one of the top two in my area to doubt her false religion.
I get a letter once in a while from them, I want to write back but my wife throws them away immediately.
Bill, you will find two great articles from our ministry about the Jehovah’s Witnesses at https://christinprophecy.org/articles/#Cults.
Thanks Nathen, I’m going to slip over to read that article.
I just remembered not long ago I seen an episode of 60 minutes about a hedge fund manager that went to work for the Mormon headquarters, how they stifle funds from their members and are larger than any hedge fund.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mormon-whistleblower-ensign-peak-church-investment-fund-allegations-60-minutes-transcript-2023-05-14/
Thanks also for passing my comment to Mondo the other week.
Thank you, Nathan Jones, for succinctly and accurately relaying the truth about Mormonism. Mormons today are desperately trying to rebrand their image to appear to be Christian, but their foundation and their core beliefs are from the pit of hell.
Amen. Such lies & distortions. Mormons are so confused. They are brainwashed and find it difficult to leave. I felt tremendous spiritual warfare when I left over 30 years ago. Praise God I read and believed the truth when shown it!
Great article, Nathan! I think where I struggle with Mormons is that they claim to be Christians and they answer all the “basic questions “ correctly about Christ. Once you dig deeper you begin to see the issues.
Scott, good point! Cults are imitations of the real deal (much like New Coke), and use much of the same Christian terminology, but the meaning of the names and terms are different than what the Bible teaches.
Thank you Dr. Nathan and all at Lamb and Lion for your truths about the Mormon Church. Thank you for your time, research, and work. I look forward to sharing your truths with them and others, united with Christ Jesus, my Savior and Lord 🙏❤️
Moroni. That’s what Joseph Smith in Hell is saying to himself. Moron I, moron I, moron I.
Joe Smith and his brother also shot people as they came for him. Two pistols had been smuggled in to him while he was locked up. Prophet of god blasting away! Mormons are also taught that the men can become gods if they check off all the right boxes. They get a planet to be god of. Yeah, that’s sounds like Christianity! Not sure what the women get out of this arrangement. Supposedly they produce all the babies to inhabit this world that their god husband is god of. This is also why they needed polygamy – more wives to produce babies for the world they are god of. True nonsense. Bless you all!
Perhaps someone else may have also left this comment – I didn’t read them all – BUT this article erroneously says there are only 8 million Mormons – when the actual number worldwide is closer to 17 million.
While the LDS Church generously claims 17 million, non-Mormon statistics reports are more conservative at 8 million.
Interesting. So, in addition to being deeply deceived – they also willfully LIE? smh
My goodness! Thank you so much! I just knew that the Mormons deny the deity of our Lord and Savior JESUS CHRIST, that makes it a death cult. GOD bless your ministry!
I was also a Mormon for 13 years. I left this church with all its false teachings 25 years ago. At that time I had a colleague who introduced me to a Protestant pastor. He studied the Bible with me for a year and it changed my life so much that I finally realized the truth of God’s Word. Since then, Jesus has been my only way, my truth and my life. Jesus is everything to me, especially my personal Savior and Good Shepherd who takes care of me and protects me every day.