What do Marie Osmond, The Maytag Repair Man (Gordon Jump), and Stephen Covey have in common? Other than being celebrities in their own field, all three of them are active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints – also known as the Mormons. From its beginnings as a six-member church organized on April 6, 1830 in a small town in the state of New York, today it has a membership of over eleven million worldwide. Over sixty thousand fulltime missionaries proclaim the teachings of Mormonism in 162 countries. The Mormons claim they are a Christian church founded on the principles of Jesus Christ. This claim is propped up by the way it dresses in Chris­tian terminology, advocates traditional family values, and upholds conservative personal lifestyles. However much, though, it seeks to position itself as merely another mainstream Christian church, the reality is that its history and doctrine shows its cultic origins and its radical departure from the teachings of Scripture.

Joseph Smith and Brigham Young⤒🔗

In April of 1830, Joseph Smith and five of his friends organized the Church of Christ in Fayette, New York. According to Smith, ten years earlier he was determined to ask God to deliver him out of religious darkness and turmoil. Over the course of those ten years, God appeared to him in a series of visions and revelations and gave him a complete account of the Old Testa­ment church as it existed on the North American continent. This series of revela­tions was published as the Book of Mormon and remains one of its four sacred texts.

According to the Book of Mormon, the North American continent was occupied many centuries before Christ by the Nephites and the Lamanites – both descendants of the House of Israel. Constant warfare between these two tribes resulted in the destruction of the Nephites but not before one of its members, Mormon, recorded its history. The Church of Christ was proclaimed by Smith as the restoration of this original church.

In the years following 1830, Smith and his devotees set out to build a religious community. This community was to be the New Zion – an entire city where God's chosen would await the second coming. Unfortunately for Smith, the surrounding neighborhood grew suspicious of the community and after a series of confrontations, the group decided to leave in search of a friendlier place to build. Over the next fifteen years the group grew in numbers and when they attempted to build a settlement in Illinois, they numbered 15,000. Illinois would not prove to be the group's final resting place, largely due to Smith's revelation that polygamy is a legitimate and even divinely encouraged practice. In 1844 an angry mob killed Smith and it would have seemed that the Mormon dream would die with him.

However, one of the first converts to Mormonism, Brigham Young, took it upon himself to lead the group westward. He organized a peaceful departure and took the group from Illinois across the American mid-West. Not everybody was convinced, and several splinter groups departed – each going their own way. The main body left in 1846 and- after an arduous trek lasting over one year, the group arrived at the Salt Lake Valley. Brigham Young declared this to be the new site of the group's city of God. There was much work to be done as the Mormons essentially transformed the barren desert-like land in Utah into a prosperous agriculture community. Today, Utah contains the largest contingent of Mormons – almost three quarters of the state's population.

The Canadian connection←⤒🔗

In spite of the Mormons' desire to seek isolation and segregation so that they could be left alone to build their community, the practice of polygamy proved a significant barrier to this. Congress passed a series of anti-bigamy laws and strictly enforced them. In 1886 a man by the name of Charles Card was commissioned by the President of the church – by now Young had died and John Taylor had succeeded him – to go north to Canada to seek peace and asylum. After scouting British Colum­bia and Alberta, Card settled on a tract of land near present day Cardston, Alberta. The original intent was to settle temporarily until the anti-bigamy laws had been re­pealed in the United States. In 1887 a group consisting of eight families left Utah and settled in southern Alberta.

The group flourished and began turning Alberta's arid land into viable agriculture activities. The anticipated repeal of the anti-bigamy laws, however, never happened. When public pressure in Canada also resulted in the passing of anti-polygamy laws and with pressure mounting in the U.S., the Church officially abandoned the practice in 1890. The Cana­dian group did not return to the U.S.; in fact, they devoted their efforts to establishing an irrigation project to take water out of the St. Mary's River and spread it over the land. An interest in this project led to a wave of migration from Utah to Alberta. By 1903, the Mormons had established several towns such as Taber, Magrath, Raymond, and Stirling – the Mormons were firmly established in Canada. Today, more than 100,000 Mormons reside in Canada.

Organizational structure←⤒🔗

To grow from a small group of six people to a large international church of over eleven million could only happen if the church's organization had institutionalized. In fact, according to one economic historian, the Mormon church's organization "is the most nearly perfect piece of social mechanism … excepting the German Army." Authority is from the top down while responsibility is from the bottom up. At the top is the First Presidency, which consists of the President of the church and his two counselors. The next highest body is the Council of the Twelve. These mem­bers, also called Apostles, are believed to hold the restored office of the original twelve apostles. The President, elected by the Council of Twelve, has sole authority in the church and, according to Mormon doc­trine, is considered the divinely inspired prophet and seer of God.

At the local level each worthy male is expected to take his part in this organiza­tion. There is no professional clergy – all offices are strictly lay positions. The church has managed to effectively combine a high degree of active participation with a highly organized and structured concept of a priestly office. The elaborate priesthood consists of two divisions – a lower order, the Aaronic priesthood, and a higher order, the Melchizedek priesthood. The faithful Mormon male is first admitted to the Aaronic priesthood at the age of twelve. Af­ter progressing through a series of ranks ­including two years on a self-sustained missionary trip – he will find himself, at age seventeen or eighteen, at the highest level, that of Bishop. The Presiding Bishop, along with his two counselors, form the head of the local administrative unit called a Ward. A Ward is roughly equivalent in size and function to a local congregation of a Reformed church. Several wards form a Stake – roughly equivalent to a Classis – whose organizational struc­ture also consists of a presidency and a council. In the end, all local, regional, and national functions of the church are managed by this non-professional priesthood under the leadership and authority of the top church officials.

Mormon doctrine←⤒🔗

With an authority structure not radically different than many mainstream Christian churches, the Latter-Day Saints would like people to believe that its doctrines and belief system are also not radically different than many mainstream Christian churches. And, in many ways, it does have the ap­pearance of a Christian church – an appearance that is carefully crafted and nurtured by the church. After all, Jesus' name is central in the official name of the church, it recognizes the authority of the Bible, it has high moral standards, and it focuses on the family as the central building block of society. However, like most cults, while managing to couch its theology and doctrine in Christian terminology, its underlying beliefs are radically distinct from the teachings of Jesus as revealed in Scripture. Three examples should illustrate this:

1. THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE – While Christians recognize only the Bible as authoritative, the LDS recognizes, in addition to the Bible, three other texts: Doctrine & Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price, and The Book of Mormon. Furthermore, Mormons do not believe in a closed canon but believe that God continues to reveal His will to His people through the President of the church. With respect to the Bible, Mormons believe it to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. Because the other three texts are believed to be directly revealed by God, they tend to take on greater authority than the Bible. In fact, The Pearl of Great Price contains books believed to be written by Moses and Abraham that fill in gaps lost from the Bible.
2. THE NATURE OF GOD – While Christian believe that there is only one true and living God, the Mormons teach that godhood can be obtained by all believers. Since humans are created in the image of God, they understand God as having flesh and bones just as humans do. The difference between humans and God is that God's body is perfect. Mormon doctrine teaches "all good things come from God. Everything that he does is to help his children become like him – a god" Mormon doctrinal book).
3. THE ROLE OF HUMANS – According to Mormon doctrine, we are literally children of God. Mormonism teaches the existence of a pre-mortal life in heaven where spirit children are liter­ally conceived by Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. As they put it, "Because we are the spiritual children of our heavenly parents, we have inherited the potential to develop their divine qualities. If we choose to do so, we can become perfect, just as they are" The fall into sin was part of God's plan for humans to reach this divine perfection – referred to by Mormons as "exaltation in the celestial kingdom." To understand this, it is necessary to understand two Mormon concepts. The first is the Terrestrial Existence and the second is Agency.

As the name suggests, terrestrial existence refers to the existence on earth. Mormonism teaches that while the pre-mortal spirit existence in heaven was grand, it did not allow for full progression to godhood. Therefore, God designed the earth as a testing ground where "a veil would cover our memories" and "life on earth would be untainted by memories of heaven" (GP). The pre-mortal spirit children would unite with mortal bodies and ex­ist as human beings on this earth. In order to achieve exaltation, or godhood, humans have to choose to return to heaven while living in a sinful world.

This process could not have started, however, if Adam and Eve had not sinned. As Mormonism teaches, "Some people believe Adam and Eve committed a serious sin when they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. However, latter-clay scripture helps us understand that their fall was a necessary step in the plan of life and a great blessing to us all" (GP). Through the fall, spirit children now have physical bodies – a requirement for them to choose to do good.

This concept of choosing is referred to as Agency. Mormonism teaches that humans are responsible and accountable for the choices they make. Since the earth is a sort of testing ground, the freedom of choices is what determines how and if humans return to the spirit world achieving godhood. Right choices lead to an increase in faith and wrong choices lead to destruction. At the same time, it is be­lieved that God did not simply leave humans on their own. He provided a savior who could teach people to return to heaven. This savior came in the form of Jesus, also called Jehovah. Jesus, according to Mormon belief, is humanities' literal brother. Jesus is the first spirit child born of heavenly parent and the first to achieve godhood. As the eldest brother, he is proof that a life of obedience to the dictates of the church will lead to godhood in heaven. "By following the Lord's teachings, we can return to live with him and our heavenly parents in the celestial kingdom. He was chosen to be our savior when we all attended the great council with our heavenly parents. When he became our savior, he did his part to help us return to our heavenly home. It is now up to each of us to do our part and become worthy of exaltation" (GP).

Conclusion←⤒🔗

The history and beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints illustrates its cultic origins and radical depar­ture from the teachings of Scripture. Joseph Smith's claim to have restored the church from total apostasy through divine revelation and inspiration is held as truth by more than eleven million people worldwide. It is difficult to understand the following claim made by Apostle Bruce McConkie: "Mormonism is Christianity; Christianity is Mormonism; they are one and the same, and they are not to be distinguished from each other in the minutest detail … Mormons are true Christians; their worship is the pure, unadulterated Christianity authored by Christ and accepted by Peter, James, and John and all the ancient saints." In our call to "not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God" (1Jn 4:1), we must conclude that, despite their many admirable qualities, the Mormon spirit is not from God. Having this knowledge, however, does not make us arrogant and self-righteous. For with Paul, we confess that Jesus saved us, "not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us gener­ously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life" (Tit 3:5-7). It is then our calling to take this gospel message to all our neighbors – including our Mormon ones.