Moroni From the Realms of Glory

Challies.com ^ | December 15, 2014 | Tim Challies

[Gamecock]

You’ve got to be careful what you share online. Over the weekend Facebook and Twitter were suddenly inundated with links to a new recording of the Christmas hymn “Angels From the Realms of Glory” mashed up with “Angels We Have Heard on High.” It was recorded by The Piano Guys and features David Archuleta, a one-time runner up on American Idol. It is a creative recording that intersperses shots of the musicians with video taken to record the world’s largest nativity scene. The song is beautifully sung and the music is rich; it is no surprise that it quickly gained over one million views. Well and good, right? Well, except for one thing: Its purpose is to separate you from Jesus Christ.

This video was produced as a key part of a huge social media campaign called #ShareTheGift—a Mormon evangelistic social media campaign. This campaign is meant to reclaim Christmas as a religious holiday but also to serve as a gateway into Mormonism. At the end of the video is a brief testimony by Steven Sharp Nelson of The Piano Guys who shares what Christmas means to him and who points to a second video titled “He Is the Gift.” This video, in turn, leads to a page at Mormon.org that shares why you, too, ought to become Mormon.

As I said, you’ve got to be careful what you share online. What looks good at a glance may harbor some deep concerns.

I thought a lot about this video over the weekend and want to offer a few reflections on its significance.

This video reminds us that Christians—true Christians who hold to the true gospel of the Bible—are not the only ones who use biblical language and who sing the great hymns of the Christian faith. Mormons sing many of the same hymns as we do, though they often change the lyrics to remove any references to the Trinity or to otherwise make them palatable with Mormon theology. (e.g. Where in “Holy, Holy, Holy” we sing “God in three persons blessed Trinity” they sing “God in his glory, blessed Deity.”) Mormons claim to be Christians and to honor the Bible; they speak of Jesus as their Savior and Redeemer and claim that he is the only begotten son of the Father; they proclaim a gospel of faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Spirit, and persevering to the end. But they also deny the doctrine of the Trinity, they deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, and they deny justification by grace alone through faith alone. Though they proclaim that they are Christians, in reality they are Christ-deniers. We do not need to apologize for this and cannot over-emphasize it: Mormons are not Christians. Yet they share just enough of our beliefs that they can masquerade as Christians if we do not look deeper than the surface.

This video also reminds us why Mormonism is a quickly-growing religion. Mormons rarely win and woo converts through their theology. It has been my experience that most Mormons do not know a lot of theology and that most of them do not much care for theology. Mormons win followers through their promise of a better life and through their example of happy, clean-cut individuals and families. And sure enough, this video is full of beautiful people behaving beautifully. There is not a tattoo or body-piercing to be seen, not a hair out of place, not a frown in the crowd. Mormonism does not have to offer theology because it speaks to the realm of felt needs. The great promise of Mormonism is “you can be like us” or, even better, “your family can be like ours.” For many people that is very nearly irresistible.

This video serves as a helpful reminder that Mormons and many others use new media very well. These Mormon evangelistic efforts are always very clever and very compelling. They always give away enough information to make it seem like Mormons are just another friendly group of Christians, and they withhold the information that distinguishes them from true Christians. They speak gladly of the affirmations but tend to hide the denials. This video is powerfully effective at accomplishing its purpose—to serve as an advertisement for Mormonism and to function as a gateway into Mormonism.

Finally, this video reminds us that even good songs can be dangerous. Most years I enjoy watching a performance of Handel’s “Messiah,” and it does not much bother me that few of the musicians involved are Christians. They sing the most God-glorifying words set to sublime music, and do it without a shred of faith in Christ. But there is a substantial difference between God-glorifying music sung by unbelievers and God-glorifying music sung by false teachers who intend to use that music to lead you away from Christ. This performance of “Angels From the Realms of Glory” is meant to turn you away from justification by grace through faith alone and meant to turn you toward the false gospel of Mormonism. The song was not intended to glorify Jesus, but to draw attention to a false representation of him. The song itself is not the problem, of course; the problem is the purpose behind the song and the campaign that generated it.

This video reminds us once again: Not all that glitters is gold.

[Colofornian]

Since the mormons do not speak of the same Christ (who came down from heaven as God in 3 persons the Trinity and be amongst the common people of sinners- no matter their place in society.... to save their mortal souls) how is it that they can state believing the Christ is a redeemer. Since redemption of our sins (which all have regardless of status) was gained through His death and Resurrection, how do they even state this? They cannot believe it, so it is yet another falsehood and ruse.

Excellent discernment, John! indeed, when Mormons use terms like "salvation" and "redeem" -- they redefine them and basically empty them of any REAL meaning!

I went back to an April 19, 2009 FR discussion I was having with a Mormon FREEPER (Logophile, who doesn't post here anymore). [You can find the discussion here ]
...but I'll repost part of it here:

I asked Logophile, when he mentioned an "opportunity for salvation"...
..."Salvation" FROM what?
Salvation from sin? "Nope," says the Mormon, "we're already free agents."
Salvation from spiritual deadness? "What's that?" asks the Mormon.
Salvation from bondage to Satan? "You're kidding, right?" says the Mormon. "Doncha know that you, I, Jesus and Lucifer were all spiritual bros of Heavenly Father in the pre-existence? Heavenly Father is everybody's Dad. Beyond that, nope, no children of Lucifer that I know."
Salvation from generational bondage -- original sin? "Oh, we've got that angle covered," says the Mormon. "Jesus' atonement covers Adam's sin. No spiritual effects of that apply anymore. Jesus' atonement allows us all to be resurrected. Hey, just about all of us will be saved already!"

So, tell me, Logo, saved FROM what? Just this earthly soil? That's not what the Bible depicts at all. Please tell us what blacks, whites, you, me are saved from, anyway, from a Mormon perspective?

Saved via the Mormon promise that all will be resurrected? [What the fine print of the "Mormon gospel" doesn't tell you is that...]
...(a) there's a "resurrection of damnation" -- and that damnation isn't a ,i>"degree of glory." John 5:29: And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
...and...
...(b) Jesus says in Matt. 7:13-14: ...for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Well, these words of Jesus are not the "Mormon plan of salvation" at all!

We don't hear Jesus' words thru Mormon lips that there's a "resurrection to damnation." Instead, we hear their "false salvation" message that just about all will be resurrected in a degree of glory.

We don't hear Jesus' words thru Mormon lips that the "broadway is destruction" and the "narrow way is life." Instead, we hear their "false salvation" message that just about all will be saved.

HOW LDS IDEOLOGY SKEWS SALVATION BY IGNORING WHAT WE'RE SAVED FROM

(1) The Bible says...
...men are spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1) & in bondage to sin (see Romans 6)...
...Jesus SAVES SOME (not all) from spiritual death & bondage to sin...
...but what does Mormonism convey to natural man? "You're not dead. You're not in spiritual bondage. You have free agency."

(2) The Bible says...
...men are in bondage to Satan -- "the whole world is under the control of the evil one" (1 John 5:19) -- and Paul called Satan the "god of this world." Furthermore, Jesus clarified this in pointing out to the religious legalists of 2,000 years ago that they were children of Satan (see latter part of John 8). Jesus comes to SAVE people from this bondage. But what does Mormonism convey to natural man? You're God's automatic child of the pre-existence; you're not under Satan's thumb. Logo, men are not naturally God's children - they need to be adopted (Paul's letter to the Romans & letter to the Ephesians stresses this three times). Men need specific authority (based upon reception) to become God's children (John 1:12) -- they are NOT children by pre-existence.

(3) The Bible says...
...that original sin in the garden was a terrible, terrible, horrible thing that separated man from God -- and that it was inspired by Satan. Jesus comes to SAVE us from this generational bondage.
...but what does Mormonism convey to natural man? That Eve's act of betrayal and treachery was an "upward fall" -- something to be "celebrated" because the Serpent was "right" -- "Yup," says the Mormon, "the serpent was right 'cause thru sin and rebelliousness we can have our eyes opened and become gods, after all." So Satanic "inspiration" becomes the Mormon gospel narrative.

So Mormon salvation becomes this grand "works" & "ritualistic" scheme where just about everybody is already guaranteed a passing grade because for the Mormon, salvation is more about...
...real estate turf than dealing with the power of sin, Satan, death, and separation from God...
...a place (three degrees of glory) than God & the Person of Jesus Christ.

How can I prove this? Look @ LDS Doctrine & Covenants 76:112. Joseph Smith made up a new word -- "the telestial kingdom" which he called the lowest degree of salvation glory. Smith taught that telestial kingdom residents will be God's servants, but "where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end".

Only in Mormon thought is living apart from God and Christ "salvation" and "glory!"

So, the only question thereby left for the Mormon to be settled then is will the Mormon god give folks an A, B, or C "degree of glory" grade?

But the true essence of what happened in the garden was not only spiritual death, generational bondage to sin and to Satan, but also outright separation from God. The very word "atonement" was coined to mean "at-one-ment" -- harmony, reconciliation. The hostility of man toward God -- the enmity -- has been bridged by Jesus the WAY (John 14:6).

Our major focus in life isn't about...
...becoming a god
...or realizing our godhood (the Mormon "gospel")
...or figuring out which post-this-life salvific real estate we'll inhabit.

Our major focus is knowing God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. It's not our ritualistic performances tied to a religious structure. It's our relationship with God and Jesus Christ!

Jesus defines this very relational essence as eternal life (John 17:3). And it happens this side of death! LDS claim Jesus' salvation automatically accrues to just about everybody being saved. The Bible talks about salvation not just being future tense -- but present tense. John repeatedly says "he who believe HAS eternal life." (John 3:36) [Doesn't that tell you, Mormon, that "eternal life" is NOT exaltation-unto-godhood?] Salvation doesn't begin in three degrees of glory stardom. We know the Savior NOW in this life! THAT is salvation because HE is salvation!

[Zakeet]

Speaking of beautiful, uplifting, faith-promoting Mormon hymns, if this one doesn't creep you out, nothing will: If you could hie to Kolob.

Christian they ain't!

[Claud]

Heh...I guess so!

[Tennessee Nana]

The other night at a Christmas party I met s Fancher who was talking about his family on a wagon train going West..

I happened to mention Utah and he said yes that Fancher family..

His ancestor was the same family but another branch..his went to Illinois and stayed there..the wagon train Fanchers who were murdered by the Mormons continued on..

He knew the whole story and it opened some eyes there at the party...

[Normandy]

A Mormon here. If a Christian is one who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then I am a Christian.

[Colofornian]

A Mormon here. If a Christian is one who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then I am a Christian.

In light of posts #11 & #21, exactly what did the Mormon Jesus-Savior "save" you FROM?

[Zakeet]

A Mormon here. If a Christian is one who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then I am a Christian.

Dear Mormon,

Do you believe in any of the following:

1. That Jesus and Satan are brothers

2. That God had incestuous sexual relations with His daughter, Mary, impregnating her with Jesus

3. That Christian pastors are "dimwitted hirelings of Satan"

4. That sacred scriptures can be based on pagan works such as prayers to Egyptian gods for dead spirits – which were supposedly translated using occult devices such as peep stones

5. That God is a polygamous celestial stud married to our Heavenly Mother, whose name is so sacred we are not to say it out loud

6. That Kolob and other worlds named Planet Oblish and Planet Enish-go-on-dosh are ruled by a governing power through the medium of Kli-flos-is-es, or Hah-ko-kau-beam

7. In the prominent display of Satanic symbols such as pentagrams, baphomets, earth stones, and saturn stones on his churches' religious buildings and literature

8. In portraying Satan as the god of this world and having him teach church doctrine in the Mormon temple ceremony

9. In the wearing a fig leaf apron in temple ceremonies to symbolize Satan’s power and priesthoods

10. In offering prayers to the devil in the temple ceremony – Oh God, hear the words of my mouth – and of praising him in the sacred rites by chanting Hebrew words whose translation is Marvelous Lucifer

11. That husbands can resurrect their wives from the grave

12. In having special grips and clasps in order to tell ghosts from angels and the devil

13. In practicing baptism for the dead

14. In wearing magic underwear to protect from physical harm – with symbols so sacred that they must be cut out and buried and the garment burned when it wears out

15. That the Ten Lost Tribes and the apostle John will be discovered living in cement houses in a tropical land adjacent to the North Pole separated by a high mountain range

16. That men about six feet tall, dressed like Quakers, will be discovered dwelling on the moon where they live for about 1,000 years

17. That science will prove the earth has knobs on each end

18. That Joseph Smith was commanded by God to retranslate the Bible because the existing translations contained errors – eventually devising an Inspired Revision completed in 1833 – which was rejected by his church who still uses the King James Version

19. That Joseph Smith's followers are not saved by grace, but instead are burdened by a complex series of rules and regulations which determine their progression as gods of their own planets and the ultimate size and quality of their harem of goddess wives

20. That the Baptists, Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians and all other Christian denominations have entered into such a degree of apostasy that they have become an abomination in the eyes of the Lord

21. That Joseph Smith was greater than Jesus

If you answered Yes to even one of these, then you aren’t Christian. And if you answered No to even one of these, then you aren’t in agreement with the teachings of your Church.

[Gamecock]

*If a Christian is one who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then I am a Christian.*

If you are a Mormon you are not a Christian.

[Gamecock]

Quakers on the moon?

[Gamecock]

Say what you will, Mormons make good neighbors!</sarc>

[Zakeet]

Quakers on the moon?

Actually, Joseph prophesied that there are men living on the moon who dress like Quakers and live to be nearly 1000 years old.

More interestingly , Brigham Young prophesied that the sun was inhabited.

It would have been invaluable to the LDS Church if its founding fathers would have had just a little more education than the third grade in the case of Smith, and none in the case of Young.

[Gamecock]

Were there women on the moon too?

[Elsie]

There is not a tattoo or body-piercing to be seen, not a hair out of place, not a frown in the crowd.

I'm a MORMON ...

 

 

 

http://www.affirmation.org/

[Elsie]

(click)

Praise to the Man!

 

 

 

Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!
Jesus annointed that Prophet and Seer.
Blessed to open the last dispensation,
Kings shall extol him, and nations revere.

Chorus
Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven!
Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain.
Mingling with Gods, he can plan for his brethren;
Death cannot conquer the hero again.

Praise to his mem'ry, he died as a martyr;
Honored and blest be his ever great name!
Long shall his blood, which was shed by assasins,
Plead unto heav'n while the earth lauds his fame.

Chorus
Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven!
Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain.
Mingling with Gods, he can plan for his brethren;
Death cannot conquer the hero again.

Great is his glory and endless his priesthood.
Ever and ever the keys he will hold.
Faithful and true he will enter his kingdom,
Crowned in the midst of the prophets of old.

Chorus
Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven!
Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain.
Mingling with Gods, he can plan for his brethren;
Death cannot conquer the hero again.

Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven;
Earth must atone for the blood of that man.
Wake up the world for the conflict of justice.
Millions shall know 'Brother Joseph' again.

Chorus
Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven!
Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain.
Mingling with Gods, he can plan for his brethren;
Death cannot conquer the hero again.

[Elsie]

skyman hasn’t created an about page.

[Elsie]

“Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned;

and I will go still further and say, take this revelation, or any other revelation that the Lord has given,

and deny it in your feelings, and I promise that you will be damned.

Brigham Young - JoD 3:266 (July 14, 1855)

[Elsie]

 

 

If You Could Hie to Kolob

 #284 – William W. Phelps

1. If you could hie to Kolob In the twinkling of an eye,
    And then continue onward With that same speed to fly,
    Do you think that you could ever, Through all eternity,
    Find out the generation Where Gods began to be?

2. Or see the grand beginning, Where space did not extend?
    Or view the last creation, Where Gods and matter end?
    Me thinks the Spirit whispers, “No man has found ‘pure space,’
    Nor seen the outside curtains, Where nothing has a place.”

3. The works of God continue, And worlds and lives abound;
    Improvement and progression Have one eternal round.
    There is no end to matter; There is no end to space;
    There is no end to spirit; There is no end to race.

4. There is no end to virtue; There is no end to might;
    There is no end to wisdom; There is no end to light.
    There is no end to union; There is no end to youth;
    There is no end to priesthood; There is no end to truth.

5. There is no end to glory; There is no end to love;
    There is no end to being; There is no death above.
    There is no end to glory; There is no end to love;
    There is no end to being; There is no death above.

 

 

 

 

 

[Elsie]

Kolob is a star or planet described in Mormon scripture.                             

Reference to Kolob is found in the Book of Abraham.

 

 "If You Could Hie to Kolob", the hymn

 

 Kolob as the inspiration for Kobol in Battlestar Galactica

 

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolob

 

 

---

---

 

 

 

 

 

Figure	Joseph Smith Explanation[52]	Explanation by non-Mormon and Mormon Egyptologists (quotes are from Deveria)[25][43][53]
1	Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God. First in government, the last pertaining to the measurement of time. The measurement according to celestial time, which celestial time signifies one day to a cubit. One day in Kolob is equal to a thousand years according to the measurement of this earth, which is called by the Egyptians Jah-oh-eh.	"The spirit of the four elements (according to Champollion), or rather of the four winds, or the four cardinal points; the soul of the terrestrial world. This god is always represented with four rams' heads, and his image has certainly been altered here. — They have also evidently made a very clumsy attempt at copying the double human head of the god figured above, fig. 2, instead of the four rams' heads. The word Jah-oh-eh has nothing Egyptian in it; it resembles the Hebrew word [redacted] badly transcribed." (emphasis in original) The name hieroglyph above the central figure is Chnm-Re, the Egyptian "First Creator" god who organized everything out of the primordial chaos.

 

 

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Abraham

 

 

[Elsie]

If a Christian is one who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then I am a Christian.

---

the REST of us Christians are praying that you'll get rid of those OTHER beliefs you have.

We fear they'll destroy your soul...

---

What Joseph Smith Means to Us  (From: various sources )

 

 

 

"He (Joseph Smith) is the man through whom God has spoken... yet I would not like to call him a savior, though in a certain capacity he was a god to us, and is to the nations of the earth, and will continue to be."

- Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:321

 

 

 

 

"You call us fools; but the day will be, gentlemen and ladies, whether you belong to this Church or not, when you will prize brother Joseph Smith as the Prophet of the Living God, and look upon him as a god..."

- Herber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 5:88

 

 

 

 

"If we get our salvation, we shall have to pass by him [Joseph Smith]; if we enter our glory, it will be through the authority he has received. We cannot get around him [Joseph Smith]"

- (as quoted in 1988 Melchizedek Priesthood Study Guide, p. 142)

There is "no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith. If Joseph Smith was verily a prophet, and if he told the truth...no man can reject that testimony without incurring the most dreadful consequences, for he cannot enter the kingdom of God"

- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, p.190

 

 

 

 

"I tell you, Joseph holds the keys, and none of us can get into the celestial kingdom without passing by him. We have not got rid of him, but he stands there as the sentinel, holding the keys of the kingdom of God; and there are many of them beside him. I tell you, if we get past those who have mingled with us, and know us best, and have a right to know us best, probably we can pass all other sentinels as far as it is necessary, or as far as we may desire. But I tell you, the pinch will be with those that have mingled with us, stood next to us, weighed our spirits, tried us, and proven us: there will be a pinch, in my view, to get past them. The others, perhaps, will say, If brother Joseph is satisfied with you, you may pass. If it is all right with him, it is all right with me. Then if Joseph shall say to a man, or if brother Brigham say to a man, I forgive you your sins, "Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them;" if you who have suffered and felt the weight of transgression—if you have generosity enough to forgive the sinner, I will forgive him: you cannot have more generosity than I have. I have given you power to forgive sins, and when the Lord gives a gift, he does not take it back again."

- Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p.154-155

 

 

 

 

"It is because the Lord called Joseph Smith that salvation is again available to mortal men.... If it had not been for Joseph Smith and the restoration, there would be no salvation,"

- Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 396, 670

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They succeeded in killing Joseph, but he had finished his work.

He was a servant of God, and gave us the Book of Mormon.

He said the Bible was right in the main, but, through the translators and others, many precious portions were suppressed, and several other portions were wrongly translated; and now his testimony is in force, for he has sealed it with his blood.

As I have frequently told them, no man in this dispensation will enter the courts of heaven, without the approbation of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jun.

Who has made this so?

Have I?

Have this people?

Have the world?

No; but the Lord Jehovah has decreed it.

If I ever pass into the heavenly courts, it will be by the consent of the Prophet Joseph.

If you ever pass through the gates into the Holy City, you will do so upon his certificate that you are worthy to pass.

Can you pass without his inspection?

No; neither can any person in this dispensation, which is the dispensation of the fulness of times.

In this generation, and in all the generations that are to come, everyone will have to undergo the scrutiny of this Prophet.

They say that they killed Joseph, and they will yet come with their hats under their arms and bend to him; but what good will it do them, unless they repent?

They can come in a certain way and find favor, but will they?

Brigham Young,

--JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES, vol. 8, p. 224

[Elsie]

If you are a Mormon you are not a Christian.

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Questions put to Joseph Smith: "'Do you believe the Bible?' [Smith:]'If we do, we are the only people under heaven that does, for there are none of the religious sects of the day that do'. When asked 'Will everybody be damned, but Mormons'? [Smith replied] 'Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work righteousness." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 119).

Joseph Smith: "for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible" (from Pearl of Great Price 1:12). "What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.270).

 

 

 

Brigham Young stated this repeatedly: "When the light came to me I saw that all the so-called Christian world was grovelling in darkness" (Journal of Discourses 5:73); "The Christian world, so-called, are heathens as to the knowledge of the salvation of God" (Journal of Discourses 8:171); "With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world" (Journal of Discourses 8:199); "And who is there that acknowledges [God's] hand? ...You may wander east, west, north, and south, and you cannot find it in any church or government on the earth, except the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.24); "Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New Testament defines Christianity" (Journal of Discourses 10:230).

 

 

 

Orson Pratt proclaimed: "Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the 'whore of Babylon' whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness. Any person who shall be so corrupt as to receive a holy ordinance of the Gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent" (The Seer, p. 255).

 

 

 

Orson Pratt also said: "This great apostasy commenced about the close of the first century of the Christian era, and it has been waxing worse and worse from then until now" (Journal of Discourses

, vol.18, p.44) and: "But as there has been no Christian Church on the earth for a great many centuries past, until the present century, the people have lost sight of the pattern that God has given according to which the Christian Church should be established, and they have denominated a great variety of people Christian Churches, because they profess to be ...But there has been a long apostasy, during which the nations have been cursed with apostate churches in great abundance" (Journal of Discourses , 18:172).

 

 

President John Taylor stated: "Christianity...is a perfect pack of nonsense...the devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century." (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.167); "Where shall we look for the true order or authority of God? It cannot be found in any nation of Christendom." (Journal of Discourses , 10:127).

 

 

 

James Talmage said: "A self-suggesting interpretation of history indicates that there has been a great departure from the way of salvation as laid down by the Savior, a universal apostasy from the Church of Christ". (A Study of the Articles of Faith, p.182).

 

 

 

President Joseph Fielding Smith said: "Doctrines were corrupted, authority lost, and a false order of religion took the place of the gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it had been the case in former dispensations, and the people were left in spiritual darkness." (Doctrines of Salvation, p.266). "For hundreds of years the world was wrapped in a veil of spiritual darkness, until there was not one fundamental truth belonging to the place of salvation ...Joseph Smith declared that in the year 1820 the Lord revealed to him that all the 'Christian' churches were in error, teaching for commandments the doctrines of men" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, p.282).

 

 

 

More recent statements by apostle Bruce McConkie are also very clear: "Apostasy was universal...And this darkness still prevails except among those who have come to a knowledge of the restored gospel" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol 3, p.265); "Thus the signs of the times include the prevailing apostate darkness in the sects of Christendom and in the religious world in general" (The Millennial Messiah, p.403); "a perverted Christianity holds sway among the so-called Christians of apostate Christendom" (Mormon Doctrine, p.132); "virtually all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ whom they vainly suppose to be a spirit essence who is incorporeal uncreated, immaterial and three-in-one with the Father and Holy Spirit" (Mormon Doctrine, p.269); "Gnosticism is one of the great pagan philosophies which antedated Christ and the Christian Era and which was later commingled with pure Christianity to form the apostate religion that has prevailed in the world since the early days of that era." (Mormon Doctrine, p.316).

 

 

 

President George Q. Cannon said: "After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth. They were known respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon. The various organizations which are called churches throughout Christendom, though differing in their creeds and organizations, have one common origin. They all belong to Babylon" (Gospel Truth, p.324).

 

 

President Wilford Woodruff stated: "the Gospel of modern Christendom shuts up the Lord, and stops all communication with Him. I want nothing to do with such a Gospel, I would rather prefer the Gospel of the dark ages, so called" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 2, p.196).