Deception in Disguise

"Mormon leaders call their empire the 'Kingdom of God.' However, their 'God' is an extraterrestrial from [the planet] Kolob, definitely not the God of the Bible; and the 'Zion' to which their spirit-brother-of-Lucifer Jesus Christ will return to reign, is Independence, My kingdom comeMissouri." So writes author and former Mormon Ed Decker in his book My Kingdom Come.

"It is the Mormons' claim to be the true Israel," Decker states in his book. "Mormons believe that they are the only true Jews on Earth today. They also believe they come from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and that they have the true blood of Israel. Mormon males are ordained into what they believe are both the Leviticus and Melchizedek priesthoods. They believe that when they are baptized, their blood actually changes from Gentile blood into the blood of Israel."

According to Decker, a Mormon for 20 years of his adult life prior to embracing true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Mormon Church (aka The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or "LDS" for short) espouses rituals that have "significant parallels with Freemasonry, the occult, and Luciferianism."

In an endorsement to the book Mormonism's Temple of Doom, Dr. Walter Martin, well-known Christian counter-cult apologist, wrote, "Controversy has arisen over the book in that some people have understood the authors to be saying that Mormonism is a lineal descendant of specific occult organizations (i.e., Freemasonry). I can understand how that conclusion can be reached. The authors have stated that 'undeniable similarities exist between Mormonism and other occult organizations' . . . They contend that disciplines such as Mormonism, Freemasonry, and Wicca are streams of the same Satanic river. This can be substantiated as fact."

In light of this, it is alarming to note that there is a movement afoot today, in so-called evangelical circles, to embrace Mormons as fellow Christians. One example: The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) has chosen to hold their semi-annual board meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, this spring, for the express purpose of dialoguing with LDS leaders to "deepen our understanding of the Mormon faith and contribute to the on-going work of evangelicals in Utah." Read that sentence again. Please take note that that sentence assumes that Mormonism and Christianity are synonymous. They are not. Therefore, a statement by NAE president Leith Anderson expressing a desire to find "common ground on issues" with LDS is futile. There is no common ground between Christianity and Mormonism.

It is vital that every true believer in Jesus Christ grasp the myriad and eternally-significant differences between Mormonism and biblical Christianity, because the alternative is to be easily deceived into an unequal yoke with unbelievers. This knowledge is particularly essential today because, at present, America has a number of prominent Mormons adorning our television screens and influencing American policy including Governor Mitt Romney, Glenn Beck, Senator Harry Reid and Senator Orrin Hatch.

Jerry Johnson, founder and president of The Apologetics Group, Inc. says, "I have known a lot of Mormons. In fact, my grandfather was a Mormon, and they are some of the best and most moral people I've ever met . . . They have wanted to, really, kind of be equated with historic evangelical Christianity, when everything they believe is antithetical to what the Bible and the church has always taught.

Because Mormons are morally upright, true Christians easily gravitate to them. Because Mormons use verbiage that sounds biblical, Christians can be easily duped. Decker explains that, "The Mormon leadership will not tamper with the definitions that have separated them from Orthodoxy for over 170 years. They will spend their time trying to look as Christian as possible so that they can draw in the converts needed to keep the great caravan rolling, however crooked its path."

The Mormon Church began because Joseph Smith had a vision of "an angel of light" calling himself Moroni who explained to Joseph that all the churches of his day were wrong, all their creeds corrupt. Then, Moroni gave him directive for a brand new religion to promulgate: Mormonism, with all its occult practices and unbiblical doctrines.

I cannot commend to you highly enough Ed Decker's book, My Kingdom Come. You will not recognize the deception, when it comes, without understanding the foundation and fantastic doctrines of this increasingly-accepted and deceptive cult. The Apostle Paul clearly warned of such a thing: "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:8-9).

We had neighbors a few years ago who were probably the best neighbors we have ever had. They kept their property up; they weren’t loud nor had loud parties; they didn’t put up all of the Santa Claus neon stuff at Christmas; their children were well behaved and the head of the family was the first (and only) one to volunteer to help me with the yard when my spouse was ill. He was also a cub-master for the Boy Scouts. They were also Mormons.

We were never close in a close way... they had our respect..
the Mormon thing is such a deception to people who don’t know the Lord because of all the above - Much like how we look at sports heroes and stars and believe that because they give away money to their favorite causes, we think they are wonderful! Such deception is easily accepted in an apostate generation. Oh yes, evil has our number.

IMHO, Mormons are used by satan to keep people from seeing the truth of God in the redemptive work of His Son, by playing the “aren’t I a nice person?” card.

Seekers of truth,

If you peruse the Free Republic religion forums you will notice a pattern. There's an anti-Mormon group of people here that spends a great deal of their time attacking the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They post regurgitated propaganda on an almost daily basis.

They have a misguided obsession. You can witness many different tactics employed that you might find quite interesting. The straw man argument is a big favorite and is frequently preceded by cherry-picking quotes or other material. After the "quotation" the attacker will misrepresent what has been said or what was meant and then attack their own interpretation.Later they will have the audacity to claim they were "only" quoting our own material.

They will of course insist ad nauseum that they are merely using our sources and are therefore innocent of any deceptive practice. LDS persons have no issue whatsoever having our scriptures or leaders quoted as long as it is presented fairly and accurately. This is rarely (if ever) done.

Another favorite is posting scripture or statements which on their own really present no dilemma. They make something out of nothing while never bringing up a single objection that hasn't been addressed a hundred times before.

You might note a couple of other tactics used to try to antagonize is the use of disrespectful or insulting terms or language and/or pictures. That's a Christlike thing to do right? Yeah I don't think so either. It does speak volumes about them though.

Some of them claim being some sort of special witness to you as being supposedly former Mormons. So someone who is an ex-member of any organization would never have an axe to grind or have reason to try to justify their actions by any means? Perhaps not but perhaps so. The LDS Church gains members from other denominations as well as others faiths all the time. This doesn't make them an expert on anything and you certainly won't hear them attacking their forner Church.

Frequently they cruise the headlines of the day seeking any story that might be twisted into making the Church look bad. Anything will do, just watch the progression of posts following it and see what I mean.

After reading their posts, I invite you to seek the truth about whatever "issue" they seem to be "revealing" or "exposing". I promise that if you do so with honest intent, the "ahah" moments you will have will be many and frequent. You will start to recognize the tactics employed to cleverly twist and attack and will likely chuckle the more you see. In actuality, there's nothing new here. It's all been addressed many times before.

The latest twist in the anti-Mormon propaganda machine is to actually go to the links provided, but then they cherry pick what they want, then quote and straw man attack that. Clever. It almost appears that they are helping you, the seeker of truth out by doing some footwork for you. Not so much. Don't be insulted, look for yourself. It's not the haystack they want you to think.

Here's a few links to get your started from a different viewpoint. I have found that the vast majority of the "issues" brought up can be found and addressed at http://www.fairlds.org/ but here's more:

http://scriptures.lds.org/
http://www.lds.org
http://www.fairlds.org/
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/
http://www.mormonwiki.com/Main_Page
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/index.html
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml
http://www.answeringantimormons.com/index.htm
http://promormon.blogspot.com/

Now you will likely notice the "you never address or answer our points" posts pop up as usual. All after providing the answers just as you have here.

Sometimes it is claimed that these sites present a needle in a haystack. Far from it. But if you give up before you try you won't know will you? They often state that these sites provide no answer. They just don't want you looking. It is as simple as that.

Will you wear blinders too? Seek truth. Find out for yourself. Want to chat with someone on any topic? A few of these sites provide just that. So do your homework sincere seeker of truth. Listen and read from both "sides". Make up your own mind.

I witness to you of these truths and wish you the best, in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

You’re correct, the islam welcoming churches are an even more overt display of apostasy.

Mormonism is much harder to defend against since they have been on a PR campaign to “market” or redefine themselves as Christians when for the first 150 or so years, they reviled the term and Christians in general.

There are many quotes by their early leaders that support that fact. They wanted nothing to do with Christianity as we know it.

Lately, they have placed much more emphasis on using Christian terms, language and the Bible to support their assertions.

Yet, when the layers are peeled back, it’s not.

Take heart, there are many of us who have left and are leaving mormonism, the eyes are being opened and souls are being saved.

Blessings,
SZ

Paragon Defender,

You tell people to “read both sides”, but I noticed you only posted links to mormon sites. You tell them to “do your homework” and “make up your own mind”.

Great advice.

Here are some objective links to the other side. Many mormons who are leaving the church have found great insight and been exposed to things the official links don’t cover.

http://www.irr.org/mit/default.html

http://www.exmormonsforjesus.org/

http://4mormon.org/ex-mormon.php

http://www.exmormon.org/

http://www.mormoncurtain.com/

One reminder, much of the confusion your posts express about what is true can be cleared up, if you sincerely go to these links as a seeker of truth.

By viewing these links you will see Real Mormon/LDS truth, which will open your eyes to how the mormon church distorts the truth. Of course, this depends entirely on whether you are sincere or not.

The truth is there at the links for you to see.

ampu

“Your post is deceptive. Hardly a surprise.”

[yawn] Instead of reading the one-sided links of mormonism,
AS YOU ADMITTED, please visit these links from Mormon Church
members who have come to see the truth about mormonism.
Former Bishops and officials who grew up in mormonism, but
came to Christ and left - or left, realizing the deception
and later came to know the truth of Christ.

Instead of just complaining and name calling and bringing
up issues that have already been answered in detail, go
read the links with an open and sincere heart! All of your
concerns are ANSWERED there and not merely “addressed”.

I will post them again for you PD. Open your heart. Seek the truth.