MORMONISM: CHRISTIAN OR CULT?

I am sure you have seen the rash of ads For the Mormon Church in Reader's Digest and in TV Guide. Coupled with their very effective "Family" Public Service spots on TV, the Mormons are blitzing the nation with "name familiarity". A Mormon source indicated a few years ago that between the free PSA TV ads, their paid regional Newspaper inserts and National Magazine advertising, they utilized over $100,000,000.00 in advertising costs to get multiple messages of their faith into every American home.

This would be exciting, earth shaking news if that message was one of true Christian substance, but sadly, that is unfortunately not the case. In order to understand Mormonism from the historic Christian perspective, we have to step beyond the highly professional facade that is presented to us in the LDS ads. They show us only what the Mormon Church wants us to see, a caring, sensitive church with Christ centered families, all working together for the furthering of Christ's work on earth.

Some of it is true! These are committed, loving people and they are NOT the enemies of Christ. They think they serve Him and his final message of end times restoration. They are not our enemies either, but victims of a deception as clever as any heresy thrown at the world since the days of Adam.

Yes, it all looks great, but what is behind that Madison Avenue image? Is something really wrong with Mormonism? Let me peel back the veneer and look at just a few quick key issues.

The major heresy of Mormonism is summed up in its central theological axiom, the doctrine of The Law of Eternal Progression. It is stated as follows: As Man is, God once was, and as God is, man may become."

Basically, it says that the god of Mormonism was once a man who was born to human parents on another planet, grew to manhood, lived out his life being obedient to the laws and ordinances of the gospel presented by the god of that world. Upon his death and resurrection, he was judged (by his god) as being worthy for godhood.

The Mormon god was raised to his godhood and sent with many goddess wives to a planet near the great star, Kolob, somewhere in our present galaxy. There, this god and his wives began ‘procreating' or physically begetting "spirit" children. We here on this planet are each an offspring of this god and one of his goddesses in this pre-existent Mormon world.

Amazing? Yes, it is! But even more disparate is the position of Christ in all this. Mormonism teaches that when their god decided it was time to populate this earth with his spirit children, the Head of All The Gods called a great council meeting to decide the method. The Mormon god asked his two eldest sons, Jesus and Lucifer, to both prepare plans for presentation to the council. They chose the plan of Jesus.

Lucifer rebelled and led one-third of the "children" to revolt against god and in a great battle, was defeated by Christ and the two-thirds who were "valiant." Lucifer and those who fought with him were cast to earth without bodies and became the devil and his demons. Those others who were less than valiant became the black race and the very valiant became the "white and delightsome" race.

Mormonism teaches that if Mormons are faithful, pay their tithing, obey all the laws and ordinances of the (Mormon) gospel, do their genealogy and go to the temple for secret, sacred rituals for both the living and their dead, they too can become gods and goddesses as "all gods have done before them."

To the Mormon, Jesus was our elder brother, who pointed the way, but isn't The Way, as we Christians understand. To the Mormon, Jesus was the god of the Old Testament, but once he took his physical form, justified his own spiritual salvation through his works while in the flesh, just as each of us must.

Mormonism teaches that Jesus suffered for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane, providing personal salvation, or physical resurrection, which may mean exaltation to godhood conditional upon our obedience to the laws and ordinances of the LDS gospel. His death on the cross provided a general salvation, whereby all mankind is resurrected to be judged for our works.

He is the LDS savior in the sense that his death gives the Mormon the means ofreturning to the god of this world, using the secret keys, hand grips and passwords learned only in the Mormon temple, that will ensure safe passage.

What I have just shared is just the tip of a dark and dangerous iceberg, filled with death for its unsuspecting victims. Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Were the scriptures ever more direct in such a matter?

The Mormon people are like those of whom Paul spoke in Romans 10, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God... is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not according to Knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."

There is a real zeal to serve God manifest in the lives and actions of the Mormon people. It is my prayer that you will have the opportunity to share that true joy of Christ’s righteousness and love with your Mormon friends and loved ones! Let them know that there is only one God and He is not one born of man, One savior and He took all the laws and ordinances that were against us and moved them out of the way, nailing them to His Cross (Col2:13-15).

The following is information that is not available to the general public. We feel you deserve to know the facts about the true doctrine of the Mormon Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We, as Christian Ex-Mormons, love the Mormon people! They are our people. It is our only motive for publishing this. We realize that many Mormons see this as an "attack" on their church.

The Mormons will say, "Why are you persecuting us?" We are not! We are only quoting their own "divinely inspired" leaders from books published by the church and sold in their bookstores. We are also quoting the Bible. We invite you to check out each quotation in its full context. If these kinds of sources are "anti-Mormon," then "so be it."

We feel you deserve to know the truth... Mormonism is far from Christian Orthodoxy. It is a dangerous counterfeit!

"In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it....In all congregations when I have preached on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods." Joseph Smith, (Founder and First Prophet), History of the Church, Vol 6, pp. 308,474.

THE BIBLE: There was and is and always will be only ONE GOD! (Isaiah 43:10-11, 44:6-8, 45:5-6,18-22; Deuteronomy 6:4, 32:39; James 2:19)

"God himself was one as we are now, and is an exalted man...I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form...like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man...He was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth." Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 305.

THE BIBLE: God was never a man. He created man! God has been God from all eternity to all eternity. (Psalm 41:13, 90:2, 102:25-27; Romans 1:22-23)

"The universe is filled with vast numbers of intelligences, and we further learn that Elohim is God simply because all of these intelligences honor and sustain him as such...if He should ever do anything to violate the confidence or "sense of justice" of these intelligences, they would promptly withdraw their support, and the "power" of God would disintegrate. He would cease to be God." W. Cleon Skousen (Former BYU Professor & founder of Mormon-based National Center For Constitutional Studies), The First 2000 Years, p. 355.

"The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as mans," Doctrine and Covenants, 130:22.

"If God possesses a form, that form is of necessity of definite proportions, and therefore of limited extension and space. It is impossible for Him to occupy at one time more than one space of such limits." James E. Talmage, Articles of Faith, page 43.

THE BIBLE: God is infinite! Any other "god" is a false god (2 Chronicles 6:18; Psalm 139:4-8; Jeremiah 23:24)

"Here then is eternal life...to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you...To inherit the same power, the same glory and the same exaltation, until you arrive at the station of God." Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 6, page 306.

THE BIBLE: The Great Lie of Satan from the first was that man can become a god! (Genesis 3:1-5; Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:1-10)

"In the heaven where our spirits were born, there are many Gods, each of whom has his own wife or wives, which were given to him ...while yet in his mortal state." Orson Pratt (Apostle), The Seer, p. 37.

"This doctrine that there is a Mother in Heaven was affirmed in all plainness by the First Presidency of the Church." Bruce R. McConkie (Apostle), Mormon Doctrine, p. 516.

"Christ was begotten by an Immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers...Christ was born into the world as the literal Son of this Holy Being; he was born in the same personal, real and literal sense that any mortal son is born to a mortal father." McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pp. 547, 742.

THE BIBLE: Jesus was begotten by the Holy Ghost. Mary was indeed a virgin right up to the Lord's birth. (Matthew 1:18-23; Luke 1:35)

"The appointment of Jesus to be the Savior of the world was contested by one of the other sons of God. He was called Lucifer. This spirit-brother of Jesus desperately tried to become the Savior of mankind." Milton R. Hunter, The Gospel Through the Ages, p. 15.

THE BIBLE: The real JESUS is the only begotten Son and is God the Son (John 1:1-14). Satan was a created angel, not a son of God (Isaiah 14:12). Jesus created all things and in Him the fullness of God dwells! (Colossians 1:15-20; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 1:1-13)

"Jesus was the bridegroom at the marriage of Cana of Galilee. We say it was Jesus Christ who was married...whereby he could see his seed." Orson Hyde, Apostle, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 2, p. 82.

THE BIBLE: NO! Check out John 2:1-12! This LDS doctrine is not openly taught today. However, since marriage in a LDS temple is mandatory to progress to become a god in Mormonism, to fit the theology of Mormonism the LDS "Jesus" has to be married. Otherwise, He would only be a ministering servant to those in Mormonism's heaven who have "celestial marriage."

"Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors. Many plain and precious things were deleted, in consequence of which error and falsehood poured into the churches. One of the great heresies of modern Christendom is the unfounded assumption that the Bible contains all of the inspired teachings now extant among men." McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pp. 82,83.

THE BIBLE: The Bible says of itself that God's Word therein will stand forever (Isaiah 40:8; I Peter 1:25). Ask the Mormon to show you exactly where the errors exist. Most of these doctrines added by Mormonism are not in the Book of Mormon either (said to contain the "fullness of the everlasting gospel")!

"I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; and those professors were all corrupt." Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith 2:19.

"This Church is the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth." Doctrine and Covenants 1:30. "There is no salvation outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 670.

"All other churches are entirely destitute of all authority from God; and any person who receives Baptism or the Lord's Supper from their hands will highly offend God; for He looks upon them as the most corrupt of all people. Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the whore of Babylon." Orson Pratt, The Seer, p. 255.

THE BIBLE: The CHURCH is the spiritual body of Christians with Jesus at its head. That is the true church, not an organization! (Ephesians 1:22-23, 4:11-16; I Corinthians 1:2, 12:12; Matthew 16:18).

"I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet." Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 6, pp.408,409).

THE BIBLE: No prophet of God ever spoke like that. Yet Mormons are trusting their eternal salvation in a system set up by this man. In Daniel 4:28-33 King Nebuchadnezzar had such pride and was driven out by God to live with the animals . Just one month after delivering the above speech, Joseph Smith was killed by a mob (but only after he had shot and killed two of the mob) History of the Church, Vol. 7, pp. 102,103).

"When our leaders speak, the thinking as been done. When they point the say, there is no other which is safe. When they give direction, it should mark the end of controversy." Improvement Era (Official LDS church magazine), June 1945, p. 345.

"The living Prophet is more vital to us than the Standard Works (Bible, Book of Mormon, etc.). The living Prophet is more important to us than a dead prophet (David, Moses, Isaiah, etc.). Those who would remove prophets from politics would take God out of government." LDS prophet, Ezra Taft Benson, address at Brigham Young University, Feb. 26, 1980.

THE BIBLE: In these last days God speaks through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). The authority claimed by the Mormon Church is through an "Aaronic Priesthood," which cannot be valid since Jesus abolished it, as He took its place (Hebrews 7:11-19, 8:6-13); and a "Melchizedek Priesthood" which never existed as any operative "priesthood." Jesus is our only High Priest. He alone holds this permanently and no one else! (Hebrews 7:15-28, 9:11-15).

"Not only was Cain called upon to suffer, but because of his wickedness, he became the father of an inferior race. A curse was placed upon him and that curse has been continued through his lineage and must do so while time endures. Millions of souls have come into this world cursed with a black skin and have been denied the privilege of Priesthood and the fulness of the blessings of the Gospel." Joseph Fielding Smith (Prophet), The Way To Perfection, p. 102.

"You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind." Brigham Young (Prophet), Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 290.

"Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man...mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so." B. Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 10, p. 110.

While the LDS god "forgave" blacks in June, 1978, their firm doctrine still is that this whole race of people are "cursed with a black skin" for sins committed by them before they were born.

The new revelation announced that worthy blacks could now receive the privileges of the LDS priesthood and secret temple rites like the whites. May all true Christians flee from such hypocrisy!

"The head God called together the Gods and sat in grand council to bring forth the world...In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it." (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 348, 349)

"The contention in heaven was...Jesus said there would be certain souls that would not be saved; and the Devil said he could save them all, and laid his plans before the grand council, who gave their vote in favour of Jesus Christ. So the Devil rose up in rebellion against God, and was cast down, with all who put up their heads for him." (Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses,, Vol. 6, page 8.

LDS TEMPLE RITUALS MOCK PREACHERS "Tax time" brought more than the usual amount of stress to tax devout Temple Mormons in 1990. It was about the middle of April that reports began filtering out of the LDS community that the highly sacred (and secretive) temple endowment ceremonies were changed substantially without any evident explanation. The following scene was deleted at that time. I keep it herein, since the bulk of all Mormons, especially the leadership 1990 and, went through the Temple rituals prior to that date and have this perspective of Christian Pastors. I personally witnessed this e scene in the temple.myself.

The scene is a place called The Lone and Dreary World. Adam is at an altar, wearing a Fig Leaf apron and with his offering of fruits and vegetables. (See Genesis, Chapter 4). He calls out:

L: Oh, you want someone to preach to you? You want religion do you? I will have preachers here presently.

(Lucifer goes out and gets an "Orthodox" preacher, The "preacher" enters the scene)

L: Yes, they are very good people. They are concerned about religion. Are you a preacher?

L: If you will preach your orthodox religion to these people and convert them, I will pay you well!

(The above account was transcribed from audio tapes made by a Mormon in the Provo LDS temple in 1984)

"No man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith. From the day that the Priesthood was taken from the earth to the winding up scene of all things, every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,, Vol. 7, p. 289)

"If we get our salvation, we shall have to pass by him; if we enter our glory, it will be through the authority he has received. We cannot get around him." President George Q. Cannon, quoted in 1988 Melchizedek Priesthood Study Guide, p. 142.

"If we ask who will stand at the head of the resurrection in this last dispensation, the answer isóJoseph Smith, Junior, the Prophet of God. He is the man who will be resurrected and receive the keys of the resurrection, and he will seal this authority upon others, and they will hunt up their friends and resurrect them." Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 116.

"We are the only people that know how to save our progenitors, how to save ourselves, and how to save our posterity in the celestial kingdom of God; that we are the people God has chosen by whom to establish his kingdom and introduce correct principles into the world; and that we are in fact the saviours of the world..." John Taylor (Prophet), Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 163.

"Nearly all the great discoveries of men in the last half century have, in one way or another... contributed to prove Joseph Smith to be a prophet. As far back as 1837, I know that he said the moon was inhabited by men and women the same as this earth, and that they lived to a greater age than we do; that they live generally to near the age of a 1000 years, He described the men as averaging near six feet in height, and dressing quite uniformly in something near the Quaker style." (O. B. Huntington, Young Women's Journal, Vol. 3, p. 264, 1892)

"Who can tell us of the inhabitants of this little planet that shines of an evening, called the moon?... So it is with regard to the inhabitants of the sun. Do you think it is inhabited? I rather think it is. Do you think there is any life there? No question of it" (B. Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 13, p. 271)

"We also have to forsake the sin and never repeat it, not even in our minds...In order to remain forgiven, we must never commit the sin again." ( Uniform System for Teaching Families, pp.35,36)

"In other words, If there is one divine law that he does not keep he is barred from participating in the Kingdom, and figuratively guilty of all, since he is denied all." Joseph Fielding Smith (Prophet), Answers to Gospel Questions, Vol.3, p. 26.

As unbelievable as it may seem, the above information is actual LDS doctrine. The quotations have not been taken out of context. LDS prophets have taught such things and are believed speak for God. For every quotation used here to supportaa doctrine, there are many others that could be used, as well.

As former Mormons who once sincerely believed in and staked our lives on these doctrines, we assure you that they are accurately stated. This is given to you because you deserve to have the facts. Millions of dollars can create any image through Readers' Digest ads and slick television commercials, but the doctrines of Mormonism are NOT Christian,

Mormonism is a counterfeit with:A different "Jesus"A different "God"A different "Gospel"

Read what Paul said about different "gospels", and those who brought them, in Galatians 1:6-9 and 2 Corinthians 11:3-15. Read what God has to say about false prophets in Deuteronomy 13:1-11, 18:20-22; Jeremiah 23:16-22 and what Jesus said in Matthew 7:15-20; 24:3-26.

In 1977 the California Arcadia Mission sent out a directive to the Mormon missionaries entitled: "THE BAPTIZE NOW PLAN"...Teach to commit...Don't make the people think too much. Baptism must be our prime goal!"

We know the missionary strategy well. Many of us are former missionaries for the LDS Church. When they come to your door, asking to help you start a "Family Home Evening" or to tell you about their Church, ask them to give you the real "meat of the gospel" as above; not just the "milk" that sounds appealing but is designed to make you doubt your current faith and lead you into their counterfeit system .

They will constantly repeat a "testimony of the truthfulness of the Church" and ask you to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it to receive your own "testimony." What they want is a feeling, or a "Burning in the bosom." If you ignore the facts, Satan can cause you to experience feelings and sensations. Why not do as recorded in Acts 17:11 and check the "meat" of Mormonism out with God's Word, the Bible! Why pray about the Book of Mormon?

Ask them why this "holy Scripture" does not even contain the most basic teachings of Mormonism! Nowhere does it teach on the plurality of gods, that God was once a man, that man can become a god, that Jesus and Satan are brothers, that you must have celestial marriage and temple endowments, that there are three heavenly kingdoms, a heavenly mother, eternal progression, pre-existent spirits, baptism for the dead, etc.

THE MISSIONARIES WILL NOT TELL YOU About their secret Temple Ceremonies.About secret names, signs, and grips you must know to go into Godhood.About their secret, magical underwear.About blood oaths you must swear death penalties for the disobedient (such as having your throat slit from ear to ear)They will not tell you how they use your tithing and offerings.How rich they are in the business world; how well their leaders are paid;How many businesses the church owns or controls. TO THE MORMON

This information has been given to you in love. We assure you that it is accurate and honest. The programs, and certainly the people, of the Mormon Church are good. However, you can have the greatest organization, and a sincere faith, but if that organization directs your faith to a "god" who is not the one and only true God of the Bible, but rather a false god who cannot save, then after your own death, that organization and that faith will amount to nothing.

Take up the challenge! Dare to question and become a genuine seeker of the truth. Were you given the information on the "meat" of Mormonism, which we have outlined here, during the missionary lessons before you joined the church? Were you asked to make an eternal decision, based upon incomplete and inaccurate information?

WE URGE YOU to call out to the One True God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to reveal Himself to you and to ask the One True Jesus to apply His sacrifice on the cross to your sins personally! There is no other God and no other say! Write to us! We will help you understand.

If you are an ex-Mormon who has never requested that your name be removed from membership, we urge you to do so! By leaving your membership in the church, you are directly aiding Mormonism's missionary efforts. We want to help you remove your name, and have a strong relationship with the Lord Jesus. Write or email us.

If you are a Christian with a burden to reach Mormons, and inform the public on the real doctrines of Mormonism, we need your help! Use the material on this website and share it widely.

Not so fast in misrepresenting Lewis - who would strongly disagree with the mormon doctrine of Exaltation. Standard mormon misrepresentation.

“C. S. Lewis is no crypto-Mormon. Not only do his works not support the Mormon theology of deification, in fact they expressly contradict it. Each of the Lewis citations have been taken out of their contexts and twisted. In addition, frequently in his writings about humanity’s eternal destiny, he carefully clarifies the eternal and impassible gulf between the only Creator and His creatures, including humans.

“In the first quote, Lewis’s context comes in a chapter called “Counting the Cost,” and describes the process of sanctification that God begins at the moment one becomes a Christian and will continue until we are reunited after death and the judgment with our resurrected bodies, when we will be “perfect,” that is, “complete,” as creatures. In fact, the sentence immediately preceding the Mormons’ favorite is “He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command.”18 In the same small volume he explains,

“What God begets is God; just as what man begets is man. What God creates is not God; just as what man makes is not man. That is why men are not Sons of God in the sense that Christ is. They may be like God in certain ways, but they are not things of the same kind. They are more like statues or pictures of God.19

“In The Weight of Glory Lewis explains what he means by the perfection that God will work in us as we are sanctified, resurrected, and glorified. He distinguishes between God, the only Creator, and humans, even glorified, the created. In the beginning of the essay he explains,

“The promises of Scripture may very roughly be reduced to five heads. It is promises, firstly, that we shall be with Christ; secondly, that we shall be like Him; thirdly . . . that we shall have “glory”; fourthly, that we shall, in some sense, be fed or feasted or entertained; and finally, that we shall have some sort of official position in the universe—ruling cities, judging angels, being pillars of God’s temple.20 Lewis’s positive assertions that we can never be deified in the Mormon sense come in a variety of forms. In his popular The Problem of Pain he notes,

“For we are only creatures; our role must always be that of patient to agent, female to male, mirror to light, echo to voice. Our highest activity must be response, not initiative. To experience the love of God in a true, and not an illusory form, is therefore to experience it as our surrender to His demand, our conformity to His desire.21

“Lewis notes the infinite chasm between Creator and creature when he describes, in the same book, the fall of humanity as “This act of self-will on the part of the creature, which constitutes an utter falseness to its true creaturely position, is the only sin that can be conceived as the Fall.”22 Lewis concludes The Problem of Pain with the glorious comparison:

“As our Earth is to all the stars, so doubtless are we men and our concerns to all creation; as all the stars are to space itself, so are all creatures, all thrones and powers and mightiest of the created gods, to the abyss of the self-existing Being, who is to us Father and Redeemer and indwelling Comforter, but of whom no man nor angel can say nor conceive what He is in and for Himself, or what is the work that he “maketh from the beginning to the end.” For they are all derived and unsubstantial things. Their vision fails them and they cover their eyes from the intolerable light of utter actuality, which was and is and shall be, which never could have been otherwise, which has no opposite.23

“Perhaps nowhere is Lewis’s consciousness of the utter difference between God and those made in His image greater than in his compelling science fiction trilogy, the Space Trilogy, consisting of three books, Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength.24 Lewis draws the reader into a world of time and space travel, alternate worlds, evil and technological destruction and good and selfless sacrifice. It is the story of all stories, the redemption story that began in Eden and, for this series, ends in post-World War II England: God has created us for glory. We have abandoned Him in favor of our own evil desires. He has done everything to redeem us to Himself. Will we respond in faith believing, inheriting the glory prepared for us? Or will we respond with continued self-worship and absorption, damned by our own idolatry to worship ourselves, gods beneath our own dignity? The first way is God’s way. The second—whether cloaked in pantheism, polytheism, the henotheism of Mormon theology, or the masterful guise of materialistic humanism—is not.

..................................

Endnotes: 1. C. S. Lewis, Beyond Personality (London: The Centenary Press, 1945), 48. Also contained in Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan Company, 1952), 174-175.
2. Lewis is misused by other individuals, religious movements, and organizations as well; and Mormons also attempt to defend their deification theology in other ways, such as comparing it to the nonheretical Eastern Orthodox theology of “theosis,” but the focus of this brief article is restricted to the Mormon use of Lewis’s writings for this purpose. For more information on these issues, see Richard and Joan Ostling’s Mormon America: The Power and the Promise (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1999), especially pages 307-314; “Grace and the Divinization of Humanity” at http://mysticalrose.tripod.com/grace3.html; and Kurt Van Gorden’s “Can Man Progress to Godhood?” at www.answers.org/Theology/Man_become_God.html.
3. Ted Olsen, “C. S. Lewis,” Christian History, no. 65 (spring 2000) in “The Ten Most Influential Christians of the Twentieth Century.”
4. Lewis died November 23, 1963, the same date as John F. Kennedy and Aldous Huxley.
5. Craig L. Blomberg and Stephen E. Robinson, How Wide the Divide? A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1997).
6. In an article contributed by Robinson to editor Daniel H. Ludlow’s Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 5 vols. (New York: Macmillan Press, 1992).
7. Conference brochure, n.p., n.d.
8. John W. Kennedy, “Southern Baptists Take Up the Mormon Challenge” Christianity Today, 15 June 1998, 30.
9. Jay Copp, “Readers Cross Religious Lines for C. S. Lewis,” Christian Science Monitor, 23 May 1999, 19.
10. See www.signaturebooksinc.com/stranger.htm.
11. Despite its goals and the credentials of its contributors, there is no way to historically, evidentially, biblically, philosophically, or scientifically verify the fiction of Mormon history and theology. This, however, is not the forum for a critique of FARMS.
12. See www/farmsresearch.com/ free/qanda/basicissuesch5.html.
13. C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1949), 14-15.
14. For information see www.jersey.net/~inkwell/mormonet.htm.
15. Quoted from Richard and Joan Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1999), 308. 16. Ibid., 307.
17. Ibid., 307-308.
18. Lewis, Beyond Personality, 48.
19. Ibid., 12-13.
20. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, 7.
21. C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1962), 51. 22. Ibid., 80. 23. Ibid., 153-154. 24. Available in various editions, including 1996 edition from Simon and Schuster.

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