Momonism Study
HISTORY
§ Mormonism began with Joseph Smith Jr.
§ the fourth child of Lucy and Joseph Smith.
§ Joseph senior was known as a money digger and sought after buried treasure, particularly that of Captain Kidd.
§ His mother was highly superstitious.
§ Joseph Smith Jr. stated that he was disturbed by all the different denominations of Christianity and wondered which was true.
§ In 1820, when he was 14, he went into the woods to pray concerning this and allegedly God the Father and Jesus appeared to him and told him not to join any of the denominational churches.
§ Three years later, on Sept. 21, 1823, when he was 17 years old, an angel called Moroni, who was supposed to be the son of Mormon, the leader of the people called the Nephites who had lived in the Americas, appeared to him and told him that he had been chosen to translate the book of Mormon which was compiled by Moroni's father around the 4th century.
§ The book was written on golden plates hidden near where Joseph was then living in Palmyra, New York. Joseph Smith said that on Sept. 22, 1827 he received the plates and the angel Moroni instructed him to begin the translation process.
§ The translation was finally published in 1830 as the Book of Mormon.
§ Joseph claimed that during this translation process, John the Baptist appeared to him and ordained him to accomplish the divine work of restoring the true church by preaching the true gospel which, allegedly, had been lost from the earth.
§ The Book of Mormon is supposed to be the account of people who came from the Middle-East to the Americas.
§ It covers the period of about 600 B.C. to 400 A.D.
§ It tells of the Jaredites, people from the Tower of Babel who came to central America but perished because of their own immorality.
§ It also describes some Jews who fled persecution in Jerusalem and came to America led by a man called Nephi.
§ The Jews divided into two groups known as the Nephites and Lamanites who fought each other.
§ The Nephites were defeated in 428 A.D.
§ The Lamanites continued and are known as the American Indians.
§ The Book of Mormon is the account of the Nephite leader, Mormon, concerning their culture, civilization, and appearance of Jesus to the Americas.
§ After the publication of the Book of Mormon, Mormonism began to grow.
§ Because their religion was so deviant from Christianity, i.e., plurality of gods, polygamy (Joseph is said to have had 27 wives), etc., persecution soon forced them to move from New York to Ohio, then to Missouri, and finally to Nauvoo, Illinois.
§ After being accused of breaking some laws in Nauvoo (for destroying a printing press that was publishing harmful information on Mormonism),
§ Joseph and his brother Hyrum ended up in jail. A mob later broke into the jail and killed Joseph and his brother.
§ After the shooting, the church divided into two groups: One led by his widow which went back to Independence Missouri. They are known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They claim to be the true Church and lay claim to the legal succession of the church presidency which was bestowed upon Joseph's son by Joseph Smith himself.
§ The other group was led by Brigham Young and they went to Utah where, in 1847, they ended up in Salt Lake and founded Salt Lake City. By 1877 church membership had risen to 150,000. Brigham had 25 wives and accumulated much wealth.
IN A NUTSHELL
§ Mormonism teaches that God used to be a man on another world and that he became a god by following the laws and ordinances of his god on his home world.
§ He brought his wife to this world, a woman he had married on the other world. She is, essentially a goddess.
§ He has a body of flesh and bones.
§ Since god and his wife are both exalted persons, they each possess physical bodies.
§ In their exalted states as deities, they produce spirit children that grow and mature in the spiritual realm. The first spirit born was Jesus.
§ Afterwards Lucifer was born along with the rest of us.
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§ Mormonism teaches that we all pre-existed in the spirit realm having been produced from the union of god and his goddess wife. Therefore, we all existed in spirit form before coming down down and entering the bodies of human babies that are being born on earth.
§ During this ‘compression' into the infant state, the memories of their pre-existence is 'veiled.'
§ God the father, who is called Elohim, was concerned for the future salvation of the people on earth.
§ In the heavenly realm, the Father had a plan for the salvation of the world. Jesus endorsed the Father's plan. Lucifer did not.
§ Lucifer became jealous and rebelled. In his rebellion he convinced a large portion of the spirits existing in heaven to side with him and oppose god.
§ God being more powerful then they, cursed these rebellious spirits to become demons. They can never be born in human bodies.
§ The remaining spirits sided with God. Since they chose the better way, when it comes time for them to live on earth, they have the privilege of being born in races and locations that are relative to their condition and choice made in the spirit realm.1
§ In the Mormon plan of salvation there needed to be a savior: Jesus. But Jesus was a spirit in heaven. For him to be born on earth, Brigham Young the second prophet of the Mormon church said that instead of letting any other man do it, God the Father did it with Mary.
§ He said that the birth of our savior was as natural as the birth of our parents. Essentially, what this means is that Brigham Young taught that god the father came down and had relations with Mary, his spirit daughter, to produce the body of Jesus. Though many Mormons will not entertain such incestuous thoughts about God and Mary, this is what Brigham Young taught and as far as we know, this has not been denied by the Mormon church.
§ Nevertheless, Jesus was born, got married, and had children.2
§ He died on the cross and paid for sins
o According to Mormonism, the atonement of Christ was not only on the cross. It began in the Garden of Gethsemane before he went to the cross.
§ In Mormonism, men and women have the potential of becoming gods.
§ In order to reach this exalted state of godhood, a person must first become a good Mormon, pay a full ten percent tithe to the Mormon church, follow various laws and ordinances of the church, and be found worthy.
§ At this point, they receive a temple recommend whereupon, the Mormon is allowed to enter their sacred temples in order to go through set of secret rituals: baptism for the dead, celestial marriage, and various oaths of secrecy and commitment.
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§ Additionally, four secret handshakes are taught so the believing Mormon, upon entering the third level of Mormon heaven, can shake hands with god in a certain pattern.
§ This celestial ritual is for the purpose of permitting entrance into the highest level of heaven.3
§ For those who achieve this highest of heavens, exaltation to godhood awaits them.
§ Then, he or she, will be permitted to have his or her own planet and be the god of his own world and the Mormon system will be expanded to other planets.
§ Today there are over 10 million members worldwide; 5 million members in the USA; in the state of Utah 71.76% is Mormon.
Baptism for the dead: This is a practice of baptizing each other in place of non-Mormons who are now dead. Their belief is that in the afterlife, the "newly baptized" person will be able to enter into a higher level of Mormon heaven.
The Devil: was born as a spirit after Jesus "in the morning of pre-existence,"
Jesus and Satan are spirit brothers and we were all born as siblings in heaven to them both, A plan of salvation was needed for the people of earth so Jesus offered a plan to the Father and Satan offered a plan to the father but Jesus' plan was accepted. In effect the Devil wanted to be the Savior of all Mankind and to "deny men their agency and to dethrone god."