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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781575679112 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Moody Publishers |
| Publication date: | 01/09/1991 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 224 |
| File size: | 301 KB |
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What the Cults Believe
By Irvine Robertson
Moody Press
Copyright © 1991 The Moody Bible Institute of ChicagoAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-57567-911-2
CHAPTER 1
MORMONISM
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (whose members have been nicknamed Mormons) claims to be the restoration of the true church established by Jesus Christ. It has no association in any way with Roman Catholicism or with Protestantism. "Its theology, its organization, and its practices are in many respects entirely unique among today's Christian denominations." "It possesses the divine priesthood of God, ... and is headed by prophets and Apostles as was the Church in the days of Peter and Paul." Indeed, "if it had not been for Joseph Smith and the restoration, there would be no salvation. There is no salvation outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
In numerous publications it is emphasized that the church that had been established by Jesus Christ became corrupt. Apostasy triumphed and divinely appointed authority ceased. The church "drifted without direction" after the death of the apostle John. There was no revelation, authority, or divinely approved ministry until the true church was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith.
Born in Sharon, Vermont, in 1805, Smith had moved to Palmyra, New York. There, in 1820, he reported seeing his first heavenly vision. Two personages appeared. Their "brightness and glory defy all description.... One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"
There followed a series of visitations from a "resurrected personage" named Moroni. These visitations culminated on September 22, 1827. Moroni delivered to Smith the "golden plates," the translation of which is known as the Book of Mormon. In May 1829, John the Baptist appeared and ordained Smith, along with Oliver Cowdery, to the Aaronic priesthood. In June of that same year, Peter, James, and John "came to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and conferred upon them the Melchizedek Priesthood" (McConkie 478). This established the authority of the "Church," for without the "Melchizedek Priesthood" "salvation in the kingdom of God" is not "available for men on earth" (McConkie 479).
On April 6, 1830, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was formally established in Fayette, New York, with six members. It has grown to a present membership of more than three million, with branches in every state of the Union and more than a score of foreign lands. Various estimates cite as many as fourteen thousand missionaries in active ministry, with some six thousand serving part-time. Full-time missionaries serve voluntarily, without pay, normally for a period of two years. The majority are young men between the ages of nineteen and twenty-five.
The Sources of Authority
We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God [P Articles of Faith 8-9].
It is strongly emphasized that the canon of Scripture has never been closed. God's direction has always been by personal communication through commissioned servants. God's laws in one period have been repealed in others, "when a more advanced stage of the divine plan had been reached." Thus in the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5:17-18), the Savior, it is taught, repealed the Law of Moses. Current and continued revelations are held to be essential characteristics of the church in order that the officers might teach with authority. The president of the church, in particular, is "like unto Moses"—a seer, a revelator, a translator, and a prophet, having all the gifts of God which he bestows upon the head of the church" (D&C 107:91-92). He speaks, upon occasion, with as much authority as does the Bible, or as any other of the accepted sacred books, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.
THE BIBLE
The official version of the Bible used by the Mormon Church is the King James Version. A revision by Joseph Smith, called the Inspired Version, was not completed and is not used by the Salt Lake City group. It should be noted that to the Mormon the Bible is not absolute in authority nor final or complete in its revelation. The qualifying clause "as far as it is translated correctly" suggests errors in translation which presumably have been corrected by subsequent revelations.
THE BOOK OF MORMON
Mormons consider the Book of Mormon to be "a divinely inspired record, made by the prophets of the ancient peoples who inhabited the American continent for centuries before and after the time of Christ" (Talmage 255). It "contains a record of ... the fulness of the gospel" (D&C 20:9; see also 42:12, etc.). The prophet himself declared that "the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion" (McConkie 99, quoting Joseph Smith).
The Book of Mormon tells the epic story of two waves of immigration to the American continent. In the first, the Jaredite nation "followed their leader from the Tower of Babel at the time of the confusion of tongues" (Talmage 260) about 2250 B.C. These people flourished until 590 B.C., when internal warfare led to their total destruction. The final battle took place at the hill Cumorah, near the present Palmyra, New York. The second migration was under Levi, of the tribe of Manasseh, about the year 600 B.C. Two nations, the Nephite and the Lamanite, came from Lehi's sons Nephi and Laman. The former "advanced in the arts of civilization, built large cities, and established prosperous commonwealths" (Talmage 260). The latter "fell under the curse of divine displeasure; they became dark in skin ... and degenerated into the fallen state in which the American Indians —their lineal descendants—were found ... in later times" (Talmage 260). The final struggle between these two nations also ended at Cumorah, about A.D. 421.
The last Nephite survivor, Moroni, completed the Book of Mormon on the golden plates and hid them in the hill Cumorah. He later appeared, a resurrected being, in 1823-27 and gave the plates to Joseph Smith for translation. The plates were inscribed in characters called "reformed Egyptian" (BM Mormon 9:32). To enable translation, Smith was given the "Urim and Thummim." Perhaps resembling a pair of eyeglasses, these were "two stones in silver bows—and these stones [were] fastened to a breastplate" (P Joseph Smith 2:35). With the aid of these, he completed the translation between December 1827 and February 1828. The story is told in the "Writings of Joseph Smith," which is found in the Pearl of Great Price. In "Writings of Joseph Smith" 2:63-65, Smith cited Professor Charles Anthon as certifying the authenticity of the "reformed Egyptian characters." Anthon vehemently denied this, branding the whole story as "perfectly false." In published statements, the Smithsonian Institution denied knowledge of any authentic cases of ancient Hebrew or Egyptian writing having been found in the New World.
Nevertheless, it is declared that "almost all of the doctrines of the gospel are taught in the Book of Mormon with much greater clarity and perfection than ... in the Bible. Anyone ... will find conclusive proof of the superiority of the Book of Mormon teachings" (McConkie 99).
Apparently, Mormon missionaries make much of the claim that the prophet Ezekiel spoke of two books, using the imagery of "two sticks" (Ezekiel 37:16-17). The Bible, they say, is the stick of Judah. The Book of Mormon is the stick of Ephraim and records God's dealings with a portion of the tribe of Joseph. It is "now in the hands of church members who nearly all are of Ephraim" (McConkie 767; see also D&C 27:5).
In truth, the word translated "stick" literally means "tree, wood, or pole." The "stick" is the emblem of the royal scepter. Thus it is that the "stick of Judah" represents the Southern Kingdom; the "stick of Joseph" is the Northern Kingdom, of which the first king was Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim. Ezekiel the prophet was predicting the restoration and future union of the two kingdoms.
DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS
The work Mormons refer to as Doctrine and Covenants is composed of 136 sections, of which all but two are "revelations given to Joseph Smith, the Prophet" (title page). Section 135 tells of his martyrdom, and 136 is "The Word and Will of the Lord, given through President Brigham Young." An official declaration prohibiting polygamy was appended in 1890 by President Wilford Woodruff.
Significant revelations in this book pertain to baptism for the dead (sections 124, 127-28), celestial marriage (section 132:19c-20), and plural marriage (section 132). In contrast, 42:22-23 and 49:15-16 seem to command monogamy! The Book of Mormon says nothing about the first two matters, and strongly denounces polygamy (Jacob 2:23-36).
THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
The Pearl of Great Price is a small volume containing "a selection from the revelations, translations, and narrations of Joseph Smith" (title page). It is usually bound with Doctrine and Covenants. The Thirteen Articles of Faith are also included.
The Doctrine of God
"We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost" (P Articles of Faith, I).
The Book of Mormon seems to equate the Mormon concept of the divinity with that of orthodox Christianity: "This is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end" (BM 2 Mephi 31:21; see also Alma 11:44, etc.). The theologian Talmage, however, explains that "three personages composing the great presiding council of the universe have revealed themselves to man.... These three are separate individuals, physically distinct from each other" (Talmage 39). Refuting the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which states that "there are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory" (Question 6), Talmage declares that this "cannot rationally be construed to mean that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one in substance and in person" (Talmage 40). The oneness of the Godhead, it is declared, "implies no mystical union of substance, nor any unnatural and therefore impossible blending of personality" (Talmage 41). McConkie puts it plainly: "There are three Gods ... separate in personality, ... united as one in purpose, in plan, and in all the attributes of perfection" (McConkie 317). The plural word Elohim is used as the exalted name, the title of God, the Eternal Father.
"ETERNAL INCREASE"
Mormons view God as "an organized being just as we are, who are now in the flesh." This is in keeping with the doctrine that God is a "progressive being, ... his perfection possesses ... the capacity of eternal increase" (Talmage 529). He "was perhaps once a child, and mortal like we ourselves, and rose step by step in the scale of progress." Involved in the scheme of eternal progression, He is simply far, far ahead of us, His children. It is reiterated that "as man is, God once was; as God is, man may become." Thus it is taught that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob "have entered into their exaltation and are not angels, but are gods" (D&C 133:37). It remained for Brigham Young to confuse things somewhat by adding, "Adam is our father and god, the only God with whom we have to do."
"A BODY OF FLESH"
"The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's" (D&C 130:22). This is stressed in the Mormon handbook for missionaries as part of the revelation given to Joseph Smith. He saw two personages "of flesh and bones." Thus it is taught that to "deny the materiality of God's person is to deny God; ... an immaterial body cannot exist" (Talmage 48). (In contrast, note Luke 24:36-43; John 4:24; 1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16. Also see "The Holy Spirit," below.)
OMNIPRESENCE
The Mormons teach that God is omnipresent. But "this does not mean that the actual person of any one member of the Godhead can be physically present in more than one place at a time" (Talmage 43). Since it is held that "personality" implies "materiality," it must be accepted that "God possesses a form ... of definite proportions and therefore of limited extension in space" (Talmage 43). His senses and powers, however, are infinite, including that of transferring Himself from place to place. He is likewise omniscient and omnipotent "through the agency of angels and ministering servants," and is thus "in continuous communication with all parts of creation" (Talmage 44).
THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is "a personage of Spirit" (D&C 130:22). He does not have a body of flesh and bones, like the Father and the Son. He is described as "the influence of Deity, the light of Christ, or of Truth, which proceeds forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space, and to quicken the understanding of men." Nevertheless, He "can be in only one place at a time" (McConkie 359), although He "emanates from Deity" like "electricity, ... which fills the earth and the air, and is everywhere present" (McConkie 753).
"MANY GODS"
Mormons teach that there are many Gods. The following excerpt from McConkie's Mormon Doctrine is explicit:
"Every man who reigns in celestial glory is a god to his dominions" the Prophet said. (Teachings, p. 374.) Hence, the Father, who shall continue to all eternity as the God of exalted beings, is a God of Gods. Further, as the Prophet also taught, there is "a God above the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ... If Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and John discovered that God the Father of Jesus Christ had a Father, you may suppose that he had a Father also. Where was there ever a son without a father? ... Hence if Jesus had a Father, can we not believe that he had a Father also?" (Teachings, pp. 370, 373.) In this way both the Father and the Son, as also all exalted beings, are now or in due course will become Gods of Gods. (Teachings, pp. 342-378.) (McConkie 322-23)
Related to this is the declaration that "Abraham and Isaac and Jacob have entered into their exaltation, and are not angels, but are gods" (D&C 132:37). In keeping with the grand scheme of eternal progression, "there never was a time when there were not Gods and worlds, and when men were not passing through the same ordeals that we are now passing through."
"CELESTIAL PARENTAGE"
The Gods have wives! There is a Mother in Heaven! This is normal teaching related to the fact that God is literally the father of our spirits. (See "The Doctrine of Man," below.) "Each god, through his wife or wives, raises up a numerous family of sons and daughters."14 "The begetting of children makes a man a father and a woman a mother whether we are dealing with man in his mortal or immortal state" (McConkie 516). God, the exalted and glorified Man of Holiness, "could not be a Father unless a Woman of like glory, perfection, and holiness was associated with him as a Mother" (McConkie 518). This "glorious truth of celestial parentage" (McConkie 516) is expressed in a Latter-day Saint hymn:
In the heavens are parents single?
No; the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason, truth eternal,
Tells me I've a Mother there.
(In McConkie 517)
Following his statement that Adam is the Mormons' God, Brigham Young declared that Adam "brought Eve, one of his wives, with him." In the same way, mortal beings who gain the ultimate exaltation will become eternal fathers and mothers and will populate their own worlds with their own spirit children. This involves celestial marriage, the rite by which participants continue on as husband and wife in the celestial kingdom (see "The Doctrine of the Atonement," below).
The Doctrine of Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ "is the eternal Jehovah, the promised Messiah, Redeemer and Savior, the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (McConkie 129). Although it may seem to be in keeping with Bible teaching, Mormonism's Christology is nevertheless not that of orthodox Christianity.
FIRST BORN OF THE SPIRIT CHILDREN OF ELOHIM
"Among the spirit children of Elohim, the first-born was and is Jehovah, or Jesus Christ, to whom all others are juniors. "This distinction as "firstborn" describes Christ's relationship to all God's children. Angels and demons, as well as human beings, are included. Various types of beings serve God as angels, or messengers. All were the children of the Father. "The devil ... is a spirit son of God who was born in the morning of pre-existence" (McConkie 193). Devils, or demons, "are the spirit beings who followed Lucifer in his war of rebellion in preexistence" (McConkie 195). One-third of the spirit children of God followed Lucifer in that rebellion. The difference between Christ and man or demon is therefore one of degree, or of position, and not of kind. This rejects any thought of His distinctive deity.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from What the Cults Believe by Irvine Robertson. Copyright © 1991 The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. Excerpted by permission of Moody Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Preface,Preface to the 1983 Edition,
Introduction,
Major Doctrines of Orthodox Christianity,
Cult Deviations from Major Orthodox Doctrines,
1. Mormonism,
2. Jehovah's Witnesses,
3. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church,
4. Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God,
5. The Way International,
6. Some Hinduism-based Movements,
Transcendental Meditation,
Guru Maharaj Ji and the Divine Light Mission,
Hare Krishna,
Several Other Hinduism-based Movements,
7. The New Age Movement,
8. Scientology,
9. Christian Science,
10. Spiritualism,
11. Other Current Movements,
Theosophy,
The Unity School of Christianity,
The "I Am" Movement,
Bahaism,
Swedenborgianism: The Church of the New Jerusalem,
Rosicrucianism: The Rose Cross,
Bibliography,