Mormonism And
The Claim To Restoration
Mormons
claim that there was a falling away from the faith after the death of
the Apostles. Does this mean that the church needed to be restored through
Mormonism?
Joseph Smith, the founding father of Mormonism,
built his institution on the premise that the Christian church was completely
overtaken by apostasy. In other words, Smith claimed that the church
established by Jesus in the first century was completely nonexistent
by the 19th century. This has been the position of all subsequent leaders
of the Mormon church, even to this very day.
To quote Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt: "Jesus...
established his kingdom on the earth...the kingdoms of this world made
war against the kingdom of God, established eighteen centuries ago,
and they prevailed against it, and the kingdom ceased to exist (Journal
of Discourses, 13:125)." Of course, this meant that the church had to
be restored.
In response to this teaching, we should ask
Mormons exactly how the church could manage to glorify God "throughout
all generations" - as the Apostle Paul clearly wrote in Ephesians 3:21
- if they fell into total apostasy. We should also point out that Ephesians
4:11-16 talks about the church growing spiritually mature, not spiritually
degenerate. The Bible does affirm that there will be apostates, but
according to 1 Timothy 4:1 only "some [not all] will abandon the faith."
This passage alone is enough to prove that Mormonism is wrong about
the church falling away altogether.
Smith and other Mormons need to realize that
they're teaching the exact opposite of what Jesus Christ of Nazareth
proclaimed in Matthew 16:18 - namely, that not even the gates of hell
would prevail against the church of God.
Furthermore, Hebrews 12:28 states that God's
kingdom is unshakable, while Daniel 2:44 refers to it as indestructible.
There can be no doubt that Mormonism contradicts what the Bible says
about the perseverance of God's people - the living church of God. Remember,
it was Joseph Smith who attacked Christianity. He said that all their
sects were wrong, their creeds an abomination, and their professors
corrupt.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
This issue is covered in Jerry and
Marian Bodine's manual Witnessing to the Mormons (B111/$5). For shipping
and handling information, please call CRI or refer to our Resource Listing.
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