When people mention the Mormons, they typically picture a powerful and beautifully singing choir, or a young and neat missionary on a bicycle, or perhaps a person of impeccable reputation — prosperous and hardworking, a non-smoker and teetotaler, a faithful husband and model father. Without denying these outwardly attractive qualities, we must say that their religion represents one of the most dangerous heresies contending against Christianity.
Mormonism arose in the first half of the 19th century in the United States and soon splintered into numerous groups. At present, however, it has consolidated into two branches: the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (LDS, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah) and the "Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" (headquartered in Independence, Missouri).
As one of the leading religious organizations in the United States, Mormonism has approximately 6 million followers and billions of dollars in annual turnover. The sect's financial prosperity is secured by the requirement that each of its members tithe one tenth of their income to the organization.
The Mormons conduct an organized and aggressive missionary campaign throughout the world, maintaining around 30,000 missionaries in various countries. This is hardly surprising, since among them every young man or woman who reaches a certain age is obligated to devote two years of their life to missionary work.
The Mormons take great care to maintain their bodies in a healthy and flourishing condition. Their faith prescribes abstinence from smoking and alcohol, from tea and coffee — and in general from anything that is not beneficial to one's health. Particular importance is placed on marriage and the bearing of children, because they see the purpose of their existence in the creation of new "deities."
Although the Mormons consider themselves Christians, frequently speaking of Christ with enthusiasm and making broad use of Christian terminology, their teaching has strayed so far from the apostolic faith that it must be regarded as a new religion. It is in essence a semi-pagan doctrine dressed in the robes of Christianity. The Mormons accept the Bible, but consider the "Book of Mormon" — written by Joseph Smith in the 1830s — to be the primary source of their faith.
With this pamphlet we will acquaint the reader with the historical roots of Mormonism, with the personality of its founder Joseph Smith and with the absurdities in his "Book of Mormon," and we will also highlight the anti-Christian aspects of his teaching.
The Mormons venerate their founder Joseph Smith as a prophet and holy martyr. A detailed and objective examination of his life, his character, and his actions, however, reveals a great many things that his followers would prefer not to know.
Even in his youth he showed himself to be a superstitious young man, constantly searching for hidden treasures with the help of magical rods and crystals. He drew his interest in the occult from his mother. In 1826, in Bainbridge, New York, he was arrested, tried, and found guilty of fortune-telling. For the discovery of treasures and for penetrating the secrets of existence, Smith made use of magic crystals, among which he placed particular trust in the "Jupiter talisman." "His preoccupation with the occult damaged his psychological equilibrium, so that images from the subconscious realm began to provoke critical thinking in him. The abnormal traits of his personality manifested themselves in clairvoyance, which Smith, in his eagerness to develop it ever further, pushed his rational mind to the margins. He lost the clarity of his consciousness, and the boundary between the real and the imaginary world in him had nearly entirely vanished." Having failed to find any treasures, he sought to repair his finances by printing counterfeit money; he was caught by the authorities but managed to escape punishment.
In his book "The Pearl of Great Price," Smith recounts that in his first vision in 1820, two messengers appeared to him ("God the Father and God the Son") and explained that all existing churches were in error and that he should not join any of them, but that "in the future the complete gospel teaching would be revealed to him."
Four years later, Smith was visited by a "heavenly" being calling itself Moroni, which told him of certain golden plates buried beneath a nearby hill, in which he would find "the fullness of the everlasting gospel." This was allegedly recorded in an ancient language, and Smith was being granted "the supreme honor of translating the plates and becoming in the hands of the Lord an instrument for the restoration of the gospel and the revival of the church." Moroni also warned that beneath the plates he would find "two crystals in a silver frame attached to a breastplate: these are the Urim and Thummim of the ancient Hebrew high priest, which, like magic spectacles, would permit the translation of the text of the plates."
In 1830, Smith published his first translation under the title "The Book of Mormon" and proclaimed himself "prophet of the last days." Followers began to gather around him.
After the book's publication, as the Mormons describe it, angels appeared to Smith on numerous occasions. For example, in the period between 1831 and 1844 alone, angels came to him 135 times to deliver messages from "God," then from "Jesus Christ," from the apostles Peter and James, from John the Baptist, and from others. Smith himself acknowledged that the visions were so numerous that he would have great difficulty determining which were "from God" and which were prompted by evil forces.
These visions and "revelations" formed the second book of the Mormons, "Doctrine and Covenants," which contains the foundations of the Mormon religion. Considering that Joseph Smith devoted a large part of his life to digging and searching for hidden treasure, it is not difficult to surmise that the "golden plates" he invented were intended in some way to compensate for the fruitless labor of his past.
In 1842, Joseph Smith, together with a considerable group of followers (more than two hundred people), was initiated into Freemasonry. From that point on, many distinctly Masonic rituals and ritual objects entered into Mormon "worship," performed secretly from outsiders in their temples.
As Mormonism took hold and expanded in Nauvoo, so too did hostility toward Joseph Smith — on account of the aggressive methods used in spreading the sect, and above all for the promotion of polygamy. This hostility intensified greatly after one of his assistants, John C. Bennett, boldly exposed his dishonesty and depravity in the local newspaper. In retaliation, Smith's followers, acting on his orders, burned down the printing house where Bennett's article had been published. The authorities of the state of Illinois then intervened, and Smith along with his brother was locked in the jail in Carthage. Even so, passions did not subside. In June 1844, an enraged mob stormed the jail and killed Smith and his brother.
Such was the life of the founder of Mormonism — strewn with adventurous treasure-hunting, occult visions, plagiarism, boastfulness and false testimony, polygamy, and the toleration of banditry and violence. It should be noted that among the many surviving documents relating to the person and conduct of Joseph Smith, signed by people who knew him personally, there is not a single favorable or approving opinion — on the contrary, all of them expose him. Taking all of this into account, we must recall the words of the Savior concerning such false prophets: "...by their fruits you will know them" (Matt. 7:16). The successors of Joseph Smith had to labor considerably to "clean up" his biography and construct around him an aura of righteousness.
In his capacity as "prophet and leader," Joseph Smith was succeeded by Brigham Young, who found a way out of the sect's scandalous reputation by relocating it to the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Young, like his successors, continued to receive "revelations" from spirits, which supplemented and "enriched" Mormon teaching. He had approximately thirty wives and governed the sect by dictatorial methods.
In 1875, wishing to rid himself of unwanted settlers, Young commissioned John D. Lee to exterminate them. This terrible crime, in which 137 people perished, entered history under the name of the "Mountain Meadows Massacre." The perpetrator of this slaughter of innocent people, John D. Lee, was tried and executed in 1877, while Young, who died in that same year, escaped punishment.
*"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them."* (Romans 16:17)
We have already written that the historical portion of the "Book of Mormon" is based on the fantastic novel of Solomon Spaulding, whose manuscript was destroyed by Smith's followers.
The introduction to the "Book of Mormon," which describes the appearance before Joseph Smith of "God the Father" and "Jesus Christ," exists in several versions as told by Joseph himself. One of these versions, which he called "official," he published in "Times and Seasons" in 1842 — two decades after the event itself. This official version was preceded by five of his own drafts, the earliest of which dates to 1832. Curiously, all of the versions differ from the official one in important details — for example, in the number of persons who appeared to Smith.
Here is what the leading Mormon scholars Gerald and Sandra Tanner write on this subject: "We have analyzed three manuscript versions of the First Vision, all written in Joseph Smith's own hand, yet each differing from the others. In the first version, one person appears to Smith; in the second, multiple persons; and in the third, two... However one looks at it... it is very difficult to believe that Joseph Smith had any vision at all."
It follows that those Mormons who believe in one version of the "vision" are rejecting the other variants written by the same author.
The origin and content of the "Book of Mormon" give rise to great bewilderment. First, the original of the book itself, written on golden plates, was never seen by anyone and evidently never existed (three individuals who once signed a statement claiming to have seen the plates later admitted they had lied). Second, according to Smith's claims, the plates were written in a "reformed" Egyptian language unknown to science. Third, the "translation" of the book was conducted in a rather dubious manner. Joseph Smith would place the "magic stone" in his hat, cover his face with it, and "read" the original. One of his wives, Emma Hale, describes it as follows: "I would write day after day... He would sit with his face buried in his hat, in which lay the stone, and would dictate to me for hours at a time."
Professor Charles Anthon of Columbia University provided the following details in connection with the "golden plates." In 1834, Smith's associate Martin Harris showed him (Professor Anthon) a sheet of paper, supposedly copied from one of the golden plates containing "reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics," and asked him to decipher it. The professor, upon examining the sheet, thought he was being mocked, as it contained a jumble of various letters — from the Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Latin, and other alphabets — copied mindlessly from encyclopedias and dictionaries. He told Harris that it was a sorry forgery and asked to see the original, but this was refused. Later, however, Smith cited Professor Anthon's name as having supposedly endorsed his translation.
In style, the "Book of Mormon" is very closely related to the King James English translation of the Bible (from the early 17th century), and in places contains direct borrowings from it. The book sets out the fantastic history of a prophet named Lehi, who lived during the reign of King Zedekiah (2 Chr. 36:10): how he, following God's voice, led a group of Jews out of Jerusalem, sailed to Central or South America, and there founded a grandiose civilization. The Lord chose Nephi, Lehi's youngest son, as leader of the people. Nephi required adherence to the Law of Moses and prophesied the coming of Christ. But his elder brother Laman refused to submit to him and a schism occurred. After Nephi there came other righteous leaders, whose teachings and prophecies were recorded on metal tablets, brought at some point from Jerusalem and regarded as additions to the law of Moses and other ancient writings.
After His Ascension, Christ supposedly appeared in the New World: "Here too He appointed His disciples and gave them power to do His work." Christ's appearance inaugurated two hundred years of peace between the tribes of Nephi and Laman, but afterward the enmity flared again with renewed force. The last prophet in the line of Nephi was called Mormon. Seeing the inevitable destruction of his people, he gathered all the ancient records and transferred the most essential of them onto golden plates. Mormon was killed in battle, and of all his people only his son Moroni survived. He added the concluding lines and buried the plates "to preserve them until the last days, when it would please the Lord to reveal them."
At a time when the accuracy of Bible translations is confirmed by an entire army of linguists and biblical scholars, the accuracy of the "Book of Mormon" — which Joseph Smith presents as divinely revealed — is impossible to verify, since neither the original golden plates nor any trace of the "reformed Egyptian language" exists. Moreover, the question arises: if the "Book of Mormon" is two thousand years old, how could it contain theological, social, and political themes characteristic precisely of American society at the beginning of the 19th century?
The "Book of Mormon" contains 27,000 words and verbatim additions taken from the King James English translation of the Bible. Furthermore, it even incorporates certain inaccuracies present in that translation. And again — how did so many extensive additions from a comparatively recently made English translation find their way into it?
But the greatest problem for the Mormons, which they strive to avoid, lies in archaeology and genetics. None of the cities, persons, animals, fabrics, metals, wars, kings, or places mentioned in the "Book of Mormon" find any archaeological corroboration. Modern science has no evidence of any migration of ancient Jews to America, nor of the local population having any knowledge of Christianity or the Bible prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus. Furthermore, the American Indians belong to a large race that has nothing in common with the Semitic race, to which Jews belong. From the outset, the "Book of Mormon" suffered from a number of obvious absurdities and contradictions, which were "cleaned up" in its subsequent editions. In short, neither the cities, nor the people, nor the nations mentioned in the "Book of Mormon" exist; there are no golden plates and no trace of the book's original language. Absolutely no archaeological or biological data has been discovered that would even hint at confirming the truthfulness of the events described by Smith. What has been established, however, is the occult method of "translation," and the fact that much of it, as with other writings of the Mormon "prophet," was dictated by "spirits."
The Apostle John the Theologian already cautioned the faithful against all spirits: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God..." (1 John 4:1). In order to determine the identity of a spirit, it must be asked whether it acknowledges that Jesus Christ is the true Son of God and Creator of the world, equal to God the Father, who became man in order to save the world from the power of the devil. Fallen spirits can never acknowledge this. And indeed, the spirits that appeared to Smith impressed upon him that Christ is one of the deities — that is, a creation, rather than the Creator. Moreover, a spirit from the Lord would never propose replacing the existing Church of Christ with a new, Mormon one — that Church of which the Lord said: "I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it," and which is "the pillar and ground of the truth" (Matt. 16:18; 1 Tim. 3:15).
Thus the "Book of Mormon" is a pitiful parody of Scripture, and the Mormons are deeply deceived in accepting it as divinely inspired and equating it with the authority of the Bible.
In their books, Joseph Smith and his successors make use of Christian concepts and biblical terminology, but invest them with a different meaning, thereby creating a new, non-Christian teaching. Unfortunately, many uninformed and credulous people do not realize that the terms "Son of God," "salvation," "redemption," "sanctification," "Trinity," and others carry an entirely different, non-Christian content among the Mormons — and so they fall into their nets. Here are some of the most glaring distortions of Christianity:
In the first article of the Mormon "creed" we read: "We believe in the Eternal God the Father, in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit" — which sounds correct, at first glance. Upon closer examination of the sources of their teaching, however, it turns out that the words "God the Father" they take literally, in a biological sense. For example, their "God Almighty" supposedly had a wife who bore him "children." The name of the "wife" is nowhere mentioned, as this is a secret; the children are Jesus Christ, Lucifer, and you and I. The "Father," as the Mormons believe, lives at the center of the universe (the celestial realm) near the planet Kolob, possesses a physical body, and is human in form. The "children" initially had only invisible, spiritual bodies (receiving their visible physical bodies later).
All of this is called, among the Mormons, "our pre-earth life." It turns out that alongside the Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, there also exist an indeterminate number of all manner of gods and goddesses. Admittedly, some Mormons will insist that they acknowledge only one God, but this is not affirmed by the founders of their doctrine.
The Holy Trinity, as understood in our Christian sense, does not exist for the Mormons. The word "God" is understood by them as one of the supreme beings. They believe in procreating pairs perfected from among humans, who have a beginning in time and create physical bodies by "incarnating spirit." This Mormon plurality of gods is headed by "Elohim," mentioned in the Old Testament Scriptures — according to the Mormons, the "god of the Earth," who possesses a body like our own.
The founder of the sect, Joseph Smith, asserts:
*"I want to declare to you openly that in all the meetings and assemblies where I have preached about the nature of the Godhead, I have always preached a doctrine of a plurality of gods."*
Milton R. Hunter, a member of the First Council of the Seventy, taught:
*"God Himself, our common Father... was once a man just as we are, and then became God... He perfected and developed Himself until He reached the state of divinity... And all of us must learn how to become gods."*
In the book "Mormon Doctrine," their leading "theologian" B. McConkie writes:
*"There are three gods — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost... We worship these three gods. But besides them there exist a numberless quantity of other holy personages, coming from countless worlds, who have attained glory and have therefore also become gods... This doctrine of a plurality of gods is so comprehensive and glorious that it captivates every imagination... And everyone who attains glory will become a God."*
It should be noted that such ideas about deities governing different worlds are characteristic of occultism. It is perfectly clear that the Mormon teaching about gods who develop and perfect themselves and have received bodies is entirely alien to Christianity, blasphemous, and offensive to common sense. Christianity has always strictly distinguished between the eternal, infinite, all-perfect, and incomprehensible divine nature and the created and limited nature of all other beings — angels, humans, animals, and so forth. One must not confuse the Creator with creation! Some observers have not without reason suggested that the very teaching about procreating divine children was invented precisely to justify the polygamy of the "prophets" and "saints" of the Mormon religion.
The Mormons claim to believe in the true, biblical Jesus Christ. One of their pamphlets states: "Christ is our Redeemer and Savior. Without Him there would be neither redemption nor salvation." Such assertions confuse simple-minded believers, who suppose that the Mormons are preaching Christian teaching. In reality, their doctrine concerning Christ is filled with occult influence and otherworldly beings.
For Christians, Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the true God, co-eternal and consubstantial with God the Father, begotten and not made, immeasurably superior to all created beings.
For the Mormons, He is not unique. Jesus is merely one among many gods (and not a particularly significant one at that), who through his own personal merits attained divine righteousness. According to one of the ideologues of Mormonism: "Christ is a saved being." He was allegedly born as the brother of Lucifer (Satan). The latter proved to be a disobedient son of "Elohim," the same being who also fathered Jesus. Christ is merely the first among a countless multitude of other spirits. He was born allegedly through the physical union of "the Father" (Adam-Elohim) with Mary. In other versions of Mormon teaching, Christ is described as having been created in time.
Under this heretical interpretation of biblical events, one arrives at the absurd assertion that the Virgin Mary not only had physical relations with "Elohim," but also lived together with her husband Joseph and was not a virgin. Some Mormons even venture to call Christ their "elder brother."
In their efforts to justify polygamy, the Mormons teach that Jesus was married at Cana of Galilee and had numerous other wives, among them Martha and Mary (the sisters of Lazarus), by whom he fathered children. Of course, there is nothing of the kind in Holy Scripture.
All of this blasphemous teaching was invented by the "prophets" of Mormonism. If one were to gather together everything that Mormon "theologians" say about Christ, it would become clear that they degrade Him even more than the Arians, who were condemned by the First Ecumenical Council held in Nicaea in the year 325.
When conducting missionary work among Christians, however, they generally avoid these specific tenets of their teaching and speak of Christ with feigned enthusiasm and reverence. It is even possible that many rank-and-file Mormons are poorly acquainted with the details of their own doctrine and simply repeat commonly accepted Christian truths, from which the founders of their religion have departed. In reality, Mormon "bishops" do not even pass through any formal theological education, but receive their positions by virtue of their commercial and organizational abilities.
The Mormons believe in the pre-existence of human souls. According to their teaching, prior to their physical birth into this world, human souls existed in the spiritual world. And so "the Father — Elohim," himself possessing a physical body, devised for his spirit-children a "wonderful plan" whereby they too might become gods, since all fathers want their children to resemble them. The "Father" therefore resolved to bless people with physical bodies (that is, to materialize the spirits) and entrusted this task to "the god Jesus." But Lucifer (Satan), who turned out to be the inferior brother of Jesus, began out of envy to obstruct him from making the spirits into human beings.
According to the teaching of the Bible, the sin of Adam's disobedience in paradise is a terrible tragedy for humanity, for it morally corrupted our nature. Because of original sin, all people are born with a tendency toward sinfulness. In it lies the primary cause of the calamities and crimes of human society.
For the Mormons, however, the Fall is a blessing, since it was a necessary step in the plan of life and is a great benediction for humanity. Through this fall we are blessed with physical bodies and are able to bear children — the new gods.
According to Brigham Young, Adam and God are one and the same person: "Adam is our father and God. He is the only God with whom we have to do."
The Mormons acknowledge the necessity of baptism, but regard as valid only their own, Mormon baptism. That baptism, however, is invalid and devoid of grace, because they deny the Holy Trinity, in whose name baptism is performed. Furthermore, they permit the monstrous rite of baptism for the dead — that is, a living Mormon may be baptized multiple times on behalf of his deceased ancestors. The Mormons justify this on the grounds that throughout the entire period from the apostles until Joseph Smith, the world lay in darkness and no one had the opportunity to be saved. Therefore, in order to save the dead, the Mormons baptize them retroactively.
It is precisely for this reason that they have such a highly developed interest in genealogy. They attempt to "save" as many of their ancestors as possible. For this purpose, a five-story library of family histories has been built in Salt Lake City, with more than 1,200 branch offices in 44 countries of the world.
The Mormons find the purpose of their lives in becoming gods. Brigham Young writes in his "Journal of Discourses": "Gods exist, and every man must aspire to become one of them." A similar thought is expressed by the president of the Mormon church, Lorenzo Snow: "As God once was, man now is; and as God now is, man may become."
The Mormon teaching about the pre-existence of human souls, about their infinite development and transformation into gods furnished with physical bodies, is utterly alien to Christianity.
For us Christians, Holy Scripture is God's revelation. It is complete in the sense that no other revelations or "visions" may be added to it.
For the Mormons, our Bible is an incomplete and not entirely reliable source of faith. They permit the reading of the Gospels for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. For a deeper acquaintance with the faith, however, they give priority to their own "sacred writings": the "Book of Mormon," "The Pearl of Great Price," "Doctrine and Covenants," and others. Moreover, they continue to supplement their teaching with ever newer "revelations." Brigham Young, for example, claimed to have received so many revelations that he "could prophesy with the speed of a greyhound."
From the very outset of its existence, the Mormon sect introduced great scandal into society through its open encouragement of polygamy. Smith claimed that the same "spirit" that had delivered the golden plates to him commanded him to take several wives. If he did not acquire a "plural wife," he faced the danger of losing his apostolic standing and receiving eternal damnation. Endeavoring to comply with the "spirit," Smith acquired more than twenty wives. His "holy" followers tried to keep pace with their prophet and took as wives not only unmarried girls and widows, but also made advances upon the honor of married women. Several outraged husbands published leaflets exposing Smith and the depravity of the "saints." Brigham Young, for his part, had approximately thirty wives.
The turmoil over Mormon polygamy never subsided from the very founding of the sect, until in 1870 the government of the United States took the matter seriously. The successor of Young, "prophet" John Taylor, stubbornly insisted on the right of the Mormons to have multiple wives and entered into open conflict with the authorities. Congress then significantly tightened its measures, and the new Mormon leader Wilford Woodruff ultimately renounced polygamy. But not all Mormons submitted to his decision, and a schism followed. The most obstinate polygamists, who might be called "old Mormons," emigrated to Mexico. The rest — the "new Mormons" — submitted to the authorities. Subsequent Mormon teachers carefully sanitized the history of their sect, "whitewashed" its dark chapters, and declared the former attachment to polygamy an error.
Having renounced polygamy, modern Mormons transferred all their zeal onto marriage and the bearing of children, which follows directly from their teaching about the materialization of spirits. According to them, spirits, who are numerous, are "children of God" not yet blessed with physical bodies. Those who have at last received their bodies on earth are obligated to reproduce as abundantly as possible for the sake of the remaining spirits. For this reason the Mormons strive to produce as many children as they can. They fear that if a person dies childless, he will after death be only an "angel," lacking a resurrected body, and will in the true sense of the word become a servant to the gods. In this manner they believe that only through marriage and the bearing of children is access to the highest degree of glory opened to them.
Of course, there is nothing of the kind in Holy Scripture — there, voluntary celibacy is placed higher than married life. According to the Apostle Paul: "He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: but he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife" (1 Cor. 7:32–35). On the superiority of celibacy one may read further in the Savior's discourse in the Gospel of Matthew 19:12, as well as in the book of Revelation 14:3–5. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, His most pure Mother the Virgin Mary, the Prophet John the Baptist, the Apostle John the Theologian, the Apostle Paul, and many other great righteous ones were celibates.
Apart from the doctrine of polygamy, the Mormons were also compelled to revise their racial views. Originally they maintained that Black people were descendants of Cain and were unworthy of equality with white people or of the priesthood. But as the Black civil rights movement grew in strength, this position became an increasingly heavy burden, and in 1978 the president of the Mormon movement, Spencer Kimball, announced that on the basis of a new revelation, Black people could be ordained to the priesthood on an equal footing with white people.
Mormonism is characterized by a complete rejection of historical Christianity and the Orthodox Church with her two-thousand-year history. Proceeding from Joseph Smith's first revelation that "all religions are in error," the Mormons hold that the apostasy from the faith occurred immediately after the death of the apostles, and that the Church (setting aside its American branch among the Indians, which endured three hundred years longer) vanished from the face of the earth until its revival by Smith in the 19th century. Joseph Smith claimed that "all Christian pastors are children of the devil... that they and their followers shall receive the lot of the devil and his demons... And all together shall perish." His successor Brigham Young declared that all Christians are unbelievers. Following the example of their founders, the Mormons call believing Christians "children of the devil" and our faith "pagan wickedness." In general, an extreme and bitter hostility toward traditional Christianity is very characteristic of them. They recognize as truly faithful, saved, and holy only themselves.
Mormonism is governed by the council of three "First Presidency," assisted by the council of twelve "apostles" (the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) and the council of "the Seventy." Auxiliary and subordinate offices are distributed among the "patriarch" and the "bishops." The entire structure of the Mormon organization is built on the idea of "the priesthood." Every male Mormon over the age of 12 is admitted to the "Aaronic priesthood," from which in time he may be called up to the "Melchizedek priesthood."
Of course, these designations have nothing in common with their biblical meaning. The worship in the Old Testament Jerusalem Temple was performed by the descendants of Aaron from the tribe of Levi. With the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD and the dispersal of the Jews throughout the world, the priestly succession according to the order of Aaron was broken and cannot be restored, for God abrogated that priesthood together with its sacrifices and rites.
A priest "after the order of Melchizedek" can only properly be the Lord Jesus Christ, as the eternal King of the world who offered Himself as a sacrifice for the redemption of humanity. Therefore no mortal man may dare to assume that title. Concerning the abrogation of the Aaronic priesthood and the eternal priesthood of Christ according to the order of Melchizedek, the Apostle Paul writes at length in his Epistle to the Hebrews, 6:17–10:23. For the performance of the Holy Eucharist and the other Sacraments in the Church, the apostles ordained bishops, who in turn ordained their assistants — presbyters (priests) and deacons (see the Epistles to Titus and Timothy). This grace of the priesthood, from apostolic times, is transmitted in the Church without interruption from bishop to bishop and is called apostolic succession. In religious groups where this succession has for whatever reason been broken, the grace of the priesthood has also ceased.
Since the Mormons have no apostolic succession, they also have no grace of the priesthood. Their "high priests," "patriarchs," and "priests," as well as their "apostles" and "prophets" — all of these are empty titles. In venerating Joseph Smith as the restorer of the church, the Mormons elevate him to an authority equal to that of Jesus Christ. In their temple in Salt Lake City, for example, prominently displayed alongside an image of Jesus Christ hangs a portrait of Joseph Smith. This, of course, is an unforgivable audacity. For Jesus Christ is the true Son of God, Creator of the world and Savior of humanity, while Joseph Smith was a liar, a dreamy treasure-seeker, an occultist, a swindler, and a debauchee. Against the backdrop of the Savior, he appears more ridiculous and pitiful than a monkey alongside a great commander or a man of genius.
The teaching of the Mormons has an occult origin and contradicts the most fundamental dogmas of Christianity. And yet Mormon missionaries present it as Christian and conduct an aggressive campaign, going door to door in people's homes, luring the simple-minded into the snares of their cult. In their preaching they concentrate on the social, "family" image of Mormonism, offering psychological stability and worldly prosperity.
Their sect is built upon a rigid hierarchy and is ruled by "prophets" and "apostles." Merciless authoritarianism prevails within it — the suppression of individuality and independent thought, circles of numerous initiations, and psychological conditioning. Ordinary rank-and-file Mormons are unaware of the existence, even to this day, of "angels of death," who carry out death sentences against those persons deemed undesirable by the sect.
The newly converted is required to remain in constant contact with the missionaries, to attend their gatherings and "worship services." Reviling the Orthodox Church, its teaching, temples, and worship, its Holy Fathers and clergy, the Mormons attempt to justify their own lack of spirituality.
Taking advantage of the naivety of people who grew up under conditions of militant atheism, the Mormons have begun sending their missionaries into the countries of Eastern Europe and Russia, and have recently established a center for their propaganda in Moscow. They intend to build their own temple in Poland. They have already translated the "Book of Mormon" and other literature into Russian.
In order to protect oneself and one's family from the pressure of Mormonism and other sects, an Orthodox Christian must thoroughly study his Orthodox faith and Holy Scripture, and must come to experience that great spiritual power which flows from the church sacraments, the Holy Eucharist, and the worship services of the Orthodox Church.