There is a church on the earth which differs significantly from the Mormon Church today. It teaches principles not found in its scripture. It teaches of a different type of Christ; a different God. A different way to salvation.
This church—the great enemy of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint—is the Mormon Church itself. It is its own “whore of all the Earth.” [1]
I have spoken already of the differences in doctrine between the early Church and the current Church. The differences are many. I will now discuss the differences in nature; the many ways the Mormon Church today is not the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of old.
The Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is the keystone of the religion. It is the foundation. It is the thing upon which the religion was built. Without the Book of Mormon there was no restoration.
It contains the fullness of the Gospel. It says so in its own introduction:
“The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. It is a record of God’s dealings with ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel.” [2]
It is complete. It is full. It is the fulness of the Gospel. This concept is repeated many times.
The angel Moroni called the book the “fullness of the everlasting Gospel.” There wasn’t a caveat. No fine print. No strings attached. That was it.
“He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants.” [3]
Christ Himself said declared his gospel contained in the book complete.
“And gave him power from on high, by the means which were before prepared, to translate the Book of Mormon; Which contains a record of a fallen people, and the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and to the Jews also.” [4]
The Prophet Nelson said it, quoting the Lord.
“The Savior declared that the Book of Mormon contains ‘the fulness of [His] everlasting gospel.’ How did He define the gospel? The resurrected Lord taught, ‘This is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me…” [5]
It is to be assumed, and righteously so, that the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the doctrine; the fulness of the gospel; all that the Lord intends us to know; His whole religion.
That is what we have always been taught.
Why, then, did the Book of Mormon forget so many things?
In the entirety of the Book of Mormon, there is no mention of temple marriage; no mention of eternal marriage at all. There is no mention of marriage being required for salvation. There is no mention of baptism for the dead; no mention of the salvation of the dead by proxy of any kind. There is no mention of the endowment; the word endowment is never written nor alluded to. Temple ordinances seemingly did not exist in this Gospel of the Book of Mormon.
There is no mention of the Three Kingdoms of Glory; no mention of the word Celestial, Terrestrial, or Telestial anywhere in the text. There is no mention of the Melchizedek priesthood. No mention of an Aaronic priesthood. There is never even an allusion to there being more than one priesthood at all. To Book of Mormon prophets, there was only one priesthood, and it was called “the high priesthood.”
There is no mention of water ever being used in the sacrament. There is no reference to a Word of Wisdom, a warning against hot drinks, alcohol, tobacco, or a dietary restriction of any kind.
There is no mention of the hierarchy process of Church leaders—namely, the promotion of Church leaders by seniority; there isn’t even a mention of a First Presidency, or of there being fifteen Apostles at all. Twelve Apostles were all that were needed in the Book of Mormon. The idea that a prophet becomes a prophet by being around longer than the other candidates would have been absurd in the Book of Mormon. There, it would seem that anyone was a candidate, be it Samuel the Lamanite, or Abinadi, or Moroni. No connection to past prophets was needed. A righteous person, if he were chosen, could be a prophet at any time; there was no need to be an apostle first.
There is no mention of our future potential to earn Godhood or have Godlike powers. There is no mention of homosexuality being a sin. No mention of homosexuality at all. There is no mention of gender being a fact, much less an important one. There are no references to bishops, stakes, stake presidencies, quorums, seventies, general authorities, auxiliaries, relief societies, deacons, area presidencies, or mission presidents. There is no mention of the priesthood being reserved only for men (only two women alive at the time of the Book of Mormon are ever even named, so we cannot be sure that they did not have the “high priesthood”, as it is never expressly forbidden.)
There is no mention of or reference to a preexistence. There is no mention of a Spirit World, either prison or paradise. There is no mention of Heavenly Mother. There is no mention of tithing being required for salvation, nor is there any mention whatsoever of any Book of Mormon character paying tithing.
There is no mention of eternal families, or of families being eternal, or of the steps necessary for families to be eternal. Either families in the Book of Mormon were not considered eternal, or they were considered eternal with no restrictions or requirements, and thus did not require any specification.
There is no mention of patriarchs, or of patriarchal blessings. There is no mention of eight years old being the age of baptism. There is no mention of an initiatory. There is never an anointing nor is there a second anointing. There are no temple garments in the Book of Mormon. There are no signs or tokens or “new names” or temple presidencies.
The Book of Mormon never predicts an apostasy. It never mentions the Priesthood being taken away from the Earth. In fact, its only allusion to the dwindling of Christ’s church is a suggestion that “its numbers…[would be] few.” It seems that Book of Mormon prophets assumed the Church would remain on earth forever. According to the Book of Mormon, Joseph is not a Prophet, nor a President of the Church, but merely a translator. There is never a mention of Joseph being connected to the Church. He is solely connected to the Book itself, as its translator and nothing else.
The Book of Mormon never mentions a “Thousand Year Millennium.” It never mentions Satan being bound during Christ’s return, and it never claims that Christ will remain on the Earth during the Millennium.
In the Book of Mormon, there is no acceptance of polygamy. In fact, the singular mention of polygamy expressly forbids it.
“Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord.…For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife.” [6]
This is the Fulness of the Gospel.
This is not my opinion, and mine alone. It is the Lord’s. In 1829, Joseph received a revelation from the Lord, in which he was instructed to build up a Church based on the principles in the Book of Mormon. The Lord made no mistake. There was nothing more to be added.
“…I give unto you a commandment, that you rely upon the things which are written; for in them are all things written, concerning my church, my gospel, and my rock. Wherefore if you shall build up my church, and my gospel, and my rock, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you.” [7]
To the Lord, there was nothing more to add. There was no need for a Word of Wisdom. No need for a pre-existence. No need for eternal temple marriage. It was all included.
But the Church was rolling forward. New doctrines were being added. New policies were being placed. So, the revelation was changed.
In 1835, a new edition of the Doctrine and Covenants was published. And quietly, cunningly, the revelation changed.
…I give unto you a commandment, that you rely upon the things which are written; for in them are all things written concerning the foundation of my church, my gospel and my rock; wherefore, if you shall build up my church upon the foundation of my gospel and my rock, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you.” [8]
The Lord changed His mind.
The Book of Mormon was no longer the keystone of the religion. It was just another brick in the arch. It laid the foundation, maybe, but it didn’t have everything.
It’s with this change—this subtle little change—that the restored Church of Jesus Christ killed its Savior.
What is the point of the Book of Mormon? Why did those Nephites have to die to get this book into our hands?
The Book of Mormon exists to replace plain and precious truths stripped from the Bible. But what is more plain or more precious than eternal families? Than temples? Than the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods? Than Kingdoms of Glory?
Christ’s doctrine in the Book of Mormon is Anti-Mormon. The very moment he returns to the Earth, in his visitation among the Nephites, the Resurrected Christ condemns the doctrines of the LDS Church.
“Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, I will declare unto you my doctrine. And this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me; and I bear record of the Father, and the Father beareth record of me, and the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and me; and I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me.
And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God. And whoso believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned.”
“And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things. And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.
And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock; but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them.” [9]
Christ didn’t want anything else. The Christ of the book of Mormon didn’t want polygamy. He didn’t want the Word of Wisdom. He didn’t want temples, or tithing, or callings, or misogyny, or quorums of the Seventy, or signs, or tokens. He just wanted his followers to follow Him, and to believe in Him. That was it.
Anything more than that was evil.
So, what are we supposed to say to President Nelson who would say that Christ was wrong? That baptism and belief weren’t enough? That we had to enter the temple and do the handshakes and chant the words if we wanted to make it into heaven?
“A temple is literally the house of the Lord, reserved for ordinances of eternal significance. Those ordinances include baptisms, marriages, endowments, and sealings.
Each temple is symbolic of our faith in God and an evidence of our faith in life after death. The temple is the object of every activity, every lesson, every progressive step in the Church. All of our efforts in proclaiming the gospel, perfecting the Saints, and redeeming the dead lead to the holy temple. Ordinances of the temple are absolutely crucial. We cannot return to God’s glory without them.” [10]
What are we supposed to say of Ezra Taft Benson, who, quoting Joseph Smith, demanded the sacrifice of all things from the Saints, in order to enter the Celestial Kingdom?
“The Prophet Joseph Smith prepared this remarkable statement on the principle of sacrifice for the Lectures on Faith:
‘Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation’ (Lectures on Faith, 6:7).” [11]
The leaders of the Church have spat on the doctrines of Christ. They’ve taken up His cross, and they’ve carved it up, and they’ve used the nails from His hands and the boards hewn from His cross to build their coin-collection-boxes. And they’ve taken His red robes and cut them to shreds, and they roll out the pieces and walk on them for all of their Saints to see. And they’ve taken His crown and they’ve pulled out the thorns, and they’ve mounted them upon the gates of their churches, and the spikes keep out the unwanted ones.
If a church were to be built using the Book of Mormon as its fullness of doctrine, it would not be the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Truly, the Book of Mormon is as bare as the Bible. Yet we cannot blame wicked priests for stripping the book. We have only God to blame, or Joseph Smith to blame, or current Church leaders for fabricating a religion out of nothing.
[2] Introduction to The Book of Mormon, p. vii
[3] “Testimony of Joseph Smith,” as written in the introduction tothe Book of Mormon, p. ix
[4] Doctrine and Covenants 20: 8-9
[5] Russell M. Nelson, “A Testimony of the Book of Mormon,” General Conference, Oct. 1999
[6] Jacob 2: 24-27
Some apologists have cited verse 30 of the same chapter as a possible caveat to the commandment of monogamy: “For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.”
It is difficult to rationalize the early Mormon practice of polygamy with this verse, as most plural marriages (including all of Joseph’s) bore no children.
[7] 1833 Book of Commandments 15:3-4
[8] 1835 Doctrine and Covenants 43:1
[10] Russell M. Nelson, “Prepare for the Blessings of the Temple,” Oct. 2010 General Conference
[11] Ezra Taft Benson, “This is a Day of Sacrifice,” April 1979 General Conference
