The Trinity cannot be rejected.
One of the core tenets and principles of Christianity has always been a firm belief in the divine Trinity. The self-existent, supreme, and all-knowing God is Triune, meaning that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist as three persons in one God. This is one of the backbones of Christian doctrine and one of the most important principles for a Believer/the Bride of Christ to understand and accept. No true church would seek to blaspheme and misrepresent this.
However, a church with nearly 18 million members proudly preaches the heresy that the triune nature of God is false and that each member of the Trinity – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – is a separate being. This church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon Church.
WHO ARE MORMONS?
Some Jamaicans might be familiar with members of the Mormon church who wear formal white shirts with black pants (men) or formal dresses (women) and walk around sharing the message of salvation exclusively through their church. These individuals are usually young men or young women in pairs of two who are serving on missions for the Mormon Church. These missionaries are usually from the USA, where the Church is headquartered in Utah.
It is important to note that many members of the church are good people who genuinely believe that they are serving God and are in the right place spiritually. However, Mormonism is not a simple denomination like Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, or Catholics, but rather a unique religion that is doctrinally different from Christianity.
JOSEPH SMITH: A PROPHET OR DECEIVER?
Matthew 7:15-20 warns, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
The founder of the Mormon Church was Joseph Smith. Mr Smith, whom Mormons describe as their “prophet”, claimed that in 1820 he received a vision from God the Father and the Holy Spirit, who told him that all pre-existing churches were “turned aside from the gospel” and that his sins had been forgiven.
In 1823, while praying, Smith claimed to have been visited by an angel called Moroni, who showed him the location of golden plates, a breastplate, and seer stones to use for translating. This angel supposedly instructed Smith to leave the plates alone for a year. He returned to the site in New York near his home where these plates were supposedly buried. It would be four years later that he finally dug them out of the ground. On September 22, 1827, Joseph Smith excavated the golden plates, and after showing them to select trusted witnesses, he began the process of translation.
TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK
Mr Smith translated these ancient golden plates using seer stones set in a frame that Mormons call “Urim and Thummim.” The translation process was done by placing the seer stones inside of a hat to block light and then reading the translations that appeared on the stone. Over the next two years, Mr. Smith translated the golden plates into what would later become the Book of Mormon. Once translation was complete, he returned the plates to Moroni.
The book was published in 1830 and remains the foundational scripture of the Mormon Church, though Mormons describe it as a ‘complementary scripture’ to the Bible. The official Church view is that the Book of Mormon is equal in authority to the Bible and is holy scripture and “another testament of Jesus Christ.”
The first branches of the Mormon Church were established shortly after the Book of Mormon was first published.
THE BOOK OF MORMON
Now, the Book of Mormon is a very interesting piece of literature. It is often described by historians as completely inaccurate and a 19th-century religious work of fiction that was merely a product of its time. Others have pointed out that it seems to have plagiarised the Bible and reflects the personal beliefs of Joseph Smith.
In it, the story of Lehi is told in the book of Nephi. This individual, Lehi, was apparently a faithful servant of God living during King Zedekiah’s reign. He got a vision of the destruction of Jerusalem, and with his son Nephi and his family, they travelled into the desert, where they wandered for 8 years to the coast, where God instructed them to build a ship. They set sail from Israel and after a few days arrive in the Promised Land – the Americas.
So, Joseph Smith claimed that an Israelite family, led by God, left ancient Israel for America to start a new life. Lehi apparently died soon after arrival, and his sons Nephi and Laman became the main focus of the narrative. They split up into two groups: the Nephites and the Lamanites, who are constantly fighting. The Nephites are portrayed as God-fearing and righteous, and the Lamanites as rebellious and unrighteous.
COUNTERCLAIMS TO THE HISTORICITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON
This bold assertion in the Book of Mormon, which has absolutely no parallels or ties to the Bible, is fundamentally and completely rejected by historians, archaeologists, and geneticists. The Native American people that exist today across the Americas, from the tip of Argentina to the tundra of Canada, have no genetic link to Ancient Israelites. There is no evidence of an ancient Israelite migration to the Americas; also, the Book of Mormon mentions sheep, oxen, horses, swine, goats and cattle, among others, none of which existed in the Americas at the time. This is really just the tip of the iceberg, but from the start, the Book of Mormon is flawed and riddled with inaccuracies.
SHOW THEM LOVE
We, as Christians, are called to love one another and be good to our neighbours, including those who are lost like Mormons. We should continue to pray for them, and if they knock on your door, show them kindness, but be bold enough as the Bride of Christ, to challenge their viewpoints; many Mormon missionaries have never truly experienced something contrary to their echo chambers.
At the end of the day, God’s Word cannot be diluted, twisted, or manipulated, and Christ is King. Look out for future discussion on this subject. It warrants further examination.
Ifeoluwa Alonge is 16 years old and has been avidly writing since age 11.