Reason #189: A Breakthrough about the Eternal God
It’s been 38 years since I left Mormonism. For the first time, today, I thanked God for being eternal, infinite and unmeasurable, by time or any other means. For the first time, I am emotionally grateful that God is not the god of Mormonism. Goodbye, little god.
Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol and Latter-day Cipher: The Masonic Connection
When I began writing Latter-day Cipher (Moody, 2009), one of the themes I wanted to explore was the uneasy relationship that Freemasonry would have with Mormonism in the mind of someone who was a faithful Mormon. Here’s an excerpt from Latter-day Cipher that illustrates that connection: This Masonic temple. . .was wedged up against the city’s mountain to the northeast. Its name was Ballut Abydos or something like that, he recalled. It was no accident that the parking lot was sheltered from view from the street. Being a Mason in Salt Lake City was a statement that even those who’d moved in from other places didn’t always want to make publicly. So you could drive behind this temple and park as securely as at any of the adult video stores that peppered...
Reason #83 Because Mormonism changes the wording of its own Scripture
When I was a Mormon, Section 78 of the Doctrine and Covenants contained some strange foreign-sounding names which were assigned to the persons mentioned in this section (such names were also used as aliases for church leaders in Sections 82, 92, 96, 103, 104, and 105 as well.) Such names as “Baurak Ale” for Joseph Smith ostensibly prevented the church’s enemies from knowing the intentions of plans such as Section 103 detailed—the recovery by force of the land they’d left in Missouri. However, uses of names like “Enoch” also led ordinary church members of the time to think the “revelations” were about ancient personages, thus concealing plans that church leadership kept from its own members as well. Since 1981, the code names are no longer...
Reason 79: Because Mormonism Teaches Three Gods
One of the most powerful tools used by Mormons to discredit traditional Christianity is the concept of the Godhead. Mormons have a description of three deities: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, each of whom has a distinct history and ontology. This is, I believe, much easier to understand than many of the descriptions I’ve heard of the true God of the Bible, the true Trinity described (no, not named such I will admit) in the Bible. The problem isn’t with the truth of the Trinity. The problem is that many Christians unwittingly misuse the name of God — by limiting the use of that name to the Father alone. True, the Father is God. But so is Jesus, wholly and completely God. And so is the Holy Spirit. Here’s a diagram that...
Reason #77 — Because of the Earned Cultic Status of Mormonism
A significant number of people do not believe that Mormonism is Christianity, according to this poll. And a great many people, myself included, believe that Mormonism is a pseudo-Christian cult. In other words, it uses the language of the Bible, and bases many of its doctrines on peculiar-to-Mormonism-only explanations of Bible passages while claiming that Mormonism alone can interpret the Bible. So what are the other characteristics of a pseudo-Christian cult? Here is an excerpt from my book Why We Left A Cult: Six People Tell Their Stories (Baker Book House 1993.) The Archipelago of the Cults For more information, see The Mormon Mirage 3rd Edition: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today (Zondervan, 2009). Also available as an audiobook...
