Latter-day Saints? - The One Year Christian History
Latter-day Saints?
It’s amazing what can result from unsubstantiated claims.
IN 1820 a fourteen-year-old boy named Joseph Smith Jr. claimed to have received a vision in which God the Father and God the Son appeared to him and told him that they had chosen him to help restore true Christianity. Apparently not overly moved by this revelation, he went back to digging for Captain Kidd’s treasure with his father and brother.
When he was seventeen, he claimed to have been visited by an angel named Moroni, who told him that he would receive the “golden plates” of The Book of Mormon to translate. In 1827 Smith alleged that he unearthed the plates in Cumorah, a hill near Palmyra, New York. Smith said he translated the “reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics” with the help of miraculous glasses he supposedly received from Moroni. Oliver Cowdery, a schoolteacher and a convert of Smith’s, assisted in his translation, although no one but Smith ever saw the golden tablets. In 1829 during the translation, the “Prophet,” as Smith liked to be called, alleged that John the Baptist was sent by Peter, James, and John to bestow the “Aaronic priesthood” on himself and Oliver. Early in 1830 they completed their translation, and The Book of Mormon was published and copyrighted.
On April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith Jr., his two brothers, Hyrum and Samuel, Oliver Cowdery, and David and Peter Whitmer Jr. met in Fayette, New York, to found a new religious society they called “The Church of Christ.” Eventually known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon Church was begun.
Soon after, the Mormons moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where they attracted many new followers. In six years they grew to more than sixteen thousand members. Because of Smith’s reputation as a charlatan and accusations that his religion was a hoax, the new church had to move several times. Next they moved to Jackson County, Missouri, and then on to Nauvoo, Illinois, but their problems followed them to each new location. The trouble intensified in Nauvoo when their practice of polygamy became public. The exact number of Smith’s wives is not known, but it has been estimated to be as high as fifty. When Smith called for the destruction of a newspaper that was outspokenly anti-Mormon, the state of Illinois stepped in to control the dispute and jailed Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. On June 27, 1844, an angry mob stormed the jail and murdered both men.
After the death of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young became the leader of the Mormons. Young led the group across the Great Plains and over the Rocky Mountains to the Salt Lake Valley in 1846. Finally, the Mormons were granted recognition as a legitimate religion. Brigham Young had twenty-seven wives and fifty-six children.
Today the Mormons claim more than 11 million members, more than half who live outside the United States.
What do they believe? Simply stated, Mormons teach that all gods were originally men and that all men have the potential to become gods. Being a king and priest to God is a step toward becoming a god. They believe that all persons were preexistent and, depending on their good works, go to one of three levels of heaven: telestial (for unbelievers), terrestial (for ignorant but good people), and celestial (for good Mormons). Jesus, who is the Jehovah of the Old Testament, will reign over a millennial kingdom from Independence, Missouri.
Reflection
How do you evaluate the beliefs of the Mormons? Do you believe that they are latter-day saints, as their name claims? How would you defend your answer to a Mormon?
Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including myself, who preaches any other message than the one we told you about. Even if an angel comes from heaven and preaches any other message, let him be forever cursed.
Galatians 1:8
