The last chapter is a live demonstration on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and yet, the conclusion contradicts the LDS Church’s belief and claim to be the only true church on earth. God gave a powerful witness to his daughter, Trixie, and then God gave me the keys of interpretation. What are the LDS to do? I’m not smart enough to have combined all the symbols in Trixie’s dream into a cohesive story that fits Mormonism. I’m either under the influence of the Holy Spirit or I’m under the influence of Satan. I’m either following the true God or a false one. This has been the issue of religious conflict since the time Lucifer rebelled and was cast out of heaven. God is Truth and Lucifer is a deceiver. One thing is certain, I’m not lying, neither am I trying to trick anyone into believing me. I’m sincerely trying to serve my own conscience to the best of my ability. So the issue is not my heart. I’m not a liar. But the words that I write—are they true or false? Are the principles from God and Biblical or are they from Satan and Anti-Biblical? How do we know? Thus there is a great need for spiritual discernment. Each of us stands on our own choices. We will either find the ultimate truth from God and salvation or we will discover we have believed a lie from Satan and have been deceived. This responsibility cannot be delegated to other human beings, to God, or to the devil. We are the ones who decide what we believe. No one else.

I have placed my stake in the ground and have decided that the God I believe in can not contradict the Bible. He is logical. But the LDS belief does not fit into reason and logic, assuming the Bible contains the Word of God. For example, the Bible teaches there is one God, but Mormonism teaches there are many gods. Thus, it is irrational that God would not tell us the “whole truth” in the Bible about himself. There is either one God or many Gods. Both thoughts can not be true. I can not accept the argument that God likes to keep this concept a mystery about many gods, for it is the fundamental premise of the purpose of life. If true, then EVERYONE ON EARTH should understand that purpose of life. Indeed, the principle of eternal progression is so much a part of Mormonism that it can not be a “mystery”, but must qualify as being a very basic tenant of the religion. In fact, the First Presidency has stated:

ALL HUMAN BEINGS—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose. In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life [or becoming a god or goddess]. (The Family: A Proclamation To The World.)

Today, the purpose of eternal progression in Mormonism is not a mystery. God is an exalted man. That’s easy to understand. But it’s not anywhere in the Bible. But the LDS quote scripture out of context, claiming the Bible supports the concept, when it does not. For example, Jesus said, “Ye are gods.” This was referring to the ecclesiastic responsibility in our role to represent Him, not that we will truly become gods in the future. It also can mean we are gods over physical matter. Finally, we are gods over our own children in temporal issues. Now, if the Mormon claim were true about truly becoming gods, Jesus would have said, “Ye will become gods”. But rather he said: “Ye are gods”. PRESENT TENSE. It is very simple. Is any human being a “god” right now like Heavenly Father? Just look. The answer is obvious. Therefore, the statement CAN NOT mean what the LDS claim. Jesus was NOT speaking of the future, but of the present.

Here’s another example of incorrect interpretation of the Bible:

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect." (Matt 5:48.)

The does not mean God is commanding us to be a perfect God in the future. God is in the present. God is love. To be perfect as God is perfect means we have Charity. It does NOT mean we are perfect in terms of knowledge, capability, nor talent. Taken in context of where this statement is given, it is very clear this is what God is speaking about--humility and love. He even says that God loves everyone by sending the rain to the just and the unjust both. The Bible is very clear:

"For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye do not even the publicans the same?" (Matt 5:46.)

This verse on love is right before the "Be ye therefore perfect" verse, and IS NOT talking about becoming gods. It's about love! (The Book of Mormon, by the way, conveniently omits this thought on love from 3 Nephi 12!)

Do we want to superimpose Joseph Smith's teaching on salvation through increased knowledge, and his skewed focus on intelligence, rather than God's command to love? Fine. But it's not what Jesus is saying. We can all learn to love perfectly, as Jesus loves us--without the added dimension of becoming gods and goddesses.

Now let us look at the oft-quoted LDS scripture that we are the literal “offspring” of God. The logic Paul is using in acts 17:28 is to get the attention of the Athenians who believed in gods of wood and stone. Paul found an inscription that said: "To the unknown God." They ignorantly worshipped Heavenly Father, and didn't even know it.

"For in him we live, and move, and have our being, as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring." (Acts 17:28.)

Paul introduces this offsprint concept to the Athenians with a model or frame of reference that is different than the way the LDS view this passage. Paul was speaking to people who worshipped idols, trying to help them understand that God is not a statue. Their own poets wrote that we were the offspring of God. Now look very carefully:

"FOR IN HIM WE LIVE, AND MOVE, AND HAVE OUR BEING--as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring."

God is ALIVE! He's not a dead statue. This is all Paul was saying. We are ALIVE because God makes us ALIVE. Human beings are created as living creatures, in the image of God. We are his creation or “offspring”. Paul uses the word offspring, by the way, quoting from the pagan poets.

Look at the next verse:

"Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." (Acts 17:29.)

We are living beings created by God--his offspring or children, created in his image. We are not dead statues and NEITHER IS GOD.

Here Paul is trying to teach these people about the living God, who dwells not in temples made by men’s hands, but dwells in US. (See vs 24-29):

"God that made the world and ALL THINGS therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in TEMPLES MADE WITH HANDS. Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he GIVETH TO ALL LIFE, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in HIM we LIVE, and MOVE, and HAVE our BEING..." (Acts 17:24-29.)

Now read those thoughts. Is Paul talking about us or God? Is he bringing attention to human beings, the created? Or to God Almighty, the Creator? Who is he talking about?

The Mormons miss the WHOLE CONTEXT of the verse and turn and divert the attention of the meaning of Acts 17:24-29 from God and His glory, to who? To us! His children. The Mormons then use the next sentence about the offspring of God to bring attention to human beings, that we are "literal children of God or his offspring" proving the WE CAN BECOME GODS.

This is NOT at ALL what Paul was saying. It didn't even enter his mind. God created us as Temples to live in. “…in him we live, and move and have our being…” We are completely dependent on him for EVERYTHING.

The logic is so clear. We are his offspring or THOSE HE HIMSELF LIVES IN! Look at the context. Since God lives in us, we should not think of him as gold, or silver, or made by MEN'S HANDS. We are his temple. HIS OFFSPRING. A place where HE DWELLS. His creation. He made us without human intervention.

Let's review the thoughts again in light of the context:

• 1. God made the world
  
• 2. He dwells in us (temples), not in houses built by human hands. He built us himself.
  
• 3. He's not worshipped with human hands.
  
• 4. He doesn't need anything from us.
  
• 5. He gives life and breath to all things.
  
• 6. All human beings come from Adam, and God has determine bounds of habitation.
  
• 7. That we might SEEK GOD.
  
• 8. And he's not far from us--in Him we live, move and have our being. We are HIS TEMPLE.
  
• 9. We are the offspring of God, a place where GOD ACTUALLY DWELLS. We are LIVING creatures, created in his spiritual image.
  
• 10. So we should not think of God as dead matter--gold, or stone, graven by men's device and art. He's alive.

Now, look what the LDS interpretation does to mutilate the concepts:

• 7. That we might SEEK GOD.
  
• 8. And he's not far from us--in Him we live, move and have our being. We are HIS TEMPLE.
  
• 9. We are his literal offspring--our spirits came from God's resurrected body. We can grow up to become gods and goddesses.
  
• 10. So we should not think of God as dead matter--gold, or stone, graven by men's device and art.

In context, the entire verse makes perfect sense from the CHRISTIAN view of God. But it all falls apart with the Mormon view. The idea of God living in a temple not made with hands, of his creating everything and not being far from us, doesn't make sense at all:

We are literal children of God, and we have divine potential to become gods. This means God lives in a resurrected body far away in heaven, and we are striving to attain this goal of god hood. Inserted in this passage, the entire concept ruins Paul's argument and turns the gospel of Jesus Christ into a perverted and twisted gospel that moves us away from the True God who dwells in temples not made by human hands.

I hope the LDS mind can see the occult powers that bind them into a false concept of God and his children.

Satan is the one who believes in the doctrine of spiritual genetics and seeks to become God. It is his mind that has brought this false light into Mormonism. It is his mind that has turned Paul's teaching away from God and to the glory of human beings and their "divine potential". Indeed, rather than seeing the teaching that we are all "one blood" from Adam in this verse, OR HUMAN BEINGS, the Mormons change the focus from human beings to being "gods in embryo" using the word offspring out of context. They do the same thing with the priesthood, "No man taketh this honor unto himself but he that was called of God, as was Aaron." This is covered in Chapter 4.

Now, do we believe the Bible as it is written, or do we superimpose false concepts to prove Mormonism is true?

I challenge the LDS audience to please study IN CONTEXT the verse they constantly quote that offspring means that we are literal spirit children of God and have genetic potential within ourselves to become gods and goddesses. If this is true, and if it is what Paul meant, then God is not inside us, but He in Heaven far, far away! This is a BLATANT CONTRADICTION to Paul's thought processes.

And LDS can't argue "the Holy Spirit" lives in us because we are the offspring of God the Father, not the Holy Spirit.

"....For in Him we live, and move, and have our being..." We are his offspring--He lives IN US! "...though he be not far from every one of us..."

God begets God, dogs beget dogs, cats beget cats, birds beget birds. HUMAN BEINGS BEGET HUMAN BEINGS!

This book is intended to prove once and for all that Mormonism has been diverted from Jesus Christ by demonic design. I admit that is a very bold statement. For over a 170 years, many thousands have attempted to break down the fortress of Mormonism and expose its errors. But to the shock and dismay of the non-believer, the kingdom of Joseph Smith continues to grow! The reason for its continuing growth is that God is behind the religion, in spite of the many errors introduced by the Nephilim. Christians have been responding ignorantly under false assumptions established by the mastermind of darkness, and as such, have been manipulated by the dark forces of evil unwittingly.

This book finally exposes the false either/or logic being assumed to be true by Mormons and Anti-Mormons alike. Once the fundamental assumptions are examined and proven illogical, the entire false Mormon priesthood system created by Satan crumbles before the light of day. Most Anti-Mormon books take a very harsh view of Joseph Smith, announcing he had a devilish character, that he was a cheater, a liar, an adulterer, and a down right scoundrel of a man. On the other hand, the LDS position takes the opposite extreme viewpoint. Joseph Smith is painted as being near perfect. He is the supreme model of good behavior that every virtuous man and woman should emulate. His example, his sacrifice and service are promoted as the epitome of righteousness. So immovable was his testimony of Jesus Christ, he died a martyr for the cause of God!

But both Anti-Mormon and Mormon viewpoints are unnatural, unreasonable, unbalanced, and extreme. Let me explain further. As a human being, I’m full of contradictions and confusions. I choose to do good one moment, and slip into sin the next. I’m constantly choosing between conflicts of the flesh and those of the Spirit. It’s a day-to-day struggle to do what is right. I’m working on self-discipline, pride, envy, selfishness, and a host of other vices and temptations that make this earth life challenging, and yet, rewarding at the same time. A living paradox. Anyone who holds me up as a model of perfection I shall consider extremely naive. On the other hand, anyone else who claims I am an evil man intent on deceiving others, I shall also consider them unwise for judging poorly.

I am neither of these extremes. I am simply a human being. I am neither good nor evil, but I am only a man struggling between the powers of God and the powers of the devil. I can not control, change, influence, or make any impact on either God or Satan or my human condition. Neither God nor Satan ever changes. They are independent agencies and have enormous powers for which I have little if any control. I simply choose in the moment who I want to follow--God or Satan.

Being sandwiched between the battle between God and Satan is difficult enough. But then we add the nagging, fallen flesh, our pride, and living with other imperfect human beings, not to mention also the stress of jobs, culture, and society, we find ourselves in a situation of enormous propensity for error.

Knowing this fact, both friend and foe of Mormonism still make a fundamental logical flaw in the debate over whether the LDS faith is true or false. For some odd reason, the debate on both sides refuses to recognize the human element we struggle with daily. Rather than accepting human nature as it is, the Mormon issue almost always centers on the credibility of Joseph Smith, whether he was a good man or evil man. The argument is always extreme and unbalanced on both sides. Joseph Smith either lied about the gold plates and the angels, or he told the truth and was completely honest and never lied.

Joseph Smith was a man and nothing more or less. He was a sinner just like all of us. He lived in a mortal body and wrestled with an ocean of feelings as we all do. At times, we all tell the truth. We play fair. We think good thoughts. We all obey God. But at other times, we all lie. We cheat. We have evil thoughts. Nobody is perfect. We all sin. And outside this continual contradiction and strange human condition, a perfect and Holy God answers our humble prayers and accepts us in love because of his grace. When we sin, he still loves us and provides mercy and grace for our eternal salvation. This unconditional love attracts us to God and Christ, and we strive to change and do better each day because of it.

That, my friends, is the core truth. God loves imperfect people. That is the essential truth to build our debate about Mormonism. It is why I began this first chapter of this book on the issue of pride and being born of God. Anyone who believes in God must surely agree with me, using his or her own experience, that God can work miracles through an imperfect and sinful man, even Joseph Smith. It is a marvelous work and wonder by God—to change human hearts. It’s a miracle.

That Anti-Mormons must agree it is possible that Joseph Smith could have received gold plates and translated them by the power of God, and yet, he also could have been a weak man and lied about many things, perhaps even transgressed on serious moral issues. Anti-Mormons must listen to Mormons and acknowledge that viewpoint as valid. God could have called on a liar to translate the Book of Mormon. He could have done it for the sole purpose of teaching the Christians and everyone else that He is a God of mercy and grace and chooses whoever he wants to do His work.

Joseph Smith was man. Sometimes he did good. Sometimes he did evil. He was a mixture of flesh and Spirit, had human frailties, suffered loss, felt pain and sorrow, and experienced both joy and love. And eventually, Joseph Smith died like all the rest of the human family. He was no better or worse than anyone else. Let us always build our debate on the truth and not false assumptions, and then we can not err. If we hold up Joseph Smith (or anyone else for that matter) as being “very good” or “very evil”, we greatly err in our logic, casting presupposed judgements on another human being. We must not compare the supernatural gifts Joseph experienced against our own small worlds of humdrum human existence.

The critics crying “very evil man” are just as erroneous as the faithful Mormons crying “very good man”. This erroneous logic has kept the debate on Mormonism in a headlock for almost two centuries. And the devil is happy. It keeps the debate very controlled and safely unresolved. Until now. This book exposes the devil’s strategy, thus tearing down the false logic and half-truths of Mormonism. When believers in God see the truth and obey it, the devil will lose his power in the debate, and God’s Spirit will start flowing even more abundantly into the LDS religion.

The either/or paradigm is completely misdirected. It carries the debate of Mormonism into the wrong issues and away from a false priesthood. The true debate of Mormonism ought not to be whether Joseph Smith was “good or evil” or even whether the Book of Mormon is “true or false”, but rather, we should investigate whether the angels he conversed with were from God or not.

Joseph Smith was simply an imperfect, human messenger for angels that he truly believed were from God. Can we not see? The whole premise of one believing Joseph’s story about the angels, assumes that Joseph Smith had a spirit of discernment to know the difference between true and false angels. Mormons assume that Joseph knew the difference between God’s voice and the devil’s voice. If not, no one would even read the Book of Mormon.

By making positive assumptions about Joseph’s gift of discernment puts the advantage of the debate in the devil’s court. As humans, we are quite ignorant of the powers of God and the devil. For example, can the devil materialize objects of solid gold? Do we really know? Mormons assume he can’t, but I’ve learned that he can, and I’ve explained this in detail in a previous chapter. When I switched that assumption, I began challenging many other assumptions I had made about the devil. If we suddenly discovered that the devil can create tangible objects, would our view of Joseph Smith change? Or what about other assumptions? What if false angels can appear as tangible beings? How does that change our view of Joseph? That assumption changed in my mind. I discovered Otto Fetting had “John the Baptist” and one of the “three Nephites” appear to him in tangible form and called him to be an apostle in 1929! A strange Nephite spoke to Mr. Draves, an Apostle of the Church of Christ, for some time just as a man speaks to another human being. Then he disappeared! In addition, I met a woman had personally experienced an encounter with a false spirit who appeared as a tangible being. When she tried to grab her Bible, the false angel held the Bible down with his hand!

My LDS upbringing stood on Joseph Smith. He had taught specific rules about how to detect good angels and false angels. You hold out your hand to the angel. He gives you a temple token. If you feel the token, you know the angel is a resurrect being from God. Right? But what if that key of discernment was a lie from Satan? Can you conceive of the advantage that lie would give Satan in our lack of understanding of true and false angels? My goodness! A messenger from Satan could come and shake our hand with a temple token and we will believe anything he says as from God!

Why isn’t that “discernment key” of shaking hands revealed in the Bible? It’s pretty simple to remember and understand. Out of the hundreds of prophets that lived in the Holy Land, not one ever proclaimed the handshake principle as the key to discerning angels. Why not? That certainly should not be a secret to be hidden from the world! God wants to protect us from Satan, right? If shaking hands were the true key for discerning angels, would not God have recorded it for his children about fifty times in the Bible? Where is even one instruction in the Bible on the matter? There is not one word about it!

This logic alone ought to concern and cause serious contemplation for any Latter-day Saint. God love his children on earth, and the key to discerning false spirits were that simple, why not tell the whole world? Satan would never fool anyone on the earth ever again! Why does some obscure person in America suddenly reveal this great mystery for the very first time in 6000 years?

Now, on the other hand, if the devil can materialize and appear as a tangible being for short periods of time, does this change our view of the handshake keys? My goodness, Satan just opened up the door to deceive all the Latter-day Saints every time he appears! He can tell them whatever he wants, and they will believe him! They will assume he is a resurrected being from God.

The handshake presumes that because the devil “is a spirit” he can not appear in tangible form. But if spirit is “refined matter” as Joseph Smith taught in D&C 131:7 then spirit matter could be transformed into tangible substance, right? Matter is tangible stuff. It’s logically conceivable even with that tiny information about spirit matter that the devil could materialize. As a human being, I have no idea how the spiritual processes work, but I certainly can challenge the basic assumption that Satan or fallen angels can not be felt with the physical body using D&C 131:7.

Now let’s compare Joseph Smith’s discernment logic with Paul’s. He didn’t say anything about handshakes. But what were Paul’s criteria? It was the truth he had taught by the Holy Spirit:

“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you unto the grace of Christ unto another gospel. Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, let him be accursed.” (Gal. 1:6-8.)

This perspective challenges the entire LDS angel test. Paul points right to WORD THAT IS SPOKEN by the angel. Does it agree with what God has already spoken? If a messenger contradicts God’s Word, then we know it’s a lie and from the devil. It is true, that God told Abraham to offer up his son for sacrifice, which contradicted a previous command. But this Word of God to Abraham DID NOT COME BY AN ANGEL. It came by God’s Spirit, which Abraham had already learned to discern through experience.

Now we can use Biblical prophets that have been tested for centuries, or we can trust a young man, Joseph Smith, as having the proper mind of discernment. We can observe the 1826 trial and the Jupiter Talisman in the archives of the LDS Church. Is Joseph Smith a Moses or a Saul? Is he a Peter or Solomon? A Paul or a Samson? And thus, by examining the evidence we can confess the Joseph Smith was called by God into the ministry, but he certainly doesn’t pass for a man of great spiritual discernment. He was a Saul, Solomon, or Samson. He certainly was not an Abraham, for he believed he could compel plural marriage on his wife, Emma.

If an angel tells us “a mystery” that really isn’t supported clearly in the Bible or by what Paul taught, then we scrap the mystery or be very careful and cautious about the information. We watch where it leads us. If it leads to God and truth, then it’s from God. But if it leads to extreme behavior or bizarre conclusions, then guess whom it came from? Common sense stuff! But did Joseph Smith use his head? Men become gods? Spiritual evolution? See the picture?

Come on. Can we not see? Joseph Smith ignored Paul’s principle of using common sense and the Truth to discern false angels. He believed in a physical handshake instead, and all the LDS believers nod their heads in agreement. So what if I come and tell you some strange and wild thing that an angel tells me, and he really did shake my hand with a temple token? I felt it, so we both know it was from God, right? Will you believe me? What is YOUR CRITERIA to judge? You didn’t shake his hand? What do YOU have to trust? Nothing! Only my word. So then my word contradicts the Bible, and we get in an argument because “I know” and “you don’t”. This is the essence behind the confidence and assurance of Joseph Smith. He started with the premise that “he knew” based on physical evidence of angels that had taught him handshakes and keys, mixed with occult temple rituals, that made him invincible in his own mind. In the mysteries of God, he had something no one else understood or knew—the temple secrets passed on by the gods. He also had the Book of Mormon that testified of Jesus Christ as tangible evidence of his claim. And finally, he had a testimony process that would lock believers into “knowing” his message was true. God will whispers truths out of the Book of Mormon and confirms it by the Holy Spirit of Truth. It is Iron Clad logic, and it gave Joseph Smith great confidence. He knew what others did not understand, and he had the “proof” in his mind that he was right and everyone else was wrong. And with this knowledge, his confidence and assurance was more powerful than many of the Christian ministers of the day. But what was the foundation of this confidence? It was the physical touch of an angel’s hand on his head, giving him God’s priesthood authority. It was the handshake of angels.

But again, lets observe what happens the model. The tangible evidence rests with Joseph Smith and the three witnesses that saw the angel and the eight witnesses that saw the plates. See what happens? The evidence of the “true church” is with someone else. The remaining believers are left with a false testimony process, relying on the evidence of the Book of Mormon!

If an angel’s message is in complete harmony with the Bible, and the Holy Spirit gives us truth and light to discern the messenger is from God, then we can accept the message as true. I can apply the same principle to either human beings or supernatural beings. It doesn’t matter. That makes good sense and immediately protects anyone from false information. All we have to do is read the Bible. It is so simple.

In the Bible angels generally come as an aid and comfort to individuals, to strengthen us in times of need. They don’t come often to give doctrine. The Word of the Lord in most cases comes by the Holy Spirit directly or through visions or dreams, and not through angels. This is an important pattern to see conflicts with Mormonism. King Benjamin’s address in the Book of Mormon came from an angel. So also did other Prophets in the Book of Mormon. The false pattern of angelic salvation is described in the Book of Mormon: “…neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men. And the office of their ministry is to call men unto repentance…to prepare the way among the children of men, by declaring the word of Christ unto the chosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him. And by so doing, the Lord God prepareth the way that the residue of men may have faith in Christ, that the Holy Spirit may have place in their hearts, according to the power thereof; and after this manner bringeth to pass the Father, the covenants which he hath made unto the children of men.” (Moroni 7:30-32.)

This view of angels is completely LDS. It fits Joseph Smith and the restoration. But it is false, and it is an example of false light put in the Book of Mormon. It is not Biblical. If it were, in the Bible we would also see angels delivering messages like they did to King Benjamin, and then giving the doctrine to the people.

Do we not see how dangerous the concept really his. Why would God send an angel to give a discourse to a human being about Jesus? That revelation process leaves room for error. The angel may be counterfeit, and how are we to discern the truth? God teaches men and women what the truth through His Word, the Bible, visions, dreams, or by His own still, small voice. This pattern is repeated over and over in the Bible. On occasion, such as the Book of Revelation, angels teach the Word of God, but it is the exception, not the rule as the Book of Mormon teaches.

Latter-day Saints from the beginning have been mesmerized by salvation through angels. That is the doctrine. The devil is a fallen angel, and he wants us to trust in angels more than God. Of course this would be the doctrine of Lucifer, the “light bearer”. It gives him a clear opportunity to appear and speak as a false angel of light, bringing mysterious and brand new concepts to the people to bind them into half-truths and false priesthoods.

What if Joseph Smith was deceived by counterfeit spiritual experiences? How is a person to detect the real from the false? That is the primary loophole of Mormon logic. We are not talking about truth or the Bible. We are talking about people making deep assumptions and then believing them to be true, when they may or may not be. If Joseph made an honest mistake, then it happened in the head of Joseph Smith. He was a man, and it is possible. He could have been sincerely wrong. We have all had experience of making false assumptions and being wrong. No one can debate this fact. We must all agree we are prone to making mistakes.

What if Satan can materialize? What if he can produce counterfeit plates of tangible gold? The Bible says Pharaoh’s magicians created live snakes from staffs. That sounds like a lot of power in the physical realm! In Job’s case, the devil influenced the weather, caused his house to fall and kill his family at a specific time. The devil caused boils to appear all over Job’s body. In the book of Job we see the kind of power God permitted Satan to use. But notice that assumption. The Bible says God permitted Satan to use his power against Job? Well, what if Satan has 1000 times more power than any miracle we have ever seen on earth so far, but it hasn’t happened, simply because God has not let Satan use his power to the fullest? In other words, as Satan’s power increases and God’s protection on earth decreases, how far can Satan go to deceive the world through the use of power—using both “white magic” and “black magic”? Apparently, just from the book of Job, his power is much greater than any of us could possibly imagine. And Genesis 6:1-5 gives us some indication with the fallen Nephilim angels what can happen. They appeared on our planet and mated with the human race, breading angel/men. If we separate God from His body, suddenly very interesting possibilities occur. Any celestial being, even resurrected, could fall prey to believing God is a “liar” sitting on a throne enjoying his praise and power because he has deceived everyone into thinking He knows the future. Any celestial being could suddenly believe that concept, doubt, and call God a liar. And if so, the Holy Spirit of God would withdraw from inside that temple, and the fallen angel would be left without God’s spirit in a resurrected body of light and power, be expelled from Heaven to the regions of fallen beings. These fallen beings, then, would seek to understand the physical realms and reproduction systems of the body. Thus, their plan would be to manipulate others to expose the lie of the “great God”, our Eternal Father, and to overpower his throne. God is viewed as “one of us”. Therefore, fallen beings can lie, cheat, and deceive, and do whatever it takes to expose the “greatest liar” in the Universe, even God. And if they do, then God will finally be exposed as the liar that he supposedly is, and the rules of the Universe could be changed to new ones. Physical matter and creation processes could be set up on other worlds to implement the principle of reincarnation, and everyone would progress toward Godhood and be saved through Time. Therefore, lying, cheating, stealing, and killing is all justified for the end goal, for it is believed that God really is not God at all, but a being just like everyone else, a manipulating deceiver—a Tyrant who wants everyone to worship Him as God. In the days of Noah, fallen angels or the “Sons of God” were successful in mating with human beings, becoming spiritual giants, or the Nephilim. At that point, physical life on earth had to be destroyed by water.

How does this change our assumption about Satan and fallen angels? Jesus said in the last days false Christ would appear and deceive us with miracles and great power. I doubt we have even seen the tip of the iceberg. The Book of Revelation is full of devastating powers that will sweep the earth. Do we not see that the devil’s plan is to draw us away from the Word of God and to drag us into an unseen spiritual territory known only by God and Satan? It is very shaky ground for human beings. It gives Satan an incredible advantage over us. Human beings truly know so little about God and Satan! And the LDS people have walked into Satan’s power by believing many things that are not Biblical. They are “wonderful mysteries” that God has revealed through Joseph Smith.

Now, which side do we want to be on? Do we want to believe in the Word of God and be saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. Or do we want to disbelieve the Bible and call God a liar? It is our choice. Many Christians do not understand the significance of the cross. Jesus suffered the agony, pain, and emotional turmoil for all, making salvation possible for us, for He conquered death. Thus we are free in Him and his blood. One drop of his blood is more powerful than all the demons in hell. The devil has already been defeated. The Father has more power than Satan. Jesus was resurrected. He overcame the devil and his lies, and in the end, the power of God will crush Satan, and as the Book of Revelation reveals:

“And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are, and shall be tormented day an night for ever and ever.” (Rev 20:9-10.)

Most people do not understand the psychology of the devil. He has hope and power right now, and he glories in his view that he will win. He owns the world, and is pretty smug in his power. He believes he has the truth, not God. It is what keeps him going and hopeful. He truly believes God is lying, and that he will prove it to everyone. He will be a hero. He will save everyone by exposing God’s fraud.

But God has set a certain time that the end will come. And Satan knows that is the final showdown. Either God is lying or telling the truth. As he gets closer to that time, Satan, like an Olympic champion sprinting the last part of the race, will increase his efforts and powers to dethrone God and expose the supposed lie. He has great hope in his successes, believing in his twisted truths and spiritual powers.

But in the end, according to the Word of God, Satan will be defeated, and then he will know that God was telling the truth. At last day, the devil will lose all hope and will be forced to see that he lost. He will suffer forever in the hell he has created for himself, according the Word of God. He will never turn to the truth, for he’s void of God’s Holy Spirit. Thus, he will likely turn on himself, and think: “If only I had done this or that, I could have won!” He will never admit to his lie and confess that Jesus is God and that he is only an angel, created to be God’s temple. The light that he shines in the eyes of Mormons is great darkness—the truth mixed with error.

At the last day, God will vindicate that He is 100% truthful and that Satan is a liar. Therefore, we all must cultivate the proper spirit of discernment about truth and error. God’s voice and Satan’s voice is delineated by truth and lies, and all truth is logical and rational. And thus, the intellectual faculties of the mind, and logic, are the foundation of our faith, and not our feelings. And in the end, the mind and logic will takes us back to God’s Word. Do believe that God tells the truth or that he lies? That is the saving principle. God is the Spirit of Truth.

And which side do I personally take? I look at the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the creations of God, including my own body, and I believe that God has more power than Satan, which was demonstrated by Moses. I wish not to be cast into a hell I’ve created by delusional thinking that does not conform to the Bible. I suggest we believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and not the false gods Satan presents to us.

I believe God tells the truth and can not lie.