This book is one of logic and reason. Thank God He gave us our own minds to think and reason in order to compare our beliefs against facts and commons sense. If not so, our emotions would consume our nature. Our lives would be constantly swimming in volatile feelings, churning with impulses, and behaving like children without parents. Emotions are like the ocean, ever fluid and changing. If we are not careful, we can fall into our emotions and drown ourselves in either negative or positive feelings. God created human being with feelings, but He also gave us a mind to control those feelings and impulses. The mind is like a rock, a concrete floor we can stand on. It offers stability and control. It welcomes truth.

It is the rock of reason and logic that finally disconnected my mind from the LDS faith, in spite of my feelings. For when I was confronted with personal “false revelation” and a “burning in the bosom” that I knew could not be true, I had to face the stark reality that something was not right. Likewise, all believers in Joseph Smith are faced with unusual situations and facts that must be explained away to remain a believer in Mormonism. For example, when faced with contradictions of the false prophesies of Joseph Smith, a member is faced with unarguable facts—the sure evidence that something prophesied did not happen. Reason and logic demand a truthful answer! The LDS church did NOT establish Zion or the city of the New Jerusalem in Jackson County Missouri. That fact alone must cause one to consider and ponder the God of the LDS faith in the following revelation:

“A revelation of Jesus Christ unto his servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and six elders, as they united their hearts and lifted their voices on high. Yea, the word of the Lord concerning his church, established in the last days for the restoration of his people, as he has spoken by the mouth of his prophets, and for the gathering of his saints to stand upon Mount Zion, which shall be the city of New Jerusalem. Which city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger of the Lord, in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph Smith, Jun., and others with whom the Lord was well pleased. Verily this is the word of the Lord, that the city New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the saints, beginning at this place, even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation. For verily this generation shall not all pass away until an house shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud rest upon it, which cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord, which shall fill the house...for the sons of Moses and also the sons of Aaron shall offer an acceptable offering and sacrifice in the house of the Lord, which house shall be built unto the Lord in this generation, upon the consecrated spot as I have appointed.” (D&C 84:1-5,31)

This is just one of a multitude of illogical statements that came from the mouth and pen of Joseph Smith that are believed to be true, and yet, undisputed facts contradict them. The promised temple in Jackson County was not established and the city of the New Jerusalem was not built in this generation. This truth forces the LDS mind to do very interesting things to continue in its belief system. For those not acquainted with the revelatory process of the LDS faith, the above revelation from Joseph Smith would appear as undeniable evidence that Joseph Smith was a false prophet. But not to a true believer of the LDS faith. A faithful member who has prayed about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, having an unshakeable testimony of the latter-day work, will not flinch at such a mysterious revelation. No! This scripture will not cast any doubt on his or her testimony. Not a bit!

For both member and nonmember, understanding the dynamics of the mind is critical for explaining why a Latter-day Saint will resist believing the most obvious facts that contradicts his belief system, and still, not budge from being steadfast in the LDS faith. Indeed, it is this tenacious LDS belief system that so much confuses Christians and others who gaze in amazement at the beliefs of Mormons. They can see and smell all the signs of cultic teaching and mind control techniques in the LDS faith, but their LDS friends do not see any error. Instead, their LDS friends appear to be content and happy. To make matters even more confusing, with unbelievable energy and zeal Mormons produce highly creative output in business, art, and science using high ethical values. Stalwart believers rise to the tops of their professions. With amazing power and confidence in achievements and success, highly self-reliant members of the Church look upon those who call the Mormon religion a cult as almost blind fools!

“Why can’t Christians and others in the world see the beauty and magnificence of the plan of God?” the Latter-day Saints wonder. “Unbelievable! It’s so clear! So simple! If only the Holy Ghost could open their eyes! Can’t they see? Jesus said, ‘By their fruits ye shall know them’. Look at our welfare system, Church programs, our helping the poor and needy, our commitment to family values and our country, the missionary system, the Church educational system, the beautiful temples, and finally, the personal sacrifice of millions of members who receive no money for their services. The Anti-Mormon claims are not substantiated, and they attack Joseph Smith’s character falsely. He was an imperfect human being. He never claimed to be anything more than a man. Why throw mud at us? What lies! And the doctrine Joseph Smith taught? He finally explained where we came from, why we are here, and were we are going! We now have a beautiful blueprint for daily living, a spiritual paradigm that puts our earth life into an eternal perspective. The philosophy brings stability, confidence, and well-being. Other Christians can’t properly answer the purpose of life. But we can! What blind fools. We finally understand who God really is better than anyone else. It is so simple. God commands us to become like Him, which literally means to hope for the blessing of becoming a god or goddess. It is so obvious. We just need to have faith in Christ and obey. We need to follow Christ’s righteous example! We progress eternally until we reach perfection. His Atonement provides us the opportunity for choice. We are saved by grace after all we can do. If it were not for Jesus, we would all be doomed to suffer for our own sins. Thank God Jesus was sent to save us. He has set us free from the devil to make correct choices. His atonement and grace provides us the opportunity for salvation. All mankind will be resurrected and live again. It’s God’s free gift no matter what we do or believe. But our free agency determines our final destiny and reward in Heaven. If we obey God and His Eternal Priesthood given to Joseph Smith, He will save us in the Highest Heaven. That’s how Heavenly Father became God Himself! He learned perfect obedience to eternal law by eternal progression. The LDS doctrine of faith and obedience is so logical and clear. We know it is true! Joseph Smith was a prophet! Is the rest of the world blind as bats?”

After getting an ear full of strange doctrines, the non-Mormon then listens to Latter-day Saints “bear their testimonies” with fervent emotion and sincerity. They discover the Latter-day Saints actually claim to know the LDS Church is the only true Church on earth. “What?” the non-Mormon wonders, eyes popping out. “You know the Mormon religion is right and all other religions are wrong? You can’t know that is true. Something is not right!” The non-Mormons do try to listen and understand the different Mormon beliefs, but the paradigm shift is so extreme, it becomes shocking and emotionally disturbing to some Christians.

“What kind of worship is this?” the Christians gasp. “God simply wants a relationship with us spiritually. That’s our purpose for being created. We are His temple formed in his spiritual image. He wants to fellowship with us through the Holy Spirit. He wants to be praised and worshipped. He’s interested in pure hearts. He’s interested in the truth. Obedience to family values, hard work, and success in the world is secondary to seeking God’s spiritual Kingdom. Why do the Mormons miss the most important principles of the gospel? True Christians look forward to living in Heaven because of God’s promises recorded in His Word, the Bible. We rejoice that the victory of the cross is complete and already accomplished. Jesus Himself said at the moment of death: ‘It is finished’. As soon as we receive Jesus in our hearts and believe, we are eternal winners immediately. It doesn’t mean our suffering or pain goes away. We all have problems. But we do have a hope for salvation the very moment we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our life, in spite of our sins. How can the Mormons believe we are going to become gods and goddesses? That is so lame. That infers we deserve some of the credit and glory that belongs only to God. We don’t deserve anything but death because of our sins. God deserves all glory, honor, power, and dominion for creating us and then saving us also from our sins. That is good news! To even think we deserve an equal station in Heaven as a god or goddess is what Satan desired, and we know what happened to him. The Bible clearly says there is only one God, not many gods. Mormons are absolutely nuts. God says He is eternal. Are the Mormons calling God a liar? Do we just throw out the Bible and believe Joseph Smith instead? Something is not right. If God is not an eternal being, or if there are more gods than one, He surely would tell us in the Bible, right? No one is perfect. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That’s why Christ saves us by God’s grace. Our obedience does not cause our salvation. Jesus alone saves us, if we believe His Word. Eternal life is a FREE GIFT from God. He loved us first, so we love Him back. Our own righteousness is like filthy rags. Good works and obedience flow naturally from a believing heart. God changes us into new creatures that do good works out of love. God deserves all glory for the good works that are done on earth! We love to praise Him for it.”

The Mormonism/Christianity debate is a most interesting and illogical conflict of two religious viewpoints. Both sides claim to believe in Jesus of Nazareth, but both adamantly disagree with each other! There was only one Jesus of Nazareth. He has only one mind. He is not divided.

The conflict is almost amusing. We could laugh and entertain ourselves by the absurd differences if our eternal life was not entangled in the middle of the controversy. It’s not a laughing matter. These issues are most serious. Assuming that Jesus Christ is Almighty God as He claimed He is, one thing is certain: whoever is wrong about Jesus of Nazareth must also accept the eternal consequences of their false beliefs and wrong choices.

The LDS debate is like watching two six-year-olds fight over who has the “best dad”. Both are right, and yet both are wrong. They are right because they each love their father dearly. But they are both wrong because a “best dad” does not exist. They are arguing over an unimportant issue that is not true.

Mormonism’s debate is about which religion is right and which is wrong. The debate begins with the Mormons claiming they belong to the “only true church”, causing all others churches to put up their fists and fight back. Each side argues out of love for their religion, but neither side appreciates that the subject of debate is unimportant and not valid. The debate between Mormons and Christians is like one arguing, “Your mom wears army boots!” And the other turns and saying, “Oh, yea, your mom looks like a monkey!”

The same principle could be applied to Catholics, Jehovah Witnesses, Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists, Mormons, or any other church who believes it is the “true” or “best” church. God gives us all a “father religion” to teach us who God is, and that He loves us. Each person has emotional connections to their first religion or “father-system”. It can not be changed. Are we going to grow up and respect the spiritual fathers of our youth, or are we going to argue over who’s got the “best” or “true” father? Are we going to be spiritual six-year olds who are blinded by there own emotional love? Or, are we ever going to mature and see that each person is different and God is controlling all things. God chooses to give each person his own spiritual father, or church, according to His will and not ours. Do we really have a choice in our religious upbringing? Did we choose our first religion or does God? Who controlled our birth into mortality? If God does, and if He determines the decreed religion of our youth, who are we to judge whether a religion is right or wrong for anyone? I submit that if we could only see that we are immature children fighting in a false paradigm, then we could see the truth of the matter, and all of us would mature in the spirit and stop debating over whose “dad is best”.

No religion is perfect, but each religion is growing to be a more responsible spiritual father. Do we demand perfection and absolute truth coming from our father-system? Or are we going to see and respect the drunk as well as the self-controlled father? Are we going to accept all religions as God ordained and have a purpose? Can we not see that we all love our religion of birth and that is expected? If we had an earthly parent that was well-disciplined and full of truth, are we going to judge and condemn our friends who were raised by a drunk father? Do we take the drunk and put him jail? Maybe. And if we do, what happens to the children? They suffer, right? Do we not understand that no matter how abusive a parent may be, a six year old is going to love his father and punch out anyone who cuts him down?

So when we start attacking a religion, we need to see how sensitive and how deep our religious love can be. We need to be wise in these matters and not flippantly judge another’s religion. But, Oh! Mormonism and Joseph Smith! What shall we do? He loved his religion deeply, and he certainly told the whole world that his dad was better that all the others! When will the Mormons grow up? Are they going to follow the example of a fourteen-year-old boy that got lost in a false paradigm about religion and never grew up? Are the Christians going to react to Joseph Smith’s childish perspective and put up their fists in reaction to his claims, calling him a liar and deceiver? Or will the Christians grow up in Christ and come to an understanding of where Joseph Smith was truly coming from?

I believe all love is based on understanding. We can’t love somebody that we don’t understand. That applies to both Christians and Mormons. I learned this truth many years ago, and in my studies of Mormonism, I’ve sought to understand the truth from the Lord. And when we truly understand “what is”, we can then truly love others in that truth by seeing their unique viewpoint.

This book clarifies the dynamics that are taking place in the LDS debate from both sides of the fence, making it clearer what assumptions are driving the conflict. To the Mormon who has been struggling with his or her testimony to find the true Jesus of Nazareth, this book will free that person from the chains of darkness that lie beneath the truths contained in Mormonism. To the Christians, they will gain greater empathy, love, and appreciation for the LDS people, who are truly striving with all of their hearts to do what is right. Contrary to the belief of many Christians who condemn the Prophet Joseph Smith, I believe he did conversed with Jesus alone according to the 1832 version of the First Vision, and Joseph Smith brought much light and truth to the world, although it is mixed with much error.

On the other hand, contrary to what faithful members of the Church believe, Joseph Smith was not a 100% true prophet of the Lord. Although Jesus did appear to him in 1820, false angels and counterfeit light deceived him into believing lies. For example, believing he was justified in promoting the holy priesthood delivered by false angels, Joseph Smith lied frequently in public about plural marriage to protect the weak members. He also altered the First Vision story, fabricating events to promote the false theology and definition of God that had been revealed to him by false manifestations a decade later. Many prophecies that Joseph Smith proclaimed in the name of the Lord were false and did NOT happen. I have quoted section 84 above regarding the city of the New Jerusalem, which is just one example of many other mysterious revelations that never happened. Many of his false prophecies were not formerly published. His blessing his son, Joseph Smith III, to become the next prophet was believed to be true by Brigham Young for decades. While in Utah Brigham Young taught that Joseph Smith III held the priesthood keys and rights to lead the Church, and he patiently waited for the time that the Lord would vindicate Joseph’s prophesy. But it never happened. Joseph Smith III hated the idea of plural marriage and never came close to leading Brigham Young’s Utah-based faction of the LDS faith.

However, this book is not about digging up historical facts and tangible evidence to prove Mormonism is true or false. Plenty of books have been written for that purpose. Rather, this book is about reason and logic. Those who consider what I’ve written will be forced to agree by irrefutable logic that the LDS theology is not logical, and therefore, the Church can not be what it claims to be. This book will prove this hypothesis is true beyond any doubt in the reader’s mind. In the final analysis of Mormonism, it is the theology of Joseph Smith that will prove he is either a true or false prophet. Far too much time is wasted on debating historical facts, endless Biblical passages, and the character weaknesses of prophet-leaders and their opponents. The true debate is not about Joseph’s contradicting lies or his apparent, brute honesty. It’s not about the changing historical records or the many different versions of the First Vision. It’s not about the Bible or modern prophets. It’s not about lying apostates. All of these arguments attack the leaves on the Mormon tree, but they seldom address the illogical roots of Mormonism theology. What is needed is a clear definition of the underlying logic and assumptions in LDS theology in which both sides of the debate can agree. If I’ve done my job correctly, then all men and women can clearly see what is really believed, with fewer disagreements between both sides. Then people can choose for themselves whether they want to belong to a Church that believes in such an illogical and false theology or not, depending on God’s will for them. And indeed, I will show that a person may be commanded by the Lord to stay in the LDS Church, in spite of the false theology. Each person has a unique eternal path designed by the will of God independent of truth and error. Such is the intent of this book.