Is Mormonism a Cult?

A very prominent Southern Baptist pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.

! You know, the church where the great W.A. Criswell was pastor for 50 years or near it. A great church for him, George W. Truitt, also a tremendous Baptist preacher.

And so, the statement that he made concerning Mormons. And so, here's the question I have for you, and I'm going to show you something, if it works.

And I kind of popped it on the guys a little bit late here. So, if it doesn't work, it's my fault. All right. Anyway, here's the question. Are former governors and presidential hopefuls, Mitt Romney and John Huntsman, members of a cult?

That's the question. So, or if I could reduce it down to a four-word question, is Mormonism a cult? Now, that is what Dr. Robert Jeffress, again, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.

That's what he said a couple of weeks ago, or a week and so ago. I'm not sure exactly when all this took place. Firestorm, of course, in the media has been going on for the last week or so.

That is what he said. And so, I want you to see a video that concerns his response. Welcome back to Fox and Friends.

And Pastor Robert Jeffress has stirred up a lot of controversy for likening Mitt Romney's Mormon religion to a cult. He told a reporter, quote, Rick Perry's a Christian.

He's an evangelical Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. Mitt Romney's a good moral person, but he's not a Christian. Mormonism is not Christianity. It's always been considered a cult by the mainstream of Christianity.

And that pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, is with us now. Pastor, thank you for being on the show this morning. So, real quickly, do you stand by that statement? And in what way is Mormonism a cult?

What do you mean? Well, first of all, when I introduced Governor Perry, I did not use the words Mormonism, cult, or even Mitt Romney. It came afterwards in an interview when a reporter asked me personally would I vote for a Mormon.

And I do believe Mormons are good moral people, but they've never been considered a part of mainstream Christianity. When I'm talking about a cult, I'm not talking about a sociological cult, but a theological cult.

Mormonism was invented 1,800 years after Jesus Christ and the founding of Christianity. It has its own founder, Joseph Smith, its own set of doctrines, and even its own book, the Book of Mormon, in addition to the Bible.

That, by definition, is a theological cult. Well, when you use the word cult, Pastor, the word cult, it stirs up negative feelings. For a lot of people, it's a negative word. That's right.

But, again, I'm not talking sociologically. I'm talking theologically. And, by the way, I'm a part of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the world. And the Southern Baptist Convention has labeled Mormonism as a cult.

So, as much as Bill Bennett and others would like to make me out to be the Jeremiah of the right, I'm not. I've even said that I would vote for Mitt Romney if the choice was Mitt Romney or Barack Obama.

But I believe, guys, when we, as evangelical Christians, have the choice to select a leader to unseat Barack Obama, we ought to give preference to a Christian instead of someone who doesn't embrace historical Christianity.

Well, by that account, then, Barack Obama is a Christian. And then if you're saying that if he were running against Mitt Romney, he wouldn't be a Christian if he's a Mormon, right? That's right.

That's right. And the reason I would probably select Mitt Romney over Barack Obama is I do think being an evangelical Christian is important, but it's not the only criteria by which we select a leader.

I personally would rather have a non-Christian like Mitt Romney who at least embraces some biblical principles than a professing Christian like Barack Obama who embraces unbiblical principles.

There are those who believe your statements hurt Rick Perry because this thrusts religion back into the spotlight again. Of course, the discussion had been over the economy. Let me play for you what Bill Bennett, as you brought up, did say about this and called it bigotry.

Take a listen. I would say to Pastor Jeffress, you stepped on and obscured the words of Perry and Santorum and Kane and Bachman and everyone else who has spoken here.

You did Rick Perry no good, sir, in what you had to say. Do not give voice to bigotry. Do not give voice to bigotry. Your response?

If it's bigotry to say we should prefer evangelical Christians to non-Christians, then John Jay, who was the first chief justice of the Supreme Court, was a bigot because he said we have as our duty to prefer and select Christians as our leaders.

You know, I want to be listening. Your friend yesterday, Governor Mike Huckabee, who was on the show, and you guys are friends and spoke highly of you, said, though, that he doesn't think that a person's faith should be on a person's mind when they go into the ballot box to make a decision, that a person's conviction should.

What drives that person should be something that's a matter of fact for them when they go in to vote for someone, but not their faith. What do you say to that? Well, I love Mike. He is a wonderful friend.

He wrote the foreword to my new book. But I would say religion is very much a part of the discussion because our religion defines who we are. It's the very essence of who we are.

And to say you can compartmentalize your faith from your behavior, I think is really ridiculous. I do believe, guys, religion is going to be a part of the discussion in 2012. Well, we ought to be able to talk about it in a sane, rational way.

And I believe this will be a continuing discussion. Are you worried that you have maybe hurt Rick Perry's campaign? And if you had to do it again, would you not use that word cult? Well, again, I want to remind the viewers, I never used that word cult in my introduction of Rick Perry.

Rick Perry expressed his excitement about the introduction after I finished speaking. This is all that happened afterwards. And I want to remind people I'm a pastor first.

And when asked as a pastor about what I consider to be false religions, I have to tell the truth as a pastor, regardless of how unpopular it might be. I want to get your comments on what Governor Rick Perry has said, or his spokesman had come out and said, Robert Black said, the governor does not believe Mormonism is a cult.

He's not in the business of judging people. That's God's job. Now, you know Rick Perry very well, or in the day of prayer together. Do you believe that statement? Is that playing politics?

Or do you believe that Governor Perry does think Mormonism is a cult? What's your sense? I have never discussed this issue of Mormonism with Governor Perry. I have no idea what he believes.

And really, it doesn't matter to me in that regard. I respect the governor. And I believe, guys, there are reasons to prefer Rick Perry that go way beyond his Christian faith.

Which you are in the way. He is a consistent conservative versus a conservative out of convenience like Mitt Romney. Pastor, thank you for being with us on a Sunday morning. Thank you for having me.

Now, head into church. You never thought you'd see Fox News in the service here at our church. But I wanted you to see that interview in case you didn't.

And maybe some of you did. And just kind of consider some of the things that Jeffers said in response and so forth. Now, the question is, is he right about that?

And I know that I'm among a friendly crowd here. There might be someone who would disagree with him. But I want you to think about that for just a moment. Is he right?

That Mormonism is a cult. Now, of course, he said he didn't say that. Used the word cult in his introduction of Governor Perry.

But he did in the interview afterward. And he was quoted that way. And so if he's right, then is Mormonism a cult? I want you to think about that question for just a moment.

And then I would propose to you that that's the wrong question. It's the wrong question. The real question is, is Mormonism Christian?

Would you think about the difference in that? Now, the ultimate understanding and definition of Mormonism doesn't change no matter how you answer those questions.

And you might want to, you know, take the stance and arguing point from the point of cult.

And what is a cult? And believe me, in our culture today, you're going to run into a tremendous obstacle. Rather, the question is, is Mormonism Christian?

Because that really is underneath the controversy. Not whether it's a cult or not. But whether it's really Christian.

Because today and for a number of years, Mormons have desired very much to be considered as mainline Christian.

Or at the very least, just another brand. A little offshoot of true Christianity. Actually, if you talked with a real live Mormon that was well versed in his or her beliefs and Mormonism, they would say to you that they are true Christianity.

And that we're the cult. But again, consider that question. Is Mormonism just another brand of Christianity?

That's what we need to answer. I think probably everybody in here can go ahead and answer that. But, you know, let's just admit that, you know, Mormons have Jesus Christ in their name.

Their full name. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We call them Mormons. And they, by the way, came up with that name themselves.

Or sometimes we refer to them as the LDS, quote, church. But they are the full name, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

They are, or at least they claim to be, followers of Jesus Christ. Doesn't that make them Christian? They pray, just like we do.

They go to church, very faithful to their church. Quote, church. They tithe.

Matter of fact, it's part of the requirement for Mormonism. You must tithe a tenth of your income. It's not optional with Mormons. That might be something that would be good for us to incorporate in the Baptist church.

Yeah, we have a business meeting. We can just vote on that tonight, okay? They do all these things. They witness for their Jesus. Quote, Jesus.

And who's to say that their Jesus is different than ours? And so they, you know, they witness. They're very faithful in that sense. They believe in rock-solid family values.

Right? They do. They're certainly known for that. They are generally good and moral people. More so than some, quote, Christians that I know and have met over the years.

But again, here's the question. In the biblical, and I'll expand the question because this qualifies it. In the biblical sense, and I would even say in the historical sense, biblical first, but historical sense, is Mormonism Christian?

All right, let's just consider the facts. Some of these facts you may know. Some of them you may not. And I think some of these will shock you if you don't know anything about Mormonism.

And so really what I'm going to do is just lay these out here for you and you decide for yourself. Mormonism, just another brand of Christianity?

Or maybe you want to say, you know, go all the way and say, is Mormonism a cult? And you just decide based upon these facts. Let me give you a little history to begin with about the Mormon church.

And Brother Jeffress mentioned that, you know, compared to Christianity, the founding of Christianity, Mormonism is a very recent thing. Just within the last couple hundred years.

And so here's some history. Joseph Smith, Jr., by the way, was born in 1805. That's a long time ago in Vermont. His family moved eventually to New York.

And just as a little boy, his family joined the Presbyterian church. But it seems that Joseph Smith was confused about some things.

This is kind of how the story is told from Mormon history. He was confused. And in that time period, a lot of churches were, especially in that part of our country, were experiencing tremendous revival.

And spiritual awakening. And so Smith was confused as to just which church he should join. Methodist?

Presbyterian? As a matter of fact, several years ago I saw a video, one put out by the Mormons, one that's used within the Mormon church, that kind of portrayed this event that I'm going to describe for you here in just a minute.

And it shows Joseph Smith going to different churches. And the video shows those preachers preaching. And without exception, they were all fire and brimstone kind of preachers.

And here's the poor little Joseph Smith, all confused about what church he should join. And so because he was confused, according to the history, by the way, that's recorded in the Pearl of Great Price, which is one of four of books that Mormons believe are authoritative.

Of course, the Book of Mormon being the first one. Well, the Bible, they say, first, and then the Book of Mormon. But the Pearl of Great Price, and according to the Pearl of Great Price, he was 14 years old, and he went out into the woods to seek God's guidance.

And he began to pray. And suddenly a light, a beam of light, was shining down over his head.

And right before him appeared two persons. Actually, I would mention to you that a number of versions of this story you can find in Mormon records and history.

And there are about three or four different versions. So it's a little difficult to find out the truth about this. Of course, I don't think any of this is necessarily true. But he saw these two persons.

And the two persons appeared there in the light. And one of them said, as to the other one, said, This is my beloved son. Hear him.

All right, so Joseph Smith's out there. And he's looking for guidance from God. And he sees these two guys. And one of them says, Hear him. Hear him. And so Joseph Smith asks this person which of the churches he should join.

And he was told not to join any of them. That none of them are right. And as a matter of fact, quote, Their creeds, that is what all these churches believe, Their creeds are an abomination.

Three years later, after this proposed event out there in the woods, While Joseph Smith was in his prayer room, An angel, the angel Moroni, Appeared to him there in his prayer room And told him about some gold plates.

And even described where they were. But he didn't take him to the gold plates yet. And the angel claimed that these gold plates contained the, quote, Fullness of the gospel as revealed by Jesus Christ.

But it was revealed, the angel said, He revealed the truth to earlier inhabitants of North America. And so part of Mormon belief is that Jesus Christ also came to our continent at some time.

And so the angel revealed this to Joseph Smith And also told him that with these two, with these plates, He would also find some seer stones Called the Uriman Thummim.

And some writings, Mormon writings, have described these as special glasses. Some just as certain kind of stones. But these, this Uriman Thummim, Were to help him translate the plates into English.

So the next night, the angel appeared And this time led Joseph Smith to where the plates were hidden, buried, And showed them, but still didn't do anything with them at that point.

It was not until four years after that, That the angel allowed Smith to take the plates, Actually take them into his possession, And then began to translate them, Again, by the aid of the Uriman Thummim.

And he did this with the help of some friends that he had. And they translated the plates. And that was completed by 1829.

Unfortunately, after the translation, Joseph Smith gave the plates back to the angel Moroni, And so we do not have the plates anymore. So that's just too bad, isn't it?

Now, it was during this time, When they were translating these plates Into what would eventually become the Book of Mormon. It was during this time that John the Baptist Appeared to Smith and his friends, And at that time ordained them to the Aaronic priesthood, The descendants of Aaron, That special priesthood.

Also during this time, Peter, James, and John Also appeared to them And conferred upon them What they called the Melchizedek priesthood.

And to the Mormons, That's the highest order of priesthood. All right, so from that beginning, From a 14-year-old boy, A vision that he had out in the woods, Two personages, And then the angel and the plates, And then translating into the Book of Mormon.

From that beginning, Mormonism has become America's most successful homegrown religion. An incredible story about their growth.

And some might even use that as Some so-called proof that, Well, maybe there's something to this. They have grown tremendously. They report a membership of 4 million Here, just in America.

Something over 6 million worldwide. And Mormon membership has doubled Every 10 years since their beginnings. Incredible.

So that's a little bit of history. Kind of lay the framework. And so I ask the question, Does that sound like the beginnings of Christianity?

Or, if you like, Is Mormonism a cult? Based upon what you've just learned about it. And this is just a brief sketch Of their beginnings. What do they claim?

Well, they claim that Joseph Smith, Of course, Was chosen by God to restore True Christianity. True Christianity to humankind. To restore it.

Because true Christianity, According to Mormon doctrine, Was lost. It was lost after the death Of the last apostle. And so, All Christianity that has existed On this planet Since the death of the last apostle, All that Christianity has been false.

And so Joseph Smith Was selected, Chosen by God At 14 years old To restore the lost truths Of Christianity.

What do they believe? What do they believe about Jesus? Well, Jesus Christ, To the Mormon, Is a created being. He is the, Quote, Firstborn spirit child Of a long line of children Who were, Excuse me, But sexually conceived In the spirit, In spirit form, By the heavenly father Named Elohim, Who is the God of this universe And the heavenly mother, Unnamed.

All right. That's how Jesus was conceived. As was Lucifer. And so Lucifer, In Mormon doctrine, Is Jesus' brother.

His brother. In fact, Let me take it a step further, All people, Jesus, Lucifer, You, Me, All others, Who live today, Have lived, And will live on this earth, Were, Were, First of all, Born in spirit form in heaven.

That sounds real Christian, Doesn't it? And so this preexistent, These preexistent spirits, One day I was, You know, Sometime way back whenever, I was a spirit, Preexistent spirit.

All these preexistent spirits, Come down and inhabit babies, At the time of their birth, And, And, You know, Their memories, Of course, Are wiped, And, They don't know, Don't remember anything, About their preexistent state, Prior to becoming human.

That's what they believe. Jesus, Was chosen, To be the savior of this world. Now, His, Act of saving, The, His, His salvation, Is certainly something different, Than what we believe in salvation.

But Jesus was chosen, To be our savior. And, He was chosen over Lucifer, Because Lucifer wanted to be our savior. Isn't that too bad? He didn't get to be.

And, Primarily, According to Mormon theology, Because Lucifer's desire, Was to force us, To be Christians, To be saved, Or Mormons, To force us.

And, Jesus' plan was, To give us a choice. And so, Lucifer was rejected, And Jesus was chosen, And Lucifer got all, Bent out of shape, And he gathered up, A third of the angels, Now, These are my words, And rebelled, Of course, Against God, And, And, And left, And were thrown out of heaven, Or, The celestial heaven.

Alright, That's, That's Jesus, In a nutshell. How about, His incarnation? What do they believe, About the incarnation of Jesus? Well, Jesus was born, Of Mary.

Alright, That, So far, That's alright. That lines up, With what we believe. But, Rather than being conceived, By the Holy Spirit, According to Mormon doctrine, Jesus was conceived, By the heavenly father, Through, A sexual relationship, With Mary, The earthly Mary, The mother of Jesus.

And so, Jesus was conceived, By the heavenly father, In the spirit first, And then, In the physical world. In both cases, Both places, It was, By physical, Intercourse.

Jesus was also married, Because no one can, Achieve godhood, Without, No man can, Without being married, And to have multiple wives, And Jesus had several wives, And, Most likely, It was Mary Magdalene, Would be one of them, The sisters, Martha and Mary, And all the other women, Perhaps, That the bible tells us about, That traveled around with Jesus, Ministered to his needs, See, These women were really his wives.

What do they believe, About the deity of Jesus? Well, Jesus, Jesus became a god, He became a god, And he did so, Through obedience to the heavenly father, To, To his commands, And, And in this, Then, He became our prototype, Our prototype, Or, Our model, Our standard, Of salvation, That's really, The salvation, That Jesus provides, Is a prototype, A model of it, And so, Here's what they believe, What Jesus was, We were, At one point, That is, Spirits, Procreated by the same parents, Heavenly father, Heavenly mother, The god, And goddess, And as Jesus, Jesus became a god, So, May we also, The potential is there, For us to attain godhood, Just like Jesus did, That is, If you become a Mormon,

You have to become a Mormon, To do that, Christian, What do they believe, About god the father, God the father, You didn't know this, But he was a spirit child, Of a previous god, Before him, He was born, On another earth, Probably very much like ours, Where that earth is, I don't know, But, But on this other earth, Where he was born, That was where he earned godhood, And since he could, Not attain godhood, Of course, Without wives, He was married, And had spirit children, And we've already talked about that, That's us, We're his spirit children, He died, As a matter of fact, On this other earth, And was physically, Physically, Bodily, Resurrected, On this other earth, So, Guess what, He is a god, That has, A body, Of flesh and bone,

Just like us, That's god the father, And so, We too, Of course, Again, Can become gods, Like the heavenly father, We have that potential, There, And here's what they say, Quote, In their doctrines, And covenants, They say, As man is, God once was, As he was human, Or, Flesh and bone, As god is, Man may be, Now, Do you understand that statement?

Let me say it to you again, And you tell me if this is Christian, As man is, God once was, As god is, Man may be, That is, We can become god, That's the doctrine, Of eternal progression, And that's, This is Mormon belief, Mormon doctrine, It sounds, By the way, If you're here on Wednesday nights, We've been going through, Genesis chapter 3, It sounds very much like, Like, Satan's gospel, When he said to Eve, You know, God had commanded her not, Adam and Eve, Not to eat of that, Forbidden fruit, From that forbidden tree, And Satan said, Go ahead, Eat it, Because, God knows, That the day you eat it, You should be like him, You will be like God, How many gods are there in Mormonism?

Well, Here's a quote, If we should take a million worlds like this, And number their particles, We shall find that there are more gods, Than there are particles of matter, In those worlds, That's quoting from Mormon, Mormon, One of the former Mormon presidents, What do they believe about the Trinity?

The Trinity, According to Mormon theology, Consists simply of three separate gods, Not one god in three persons, Manifest in three persons, But three separate gods, And all three are male personages, Consisting of bodies of flesh and bone, What do they believe about salvation?

I want you to listen to this quote, Again, From a former Mormon president, One of the most, This is what he said, One of the most fallacious doctrines, False doctrines, Originated by Satan, And propounded by man, Is that man, Is saved alone, By the grace of God, He said, That's a false doctrine, The belief that, In Jesus alone, That belief in Jesus alone, Is all that is needed for salvation, This Mormon said, Is a false doctrine, Originated by Satan, The cross, What happened there?

What was the significance of it? The cross was not able to cleanse us, From all our sins, Some of them maybe, But not the big ones, Good works are necessary for salvation, And there is no salvation, Without accepting Joseph Smith, As a prophet of God, Now, I've said that the real question is, Is Mormonism, Christian, But, But on this point, Here is a clear indication of cult, Of cult.

Brigham Young said this, And you're familiar with that name, He said, No man or woman in this dispensation, Will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God, Without the consent of Joseph Smith.

He reigns there, In this celestial kingdom, That's the highest of heavens, To the Mormons. They're really, I think, Three levels, There's the terrestrial, And celestial, And celestial kingdom, And that's the highest celestial, And so, Joseph Smith is there, According to Brigham Young, He reigns there, As supreme, As supreme a being, In his sphere, Capacity, And calling, As God does in heaven.

So, He equates him with, With God the Father. Ultimate salvation, For the Mormon, And that's Godhood, Of course, In the celestial kingdom, It requires the following eight things, You don't need to jot these down, Faith in Jesus Christ, That sounds good, Doesn't it?

Repentance, Baptism, Though their baptism, Means something a little different, Than ours, Laying on of hands, It's a ritual, Done in the temple, Church membership, Keeping the commandments, But we're not just talking about, They're not just talking about, The ten commandments, They're talking about also, The commandments, In their book, Word of Wisdom, Number seven, Accepting Joseph Smith, And his successors, As God's mouthpiece, That's, That's, Very indicative of cult, Temple work, Is the eighth one, And that includes a lot of things, Includes being married in the temple, And a host of other things, Missionary work, And so forth, And all eight things, And so your, Your status after death, Will all depend upon your, Your good conduct, Your works, What do they believe about the Bible?

The Bible is inferior, First of all, Inferior to the book of Mormon, Because of the, What they believe is the universal apostasy, Of the Christian church, Something that Joseph Smith, Was chosen to restore, And so the Bible, Is inaccurate in a lot of its places, Not translated correctly, And Joseph Smith, Of course, Was the one to restore that, To correct these things, They believe that, Many, Quote, Plain and precious things, Were removed from the Bible, And have to be, Corrected by modern day revelation, Modern day revelation, That means new revelation, Christian, Is that Christian?

According to Mormons, The Bible is the word of God, Okay? But it is not perfect, Not perfect, The prophet Joseph, Made many corrections to it, They believe, And so the Bible is the word of God, Only where it is translated correctly, It's a little vague, On which parts of it, Were not translated correctly, Though I think you can assume, That those parts that contradict, Mormon religion, Were just not translated correctly, Okay?

So that's what they believe, And so again, I ask the question, Is Mormonism just another brand of Christianity? No, it is not. Not at all.

That's why you heard, Dr. Robert Jeffers, Qualify it, He said it's a theological cult. I would agree, That the word cult, Does bring people to arms, You know, It's, You know, That's why I think I would prefer, To answer the question, Is Mormonism Christianity?

But it's not Christianity, Not from any biblical, Slash theological sense, And not even historically. And I would ask this question, Who has the right, Really, To decide what Christian is?

Christians, Christians, Those who are followers, Of the Jesus Christ, Of the Bible, And the Bible being the sole authority, For all, We are who we are, And how we live, And what our future is, And our salvation, All of it, According to this book.

So I would end, Then tonight, And I know this has been, A little bit strange, And maybe you're, Wanting a whole lot more, But, I would end tonight, By asking this question, Because some of you, Might be asking it, In fact, It's already been asked of me, Several times, Should we, As Christians, Should we vote, For Mormon, For president?

For the time, Holland, Reminded me, My mother told me this, Several years ago, I don't remember, What the occasion was, But she remembered, As a young person, When John F.

Kennedy, Was running for president, And, There was such a stir, Among the, Protestants, About, Voting for, A catholic, President, Of course, He was voted, Became president, In other catholics, Since, We've even voted, On, Pagans, To be president, Of our country, I'm not going to answer, That question for you, You'll have to answer, That yourself, And, As, Brother Jeffress, Said, Dr.

Jeffress, There are other things, To consider as well, When you're voting, For president, My intent tonight, Was certainly not, To be political, Though, Maybe, Maybe, It seems so, You know, I start, You know, Got Perry up there, And, And, You might be thinking, Brother Don, Are you endorsing, Perry for president?

I'm not endorsing anybody, I wouldn't even go as far, As, Dr. Jeffress did, In endorsing, A candidate, I just won't do it, But, You'll have to, Answer, That question, For yourself, As, I'll leave it there, Okay?

Okay. I'm sorry, I can't hear you. About adding to scripture?

Yeah, And the plagues, And, And by the way, I'm glad you mentioned that, It's interesting, Because you read the passage, I would tell you that the, Scripture that was read tonight, Out of Psalm, Is, One of the proof texts, That Mormons use, For plurality of gods, And yet, They just take one part of it, Where it says there, In Psalm 86, In verse 8, Among the gods, There is none like you, O Lord, And they say, See here, There's proof, There's more than one, Of gods, The problem with the Mormons, Is they fail to go all the way down, To verse 10, Where it says, You alone are God, Thank you.