“Persecution!!” the upset Mormon may cry (or think) when confronted by someone passing out “anti-Mormon” literature, or trying to talk to him about Biblical faith in Christ.  Before automatically feeling persecuted in situations such as these, wouldn’t it be good to investigate the claims being made in the literature, try to understand the motive(s) behind it, and also to ask, “Is the Mormon Church guilty of the very thing the other person is being accused of, namely, persecution?”
 Obviously, it would be very unfair to point the finger at someone for doing the same thing you had been and were still doing.  That would be hypocritical.  Can it be clearly shown that the Mormon Church has attacked other churches in the past and is still doing so?  Let’s be fair, and permit the record to speak for itself.

“AM I THEREFORE BECOME YOUR ENEMY, BECAUSE I TELL YOU THE TRUTH?”
The Apostle Paul (Galatians 4:16)

PAST ATTACKS BY THE L.D.S. CHURCH AND ITS AUTHORITIES

1 “We talk about Christianity, but it is a perfect pack of nonsense....It is a sounding brass and a tinkling symbol; it is as corrupt as hell; and the devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work that the Christianity of the nineteenth century”.  John Taylor, (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, pag. 167).

2 “They wish to put the cup to your lips and pour the strong drink down your throats, caring only for what is in your pockets.  They remind me of a Methodist priest in Iowa, after a good collection.  The money was on the table, and he wished the people to sing; so he struck up, “This is the God we adore”.  Brigham Young, (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 8, pag. 132).

3 “But who in this generation have authority to baptize?  None but those who have received authority in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints:  all other churches are entirely destitute of all authority from God; and any person who receives Baptism or the Lord’s supper from their hands will highly offend God, for he looks upon them as the most corrupt of all people.  Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the “whore of Babylon” whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness.  And any person who shall be so wicked as to receive a holy ordinance of the gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent of the unholy and impious act.  Orson Pratt, (The Seer, pag. 255, 1854).

4 “Q.  Who founded the Roman Catholic Church?

A. The Devil, through the medium of Apostates, who subverted the whole order of God by denying immediate revelation, and substituting in the place thereof, tradition and ancient revelations as a sufficient rule of faith and practice.

Q.  Did the great Protestant Reformers restore the Church of Christ to the earth?

A.  No:  for they had no inspired Apostles, Prophets, or Revelators among them, without which the Church could not be restored.

Q.  But did not the first Protestant Reformers receive their ordination and authority from the Catholics?

A.  Yes:  and in this manner they received all the authority that their mother church was in possession of; and the mother having derived her authority from the Devil, could only impart that which his Satanic majesty was pleased to bestow upon her”.  Orson Pratt (The Seer, p. 205, 1854)

5  “The Christian world, I discovered, was like the captain and crew of a vessel on the ocean without a compass, and tossed to and fro withersoever the wind listed to blow them.  When the light came to me, I saw that all the so-called Christian world was groveling in darkness”.  Brigham Young (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 5, pag. 73).

6  “Bother Taylor has just said that the religions of the day were hatched in hell.  The eggs were laid in hell, hatched on its borders, and then kicked on to the earth”.  Brigham Young, (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, pag. 176).

7  “The Christian world, so called, are heathens as to their knowledge of the salvation of God”.  Brigham Young (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 8, pag. 171).

8  “...Heber C. Kimball was beset by a number of Baptist priests who had been attending a conference.  He read them all down out of the New Testament.  ...With regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world”.  Brigham Young (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 8, pag. 199).

9  “What! are Christians ignorant?  Yes, as ignorant of the things of God as the brute beast”.  John Taylor (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, pag. 25).

10  “And Christianity, at the present time is no more enlightened than other systems have been.  What does the Christian world know about God?  Nothing;...Why, so far as the things of God are concerned, they are the veriest fools; they know neither God nor the things of God”.  John Taylor (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 13, pag. 225).

PRESENT ATTACKS BY THE L.D.S. CHURCH AND ITS AUTHORITIES

1   “My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join....I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right--and which I should join.  I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong, and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight; that those professors were all corrupt;...”  The Prophet Joseph Smith’s Testimony, pp. 3, 4.  (This official Mormon Church pamphlet is currently in use by L.D.S. missionaries).

2   “The Lone and Dreary World” (A part of the L.D.S. Temple Ceremony representing the Telestial Kingdom, or the world we now live in.  The wording may vary somewhat from one temple to another).
Lucifer: Oh, I see, you want religion.  You want someone to preach    to you.  I’ll have some preachers here presently.
Preacher: My!  A fine congregation!
Lucifer: Oh, are you a preacher?
Preacher: Yes.
Lucifer: Have you been to college and received training for the    ministry?
Preacher: Why, certainly.  A man cannot preach unless he has been    trained for the ministry.
Lucifer: Well, do you preach orthodox religion?
Preacher: Yes, that is what I preach.
Lucifer: Well, if you’ll preach your orthodox religion to this people    and convert them, I’ll pay you well.
Preacher: I’ll do my best.  Good morning, sir.

(After putting paid preachers in a bad light, the ceremony attacks the doctrine of God being “...so great He fills the universe and yet is so small that He can dwell in your heart...”  Isn’t it interesting that D.&C. 20:28 tells us that God is infinite, and Alma 34:36 says that the Lord dwells in the hearts of the righteous)?

3   “Hence, true and acceptable Christianity is found among the saints who have the fulness of the gospel, and a perverted Christianity holds sway among the so-called Christians of apostate Christendom.  In these circles it is believed and taught that Christianity had its beginning with the mortal ministry of our Lord.  Actually, of course, Adam was the first Christian,...”Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pag. 132.

(But where is the name of Christ mentioned in the Old Testament, or salvation through faith in His shed blood (Romans 3:25)?  Why were the disciples first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26)?

4   “The titles church of the devil and great and abominable church are used to identify all churches...--which are designed to take men on a course that leads away from God and his laws and thus from salvation...There is no salvation outside this one true Church,...”  “There is no salvation outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.  (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 2, pp. 1-350”).  Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pp. 137, 138, 670.

5   “Christians speak often of the blood of Christ and its cleansing power.  Much that is believed and taught on this subject, however, is such utter nonsense and so palpably false that to believe it is to lose one’s salvation”.  What the MORMONS think of CHRIST, L.D.S. pamphlet, pag.22.

 Because Mormonism strikes out against other churches and their doctrines, L.D.S. should not be offended when born-again Christians offer them literature pointing out serious differences between their faith and what the Bible is saying.  If you threw a rope to a man in great danger, what would you think if he threw the rope back at you and said, “Quit persecuting me!!”?  Let’s deal with the real issues.
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