Mormonism And The Claim To Restoration
Mormons claim that there was a falling away from the faith after the death of the Apostles. Does this mean that the church needed to be restored through Mormonism?
Joseph Smith, the founding father of Mormonism, built his institution on the premise that the Christian church was completely overtaken by apostasy. In other words, Smith claimed that the church established by Jesus in the first century was completely nonexistent by the 19th century. This has been the position of all subsequent leaders of the Mormon church, even to this very day.
To quote Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt: "Jesus... established his kingdom on the earth...the kingdoms of this world made war against the kingdom of God, established eighteen centuries ago, and they prevailed against it, and the kingdom ceased to exist (Journal of Discourses, 13:125)." Of course, this meant that the church had to be restored.
In response to this teaching, we should ask Mormons exactly how the church could manage to glorify God "throughout all generations" - as the Apostle Paul clearly wrote in Ephesians 3:21 - if they fell into total apostasy. We should also point out that Ephesians 4:11-16 talks about the church growing spiritually mature, not spiritually degenerate. The Bible does affirm that there will be apostates, but according to 1 Timothy 4:1 only "some [not all] will abandon the faith." This passage alone is enough to prove that Mormonism is wrong about the church falling away altogether.
Smith and other Mormons need to realize that they're teaching the exact opposite of what Jesus Christ of Nazareth proclaimed in Matthew 16:18 - namely, that not even the gates of hell would prevail against the church of God.
Furthermore, Hebrews 12:28 states that God's kingdom is unshakable, while Daniel 2:44 refers to it as indestructible. There can be no doubt that Mormonism contradicts what the Bible says about the perseverance of God's people - the living church of God. Remember, it was Joseph Smith who attacked Christianity. He said that all their sects were wrong, their creeds an abomination, and their professors corrupt.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
This issue is covered in Jerry and Marian Bodine's manual Witnessing to the Mormons (B111/$5). For shipping and handling information, please call CRI or refer to our Resource Listing. To place a credit card order, call toll-free (888) 7000-CRI. To receive a free copy of our Resource Listing, fax us at (714) 858-6111 or write us with your request at P.O. Box 7000, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688-7000.