"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you" (1 Pet. 1.23,25).

You are born-again (regenerated) through believing the gospel upon it being preached unto you; not regenerated then is preached unto you to believe.

"In whom ye also [trusted], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1.13).

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name" (John 1.12).

"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5.1).

Joseph Smith when asked, gave his first vision from his god: "I was answered I must join none of them. They were all wrong. And the personage that addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight, and those professors were all corrupt." Smith is saying all churches are wrong. The truth of this mistaken assumption is that all churches however much they falter are all right, because to be the church you must be in Christ. Thus, the personage that Smith encountered was an evil spirit or demon who said all creeds of the Church are an abomination to his god. Everyone who professes them are corrupt according to Joseph's claim. But Mormons and LDS say they are non-confrontational. When the Mormon comes into your living room they tell you that the Church is wrong. If you believe in the Church you are corrupt they say. So you must become a Latter Day Saint to be saved. Mormons are condemning you falsely. Satan is a great accuser. Consequently, Joseph Smith was put to death in in Carthage jail in 1844 for practicing polygamy and other heresies. Him and his brother Hiram were put to death. A martyr is someone who willingly gives up his life. Joseph Smith died with a six gun in his hand.

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into 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 than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1.6-9) - an anathema, under divine damnation and condemned by God! The spirit of Mormonism is the spirit of antichrist.

"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ" (Jude 1.3,4).

Paul agreed with Moses. "If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you. If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known; Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you; Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again. And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers; When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God" (Deut. 13.1-18).

Mormons believe the church founded by Jesus and the apostles was destroyed from human history by the time of Constantine. Yet the Bible had not changed for it was fully recorded in the first century and most of it before 65 AD; therefore, no matter how damaged or lost one may think the Church had become, there was always still a remnant because the word of God has not changed in the 66 books.

Have you read Revelation chapters 2 & 3? The third church period was called Pergamum which means "high tower" that began with Constantine which has since passed away. What Rev. 2 & 3 does is show the problems the Church will encounter through the mystery age of the Church and each subsequent church period. The Church was not destroyed, for as long as the Holy Spirit is working the body of Christ remains.

There was no prophetic message and foretelling in Scripture of some guy named Joseph Smith who was suppose to come along to fix it and tell us what we knew the word of God said was not true after all. What great confusion! Who is the author of confusion? Would a loving God act like that? "Not as writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning - that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk according to His commands. This is the command have heard it from the beginning: you must walk in love" (2 John 1.5,6). If you make false claims and say the Church disappeared for centuries, what love is this?

Joseph Smith arrived in the early 19th century during the Philadelphia church period of the Brethren in 1828 who wanted to be called just Christians, not Mormons or Reformed or by any other name. And they taught the proper organizing of the Church according to Scriptural locality built by regional Apostles appointing Elders of a locality, e.g. "church of Jerusalem in the churches of Judea."

The common characteristics of new religious movements are many and varied, but particularly for the Mormons there are some common features similar to other cults. "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves" (Matt. 7.15). What is common among these cults is the claim of some special messenger who is the founder of the new religion and will fulfill the work of Jesus and even claims to be greater than Jesus. Paul warned about this serious heresy about those who follow after "another Jesus" who is not the same Jesus revealed in Scripture (2 Cor. 11.4).

1) Often there is a "new authority" or new revelation besides the Bible from which adherents to the group must find ultimate truths, thus adding to the word of God against God's will.

2) The group is focused around a central figure (not Jesus): a prophet-founder "chosen" by their god to deliver a special message to the modern world that is not found in the Bible, has not been known to genuine Christians throughout all church history, or to recover the teaching of the ancient church that has allegedly been lost through the centuries. Joseph Smith and Muhammad are similar in this regard and both reject the Triune God. Both claim to follow the Bible.

3) Often the group teaches that the Bible foretold the coming of its particular group or leader with great effort by contorting the Scriptures. An example of this is Mormon's misuse of Ezekiel 37.



4) The group claims that it is compatible or in harmony with the Bible and traditional Christianity, but in fact it reduces and discounts the Bible or otherwise adds to the revelation of Scripture that does not confer. The question is raised, how can it be compatible but then discounted or reduced? Read Revelation 22.18,19. Progressive revelation is often cited as the reason similar to evolution in atheism. One can't help but notice a certain element of atheism in these cults, because the evolution is whatever they say it is.

5) The group has usurped traditional Christian vocabulary, but has redefined and reinterpreted concepts from the Bible - making its words do "double-duty" in order to defend aberrant doctrines. Their language is pliable and has no fixed meaning. Who is the author of confusion?

6) The group denies at least one central truth of Christianity - such as the work of Christ on the cross, the authority of Scriptures, salvation by grace through faith alone, the bodily resurrection, the doctrine of eternal punishment, God alone from everlasting, etc.

7) The group denies both the doctrine of the Trinity and/or the Incarnation.

8) The group teaches a "salvation by works" system whereby members must ultimately save themselves. How is this possible though for God is infinitely greater? Nobody, therefore, could save themselves. Nobody could keep themselves saved.

9) The group emphasizes experience over basic Christian doctrine which circumvents experience that follows and is founded on doctrinal truths according to God's will.

10) The group dabbles in the occult and spiritism. Joseph Smith was notorious for this and convinced of it, then fleeing the authorities for the just punishment of such crimes.

11) They take from other belief systems and try to mold and weild them into Christianity such as atheism's infinite regress and polytheistic concepts of eastern religions.

Christians must recognize that our spiritual enemy is not the new religion but, rather, Satan (2 Cor. 11.12-15).

"Many deceivers have gone out into the world" (2 John 1.7).

C. J. Labuschagne points out, the Hebrew word for "one" (echad) in Deuteronomy 6.4 refers to "somebody who has no family, and, applied to Yahweh, this means He does not belong to any family of gods. This aspect distinguishes Him from all other gods. Furthermore, the confession that Yahweh was a Singe One was directed against the concept of divine families common in many pagan religions." "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God one LORD" (Deut. 6.4).

Everything else is periphery or secondary. The 6 major sins of Mormonism/LDS:

1) Claim God is not alone, uncreated, from everlasting;

2) Denying Jesus created all things;

3) Claiming a person who is born-again can perish;

4) Claiming there were gods before God and gods after God;

5) Making God into gods rather than One Being;

6) Absurdly, thinking ancient Israel were polytheists.