Deception in Disguise
by Heidi Swander
www.olivetreeviews.org
February 24, 2011
"Mormon leaders call their empire the 'Kingdom of God.' However, their 'God' is an extraterrestrial from [the planet] Kolob, definitely not the God of the Bible; and the 'Zion' to which their spirit-brother-of-Lucifer Jesus Christ will return to reign, is Independence, Missouri." So writes author and former Mormon Ed Decker in his book My Kingdom Come. "It is the Mormons' claim to be the true Israel," Decker states in his book. "Mormons believe that they are the only true Jews on Earth today. They also believe they come from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and that they have the true blood of Israel. Mormon males are ordained into what they believe are both the Leviticus and Melchizedek priesthoods. They believe that when they are baptized, their blood actually changes from Gentile blood into the blood of Israel." According to Decker, a Mormon for 20 years of his adult life prior to embracing true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Mormon Church (aka The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or "LDS" for short) espouses rituals that have "significant parallels with Freemasonry, the occult, and Luciferianism." In an endorsement to the book Mormonism's Temple of Doom, Dr. Walter Martin, well-known Christian counter-cult apologist, wrote, "Controversy has arisen over the book in that some people have understood the authors to be saying that Mormonism is a lineal descendant of specific occult organizations (i.e., Freemasonry). I can understand how that conclusion can be reached. The authors have stated that 'undeniable similarities exist between Mormonism and other occult organizations' . . . They contend that disciplines such as Mormonism, Freemasonry, and Wicca are streams of the same Satanic river. This can be substantiated as fact." In light of this, it is alarming to note that there is a movement afoot today, in so-called evangelical circles, to embrace Mormons as fellow Christians. One example: The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) has chosen to hold their semi-annual board meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, this spring, for the express purpose of dialoguing with LDS leaders to "deepen our understanding of the Mormon faith and contribute to the on-going work of evangelicals in Utah." Read that sentence again. Please take note that that sentence assumes that Mormonism and Christianity are synonymous. They are not. Therefore, a statement by NAE president Leith Anderson expressing a desire to find "common ground on issues" with LDS is futile. There is no common ground between Christianity and Mormonism. It is vital that every true believer in Jesus Christ grasp the myriad and eternally-significant differences between Mormonism and biblical Christianity, because the alternative is to be easily deceived into an unequal yoke with unbelievers. This knowledge is particularly essential today because, at present, America has a number of prominent Mormons adorning our television screens and influencing American policy including Governor Mitt Romney, Glenn Beck, Senator Harry Reid and Senator Orrin Hatch. Jerry Johnson, founder and president of The Apologetics Group, Inc. says, "I have known a lot of Mormons. In fact, my grandfather was a Mormon, and they are some of the best and most moral people I've ever met . . . They have wanted to, really, kind of be equated with historic evangelical Christianity, when everything they believe is antithetical to what the Bible and the church has always taught. Because Mormons are morally upright, true Christians easily gravitate to them. Because Mormons use verbiage that sounds biblical, Christians can be easily duped. Decker explains that, "The Mormon leadership will not tamper with the definitions that have separated them from Orthodoxy for over 170 years. They will spend their time trying to look as Christian as possible so that they can draw in the converts needed to keep the great caravan rolling, however crooked its path." The Mormon Church began because Joseph Smith had a vision of "an angel of light" calling himself Moroni who explained to Joseph that all the churches of his day were wrong, all their creeds corrupt. Then, Moroni gave him directive for a brand new religion to promulgate: Mormonism, with all its occult practices and unbiblical doctrines. I cannot commend to you highly enough Ed Decker's book, My Kingdom Come. You will not recognize the deception, when it comes, without understanding the foundation and fantastic doctrines of this increasingly-accepted and deceptive cult. The Apostle Paul clearly warned of such a thing: "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:8-9). Get acquainted with Understanding the Times radio, now heard in 415 outlets. The programming coming out of Minneapolis/St. Paul on AM980 KKMS and AM1280 The Patriot, Saturdays, 9 to 11 a.m. CST, is posted to "Radio Archives" on our Web site on Sunday. Visit this link for info on podcasting through iTunes. We encourage you to listen to the first hour of the broadcast with Nonie Darwish on February 19. Nonie explains some angles of the Middle East conflict as she is an Egyptian, now a Christian. What is the role of the Obama administration in the conflagration? Is the Muslim Brotherhood behind the turmoil in countries other than Egypt? And is it really all about democracy? We cannot reply to every e-mail although each one is read. 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