The Mormon Cult

Everyone is in a consumer’s hypnosis, even if you think you are not. When you go to a store and pick one brand over the other, you are now under their spell. The spell/ hypnosis is how companies get you to buy there things over other companies and keep you hooked. Either through commercials or offering something that you think will make your life better by what they tell you. For example, you go to the store and you need to buy water, once you get to the lane and look, there is 10 different types of water you can buy. You go pick one either because the picture is better or you seen the commercial the other day and you want it. During the length of this paper we will talk about two important writers, Kalle Lasn the writer of “The Cult

Mormonism, the largest church to originate on American soil is not without its own burdens to bear. As one of the younger religions, one that strayed from the foundations of the other already established religions in the United States, it is often viewed with negativity and mockery. Modern day social media, television, news articles and movies often exploit Mormon beliefs. They twist and exaggerated certain facets of the Mormon way of life. This framing of their belief system by the media leads the public opinion toward viewing this representation as a true depiction of the Mormons. Some of the more extreme behaviors exhibited by members that have separated from the main group are used against the entire faith by the media, so in turn this extremist view has become a Mormon stereotype.

One of the largest struggles for members in the church is animosity of non-members. On one hand, many express their dislike of the LDS church without even knowing what Sacrament Meeting is or the full the title of the “Mormon church” (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). On the other hand, there are a number supposed experts about Mormon doctrine. Some have belonged to the Church themselves at one point, leaving after finding unresolved dissonance between their beliefs and the Gospel. Others are often learned scholars, criticizing the Mormon doctrine to prove their own views. The following paper involves the latter of the two in an analysis of Ezekiel 37:15-17, a Biblical scripture that the LDS Church believes to refer to The Book of Mormon.

In 1844, Joseph Smith, ecclesiastical leader of the Latter-day Saints and presidential candidate, was murdered by an angry mob. This mob was fostered by the release of a newspaper questioning Smith’s practices (including polygamy), qualifications, and intentions for his potential presidency. More than 150 years later, Mitt Romney, a member of the LDS Church, launched a presidential campaign and garnered forty-two percent of the popular vote. Although these two candidates share a faith, their political roles and views are substantially different. This is representative of the significant changes in the relationship between the Mormon church and the U.S. government.

Mormonism was founded in the 1820s’ by Joseph Smith. Smith, wanting to expand his religious following migrated to Illinois where he established a settlement that included a temple of worship and a village (Green 57). In Illinois the Mormon peoples’ were met with threats, violence, and occasionally they were even killed. This was the case for their leader Joseph Smith; Smith was met with disgust from non-mormons when he attempted to run for presidency and his church riddled with scandal when the word of polygamy got out. With his tarnished reputation, Smith was ultimately murdered by an outraged mob, who then threatened other Mormons that if they did not leave they would be met with the same fate (Mormons into the West). With that warning, the Mormons picked a new leader, Brigham Young, who wanted to flee the American Border. Young set for travel with his new followers to the Great Salt Lake, which at the time was located in Mexico.

Mormonism is a religion created by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830(The Mormon Trail), its believers are referred to as Mormons and practice the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS Church) (The Mormon Trail). Smith believed himself to be a prophet destined to “restore the original pure church the Christians in the Book of Mormon had created (Manifest Destiny and Westward Expansion).” However, he was killed by a mob in Illinois but was replaced by his successor, Brigham Young. Their beliefs include a particular set of deity, afterlife, and they practice polygamy, which is one of the reasons the Mormons sought religious freedom.

Mormonism is known as one of the most successful (in present time) and government involved religions from the 1800’s. Joseph Smith, who had much curiosity in religion, and what was real and what was made up, founded the religion. He claimed that Jesus Christ and God himself visited him and that they told him, .all denominations have strayed from the truth and that he should not join any of them. After that event, he didn’t think much of it and moved on through his life. Once he told his father of his vision, he was scorned, and went to seek forgiveness. When praying for his sins to be relinquished he received a vision by the angel named Moroni, who spoke of a book written on gold plates and buried in a nearby hillside. As Smith went to the gold plates, he continued translating what became the Book of

All these differing theological issues pale in comparison to the disagreement that many Christians have with the LDS Church’s origins. In 1830, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was founded after Joseph Smith claimed to have received a vision of God and Jesus Christ telling him that the true church was not on the earth at that time (Perry). If this is true, it implies that all other Christian religions are false. Prior to the Church’s organization, Joseph Smith published The Book

uniqueness of the Mormon religion is that it was the first church to have begun in the United

Joseph Smith and his followers have sought to reclaim humanity's divine birthright and to reacquaint and re-link the human family." (252) So, the Mormons concurs with Matthew 24:24, "For false Christ and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect." The Mormons understand that there are false gods the reason 'true Fatherhood' was specified. God warns his people about false gods giving false information to deter the people of God. God loves family, and Satan knows and tries hard to divide the family. Because Satan knows a house can not stand if it is divided. Whether the family is biological or of the body of Christ. The Bible says in Mark 3:25, "And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand." No religion or family can stand together in unity if the religion or home can not come together in

Mormonism is a multilayered religious organization with many faces. The words “multilayered” and “organization” are carefully chosen as they represent the bulk of what we will discuss as we seek to unveil the true essence of the Mormon world as they see it. We will summarize this organization and in so doing we will discover that it was built on human fallacy and deception from its inception. We will then follow with a critical look the claims, doctrines, and documents that frame their beliefs.

The Utopian society of Mormon’s believed that the legacy, authority, and influence of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for their perfect world, stems from the highest “reality” that the Church 's beginning was celestial: in other words, the Mormon history is not that of man 's reorganization but of God 's re-establishment of the truth within their perfect Utopian society. Thus, a restoration of the original church of Jesus Christ and the apostles was vital; improvement alone, was not enough. The Mormon members and followers believe that many truths had been lost over history and over time when the power to act in God’s name was taken from the earth. They believed it went with the executions of the apostles. The followers of this movement and community believe that restoration was and is still crucial as a prelude to the second coming of Christ. Today the church has a worldwide community of approximately 15 million members and faithful followers (Utopia and Dystopia).

With the advancements in the study of social sciences, there has been a somewhat parallel growth of cults which though have their foundations in the original Bible and the Christian teachings, yet one may observe that the majority of the present day cults not only deny the essential doctrines, they openly emphasize and present their own personal reinterpretations of the biblical scriptures. The following paper will present two such cases, those of Christian Science and the Mormons, and strive to present some of the comparative elements, their beliefs, customs, religious ceremonies and leadership aspects.

My genealogy is full of devout Mormons, from my ancestors who fled to Utah in the 1850's down to my own parents. My family is adamant in the Mormon Church’s truthfulness and, thus, it took me a while to understand that being taught to read from Book of Mormon passages was “odd” and a few years to grasp why my elementary school teacher was befuddled when I answered the test question “Who is our current president?” with Gordon B. Hinckley (church president).