Summary of Mormon Teaching

Sometimes you just find a great article about true Mormonism and a wonderful summary of its teachings. This is a great one by Paul J. Bucknell....enjoy

Mormonism teaches that trillions of planets scattered throughout the cosmos are ruled by countless gods who once were human like us. They say that long ago, on one of these planets, to an unidentified god and one of his goddess wives, a spirit child named Elohim was conceived. This spirit child was later born to human parents who gave him a physical body. Through obedience to Mormon teaching, death, and resurrection, he proved himself worthy and was elevated to godhood as his father before him. Mormons believe that Elohim is their Heavenly Father and that he lives with his many wives on a planet near a mysterious star called Kolob.

There the god of Mormonism and his wives, through endless Celestial sex, produced billions of spirit children.(2) To decide their destiny, the head of the Mormon gods called a great heavenly council meeting. Both of Elohim’s eldest sons were there, Lucifer and his brother Jesus."

"A plan was presented to build planet Earth where the spirit children would be sent to take on mortal bodies and learn good from evil. Lucifer stood and made his bid for becoming savior of this new world. Wanting the glory for himself, he planned to force everyone to become gods. Opposing the idea, the Mormon Jesus suggested giving man his freedom of choice as on other planets.

The vote that followed approved the proposal of the Mormon Jesus who would become savior of the planet Earth. Enraged, Lucifer cunningly convinced one-third of the spirits destined for earth to fight with him and revolt. Thus Lucifer became the devil and his followers the demons. Sent to this world, they would forever be denied bodies of flesh and bone. Those who remained neutral in the battle were cursed to be born with black skin. This is the Mormon explanation for the Negro race.(3) (read more on blog how Mormons feel about blacks)

The spirits that fought most valiantly against Lucifer would be born into Mormon families on planet Earth. These would be the lighter-skinned people, or ‘white and delightsome,’ as the Book of Mormon describes them."

"Early Mormon prophets taught that Elohim and one of his goddess wives came to the earth as Adam and Eve to start the human race. Thousands of years later, Elohim in human form once again journeyed to earth from the star base Kolob, this time to have physical relations with the Virgin Mary in order to provide Jesus with a physical body.(4) Mormon Apostle Orson Hyde taught that after Jesus Christ grew to manhood, he took at least three wives– Mary, Martha, and Mary Magdalene. Through these wives the Mormon Jesus supposedly fathered a number of children before he was crucified. Mormon founder Joseph Smith is supposedly one of his descendants."(5)

According to the Book of Mormon, after his resurrection Jesus came to the Americas to preach to the Indians, who the Mormons believe are really Israelites. Thus the Jesus of Mormonism established his church in the Americas as he had in Palestine. By the year 421 A.D., the dark-skinned Israelites, known as the Lamanites, had destroyed all of the white-skinned Nephites in a number of great battles.

The Nephites’ records were supposedly written on golden plates buried by Moroni, the last living Nephite, in the Hill Cummorah. 1400 years later a young treasure-seeker named Joseph Smith, who was known for his tall tales, claimed to have uncovered the same gold plates near his home in upstate New York. He is now honored by Mormons as a prophet because he claimed to have had visions from the spirit world in which he was commanded to organize the Mormon Church because all Christian creeds were an abomination. It was Joseph Smith who originated most of these peculiar doctrines which millions today believe to be true."

"By maintaining a rigid code of financial and moral requirements, and through performing secret temple rituals for themselves and the dead, the Latter-day Saints hope to prove their worthiness and thus become gods. The Mormons teach that everyone must stand at the final judgment before Joseph Smith, the Mormon Jesus, and Elohim.(6)

Those Mormons who were sealed in the eternal marriage ceremony expect to become polygamous gods in the Celestial Kingdom, rule over other planets, and spawn new families throughout eternity. The Mormons thank God for Joseph Smith, who claimed that he had done more for us than any other man, including Jesus Christ. The Mormons claim that he died as a martyr and shed his blood for us so that we too may become Gods."

Footnotes:
1) From the film The God Makers Text quoted from 'What You Need to Know About Mormons' by Ed Decker, Harvest Pub, 1990, pp.48 -61.
2) "God is an exalted man who once lived on an earth and underwent experiences of mortality.... His marriage partner is our mother in heaven. We are their spirit children, born to them in the bonds of Celestial marriage." [ACCM, p.129-130]. "Have all the people born in this world first been conceived as spirit children–been fathered by Elohim? Of course." pp. 50-51
3) "The Lord forgave them any preexistence punishment in 1978, and now they too can hold the priesthood– which actually was the real punishment, not the skin color. And now blacks can marry in the temple." p. 53
4) "We do believe in the virgin birth.... Mary was certainly a virgin before she was overshadowed by Heavenly Father." pp. 54-55
5) "None of that is currently taught by any authority in the Church. ... Joseph Smith, through personal revelation, told several of the early leaders that they were descendants of Jesus. The rest comes from old speeches in the Journal of Discourses which we don’t accept as doctrinal today." Decker, p. 55.
6) "Joseph Smith holds the keys to this dispensation– he is its head and will be throughout all eternity. Of course he will be at the judgment bar, but I can assure you that he is there as your friend to plead your case if need be. But nobody will go to the Celestial Kingdom without his express approval." p. 60 {Come unto Christ, The Melchizedek Priesthood Personal Study Guide (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 1983-1986) pp. 139-145.