Knocking on Mormon Doors

The Salt Lake Mormon Temple

By Bp. Joseph Boyd (Ancient Church of the West) 

We had the pleasure of touring the Mormon Tabernacle and seeing the Salt Lake Temple before it underwent major reconstruction and restoration beginning in 2019. It was a genuinely moving experience, seeing young people dressed conservatively and enthusiastically sharing their faith, while also seeing how an entire State was basically colonized by the adherents of a new religious movement. Their success in convincing those born within their movement to stay is a huge lesson in demography for us, and the way that they build camaraderie and focus on missions should be a rebuke to those of us who see their system for the heresy and departure from the True Gospel that it is. There is no reason why we cannot do the same thing, effectively building a strong, counter-cultural community of people whose whole life is focused upon True Christian Orthodoxy. We cannot relegate the missional process of raising dedicated Christians to theoretical monks, and forget that the true basis of Christianity has always been founded upon faithful families and nothing else! 

I have a hard time with Mormonism for a few big reasons: 1) They claim authority based on a system that they undermine completely; 2) They preach one, very nice sounding "gospel" to bring people into their group, but then another to the initiated; 3) The follow an immoral jerk whose clear motivation, like Mohammad's, was women and wealth! In the Mormon Narrative, Jesus didn't choose good disciples the first time through, so he had to come back again in 1829 and allow his triplet apostles, Peter, James and John (the ones that had originally failed him) to ordain the first real bishop and priest in over 1,900 years - Joseph Smith and a buddy, Oliver. The only problem was that Joseph's buddy later had a falling-out when he found out about Smith's first affair with a maid, resulting in the only "real priest" deciding to become a Methodist!

They might believe some funky things, but Mormons sure have created beautiful structures - from solid family values, small businesses, and Neo-Gothic fantasy temples. What strikes me are two things, 1) How seriously you take something is how much you're willing to put into it, and this is directly proportional to how much you get out of it, and 2) Being different and being persecuted for it is a good thing, especially if you are trying to forge an identity and prove you're right. With Mormons, you can see how they've literally created a new Jerusalem, a new priesthood, and a new view of the family covenant - all of which have biblical precedents and are absolutely necessary, but which were already established in the Ancient Church by faithful Apostles and Church Fathers. Mormonism exists because Protestantism wiped America's memory clear and because Ancient Churches stopped evangelizing after getting smashed by Islam and pushed around by Counter-Reformation Roman Catholicism. I hope that the Middle-Eastern, Slavic and Greek Orthodox Communities can learn something from Mormons, if nothing other than letting their children learn and communicate their faith better, and not being afraid of other people's scorn or rejection!

Joseph Smith Restoring the Lost Apostolic Succession by Ascended Apostles Returning to Earth and Ordaining Him and His Friend, Oliver Cowdery