The missionary elders won't tell us (non-LDS) that they are the only true church and believe all others are of the devil. They won't tell us that they hope to be gods themselves one day, even being exalted to "God the Father" of their own plantet, where they will carry on celestial sex with plural wives, in order to populate an earth of their own and thereby receive the worship of their creation. They won't disclose one detail of their "sacred" secret temple rites, nor will they reveal that they are wearing special temple underwear to protect themselves from non-Mormons. They won't tell us that their temple ceremony has been recently changed due, we believe, to the public exposing of their "occultic" and offensive rituals taking place behind closed doors. AND THE MOST IMPORTANT IS THIS, that they are misrepresenting Jesus Christ, although His name figures prominently in their church name. They believe Jesus to be a spirit-brother of Lucifer (the devil) and only one of many gods. Early Mormon leaders taught that Jesus was polygamous husbands to both the Mary's and Martha and had offspring. I would appreciate your comments to the above and I do not mean to offend you in any way at all. I truly want to know. Thank you.

The answer to that is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the same church which Christ organized in the meridian of time when he was on the earth. After the apostles went out to preach and teach to the then-known world, they were killed one by one, not having opportunity to return and meet again as a quorum and appoint new members of the Quorum of the Twelve to take the place of those that were killed. As far as recorded Christian history tells us, the last apostle we hear of was John who was banished to the isle of Patmos sometime after 70 AD. With no foundation of apostles and prophets to guide the Church, apostate thinking and doctrines crept in. By 325 AD, the Christian church looked very little like the one originally founded by Christ.

In 325 AD, Constantine, the Emperor of Rome (a non-Christian) established the council of Nicea, in which all of the representatives of the numerous Christian sects were in attendance to discuss points of doctrine according to their beliefs. Many important doctrinal points were taken out during this council. The apostles themselves gave their very lives to keep such a thing from happening, but these "leaders of individual sects" formulated the doctrine and ordinances which we now see as the Catholic church. History tell us that this doctrine and those ordinances continued on down through the centuries until the 14th and 15th Centuries, where major protestations began to pull away members to form new churches. Such protesters as John Calvin, John Wesley, John Knox, Roger Williams and Martin Luther broke away from the Catholic church in order to start their own religion. None of them claimed that it was the original and true church of Jesus Christ, but they could not live by the doctrine which was promoted in the Catholic church.

By the early 1800s, a young boy by the name of Joseph Smith (as you have studied), could not determine which of all the churches to join and did as the scriptures directed him, which was to ask God what to do (in complete faith, nothing wavering). As you know from your study of the history of the Church, he was told to join none of them but that all of those churches at that time were not true and that some of their teachings were an abomination in his sight.

As he grew to be a man, he received many other heavenly manifestations and was used as an instrument in the hands of God to restore to the earth again that same church which Christ had originated while he was here upon the earth. Not only are its doctrines precisely as he taught, but so is its organization and priesthood authority. All of these things were restored to the earth just as the prophets and apostles testified they would be in days of old.

So, in answer to your question, then, yes, we do believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church upon the face of the earth. However, we do NOT believe, as you said, that all other churches are of the devil. They are not. Many churches teach good and great things and we invite all good men and women everywhere to bring the good that they already know and explore the teachings which we offer to see if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the "fullness" of the gospel for them to embrace.

You also said in your email that the missionaries would not tell you that they hoped to be gods themselves one day, "even being exalted to a God of their own planet where they will carry on celestial sex with their plural wives in order to populate an earth of their own and thereby receive the worship of their creations."

Both Joseph Smith and a later prophet by the name of Lorenzo Snow said, "As man is God once was, and as God is man may become." We know from reading Matt. 5:48 that Christ himself commanded us to "Be ye, therefore, perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." In order for us to gain all of the knowledge that God has, we must perfect ourselves, overcome the world, be more Christ-like in our dealings with others, keep all of God's commandments, and be faithful until the very end of our lives. If we will do so, we can be exalted in his Celestial Kingdom. It will be there where we will learn things that are not taught today upon the earth. They are the things known unto God which we do not know. (See Isaiah 55:8) I suspect, that it will take a long time before we can come to know the things that God knows. The doctrine as taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not clarify for us whether we will "reside on some other planet" or whether we will simply live with our Father in Heaven throughout the eternities and assist him in the creation of other worlds and other galaxies.

To believe that we will carry on what you call "Celestial sex with plural wives" is complete speculation on the part of whoever told you that since there is nothing in our doctrine that clarifies it.

Finally, you said, "They won't disclose one detail of their sacred temple rites, nor will they reveal that they are wearing special temple underwear to protect them from non-Mormons. They won't tell us that their temple ceremony has been recently changed. We believe to the public exposing of their occultist and offensive rituals taking place behind closed doors and the most important is this, that they are misrepresenting Jesus Christ, although His name figures prominently in their Church name."

You said, "They believe Jesus to be a spirit brother of Lucifer, and only one of many gods." If that weren't enough, you also stated that, "Early Mormon leaders taught that Jesus was a polygamous husband to both Mary and Martha and had offspring." Then you said, "I do not mean to offend you in any way at all." I can tell from the nature of your questions that you have either been having some pretty extensive conversations with people who hate the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or you have read anti-Mormon literature which has no basis in fact, but was meant only to insight criticism, mistrust, and hatred against the Church.

You criticized the missionaries because they would not disclose "one detail" of their sacred temple rites. That is true. They won't and I won't. These temple ceremonies and worship are so sacred that to discuss them openly in any forum outside the temple would make them common and "everyday." As members of the Church, we do not discuss amongst ourselves, even privately, the temple ceremonies and endowments. Those conversations happen only in the temple itself. Like me, these missionaries, have made a covenant to not make the temple ceremony cheap or common by discussing these things in any other place than in the temple.

You further criticized those missionaries because they were wearing "special temple underwear," as you have called it. The temple garment, which is worn by members of the Church who are worthy to go to the temple, is not something dreamed up by the Church, but, in fact, wearing of those sacred garments is done so to help remind us of the blessings we have received and promises we have made to God about the way that we will live our lives. Whoever told you that those garments are for the purpose of protecting us from non-Mormons has lied to you and clearly doesn't have a clue as to the purpose of them. Nothing could be further from the truth about temple garments than what you have said.

You have called our temple ceremonies and our worship of the Father and his Son Jesus Christ as "occultist and offensive" and somehow, by stating that it takes place behind closed doors, verifies the falsehood. In ancient Israel, the temple ceremonies and rituals were also done behind closed doors and only those who held the priesthood were able to enter the temple and participate in the most holy and sacred of the ordinances. All others, even though they were of the House of Israel, were not permitted to participate.

Please understand the words you are using here. The word 'occult' refers to Satan worship. How anyone could compare that hideous evil to the lovely and sacred ceremonies which take place within the walls of these sacred temples is far beyond me. I know that, Satan hates you and me and that he also hates the temples. He hates anything that will lead men and women back to God our Heavenly Father. He hates anything that will cause men and women to come to learn more about and live Christ-centered lives. I assure you, the word occultic, if used as a descriptive word for those lovely and sacred things which happen within the walls of the holy and sacred temples, is opposite of the descriptive words which might be used for these holy ordinances.

Your next criticism of our faith is that we believe that Lucifer (the Devil) is the spirit brother of Jesus Christ. He is. He is also the spirit brother of you and me since we were all created spiritually by God our Eternal Father, and we all lived with him in the Spirit World. You see, long before we came to this earth, Satan, or Lucifer as he is called, fought against the Father and his plan of salvation because his idea, which was to force all of us back to God after we came to the earth, was unacceptable to the Father (man's free agency being a major tenant of the work of God). That rebellion against God caused Satan to be cast out from God's presence. As we read in Isaiah 14:12, Revelations 12:7-12, and perhaps the most significant scripture is found in Job 1:6, "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them." The scriptures are quite clear on this. There are several other modern-day scriptures such as Doctrine and Covenants 76:25-38, 2 Nephi 9:8, D&C 29:36-38 and Moses 4:1-4.

Finally, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not teach that Jesus was polygamous, nor that he was the husband of Mary or Martha, nor do we teach that he had offspring. You have said that early Mormon leaders taught this. If any early Mormon members taught this, it was not the doctrine nor the teaching of this Church. Whoever told you of it attempts to discredit the Church. We do not teach or have any frame of reference to know, since the scriptures do not give any information on that subject.

I hope this is helpful to you.

Sincerely,

Donny Osmond


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