Lifting The Veil

Let’s be honest—when most people hear “Mormon Church” or “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” they think of wholesome families, missionaries, or Utah. But dig a little deeper, and you see a faith with origins, practices, and structures that are deeply troubling from a biblical standpoint. It all begins with Joseph Smith in the 1820s, a young man from upstate New York who claimed he had visions of God and Jesus, and later, visits from an angel named Moroni. This angel allegedly revealed golden plates containing the history of ancient American civilizations, which Smith translated into the Book of Mormon. No one else ever saw the plates, and the translation involved a seer stone in a hat—hardly what you’d call straightforward or verifiable. The early church also practiced secret polygamy, with Joseph Smith marrying dozens of women, some as young as 14, and founded the Kirtland Safety Society, a bank that failed and financially harmed members. The secrecy, extraordinary claims, ...

By now, you’ve probably noticed a pattern in Mormonism: secret rituals, authoritarian leadership, social control, and doctrines that deviate from biblical teaching. These are exactly the reasons scholars and critics classify it as a cult rather than a traditional Christian denomination. A key factor is authoritarian control. The top leaders—the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles—hold nearly absolute power over doctrine, finances, and member behavior. Members are expected to obey without question, and dissent is often discouraged. This mirrors the classic characteristics of high-demand religious groups described by sociologists and religious scholars. Another reason is exclusive claims to truth. Mormons believe that salvation and exaltation depend on temple rituals, secret ordinances, and adherence to church authority. This places the church, rather than Christ alone, at the center of salvation—a major departure from biblical teaching that salvation is by grace throu...