While it is disheartening, it is nonetheless true that
there is a deliberate industry determined to attack and criticize the Church.
“There is an insidious effort going on,” said President Gordon B. Hinckley, “to
try to undermine the Church and destroy its credibility, even among its own
members.”[1]
This is
not new. In the very beginning of mankind’s existence on the earth the
“serpent” beguiled Eve.[2] He deceptively charmed her into believing his words.
The Sadducees, Pharisees, scribes, and lawyers, those who thought themselves
the most saintly, learned, and wise among the people, harangued the Savior incessantly.[3]
They pretended piousness before the people but were bent on undermining the
Lord’s teachings and destroying the faith of His followers.
Mormon
recorded a time in the Book of Mormon when “whosoever did not belong to the
church of God began to persecute those that did belong to the church of God,
and had taken upon them the name of Christ. Yea, they did persecute them, and
afflict them with all manner of words.”[4]
Just
eight years after the organization of the Church, Parley P. Pratt said, “Why do
the Elders of the Church hold their peace, instead of contradicting the various
falsehoods, which are published concerning them and their principles? The
answer is, it would require a standing army of writers and printers in constant
employ; for no sooner are our enemies detected in one falsehood, than a
thousand more are put in circulation by them.”[5]
Fifty
years later, Junius F. Wells[6]
stated, “The Latter-day Saints have been so repeatedly and generally
misrepresented and maligned…Were the people to undertake to meet every lie
uttered against them and set it right, they would devote the whole of their
lives to it and then die without accomplishing the desired object.”[7]
More
recently, President Gordon B. Hinckley stated, “What about the critics of the
Church who have been so vocal of late? We have them. We have always had
them…Noisy as they are, they are not as threatening.” He then remarked, “People
ask whether we are fearful of research of our history. My reply to this is no,
of course not, provided it is done with balance and integrity.”[8]
Anti-Mormon
propaganda comes from many sources, including scientific statements, religious
leaders of other churches, family, friends, the Internet, books, magazine
articles, and even members of the Church who think they have a sincere desire
to “tell it like it is” or “let the historical documents speak for themselves.”
It is, unfortunately, no less true in our day than it was in the early days of
the Church when the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that “many spirits which are
false spirits…have gone forth in the earth, deceiving the world” and that
“there are hypocrites among you, who have deceived some.” Anti-Mormon propaganda
gives “the adversary power.”[9]
One of the manifestations of that evil power is the doubt that develops among
Church members.
Thankfully,
the Lord also told the Prophet, “hypocrites shall be detected and shall be cut
off.”[10]
In his own day, Jesus Christ often found it necessary to silence sophistry with
His divine intellect and inspired reasoning.[11]
Along with preaching the pure principles of His gospel, He had to contend with critics,
faultfinders, and outright liars.
It has
become necessary in our day to follow His example in this regard. I applaud
those who defend the Church and the Brethren. I especially admire those who are
apologetic without being polemic.
Anti-Mormonism
is actually a smaller effort of perhaps a more sinister scheme to convince the
human race that basing one’s life on religion is naïve and useless. “Atheists
and agnostics make nonbelief their religion,” said President Boyd K. Packer, “and
today organize in unprecedented ways to attack faith and belief. They are now
organized, and they pursue political power. You will be hearing much about them
and from them. Much of their attack is indirect in mocking the faithful, in
mocking religion.”[12]
In
April 2014, I attended a meeting sponsored by the American Atheists who were
holding their annual convention in Salt Lake City, Utah. Up to that point, I
thought athiests were happy to go about life from their point of view and allow
others to live with a belief in God. But this particular brand of atheism was
militant against religion of any sort. Their president explicitly stated
several times during the meeting that their ultimate goal was to eradicate
religion from the earth because it is not good for humankind. Atheists like
these and anti-Mormons may be fulfilling, at least to some degree, Isaiah’s
well-known prophecy of those who “call evil good, and good evil; that put
darkness for light, and light for darkness.”[13]
When
I’m confronted with anti-Mormon sentiments on Facebook or see the media
sensationalize seemingly salacious stories about the Church – its doctrine,
practices, policies, or its founder Joseph Smith – I find myself humming a
phrase from W. W. Phelps’ energetic hymn, “Praise to the Man”: “Traitors…now
fight him in vain.”[14]
During his all night instruction, Moroni told Joseph that his name “should be
had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or
that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people.”[15]
And so it has been from 1820 to the very latest day. The maligning tongue of
anti-Mormons vexes some members, but most have a conviction of the Spirit about
who Joseph the Prophet really was and remain unaffected.
Perhaps
President Hinckley’s prophetic perspective might provide a bit of a warning to
those who use their energy to undermine the Church and destroy the faith of its
followers:
When we are called before the bar of God to give
an accounting of our performance, I think it unlikely that any of us will be
commended for wearing out our lives in an effort to find some morsel of
history, incomplete in its context, to cast doubt on the integrity of this
work. Rather, I believe we will be examined on what we did to build the
kingdom, to bring light and understanding of the eternal truths of the gospel
to the eyes and minds of all who are willing to listen, to care for the poor
and the needy, and to make of the world a better place as a result of our
presence.[16]
My own experience
confronting anti-Mormon criticism and trying to verify its accuracy has led me
to conclude that most, if not all, of it is meant to produce doubt. Anti-Mormon
propaganda comes from a prejudiced point of view. Anti-Mormons became such, no
doubt, from unfortunate experiences with Church members and leaders or a
misinterpretation of information about the Church. These negative experiences bias
their perspective and entice them to look for weaknesses or mistakes that reinforce
their already jaded feelings toward the Church. Injected with such high doses
of negativity, they tend to present information inaccurately to dissuade others
from believing in the truthfulness of the Church. Anti-Mormon propaganda has as
its primary, if not sole, purpose to generate doubt.
For
example, we know the Sadducees, Pharisees, scribes, lawyers, and others who
opposed Jesus tried to create doubt about the veracity of Jesus’ claim to be
the Son of God and Savior of the world. Some spread rumors that He was
“excessively greedy” and “a wino.”[17]
Even His so-called “friends” accused him of being “beside himself,” meaning He
was out of his wits or insane.[18]
They censured Him, saying, “He hath Beelzebub,” a colloquial phrase meaning he
was a “dung-god.” In today’s vernacular, one would say (and please excuse the
crudeness here), “He is full of crap.”[19]
Christ’s
biography would certainly be different if it had been written by the Sadducees or
Pharisees, avid anti-Christs. Their account would give ample reason to doubt
Jesus. The same can be said of latter-day anti-Mormons. Their teachings, while
touted as truth, tend toward an extremely distorted, even false, opinion. Let’s
not let anti-Mormon propaganda be the source of determining whether or not we
continue faithful to the Lord, His Church, and His leaders.
Thankfully,
people who experience doubt because of anti-Mormon propaganda can be
“reclaimed,” as the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith.[20]
But, it may take the love and support of trusted family and friends who can
inspire doubters to be wise in detecting anti-Mormon propaganda for what it
really is and does. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s counsel applies fittingly
here:
There will be times when it may appear that
things are going badly for the truth of God—that the evidence of the world
contradicts God’s utterances. For my part, I have learned to be patient,
knowing that in the end things will work out. God’s kingdom will continue to
grow. The truth will continue to flourish and spread throughout the earth.
Sometimes all it takes is a little faith and a little patience. Things that may
appear impossible now may become matter-of-fact in years to come.[21]
[2] Genesis 3:13; Moses 4:19.
[3] A few examples are: Matthew 19:3; 22:15;
Luke 10:25; 11:16; 20:20; John 8:6.
[5] Parley P. Pratt, Mormonism Unveiled: Zion’s Watchman Unmasked, and It’s Editor Mr. L. R.
Sunderland, Exposed: Truth Vindicated: The Devil Mad, and Priestcraft in
Danger! (Joseph W. Harrison, Printer, 1838),1.
[6] Junius F. Wells was an assistant Church
Historian from 1921 to 1930 and was the founder of the Young Men’s Mutual
Improvement Association (see Encyclopedia
of Latter-day Saint History, p. 1326).
[9]
Doctrine and Covenants 50:2, 7.
[10]
Doctrine and Covenants 50:8
[11] Matthew 22:15–22; Luke 20:1–8.
[12]
“Lehi’s Dream and You,” New Era,
January 2015, p. 4.
[13]
Isaiah 5:20.
[14] Hymns,
[1985], No. 27.
[15]
Joseph Smith—History 1:33.
[17]
Luke 7:34; Matthew 11:19.
[19] Strong’s Concordance with Hebrew and Greek Lexicon
online at www.eliyah.com/lexicon: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G954&t=KJV.
[20]
Doctrine and Covenants 50:7.
[21]
“Seeing Beyond the Leaf,” address at BYU Church History Symposium in Salt Lake
City, March 7, 2014; bracketed phrase added.
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