The Mormon Challenge

The Foundation of Mormon Authority

"John Farrell's assignment was "not an expose of the Mormon religion," but to give an honest picture of life inside Utah. Just as it was behind Marxism's Iron Curtain, however, so Farrell and Richardson discovered that in this bastion of capitalism and conservatism behind the Zion Curtain it was extremely difficult to find individuals who were willing to speak openly and freely in response to questions about the almost-omnipotent religious power that tolerates no interference in its control of the Church State. They soon learned that "the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not take kindly to dissent." For a resident of Utah to openly question the irresistible and self-serving influence exerted everywhere in Utah by the Mormon Church--or its activities, morals, or doctrines--could call down the wrath of a totalitarian power upon one's head. The results are sometimes frighteningly similar to those suffered by dissidents within the former Soviet Union or some other Communist country."

"Everyone entering the imposing Church headquarters is greeted by these emblazoned words: The Course of Wisdom is the Course of Obedience."

"And in Utah, the Church State, even non-Mormons feel the pressure to conform to a power that insists upon overriding both conscience and God. The authority which the Mormon hierarchy wields began with Joseph Smith's claim that every Christian on the face of the earth was following abominable creeds and was involved in a total worldwide apostasy that had completely destroyed the Church that Jesus Christ had founded."

"All who reject Joseph Smith's claims and do not submit obediently to his successors are "Gentiles" outside the true Church he founded and are without salvation."

(The God Makers, Ed Decker & Dave Hunt, Harvest House Publishers, 1984, 1997, Pgs. 8-9, bold lettering added)

The title of this post is linked to Ed Decker's web site. Please take some time and visit Ed. He'll be glad you did! And so will you.