Jerry C. Brewer
How many testaments does Jesus Christ have? The Mormons say their book is “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.” What of that claim? Is the Book of Mormon really “Another Testament of Jesus Christ?” It’s one thing to make such a bold assertion, but quite another to substantiate it.
Mormonism, which is based on The Book of Mormon, is a 19th century fabrication of a man named Joseph Smith who was from New York State. Smith claimed he received three visits between 1823 and 1827 from an angel named Moroni who told him of the existence of some golden plates, or tablets, hidden in a hill called Cumorah. The tablets, supposedly written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, were allegedly removed by Smith and translated with the help of his cousin, Oliver Cowdrey.
That led to the publication of The Book of Mormon on March 26, 1830, and the following month the Latter Day Saints, or Mormon, Church, was organized in Fayette, New York. Opposition to this radical religion forced its move to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Independence, Missouri, and from there to Nauvoo, Illinois in 1833.
In 1844, Joseph Smith was arrested and jailed and on June 27th of that year an anti-Mormon mob assaulted the jail and killed Smith and his brother Hyrum. Smith’s death precipitated a number of disputes over Mormon leadership and several splinter groups were formed, some of which still exist today. But the majority of Mormons accepted Brigham Young’s leadership and in February, 1846 he started them on their epic trek to the Great Salt Lake Basin in what is now Utah.
Neither Mormonism, nor the book upon which it rests is of divine origin. The Book of Mormon is a work of fiction containing numerous errors and Biblical contradictions. As such, it is rejected by all who know the Truth of the New Testament of Jesus Christ. Comparisons between the Book of Mormon, Smith’s other writings, and the Bible indicate the Book of Mormon is a myth.
The Bible is the verbally inspired word of God. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). If that’s true—and it is—then The Book of Mormon contradicts the New Testament of Jesus Christ by its claim that it’s “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.” Moreover, Paul wrote in First Corinthians 2:9-13 that he and other New Testament writers were inspired of God in what they wrote. And James calls the Bible, “the perfect law of liberty” (Jas. 1:25). The Bible is the complete and perfect will of God and contains no contradictions. But unlike the Bible, the Book of Mormon and its writer, Joseph Smith contradict each other and those contradictions stand as proof of the spurious nature of this book upon which Mormonism rests.
Remember billionaire, Howard Hughes? When he died, people came out of the woodwork brandishing what they claimed was his last will and testament. It took the courts years to sort through the false claims and establish the fact that Hughes had only one will. That’s the case with Mormonism and its book which that claims to be “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”
Jesus Christ left only one last will or testament—The New Testament. But, like those who claimed Howard Hughes had another testament, the Mormons loudly and boldly proclaim that Joseph Smith’s 19th century work of fiction is “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.” The inspired apostle Paul pronounced a divine curse upon all who would preach “another gospel” in Galatians 1:6-9. “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Even if there was such an angel as the so—called “Moroni” who gave Joseph Smith The Book of Mormon, that angel is accursed of God.
Paul wrote to the Galatians, “I marvel that ye are soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:6-7). There is no such thing as “another testament of Jesus Christ.” The Lord left only one testament, and it is not the Book of Mormon. The gospel of Christ is complete and fully revealed in the New Testament—the only one Christ has. Joseph Smith wrote his fiction 1,800 years after the New Testament of Christ declared that the faith had been once and for all time delivered unto the saints (Jude 3). No other was ever revealed after that time. That makes the Book of Mormon 18 centuries too late to be the word of God.
No inspired Bible writer ever contradicted his own words, but Joseph Smith did just that. He wrote in Mosiah 3:5 of his book that God is eternal. But he later wrote in History of The Church, 6:305, “We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea.” He also condemned polygamy in The Book of Mormon in 1830 in Jacob 1:15 and 2:24. But in his other creed book, Doctrine and Covenants, he contradicted The Book of Mormon in a “revelation” to his wife Emma so he could have more than one wife. Here’s what he wrote: “And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me…And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore he is justified.”
The Book of Mormon contradicts the Bible regarding Christ’s birthplace. In Almah 7:10, Smith wrote that Christ was to be born in Jerusalem, but the Bible plainly declares that His birthplace was Bethlehem (Micah 4:2; Matt. 2:4-6). How could Smith have made such a blunder if he was inspired? The truth is that he was not inspired of God. His book came from his own uninformed imagination.
When one compares Smith’s Book of Mormon with Bible Truth, Smith is clearly shown to have been an imposter and his book false. The Book of Mormon is not “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.” It is the work of a religious charlatan.
