The Maze of Mormonism

By Walter Martin

Navigate the intricate beliefs and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with Walter Martin’s The Maze of Mormonism. This critical examination provides a thorough analysis of Mormon doctrine, history, and theology, offering readers an insightful exploration of one of the fastest-growing religious movements in the world.

Walter Martin, a renowned Christian apologist and expert on cults and new religious movements, meticulously unpacks the foundational teachings of Mormonism, comparing them with traditional Christian doctrines. Through detailed research and careful scrutiny, Martin addresses key aspects of Mormon belief, including the nature of God, the role of Jesus Christ, the authority of the Book of Mormon, and the church’s view on salvation and the afterlife.

The Maze of Mormonism delves into the origins of the LDS Church, examining the life and claims of its founder, Joseph Smith, and the subsequent development of Mormon theology under leaders such as Brigham Young. Martin provides historical context and critical perspectives on the church’s unique scriptures and revelations, offering readers a comprehensive understanding of how Mormon beliefs have evolved over time.

In addition to theological critique, Martin explores the sociological and cultural dimensions of Mormonism, highlighting the church’s practices, missionary efforts, and community life. He presents testimonies and experiences of former Mormons, shedding light on the challenges and controversies surrounding the church.

This book is an essential resource for Christians seeking to understand Mormonism from an orthodox perspective, as well as for anyone interested in the complexities of religious belief and practice. Martin’s clear and accessible writing style makes The Maze of Mormonism a valuable tool for pastors, theologians, and laypeople alike, providing the information needed to engage thoughtfully and respectfully with members of the LDS Church.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Porirua Publishing
• Release date: Jun 7, 2024
• ISBN: 9781991305770

Walter Martin

Dr. Walter Ralston Martin (1928 - 1989), was a Christian apologist who founded the Christian Research Institute in 1960 specializing in information in both general Christian and counter-cult apologetics. He is best known for his long-running radio program, “The Bible Answer Man,” and as author of the definitive work on cults, The Kingdom of the Cults.  

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Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1

ABOUT THE AUTHOR— 3

Other Writings by WALTER R. MARTIN 4

BOOKS 4

BOOKLETS 4

DEDICATION 6

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 7

PREFACE 8

1 — Mormonism, and the Verdict of History 11

CHURCH ORGANIZATION 13

EARLY MORMON HISTORY 14

2 — A New Revelation-The Mormon Bible 24

THE STORY OF THE ANCIENT PEOPLE 24

PURPOSE OF THE BOOK 25

SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE AGAINST THE BOOK OF MORMON 27

ARCHEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 29

THE MONGOLOID FACTOR 31

CORRECTIONS, CONTRADICTIONS AND ERRORS 32

PLAGARISMS—THE KING JAMES VERSION 33

ANACHRONISM AND CONTRADICTIONS 35

3 — The Mormon Priesthood 42

THE TRUE PRIESTHOOD 46

4 — Mormonism’s Doctrine of God—Theism or Polytheism? 48

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE GOD OF THE MORMONS 49

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN MORMONISM 54

5 — The Virgin Birth of Christ in Mormon Theology 58

6 — Salvation and Judgment in Mormonism 64

THE MORMON SAVIOUR 66

SALVATION BY GRACE? 67

MORMON ESCHATOLOGY 71

7 — Mormon Public Relations 73

8 — Meeting Mormon Missionaries 80

MORMON METHODS AND HOW TO ANSWER THEM 81

WITNESSING EFFECTIVELY TO MORMONS 85

MORMONISM AND MISSIONS 87

POINTS TO PONDER 87

APPENDIX — The Reorganized Mormon Church 95

A QUESTION ASKED US 95

THE REVELATIONS? 96

THE GOSPEL 96

ZION? 96

THE LONG CONTROVERTED QUESTION OF POLYGAMY 98

ORIGIN OF THE DOCTRINE 100

THE DOCTRINE NOT A DEAD ISSUE 100

SECRET TEMPLE SERVICES, OATHS, COVENANTS, SEALING 101

TEMPLE SERVICE 101

THE GOSPEL OPEN AND FREE 102

JESUS WARNS AGAINST SECRET CHAMBERS 102

MARRIED TO THE DEAD 103

PROPHETIC SUCCESSION AND LEADERSHIP 103

PRESIDENT JOSEPH SMITH SUCCEEDED HIS FATHER 104

SET APART BY HIS FATHER 104

SUSTAINED IN CIVIL COURTS 105

STARTLING ADMISSIONS 105

THE BOOK OF DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 106

CONCLUSION 107

AUTHOR’S NOTES 109

BIBLIOGRAPHY 110

ABOUT THE AUTHOR—

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WALTER R. MARTIN is a graduate of Stony Brook School and New York University where he is currently completing his doctoral study in the field of Comparative Religions. Recognized as one of the leading authorities on religions having their origin in the United States, Mr. Martin has authored numerous articles, pamphlets, tracts, and six full-length books in this growing area of study. He also serves as a contributing editor on the staff of Eternity magazine and writes frequently for Christianity Today and other journals.

The Christian Research Institute, of which he is founder and Director, culminates over a decade of study and research. Through Religious Research Digest, of which he is editor, Christian missionaries and leaders receive the benefits of his extensive preparation and the thousands of research hours necessary to produce reliable information.

Mr. Martin has lectured extensively throughout America in schools, colleges and seminaries, and has done field work in twelve foreign countries in Europe and Asia. An ordained Baptist minister, he teaches the famous New York Bible Class at the downtown Calvary Baptist Church. He is also visiting lecturer of English Bible at Kings College, Briar Cliff Manor, New York, and conducts Cult Clinics for pastors in many cities, in cooperation with the Audio Bible Society of America, for whom he has recorded albums of his messages.

Christianity Today has called Mr. Martin the most productive evangelical scholar writing in the field of the cults today. And Dr. Bernard Ramm of California Baptist Seminary writes: "I have examined the writings of Walter Martin in The Modern Cult Library and I can commend them to the Christian reading public. I have noted that Mr. Martin writes squarely from within the orthodox Christian position; that he is very careful to cite the authoritative works of the cultists themselves; and that he shows in a Christian and biblical manner the serious departures of these cults from the Christian faith."

Other Writings by WALTER R. MARTIN

BOOKS

Jehovah of the Watch Tower

The Christian Science Myth

The Rise of the Cults

The Christian and the Cults

The Truth About Seventh-Day Adventism

BOOKLETS

Jehovah’s Witnesses

Christian Science

Mormonism

Unity

The Maze of Mormonism

by

WALTER R. MARTIN, M.A.

Visiting Lecturer, English Bible,

The King’s College, Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.

DEDICATION

To my Mother,

MAUD AINSWORTH MARTIN

a constant source of encouragement to

my father and now to his youngest son

in the pursuit of a difficult calling—

this work is affectionately dedicated.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to the Research Departments of the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library, without whose assistance in the compilation of primary source material this book would not have been possible. In addition to this, the efforts of the Reverend Mr. R. Odell Brown, pastor of Hillcrest Methodist Church, Richmond, Virginia, have been of inestimable value to the author in the task of collecting photostats and scientific opinions concerning the validity of certain Mormon documents. As is always the case in a research project, it is impossible to thank adequately all the persons who contributed to the finished product, but their efforts have been duly noted and deeply appreciated throughout the course of the preparation of the manuscript. A great debt of gratitude is owed to Anthony Collarile, my research assistant, for his untiring bibliographical and textual research, and to Mr. Pierson Curtis of the Stony Brook School who corrected the proofs and contributed many helpful suggestions.

Whatever shortcomings may exist in the work, however, are solely the responsibility of the author, with whom the final decision for the manner of organization and the mode of presentation of the data has rested.

PREFACE

One of the truly great problems the Christian Church faces today is that of effectively evangelizing and combating false and divisive teachers and their teachings, which not only bore from within the church but attack from without as well. The Apostle Paul anticipated just such happenings nineteen centuries ago and urgently warned the Church against it (Acts 20:28-31).

In this work we have tried both to recognize and to deal effectively with one group of such teachings and their promulgators. This work is designed primarily to be a concise handbook on Mormon history and theology for Christian workers and one which by necessity includes a systematic apologetic in defense of the historic Christian faith.

In two previous books dealing with the larger problem of cults in general{1} we attempted to give an introduction to the problem of contemporary American cults and then, as it were, to sketch some ground rules whereby the interested reader might answer the cultist from the Scriptures.

We also described some of the methods and approaches of dealing with cultists which the author has found successful throughout a decade of research and of personal relationships with many such persons.

This volume, however, is designed to deal in survey form with a particular problem: the Mormon Church, its gospel and its zealous advocates. To be sure, there is no magic panacea for the problem of the rapidly growing cults of our time (of which Mormonism is one of the largest), but an answer must be sought. Those who propose that we either dismiss such growth by ignoring its presence, or attack the cults without first understanding the basis for their beliefs as well as the Biblical basis for answering them, postulate grave folly and we would be foolish to follow their counsel. The Christian Church must realize, however, that the situation, while serious, is by no means hopeless, for the Church has always had to face, throughout the preceding ages, the doctrinal ancestors of the very people with whom we must deal today. Perversions of the truth of the Gospel have existed in every age, the first century not excepted; so the problem of false doctrine is nothing new. It is merely the same old denials couched in twentieth century phraseology and dressed with the air of respectability in an age when religion for religion’s sake is popular and criticism of the religious convictions of others is highly unpopular. It is no secret that there is always incurred in the defense of the cross a mounting displeasure or offense on the part of some who, possessing no real convictions themselves, are disturbed to see such convictions manifested in the activities of others.

In addition to this, there are not a few poorly informed Christians who, in apparent ignorance of the Biblical command to contend for the faith against the avowed enemies of the Gospel, hinder the cause of cult apologetics by a misguided sense of Christian love. They forget that love for one’s enemies in the Biblical context does not mean abandonment of the responsibility of vigorously opposing their errors, which we are called upon to do time and again in Scripture.

Christian workers everywhere are daily meeting the challenge of the cults, at home and on the mission fields, and the great scarcity of thoroughly documented material upon which to base an effective defense of the historic Christian position continues to be a real problem in many areas of the world.

In this book we have dealt as much as possible with primary sources and have documented our conclusions accordingly. In our study of the Mormon religion, the author openly acknowledges that we have approached Mormonism with the theological tenets of historic Christianity foremost in our thinking, and we have weighed the faith of the Mormon Saints theologically in this light. We feel that this position is perfectly valid, since Mormonism claims that it is a Christian faith and stands or falls, therefore, on the historic teachings of the Christian Church as found in the Bible and in the Bible alone.

We have, however, consulted numerous sources, including the famous Berrian collection of the New York Public Library, reputedly one of the world’s finest sources of information on the history of Mormonism, as well as the extensive bibliography on file in the library of the Union Theological Seminary in New York City and in the Library of Congress.

The results of our five years of research as found in this book will doubtless be criticized by the Mormon Church and its friends, who will claim that much of the quoted material is from allegedly hostile sources, and that as a result the Mormons have not had a fair showing.{2} In answer to this, we can only say that any material quoted has been documented wherever possible from primary source material, including many personal testimonies, affidavits, and exhaustively documented writings, contemporary in many cases with the founders and the early advocates of the Mormon religion. Such facts cannot be easily discounted by anyone who considers himself an impartial scholar or investigator. The fact is that the Mormon church has not produced contemporary evidence of the same caliber which in any way tends to disprove our basic findings. We sincerely welcome any attempt in this direction that the Mormons may make, in the firm conviction that the facts support our conclusions. We would have been only too happy to quote Mormon sources of the same era had they been as well documented and verified as the majority of data we relied upon. If the Mormon Church can produce such evidence, evidence which has been requested time and time again by many investigators, we shall be most willing to consider it and revise our conclusions proportionately.

This volume is the first attempt in over twenty-five years to present a thoroughly documented, historical, theological, and apologetic survey of the Mormon religion. The author sends it forth with the knowledge that the Mormon situation is of the utmost urgency. We also feel quite deeply that the facts herein contained must be sound and reliable if the conclusions arrived at are to be considered valid and useful to the interested Christian. We have made every effort to accomplish this goal of accuracy.

This work is not to be construed as a personal attack upon Mormons in general or upon those persons who make up the church hierarchy. Rather, let us say that this is a defense against a rapidly multiplying and determined system of religion which in one breath believes Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and the Book of Mormon in preference to the Scriptures, and in the next breath pledges allegiance to those same Scriptures, a contradiction not to be taken lightly.

Against the pseudo-history carefully manufactured by over-zealous Mormons and aided by their vast wealth and political prestige, we offer only the Word of God and the verdict of history, believing that the interested reader will see the great gulf that exists between Christianity and the religion of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.

That many will see these truths and turn from Mormonism to the freedom that can be found only in the Son of God is our abiding hope and prayer.

With these thoughts before us, we offer this volume as a step in the direction of proper Christian orientation where the Mormon cult is concerned. It is our sincere hope that as the truths of the Gospel are contrasted with the major teachings of Mormonism, the reader may see the challenge which lies before all true Christians and may be led to a deeper personal committal to the task of both effectively witnessing to adherents of the cults and, when possible, refuting their un-Christian doctrines in obedience to the counsel of Scripture.

WALTER R. MARTIN

Florham Park, New Jersey

January, 1962

Mormonism and the Verdict of History

1 — Mormonism, and the Verdict of History

The Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints is unique among all the religious cults and sects active in the United States in that it has by far the most fascinating history, and one worthy of consideration by all students of religions originating on the American continent.

The Mormons, as they are most commonly referred to, are divided into two major groups, The Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints, Utah, and The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints, with headquarters in Independence, Missouri. Today, 131 years after its founding, the Mormons number more than 1,800,000 adherents, own considerable stock in the agricultural and industrial wealth of America, and circle the earth in missionary activities, energetically rivaling evangelical Christianity. The former group, which is the larger of the two, and which is the main concern of this volume, makes its headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, and claims a membership in excess of 1,800,000 as of January, 1962. The smaller group is rapidly approaching the half million mark and has won acceptance in some quarters as a sect of fundamentalists. The Reorganized Church is briefly reviewed in the Appendix at the end of this book, but there can be little doubt that it has gained ground in the last 25 years and is composed of a zealous group of dedicated people. They irritate the Utah Church consistently by pointing out that court decisions have established their claim that they are the true church and Utah the schismatic. From its founding 132 years ago the Mormon church has been characterized by thriftiness, zeal and an admirable missionary spirit, and even before the advent of World War Two, it had more than 2,000 missionaries active on all the mission fields of the world. Since the close of World War Two, however, and in keeping with the acceleration of cult propaganda everywhere, the Mormons have more than 6,000 missionaries active today, according to a statement published in 1960.

One interesting fact, however, accounts for this large missionary force and that is the practice of the Mormon Church to require its most promising young people, boys aged 20 and girls aged 23, to dedicate