A Biblical Response to Mormonism

Welcome! Assure them of the desire to be accurate – the hours of research, the number of resources used, the goal of integrity and seeking to be fair and honest with Mormon views, but truthful.

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Purpose/Goals of this Series:
1. Purpose:
> Our purpose is to instruct our church family on the teachings and beliefs of various world religions, in contrast to Biblical Christianity.
2. Goals:
1. To accurately present in a culturally sensitive manner the specific world life views of various world religions.
2. To demonstrate how each world religion differs from Biblical Christianity.
3. To equip our church to respond Biblically to the claims of these world religions
- It is not our desire in any sense to make fun of those who believe something different than we do – I’m certain that many who hold other beliefs are very sincere in those beliefs
- However, sincerity it not the standard of truthfulness
- Proverbs even warns us about our sincerity:
• Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
B. Ground Rules
1. We are not speaking in a spirit of ill will (but we will not ignore obvious error)
2. There WILL be disagreements and differences.
3. Learn what we can about other religions while better understanding our own
I. The Organization
The Latter-day Saints, as they are commonly called, are divided into two major groups.
1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons), with headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, which is one of the world's richest and fastest-growing religious movements with more than 8.3 million members worldwide with 4.5 million U.S. members.
2. The second group is the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints headquartered in Independence, Missouri with just over 240,000 members worldwide. We will focus on the Utah group.

- The average active Mormon is moral, amiable, hospitable, and extremely devoted to their family and to the teachings of their church. The Mormon birthrate is 28.1 per thousand, in contrast to the average 15.9 birthrate of the United States.
- Mormons preserve their bodies in the best of health and do not use tobacco alcohol, and caffeine-containing drinks. The Mormons tithe one-tenth of their gross income.
- The Mormon Church encourages its most promising young people, boys aged nineteen and older and girls aged twenty-one and older, to perform missionary work. Mormon Church membership increases each year at an average rate of 300,000 conversions and 75,000 children’s baptisms.
- There is strong emphasis on education, sports, hobbies, dramatics, music, home-making courses for prospective brides, dances, and dramatic festivals. Mormonism strives to make its church organization a “home away from home” for Mormon children and young people, as evidenced by its low level of juvenile delinquency.
- Mormons have more adherents listed in Who’s Who in America and scientific honor societies than any other one religion. Mormon leaders have become powerful in almost all branches of American government.

II. Structural Authority

- One prophet leads the Church. Beneath him is the Council of the Twelve Apostles. A third group of men are called the First and Second Councils (Quorum) of the Seventy. All of these men together are called the General Authorities.
- The local Mormon Church administration is divided into territories made up of “wards” of from five hundred to a thousand people (similar to a parish or congregation).
- Each ward is presided over by a bishop, chosen from the membership and assisted by several counselors and a large number of other voluntary workers. Mormon churches do not have a professional clergy. The bishop supports himself and his family through his chosen vocation. The wards are consolidated into stakes, each of which is supervised by a stake president and two counselors, aided in turn by twelve high priests known as the “stake high council.”
- All authority resides in the Mormon “priesthood,” established under the titles “Aaronic” (lesser) and “Melchizedek” (higher). Every active male Mormon twelve years of age or over belongs to the Aaronic priesthood and if “worthy” these are ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood at age eighteen.

III. Historical Background

A. Key Leader -- Joseph Smith Jr.
- Joseph Smith Jr. was born in Sharon, Vermont on December 23, 1805, the fourth child of Lucy and Joseph Smith Sr. and grew up near Palmyra, N.Y. Joseph Smith Sr. and his son spent time digging for imaginary buried treasure.
- Former Mormon historian Dr. D. Michael Quinn writes: “Joseph Smith…had unquestionably participated in treasure-seeking and seer-stone divination and had apparently also used divining rods, talismans, and implements of ritual magic. In later years, the “prophet” denied that he had ever been a money-digger. However, the proceedings of a court hearing dated March 20, 1826—New York vs. Joseph Smith—revealed that Joseph Smith was found guilty of peep-stone gazing, one of several illegal occult practices in the 1820s.
- In 1820, 14 year old Joseph Jr. was disturbed by the religious confusion of his day and went into the woods to ask God for wisdom about which church he should join. He claimed God the Father and God the Son visited him and Jesus said he should join none of them, they were "all wrong" and all the Christian church's doctrines "were an abomination."
B. Claims of revelation
- Beginning in 1823, Smith claimed a series of revelations, in which he was visited by the angel Moroni (pronounced Ma-roe-nie) who told Joseph about some golden plates hidden on a little hill near Palmyra (now called Hill Cumorah). These plates, written by Moroni's father, the prophet Mormon, contained important writings, but Joseph was forbidden to remove these plates for four years. He was also told of a means for translating the writings on the plates.
- Smith did not write this account down until some years later, but in the 1851 edition of the Pearl of Great Price, he identifies the messenger as Nephi, an entirely different character found in the Book of Mormon.
Note: The mistake of crediting the revelation of the Book of Mormon to Nephi instead of Moroni has never ceased to be a proverbial thorn in the side of Mormon historians.
- Between 1827-1830, Smith translated the Golden Plates into the LDS scripture, the Book of Mormon. The conflicting methods Smith used for translating the Book of Mormon leaves little doubt that the story changed often through its progressive history.
- To translate the first 116 pages, Joseph used stones which he claimed came with the plates. He called them Urim and Thummim. For the rest of the translation he used his "little dark seer stone." Joseph's wife, Emma, said he would translate from the plates without even removing the linen tablecloth, which covered them.
- Joseph would stare into his "stones" and begin dictating. She would write as he spoke. David Whitmer claimed Smith often didn’t look at the golden plates. Instead, he placed a seer stone into a hat and covered his face with the hat to see visions in the stone concerning the hieroglyphics and English translation. Martin Harris once claimed that Joseph saw the English translation under the foreign characters.
- The official version of the Mormon Church is that Joseph Smith received the golden plates with the Urim and Thummim and viewed the plates through the clear stones to translate the reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics into Elizabethan English and was only given the essence of the translation, not a word-for-word translation. This is important in maintaining the supposed authenticity of The Book o f Mormon, because at least 3,000 changes have been made between the original translation and the text that is used today.
- In 1828, Martin Harris began to assist with the writing of Joseph's translation while living in Harmony, N.Y. Harris’ skeptical wife, stole the first 116 pages and challenged Joseph to translate them over again. Joseph refused, knowing that to retranslate would invite comparison between the two translations.
- Instead, Joseph conveniently claimed the Lord provided a set of small plates (the book of Nephi), which covered the exact period of history as the stolen 116 pages. The record was kept complete without running the risk of retranslating the missing section.
- In April of 1829, Oliver Cowdery, a young schoolmaster, took over the task of writing down the translation. In May 1829, Smith and Cowdery, claimed they received the Aaronic priesthood from John the Baptist. Later these same two men said that Peter, James, and John visited them and gave to them the Melchizedek priesthood.
C. A completed ‘revelation’
- The translation was finished in July of 1829 and published in early 1830, this was to become the first of many scriptures for the Mormon Church. Here was a final word from God to end the religious confusion of the day.
- Joseph claimed that the language of the golden plates was "reformed Egyptian. Martin Harris attempted to have Joseph's claim verified by Charles Anthon, a linguist at Columbia College, N.Y. Anthon, however, vigorously denied lending any credence to the genuineness of the characters.
D. The establishment of the church
- The Book of Mormon and the two priesthoods formed the foundation for the “new religious society” entitled “The Church of Christ” which came into being on April 6, 1830. The name was changed to the Church of the Latter-day Saints in 1834 and finally as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1838.
- On April 6, 1830, the nucleus of the Mormon Church moved to Kirtland, Ohio. Smith’s polygamy was instituted at Kirtland and later confirmed by “divine revelation.” From Kirtland, Smith moved to Jackson County, Missouri. In response an introductory comment in Doctrines and Covenants, Chapter 132 claims that the revelation had been known prior to 1843 the source of this information however is not documented.
- The group moved to Nauvoo, 50 miles north of Quincy, Ill, and between 1839-1944 it grew to the second largest town in the state. After one of his former assistants, exposed the practice of polygamy, Smith ordered the destruction of the The Nauvoo Expositor. Subsequently, Joseph, his brother, and several others were jailed in Carthage where they were attacked and in the ensuing gun battle on June 27, 1844, Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed.
E. The character/life of Joseph Smith
- The outspoken Joseph Smith once said, “No man knows my history,” which caused suspicion and resulted in the discovery of improprieties ranging from occult peep-stone seeking, treasure digging, and financial schemes.
- In New York, a statement signed by sixty-two residents of Palmyra, New York, who were well acquainted with the Smiths, that stated in part:
“…Joseph Smith Sr., and his son Joseph, were in particular considered entirely destitute of moral character and addicted to vicious habits.
F. A change in leadership
- After Smith's murder, the large majority of Mormons accepted the leadership of 43 year-old, Brigham Young who had previously led the Mormons to safety from Missouri. Eventually the affairs of the church were placed in the hands of "the 12 apostles," with Brigham Young as president, who added several strange and unique doctrines to the Mormon Church's repertoire. In 1846,
- Young brought the first band of Mormons to the valley of the Great Salt Lake in what was to become the state of Utah. For thirty years, Brigham Young ruled the Mormon Church and inherited the divinely appointed prophetic mantle of the first prophet. Each succeeding president of the Mormon Church claims an infallible prophetic succession.
IV. Differences with the Mormon Doctrine
The Place of the Word of God
A. Deny the Authority of the Bible.
- For us, we believe the Bible alone is the inerrant, infallible Word of God. (Hebrews 1:1; 2 Peter 2:19-2:2; 2 Timothy 3:16; Revelation 22:18-19)
• 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
- Mormonism denies the authority of the Bible by claiming additional al revelation. The four standard works:
1. The Bible (correctly translated) is considered usable, but suspect due to its many errors and missing parts because of the manner in which the book was transmitted.
2. The Book of Mormon: Joseph Smith’s proclamation that, “the Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book on the earth,” has been amply refuted by both Mormon scholars and Christian apologists.
3. The Doctrine and Covenants contains most of the doctrines accepted by the Latter-day Saints through revelations given to Joseph Smith and some of his successors in the presidency of the church. Some teachings in Doctrine and Covenants do not agree with present-day teachings and practices of the Mormon church.
4. The Pearl of Great Price is purported to be the Book of Abraham. Various scholars have confirmed that the papyri from which it was supposedly translated is nothing more than an Egyptian burial text.
Note: Latter-day Saints also accept the idea of continuing revelation. New revelations can be given to the church at any time-for example, the revelations putting an end to polygamy and the inclusion of black males into the priesthood
B. The acceptance of the Book of Mormon
- The story of The Book o f Mormon is supposedly a history of early America. It describes three different migrations of people from the Holy Land to America.
C. Problems with the Book of Mormon
1. Reformed Egyptian
- In an attempt to validate and justify the claims of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith Jr., falsely claimed that, “Professor Charles Anthon … stated that the translation was correct, more so than any he had before seen translated from the Egyptian… those which were not yet translated…were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic.”
- However, Professor Anthon flatly denied that claim. In fact, he stated the following:
“The whole story about my having pronounced the Mormonite inscription to be “reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics” is perfectly false….”
- Further, how could Professor Anthon say that the characters shown to him were “Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic” when the Book of Mormon itself declares that the characters were “reformed Egyptian,” the language of the Nephites?
- To this date, no one has ever been able to find even the slightest trace of the language known as “reformed Egyptian;” and all reputable linguists who have examined the evidence put forth by the Mormons have rejected them as mythical.
2. Archeological Evidence
- Archaeological evidence is lacking. Both the Smithsonian Institution and the National Geographic Society have said no Book of Mormon cities person, place, nation, name, artifacts, scriptures, inscriptions, gold plates has ever been found.
- The Smithsonian Institution in Washington has never used the Book of Mormon in any way as a scientific guide and states its archaeologists see no direct connection between the archaeology of the New World and the subject matter of the book.
- Former Brigham Young University professor Thomas Stuart Ferguson’s 1975 paper claimed that after twenty-five years of dedicated archaeological research, the department had nothing at all to back up the flora, fauna, topography, geography, peoples, coins, or settlements of the book and, in fact, he called the geography of the Book of Mormon “fictional.”
3. Errors in the Book of Mormon
- Since the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830, the first edition has undergone approximately 4,000 word changes in order to present it in its current form. The Mormon Churches assertion that the prepublication manuscripts agree with their most recent changes contradicts the handwritten copies of the original Book of Mormon.
4. Plagiarism from the King James Bible:
- The Book of Mormon has about 25,000 words copied from the King James Old Testament, with more than 400 New Testament verses and portions of verses. Several instances of these plagiarisms have backfired on the Mormons: -- For example
• 2. In 3 Nephi 11:33–34, and is almost a direct quotation from Mark 16:16, a passage regarded by many New Testament Greek scholars as one of three possible endings to that gospel. But Joseph Smith was not aware of this, so he even copied in translational variations, another proof that neither he nor the alleged golden plates were inspired of God.
5. Contradictions within the Smith’s other works
- There are contradictions between Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, the Doctrine and Covenants, or the other recorded utterances of Joseph Smith.
- For example: In the Book of Mormon, (3 Nephi 12:2; Moroni 8:11) the remission of sins is the accomplishment of baptism. But in the Doctrine and Covenants (20:37) the direct opposite is stated.
6. False Prophecies
- Joseph Smith famous prophecies concerning the Civil War were drawn chiefly from material already published at the time in the Boston Daily Advertiser & Patriot, December 10, 1832,fifteen days before Smith’s prophecy, and the Mormon Apostle Orson Hyde was in Boston that day. Prophet Smith also prophesied that he would possess the house he built at Nauvoo “forever and ever.” The fact of the matter is that neither Joseph nor his seed “after him” lived from “generation to generation” in the Nauvoo house.
Summary
- The origin of The Book of Mormon is not divine origin but Joseph Smith’s fertile imagination, keen interest in religion, his responsiveness to the provincial opinions of his time, and/ or plagiarism of a Solomon Spaulding manuscript which contains at least seventy-five similarities to what is now the Book of Mormon.
- You can accept that, or you can put your faith in a book written by 39-40 authors over a period of 1,500 years, that has the SAME central message, astounding internal evidence, and undeniable historical accuracy!
Point: You can’t have both – one is truth and the other is not!
The Role of the Trinity
A. Mormons deny the Trinity
- Mormon theology does use the word Trinity in speaking of God, and the Mormon Church baptizes in the name of this "Trinity."
- However, in Mormon teaching, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each a god. Mormons believe in polytheism (a belief in many gods). Jesus is not the second person in the Trinity, as we understand it. He is one of many gods. In essence, they reject the Trinity.
- Mormon theology is teaching in effect that the universe is inhabited by different gods. They believe in three gods for this particular earth and accept the existence of an infinite number of earths throughout the universe; each one presided over by its own God or Gods who procreate spirit children, which are in turn clothed with bodies on different planets.
- In Mormonism, the oneness of the Trinity is not found in a oneness of "essence" (that which "makes up" the being known as God). Rather, it is found in a oneness of love and purpose.
- A problem for Mormons is that their founder Joseph Smith made Christ both the Father and the Son in one instance. He later indicated there was a mystery connected with it and that only the Son could reveal how He was both the Father and the Son. To further compound the difficulty, Smith separated them completely into “separate personages,” eventually populating the entire universe with his polytheistic and polygamous deities.
B. The Bible reject polytheism
- Even though Mormonism claims to believe in what the Bible teaches, the Bible clearly rejects polytheism.
- God Himself declares: “I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God . . . there is none except Me” (Isaiah 45:5,21).
- There is only one God. God is eternal, personal, spiritual Being in three persons – the Trinity: Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.]
The Person of Jesus Christ
A. Mormons Deny the Person of Christ
- In Mormonism, Jesus is a created being, as a preexistent spirit and the spirit brother of Lucifer. The appointment of Jesus to be the Redeemer of the race that would fall as a result of Adam’s sin, was contested by Lucifer, son of the morning, who fell from heaven because of his jealousy of Christ.
- This may sound a bit shocking, but according to Brigham Young Jesus was NOT born of a virgin but conceived by a physical sexual act between God the Father (who was Adam in early Mormon theology and Elohim in later theology) and Mary.
- In addition, Jesus was a polygamist, celebrating his own marriages to “Mary and Martha, and the other Mary,” at Cana of Galilee, “whereby he could see his seed, before he was crucified.” Brigham Young stated that Jesus’ sacrifice upon the cross was ineffective for the cleansing of some sins.
- Jesus is God. He was born into the world in the same personal, real, and literal sense that any mortal son is born to a mortal father. Mormonism distinguishes between the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Ghost is a person, a spirit, and the third member of the Godhead while the Holy Spirit is not a person but rather an impersonal force; it is the spirit of intelligence that permeates the universe.
B. Biblical view of Jesus Christ:
- We believe that Jesus is God in the flesh.
• John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
• Philippians 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.
• John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(cf. Col. 1:15-19; 2:9; 1 John 5:7,8).
• Jesus Christ is uncreated eternal sinless and perfect God
• The second person of the one and only Godhead
• He is of supreme importance throughout time, eternity, and all creation.
• He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, who supernaturally “over shadowed” Mary thus a true virgin birth.
• Jesus atoned for sin by His death on the Cross justifying the ungodly and offering full salvation unconditionally.
The Work of Christ
A. Mormonism denies His work by claiming that it is incomplete.
- The two results of Christ's atoning work:
(1) All people will rise from the dead – the effect of temporal death is overcome
(2) Christ's work makes it possible for a person to obey God's laws and go into the celestial kingdom.
- Mormonism denies salvation by grace through faith apart from works by adding works to the gospel. "We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."
- Mormon salvation means exaltation to Godhood. It involves faith in the Mormon Christ, baptism, and obedience to the teaching of the Mormon Church.
- Salvation or exaltation, whereby men become gods, is based on good works or merit. To become a god is the ultimate goal of every Mormon male. A woman also may achieve "godhood." Her role is to produce billions of spirits for her husband's world. This Mormon teaching of going from humanity to divinity is the doctrine of eternal progression.
- The biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone has been strongly denied by many Mormon leaders. The Mormon plan of salvation is clearly based on doing certain good works. Follow certain laws, keep certain ordinances, and salvation is yours.
- Mormons redefine God’s grace to mean “the mercy, the love and the condescension God has for his children…so that they may have power to progress and become like him… Salvation in the kingdom of God is available because of the atoning blood of Christ. But it is received only on condition of faith, repentance, baptism, and enduring to the end in keeping the commandments of God.”
B. A Biblical View of the work of Christ
• The Biblical Jesus paid the price for our sins – 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8; Hebrews 9:12
• Salvation is a gift and cannot be earned by works – Ephesians 2:8-9
• All that is necessary is belief in the gospel – Romans 3:24,25; Col. 1:20; I Peter 2:24; 2 Cor. 5:20; John 20:30-31

V. Additional doctrinal differences between Mormonism and Christianity

A. Heaven
- Christian: The eternal abode of all who are saved is to be with the Lord in heaven as an eternal reward. ( 2 Corinthians 5:1-2; 1 Peter 1:4)
- Mormon: There are three levels of heaven:
1. Celestial - faithful Mormons who accept the gospel and keep the ordinances. There are three levels where only the highest level is godhood or the possession of a kingdom for one’s self and one’s family.
2. Terrestrial--honorable men who are not Mormon, who live commendable lives, even if they do not accept Mormon teachings and somewhat nominal Mormons.
3. Telestial - For those who received not the testimony of Jesus, who live evil lives and reject the gospel according to Joseph Smith.
- Eternal progression goes on within each of these kingdoms. But it is not possible to move from one kingdom to another (either up or down).
B. Hell
- Christian: There is eternal punishment for sin (Matt. 5:22; 8:11, 12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; Luke 13:24-28;11 Peter 2:17; Jude 13; Rev. 14:9-11)
- Upon death the souls of all people go into "the spirit world," an intermediary place.
- Here they remain until the resurrection from the dead. The "righteous spirits" are in a portion of the spirit world called "Paradise," from which they have access to the "Spirit Prison," the dwelling place of the spirits of the wicked.
- There the wicked will have a chance to hear and accept the Mormon gospel, because the "righteous spirits in paradise have been commissioned to carry the message of salvation to the wicked spirits in hell. The "righteous spirits" are assisted by those still living on earth, who go through a baptism for the dead.
- Mormonism rejects the idea of a place of eternal damnation – To be damned means to limit one's progress to Godhood.
- Mormon theology gives different meanings to traditional Christian terms. For example, eternal punishment does not necessarily mean endless punishment. Hell is a place of torment from which the worst of sinners are resurrected (if they repent) into the Telestial kingdom; only a limited number remain in hell forever, - the devil and the demons and apostates who consciously reject and work against Mormonism.
C. Baptism for the Dead
- The living are encouraged to be baptized for those who have died outside the Mormon faith. This practice led to the extensive genealogical records kept by the Mormon Church. This baptism may be by proxy or by the living relative.
- Baptism for the dead does not coerce the dead into accepting the religion of Joseph Smith. Rather it removes obstacles to make it easier for the deceased to accept Mormon teachings. This second chance is possible, because all who die enter the intermediary "spirit world." There they await the second coming of Christ.
- For us, we understand the Bible to say that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord – and for those who die without salvation, go directly to hell where they await their resurrection (Revelation 20) and then appear before the Great White Throne!
VI. What can you do?
- Many Mormons are very dedicated to their religion, giving extensive amounts of their time to lead and participate in the many activities, tithing their income, and evangelizing.
- Mormons project an image of clean living and strong family values with a community emphasis on education, music, other arts, health and body care, and moral living.
A. Don’t get involved in the discussion of peripheral matters.
- Get to the heart of the Christian faith: Jesus Christ and the salvation He offers through grace. Confess your faith in a loving and straightforward manner. While knowledgeable about the basics of the faith, many Mormons are not aware of the "deeper" teachings of Mormon theology.
B. Share God's love and grace in Jesus Christ.
- God's grace is His freely giving to us His forgiveness, love, and new life through Jesus Christ. God's grace cannot be earned. God is the initiator, and that is so because God loves us. The human tendency is to want to share in the glory of gaining salvation. As has been seen, Mormonism makes of the Gospel a new law. The grace of God in Jesus Christ needs to be clearly proclaimed.
C. Be familiar with the teachings of the LDS.
- Such knowledge will aid in understanding Mormon friends and neighbors and help you to witness to them.
D. Become friendly with Mormon neighbors and relatives.
- Recognize others as human beings and not simply objects for conversation. A degree of intimacy and trust is the most fertile ground for witnessing. Respect the rights and beliefs of others. Do not make pawns of others or use them to satisfy some need you have within yourself. There is no better witness than one's own life. Your faith can be most meaningfully shared when mutual trust and concern are present.
E. Know clearly the fundamental teachings of the Christian faith.
- Learn to articulate them.

Resources:
The Book o f Mormon. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Various editions have been published.
The Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, 1948. Various other editions have been published.
Ankerberg, John and John Weldon. Cult Watch. Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1991.
Brodie, Fawn M. No Man Knows My History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971.
Hinckley, Gordon B. What of the Mormons? Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1947.
O'Dea, Thomas F. The Mormons. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1958.
Roberts, B. H. A Scrap Book, vol. 2. Compiled by Lynn Pulsipher. Published by the compiler, P.O. Box 1607, Provo, Utah, 34603.
Smith, Joseph Fielding. Doctrines of Salvation I, 77, III. Compiled by Bruce R. McConkie. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954.
Tanner, Jerald. Mormonism: A Study of Mormon History and Doctrine. Published by the author, P.O. Box 1884, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110.
Tanner, Jerald and Sandra. Mormonism-Shadow or Reality. Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1972 enlarged edition. More recent and expanded editions are available.
Widtsoe, John A. Priesthood and Church Government. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1954.