The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints has for many years denied that the doctrine of Adam-God was ever taught amongst the saints, history however, originally contributes this teaching to the Prophet  Joseph Smith, however, it was taught in a wider audience during  Brigham Young’s reign as prophet of the mormon church.

Even though the most common accounts of this teaching being taught comes from the Journals of Discourses, noting that the church allowed to be published uncorrected for many years, today, the Journal of Discouse Volumes are considered unapproved publications by the church.

However, the Journal of Discourses was not the only source where it can be shown that Brigham Young taught the Adam-God Doctrine, the LDS Churches own publication the Millennial Star also, printed the doctrine for the saints this was in response to Elder Caffall and how the saints should address the Adam-God Doctrine:

“…Adam is our Father and Our God, …the prophet and Apostle Brigham Young has declared it … it is the word of the Lord“ – Volume 16, Issue 34, 26 August 1854, Page 534.

On the 18 June 1873 once again the Doctirne of Adam-God was printed in the Church News newspaper, this was taken from a discourse delivery by Brigham Young on the 8th June 1873, he said:

“How much unbelief exists in the minds of the Latter-day Saints in regard to one particular doctrine which I revealed to them, and which God revealed to me—namely that Adam is our father and God—.” – Deseret News Weekly, 18th June 1873.

You will notice that Brigham Young never said this was a theory, he even rebuked the saints for their disbelief in the doctrine.  There is a multitude of other church sanctioned publications where it can be proven this teaching was taught as doctrine, and I would be happy to supply these for reference as requested.

Now lets move forward in history to 1976 where the Prophet of the LDS Church Spencer W Kimball makes an outlandish statement during a General Conference speech.  Spencer W Kimball tried to play down the whole doctrine taught a hundred years earlier as the Lord revealed to Brigham Young:

“Another matter. We hope that you who teach in the various organizations, whether on the campuses or in our chapels, will always teach the orthodox truth. We warn you against the dissemination of doctrines which are not according to the scriptures and which are alleged to have been taught by some of the General Authorities of past generations. Such, for instance, is the Adam-God theory. We denounce that theory and hope that everyone will be cautioned against this and other kinds of false doctrine.” – Ensign, Our Own Liahona, November 1976.

There are some major issues with the above statement made by President Spencer W Kimball, firstly he tells the saints that the Adam-God doctrine was not in harmony with scripture, this is an outright lie, Brigham actually said this doctrine was not in any scripture, and that it was new light.   The Adam-God doctrine is now called a ‘theory’, another lie.  He further went on to denounce the theory, in the end he called it false doctrine, well this is true when you consider it from mainline Christianity teachings of God the father, but still a lie as it was considered true doctrine, when delivered by Brigham Young.

In summary, you have two Prophets of the same church in direct conflict over doctrinal teachings.  Either one was right or one was wrong!  This leads everyone to a very important question, as a Prophet did Brigham Young lead the saints astray, or was it Spencer W Kimball?

Either way, one of them was teaching false doctrine.

The LDS Church claims today to be the only true church on earth today, this is due to the fact that they also claim to be the only church with the authority to preach the restoration of the original gospel taught by Jesus Christ during his ministry on earth.

The Apostle James Talmage once said:

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims the restoration of the Gospel and the re-establishment of the Church as of old, in this, the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times.  Such restoration or re-establishment, with the modern bestowal of the Holy Priesthood, would be unnecessary and indeed impossible had the Church of Christ continued among men with unbroken succession of Priesthood and power since the ‘meridian of time.’  The restored Church affirms that a general apostasy developed during and after the Apostolic period, and the primitive Church lost its power, authority, and grace as a divine institution, and degenerated into an earthly organization only…. The evidence of the decline and final extinction of the primitive Church among men is found in scriptural record and in secular history.” – The Great Apostasy, by Apostle James Talmage, Preface.

In an effort to support the notion of a “Universal Apostasy”, the LDS Church attempts to quote a number of Bible verses to support their argument some of these are Amos 8:11-12; Isaiah 60:2; Acts 20:29-30; Galatians 1:6-9; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 1:15; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; 2 Timothy 4:2-4; 2 Peter 2:1-3; Revelation 3:14-17; and Revelation 13:6-7.  However, it can be shown not one of these verses refers to a universal, complete or total apostasy, and a few do not even relate to the church.

The Bible however, does teach in the last days (2 Timothy 3 and 2 Timothy 4) that there will be an increase in followers turning away from the gospel as taught in the New Testament.  However, no where does it teach a universal apostasy at the end of the first century or any other time in the future, infact, the word apostasy was never used in the King James Version of the Bible the one carried by LDS members.

Even the LDS sanctioned 100% correct scriptures deny the notion of a total or universal apostasy.  The Book of Mormon,  3 Nephi 28 and the D&C 7, tell the story of the Apostle John and the three “Nephite” apostles who where to remain alive on the earth until the second coming of the Lord.  The notion that 4 apostles still roamed the earth, how can a universal apostasy take place?  It just doesn’t make sense, and why are these four not sitting on the current quorum of the 12 or in the First Presidency?

In closing Joseph Fielding Smith gave us some milk for thought, he said:

“As long as one elder remains on earth today he would have the priesthood and could organize the church even though all of the apostles and first presidency, etc., where killed off” – Joseph Fielding Smith, Latter Day Prophets Speak by David H. Ludlow, Page 213.

All too often LDS members are quick to judge the reason why people leave the LDS church.  This is primarily due to the way they are conditioned to believe the LDS church as the only true church on earth today.  They are quick to say that anyone rejecting the faith must have had sin in their life or someone offended them at their local Ward, seldom is this the reason why people leave mormonism.

Over the years, I have experienced talking with people who have decided to leave or stay in the church, there are, some common threads why people make these decisions. I myself left the LDS church because I was challenged by a Christian and I went on the path to prove them wrong, in the end after doing extensive research I found what they said was actually the truth.  However, some of the common threads in my experience why people choose to leave the church are as follows:

1. The individual had certain problems or doubts around their belief, this has always existed in the back of their minds and bothered them.  The church makes you feel guilty to question these problems or doubts and you must always bare 100% testimony in the church.  If you do express any concerns the church is quick to lay blame on you, which then forces you to doubt yourself.

2. Family members who have left the church may challenge you with the reasons why they left the church.

3. The Internet is becoming a real issue for the LDS church, many missionaries fail to convert investigators, due to the ready available wealth of information available on the internet, doing a simple google search will more then likely return a wealth of information the church did not want you to know.

4. Some individuals have certain doctrinal issues they need to resolve, for example, Adam-God Doctrine, Book of Mormon Archeology, Book of Abraham, First Vision, Blood Atonement, Joseph Smith Jnr, Polyandry, Polygamy, etc, etc, etc.  Even the mormon apologists have a hard time in answering these questions, often giving a watered down explanation not actually giving a definitive answer to these no longer taught teachings of former prophets of the LDS church.

5. Holy spirit takes people out of mormonism.  Yes, you read that right, the Holy Spirit may take a person out of the LDS church.

By no means is this an extensive list of why people leave, but it is a good indicator for some of the problems the LDS church is currently facing with a noticeable increase in resignations and inactivity in the church today.

Sadly, there is another group of LDS members who choose to stay in the church not because they believe in the doctrine, however, are scared to leave because of the possibility of loosing family.  This is a real dilemma many people trapped in the LDS church face if they are not strong enough to leave and face the consequences of conditional love that their family members have been conditioned to practice.

The LDS Church today continues to strive for acceptance by mainline Christianity.  However, regardless of the millions of dollars they spend on Public Relations each year, they are still considered a Pseudo-Christian cult.

For the LDS Church to receive this acceptance they have to address many of their doctrinal and historical issues as an organization.  It is unlikely we will ever see this mind shift with the current and new leadership coming up through the ranks.  Even though the LDS Church today has spent a great deal of money with emphasizing the words “Jesus Christ” in their current logo, they  still do not follow the Jesus the rest of Christianity follows.

There has been a major shift between the use of the words Mormon and Christian by the membership they like to call themselves christians today, they are quick to  note that they follow Jesus Christ.  Their reasoning behind this is because they have his name in their church.   If you ask them do they have a personal relationship they are quick to answer “Yes”, however, not so long ago a personal relationship with Jesus Christ was considered heresy.

The Late Bruce R. McConkie one of the Twelve Apostles gave a devotional address to an audience at Brigham Young University entitled “Our Relationship with the Lord“, in this address he clearly defined what the Brethren of the LDS Church believed (many of those brethren are still alive and in leadership), about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, he said, under the topic ‘Heresies among Us‘:

“There are yet others who have an excessive zeal which causes them to go beyond the mark.  Their desire for excellence is inordinate.  In an effort to be truer then true they devote themselves to gaining a special, personal relationship with Christ that is both improper and perilous.” – Bruce R. McConkie, BYU 2nd March, 1982.

As this man was an Apostle and in the introduction to his speech  he clearly advises the audience this was the teachings of the brethren, we can only assume that LDS members do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and those that claim they do are doing so in an improper and perilous manner.

There appears to be much contention about the Journals of Discourses, you will find missionaries and members are quick to point out that this is not scripture and that quoting anything negative must be from Anti-Mormon sources.  

This same argument can be found with the Bible with a slight twist, where the LDS Church only believes in the bible as far as it is translated correctly, so in essence where the bible does not agree with current LDS teachings then that must be in error.

Now lets examine what the church leadership think about the Journal of Discourses, in church publications in particular we did a little experiment how many times the leadership has referred to the Journal of Discourses for enlightenment:

Doing a search on www.lds.org using the search criteria “Journal of Discourses”;

That is a total of 508 direct quotations, where the leadership of the church have referred to a publication that today is considered non-LDS endorsed. 

One can only assume that if the Church leadership can trust and quote to the church snippets from the Journals of Discourses then you can safely use for research, and be assured that its accruacy is 100%.

The LDS under the reign of President Gordon B. Hinckley undertook the biggest Temple building program in LDS history.  This program appears to be still active with more temples being built and scheduled for the future.

What many of the LDS faithful do not realize, when attending the temple for their ordinances is the fact that there is another more secret ordinance reserved for those with high profile individuals within the LDS Church.

Over the years many websites pro and against have written about this unknown temple ordinance.  The first modern day acknowledgement of this hidden, sacred/secret ordinance was elluded to by the Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, in his famous LDS book Doctrines of Salvation, he wrote:

There is no exaltation in the kingdom of God without the fulness of the priesthood…Every man who is faithful and will receive these [temple] ordinances and blessings obtains a fulness of the priesthood, and the Lord has said that “he makes then equal in power, and in might, and in dominion.” - Joseph F. Smith, 1956, Doctrines of Salvation 3:132

Many of the rank and file members of the LDS church are unaware that the ordinances they initally perform in the temple does not give them access to godhood and unfortunately never will.  Only once they receive the second anointing they are able to become gods of their own planets,  the sad fact is this anointing has been reserved for the elite in the LDS faith.

The first known account of the Second anointing was administed on the 28th September 1843 to Joseph and Emma Smith, the following details have been recorded around this event:

“At half-past eleven, a.m., a council convened over the store, consisting of myself, my brother Hyrum, Uncle John Smith, Newel K.Whitney, George Miller, Willard Richards, John Taylor, Amasa Lyman, John M. Bernhisel, and Lucien Woodworth; and at seven in the evening we met in the front upper room of the Mansion, with William Law and William Marks. By the common consens and unanimous voice the counsel, I was chosen president of the special council.

The president led in prayer that his days might be prolonged until his mission on the earth is accomplished, have dominion over his enemies, all their households be blessed, and all the Church and the world.” – History of the Church, Vol. 6, page 39.

Doctrines and Coventants Section 132:19-26 implicity refers that this anointing is not for thouse who have been sealed in celestial marriage.  However, to those who have been sealed and ordained “kings and priests,” “queens and priestesses” to God.  Those chosen few (and it is only a very limited number) will need to have received the “second anointing“, only “Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.“ 

In closing I would like to draw your attention to the Bible, where God has clearly given the following message to all believers:

“Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any.”

- Isaiah 44:8

I thought I would put the Adam-God Doctrine to a test to see if, the LDS church had changed its argument that it was only a personal opinion.  Logging onto mormon.org and getting connected to Andrew a Member of the LDS church the following chat transcript occurred:

Jack: I have been reading some of your church history (Journals of Discourses) and as a serious investigator of the truth, I am a bit shaken about what I have read.
Andrew: ok
Jack: In 1870 Brigham Young delivered a sermon to the church where he said “I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call Scripture”. – Journal of Discourses Vol 13, Page 95
Jack: If this is truth, then why don’t your church believe in Adam-God Doctrine, Blood Atonement, Joseph Smith holds the Keys to allow you to enter Heaven?
Jack: BTW, even though someone who was against your church gave me this information, I have confirmed each and every statement doing a search on your digital library.
Andrew: I am not sure what you are asking, can you clarify it?
Jack: well, do you believe Adam is God?
Jack: http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/JournalOfDiscourses3
Andrew: Adam is not God.  It was an idea, but it was his personal opinion and not church doctrine.
Jack: It was more than an idea, it was a sermon delivered to the church on the 9th April 1852.
Andrew: ok, you have to understand the, yes he was a prophet of God, he still had his own opinion and Adam is not God and we know that.
Jack: But, he said that everything he has said to the church can be considered scripture.
Jack: Page 47, states it was a sermon to the church delivered from the tabernacle in Salt Lake City.
Andrew: it can be, but it wasn’t and isn’t.  Not everything a prophet says is scripture Jack.
Jack: So if Brigham Young was alive today, would he be considered apostate?
Jack: So you pick and choose when a prophet delivers a sermon what is scripture and what is not?
Andrew: No we descern by the spirit what is to be taken as scripture and what is not taken as scripture but is his opinion.
Andrew: Than is done by the general authority, and apostles of the church
Jack: But, lets just assume it is not scripture, why was it delivered in a sermon to the church?  The prophet spoke, feed the faithful with words of wisdom, and yet it was only his personal opinion this really doesn’t make sense.
Andrew: do you always speak facts when you speak to people?  Everyone has an opinion an it will always be expressed in some form or another when they speak.  The other thing is the Journal of Discourses may have been compiled by a member, it isn’t considered….
Andrew: church doctrine because of the fact that most of it was based on opinions of members of the church.
Jack: Brigham said, “Now hear it, O inhabitants of the earth Jew and Gentile, Saints and sinner when our father ADAM came into the garden of Eden, he came into it was a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives with him.  He helped to make and organize this world.  He is Michael, the Archangel, the Ancient of Days!  about whom holy men have written and spoken – HE IS OUR FATHER AND OUR GOD and the ONLY GOD WITH WHOM WE HAVE TO DO.
Jack: This was published by your church, in the Journal of Discourses and the fascimile copy in the BYU library was printing in 1890, and authroised by your Church.
Jack: If I was a prophet of God, and spoke to the whole church, I don’t think I would be speaking my personal opinion unless I said it was such.  Otherwise, I would be considered a false prophet, for spreading false doctrine.
Andrew: The items printed on BYU are not approved by the church but are historical materials, you understand that BYU is a school and has material that is historical, but not church doctrine, just like you can find a Book of Mormon at a Catholic University.
Andrew: maybe you should refer to church supported sites.  Jack, I am done with this chat I hope you have a great day.

I could accept this as a personal opinion, if Brigham Young actually declared it was.  The LDS Church today does not agree with this doctrine, and many other doctrinal sermons Brigham Young’s delivered during his reign as Prophet of the Church.  To reconcile this they simply say it was a personal opinion and that it is not scripture. 

If I was the LDS Prophet, I don’t think I would be up there delivering sermons full of personal opinion, as I would be judged by the words I spoke to the church.

During an address to all the LDS brethren on the 2nd January 1870, Brigham Yound the 2nd Prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made the following statement in relation to the validity of all sermons he has delievered:

“I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call scripture” – Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Volume 13, Page 95.

If we are to believe this statement made by the only man who at that time had direct communication with Heavenly Father for the direction of the church, we must also, believe every doctrinal idea he shared through the multitude of sermons he delivered during his reign as the Prophet and President, Seer and Revelator of the LDS Church.  

The following examples, where taught by Brigham Young in sermons to the faithful, and today have either been denied or claim has been made where too much evidence exists to be Brigham’s own personal opinion, this contradicts the whole quote mentioned early in this posting:

1.  Adam-God Doctrine – Journal of Discourses, 9th April 1852.
2. Blood Atonement – Journal of Discourses, 6th March 1856.
3. Joseph’s Smiths Consent Required to enter Heaven – Journal of Discourses, 9th October 1859.

These are just a few of the many examples of teachings that Brigham Young once taught the LDS membership, and today are disregarded by the current leadership, so if Brigham Young was alive today whould he now be excommunicated for Apostacy?  Or would the current Leadership be Excommunicated, for not teaching the teachings Brigham Young once taught?

The short answer is No, Why? You may ask.

We first need to understand the purpose of the temple used by the Isralites, they where established in order to do animal sacrifice, and for the High Priests to take the blood from the sacrificed aninals into the holy of holiness, this is where God would dwell.

The blood offerings made by the sacrificial slaughter of animals where used only as a covering for the children of Israel, the offering did not pay for the sins this occurred only by the death of Jesus Christ where his blood was spilt.

When Jesus Christ died his blood was spilt at that point the Curtain (Veil) seperating the Holy sancturary where god dwelt ripped, no longer would was there a need for a priesthood, blood sacrificial offerings, because Jesus Christ did it one and for all.

The New Testament clearly states that all who have come to Jesus have become the temples of God, because Christians have been cleansed by the Blood of Christ, and God dwells now within them not in a building made by man.

The LDS claim for a need of temples is not supported by the New Testament and even the Book of Mormon.

The LDS Church, has spent millions of dollars in advertising to portray to the world that they are indeed Christians.   The first thing they will say Our church has the name Jesus Christ in it, therefore, we are Christians.  However, dig a little deeper and the Jesus Christ that the LDS teaches its members  is far from the  Jesus that mainline Christianity teaches and follows.

In 1998 the then current President and Prophet of the LDS Church, made a very remarkable comment about the Jesus Christ the LDS Church professes to follows:

“In bearing testimony of Jesus Christ, President Hinckley spoke of those outside the Church who say Latter-day Saints ‘do not believe in the traditional Christ.  No, I don’t.  The traditional Christ of whom they speak is not the Christ of whom I speak.  For the Christ of whom I speak has been revealed in this the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.  He together with His Father, appeared to the boy Joseph Smith in the year 1820, and when Joseph left the grove that day, he knew more of the nature of God than all the learned ministries of the gospel of the ages”. – Gordon B. Hinckley, Church News, week ending Saturday 20th June 1998

To actually support this claim and what Jesus Christ they believe in, the following sermons where given by the Second President and Prophet of the LDS Church, during his reign:

“When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness.  He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost.  And who is the Father? … Now remember from this time forth, and forever, that Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost.  I will repeat a little ancedote.  I was in conversation with a certain learned professor upon this subject, when I replied, to this idea — “If the Son was begotten by the Holy Ghost, it would be very dangerous to baptize and confirm females, and give the Holy Ghost to them, lest he should beget children, to be palmed upon the Elders by people, bringing the Elders into great difficulties.” – Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 1:51-52, 9th April 1852

On another occasions LDS Prophet Brigham Young said:

“We first begin to read that Jesus came in the flesh…But suppose I examine that, a moment.  The New Testament tells me that the Father gave His only-begotten Son a ransom for the sins of the world.  Do you believe that, brother B.? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the only-begotten Son of the Father?  “Yes.” Do you believe the sone was begotten by the Father, as the Apostles said he was?  Here I shall have to disagree with you, to begin with; for I believe the Father came down from heaven, as the Apostles said he did, and begot the Saviour of the world; for he that is the ONLY-begotten of the Father, which could not be if the Father did not actually beget him in person.” – Brigham Young, Jounal of Discourses, 1:237-238, 24 July 1853

“…The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husband… The very babe that was cradle in the manager, was begotten, not by Joseph, the husband of Mary, but by another Being.  Do you inquire by whom?  He was begotton by God our heavenly Father.” – Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 11:268, 19 August 1866

If we are to believe these teachings the Prophet Brigham Young is teaching, we should be able to draw no other conclusion other that God the Father, took Mary a Spirit Child, had sexual intercourse and procreated the human existance of Jesus Christ, in in modern day terms would be considered incest.  I personally find this teaching quite offensive, however, it needs to be exposed.

After reading this evidence the only reasonable conclusion anyone could come to, is that President & Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley was correct.  The “Jesus Christ” of the LDS Church is not that of the one found in the Bible.