The Mormons Are in Town
by Wayne S. Walker
Not too long ago when I was taking a walk in the large park which is across the street from our house and had sat down for a moment to rest on one of the benches, I was approached by two nice-looking, clean-cut young men in white shirts, ties, and dress pants. I immediately recognized them as Mormon missionaries. I had previously seen them walking the streets of Salem. They asked me if I would be willing to answer a couple of questions. I said yes. One of them asked me why I thought there were so many different churches. I pondered for a moment and then responded that it was probably because people wanted to go their own way rather than God’s way.
They replied, “We believe that the Bible is the word of God. Would you be interested in learning more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ?”
I told them that I too believe in the Bible as God’s word, study it regularly, and am satisfied with that. They gave me a pamphlet entitled The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and said that if I wanted to know more I could contact them. The back page of the booklet was headed “What Should I Do?” The first two suggestions were to “Read the Book of Mormon” and to “Pray to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.”
This encounter reminded me of a study that I had with a couple of Mormon missionaries in Sandusky, OH, back in 1974 right after I had first begun regular preaching work. To prepare for that study, I did read through the Book of Mormon. I must agree with Mark Twain’s observation that the Book of Mormon is chloroform in print. Having read both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, there is just absolutely no way that I could ever be convinced that the Book of Mormon is God’s word on a par with the Bible.
The eighth article of faith in Mormonism states, “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.” Aye, there’s the rub—“as far as it is translated correctly.” What do the Mormons really believe about the Bible?
Orson Pratt Sr. (September 19, 1811 – October 3, 1881), an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ (Latter Day Saints), wrote in The Seer, p. 213: “…The Bible has been robbed of its plainness; many sacred books having been lost….what few we have left, were copied and re-copied so many times, that it is admitted that almost every verse has been corrupted and mutilated to that degree that scarcely any two of them read alike....all we have left are mutilated copies containing an incredible number of contradictory readings.” [Emphasis mine, WSW.]
The Book of Mormon likewise alludes to this corruption of the Bible in 1 Nephi 13:26: “And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.” Exactly what these “plain and precious truths” are we are never told.
Yet, at the same time, the Book of Mormon contains extensive quotes from the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. It explicitly quotes the prophet Isaiah, containing 19 chapters of the KJV of Isaiah in their entirety, along with parts of a few other chapters. In total, approximately 30 percent of the Book of Isaiah is quoted in the Book of Mormon (one source counts 478 verses in the Book of Mormon which are quoted from Isaiah). It also quotes from the KJV of other books. On the plagiarisms from the King James Bible, cult expert Walter Martin writes: “A careful examination of The Book of Mormon reveals that it contains thousands of words from the King James Bible. In fact, verbatim quotations, some of considerable length [can be found therein].”
Now, if it is true that almost every verse in the Bible has been corrupted and mutilated, as Mormon apostle Orson Pratte said, why would such large portions of it be copied almost verbatim in the Book of Mormon? It just doesn’t make sense.
In my 1974 study with the Mormon missionaries in Sandusky, which lasted a few weeks, they made their arguments and I answered them, then I made my arguments and they responded to them, but after a while, I could see that it wasn’t going anywhere. Their reply to about everything that I said was to pray about it and God would reveal it. So I did! Sometime before the next scheduled meeting, I vocally asked God in prayer to show me if Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, the Book of Mormon was the word of God, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was the church of God.
When the Mormons came for the study, I told them that I had prayed about it and that God had revealed to me that Joseph Smith was not a prophet of God, the Book of Mormon was not the word of God, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was not the church of God. That was the end of the study! Of course, at that time I didn’t go into detail as to how God revealed it to me, which is through the inspired Scriptures. They didn’t give me a chance — they just left and never came back.
