Category: Ensign Magazine
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Who is Korihor? And do we fit his characteristics?
By Eric Johnson Note: The following was originally printed in the September/October 2020 edition of Mormonism Researched. To request a free subscription, please visit here. As you can imagine, sometimes we at MRM receive angry emails from members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For example, the following asked us several different questions:…
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The Torment of Mormonism’s Uncertainties
The November (2020) issue of Ensign, an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, contains the church’s October General Conference addresses. One address, given by LDS apostle Dale Renlund, caught my attention. In “Do Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with God,” Mr. Renlund explains what it is to be Christlike,…
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Why Don’t Latter-Day Saints Pray to Jesus?
Latter-day Saints are taught to pray to God the Father (Elohim or Heavenly Father) and not to Jesus. Beth T. Spackman, a seminary teacher in Midnapore, Alberta, said Jesus should not be prayed to in her answer to a question in the June 1988 Ensign magazine. She wrote, In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus…
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Following the Prophet’s “First Vision” Example
The February 2020 issue of Ensign magazine, an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, includes an article written by Henry B. Eyring of the church’s First Presidency. In keeping with the church’s 2020 emphasis on Joseph Smith’s First Vision (due to the traditionally-accepted 200th anniversary of the event), President Eyring…
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The Fruit of Mormonism: A Look at Seventy Mathias Held’s talk at the April 2019 General Conference
On July 8-9, 2019, Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson took a closer look at this talk on Viewpoint on Mormonism. Check them out her: Part 1 Part 2 Summing up Seventy Matthias Held’s talk at the April 2019 General Conference (“Seeking Knowledge by the Spirit”) is this subheading: “We should learn to discern the truth not…
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“We Have To Be Clean”: Does Mormonism Offer a Biblical Solution?
Seventy Allen D. Haynie gave a talk at the October 2015 General Conference titled “Remembering in Whom We have Trusted.” It was originally published in the November 2015 Ensign on pages 121-23. Apparently his church’s leaders thought highly of this talk because it was condensed into one page and then published on page 80 of…
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Mormonism and the “True Church”
15 October 2018 The September Ensign magazine included an article meant to explain what it means when people say that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “is the true Church.” In discussing the purpose of the LDS Church (i.e., “for the perfecting of the Saints”), the article noted that past leaders “could grow toward…
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Mormon Youth: The Hope of Israel
I received my August 2018 edition of the LDS Church’s Ensign magazine last week. Bundled with the Ensign was a supplement: The text of a “Worldwide Youth Devotional” titled “Hope of Israel.” This devotional was presented to the youth of the Mormon Church in June by LDS President Russell M. Nelson and his wife, Wendy. President Nelson…
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LDS Seventy Encourages a Genuine Relationship with Jesus Christ
In the June issue of the Mormon Church’s Ensign magazine, LDS Seventy Fred A. “Tony” Parker wrote about overcoming the pain of racism experienced within the LDS Church. His advice is to “find healing through the Savior” while Church members simultaneously seek to be “one in Christ.” He writes, “To be His people, we must be…
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The First Vision: Key to Truth? A Review of Seventy Richard J. Maynes’ June 2017 Ensign article
There are two cornerstone events in the history of the Mormon religion that are as important as the literal resurrection of Jesus is to Christianity. Remember how the apostle Paul testified to the historicity of the raising of Jesus from the dead? He claimed in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8: 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance…
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Mormons, Please Consider the Lesson of the Unwise Bee
The LDS Church’s February 2017 issue of Ensign magazine includes a parable written by LDS apostle James Talmage, originally published in the Improvement Era in September 1914. “The Parable of the Unwise Bee” poetically tells the story of a wild bee who becomes unwittingly trapped in Mr. Talmage’s office. No effort on Mr. Talmage’s part…
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Mormon Apostle Offers Solutions To Counter Information on the Web
Note: The following was originally printed in the February 2017 edition of the MRM Update, offered to financial supporters of Mormonism Research Ministry. To request to a free subscription of our other periodical, Mormonism Researched, please visit here. The December 2016 issue of Ensign magazine carried an article by Mormon Apostle M. Russell Ballard that expressed a concern…
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Am I Good Enough? Will I Make It?
Note: The following was originally printed in the January/February 2017 edition of Mormonism Researched. To request a free subscription, please visit here. To listen to a 5-part Viewpoint on Mormonism series that originally aired January 2-6, 2017, click the following: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 By Eric Johnson The title for this article is the actual title for…
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Review of “Our Father, Our Mentor” from June 2016 Ensign
By Michael Rabus The June 2016 issue of the Ensign magazine, which is the official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, contained a short article by the Second Counselor in the First Presidency; President Dieter F. Uchtdorf titled “Our Father, Our Mentor. It made sense that the June issue would contain…
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Could Mormonism be a Counterfeit from Satan?
By Michael Rabus For a Viewpoint on Mormonism broadcast on this topic that aired on May 23, 2016, click here. The April 2016 issue of the Ensign magazine featured an article titled “Recognizing Satan’s Counterfeits” by Dennis C. Gaunt in which the Book of Mormon was offered as the foundation of detecting spiritual counterfeits. When…
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10 Things You Can Learn About Mormonism by Reading the Ensign Magazine
By Michael Rabus I have found one of the most effective ways of showing Mormons the dangerous doctrine that comes from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to share with them articles from the churches own official magazine, the Ensign. I started reading the Ensign magazine in February of 2015 and made…
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Murky Waters Spin Around the New LDS Push for Transparency
In recent years the LDS Church has been working to change its image of being an organization that tightly controls and artfully spins historical issues to its best advantage. In what has been called a “push for transparency,” the Mormon Church has published several essays online that reveal some of Mormonism’s sordid history, framed in…
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The New and Everlasting Covenant: A Review
Link to the December 2015 article by Seventy Marcus B. Nash: The New and Everlasting Covenant Listen to an 8-part podcast series that aired January 18-27, 2016: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Note: This article—repeated word-for-word here—was written by Seventy Marcus B. Nash and printed in the December 2015 Ensign magazine…
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The Great and Abominable Church
In the March 2015 edition of Ensign magazine, Mormon Apostle Dallin Oaks discusses the topics of atheism, moral relativism, secular humanism and the “great and abominable church.” The article, titled, “Stand as Witnesses of God,” was a devotional address he gave in February of 2014. On page 30 he likens atheism to the teachings of…
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Quotes on the Family from the August/September 2015 Ensign Magazines
Using the 1995 Proclomation on the Family as a catalyst, the August and September 2015 Ensign magazines featured more than half a dozen articles related to youth and family. Here are some of the key quotes culled from those issues. August President Thomas S. Monson: “Stand as a Light” (pp. 4-5) “I plead with parents…

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