Category: Mormon Publications
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Apostle Provides the Old “Bait and Switch”
Posted October 7, 2021 Note: The following was originally printed in the September/October 2021 edition of the Mormonism Researched, a bimonthly periodical of MRM that is free upon request. To request a free subscription to Mormonism Researched, please visit here. For many years, the bait and switch scam—advertising a product at an incredible bargain price but…
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Why a Fourth Gospel Topics Essay on Plural Marriage?
Note: The following was originally printed in the July/August 2021 edition of the Mormonism Researched, a bimonthly periodical of MRM that is free upon request. To request a free subscription to Mormonism Researched, please visit here. Between October 2013 to December 2015, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published 13 official “Gospel Topics essays”…
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LDS Area Authority: Church Teachings on Repentance “Hurt the Rising Generation”
In August (2021) an Area Seventy for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Richard N. Holzapfel, spoke at a Stake Leadership meeting in Utah. Internet personality Thinker of Thoughts posted a 5-and-a-half-minute from a from Mr. Holzapfel’s talk during which Mr. Holzapfel said some rather controversial things. For example, in addressing the LDS…
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Throw Away Kimball’s the Miracle of Forgiveness? A Response to a Utah Area Seventy
A Utah area seventy interviewed two LDS teenagers one day in August 2021 on the issue of LDS repentance. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel spoke at a stake leadership meeting at the Herriman Utah Rose Canyon Stake and told the two students–a male and a female–to be “honest and authentic.” The video published on August 13, 2021…
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LDS Church Vacillates On a Matter of Eternal Significance
The first full article in the print issue of July’s Liahona magazine is headlined, “Our Heavenly Father Wants Us to Be Happy.” This “Gospel Basics” article presents an overview of the plan of happiness (aka the plan of salvation) according to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the sub-section titled “Death Isn’t…
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Confusion over Gethsemane and the Atonement
Posted 7/2021 Traditionally most LDS leaders have stressed the importance of what took place in the Garden of Gethsemane for the atonement. Some leaders in recent years are attempting to include what took place at the cross as part of the narrative. This issue was discussed in the April 2021 Liahona magazine, an official LDS…
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An Evangelical Bibliography on Mormonism
Created June 24, 2021 Updated June 29, 2021 Please send additions or corrections to aaron@mrm.org. § Ahmanson, John. 1984. Secret History: A Translation of Vor Tids Muhamed. Moody Press.Anderson, Einar. 1956. Mormonism: A Personal Testimony. Moody Press.———. 1968. I Was a Mormon. Zondervan Publishing House. ———. 1973. Inside Story of Mormonism. Kregel Publications. ———. 1981. History and Beliefs of Mormonism.…
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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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Gospel Topics Essays Reviews Catalog
Podcasts and Articles Introduction According to the LDS Church website, the original Gospel Topics Essays that were produced between 2013-2105 are official, authoritative, and ought to be considered seriously. One page on the church’s website reads: These essays complete a series of 13 that the Church began publishing in 2013 to provide an accurate resource…
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Are Mormons Christian? A Review of Chapter 1 in The LDS Gospel Topics Series
Review of Chapter 1: Are Mormons Christian? (The LDS Gospel Topics Series, Signature Books, 2020) Authored by Craig Blomberg, New Testament professor at Denver Seminary NOTE: Click here for an introduction and a short review of each of the 13 chapters in the book The LDS Gospel Topics Series: A Scholarly Engagement (edited by Matthew…
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Consider David Whitmer’s Testimony
The February issue of Liahona magazine (published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) includes a supplement to the church’s religious study curriculum, “Come, Follow Me.” The magazine article looks briefly at two Book of Mormon witnesses, David Whitmer and Martin Harris–both of whom, along with Oliver Cowdery (a third Book of Mormon…
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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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