Ad Dominum

I disagreed with that sentiment, and my resolve remains unchanged. I said last week:

Let the Mormons have their political conquests. We have a bigger, better Kingdom to build.

…and I still hold to that position.

Moroni and Joseph Smith, "South Park" style

My friend Eric left a link in the comments of that post that I found very interesting. It is my hope that those who defended the political alliance between the Mormons and the Catholic Church might thoughtfully and prayerfully consider the import of some of the quotes from that site. (Lest anyone have any questions, Eric was raised Mormon before he converted to the Christianity.)

The Greek and Roman Churches, which have been called Christian, and which take the name of Christians as a cloak, have worshipped innumerable idols. On this account, on the simple subject of the Deity and His worship, if nothing more, I should rather incline, of the two, after all my early traditions, education, and prejudices, to the side of Mahomet, for on this point he is on the side of truth, and the Christian world on the side of idolatry and heathenism.

- Apostle Parley P. Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p.38

He that confesseth not that Jesus has come in the flesh and sent Joseph Smith with the fullness of the Gospel to this generation, is not of God, but is anti-christ.

- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 9, p.312

Our entire case as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rests on the validity of this glorious First Vision. … Nothing on which we base our doctrine, nothing we teach, nothing we live by is of greater importance than this initial declaration. I submit that if Joseph Smith talked with God the Father and His Beloved Son, then all else of which he spoke is true. This is the hinge on which turns the gate that leads to the path of salvation and eternal life.

- Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign Mag., Nov. 1998, pp.70-71

What does the Christian world know about God? Nothing… Why so far as the things of God are concerned, they are the veriest fools; they know neither God nor the things of God.

- Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 13:225

What! Are Christians ignorant? Yes, as ignorant of the things of God as the brute beast.

- Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 13:225

Christianity…is a perfect pack of nonsense…the devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century.

- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, p.167

Christians—those poor, miserable priests brother Brigham was speaking about—some of them are the biggest whoremasters there are on the earth, and at the same time preaching righteousness to the children of men. The poor devils, they could not get up here and preach an oral discourse, to save themselves from hell; they are preaching their fathers’ sermons —preaching sermons that were written a hundred years before they were born. …You may get a Methodist priest to pour water on you, or sprinkle it on you, and baptize you face foremost, or lay you down the other way, and whatever mode you please, and you will be damned with your priest.

- Apostle Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, 5:89

Brother Taylor has just said that the religions of the day were hatched in hell. The eggs were laid in hell, hatched on its borders, and then kicked on to the earth.

- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 6:176

With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world.

- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:199

After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth. They were known respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon. The various organizations which are called churches throughout Christendom, though differing in their creeds and organizations, have one common origin. They all belong to Babylon.

- Apostle George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth, p.324

If none of that was enough to be convincing, try this on for size:

Must we, under the broad folds of the American Constitution, be compelled to bow down to the narrow contracted notions of Apostate Christianity? Must we shut up our consciences in a nut shell, and be compelled to submit to the bigoted notions, and whims, and customs of the dark ages of popery, transferred to us through the superstitious of our fathers? Must we be slaves to custom and render homage to the soul-destroying, sickening influences of modern Christianity? No!

- Apostle Orson Pratt, The Seer, Vol.1, No.7, p.111

…and the kicker:

Instead of having apostles, prophets, and other inspired men in the church now, receiving visions, dreams, revelations, ministry of angels and prophesies for the calling of officers, and for the government of the church–they have a wicked, corrupt, uninspired pope, or uninspired archbishops, bishops, clergymen, etc., who have a great variety of corrupt forms of godliness, but utterly deny the gift of revelation, and every other miraculous power which always characterized Christ’s Church.

These manmade, powerless, hypocritical, false teachers, make merchandise of the people, by preaching for large salaries, amounting in many instances to tens of thousands of dollars annually. They and their deluded followers are reprobate, denouncing the faith once delivered to the Saints.

- Apostle Orson Pratt, Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon, page 20

Am I saying that we should end our dialogue with the Mormons? Absolutely not! That’s absolutely the last course of action that we should take. But we should exercise nothing but extreme caution in the public square with any sort of alliances with them, for we run the risk of ruining our witness- our call to be “salt and light”- because of an unholy political pact forged on power and cemented with greed and pride.

Pax et bonum.