We interrupt our normal scheduled programming on Gog and Magog to bring you a special late breaking news item: In spite of a recent slick advertising campaign on radio and TV, Mormonism is still a cult.
While driving one day in between jobs, I first heard this latest Mormon advertising blitz on the radio. One immediately after another I heard brief testimonials or stories of people from different walks of life, and each person ended with a statement like "I'm Joe, and I'm a Mormon." (mormon.org/joe) Up until that last word, one could not tell what the commercial spot was all about. Then I saw the commercials on TV. They were all very well done from a professional marketing standpoint.
All of them were low-key with no mention of anything Mormon until the very end. One person is a person in hip-hop, another is a skateboarder, but the one I "like" the best is a man who is riding a motorcycle, and he is telling about the importance of his family. He says he can find nothing in the Bible that says one can not ride a motorcycle, and he loves to have dinner conversations with people who disagree with him over religion. In fact, he says he loves to have friends who pray to a different god than he prays to, and that is all very cool with him. Postmodernism has found its way into Mormonism.
When those commercials came on TV a couple of days ago and my wife saw them for the first time, her first remark to me was "Now what are we Christians going to do?" The more I thought about her question, it seems to me that a huge segment of evangelical Christianity has already done a whole lot. We have taught Mormons well. After all, who has championed and perfected the idea that in order to attract people to our churches we need to downplay what we believe, mention very little if anything about the scriptures, keep everything so fluffy, light and positive, highlight instead people's "felt needs" and personal stories, and throw in some postmodern psychobabble dribble to make it more palatable for the average American spiritual diet?
Upon further reflection, I have concluded also that Mormons have evolved (and that is a good word to use, since Elohim evolved from a man to a god, and we can evolve into gods one day ourselves) in their public relations and outreach strategy. In the former days, the Mormon church had all sorts of commercials and advertisements that would show a clean-cut close-knit Mormon family gathered in the family room of their home for Monday evening worship time. At the end of the commercial would be a picture of the Book of Mormon and an 800 number one could call to get a free copy sent to you. The Book of Mormon was another testament of Jesus Christ, which means the Bible is incomplete without the addition of the Book of Mormon.
When is the last time when anyone has seen a commercial spot that is promoting the Book of Mormon? Even better than that question, when is the last time the Mormon church has even mentioned anything about the Book of Mormon in a national advertising campaign? It's been a loooong time. Why is that? Could it be that through the efforts of so many faithful Christian apologists and those who have researched cults well, as well as the work of former Mormons themselves, the Book of Mormon has fallen on hard times, either in reality or in people's perception, regarding its fraudulent claims?
Joseph Smith and his theological heirs have always stated that the Book of Mormon is "the most perfect revelation" given to man. The Holy Bible can not be trusted because it has so many man-made errors in it, so says the Mormon hierarchy. However, it has come to light that over 3000 revisions have been made in the Book of Mormon since Mr. Smith found those golden tablets in New York. So much then for it being the most perfect revelation given to man. You do not need to know a whole lot about the Book of Mormon to carry on a brief intelligent dialogue with a Mormon missionary who comes knocking at your door. Ask the young Mormon to take the Book of Mormon in his possession, ask him to flip to the very back, and then ask him to try to find any maps. He can't do it, because, unlike most of our Bibles which have plenty of maps at the very back, there are no maps in the Book of Mormon. If the Book of Mormon is so perfect, then why can't they find any cities or places cited in the book to put on a map for us to find through geographical, historical and archaeological research and verification? The Bible can do what the Book of Mormon can never do; case closed.
So, the Mormon church realized over time they had a public relations problem with the Book they so cherished and still do. They made a tactical decision to hide the Book of Mormon, and not talk about it so openly. Instead, their next batch of national advertising campaigns featured not the Book of Mormon, but the King James Version Bible, which you could get free by calling the 800 number on the TV screen. Of course, once they get your address, then expect to have some Mormons calling on you at your house someday in the near future.
This approach is also part of their overall philosophy that makes the cult of Mormonism different from most other cults. The Mormon church has always wanted to be received by people as being part and parcel of mainstream Christianity. They don't want to be seen or regarded as fruitcakes or oddballs. Jehovah's Witnesses, on the other hand, do not want anything to do with mainstream Christianity. When is the last time you heard of a Jehovah's Witness running for office or holding down an elected or appointed office, having a nationally syndicated radio talk show, being a sports figure, writing best-selling books, or being a celebrity in the music, movie or TV industry?
It is alarming, for example, how many of the contestants on the pop culture hits, American Idol and America's Got Talent, are active Mormons, which all go back to the days of the Osmond Brothers, who did so much in recruiting young people back then to join the Mormon church. Any collegiate football fan knows that when his team plays Brigham Young University in football or basketball that his team will be going up against players that are two to three years older, because the Mormon church requires two years of missionary service for all of its young men.
The Book of Mormon had a way of saying that Mormonism is not so much mainstream Christianity after all in the minds of people, but what can be more mainstream than a King James Version Bible? But times have changed, and so even the KJV Bible has to be shelved by the Mormon church in its next round of national advertising. This brings us to where we are today with this new crop of TV and radio commercials, which play right into the hands of a feel-good, religiously tolerant, anti-absolutism, postmodern society.
Subjectivism is the big selling point in these commercial spots. Notice that in each case by each person's different testimonial in these commercials, it is all about how that person lives his or her life, and the insinuation is that he or she has a good life because he or she is a Mormon, and look at all the things you can achieve and be in your life and being a Mormon can help you. Nowhere is it about, "What is the truth?" Nowhere is anything of a Mormon doctrine taught, nowhere is a scripture quoted even from the KJV Bible, nowhere is objective truth a standard for judging what is right or wrong. The commercials are all about helping you and me become better people by reaching our potential, and that's what religion is all about now anyway, right? If you don't believe me, just take a casual stroll through your Christian bookstore and see what kind of books are bestsellers and see how few if any are of any deep biblical substance.
The Mormon missionary will eventually challenge someone to read the Book of Mormon, because by reading it one will get an inward "burning sensation" that it is really true. It is true because we feel it to be true. That is subjectivism in a nutshell. I asked a Mormon missionary once how can I know if the burning sensation is not just indigestion or something else. I would hate to make a monumental decision in my life based upon what I ate for supper.
Is not much of evangelical Christianity subjectivism? Our young people are certainly not being taught biblical doctrine for the most part. There is not enough time to do that in between the trips to amusement parks, pizza parties and other entertaining outings. Look at churches' web sites, billboards, hand flyers, or other advertisements, and see if subjectivism does not reign supreme in so many cases. "Come to _____________Church because this is what we offer for your children, look at all we have going on for your family, see all the programs and activities we have, hear our music, etc., etc." We object to objective truth, and we subject ourselves to subjectivism wherever we turn. If we get to the Bible, it may be more along the lines, "What does this Scripture mean to you?" We are as good as hiding the Bible or whispering it beneath our breath as the Mormons are about the Book of Mormon.
So, yes, we have taught the Mormons well. That is what much of evangelical Christianity has done about this recent round of Mormon commercials.
Mormonism is still a cult, a heresy, started by Satan who disguises himself as an angel of light. It is a shame that the Mormon church can follow our example in its newest, clever, subjective, postmodern outreach by disguising itself even more.
These latest Mormon commercials say hardly anything at all about the Mormon church, but they say a whole lot about us.
Yours in Christ,
Chris
