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Matthew Stuckey here, and I want to make a quick video giving you three common myths of the Mormons. Three common myths of the Mormons. Myth number one, the biggest myth of the Mormons is that the Mormons and the Latter-day Saints, the LDS church, are the exact same, and they're actually not the exact same. And so the Latter-day Saints are one of the denominations of Mormons, but there are many denominations of Mormons. See, Mormonism is the original religion that Joseph Smith started. However, there's been a lot of church splits and denominations that have arisen from that original belief system, original movement that Joseph Smith actually started. To give you kind of an understanding of this, in the Bible, when David was about to die, he didn't really appoint a successor. Solomon had been promised a throne, but he didn't make it a point to say that. And because of that, it led to the opportunity for people to rise up and say that they're the rightful heir, and that's what Adonijah tried to do. And so obviously Solomon ended up becoming the king, it had been determined by God that was going to happen, and then David makes it a point to say that. But it wasn't really set in stone until David made it a point to say that. And so it's the same thing with Mormons, because they're a religion that's set up by having one prophet. And so once that prophet ends up passing away, several people are going to rise up and say that they're the rightful heir. And so when it comes to the Latter-day Saints, after Joseph Smith died, Brigham Young was the guy who took over for that religion. However, Joseph Smith's oldest son actually said that he was the rightful heir, and so the Latter-day Saints don't actually follow the lineage of Joseph Smith, they follow a different lineage. And so the oldest son of Joseph Smith, he said he was the rightful heir, and some people followed that lineage. And so the Latter-day Saints is the biggest church, but the second biggest denomination of Mormons today are the reorganized Latter-day Saints, the RLDS. And today they go by the term of Community of Christ. In the year 2000, they changed their name from RLDS to the Community of Christ. And it was something that was voted on, and the majority of people agreed to change the name within that denomination, and they changed the name. And the reason why is because they're trying to appeal to the average person, you know, the average person or the average just normal Christian or normal person in the US. In fact, when I lived in Sacramento, California, there is actually a church of the RLDS, the Community of Christ, that is actually in Sacramento, California. So this is a denomination that's pretty big. It's got 250,000 plus people in it, and I think they're reaching more and more people here today. Some of the differences between those denominations, the RLDS is more just kind of like your non-denominational type of church, but they still have some of that Mormonism in them. They do believe in the Book of Mormon, and instead of the King James Bible, they actually go with the Joseph Smith translation of the King James Bible. So Joseph Smith made a false version of the Bible where he changed the word of God and added his notes, and the Joseph Smith translation is actually the Bible that the RLDS actually uses. And then outside of the RLDS and the LDS, you also have the FLDS, the Fundamental Latter-day Saints. And the FLDS is a denomination that used to be bigger, but it's kind of died off due to pressure from the government and scandals, and they're like the biggest cult of all the denominations of the Mormons. And kind of the main difference between the FLDS and the LDS is that the Fundamental Latter-day Saints, they still practice polygamy. And Joseph Smith said polygamy was an everlasting covenant, and the FLDS said, well, everlasting means it lasts forever, so we're still going to practice polygamy. And so they are just a really perverted denomination where their leader was married to moms and their daughters and just really disgusting perverted stuff, but the FLDS is a religion that sprung off from the Mormons, and they're still around today, just not quite as big. And so those are some of the denominations of Mormons, but there have been many. Now many of them have died off, but there have been quite a few throughout history just in the last 200 years since this religion started. So myth number one is that Mormons and Latter-day Saints are the same. And you can tell there's a difference because if you ever talk to Mormons, they will make it a point to say, we're from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And the reason why they make it a point to say that they're from the Latter-day Saint Church is because they want to distinguish themselves from the other Mormons because they don't believe that they're part of the true Church. And so point number one is this. Myth number one, Mormons and Latter-day Saints, they're not the exact same thing. Latter-day Saints are actually one of the denominations or sects of Mormonism. Myth number two is that the religion of Latter-day Saints today is the same religion that Joseph Smith started. These religions are actually quite a bit different. There are many, many major beliefs that have just completely changed between the Latter-day Saints now and the original Mormons. And so one of the big things that's often mentioned is that the original Mormons were very racist, no question about it. What they taught is that Jesus and Satan had this big battle, and those that decided to stay neutral, they were cursed with black skin. And so that's the reason why people have black skin, because they chose not to side with God. And so it's a very racist idea, and they were denied the priesthood for quite a long time. The Mormons were against interracial marriage. And so it's a religion that has just always been super racist. I mean, Brigham Young, he fought to have slavery in Utah. And so obviously when the religion started, this issue of slavery and racism was a big issue back then. But as the United States has become more ethnically diverse, it's just kind of amazing how the Latter-day Saints have just slowly changed their position on this topic because they want to reach more people. And now they're pretending like they were never racist, when they clearly were. Another major change they have is that they used to teach that Jesus Christ was not born of the Virgin Mary. Now, they would claim they believed in the virgin birth, but what they meant by that was that God slept with Mary, and the result of that was Jesus was born. And so they would say, we believe in the virgin birth because Mary did not sleep with any mortal man. Talk about a disgusting, perverted doctrine that God slept with Mary, and that's where Jesus Christ came from. And this was taught by Brigham Young and all of their famous leaders. And what Mormons will say today is, well, that was never official church position. That was just their opinion. It's like your head prophet taught that. And so that's what they used to teach about the virgin birth, but they're trying to just shy away from that because obviously it sounds pretty bad to say, we don't believe in the virgin birth when everybody else does believe in the virgin birth, and it's clearly taught in the Bible. And you know, Brigham Young also taught that Adam was God. So he said, Adam, from Adam and Eve, slept with Mary, and that's where Jesus came from. How that ties together from Genesis to Revelation in terms of everything just going chronologically and just logically and making sense, it doesn't tie together at all. But that is what Brigham Young taught, and obviously he wasn't saved. He didn't understand the Bible. He was a weirdo. He was a pervert, married to tons of different people, a lot of changes in their religion. And obviously the big change is polygamy. You know, they used to teach that, you know, you're supposed to marry a lot of women. And Joseph Smith even taught that if you don't marry a lot of women, you're going to be cursed and go to hell. You know, you're required to be a polygamist, and he said it was an everlasting covenant. Brigham Young married a lot of different women, and it's amazing how when the United States made it illegal to be married to multiple women, they made polygamy illegal. All of a sudden, God changed his mind on an everlasting covenant. And now all of a sudden, hey, we've learned we're not supposed to be married to multiple women. Look, if I actually believed in Mormonism, I would have followed the FLDS line because they're still teaching, you know, the same things that the Mormons originally taught. But obviously those things are so bizarre and cultish that they're trying to avoid it because they want to reach more people. And so myth number one is that Mormons and Latter-day Saints are the exact same. Myth number two is that the religion of the Latter-day Saints today is the same as the original Mormonism that Joseph Smith taught. That's not true. They're quite a bit different. And myth number three is that Joseph Smith was just kind of a normal, ordinary, nice, friendly guy. And so a lot of people don't know a whole lot about Joseph Smith. And obviously, you know, the Mormons try to say a lot of nice things about Joseph Smith. But he was actually a freak. He was a weirdo. He was a pervert. He was disgusting. And so, you know, you can see this before he ever became the prophet of Mormonism. And so when he was younger, when he was a teen, he was very much into the occult and witchcraft and sorcery and spiritism and talking to spirits and devils. And look, all this information is out there. It's been proven as much as the Mormons try to deny it to be the truth. It's been proven. And so it's not necessarily a shock to me that he had a habit of talking to the occult, you know, doing this witchcraft and sorcery. And then he got visited by, you know, God and the angels and John the Baptist and these various people. It's like, yeah, you've been talking to devils for a long time. I'm sure somebody did appear to you and pretend to be God. And you know, before he was a prophet, he was into just this black magic and sorcery and things such as that. And you know, when he was their prophet leader, he got caught committing adultery. And when he got caught committing adultery, that's when he said polygamy is something that God instituted. And many of these women he got caught with were just young teens. I mean, he was just a pervert leader who would be hooking up with the daughters of some of the members of his church and just say, well, this was God ordained. Not really much different than a lot of cult leaders today. It's just a religion that ended up becoming really big and really popular. Most famous case was Fanny Alger was someone he was caught sleeping with. And some of his right hand men said that it was adultery and they thought it was wrong. And they got kicked out of the Mormon religion as a result of that. Oliver Cowdery, I believe it was his name, was the main one. And he was like the right hand man of Joseph Smith before this and he got kicked out. Another thing about Joseph Smith is that, you know, he died trying to defend himself by trying to shoot and kill other people. And he got shot to death in prison. And Mormons try to link Joseph Smith to be like the modern day sort of savior. Jesus Christ willingly died for the sins of the world. Joseph Smith went down guns a blazing. And so to try to say he was a martyr is a bit ridiculous. But, you know, his translation of the Bible, because the Bible says if you add or remove from God's word, then your name is going to be removed from the book of life. And so Joseph Smith proved himself to be a reprobate in many different ways. But in his translation of the Bible, the Joseph Smith translation, this is John 1.1. In the beginning was the gospel preached through the sun and the gospel was the word and the word was with the sun and the sun was with God and the sun was of God. Now the Bible says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And he adds so many words and phrases. I mean, in the beginning was the gospel preached through the sun and the gospel was the word and the word was with the sun and the sun was with God and the sun was of God. And what he does is he adds to the word of God because he does not want to believe and teach that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, denied the Trinity, denied the nature and existence of God, denied the true God who he was, and he just added to the word of God to try to prove his point. And it's such a bad translation that the Latter-day Saints don't even use the Joseph Smith translation. And you know, it's got so many errors and so many problems, he added to the word of God. Look, Joseph Smith was just a terrible human being. He proved it before he was a prophet. He proved it while he was a prophet and much evidence has come out after, you know, long after he died showing how bad of a guy he actually was. So the three myths of Mormonism. Myth number one is that the Mormons and the Latter-day Saints are the same religion. They're not the same. The Latter-day Saints are one of the denominations of Mormons. Myth number two is that the modern day Latter-day Saints are the same religion as the original Mormons. That's not true. You know, the beliefs of these two systems are just completely different. The Latter-day Saints are just constantly changing what they believe. They get modern day revelation or they'll say, well, what this person taught was not official church position. It was just his opinion. So they can easily just change things and I'm sure they're going to change a lot through the years. Myth number three was that Joseph Smith was just kind of a normal person. He's about the worst person you could possibly imagine. Before he was a prophet, he was into sorcery. It's not a shock. He got visited by something and then he proved himself through perverted acts and removing and adding from God's word of what kind of person he actually was. Thank you and God bless.