Customer Reviews

Mormonism: A Latter Day Deception

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is very readable, interesting, and informative. It is a great book with which to begin learning about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was written by an ex-Mormon who became disillusioned while going through the temple ceremony. This concise book explains a lot of what the church doesn't include in its public image. It does not deal with the many controversial subjects that would be discovered by a study of the church history and the founding of the church including the origin of the Book of Mormon and the character of their founder Joseph Smith. For this kind of book read "An Insider's View of Mormon Origins", a deep technical book but worth reading if you are interested.

This book is one man's story of his disillusionment with his religion - Mormonism - and how that led him to leave it. I give this book a high rating for the personal aspect of the story. I rate it a little lower for people looking for the "secrets" of the Mormon religion and temple ceremonies. You can find those in other books such as "The God Makers."

A well-researched, first-hand account of the practices and beliefs of the Mormon Church. Dr. Wishnatsky is extremely well-educated and his research is incredibly thorough. The revelations behind the secret practices of the Mormon Church is disturbing to say the least. It is about time for the light of truth to shine on these dark practices. Thank you, Dr. Wishnatsky!

This is the most fascinating and creepy reveal of the inside of religions best kept secret, Mormonism. This book explains how Mormonism is nothing more than a cult cloaked as Christianity. This former Mormon (now Christian) explains the deadly twist that binds each Mormon as well as historical facts that reveal Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and other early leader as a fraud. Something everyone should know about these avid door knockers. Loved it!

"The fruit of the Spirit is the exact expression of the disposition of Jesus." - Oswald Chambers

"Religious" terrorism, whether Islamic ("holy war"), Christian ("crusade"), or Mormon ("holy murder") is not an abstract concept in our day. Terrorism is a worldwide reality where so-called religious fundamentalists from mosques, churches or temples act out their death-faith.

Dr. Martin Wishnatsky, a Jewish man, in his book, Mormonism: A Later Day Deception wins the reader's favor not by being a violent, self-righteous fundamentalist, but by his boldness in refuting the untruths of the Mormon revelation. The reader is gripped not by any self-proclaimed personal goodness, but by Dr. Wishnatsky's courage in exposing secret temple ceremonies and practices to his own peril. The reader's faith is challenged by seeing him overcome his years of silence and fear of a Mormon reprisal if he exposed its practices such as "holy murder".

The clincher for this reader is how Dr. Wishnatsky came to act on his Biblical life-faith years later with deep, nonviolent resolve. Similar to Mahatma Gandhi's resolve, Dr. Wishnatsky fearlessly refuted Mormonism's deception and was willing to suffer for truth.

The author willingly expends himself in this exposé to free others similarly deceived and darkened. Dr. Wishnatsky's book pours out his Biblical life-faith to give such lost souls true freedom and light. The great Apostle Paul expressed such self-sacrifice to the early day saints in the church at Ephesus: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: `Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light' See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil [deceitful and deadly]." (Ephesians 5: 8-15).

The book provides the reader with a living example of one Jewish man's self-sacrificing and suffering for truth. His true freedom and life-faith give him light midst "religious" terror and spiritual darkness. In Mormonism: A Later Day Deception, the fruit of Dr. Wishnatsky's life-faith is a modern day expression of the nonviolent character and passion of his Lord, Jesus Christ.

It is hard to know how many of these types of books and which ones to actually buy and read and thus reward their authors for their anger and hostility against the LDS church with whom they obviously have some disagreement. I have read the excerpts provided by Amazon and all the reviews and thus have some idea wherein Dr Wishnatsky is disenchanted with his faith in the LDS church. As a former Jew, he might have enjoyed reading Dr. Hugh Nibley's Temple and Cosmos or perhaps Abraham in Egypt, available from Amazon before leaving the faith to put temple worship in perspective. But, he and many other enemies of the LDS church would likely just dismiss Nibley as an obvious apologist and not give him a second notice. Temple worship among the LDS is certainly stolen from the masons lock stock and barrel, so why give it any due is the pat response?

If one really has any inquiring mind or a concern for truth they might on the other hand pick up any one of a number of Professor Margaret Barker's wonderful books on the temple in Judaism and early Christianity. Temple Theology, available from Amazon would be a good place to start. It is a nice short little gem that helps one to understand the place of Solomonic temple worship in Jerusalem, first temple and how it influenced early Christianity. It might open the eyes of the average Christian to some new understanding, but it rings very true to the average Latter-day Saint. For the doubtful and critical who would assume that she also is just another LDS apologist, she is not. She is not LDS, but a well renown biblical scholar. Since the coming forth of additional texts such as the Dead Sea scrolls and their availability to scholars and the Nag Hamadi library, it is obvious that there is much more to biblical history than just what is available in the Old and New Testaments, nothing new to the average Latter-day Saint.

So before stones are thrown, the data ought to be assessed in full. What was known about the temple in the early days of Christianity and what did it mean to the early saints? Could Joseph Smith have known this of himself? Was the temple worship of the LDS church really just borrowed from the masons or was it really a restoration of the Solomonic temple and that which was also of importance to the early Christian church, something that was removed as the "orthodox" took hold of the church and changed the doctrine to meet their ideas. The history is always written by the winners.

What I have read in the writings of Professor Barker clearly speaks of what I have seen and learned about temple worship and history in the LDS church. There is much to be learned here. If the honest in heart will look at Judaeo-Christian temple concepts and weigh them carefully they will not be so quick to find fault with things they do not understand. Even those who have experienced dissatisfaction and disaffection have much to learn and could benefit from looking at this aspect of LDS belief from a different perspective than those who would tear it down. Professor Barker seeks to understand the temple of Solomon and its impact upon the early Christian church. Perhaps others today could do the same thing.

Good example of a scholarly-type thinking he is so smart that he deserves to write a book. Borrrrrring!
He does describe a lot of things about mormonism, and his viewpoint after becoming one then dropping out, but the overall feeling I got while reading is "who cares?".