The Mormon Illusion: What the Bible Says About the Latter-Day Saints (Paperback)

~ Floyd McElveen (Author)
Key Phrases: instant salvation, one true church, head belief, Joseph Smith, Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Major Mormon practices and beliefs are explained with thoroughly documented references to the original Mormon sources, and an extensive appendix discussing eh Mormon doctrine of salvation has been added.

About the Author

Floyd C. McElveen is a graduate of Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland, Oregon. He has served as a missionary evangelist, a church planter and pastor, and the national evangelist for the Conservative Baptist Home Mission Society.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Kregel Publications; Rev Exp edition (January 9, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0825431921
• ISBN-13: 978-0825431920
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,354,887 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Skilled rhetoric; horrible analysis, December 2, 1998

By A Customer

McElveen seems to think that if he hurls charges against Mormonism as fast as he can, and mixes them with a lot of snickering, sarcastic rhetoric, he can convince the reader of his point, which apparently is that Mormonism is not a form of Christianity. He only partially succeeds, chiefly because he ignores basic principles of logic and textual analysis. Maybe he has tightened up some of his analytical failings in the new edition, but this older edition has numerous flaws. Among them are:

(1) he implies the "burning in the bosom" is Satanically influenced, yet says that he experienced "sweet feelings" himself as a manifestation of truth (see also Luke 24:42);

(2) he never can decide whether we're saved through invocation of Christ's name, or by faith;

(3) the apostle Paul gave different accounts of his vision, just like Joseph Smith;

(4) the Lord is also called an angel (Ex. 3:1-3);

(5) if the B of M has been "corrected" why does he still claim it has bad grammar;

(6) Floyd uses anti-Mormon, rather than neutral sources throughout the book (Moody, Tanner, etc.);

(7) Christ's blood doesn't cleanse us from all sin--and Jesus Himself said so (Mat 12:32);

(8) paradise is not heaven (John 20:17, 1 Pet 3:18-19);

(9) Jesus is our Brother (Rev 3:14, Heb 8:29);

(10) man CAN see God (Ex 24:10), and if you argue otherwise, then you must honestly question the divine nature of Jesus, who was seen throughout His life;

(11) Jesus was conceived of God, not the Holy Spirit (John 5:18);

(12) Floyd says the priesthood has ended, yet also says all believers are priests;

(13) "called" and "consecrated" are not the same (Ex. 28:1, 4);

(14) besides Jesus, Melchezidick held the priesthood of Melchezidick, obviously;

(15) if genealogies are so bad, why is Jesus' given--twice (Mat 1; Luke 3);

(16) justification comes through DOING as well as believing (Rom 2:13);

(17) the thief on the cross did not go to Heaven (John 20:16-17);

(18) it's not the Mormons' job to prove three heavens from the Bible;

(19) we existed before we were born (Prov 8:27-31, Jer 1:5);

(20) you CAN fall from grace (Gal 6:7);

(21) a complete apostasy occurred (Amos 8:11-13);

(22) the primitive Christian church had more than 12 apostles (Act 1:24-26);

(23) Judas Iscariot could not be a foundation of the celestial city (Luke 22:3);

(24) the bible DOES give qualifications for apostle (Acts 1:22);

(25) an interpretation of any scripture before Revelations calling the bible complete is contradictory;

(26) no unity among Christian sects exists as Floyd would have us believe;

(27) request for revelation through prayer is a biblical principle (James 1:5);

(28) if all angelic visitations are from Satan, then John the Beloved was tricked by one too (Rev 1:1);

(29) Mormons don't claim that their works alone will get them into heaven;

(30) someone can be eternal and also created (Prov. 8:22-24);

(31) murder is not forgiven (Acts 2:34, 1John 3:15).

And this is just an abbreviated list.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A dime a dozen, July 3, 2000

By	"cl8" (WA United States) - See all my reviews

I have been through many, many "anti-Mormon" books since I started studying Mormonism. While this book gives a general synopsis of Mormonism, even I (an "anti-Mormon" protestant) could refute this book. While 20 years ago when this book was written, these arguments were solid, the crew at FARMS (huge Mormon apologist organization) has already refuted much (if not all) of the content in this book.

I am sure he knows and has studied much concerning Mormonism, but the world of Mormonism has changed over the past 20 years. While many Mormons will give this a 1 star and condemn it to hell, and many evangelists will praise God for this book, I give it 2 stars. After reading through so many of these types of books, I have become quite selective about which book is good and which is not. For a solid read on Mormonism, pick up Letters to a Mormon Elder by James White or any Bill McKeever literature.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This book has merit despite its shortcomings., August 13, 1999

By A Customer

This is an example of the very abundant badly written literature on religion that most of us seekers have to endure. The need to get the message across seems to justify any kind of crimes against order and scholarly rigour. Mixing sources like newspaper accounts and scriptures with no sense of hierarchy made this reading quite unpleasant. In any case, the doctrines here presented are clear enough to make sense despite the confusion in presenting them. I think the book fills a very necessary niche since mormons seem very reluctant to talk "theology" and seem to rely very heavily in pure feeling in all matters religious where -they say- the "thinking" has been already done. Mr. McElveen does some thinking here (some feelings get mixed in there too) and exposes many of the obvious conflicts between the Book of Mormon and the Bible some of which were apparent to me before and some of which weren't so clear. I've read other books actually published by the mormon church and -regardless of the lavish presentation and the good grammar- they have totally failed to bring any sense into the business of the golden tablets and the church's doctrine or they have avoided the hard questions alltogether. This book doesn't do that at least. In conclusion, this books merits spring from the merits of the doctrine presented, not from the author's ability to expose (preach?) it. But I guess that was the intention in the first place. As for the merits of the doctrine , this is not the subject of an unbiased (s that possible?) book review. You'll have to read it yourself if interested.