‘Today Christians … stand at the head of [this country]… I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity … We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit … We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press – in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past … (few) years.’ – Adolf Hitler (Cline, Austin. “Adolf Hitler on Christianity: Quotes.” Learn Religions, Apr. 5, 2023, learnreligions.com/adolf-hitler-on-christianity-quotes-248190.)

Angel Studios recent film release, Truth and Treason, has been getting a fair amount of publicity in the circles I inhabit online. I haven’t seen it yet, but I want to. It tells the true story of a young 17 year old Helmuth Hübener who resisted the Nazis and was executed by them. What the film doesn’t tell you is that Helmuth was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that he was also excommunicated by the Church for his resistance to the Nazis.

One of the things I didn’t learn in school about the second world war is that the Nazis were very pro-Christianity. According to Wikipedia, Hitler called himself a ‘German Christian’, and is quoted as saying, ‘Through me the Evangelical Protestant Church could become the established church, as in England.’

Thus, with his rhetoric it was easy for a christian population to be swept along with the Nazi agenda. A great many christians thought Hitler was on their side and promoting their ideals, when in reality he was merely using their identity, as christians, as a weapon in his abhorrent plans; as a tool to collect the vast multitude of the unwitting. It is no different today.

This shouldn’t surprise us. Evil has always used as much good as is necessary to convince people of a path that leads to hate and sorrow. The apostle Paul taught, ‘For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ … Their end will be what their actions deserve.’ (2 Cor 11:13-15, NIV)

That’s all very well in ‘the end’, but we need to know in this life whether those who claim to be prophets and apostles are the real thing or imposters. The question is, ‘How can we know?’ History proves that we can’t always tell from the things they say.

Or perhaps we can, in part at least.

I’d like to recommend four things we can be paying attention to that should give us the best possible opportunity to avoid being deceived by those who masquerade, to tell the truth from the counterfeit. This post was going to cover all four, but in the end I need to restrict it to just the first point. I guess this is where my mind and heart are just now. I’ll address the other three in another post.

And the first point is that we should trust in the word of God as found in the holy scriptures; understand it not just in our heads but, more importantly, in our hearts. Even Jesus Himself was always quoting from the scriptures. Indeed, He stated that they were the benchmark from which doctrines should be judged. To the Sadducees He said, ‘You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God’ (Matthew 22:29 ESV).

Elsewhere, he taught, ‘Scripture cannot be broken.’ (John 10:35 ESV)

We see the same principles taught in the Book of Mormon. The prophet Jacob taught, ‘But the word of God burdens me because of your grosser crimes. For behold, thus saith the Lord: This people begin to wax in iniquity; they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms, because of the things which were written concerning David, and Solomon his son.’ (Jacob 2:23)

The later prophet Abinadi elaborates on this principle when he is calling king Noah and his priests to repentance. It seems the priests of the king can recite scripture well, but Abinadi can see a major problem:

‘And now Abinadi said unto them: Are you priests, and pretend to teach this people, and to understand the spirit of prophesying, and yet desire to know of me what these things mean? I say unto you, wo be unto you for perverting the ways of the Lord! For if ye understand these things ye have not taught them; therefore, ye have perverted the ways of the Lord. Ye have not applied your hearts to understanding; therefore, ye have not been wise.’ (Mosiah 12:25-27)

It seems to me that all denominations are guilty of cherry-picking scripture to support a particular point of view while ignoring those that counter it. But crucially here, when anyone – whether an organisation or individual – does that, they usually also add doctrines and ideas NOT taught in the scriptures. To some degree we probably all do it, even if unconsciously (we all love to find ‘proof’ that what we already believe is correct; we’re less keen to see evidence that tells us we’re wrong). And, in cherry-picking the occasional passage of scripture here or there, they (we) will twist it to mean something the author/prophet – or God – never intended by completely taking it out of context. Often the new interpretation will specifically benefit the leader(s) of the church at the expense of the members. This should be a red flag for us. A couple of examples.

First, the principle of tithing is mentioned in the Old Testament. When it was introduced into the early LDS church by Joseph Smith, the poor weren’t expected to pay it, and those who could afford to pay were expected to pay 10% of their surplus (i.e. after all necessary expenses) – that’s what ‘interest’ meant in that place and time period, and it accords with the scriptural narrative. But tithing was later re-interpreted by the church to mean 10% of gross income, and that the poor should pay it even if they can’t afford to feed their family afterwards. This latter definition is totally anti-scriptural. Indeed, the greatest condemnations God gives to the covenant community is when they take advantage of the poor.

Furthermore, the LDS church leaders all receive a ‘stipend’ (basically a salary) that is estimated to be at least double the average US salary (plus very generous benefits), which is not tithed. So, the poor should pay tithing even if they can’t buy food for their children, while the most privileged don’t need to. It’s not scriptural and it benefits the top leaders, so this should be a big red flag that suggests the possibility of men ‘masquerading as apostles’ and prophets.

I’ve used the example of the LDS church here, because it’s what I know best, but I know many other churches teach tithing in various ways. If the shoe fits ….

The second example relates to how we treat foreigners. For the purposes of this post, let’s use a word that most of us hear much more frequently on the news and on social media – immigrants. For all intents and purposes, it means the same thing here. This is what the bible says on the subject.

‘Do not mistreat foreigners who are living in your land. Treat them as you would an Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves. Remember that you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’ (Leviticus 19:33-34, GNT)

‘He makes sure that orphans and widows are treated fairly; he loves the foreigners who live with our people, and gives them food and clothes. So then, show love for those foreigners, because you were once foreigners in Egypt.’ (Deuteronomy 10:18-19, GNT)

‘Long ago I gave these commands to my people: You must see that justice is done, and must show kindness and mercy to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners who live among you, or anyone else in need.’ (Zechariah 7:9, GNT)

‘I am the Lord, and I consider all people the same, whether they are Israelites or foreigners living among you.’ (Numbers 15:16, GNT)

Go ahead and read those verses above again, but substituting the word immigrants instead of foreigners. I find it so beautiful, ‘…he loves the immigrants who live with our people …’. 

I’m an immigrant. Born in Australia, we immigrated to the US when I was 12 and it was, frankly, a horrific experience for me. When I was 19 I became a missionary for my church in Chile. I truly loved my mission and the Chileans, but I was pretty regularly abused in the streets for my white skin and would never have had a clue about how to live there without a lot of support. Now I’m an immigrant in the UK. This was my best experience, but it’s really tough being an immigrant. I’ve now lived in England for a little under 35 years and there are still things I find difficult. And that’s with me being a white immigrant in the US and the UK. How much harder it would have been if I had black or brown skin, and/or didn’t speak the language.

Do we love the immigrants among us, or do we call ICE?

In the Book of Mormon, the people of Ammon have to flee their homes because others in their nation are seeking genocide. The Nephites give them land to settle on – even telling their own people to leave the land for them. Not only that, but they then protect them with their army, countless thousands of their people dying to protect these refugees. That aligns with the scriptures we read in the Old Testament. That is loving your neighbour as Christ taught in the New Testament.

Would we die to protect immigrants among us, or are we happier to sit back while ICE agents kill those who are trying to obey God’s law regarding foreigners? Do we mourn with those who mourn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort, or are we desperate to ‘stop the boats’ regardless of the cost in human lives? If the latter, what for? Because immigrants use our resources? We’re poorer if we have to share? Do we really love filthy lucre so much? Study after study have shown that there is less crime from immigrants than from native populations. If someone tells you otherwise, they’re using the vulnerable to score political points – run a mile from those types.

The final example I want to use is that of polygamy – again because it’s something I’m more familiar with from my LDS upbringing. Not that I experienced polygamy at all (it’s not been permitted in the church since the early 20th century), but it’s certainly part of the discourse.

I posted a few months ago about polygamy and how it isn’t from God. You can see that post here. In that post I looked at the first verse of section 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants and explained how it proves itself a fraud there.

But in relation to relying of the word of God as found in the scriptures, Joseph Smith said the following: ‘If any man writes to you, or preaches to you, doctrines contrary to the Bible, the Book of Mormon, or the Book of Doctrine and Covenants set him down as an impostor.’ (Times and Seasons, 15 March, 1844)

Polygamy was first publicly preached in 1852 and was indisputably contrary to all scripture then accepted by the church. What’s more, the Doctrine and Covenants Joseph was talking about could only have been the 1835 edition, which has a section (section 101 in that edition), explicitly condemning polygamy and stating that all marriages must be in public. So according to Joseph’s own words, polygamy and the restricting of attendance in temple sealing practices must have come from an impostor.

Who did polygamy benefit? Well it certainly didn’t benefit women or children; plus a great many men had to leave Utah because there weren’t enough women to marry. Those with multiple wives were the leadership and powerful in Utah – not usually the ordinary folk. I have to put in a caveat here, because I don’t think polygamy truly benefitted the powerful men either, because it’s impossible in polygamy to have the special unity in marriage that is only possible with one man and one woman. But from the perspective of the powerful, the more women the better, so it ‘benefitted’ them, and them only. Another red flag.

To my LDS friends, you can choose to believe Joseph or Brigham, but it simply isn’t possible to believe them both.

I choose to rely on the word of God as found in the scriptures. No, they’re not perfect. But they’re much, much better than rules any man can make up.

© Copyright Jeffrey Collyer, 2026