The Problem with “Official Doctrine” in the LDS Church

The Prophets and the Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are frequently criticized by Christians on account of their teachings.  Christians claim that LDS Church leaders are untrustworthy because they teach things contrary to the Bible and even contrary to what other past LDS leaders have taught.

Latter-day Saints respond by saying that much of the teachings of the apostles and prophets isn’t “official doctrine”, and is therefore not problematic. Mormons will commonly claim that their leaders were merely teaching their own thoughts and opinions, not determining official church doctrine.

Yet Christians continue to point to these teachings as evidence that LDS leaders are untrustworthy. So why is it that Christians take issue with teachings that aren’t considered “official”? Should we trust the LDS prophets and apostles?

Consider what the Bible says about prophets and revelation

Prophets in the OT would often preface their words by saying “Thus saith the Lord” (Exodus 5:1, 1 Kings 14:7, Jeremiah 2:2). This meant that the prophet’s words were the “Word of the Lord”—as if GOD Himself had come down from heaven and spoke.

When a prophet authoritatively instructed God’s people, that prophet’s words were binding. To reject the words of a prophet was to reject the Word of the Lord.

Because of how significant the words of the prophets were, these prophets were held to a strict standard for what they taught.

God often judged the false prophets of Israel who presumed to speak words on behalf of God, when God had never even sent them (Jeremiah 23:25-32, Ezekiel 13:1-10).

These so-called prophets said they were from God, but taught things that God never commissioned them to speak, and thus they were considered false prophets (Jeremiah 28).

In contrast, God prevented true and genuine prophets from ever persistently teaching falsehoods. We see this with the prophet Samuel. Scripture tells us

“And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.” (1 Samuel 3:19).

We ought to take every WORD a prophet says seriously. If a prophet ever authoritatively teaches something false, then God’s people can be certain they are not a true prophet of God (Deuteronomy 13:1-5, Deuteronomy 18:20-22).

Consider how the LDS Church uses the idea of “official doctrine”

LDS prophets have built up plausible deniability with this idea of “official” doctrine. Official doctrine is simply teachings that the LDS church formally declares to be doctrinal. That results in these prophets being able to teach blatantly false things without ever being held accountable for them because those teachings are not considered “official doctrine”.

The history of the LDS Church is rife with examples of LDS Apostles and Prophets teaching contrary things. But these past contradictory teachings aren’t considered problematic because those teachings aren’t “official”.

LDS prophets of the past have taught things that are now considered grave heresies in the LDS Church, but this is not what the Bible teaches we should expect from genuine prophets who speak on behalf of God.

Unlike Samuel of the Old Testament, so many of their words “fall to the ground”, and are cast aside by later prophets.

Consider what Jesus taught

Jesus taught us to watch out for false teachers. Many false prophets have gone out into the world (Matthew 7:15-20). But how can we know for sure that someone claiming to be a prophet is actually a false prophet—a wolf in sheep’s clothing?

Many Latter-day Saints say that they have a strong testimony that the LDS prophets are true, but 1 John warns us to not believe every spirit, and that this kind of spiritual confirmation might be given to us by an evil spirit (1 John 4:1).

We can’t rely on our feelings and experiences to discern if someone is a true prophet or not! False teaching is bad fruit, and we are commanded by Jesus to inspect the “fruit”, or the teachings, of a prophet (Matthew 7:16-20).

Someone may look like a follower of Jesus, have lots of good deeds, and help lots of people, but if their teachings disagree with what God has already revealed, then they are shown to be a false teacher.

Jesus did not tell us to test a teaching based on whether it was arbitrarily deemed official doctrine or not, he commanded His people to test every word that comes from the mouth of a prophet.

Test Everything a Prophet Says

Believers of Jesus are rightly judged for their words and their works. They are held accountable for their teachings, even if those teachings aren’t deemed “official.” This is why James writes,

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” (James 3:1).

Our standards for those who claim to be a prophet should be even higher, because a prophet claims to speak for God. Church leaders are called to

“…hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” (Titus 1:9).

A church leader must not even allow false teaching in their church (Acts 20:28-29), let alone teach it themselves.Jesus even condemns and threatens churches who allow false teaching to persist in their midst (Revelation 2:15).

Just because a teaching isn’t deemed “official” does not mean it isn’t false teaching. LDS Church leaders have taught things contrary to one another and contrary to the Bible. They’ve hidden behind this invented, unbiblical idea of “official doctrine”, and should be rejected.

Followers of Jesus should not trust the LDS prophets and apostles, because their teachings show that they are not of God.