Mormonism: ‘A different Jesus,’ says former member

An ex-Mormon says she believes plans for a Mormon temple to be built in Sutton Coldfield spring from a financial controversy that the sect is facing.

The structure will be built on a site currently occupied by the church’s Birmingham mission offices and will be their first new temple to open in the UK since 1998, and the third of its kind in the country.

She also spoke out on why the version of Jesus that Mormons are given is not the truly Biblical Christ.

Speaking about the background to the new UK temple plans, Lynn Wilder, co-founder of Ex-Mormon Christians United For Jesus, who is based in the US, told en that the Mormon church places a strong emphasis on tithing. This has led to huge financial reserves – which resulted in a fine in the US last year as they were not being used ‘for religious purposes’.

Building more temples is one way of using up some of those reserves and thus avoiding a repeat fine.

Wilder told en: ‘Estimates are the LDS [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] church takes in more than $7billion a year in tithing alone. Fined last year by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US after a whistleblower, David Nielson, revealed in 2019 that the church had more than $100 billion in holdings not in use for religious purposes, the church has recently accelerated building temples [to use up excess funds].

‘Three hundred are planned, 118 of those by President Prophet Russell M. Nelson in the past five years. Recently, the third UK temple has been announced for Sutton Coldfield.’

A LDS temple differs from a regular Mormon place of worship. According to Wikipedia: ‘In the Latter Day Saint movement, a temple is a building dedicated to being a house of God and is reserved for special forms of worship. A temple differs from a church meetinghouse, which is used for weekly worship services.’

A Mormon website claims: ‘Because each temple is the House of the Lord, we can feel a special closeness to God when we visit.’

It is estimated that there are about 190,000 Mormons in the UK, and only those of sufficiently good standing will be allowed to enter the ‘temple’, where ordinances including marriage, baptism of the dead and spiritual instruction take place.

Wilder revealed that after an initial surge following the arrival of missionaries in 1837, Mormonism has gradually declined in the UK: ‘In 1960, Britain and Europe accounted for 36% of [Mormon] church baptisms. But today in the UK, LDS church membership is minimal.

‘Although the church reports about 18,000 members on their rolls, in 2022–2023, the church closed nine wards (congregations) and four stakes (regions). Today, less than 0.3% of people in the UK are LDS, although nearly 60% identify as Christian.’

Wilder and her husband Michael joined the Mormon church in 1977 and were members for years before realising that the gospel according to Scripture did not match up with Mormon teaching, causing them to leave in 2008.

Wilder shared why their teaching cannot be accepted as Biblical truth: ‘Teachings from LDS prophets, their additional Scriptures, and their temple ordinances in no way support the Bible.

‘I know – I was LDS for 30 years, worked in an LDS temple, and now know the Lord. The LDS Jesus is different than the Biblical Jesus. The LDS godhood is different. The LDS way to exaltation or eternal life – the gospel – is different. To a Biblical Christian, Biblical truth matters.’