By Chad Groening
March 12, 2001

(AgapePress) - With the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games a year away, the Mormon Church is increasing its efforts to be perceived as mainstream.

According to an expert on cults, when the scrutiny of the world descends on the Salt Lake Valley next winter, the Mormon Church would prefer to be called by its official name, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" or even "The Church of Jesus Christ." Don Malin is a missionary with the Watchman Fellowship, a ministry devoted to informing Christians about cults. He says the Mormons do not want to be considered outside orthodox Christianity.

"They try to minimize people calling them 'Mormons' and just emphasize 'The Church of Jesus Christ,' " Malin says. "They're trying to maintain a mainline denominational approach, when in fact Mormonism at its very core rejected all the doctrines and the heart of the Christian faith."

In its effort to convince the world that it is part of the mainstream, Malin says the church wants to de-emphasize the word "Mormon" as the Olympics approach. He says that during the 2002 Winter Olympics, "they're planning on being more and more mainline in their approach.

"They've always tried to be that way," Malin says, "but they are downplaying the name 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints / Mormons' and they are now at this time just trying to say 'All right, we can say Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and then after that just call it The Church of Jesus Christ."

Malin says the Mormons hope to use the Olympics as a major way to spread their false religion, while outwardly claiming to be Christian.

© 2001 AgapePress all rights reserved.

E-mail this page to a friend

Printer-Friendly Version

Read all of our current headlines