The Mormon church is going through some media name-changes. It is retaining its official name as, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But, is modifying its website names. Here are the areas of change.
- “The Church is now making changes to many of its communication channels to reflect the faith’s full name and better convey a commitment to follow Jesus Christ.”1
- The Church’s official website will become ChurchofJesusChrist.org. This change is effective today, March 5, 2019″2
- MormonNewsroom.org will become Newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org3
- “Mormon.org will be incorporated into the new domain as well.”4
- “Mormon.org will change to ComeuntoChrist.org.”5
- “A new Facebook group has been established to build community and better inform individuals about Church news and updates. This group is called “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—Inspiration and News.”6
- “The Church’s Twitter account display name will continue to be called “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”7
Why the Change?
As you can see from the first quote above, the Mormon church says it’s changing its communication channels “to reflect the faith’s full name and better convey a commitment to follow Jesus Christ.” This is their official statement. However, as a Christian apologist who has studied Mormonism for many years, it is my opinion that the LDS church is doing this to appear more Christian and to try and slow down and or regain many of the losses to its membership rolls due to the information found on the Internet that exposes Mormonism as a non-Christian religion. Now, I cannot prove this is the case, but it is my opinion nonetheless.
What is the official name of the Mormon Church?
According to the Mormon Church, their official name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,
“Verily thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and also my servant Sidney Rigdon, and also my servant Hyrum Smith, and your counselors who are and shall be appointed hereafter; 2 And also unto you, my servant Edward Partridge, and his counselors; 3 And also unto my faithful servants who are of the high council of my church in Zion, for thus it shall be called, and unto all the elders and people of my Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, scattered abroad in all the world; 4 For thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” (Doctrines and Covenants 115:1-4).
However, that was not always the name of their church. It has gone through name changes.
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- “In 1830 the Church was organized as the Church of Christ. The Church adopted a resolution in 1834 to change the name to the Church of the Latter-Day Saints to distinguish it from other Christian denominations of the time. Then in 1838, the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to Joseph Smith that the name of the Church is to be the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Over the years, the Church standardized the spelling and hyphenation of its name, making it The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as it is used today.”8
Conclusion
The Mormon church is still officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is attempting to appear to be Christian and, I believe, the name changes in the media are an attempt to reflect that positioning. Unfortunately, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is not a true Christian church nor is it a restoration of the true Christian church. Please consider some of the Mormon teachings below.
- There are many gods, (Mormon Doctrine, p. 163); There is a mother goddess, (Articles of Faith, by James Talmage, p. 443)
- God used to be a man on another planet, (Mormon Doctrine, p. 321)
- After you become a good Mormon, you have the potential of becoming a god, (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pages 345-347, 354)
- God resides near a star called Kolob, (Pearl of Great Price, pages 34-35; Mormon Doctrine, p. 428)
- The Trinity is three separate gods, (James Talmage, Articles of Faith, p. 35)
- God is increasing in knowledge, (Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 120)
- God has the form of a man, (Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 3).
These teachings are clearly not Christian. However, that has not stopped the Mormon church from trying to appear Christian by changing their media names.
