CULTIC TREND ALERT: October 22, 2007

Washington Post highlights Mormon growth in Africa

Christians should note the growing threat of Mormonism in Africa, as highlighted in the Monday, November 19 edition of The Washington Post. The Page 1 feature describes the lives of Nigerians who became Mormons after their disillusionment with other religions. The LDS church now claims a quarter of a million members in Africa (nearly a third of them in Nigeria), with congregations in 27 of the continent’s 54 nations.

What’s the appeal? The Post underscores four key factors that attract Nigerians to Mormonism:

• they’re eager to find alternatives to traditional churches, which appear shallow or hypocritical by comparison
• they’re impressed by the cult’s attractive and comfortable facilities
• their ancestors have a place in the Mormon belief system
• they’re ignorant about the cult’s racist past

The Post quotes scholar Newell Bringhurst, who explains that pressure for the cult’s 1978 policy change allowing ordination of African males “came from the Mormon Church wanting to expand outside the United States. There was a certain element of pragmatism. Potential growth was being impeded in places like Brazil and Africa.” Bringhurst notes that the LDS church is “more successful among blacks outside the United States than inside,” thanks to a lack of awareness of the church’s “past historic discrimination.” (The Post doesn’t mention that Mormon leaders have never renounced the racist theology behind their priesthood denial.)

Now more than ever, Africans need to know the truth about the history and teachings of Mormonism. The cult is now working in at least two dozen indigenous languages in sub-Saharan Africa, and that number is growing. Mormonism is steadily taking root across the continent; are Christians willing to do what it takes to warn Africans today and help protect future generations?

The big picture: According to the Post,

• “more than 220,000 people a year [are] baptized abroad into the Mormon Church — four times the 54,000 annual baptisms in the United States.”
• “About one-third of the church’s 53,000 missionaries are not from the United States.”
• “there are Mormon temples in more than 40 countries, from China to Finland to Ghana, and more than 8,400 Mormon churches or meetinghouses abroad, with a new one built nearly every day.”

What you can do:

• Pray for God to restrain the Mormon missionary move in Africa and strengthen the witness of credible Christian churches there
• Give to help launch the Africa Center for Apologetics Research
• Provide materials to missionaries to help them warn nationals about Mormonism and other cults imported from the U.S.

For more information:

• “The New Face of Global Mormonism”
• CFAR summary on Mormonism
• Recommended resources on Mormonism