"Joseph Smith believed there are men on the moon that dress like Quakers and live to be 1000 years old. Brigham Young taught that men lived on the sun. Until 1981, the Book of Mormon taught that dark-skinned Lamanites [Indians] would experience a change in the color of their skin should they embrace the Book of Mormon'S 2 Nephi 30:6," said Gabriel Carlin. Carlin wrote The Truth about Mormons . He was invited to speak to a group of Unchained Radio listeners in San Diego. Carlin, a pastor of Living Faith Community Church in St. George, Utah, often travels to educate groups about Mormonism. "A lot of what people see in Mormonism is appealing, but most Mormons don't even know all their own doctrines unless they go high up in the LDS Church." Pastor Carlin practiced Mormonism for two years before he left the LDS Church. "I left [the LDS Church] when I realized it was not consistent with the Bible," said Carlin. "Mormons are often surprised to hear me say that they are not Christians. Often, they respond by saying that they believe in Jesus so this must make them Christians," said Carlin. "However, Paul warned that there was a counterfeit Jesus, a counterfeit gospel, and a counterfeit spirit in 2 Corinthians 11:4.

"Let me give you two reasons why the [Christian] Church historically has insisted that the LDS Church is a cult. They teach an incorrect view of God and an incorrect view of the Gospel," said Pastor Carlin. "First, their view of God is not the historic Christian view. They reject the historic concept of the Trinity and instead teach in an infinite amount of gods scattered throughout the universe. Brigham Young, a LDS prophet, said, 'How many gods are there? I do not know. But there never was a time when there were not gods and worlds.' This is in direct opposition to what the Bible teaches in verses like Isaiah 43:10. Mormons may reply by saying that they only believe in one god for this world. Or they only worship one god. However, this makes no difference to me. It does not matter how many gods you worship, if you believe in more than one god, then you are a polytheist and cannot be included within the bounds of orthodox Christianity.

"Furthermore, the LDS Church, not only distorts the historic view of God in general, they also distort the historic view of Christ. According to the Mormon Church, Jesus is not the second person of the Holy Trinity. Instead, Jesus is the offspring of the Father God and an unknown celestial mother. Mormons also believe that their Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer [Satan]," said Pastor Carlin.

"Christianity teaches that faith alone in the finished work of Christ is sufficient to merit the righteousness God requires for salvation. Mormonism, on the other hand, teaches that faith alone is insufficient to gain a right standing with God," said Carlin. "They believe that a whole host of works must be added to the work of Christ in order to live in heaven with the Father. Of course, this all gets very convoluted because they have an entirely different view of the afterlife, which we just don't have time to delve into too deeply." Carlin said Mormons believe in three levels of heaven. "Even Hitler isn't going to hell in the Mormon view." Carlin said Mormons will learn their genealogy to be baptized for the dead, so they can go to a better heaven.

After the session, several people stayed after to ask Pastor Gabriel Carlin questions about Mormonism. "My wife's cousin is Mormon. I'm preparing myself for when I go visit him," said Steve Walcher, a regular listener of Unchained Radio. Walcher said he is concerned about his cousin. "Mormonism is a cult. It doesn't adhere to the scripture. Joseph Smith was into the occult. He hung out with a magician and diviner. He used magic stones to look into a hat to discover the location of a secret treasure."

"I go with a group to [proselytize] at Balboa Park. The other day a family of Mormons came by. They asked me a bunch of questions and I didn't know what to say," said Emiliano Perez. Perez attended the session to learn how to convert Mormons to Christianity.

"We started an Internet radio station mainly for the purpose of promoting sound doctrine, interacting with those who are in cults, world religions, and atheists," said Gene Cook, Jr., the regular host of the show. "Every Tuesday night The Narrow Mind begins at 6:00 p.m. The Narrow Mind is a live call-in show where callers participate in the featured topic of the week. We usually have 75 to 100 listeners through the Internet, an unknown number of listeners on the three AM radio stations, and we get about 250 downloads while the show is listed on the homepage for free download the first week after it airs."

I asked Pastor Carlin what he believed would happen to Mormons after they die. "Mormons are going to hell. They will spend eternity in torment apart from a righteous God. That is why we need to witness to Mormons," Pastor Carlin replied.

Denomination: None

Address: Covenant Baptist Church, 3241 Mission Village Drive, San Diego

Founded locally: March 2003

Senior pastor: n/a

Congregation size: n/a

Staff size: 2

Sunday school enrollment: n/a

Annual budget: n/a

Weekly giving: n/a

Singles program: n/a

Dress: n/a

Diversity: diverse

Broadcast: 6 p.m. Tuesday

Length of reviewed service: 1-hour show

Website: unchainedradio.com