Is Evangelical-Mormon Collaboration Blurring the Lines Between Orthodoxy and Heresy.

Updated December 2023

What if I told you that much of the best Christian entertainment you’ve been enjoying over the last several years may not be entirely what it seems? 

Would it surprise you to know that, for example, The Chosen came about in large part due to an LDS (Latter Day Saint – they prefer this term over “Mormon”) film executive who believes it might be the fulfillment of an obscure Mormon prophecy?  Perhaps you’d be equally surprised to know that this same LDS production company produced the critically acclaimed summer blockbuster, Sound of Freedom, and that the real life protagonist of the film is actually a prominent leader in the LDS. Even the new genre-bending sci-fi thriller, The Shift, while billed as Christian, is written and directed by a devout LDS member. What if I told you that many of the most popular family-friendly YouTube personalities (like Mark Rober and the Piano Guys) and channels (like Studio C and JK Studios) are also LDS? What if I told you that 8 of every 10 converts to Mormonism – that’s roughly 178,000 out of 212,000 people in 2022 alone – have converted from Christian denominations?  I tell you what, this all sure surprised me!

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.“

Matthew 10:16, NASB 1995

When I was a Kid…

If you’re like me, a child of the Eighties and Nineties, you came of age during the early years of mainstream Christian entertainment.  For all the well meaning attempts to reach the world for Christ using visual storytelling, in general these early decades produced more cheese than an industrial dairy farm.  Even big-budget attempts to conquer the silver screen often fell short with their stereotypically plastic performances and contrived, strawman-like antagonists.  But arguably that’s no longer the case – in fact, with the success of recent offerings, there is a growing buzz that Christian entertainment has finally hit its stride and is experiencing a sort of Golden Age of cinematic excellence. 

But I’m getting ahead of myself… Like an 80’s VHS tape, let’s rewind. One fixture of my childhood was Saturday morning cartoons.  Peppered among the likes of Voltron, Transformers, Snorks, and ThunderCats were a panoply of brightly-colored, high-energy commercials pedaling everything from My Buddy and Micro Machines, to Kool-Aid and Lucky Charms.  But there was one group that took a decidedly different tack – leaning heavily on melodrama to tell a sixty-second morality tale, encouraging us kids to be honest, kind and forgiving.  Oddly enough, at least for this child of the 80’s, the message stood out from the rest – to the point that one of the ads in particular, featuring a dancer that stole a necklace, is probably the most memorable commercial of my childhood. And it ended with a simple endorsement, “Brought to you by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Mormons.”  

Back then, even growing up in a nominal Christian home where morality was more or less part and parcel of what it meant to be a Christian, I knew that Mormonism was a cult. It was, I believe, more or less common knowledge, and had been so since shortly after the cult was formed by Joseph Smith in Upstate New York in the 1820’s. Practically since its inception, the cult has gone to great lengths to publicly defend their right to be considered another sect of Christianity, using novel and innovative marketing techniques to work toward this end.  In 1913, just 18 years after the very first motion picture, One Hundred Years of Mormonism was released as a way to defend and promote their faith. To this day, they continue to lead faith-based organizations as early adopters of media and technology to further promote their religion. 

An LDS Primer

That brings us to the present. This past year or so, I took a deep dive into the world of the LDS and in particular, their peculiar use of media to further their pursuits. What I discovered was both alarming and unsettling.

Pertinent to this discussion, it would be helpful to explore the LDS understanding of Heaven, Hell and how people find their way to each. The LDS view of the afterlife is more complex than orthodox Christianity. LDS teach that there are three positive eternal outcomes for faithful believers, based upon how faithful you were to LDS doctrine and practices. For well-meaning people who are not LDS, or are backslidden LDS, they believe we go to a place called Spirit Prison when we die, where we are taught about the faith and have the chance to repent, believe and ascend to a sort of third-class heaven on earth. They believe most people will go to Spirit Prison, and that, in time, most of those will eventually ascend to this third heaven. But for the worst of humanity (a small subset of the earth’s overall population), as well as the devil and his demons, there is an eternal Hell for them.

This doctrine has a significant impact on how the LDS proselytizes. Don’t get me wrong, when pressed, the LDS clearly teaches that only they have the truth and that all other forms of Christendom is apostate, but because they believe most of us will eventually end up in a positive eternal locale one way or another, their is not the urgency that Evangelical Christians feel to preach the Gospel, lest people perish in their sin and experience the eternal wrath of God. By LDS theology, as long as they can help people live a moral life, they are placing them on a proverbial boat that will most likely carry them to eternal salvation. It might include more rapids along the way than a faithful LDS adherent would experience, and the beach they land on won’t be as nice, but in the end, they believe most of us will still enjoy a pleasant and fulfilling eternity.

“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!“

Galatians 1:6-9, NASB 1995

Obviously, LDS doctrine is a far cry from Biblical Christianity. There is no eternal do-over. We die and then we are judged, full stop (Hebrews 9:27). To pervert this truth as the LDS has done is to undermine the very Gospel of Grace – and the promise of a good standing with God that is wholly based upon Christ’s finished work on the cross and sovereign intervention in our lives for which Christ is our only boast.

And that’s not to mention their other heretical beliefs – that Jesus was created, that there is a Heavenly Mother, that we can become gods ourselves, that God was once a man, that we don’t have a sin nature – and all of that is just the tip of the iceberg. 

Bait and Switch

For decades, the LDS has used media to promote their faith to the world. Truth be told, in our consumeristic, entertainment obsessed culture, such an approach has a lot of value. In general, it appears the intent with the LDS’s use of media is to normalize their family-friendly faith while not publicly promoting the more controversial tenants that separate them from orthodox Christianity. This has resulted in a certain type of approach that’s clearly seen in both the advertisements of the Eighties and the December, 2023 Times Square nativity takeover, called Light of the World. Often, they begin by leaning heavy into emotional and well produced, compelling content and then, only after you’re emotions have been hooked, do they reveal that this content is from the LDS. No doubt, it’s a smart approach that can effectively take a b-line around our rational minds, appealing rather to the much more powerful (if less discerning) emotional language of our heart.

But there’s also a more subtle or perhaps even subversive approach, adopted by Angel Studios, that we see in The Chosen, Sound of Freedom and most recently, in The Shift. Their approach is to downplay the link between the LDS and the content, simply offering it up as “Christian”. Each of these projects has taken a slightly different tact, but the result has largely been the same – most Christian and secular outlets have simply accepted their projects as purely Christian without a second thought. And while I believe the creators of Angel Studios and the LDS writers, directors and producers of these films believe they themselves are Christians, and likely see no inauthenticity in such a presentation, I have little doubt that such blurred lines plays right into the hands of the spiritual forces of darkness the pull the strings behind the scenes (but praise be to God the devil is on a short leash!).

Regardless of motive, the result has largely been that even squarely conservative Christian media outlets have represented this content as Christian, even when a cursory investigation would merit a warning about its LDS origins at the least. In fact, it seems this approach is largely working for the LDS. Two studies from Pew Research Center (2007, 2012) point to a growing “warming” trend among both the general public and most Christian denominations toward the LDS faith. Even in 2007, a slim majority (52%) of Americans believed Mormons to be Christian, and in the past 15 years, I suspect that trend is warming even more quickly, especially when coupled with the drastic decline in basic doctrinal knowledge in the average church member during the same period of time (See the long-running State of Theology Study).

Most of the Story…

Apart from the spiritual danger of blurred lines leading Christians and the broader culture to accept the LDS as just another Christian denomination, there’s also a secondary danger of doctrinal error being absorbed by people unwittingly assuming the content is Christian. A good example of this is the viral marketing campaign for The Chosen, which represents Satan as an affable, blundering neerdowell with mischievous intentions (a far cry from the devouring lion Scripture warns us of – 1 Peter 5:8) and paints a picture of Hell as a place of second chances where people can learn about Jesus and be saved. This is a far cry from the orthodox view of Hell, but it is a fair, if comedic, caricature of the LDS conception of the afterlife. To suggest that we have the chance at a do-over after death is a damnably dangerous error that flies in the face of the Bible’s clear warnings (Hebrews 9:27).

While error like this may be easy enough for a mature Christian to pick up, it’s much harder when that error is conveyed solely by what remains unsaid. Say, for example, there was a young child growing up in sub-Saharan Africa, and they had no idea what a lion was. Now imagine you’re their parent, and you tell them about how majestic and grand a lion is – how soft it’s fur is – how cute the cubs are and how gentle the lionesses are with their young. Maybe you even made them a lion stuffed animal that they sleep with every night. One day, your child is playing in the field behind your home when she sees her very first lion in real life. In her joy and excitement, she runs toward the lion, wanting to wrap her arms around it’s bushy neck, just like she does with her stuffed animal. We all know how that story would likely end. For whatever reason, you never told them about the lion’s deadly ferociousness or carnivorous appetite, and it has tragic consequences.

“Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

Job 2:9-10, NASB 1995

As with all cults that have sprung from the Christian faith, LDS beliefs do two broad things – they elevate man and demote God. Though never explicitly shared, that’s the insidious problem with The Shift’s retelling of the story of Job. In the movie, Satan (the Benefactor) does not play a minor role. Unlike the Biblical narrative, where Satan never appears to Job and is only mentioned in the first two chapter of the book, here, Satan is presented as a nearly all-powerful deity (again more in line with LDS doctrine). Of the Christian reviews I have read (all of which fail to share that this is a movie written and directed by a devout LDS member), none point out the broader narrative of the book of Job, namely the sovereignty, transcendent wisdom and goodness of God in and through our suffering. Though the Scriptures present Job as a godly example, it is God who is the hero of the book of Job. That is not the case with The Shift, where the Job figure, Kevin Garner, is the hero. He’s the one who perseveres, who keeps his faith, who triumphs in the end.

In Angel Studio’s lengthy synopsis of the film and its connection to Job, their closing summation is telling – it’s about Job, not God: “Just like Job, our perseverant protagonist loses everything, only to gain it all back—emerging triumphant after a long struggle with loss, flickering faith, and even the Devil himself.”

They go on to say what we should take away from both Job and The Shift: “Both Job and Kevin exhibited patience, faith, and trust in God in the midst of their harrowing journeys. They maintained personal relationships with God, even when external sources attempted to undermine their faith in His goodness and promise. They both resisted the pressure from their peers to give up and relinquish their beliefs.”

Yet, the beautiful story of Job, and indeed all the Scriptures, point like a glowing neon sign in the pitch black darkness of night, to Christ as the hero. The LDS gospel claims that, freed from our sin nature by the cross, it is up to us to do our best and God’s grace will covers the rest. Ultimately, they believe it’s on us to be faithful, to be righteous, to choose good. And only then, if we make the right choices enough, will we be saved. This is the subtle message of The Shift. But this is not the Gospel of justification by faith through grace by Christ alone. The beautifully devastating message of the Cross is that we can never, ever, in 10,000 years be good enough, but thanks be to God, Christ was – and in living a perfect life and dying a cursed death in our place, He paid the full penalty for all who would, through the Father’s gift of faith, come to Christ in humble repentance and belief. It is only then that our boast will not be in ourselves, and our good deeds, but rather, that despite or weakness, and through the Spirit’s power alone, we persevered to the praise of the glory of His name! (Ephesians 1-2)

Odd Bedfellows

Yet despite the fundamental chasm between LDS and Christian doctrine, in recent years, we have seen an increase in LDS-Evangelical collaborations – most centered around the very profitable Angel Studios and their spinoffs, like Dry Bar Comedy.  Wholly owned and operated by devout LDS leaders, this multimedia production, crowd-funding and distribution company is responsible for the hit series, The Chosen, and most recently, the summer blockbuster, Sound of Freedom and genre-bending thriller, The Shift.  

But why, for example, would an LDS company be willing to partner with Evangelical Christians to tell the story of Jesus?  It appears to be rooted in two main beliefs.  Broadly, we can point to the LDS view of eternity that we just explored, and how that continues to shape the agenda for LDS entertainment-based promotion of their religion.  But there’s another component – espoused by Angel Studios co-founder Jeff Harmon, the one responsible for green-lighting The Chosen collaboration.  He believes that this project (and presumably others like it) is the fulfillment of a Book of Mormon prophecy in 1 Nephi 14:14, suggesting that God might use this series to bring apostate Christendom back into the LDS fold.

“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God;“

2 Corinthians 6:14-16a, NASB 1995

An Alarming Convergence

This summer, as Sound of Freedom took the Evangelical world by storm, shining a gritty and important light on the evils and pervasiveness of child trafficking, little attention was given to one concerning fact – this is the story of an LDS protagonist produced by an LDS company.  Article after article has sung the praises of the so-called “Christian” film and its important cause, with even conservative evangelical sources gushing over the film, yet few have mentioned its LDS roots.  Left and right, Christians are promoting this film to their friends, family and coworkers, perhaps with simultaneous hopes that the film will both draw others into the worthy fight to end child trafficking, and draw them to the Lord – not realizing that if those friends look into the movie’s hero, Tim Ballard, they will find he is a devout LDS member.  

Converging with this blurred line is an alarming trend among even devout evangelicals.  Earlier this year I was having a conversation with our church’s youth and was surprised to find that the majority of the kids thought Mormonism was just another sect of Christianity.  They were shocked when I told them they were a cult.  But unfortunately, that tracks with the current state of theology in the American church.  The long running Ligioneers and Lifeway, State of Theology Survey sheds a bleak and sobering light on what churchgoing people believe.  Specifically among Evangelicals, you find the following jaw-dropping statistics:

• 44% agreed or somewhat agreed with the statement, “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.”
• 61% agreed or somewhat agreed with the statement, “Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God.”
• 58% agreed or somewhat agreed with the statement, ”God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.”

In short, biblical literacy is at an all-time low among professing Evangelicals – producing fertile ground, that left unchecked, will give rise to a harvest of deception and destruction – especially when combined with the blurred lines between the church and the LDS cult.  

“How many of the 500,000+ professing Christian converts to Mormonism over the past three years have been influenced by the LDS’s use of The Chosen to bolster up the cult’s credibility and familiarity?”

As the fastest growing so-called “Christian denomination” in the United States for the last thirty years, it seems this tactic is working well for the LDS.  In fact, according to a Pew Research study, 84% of LDS converts come out of a Christian background, with the largest percentage from Protestantism.  If that statistic stands, it means that of the 212,000 convert baptisms the LDS reported in 2022, about 178,00 of them came out of Christianity, and about 112,000 came out of the Protestant tradition. This is no small thing!            

Given these sobering statistics, could we, by freely promoting these collaborations between Evangelicals and the LDS, unintentionally be undermining the very Gospel we hold so dear?  I believe that’s likely the case.  How many of the 500,000+ professing Christian converts to Mormonism over the past several years have been influenced by the LDS use of The Chosen to bolster up the cult’s credibility and familiarity? As Evangelicals, these trends are incredibly alarming!

A Sobering Call

So, what should we do?  Faithful believers have come to different conclusions on this question.  For some, as they do the calculus, it seems like the potential Gospel good that such a series may do outweighs the dangers it presents.  They point to passages like Paul’s sermon at the Areopagus (Acts 17) or his rejoicing in Gospel preaching, even when it’s done for wrong heart motives (Philippians 1:15-18). 

For others, myself included, the scales appear to favor caution and warning, with the weight of Scripture concerning false gospels focused on dissuading us from embracing or endorsing the fruit of such partnerships.  To that end, have you noticed that Jesus’ harshest words were reserved for the likes of the Pharisees who twisted God’s Word (Matthew 12:34, 23:23-51, Mark 7:1-12)?  The same is true of the words of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:7). Or consider that Paul reserves his most biting criticism and condemnations for those peddling a false gospel (Galatians 1:8-9, 5:12, 1 Tim 6:3-5, 2 Tim 3:1-8)?  Add to this the clear commands to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers (for “What accord has Christ with Belial” – 2 Corinthians 6:14f) and Paul’s dire warning to the church at Corinth, because they were blurring the lines between Christianity and their pagan roots in how they ate:

“…I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? “

1 Corinthians 10:20b-22, NASB 1995

Ultimately, when the Gospel is at stake, I tend toward the protective impulse.  Commands like the one found in Jude 1:3 make me hesitant to have any part in promoting or endorsing any collaboration with a cult, no matter how important the cause.  Though ending the sex trade is a laudable and worthy cause, to join our yoke with a cult in the process is to jeopardize the eternal wellbeing of a person for the sake of their earthly wellbeing, and that doesn’t seem to be a Biblical approach – especially when there is a whole array of valuable ministries, documentaries and other media from Christian sources that we can bring to bear on this fight without risk of diluting or confusing the Gospel. 

“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.“

Jude 1:3, NASB 1995

Regardless of where you land on this issue, I would encourage you to be intentionally informed and make sure others are, too.  We don’t have the luxury of assuming that everything that claims to be Christian really is.  Whether from a cult, or the progressive church, we must be like the Bereans and test truth claims based on the Scriptures (Acts 17:11). 

Want to See the Evidence for Yourself?

If you would like to dig into this issue in depth, I invite you to take a look at a personal position paper I produced at the beginning of 2023. The paper, titled Don’t Choose The Chosen?, goes into great depth, offering eight reasons why I believe it is best for Christians to avoid Angel Studios, and the content they produce. But, as Levar Burton used to say, “You don’t have to take my word for it!” There are ample links to first-hand sources, so you can evaluate the evidence and come to your own conclusions about Angel Studios, The Chosen, and the purposes of the LDS.

May we ever be, as Christ commanded, “shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16), for the world is full of wolves with mighty-good sheep costumes…