Matthew 16:18 (vv. 18-19 in the Joseph Smith Translation) presents us with a test to determine the truth of any prophet who, like Joseph Smith, claims that the true church has disappeared from the earth. The ESV says,
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The KJV, which is the official translation of the LDS church says,
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
In the Greek, the word rendered ‘hell’, is ‘adou’. This is the genitive form of the noun ‘adns’, which comes into English as ‘hades’. The point Jesus is making here is two-fold.
1) The church will be opposed by demonic forces.
2) The demonic forces will never prevail against the church.
This means that the church will never disappear from this earth, contrary to the claims of Joseph Smith. Smith said in his first vision that the Father and Son told him all the churches of the earth were wrong. He claimed that the church had become apostate shortly after the death of the Apostles.
Here we have a simple test of two prophets who have made contradictory claims. Jesus claims that his church will never disappear. Joseph Smith claims that the church has disappeared. We have only 2 options.
1) Jesus’ prophecy failed to come true.
OR
2) Joseph Smith’s claim of the church’s apostasy is true.
The problem for Mormonism becomes quickly apparent. If Joseph Smith’s claim is true, then Christ’s is not, in which case, under the standards of Deuteronomy 18:21-22, Christ is a false prophet. If this is the case, then the Mormon faith is built upon Jesus, who is a false prophet, and by association this invalidates Joseph Smith as a prophet. If Christ’s prophecy is true (which it is!), then Joseph Smith is a false prophet.
There is no alternative! The gates of hades have not prevailed against the church. God has always preserved for Himself a remnant, as He did in the days of Elijah (1 Kings 19). The Mormon gospel is a false gospel (Galatians 1:6-10) that is a work of Satan (2 Corinthians 11:12-15).
