The God Makers was first shown to a group of 4,000 evangelical Christians on December 31, 1982, at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California.
[2] The film depicts a meeting between Ed Decker and Dick Baer with two actors who portray Los Angeles attorneys.
[3] The film states that Decker and Baer are there to consult "with a Los Angeles-based law firm about filing a class action lawsuit" against the LDS Church.
Decker states that the church is a massive, multibillion-dollar corporation which shatters the lives of families and has ties into Satanism and the occult.
Dr. Harold Goodman, who is introduced as a Brigham Young University (BYU) professor, former Latter-day Saint bishop, and current mission president, provides quotes at various points throughout the film.
Baer states that members of the LDS Church believe that there are "billions of these highly evolved humanoids" in space ruling their own planets.
One of the actor/lawyers states that he finds it difficult to believe that the church members who are attorneys and judges that he associates with expect to become "infinite gods" and populate planets through "celestial sex" with their "goddess wives".
The animation depicts God the Father living on a planet called Kolob with his many identical, blonde "goddess wives" who are taking care of "spirit children" produced through endless celestial sex.
The narrator refers to statements made by LDS prophet Brigham Young teaching that thousands of years later, God the Father journeyed to earth "from a planet nearest to the star Kolob", to have sex with the virgin Mary, in order to provide Jesus with a physical body.
The narrator states that the Book of Mormon was recovered by "a young treasure seeker named Joseph Smith, who was known for his tall tales in upstate New York."
The film depicts Smith sitting in the center position with God the Father and the Mormon Jesus to either side during the judgment process.
Upon viewing the animation, one of the actor/lawyers comments that it sounds like something from von Däniken or Battlestar Galactica (the latter's creator, Glen A. Larson, was a Mormon, who added themes derived from the religion into the show).
The narrator states that Mormons used Christian terminology when speaking with nonmembers of the LDS Church, using words such as "God", "Jesus", and "salvation" to deceive potential converts.
Decker produces what he refers to as a Satanic Bible, in which the word "Mormo" is said to represent the "king of ghouls", and whose followers are called Mormons.
The film created considerable controversy in some of the communities in which it has been shown,[9] and was described by Truman G. Madsen, LDS professor of religion and philosophy, as "religious pornography".
The Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith publicly presented their concerns of the film which they described as "Mormon bashing" and "invidious and defamatory".
[11] Rhonda M. Abrams, Regional Director stated the following: I sincerely hope that people of all faiths will similarly repudiate The God Makers as defamatory and untrue, and recognize it for what it truly represents — a challenge to the religious liberty of all.
[citation needed] Jennings reported that "If what I saw Tuesday night is love, I must have had the wrong Sunday School lessons back in that dusty, west Texas Methodist Church of my childhood.
We find particularly offensive the emphasis that Mormonism is some sort of subversive plot — a danger to the community, a threat to the institution of marriage, and destructive to the mental health of teenagers.
[22] Gilbert W. Scharffs, a teacher from the LDS Institute of Religion near the University of Utah, wrote a lengthy rebuttal, stating that "The book relies on scare words that are emotionally laden.
It is filled with words calculated to alarm others and give offense to Latter-day Saints" and has also noted that "some have said The God Makers is its own worst enemy.
The film's impact might have stayed with mostly evangelical Christians, but for a series of LDS-related scandals in the 1980s and 1990s, which turned media attention toward Mormon criticisms.
[26][full citation needed] Following the debut of the original 1982 film, a book was published as The God Makers in 1984 by Harvest House.