Ed Decker

Decker was born to a Jewish mother and Dutch father of the Reformed Christian faith (Calvinist) but raised an Episcopalian. While attending Utah State University, he married a Latter-day Saint student named Phyllis and converted to the LDS Church. They later married in the Presbyterian Church on June 10, 1956.

They were divorced in 1969.

Phyllis Decker contends that it was she who filed for divorce on the grounds of adultery and mental cruelty. In her affidavit, Phyllis Decker Danielson alleges that "the first ten years Ed and I were married, we moved twenty-six times. We moved a few more times in the remaining three years we were married. Ed had affairs for seven of those years and I was continually advised by the LDS church to forgive him". Since Decker neither appeared in divorce court or made answer to the charges on which the divorce was sought, a default judgment was ordered in Phyllis Decker's favor. Brown, Robert L. and Rosemary Brown. 1995 They Lie in Wait to Deceive: A Study in Anti-Mormon Deception, vol.4, 8-9. Edited by Barbara Ellsworth. Mesa, AZ: Brownsworth Publishing Co. Inc

Decker married again and has been married for 50 years, and has 8 children, 10 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren. He is currently{{when|date=September 2020}} a pastor in Palm Desert, CA.

Decker has authored and coauthored, books addressing the inner workings and negative aspects of the LDS religion. His book, The God Makers, was followed by The God Makers II.[http://www.eddecker.com/bookshelf.html ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060202094737/http://www.eddecker.com/bookshelf.html |date=February 2, 2006 }} He released a book in November 2007, titled My Kingdom Come: The Mormon Quest for Godhood.

Additional books written in this genre, include Fast Facts on False Teachings, Decker's Complete Handbook on Mormonism, and Unmasking Mormonism. A fictional work by Decker, entitled The Mormon Dilemma was added to Conversations With The Cults—The Harvest House series, entitled What You Need to Know About Mormons.

He participated in the documentary films The God Makers, The Temple of the God Makers, The Mormon Dilemma, and The God Makers II. His smaller projects include the booklets "And The Word Became Flesh", "To Moroni, With Love!", and "Understanding Islam", which are distributed by his nonprofit organization.

Decker's work has attracted criticism not only from Latter-day Saints,According to Michael Griffith, "Even as anti-Mormon books go, The God Makers is one of the worst, most inaccurate attacks on Mormonism ever written."{{cite web | author=Michael T. Griffith | title=Another Look at The Godmakers | work=ourworld.cs.com | url=http://ourworld.cs.com/mikegriffith1/id114.htm | access-date=September 24, 2006 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060907013509/http://ourworld.cs.com/mikegriffith1/id114.htm | archive-date=September 7, 2006 }} but from others outside the faith.Says Massimo Introvigne, "the second book and film are worse than the first: they include an explicit call to hatred and intolerance that has been denounced as such by a number of Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish organizations." Introvigne, Massimo (1994) [http://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V27N01_165.pdf "The Devil Makers: Contemporary Evangelical Fundamentalist Anti-Mormonism"], Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 27 (1), 154. Jerald and Sandra Tanner, two prominent critics of the LDS Church, and Robert Passantino have said that Decker's writings grossly misrepresent Mormonism, and thereby dilute his message and offend Mormons without attracting them to evangelical Christianity. The Tanners have noted what they contend are inaccuracies and errors in some of Decker's works.Tanner, Jerald and Sandra (1993). Problems in The Godmakers II. Salt Lake City, Utah: UTLM.

One of Decker's associates offered to exorcise the Tanners' demons, and expressed great sadness when they refused.Introvigne, Massimo (1994) [http://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V27N01_165.pdf "The Devil Makers: Contemporary Evangelical Fundamentalist Anti-Mormonism"], Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 27 (1), 166–67.

;Books

• The God Makers: A Shocking Expose of What the Mormon Church Really Believes, avec Dave Hunt, Harvest House Publishers, 1997, {{ISBN|978-1-56507-717-1}}
• The God Makers II
• My Kingdom Come – The Mormon Quest for Godhood, 2007
• Fast Facts on False Teachings
• Decker's Complete Handbook on Mormonism
• Unmasking Mormonism
• The Mormon Dilemma
• What You Need to Know About Mormons
• What You Need To Know About Masons
• The Dark Side of Freemasonry, Huntington House Publishers, 1994.
• Hotel Hope Kindle
• Crescent Moon Rising: The Islamic Invasion of America

;Movies

• The God Makers
• The Temple Of The God Makers
• The Mormon Dilemma
• The God Makers II

;Leaflets

• And The Word Became Flesh
• To Moroni, With Love!
• The Question of Freemasonry

• Anti-Mormonism

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150529045231/http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/publications/the-truth-about-the-god-makers FAIR] – Mormon/LDS site index for topics relating to Ed Decker
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051025165428/http://c.faculty.umkc.edu/cowande/ccp/decker.htm Profile of Ed Decker]
• [http://www.saintsalive.com/ Saints Alive Ministry] – Decker's ministry

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Decker, Ed}}

Category:1935 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American male writers

Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers

Category:20th-century evangelicals

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers

Category:21st-century evangelicals

Category:American Evangelical writers

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:American religious writers

Category:Anti-Masonry in the United States

Category:Converts to Mormonism from Anglicanism

Category:Critics of Mormonism

Category:Date of birth missing (living people)

Category:Former Latter Day Saints

Category:People excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:Utah State University alumni

Category:Critics of Freemasonry