Biblical Monotheism Contra Mormon Polytheism

Mormons are often accused of being polytheists. And it is true that they believe that there are gods other than the God of the Bible. In their defense of their religion, they refer to, for example, Deuteronomy 29:26: "They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom He had not allotted to them." They claim that the reference to "gods' acknowledges that there are other gods, but forbids Christians to worship them, a concept known as "henotheism." Mormons deny that this is just another word for polytheism, even though explicit pagans, such as Hindus, have the same practice, devotion to one deity while acknowledging the existence of others. 

However, Mormons cherry-pick which references to "gods" make their case. They ignore explicit references to the contrary, such as Deuteronomy 32:21: "They have made Me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked Me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation." That is, the supposed gods of idolaters are actually not gods. To what are idolaters actually offering their prayers and sacrifices? "They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded." (Deuteronomy 32:17).

They also misrepresent biblical references to "gods." That word does not indicate that there are real gods. Rather, it is an acknowledgement that men create other gods. The Bible then tells us that those gods are mere idols, without power: "They know not, nor do they discern, for He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, 'Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?' He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, 'Is there not a lie in my right hand?'" (Isaiah 44:18-20). People think that a wooden idol is a real god because the one and only living God has blinded their eyes to their own irrationality.

Through the same prophet, the biblical God gives a message to Cyrus the Mede, who, about two centuries later, would rescue the people of God from their Babylonian captivity: "I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides Me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know Me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides Me; I am the Lord, and there is no other" (Isaiah 45:5-6). The significance of this is that Cyrus was a pagan, the worshiper of a pantheon of gods. There is no indication here that Jehovah was telling Cyrus to be a henotheist, to put Him on the front of his shelf of idols. He explicitly states that "there is no other." 

Therefore, when the God of the Bible tells us, "You are My witnesses, declares the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after Me. I, I am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior" (Isaiah 43:10-11), it is not telling us that He is the foremost of an innumerable crowd of gods. Rather, He is declaring, just as the words indicate, that He is the only God in existence.