Let
us examine if the God of the LDS or Mormon church is the same God of the Bible
by comparing the claims of Joseph Smith with that of the Bible itself. Joseph Smith taught in his sermon, The King
Follett Discourse, that "God himself, who sits enthroned in yonder heaven, is a
man like one of you." He adds, "And you have got to learn how
to be Gods yourselves—to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have
done—by going from a small degree to another, from grace to grace, from
exaltation to exaltation, until you are able to sit in glory as do those who
sit enthroned in everlasting power."
Joseph Smith's statement is blasphemy. Men do not become Gods, for there is only one God. Isaiah 43:10 says, "Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be
none after Me." God was not
a man before He became God, He has always been God; for Malachi 3:6 says,
"For I, the LORD, do not change."
The Mormon or LDS church teaches that, "Jesus being the literal son of exalted human gods
obviously did not create all things either. For example, He did not create the
planet He was born on as a spirit child (Ibid.; Gospel Principles, 17-20 [1997 edition]; and 27-9)." (***Note: this quote reference was on the LDS site as of 8:00 am on 7/4/13 but has since been changed. The quote was from Mormoninfo.org.)
This is also a direct contradiction with the
Bible. Jesus Christ is God and is not a created being and
He did indeed create all things, as shown in John 1:1-3, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. He was in the beginning with
God. All things came into being through
Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."
1 Timothy 4:1-2 warns, "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall
away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of
demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as
with a branding iron." We must not be deceived by Joseph Smith and the
LDS church who readily admit to lying, for they teach a different God, a
different Jesus, and a different gospel.
For more information on this topic, please look at these sites:
The Plain Truth About Mormons
Mormoninfo.org
God the Father According to Mormonism
The three websites you list are neither authoritative nor accurate on what Mormons believe or practice. Some statements are the exact opposite of what the LDS church teaches. If you want some examples, feel free to ask.
ReplyDeleteAlso, when you reference the "Gospel Principles" manual on the official LDS site, the quote you attach to it is non-existent.
The quote was on the LDS site this morning, but the Mormon church, in an attempt to look like as much like Christianity as possible, has since removed it. It is a telling statement that the Mormon church would feel the need to change their doctrine in order to hide their apostacy, but unfortunately that is what has happened.
ReplyDeleteI'm calling your bluff that the quote was "removed". The book you reference is widely available and has been around for over 15 years in print, so anybody with a copy can open its actual pages confirm that the quote you reference does not actually exist. Here's a link to the pdf of the book, showing again that nothing was removed. www(dot)lds(dot)org/gospellibrary/materials/gospel/Start%20Here_01(dot)pdf
ReplyDeleteBrian, you are correct and I apologize for the error. The quote was from Mormonthink.com, not the LDS site. I noted the error and correction in the article. However...the content that was referenced to on the LDS site was indeed changed. This is disturbing and is another example of deception by the LDS or Mormon church that was referred to in Mormonthink.com, "Evidence presented in this list establishes that when the church or its leaders needed protection, it was, and is, okay to fib, deceive, distort, inflate, minimize, exaggerate, prevaricate or lie. You will read quotations by church leaders who admitted that deception is a useful tool to protect the church and its leaders "when they are in a tight spot," or "to beat the devil at his own game." They admit engaging in moral gymnastics; that God approves of deception - if it's done to protect the "Lord's Church" or "the brethren.""
ReplyDeleteYou may or may not believe what I say about the LDS website being changed, and that's okay. You can look at the other examples of the LDS church deception on different topics in the MormonThink website article under Lying for the Lord. I hope and pray that all would consider the heretical doctrines and dishonesty of the LDS or Mormon church and reject them.
I am a member of the local FCA group and LDS, and if this is the stuff I have to look forward to hearing I may as well quit.
ReplyDeletewhy are trying to bash on Mormons? Do you have any Respect for the Freedom of Religion
ReplyDeleteTo any LDS FCA members--you had better let these guys know up front about your church affiliation, or if you win an award or get elected to any offices and they find out about it later, you'll lose your award or be removed from your position on the basis that Mormons aren't Christians. The fact that you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who was sent by His Father to die and atone for the sins of all mankind, and the fact that you pray and read your scriptures daily, and that you plan on spending up to 2 years away from home, out in the world feeding the hungry, aiding the sick, and preaching Christ to a lost world, and the fact that you will spend your adult life ministering to others, often as much as a full-time paid clergy of another church will, only you won't get paid for it--these things just simply aren't good enough for the FCA because you love God so much that you want to be exactly like His Son Jesus Christ.
ReplyDeleteThey will turn around and give it to someone else who attends one of their "approved" churches, which basically means anyone but you and j-dubs, even if the approved church approves of abortion, gay marriage, pre-marital and even extra-marital sex, doesn't believe in a literal Adam and Eve, or myriad other un-Biblical ideals. As long as it's not someone who tries too hard to be like God, and doesn't believe that God stopped speaking to man after the Book of Revelation was written...wait, that wasn't actually the last book written, was it?
It's amazing some of the reasons that anti-Mormons have been recycling for the last 180 years or so about why Mormons aren't truly Christians! None of the reasons why Mormons are Christians are typically mentioned, and the "reasons" they aren't are not even true, factual, or logical in most cases. The Book of Revelation was originally met with just about as much skepticism as the Book of Mormon was. Its authorship was doubted, it was put through a gauntlet of accusations of heresy and of being counterfeit. It wasn't until over 300 years after it was written that it, the last book of the standard canon of books we now call the Bible, was canonized. That, along with the fact that it contains a lot about the end of the world, is why it was placed last. The exact year it was added to the Bible was 419. The events of the Book of Mormon ended about two years later. So, it couldn't have very well been canonized with the other 66 books, now could it? But, that doesn't mean it's not true, or not scripture, or that Joseph Smith invented it. In fact, literary scientists/mathematicians from UC Berkeley have tested the Book of Mormon and found that the individual authors are separate, and could not have been Joseph Smith or any of his cohorts. Not to mention that every generation that sets out to "prove" Mormonism false using scientific methods ends up proving more that it is true.
What’s truly amazing to me is that most churches have become so secularized that they are difficult to tell apart from a night club, but you have a church like the LDS Church that sticks to the foundations of what it means to be a true follower of Christ, and yet people like Coach Hoover here just want to stick to the worn-out 180-year-old babbling about different Jesuses. Please wake up, Coach. Keep your eyes on the ball and stop relying on hail mary's to win the game. Better yet, wake up and realize that we're on the same team, and focus that attention on the real enemy, who is Satan--the destroyer of families, the mocker of the Lord's anointed, and the master of contention between followers of Christ.
You make some good points about the carnal "Christian" churches in this country. Much of what calls itself Christian is not. Unfortunately the Mormon church falls into the same boat, and the truth is that you and I are not on the same team. We cannot be since the Mormon church believes in a different Jesus than the One revealed in the Bible. The Mormon Jesus is a created being, which is heresy. The Mormon church has two websites, one for what they want people to think they believe, and one for what they really believe. They want people to think they are really Christian, but they are not. It's all a facade, it's all a lie from the pit of hell.
ReplyDeleteI have sinned against God and deserve only to go to hell. It is only by His grace that my heart was transformed by the Holy Spirit and able to have faith in Jesus. You deserve hell as well for your sins, and clinging on to all of your works will not help one bit on the day of judgment. Your only hope is to put all your trust in Jesus Christ; not in Joseph Smith, not in the Mormon church, and not in your works. I sincerely hope and pray that God allows you to do that.
Coach Hoover--
ReplyDelete1. Jesus is a created being. When the Holy Ghost came upon Mary, Jesus was created. Now, before that, Christ existed as Jehovah, who has existed in a spirit form with God the Father for all eternity. So, what does that mean? Jesus is both created and not created. The human part of Him was created. Either you accept this as a fact, or you do not believe in the Bible. This is the Jesus of "Mormonism," as well as the Jesus of "traditional" Christianity. Same Jesus.
2. The LDS Church has many websites for different purposes. These do not contradict each other. If there is a "Mormon" website that contradicts the official websites of the LDS Church, then it is not owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Church members may have their own websites, but if they contradict the official website of the LDS Church, then the members' websites are wrong, and not representative of the LDS Church. There are also other groups that call themselves Mormons. We understand that this is confusing, and we are seeking legislation that prohibits them from calling themselves LDS or Latter-day Saints.
3. If you apply the Biblical definition of a Christian, then LDS are certainly Christians. You don't have the right to claim Jesus for yourself and any other church you agree with, and then say that if a church has a doctrine you don't agree with then they are not Christian. Neither do I. In fact, Mormons believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of Mary, born in Bethlehem, the answer and fulfillment of prophecies by various prophets including Isaiah, is the only way to salvation. An LDS Christian, just like a Baptist Christian or Methodist Christian or any other type of Christian who truly believes this, repents of their sins, follows the Commandments of Christ, and shows the fruits of the Spirit in their lives is a saved Christian. Differences in other doctrine are not salvation-affecting differences. We are free to disagree, but we need to embrace our commonalities as Christians.
4. You show me your faith without works and I will show you my faith by my works. The Scriptures clearly teach that both are necessary, and harping on the fact that Mormons produce a lot of works doesn't change that (James 2:14-26)
5. I put my faith in Jesus Christ. I revere Joseph Smith as a prophet, but I do not put any more faith in him than you do in Moses, Isaiah, or St. John the Divine. You probably believe that the other three men were important prophets and God did marvelous works through them. I do, as well, and I include Joseph Smith as a prophet along those lines. I do not put my faith in people who use anti-Mormon material written by bitter, stubborn ex-Mormons with axes to grind against the LDS Church, which it appears a lot of Christians do and accept as the "truth" about Mormons without applying their own due diligence to even see if it is true. I sincerely hope and pray that God allows you to do that.
Here is my challenge to anyone who really wants to know what the LDS Church believes and teaches--invite missionaries to your home, or to a neutral venue if you prefer. Include your loved ones in on the discussion so that you can see first hand how the Holy Spirit works with families who are learning the truth together. Listen and pray humbly to know, by a witness of the Holy Spirit who testifies of truth if the things being taught are true. Throw out your prejudices and preconceived notions and just be humble and contrite. Read what they ask you to read. If you can do that with a heart ready to learn, then tell us the outcome. If you can't do these things, wait until you can. You have to understand that a lot has happened since the original Apostles were on the earth, and many of the plain and precious things of the Gospel have been enshrouded by man's philosophies. Most modern Christians don't even know that what they have as the "Bible" was put together by Catholics hundreds of years after Christ ascended. You have to ask yourself what was left out and why. Ideas like the "Trinity" did not even exist until the Nicene Council determined that it was so. Before that, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were looked at by all Christians just as Mormons see them today--as a Godhead made up of three separate beings united in purpose, but not being three different sides of the same being. Christians baptized living people on behalf of the dead, just as Mormons do now. Christians believed they could be deified and become like God, just as Mormons do now. Councils met and changed these things for political purposes, wanting Christianity to submit to Roman rule, and it had nothing to do with what was true or not true. So, remove these things from your mind and be taught. You might be surprised what you find.
ReplyDeleteThis will be the last comment on this post. I have already discussed and will do once more that the Mormon or LDS Church teaches a different gospel, a different Jesus, and a different God the Father than what is in the Bible. The false prophet Joseph Smith blasphemously stated in the Pearl of Great Price that there is "No salvation without accepting Joseph Smith," and "No man can reject that testimony without incurring the most dreadful consequences, for he can not enter the kingdom of God." The Bible plainly teaches otherwise in John 14:6 that, "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'"
ReplyDeleteThe Mormon Church teaches that Jesus Christ was a pre-existent spirit, just like the rest of mankind. Joseph Fielding Smith taught in The Doctrines of Salvation, "Man is a spirit clothed with a tabernacle. The intelligent part of which was never created or made, but existed eternally—man was also in the beginning with God." Jesus Christ took on human flesh, but is false to say that He was a created being when He came to earth. Logic says that something created cannot exist beforehand; and Jesus Christ, being God, did exist before He came to earth. He pre-existed with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit and it was through Him that the earth and the entire universe was not only created, but has been sustained, is being sustained, and will be sustained until He creates a new heaven and earth as taught in Revelation.
Joseph Smith made it clear that he believes in a different God the Father from The King Follet Discourse,
"It is the first principle of the gospel to know for certainty the character of God and to know that we may converse with him as one man with another, and that he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the father of us all, dwelt on earth, the same as Jesus Christ did."
Here then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you."
It is blasphemy to teach that man can be gods. God makes this extremely clear in Isaiah 43:10: "Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me."
The Mormon or LDS Church is not Christian. It teaches a different gospel, a different Jesus, and a different God the Father than what is in the Bible. They say they believe the same things as we do, but this is a lie from hell. I strongly recommend against meeting with members of their church and opening yourself up to their false teaching. I have found their consciences to be hardened and that they try to change the subject to peripheral issues when they start to lose an argument on the main issue of what is the gospel, and who is Jesus, and who God the Father is.
I feel bad and pray for those being deceived by this false religion, but I feel like my time could be better used to serve God elsewhere than trying to talk to a "brick wall." My job is to use the platform I have to preach the truth of the gospel and to warn others about those who teach a false gospel. The Mormon religion looks similar to Christianity on the surface, but after careful examination, the truth is that the core of their teaching is most certainly not Biblical.