Tag Archives: Mormons

August 3, 2014 · 10:30

False Religion: Mormonism

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8-9)

Mormonism, otherwise known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS Church), was founded by Joseph Smith in 1820. The religion is of rather dubious origins. Allegedly in 1823, Joseph Smith was visited by the angel Moroni and told Smith about a book of golden plates containing “the fullness of the everlasting Gospel” (see our lead verse above). Four years later, Smith discovered the golden plates along with a special set of spectacles that allowed him to translate the hieroglyphics into what we now know as The Book of Mormon. Once his translation work was done, he conveniently buried the plates again at an undisclosed location never to be seen again. More could be said about the beginnings of this cult, its founder, and its early history, but my purpose here is to point out some of the fallacious teachings of this false religion.

As I pointed out in my last post, “False Religion,” three characteristics of false religions are: (1) deny or reject the God of the Bible, (2) deny the unique deity of Christ, and (3) reject the Bible as the inerrant, infallible Word of God. The LDS Church is guilty on all three counts.

If one is not paying attention, one might think that Mormons believe in God. However, their concept of God is nothing like the God of the Bible. To be sure, the Bible makes it abundantly clear that there is only one God.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD (Deuteronomy 6:4)

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour (Isaiah 43:10-11).

Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God … Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any (Isaiah 44:6, 8).

I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me … Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else (Isaiah 45:5, 21-22).

The following comes from The Kingdom of the Cults (1985) by Walter Martin. Note how the Mormon concept of “God” is polytheistic, not monotheistic as the God of the Bible.

  1. “In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 349).
  2. “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, …” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 345).
  3. “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s: the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit…” (Doctrine and Covenants 130:22).
  4. “Gods exist, and we had better strive to be prepared to be one with them” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 7. p 238).
  5. “As man is, God once was: as God is, man may become” (Prophet Lorenzo Snow, quoted in Milton R. Hunter, The Gospel Through the Ages, pp. 105, 106).
  6. “Each of these God, including Jesus Christ and His Father, being in possession of not merely an organized spirit, but a glorious immortal body of flesh and bones…” (Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology, 1965, p. 44). Martin, 202-203.

There are more, but the reader can readily see the pattern here. According to the LDS Church, “God” was once a man who was elevated to godhood, and apparently he is one among other “Gods.” Apparently, man, by following the practices prescribed by the Mormon Church, can also achieve godhood. Note here another principle of false religion: “salvation” is achieved through one’s own efforts, something the Bible rejects. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9, emphasis added).

The LDS Church also rejects the unique deity of Christ. Note the qualifier “unique.” The Mormons do indeed believe that Jesus Christ is “a God” – one among many others. They also recognize “Elohim” as Jesus’ father, albeit in a “carnal” way, i.e., as from the union of a man and woman. Martin [p. 212] quotes Brigham Young: “When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who was the Father? He is the first of the human family; and when he took a tabernacle [body], it was begotten by his Father in heaven, after the same manner as the tabernacles of Cain, Abel, and the rest of the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve; from the fruits of the earth, the first earthly tabernacles were originated by the Father, and so on in succession … Jesus, our elder brother was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the garden of Eden, and who is our Father in Heaven” (Journal of Discourses, Vol. I, pp. 50 and 51). From the Mormon perspective, the “Father” was Adam who came down from heaven with one of his wives, Eve, and populated the earth. This same “Father” begat Jesus through the Virgin Mary. Even the least studied student of the Bible can see through this fallacy. Not only is Jesus the only begotten Son of God; He is in every way the only God in human form (John 1:1; Philippians 2:5-8; Colossians 2:9; Revelation 4:11).

The LDS Church denies the inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible and elevates The Book of Mormon and other Mormon writings (as quoted above) over the Word of God. Indeed, Joseph Smith said, “…it was apparent that many important points touching the salvation of men, had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 10, cited at “The Plain Truth About Mormons”). The LDS Church accepts the King James Version of the Bible as “part” of God’s Word “insofar as it is correctly translated,” but in addition to that, they give higher regard to The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants (Brigham Young), and The Pearl of Great Price. While the Bible has never been scientifically, historically, or archeologically falsified, The Book of Mormon fails miserably on all three counts, and yet the LDS Church reveres The Book of Mormon and their other writings above the Bible. “There is a great wealth of information concerning the material contained in the Book of Mormon and the various plagiarisms, anachronisms, false prophesies and other unfortunate practices connected with it” (Martin, 186). Martin (pp. 186-187) goes on to list a series of corrections made to The Book of Mormon since it was first published in 1830. Martin comments that “…it appears that either God made a mistake when He inspired the record or Joseph [Smith] made a mistake when he translated it. Mormons will admit to neither, so they are stuck, so to speak, with the contradiction” (Martin, 186). Similar allegations have been levied against the Word of God, but none have been proven true. “The record of Scripture [the Bible] rings true. The Book of Mormon, on the other hand, is patently false in far too many places to be considered coincidence” (Martin, 187).

These are only some of the problems with the false religion of Mormonism. For a more complete study, I highly recommend The Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin, but here in brief I have shown that Mormonism is a false religion. It denies the God of the Bible. It denies the unique deity of Christ, and it rejects the inerrant, infallible Word of God. In addition, like all other false religions, salvation is dependent on the works of the believer. Mormonism does not even qualify as “Christian” even though “Jesus Christ” is part of their name. Do not be fooled by this false religion. Mormons are very nice people, and they live exemplary and admirable lives; but according to the Bible, they are self-deceived, and they are lost. Treat them accordingly with all due love and respect.

1 Comment

Filed under Apologetics, Christianity, Gospel, Religion, Theology

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

July 27, 2014 · 10:30

False Religion

coexist

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8-9)

In my last post, I attempted to point out some broad characteristics that distinguish “True Religion.” In the article “I Am A Christian,” I went into greater detail on what it means to be a Christian, which is the only true religion. But in order to distinguish between true religion and false religion, one must be able to recognize false religion on sight.

First of all, a false religion denies the God of the Bible. Immediately that includes all pagan religions that worship multiple gods (polytheism), or believe that everything is god (pantheism). By the way, evolutionism or naturalism is a form of pantheism in that it attributes to nature creative abilities and intellect. Evolution/naturalism in turn gives rise to secular humanism that, for all practical purposes, bestows upon mankind a divine nature. They perhaps would not go so far as to call themselves gods (although some have), but the ideology attributes value to mankind apart from God, so in essence, man is God. Romans 1:23 encapsulates false religion this way: “And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things” (emphasis mine). This list would include Hinduism (which is both pantheist and polytheist), Buddhism, and a variety of others (the list is too long for this post). Islam would also be included here. Although many may argue that Islam’s god, Allah, is the same as the God of the Bible, a close comparison reveals that they are not the same. See my article “God Is Not Allah.”

Second, a false religion rejects the deity of Christ. All those listed above fall into this category, but now the list broadens to include the Jewish religion. While the Jewish religion accepts the God of the Bible, their Bible ends with the book of Malachi. (Technically, the Hebrew Scriptures end with Chronicles; it is only a matter of how the books are arranged.) Jews reject the Messiah that was prophesied in their own Scriptures. The New Testament is clear: “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22). “Christ” is the Greek rendering of “Messiah” which means “anointed one.” John would say that the Jews who deny that Jesus is the Christ are liars. It is a false religion.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the LDS church otherwise known as the Mormons) while associating their religion with Jesus Christ, denies the unique deity of Christ. To the Mormons, Jesus is one of many “sons of God.” In their belief system, Jesus is brother to Lucifer. LDS adherents believe that they too will become gods and be in charge of their own worlds. Of course, when the young “Elders” come knocking on your door, they will not willingly volunteer any of this information. The Bible teaches that the “Word,” by whom all things were created (John 1:3), became flesh, and John testifies that “we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14, emphasis mine). “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18, emphasis mine). The moniker “only begotten Son” (see also John 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9) clearly indicates that there is no other. That automatically disqualifies Lucifer and all others that the Mormons might want to add to the list.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses also deny the deity of Christ. These too are fervent “evangelists” for their cause and they are very well trained in the use of Scripture taken out of context. They are not well trained in Scripture; they are trained in Watch Tower literature. One of the verses they like to use as proof text to deny the deity of Christ is John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In their mistranslation of the Scriptures the verse ends: “and the word was a god.” They attribute this to the fact that in the Greek, theos (god) is not preceded by the definite article. However, the same construct appears again in John 1:6: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John,” but here they render it correctly. So, why is there an inconsistency? They cannot tell you. They have other problems as well, but denial of Christ as God is their greatest problem.

Muslims, while they acknowledge Jesus as a great prophet second only to Mohammed, and even accept His virgin birth, also deny the deity of Christ. So, not only is Jesus not God, but He is less than the human prophet Mohammed.

Finally, false religion minimizes or altogether rejects the Word of God, the Holy Bible. Many pagan religions, like Hinduism, and Buddhism have their own holy books. Islam, while it acknowledges the Holy Bible and affords it some value, has the Koran (Quran). The Mormons accept and give verbal assent to the Bible, but in practice they prefer the Book of Mormon and The Pearl of Great Price. In doing so, they have overlooked Paul’s stern warning in Galatians 1:8-9 that even if an angel (like Moroni) preach any other gospel than what is preached in the Bible, that one should be accursed. The Jehovah’s Witnesses violate the Word of God by rewriting it to conform to their preconceptions. They ignorantly disregard the admonition from Scripture against tampering with the Word of God (Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:19). The Roman Catholic Church venerates the Bible, but in practice they prefer the edicts of the Pope over the teachings of the Bible. In fact, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Bible cannot be understood by the common layperson, or even the priests. Only the Pope has the authority to give proper interpretation and meaning to Scripture. Worthless as it may be, at least they claim some authority. Many mainline Protestant denominations with their liberal theologians have divested Scripture of all authority and set their adherents aimlessly adrift on a sea of relativistic humanism and existentialism. Recently I heard a Methodist minister base his sermon on Ephesians 6:3-4 (two completely unrelated verses regardless of their proximity). He never addressed the Scripture, but instead built his sermon on Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s In the Cradle.” Build your theology on that!

The Bible tells us that God’s Word is eternally trustworthy. “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89). “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever” (Psalm 119:160). “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever” (Isaiah 40:8). God says, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). Jesus said, “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18). Any religion that rejects any part or the entire Bible has nothing on which to stand and has built a house on shifting sand (Matthew 7:26-27).

Any one or all of these characteristics identify a false religion. False religion will reject the God of the Bible. False religion rejects the deity of Christ. False religion rejects the authority of the Bible.

2 Comments

Filed under Apologetics, Christianity, Evangelism, Evolution, Gospel, Religion, Theology

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,