To The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
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I wanted to look into things myself. I didn’t want to write off a whole people without looking in their eyes and Scriptures myself. I believe many are guilty of this. We were told to “stay away” and we never really know who you are or what you stand for. So I dove in to the scriptures and meetings with the missionaries to see for myself.
There were a few things that make it literally impossible for Mormonism to be a Christian faith. I noticed some things, as I honestly looked into the LDS faith, that make it impossible for the Jesus that I know, love and serve to be the same Jesus that is taught and served in the LDS faith (2 Cor. 11.4; Gal. 1.6-7). I am not setting out to expose the LDS faith to myself or to the world. I am simply taking to heart the words of Brigham Young, “take up the Bible and compare the religion of LDS with it and see if it will stand the test.” So please see these things as personal observations. I would strongly urge any LDS church member to just openly read this and look at it for what it actually is, an honest comparison of the fundamentals of Christianity and LDS Church.
The first thing I noticed was positive. I saw that most of the Mormon bible is really good. I liked it. I went back and looked at things over and over. But as I looked deeper into Mormon writings, things got dark. This is what set in motion the conclusion that my Jesus couldn’t possibly be your Jesus; a simple statement from the LDS church founder, Joseph Smith recorded in LDS church History, which forever separates his spirit from the Spirit of Jesus…
“Come on! ye prosecutors! ye false swearers! All hell, boil over! Ye burning mountains, roll down your lava! for I will come out on top at last. I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet…When they can get rid of me, the devil will also go.” (History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 408, 409)
As someone looking into the comparison between the “restored gospel” and Christianity, this to me was not the Spirit of Christ. We boast ourselves in Jesus, not above Jesus (Psalm 34.2;44.8). His statement seemed to me a boast in himself. It is so contrary to the heart that Christ teaches to have (Matt. 5.3, 39). I don’t have any ill feelings toward Joseph Smith, but this statement was not what I have known the loving – lay my life down for others – Jesus to be like (John 15.13).
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Matt. 5.44)”
It seemed to me a comparison of himself with the apostle Paul, Peter and even Jesus Christ Himself as he harshly challenged his prosecutors. Does this bother you at all?
Next was the fact that it is a fundamental and foundational truth that the Father and Christ are the beginning and end (Rev. 1:8, 11; 21:6; 22:13; John 1.1). Before God there was no God, for He has always been and there will be no God after Him (Isa. 43.10;Psalm 90.2). The Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is the creator of the “Heavens and the earth,” and “all things” who “is Spirit” and is omnipresent (Isa. 45.18; John 1.3; 4.24; Psalm 139.8-11). There is none like Him, nor will there ever be (Jeremiah 10.6). That is what makes Jesus so amazing! He is the Son of the One and only God (John 3.16;Mark 14.6-62;Duet 6.4)! With Joseph Smith’s quote from his sermon in 1844, twenty four years after his “visitation”, he forever separated his followers from the most basic fundamentals of the Christian faith….
“God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!…I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see.” (The King Follett Sermon 1844)
In the D&C’s 130 vs. 22 it is written, “God has a body of flesh and blood as tangible as man’s.” But Jesus said, “God is Spirit (John 4.24).” Jesus also teaches that a spirit doesn’t have a “body of flesh and bones (Luke 24.39).” How can they be the same?
In Christianity everything hinges upon Jesus Christ. It is His work that is all sufficient (John 19.30; Ephesians 2.8-9). But this statement from 2 Nephi 25:32 places salvation upon us, “…after all that we can do.” Or this terrifying thought which would smash Christ’s “once for all” propitiation (Hebrews 10.10), “If you commit any past sin again, the former sins return, (D&C 82:7).” Also one of the presidents of the LDS faith spoke this statement, which is recorded in Mormon archives, and really concerns me,
“…and he that confesseth not that Jesus has come in the flesh and sent Joseph Smith with the fullness of the Gospel to this generation, is not of God, but is Antichrist,” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 9, p. 312).
Antichrist? Not just wrong or off, but ANTI-JESUS? Do you know how many genuine believers in Jesus that are giving their lives and families on the mission field in hostile parts of the world are now labeled ANTI-JESUS by that statement? As well as all my loved brothers and sisters that I know are in love with Jesus?
Or think of the severity of this statement
“…no man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith,” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, p. 289).
This just seems to be a degrading of Jesus Christ and His work on our behalf…does it not? Christianity rests on Christ! No one else.
An LDS president taught and recorded this LDS truth that also contradicts the very fundamentals of the Christian faith,
“Now, remember from this time forth, and for ever, that Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost.” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, p. 51).
The truth of Christ’s conception is that the virgin Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost (Matt 1.18). When this man spoke this, he even contradicted the Book of Mormon,
“ And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God (Alma 7.10).”
Notice also that the birth place in Alma is different than Matt. 2.1 which says, “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea…”
This was enough for me to simply see that there is no possible way that Mormonism is Christianity, for it simply denies the very fundamentals of the Christian faith. Though using the same words, we mean totally different things and consequently the fundamentals of Christian faith are outright contradicted; God’s eternal existence, what God is taught to be by Christ, salvation by grace through faith, Christ’s birthing by the Spirit, Christ’s recorded and prophesied birth place.
God did not ascend to the throne, but has always been upon it. There is none like Him, none before or after. He is the Supreme One above all! Jesus Christ is His Son begotten of the Holy Ghost sent to take all the punishment for our sins through His death on the cross. Man can do nothing to pass from death unto life but simply trust in Jesus Christ’s work on His behalf.
“The good news is not that man can become a god but that God became a man (Dr. James White, “Alpha and Omega Ministries).” The Mormon god has changed throughout time, the Father of Jesus Christ never changes and has always reigned supreme over all things (Mal. 3.6). Only the true God can bring true salvation. Which brings me to a sad conclusion for you, my Mormon friends. Your Christ is not the Christ of the Scriptures for His Father is not the God of the Scriptures and therefore doesn’t exist and therefore can save no one. Jesus Christ is the Son of the All Supreme never changing God, who suffered in our place to give us life and forever save us from our own works.
Eric is an itinerant minister on the “Inner Life” to ministry schools throughout the country and the leader of Jesus Orlando. Eric is burdened to see the Church return to undivided love for Jesus, glorious fellowship with the Holy Spirit bearing fruit for the coming accountability to God. Check out his new book called Burn: Melting into the Image of Jesus.
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