Transcription
Okay, today we're going to talk about are Mormons the same as Christians? If you don't know, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church or the LDS church, calls themselves Christians. They identify as Christians, as do we. So, I want to talk to you about what separates them and are they true biblical Christians.
First of all, we need to dive in a little bit to the founder. This is not going to be a long video because I don't want to exhaust you. But the founder Joseph Smith in 1820 in a time of confusion he reads James chapter 1 vers5 which says those who lack wisdom can request it from God and he immediately withdrew to a wooded area to pray for wisdom. It was at that point he says he has a vision of a pillar of light coming down from heaven and God the father and Jesus his son standing above him in the air. Smith asked them which denomination or sex were right and which denomination he should join in the Christian church. He said he was told that all the denominations were evil and corrupt. It was at this time that Joseph Smith experienced and was called as a prophet of God.
On September 21st, 1823, while praying in his room, he says he received an angelic visitation. The angel named Moroni told him that he had been chosen by God for this great work. Okay. Joseph Smith said what said was he was a resurrected being who died close to the Smith area New York about 1400 years earlier. Moroni, Joseph Smith asserted, had buried in New York in the hill Kamora a record of all people who lived in America from 600 BC to 421 AD. That record Joseph Smith was told would be given to him to translate.
Then a few years later, I know you're like, this sounds crazy. I know, I know. A few years later, Joseph Smith said he received a record written on golden plates in reformed Egyptian language that no one but him can understand. He was also told not to show these golden plates to anyone, but that sometime later, a few people would be given the privilege to view them. Okay. The angel then tells Joseph Smith about a book written that's on golden plates that had been buried alongside the Urim and Thummim of the Old Testament. Smith immediately found the book and using the Urim and Thummim, which is Old Testament, uh, these were gemstones that would basically tell the will of God, translated it and then published this book in 1830 as the Book of Mormon. Okay. So he gets a revelation nobody else gets but him. Turns into the Book of Mormon. This is the same year that he organizes the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He then gives the plates back to the angel. Okay.
He starts amassing followers. The movement grows and uh, migrates west. The teaching was unwelcome in a lot of places. They were threatened by violence. So he moves to Ohio, then moves to Missouri, then Illinois. As the movement grows, he gets more and more revelations. He keeps getting these revelations, starts writing doctrine. All of a sudden, there's strife in the Mormon church in the spring of 1844. Leads to violence between Smith and others in the town of Illinois of uh, Nauvoo in Illinois. The governor intervenes, puts Joseph Smith in prison. Before he can stand before trial, an armed mob storms the jailhouse where he was being kept and he basically escapes out of a window and gets shot and killed.
The corruption in the Mormon church, guys, starts at conception. Starts at the very start with him saying he had an angel appear to him, which was likely a demon, a fallen angel. And he starts, you know, mixing the Bible with this doctrine, writing this Book of Mormon, saying he's the only one that has the true gospel, the only one that has the revelation of God. He's the only one that can understand these books. This man, I hate to say it this way for all you Mormons watching, was a textbook cult leader. Okay, this is what he says. This is a quote by Joseph Smith. Um, I'm sorry. This is a quote by Joseph Fielding Smith, who's the president of the LDS church in the early 1970s. Who's coincidentally the same name. He says, "Mormonism must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith. He was either a prophet of God, divinely called, properly appointed, and commissioned, or he was one of the biggest frauds the world has ever seen. There's no middle ground." If Joseph Smith was a deceiver who willfully attempted to mislead people, then he should be exposed, which is what we're doing here today. That was I said that his claim should be refuted and his doctrine shown false. So, Joseph Smith starts the church by saying everybody else is wrong, but he had the true revelation.
Let me go over now that you know how it started and that and that was a quick version for the sake of time of how Joseph Smith and the Mormon church started. You can just Google that if you don't believe that. Let me give you 10 differences quickly on Mormonism versus Christianity.
Christian, the Christian view of doctrine is we believe in the doctrine of God, which is called theology, meaning the study of God. Theo is God. The study of the Bible teaches that Christians believe in one God who is the creator of heaven and earth. He's sovereign, omniscient, self-existent, immutable. He's good. We believe in the triune God. That is God is one and has eternally existed in three persons: the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. So we believe in the Trinity. We believe in one God who is in three persons. Mormons believe this is their view, um, have varied views of God over history. In the early years, Mormon leader Brigham Young taught that Adam was the father of the spirit of Jesus and that Adam is God. Mormons today do not believe this and they dispute whether Brigham Young was properly understood. But Mormons indisputably teach a doctrine called eternal progression. They teach that God was once a man who was capable of physical death, but he progressed to become God the Father. And Mormons teach that we can also become gods, which is obviously not true. Mormons believe that God's, angels, people, demons are all fundamentally the same substance, but they're merely at different places in eternal progression. So, we don't teach eternal progression. They do.
Second thing is the deity of Christ. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the second member of the Trinity. When Jesus was born, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. John 1:14. Christians hold that Christ has existed eternally and is truly God. Mormons hold that Jesus is pre-existent, but he, his premortal form was not as God. Rather, Jesus is our elder brother from the great star Kolob. Mormons explicitly deny the full deity of Jesus Christ. Okay. Yes, that's the truth. Okay.
Third thing, view on the Trinity. Christians believe that God is three persons in one or triune. He is one God consisting of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19. Mormons view the doctrine of the Trinity as false and a pagan notion. Mormons view the Godhead as similar to the First Presidency of the church. That is, they see the Father as God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit as the President's two counselors. Joseph Smith decreed the biblical understanding of God in a sermon on June 16th, 1844. He said, "This is days before his death, many men say there is one God, the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost, or only one God. I say that is strange, a strange God anyhow, three in one and one in three." Though he did not believe in the Trinity or the triune God.
Fourth thing, difference between Christians and Mormons is salvation. Christians believe that salvation is the free gift of God. Ephesians 2:8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast." So we know that we've made right with God by faith. Mormons have a very complex view of salvation. On one level, Mormons believe in the universal salvation of all people through the work of Jesus Christ. That's often referred to as universal or general salvation in Mormon literature. On an individual level, Mormons believe that salvation is acquired through gospel obedience. That is, through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Spirit, and then completing mortal probation by living a righteous life. And together, this enables them to progress in eternal progression. So they do not believe in salvation by faith as Christians do. Okay.
Fifth thing, Holy Spirit. Christians believe the Holy Spirit is the third part of the Trinity. He has a personality and he existed eternally. He always was, is, and will be God. Mormons hold that the Holy Spirit, whom they also refer to as the Holy Ghost, became God in pre-existence through eternal progression. They do affirm the Holy Spirit's personality. Mormon teacher Bruce McConkie denied that the Holy Spirit can possibly be omnipresent. Omnipresent means everywhere at all times. Okay? So they don't believe the same as us on the Holy Spirit.
Number six, the Atonement. Christians believe that the Atonement was God's gracious gift, gracious work in Christ who stood in our place as sinful men and absorbed the penalty for sin. That is what the Bible teaches. God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for sin, to take away our sin, to be that punishment. Okay. Mormons believe it's very complex and it changes all the time. Their view is Third Nephi 8-9, which is in the Book of Mormon, teaches that Jesus brought death and destruction with the cross and that his death on the cross meant wrath and destruction for historical cities like Manti, oh, and others. And Mormons explicitly deny the Atonement is the basis for salvation. All right.
Number seven, the church. Christians believe that all Christians make up the true church. This is the universal invisible church. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 1:12. We believe in local churches and we come together in the church and worship. Mormons believe and they basically reject all other churches outside the Mormon church. And different Mormon leaders teach that the church is of the devil. The Christian church is of the devil. They teach that the church is an abomination. You can see like in First Nephi 14:9-10. And there's a lot of different, uh, different sects and publications now. But they basically believe everybody's false but them. They're the only true church. We're all false. Okay, so they have a different view of the church.
Number eight, life after death. Christians believe there is life after physical death for everyone. Whether you're saved and you go to heaven, or you die and you go to hell and you have eternal destruction in hell. Mormons hold to a view of both eternal damnation and eternal life. Their view is distinct from the Christian biblical view because they believe a person will suffer eternal damnation is essentially forfeiting by his misdeeds and unfaithfulness the benefits of eternal life. They're not allowed to progress or to eventually become gods. Instead, they attain a kingdom of glory, but not one where God and Christ are. It's like a separate type of heaven. Those who do attain eternal life are eligible for eternal progression, which is the process over time of becoming gods. Just as God the Father progressed to become God, they believe they also may eventually become deity. So, after they die, they believe in eternal progression that one day they can be their own gods. All right.
Number nine, we're almost done, is humans. Christians believe that man is made in the image of God. Each person part of God's design, uh, since conception. Okay. Mormons believe that people had a premortal existence. And they also believe that people are spiritually born on a planet near Kolob, the great star. And I'm probably pronouncing that wrong, but it doesn't matter. It's pretty wild. All right.
Number 10, the Bible. Christians hold that the Bible is the sole infallible authority of life and faith. Mormons, well, do they do hold that part of the Bible is part, part of the canon of scripture. They also add several Mormon works: the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and all of these they believe are infallible for the Mormon church. So, they have completely different views on the Bible.
There's other falsehoods like God the Father has a physical body. That's in D&C 130:22, that says the Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's. Thus, the man is made in the image of God. This is in contrast with what John 4:24 says, that God is spirit. They don't believe in original sin, which is in the Articles of their Faith, chapter 2. They believe that humans have the potential to achieve godhead, godhood. If they follow the Mormon teachings, they could eventually become God themselves.
So with all of that, the 10 things that Christians believe versus what Mormons believe in 11 minutes, the answer is Mormons are not Christians. There is no way that you can consider the LDS church, the Mormon church, as Christians. It is a falsehood and a textbook cult. It is considered a cult. If you look up the definition of a cult, started by a man that got a revelation from a quote unquote angel, which was probably a fallen angel. Started this mass cult and people have been deceived. There's a bunch of crazy weird doctrines that go right against the Bible, right against God. Um, the Bible does not need to be added to. You don't need a second revelation, a second book, an expansion pack, an update for the Bible. You do not need the Book of Mormon. You do not need to follow Joseph Smith. You need to follow Jesus Christ. He's the author and the finisher of our faith.
So, I hope this clears things up. Mormons are not Christian. Mormon churches are not considered biblical churches. Let me know what you think of this down below. Send this to a friend or family that maybe is stuck in the Mormon cult and hopefully they can see some of this truth and come to the light. Love you and appreciate you guys. Pray about becoming a monthly partner down below. We're live Monday night and Thursday night with the podcast and we'll see you guys in the next video. God bless.