What Do You Believe?
Mormons
Open with a
(It is a funny video)
Introduction
A. Today we are continuing our series called “What do you believe?” We
are talking about some of the major false religions that we are faced
with today such as Jehovah Witnesses, the Mormons, Scientology and Islam
and why Christianity is different from them.
B. Many Christians today are confused about what they believe. They are
not sure if other religions are okay or if they are the same as
Christianity. Many Christians have bought into the lie that there are
many ways to God and Christianity is just another one of those ways.
C. We started by talking about three signs of all false religions. I call
them the three “S’s.” They stand for Savior, Salvation, and Scripture.
All false religions differ from the Christian view on these three major
issues.
1. Savior: All false religions change who Jesus really was. They do not
believe that He is the ‘only way’ to heaven.
2. Salvation: All false religions teach that a person must ‘earn’ their
way to heaven. They don’t believe we are saved by grace, God’s gift.
3. Scripture: All false religions teach that the Bible is ‘incomplete’
and there are ‘other’ holy books.
D. Last week we looked at the beliefs of the Jehovah Witnesses. Next
week, I have invited a Moslem lady to come and visit with us. It is
going to be a very interesting service. You don’t want to miss it. Today
we shall look at the beliefs of the Mormons or Latter Day Saints as they
like to be called.
E. One of the candidates for the Republican primary for the President of
the United States, was Governor Mitt Romney from Massachusetts who was a
Mormon. This caused a lot of discussion on TV and among Christians about
whether Mormons are Christians or a false religion. Then we had the
government raid on the Mormon group down in Texas and the 400 children
that were taken away amid allegations of abuse and then returned. There
is a lot of confusion about what the Mormon church really teaches and
stands for.
F. The Mormon Church is doing a fantastic job of marketing itself right
now. They are doing everything they can to present themselves as a
Christian Church. They have hired some of the best marketing firms in
the US to do so. They have taken the “Mormon Church” and put it right
beside the major Christian denominations. They don’t want to be seen as
some weirdo group of people. They are going mainstream. If I asked you
to describe a Mormon man, for example, twenty years ago, you would
say, “A guy from Utah who doesn’t drink coffee and has a bunch of
wives.” But today you might say, “A good Christian family man.” Now that
is what you call marketing!
G. Many people, Christians and non-Christians believe that Mormons are
just another Christian denomination. Hopefully today you will see that
they are not Christian at all. This is a totally different religion all
together.
H. Why am I doing this teaching? I am not teaching this series so you can
argue with the Mormons when they come to your door. The main reason I am
teaching this is to help you establish what it is that you believe so
that you are not lead astray and deceived. Sooner or later every
Christian has to come to grips with what it is that they really believe
and if it is really different than other religions. To help you to see
the ‘distinctives’ of your faith. The second reason to equip you so that
you can help others, friends, relatives, co-workers, who are open and
looking for truth.
How does God speak today?
A. The Bible clearly teaches that in times past the main method of God
speaking to men was through prophets, but now the main method for God to
speak is ‘directly through Jesus.” This is the problem with all false
religions. They always put someone else up on the platform with Jesus.
They always come up with another prophet and he claims to be the ‘main’
voice of God to the people now.
B. With the Mormons it started with Joseph Smith, who claimed when he was
15 years old while living in Palmyra New York, he had a vision of God
which told him he was to be the ‘prophet’ to the people, that he was to
be the ‘voice’ of God to the people. He said that God told him all the
other churches were deceived and only he had the true understanding of
God.
C. Several years later, Smith said an angel Moroni, showed up and pointed
him to some golden tablets buried in the same area of woods. These
golden tablets were a record of the lost Jewish tribe the "Nephites" but
he would need to translate these plates. Smith said that, by looking
through mysterious glasses, he translated these gold plates into what is
today called, The Book of Mormon.
D. The history of Joseph Smith is well documented but of course the
Mormon Church has their own interpretation. It’s an historical fact that
Joseph Smith was arrested for the demonic practice of glass-looking.
It’s an historical fact that he was an adulterer. It’s an historical
fact that he was involved in illegal banking schemes. It’s an historical
fact that he was killed in a shoot-out. It’s an historical fact that he
destroyed a printing press that was printing negative literature about
this movement. Joseph Smith also got into trouble when he told people
that, by looking through his mysterious glasses, they could find buried
treasure.
E. From the very beginning they were persecuted pretty much every where
they went. That led them to the Ohio area, Illinois area, Missiouri area
and finally under Brigham Young to Utah. The reason they had to move so
much was because of their teachings and beliefs such as polygamy, temple
rites, becoming gods and other illegal things.
F. Brigham Young was one of the more famous leaders to follow after
Joseph Smith. He is the one who lead all the followers of Joseph Smith
on a journey across the country to their Promised Land, Salt Lake City.
That is where they set up their headquarters. He truly was a great
leader and brought a lot of people into the Mormon religion. Brigham
Young University is named after him. BYU, the great university, the
great sports driven university, is actually a very strong mission arm
for the Mormon Church.
G. Every leader after Joseph Smith taught the people that they were
the ‘new’ voice of God, they were the ‘living’ prophet for that time.
Today the Mormon Church still teaches that its leader is a prophet and
whatever he says regarding spiritual matters is direct from God. It is
the new word of God. It is the same as sacred scripture. The head of the
Mormon Church said this in a speech in 1980, “When our leaders speak,
the thinking has been done. When they propose a plan, it is God’s plan.
When they point the way, there is no other way which is safe. When they
give directions, it should mark the end of controversy.”
H. How sad when people are so hungry to hear from God that instead of
being told they can talk to God directly they are told to listen to the
prophet. This is what is so unique to the Christian faith, we believe
that we can talk ‘directly’ to God and that God can talk to us through
His Son Jesus. We don’t need another meditator between God and man we
already have one in Jesus.
How do Mormons view Jesus?
A. The Mormons will tell you that they believe in Jesus as the Son of
God. In 1982, the Mormon Church even added a new phrase on the cover of
the Book of Mormon, “Another testament of Jesus Christ.” They teach
their missionaries and about 60% of Mormons have gone into the mission
field to use terms that resonate with Christians. But if you ask them to
define the terms, they mean something totally different to them than
they do us. If you ask a Mormon, “Who is Jesus Christ? Or What do you
believe about Jesus?” They will tell you that they believe in Jesus. All
Mormons believe in Jesus. They will tell you they believe Him to be the
Son of God. But to a Mormon Jesus is not the same Jesus the Bible speaks
of.
B. According to Mormonism Jesus was created as an angel and actually was
Lucifer’s older brother. Lucifer ended up being Satan. Jesus became a
god through His consistent good efforts. “Jesus,” Mormon’s say, “is our
oldest brother.” In other words, they believe that Jesus was created and
progressed into Godhood. He was just like us.
C. But what does the Bible say? I Tim 2:5 we read, “For there is one God
and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,” The Mormons
teach that there are many mediators between God and man, and Jesus is
just one of them, the most important mediator for a Mormon is Joseph
Smith and the second most important mediator is the current president of
the church or the ‘living’ prophet.
D. Mormons believe that God was once a human being like you and me. He
had flesh and bones. God was obedient to his heavenly father to such a
degree that he climbed the ladder of good works; and now God is on his
planet with his various wives, procreating, having sex, cranking out
spiritual babies like you and me. One day, if you are a good Mormon, you
can have your own planet with multiple wives and create spiritual
babies. This is why the Mormons encouraged polygamy. Joseph Smith taught
on the legitimacy and desirability of polygamy. Smith said, “You need to
have multiple wives.” This was taught in the Mormon Church from 1843
until 1890. In 1890, another Living Prophet had another revelation from
God discounting this supposed infallible prophecy from Smith, and he
took it off the record.
E. Now there are 11 million Mormons worldwide most of them don’t really
know what the Mormon Church teaches about Jesus. They are good people.
They are kind people. They do wonderful things. But they are deceived
and are following a false religion.
Mormon Holy Books Scripture
A. The Mormons believe the Bible is the Word of God but they believe that
God gave further revelation to mankind since the Bible. They believe
that their Book of Mormon is the newest revelation and that it is ‘more
important’ than the Bible. Even though they have even changed their
commercials on T.V. from offering the Book of Mormon to the Holy Bible
yet when they come to your house they bring their other Holy Books and
tell you that you need to read them to understand the Bible. A salesman
would call this "bait and switch.”
B. What does the Bible say about ‘further’ revelations. Let’s look at
Galatians 1:6-9. “Even if an angel appears to you if it is another
gospel don’t receive it” It states that there will be no more ‘new’
revelations. This is the complete revelation of God, the Bible.
C. Their main three publications are, The Book of Mormon, The Pearl of
Great Price, and a book called Doctrines and Covenants. The Mormons
believe these three books to be more important than the Bible. The Book
of Mormon is their main source for all revelation. It is basically a
history of a vast civilization that lived in the Americas that are from
the lost tribes of Israel. It talks about Jesus appearances in North and
South America after He rose from the dead. Joseph Smith taught that The
Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on Earth and the
keystone of all true religion and a man would get nearer to God by
abiding by its precepts than by any other book.” Yet there have been
over 2,200 changes in The Book of Mormon since it was penned. It is far
from a perfect book.
D. The one teaching in the Mormon Church that is constantly being changed
and updated is its teaching on African Americans. The Mormon Church has
been a racist church starting with Joseph Smith, who prohibited African
Americans from full participation in the church. This stood in the
Mormon Church for over 100 years until, due to pressure, they caved in.
One of the pressure points was an interview that Barbara Walters had
with the Osmond family. Barbara said, “How in the world can you justify
a religion that does not stand for equality?” The Osmonds stuttered,
stumbled, and stammered; and several days later, Spencer Kimble, head of
the Mormon Church June 9, 1978 said, “Okay, now all African Americans
can be full participating members of the Mormon Church.” Here is a more
recent release from Mormon Church from 2007 on racism. “The Mormon
Church rejects any insinuation that as a church we continue to subscribe
to the personal opinions of our past church leaders, often expressed
over a century ago. We encourage Latter-day Saints to remember that we
have a living prophet today, and that we follow him, not past prophets.
While some of our Caucasian members may continue to take pride in the
fact that in our pre-existence, we fought valiantly against Lucifer,
while our Negro brethren did not, we solemnly declare that any such
feeling of pride is entirely unwarranted. Perhaps our dark friends were
only doing the best they could with what psychological and emotional
traits they had, which may have included a tendency to panic under
pressure and an inability to plan for the future. We therefore have no
right to judge them ’unworthy’, any more than we would a handicapped
person for not being as capable as a normal, real person. After all,
every army needs cooks, janitors, and sanitation workers. We must leave
the judgment to the Lord.” This is from a statement, entitled "A
Proclamation on the Seed of Cain", will "put the myth of Mormon racism
to bed once and for all", stated church spokesman I. Bray Forluker.
E. The book, the Doctrine and Covenants contains a number of books. One
is the Book of Moses and another one is the Book of Abraham. Joseph
Smith claims that he bought several mummies from traveling salesmen and
inside the mummies was this Book of Abraham signed by the great man of
faith himself. It was proved to be a fraud, but the church still uses
this book.
F. The Pearl of Great Price, is basically comprised of 136 new
revelations. Revelations like baptism for the dead, becoming gods of
your own planets, being spirit babies before we were born and so on.
G. The Bible can be trusted as the one and only Divine Book from God. It
does not need other books to explain it. Its doctrines do not need to be
changed and updated. It is as relevant today as it was when it was first
written. The books of the Mormon Church have nothing to do with God’s
Word and are false prophecies that are constantly being changed.
Mormon salvation
A. Here’s what Mormons believe. Here is how you become a good Mormon; here
is how you are saved in Mormon theology: First, believe in Christ.
Although, again, Jesus to them is not the same Jesus of the Bible. But
as all false religions do they have added something that is necessary
for salvation. “Salvation is achieved by faithful obedience to Mormon
doctrine as taught in their religious books.”
B. The Mormons also teach that a person can be saved by ‘baptism for the
dead.” Joseph Smith taught that, “The greatest responsibility in this
world that God has laid upon us is to seek after dead.” Mormons believe
in baptism for the dead. That is why they are obsessed about
genealogies. They say if you can figure out who your relatives are, you
can be baptized for them. Let’s say Uncle Fred, your great great great-
grandfather was a hell raising, woman chasing, dope smoking guy. You can
be baptized for him, and he will be saved and get into heaven.
C. Up until the 1900’s Mormons were taught that they become righteous
through polygamy. This is a quote from one of their books, Doctrine and
Covenants, “Abraham received concubines, and they bore him children; and
it was accounted unto him for righteousness.” The thought that polygamy
will bring righteousness is not biblical. Abraham was not justified by
having many wives.
D. What does scripture say? Turn to Romans 4:5, "Abraham believed God and
it was credited to him as righteousness." Having faith in the Lord
brings righteousness not having more than one wife.
E. Mormons believe that Joseph Smith sits in heaven with God the Father
and Jesus. That is their definition of the Triune God. They also believe
that Joseph Smith has the power to save people if he wants to. Here is
what Brigham Young said about Joseph Smith, “And he that confesses 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 Anti-Christ.” He
also said, “No man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into
the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith.”
F. I don’t know any other way to say this, but the teaching of the Mormon
Church is heresy and needs to be avoided and renounced.
Summary
A. How many of you know someone who is a Mormon; a friend, co-worker,
neighbor, or a relative? The Mormons I have known over the years are
some great people with strong family values and high morals. I respect
that. I respect their deep commitment to furthering their faith. Many of
them in their teen years are willing to give up two years to mission
work! They are well trained on how to defend their faith. There are a
lot of similarities between Christianity and Mormonism. We use a lot of
the same terminology, but the words mean something very different.
B. Mormonism is not Christianity it is another false religion.
They are good people but they don’t know Christ. They don’t know what it
is like to have God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in their hearts and because
of that they have no peace, no confidence in their salvation. There are
so many people like that today. They may be going to church, trying out
different religions but none of them will bring them the peace they seek
after until they find Jesus.
C. The Mormon faith is an entire work-based religion. It’s what your
works are on this planet that gets you to where you want to be. Any
religion that is based on good works will never bring peace. Only faith
in Jesus Christ and receiving salvation by His work on the cross will
ever bring that inner peace that every person longs for.
D. Let’s ask God to give us eyes to see those around us and to be
sensitive to those who are looking for truth. Let’s ask God to give us
the ability to share with others what it means to be a true follower of
Jesus Christ and what it means to be truly ‘saved.”
