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"...The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
I Timothy 3:15
Are Mormons Christians?
By Pastor Cooper P. Abrams III
From the Plains Baptist Challenger
Historically, only until recently have Mormons wanted to be called Christians, preferring not to be included with Christian denominations, which Joseph Smith said were, “all wrong ... all their creeds were an admonition in his sight, and that those professors (Christians) were all corrupt” (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith, 2:18-19).
Mormons have preferred to be called “saints”; however, in the recent years the LDS church has spent millions in an intense “PR” campaign aimed at moving the church into the mainstream of Christianity. The political and economic benefits of Mormons being included in the mainstream of Christianity are obvious. Further, for Mormons to be accepted as traditional Christians would greatly aid in proselytizing the members of Christian denominations into the LDS church. This is why the LDS church is trying so hard to present itself as Christian and is trying to overcome the stigma of being a cult.
The answer to the question, “Are Mormons Christians,” is simple. They are not Christians for several reasons, and their unbiblical doctrines show them to be a “Christian” cult.
The name Christian was first used, as Acts 11:26 records, to identify the disciples of Jesus Christ. The word “Christian” is the Greek word “christianos,” and it means an adherent of Jesus Christ. It literally means “Christ ones” (Acts 11:26, 26:28, 1 Peter 4:16). The correct definition of the word is one who is a follower of the Jesus Christ of the Bible. For almost two thousand years it has never had a reference to anyone other than the historical Jesus Christ of the New Testament.
WHY MORMONS ARE NOT CHRISTIANS
First: Mormons do not follow or believe in the historic Jesus Christ of the Bible, but rather in a difference Jesus. This is why most Biblical Christians emphatically insist that Mormons are not Christians. Let me explain.
The god of the Mormons is not the God of the Bible. To the Mormons, Jesus is the firstborn son of an exalted “man” who became the god of this world. The man-god of Mormonism was made the god of this world because of his good works on another planet somewhere out in the universe. He “earned” godhood, and was thus appointed by a counsel of gods in the heavens to his high position as the god of planet Earth.
The Mormon god of this world was a man, like all men, who became a god. This is what the celestial marriage and the temple vows are all about. LDS men, by doing their temple work, are striving for exaltation by which they, too, shall one day become gods. Their wives will be the mother goddesses of “their” world and with their husband will produce the population of their world. This is the Mormon doctrine of “eternal progression.”
Note the following quote from the Mormon Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, page 123, made by the LDS Apostle Orson Hyde: “Remember that God, our heavenly Father, was perhaps once a child, a mortal like we ourselves, and rose step by step in the scale of progress, in the school of advancement; has moved forward and overcome, until He has arrived at the point where He is.”
Lorenzo Snow, late President of the Mormon church, made this statement in the second verse of his famous poem entitled, “Man’s Destiny”: “As Abra’m, Isaac, Jacob, too, babes, then men--to gods they grew. As man now is, our God once was; As now God is, so man may be, — Which doth unfold man’s destiny...”
The God of the Bible is not an exalted man. The God of the Bible is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. The Bible says He is the only God and there are no other Gods. He had no beginning or end and he is a spirit being and never was a man.
Note the clear teaching of the Bible as to who the real God is: Numbers 23:19, Psalms 102:26-27, Isaiah 43:10-11, Isaiah 44:6, Isaiah 44:8, Isaiah 45:21-22, Jeremiah 23:24, Malachi 3:6, John 1:16-18, John 4:24, Romans 1:22, Colossians 1:15, 1 Timothy 1:17, and 1 Timothy 6:16.
Clearly, Mormonism’s god is not the God of Christianity who is the God revealed to us in the Bible. The Mormon god is a god formed from the imaginations of Joseph Smith, and in truth is a false, non-existent god or idol.
Second: The Jesus Christ of Mormonism is not the Jesus Christ of the Bible.
The Mormon Jesus is the son of this man-god. The Mormon Jesus is the brother of Lucifer, and according to LDS teaching, he married several of the Mary’s of the New Testament. He is not, to the LDS church, “God incarnate” as the Bible plainly states. Clearly, the Mormon god and Jesus are not the true
GOD AND JESUS OF THE BIBLE
Orson Hyde, the Mormon Apostle said, “We say it was Jesus Christ who was married in the marriage of Cana of Galilee.” (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 2, page 80)
Brigham Young, said, “When the Virgin Mary conceived the Child Jesus ... He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who is His father? He is the first of the human family” (Journal of Discourses, pages 50 51).
Compare this with the Word of God, “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).
Mormons teach that Jesus Christ suffered for sin in the Garden of Gethsemane when He sweat “as it were” great drops of blood. Mormons totally avoid the Biblical teaching of Christ’s atonement for sin which was accomplished on the Cross.
Note the following quote from, What Mormons Think of Christ (LDS publication, pages 32-34): “Christians speak often of the blood of Christ and its cleansing power. Much is believed and taught on this subject, however, it is utter nonsense and so palpably false that to believe it is to lose one’s salvation.” It goes further to say that salvation is “conditional on faith, and repentance, and baptism and keeping the commands of God.”
I would like to add, yes, it is very true that Christians do speak much of the blood of Christ. Note the emphasis the Bible places on the blood of Christ: 1 John 1:7; Hebrew 9:14; and Revelations 1:5.
The ejection of this Biblical truth by the LDS church shows again it is not a Christian church. Note that in the following verses the Bible says salvation, which is forgiveness of sin and receiving of eternal life, is a gift of God, and it is not obtained by “works”: “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) “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Romans 4:5)
I am aware that the L.D.S church has several definitions of salvation and several degrees of glory.
The real Jesus Christ is the “only begotten of the Father.” He is not one of many sons and certainly not the brother of Satan as the following Scriptures clearly state: John 1:18, John 3:16, John 3:18, Hebrews 1:5, 1 John 4:9.
JESUS CHRIST OF THE BIBLE IS GOD INCARNATE IN MAN
John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
John 10:30 “I and my Father are one.” Jesus claimed to be one with the Father.
In John 14:9, Jesus said to see him is to see the Father.
In John 8:25, 56-59, 18:6, 8 Jesus used the Jehovistic “I AM,” identifying Himself as God.
In Matthew 22:42-45, Jesus claimed to be the Old Testament “Adonai.”
In Mark 2:5-7, Jesus forgave sin, a prerogative belonging only to God.
In Matthew 14:33; 28:9; and John 20:28-29, Jesus asserted Himself as God by allowing men to worship Him.
John 1:3 states that Jesus is the Creator, and Genesis 1:1 states that God was the Creator.
Only those who believe in the real Biblical God and Jesus Christ have the right to use the name “Christian.” The Mormon prophets historically have openly ridiculed those who believe in the God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit that the Bible reveals.
One question that I would ask all Mormons is this: “If I accept you as a Christian, will you accept me as a Mormon?” Would you accept me as a Mormon if I reject Joseph Smith and all the LDS prophets as being prophets of God. If I do not believe in the Book of Mormon or the LDS Scriptures, baptisms for the dead, the temple endowments, the LDS gospel, would you accept me as a Mormon? The answer is obviously, you would not. In like manner, when Mormonism denies the Bible and every Christian doctrine do you think that Biblical Christians should accept Mormons as Christians? Again the answer is very obvious, no we will not. You cannot legitimately claim to be Christians when you refuse to accept what the Bible teaches and what a true Christian believes.
I would implore Mormons to honestly and openly examine their teachings about God and Jesus Christ and examine who the Bible defines as being a Christian. There is no benefit in calling yourself a “Christian” when Biblically you are not.
Because we love the souls of men and want to see them, too, spend eternity in Heaven with our Savior, we strongly object to anyone proclaiming to the world a false Jesus Christ. We do not want to see anyone miss having their sins forgiven and receiving eternal life, because they were deceived.
Jesus said that He alone was the truth, the way and the life – “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)
Belief in the real Jesus Christ is the only way a man can receive forgiveness of sin and eternal life. The LDS, church in presenting a false Christ is, in fact, leading souls away from salvation and the real Jesus. They reject God’s truth and substitute another Jesus who does not exist and cannot save. Only those who believe in the Biblical Jesus Christ will go to heaven when they die. Those who put their trust in a false Christ will be eternally lost. Every true Child of God knows this, and that is why we try so hard to point men away from false churches, prophets, gods and Christs, that they may find God’s true Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved.
Let God speak for Himself by His Word – Matthew 24:24, “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”
“Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12)