____________________________________
... Usually among such evangelicals there is a common
theological core which it is recognized the LDS church does not embrace. You will recall that I briefly
mentioned that the LDS teaching regarding God denies monotheism in favor of
tri-theism, that LDS teaching denies salvation by grace through faith, and that
the LDS church believes in a different Jesus. These are not minor or secondary issues on which Christians
of good will and orthodox belief can and do differ—such as eschatological
systems or even the proper recipients of baptism. Rather, these issues are centrally located in the Christian
theological system and cannot be modified in the ways that the LDS church does
without ceasing to be Christian.
Why is this important?
The Scriptures give us the requirements for an elder. One of those requirements is that
elders in Christ’s church be those who are “holding fast the faithful word which is in
accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound
doctrine and to refute those who contradict. Titus 1.9
Not only must we as elders hold to the truth personally but we must be
able to teach the truth and to refute those who teach against the truth. Failure to upheld these duties brings
pain to the church as false teachers are then able to upset whole families
(Titus 1.11). The apostle Paul
provides us an example of his fighting for the truth of the gospel in the book
of Galatians. He begins this
epistle with forceful words because the truth of the gospel is at stake.
6I am amazed that you
are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a
different gospel; 7which is really not another; only there are some
who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we, or an angel
from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to
you, he is to be accursed! 9As
we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a
gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! --Galatians 1.6-9
The apostle Paul can also challenge the Corinthian church
because they are allowing the preaching of “another Jesus.”
For if one comes and preaches
another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit
which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted,
you bear this beautifully. –2
Corinthians 11.4
And who is doing this preaching of “another Jesus” and a
“different gospel”—“false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as
apostles of Christ” (2 Corinthians 11.13).
Just because a group says they are “Christian” or has the
word “Christ” in their name (e.g., “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints”) does not make them Christian in reality. We need to examine the teaching of these groups to discern
whether they are teaching a false view of God, Christ, or salvation. When the Mormon religion is examined in
this regard it fails to meet the most basic requirements of Christian theism.
Consider the central biblical and creedal teaching regarding
monotheism—the belief in one God.
Orthodox Christianity has always affirmed monotheism even as it has
confessed the doctrine of the Trinity.
The founding prophet of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, unequivocally denies
the doctrine of the Trinity and the monotheism which is crucial to this
doctrine. Consider the following
words from Joseph Smith from what is known as the “King Follett Discourse.”
I
will preach on the plurality of Gods.
I have selected this text for that express purpose. I wish to declare I have always and in
all congregations when I have preached on the subject of the Deity, it has been
the plurality of Gods. It has been
preached by the Elders for fifteen years.
I
have always declared God to be a distinct personage. Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the
Father, and that the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and
these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods. If this is in accordance with the New
Testament, lo and behold! we have three Gods anyhow, and they are plural; and
who can contradict it? Teachings
of the Prophet Joseph Smith compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith (Deseret,
1976), 370.
Many
men say there is one God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are only one
God. I say that is a strange God
anyhow—three in one and one in three! … All are to be crammed into one God,
according to sectarianism. Teachings
of the Prophet Joseph Smith compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith (Deseret,
1976), 372.
Not only did Joseph Smith affirm polytheism and deny the
Trinity, he also spoke of how God himself was not always God but was a man like
us but attained to Godhood.
God
himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in
yonder heavens! That is the great
secret. If the veil were rent
today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all
worlds and all things by his power, was to make himself visible,—I say, if you
were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form—like yourselves in
all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very
fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked,
talked and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph
Smith compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith (Deseret, 1976), 345.
…it
is necessary we should understand the character and being of God and how he
came to be so; for 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.
These
are incomprehensible ideas to some, but they are simple. It is the first principle of the Gospel
to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know that we may converse
with him as one man converses with another, and that he was once a man like us;
yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as
Jesus Christ himself did; and I will show it from the Bible. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph
Smith compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith (Deseret, 1976), 345-346.
Joseph Smith argues that God the Father himself had a
Father!
If
Abraham reasoned thus—If Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and John discovered
that God the Father of Jesus Christ had a Father, you may suppose that He had a
Father also. Where was there ever
a son without a father? And where
was there ever a father without first being a son? … Hence if Jesus had a
Father, can we not believe that He had a Father also? I despise the idea of being scared to death at such a
doctrine, for the Bible is full of it.
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith compiled by Joseph Fielding
Smith (Deseret, 1976), 373.
These teachings by Joseph Smith are still affirmed today in
the official teaching of the LDS church.[1] These teachings are at radical variance
from the Bible’s teaching regarding God. ...
These are no small matters. I have only looked at the issue of monotheism and the
Trinity but the same massive departure from central truth also is found in the
LDS doctrines of Christ and salvation.[2]
I would urge you as elders in the church of God to
faithfully hold to the essentials of the faith. If you as elders and leaders in the church will not affirm
and defend the truth then those under your charge will not be properly fed and
led. If you don’t believe that
Mormons are in need of the true gospel then your people will erroneously
believe the same. They will not
seek to share the real Jesus of the Bible with their Mormon neighbors nor will
they pray for the conversion of those caught in the deceptions of LDS teaching.
I know that I have spoken directly and my desire is not
to cause offense. Ultimately the
gospel message and the authority of the Word of God are at stake. If you are willing perhaps we can
continue to discuss these matters for our edification and the strengthening of
Christ’s church.
For the Gospel,
Richard J. Klaus
[1]
For demonstration of this fact see the recent article by Robert Bowman “Are
Mormons Approaching Orthodoxy? A Response to Richard Mouw.” Online: http://mit.irr.org/are-mormons-approaching-orthodoxy-response-richard-mouw.
[2] For a short but helpful
introduction to these matters please see the article “Is Mormonism
Christian?” Online: http://mit.irr.org/mormonism-christian.
