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Bible Studies | Mission Statement | Booking Information | Music Joseph Smith, the Nature of God and the Book of Mormon... In response to my commentary on the nature of Truth, I have in recent months I've been approached by a few readers urging me to read the Book of Mormon. This exposition is written in part as a response to those requests. Before I go further, I want to clearly state that I am not on any kind of personal crusade against the Latter-day Saints. It sounds cliché to say, but some of my best friends are "Mormons." I've enjoyed very close relationships with many LDS families in the last few years and love them dearly. They are wonderful people who have brought much joy into my life, and I love and pray for them as I do anyone else who crosses my path. That being said, in regards to the Truth, I believe those being taught by and brought up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are being terribly misled. I know that may sound judgemental. I do not wish to sound that way, as I know Latter-day Saints are very passionate about their faith. But as they have approached me in earnest, I am responding in earnest. What makes me believe followers of the LDS church are on the wrong path? Because the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are in complete opposition to the teachings of the Bible. Many that I've talked to believe the Bible goes hand-in-hand with the Book of Mormon. It doesn't. It can't. The Bible is the only absolute source of Truth we have on spiritual matters. (I know some readers will disagree with me on that statement, and for those of you who do, I refer you once again to this article). My point is, if the Bible is True, which I believe it is, then the teachings of the LDS church cannot be true. Both cannot be true. So where lies the conflict between the Bible and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? There are many, but for the sake of simplicity, I'm going to narrow it all down to the one, penultimate issue that sends the two faiths (traditional Christianity and Mormonism) spinning in two opposite directions: the eternal, omniscient, all- powerful nature of God. The Bible teaches there is ONE and only ONE God, who created all things, who always has been, and always will be. Here are but three of dozens of Bible verses I could quote:
"For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth … who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. - Isaiah 45:18-22 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and
the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
- Psalms 90:2 Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints, teaches something altogether different. Joseph Smith declares that not only are there many gods (and that you yourself can be one), but that "God" as we know it was once a man like you and me. "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man…. 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 … 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 you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be
kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you…."
- from
Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, compiled by Alma L. Burton,
1977, pages 340-341. On this statement alone, Joseph Smith puts Mormonism and the LDS church he founded at complete odds with the Bible. He "refutes the idea" that God is infinite, states that God was no more than a man who later became a god, and notice that he also states that his god once "dwelt on earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did," meaning that his god and his version of Jesus are two separate, distinct beings. Finally Smith declares that we too can become gods in our own right. Brigham Young, who became the spiritual leader for the LDS after Joseph Smith's death, agrees that not only was God once a man, but that we too can become gods... "He is our Father - the Father of our spirits, and was once a man in mortal flesh as we are, and is now an exalted Being. How many Gods there are, I do not know. But there never was a time when there were not Gods…." - from Journal of Discourses, volume 7, page 333 "The Lord created you and me for the purpose of becoming Gods like Himself…. We are created, we are born for the express purpose of growing up from the low estate of manhood, to become Gods like unto our Father in heaven." - Journal of Discourses, volume 3, page 93
"The god Mormons worship with adoration is usually called 'Heavenly Father,'
their version of God the Father. 'Heavenly Father' is, according to Mormon
theology, the maker and supreme god of this world (not to be confused with the
way the term is used in 2Cor. 4:3-4). Other worlds have their own supreme gods,
each worshipped with adoration by the faithful people of his own world.
Moreover, the supreme god of each world is believed to have once been a human
man in some other world, who worshipped his own 'Heavenly Father' (and so on in
infinite regress). It would be impossible to number the gods Mormons believe may
exist in various worlds: 'there is an infinite number of holy personages, drawn
from worlds without number, who have passed on to exaltation and are thus gods'
(Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, "Plurality of Gods")." 1) "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." - Genesis 3:4-5 2) "How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'" - Isaiah 14:13-14 3) "He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God." - 2 Thes. 2:4
The final quote is from 2nd Thessalonians, where Paul is describes the activity of the future Anti-Christ, the man who will essentially become the incarnate of Satan himself. God's reaction? This Anti-Christ will be overthrown and destroyed upon Jesus' return (2 Thes. 2:8). My point
is, the idea that man can become a god is not only contrary
to what the Bible teaches, it's completely in line with what the enemy, Satan,
proposes we try to do. The ultimate source of this teaching
isn't really Joseph Smith, it's the Devil, as we see in
Genesis chapter three and elsewhere. And from that standpoint, anyone who wishes
to become a god will not only fail, but they put themselves
in opposition to the one true God. There
IS only one God, the creator of all things, who sees all
and knows every
man's heart. “Mormon doctrine means that ultimately we are not dependent upon God for our existence. And since we can make ourselves as godly as the Father, we don’t feel any jealousy toward him.” --BYU Professor James E. Ford, Newsweek, "What Mormons Believe," September 1, 1980, p. 68
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