On May 15, 1829, Joseph Smith claims he and Oliver Cowdery went into a wooded area to pray. They were supposedly visited by a being from the spirit world they identified as John the Baptist. Smith said that "John" conferred upon them the Aaronic priesthood, which (according to the LDS) "holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and baptism by immersion for the remission of sins...." No one, Smith said, can be properly baptized as a follower of Jesus Christ unless the one baptizing him or her holds the Aaronic priesthood.
Smith at that time, at what he said was the direction of John, first baptized Cowdery then Cowdery baptized Smith. They then laid hands on each other which Smith said ordained them to the Aaronic Priesthood. It was necessary for Smith and Cowdery to baptize and lay hands on one another because John, who baptized during his earthly ministry, was a spirit being who could not perform the task on someone with a physical body. This is why the Mormons baptize for the dead in their temples. Living Mormons stand in proxy for dead relatives and others so they can be baptized and receive the laying on of hands. According to the LDS, the deceased are living in the spirit world with no physical body to baptize.
But we must question, where did John the Baptist get the authority to confer the so-called Aaronic priesthood? He never held such a thing during his earthly life. Although his father Zecharias was a Levitical priest, John never served as a Levite priest. For starters, he wore skins of unclean animals. A Levite priest would never be caught dead wearing anything unclean, lest he be cut off from his office as well as his people. Also, he ate locusts which were likewise unclean. He baptized people which was certainly not a Levitical duty. And finally his ministry was not in the Jerusalem temple, the only place where Levites were allowed by God to do their work. Rather he ministered in the wilderness east of the Jordan River. He never held any such priesthood during his life on earth.
If John the Baptist did not hold the Aaronic priesthood during his earthly life, could he have received in the spirit world after death? Without a physical body? Absolutely preposterous! How can hands be laid on a spirit? The Mormons themselves acknowledge the impossibility of this scenario when they admit John as a spirit being could not have laid hands on and baptized Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery!
Every Mormon elder today who claims to hold the Aaronic priesthood is said to have received it from someone who received it from someone else before them, and so on all the way back to Joseph and Oliver. But if John the Baptist didn't have the priesthhood, they never got it from him or anywhere else, and no one in the Mormon church holds it today!!
What then is the "Aaronic" Priesthood? Although certain English language Bibles one time mention the phrase "after the order of Aaron" (Hebrews 7:11), nothing in the Old or New Testaments (all of Scripture), nor in Church History ever existed with that specific title. It was unknown until Joseph Smith dreamed it up. The Levitical (not "Aaronic") priesthood was merely those temple duties which were established by God through Moses and first ministered by Aaron. The priesthood succeeded from Aaron and his sons through the tribe of Levi for 1400 years. When Christ died on the cross for our sins, He became our High Priest. His once-and-for-all sacrifice on the cross became the final blood that needed to be shed for the sins of all. The veil of the temple was rent in two, opening the place where the priests ministered to all who would come to Christ. The office of High Priest, or Levite Priest, or "Aaronic" Priest, or whatever one might wish to call it, was no longer needed.
According to the second edition of the Mormon reference work Mormon Doctrine by Bruce McConkie, page 478, the Melchizedek or Higher Priesthood, the was restored around June of 1829 or perhaps a bit later when the Apostles Peter, James and John supposedly appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. Everything on the Earth the Mormons say is subject to the power and authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood.
McConkie echoes over 135 years of Mormon thinking when he says on page 479 that "...without the Melchizedek Priesthood, salvation in the kingdom of God would not be available for men on earth, for the ordinances of salvation -- the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, for instance -- could not be authoritatively performed. Thus, as far as all religious organizations now existing are concerned, the presence or absence of this priesthood establishes the divinity or falsity of a professing church." McConkie goes on to add, "If there is no Melchizedek Priesthood on earth, the true Church is not here and the gospel of Christ is not available to men. But where the Melchizedek Priesthood is, there is the kingdom, the Church, and the fullness of the gospel."
In the first place, McConkie (and by extension the LDS church) has fallen into the trap, or is attempting to push others into the pitfall of confusing the "ekklesia," the called-out believers, with a religious organization when using the term "church" or "True Church." And yet surprisingly, Biblical Christianity would agree with McConkie's statement. There is an enormous difference, however, between what the Mormons call the Melchizedek Priesthood and what God calls it, as we will ultimately see.
The ultimate question on this subject is, does the Mormon Church hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, and if not. who does? To learn the answers to these questions we begin by learning what God says the Melchizedek priesthood is. First if must be asked, who was Melchizedek? In Genesis 1:18, Melchizedek, who was both King of Salem (now known as Jerusalem) and priest of the Most High God, brought forth bread and wine to Abraham following the patriarch's military victory at the valley of Shaveh (Genesis 14:17-20). Abraham paid a tithe, a tenth of all the spoil from his victory, to Melchizedek. Considering that the Old Testament contains types and foreshadows of the New Testament, in this narrative Melchizedek according to Hebrews 7:1-10, is the prophetic foretype of Christ. Melchizedek is the King of Salem, or in Hebrew, "shalom." or peace just as Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Hebrews 7:2 also calls Melchizedek the king of righteousness. Christ, of course, is our Righteousness, and the King of our peace. The entire book of Hebrews is written around the theme that Jesus is our great High Priest -- the mediator between God and man, Who continually makes intercession on our behalf before the Father. When we sin, we have Jesus Christ as our Advocate, our Attorney, pleading our case before God. He wins our righteousness before the Father which he secured on Calvary's cross.
Melchizedek is paid tithes by Abraham in the same manner we pay our tithes and offerings to God as He is revealed in Jesus Christ. The bread and wine Melchizedek brought forth are types of the body and blood of Christ which are also typified through the Passover meal as what is called "the Lord's Supper" or "Communion." Furthermore, although there are other foreshadows of Christ found in Old Testament characters, Melchizedek is the only person in the Bible (other than Jesus) that holds the offices of both priest and king.
The most important typification of Christ found in Melchizedek is seen, as Hebrews 7:3 puts it, Melchizedek was, "without father, without mother, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God...." Melchizedek had no recorded beginning or ending to his life. Certainly, as a mortal human this does not mean he was eternal in his earthly existence, but he was rather a type of the Eternal Christ (as an aside here, it can be noted that only the Christ of Biblical Christianity -- Catholic, Protestant, or otherwise -- is eternal. The Latter-day Christ, no matter how many times he is referred to in Mormon writings as eternal, is, by the Mormon's own definition not eternal. The LDS Jesus Christ was created by the union of a heavenly father called Elohim and one of his many wives in a time Mormons call the "pre-existence." The Mormons even say Elohim himself was a created being, once a man, who lived on a world near a star called Kolob. A being with a beginning is certainly not eternal.
The Jesus of Christianity has existed from eternity past and will exist into eternity future. He is called in Revelation 1:8 as the Alpha and Omega, existing before anything in the universe was created, including time and space. In Isaiah 41:4 God calls Himself the first and the last. Why? Because the Eternal Christ and the Eternal Father are one in the same. Christ was not a created being. He created ALL things Himself (including time and space) as evidenced in John's gospel, chapter 1, verse 3 which says, "All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made." Colossians 1:16 declares, "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him." (emphasis mine) The Mormon cannot know the Eternal Christ because his theology does not support an Eternal Christ.)
Christ is called a priest after the order of both Aaron and Melchizedek. These four words -- "after the order of" -- are most important to our understanding. The words in the King James "after the order of" (or "kata ten taxis" in the Greek) might be better rendered "according to" or "in the same manner as" Melchizedek. In other words, Jesus Christ was both Priest and King in the same manner AS Melchizedek and not the holder of some religious order created by the Mormons!
The Levitical priesthood (incorrectly called the Aaronic Priesthood by the Latter-day Saints) was the daily ministering by the Levite priest in the Holy Place and the annual ministering in the Holy of Holies by the high priest in the Temple in Jerusalem. It is "in this same manner" that Jesus Christ is Our High Priest, ministering as our Advocate before the Father. Christ, our great High Priest, at his death on the cross entered once for all into the Holy of Holies to perform the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.
The high priest holds his office for life. When Aaron died, the priestly duties were passed on to his offspring. As long as Jesus Christ lives, He and He alone remains our High Priest. It is Jesus Christ whom God's word calls in Hebrews 7:21 "a priest forever." The Bible goes on to say that there were truly many (Levitical) priests, but they were not allowed to continue by reason of death. Their priesthood was transferred one to another. But Jesus Christ lives, and lives forever. His priesthood can never be transferred to another! That includes both the so-called "Aaronic" and the Melchizedek priesthoods.
There is a single Greek word in Hebrews 7:24 that confirms this. This word is "aparabatos." In the King James it is "unchangeable." This word can also be rendered "untransferable," but in the fullness of the Greek, it means "incapable of being transferred from one to another." So, with a single word, "aparabatos," the entire Mormon theological system comes crashing to the ground. For according to the Bible, if only Jesus holds the Melchizedek priesthood, then no LDS man holds it (Mormon women cannot hold it anyway) and therefore, by their own standard, there can be no baptisms, no blessing, no preaching of the Mormon "gospel," and no other authoritative operations of LDS church. That's just how broad the issue is.
But who does hold the "Melchizedek priesthood" in reality? The Apostle John tells us in Revelation 1:6 that, "And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." The "us" is us! We Christians are the ones, in a manner of speaking, who hold the Melchizedek priesthood (although in actuality, Jesus alone holds it). It is us, the "ekklesia" or "church" which exists on earth as the Spirit of Jesus living in the Christian -- a "priesthood of believers." Peter says we Christians are a holy priesthood (I Peter 2:5). Paul calls this, in Colossians 1:27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory."
This is just another way to describe the personal relationship that believers in Christ will enjoy eternally with Jesus. Praise God, the gospel of Christ, the Good News of salvation by grace through faith and not works of righteousness, is available to all today, because of the Melchizedek Priesthood, held not by Joseph Smith and his followers, but by Christ and Christ alone forever.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
A Faith-promoting Message
Here is a very important, faith-promoting message for all Latter-day Saints. In fact, it could be the most important message you, as a Mormon, will ever read.
The Eighth Article of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states, "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly...." Stop and ask yourself, "What if the Bible IS translated correctedly?" Consider this: The original languages of the Bible are Hebrew and Greek. These are not dead languages. Over 13 million people in the world speak Greek. Just under 10 million speak Hebrew. They are well-known languages. We can know exactly what the Bible says.
The next question becomes: How reliable are the original language documents we have today? Consider this: The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947 contain the entire Hebrew Old Testament (with the exception of the Book of Esther (which does not contain the name of God). Carbon dating has placed these as far back as over 400 B.C., about the time the last book, Malachi, was completed. A complete Old Testament from the time it was written!
We also have over 5,600 Greek manuscripts of New Testament in existence today. Some of the fragments date back to 130 A.D. -- less than 40 years after it's completion! These documents predate the Roman Catholic church, most of the early church Fathers and all of the heresies of the dark ages. Among these manuscripts there is a 99.5% agreement among the texts, and the variations are mainly in spelling, capitalization and so forth. None of the variations affect doctrine.
We can examine these languages and find out easily what the original words actual mean. And when they are translated into English, we find English language Bibles today say the same things, differing mainly in style and expression. If the Eighth Article of Faith asks the question, "Is the Bible translated correctly?" We can answer with a very firm, "Yes!"
What about the Book of Mormon? Can we check the original to see if it is translated correctly? No. Unfortunately, Joseph Smith said the Golden Plates from which he said he translated the Book of Mormon were taken back by an angel, and we do not have them today to examine.
But can we take Joseph Smith's word for it that he translated the Book of Mormon correctly? For that answer, we must turn to the Book of Abraham. Since 1966 we have had the papyri of that work available to examine. But in Joseph's time, around the time of the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, no one in North America could read Egyptian hieroglyphics.
But now all Egyptian scholars (except a few who are Mormons) can easily see that Joseph did not translate even one hieroglyphics correctly. He wasn't even close. It was a different story altogether. Now, if Joseph Smith cannot be trusted as a "translator" of the Book of Abraham, how can he be trusted as a translator of the Book of Mormon? We must also ask how can his prophecies in the Doctrine and Covenants or the Book of Moses be trusted? Should we simply take his word for it? 2 Nephi 28: 31 echoes the Bible (Ps. 118: 8 KJV) when we are told not to trust in man. That includes the man Joseph Smith!
When all is said and done, although the other "Standard Works" are in doubt, the Holy Bible is complete, inerrant and truly can be trusted. And it's the only work that can.
So, what does the Bible say about one of the most important doctrines of the LDS church? We are referring to the Melchizedek priesthood. What does the inerrant Bible say about who holds this priesthood? We find the answer in the book of Hebrews, chapter seven. This chapter is very clear in explaining the reason that Jesus is our great High Priest.
In the Old Testment it was clear that those from the tribe of Levi could only be priests...so the question became, how could Jesus be our High Priest when he cam from the tribe of Judah? The answer is that Jesus has a higher priesthood than the Aaronic priesthood (from the tribe of Levi). His priesthood is after the order of (or "in the manner of") Melchizedek. But the question remains: Who holds this priesthood today? The answer is in Hebrews 7: 24.
This verse tells us that Jesus holds this priesthood, and it has never been passed to anyone else. The Greek word the writer of Hebrews used is "aparabatos." This word has only one meaning: nontransferrable! In other words, as long as Jesus is alive, no one else can have this priesthood transferred to him. And the next verse, v. 25, tells us that Jesus indeed lives forever. No one else but Jesus will ever hold the priesthood, because he will never die, which would pass the priesthood to another.
What does this mean? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continually tells us that nothing can take place in their church without the priesthood. No teaching, no baptisms, no administration, not anything! But if the Melchezek priesthood cannot be transferred from Jesus to another person, that means that no man in the LDS church holds the priesthood. There is no authority in the Mormon church, as they understand it!!
So now you are asking yourself, "How can this be a 'Faith-promoting Message?'" Simply this: And we make this in the form of an appeal. Do not put your trust in a non-existant priesthood! Do not put your trust in a man (whether he claims to be a prophet of God or not)! Do not put you trust in any writings other than the Holy Bible! Put you trust in the central figure of the Bible, the one who really holds the priesthood -- Jesus Christ! And put your faith in Him alone!
The Bible says that Jesus is the creator of all things (Colossians 1: 16-17). "All" means only one thing -- ALL! Everthing! The only way this could be is that if Jesus were out of what is called space-time (which he also created). This makes him eternal. Existing in eternity-past. Co-existant in eternity-past with the other persons in the Godhead, the Father and the Holy Spirit. This means there can only be one God, but in three Persons. An impossible concept to get your mind around, but perfectly acceptable by faith.
So, how do we put our trust in Christ alone? Titus 3: 5 has the answer, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration (not the washing of baptism, but regeneration -- new birth), and renewing of the Holy Ghost." You can't come to Jesus with your works of righteousness. Your righteousness is like garbage in His sight (Isaiah 64: 6). Come to Jesus with nothing but your desire for him to save you by grace alone, through faith alone! He will promote your faith...making this indeed a faith-promoting message!!
The Eighth Article of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states, "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly...." Stop and ask yourself, "What if the Bible IS translated correctedly?" Consider this: The original languages of the Bible are Hebrew and Greek. These are not dead languages. Over 13 million people in the world speak Greek. Just under 10 million speak Hebrew. They are well-known languages. We can know exactly what the Bible says.
The next question becomes: How reliable are the original language documents we have today? Consider this: The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947 contain the entire Hebrew Old Testament (with the exception of the Book of Esther (which does not contain the name of God). Carbon dating has placed these as far back as over 400 B.C., about the time the last book, Malachi, was completed. A complete Old Testament from the time it was written!
We also have over 5,600 Greek manuscripts of New Testament in existence today. Some of the fragments date back to 130 A.D. -- less than 40 years after it's completion! These documents predate the Roman Catholic church, most of the early church Fathers and all of the heresies of the dark ages. Among these manuscripts there is a 99.5% agreement among the texts, and the variations are mainly in spelling, capitalization and so forth. None of the variations affect doctrine.
We can examine these languages and find out easily what the original words actual mean. And when they are translated into English, we find English language Bibles today say the same things, differing mainly in style and expression. If the Eighth Article of Faith asks the question, "Is the Bible translated correctly?" We can answer with a very firm, "Yes!"
What about the Book of Mormon? Can we check the original to see if it is translated correctly? No. Unfortunately, Joseph Smith said the Golden Plates from which he said he translated the Book of Mormon were taken back by an angel, and we do not have them today to examine.
But can we take Joseph Smith's word for it that he translated the Book of Mormon correctly? For that answer, we must turn to the Book of Abraham. Since 1966 we have had the papyri of that work available to examine. But in Joseph's time, around the time of the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, no one in North America could read Egyptian hieroglyphics.
But now all Egyptian scholars (except a few who are Mormons) can easily see that Joseph did not translate even one hieroglyphics correctly. He wasn't even close. It was a different story altogether. Now, if Joseph Smith cannot be trusted as a "translator" of the Book of Abraham, how can he be trusted as a translator of the Book of Mormon? We must also ask how can his prophecies in the Doctrine and Covenants or the Book of Moses be trusted? Should we simply take his word for it? 2 Nephi 28: 31 echoes the Bible (Ps. 118: 8 KJV) when we are told not to trust in man. That includes the man Joseph Smith!
When all is said and done, although the other "Standard Works" are in doubt, the Holy Bible is complete, inerrant and truly can be trusted. And it's the only work that can.
So, what does the Bible say about one of the most important doctrines of the LDS church? We are referring to the Melchizedek priesthood. What does the inerrant Bible say about who holds this priesthood? We find the answer in the book of Hebrews, chapter seven. This chapter is very clear in explaining the reason that Jesus is our great High Priest.
In the Old Testment it was clear that those from the tribe of Levi could only be priests...so the question became, how could Jesus be our High Priest when he cam from the tribe of Judah? The answer is that Jesus has a higher priesthood than the Aaronic priesthood (from the tribe of Levi). His priesthood is after the order of (or "in the manner of") Melchizedek. But the question remains: Who holds this priesthood today? The answer is in Hebrews 7: 24.
This verse tells us that Jesus holds this priesthood, and it has never been passed to anyone else. The Greek word the writer of Hebrews used is "aparabatos." This word has only one meaning: nontransferrable! In other words, as long as Jesus is alive, no one else can have this priesthood transferred to him. And the next verse, v. 25, tells us that Jesus indeed lives forever. No one else but Jesus will ever hold the priesthood, because he will never die, which would pass the priesthood to another.
What does this mean? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continually tells us that nothing can take place in their church without the priesthood. No teaching, no baptisms, no administration, not anything! But if the Melchezek priesthood cannot be transferred from Jesus to another person, that means that no man in the LDS church holds the priesthood. There is no authority in the Mormon church, as they understand it!!
So now you are asking yourself, "How can this be a 'Faith-promoting Message?'" Simply this: And we make this in the form of an appeal. Do not put your trust in a non-existant priesthood! Do not put your trust in a man (whether he claims to be a prophet of God or not)! Do not put you trust in any writings other than the Holy Bible! Put you trust in the central figure of the Bible, the one who really holds the priesthood -- Jesus Christ! And put your faith in Him alone!
The Bible says that Jesus is the creator of all things (Colossians 1: 16-17). "All" means only one thing -- ALL! Everthing! The only way this could be is that if Jesus were out of what is called space-time (which he also created). This makes him eternal. Existing in eternity-past. Co-existant in eternity-past with the other persons in the Godhead, the Father and the Holy Spirit. This means there can only be one God, but in three Persons. An impossible concept to get your mind around, but perfectly acceptable by faith.
So, how do we put our trust in Christ alone? Titus 3: 5 has the answer, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration (not the washing of baptism, but regeneration -- new birth), and renewing of the Holy Ghost." You can't come to Jesus with your works of righteousness. Your righteousness is like garbage in His sight (Isaiah 64: 6). Come to Jesus with nothing but your desire for him to save you by grace alone, through faith alone! He will promote your faith...making this indeed a faith-promoting message!!
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