I have just viewed a YouTube video that attempts to explain why the LDS (Mormon) church is the only true church. (By the way, you can view it for yourself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCTZVh3l3ZA. The video, most likely posted by an LDS zealot (it claims not to speak officially for the church itself), lists the 12 reasons by which we will know the "true church." After viewing this video, I quickly realized the LDS church fails ON ALL 12 COUNTS!!! Let's look at them:
1. The LDS Church has a prophet and twelve apostles, as did the Savior's ancient church.
As we turn to the Bible (which the Mormons claim they believe), we find in Ephesians 2:20 that the church was built on the foundation of apostles and prophets. That foundation was laid 2,000 years ago. After the foundation of a house or other building is laid, you don't lay another one. Christian (not Mormon) churches today were indeed built on a foundation of apostles and prophets, but we don't need to lay the foundation again.
2. LDS priesthood holders can trace their authority directly to Jesus Christ.
The problem here is that no man (sorry, ladies) in the LDS church holds the Melchiszedek priesthood. Hebrews 7: 21-25 is very clear when it says that Jesus holds the priesthood forever and it cannot transferred to another person. Verse 24 uses the Greek word "aparabatos" to describe Jesus' priesthood. That word (used only once in Scripture) means "incapable of being transferred." It cannot mean anything else.
3. The LDS Church is guided by continuous revelation through its prophet, as was the New Testament church.
Jesus told us specifically that ALL Old Testament-style prophets (which the LDS claim to have) ended with John the Baptist (Matthew 11: 3 - note the word "all"). The writer of Hebrews in chapter 1, verse 1 tells us clearly that although God did speak before through prophets, He now speaks only through Jesus Christ (Christ's word, of course, is the Bible).
4. The LDS Church understands and teaches the biblical doctrine that God and Jesus are separate and distinct divine beings, who communicate with each other, who are aware of each other's existance, and who work in perfect harmony with each other.
Biblical? This is IN NO WAY a Bible doctrine. This doctrine NEVER existed in the Christian church. No one ever heard of it until the Mormons came along in the early 19th Century. Matthew closes his gospel by quoting Jesus' commandment to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Mt. 28: 19). "Name" NOT "names." There is ONE God who reveals himself in three persons. This is the God of the Bible.
5. The LDS Church affirms that the Savior was literally resurrected, and that he lives today.
This goes nowhere to prove the LDS is the only true church. Almost every Christian church believes this (of course, the "Savior" the LDS believe in is not the Jesus of the Bible. The Mormon Jesus was a created being. The Biblical Jesus is eternal and created all things (Colossians 1:16)).
6. The LDS Church obeys the law of tithing.
There is no "law of tithing." All Old Testament laws were nailed to the cross and fulfilled in Christ (Col. 2: 14; Romans 10: 4). Many Christians go well beyond "tithing" when it comes to giving to the Lord.
7. The LDS Church possesses the additional scripture prophesied of in the Bible.
The only thing in the Bible the LDS can REMOTELY point to as a "proof-text" for additional scripture is Ezekiel 37: 16, 19, the stick of Judah and the stick of Ephraim. If you read this portion of the Bible IN CONTEXT, you find Ezekiel is prophesying about Israel becoming a consolidated nation again. The word "stick" is never used in the Bible as a type of anything written, and especially not scripture. Actually, the Bible has strick warnings about anyone making additions (Deuteronomy 4: 2; 12: 32; Proverbs 30: 5, 6, et. al.).
8. The LDS Church is a missionary church, as was the Savior's ancient church.
This proves absolutely nothing. Almost every church has missionaries.
9. The LDS Church has a lay local clegy. Leaders are not salaried.
This an amazing smoke screen. Yes, no one in the local ward receives a paycheck, but the leaders of the church are the HIGHEST paid clergy on earth. I once worked for the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (now known as Deseret Management Corporation -- parent corporation of major insurance, banking and broadcasting companies, to name a few). Their board members just happen to be the First Presidency and the 12 apostles of the LDS church. Having "been there," can tell you the dividends they receive are every bit as high as those of the board of General Motors or Microsoft.
10. The LDS Church teaches that baptism is essential for salvation. As did the ancient church and Prophets.
The "ancient church and Prophets" as well as the Bible do NOT teach that baptism is essential for salvation . There is no Scripture (or even concept) in the Bible that teaches, "he who is not baptized is damned." Titus 3:5 says, "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his own mercy has he saved us, by the washing of regeneration (new birth -- NOT baptism)...." (see also Galatians 2: 21; Ephesians 2: 8,9, et. al.)
11. The LDS Church teaches that our thoughts and actions play a role in our salvation.
Conversely, the Bible teaches that our thoughts are evil and what separates us from God (Jeremiah 17: 9); and our actions are incapable of obtaining salvation (see #10 above).
12. The LDS Church can answer the three great questions of life: "Where did I come from?" "Why am I here?" "Where am I going after death?"
Almost all Christians churches, in fact just about every religion, address these questions, so this statement provides no proof the Mormon church is the true church. In fact, the Bible actually has completely different answers to these questions from LDS doctrine.
A. Where did I come from? LDS: A pre-existance in which our station in this life was determined by how valiantly we fought in a war in heaven. Bible: Life begins at conception. God first knew us in the womb (mentioned 23 times in the Bible).
B. Why am I here? LDS: To work your way to exaltation. Bible: To glorify God.
C. Where am I going after death? LDS: To one of three heavens, depending on which one you earned in this life. Bible: Eternal life in Heaven with God or eternal death in Hell without Him, based on grace through faith and God's mercy.
Like I said at the outset, the LDS church fails on ALL 12 precepts. The real problem here is that when it comes to eternal things, the Mormons have asked the wrong question. It is not "which church is true," but rather "which plan of salvation is true." The Mormon plan of salvation is a complicated religious system involving good works and exalting yourself to godhood (if you're a guy...again, sorry ladies). The Biblical plan of salvation is recognizing that you are lost in your sins (Rom. 3:23), you need to be saved from God's wrath toward sin to come (Mt. 3: 7; Luke 3: 7; I Thessalonians 1: 10), you are under the penalty of death (Rom. 6: 23a), you can only be saved by the GIFT of eternal life through Christ (Rom. 6: 23b) and you must personally receive Christ (John 1: 12).
The question is not "which church is right," but rather which Savior is right. And that's the Biblcal Jesus, the second person of the Godhead, the very God Himself.
Ciao for now,
Dave
Monday, November 28, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Joseph Smith, Jr.'s Non-Prophet Organization
Without looking anything up, I can -- off the top of my head -- think of about 20 reasons right off the bat to stay away from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their doctrines are loaded with heresy and what they believe contradicts the Bible at just about every turn. That being said, I would rank the failed prophecies of their founder and first "prophet," Joseph Smith, Jr. as number two on the list (number one is the fact the LDS/Mormons don't even believe the same God that the Bible presents -- but that's a subject for a future post).
The failed prophecies are so blatent that their apologists have to do an enormous amount of backpeddling to attempt to explain them away, which they really don't. So, let's look at a few of these prophecies and see if Joseph is what the LDS claim him to be: "Prophet, Seer and Revelator."
#1. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
In History of the Church, Vol. 2, Pg. 182 (1835) Joseph is chronicled as saying (under the inspiration of the "Holy Ghost" and through a vision), ".... . . it was the will of God that they should be ordained to the ministry and go forth to prune the vineyard for the last time, for the coming of the Lord, which was nigh — even fifty six years should wind up the scene...." Do the math. Fifty-six and 1,835 equals 1891. The problem is, Jesus didn't return in 1891. Joe missed it by at least 120 years -- and that's if Jesus were to come back today! Not only did Joseph ignore Christ's words about no one know the time of his return (Mk. 13:32), but he also falsely predicted the time of the return.
#2 THE OVERTHROW OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
In History of the Church, Vol. 5, page 394 (1943) Joseph "prophesied": "I prophecy in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the state of Missouri and punish the crimes committed by her officers that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left for their wickedness in permitting the murder of men, women and children, and the wholesale plunder and extermination of thousands of her citizens to go unpunished...." Oops! The United States Government did not redress any of the wrongs committed against the Mormons in Missouri, and now over 168 years later, the U.S. Government is still around (or at least I still have to file my 1040 each year).
Prophecy #3 CONGRESS TO BE BROKEN UP AS A GOVERNMENT
Before his untimely death, Joseph prophetically wrote, "While discussing the petition to Congress, I prophesied, by virtue of the holy Priesthood vested in me, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that, if Congress will not hear our petition and grant us protection, they shall be broken up as a government, and God shall damn them, and there shall be nothing left of them — not even a grease spot." (Millennial Star, Vol. 22, p. 455. See also History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 116, though when this prediction was incorporated into the official history, Mormon Church leaders decided to leave out the "grease spot" part.) Well, the petition was not heard nor was protection granted (Deseret News, Vol. 1, p. 59). Yet, Congress was never broken up and continues to function (after a fashion) to this day. It is interesting that the compilers of History of the Church, added an editorial note in an attempt to soften or explain this prophecy. They state that: "This prediction doubtless has reference to the party in power; to the ‘government’ considered as the administration;" (note, p. 116). According to the note in History of the Church, this means the Democratic Party, which was in control at the time. However, the prediction is that "Congress shall be broken up as a government" and Congress is made up of representatives from both parties. The Saints were making an appeal to the General Government, not to the Democratic Party, a point made by a summary statement in the left margin beside this prophecy as it is recorded in History of the Church.
Joseph later tried to cover his tracks (following a failed prophecy concerning the copyrighting of the Book of Mormon in Canada) by saying that "Some revelations are of God: some revelations are of men: and some revelations are of the devil." - AN ADDRESS TO ALL BELIEVERS IN CHRIST, David Whitmer, 1887 (Whitmer was directly quoting Joseph).
This is absolute baloney of the worst kind! The true test for a prophet of God is found in the Bible. Deuteronomy 18: 21,22 tells us, "And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him." Joseph only needed to miss one to be a false prophet, but the truth is -- HE MISSED A BUNCH!
There are dozens of other failed "prophecies" that space does not allow me to go into, but if you are really interested, go to our new website nextstepoutreach.org and click on any of the resource links. You'll find some websites with really interesting information about Smith's failed prophecies on the time of the building of the last temple, finding treasure in Salem, Massachusetts, The European military intervention of the U.S. Civil War...and people who live on the moon (they are about six feet tall, dress like Quakers and live to be around 1000 years old).
Before I close this post, let me emphasize, as I have before, it is not my desire or the desire of Next Step Outreach to hurt Mormons or put them down. We love them. Otherwise we wouldn't be trying to get them to see the truth of the real Jesus, the real Bible and the real God. Without these, they are headed toward an eternity separated from God, in a place which is known in the Bible as Hell!
It's the Mormons we love. It's the heresy we hate.
In Jesus,
Dave
The failed prophecies are so blatent that their apologists have to do an enormous amount of backpeddling to attempt to explain them away, which they really don't. So, let's look at a few of these prophecies and see if Joseph is what the LDS claim him to be: "Prophet, Seer and Revelator."
#1. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
In History of the Church, Vol. 2, Pg. 182 (1835) Joseph is chronicled as saying (under the inspiration of the "Holy Ghost" and through a vision), ".... . . it was the will of God that they should be ordained to the ministry and go forth to prune the vineyard for the last time, for the coming of the Lord, which was nigh — even fifty six years should wind up the scene...." Do the math. Fifty-six and 1,835 equals 1891. The problem is, Jesus didn't return in 1891. Joe missed it by at least 120 years -- and that's if Jesus were to come back today! Not only did Joseph ignore Christ's words about no one know the time of his return (Mk. 13:32), but he also falsely predicted the time of the return.
#2 THE OVERTHROW OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
In History of the Church, Vol. 5, page 394 (1943) Joseph "prophesied": "I prophecy in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the state of Missouri and punish the crimes committed by her officers that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left for their wickedness in permitting the murder of men, women and children, and the wholesale plunder and extermination of thousands of her citizens to go unpunished...." Oops! The United States Government did not redress any of the wrongs committed against the Mormons in Missouri, and now over 168 years later, the U.S. Government is still around (or at least I still have to file my 1040 each year).
Prophecy #3 CONGRESS TO BE BROKEN UP AS A GOVERNMENT
Before his untimely death, Joseph prophetically wrote, "While discussing the petition to Congress, I prophesied, by virtue of the holy Priesthood vested in me, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that, if Congress will not hear our petition and grant us protection, they shall be broken up as a government, and God shall damn them, and there shall be nothing left of them — not even a grease spot." (Millennial Star, Vol. 22, p. 455. See also History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 116, though when this prediction was incorporated into the official history, Mormon Church leaders decided to leave out the "grease spot" part.) Well, the petition was not heard nor was protection granted (Deseret News, Vol. 1, p. 59). Yet, Congress was never broken up and continues to function (after a fashion) to this day. It is interesting that the compilers of History of the Church, added an editorial note in an attempt to soften or explain this prophecy. They state that: "This prediction doubtless has reference to the party in power; to the ‘government’ considered as the administration;" (note, p. 116). According to the note in History of the Church, this means the Democratic Party, which was in control at the time. However, the prediction is that "Congress shall be broken up as a government" and Congress is made up of representatives from both parties. The Saints were making an appeal to the General Government, not to the Democratic Party, a point made by a summary statement in the left margin beside this prophecy as it is recorded in History of the Church.
Joseph later tried to cover his tracks (following a failed prophecy concerning the copyrighting of the Book of Mormon in Canada) by saying that "Some revelations are of God: some revelations are of men: and some revelations are of the devil." - AN ADDRESS TO ALL BELIEVERS IN CHRIST, David Whitmer, 1887 (Whitmer was directly quoting Joseph).
This is absolute baloney of the worst kind! The true test for a prophet of God is found in the Bible. Deuteronomy 18: 21,22 tells us, "And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him." Joseph only needed to miss one to be a false prophet, but the truth is -- HE MISSED A BUNCH!
There are dozens of other failed "prophecies" that space does not allow me to go into, but if you are really interested, go to our new website nextstepoutreach.org and click on any of the resource links. You'll find some websites with really interesting information about Smith's failed prophecies on the time of the building of the last temple, finding treasure in Salem, Massachusetts, The European military intervention of the U.S. Civil War...and people who live on the moon (they are about six feet tall, dress like Quakers and live to be around 1000 years old).
Before I close this post, let me emphasize, as I have before, it is not my desire or the desire of Next Step Outreach to hurt Mormons or put them down. We love them. Otherwise we wouldn't be trying to get them to see the truth of the real Jesus, the real Bible and the real God. Without these, they are headed toward an eternity separated from God, in a place which is known in the Bible as Hell!
It's the Mormons we love. It's the heresy we hate.
In Jesus,
Dave
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