Whose Jesus is the Real Jesus…
Until
recently, Mormons would vehemently deny any association with the term ‘Christian,’
or, ‘Christianity.’ According to Mormon
teaching, Joseph Smith was searching for the ‘true church of Christ’ when God
(Heavenly Father) and Jesus Christ appeared to him in a vision and told him not
to join any church because the ‘true church was not on the earth’ (Gospel Principles, Pg. 110). In this vision, Joseph Smith was also told
that the teachings of present churches were ‘an abomination in his sight’ (Joseph Smith History, 1:19; 1:7-20).
Joseph was being chosen to help
restore the ‘true’ gospel of Jesus Christ.
Through ‘revelation’ to Joseph Smith and subsequently to God’s ‘living
prophet,’ the first president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints (LDS), Mormons believe they have been given the ‘fullness of the gospel.’
We
are warned in II Corinthians 11:3-4
that even those with sincere devotion to Christ can be led astray by those who preach
a different Jesus, another spirit, or a different gospel. Galatians
1:6-8 also warns against following those who would try to pervert the Gospel,
or preach another gospel and Paul warns of their eternal condemnation.
With
limited time and space we cannot do a complete exploration of the ‘different
gospel’ of the LDS Church, but in the spirit of Easter, let’s spend a little
time comparing the ‘different Jesus’ of the LDS Church to the Jesus of the Bible.
Just
who is the Mormon Jesus?
The
LDS Church would teach that Jesus is the older brother of Lucifer (Satan). When God (Heavenly Father) met with the
council of the gods to devise a plan for the redemption of man, Jesus and his
younger brother Lucifer both volunteered a plan. “We needed a savior to pay for
our sins and teach us how to return to our Heavenly Father. Our father said, ‘Whom shall I send? Two of
our brothers offered to help. Our oldest
brother, Jesus Christ, who was then called Jehovah, said, Here am I, send me.’”
(Book of Mormon -- Abraham 3:27) “Satan, who was called Lucifer, also came,
saying, ‘Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all
mankind, that one soul shall not be lost and surely I will do it; wherefore
give me thine honor.’” (Book of Mormon
-- Moses 4:1)
Furthermore,
Jesus’ birth was the result of a physical act of incest between God and Mary.
“Thus, God the Father became the literal father of Jesus Christ … Jesus is the
only person on earth to be born of a mortal mother and an immortal father.” (Gospel Principles, Pg. 64) “The fleshly
body of Jesus required a mother as well as a father. Therefore, the father and mother of Jesus, according to the flesh must have been
associated together in the capacity of husband and wife; hence the virgin Mary must have been, for the time being, the lawful
wife of God the father. We use the term
lawful wife, because it would be blasphemous in the highest degree to say he
overshadowed her or begat the savior unlawfully.”(The Seer by Apostle Orson Pratt, Pg.158) Our LDS friends will claim
that Jesus was born of a ‘virgin,’ but they simply mean that prior to ‘Heavenly
Father,’ Mary had no physical ‘relations’ with a man.
As
if that wasn’t enough, the LDS Church teaches that Jesus was not only married,
but he was a polygamist. “I discover that some of the Eastern papers represent
me as a great blasphemer, because I said, in my lecture on marriage, at our
last conference, that Jesus Christ was married at Cana
of Galilee, that Mary, Martha, and others were his wives, and that he begat
children. All that I have to say in reply to that charge is this -- they
worship a savior that is too pure and holy to fulfill the commands of his
Father. I worship one that is just pure
and holy enough ‘to fulfill’ all righteousness: Not only the righteous law of
baptism, but the still more righteous and important law ‘to multiply and
replenish the earth.’ Startle not at
this! For even the Father himself honored that law by coming down to Mary, without
a natural body, and begetting a son; and if Jesus begat children, he only ‘did
that which he had seen his Father do.’” (Journal
of Discourses
Vol. 2, Orson Hyde)
In contrast, who is the Jesus of the Bible?
The
Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is
God and is the creator of all things – including Lucifer. Genesis
1:1 tells us that God created the heavens and the earth and John 1:1 reminds us that Jesus IS God
and was present at creation. When, in their thoughts, people accused Jesus of
casting out demons in the name of the devil in Matthew 12:22-28; Jesus knew their thoughts and claimed before them
that He was the Kingdom of God come unto them.
All
of the claims Jesus made about Himself, and all of the claims that others made
about Jesus is given validity in the fact that Jesus was born of a virgin
through a miracle of the Holy Spirit.
This was prophesied in the Old
Testament (Isaiah 7:14) and
fulfilled in the New Testament (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38). This
supernatural event made it possible for God, incarnate, to live as a man without
sin, because He was not as we are: a descendant of Adam’s sin nature. II
Corinthians 5:21 reminds us that God made Jesus to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Unlike
the Mormon definition of Mary’s virginity, the Bible would indicate that Mary was still a virgin, even after the
birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Nowhere
in the Bible can the teaching be
found that Jesus was ever married, nor that He fathered children. The absence of something so
significant as Jesus’ ‘wife/wives’ and ‘children,’ from the Bible seems evidence enough that they
did not exist. All of Jesus’ other
physical relationships are mentioned (Mother, brothers, and step-father –
Joseph, cousin – John the Baptist, etc.).
Conclusion
Though
the summary is somewhat brief, the evidence is clear – Mormons preach a
different Jesus just as Paul warned about in II Corinthians 11:4, and in so doing, they preach a different
gospel which Paul warned about in Galatians
1:6-10. Thus, claims of ‘Christianity’
by the LDS Church must be false. Don’t
be deceived by words that sound ‘Christian,’ or by the use of familiar words we
use to express biblical doctrine which Mormons have twisted and use with very
different meanings.
Let
us pray for our Mormon neighbors who have been deceived by a false gospel
and worship a different Jesus.
Douglas
K. Hollen attends Midwestern Baptist Theological
Seminary and takes the Gospel of Christ to Mormons in an effort to bring them
to Christ. He is available to speak at your church or small Bible study group about Mormonism by contacting
him at (314) 691-5418.
