Are the Latter-Day Saints Just Another Christian Denomination?

Today, Mormons are starting to be seen as just another Christian sect, just another denomination. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. The reason why they're gaining acceptance, and there's several reasons, Joel Osteen, back when Mitt Romney was running for president, Joel Osteen was asked a question, do you think people can vote or should vote for a Mormon?

And Joel Osteen, to make a long story short, said that he believed that because Mitt Romney said he loved Jesus, you know, yeah, there's differences, Christianity, Mormonism, but close enough. So, Joel Osteen believed that they are true Christians.

The most popular evangelical trend right now is a program called The Chosen. Dallas Jenkins, who is the son of Jerry Jenkins from the Left Behind novels, Dallas Jenkins is on record, he's the creator and co-writer for the TV show The Chosen, Jenkins is on record saying that Mormons are his brothers and sisters in Christ, and he says we, quote, love the same Jesus.

Also, back before the death of Billy Graham, talk radio personality Glenn Beck, who is a Mormon, had personal meetings with Billy Graham, and after those meetings, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association removed Mormonism from their list of cults.

So as you can see, some of the top evangelical leaders, they have accepted Mormonism as a legitimate form of Christianity. So let's watch this video, and you can just decide for yourself, is this Christianity?

This is the Mormon cartoon, or the banned Mormon cartoon. Go ahead and watch.

The Mormon Story of Elohim, Lucifer, and Jesus

Mormonism teaches that trillions of planets scattered throughout the cosmos are ruled by countless gods who once were human like us. They say that long ago on one of these planets, to an unidentified god and one of his goddess wives, a spirit child named Elohim was conceived.

This spirit child was later born to human parents who gave him a physical body. Through obedience to Mormon teaching and death and resurrection, he proved himself worthy and was elevated to godhood as his father before him.

Mormons believe that Elohim is their heavenly father and that he lives with his many goddess wives on a planet near a mysterious star called Korah. Here the god of Mormonism and his wives, through endless celestial sex, produced billions of spirit children.

To decide their destiny, the head of the Mormon gods called a great heavenly council meeting. Both of Elohim's eldest sons were there, Lucifer and his brother Jesus. A plan was presented to build planet Earth where the spirit children would be sent to take on mortal bodies and learn good from evil.

Lucifer stood and made his bid for becoming savior of this new world. Wanting the glory for himself, he planned to force everyone to become gods. Opposing the idea, the Mormon Jesus suggested giving man his freedom of choice, as on other planets.

The vote that followed approved the proposal of the Mormon Jesus, who would become savior of the planet Earth. Enraged, Lucifer cunningly convinced one-third of the spirits destined for Earth to fight with him and revolt.

Thus Lucifer became the devil and his followers the demons. Sent to this world, they would forever be denied bodies of flesh and bone. Those who remained neutral in the battle were cursed to be born with black skin.

This is the Mormon explanation for the Negro race. The spirits that fought most valiantly against Lucifer would be born into Mormon families on planet Earth. These would be the lighter-skinned people, or white and delightsome, as the Book of Mormon describes them.

Early Mormon prophets taught that Elohim and one of his goddess wives came to Earth as Adam and Eve to start the human race. Thousands of years later, Elohim, in human form once again, journeyed to Earth from the star-based Kolam, this time to have sex with the virgin Mary, in order to provide Jesus with a physical body.

After Jesus Christ grew to manhood, he took at least three wives, Mary, Martha, and Mary Magdalene. Through these wives, the Mormon Jesus, for whom Joseph Smith claimed direct descent, supposedly fathered a number of children before he was crucified.

According to the Book of Mormon, after his resurrection, Jesus came to the Americas to preach to the Indians, who the Mormons believe are really Israelites. Thus, the Jesus of Mormonism established his church in the Americas as he had in Palestine.

By the year 421 A .D., the dark-skinned Indian Israelites, known as Lamanites, had destroyed all of the white Nephites in a number of great battles. The Nephites' records were supposedly written on golden plates and buried by Moroni, the last living Nephite in the hill Cumorah.

Fourteen hundred years later, a young treasure seeker named Joseph Smith, who was known for his tall tales, claimed to have uncovered these same gold plates near his home in upstate New York. He is now honored by Mormons as a prophet, because he claimed to have had visions from the spirit world in which he was commanded to organize the Mormon church, because all Christian creeds were an abomination.

It was Joseph Smith who originated most of these peculiar doctrines, which millions today believe to be true. By maintaining a rigid code of financial and moral requirements and through performing secret temple rituals for themselves and the dead, the Latter-day Saints hoped to prove their worthiness and thus become gods.

The Mormons teach that everyone must stand at the final judgment before Joseph Smith, the Mormon Jesus, and Elohim. Those Mormons who were sealed in the eternal marriage ceremony expect to become polygamous gods in the celestial kingdom, rule over other planets, and spawn new families throughout eternity.

The Mormons thank God for Joseph Smith, who claimed that he had done more for us than any other man, including Jesus Christ. The Mormons believe that he died as a martyr, shed his blood for us, so that we too may become gods.

Mormonism's Different Jesus, God, and Gospel

Okay, so as you can see, that is not biblical Christianity, not by a long shot. So let's continue our study. Here's something you need to know about Mormons. They will use the same terminology, but they redefine the meaning of words.

So when they talk to you about Jesus, it's a different Jesus. When they talk about God, our God is a spirit, their God had a human body, or has a human body. Our God is eternal, their God was once a sinful human being living on a distant planet near the star Kolob.

So they talk about God and Jesus Christ, but it's a different God, it's a different Jesus. They talk about the Bible, and will quote the Bible, but they believe the Bible has been corrupted. So there is the semantic problem with Mormons where it sounds like they're talking our language, they believe the same thing, but they define things differently.

The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 verse 4 warned about those who preach a different Jesus. So our Christ, the Christ of Scripture, there's only one Christ, the Christ of the Bible. The biblical Christ is God in human flesh.

Their Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer and the son of a glorified man named Elohim who once lived near the star Kolob and had spirit babies with Heavenly Mother. Okay, so that's a problem, obviously.

Children of God, Three Levels of Heaven, and Baptism by Proxy

Now let's look at John chapter 1. I want to turn to John chapter 1 for a moment, because this idea about Christians being the sons and daughters of God, well Mormons have a different concept of that. Remember, they believe that God, Heavenly Father, they don't call Him the Heavenly Father, it's just Heavenly Father.

So they believe that God and Heavenly Mother had spirit children, therefore we're all sons of God. Well that's not what the Bible means when it talks about sons of God. So John chapter 1 verses 11 and 12 say that He, that's Christ, He came to His own and His own did not receive Him.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in His name. So according to the Bible, only redeemed believers bought by the blood of Christ are children of God.

I know there's a lot of people in the world today, they think, well everybody's a child of God. Well we are all made in God's image, but only believers are children of God. And again Mormons believe that Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother had spirit babies, so yeah, everyone's a child of God to them.

So again, the semantic argument. Talking about different things. Same term, different definition. Mormons also teach that there are three levels of heaven or three kingdoms. Basically just about everybody in the end will be saved.

Those Mormons who go through all the temple rituals and do everything right, they get the highest level of heaven and get to rule and reign with God. Then there's the second tier for good Mormons, you know, maybe they didn't do everything they're supposed to do.

But basically if you're a good person, even if you're an atheist or an agnostic, long as you're not a serial killer or something like that, you will be saved and get into the lowest level of heaven. And of course Mormons practice what is called baptism by proxy.

So if there's a guy from 300 years ago who is, well, the Mormon Church didn't exist, so he couldn't have been baptized into the Mormon Church. But if the Mormons get his information, they will baptize another Mormon in his place, baptism by proxy, and that will get that person who died 300 years ago into the lowest level of heaven.

All sorts of strange practices like that. But basically they don't believe that everybody ends up in the same place. Because that's what the Bible teaches. In the end, everybody either ends up in the new heaven and the new earth to be with God, or they end up in hell.

And it's questionable whether or not Mormons believe in hell at all. We'll touch on that in a moment. Revelation 21, one through three, the Apostle John says, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

Also there was no more sea than I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people.

God himself will be with them and be their God. So according to Scripture, all believers end up with God. There's not three levels of heaven. Also, talking about hell, again, it's questionable whether or not Mormons believe in hell.

It's a universalistic type of religion where either everybody's saved or just about everybody's saved. There's some evidence to suggest that the Mormon hell would be more akin to purgatory, where you have to pay for your sins, but eventually you'll get out.

According to Luke 16, the story of the rich man and Lazarus, there's a great goal fixed. Nobody gets out of hell. Even if you believe that story in Luke 16 is a parable, the point is still made. Nobody can go from here to there, so nobody goes or gets out of hell.

In Matthew 25, verse 46, Jesus calls hell eternal punishment. Well, if people get out, obviously the punishment really isn't eternal or everlasting. So there is the rejection of hell, and this is common with all of the cults.

Seventh-day Adventists, Christian Science, Jehovah's Witnesses, they all deny hell or believe in some sort of teaching of annihilation. But yeah, the Mormons are universalistic, if not full-blown universalists, and we could keep going.

God Has a Body, but God Is Spirit

This idea that God was once a human being and had a physical body, and Joseph Smith saw him out in the woods in upstate New York. You know, if your friend came to you and said they saw God the Father out in the woods, you'd tell them, you know, go home, you're drunk.

But the problem with the LDS Church, remember that's their official name, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The problem with them is they've been around for a while at this point, well over 100 years, 150 years.

They have millions and millions of followers, and they have a lot of money. And then you have Joel Osteen and other people saying that they're true Christians. So that gives them, unfortunately, it gives them credibility.

But yeah, God having a physical body, John 4, verse 24 says God is spirit. John 1, 18 says that no man has ever seen God at any time. That includes Joseph Smith in upstate New York. What else can we look at here?

In this book that I have, Cult and the Occult, written by Edmund Gruss, a woman named Sandra Tanner, from her experience as a former Mormon, she gives some advice about effectively witnessing to Mormons.

I just want to read some of this. This is good advice. She says, start with a positive witness for Christ. Because if you know Mormons, whether they're co-workers or they live next door, you're witnessing to them already.

So she says, start with a positive witness for Christ. If they say they believe like you, ask them to define terms. Also ask for references from the Bible. Always bring the teachings of Scripture to bear.

And that's always good advice, no matter what you're doing. Always bring the teachings of Scripture to bear. She says, be aware of LDS teachings and pet arguments so you won't get caught off guard. That's why a video like this is helpful.

Just to learn, see where they're coming from. She says, make a list of Scriptures that refute their claims. Even memorize them and keep them in your Bible. So in the back of my Bible, in the front of my Bible, I did this many years ago when talking to a Catholic.

Okay, these are the verses I'm going to mention. Talking to a Mormon, here are all the verses. So always bring Scripture to bear. Memorize some of these things. Write them down in your Bible. Do what you've got to do.

Here's maybe the most important piece of advice. Stress Christ. Don't let it turn into an argument that our church is better than yours. You have to focus on the person and work of Christ. The Gospel, of course, is the good news that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again the third day, and that we are justified by grace through faith in His death, burial, and resurrection.

Don't get sidetracked by defending your denomination. Their first need is Christ. If they say that the Bible has been changed to the point that it is no longer reliable for doctrine, kindly ask them for documentation.

She says such claims should be challenged. Then she says challenge them to study the Bible. If Mormonism is a restoration of Christ's church, it should agree with the Bible. And then pray for God's love and patience.

You are to plant and water, but God gives the increase. Winning a Mormon takes time. Then challenge them to think for themselves. Truth should be able to stand up to examination. Ask yourself, is your love showing?

Don't let it turn into a heated argument where you're raising your voice or yelling at them. You need to let them know you're coming at this from a place of love. The whole point of this video is to share with you the information of what the Mormons believe that is not Christianity so that you're then equipped to talk to them because they need to be saved.

Ultimately, that's what this is about. And we're just going to end with the book of Galatians because, again, some people view Smith as just a con man who made it all up. Mormons obviously believe everything that he's saying about the visions and Moroni appearing as an angel and giving him the golden plates and all the rest.

But here's the thing. Even if Joseph Smith, even if he did see an angel and an angel gave all these revelations and teachings to him, even if that happened, you still shouldn't listen. Why? Because here's what the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 1, verses 8 and 9.

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be a curse. That is, let him be anathema. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be anathema.

So talk to your Mormon neighbor. Talk to your Mormon coworker. What they believe, this is not biblical Christianity. And pray to God that he would give you opportunities to talk to them so that they might be saved.

Thanks for watching. Until next time, may the Lord be with you. Have a great day.