Highlight: The Burden of Mormonism

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With modern LDS apologetics, like going down to Provo, I hear this all the time. Like, we do believe in the same type of grace.

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It is by grace and faith. I only do the commandments because I have loved for God. It's not that they saved me.

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I always try to remind them. I'll be like, well, what's article three say? You know, things like that. Because it's, we believe that all mankind may be saved through the atonement of Jesus Christ by obedience to the gospel ordinances and principles.

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But there seems to be this disconnect ever since this LDS teacher, Brad Wilcox, has like really blurred the lines between what they actually truly hold to in their doctrine in terms of a works -based salvation.

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Can you kind of explain that? Like, how can we break that barrier in a sense? If you take a closer look at what

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Brad Wilcox teaches, and you can go to our website, mrm .org. We've done podcasts on him.

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He just spoke at General Conference last year. Very popular speaker. But he really is not saying anything different than what

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Mormonism teaches. You have to look closely. It sounds like oftentimes they love to come up with these little catch phrases, and people gravitate toward that.

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Jeffrey R. Holland, for instance, a few years ago, said you get credit for trying. And a lot of Mormons were telling me on the street, well,

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I get credit for trying. But you read his talk very closely. He's not saying that you're going to get the celestial kingdom.

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It just means you get credit for trying, but you've got to keep going until you actually do what you're supposed to do.

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Here's what I ask. How many commandments are you supposed to keep as a Latter -day Saint? You know what their answer is?

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All of them. How often? All the time. How are you doing at that?

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And because Doctrine and Covenant, section one says, for I, the Lord, cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.

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Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven.

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So while a guy like Holland or a guy like Wilcox can come in and make it sound like we're really that close, no.

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In fact, why is it every time I like to cite Ephesians 2, 8, 9, I'm sure you guys like that verse as well.

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You cite that verse, where do they go? What's the first thing? Faith that works is dead. Oh, my goodness. James 2, verse 20.

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Have you thought about? Yeah. And I always say, well, I agree with James. Well, if you agree with James, then you don't agree with Paul.

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Oh, no, no, no. I agree with James because what is he saying? He's saying, if you say you have faith, then good works will follow.

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The Bible teaches that all over the place. Galatians chapter five, the fruit of the Spirit is obvious. Love, joy, peace, patience, et cetera.

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The Bible says in Romans 8 that a Christian has the Holy Spirit in him or her.

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And that's the one who does the work in your life. I mean, I like to go back to Ephesians 2, 8, 9, right where it says, not by works lest any man should boast.

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What part do you not understand? But verse 10 goes on after he just says that, and it says, for we are

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God's workmanship created by Christ Jesus to do good works, which he prepared in advance for us to do.

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James and Paul, therefore, were on the same page. Before we were even created,

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God created us to do good works, and it's yet the justification by faith alone.

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Romans chapter five says we're justified by faith apart from works of the law.

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Read the book of Galatians. Had a powerful impact on Martin Luther. That's where sola fides comes from, going back to those passages.

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But in Mormonism, they have a verse, and they all know the verse, 2 Nephi 25, 23.

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You're saved by grace, what? After all you can do. How many times have you heard that on the street?

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And you say, so how much can you do? Well, I can do a lot. So how are you doing at that?

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Well, I'm not quite there yet, but I'm trying, or I'm doing my best. Well, wait a minute, let me understand.

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What does try mean? Try means you didn't do what you set out to do.

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What does it say in 1 Nephi 3, 7? 1 Nephi 3, 7 says that God does not give commandments that cannot be kept.

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And by the way, notice, I like to cite their verses. I don't cite them exactly, I just give the gist of it.

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I think if we can learn those verses from their own scriptures, I think it has a powerful effect. They all know 1

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Nephi 3, 7, and they go, yeah, but I'm trying. Well, you know what Spencer W. Kimball said about that in his book,

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The Miracle of Forgiveness? I disagree with Spencer W. Kimball in his book, The Miracle of Forgiveness, but I do think he did a good job of explaining what the unique standard works say.

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He said, just do it. You're capable of doing it, then just do it. He said on pages 163 and 164 of his book, trying is not sufficient, nor is repentance complete when one merely tries to abandon sin.

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To try is weak. To do the best you can is not strong. You must always do better than you can.

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This is true in every walk of life. I think Mormonism is impossible for that. I'll stand outside the general conference or a

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BYU football game and I'll say, free copy of The Miracle of Forgiveness, every Latter -day Saint ought to read it.

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Then people will, with some pride, say, oh, I've already read it. Then I ask that question, oh, are you doing everything that Spencer W.

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Kimball said you're supposed to do? Then what do they say? I'm trying. I can't tell you how many, how did

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I memorize pages 163 and 164? The first year I was reading it, and after a while, you just memorized it.

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So, I have it in my mind because Spencer W. Kimball was correct. If Mormonism is true, then trying is not enough.

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You need to keep the commandments of God. In fact, Spencer W. Kimball said on page, I think it's 209, that perfection is an achievable goal.

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Wow. I think when I've talked with Mormons, just give me your thoughts. This verse has always come up when, say, we're doing outreach.

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Moroni 10 .32 says, this is from the Book of Mormon, says, Yea, come unto

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Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness. And if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love

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God with all your might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, for you that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ, and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can nowwise deny the power of God.

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So, I find what I try and at least push the Mormon on is ask them, have you denied yourself of all ungodliness?

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And I point four fingers back at myself as I'm pointing. I haven't. So, what about, have you loved

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God with all your might, mind, and strength? I haven't. You realize it's an if -then.

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You can't get around it. And I think I've noticed, too, that as you have this conversation, they come to this weight and realization that I don't, like, all of a sudden, like, oh my goodness,

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I'm there. And that's when you have to tell them, at least from my perspective, that you're under a yoke.

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You're under a burden. Like, what's your experience in this? Have you used this verse, or what are your thoughts on that? Well, actually, my friend

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Bill McKeever put together seven verses that he uses on the street. We called it the

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Celestial Law Tactic, and it was later made out by others. And so, it's used a lot on the streets.

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That's one of the key verses. I think we need to make sure we have a lot of compassion for our

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LDS friends, family members, neighbors who are under the bond of the yoke of Mormonism.

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Because imagine, they are trying their best. They really are. And I commend them for trying hard, for doing their best.

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But if you're not capable of doing what Mormonism says and what the scripture there in the

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Book of Mormon says, then you're not capable of being able to get to the Celestial Kingdom.

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The onus is on the back of the Latter -day Saint. If that's the case, they have no hope.

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Why is it here in Utah, one of the states that have the highest percentage of religious people?

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We have over 50 % Latter -day Saints in this state. But we have one of the highest rates of Prozac usage in the entire nation.

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Why is that? Now, some might say the Rocky Mountains, you know, the mountains cause that. Well, yeah, there's doctors who say that has an impact on depression.

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But I'm going to suggest to you, there are a lot of people who have manicured lawns and every week, every

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Sunday, they open up their garage door with the remote control and then they go in and then it closes behind them.

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And there's a lot of sadness there because they're doing their best. They're trying hard and they're not capable of doing everything they know they're supposed to do.

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I talk to people on the street all the time. That's why I think Spencer W. Kimball's book is not loved because he's just stating brass tacks.

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And for them, that's not good news. And I would agree. But the Bible teaches that there is good news.

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There is hope. There is the possibility of knowing that you have a relationship with God.

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And it's not based on what you did or what you do. It's based on what God did.

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And that happened 2 ,000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross and he said, it is finished.

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You no longer have to do the work. Now, he says, I have my work done.

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I have accomplished that. I have finished it. And he wants to, what we call imputation, he wants to credit us with righteousness that we do not have, that we need and that God can provide to us.

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Spencer W. Kimball said, you have to be like a Superman. You have to basically keep all the law and be a

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Superman. I'm going to say, I do need a Superman, but it's not me. It's Jesus.

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Jesus is the one who paid the price and died for my sins so that I might be able to have a relationship with him.

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And when you understand that concept, it changes you radically as far as what works are all about.

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Works are important as chapter nine in my book is about sanctification. Yes, we believe as Christians to do good works, but we don't believe those good works are somehow earning us

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God's favor. And that's what Mormons are not seeing. So we need to have that compassion.

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We need to love Latter -day Saints. We need to be speaking the truth in love, Ephesians chapter four.

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We need to have an answer for everyone who asks us to give the reason for the hope we have, but to do it with gentleness and respect.

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And I think that's what you guys do. If you hated Mormons, would you be doing cultish podcasts?

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No, we want to see them out of Mormonism and into Christ. And I think our motives are pure, even though Latter -day

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Saints think, you must really hate me because you do this. This podcast is so negative toward the

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Mormon. Well, let me say, there is bad news. Bad news is you're a sinner, and the wages of sin is death.

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But there's a comma after that in Romans 6 .23, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our

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Lord. If somebody goes to their doctor and the doctor says, oh, you're doing just fine, and a year later you come back and you go,

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I'm just not doing well. He says, well, yeah, last year I knew you had cancer. I just didn't want to ruin your day.

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What kind of doctor would that be? Bad news needs to be delivered sometimes. Yes, you are going to hell if you don't have a relationship with Jesus, and yet there's good news.

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The gospel means good news, and Jesus is there in the Bible. You can read about him, and you can receive him as your