Is Mormonism Christian?

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Hi, I'm Jeff Durbin, President of Apology of Christian Ministries.

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I wanted to give you a video response today to an email we received this morning from a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day

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Saints. In the email, we see some kind of common objections that come up when we do a lot of evangelism of Mormons, and that is that they say, well we believe in Jesus too, we're

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Christians too, why are you attacking us? A common thing as well with Mormons is they'll say, well we don't go around attacking other churches.

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So I want to address these issues. First of all, I want to make sure it's clear that the Bible is very clear about the fact that there are other

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Jesuses, other spirits, other gospels that cannot save you. That's in 2 Corinthians 11 starting at verse 4.

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Other Jesuses. Now remember that was written in the first century, that Paul had to deal with other Jesuses coming about in the first century.

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Remember in John 14, 6, Jesus says that he is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but through him.

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So Jesus Christ claimed exclusive rights to the passageway to God. Now there are other Jesuses though, other spirits, other gospels that can't save.

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In Galatians chapter 1 you see Paul defending the faith, defending the gospel against a false gospel that crept in in the first century.

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A false gospel that he said that if he or an angel from heaven should come back and preach another gospel, that that is to be either him or that angel is to be condemned, eternally separated from God forever.

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Anathema he uses as a matter of fact, starting in Galatians chapter 1. So just because you use the name

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Jesus in your name, even if it's on your sign, just because you use the name Jesus doesn't make you

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Christian. In 2 John chapter 1 verse 9, John defines Christians. He says if anyone goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, he does not have

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God. That you can actually as a Christian define something and say that is Christian, that is not. That's the biblical

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Jesus, that is not. Now if Jesus says he's the only way to God and we know clearly from the Bible that you can have other

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Jesus's, then it's very clear that we need to define which Jesus do you believe in. In Islam, to be fair to Mormons, in Islam, Jesus Christ is not the eternal son of God.

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He is not God in flesh. He is just a great prophet. Peace be upon him they say. He did not die for your sins and his blood was not shed for you.

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Now that's another Jesus. The Jesus of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is not the mighty

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God. He's the second God. So that's another Jesus. So the question is, which

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Jesus do you believe in? Because the test of a Christian is not whether or not you say the name Jesus, but whether or not you follow the apostolic teaching of Jesus Christ found in Scripture.

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One of the tests of a prophet in the Bible is in Deuteronomy chapter 13 verses 1 through 4, and that is even if you have miracles, even if you do signs and wonders, but you lead people after other gods, gods which you have not known, that's how you know somebody's a false prophet.

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Joseph Smith clearly taught a different Jesus. The Jesus of Mormonism is one God among many gods.

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He's not the eternal God. His atonement began in the garden, was finished on the cross, and your works have to end up being your salvation.

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It's by grace and faith plus after all you can do, 2 Nephi 25, 23. That's a different Jesus.

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Jesus of Mormonism is Lucifer's brother, which contradicts John chapter 1 verse 3, Colossians chapter 1 verse 16.

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In the Bible, Jesus is the eternal God, the creator of all things. The Mormon Jesus is not.

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It's another Jesus. It's a Jesus that can't save you according to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 starting in verse 4.

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Other Jesuses, other spirits, other gospels. So the question I would throw out to Mormons is to say, make sure that you're seeing the right

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Jesus, that you believe in the true Jesus Christ. Another thing I want to address that was brought up in an email is a common objection among Mormons and they'll say, why are you attacking us?

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We don't go around demeaning other religions. We don't go around attacking other faiths. Why are you attacking us? We don't do that.

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You shouldn't be doing that. I want to address that. It's a common objection. I want you to remember that Joseph Smith's first vision account, the church's first vision account, the official one, there were many, but the official first vision account,

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Joseph claims that God the Father, a separate God, then Jesus Christ, another separate God, appeared to him and told

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Joseph that he should join none of the churches because they were all wrong. According to Joseph, God told him that all their creeds, that would be the teachings of the

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Christians, are an abomination in God's sight. He taught also that God told him that all the professors of the

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Christian religion, that would be me, other Christians, are all corrupt. So according to Joseph, there was an apostasy, a falling away from the faith, that Joseph was to restore it.

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God told him to, one, join none of the churches, two, all their teachings were an abomination, and three, all the professors, that would be me, are all corrupt.

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Now compare that in the light of scripture, what does God say? It says in Jude verse 3, to earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

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Remember the Lord Jesus talking to Peter, he says he'll build his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, and that's the message we have for the

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Mormon church. So I want to end this video with one kind of verse that we can have people who are

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LDS look at. And that is the start of the basics, the very, very basics. Who is God? Who is

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God? In the King Follett discourse, Joseph Smith taught a completely different God, and then how God has revealed himself in Holy Scripture.

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He says that God was once a man, like us, and that he became a God, that he was not always

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God. This is in the King Follett discourse. And he says that he was a man who had a God before him, and you can become a God one day.

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Matter of fact, he says, here then is eternal life, to know the only wise and true God, and you've got to learn to become

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Gods yourselves, the same way all Gods have done before you. And I would challenge that with scripture and say

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Isaiah 43, 10, God says, before me, there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

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Isaiah 44, 6, God says, I am the first, I am the last, besides me there is no God. The God of the

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Bible is the only God. As a matter of fact, when the guy asked Jesus, he says, Master, what's the greatest commandment in the law?

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Jesus says, this is it, hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4, there is only one

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God. Mormonism fundamentally denies the monotheism of the Bible, that there is only one

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God. You cannot say that you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot say that you love the

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Lord God of Israel, and then deny everything the Bible says about that God. You are following a different God.

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Whether or not you use Christianese, you may use Christian terminology, just because you use Christianese doesn't make you a

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Christian. You can say God, you can say Jesus, you can say the cross, you can say salvation, you can say grace, you can say faith, but if you pour entirely different meanings into those words, you are not a

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Christian. And so I would encourage anybody that's LDS that watches this to look at your Bibles, look at those verses

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I gave you there, Isaiah 43, 10, Isaiah 44, 6, and see how would you respond to what

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God says about who he is, that he's the only God, there's none before, none after, he's the only one. As a matter of fact, look in verse 44, 8, chapter 44, verse 8 in Isaiah, where God says, he asks a question, is there a

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God besides me? He says he doesn't even know of any other gods. Compare that to Joseph's King Father discourse, where Joseph says, in the beginning the head of the gods called a council of the gods, and they came together and concocted and prepared a plan to create the world and to people it.

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In Joseph's theology, there's a many, many gods, a council of gods, according to God, he doesn't even know of any other gods besides himself.