Pleading For The Souls of Mormons

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August 11, 2016

Is Mormonism Christian? Is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints just another Christian denomination? Do Mormons believe in the Jesus Christ presented in the Bible? Are Mormons worshiping the same God as the historic Christian Church? This is the message delivered by Pastor Jeff Durbin (Apologia Church, Apologia Radio, & Apologia TV) at an event on the northern shore of Oahu called 'Is Mormonism Christian?'. Jeff speaks about the foundational issues that separate the Mormon religion from Biblical faith. Our hope is that believers in the true and living Christ would be encouraged and equipped to reach their Mormon friends and family. Further, it is our deepest hope that Mormons would have their eyes and hearts opened to the Scriptures to see the hope that is in the real Jesus Christ of the Scriptures. For more, go to apologiaradio.com. You can learn more about Christian Apologetics and how to defend the Christian faith by becoming a part of our ministry and joining our All Access where you will find all of our TV shows, our After Shows, and Apologia Academy. Partner with us at apologiaradio.com

00:00: Good evening. How are you guys? Well, this is a real gift, and it is a blessing to be here with you guys tonight in Hawaii.
00:12: I'm suffering with you right now on mission in Hawaii. So it's amazing.
00:18: I got to spend some time today resting and looking at the turtles and just the amazing creation of God.
00:27: And it was just really this is just an amazing thing for me to be here with you guys and to share in fellowship and affection.
00:35: And it's just been an awesome last couple of days being with you. Your love, just the intimacy here in the body in Hawaii is really just something amazing.
00:47: Being called uncle is actually pretty cool. I love that. And you guys are just some of the most amazing people on this planet.
00:55: So I'm just grateful for you guys. So I'm Pastor Jeff. Before we start, we pray.
01:01: I'll just kind of introduce myself to you guys. Pastor Jeff from a church in Tempe, Arizona. It's called
01:06: Apologia Church. We started out of a drug and alcohol rehabilitation hospital over six years ago.
01:15: When we first started the church, we started it from zero and we were just reaching people at this hospital.
01:20: I was a chaplain there, giving them the gospel, seeing God change their lives. And so that's been a little over six years now.
01:27: And God has given to us and teaching outreach arm called Apologia Radio.
01:33: You guys can get it at Apologia Radio dot com. And we also have a television show that airs on the
01:39: NRB network. And you can get all the episodes at Apologia Radio dot com.
01:44: So if you guys want to get more, if you have more questions, if you guys want to learn more about just a broad spectrum of topic topics, not simply a
01:53: Mormonism, the Latter -day Saints, I have a deep affection for the Mormon people and a love for them and great relationships with them.
02:01: But we also have some training tools on atheism, Jehovah's Witnesses, the
02:07: Watchtower, you name it. We've probably touched it at some point. And so you guys can go to Apologia Radio dot com and you guys can get more.
02:14: Sound good? So, again, thank you guys for the privilege to be able to be here with you guys and to bring
02:20: God's word to you. And if you guys are here, if you're a Latter -day Saint, I want to let you know from the very start you are loved by us.
02:30: We love you for Jesus' sake. We do not agree with what your church teaches, but we desire to get to know you and to have a conversation.
02:42: And so that's what this night is about. If you want to know a little bit about my own personal practice with Latter -day
02:48: Saints, I've had some very, very great and wonderful friends for many, many years.
02:54: And I can tell you this, that every year that I go to the Mormon Easter pageant in Mesa, Arizona to minister to over a hundred thousand people with the gospel,
03:04: I have at least one night where I go out to dinner with a very well -known Mormon apologist.
03:09: We have dinner together and then we go to the temple together. I go to evangelize the Mormons. He goes to stop me.
03:17: So that's kind of how we do it. And so, again, we love you and we care for you and just want to invite you afterwards to come on up and let's have a conversation.
03:27: You're welcome to ask any questions that you'd like. I am not an encyclopedia or a computer, and so I can't guarantee you that I can answer every question you have, but I will absolutely do my best.
03:37: Let's go ahead and pray. Father, I want to thank you so much that you've given to us your grace and mercy in this moment.
03:54: God, we confess our absolute dependence upon you and your grace.
04:01: Lord, if you don't give eyes to see, we're blind. God, if you don't remove hearts of stone, we won't listen.
04:11: And so, God, we come before you asking you tonight that you would move by your grace, by your spirit in a powerful way to bring forth your truth into this question.
04:32: Is Mormonism Christian? I pray, God, that you would allow a spirit of patience, graciousness, love to reside upon us.
04:46: And I pray with all my heart that, God, you would bring the light of the gospel and the truth about who
04:55: Jesus truly is to all of us, but in particular, because we love them, to the
05:03: Latter -day Saints. We pray, God, that you'd break down the walls between our communities, that,
05:10: God, you would stir up a godly controversy so that we can start talking to each other.
05:18: And I pray with all my heart tonight, God, that I would get out of the way, that you'd be glorified in what is said.
05:27: In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so if you have your Bibles with you guys tonight,
05:35: I want to encourage you guys to go to the book of Galatians in the New Testament, not the book, really.
05:40: It's actually a letter, a letter from the Apostle Paul to the church in Galatia.
05:46: This is a significant letter I'll just announce to you guys as you get to it. Many people think, and I happen to agree with them, that the book of the letter of Paul to the
05:56: Galatians, to the church in Galatia, is probably the earliest of the Apostle Paul's letters.
06:03: Now, the Apostle Paul wrote much of the New Testament. So here you have the Apostle Paul trained under Gamaliel, a
06:10: Pharisee as to the law. And as to zeal, he persecuted the church.
06:15: He says he tried to destroy it. He comes to Christ. He is turned from darkness to light.
06:21: The blindness comes off. He sees Yeshua as Mashiach, Jesus as truly the
06:26: Messiah that they expected, the one that was promised to Abraham to bless all the nations of the earth.
06:33: And Abraham would have descendants as numerous as the stars. Jesus is that long -anticipated
06:39: Messiah. And so Paul now as a believer, he grows in his dedication to Jesus Christ, his love for Jesus Christ.
06:46: And then a controversy enters into the church very, very early on.
06:52: Oftentimes people, and particularly in Western culture today, we've talked about this a lot this week.
06:58: We don't like controversy. We don't like conflict. And oftentimes people look at disputes between Christians or between, say,
07:07: Christians and Mormons. And they say, look, are these things a very big deal? Should we make a big issue out of these things?
07:13: Can't we just say, look, I use the name Jesus Christ. I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in the gospel.
07:18: I have a Bible. Let's just come together and let's be united and let's let the petty things go.
07:24: Let's not really divide over doctrine. That's oftentimes how we act today in our culture.
07:29: It's just the zeitgeist. It's the spirit of the age. And we wonder, what's the conflict?
07:35: What's the controversy going on today when you see disputes, doctrinal disputes? Is it a novel thing in history that we have these sorts of disputes?
07:45: And I encourage you to see that very, very early on in the history of the
07:50: Christian church, it's embedded in our Bibles. You have doctrinal conflict very early on and not simply over peripheral issues, peripheral issues.
08:02: We don't have them simply over non -essential issues. You have doctrinal disputes happening within the text of the
08:08: New Testament that the apostles are having to speak to. And in the letter of Paul to the Galatians, you have
08:15: Paul writing a letter, probably his first letter to the churches, earliest letter over an issue that relates to our salvation, our justification before God, whether or not we have peace with God.
08:31: And I want to say this just briefly. If you are a Latter -day Saint and you are watching this on television, on the internet, or if you're in the room right now,
08:39: I want to just encourage you to see something. In the New Testament and in the Old Testament, you see doctrinal disputes over non -essentials as carried over into their rightful place.
08:49: That's a non -essential. Before your own master, you stand or fall. Don't destroy your brother.
08:56: You see non -essential issues handled in a way with grace. Don't divide. However, what happens in the letter of Paul to the
09:06: Galatians is not a non -essential issue. It has to do with the very heart of the good news.
09:13: So the apostle Paul opens up this letter, listen closely, in a different way than he does other letters.
09:20: So I'll give you one example just quickly tonight because we have lots of material to cover. In the book of Romans, the letter of Paul to the
09:26: Romans, he doesn't know this church personally. He says in Romans chapter one that their faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world and that he longs to come and see them so he can impart some spiritual gift to them.
09:40: And if you look at the letter of Paul to Romans, just read it later, if you read the first seven verses, one sentence.
09:48: And it's just this glowing appeal to God's glory, their good, and it is just grace and grace and all of this really affection and long opening.
10:01: And then in Galatians, Paul does something different. I'm gonna read the text to you. Galatians, Paul opens up addressing the letter as many in the ancient world did by stating who wrote the letter.
10:15: He says, Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the
10:22: Father who raised him from the dead. And all the brothers who are with me to the churches of Galatia, grace to you and peace from God our
10:31: Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age according to the will of our
10:39: God and Father to whom be the glory forever and ever, amen. Typical of Paul, right?
10:46: Highlighting the grace of God. What God has done in his people. Now watch, the letter takes an immediate turn.
10:53: I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.
11:06: Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed.
11:22: Now the Greek word there behind accursed is anathema. It's a Greek word that really is probably the strongest word in the
11:31: Greek that the apostle Paul could have drawn from to describe eternal separation from God forever.
11:40: Anathema. It is a word that describes absolute condemnation and curse.
11:46: And here's what Paul says. But even if we, verse eight, or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed.
12:01: As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
12:12: Anathema. The apostle Paul repeats himself in very Jewish style.
12:18: In the Hebrew language, there are no exclamation points. There's no punctuation as such.
12:25: But if you want to get your point across, you say it once, it's gospel. But in the Hebrew culture, if you want to shout, if you want to give an exclamation point, you repeat it.
12:35: Very much like Isaiah chapter six, when Isaiah is in that throne room scene where he sees the glory of God and the holiness of God, the angels are shouting what, guys?
12:45: Holy, holy, holy. That is exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point.
12:51: The apostle Paul uses that device here and he says this, if an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be anathema.
13:07: Let that angel who brings that message that's contrary to the biblical gospel, the one that we have brought to you, let that angel be anathema.
13:16: And then Paul does something very, very powerful. I would say unique. He says, if I come back to you and I, the apostle
13:28: Paul, preach a different message of the gospel, if I preach a different one, let
13:36: God curse me forever. Then we've got to grapple with something here.
13:43: This is very, very early on in the history of the church. Think for a moment now to Matthew chapter 16, famous scene.
13:52: Everybody in this room has to know it, whether you are a Christian or a Latter -day Saint in this room tonight, you know the scene.
13:58: Peter is talking to Jesus. Jesus says what? He says, who do men say that I am? And so they start giving the answers.
14:06: Well, some say Elijah, some say here. And he says, well, who do you say that I am? You are the
14:11: Christ, the son of the living God. You're the Messiah, the son of the living God. And Jesus says, blessed are you.
14:20: Flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, but God the Father in heaven did. And then what does
14:25: Jesus say? He says, listen closely, in his lifetime in ministry, he says, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
14:40: I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And in early on in the history of the church, you have a false gospel creeping in.
14:52: The Apostle Paul actually does something different than we're used to in Western culture today. And he actually says, truth divides.
15:01: Truth matters, truth divides. And he says, the gospel, the hope of the gospel here is so important that if an angel came and preached a different one or I come back and preach a different one, he says, let him be accursed, let me be accursed forever.
15:16: The truth of the gospel is so central to our reconciliation with God, so central to our relationship with God that it cannot be distorted.
15:26: There is only one gospel, my friends, only one message of salvation.
15:32: Paul calls it God's gospel in Romans chapter one. It's God's good news to the world about what he has done in Jesus Christ to bring about salvation.
15:41: And Paul says, not a few decades after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, there are some who are troubling you and are preaching a false gospel.
15:53: Now listen closely, this is very, very important. The Apostle Paul always went for the jugular, didn't he?
16:00: First Corinthians chapter 15, the resurrection, he says, if Christ be not raised, then you're still in your sins.
16:08: And we are found to be liars because we're saying God raised Jesus from the dead when he didn't.
16:14: He says, all of the hope here is in whether or not Jesus actually has been raised from the dead. That's going for the jugular.
16:19: If he's not raised from the dead, he's not the son of God. If he's not raised from the dead, he's not the Messiah. If he's not raised from the dead, you and I are still in our sins and we are most to be pitied.
16:32: He goes for the jugular. And what's amazing here in the letter to the Galatians, listen, the
16:40: Apostle Paul doesn't mention anything about what was going on in Galatia in terms of some doctrinal distortion.
16:49: Now, in terms of the nature of Jesus Christ, these people who came into Galatia and were disrupting the church with a false gospel, listen, were apparently orthodox.
17:02: They used Christian terminology. They looked like Christians, sounded like Christians.
17:10: He doesn't mention a thing in the text here about anything they denied about the person of Jesus Christ.
17:17: They seemed very orthodox. But what were they teaching? If you read the letter of Paul to the
17:24: Galatians, it's only six chapters, brothers and sisters. Memorize it. If you read that letter in Galatians chapter five, the
17:33: Apostle Paul says this about their gospel. They distort how a person is reconciled to God.
17:39: They're saying that it's faith in Jesus. It's the grace of God. Listen, in Galatia, they did not deny the grace of God.
17:48: Almost nobody is so brazen to deny that you need God's grace. Even the Pharisee and the tax collector scenario, the
17:56: Pharisee lifts up his eyes and he says, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men.
18:03: There's the grace of God nod. You see, but what happens in Galatia is they were saying it's
18:09: God's grace necessary. It's Jesus necessary. He died. He rose again. However, you need to keep this one part of the
18:20: Jewish covenant and law in order to be identified with Messiah, in order to be justified before God, declared righteous in his eyes.
18:30: It's faith in Messiah. And you've got to at least, come on, come on. You've got to at least keep the
18:35: Jewish circumcision. At least that, guys, just that one piece. And you know what
18:41: Paul does in Galatians? He confronts Peter to his face because Peter would separate himself from Jewish people and Gentile people at different times, different scenarios.
18:54: And Paul says, you're creating two churches here. You're saying it's not just faith.
18:59: It's faith in circumcision. And he gets in Peter's face, confronts him in front of everybody, and he says very clearly in Galatians 5,
19:08: Christ is of no effect to you whosoever of you attempts to be justified by law.
19:16: You have fallen from grace. He says in Galatians chapter 3,
19:21: I just want to know one thing from you, just one. Did you receive the Spirit by hearing with faith or through works of law?
19:28: How'd you do it? What would the Galatians have answered? We heard and we believed. He says, are you so foolish?
19:35: Having begun by the Spirit, are you now going to be made perfected by the flesh? Because they were saying it's faith in Jesus and just this one part of the law in order to be declared righteous before God.
19:46: It's not just Jesus. It's not just his righteousness. It's not faith in him, union with him.
19:52: It's faith in him plus a work of law. And Paul says in Galatians 3, if you go that route, if you go the route of law for justification before God, he says,
20:02: Galatians 3, you are under a curse of the law to fulfill all of it.
20:08: And he says very clearly, listen, listen closely. This is the nuts and bolts of it, my friends.
20:14: He says, this is the glory of the gospel. Galatians 3, Christ became a curse for us.
20:23: He went to that cross, my friends, as the righteous substitute, the perfect law keeper.
20:29: And he was counted in his death as the guilty unrighteous law breaker so that we could be found in him, not having,
20:40: Paul says, a righteousness of our own derived from the law, Philippians chapter 3, but the righteousness that comes from God through faith.
20:51: And Paul says this, look, this is a heaven or hell issue. This is a life or death issue.
20:57: This is a justified or not justified issue. If you, Paul teaches, add anything to faith in Jesus Christ in order to be justified before God, he says that you have now abandoned grace and chosen the route of law.
21:14: And my friends, if you choose the route of law, you're under the curse to fulfill the whole entire thing.
21:20: You need a righteous substitute. And so Paul addresses that.
21:26: And let me just say, as we enter into this more, you might be asking the question, and my biography, by the way, is not overly important right now, but I do want you to know why
21:35: I have so much affection for my Latter -day Saint friends. I need you to know why.
21:42: I wasn't raised in church. I was not. I wasn't raised under the hearing of the gospel. I wasn't raised with animosity and hatred towards Mormon people.
21:50: I knew very little about Mormons. The first contact I ever had with Latter -day Saints was when they came to my door in Washington, D .C.,
21:57: and I was probably 14 years old. Had no idea who they were. They handed me some literature.
22:03: I took a look at it, and I forgot about it. I thought they were wonderful, pleasant people. I knew nothing.
22:09: I didn't know the gospel. I didn't know Jesus. And one day I heard the gospel for the very first time that salvation was in Jesus Christ alone, only through Him and faith in Him.
22:19: And I turned from my sins. I trusted, and my eyes opened.
22:27: And the amazing thing is a few, I think, weeks, actually, after I had this experience,
22:35: I was in my theater arts class in high school, and I couldn't get enough of the Bible. I'm reading it every single day, right?
22:42: Every day I'm reading the Bible. I'm just in love with the Bible, and I don't really know many Christians. I met my first one.
22:48: Started going to church for the first time in my life. I was young, in high school, 16,
22:54: I think is what I was. And my friend sits down next to me. His name is Wade. And he says, what are you reading?
23:00: I said, the Bible. He said, oh, that's great. You a Christian? I said, yeah, I'm a Christian. He goes,
23:06: I'm a Christian too. I said, oh, that's awesome. I was so excited. I'm saved. I'm forgiven.
23:11: I know God now. I said, isn't it great to be saved? And he said, yeah.
23:22: And so as we started to talk, he says to me, he says, hey, so which level of heaven are you going to?
23:28: And so I said, the highest level.
23:35: I think that's how you're supposed to answer that. The highest level? I didn't understand. So for the first time, I went to the
23:42: Christian bookstore down the road after school. And I went in and I asked my friend
23:47: Tony, who I'd gotten to know really well by that time. I lived at that Christian bookstore, sat on the floor, read
23:52: Bibles and read books. I sat there and I said to Tony, I said, Tony, can you give me any information on the denomination of the
24:00: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints? He said, Jeff, that's not a denomination. That's a cult. And he came and he went in the back and grabbed some stuff for me.
24:09: And he's dumped a truckload of things on me. And I spent that entire night not going to bed.
24:15: I literally didn't sleep. I stayed up all night reading original documents,
24:21: Joseph Smith's teachings, his false prophecies. I spent my entire night reading and soaking this up.
24:27: And I was terrified for my friend. Because while we were using the same language,
24:33: I realized immediately we did not mean the same thing. And I got up early in the morning and I went to a print shop and I printed photocopies of original documents,
24:43: Joseph Smith's teachings, his arrest record in Bainbridge, New York, and for crystal ball gazing and all these different things.
24:50: And I went to school that day with a docket, my case against Mormonism. And I gave it to Wade and I said,
24:56: Wade, you're in a cult. Don't do that. And so Wade and I began a relationship around this issue.
25:09: I spent time, countless hours with Wade and his family. His family took me in.
25:15: I had dinner at his home more times than I can remember. I met with Mormon missionaries from his ward more times than I can remember.
25:26: I went with his family to the Christmas lights of the temple in Washington, DC. I spent countless hours dialoguing, trying to understand and falling more and more in love with the
25:37: Latter -day Saints. After the end of about six months of conversation, we were in my bedroom, sitting on my bed.
25:48: I'm talking to Wade and we're going to the text of God's word. And I remember that I'm in the text of God's word showing him, that's a different God.
25:59: That's not Joseph Smith's God. That's not the biblical. This is a different God we're talking about.
26:04: It's a different gospel. And my friend Wade said to me, he said, Jeff, I know, I know that it's not true.
26:12: I know it's a different God. I know, but I can't leave the church. I said,
26:17: Wade, why? I said, why? He said, I can't. My whole life is wrapped up in the church.
26:23: My whole family is wrapped up in the church. It's everything in my life. He says, if I lose that,
26:29: I lose everything. And I wasn't even a
26:34: Christian for very long. And I remember this verse welled up within me, just came from absolutely nowhere.
26:41: I don't even know how I had it memorized. And God was speaking,
26:47: I know, right to Wade. I said, Wade, what shall a prophet, a man, if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?
26:56: And I had right then an immediate commitment with my life to the
27:02: Mormon people. I want to love them and reach them with the true gospel and the true
27:07: Jesus Christ. And I've seen since that time, and when
27:13: I say this, I mean this, countless Mormons, Latter -day
27:18: Saints turn to the living Christ, the true God, and have experienced peace with God.
27:28: And that is a glorious thing. And that's why I'm so committed. Here's what motivates me today.
27:34: If you're a Latter -day Saint in here today, I want you to know what motivates me today is love for God and love for you.
27:44: That's what motivates me. And I want to say something quickly here. We have been deluded,
27:50: Mormons and Christians, we have been deluded by the culture to believe that love doesn't confront, let me just say this.
28:05: If you truly love somebody, you will say whatever is necessary for their sake.
28:13: You will do it not out of selfish ambition. You will not do it for self -glory.
28:19: You will do it because love sacrifices everything for the other. Who taught us that?
28:26: Jesus. Love risks, love risks being hated.
28:34: Brothers and sisters in Christ in here today, let me say this to you. While you're on the North Shore of O 'ahu and we're doing this event, and I'm sure that it's controversial for you, and I know some of you guys have already experienced some difficulty because of it.
28:45: Listen, you have to be willing to be hated by the very people you love and are trying to reach.
28:55: Dr. Walter Martin taught me that a long time ago. And that's why we're doing what we're doing.
29:01: Let me tell you what this is not about tonight, okay? This is not about tonight. Mormon underwear, all right?
29:09: It's not about Mormon underwear. It's not about Starbucks and coffee and whether you drink coffee or not.
29:15: Let me say this, that's a non -essential issue as far as I'm concerned. Unless of course you're using those things to gain a righteousness before God.
29:23: Non -essential issues, I wanna leave to the side. And I'm gonna say this, there is a failure in the
29:28: Christian church and methodology. And when we don't love the Mormon, the Latter -day Saint enough to let go of the non -essential issues for the sake of the conversation and light and gospel.
29:42: In other words, watch. There are lots of Christians who wear very funny and strange underwear. I don't wanna talk about that, right?
29:51: Mormons oftentimes are on the receiving end of a lot of very, very rude conversation from Christians.
29:59: What's with that strange, silly underwear? What's with the strange things that you do in your
30:05: Monday night family home evening? What's the strange stuff you do as a community here and here?
30:11: And what's with the fact that you don't drink coffee? And how come you don't drink beer? And all these different things. Christians will just heap rude conversation and interaction upon our
30:20: Mormon neighbors and families. And I'm gonna say this, what tonight is not about is a non -essential issues.
30:25: It's not about that. Tonight is not about, because of time, the
30:32: Book of Mormon, its history. It is not about the
30:39: Pearl of Great Price and its history. It may get into some of those things. We're not gonna just discuss the almost 4 ,000 changes from the 1830 version of the
30:50: Book of Mormon. Not minor changes, significant doctrinal changes, things taken out.
30:59: Joseph Smith said when he published it that it was the most correct book of any book on earth and that a man could get closer to God by obeying its precepts than any other book.
31:09: Tonight is not about the Book of Mormon and its history and its substance tonight. It's not about the
31:14: Pearl of Great Price. We could have an entire discussion if we had another week about the
31:21: Pearl of Great Price discovered by the Latter -day Saints in 1835 as Michael Chandler went through Ohio with his
31:30: Egyptian exhibit. The Pearl of Great Price is in the Mormon quad. Joseph Smith did not finish it.
31:35: He said it was the Book of Abraham by his own hand. The Mormon Church thought this was destroyed.
31:42: Many people thought it was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire. It resurfaced in the 60s at the
31:49: Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was delivered back to the Mormon Church in the late 60s.
31:54: The Mormon Church confirmed this is the scroll Joseph Smith translated from.
32:00: He didn't get a single word right. He completely made it up. Tonight, we're not gonna talk about that.
32:09: What we are gonna talk about tonight is two essential issues, God and the gospel.
32:14: We're gonna talk about God and the gospel. We're gonna compare the Mormon view of God and the
32:22: Mormon view of the gospel with the biblical teaching of God and the biblical gospel.
32:29: That's what we'll focus in tonight. And I'm gonna first start by saying this before we do because there's sensitivity to this.
32:35: Can we all just say that? You guys, the Christians here on the North Shore in Oahu, you are taking big risks with your reputations, with your friendships, with your families to hold an event like this.
32:49: I understand that. And I know that it creates controversy with the Latter -day Saints. We ask questions like, why are you being so contentious?
32:57: Why? Why are you being a hate monger?
33:02: Why are you coming against our church? Why can't you just love? Why are you so full of hate? You shouldn't be having these kinds of conversations.
33:10: You shouldn't talk about the disagreements. You shouldn't do that. We don't do it to you. Mormons will often say, we don't do it to you.
33:17: How come you do it to us? Do we have an invitation to do this and even a mandate to do this?
33:23: Well, from the scriptures, 1 Peter 3 .15, the apostle Peter says this, sanctify
33:29: Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to give an apologia, to make a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is within you.
33:40: Yet do it with gentleness and with respect. Jude verse three in the
33:46: New Testament. There's only one chapter. So it's Jude verse three. It says this to Christians, earnestly contend for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints.
33:59: That was first century, by the way. And let me say it again, so we can all catch it together. Christians earnestly contend for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints.
34:10: That was actually noted in the first century. Jude verse three.
34:19: In Acts chapter nine, you see the apostle Paul's practice going into the synagogues and arguing with the
34:26: Jews. It is actually righteous and godly to argue for the cause of the gospel.
34:35: It is righteous and godly to contend for the faith. In Acts chapter nine, the apostle
34:41: Paul goes into the synagogues. How rude. He goes into the synagogues and he says that he argues with them, proving that Jesus is the
34:49: Messiah. And the result of his going to the synagogues to argue with them daily was they wanted him dead.
34:59: The church experienced peace. It was built up and the church multiplied. So do we have permission, a mandate from the scriptures, from the word of God to do what we're doing?
35:12: Absolutely. In Acts chapter 18, you see the story of Apollos. And it says that he was mighty in the scriptures and eloquent and watch.
35:21: It says, listen, listen. He vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, proving that Jesus is the
35:29: Messiah. We have not only a mandate in scripture to do what we're doing, we have a biblical pattern that shows the righteousness of the church going out and proclaiming the gospel and even contending and arguing for the truth of the gospel.
35:43: It is commanded by God, brothers and sisters. However, we also have permission from the
35:49: Mormon church to do what we're doing. Mormon authorities have spoken about the
35:56: Christian church for a very, very long time. And specifically, do we have permission tonight to do what we're doing?
36:06: The apostle Orson Pratt, an apostle in Mormonism, in the seer page 15 in 1854, a
36:15: Mormon authority, an apostle. He says, if we cannot convince you by reason nor by the word of God that your religion is wrong, we will not persecute you, but we'll sustain you in the privileges guaranteed in the great charter of American liberty.
36:32: We ask from you the same generosity. Protect us as the exercise of our religious rights. Convince us of our errors of doctrine, if we have any.
36:44: By reason, by logical argument, or by the word of God, and we will be ever grateful for the information and you will ever have the pleasing reflection that you have been instruments in the hands of God of redeeming your fellow beings.
37:00: That is an invitation from Orson Pratt, 1854. Oftentimes, Mormons will say, we don't do this to you.
37:12: You guys, in your anti -Mormon literature, you guys are condemning, you guys are attacking.
37:18: We would never attack you. You're Christians, we're Christians too. It's in our church's name.
37:24: It says what? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints. We're Christians too.
37:31: We would never attack you. I want to remind you that Joseph Smith began the
37:39: Mormon Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints, with an attack on the
37:44: Christian church. Let me say this. When you have Mormon missionaries come to your door to give you your first lesson, in the very first lesson, they go door to door with worldwide.
38:00: The very first thing they reveal to people in their lesson is that Joseph Smith was inquiring of God about which church to join.
38:10: He was confused. He went to James 1, and it says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God.
38:16: He interpreted that to mean if you wanted to ask God a question, you could get an answer.
38:23: That is, of course, not what biblical wisdom is. It is skill in living. How do I live?
38:29: Not whether we can go to God for an answer, and he just gives us the answers. But he interpreted
38:35: James 1 to say that you can go to God, ask him for wisdom, and he'll give you the answer. So he goes into the woods, and he says a darkness overwhelmed him.
38:45: A great darkness overwhelmed him. And he says, Joseph Smith, History of the
38:51: Church, Volume 1, pages 8 through 26, My object in going to inquire of the
38:58: Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join.
39:04: No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself so as to be able to speak than I asked the personages who stood above me in the light which of all the sects was right.
39:14: For at this time, it had never entered in my heart that all were wrong and which I should join.
39:20: I was answered, this is what Joseph Smith says, that God the Father told him. I was answered that I must join none of them for they were all wrong.
39:29: And the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds, that's their teachings, their confessions, were an abomination in his sight.
39:41: That those professors, that's the Christians who profess faith in Christ, that the professors were all corrupt.
39:50: That they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They teach for doctrines, the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.
40:00: Every single time a Mormon missionary goes to somebody's door, they tell the people they are reaching that God said the
40:12: Christian church is wrong. Their creeds are an abomination.
40:22: That they are corrupt. So when Mormons today in the 21st century
40:29: American West say we don't attack you, we wouldn't do this to you, it is, brothers and sisters, simply not true.
40:41: Every day Mormons go door to door, they condemn the Christian church and say that God says it is wrong, we are corrupt, and our teachings are an abomination to God.
40:53: More, Joseph Smith, teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith, page 270.
40:59: He says, what is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation?
41:05: It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil by which he deceived the whole world.
41:12: Joseph Smith, The Elder's Journal, volume one, number four, page 60. All the priests who adhere to the sectarian religions of the day with all their followers, without one exception, receive their portion with the devil and his angels.
41:31: That's me. That's you. Joseph Smith, History of the
41:38: Church, volume one, page 11. Nothing less than a complete apostasy from the
41:45: Christian religion would warrant the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints. Let me say that one more time in case you missed it, my friends.
41:54: Nothing less than a complete apostasy from the
41:59: Christian religion would warrant the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints. What's that saying?
42:06: The reason for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints is that the Christian church completely and utterly went into apostasy.
42:20: Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, volume six, page 176.
42:27: Brother Taylor has just said that the religions of the day were hatched in hell. The eggs were laid in hell, hatched on its borders, and then kicked onto the earth.
42:38: Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, volume five, page 73. When the light came to me,
42:44: I saw that all the so -called Christian world was groveling in darkness. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, volume eight, page 199.
42:54: With regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so -called
42:59: Christian world. Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, volume eight, page 171.
43:07: The Christian world, so -called, are heathens as to the knowledge of the salvation of God.
43:20: Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, volume six, page 167. Christianity is a perfect pact of nonsense.
43:28: The devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the 19th century.
43:34: Let me just say for the record, I believe all that those Christians believed. Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, volume 10, page 127.
43:46: Where shall we look for the true order or authority of God? It cannot be found in any nation of Christendom.
43:54: John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, volume 13, page 225. What does the Christian world know about God?
44:02: Nothing. Why? So far as the things of God are concerned, they are the various fools.
44:09: They know neither God nor the things of God. So when our
44:15: Mormon friends and neighbors tell us today, because we're all part of the same culture, let me just say this.
44:22: And to my Mormon friends in the room tonight, listen, Christians are as duped as the Mormon church today oftentimes in terms of being real and consistent many times with our own thoughts.
44:39: We just don't think consistently today. Logic is not a prized thing in 21st century
44:44: North America. So few prize logic and consistency these days.
44:51: We all fail here. But Mormons will tell me often when I go to the Mormon temple in Mesa, Arizona, and I try to reach out to them in love and with grace and kindness and compassion, and of course, with boldness, they will say,
45:04: Jeff, I'm a Christian, you're a Christian. Why are you attacking us? We never attack you. And I always say the same thing to them.
45:10: What's the first vision say? What did God tell Joseph about me? He said that what
45:16: I believe is an abomination, that I am corrupt and I am wrong. If that's not an attack on what
45:22: I believe in my person, I don't know what is. And so we need to be real.
45:28: Latter -day Saints and Christians come together and say, look, Christians say Latter -day Saints believe in a false
45:34: God and a false gospel, and they need Jesus Christ for redemption or they're lost. Mormons teach, truly teach, that Christians are wrong, corrupt, their teachings are an abomination, they know nothing about God, and there is a church of God and a church of the devil.
45:51: The church of God is the church of Jesus Christ and Latter -day Saints. The church of the devil is all the rest. So let's be real with each other.
46:00: Let's love each other enough to say, yeah, we believe that. And then come, let us reason together, says the
46:07: Lord. Amen? Come on now. Latter -day Saints and Christians should all say amen to that, right?
46:13: Let's reason together. Now, let's talk about what the Bible says, about how we're to go about this.
46:20: When my Latter -day Saint friends talk to me, they will say,
46:25: Jeff, have you read the Book of Mormon? My answer is usually the same. I'll say, which one?
46:34: They'll say, what do you mean, which one? Have you read the Book of Mormon? Which one? The 1830 version or today's version?
46:40: Because those aren't the same thing. I say, well, any version, have you read it? I'll say, yes,
46:45: I've read the Book of Mormon. Okay, have you prayed about the Book of Mormon? I'll say, I of course have prayed and asked
46:52: God for truth, absolutely. But you see, if you would just read the Book of Mormon and pray about the Book of Mormon, God would give you a testimony.
46:59: You would get a revelation of burning in your bosom and you would know the truth of God. You would get a testimony. You would know that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day
47:05: Saints is the one true church and that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. You would know it. And what
47:11: I always say to my Mormon friends is, the Bible says in Jeremiah 17, 9, the heart is deceitful above all things and sick beyond cure.
47:22: Who can know it? We can't trust our hearts. Listen, to my
47:28: Mormon friends that are listening and watching, maybe here present, Muslims have prayed about their faith and religion.
47:35: They say Jesus Christ is not the divine Son of God, that He did not die on a cross for our sins, that He did not rise from the dead.
47:42: Is that your Jesus? Even Latter -day Saints will say, that's not
47:47: Jesus Christ. But the Muslim prays every day, five times a day towards Mecca, tries to live a righteous life and he believes in all of his heart that Jesus Christ did not die for sins and rise from the dead.
48:02: The Jehovah's Witness believes that Jesus Christ is Michael the Archangel, the first and greatest creation of Jehovah God, that 144 ,000 will spend eternity with God, that the people who don't know
48:20: God will be annihilated and they believe it with all their hearts, all their hearts.
48:26: Ask those with heaven's gate who tried to leap onto Hale Bopp in San Diego with some change in their pockets wearing the same sneakers.
48:37: Ask them if they believed it with all their hearts. And ask any Christian, if they have prayed and they know
48:45: God and they believe with all their hearts, they will say yes. Here's the thing. Truth is not based upon our experience.
48:51: Truth is based upon the word of the living God. Jesus says in John 17, 17,
48:57: Father sanctify them in your truth. Thy word is truth.
49:03: When Jesus would confront issues, he would confront them with the word of God. If there was a conflict, he would go to the scriptures.
49:11: He would point to the scriptures. When being tried by the devil in the wilderness, he fought back with the word of the living
49:20: God. And the Bible does not tell us to pray about something to test it.
49:28: The Bible says this, what does the scripture say? What does the scripture say? Have you not read what was spoken to you by God?
49:36: The test of a prophet and whether or not something is true is not how you and I feel about it.
49:42: Can we all just admit something? We know lots of people who feel really good about things that they do and feel like God is okay with it.
49:51: I've sat in front of people who have told me living together outside of marriage, we've prayed about it.
50:01: God's given us a revelation. He's good with it. What do we feel?
50:06: The feast steals, and he fills in his heart. I know it's not my wallet, but I feel like it's my wallet.
50:17: We're all corrupt, the Bible says this, that our thinking as a fallen state is futile.
50:22: We profess to be wise, Romans 1, we become fools. Listen, brothers and sisters, friends listen, before Christ, the
50:30: Bible says we are all sinners, non God -seeking Romans 3, none righteous, none who does good.
50:36: We are dead, alienated from God, children of wrath, Ephesians 2. You can't ask somebody who is dead spiritually to do alive spiritual things.
50:48: We're all falling before Jesus Christ. The path to truth,
50:55: Jesus says, thy word is truth. And the test of a prophet is not whether or not you've prayed about it and whether you feel like he's a prophet.
51:04: Did you know that the Bible gives us a test of a prophet? I'll take you to it. Deuteronomy chapter 13 verses 1 through 4 and Deuteronomy chapter 18 verses 20 through 22.
51:15: If you want to go ahead and get there, go to your Bibles, get to those texts. In Deuteronomy chapter 13 verses 1 through 4, just mark it.
51:28: You can read it later, study it, get to it. Here's the test in the law of God. God tells them if a prophet comes and he has signs and wonders, listen, what's that mean?
51:42: It looks legit, right? It looks like a successful ministry. It looks like the real thing.
51:48: There are signs and wonders. He says if there are signs and wonders, however, the prophet leads you after a different God.
51:58: Gods which you have not known, that's how you know he's a false prophet. So what's the test according to Deuteronomy chapter 13 for God's people?
52:08: If somebody comes and says they're a prophet, even if the ministry looks legit, looks like it's from God, but they lead you after a different God, away from how
52:19: God's revealed himself to you, that's how you know they're a false prophet. So first test, what does the prophet say about God?
52:29: Is he consistent with God's Word? The next test is Deuteronomy chapter 18 and this is fantastic.
52:36: Deuteronomy chapter 18, 20 through 22. There's a question asked. God says, and if you shall say in your heart, how shall we know the word which the
52:46: Lord hath not spoken? And this is what God says. When the prophet speaks in the name of the
52:53: Lord and the thing follows not, nor comes to pass, that is the word which the
53:00: Lord hath not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him.
53:07: My friends, Latter -day Saints, the test never was pray about it.
53:19: Prayer is vitally important for the Christian, but the test for truth is not how you feel about it.
53:27: The test for truth is what does God say? We, listen, we have the glory of a
53:32: God who is not far off. He is a God who is very near, who condescended so that we could know him.
53:41: He stepped into his own creation, took on flesh, and he talked to us. God has given his word.
53:47: It is Theanoustos, 2 Timothy 3, 16. All Scripture is Theanoustos.
53:53: It is breathed out by God. We have the revelation of the living God. We have God's word to compare the words of other men by.
54:03: And so the test in Scripture is, one, what does the prophet say about God? And two, does he have even one false prophecy?
54:10: Let me just say this to you. A single false prophecy, according to God and his own standard, a single false prophecy disqualifies you as a prophet period.
54:24: And I want to say in fairness to my Mormon friends, in fairness, Christians, do not be unfair to your
54:33: Mormon neighbor. Do not say to them, hey, have you tested
54:39: Joseph Smith's prophecies? There are false prophecies there. When you haven't spent your own time in your own
54:44: Bible looking to see and test the prophets yourself. In other words, watch.
54:50: Jesus Christ must pass the same test. If Jesus had a single false prophecy, my friends, he's a false prophet.
55:03: That's God's test long before Jesus came. And long before Joseph Smith came with his revelation,
55:10: God's test was laid down clearly. One, what does he say about God? Two, does he have any false prophecies?
55:16: Those are God's tests. And they were long before Joseph came along. It is up to us, if we want to be faithful to God and truly love
55:23: God and know God, to follow God's Word, not the words of men in regard to how we know truth.
55:31: And so, those are the two tests. I'm going to say to begin with, let's address quickly from the
55:37: Word of God the question, did the Christian Church fall into complete and uttered apostasy?
55:45: Did the Christian Church get essentially removed from the earth because of apostasy, which necessitated a restoration?
55:55: Notice this, my friends, listen. Notice, Joseph Smith did not say, the
56:00: Mormon prophets and apostles did not say, that the Christian Church needed reforming.
56:07: We believe the church always must reform and get back to the Word of God. Amen? Come on now.
56:14: Yes, we have to always get ourselves back to the Word of God. Reform, reform, reform. What does he say?
56:20: What am I doing? I'm wrong. I got to get back to the Word of God. That's the Christian practice.
56:25: Joseph Smith taught that the church had fallen into complete apostasy and was gone and needed a restoration, not a reformation.
56:36: But my friends, what do the Scriptures say? Let's start in the
56:43: Old Testament, just quickly on this point. Daniel 7, 13 through 14, a premier passage.
56:49: By the way, the first century Jews, the second Temple Jews, they quoted from the book of Daniel more than almost anything.
56:57: It was central. They knew the Messiah was coming to bring his rule and his salvation into the world.
57:03: They knew it was time. Daniel 2 said it had to come during the time of the Roman Empire, the fourth kingdom. That was
57:09: Rome. That's when Jesus came, by the way, praise God. And they also knew the Messiah was going to bring all the nations to God.
57:16: People from every tribe, tongue, and language. Daniel 7, 13 through 14, in the vision of the divine
57:23: Son of Man, Jesus' favorite title for himself, it says, I was looking in the night visions and behold one like a son of man was coming on the clouds of heaven.
57:32: He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve him.
57:45: His dominion is an everlasting dominion. Stop. Did you hear it?
57:52: His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, which will not pass away, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.
58:08: Brothers and sisters, he came up to the Ancient of Days and was given a kingdom.
58:13: All the peoples, nations, men of every language might serve him. Brothers and sisters, Matthew 28, 18 through 20,
58:20: Jesus before his ascension says what? All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
58:29: Therefore, what? Go, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the
58:36: Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to what? Obey. And in which direction did
58:42: Jesus go? Up. Jesus was given a kingdom. Paul says this, he has delivered us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear
58:52: Son. Revelation chapter 1, the Apostle John says this, he says, he has made us a kingdom, priests to our
59:01: God. The Bible teaches that Christ brought his kingdom. He is reigning now as king of what?
59:08: Kings and Lord of what? Lords. The Bible teaches plainly, Jesus brought his kingdom.
59:13: Matthew clearly teaches, and we can all grab this now, hang on to it, it's big, it's big.
59:21: Jesus says to the Jews of his day, you know this, he says, if I cast out demons by the
59:30: Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
59:38: That's an if -then. If I do A, then B. If I cast out demons by the
59:43: Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Let me ask you the question, did
59:49: Jesus cast out demons by the Spirit of God? Yes, then the kingdom of God had come upon them.
59:58: And what does the Bible teach about the kingdom of God? It is an everlasting dominion and a kingdom that will never pass away.
01:00:06: So when Jesus says to Peter in Matthew 16, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, he's just talking like the
01:00:17: Jewish Messiah. It's a kingdom that will never be destroyed. And let me just say this to you, if you're a bit skeptical, did
01:00:27: Jesus keep the promise? Is he redeeming people from every tribe, tongue, and language?
01:00:35: Brothers and sisters, look to your left, look to your right.
01:00:42: Men and women from every tribe, tongue, and language. Look at you got a white guy in North Oahu talking to you about Jesus.
01:00:52: Do you see what I'm saying? His kingdom would never be destroyed. When Joseph Smith said that the church had departed from the earth, fell into apostasy, and needed restoration, the moment he made that claim, he denied all that the
01:01:07: Bible taught about the Messiah's kingdom and church. The Bible says it would never pass away, everlasting dominion, kingdom that is never destroyed.
01:01:17: The gates of hell will not prevail against it. So the moment Joseph Smith says that the church fell into apostasy and was gone from the earth and needed restoration, he was denying everything the
01:01:27: Bible taught about the Messiah's kingdom. Joseph's Christ was not the
01:01:33: Bible's Christ. And listen quickly on that point.
01:01:39: Second Corinthians chapter 11. Listen. I want my Mormon friends to hear me. Please, please hear me on this.
01:01:45: Please, with as much humility as I can possibly bring this to you.
01:01:52: I'm not trying to hurt you when I tell you that your Christ is not the biblical Christ. I'm motivated by love.
01:01:59: Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the
01:02:06: Father but by me. He's the only way to salvation, my friends.
01:02:12: Peter says at Pentecost, Acts chapter 2, he says, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given among men worried by you must be saved.
01:02:22: But you might be asking the question, you say, but I believe in Jesus Christ. I want to say this. Mormons, like Jehovah's Witnesses and many other religions, they use
01:02:33: Christian terminology but they pour entirely different meanings and definitions into those words.
01:02:40: Is it possible to have a false Christ? Is it possible to have another Jesus that's not a real
01:02:45: Jesus? Second Corinthians 11 .4, the Apostle Paul has a deal in the first century.
01:02:52: Not long after the resurrection with a false Christ. Go to your Bibles quickly on this point.
01:03:08: Second Corinthians chapter 11 verse, start in verse 3. I'm reading from the NASB, by the way.
01:03:14: It is a more literal word -for -word modern English translation. King James is excellent, by the way.
01:03:23: So if you have a KJV, it's a fine old English translation. But here is the text in Second Corinthians 11 verse 3.
01:03:31: Watch. But I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts would be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
01:03:40: For if one comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you have received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
01:03:59: In other words, you might put up with them. What's he saying in the first century? My friends, listen. He says this.
01:04:05: He says if someone comes in and preaches a different Jesus, a different gospel, a different spirit, he says you might put up with them.
01:04:11: And I'm worried about you. I'm worried that you're gonna let somebody into your church who preaches a false
01:04:17: Jesus. That's the first century. Joseph Smith's Jesus, which is another
01:04:23: Jesus, is not a novelty in history. It's not a strange thing. It's in the very text of the Bible. There are other
01:04:29: Christs, and that's the point we're gonna get to now. Is the Mormon God the biblical
01:04:35: God? Let's start with the Bible. Long before Joseph Smith ever came along, the
01:04:41: Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4, it is the basic assertion and proclamation of every
01:04:50: Christian and every Jew. There is only one God. When Jesus was asked,
01:04:56: Master, what is the great commandment and the law? He quoted the Shema, Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4, which is part of the morning and evening prayer for every faithful Jew.
01:05:05: Jesus would have said the Shema. Hear O Israel, the
01:05:11: Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind.
01:05:17: And Jesus says strength. Shema, Israel, Yahweh Eloheinu, Yahweh Echad.
01:05:24: That's the Hebrew. And I'm gonna teach you tonight. We're gonna do it together. Christians and Mormons together, okay? Let's do it.
01:05:29: You guys ready to learn some Hebrew? Okay, get your popcorn. Get that ready, okay?
01:05:35: All right, because this is what's recited. Even today, even today.
01:05:41: Be careful if you do this. If you see like a little Jewish boy running around with a little yarmulke on the head, you can ask them to do this.
01:05:47: Be careful, okay? Doing that. But, you know, stranger danger and all that stuff, okay?
01:05:52: So, you know, caution. But if you see a little Jewish boy, you can ask him, tell me the
01:05:58: Shema. Here it is. Repeat after me. Shema, Israel, Yahweh, Eloheinu, Yahweh.
01:06:11: Here it comes. Echad. There you go. Shalom. You got it.
01:06:18: So, Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4, is the Shema. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the
01:06:23: Lord is one. And there's more and more and more. I'll give you a few tonight that talks about God as only one
01:06:30: God. God says in Isaiah 43 .10, listen closely, please. This is long before Jesus in His earthly ministry and long before Joseph in the 19th century in North America.
01:06:45: God says in Isaiah 43 .10, before me, there was no
01:06:51: God formed, neither shall there be after me. If you had one text alone, one, that should shout to our
01:07:05: Mormon friends and neighbors and family. It is Isaiah 43 .10.
01:07:12: Before me, there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. Isaiah 44 .6,
01:07:18: I am the first and I am the last. Besides me, there is no
01:07:24: God. Isaiah 44 .8, God asks a rhetorical question. He says, is there a
01:07:30: God besides me? Indeed, there is no other God. I know not one. Is God all -knowing?
01:07:40: The all -knowing God says this, I don't even know of any other gods.
01:07:46: It's rhetorical. Is there a God besides me? I know not one. Now, Mormons will say, well, there is only one
01:07:54: God of this earth. And even that isn't true. Mormons teach that there are three gods of this earth.
01:08:04: And I'll bring the quotes in a moment. And they teach that there are multiple billions of gods outside of that.
01:08:12: But God in the Bible says he is the first and last. Besides him, there is no God. He doesn't know of any other
01:08:17: God. And Mormons will say, well, yeah, that's of this earth. It's one God of this earth, only of this earth.
01:08:22: But God said in Deuteronomy chapter 4, verses 35 and 39, he says, he is
01:08:28: God alone in the heavens above and on the earth below.
01:08:33: There is no other. Not in the heavens, not on earth. There is only one
01:08:38: God, none other but God. There is only one God. The Bible teaches the
01:08:44: Father is God. There's no dispute there between Mormons and Christians. No dispute. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is
01:08:51: God. Not a God, but the eternal God. John chapter 1, verses 1 through 3, listen closely, please.
01:09:01: It says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was
01:09:07: God. He was in the beginning with God. It says that all things, all things were created by Jesus Christ, and that nothing's come into being that's come into being except through him.
01:09:22: Listen closely. In the text, John chapter 1, it says, in the beginning was the word.
01:09:28: In the Greek, the text says, in archeinhologos. You don't need to know
01:09:34: Greek, okay? I'm not trying to make you understand that right now, except understand this. In archeinhologos in the
01:09:40: Greek means in the beginning, as far back as you want to go forever with no stopping point. That's how the text reads.
01:09:47: So, always and forever, in the beginning, Jesus was already there forever ago.
01:09:54: And it says, watch, he was proston theon, toward God, face to face with God, in intimate relationship.
01:10:02: That's what it means. And the word was God, and it says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
01:10:07: But please note, this is very important. Please note that it says that Jesus Christ is eternal in that text, that he is
01:10:17: God, and it says, listen, that he created everything that's in existence.
01:10:26: Mormons cannot truly make that confession consistently. Mormons believe that Jesus Christ is the spiritual offspring of Heavenly Father and one of our goddess mothers in the pre -existence.
01:10:39: Mormons teach that Jesus Christ and Lucifer are spiritual brothers as are we all, brothers and sisters of our
01:10:47: Heavenly Father, Elohim, and one of his goddess wives. That Jesus and Lucifer are brothers in Mormon theology.
01:10:55: But biblical theology, the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the eternal God who created
01:11:01: Satan. Another text to show that to you, go to Colossians.
01:11:07: Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1, start in verse 15.
01:11:19: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
01:11:24: Now, pause for a moment. Understand the language of the Bible. Firstborn is a very
01:11:30: Jewish title. Prototokos in the
01:11:38: Greek does not mean first in order of creation. It means firstborn as the heir, the one who has preeminence over all things.
01:11:48: The firstborn in Jewish thinking, according to the law, was the heir of all things.
01:11:54: Listen, Israel is called God's firstborn. Does God give birth to nations?
01:12:00: No. They are his firstborn. They have preeminence. They are the heirs. David, King David, was called
01:12:06: God's firstborn. Jesus here is called the firstborn over all creation.
01:12:12: He has preeminence. He has the heir. Now, watch. It says in verse 16, for by him,
01:12:18: Jesus, all things were created. My friends, what things?
01:12:27: All things. In heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.
01:12:37: Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.
01:12:42: It says there in the text that Jesus Christ is the creator of everything in heaven and on earth, visible or invisible.
01:12:53: The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is God. If you read Acts chapter 5, when
01:13:00: Peter confronts Ananias and Sapphira, what does he do? He says, you haven't lied to men by lying to the
01:13:08: Holy Spirit. You have lied to God. And the Holy Spirit, in the text of Acts, speaks to the church.
01:13:15: Jesus, when he refers to the Holy Spirit in John chapter 14, says, what about the Holy Spirit? He says, the
01:13:21: Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will guide you into all truth.
01:13:27: He will convict the world of sin and righteousness. The text very clearly teaches there is one
01:13:33: God, none before, none after, the first, the last, one eternal God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
01:13:39: Jesus is the creator of all things. What does Mormonism teach about God? I want you to hear from Joseph Smith's most popular sermon.
01:13:49: Joseph Smith has a sermon called the King Follett Discourse.
01:13:57: The King Follett Discourse. This was a text, or this is a sermon he preached at the funeral of Elder King Follett.
01:14:10: And in this sermon, he clearly explained what he believes about God.
01:14:19: And I want you to hear Joseph Smith, King Follett Discourse. Volume 6, page 2, 1844.
01:14:28: My first object is to find out the character of the only wise and true God, and what kind of being he is.
01:14:38: I will prove that the world is wrong by showing what God is.
01:14:43: I'm going to inquire after God, for I want you all to know him and to be familiar with him.
01:14:49: You will then know that I am his servants, for I speak as one having authority.
01:14:55: This is authoritative teaching from the prophet of the Mormon church. I will go back to the beginning before the world was to show what kind of being
01:15:04: God is. God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man who sits enthroned in yonder heavens.
01:15:15: That is the great secret. I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man, in form, like yourselves, in all the person, image, and very form of a man.
01:15:25: It is necessary that we should understand the character and being of God, and how he came to be so.
01:15:31: For I'm going to tell you how God came to be God. We've imagined and supposed that God was
01:15:37: God from all eternity. I will refute that idea and take away and do away the veil so that you may see.
01:15:46: You have got to learn to become gods yourselves, the same way all gods have done before you.
01:15:55: Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Volume 6, page 5, 1844, thus the head god brought forth the gods and the grand council.
01:16:05: In the beginning, the head of the gods called the council of the gods, and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and to people it.
01:16:15: It's a famous quote. My Mormon friends and neighbors know, they're taught it in seminary. By the way, do the schools in Hawaii have
01:16:24: Mormon seminaries next to them? Yeah? That's how it is back home in Arizona as well.
01:16:32: Arizona, huge population of Mormons. Awesome, great, wonderful neighbors.
01:16:39: I love them. But we have also the seminaries outside of all the schools as well, many of the schools.
01:16:45: But this is something that teenagers, Mormon teenagers, will learn in seminary. They can usually finish the quote for me.
01:16:53: Lorenzo Snow, he says this, as man is, God once was.
01:17:00: As God is, man may become. It is the goal of Mormonism, in the
01:17:09: Mormon teaching, to go through exaltation, to go from one degree to another, to become a god and goddess over your own planet like the god and goddesses of this planet did.
01:17:28: Mormonism, in its theology, is not monotheistic. It is polytheistic to its core.
01:17:35: There's a belief in many gods. As a matter of fact, you will see there was a shift in Joseph Smith's own mind from the beginning of Mormonism to when he was murdered in Carthage.
01:17:46: He was murdered, by the way. Between when he was murdered in Carthage, there's a shift in his own mind where he went from a semi -monotheistic view to polytheism.
01:17:56: Because you see in the Pearl of Great Price, he changes the text of the Word of God, and he says, in the beginning, the gods created the heavens and the earth.
01:18:06: In Mormonism, the goal is to become a god of your own planet one day. To Mormons, salvation, ultimate salvation, is exaltation, becoming a god one day.
01:18:18: And you can do this through the atonement of Jesus Christ and obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, principles of the gospel.
01:18:29: In Mormonism, Joseph Smith taught, Mormons teach today, that Lucifer and Jesus are spirit brothers of Elohim, an exalted, resurrected man who is
01:18:41: God. When Joseph Smith had his first vision, the two personages he had in front of him in the official account, by the way, there are a number of different first vision accounts, not the same.
01:18:53: But in the official account today of the Mormon Church, there was Elohim, a man resurrected, that's
01:19:00: Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ, two separate and distinct gods and persons.
01:19:08: Mormonism teaches... Let me give you the quote here so you can go back and check it later.
01:19:14: I want my Mormon friends to make sure they have the references. By the way, what
01:19:21: I'm reading from right now is a book called, Where Does It Say That? Because oftentimes when we quote Mormon doctrine from official
01:19:29: Mormon prophets and apostles, Mormons will say, Where Does It Say That? And I say, Oh, that's convenient.
01:19:38: Okay. So Joseph Smith says this, History of the
01:19:44: Church, Volume 6, page 476, 1844. Many men say there is one
01:19:52: God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are only one God. I say that's a strange
01:19:59: God anyhow. Three in one, and one in three, it's a curious organization.
01:20:05: He would be a wonderfully big God. He would be a giant or a monster. Joseph Smith taught that there were three gods of this earth, many gods outside of it, and our goal is to become a god or goddess of our own planet through exaltation and obedience.
01:20:26: One more thing. I'll just have as an aside for something for my
01:20:32: Mormon friends to think about. Joseph Smith's... Sorry. Brigham Young said that he had never given a sermon and sent it out to the sons of men that couldn't be called
01:20:41: Scripture. He taught that his sermons were equal to what was in the
01:20:47: Bible, authoritative Word of God. That's what Brigham Young taught. Brigham Young taught in Journal of Discourses, Volume 1, page 50,
01:20:56: April 9th, 1852. Many Mormons today are not aware of this. I recognize that many
01:21:03: Mormons today argue about this, but Brigham Young taught that Adam in the
01:21:11: Garden of Eden is our father and our God. Let me read you the text.
01:21:19: He said, Now hear, O inhabitant of the earth, Jew and Gentile, Satan's sinner, when our father
01:21:26: Adam came into the Garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him.
01:21:33: So Elohim, who is Adam, was a polygamist in the preexistence, and he brought
01:21:40: Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this world.
01:21:46: He is Michael the archangel, the ancient of days, about whom holy men have written and spoken.
01:21:52: He is our father and our God and the only God with whom we have to do every man upon the earth, professing
01:22:00: Christian or non -professing, must hear it and will know it sooner or later. Now, just pause for a moment. To be fair to Latter -day
01:22:06: Saints, when you show this to Latter -day Saints today, many of them are in shock.
01:22:12: I've had people tell me that is a lie. Jeff, you are lying. And I can tell you one instance,
01:22:20: I think it was about two years ago, I was bringing this issue up. Like, look, Brigham Young taught this about God.
01:22:25: That was his view of God. There's just no question about that. There are references, one after the other on this point.
01:22:32: And a Mormon was saying, Jeff, you're a liar. You are misrepresenting our church. We do not believe that. I said, no, no,
01:22:37: I know you probably don't believe that, but Brigham Young taught it. And it was my very good
01:22:42: Mormon friend, who is an apologist, that came alongside me and confirmed with the
01:22:47: Mormon. He said, no, Brigham Young did teach that. He taught it. That's what he taught about God. That's true. Those quotes are real.
01:22:55: Go to the text. Go to the Journal of Discourses. Mormons have access to that. Now, when someone says today,
01:23:02: I reject the Adam -God doctrine, Brigham Young taught it, I reject it.
01:23:08: Number one, Brigham Young said that his sermons were scripture. Number two, Brigham Young says this, if you deny the doctrine of Adam -God.
01:23:19: Now, let all who hear these doctrines of Adam -God, pause before they make light of them, or treat them with indifference, for they will prove their salvation or damnation.
01:23:32: He says, if you make light of this doctrine, you will be damned. Now, again,
01:23:38: I recognize in fairness that Mormons today don't believe this doctrine, but it is what the prophet of Mormonism, Brigham Young, taught about God.
01:23:48: Now, we need to go on just quickly to one last point, the
01:23:55: Mormon gospel. In the third article of Faith of the
01:24:00: Mormon Church, it says something very encouraging to Christians. It says, we believe that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, all mankind may be saved.
01:24:09: And what do we say as Christians to that? We say, praise God. It is that powerful.
01:24:15: Yes, but it goes on. It says, we believe that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, all mankind may be saved through obedience.
01:24:30: So, it is Christ and His atonement and your obedience. But there's more.
01:24:39: There's more. Second Nephi 25 -23 in the book of Mormon, Second Nephi 25 -23 says something that Christians will watch.
01:24:47: Watch. If you're a believer in here, listen. Listen. You're going to be familiar with this, this language.
01:24:54: Second Nephi 25 -23, it says this, for by grace are you saved. Now, Christian, finish that for me.
01:25:03: Ah, see that? See how the language is similar? By grace are you saved.
01:25:09: What do we say? Through faith and not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not according to works, lest any man should boast.
01:25:16: For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus, right? On two good works.
01:25:21: That's Ephesians 2, 8, 9, and 10, right? We know that. By grace are you saved through faith and that, the grace and the faith, not of yourselves.
01:25:30: It is the gift of God, not according to works. But in Second Nephi 25 -23,
01:25:36: Joseph Smith wrote this, by grace are you saved after all you can do.
01:25:47: By grace are you saved after all you can do. My friends, every religion that seeks to distort the gospel always uses our terminology.
01:25:59: Don't ever forget, my friends, that the devil is an angel of what? He's an angel of light.
01:26:06: He doesn't come with distortions that look like horns and pitchforks. When the devil comes with deception, he looks so Christian.
01:26:15: And it uses our language. But in Mormonism, I'll give you more, it is an impossible gospel.
01:26:23: In First Nephi 3 -7, it says, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing that he commandeth them.
01:26:37: Alma 11 -37, and I say unto you again that he,
01:26:42: God, cannot save them in their sins, for I cannot deny his word.
01:26:49: And he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, how can ye be saved except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven?
01:26:57: Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins. Ask the Mormon, did you sin today?
01:27:05: Are you a sinner? Are you still sinning? Listen, my friends, if you're
01:27:11: LDS, the Christian's answer to that is, yes, I fall short of the glory of God.
01:27:18: I still sin. And the Mormon says, I still sin. But the text in Alma says that you cannot be saved in your sins.
01:27:28: Cannot be saved. Moroni 10 -32, listen, listen please.
01:27:34: Yea, come unto Christ and be perfected in him and deny yourselves of all ungodliness.
01:27:41: And if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness and love God with all your might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you.
01:27:53: That is an impossible gospel. If you deny yourselves of all ungodliness, let me ask my
01:28:01: Mormon friends, have you denied yourself of all ungodliness?
01:28:08: It says, and love God with all your might, mind, and strength. Let me ask you, do you love
01:28:15: God with all your might, mind, and strength? I think we have to all answer that question the same way.
01:28:25: Mormon and Christian alike, no. We sin against God daily in thought, word, and deed.
01:28:35: We all fall short of the glory of God. That is the message of the scriptures in total about all of humanity. All of us fall short of the glory of God.
01:28:43: All of us are not righteous. None of us are good. All of us are non -God seeking. All of our righteousness, as Isaiah says, are as filthy rags before God.
01:28:55: That's what the Bible teaches. But in Mormonism, it is an impossible gospel. You need the atonement of Jesus Christ and you need your righteousness and good deeds.
01:29:05: It's not Christ alone and his perfect work. It's Christ, Lucifer's brother, one
01:29:13: God among many gods. His atonement, which began in the garden, was finished on the cross, added together with your own obedience.
01:29:22: And if you don't love God with your might, mind, and strength, then his grace is not sufficient for you.
01:29:32: What does the Bible say? Oh, I want you to hear me.
01:29:38: Please, please, please hear me. Because what you're hearing right now is coming from a sinner, a sinner who is unworthy to stand in front of you with this message.
01:29:50: I'm not worthy to give it. I don't have a righteousness in myself that can avail before God.
01:29:58: I am not good. If you are a Latter -day Saint watching this, hearing this, in this room, what separates me from you and any
01:30:07: Christian from you is not our righteousness. It's not our theology. It is the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
01:30:16: You have to understand that. The Bible teaches in Romans chapter 3 about our condition. It says there is none righteous, not even one.
01:30:25: None who seeks for God. None who does good. It says that our mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
01:30:33: Our feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in our paths.
01:30:39: The path of peace we have not known and there is no fear of God before our eyes. And so what does it say in Romans chapter 3?
01:30:47: Read the text, please, later. Christian and Mormon alike, read Romans 3. Find yourself in that text because we're all there.
01:30:55: It says, now what about the law? It says the law was given so that every mouth may be closed and that the whole world may be held accountable to God.
01:31:07: You know what the law does according to the Bible? Shuts you up. Shuts you right up.
01:31:14: None of us can stand before God with his law because what does the law show in you and me?
01:31:20: What's it show? How about this first commandment? You shall have no other gods before me.
01:31:26: Not just, watch this. We often read it like this. You shall have no other gods before me. Let me be first, right?
01:31:32: That's not what it says. In the Hebrew, it says no other gods before me, no other gods in my sight.
01:31:39: But brothers and sisters, watch. We all deal with idolatry. Every one of us places things above God daily.
01:31:48: All of us fall into that false worship constantly. All of us are at war as believers with our own idols and our own sin, amen?
01:31:57: And what does it say? Watch. When we get the law of God in our lives, in that one commandment, you shall have no other gods before me.
01:32:04: What are each and every one of us idolaters in ourselves?
01:32:10: What does it say? You shall not lie. All right, let's try it.
01:32:15: Ready? You shall not lie. Has anyone in here ever told a lie?
01:32:23: What does it make you in yourself if you have lied? A liar.
01:32:28: So ready? We got two now. You're an idolatrous liar. Let's try it again. Ready?
01:32:34: You shall not steal. Anybody in here ever stolen anything? Right? So what did you call someone who steals?
01:32:43: A thief. All right, that's three. You're an idolatrous lying thief. Let's try this one.
01:32:50: You should not commit adultery. What does Jesus say? That the intention of the law all along, it was the same in the
01:32:57: Old Testament. It's not a new law in the New Testament. Don't believe that. It was God's standard all along.
01:33:04: They distorted it. They were saying, well, you should not commit adultery. Well, I gave her a certificate of divorce, so it's not really adultery.
01:33:10: I'm with her, but I gave her a divorce certificate. He says, if it's in your heart, that's where it's already begun.
01:33:16: You're an adulterer. Anybody in here ever lusted in that way?
01:33:22: What are you? An adulterer. Okay, idolatrous lying thieving adulterers.
01:33:27: And what does the Bible say? It says the law condemns you.
01:33:33: If you go that route, you're under its condemnation. If that's what you're trying to do, establish your own righteousness before God, you are unrighteous.
01:33:41: And James chapter 2 verse 10 says, whosoever shall keep the whole law and stumble in one point, he is guilty of all of it.
01:33:58: You can't break a piece of the law. You can't be kind of righteous before God. You need a perfect righteousness.
01:34:06: You need someone to represent you who has a righteousness that is perfect.
01:34:12: And there is only one, there is only one, and that's Jesus Christ. And what does the
01:34:18: Bible say in Romans chapter 3 verse 28? Listen closely. He says, we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
01:34:29: Faith apart from the works of the law. Read the text. Romans 3 28. We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
01:34:38: Romans chapter 4, it says this. How was Abraham justified?
01:34:44: What does the scripture say? Abraham what? Believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.
01:34:52: He says this. Listen, listen, listen. If you're, if you are a Mormon, a Latter -day Saint in this room, please hear my heart on this.
01:34:59: He says in Romans 4, how was Abraham justified? By faith. When was that? Before he offered
01:35:05: Isaac, before circumcision, and 400 years before the law was given.
01:35:11: He had faith and God declared him righteous. He was credited righteousness.
01:35:17: And he says this. If you want to be sons and daughters of Abraham, you have to be of the same faith of Abraham.
01:35:24: And he says to the one who works, you're working for justification. To the one who works, his wage is not credited as a gift, but as what is due.
01:35:36: Watch. But to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.
01:35:52: It says there that David is the blessed man. We are the blessed man to whom
01:35:58: God credits righteousness apart from works. It says that God will not count our sins against us.
01:36:05: He credits to us righteousness. And it says in Romans 5, 1, look, if you're
01:36:11: Mormon in here and you're like, look, I want to know, what's the, what's the difference? Listen, Romans 5, 1.
01:36:19: Therefore, after Paul preaches that gospel, after he talks about what God has done, he says this, listen, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
01:36:33: Lord Jesus Christ. We've already been declared righteous. We already have peace. Why? Because we're in Christ, united to him in his death and resurrection.
01:36:42: And Mormons will say this, they'll say, are you saying that you could just say you believe and then you're saved and you can go into heaven, you can do whatever you want?
01:36:48: I would say you're not listening. Because the Bible says that if you have faith in Jesus Christ, that's a repentant faith.
01:36:56: You've turned from sins to trust in Christ, gone from death to life. You are now raised to life spiritually, no longer dead.
01:37:03: And Paul says in Romans 6, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may inbound?
01:37:09: He says, may it never be. He says, all of us who are in Christ and have been declared righteous have been united to Jesus in his death and we have died to sin once for all with Jesus and we're united to him in his resurrection and we are now no longer dead but alive.
01:37:28: Do Christians do good deeds? Let me say this, good deeds are a necessary consequence of being declared righteous before God.
01:37:39: If there are no good deeds, there is no spirit of God present. If there are no good deeds, you weren't raised to life.
01:37:47: If there are no good deeds, there is no faith. But what does
01:37:52: Jesus say? Truly, truly, John 5, 24, I say to you, he who hears my voice and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment but is passed out of death into life.
01:38:06: Let me summarize this right now. We'll go to questions. We could do this all night, obviously.
01:38:15: If your gospel doesn't look like Paul's, it's not the gospel.
01:38:22: If your gospel doesn't look like Jesus, his gospel is not the gospel.
01:38:29: Paul says in Philippians chapter 3, please read it later, when he talks about his own resume, he says what?
01:38:39: He says, I'm of the tribe of Benjamin, a
01:38:45: Hebrew of Hebrews, circumcised the eighth day. That means a lot. He says, as to the law,
01:38:54: Pharisee, blameless. By the way, that's rather tongue -in -cheek, you realize, because he says there's none righteous, but as to what they could see, obviously, as to the law, blameless.
01:39:04: As to zeal, persecuted the church. But what's he say about his resume?
01:39:10: Let's read it together. I want you to see it. He says this, verse 7 of chapter 3,
01:39:19: Philippians, but whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
01:39:26: Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my
01:39:31: Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain
01:39:39: Christ, listen, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.
01:39:54: He has a righteousness that is not his own, that is from God through faith, not based upon obedience to law.
01:40:05: Let me just say this, final word. You and I have a way to stand before God.
01:40:14: We will either stand before a holy God who is a consuming fire that we have sinned against.
01:40:22: We will stand before him with all of our unrighteousness before him, all of our sins, all of our falling short in our own righteousness, or we will stand before God covered in a perfect righteousness that is not our own.
01:40:43: And the only way to that righteousness is through faith and faith alone in Christ alone.
01:40:55: How do you want to stand before God? Is it with your sin on full display, your falling short, your unrighteousness, your lawlessness?
01:41:07: Let me be the first to say it. If righteousness is in any way through the law, then
01:41:14: I'm done. I'll despair tonight. If righteousness is in any way through me and my righteousness,
01:41:22: I'm done. The hope I have as a believer is
01:41:27: I am counted righteous, covered in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and that's a gift of God by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus to all who believe, not by works of law.
01:41:43: Joseph Smith taught a false god. He used our language.
01:41:49: He uses our terminology. Joseph Smith taught a false gospel. Sounds very
01:41:55: Christian, but it's the kind of gospel that Paul condemns in the book of Galatians.
01:42:01: It's the kind of gospel that Paul says in Galatians 5 that makes Christ of no effect to you.
01:42:11: Whosoever of you attempts to be justified by law, you've fallen from grace. Don't ever forget they thought that grace was necessary, but it wasn't enough.
01:42:21: Paul says anybody preaching that is anathema, and let me just say my burden, please, my burden for every
01:42:28: Mormon who hears this is that you would not lose faith.
01:42:36: It is that you would gain life and know the true and living
01:42:43: God. That's our desire for you. That's our hope for you. The Bible says
01:42:50: Jesus is God. He's the Messiah. He lived righteously and blamelessly.
01:42:56: He died for sinners. He rose from the dead. He is ascended and seated, and this is the call.
01:43:04: Repent and believe the gospel. Turn from your sins to the living
01:43:10: God. Put your faith in Jesus Christ and in Him, Him alone, His work alone, and be reconciled to God.
01:43:20: Receive the gift of eternal life through faith in Christ. Amen.
01:43:26: Let's pray. Father, please bless the words that went out. I pray, God, with all my heart for every
01:43:34: Latter -day Saint that hears the words that were spoken tonight, that you'd please give them pause to consider the fact that we are all fallible, finite, fallen people before Jesus Christ saves us.
01:43:57: I pray that you would grant light and life to the Mormon people, that they'd be freed from darkness, and they would come to the light of the living
01:44:12: God and the hope of the gospel. In Jesus Christ's name, amen. We're going to have more content, more conversation, some great stuff.