THE LDS GOSPEL
CONTRASTED WITH THAT OF THE BIBLE
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.
And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto
you.
(1 Peter 1:25, KJV)
The object of this article is to reveal how wide the difference is,
between the Mormon gospel and the gospel preached by the apostles
of the primitive Christian church, as recorded in the Bible.
The following are quotes from the LDS series, Teachings of the
Presidents of the Church. (In reading these quotes, bear in
mind that the LDS teaches both eternal progression and
pre-existence. And the word "exalt" refers to gaining
eternal life [which has the same connotation as godhood].)
The Gospel of the Son of God that has been revealed is a plan or
system of laws and ordinances, by strict obedience to which the
people who inhabit this earth are assured that they may return again
into the presence of the Father and the Son. (Teachings of the
Presidents of the Church, Brigham Young, published in 1997 The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah,
page 15)
The Gospel and the Priesthood are the means he [God] employs to
save and exalt his obedient children to the possession with him of
the same glory and power to be crowned with crowns of glory,
immortality and eternal lives (DBY, 5). (Teachings of the
Presidents of the Church, Brigham Young, published in 1997,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City,
Utah, page 18)
The Gospel and the Holy Priesthood continued from Noah to
Abraham. "Abraham received the priesthood from Melchizedek,
who received it through the lineage of his fathers, even till
Noah." [D&C 84:14.] . . . The knowledge and practice of the
Gospel were perpetuated through Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and other
Patriarchs, until the age of Moses.... (Teachings of the
Presidents of the Church, John Taylor, published in 2001,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City,
Utah, page 15)
As we will note from the first quote, the LDS maintains that the
gospel is a plan or system of laws and ordinances. The second quote
tells us that that the gospel is the means that God uses to give us
the same glory as He has. And the third quote indicates that the
gospel was available, and was practised, under the Old Covenant.
None of these claims is biblical.
WHAT IS THE "GOSPEL?"
The word "gospel" means good news. And the good news
of the New Testament was that the promised Jewish Messiah had come
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ; and that by His shed blood,
on the cross at Calvary, He had ratified a New Covenant of grace.
This New Covenant covered the forgiveness of all the sins of
whosoever trusts in Him, as well as the gift of eternal life.
And that was the gospel the apostles and the other followers of
Christ, were commanded to preach. In other words, Christ told them
that He Himself was to be their gospel. The gospel was to be
all about Him.
And he [Christ] commanded us to preach unto the people, and to
testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of
quick and dead. To him [Christ] give all the prophets witness, that
through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission
of sins. (Acts 10:42-43, KJV)
And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to
teach and preach Jesus Christ. (Acts 5:42, KJV)
But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of
God. (1 Corinthians 1:23-24, KJV)
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by
us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus (2 Corinthians 1:19, KJV)
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and
ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. (2 Corinthians 4:5, KJV)
However, the LDS preaches another gospel, where the heroes are
Joseph Smith, the angel Moroni and the LDS church. Although their
church bears the name of Jesus Christ, He is not the one on whom
their preaching is centred. Rather than preaching Christ crucified
in the same way that the primitive church did, they preach
themselves, claiming that salvation is only possible through their
church. (Mormon Doctrine, LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie, page
670). Their third article of faith states that through the
atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience to
the laws and ordinances of [the LDS] gospel.
Although they honour Christ, Mormons believe that he is our
brother in eternal progression, and that he had the same origins as
we did. They claim that in a previous existence Christ was the
firstborn (through a normal marital relationship between God and
one of his wives), and that Lucifer, the angels and all of mankind
followed. In other words, Christ is our biological brother. Their
teaching is that His atonement provided for universal resurrection.
This enables us to return to our original, biological father,
who is the LDS God, and has a body of flesh and bone. Furthermore,
the Mormon God also had the same origins as we did, and was once a
mortal man.
The doctrine that God was once a man and has progressed to become a
God is unique to this church. (Official LDS Lesson Manual, 1997,
page 34, "The Teachings of Brigham Young")
WHY WAS THE BIBLICAL GOSPEL GOOD NEWS?
Under the Old Covenant, Israel was bound by the law. The penalty for
disobedience was death (Romans 6:23). And if they disobeyed so much
as one commandment, it would have had the same consequence as if
they had disobeyed all.
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point,
he is guilty of all. (James 2:10, KJV)
The law portrayed the righteous standards of God. Consequently, the
Israelites agreed that it was good, And they vowed that they would
keep it. But in spite of their good intentions, they were never
able to do so.
But God had known all along that fallen man would not be able to
keep the law. (God knows us better than we know ourselves.) So He
provided a way out through the sacrificial system, in a practice
known as "substitutionary sacrifice." When a man had
sinned he would take a perfect, unblemished animal to the altar.
And there, in front of the priest, the guilty sinner would lay his
hand on the innocent animal's head. In this way he identified the
animal as being his substitute that would die in his place, to
cover the penalty for his sin (Leviticus 1:4, 4:29,33).
The Bible is the most amazing book. In the Old Testament it uses
"pictures" to explain the New. The Old Covenant
sacrificial system was a picture of the promised Messiah, the
sinless Lamb of God. Under the New Covenant Christ, our sacrificial
lamb, would bear, once for all, the sins, the guilt and the shame
of all those who trust in Him. John the Baptist was a Jewish
prophet. So he was all too familiar both with their sacrificial
system and with their messianic promises. And when the
Lord Jesus appeared on the scene, John announced:
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
(John 1:29, KJV)
In his epistle to the church at Galatia, Paul explains that God used
the law to convince fallen man of his inability to live according
to His standards of righteousness and purity. The constant plume of
smoke arising from the sacrificial altar bore witness of this fact.
Don't forget that the Israelites had the perfect set-up. They were
God's chosen people and as such had enjoyed His favour, guidance and
protection. Furthermore, they had actually covenanted to keep His
law (Exodus 24:6-8). Nevertheless, in spite of all their advantages
and their good intentions, they kept finding themselves
slipping up in word, thought and deed. And we are no
different.
The problem with laws and ordinances is that they don't have the
power either to make us righteous or to save us. All they do is reveal
the holiness of God on the one hand, and the innate sinfulness of
fallen man on the other.
Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if
there had been a law given which could have given life, verily
righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath
concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ
might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were
kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards
be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto
Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that
faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. (Galations
3:21-25, KJV) (Emphasis by editor)
Because of our inability to save ourselves through obedience to laws
and ordinances, God has provided a different way, under a New
Covenant of grace. And just as the sinner had to identify himself
with his substitutionary sacrifice under the Old Covenant, so we
need to do the same under the New. And we do this by repenting of
our sins, turning from our self-reliance, and trusting in Christ
alone for salvation.
But Mormons have been taught a different way:
That by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed
from all their sins ..... (Doctrine and Covenants 76:52)
(Editor: Contrary to Mormon claims, the Bible tells us that
it is Christ's sacrificial blood that washes and cleanses us from
sin (Revelation 1:5)
"Redemption from personal sins can only be obtained through
obedience to the requirements of the [Mormon] gospel, and a life of
good works ..... The Sectarian Dogma of Justification by Faith Alone
has exercised an influence for evil" (Mormon Apostle James
Talmage, Articles of Faith, pages 478-479).
The first effect [of the atonement] is to secure to all mankind
alike, exemption from the penalty of the fall [death], thus
providing a plan of General Salvation. The second effect is to
open a way for Individual Salvation whereby mankind may secure
remission of personal sins. As these sins are the result of
individual acts, it is just that forgiveness for them should be
conditioned on individual compliance with prescribed
requirements, obedience to the laws and ordinances of the [LDS]
Gospel. (LDS Apostle James Talmage, Articles of Faith, page
87). (Author's italics)
"Immortality is assured to all of us through the atonement
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But eternal life is a
personal responsibility we must earn and be worthy of."
(LDS Apostle Delbert L. Stapley, Member of the Quorum of the Twelve,
in The Path to Eternal Glory, Ensign, July 1973, page 99.)
(Emphasis inserted by editor.)
THE NEW COVENANT
When reading the gospels we need to bear in mind that they
were written during a transitional period between the Old and New
Covenants. The New Covenant was only ratified by Christ's shed blood
and His death. So Christ lived under the Old Covenant. And some
of the things he said and did, applied to life under the Old
Covenant.
Under the New Covenant of grace Christ became our substitutionary
sacrifice. As such, He paid the full penalty for all our sins, in
our place, on the cross at Calvary. The moment we turn to Him in
faith, thereby identifying ourselves with Him and his atoning
sacrifice, He becomes our Saviour, and we are counted as being
"in Him."
The New Covenant was tailor-made for the fallenness of man, in that
it caters for every eventuality and possibility. No longer does our
salvation depend upon our own inadequate efforts, but on the
sufficiency and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. He took our
sins upon Himself and paid the full penalty for those sins, in our
place, on our behalf, in order to earn our forgiveness. And
because He was our substitute, we were "in Him" when he
suffered and died on the cross. So it was the same as if we had
paid the price of our forgiveness.
Solely because of His undeserved mercy towards us, and not because
of any merit in ourselves, whosoever trusts in Christ will receive
forgiveness of, and cleansing from sin, freedom from guilt, eternal
life, and reconciliation with God. No matter how inadequate they may
think they are, as long as they are trusting in Him, they will be
saved; because salvation is through His power, and His
substitutionary death on our behalf. So we all stand on level ground
at the foot of the cross. As the Apostle Paul exclaimed, "O the
depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!"
(Romans 11:33, KJV)
..... God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not
imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the
word of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19, KJV).
Lest the reader gain the wrong impression, although we cannot earn
salvation through our works, once a person has been saved his
salvation will bring forth the fruit of good works. But good
works is the fruit of his salvation and not the reason for it.
On the other hand, this doesn't guarantee that the saved one will
never ever sin again. It is a sad fact that because of the weakness
of our flesh, there is the possibility that a saved person could
still slip and fall. But God knows this, so He has made provision
for the fallenness of man, in that the gospel includes a safety
net. John, Christ's apostle, explains:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son
cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:7-9, KJV)
THE GOSPEL OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST
The gospel (good news) of the primitive Church of Jesus Christ
was that Christ had ratified a New Covenant of grace for the
forgiveness of sins by His shed blood on the cross at Calvary. It
was there that He had defeated sin, Satan, death and hell on our
behalf. He rose from the grave after three days, proving that He
was whom He'd said He was, and that He actually has the power to
save us. And just as we (whom He represented) were "in
Him," when He died, so we were also "in Him when He arose
from the dead to new life. Consequently, whosoever puts their faith
in Him has both forgiveness of sins and eternal life "in
Him."
To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. (Acts
10:43, KJV)
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:14-15, KJV)
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by him ..... (Hebrews 7:25, KJV)
..... even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be
justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law:
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
(Galations 2:16, KJV)
This was the most amazing, liberating news. All the Old Covenant had
ever done was to prove that fallen man could not live up to God's
standards of righteousness. But now the promised Messiah had
come down to earth and vicariously died to save us from both the
consequences of our sins and the power that sin has over
us. This means that "in Christ" Satan has lost his
hold on mankind, and that we are able, through Christ Jesus, to live
the way that God intended us to live. Furthermore,
"in Him," the burden of guilt for sins committed and the
resulting fear of death and judgment is to be no more!
After His resurrection Christ appeared to His disciples, instructing
them to be witnesses of His death on the cross, and of His
resurrection three days later. He also commanded them to proclaim in
His name, repentance and the forgiveness of sins:
Then He opened their understanding that they might understand the
Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it
behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in
His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are
witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:45-48, KJV). (Italics
inserted by writer.)
For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. (2
Corinthians 5:21, KJV)
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:30-31, KJV)
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in
Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1, KJV)
(The italics in the above scriptures have been inserted by the
writer.)
Why does the LDS have a different gospel?
THE MORMON GOSPEL
It must be stated that the LDS church does teach that salvation is
through the atonement of Christ. And as far as that goes, they are
being biblical. But they go on to qualify this
statement by maintaining that salvation is solely through membership
of their church and furthermore that it is only attainable through
obedience to their laws and ordinances, plus good works. What they
done, is to change the terms for salvation.
There is no salvation outside The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. (Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine,
page 670).
There is no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith as a prophet
of God, (Doctrines of Salvation, President and Prophet
Joseph Fielding Smith, Volume 1, page 188.)
If it had not been for Joseph Smith and the restoration, there would
be no salvation. (Mormon Doctrine, Bruce McConkie, page
670.)
Redemption from personal sins can only be obtained through obedience
to the requirements of the [Mormon] gospel, and a life of good works
..... The Sectarian Dogma of Justification by Faith Alone has
exercised an influence for evil (Mormon Apostle James Talmage,
Articles of Faith, pages 478-479).
But the gospel preached by the apostles in the primitive church was
centred on Christ, the New Covenant of grace that He had ratified,
and the forgiveness of sins that He had earned on our behalf on the
cross alone. In contrast, the LDS has banned the symbol of the
cross on their premises and their gospel is centred on Joseph Smith,
the angel Moroni, the LDS church and their claim to having the sole
authority for the gospel.
This was precisely the sort of thing that Paul was warning us about
in Galations.The Mormon gospel is "another gospel."
Although the LDS calls their gospel, "the gospel of Jesus
Christ," it is in reality the gospel of Joseph Smith. Christ
is effectively sidelined, His atonement is deprecated and Joseph
Smith and his LDS church are given the glory that belongs to Christ
alone.
Considering that under the Old Covenant nobody was ever able to
satisfy God's demands for righteousness by obedience to laws and
ordinances, the Mormon gospel places its followers in a precarious
position. Not only that, they have trampled underfoot the precious
blood of Christ that He so selflessly and heroically shed in order
to pay the ultimate price for the forgiveness of all our sins:
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not
according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth. (Romans 10:2-4, KJV)
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace. (Ephesians 1:7, KJV)
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. (Romans 5:9, KJV)
Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own
blood, (Revelation 1:5, KJV)
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