THE CHANGING DOCTRINES OF MORMONISM

Mormonism of today has little in common with Mormonism of the earlier days. Over the years their doctrines have changed radically. (Their most recent major change was to the doctrine concerning negroes, or folk of colour, now being permitted to hold the LDS priesthood).

For at least the first twelve years of their existence the LDS church had similar doctrines regarding the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost as does the Christian church of today. In the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants (which you can view in the LDS archives), Joseph Smith taught that God the Father was a trinitarian spirit being, without a physical body:

"...We shall, in this lecture speak of the Godhead: we mean the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There are two personages ..... they are the Father and the Son: the Father being a personage of spirit, glory and power: possessing all perfection and fullness: the Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, a personage of tabernacle [body] ..... And he being The only begotten of The Father ... possessing the same mind with the Father, which mind is the Holy Spirit." (1835 Doctrines and Covenants, Fifth Lecture of Faith, 5:1-2, pages 52-53, 55, First edition)

However, in 1843 Joseph Smith turned his back on the biblical deity and began to worship another (exclusively Mormon) God, who has different attributes and has not eternally been God. Because he only came into existence as a spirit being after the creation of the universe, he is not vital or even necessary to it, but is subject to it in the same way that we are. In contrast, the biblical deity created the universe and all that is in it, and upholds and sustains it by His mighty power. So it is subject to Him. And He reigns supreme over all.

Although many left the LDS church at that stage, Smith managed to persuade the majority of the members to follow him in his worship of this new deity. And it was after this that LDS teaching on deity embraced a Father, a Son, a Holy Spirit and a Holy Ghost.

Changing one's doctrines on deity is not a light matter. If our ideas about God are wrong, then we'll be wrong about all our other doctrines too, because ultimately all our beliefs stem from our view of God.

Furthermore, if Joseph Smith had been a true prophet of God, how is it that God let him teach His supposedly true church to worship the supposedly wrong deity for twelve long years before putting him right? Don't forget that he claimed that God was giving him ongoing revelations during this entire period. And what could be more important in our beliefs than the deity we worship and follow?



THE HOLY SPIRIT/HOLY GHOST

The translators of the King James Version, which is favoured by the LDS, used both the archaic rendering of Holy Ghost and the more modern rendering of Holy Spirit. But they were merely alternative renderings that had exactly the same meaning, as they had both been translated from the same Greek word, "pneuma." The Book of Mormon, which Smith had written before he'd changed his mind about his doctrine on God, doesn't differentiate at all between the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost, as do the LDS's present teachings, but uses these two terms interchangeably (c/f Alma 11:28-29, 35, 44, 18:26-29, 3 Nephi 11:27, Mormon 7:7).

..... Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God..... (Alma 11:44)
..... the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one ..... (3 Nephi 11:27)

However, after Joseph Smith had changed his doctrines on deity, the LDS began to treat these two renderings of the same Greek word as though they represented two different entities. And they have drawn a definite distinction between them.

LDS President Joseph Fielding Smith clarified the difference the LDS places on these two different renderings of "pneuma" in Bruce McConkie's "Mormon Doctrine":

"The Holy Spirit is not a person but rather an impersonal force. The Holy Ghost as a personage of Spirit can no more be omnipresent in person than can the Father or the Son. It is not the Holy Ghost who in person lighteth every man who is born into the world, but it is the light of Christ, the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the source of intelligence, which permeates all nature, which lighteth every man and fills the immensity of space. You may call it the Spirit of God, you may call it the influence of God's intelligence, you may call it the substance of his power; no matter what it is called, it is the spirit of intelligence that permeates the universe and gives to the spirits of men understanding. The Spirit of God which emanates from Deity may be likened to electricity, which fills the earth and the air, and is everywhere present" McConkie, Bruce."Mormon Doctrine," (pages 752-753).

THE LDS HOLY GHOST

The LDS Holy Ghost is a son of God and a deity. He is a personage of spirit but is not omnipresent and is, therefore, incapable of being in more than one place at a time. However, according to the law of eternal progression one cannot progress to the level of deity unless one first obtains a physical body.

"The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead. He is a Personage of Spirit, a Spirit Person, a Spirit Man, a Spirit Entity. He can be in only one place at one time, and he does not and cannot transform himself into any other form or image than that of the Man whom he is" (LDS Apostle McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, page 359).

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that the Holy Ghost is a spirit man, a spirit son of God the Father." (Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Volume 2)

And Mormon Apostle James E. Talmage has the following to add:

"The Holy Ghost may be regarded as the minister of the Godhead, carrying into effect the decisions of the Supreme Council [of Gods]. The power of the Holy Ghost is the spirit of prophecy and revelation. God grants the gift of the Holy Ghost unto the obedient, the authority to so bestow the Holy Ghost belongs only to the higher or Melchizedek Priesthood" (The Articles of Faith, 1982, page 160).

THE LDS HOLY SPIRIT

The LDS Holy Spirit is an inanimate force, similar to electricity. In other words, it is a type of power used by the Holy Ghost to accomplish his purposes. This power or force is present everywhere, enabling the Holy Ghost (who can only be in one place at any given moment) to exert His influence throughout the universe.



BIBLICAL TEACHING ON THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit is not a thing or a force. Over and over again the Bible reveals that He has all the attributes a person would have, and which could never be displayed by a thing or a force. For instance, He acts according to His will, distributes to each of us individually just as He wills, loves us, helps us, prays for us and grieves:

Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; (Romans 15:30, KJV)

But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. (1 Corinthians 12:11, KJV)

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26, 27 KJV)

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30, KJV)

REGENERATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

The present LDS teaching is that when a person undergoes Mormon baptism, he is born again (born of the spirit):

"The second birth begins when men are baptized in water by a legal administrator" (Mormon Doctrine page 101).

"Little children are spiritually alive until they arrive at the age of accountability (Moroni 8:8-26). Then they die spiritually unless they are born again... by baptism they are born of water and of the Spirit" (Mormon Doctrine page 761).

At this stage we need to remember that in biblical times the use of the word "baptism" was not confined to water baptism. It also described being completely engulfed by or immersed in an experience. For instance, John the baptist referred to Christ's giving of the Holy Spirit to those who came to Him as a spiritual baptism, and Christ referred to His coming death on the cross as a baptism in suffering that He would have to undergo:

(John the baptist said) I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: (Matthew 3:11, KJV)

(Jesus said, referring to His coming crucifixion) But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! (Luke 12:50, KJV)

Contrary to Mormon teaching that the Holy Ghost can only be received through the laying on of hands by priesthood holding members of the LDS church, and that the Holy Spirit is received through water baptism, the Bible reveals that folk receive or are baptized in the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost when the Spirit anoints the Word of God as they hear it, believe it, and consequently put their faith in Christ. This is what is described in John 3 as spiritual regeneration, or the new birth.

The Bible also indicates that there is no connection between water baptism and baptism of the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost. For instance, in Acts 10, we read about how God sent Peter to preach to the gentiles. As he preached the Word of God to them, the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost fell upon them, and they were regenerated or born again, because the new birth comes about through the application of the Word of God combined with the anointing or the power of the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost, not through water baptism. So it can happen at any time and in any place. The Lord Jesus put it like this:

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8, KJV)

After the gentiles to whom Peter had been preaching in Acts 10 had experienced the new birth, Peter said:

Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. ..... (Acts 10:47-48, KJV)

The Bible also teaches that God will give us the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost (same Greek word) in answer to our prayers:

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? (Luke 11:13, KJV.)

Furthermore, the Lord Jesus gives the Holy Ghost/Holy Spirit to those who come to Him for salvation, without their having been baptized or having hands laid on them.

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37-39, KJV) Note that the terms Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit are used interchangeably in this verse.

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:13-14, KJV)

[John the Baptist said] I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: (Matthew 3:11, KJV)

THE "INFALIBILITY" OF THE LDS LEADERSHIP

Mormons are taught never to question the fallibility of their leadership, but to trust them implicitly, as God would never permit them to teach error. But Joseph Smith must have been in error regarding at least one of his doctrines on the two radically different Gods he taught the LDS to follow during his leadership of their church. So that invalidates their claim.

The existence of contradictions and/or changed doctrines in every area of LDS theology should alert Mormons to the fact that something is radically wrong, because truth is consistent — it never changes. That is why Christianity of today teaches exactly the same doctrines that the primitive church proclaimed in the New Testament. Truth always stands the test of time.


Copyright 2007 by Mormonism and Biblical Truth. All rights reserved.