THE MORMON GODS, PAST AND PRESENT
If our ideas about God are wrong
then we'll be wrong about our other doctrines too,
because ultimately all our beliefs stem from
our view of God.
THE FIRST, ORIGINAL LDS GOD
Most Mormons are unaware that the LDS church has worshipped three
different Gods at various times since their inception. Should they
wish to do so, they can check up on this fact for themselves in the
LDS archives.
For the first twelve years of their existence, the LDS church
believed in, prayed to and worshipped the trinitarian spirit deity.
This fact is borne out by Joseph Smith's own teaching in the 1835
printing of Doctrine and Covenants:
"..... 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..... And he being the only begotten of the Father
..... possessing the same mind with the Father, which mind is the
Holy Spirit.." (1835 Doctrine and Covenants, Lecture Fifth
of Faith, 5:1-2, pages 52-53, First edition.) (Writer's italics)
The Book of Mormon (written by Joseph Smith at the start of the same
time period), also teaches the trinitarian deity; that there always
had been only one God in existence, that He was God over all,
that He was a spirit being, that He was the first God and
would be the last, and that there were no other Gods:
And then Ammon said: Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit?
And he said, Yes. And Ammon said: This is God. And Ammon said unto
him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God,
created all things which are in heaven and on the earth? And he
said Yes ........ (Alma 18:26-29)
..... 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)
..... to dwell in the presence of God in his kingdom, to sing
ceaseless praises with the choirs above, unto the Father, and unto
the Son, and unto the Holy Ghost, which are one God..... (Mormon
7:7)
Now Zeezrom said: Is there more than one God? And he answered, No.
(Alma 11:28-29)
..... there is but one God (Alma 11:35)
It will be noted that Alma 11:44 and 3 Nephi 11:27 quoted above,
use the terms Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost interchangeably, and do
not differentiate between the two. However, Joseph Smith changed
his mind radically concerning his doctrinal stance some time after
he had written the Book of Mormon, and in line with his changed
doctrines the LDS now teaches that the Holy Ghost and the Holy
Spirit are two separate entities. Their Godhead at present
consists of God the Father, Christ the Son, the Holy Spirit and
the Holy Ghost. (See the article on this site entitled, "The
LDS Holy Spirit, and Holy Ghost.")
THE SECOND MORMON GOD
There were no contradictions in LDS literature on the doctrine of
God for the first twelve years. Then round about 1842 Joseph Smith
decided to change his whole theological set-up. This effectively
transformed Mormonism into a completely new religion with
unbiblical doctrines, teachings and practices that were exclusive
to the LDS alone. It also put them fairly and squarely into the
category of a non-Christian religion. Not only that, their new
teachings contradicted their own Book of Mormon, which they
maintained was the most correct book on earth.
Joseph Smith broke the news that he had turned his back both on the
God they had been worshipping as well as on his own former
teachings, in this way:
"We have imagined and
supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that
idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see ..... God himself
was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in
yonder heavens!" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page
345, compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith).
In the LDS publication, "Times and Seasons," volume 5,
pages 613-614, he reiterated that God was only an exalted man (with
a body of flesh and bone), and that ordinary, mortal men could also
become Gods. His teachings on this revolutionary, new God are also
well documented elsewhere in LDS literature. Here are a few
examples:
God is a perfected, saved soul enjoying eternal life. (Second
Counselor in the First Presidency, Marion G. Romney, as per Salt
Lake Tribune, April 3, 1977.)
The Father is a glorified, perfected resurrected, exalted man who
worked out his own salvation by obedience to the same laws he has
given to us so that we may do the same (LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie,
in "A New Witness for the Articles of Faith," page 64)
God and man are of the same race, differing only in their degree
of advancement (Mormon Apostle, Dr. John Widtsoe (1872-1952), in
"Gospel Through the Ages," page 107).
God, angels, and men are all of the same species, one race, one
great family (Mormon Apostle Parley P. Pratt, in Key to the
Science of Theology, 1978 Edition, page 21).
..... in all congregations when I have preached on the subject
of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods (Joseph Smith,
History of the Church 6:474).
How many Gods there are, I do not know. But there never was a
time when there were not Gods .... (Brigham Young, Journal of
Discourses 7:333).
This radical change in Smith's theology, which was based on his
doctrine of eternal progression, is one of the main reasons why
Doctrine and Covenants contradicts the book of Mormon in so many
places, and also why the Pearl of Great Price contradicts the Book
of Mormon. But you will never stumble across the truth as to why
these discrepancies exist by listening to the imaginative excuses
that are put forward by the LDS church. They are merely smoke
screens designed to prevent their membership from realizing
that the contradictions are there simply because their
doctrines, and the teachings of their prophets, have
consistently and radically changed over the years.
This is also the reason why their teachings don't fit in with
those of the Bible. The LDS excuse in this case is that evil
people removed all the Mormon teachings from the Bible. However,
every bit of so-called "proof" that they have put forward
to back up this false claim has been decimated by concrete evidence
to the contrary. Furthermore, no evidence has ever been found
anywhere, in any form, that so much as suggests that there was
any knowledge of Mormon doctrine prior to the existence of the LDS
church. And the truth of the matter is that the teachings on
the deity that the LDS church followed for the first twelve years
of their existence are still in the Bible.
THE THIRD MORMON GOD
Brigham Young, the second president and prophet of the LDS church,
introduced the teaching that not only was the LDS God an ordinary,
exalted man of flesh and bone, but that he was one man in
particular, i.e. Adam (see Journal of Discourses, Volume 1, pages
50-51 and Deseret News June 18, 1873). The LDS tries to cover this
up by insisting that his sermon was wrongly reported. But that
wasn't the only time that he proclaimed that Adam was the LDS God.
According to the LDS's own records, he taught this doctrine
extensively and consistently over a period of about twenty five
years.
Speaking in the Tabernacle on the morning of October 8, 1861, Young
remarked: "I will give you a few words of doctrine, upon which
there has been much inquiry, and with regard to which considerable
ignorance exists. Br. Watt will write it, but it is not my intention
to have it published therefore pay good attention, and store it up
in your memories. Some years ago, I advanced a doctrine with regard
to Adam being our father and God, that will be a curse to many of
the Elders of Israel because of their folly. With regard to it they
yet grovel in darkness and will. It is one of the most glorious
revealments of the economy of heaven, yet the world holds it [in]
derision. Had I revealed the doctrine of baptism from the dead
instead [of] Joseph Smith there are men around me who would have
ridiculed the idea until doomsday. But they are ignorant and
stupid like the dumb ass." (Manuscript Sermon, "A Few
Words of Doctrine," Brigham Young Collection, Church
Historian's Office, Salt Lake City.)
In all fairness one must admit that this was a very unpopular
teaching. And apparently Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt opposed the
Adam God doctrine right from the start. But the LDS has a strict
rule, and that is that nobody criticizes their prophet, as he is
divinely led by God. They also extend this same rule to their other
leadership. Whenever their members have questioned this, they have
been assured that God will never permit the prophet or the
leadership to teach false doctrine or to lead the LDS church into
error, or words to that effect. Apostle Pratt was duly warned that
he was on the brink of apostasy. When that didn't bring an end to
his opposition, he was sent on a mission to the eastern United
States, effectively removing him from the Salt Lake area.
But that didn't stem the opposition to this doctrine. In the
November and December issues of their "True Latter-Day Saint
Herald," the RLDS Church printed a refutation of Brigham's
Adam-God doctrine, using the same arguments and scriptures that
Pratt had. And they went as far as to urge the Utah Mormons to
return to the true God. In his diary under the date of February 3,
1861, John D. Lee, adopted son of Brigham Young, recorded the
following:
"Eving attendd Prayer meeting & instructed the Saints on the
points of Doctrine refereed to by the true Latterday Saints Herald
& their Bombarding Pres. B. Young for Saying that Adam is all the
god that we have to do with & to those that know no better, it is
quite a stumbling Block... " (A Mormon Chronicle: The Diaries of
John D. Lee, The Huntington Library, 1955, Volume 1, page 293.)
As soon as Brigham Young passed away so did his divinely revealed
doctrine on the LDS God being Adam. It was soundly refuted by the
church leadership and is still a source of great embarrassment to
them. So much so that they have done their utmost to cover it up,
to the extent of denying outright that there ever had been any such
doctrine in the LDS church.
After Young's death, they reverted to worshipping their second God,
i.e. an ordinary, exalted man of flesh and bone.
These three contradictory teachings on the Gods the LDS
worshipped, each of them taught by their own prophets for many years,
cannot all be correct. At least two of the three teachings, involving
two of their prophets, must be wrong. Why then does the LDS church
persistently maintain the facade that God would never permit their
leadership to teach them error?
The LDS prophet Brigham Young had declared that God Himself had
revealed this doctrine on Adam being their God, to him. And as the
LDS has taken a very firm stance on this revelation on God being wrong,
it is akin to their having declared him to have been a false prophet.
To cover this up, they insist that Brigham Young was wrongly quoted.
However, their own records invalidate this excuse.
In Joseph Smith's case, he claimed from the start that he was leading
the LDS church under God's guidance, and that as God's prophet, when
he spoke it was the same as if God had spoken. He taught them to
follow the biblical deity for twelve years, but then, supposedly also
under God's guidance, persuaded them to turn their backs on their
first God and change over to a different deity. This means that he was
radically wrong in one of the cases. And this in turn also proves him to
have been a false prophet.
If you will examine the Bible carefully, you will note that God's true
prophets never ever gave false revelations. It was only false prophets
who gave out false revelations. In fact, the Bible teaches that this
is the way to discern whether or not a prophet has been sent by God
(Deuteronomy 13:1, 18:22).
The fact that their first two prophets were in serious error
concerning the deity they worshipped, invalidates their claims about
the LDS being the "true church," divinely led, and the sole
possessor of God's truth. And if their first two presidents were false
prophets, how do they know that the same isn't true of all their other
prophets? How can they be sure that their first prophet, Joseph
Smith, wasn't sent by the devil to start up a false church and lead
them astray? None of the doctrines he introduced lined up with what
had already been revealed to us by God Himself.
THE LDS STORY ABOUT THE PRESENT MORMON GOD
The Mormon God, whose name is Elohim, had exactly the same origins
as did ordinary mankind, and was also once a sinner who'd needed
salvation. In line with the LDS doctrine of eternal progression,
at first he'd existed in the form of mere intelligent matter, along
with the rest of the inhabitants of the universe. Then when his
turn came, he progressed to the level of a spirit being. He did
this by being born to an already existing God through one of his
plural wives, all of whom had bodies of flesh and bone.
This poses several serious problems, one of which is that our
offspring are always genetically exactly like us, in that like
always begets like. This idea of the LDS's Heavenly Mother and
Father with bodies of flesh and bone producing offspring who were
of a different species or class, i.e. only spirit beings, is
really weird. It makes us suspect that the doctrine of eternal
progression was nothing more than a very imaginative invention
of Joseph Smith.
After living in this prior spiritual existence with his Heavenly
Father and Mother, Elohim reached the stage where he needed to
progress. So he went through the birth process all over again,
this time to human parents, both of whom already had bodies of
flesh and bone, and who were living on a fallen planet just as we
are now. This time he was born with a body of flesh and bone, and
his previously biological father in heaven then became his God.
(His new human parents were previously his brother and sister, as
they had also been spirit children of the same Heavenly Father.)
Because Elohim was an ordinary, sinful, human being he also
needed a Redeemer, but only to ensure that his body would be
resurrected after death. In exactly the same way as Mormons do
today, he too had to earn his own personal salvation from sin by
living in obedience to LDS laws and ordinances, And one of the
requirements for godhood was that he had to be married
polygamously for time and eternity in an earthly temple. (He was
permitted to marry as many women as he desired, the aim being to
reproduce as prolifically as possible, and thereby strengthen his
future kingdom.) Then after he had gained the requisite amount of
knowledge required for the task, he was exalted to godhood.
Although he is now in the heavenlies, Elohim is not a spirit being,
but an exalted man with a body of flesh and bone. He lives on a
planet called Kolob with his harem of plural wives. They have bred a
myriad of spirit children, consisting of the whole of
mankind plus all the angelic beings, including Satan and the
demons. And they will continue breeding for eternity. The Lord
Jesus was their firstborn. Some time after that the earth we live
on now was formed, so that Elohim's spiritual offspring could
also be born to human parents and take on bodies of flesh and
bone, to enable them to progress eternally, hopefully to godhood,
in the same way as he himself had done.
As well as being our actual biological father from a previous
heavenly existence, i.e. our "Heavenly Father,"
Elohim is now also our God. And although he's only one amongst an
innumerable number of other gods that exist in the universe, all
of whom achieved their godhood the same way as he did, he is the
only God with whom we have to do. However, they teach that there
is an exception to this. The God of the Israelites was not Elohim,
but Jehovah, who was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
Although the LDS law of eternal progression decrees that it is
necessary to obtain a body of flesh and bone and also to have been
married polygamously in a Mormon temple for time and eternity in
order to progress to godhood, the LDS Jesus Christ managed to skip
these steps and gained godhood anyway because of his intelligence
(See the article on the LDS Christ, listed on the home page.)
Before we carry on, we need to understand that according to
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (and all the other
dictionaries too) the word "eternal" means without
beginning or end of existence, ceaseless and unchangeable. But in
order to try to make their unbiblical deity, who was not always a
God, fit in with biblical terminology, the LDS teaches their
followers that the word "eternal" is only God's title,
and not His description. So just as you would call someone
"Mr." Jones, they call their God who was not
eternally a God but was once an ordinary man, by the designation
"Eternal" God. Along the same vein, when they talk
about eternal life they are referring to the type of life lived
by a God whose title is "eternal."
THE MORMON GOD IS NOT OMNIPRESENT
According to LDS Apostle John Widtsoe, the Mormon God's
omnipresence is fulfilled through the Holy Spirit, which is not to
be confused with the Holy Ghost (Evidences and Reconciliation's,
pages 76-77). And Brigham Young said:
"Some would have us believe that God is present everywhere. It
is not so" (Journal of Discourses 6:345).
Then too, LDS Apostle James Talmage stated that neither God the
Father, nor any other member of the Godhead, can be physically
present in more than one place at one time. (The Articles of Faith,
page 39). Joseph Smith taught:
"The idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man's heart is
an old sectarian notion, and is false" (Doctrines and Covenants
130:3).
Yet again the Book of Mormon contradicts Joseph Smith's teachings
on the second LDS God and also the teachings of Doctrine and
Covenants, maintaining that the Lord does
dwell in the hearts of the righteous. But bear in mind that it was
published by Joseph Smith at the time
that he too had accepted the biblical teaching that God was Spirit.
Here is what he wrote in the Book of Mormon before he'd turned to
the worship of an exalted man of flesh and bone:
"And this I know, because the Lord hath said he dwelleth not in
unholy temples, but in the hearts of the righteous doth he
dwell" (BOM Alma 34:36).
Contrary to present LDS teachings, the Bible teaches that because
God is Spirit (John 4:24) He is omnipresent; meaning that His
presence is everywhere simultaneously. The following verses from the
Bible disprove the present LDS teaching:
But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and
heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that
I have builded? (1 Kings 8:27, KJV)
Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any
hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the
Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord. (Jeremiah
23:23-24, KJV)
THE LDS GOD IS NOT A UNIQUE, INFINITE BEING
Mormons maintain that we are of the same species as God. Therefore,
any sinful, fallen man is able to progress to godhood through
obedience to the laws and ordinances of the LDS church, in the same
way as God did. Brigham Young delivered a message in the Salt Lake
Tabernacle on August 8,1852, in which he said:
"The Lord created you and me for the purpose of becoming Gods
like Himself" (Journal of Discourses 3:93).
Both the Journal of Discourses and the Teachings of the Prophet
Joseph Smith record that, on April 6, 1844, the LDS prophet Joseph
Smith preached to a congregation of 20,000 saying:
"Here then is eternal life; to know the only wise and true God;
and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings
and priests to God the same as all Gods have done before you"
(Journal of Discourses 6:4; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,
page 346, compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith).
However, both the Bible and the Book of Mormon very clearly teach
that there is, and always has been, only one God, that there were no
Gods before Him and that there will be none after Him:
I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like
me (Isaiah 46:9, KJV).
..... before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be
after me. (Isaiah 43:10, KJV).
I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
(Isaiah 44:6, KJV).
"Now Zeezrom said: Is there more than one God? And he
answered, No." (BOM, Alma 11:28-29)
"..... there is but one God" (BOM, Alma 11:35)
THE INFERIORITY OF THE LDS GOD
The LDS God only took on a spirit form after the universe had
already been created, in exactly the same way as we did. So unlike
the biblical God, he did not create the universe, but was merely a
product of it. This means that he never has been and never
ever will be even remotely necessary to the functioning of the
universe. He was not responsible for creating or sustaining
life, matter, energy, or natural laws. Nor was he responsible for
bringing into being moral principles and so on. He is, therefore,
subject to all these things, as opposed to being the author and
sustainer of them.
On the other hand, the biblical God is the unique, self-existing,
unchanging, First Cause, who created the universe and all that is
in it. So everything that exists is subject to Him and is sustained
by Him. Furthermore, as He is the only God who has ever existed,
and is both infinite and omnipotent, He is supreme over all.
We can only come to the conclusion that the LDS God is vastly
inferior in every way to the biblical deity. In fact, the only
difference between him and ourselves is that he has advanced more
than we have at this moment in time.
LDS teachings have brought a unique, pure and holy, omnipotent,
eternal Creator God of unimaginable glory, wisdom, holiness and
perfection down to the level of a fallen, created man in exactly the
same way as the pagans did in biblical times. They have denied God's
spiritual essence and His eternal and infinite nature, and have
turned to the worship of a God made in their own fallible, finite,
and physical likeness.
When we substitute our own ideas about God we always detract from
His glory. Bound by the dimensions of time and space, man has a
very limited knowledge and understanding of eternal things. And in
trying to reduce an eternal, infinite and indescribably amazing and
powerful God who had created the dimensions of time and space and
who upholds and sustains the whole of the universe and everything in
it by his omnipotence, to terms that he could understand, Joseph
Smith simply denied the truth about Him in the same way as did the
pagan idolaters in biblical times.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God
hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that
they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they
glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in
their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed
the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to
corruptible man ..... (Romans 1:18-23, KJV) (Author's italics)
If you are a Mormon, I would ask you to meditate for a moment on the
fact that the Bible reveals that although people worship many and
varied gods, there is in reality only one true God. And it makes
it clear that to worship any of these other so-called gods is to
commit the sin of idolatry. Bearing in mind that the god of the
LDS bears no resemblance whatsoever to the God of the Bible (see
the article on the biblical God on this site), Mormons are
standing on very shaky ground. The fact that you are a sincere
person and have been misled by a false prophet, doesn't change your
status quo.
As someone who was once in your predicament, I am asking you not to
lose heart. I know all too well the deep hurt, anger and
disillusionment that accompanies the realization that one has been
spiritually deceived. You probably feel that you could never ever
trust anyone again in the spiritual arena. So I wouldn't dream of
asking you to trust me either. You don't even know me. But you can
trust God's written word to you, the Bible. And I am asking you in
the name of the biblical Lord Jesus Christ, who loved you enough to
die for you, to turn solely to the Bible for spiritual knowledge and
teaching. I realize that you have been indoctrinated to believe that
God revealed to Joseph Smith that the Bible is unreliable. But
hopefully you have by now realized that Joseph Smith was a deceiver.
So if you have the will, you can give yourself permission to
"accept" that the Bible is a true and reliable record of
God's word to us.
However, I know from experience that it isn't easy for a Mormon to
untangle his mind regarding what he has been taught, because it is
the LDS practice to mix Bible teachings together with the teachings
of their own scriptures. And their system of indoctrination is
powerful. So trying to understand what the Bible actually teaches is
initially like trying to find one's way out of a maze. But God is
the greatest Teacher of all, and He can and will help you. I know
this is so, because He helped me when I was in that predicament. All
you need do is to humbly pray to the biblical God, and ask Him to
enable you to understand what the Bible truly teaches.
The
following are the links to the articles on the LDS Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost and
the Biblical God:
The LDS Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost
Understanding the Biblical God
Please don't hesitate to write this site if you would like
assistance or encouragement. The email contact is:
reply@bibtruth.com
Copyright 2007, Mormonism and Biblical Truth. All rights reserved.
