My Redeemer Lives

Part of the Bible Inspirations Series

“I Know That My Redeemer Lives!” Ensign, May 2007; “With all my heart and the fervency of my soul, I lift up my voice in testimony as a special witness and declare that God does live. Jesus is His Son, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. He is our Redeemer; He is our Mediator with the Father. He it was who died on the cross to atone for our sins. He became the firstfruits of the Resurrection. Because He died, all shall live again.” —Thomas S. Monson

If you’ve hung out on my website or blog for very long you’ll know about the daily e-mails I signed up for via the Church. These e-mails are called “LDS Gems” listing either a Mormon scripture or an excerpt from an inspirational speech given by one of their leaders.

The other day I received the gem posted at the top of this article. I’ve decided I’m going to take these gems and use them to delve into my Bible to learn what God says on the subject matters they send my way.

Today I wanted to warn the unsuspecting/unknowing about the code words in this guy’s speech as well as share with you what I learned about the word “redeemer”.

This is one of the handful of subject matters within Mormonism that drives me nuts. The Church is being disingenuous with the public by choosing to hide the meaning of who they believe Jesus is when they say things like “Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh”.

As a side note from their prophet you’ll also notice the arrogant phrase “a special witness”.

“A special witness” means that he’s the only one privy to God’s direct revelation for the Church. No other person on earth gets to know what he does; and the prophet holds the keys to Mormon salvation meaning he’s the one making important decisions on the welfare of the Mormon soul.

This “special witness” has lied to the public as well by saying the Jesus they believe in died on the cross to atone for sin.  Is he denouncing the very thing Joseph Smith revealed to man directly from God? D&C 19:18 says that Jesus atoned for sin in the Garden of Gethsemane!!

Now let’s turn to the phrase “in the flesh”. As I mentioned before this is one of a select few topics within Mormonism that capture my immediate attention and the reason why is because of how treacherous and ugly the meaning of the phrase is.

Joseph Smith was the originator of this phrase and the Church just keeps carrying on the debasing tradition.

The Mormon Church believes that Jesus was begotten through a sexual union between their god who is an exalted man and his daughter Mary. Instead of believing what God says in His word that Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35) they’ve allowed themselves to be dragged down into the slimy gutters of Smith’s creepy imagination. The following quote was part of a speech given by Orson Pratt, an early apostle in the Mormon Church. I’ve not found anyone who’s contradicted his statements; rather there is ample evidence to the contrary.

God and Mary Were Married

The Seer, pg. 158; “…The fleshly body of Jesus required a Mother as well as a Father. Therefore, the Father and Mother of Jesus, according to the flesh, must have been associated together in the capacity of Husband and Wife; hence the Virgin Mary must have been, for the time being, the lawful wife of God the Father.…He had a lawful right to overshadow the Virgin Mary in the capacity of a husband, and beget a Son, although she was espoused to another; for the law which He gave to govern men and women was not intended to govern Himself, or to prescribe rules for his own conduct.”— Orson Pratt

When you see the Mormon phrase “after the manner of the flesh” you’ll know what they mean.  Notice how they don’t just phrase it differently so it’s clear for those who aren’t LDS?  What are they hiding anyway?  I’m thinking they know it’s shameful so they hide those things like it says in Psalm 44:21; “Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.”

The Hebrew word for redeemer is goel meaning “one charged with the duty of restoring the rights of another and avenging his wrongs (Lev. 25:48, 49; Num. 5:8; Ruth 4:1; Job 19:25; Ps. 19:14; 78:35, etc.). This title is peculiarly applied to Christ. He redeems us from all evil by the payment of a ransom…” – (Easton’s Bible Dictionary)

This meaning has no significance for the Mormon because they’re the redeemer of their own salvation. The Church has convinced them they’ve been charged with the duties to redeem. They must belong to the Church, they must do good works, they must be married in the temple, they must do works by proxy for the dead…and according to the meaning of this word are they able to redeem themselves from evil? Of course the answer is a resounding no!

So where in all of that does the Redeemer fit in? He doesn’t.

And to top it all off take a look at the last thing their holy prophet said;

“Because He died, all shall live again.”

Yeah, that’s wrong too. Not everyone is going to live again. If this was true, then why the need to be a Mormon? If Jesus’ resurrection secured the payment for everyone to live again then why bother believing in Him?

I want to make it clear I’m not here to bash the Mormon people. I love them dearly and only want the very best for them, thus my many writings, phone calls and work. Pray for them won’t you? I’ve no doubt they love Jesus, it’s just the wrong one and in the end that’s what really matters.

With love in Christ;

Michelle