Temple of God: Is it a Building, or the Believer?

23 May

1 Corinthians 3:16-17; “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”

2014 Reconstruction Model of Herod's TempleI came across an article in the Ensign Magazine and posting it today for a couple of reasons –

  • It serves as a good visual of a Mormon’s understanding of how God operated after Jesus’ resurrection, and the Holy Spirit came to reside inside the believer.
  • It’s a great tool to use for witnessing!

To me, this article is the entire reason I work in this ministry. Nothing will tear at my heart like the total depravity Mormons find themselves in and then flounder around in the mess they’ve made. Following their prophet while reading the Bible is like trying to put that proverbial square peg in a round hole. The messages they hear are diametrically opposed to each other, and will never meld in a cohesive manner.

As you’ll see, this article is about a man who went through a rough patch in life, and began examining himself. The point to his article was for others to do the same by going through a check-list of sorts.  My response to each point he brought up is in red font.

Please, as you read through these, make a note of how you can use them to shed insight on temples with a Mormon you know!

Lastly, we want to be clearly understood in our purpose of posting this today. We’re NOT doing this out of malice, nor are we trying to shame the Mormons, whom I consider to be my people. I pray they see these, and come to a saving knowledge of the true Jesus!

Ensign, ‘Ye Are the Temple of God,’ December 1976; “Last winter I was facing some deep challenges. Wanting to get close to the Lord, I walked up to the Provo Temple one evening. As I gazed at that lovely, sacred edifice, I reflected upon the words of Paul: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?” (1 Cor. 3:16.) I found myself pondering the significance of these words.

In what sense is a person like a temple? What changes would I need to make in myself to be worthy to be called a temple of God?

WOW! This is the whole reason for my grief. If  you’re a Christian organization, why haven’t you taught your congregants that God’s Spirit lives inside the believer?

A person becomes a temple for God when His Spirit is living inside of you. God doesn’t reside inside temples built with hands.

Jeremiah prophesied this would happen almost 600 years before Jesus was born. Afterwards, when the Lord was speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well, He spoke of it again.

Jeremiah 2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

A temple becomes a temple when it is dedicated. It is not the house of the Lord until it is given unto Him.

This man is absolutely right. You can’t be God’s temple when you’ve not dedicated your life to Him!

1 Corinthians 6:19 “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”

A temple is beautiful. Looking at it lifts and edifies. It is spotless and dignified.

Mankind becomes spotless and edifying only after we’ve accepted His Son as our Redeemer.

Here’s a list of 10 scriptures with God telling us how this happens!

Hebrews 9:22; “…without shedding of blood is no remission.”

Leviticus 17:11, 14 (cp. Deuteronomy 12:23); “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul…. For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof …”

1 John 1:7; ″… the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

Revelation 1:5; “… Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.”

Exodus 12:13; “… and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”

Revelation 12:11; “And they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony …”

Hebrews 10:19, 22; “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus … Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience …”

Exodus 29:37; “Seven days thou shalt make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy…”

Hebrews 13:12; “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.”

A temple is calm and still. Peace and quietness reign within.

Buildings don’t have human qualities. A person on the other hand, will experience peace and tranquility when God resides inside of him/her.

A temple is a place of worthiness—no unclean thing may enter therein.

Engraved deeply into the wall of the temple are the words, “Holiness to the Lord.”

See articleOccult Symbol, Holiness to the Lord, on Mormon Temples on how the Mormons have desecrated what God had originally designed.

A temple is a house of service. Its whole purpose is to provide those things that are truly essential for the happiness of God’s children.

Our Lord said –

Hebrews 9:14; “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience …”

This should give pause to those who claim they need temples to do works for God.

The spire of the temple rises skyward. The righteous, on seeing the temple, lift their eyes to heaven.

It’s human instinct to look to the top of a spire. One doesn’t need to be righteous at all!

A temple is built by sacrifice, by diligent and patient labor.

This is solely a work of man, not God.

A temple is, above all, a home for God the Father, his son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.

You’ll never find God in buildings made by hands of men when they’re not worshiping the One True God. Time and again, Mormons have denounced the Jesus of the Bible and emphatically declared He is not the Christ they worship.

Ensign, Nov. 2007, pg 40; “…our view of the Godhead breaks with post–New Testament Christian history… ” – Jeffrey R. Holland

The house of the Lord is a sacred place, worthy of their presence.

Acts 7:48-49 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?

Acts 17:24-25 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.

With such thoughts in my heart, I look at the temple and then at my own life:

Am I dedicated to the Lord?

If you’re asking this question, it’s highly doubtful you are, nevertheless, Paul tells us to examine ourselves and this is what all Christians should be doing in their walk with the Lord! 2 Corinthians 13:5; “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

Does my appearance lift and edify?

Why are you concerned about outward appearances? God said He’s not concerned with those worldly things, but what’s inside a person’s heart.

Romans 12:2; “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Am I peaceful and calm within?

Is your mind set upon the Lord and His word? 2 Corinthians 10:5 says to ‘hold all thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ’. Are you doing this? When you do this, God’s Spirit supernaturally transforms you from the inside out. Nothing about you, or your life, will go untouched when you allow Him to do the work.

Furthermore, we find in Ephesians 2:13-14 through Jesus’ shed blood, He became our peace.

Ephesians 2:13-14 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us

Are my mind and heart open only to worthy thoughts and feelings?

Is “holiness to the Lord” engraved upon my soul?

Am I engaged in vital service to God’s children?

Good works is only a sign of those who are saved because of grace. Ephesians 2:10; “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Do I lift my eyes toward heaven?

Are you praying to the God of Heaven, or the god of Mormonism?

Am I willing to build myself by sacrifice, toil, and patience?

2 Corinthians 5:17; “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Jesus inside of us makes us a different person. His Spirit does the transforming, and we find ourselves not wanting to do anything we used to do before we were saved.

Also, we know that we’re not sacrificing anything at all, because Jesus is the One who did the sacrificing!

Does the Spirit of God dwell in me?

If you have to ask that question, regrettably, the answer is a definite no.

In short, am I becoming a temple of the Most High God?” – Tom Kelly, Brigham Young University Sixteenth Branch, BYU Fifth Stake

Again, the answer is an unequivocal, no.

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