Trusting God’s Word

22 May

Trusting God’s Word

Doctrines of Salvation 1:32; “Our Savior was a God before he was born into this world, and he brought with him that same status when he came here. He was as much a God when he was born into the world as he was before.”

In this article we’ll be looking at two subject matters; the false prophecies in Mormon scripture about Jesus being God and the reliability of the Bible.  While I know that sounds rather random, hang with me and you’ll see what I mean!

If what the Church says is true about Jesus being “a god” in many of their books and teachings, then why do their scriptures contradict this?  We found more than forty verses in Doctrine and Covenants as well as the Book of Mormon describing Jesus as God, or the Trinity and not the three separate gods spoken of in other Mormon writings.

Jesus is God/God, Jesus & HS are One God

Doctrine & Covenants

1:20 10:70 17:9 18:33,47 19:1,4,18
20 :28 27 :1 29:1 34:1 36:1
38:1 39:1 53:1-2 62:1 63:60
66:13 81:7 93:1-2 128:22

Book of Mormon

TitlePage 2 N19:6 2 N25:12 2 N26:12 2 N31:21
Mosiah5:15 Mosiah13:34 Mosiah15:5 Alma11:35,

38,44

3 N11:17
3 N19:18 Mormon3:21 Mormon7:7 Ether2:12 Ether3:15

Now here are just a few examples of how the LDS Church defines Jesus:

Godhead

Mormon Doctrine, pg. 576; “Three separate personages — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost — comprise the Godhead. As each of these persons is a God, it is evident, from this standpoint alone, that a plurality of Gods exists. To us, speaking in the proper finite sense, these three are the only Gods we worship.” – Bruce McConkie

Jesus’ Death was Death of a god 

Sermons…of Melvin J. Ballard, pg. 227; “…He purchased the prize, acquired the prize, by giving his own sinless life; and his death was the death of a God.”

Jesus “A” Son of God

Alma 36:17; “…I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.”

Jesus becomes God of this Earth

Gospel Through the Ages, pg 20-21; “As a reward for the valiant work of the Son of Man, He shall eventually—when this earth is celestialized—become its God, King, and Ruler.” – Milton Huter

Christ is Immanuel

Mormon Doctrine, pg 376; “See –>CHRIST, –>VIRGIN BIRTH. Christ is Immanuel, Emmanuel the King Immanuel (D. & C. 128:22), signifying literally, God is with us. This designation used by Isaiah in a great Messianic prophecy (Isa. 7:14), alluded to by Micah as referring to the birth of our Lord (Mic. 5:3), and specifically named by Matthew as having reference to the Virgin Birth (Matt. 1:18-25), signifies that Christ as God would be born into mortality of a virgin and would be with men to save and redeem them.” – Bruce McConkie

As children of the Most High God we can turn to the Bible knowing the words we’re reading mean what they say.  We can know they aren’t used as a catch phrase containing some hidden meaning behind them.  Luke 8:16-17 Always having secret meanings doesn’t set you apart because you belong to God; rather it sets you apart because it’s not from God.

And so it goes with Mormon terminology.  There’s usually something lurking behind the true meaning of the most basic words having to do with everything from atonement to Zion.  The flip side of this of course is our beloved word of God. We can know it’s trustworthy and Jesus even confirms this to us at the end of the verse John 10:35; “…the scripture cannot be broken.”  Each verse fits into the next which leads to the next…  This reminds me of how the fruits of the Spirit work.  Of course as Christians we know this, but as a Mormon I’d never heard of such a thing.

Galatians 5:22-23a says; “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance…”

When you have love in your heart it leads to having joy in your life which means there is peace around you. When there is peace you are patient (longsuffering) which means you are gentler with others and provide goodness to others in judgment. Having this temperament sets aside space and time in your heart for more faith in Him which leads to being more humble (meekness) and when you’re humble there is obviously more self control (temperance) because we know we’re undeserving of the salvation and patience God extends to us.

The fruits of the Spirit are something attainable only through the Holy Spirit of the Bible. They don’t come about through our good works or by trying to do better.  This lifestyle is a result of trusting God and knowing there isn’t a hidden agenda behind the words you read on a page.  How can you make good judgments knowing as you carry around the Bible you don’t fully trust it?  To whom do you turn to for truth and where do you rest in the Lord?

The Bible!!  We can have assurance through verses we find in 2 Timothy 3:15-17 telling us scripture is inspired and good for instruction, but we can also find reassurance in the testimonies and eye witness accounts of hundreds of people who saw Him after He had risen from the dead – 1 Cor. 15:3-8.  This is known as internal evidence.

We can know the Bible is true based on two types of evidences; external and internal.  One of the internal evidences is testimony within the Bible that declares its divine origin – again looking at 2 Peter 3:15-17.  However, another internal evidence we see is in the unity of the Bible.  The Bible is a compilation of sixty-six books written over a period of 1,500 years on three continents by more than forty authors with each book testifying of the same God.

We also have prophecies in the Bible for internal evidences.  Just as we’ve looked at the false prophecies of Joseph Smith in this article, we can look at the prophecies in the Bible.  The difference between the Bible and Joseph Smith’s prophecies is that the biblical prophecies have always come back true – every single time.  The prophecies in the Bible are detailed and precise.  There are 333 prophecies of Jesus alone in the Old Testament.  In Isaiah 53 there are 48 prophecies of Jesus and each one has come true.  The odds of fulfilling 48 of 61 of those prophecies are 1 in 10157!  For more info on this see our Mentoring Handbook!

There are no other religious books about Jesus (not even the Book of Mormon) that gives such detailed messages to such precision.

Internal evidence can be found in its absolute authority and power.  We see proof of this in the number of lives that have been changed.  It is evident to others that people’s lives have been transformed. Paul turned from hatemonger and murderer to an obedient believer and a faithful and caring person for his brothers and sister in Christ.  The same can be said of those who’ve been set free of hating (I qualify for that), people who are criminals, drug addicts, prostitutes, etc.  Lives do a complete 180 because of the Bible’s supernatural transforming power.

External evidence is seen in the archaeological finds that have been discovered.  The historical events are evidences proving the authenticity of the Bible and its truthfulness. Don’t let doubters of God lead you down empty rabbit trails by saying you can’t prove there is a God.  While archaeological evidences or history can’t prove God exists, they do prove the Bible is trustworthy.  The Bible tells us God gave us proof for His existence through what is around us – Romans 1:18-22, Psalm 19:1-4.

It goes without saying we see external evidence of the Bible’s truth in the indestructibility of the Bible.  It withstands the naysayers and has done so since the days of Diocletian; Joseph Smith is just one of the latest in a long list of bible haters.

External evidence can be found in the testimonies and eye witness accounts of hundreds of people who saw Jesus after He had risen from the dead.  Reading historical documents from reporters like Josephus for example provides this evidence. Additionally, there has been no evidence proving the integrity of the eyewitnesses or the apostles lived anything but honest and good lives. They had nothing to gain but eternal life and in fact many died for the sake of their testimony.

Because of these things we can know the Bible is true and trustworthy, and we can also know it’s true because we have HIS testimony living inside of us when we’ve accepted Him as our God and Savior!!!

With all that proof there is also proof Mormon scriptures are not from God. Anything that contradicts itself when claiming it is a prophetic teaching or doctrine from God is a false prophecy (i.e. our examples in D&C). There are several different types of prophecies; doctrinal, open ended, self-fulfilling, etc. When a prophet proclaims something that doesn’t come true he has proven himself to be a false prophet.

The standard for this is found in Deuteronomy 18:20-22. Note in the text that it doesn’t say “if the things follow not…”  The text clearly says “….if the thing follows not…” meaning it only takes one false prophecy to prove that prophet is not from God.

Deuteronomy 18:20-22; “But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. 21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? 22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

For more info on testing the Bible see our series of articles Testing for Truth

With Love in Christ;

Michelle Grim

 

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6 Responses to “Trusting God’s Word”

  1. thegardensofboxwoodmanor May 22, 2012 at 4:17 am #

    Excellent post!!!!

  2. fred May 22, 2012 at 3:38 pm #

    (When a prophet proclaims something that doesn’t come true he has proven himself to be a false prophet….it only takes one false prophecy to prove that prophet is not from God.)

    I believe your view of the Bible is as poor as your view of the D & C.

    Here are some of the internal evidences of what you would call “false prophecies” in the Bible.

    •The Lord told David that the men of Keilah “will deliver thee up [to Saul]” (1 Samuel 23:12). This did not happen, however, because David fled from the city (verses 13-14).
    •Isaiah told king Hezekiah, “Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.” (2 Kings 20:1) But after the king pleaded with the Lord, the prophet delivered a new message, saying that fifteen years would be added to his life (verses 2-6).
    •The Lord told Moses that he would destroy the Israelites and make of Moses a greater nation than they. When Moses protested that this would be wrong, the Lord changed his mind (Numbers 14:11-20).
    •The Lord said through Elisha that the combined armies of Israel, Judah and Edom would “smite every fenced city” of Moab and that he would “deliver the Moabites also into your hand.” But one city, Kir-hareseth, was not taken. When Mesha, the Moabite king, sacrificed his son on the city wall, the Israelites left and went home. The prophecy was not fulfilled because the Israelites would not cooperate with the Lord’s wishes.
    •Through Ezekiel, the Lord declared that the Lebanese city of Tyre would be destroyed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadrezzar, never to be rebuilt (Ezekiel 26, especially verses 4, 7, 12, 14). Though Nebuchadrezzar laid siege against Tyre from 598 to 586 B.C., he was never able to take the city. The Lord then told Ezekiel that, in compensation for his not taking Tyre, Nebuchadrezzar would be given the land of Egypt, (Ezekiel 29:17-10). Its people would be slain and its rivers dry up (Ezekiel 30:10-12; 32:11-15) and the land of Egypt would remain uninhabited for forty years (Ezekiel 29:11-13). But though Nebuchadrezzar defeated an Egyptian army in battle, he never conquered Egypt either.
    •Isaiah, in his prophesy against Babylon (Isaiah 13:1), declared that the Medes would slay men, women and children and that Babylon would “be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation” (Isaiah 13:17-20). In 539 B.C., Cyrus, king of the Medes and Persians, took Babylon without bloodshed, and made it one of the principal cities of his empire. Babylon remained inhabited for centuries afterward.

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    (The standard for this is found in Deuteronomy 18:20-22. Note in the text that it doesn’t say “if the things follow not…” The text clearly says “….if the thing follows not…” meaning it only takes one false prophecy to prove that prophet is not from God.)

    You must be saying the MOSES WAS A FALSE PROPHET.

    “…we would have to conclude that Moses-to whom the revelation in Deuteronomy 18:20-22 is ascribed-was a false prophet. In Numbers 25:13, he said, in the name of the Lord, that Phinehas, his grand nephew, would hold the priesthood eternally. But if Hebrews 7:11-12 is correct, the Aaronic priesthood is not eternal. In this particular example, Moses fills the requirement for the test of Deuteronomy much more closely than does Joseph Smith in most of the examples of “false prophecies” …”

  3. fred May 22, 2012 at 6:32 pm #

    That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us…
    (New Testament | John 17:21‎)‎

    With your understanding of God’s Word, why does this not make you and me part of the trinity?

    You teach that Heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are one body split three ways. By your teachings, Jesus is saying here that you and I will be part of that one body, making us part of God. Or do you believe that for us being one with God is different from what it means for Jesus to be one with the Father? If so, why the difference?

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    8 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
    19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
    20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
    21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
    22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
    23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
    24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
    (New Testament | John 17:18–24‎)‎

    • thegardensofboxwoodmanor May 23, 2012 at 3:35 pm #

      One body in Christ is the Christian Church on earth. Mormons are NOT included as they are not Christian. Despite all that you quote from the Bible, you believe in a completely different, non-Biblical god and jesus-spirit-brother of Lucifer.
      It is pointless for you to think that they are they same as Christianity. They are as different as Islam’s god and the Christian God. Mormonism’s man-becoming-god is closer to the Hindu gods than the Christian God. The doctrines are very similar. Work-righteousness to attain a higher level, etc.

      We’ve spent a lot of time trying to get you to see that your god and our God are different. The words in Mormonism may be the same in Christianity, but they MEAN entirely differnt things. Read more on this website to see what I am referring to.

  4. fred May 23, 2012 at 7:15 pm #

    (Mormons are NOT included as they are not Christian.)

    I agree with you in that we are not included in your traditional creedal Christianity.

    We do not agree that the definitions added to God’s word by your creeds are from God.

    Yet, we are Christian.

  5. shematwater May 30, 2012 at 6:29 am #

    GARDEN

    When Christ says that we will be one in the same manner that He and the Father are one, then you can’t say that it is in a different manner. If we are to be one in Him and the Father than that does not simply refer to the church.

    If Christ and the Father are one in essence and being (one being in three parts) that Christ must be saying that we will all be one being in many parts, as he is praying for the same kind of oneness.
    If he means that we will be one as a church (meaning unitied as a body in purpose) than he and the Father must also be one in the same way, being united in purpose, but not in being.

    That is the point.

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