Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
We're going to continue with our study of Mormon doctrine today,
and we started last week by looking at the Godhead.
And then we saw that the Trinity is not the Trinity to the Mormon
church, even if they use the term Godhead, that what they
believe about the Trinity is not what the Bible says about the
Trinity. They may talk about the Godhead,
but they believe that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three
different gods. And of course we know that is
not what the Bible teaches. And then we looked at their
doctrine on Elohim the Father and on Jesus Christ and on the
Holy Spirit. And today we're going to look at
a lot of other doctrines. In fact, we're going to give
you, I believe, 8 of them in very quick fashion.
But I will say this this morning, 1st Corinthians 14
verse #33 says this. For God is not the author of
confusion, but of peace. As in all churches of the
Saints, Bible says God is not the author of confusion.
So let me ask you this by order and process of elimination.
If God is not the author of confusion, then who is?
We're going to look at, and that's correct, by the way.
We're going to look at some of the Mormon doctrines today, some
of the major Mormon doctrines apart from the Godhead, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. And if you get to the place
where your head starts to swim a little bit and you get to the
place where you start to wonder what on earth is pastor talking
about, explain these doctrines. First of all, that's the way I
felt this week, being able to study for this lesson.
And #2 if it's that confusing, let me ask you, who is the
author of that confusion? Remember, salvation is so simple
that a child can understand and be saved, but yet it's so deep
that you can explore its depths your whole life and never mind
out all of the wondrous truths of what salvation is all about,
but yet must have childlike faith to accept and listen.
You must not have childlike faith.
You must have Mensa candidate faith to understand some of the
things we're saying today. Because you're going to look at
a chart in just a few moments and say, I don't know how anyone
could possibly understand that. But when you have layer upon
layer upon layer upon layer of falsehood built up for almost
200 years, the end result is this complete and utter
confusion. So we see that the Mormon church
that the author of confusion is Satan.
So the first of the doctors we're going to look at this
morning is mankind. What do the Mormons believe
about mankind? In Mormon thinking, all of
humanity are children of the Heavenly Father and of again the
Heavenly Mother, believing that Heavenly Father once again is a
man of flesh and bones. And that through sexual union
between Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, spirit children
were created. And then over time, those spirit
children would receive bodies and would come to earth.
By the way, it's one of the reasons why the Mormons believe
so heavily in having large families.
Why is that? Well, because they need to make
sure there are vessels, there are human beings for the spirit
children that are just waiting up in heaven to have a chance to
be able to come down here to earth.
It's the role of families on earth to provide bodies for the
Spirit children to inhabit and go through the probationary
testing here on earth to determine their worthiness to go
back and to live with the Heavenly Father.
Now this is totally in contrast to what the Bible says, that we
were not spirit children just floating in the ethos before we
came to earth. Well, I would submit to you
Isaiah 44, verse 2. Thus saith the Lord that made
thee and form thee from the womb.
Isaiah or Zechariah 12, Zechariah 12, verse one, the
burden of the word of the Lord of Israel saith the Lord, which
stretches forth the heavens and layeth the foundations on earth
and formeth the spirit of man within him.
What does the Bible say? That when you were created, that
spark of life that took place at the moment of conception, that
is when you became who you are. By the way, that's the reason
we're so adamantly opposed to abortion.
Why? Well, because that child is a
life now. Did God know who you were before
the foundation of the earth? Absolutely.
Did God in his omniscience understand the beginning from
the end before the beginning? Absolutely.
Nothing has taken God by surprise here in this world at
any juncture, at any point. However, to say that we were
preexisting before we existed is not what the Bible says, but it
is what the Mormon church teaches.
Now listen, originally Mormons taught that Elohim was Adam in
the Bible and that Eve was his spirit wife here on earth.
Now modern Mormons deny this. Today they say that is not true.
However, it was taught by previous Mormon presidents who
we'll see in just a few moments reminding you they are
considered prophets. So previous prophets said Adam
was God. Current Mormon prophets say Adam
was not God. But let me ask you this, Who was
the one that received the revelation from God?
Apparently they both did according to the Mormon church.
So did God reveal something incorrectly to the first
prophets, but then correctly revealed correctly later?
Now we know what the Bible says about this.
Deuteronomy 18 verse 20. 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. It was so serious in the Old
Testament if someone said they had a word from the Lord, but
yet did not have that word from the Lord, they were proven false
that they were to die. And So what do we see that the
Mormons over and over did? Just like Jehovah Witnesses,
they keep saying this is what God says, but then they turn
around say, oh, just kidding, God didn't actually say that.
He actually said this. That's coming up on this side
over here and over and over that's the case.
But where's the confusion coming from?
It's not God who's the author confusion, but rather it is
Satan. So first of all, we see that
they are far, far off on the issue of mankind.
Next we have salvation. Salvation.
Salvation is completely and totally by works.
Remember, those Spirit children in these bodies are on a
probationary period while they're here here on earth.
They have got to prove themselves that they are worthy
to enter one of the kingdoms later on.
Now this is according to their articles of faith.
It says this. We believe that the first
principles and ordinance of the gospel are first, faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Second, repentance.
Third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, 4th.
Laying on of hands to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Nephi 25 or second 2525, verse 32 says this.
For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children
and also our brethren to believe in Christ, to be reconciled to
God. For we know that it's by grace
that we are saved. After all we can do.
Now let me just say that last phrase again.
It's for by grace we are saved. And really at that point we
would all say Amen, isn't it? Because that's what the Bible
says is by grace that we are saved after all we can do.
Basically you have to be able to do all you can and then God's
grace fills in the blanks. What is that?
That is completely and totally a works based salvation which is
contrary in every way shape or form to the word of God.
The prophet Moroni related grace and works when he said yay, come
unto Christ and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all
ungodliness. And if you shall deny yourselves
of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind, and
strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his
grace he may be perfect in Christ?
And if the grace of God you are perfect in Christ, you can in no
wise deny the power of God. Moroni 10, verse 32.
So again. You do everything you possibly
can do, and once you know you do everything you can do, then
God's grace will be real in your life.
But again, that's not even the definition of what grace is.
Grace is receiving that of which we do not deserve.
Grace is what saves us, and it's us accepting the gift of
salvation. Not that we have achieved grace.
Not that we have earned grace. Listen, if you earn grace, you
don't have grace. If you have achieved grace, you
don't have grace. But this is what the Mormons say
over and over and over again. So what do the Mormons teach
about salvation? Let me just say this.
This is about to get weird, all right?
There's no other way to be able to explain this but that.
This is about to get very, very confusing.
So we have our first video that we have queued up, and I want
you to watch that. And then I have a very
interesting slide I want to show you as well.
This one get to heaven. What is life like there?
They gleaned from biblical passages about there being a
heaven and there being a hell, and they've debated what those
might mean for individual followers of Jesus.
But a near consensus existed among American Christians.
Heaven was small. It was for the elect.
Most people wouldn't be there. I was taught that Christ would
have a mere few trophies of his mission to the world, while his
antagonist would have countless millions.
My situation appeared more precarious than a ticket and a
lottery. Caleb Rich.
In February 1832, while working on their inspired translation of
the Bible, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had a remarkable
vision of the afterlife, organized not into a single
heaven and hell, but into degrees of glory.
When he printed the revelation, William W Phelps assumed most
Saints would rejoice over it. The vision is the greatest news
that was ever published. A man, William W Phelps.
Other Saints, like Phoebe Peck, encourage their friends to
prayerfully consider the new teachings.
These things are now in print and are going forth into the
world. You perhaps will have an
opportunity of reading for yourself, and if you do, I hope
you will read with careful and a prayerful heart.
Phoebe Peck. But not everyone found it easy
to accept the new revelation. As missionaries went out to the
branches, they sometimes encountered serious concerns.
Ezra Landing and Geneseo denied the vision and other members
joined him. Brother Landing said the vision
was of the devil and he believed it no more than he believed the
devil was crucified. John Murdoch.
It may seem strange to modern Latter Day Saints why the vision
prompted such strong reactions among early LDS converts, but we
have to recognize that that vision was received in a time of
deep theological debate and argument.
Rival Christian groups, the old guard Calvinists and a renegade
group of Christians, fought over the question of the afterlife.
Those renegade Christians were called universalists because
they taught that God's power and his patience, his mercy, would
eventually save the entire human family.
And this is an idea that was radical.
Universalists challenge traditional Christians, and
traditional Christians fired back.
They argued that this could lead to social or religious chaos.
What would it mean to moral order if people thought no
matter what they did, eventually they'd be saved?
Even Brigham Young initially had concerns about the vision's
teachings. My traditions were such that
when the vision first came to me, it was directly contrary and
opposed to my former education. I said, wait a little.
I did not reject it, but I could not understand it.
Brigham Young. The 21st section of the Doctrine
of Covenants encourages us to follow the prophet in patience
and faith. We sometimes forget the patience
part. Like Brigham and perhaps others
of the day, we can sometimes benefit by realizing that we
have to grow into the revelations.
We have to grow an understanding, impatience which
will strengthen our faith and help us to realize that the Lord
does in fact direct His Church. Rather than rejecting the vision
or leaving the church, Brigham Young took time to wrestle with
it and ponder its teachings. I used to.
Think and pray to read and think until I knew and fully
understood it for myself. Brigham Young.
It seems in retrospect that the people were not nearly so much
afraid of what the vision actually said as what they
thought it might mean. The 76th section of the Doctrine
Chemist neither teaches the kind of universalism where everyone
will be saved without the need for obedience, nor the kind of
restrictive salvation where only the very few elect are saved.
It clearly reveals to us our loving Father in Heaven who
truly desires to give all of His children all of the blessings
and knowledge and joy He has, depending on the laws each of us
is willing to obey. It wasn't until Nauvoo, when the
Prophet Joseph Smith and others started teaching about
exaltation in more precise and more dramatic ways, did Doctrine
and Covenant Section 76 take on a new light.
And they could come back to that revelation with new questions.
What does human potential actually look like?
What does God have in store for his children?
What has Christ made possible for all of the human family?
No text in all of our revelations presses that
question more poignantly than Doctrine and Covenant Section
76. So to say there are several
problems with what you just saw would be an understatement.
First, you see that their whole video was about the revelation,
so-called given to Joseph Smith, of what exaltation salvation is,
including the three different levels of heaven.
And did you notice both the professor and I use that term
loosely from Brigham on University, as well as the man
who was of the 70 apostles or the 70 leaders of the Mormon
church? They made the false dichotomy of
Christianity had basically boiled down to Calvinists and
universalists. They keep talking about the
elect over and over again that that really that the choices
between those two were the only choices.
May I remind you, if that was the only two choices, well, that
would be a problem. Why?
Because the Calvinists believe that there are the elect who are
saved no matter what they do, Irresistible grace, irresistible
salvation, which the Bible does not teach.
But then on the other side, you have the universalist, which
today will be Unitarian Universalists, which basically
believe, well, whatever you want to believe.
By the way, they don't believe what we believe and wouldn't
tolerate what we believe the word of God says, but everyone
else can all gather together. They give this false dichotomy,
these false choices. We're really there is this
middle ground, which is the well biblical crown that for by grace
ye are saved. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. So there's that, that false
choice that was made there and telling Mormons that really the
only way is this other way, which is there's three different
levels of heaven. But did you also notice that
they mentioned that at the beginning that Joseph Smith had
this revelation? There was a lot of confusion,
but that as time went on that they were able to understand
more and change the teaching more, refine the teaching more.
Can I ask you, was there any time in the Word of God where a
prophet gave a message that over time he says, well, let me
refine that message a little bit.
Let me change that message a little bit to make it more
understandable, more palatable. Listen, when it was thus say at
the Lord, thus say at the Lord, that's all that there was.
We saw this on Wednesday night, The burden of the Lord, thus say
at the Lord. That is what it is.
And so the Mormon church is kind of like a moving target.
It's just, well, eventually we'll get it right.
Eventually we'll hone it in. And the Jehovah Witnesses call
this the greater light, meaning that as they get closer to the
end times, they understand the prophecies more.
Those are both false. You never see in the word of God
where a prophecy was made. And then, well, they kind of had
to tweak it to make sure they got it right.
No prophecy was needed to be tweaked for Jesus Christ to be
born, to live, to die, for all of the prophecies that came true
of Jesus Christ, birth, life and death and resurrection, none of
those had to be tweaked even a little bit to be able to be
fulfilled. And this is what is said here.
Now, what is the Mormon view of salvation as well as heaven and
hell? Well, it's very simple.
In fact, it's so simple. Looks something like this.
You say, Pastor, I can't read all of that.
I understand because I actually have scanned this and put this
together. And this is not a chart here
that comes from the Latter Day Saints Church, but it is a chart
that has been compiled using. All their teaching.
Do you see where it starts? If you were in the top left
corner with heavenly fathers and mothers, these are the those who
are in Kolob, as it mentions there that the the heavenly
deities that there are have real physical sexual union which
would breed spirit children. Some are unfaithful, some are
faithful. They have probation here on
earth in this life. Then there's the spirits in
prison. They have an opportunity to be
faithful or unfaithful, reject or accept.
Some eventually go to outer darkness or hell.
But then there are on the right side three different levels of
heaven. There is terrestrial, there is
terrestrial, and there is celestial.
And there are some spirits who are also in prison who are
receiving physical judgment mission work that is supposed to
be done to the spirits in prison by other spirits who have been
in prison. Eventually you can make it if
you are faithful enough to the Celestial Kingdom, Lower, middle
and upper celestial Kingdom. And if you are at the top of the
celestial Kingdom, guess what? You become exalted to godhood
and then it all starts over again with your own part of the
universe that you will populate with heavenly Father and
heavenly as heavenly Father, heavenly Mother, and that you
have spirit children. And the cycle starts anew again.
This is one of the reasons why being sealed in marriage in the
Mormon church in a temple is so important, because you're not
just being sealed in marriage here in this world, but also all
the way to the celestial Kingdom.
If you make it so that you as husband and wife and listen
husband and wives as well. Because there's a lot of talk of
polygamy being no longer part officially of the Latter Day
Saints Church, but is very much alive and well in not just the
Latter Day Saints Church, but also fundamentalist Latter Day
Saints churches as well. They may not say it in all of
their websites. You're not going to see a video
as nicely put together as we just saw about polygamy, but be
sure that it is alive and well today.
Why? Because they have to get to that
top corner. They have to be able to have a
spirit family that can repopulate their own world.
This is salvation in the Mormon church.
This I I know you know this already, but it needs to be
said. This is not salvation.
There is nothing about this that is even remotely biblical.
There's nothing remotely about this that's even understandable.
It's incomprehensible to even be able to put together.
But when you add the Bible and the Pearl of great Price and the
doctrines and covenants and on top of them all, the Book of
Mormon, you have this confusing mishmash of three levels of
heaven, hell, and all of these different off ramps here and
there. It's enough.
Enough to make your head spin. But again, who is the author of
this? Well, it's obvious that the
author of it is Satan and Satan himself.
But we also see #3 the church actually went a little bit ahead
there. I made a mistake on my slides.
The church is next. The Mormons teach that there are
only two churches. There is the Church of the Lamb,
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the
Church of the Devil. The Church of the Lamb is their
own church, which they teach is the only true and living church
upon the face of the whole earth.
It is the same organization, according to them, that Jesus
Christ and the apostles were part of.
It's just after the apostles passed away, there was no longer
a church and it was revived by Joseph Smith.
Now remind you, we're not going to go back there, but we could
go to Matthew chapter 16 and we found that the gates of hell
would never prevail against the church, correct?
That there was no time, that there were no believers, there
was no real church. And by the way, when I'm not
talking about the Catholic Church, you know, when people
talk about the church that capital, see, that's what we're
talking about. We're talking about real
believers in real churches. Yes, that they were active all
throughout history, But but the Mormons will say that there was
this 1716 hundred year period where there was no active church
at all. There were no real believers
until Joseph Smith came along and changed everything.
One of the key scriptures they use is from Doctrine and
Covenants section one, verse 30. And it says this.
And also those to whom these commandments were given might
have the power to lay the foundation of this church and to
bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only
true and living church upon the whole face of the earth which I,
the Lord and will please, speaking under the church
collectively and not individually.
What is he saying? The Mormon Church is the only
church. There is no other church.
And so while they might have those advertisements, they might
want to talk about being fellow Christians, fellow believers,
yet really that many ways. This is simply a way for them to
lower barriers and invite people to investigate what it means to
be a Mormon. But really, when you get deeper
in, you find out, listen, there are no other churches.
There is just the Mormon church, the Church of the Lamb.
So what is the other church? Well, according to them, it's
all other churches. It's all other believers, true
believers, and it's the Church of the devil or the great and
abominable church. Every other church,
denomination, creed, religious society without exception.
Is a lump together as part of the second category.
They are man made, lacking priesthood authority, teaching
corrupted and incomplete doctrines, and ultimately under
the influence of Satan. The Book of Mormon calls it the
mother of harlots, the whore of the whole earth, and says there
are two churches only one is the Church of the Lamb of God and
the other is the Church of the devil.
Wherefore whoso belongeth not to the Church of the Lamb of God
belongeth to that great church which is the mother of
abominations. First Nephi chapter 14 verse 10.
So again, they do want to have this idea that we are all
together, but it just seems to be that that is more for PR.
It is more to be able to get people to lower their defenses.
But once you get involved in the Mormon church, you will find out
that there is no salvation in any other church.
It is only through being a Mormon because the only the
Mormon church is teaching that, which you see up on the board
just a few moments ago. And by the way, I would even
agree with that. Only the Mormon Church is
teaching those teachings. But it's because they are
totally and completely unbiblical #4 you see the modern
prophets, the modern prophets, the president is always a modern
prophet. They have had 20 presidents over
the years. I just mentioned they just
elected their 20th president a few weeks ago.
It is a office that is held, and from election until death,
Joseph Smith reestablished the office also of 12 apostles,
being those 12 apostles having passed away.
Joseph Smith reestablished the 12 apostles as well as a council
of 70. Remember that gentleman that was
kind of overlooking the city, and he was of the council of 70.
And they go back to Exodus chapter #24 verse 9, where Moses
brought 70 of the Jews, Jewish men, Jewish leaders up to Mount
Sinai. We saw that in Exodus chapter
#24 and so they have in their own minds recreated this as
well. But again, the problem is this.
Even the modern prophets do not agree with each other.
For instance, they have the issue with Adam and Eve.
Also, Joseph Smith prophesied in 1832 that a Mormon temple would
be built in Independence, MO within a generation 1832.
Now we can all maybe quibble about how much a generation
would be, but let me ask you this.
Do you believe a generation to be around 200 years?
I would say that be a big stretch on the word generation,
wouldn't it? Well, there still is no temple
of the 200 temples that are built around the world.
There is no temple in Independence, MO.
It was a false teaching by Joseph Smith.
Again, we saw what the the rule is.
That is, if you are wrong in one, you are not to be listened
to. It can't be Well, you know the
best baseball players have a batting average around 303
fifty. Look, as long as you got a good
batting average as a profit, you know you're okay.
No, you got to bat 1000 as a prophet because why?
If you're speaking for the Lord, the Lord makes no mistake.
And so there is no room for interpretation.
There is no room for wiggling. And over and over and over
again, Joseph Smith has been proven wrong.
And we'll look at a little bit more about what the modern
prophets have said even into the 1970s and so on.
But what is modern prophet? What does modern Mormonism say?
How do they explain this away? Well, they don't talk about it
very much, but when they do, they have said the prophecy
didn't fail. It's delayed, made by
persecution and disobedience and generation doesn't mean 40
years. It just means whatever will
happen in God's time. But again, what does that mean?
Just that changing of the revelation, the changing of the
prophecies. Just hey, hey, once we get a
little bit closer, we'll understand a little bit better.
Nowhere do you find a prophet ever acted with such behavior.
But the modern prophets are held up in essence as gods.
The modern prophets are held up as the Pope, as God Incarnate.
No, they wouldn't say that, but they believe that when he
speaks, he speaks. Ex cathedra, just as the Pope
does whatever he says is the law.
And so in essence they have 4 books.
They have again the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of
Great Price, and the doctrines and covenants.
But they also have the. Words of the.
Prophets as well. And I want you to listen to
something I believe is very chilling and it comes from one
of their own and it's just a clip about a minute and a half.
And so if we'll go ahead and run that, I think you'll find it
quite interesting along with this subject.
The world is full of so many self help books, so many
self-proclaimed experts, so many theorists, educators and
philosophers who have advice and counsel to give on any and all
subjects. With technology today,
information on a myriad of subjects is available with a
click of a keystroke. It is easy to get caught in the
trap of looking to the arm of flesh for advice on everything
from how to raise children to how to find happiness.
While some information has merit, as members of the church
we have access to the source of pure truth, even God himself.
We would do well to search out answers to our problems and
questions by investigating what the Lord has revealed through
His prophets. With that same technology today,
we have at our fingertips access to the words of the prophets on
nearly any subject. What has God taught us about
marriage and family through His prophets?
What has He taught us about education and Provident living
through His prophets? What has He taught us about
happiness and fulfillment through His prophets?
What the prophets teach may to some seem outdated, unpopular,
or even impossible, but God is a God of order and has established
a system whereby we may know His will.
Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His
secret unto His servants, the prophets.
At the opening of this the dispensation of the fullness of
times, the Lord reaffirmed that He would communicate with us
through His prophets. He stated my word shall be all
be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my
servants. It is the same doubt that that's
a cult just from listening what you just listened to and turn it
off turn it back on the 1st 30 seconds.
I think we'd all say hey, that's actually sounds pretty good.
You know, it's, you know, we don't need to, to look at all
these other entities that we look to the Lord for the
answers. But probably at the 32nd mark
and on is where it all changed, wasn't it?
Because all of the answers to life's questions are found with
the prophets. By the way, that's not Elijah,
Elijah, Isaiah, major and minor. No, no, that is the 20
presidents as well as the group of three as well group of 12 and
the group of 70. All you have to do is research
what they've said. All you have to do is research
how they've spoken on a multitude of subjects and you'll
get the answers to life's questions because either you can
hear from God or you can hear from the prophets.
That's what he said at the very end.
And that is chilling language. To be able to hear that a man
would be willing to stand in front of likely thousands who
were there at that gathering, that they had to be able to
stand in front of them and basically say, when you listen
to me, you're listening to God. That is dangerous.
And there is no doubt that that is cultish behavior.
Second Corinthians verse 11, verse #13 through 15.
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ, and no marvel.
For Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be
transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall
be according to their works. Second Peter, chapter one, verse
3. As according to his divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain in the life and
godliness, through the knowledge of him that is called to us,
who's called us unto glory and virtue.
You know what you need, not the prophets, you know what you
need, not the apostles, the presidents and all of them.
You have the Holy Spirit who lives inside of you as your
teacher. You have the Word of God as your
guide. That's what you have.
And the Lord has brought others in our lives.
Didn't we just see that Paul said in First Corinthians
chapter 4, you have 1000 instructors, but you have one
Father in Christ. But even he wouldn't have said
that he was the one and he was an apostle.
He spoke for the Lord, but even he wouldn't have had this
cultish behavior that they have, and they have no part of it.
Paul spoke for the Lord, but yet had a different regard because
he understood the Lord is the Lord and I am not.
But they believe that they speak for the Lord because they
believed in essence they are Lords themselves.
So we also see #5 the modern priesthood.
We'll go through these fairly quickly.
He believes that he and his companions, Joseph Smith, have
received visitations from various apostles and prophets on
their own. In 1829, Smith and Oliver Cowdry
claim that John the Baptist appeared on to them and laid
hands on them to confer the Aaronic priesthood upon them,
The priesthood of Aaron. This has been lost, according to
them, during the great apostasy that followed the death of the
apostles and now is available to Mormon men who are over the age
of 12 to be able to become part of the priesthood of Aaron.
Also, they claim that later on that Melchizedek appeared unto
them to be able to give them that Melchizedek priesthood.
Now this is blasphemous and the reason why we'll turn to Hebrews
chapter #7 let's go ahead and look at that ourselves.
If we get through this all the way, we get through it.
But I want you to see this in the Word of God, the Melchizedek
priesthood. There's the Aaronic priesthood
that be the priesthood of the Levites, but then the
Melchizedek priesthood. They want to remember.
Remember where we first find Melchizedek?
We find him in the Book of Genesis, don't we?
When he was talking and visited with Abraham and we see that
Abraham offered him tithes of all.
I mean, I've said Hebrews 7, Hebrews Chapter 7.
Yeah, I didn't want to say that, all right, but yeah, I knew it
was your fault, but I didn't want to tell you, all right.
But Hebrews, Hebrews chapter, chapter #7 For this Melchizedek,
king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham
returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him, to
whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by
interpretation king of righteousness, and after that
also king of Salem, which is king of peace.
Now, who was this Melchizedek? Well, first of all, we see that
he was offered tithes by Abraham.
By the way, tithing is before the law, we find.
Isn't that interesting? But that was offered by Abraham
to Melchizedek. But if you're still not sure who
this Melchizedek is, look at verse #3 he's without father,
without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days
nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God abideth a
priest. Continue and you'll find this
all throughout chapter #7 and we won't go through forsake of
time, but you could read the entire chapter.
The bottom line is this Melchizedek was a pre Incarnate
visitation of Jesus Christ, a Christophany being that Jesus
Christ Christ appeared before. Who else could it have been?
You don't offer tithes to me. Who do you offer tithes to?
We offer them to the Lord. You said, well I put in the
plate, I give it to the church. Well you may give it to the
church, but who are you giving it to?
You're giving it unto the Lord. That's why we take it as a
sacred responsibility to take care of the offerings.
Well why? Because we're just stewards of
that which has been given here. It all belongs to the Lord,
doesn't it? And so Abraham understood, I am
giving not to some other entity, I'm giving to the Lord.
And we find out here in Hebrews 7, if there's any question in
Genesis about who Melchizedek was, it is Jesus Christ.
So for the Mormon church to be able to say they are of the
Melchizedek priesthood, they are basically saying this, we are in
the place of Jesus Christ. Now, where do you hear that?
From the Catholic Church, from the Lutheran Church, for all of
those different groups where the priest will say, I am acting on
behalf of Jesus Christ as a Lutheran, heard a pastor often
say, well, every week would say I forgive you on behalf of Jesus
Christ. Listen, that is blasphemous.
Nowhere do we see in the word of God could we put it this way.
Jesus is Jesus. As I had a professor, I don't
think Batova had this professor, but as I had a professor in
Bible college saying, I've told you this before, God's God and
you ain't. And that's all it comes down to,
isn't it? To be able to have a professor,
to be able to say, or to rather to have someone of the Mormon
church to be able to say they're of the Melchizedek priesthood.
Very clearly here it is Jesus Christ and Christ alone.
Next we have baptism. Mormons are baptized at age 8,
typically baptized by someone of the Auronic priesthood.
It is one of the four parts of the gospel.
Remember, the four parts of the gospel is baptism, faith,
repentance, and the laying on of hands of the Holy Spirit.
And after baptism, hands are laid again by the Auronic
priesthood. You saw that photo that I had
last week of them gathering around and putting hands on,
laying on the Holy Ghost, which again, the Bible does not teach
that the moment you are saved, the Holy Spirit comes to live
inside of you. You're sealed unto the day of
redemption by the Holy Spirit. And they also again pursue the
baptism of the dead. Remember that very confusing
chart we had up here just a few moments ago?
Some of those who are the Saints in prison, some of those who are
locked in before they get to the terrestrial, terrestrial,
celestial, if they had any hope of that, if they were not
baptized in this life, they have to be baptized on behalf of
someone who's still alive. Again, to make clear, baptism of
the dead is not pulling someone out of the ground and then
baptizing them. That's what it sounds like at
first, doesn't it? That's not what it's saying.
It's someone going to a Mormon temple and saying I want to be
baptized on behalf of my great grandmother.
I want to be baptized on behalf of my uncle.
I want to be baptized upon someone for someone who lived
200 years ago. And again, this deals with their
fascination of genealogy, how they were the originators of
genealogy.com, which now has been sold a couple times, from
my understanding may still be held under Mormon holding
companies because there's a lot of those that are out there, but
yet they're thirst for genealogical records.
Why? Because they needed to know who
was where and when so they could be at baptized on behalf of
those people. And I, we almost hate to even
have to articulate these words because we understand this.
Nowhere in the Bible does it teach the baptism of the dead.
You do find that phrase in the word of God once, but yet it
means completely different from what they're trying.
Nowhere do you find someone in the word of God baptizing
someone on behalf of someone who's dead.
Listen, there's one life to live and then the judgement.
The Bible says once to die and then the judgement that when you
pass from this life, the decisions you make in this life.
Or what matter that there is no one that can rescue you from
this perdition. There's no one that can rescue
you from a holding cell. There's no one that can rescue
you from purgatory. There's no one that can do that.
But yet they have these awful teachings about baptism, next
creation. In Mormonism, Elohim was the
cooperation of Jehovah and others.
I'm sorry, let me try that again.
In Mormonism, Elohim, with the cooperation of Jehovah and
others, organize the matter that we see in our universe.
This is explained of course in Genesis chapter 1 according to
them, but also in the book of Abraham chapters 3 and 4, as
well as in the book of Moses verses chapters one through 3.
Now I want you to look at this here for just a moment.
This is what they say happened in creation.
And there stood one among them who was like unto God, and he
Jehovah or Jesus. Remember, they believe Jehovah
is Jesus. Jehovah.
Jesus said unto those who are with him, We will go down, for
there is space there, and we will take of these materials.
We will make an earth where on they may dwell, and we will
prove them herewith to see if they will do all the things
whosoever the Lord their God shall command them.
And the Lord said, Let us go down, And they went down at the
beginning. And they, that is the gods,
organize and form the heavens and the earth.
And the earth after it was formed was empty and desolate
because they had not formed anything but the earth.
And darkness rained upon the face of the deep.
And the spirit of the gods was brooding upon the face of the
waters. And they, the gods, said, let
there be light, and there was light.
Listen, according to the Mormons, God didn't create
anything. God is a cosmic organizer.
God took the elements that were already there and put them
together. Well, who is the one who does
that? Well, mankind does that.
When we say we create things, we don't actually create anything,
do we? I mean, we just organize
materials that are already here. We can create nothing.
When God created according to the word of God, he created the
term ex nihilo, meaning out of nothing.
And God spoke and it was but according to Mormons that God
was the great organizer. He took the cosmic mess of this
universe and like someone trying to clean out a closet and
organizing it, took stuff out, put stuff in, put it in the
right order, made sure everything was nice and it was
good. But yet that's what mankind
does. That's not what God does.
And so in creation, they are completely off as well.
And then #8 and finally, very quickly, their view on
minorities, beginning with direction.
From Brigham Young in 1852 until 1978, men of black African
descent, not just dark skin, were not allowed to hold the
priesthood, though they could be.
Baptized and considered members following Brigham Youngs death.
Successive prophets also denied temple endowments and marriages
to African blacks. There's no official teaching as
to why this is the case, but the most typical explanations
involve the curse of Cain and the pre mortal existence.
Of course, back in 1978, I mentioned this.
A few weeks ago, President Spencer Kimball claimed to have
received a new revelation after having a lot of pressure put
against them for not allowing those with African descent to be
able to be a part, a full part of the Mormon church.
And all of a sudden when all public opinion was raining down
upon him, he says I got a new revelation.
Everyone can be the same in the Mormon church.
Now we understand that that is absolutely atrocious to be able
to have that type of thought process.
But it is not only towards those with dark skin.
They've also taught over the years that Native Americans
we're going to look at this, Lord willing, in a couple weeks
when we look at the Book of Mormon specifically.
But they believe that those who are considered to be Native
Americans today are simply Jews that have traveled from before
the time of Jesus Christ and then also actually around the
time of the Tower of Babel, and then also some around 600 BC.
They came in two different waves.
However, they do believe that those Jews who are really Native
Americans, who are really Jews, that when they become part of
the Mormon church, that their skin literally becomes lighter
and whiter, that if they truly become saved.
I can't even believe it's coming out of my mouth.
But this is the teachings of which they have taught.
Listen, Second Nephi verse 5 or chapter 5 verse 20 through 25
says that the Lamanites were cursed with dark skin for their
disobedience. But then Third, Nephi chapter 2
versus 12 through 16 said that the Lamanites who turned to
follow God would have their curse removed and their skin
would become white and fair. Now Spencer Kimball, that same
man who in 1978 said, oh, by the way, we made a mistake all these
years about black people, he turns around 1971.
Seven years before that, he says he has seen darker skin members
begin to grow lighter as they lived out the gospel.
He's witnessed it himself. And he is a prophet.
He's heard from God. But yet the Mormon church will
obviously run far, far away from these teachings.
But you can't run from what is in print.
You can't run from what has been said.
A prophet who is wrong once is a wrong prophet.
A prophet who is false once is a false prophet.
And there is no doubt by looking at just these 8 doctrines that
this is an abomination and totally contrary to what we find
in the Word of God. By the way, today they have
disavowed the belief that righteousness can alter melanin.
Get that? Yeah, your righteousness does
not alter how much pigment you have within your skin.
By the way, good for them for getting that right.
But they got it wrong for about 150 years and got about
everything else wrong for about 200.
So what do we see after this? Listen, we've got to stay away
from this doctrine, but we must not stay away from these people.
They need help. They need to get released from
that chart that you saw of the perpetual cycle.
Just hoping to be saved in a couple weeks.
Next week, we'll be in our missions conference.
In two weeks, we'll be looking at the Book of Mormon, the Pearl
of Great Price, and the doctrines of covenants.
And then we'll take our final week in Mormonism to look at how
do we win these people to Christ because.
They need. Jesus Christ.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.