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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
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Bibles, please, a Second Timothy chapter 3 this morning.
Welcome to those of you who are watching online.
Second Timothy chapter #3 We're getting close to the end of our
miniseries looking at the cult called the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints, also called the Mormons.
And we'll be looking at the Mormon scriptures here this
morning. And so we'll be looking at the
scriptures for us to be able to understand a little bit more
about their scriptures. They have 4 different scriptures
of which they hold in high regard.
They hold the Holy Bible, of course, which we would as well
in high regard. Although I would argue that they
actually do hold it in high regard because they hold it
lower than the other three books that they truly regard.
And that would be the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great
Price, and the Doctrines and covenants.
And so we're going to give you a little bit of an overview of
each of those here this morning, again, as we have for the last
several months now, by using their own videos and their own
words, but also by most importantly using the word of
God. So we saw a couple weeks ago, of
course, we weren't in our series last week because of missions
conference, but we saw a couple weeks ago that the doctrines of
the Mormons are confusing, aren't they?
Do you remember the chart that we had up there about how one
was to achieve eternal life? And it was a flow chart that
would make someone who worked at a factory or something like
that, their heads spin, you know, they have all kinds of
flow charts and things like that.
But we looked at that, that there was three different
kingdoms. There were those who went to
hell, There were those who were evangelized in hell, and then
they were able to go to a different Kingdom.
Eventually, those of the celestial Kingdom were possibly
able to become gods themselves and then populate their own
world. And then everything else started
all over again in the cycle to goodness.
We saw that if God is not the author of confusion, then we
recognize who is, and that was Satan.
So that doctrine is inspired by Satan.
But we also ask ourselves this question, where that doctrine
come from? We know it originated from
Satan, but where is it found? Well, it's found in those three
books. It is found in the Book of
Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Doctrines and
Covenants. So as we look at this this
morning, I want us to go through and look at that.
Is there we go. That's the right one right
there. I kind of messed up my, my slide
right there. So put the 1st 2 on there just
because. But the first I want us to look
at is the Bible. The Bible and we're in second
Timothy chapter 3. I want us to begin reading in
verse #10 So if you follow along with me, because the Mormons
would say they have a great regard for the Bible.
I would argue that while they may say that in practice, their
belief about the Bible is much, much different.
So let's look at it, Second Timothy chapter 3, beginning
verse 10, where it says, but that has fully known my
doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering,
charity, patience. And of course this is Paul who's
speaking here. Persecutions, afflictions which
came unto me at Antioch, at Iconia, at Lystra, What
persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered
me. Yeah.
And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and
worse, deceiving and being deceived.
Paul says this, Even though I've gone through some great
difficulties, I hold to the truth.
Even though I've gone through some hardships, I will follow
what the Lord has for me, he says.
But not everyone feels that way. There are evil men.
They're seducers, those who speak lies, and they wax worse
and worse. Not only do they deceive
themselves, but they deceive others as well.
And it continues that Timothy, he says, Continue thou in the
things which thou has to learn, and assured of knowing of whom
thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the
Holy Scriptures which are able to make the wise unto salvation
through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
So what do we need to have to be able to understand salvation?
We need the Holy Scriptures. Now does it say we need the Holy
Scriptures and another book? It does not.
Does it say we need the Holy Scriptures and prophecy coming
from another person in modern day?
It does not. It says this, that you can be
wise unto salvation by simply understanding the word of God.
And it says all scriptures given by inspiration of God is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be
perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, meaning
this perfect complete that we would be entire, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works. Everything you need to know
about living this life is here in the Word of God.
And I think I need to say that again to make sure that we
understand where we are this morning.
Everything you need to know about this life is found here in
the word of God. You say, well pastor, there's
other things that like nature, there's other things like
history and things like science and mathematics, and those
aren't in the word of God. I'm not saying those aren't
important, but listen, the things that answer the deepest
issues of life, the things that the mathematicians and the
scientists and the historians that they can't answer through
their own pursuits, the answers to the deepest issues of the
heart, including the very issue of salvation, is found in the
Word of God and not in any other book.
We believe as Bible believing Baptists.
We believe in the sufficiency of Scripture.
What do I mean by that? The Scripture is enough.
If you have the word of God, you have what you need to be able to
live the Christian life. Let me give you a few examples.
Second Peter 1 verses 3 and 4. According as his divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and
godliness, through the knowledge of him that have called us to
glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us great and precious
promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world
through lust. Everything that pertains to life
and godliness has been given to us by God through the
Scriptures. Proverbs chapter 30, verses 5:00
and 6:00. Every word of God is pure.
He is a shield unto them that put their trust to them.
Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou
be found a liar. You know what God says.
He says this in His Word. I've said what I said and don't
add to it. And we can go to the Book of
Revelation. We're not going to because we've
looked at it several times in the series where the very
closing of the word of God. God, we are reminded, don't add
to the word of God. Don't take away from the word of
God. If God has said it, He has
spoken. We don't have the right to add
to it or subtract from it. Proverbs 19, verses 7 and 8.
The law of the Lord is perfect. Converting the soul.
The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple the
statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart.
The commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes.
We believe in the sufficiency of Scripture because the Bible
teaches the efficiency of Scripture.
Listen, if the Bible is not enough, then God isn't enough.
Think about that. If this is His word and the
Bible is not enough, then God is not enough.
Now the Mormons are going to give lip servants to the fact
that they feel about the Word of God the way we feel about the
word of God. And they can say it, they can
speak it, they can proclaim it, but in their actions, they say
exactly the opposite. Because when they say, yes, we
have the word of God, but also there's this other book that you
need as well. Oh, and there's a third book
that you need as well. Oh, we forgot, there's a fourth
book that you need as well. Oh, and the prophets can
literally speak the word of God into existence today as well.
You never truly know what God is saying because listen, they
don't truly know what the God is saying.
Isn't it so much easier to just, well, believe the Bible and to
believe it for what it is? And while they say they do, they
do not in practice. So I believe we're all on the
same page with that here this morning.
There's not a lot of explanations as needed, but I do
want to remind you that we believe as Bible believing
Baptist in the sufficiency of the scripture.
But secondly, you see that second text that the Mormons
will hold to, and the second is the Book of Mormon.
Now, we've heard a lot over the years about the Book of Mormon.
If you see one of those Mormon missionaries coming to your
door, often times under their arm, they'll have tucked a Book
of Mormon. What is the Book of Mormon?
What does it speak about? What does it teach about?
Well, I have a video that I want to introduce to you, and then I
want to give you the part of the Book of Mormon that they won't
tell you from their own website. So let's go ahead and run that
first video, please, gentlemen. The Book of Mormon.
What is it and why do members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints care so much about it?
Mormons properly referred to as Latter Day Saints.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints read
and Revere the Bible, as all Christians do.
But they read and believe in an additional book called the Book
of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ.
For them, it's not a replacement for the Bible.
It's not a substitute. It's a companion.
Just as the Bible is scripture, the Book of Mormon is also
scripture. Let's talk a little about what
scriptures are and how they come about.
The word scripture means sacred or religious writings.
Scriptures are written by God's spokesman, called prophets, His
representatives. Although God often teaches and
communicates with His children individually, something Latter
Day Saints call personal revelation, when God interacts
with or teaches His children as a people, His prophets record
those events and teachings for the benefit of all.
The Holy Bible is one example of Scripture.
It is an account of God's interactions and teachings with
the people in and around the Eastern Mediterranean region
before, during, and after the ministry of Jesus Christ.
It is a collection of writings, both spiritual and historical,
written by prophets. In the Holy Bible there are
miraculous stories of faith, sacrifice, trial, and love.
You might have heard of Noah and the Ark, or Moses and the
children of Israel, and of course, the birth, ministry,
death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
These stories and events were written down, collected and
shared from generation to generation.
They were eventually compiled into a collection of scripture,
a book called the Holy Bible. Originally written in both
Hebrew and Greek, the Bible has since been translated into
English and hundreds of other languages available throughout
the world. What about the people that lived
beyond the geographical setting of the Bible outside the
Mediterranean area? What kind of interaction did God
have with them? Well, in the Bible from the book
of John, Jesus revealed to his disciples in Jerusalem.
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I
must bring, and they shall hear my voice.
And there shall be one fold and 1 shepherd.
Some of these other sheep to which Jesus refers are the
inhabitants of the ancient Americas who lived at that time.
The Book of Mormon is a compilation of the sacred
writings of many generations of the people that lived there and
received instruction and teachings from God.
They had prophets who, just like the Bible, recorded spiritual
and historical events over thousands of years.
And similarly to the Bible, these stories and events were
written down, collected, and shared from generation to
generation. They too were eventually
compiled into a book. It is called the Book of Mormon,
another testament of Jesus Christ, and like the Bible, the
Book of Mormon is a collection of writings, both spiritual and
historical, written by God's prophets.
In the Book of Mormon, there are also miraculous stories of
faith, sacrifice, trial, and love.
The crowning event in the Book of Mormon is the account of
Jesus Christ ministering to the other sheep as he said he would.
Shortly after his death, the Savior appeared to the
inhabitants of the ancient Americas as the resurrected Lord
with a body of flesh and bones. As he did in his earthly
ministry in Jerusalem, Jesus taught the inhabitants his
gospel and they recorded it. They handed it down to future
generations through prophets, leaders, and other inspired
individuals. So how did the Book of Mormon
get its name? Who is Mormon and what does he
have to do with this book of scripture?
In the 4th century AD, again in the Americas, there lived a
prophet and historian named Mormon.
He was charged by God to abridge all of the scriptural records
that have been kept and passed down from past prophets in that
part of the world. Mormon engraved the abridgement
on gold plates in a language his people called Reformed Egyptian.
As Mormon was the prophet whom God called to compile the
centuries of records. The book carries his name, the
Book of Mormon. At the end of his life, he
passed these engraved plates to his son Moroni, also a prophet
of God, who was last to add to the book before he died.
Moroni buried the gold plates in a stone box on a hillside in
what is now upstate New York. 1400 years later, in 1823, this
same Prophet Moroni, now a resurrected being, appeared to
the Prophet Joseph Smith. He told Joseph about the gold
plates, showed him where to find them, and commanded him to
translate the record into English, which Joseph did under
the power and inspiration of God.
And since then, the Book of Mormon has been translated into
over 100 languages and is, like the Holy Bible, also available
throughout the world as an additional book of sacred
writings written by God's prophets.
Scripture. So what's in the Book of Mormon?
As stated on its introduction page, the Book of Mormon puts
forth the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ, outlines
God's plan of happiness for his children, and tells them what
they must do to gain peace in this life and obtain salvation
and eternal life with God. Nephi, an early prophet found in
the Book of Mormon, preached. And we talk of Christ, we
rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ,
and we write according to our prophecies that our children may
know to what source they may look for a remission of their
sins. In fact, the Book of Mormon has
over 500 pages containing nearly 3500 references to the Savior
Jesus Christ. It testifies of Jesus Christ.
It declares the mission of the Savior.
It reveals the gospel of Jesus Christ and clarifies doctrine.
As the Bible contains the Old Testament and the New Testament,
the Book of Mormon is yet another testament of Jesus
Christ. It is another witness of God's
dealings with His children in a different part of the world.
The Bible and the Book of Mormon work together to teach and
testify of the Lord Jesus Christ and God's dealings with His
children. Today, millions of Latter Day
Saints believe the Book of Mormon, another testament of
Jesus Christ, to be scripture. They believe it is the word of
God to His children and stands as a companion to the Holy
Bible. God loves His children and wants
them to know about Him, learn of Him and His Son Jesus Christ.
He has provided Holy scripture to show His children the way.
Through living the teachings found in the Book of Mormon and
the Holy Bible, they can find peace in this life and salvation
in the life to come. The Book of Mormon, what it is,
where it came from, and what it teaches, now you know.
It's interesting they say they talk of pride Christ, they
preach of Christ, all those different things, but the Christ
they speak of and teach of is not the Christ of the Bible.
In fact, quite the opposite. There's so many issues that we
could take from there. But the one word that I want to
point out to you that may have stuck out, that was said several
different times is this word companion.
It is a companion to the word of God.
And when I was watching this video for the first time,
immediately Amos chapter 3 verse 3 came to mind where it says
this can two walk together except they be agree for it to
be a companion to the word of God, the Book of Mormon must
well agree with the word of God. It cannot be contrary to it in
any singular way. But we find that the Book of
Mormon is contradictory to the Bible in almost every single
way. You could even see the twisting
of the word of God saying that Jesus spoke of the other sheep.
Now he was Speaking of the Gentiles at that time.
He wasn't Speaking of a mission that he was going to take to the
Americas, to North and South America after his resurrection
to go and preach and teach to those people there.
But let me just give you 8 contradictions between the Book
of Mormon and the Bible. There's a, can I put it this
way? There's a very short list.
If I'm just giving you 8 here, it's only for the sake of time.
It's not because there are only 8 contradictions.
But in saying that if there was 1 contradiction, the word of
God, that would be enough to invalidate it, wouldn't it?
We don't get to the sliding scale where eventually, well now
there's enough contradictions where it is not the word of God.
Listen, if there was one mistake in our Bible would not be the
word of God because our God is perfect, but yet we find our
word of God is perfect. That's why we use it, that's why
we believe it. The Book of Mormon is not and
has never been the word of God #1 The Book of Mormon teaches
that little children are not capable of sin because they do
not have a sinful nature. Moroni 88.
In contrast, the Bible says in Psalms 51 verse five that we
have a sinful nature from birth #2 The Book of Mormon teaches
that the disobedience of Adam and Eve in eating the forbidden
fruit was necessary so that they could have children and bring
joy to mankind. Second Nephi chapter 2 verses 23
through 25. In contrast, the Bible
specifically declares Adam's transgression was a sinful act
of rebellion that unleashed the power of sin and death in the
human heart #3 The Book of Mormon teaches that black skin
is a sign of God's curse so that white skinned people are
considered morally and spiritually superior to black
skinned people. Remember, we talked about this a
couple weeks ago, Second Nephi 521.
They could try to wave their hand and make it go away.
But that is in their scriptures #4 the Book of Mormon teaches
that it is by grace that we're saved.
Listen to this. After all we can do is by grace
that you're saved. You hear that part like, all
right, that's at least good after all you can do, which is
second Nephi chapter 25 verse #23 We know the Bible teaches
quite opposite of that. According to the Book of Mormon,
about 600 years before Christ, a Nephite prophet predicted that
many plain and precious parts would be removed from the Bible.
In contrast, it's clear from Jesus earthly ministry that he
had great confidence in the scriptures, including the Old
Testament, which would have been their scriptures they had at
that time. Why?
Because he constantly referred to the scriptures and even read
the scriptures in the synagogue. Jesus had no problem with the
scriptures, even though the Mormons said that they had been
corrupted even at Jesus's time. Number six, according to a Book
of Mormon prophecy, at the time of Christ's crucifixion,
darkness covered the face of the earth for the space of three
days. But yet, what does the Word of
God say? That darkness covered the earth
for three hours, not 3 days #7 According the Book of Mormon,
there are many high priests serving at the same time.
There's four different references that I have here of
many different high priests serving at the same time in the
New World, but yet the Bible is clear that there's only ever one
individual at a time to occupy the office of high priest under
the Old Testament Testament dispensation.
The Book of Mormon describes operation of multiple temples,
but yet this violates the dictates of the Old Testament
scriptures on two counts. First, God commanded Israel to
build only one temple to reflect that there is only one true God.
But secondly, the one legitimate temple was built in Jerusalem,
the location designated by God Himself.
This is a very, very short list of what could be a very, very
long list of the contradictions between the Word of God and the
Book of Mormon, which just arrived on the scene about 200
years ago. Can two walk together?
Unless they be agreed? Could they truly be a companion?
Could it the Book of Mormon truly be a companion to the word
of God? No, it doesn't add to it.
It tries to discredit and take away from the word of God.
Now there were many, many problems with this so-called
translation of the Book of Mormon.
You remember those golden tablets that have been mentioned
several times? Here is a recreation of what
those golden tablets might look like.
There have been recreations that have been made over the years.
These tablets do not exist today.
Now. Of the 11 witnesses other than
Joseph Smith that supposedly saw the tablets, there are several
of these witnesses that say that.
Remember it said that those tablets were buried on a
hillside in upstate New York. That is in columna.
I believe New York is is how it's pronounced.
I've never been there, but they are on a hillside there today.
Supposedly they're still there. And if that was the case, if I
was a Mormon and I was the Mormon church, I'd be digging
that hill up until I found those golden tablets.
But for some reason, they've left that area pretty pristine.
It doesn't seem like they're that interested in finding the
golden tablets, which would seem to be something they would
really want. Well, why is that?
Well, perhaps they have an understanding that those golden
tablets are not there. The Book of Mormon talks of
these generations and these groups of people that were found
in the Americas around the time of Christ, but yet history does
not show that any of those people groups even existed in
the Americas during that time. In fact, there's no record of
these peoples from historical or archaeological studies.
The cities, the temples, the armies, and the weapons found in
the Book of Mormon are non existent to archaeology and non
existent to history. Now hold on a second.
Some of you might say, well, pastor, there's things that are
mentioned in the Bible, isn't there things that are mentioned
in the Bible that that haven't been found?
You know, and that is true that that can be true to a certain
extent. But every time archaeological
digs are done in the Holy Land, over and over again, they always
confirm what is found in the Word of God.
There has been no contradictions that have been found.
And when there's digs, when there are researches that are
done, they always prove the word of God to be true.
Even at times when people have mocked that the word of God
mentioned a certain event or a certain time period or a certain
city, they have been found over and over again.
This has never been true for the Book of Mormon.
Interestingly enough, Joseph Smith did not look at the plates
while he was translating. You would think he would look at
that reformed Egyptian, which by the way, Reformed Egyptian is
not a language that has never been found upon the face of the
earth. There is never been found
anything that resembles a so-called Reformed Egyptian.
But how did he translate this book if he did not know Reformed
Egyptian? Well, according to a man named
David Whitner, and David Whitner was a one of the three witnesses
to the gold plates is a smaller group.
There's a larger group and a smaller group, the way that they
categorize them. Interestingly enough, this man
later distanced himself from Joseph Smith and then was
excommunicated from the Mormons completely.
But this is what he said about this process.
Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, put his face
into the hat, drawing it close around his face to exude the
light, and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine.
A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on
that appeared the writing. One character at a time would
appear. Under it was the interpretation
in English. Brother Joseph would read off
the English to Oliver Cowdry, who was his principal scribe.
When it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to
see if it was correct, then it would disappear at a another
character with the interpretation would appear.
Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power
of God, and not by any power of man.
Now I will say this, and I say this to be very clear about
this. If there was, this was the
method of which the Book of Mormon was translated.
This is no more than a practice and work of the occult.
To take a seer stone, to take a stone, a divining stone, to put
it in a hat, and then all of a sudden to see things.
I would not be surprised if Joseph Smith very much did see
things. I would not be survived
surprised if Joseph Smith very well saw at parchment.
But it was not because he was hearing from God.
Listen, it was because he was hearing straight from the devil.
I have no doubt of that whatsoever.
You say. Well, Joseph Smith was making
this up. It may not been that he was
making it up. It may have been that he saw it,
but it was not hearing from God. And if he knew his Bible, he
would understand that that is not the method to be able to
hear from God. And that the Word of God was
closed and that there was going to be no new revelation of the
Word of God because the Word of God, as we saw at the end of the
Book of Revelation, has been shut.
Boy, we could take a whole day just to talk about the Book of
Mormon and it's many, many mistakes.
But I want to remind you this, stay away from the Book of
Mormon. You can own 1.
You can have one in your home to use.
Like like I have a borrowed one at this point, Like I have the
New World translation just to be able to look at different
things. But I would say this to stay
away from it in your life because there is nothing in it
that is a companion of the word of God.
The third book that the Mormons have is the Pearl of Great
Price, The Pearl of Great Price. And we have a video to show
about that here in just a moment's the cartoon here to be
able to show the Mormon kiddos about the Pearl of Great Price.
And so we're going to watch that.
He would say you don't get cartoons at church.
All right, So we're going to watch that and then I'll give
you a little more explanation about the Pearl of Great Price.
The Pearl of great price. More scripture from the Lord.
One day a man came to Kirtland with mummies from Egypt.
With the mummies were some scrolls or very old rolls of
paper. The scrolls had Egyptian writing
on them. The man showed them to the
Prophet Joseph Smith. Joseph was very interested in
the writing. Some friends helped Joseph buy
the mummies and the scrolls. As Joseph studied the writing,
the Lord revealed to him ancient writings from Abraham, a prophet
in the Bible. With help from friends like
Oliver Cowdery, Joseph wrote with the Lord taught him about
Abraham's teachings. Abraham had seen a vision of our
life with Heavenly Father before we were born.
He saw that Jesus was chosen to be our Savior.
Abraham also learned about the creation of the world.
The Saints were excited to have these teachings from Abraham.
They were happy the Lord wanted to teach them more.
Abraham's writings became part of a book of scripture called
The Pearl of Great Price. This book also has writing from
Moses, another prophet in the Bible.
It teaches truths that are missing from the Bible.
The Lord wanted people to know these truths, so He shared them
with Joseph Smith. The Pearl of Great Price also
has Joseph Smith's testimony and the 13 articles of faith.
Joseph Smith wrote these things to tell the world what Latter
Day Saints believe. The Pearl of Great Price is A
small book like a Pearl is small, but it is very precious.
Interesting to me that when the Bible is not enough and the Book
of Mormon is not enough, well, what do you need?
Well, we need another book, don't we?
And that book would be the Pearl of Great Price.
Now, there's some very clever sleight of hand that takes place
in that video and with the history of the Pearl of Great
Price. Originally it was said by Joseph
Smith that he had these parchments on these parchments
of which he had acquired, that he translated them into the
Pearl of Great Price. Now, interestingly enough, over
time and over history, including during the 1800s and
specifically in 1967, it was found that those parchments of
which he had said nothing of the words that were in the Pearl of
Great Price that he just showed people.
They said, well, I don't know that I understand in this.
It was Egyptian, not reformed Egyptian, by the way, just
Egyptian and such that people would say, well, I guess we
believe him. Well, linguists later looked at
that and said, you know, these parchments have nothing to do
with what you say is the Pearl of great price.
It actually deals with Egyptian burial rites, which is where the
story of the mummy comes in and all of those things.
But did you notice? They said that he looked at the
parchments and that from that he was inspired to write the Pearl
of Great Price. The story has changed over the
years because originally they said that he read these
parchments and that's where they got the Pearl of Great Price.
Well, obviously that's incorrect now.
And so now they teach that he got the parchments, and as he
was reading them, he was inspired to write the Pearl of
Great Price, which was on the parchments.
But it was something that the Lord gave him.
And again you see the moving target over and over again that
it says, well, here's what it is.
No, actually, here's what it is. No, actually, here's what it is.
And the Pearl of great Price is as fraudulent as the Book of
Mormon. It includes the book of Moses,
the Book of Abraham. It includes a part of the Gospel
of Matthew. It includes the testimony of
Joseph Smith. And then it does include the
final section which was called the and is called the articles
of faith. And these thirteen articles of
faith are typically memorized by young Mormons as a type of
catechism to be able to understand more about the Mormon
faith. Even though it has been proven
that this is a fabrication, not a translation of the scrolls
that were found, the Mormons still hold very much to the
Pearl of Great Price and believe that just like it's a small
book, the Pearl is small, but it is of great value.
But yet we would look at the Pearl of Great Price as just
another corruption of a group that is trying to discredit the
word of God. And interestingly enough, if you
were to take the very methods of which we look at the Word of
God, and that these methods prove that the Word of God is
true, you apply those same methods to the Pearl of Great
Price and to the Book of Mormon, you will find out that it
crumbles under the weight of those who give it scrutiny.
So that is the Pearl of Great Price.
But there's also the 4th as well, and that is the doctrines
and covenants. But they would say that the
doctrines and covenants is the capstone.
That was the term that they would use.
The doctrine of covenants is the capstone of that which the
Mormons believe. But once again, the moving
target, the scriptures, we need a little bit more.
Well, the Book of Mormon, we need a little bit more.
The Pearl of Great Price, we need a little bit more.
Now we have the Doctrine of Covenants, and now you have the
completed record of what it means to be a Mormon.
They would say that each book builds upon the previous one,
but yet we would see that each book actually contradicts the
previous one instead of building upon it.
The introduction to this work reads as the following.
The Doctrine and Covenants is a collection of divine revelations
and inspired declarations given for the establishment and
regulation of the Kingdom of God on earth in the last days.
The Doctrines and Covenants primarily includes revelations
noted in sections not in chapters given to Joseph Smith
about specific points of doctrine as well as explanations
of other passages that were written in the past.
There are also a few revelations of modern prophets near the end
as well. Remember, every president is
considered to be a prophet of the Mormon, and we have the
current president who's been seated for only about the last
month since the previous president passed away.
But they speak, and when they speak, they speak literally in
revelatory fashion, and they can speak, according to the Mormons,
the word of God as well. Earlier sections are
contradictory to later sections as Smith receives new guidance
for the dispensation of the church.
For instance, early parts of Doctrine and Covenants says that
polygamy is condemned, but yet later on it is commanded and of
course we know since then it is been condemned again.
So according to Mormon Church, polygamy was condemned, then
commanded, and now condemned again.
Each of the sections includes headings that describe the time
and setting of the revelations and a brief note of explanation.
And so the doctrine of covenants once again is just adding to the
revelations of Joseph Smith as well as revelations of the more
common, or rather more contemporary prophets of today.
And this is where it gets very, very confusing.
And I know it's already been confusing as it is what we've
looked at the last couple weeks. Again, the book, the Bible's not
enough. So we go to the Book of Mormon.
The Book of Mormon is not enough.
We go to the Pearl of great price.
The Pearl of great Price is not enough.
We go to the doctor, the covenant.
And once again, if the current president was to speak in a
revelatory fashion against any of those four books, what the
current president says stands. What the current president says
overrides everything else that has been found in all those
other books. How could this be anything else
other than confusion? How could this be anything other
than being a a Mormon and coming to the place of saying, I don't
even know what we believe is a group.
I don't know what we believe is a church.
Could you imagine coming to church on Sunday and finding out
something that you held dearly as a doctrine for many years,
perhaps your whole life has just been cancelled out because of a
press release put out from Salt Lake City.
You say, well, that's that's you're being a little bit
facetious there. No, I'm being very serious.
So you're exaggerating. There's not an exaggeration that
I'm giving to you. That is exactly what could and
what has happened in the past, including when it talked about
those black brethren that they had in the Mormon church back in
the 1970s. And the public scrutiny upon
them was so heavy that all of a sudden they said, oh, they they
aren't actually the brethren of Satan.
We were confused about that, that when they said that the
Native Americans who came to trust Christ would have their
skin lightened as they believed more and became more righteous,
they had a revelation. No, we were.
We were really confused about that because it wasn't palatable
to modern ears. Listen, when anyone can override
the Word of God, there is no word of God.
When anyone can say the word of God is mistaken, then there is
no word of God. Listen, the Bible makes it
clear, let God be true and every man a liar.
What does that mean? When God speaks then we are the
ones to fall in line. We don't make the word of God
fall in line with us. What does it say In second Peter
chapter one verse 19 we have a more sure word of prophecy.
Whereunto you do well, that you take heed as unto a light that
shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star
ariseth in your hearts. What do we have?
We have a more sure word of prophecy.
Even in the Old Testament when the prophet spoke, they spoke
and it could have been forgotten over time, unless that it was
recorded for us in the Word of God.
But what do we have as a more sure word of prophecy?
We have all 66 books of the Bible.
You realize we have something that Moses didn't have.
We have something that the disciples didn't have, that we
have all of these books recorded for us.
And if you have a question, you don't have to go back in your
memory thanks to try to remember what the prophet said.
We can see the word of God. We believe the word of God, we
trust the word of God. Listen, we don't question the
word of God, you say, But doesn't that make the Christian
Church a cult if we just have this unwavering loyalty to the
word of God? And the answer is no, because
the the difference with us is compared to the cults is that we
are allowed to think on our own. We're allowed to believe on our
own. But as we do, we realize this,
the Word of God is true. The more we get into the Word of
God, the more our mind is open, the more we look at the Word of
God for what it is. The more you dig deeper into the
Mormons or the Jehovah Witnesses, the more you dig into
it, you realize, wow, there's so many contradictions here.
There's so many people speaking. We can't even know if God is
speaking or not. And so as we look at these
things here this morning, I want to encourage you be
knowledgeable about these. I didn't even give you the last
one there. That's the last one.
But being knowledgeable of these books, to witness to a Mormon,
you do not need to know all of these books.
Don't think that you need to buy all three of these to have on
your bookshelf to read so that you could ever witness to a
Mormon. That is not the case.
You can know some very key, some very basic doctrines, even some
of the ones that we have seen over the last few weeks, and you
can know them and use them in a conversation to be able to help
a Mormon understand truly who Jesus Christ is, not the
fabrication of what these books would proclaim about Jesus
Christ. So in saying that, the next time
that we're at our series, we're going to be looking at in a very
concise way, how can we share the gospel with a Mormon?
If someone knocks on your door, if you see him ride on a bicycle
down your street, how are you able to show them the love of
Jesus Christ? How are you able to breakthrough
the noise ways of which they have been programmed over the
many years, of which are the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of
Great Price, and the doctrines and covenants?
We're going to look at those questions coming up here over
the next couple weeks. 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.