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 are going to ask ourselves the question today as we look at
our text, or rather, we look at our series on world religions
and cults. We've been looking specifically
at Mormonism over the last couple weeks.
We're going to ask ourselves the question today.
Who is God according to Mormonism?
Now, that might seem like an easy question to be able to
tackle because Mormonism talks about the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost. And so one would probably think
just on the surface that they believe the same things that we
do about the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.
And, well, you here are a little bit more savvy than maybe the
person on the street who would not have that understanding.
And you know that the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, of
which the Mormons speak of, are not the Father, Son and Holy
Ghost, the Trinity of of the Bible.
In fact, they are quite different indeed in so many
ways. And I mentioned before that the
Latter Day Saints Church so desperately wants to claim to be
part of the wider Christian tradition, but yet their beliefs
place them outside of traditional and orthodox
doctrine. But the LDS church desperately
wants to be called Christian. And that's an odd thing in so
many ways because as I've been talking with several of you just
about during the week, it's so obvious that when you get
beneath the surface that there is not a commonality that we
have. But yet there does seem to be
this desperation for them to be able to be accepted as
Christians just as we are now. This has not always been the
case. In fact, you will find that
through history, really up until the last few decades, the
Mormons had much give a similar stance and posture to the at
least outwardly to Christianity as Jehovah Witnesses.
Of course, Jehovah Witnesses believe that everyone is
apostate except for them. And Mormons in many ways feel
the same way. But outwardly they have a
different posture that we're going to talk a little bit
about. What they believe is the church
that is redeemed and the church is not redeemed.
We're going to look at that, Lord willing, next week.
But again, modern media campaigns is trying to move away
from the name Mormon. In fact, you'll see from our
video this morning that they call themselves that purposely
say that the correct name is Latter Day Saints.
They want to get away from the stigmatism of the name Mormon
and want to be called Latter Day Saints.
However, you can name it whatever you want.
You can put whatever wrapping paper you want around it.
Once you open it up and look inside, you'll find that it's
the doctrine of devils. And so we're going to look at
these teachings this morning about the Godhead, Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost and examine some of those key doctrines in these
areas. Again, Mormon views are
unorthodox in relation to the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, who again, altogether we would call the Godhead.
So going on to the next slide right there, the Godhead.
Mormons deny the Trinity. Can we just start right there?
Mormons deny the Trinity. Now, a surface reading of some
of their documents would make it seem like they believe that the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one.
But instead be clear about this. Although again, on the surface
it would not seem to be the way. But as you get very deeper, much
deeper into their teachings, Mormons are polytheistic.
They believe in many gods, that Elohim, Father Son, Jesus
Christ, and Holy Ghost are just one of many gods and you as well
can someday be elevated to God as well.
The Mormons only worship the gods who are connected with this
planet. They only worship the gods that
are connected with this existence, this reality, if you
will, Elohim Son and Holy Ghost. The first article of faith of
Mormons says this. We believe in God the Eternal
Father, in his Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
Now again, just on its face, you might say, well, that doesn't
sound so bad that they believe in the three, but they don't
make clear that the three is actually one.
Why is that? Because they don't believe that
the three are one, that they are three separate gods.
Now this can be difficult to suss out.
In fact, I was talking with Miss Lisa yesterday.
We were looking at a verse. Mormon 7/7 in fact, I forgot to
pull it up and have it with me but Book of Mormon has a book
called Mormon inside of it. Chapter 7 verse 7.
It talks about them being one, and you'll find that there are
several verses that talk about that.
And of course, because the Mormons use the Bible, they have
some difficulty getting around certain doctrines because, well,
the Jehovah Witnesses, as we saw, kind of wrote those
doctrines out when they rewrote the Bible.
But the Mormons use the King James Version by and large.
And so they have to have excuses about why it says it says and
why they don't believe it. And so you will find that often
times that the Mormons will say something like this.
We believe in the unity of God or we believe that they are one.
But as you're going to see in just a moment, they truly don't
believe that God is 1. They only believe that he's one
in his purpose. They only believe that he's one
in his design. They don't believe that He's
actually one. They just believe there's a
harmony that they're all working together, but they don't believe
that they are actually one God. And so an online resource of the
Latter Day Saints describes their view of God.
These three beings make up the Godhead.
They preside over this world and all other creations of our
Father in heaven. The Mormon view of the members
of the Godhead corresponds in a number of ways with the views of
others in the Christian world, but with significant
differences. Latter Day Saints pray to God
the Father in the name of Jesus Christ.
They acknowledge the Father as the ultimate object of their
worship, the Son as Lord and Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit as
the messenger and revealer of the Father and the Son.
But where Latter Day Saints differ from other Christian
religions is their belief that God and Jesus Christ are
glorified physical beings and that each member of the Godhead
is a separate being. We'll see in just a moment.
They believe that God the Father is a real physical being who can
have real physical relations. And we'll talk about the
blasphemy of all of that here in just a few moments.
But instead of taking my word for it, I want you to watch a
video from the Latter Day Saints website.
It's going to be about 7 minutes or so long, but I think it
perfectly encapsulates what we're about to talk about and
it's a good investment of our time because again, that comes
directly from the Latter Day Saints.
So why don't we go ahead and watch that together and then
we'll see what's next. Central to the beliefs of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is their concept of
God the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
Mormons, properly known as Latter Day Saints.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
refer to these beings collectively as the Godhead.
To understand the Godhead more fully, let's begin with the
Latter Day St. understanding of God.
Latter Day Saints acknowledge and Revere God the Father as the
ultimate object of their worship.
He is the Supreme Being, the all knowing and all powerful Father
of all mankind. They even refer to him often as
Heavenly Father, meaning the Father of their spirits.
God the Father appears in the scriptural record from time to
time at very important events, like during the creation of the
world as recorded in the Old Testament or in the New
Testament, for instance, when introducing his Son Jesus Christ
at the Savior's baptism. And lo, a voice from heaven
saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
Latter Day Saints believe God is a loving Father to all His
children and wants them to have all that He has.
For this reason, He provided a plan of happiness and a Savior
to help his children learn of him and become more like Him.
Latter Day Saints pray to and worship the Father in the name
of His Son, Jesus Christ, the Lord, Savior and Redeemer of all
his children. Jesus Christ, God's Son, was
born in a Manger, lived among the children of God, and taught
His gospel of salvation. Jesus also suffered for the sins
of mankind, was crucified, and rose from the grave as a
resurrected and glorified being. He is the great example for all
of God's children. The Holy Ghost completes the
Godhead as the messenger and revealer of the Father and the
Son. We'll explain more about the
Holy Ghost a bit later. Together, the three members of
the Godhead are one in many ways.
But don't confuse the Godhead with concepts of the Trinity
found in other Christian faiths, as there are key differences
which for Latter Day Saints are very important to understand.
It can also be confusing at times when in Scripture they are
sometimes referred to as one God or when it says the Father and
Son are one. For Latter Day Saints, this
means they are all united in their thoughts, desires,
knowledge, power, and purpose to love, guide, and save all of
God's children. One important concept is the
understanding that each member of the Godhead is a different
individual being. For example, Joseph Smith, a man
whom God selected as his prophet to restore the Church of Jesus
Christ to the earth, revealed that God the Father and His Son
Jesus Christ are separate individual beings.
Joseph saw God the Father and Jesus in a personal visit from
them in 1820. In Joseph's words, when the
light rested upon me, I saw two personages whose brightness and
glory defy all description, standing above me in the air.
One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said,
pointing to the other, This is my beloved son, hear him.
This is yet another example of God the Father introducing his
beloved son. Joseph later recorded a
revelation that he received describing their physical
bodies. The Father has a body of flesh
and bones as tangible as man's, the Son also.
But the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is
a personage of spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost
could not dwell in us. Now let's talk more about what
Latter Day Saints believe about Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is often referred to as the Son of God, also
called the First born. Latter Day Saints believe He was
the first Spirit child created of Heavenly Parents and is the
eldest brother to all of God's children.
They also believe through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus
Christ made in Gethsemane and upon the cross, he became the
Redeemer of all of God's children, literally the Savior
of the world. And Jesus's subsequent
resurrection prepared the way for every person, whoever lived
or who will live, to overcome physical death by also being
resurrected with an immortal physical body, as the Apostle
Paul explained in the New Testament.
Even so, in Christ shall all be made alive.
Besides the many descriptions and names of Jesus Christ
referred to in Scripture, Latter Day Saints also believe Jesus is
the only way back to God the Father.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Now let's talk about the third member of the Godhead, the Holy
Spirit, also sometimes referred to as the Holy Ghost.
He is, well, a spirit. He does not have a physical
body, but his spiritual influence can be felt by all of
God's children. This attribute allows him to
work in perfect unity with Heavenly Father and Jesus
Christ, fulfilling several roles to help God's children live
righteously and receive the blessings of the gospel.
For instance, the Holy Ghost witnesses of the reality of the
Father and the mission of the Son.
And in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul describes other
feelings associated with the Holy Ghost.
Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.
The Holy Ghost also reveals and teaches the truth of all things.
God taught the Prophet Joseph Smith how all of God's children
can receive a witness of truth for themselves by the power of
the Holy Ghost. Yeah, behold, I will tell you in
your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come
upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.
So there it is. God the Father, his Son Jesus
Christ, and the Holy Ghost make up the Godhead.
They are three distinct beings with unique and important roles,
but together they operate in perfect unity and harmony.
God the Father loves all of his children and knows they will be
happier and more fulfilled if they listen to and feel the
direction from the Holy Ghost, follow the teachings and example
of Jesus Christ, and return to live with Him.
It's all part of God's plan, the Godhead, what it is and why it's
important to understand. Now you know.
Eid, So there's a lot to be able to cover there.
We'll cover it in just a moment as we look at Father, Son and
Holy Ghost. But I will say, did you catch
once again that they said that in other Christian faith or
religions or some other, but they use the term other
Christian meaning this. We're just like you all are.
But yet you saw they're not just like we are in any way, shape or
form. So let's look very quickly at
Father, Son and Holy Ghost and look at some of the differences
that we have from the word of God compared to what Mormonism
teaches. First of all, we look at the
Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father is called Elohim
and he was once a man who was created by another God.
Why does he have a physical body?
Because he was created by another God and became God
himself, who by the way, that other God who created Elohim,
well, he was a man at one point as well, who was created by
another God. And on and on and on it goes.
Again, when we say polytheism, you're saying that we're talking
about a multitude almost in an unlimited amount of gods, that
one is created to another, one is created to another, one is
created to another. And here in our reality, if you
will, in our realm, that here we worship Elohim, Heavenly Father
and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, according to Mormonism,
he was a created man of flesh and blood.
And again, the blasphemy of of our Savior, or rather our Lord
being a created being, the fact that he is not who the Bible
says he is, is of course of of the highest blasphemy.
He was glorified by obedience to his spiritual father.
And as I've mentioned to you before, his current residence is
on the planet Kolob. According to Abraham chapter 3
verses one through 4 of the Pearl of great price.
You say, where can we find the planet Kolob?
Well, it's just kind of one of those spiritual things that
again that you can't find it, but it's just they're kind of
like the golden tablets. Well, nobody can find them, but
you just have to trust them that it's there.
And again, this is not faith. This is to take the Word of God
and creating a perversion from it.
Now Joseph F Smith, who is the 6th President of the Latter Day
Saints, said this about the Heavenly Father.
I do not believe in the doctrine held by some that God is only a
spirit, and that He is of such a nature that He fills the
immensity of space and is everywhere present in every
person or without person. For I cannot, for I cannot
conceive it possible that God could be a person.
God the Eternal Father, who we designate by the exalted name
title, Elohim is the literal parent of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, and of the spirits of the human race.
Elohim is the Father, Father in every sense in which Jesus
Christ is so designated and distinctively He is the father
of spirits. Now listen to this Lorenzo Snow,
the 5th president coined a well known saying about eternal
progression and if we were to maybe encapsulate what Mormonism
is all about, it is this phrase right here.
So listen to it. Well, he, Lorenzo Snow said
this. As man now is, God was, as God
now is, man may be. Now think about that for a
second. As man now is, as we all are
flesh and blood right now God once was, and as God now is, man
may be that if you keep doing right, if you keep doing what
you are being taught by the Mormon church, eventually you
will not be like God. You will be God yourself with
your own world to populate and your own world to be able to
inhabit. And again, a lot of Mormon
teaching actually deals with the fact, you know, when we think
about heaven. Let me just stop here for a
moment. We think about heaven.
We think about the fact to be able to be with God for
eternity, to be able to worship Jesus Christ.
We see Revelation chapter 4, chapter 5, and we see those
heavenly scenes and we think about how wonderful it will be.
Most Mormon teaching does not actually focus on the fact of
being with God for eternity. It actually focuses on being
with your family for eternity. I want to be in heaven with my
family. I want to be in heaven with my
my wife and my children. Now again, let's be honest with
each other. We who know Jesus Christ our
Savior want our family to be saved.
Now why is that? Because we want them to be with
us in eternity with the Lord and to not to have to have the
devastating consequence of the penalty for sin, which is death
and hell, right? So we want that.
But to them, the issue is this. I have to have an eternal
marriage to be able to what? So that my wife and I can be
able to populate our own world as Gods as well as Heavenly
Father. And also the Heavenly Mother had
spirit children together, of which the oldest was Jesus
Christ, the second oldest was Lucifer.
Now this is again blasphemy in the highest order, as man now is
God once was, as God now is man. Maybe.
While the Bible does teach that we are to be conformed into the
image of Christ, Romans 828 through 30 talks about that.
Many places in the New Testament talk about it.
It never tells us that we will become Gods ourselves.
What are we supposed to be? We're to become like Christ with
the help of the Holy Ghost, but we are not to become our own
God. So how do we compare the
teachings of the Bible with the Book of Mormon and the other
spurious books of Mormonism? Well, you can see Mormon God the
Father was a created being, produced as a spirit child of
another God and his wife. But the Bible teaches that God's
an eternal being of the same substance as the Son and the
Spirit. Mormons teach that God the
Father was exalted to the good, to godhood by obedience to his
Father. But we see that God's always
been God, that in the beginning God was, that he already
existed. He existed outside of time
because he is the pre-existing, always existing God.
The Mormon Father is the father of all spiritual beings,
including Jesus. But yet we see according to the
Bible, that He is the creator of all other things outside of the
Trinity that God did not need to create.
God because he was pre-existing, but everything that you see, we
looked at this a few weeks ago. Everything that you see and
everything that you do not see all been created by God.
Mormon God the Father is one of three persons who are gods over
the earth, but yet we understand that God is one of the three
persons of the Trinitarian Godhead, meaning that we believe
in the true Trinity. The God of the Mormon seeks
counsel from other gods before making his plans.
He needs help to be able to administrate this world.
But yet we know that the Bible teaches that God exercises
absolute sovereign rule over the universe.
God needs counsel of no man. God needs counsel of no entity.
Why? Because it is US who need God,
not the other way around. And then we see the Mormon God
the Father was a product of Joseph Smith, described in
contradictory ways in various revelations, and in fact, to try
to be able to harmonize Roman Mormon teaching rather through
the Bible. And then Mormon is the Book of
Mormon and the Pearl of great price and doctrines and
covenants is a very, very dizzying thing.
And it's one of the reasons why they're presidents have to have
revelatory abilities to be able to smooth over the problems of
which their own teachings create.
But yet biblical God the Father reveals himself consistently in
the Bible. I'm so thankful for 66 books of
the Bible that you can find these so-called contradictions
of the word of God. And anytime you try to search
out one of those contradictions, you realize this isn't the
contradiction. It's actually someone
contradicting themselves trying to work themselves in a pretzel
to try to be able to show that the word of God is wrong.
All those people have tried to prove the word of God wrong are
dead and gone, but yet the word of God stands, doesn't it?
So what do we see? Well, the heavenly Father of
Mormonism is not the God of the Bible.
But I also want to look at who is Jesus?
Who is Jesus? The Mormon view of Jesus
diverges from the biblical Jesus in many of the same ways as God
the Father. Jesus also referred to by the
Mormons as Jehovah is believed to be the first spirit child of
Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother in a period and state
that that is known as pre existence.
So before the existence that we see now that Jesus Christ was
that first spirit child. Thus the Mormon can affirm that
Jesus is the first born over all creation, as it says in
Colossians 1:15, but they must deny the very next verse where
it says as he's the creator of all things that Jesus Christ.
And we looked at that with Jehovah Witnesses, didn't we,
that Jesus is the creator of all things and they have problems
being able to wrap their head around that.
Jesus himself is a created being according the Mormon, so he
could not create other spiritual beings.
But Jesus is not alone as a spirit creature.
There have been billions of spirit being sired by the
Heavenly Father who were all together in pre existence.
Jesus being the eldest spirit brother of them all.
And again, the 2nd eldest spirit brother would have been Lucifer.
And in a great heavenly council where Heavenly Father needed
help to figure out his eternal plan, Lucifer presents one plan,
Jesus Christ presents another plan.
Heavenly Father chooses the plan of Jesus Christ.
And so because of that, Lucifer rebels say, well, that doesn't
sound like what I've seen in the Bible.
Exactly. Nowhere do we find in scripture
anything like that or the fact that Jesus and Satan are
brothers, the fact that they are really just in this eternal
power struggle like Jacob and Esau, that they are going
through all eternity, Jesus trying to one up Satan and
Satan, you know, just behind, oh man, I'm going to get you the
next time. But that they're really Co
equals and just Satan's just kind of this hapless guy who
just can't get his stuff together to figure out how to
get one over on Jesus. This is the teachings of the
Mormon church now, perhaps maybe the most blasphemous of all the
teachings about Jesus, and certainly there were many.
We saw just in the video a few moments ago that they believe
that the main atonement that was made for mankind was actually
made in the Garden of Gethsemane and not on the cross.
You might have caught that when it went through the second time
to talk about who Jesus Christ was.
But they believe, of course, first of all, that Jesus Christ
became a spirit child because of relations between Heavenly
Father and Heavenly Mother. But how did Jesus incarnation
take place? How did he come to this world?
And the belief of the Mormon church is that Heavenly Father,
who again has a physical existence, who has a physical
existence as you and I do, had a sexual relationship with Mary.
And that is how Jesus Christ became born.
That it wasn't that the Holy Ghost came over her and she
conceived, as the Bible says, but rather that there's this
lurid story of the Heavenly Father coming to Mary and having
child. Now there's a problem with that.
Well, there's a lot of problems with that, probably more than we
could cover in just the next few minutes.
But how was she the Virgin Mary? The answer would be well, she
could not have been. It could have been a virgin
conception in the fact that that would have been the first time
that she had had sexual relations, but it would not have
been a virgin birth. And so again, the fact that that
the story, the beauty of the incarnation of Jesus Christ
turned into this lurid tale of Heavenly Father coming and
seducing Heavenly Father coming and, and overpowering physically
Mary to have Jesus Christ born is beyond the pale.
And again, you're not going to find these in these beautiful
videos that they have out in Times Square at Christmas time
or that they put out when the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings on
PBS every Christmas, which hopefully with the PBS cuts, we
don't have to watch anymore. OK, But you're not going to find
any of that. You're going to talk about the
beauty of Jesus Christ. But again, it's that dark
underbelly that I keep talking to you about that they want to
have all of this beauty up front.
Hey, we're all alike. That is not our Jesus and that
is not the Jesus of the Bible. Now again, making some
comparisons here, we say the Mormon Jesus was the spiritual
brother of Lucifer and all of the beings Biblical Jesus is the
creator of all other beings outside of the Trinity.
Spiritual, or rather the Mormon Jesus was a created being
produced as a spirit child of Heavenly Father and Mother,
while the biblical Jesus was an eternal being of the same
substance as the Father. And the Spirit in Jesus was
exalted to godhood by obedience to his Father.
But yet Jesus did not have to become a God because he always
was God, eternally God. The Mormon Jesus is one of three
persons who are gods. But yet again, that the biblical
Jesus is one of three persons of the Trinitarian Godhead.
The Mormon Jesus provided A sacrifice that was not
sufficient to pay for sins and offer full righteousness.
A pastor, Why would you say that?
Because again, they need to work, they continue to need to
do to be able to reach exaltation, to be able to have
that heavenly family so that they can become gods as well.
But yet what do we see? Jesus sacrifice was enough
according to the word of God that his precious blood paid the
penalty for our sins. The Mormon Jesus is a spirit who
entered a body formed by sexual union of Elohim and Mary.
But yet we see the biblical Jesus was the creator of the
universe from existing matter out of nothing.
And so we reject wholeheartedly that which they say that going
back to that in just a moment, or rather going back to what was
said of Heavenly Father and his relationship with Mary.
The book Mormon Doctrine written in 1966 on page 547 says Christ
was begotten by an immortal Father in the same way that
mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers.
Now think about that again. Christ was begotten by an
immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by
mortal fathers. Jesus was born in the same way
that you and I were, Father and a mother who had a relationship
together and a child is born and that's how Jesus Christ came.
And you want to call yourself the Church of Jesus Christ and
that's it. I mean, we just stopped right
there. You are the Church of Jesus
Christ. Nope.
You are the exact opposite of any church that is related to
Jesus Christ. And then we also see #4 after
looking at #1 the godhead #2 Heavenly father #3 Jesus and #4
we look at the Holy Ghost. Now, the teaching of Mormonism
and the Holy Ghost are the closest to biblical of the
Trinity. Now, I will say this, that's not
saying much. That's not a whole lot to hang
your hat on. The fact that, well, they're
closer about the Holy Ghost than they are with the Father and
with the Son, again, that's not a really a whole lot to brag
about. But I will say that the
deviations are less between what the Bible says and what the
Mormons say about the Holy Spirit.
But again, first and foremost, they deny that he's a member of
the Trinity. They deny that he is 1 God with
Father and Son after baptism in the Mormon church, a member of a
special Mormon priesthood, the Melchizedek priesthood, can lay
hands on an individual to impart them with the gift of the Holy
Ghost. And you see this picture here of
a man that has the Melchizedek priesthood.
There's 2 levels of priesthood in most wards, the Melchizedek
priesthood and the lower be the ironic priesthood.
And when you are saved in the Mormon church, and I use that
term loosely because they don't use the terms the same way that
we would because they don't believe the same things that we
do about eternity. But let's just say, just to
maybe make it just easier for us to understand when someone
becomes saved in the Mormon church, and again, they don't
have that time and place where they have that assurance because
they have to work their whole life.
But but just to be able to use that term and they are baptized,
but they do not receive the Holy Ghost when they are quote UN
quote saved. When do they?
Someone who is a member of their church, someone who is the
Melchizedek priesthood has to lay hands or a group of them
have to lay hands on that man, that woman, that child.
I found pictures of children with the hands laid on top of
them. And in those times that is when
a person receives the Holy Ghost, may remind you once
again, the Bible does not teach that man gives the Holy Ghost to
other men. You do not come to me and say,
Pastor, I'd like the gift of the Holy Ghost.
And I lay my hands on you. The trustees lay their hands on
you, and we're deacons, they lay their hands on you, and we give
you the Holy Ghost. Nowhere do you see that in the
Bible practice. Nowhere is that taught in the
Word of God. In fact, what does the Word of
God teach? It teaches that when you are
saved, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
That the moment you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, the Holy
Spirit comes inside of you and tabernacles with you.
That you become the temple simple of God.
Meaning this. That Jesus or rather the Holy
Spirit lives within you. That is what the Bible teaches.
Not that you need me, That you need some other man to be able
to say well now do you want the gift of the Holy Ghost?
Now the Bible does not teach that, but yet the Mormon Church
does. When someone is confirmed as a
member of church, they are told to receive the Holy Ghost.
And so at some other point they have not done this to become a
member of the church. They are to receive the Holy
Ghost. Now the gift of the Holy Ghost
is not supposed to be forced upon anyone, but it becomes the
responsibility of the members to invite the Holy Ghost to live
inside of them. Elder David A Bednar said this.
As we receive this ordinance, each of us accepts a sacred and
ongoing responsibility to desire, to speak, to work, and
to so live that we indeed receive the Holy Ghost and its
attendant spiritual gifts. Meaning this.
It is your responsibility to make sure you have the Holy
Ghost inside of you. It is your responsibility to
make sure that His ministry is active within you.
You have to do. And again, we go back to this
over and over again, and we can go all the way back to week one.
We probably ought not to do that this morning, but we could go
all the way back to week 1 and say this, that when it comes to
false religion, there's really only two religions on the world.
In the world, remember there's God and not God, and that God is
well, what the Bible teaches about God and everything else
can be lumped into that other group and all those other groups
always say this. You do this, you do that, you do
this, you do that, you perform this, you perform that.
You stay away from this, you stay away from that.
And if you do, then you will receive XYZ.
But what does the word of God say?
That Jesus did the work on the cross?
What do we need to just accept the gift of salvation that was
given and shed for our sins? And we'll be looking at that a
whole lot more this morning in our text during our sermon here
for friends and family Sunday. I just want to reiterate and
again, we're going to end a little bit early this morning
here in just a few moments to be able to get us ready for friends
and family Sunday. But I want to reiterate that you
are going to see especially over the next couple of months as we
get into the Christmas season, you're going to see a lot of
videos that are out there. Some of them will be so
flattering. Some of them will seem so
wonderful and you'll even then say, wow, that this is a very
God honoring video. This is a very God honoring
website. This is a very God honoring
publication that I would just encourage you watch it all the
way to the end because you might see that little logo in the last
two or three seconds that reveals it's from the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Turn it over to the back that publication.
Look to see if it's from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints and you can find how offensive it is that they would
say we're all the same. Why won't you accept us?
Hey, we, we, we celebrate Jesus this time of year as well.
And the answer is not our Jesus. Why?
Because not our heavenly Father and not our Holy Ghost.
And so the problem is whether they are a Trinity or not, of
course we know what the Bible teaches, but they teach that
they are not, that they are three separate gods.
And of course they're only three gods of the many, many gods that
exists in all the realities and all the universe and all the
universes perhaps even as well. But beyond that, that even if we
were to take the fact that they are wrong on the Trinity,
they're not just wrong on the Trinity, They're wrong on the
Father, they're wrong on the Son, and they're wrong on the
Holy Ghost. They are discredited on every
level and on every plane. So next week we're going to take
the other doctrines of the Mormon church.
We're going to look at their church itself and some of the
other doctrines of salvation. And if you're like me, you
wonder if you are a Mormon, how do you know that you're saved?
How do you know that you can reach that eternal plane?
And the answer is just as confusing as it was when we
studied the Jehovah Witnesses a few weeks ago.
Do you remember that video we watched where the man gave the
other gentleman 3 minutes? Can you tell me in 3 minutes how
I need to be able, what I need to be able to do to get to
heaven? And the guy just kind of like,
well, and finally, after three minutes, he says, well, I just
don't think God would do that to anybody.
And you're going to find that the answer for the Mormon church
is going to be just as confusing as it was for the Jehovah
Witnesses. Why?
Because when you get away from the simplicity of the Word of
God, you're going to find that it is very, very difficult to be
able to find what truth is, because truth is held in our
hands in the Bible. 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.