One must be on guard against those who claim to represent Jesus but preach a message contradictory to scripture. The Bible warns about this as a sign of the last days and Jesus Himself said, “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray an hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.” (Matthew 24:11).
This is the premise of my new book, The Gospel Truth, that takes a comprehensive look at various “Christian” teachings, scrutinizes them under the light of scripture, and exposes them as false. The dangerous terrain we travel in our walk of faith in Jesus Christ leads us directly into confrontation with false teachers and the father of lies, Satan himself. The apostle Paul warns us about this in 2 Corinthians 11:14, “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”
Just as Jesus was tempted by Satan after His baptism in the Jordan River, Christians are fair game to the assault of Satan when they profess their faith. The Christian message today varies from those who deny the divinity of Christ to those who believe in the transubstantiation of the bread and the wine at communion and others who profess the keeping of Saturday as the Sabbath (claiming Sunday worship is the mark of the beast).
One day I was approached by a young man in the supermarket who identified himself as a student named John. He was dressed nicely in a white shirt, black pants and black jacket. John asked politely if he could ask me some questions and I obliged. He then asked me if I had heard of God, “the mother” and proceeded to quote Genesis 1:26-27. “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
John explained that this particular passage of scripture showed that God is plural in nature and both male and female, hence the creation of man and woman in the image of God. Therefore, he believed that God was both Father and mother. Jesus never referred to God as anything but Father and John’s misapprehension of God’s plurality became the basis for his false belief. His error was evident by the quotation of Genesis 1:27, which reads, “So God created man in His own image…” “His” own image, followed by “He” created…. twice.
The Great Assembly
In Genesis 1:26 we read, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,”. It is counterintuitive that God would need to consult with himself or within the context of the trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit since God is omniscient and would know his own thoughts and intentions. Therefore, God must have been discussing his plans with the members of His council in the great assembly.
Psalm 82:1 reveals “God presides in the great assembly; He gives judgement among the gods.” and Psalm 89:7 says “In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; He is more awesome than all those who surround Him.” The book of Job confirms that God was not alone at the creation event (Job 38:4-7).
The plurality of God is to be understood as His triune nature. This is evidenced by Matthew 28:19 where Jesus instructs the eleven, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus didn’t say “names”, He said “name”, implying one name for one God. Furthermore, mankind was made in God’s image comprising body, soul and spirit, thereby differentiating humans from animals.
It soon became apparent that John was an LDS missionary on assignment. I witnessed to him through a gentle and concise articulation of the “Christian” interpretation of the scriptures he shared and encouraged him to dig deeper in order to discover the true gospel. He withdrew with perplexity and I have prayed that he will be enlightened and guided into the light of the true gospel. At the very root of his conception of creation is the misguided notion that perceives God in man’s image as opposed to man being designed in God’s image.
A False Gospel
While the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) has positioned itself as a Christian church, its doctrines and teachings place it just outside the periphery of the true gospel. Its erroneous interpretations of scripture are punctuated by blasphemous theological assertions that must be considered heretical, thereby relegating Mormonism to the counterfeit category as far as Christianity is concerned.
The present Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) considers itself to be within the parameters of Christianity, yet there are several contentious beliefs in their theology that deviate significantly from accepted biblical doctrine. Their perception of the Trinity and the nature of God is contrary to that which is portrayed in the New Testament. Latter Day Saints teach that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three distinct beings, as opposed to one being manifested as three individuals. They allege that the Father and Jesus have physical bodies, while the Holy Spirit does not.
This view not only deviates from Christian orthodoxy, but also differs from the Jewish concept of monotheism. The divergence doesn’t end there, as LDS beliefs include the heretical doctrine that God is not eternal, and that He was once a man. Joseph Smith taught that God was at one time a man who lived on another planet, and that through perfect obedience to his god, he also became a god. Smith wrote in his King Follet Sermon, “We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see.”
Mormonism teaches that LDS followers can achieve godhood in the same way and rule their own planets just as they perceive God did. This is full blown polytheism, since it presumes that there can be millions of gods, and all Mormons can be exalted to God status. In sharp contrast to this blasphemy, the Apostle Paul teaches, “There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:6). Christians, as co-heirs with Christ will inherit the kingdom not godhood.
Mormons believe that Jesus, as the begotten son of God, was conceived much like the Jehovah’s Witnesses fallacious teaching that “begotten” implies He was a created being. Again, the Greek word that begotten is translated from is monogenes, which means “one and only,” or “only one of its kind.” Jesus is the only natural Son of God, and true believers are adopted as sons and daughters (Ephesians 1:4-6).
One God
In Mark’s gospel, Jesus proclaims that the “Lord is one” (Mark 12:29), and God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and said, “You are My witnesses, declares the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, nor will there be one after Me. I, even I, am the Lord and apart from Me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:10-11). Interestingly enough, God is asserting the divinity of Jesus Christ in this passage and illustrating that they are indeed one and the same.
Again, in Isaiah 45:5a, God says, “I am the Lord, and there is no other, apart from Me there is no God.” Not only was Joseph Smith guilty of not knowing scripture, his followers for the past two hundred years also share in that guilt. It is baffling how an error in belief can be propagated continually over multiple generations and accepted as a legitimate Christian truth. Joseph Smith also claimed in his King Follet Sermon, “Here then, is eternal life – to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you …”
Polytheism is incompatible with biblical truth pertaining to God’s eternal nature and holy attributes. God does not lie, He does not contradict Himself and He does not change (Numbers 23:19, Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18, Hebrews 13:8, Malachi 3:6 and James 1:17). The blatant blasphemy of Joseph Smith cannot even be construed as a half-truth. It stands in violation of the first commandment, and in direct opposition to God’s word!
For those who claim that Jesus could not be God let’s turn the question around and ask if could God be Jesus? If God cannot be Jesus, there is a demonstrable deficiency in this rationale that stops well short of an omnipotent Creator and ultimately defaults to a perception that is substantially less than our God has revealed Himself to be. The essence of God is infinitely greater than our finite minds could ever imagine. Unless we seek to know the one true God intimately, we endanger our very souls by entertaining relationships with unknown spiritual entities. The spiritual realms are as real as the air we breathe and engaging in undiscerning spiritual dabbling can have disastrous results. The Bible says we are to test all spirits (1 John 4:1) because not all spirits are benevolent.
Jesus Christ is the incarnate manifestation of God in the flesh that we can all identify with and comprehend. He said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6). Do not settle for a vague or veiled Jesus but pursue the biblical Christ and earnestly seek your salvation from the only one qualified to save.
