Sermon
Week 20: Mormon Doctrine Is Inspired By the Author of Confusion | November 2, 2025 Sunday School
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
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Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
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us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
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We're going to continue with our study of Mormon doctrine today,
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and we started last week by looking at the Godhead.
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And then we saw that the Trinity is not the Trinity to the Mormon
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church, even if they use the term Godhead, that what they
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believe about the Trinity is not what the Bible says about the
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Trinity. They may talk about the Godhead,
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but they believe that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three
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different gods. And of course we know that is
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not what the Bible teaches. And then we looked at their
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doctrine on Elohim the Father and on Jesus Christ and on the
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Holy Spirit. And today we're going to look at
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a lot of other doctrines. In fact, we're going to give
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you, I believe, 8 of them in very quick fashion.
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But I will say this this morning, 1st Corinthians 14
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verse #33 says this. For God is not the author of
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confusion, but of peace. As in all churches of the
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Saints, Bible says God is not the author of confusion.
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So let me ask you this by order and process of elimination.
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If God is not the author of confusion, then who is?
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We're going to look at, and that's correct, by the way.
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We're going to look at some of the Mormon doctrines today, some
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of the major Mormon doctrines apart from the Godhead, Father,
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Son, and Holy Ghost. And if you get to the place
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where your head starts to swim a little bit and you get to the
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place where you start to wonder what on earth is pastor talking
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about, explain these doctrines. First of all, that's the way I
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felt this week, being able to study for this lesson.
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And #2 if it's that confusing, let me ask you, who is the
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author of that confusion? Remember, salvation is so simple
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that a child can understand and be saved, but yet it's so deep
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that you can explore its depths your whole life and never mind
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out all of the wondrous truths of what salvation is all about,
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but yet must have childlike faith to accept and listen.
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You must not have childlike faith.
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You must have Mensa candidate faith to understand some of the
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things we're saying today. Because you're going to look at
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a chart in just a few moments and say, I don't know how anyone
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could possibly understand that. But when you have layer upon
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layer upon layer upon layer of falsehood built up for almost
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200 years, the end result is this complete and utter
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confusion. So we see that the Mormon church
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that the author of confusion is Satan.
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So the first of the doctors we're going to look at this
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morning is mankind. What do the Mormons believe
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about mankind? In Mormon thinking, all of
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humanity are children of the Heavenly Father and of again the
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Heavenly Mother, believing that Heavenly Father once again is a
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man of flesh and bones. And that through sexual union
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between Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, spirit children
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were created. And then over time, those spirit
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children would receive bodies and would come to earth.
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By the way, it's one of the reasons why the Mormons believe
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so heavily in having large families.
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Why is that? Well, because they need to make
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sure there are vessels, there are human beings for the spirit
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children that are just waiting up in heaven to have a chance to
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be able to come down here to earth.
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It's the role of families on earth to provide bodies for the
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Spirit children to inhabit and go through the probationary
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testing here on earth to determine their worthiness to go
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back and to live with the Heavenly Father.
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Now this is totally in contrast to what the Bible says, that we
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were not spirit children just floating in the ethos before we
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came to earth. Well, I would submit to you
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Isaiah 44, verse 2. Thus saith the Lord that made
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thee and form thee from the womb.
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Isaiah or Zechariah 12, Zechariah 12, verse one, the
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burden of the word of the Lord of Israel saith the Lord, which
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stretches forth the heavens and layeth the foundations on earth
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and formeth the spirit of man within him.
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What does the Bible say? That when you were created, that
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spark of life that took place at the moment of conception, that
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is when you became who you are. By the way, that's the reason
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we're so adamantly opposed to abortion.
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Why? Well, because that child is a
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life now. Did God know who you were before
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the foundation of the earth? Absolutely.
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Did God in his omniscience understand the beginning from
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the end before the beginning? Absolutely.
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Nothing has taken God by surprise here in this world at
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any juncture, at any point. However, to say that we were
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preexisting before we existed is not what the Bible says, but it
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is what the Mormon church teaches.
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Now listen, originally Mormons taught that Elohim was Adam in
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the Bible and that Eve was his spirit wife here on earth.
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Now modern Mormons deny this. Today they say that is not true.
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However, it was taught by previous Mormon presidents who
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we'll see in just a few moments reminding you they are
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considered prophets. So previous prophets said Adam
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was God. Current Mormon prophets say Adam
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was not God. But let me ask you this, Who was
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the one that received the revelation from God?
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Apparently they both did according to the Mormon church.
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So did God reveal something incorrectly to the first
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prophets, but then correctly revealed correctly later?
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Now we know what the Bible says about this.
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Deuteronomy 18 verse 20. But the prophet which shall
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presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded
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him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods,
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even that prophet shall die. It was so serious in the Old
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Testament if someone said they had a word from the Lord, but
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yet did not have that word from the Lord, they were proven false
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that they were to die. And So what do we see that the
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Mormons over and over did? Just like Jehovah Witnesses,
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they keep saying this is what God says, but then they turn
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around say, oh, just kidding, God didn't actually say that.
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He actually said this. That's coming up on this side
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over here and over and over that's the case.
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But where's the confusion coming from?
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It's not God who's the author confusion, but rather it is
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Satan. So first of all, we see that
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they are far, far off on the issue of mankind.
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Next we have salvation. Salvation.
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Salvation is completely and totally by works.
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Remember, those Spirit children in these bodies are on a
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probationary period while they're here here on earth.
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They have got to prove themselves that they are worthy
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to enter one of the kingdoms later on.
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Now this is according to their articles of faith.
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It says this. We believe that the first
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principles and ordinance of the gospel are first, faith in the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Second, repentance.
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Third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, 4th.
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Laying on of hands to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
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Nephi 25 or second 2525, verse 32 says this.
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For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children
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and also our brethren to believe in Christ, to be reconciled to
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God. For we know that it's by grace
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that we are saved. After all we can do.
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Now let me just say that last phrase again.
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It's for by grace we are saved. And really at that point we
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would all say Amen, isn't it? Because that's what the Bible
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says is by grace that we are saved after all we can do.
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Basically you have to be able to do all you can and then God's
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grace fills in the blanks. What is that?
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That is completely and totally a works based salvation which is
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contrary in every way shape or form to the word of God.
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The prophet Moroni related grace and works when he said yay, come
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unto Christ and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all
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ungodliness. And if you shall deny yourselves
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of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind, and
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strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his
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grace he may be perfect in Christ?
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And if the grace of God you are perfect in Christ, you can in no
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wise deny the power of God. Moroni 10, verse 32.
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So again. You do everything you possibly
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can do, and once you know you do everything you can do, then
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God's grace will be real in your life.
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But again, that's not even the definition of what grace is.
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Grace is receiving that of which we do not deserve.
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Grace is what saves us, and it's us accepting the gift of
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salvation. Not that we have achieved grace.
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Not that we have earned grace. Listen, if you earn grace, you
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don't have grace. If you have achieved grace, you
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don't have grace. But this is what the Mormons say
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over and over and over again. So what do the Mormons teach
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about salvation? Let me just say this.
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This is about to get weird, all right?
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There's no other way to be able to explain this but that.
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This is about to get very, very confusing.
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So we have our first video that we have queued up, and I want
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you to watch that. And then I have a very
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interesting slide I want to show you as well.
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This one get to heaven. What is life like there?
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They gleaned from biblical passages about there being a
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heaven and there being a hell, and they've debated what those
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might mean for individual followers of Jesus.
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But a near consensus existed among American Christians.
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Heaven was small. It was for the elect.
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Most people wouldn't be there. I was taught that Christ would
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have a mere few trophies of his mission to the world, while his
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antagonist would have countless millions.
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My situation appeared more precarious than a ticket and a
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lottery. Caleb Rich.
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In February 1832, while working on their inspired translation of
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the Bible, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had a remarkable
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vision of the afterlife, organized not into a single
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heaven and hell, but into degrees of glory.
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When he printed the revelation, William W Phelps assumed most
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Saints would rejoice over it. The vision is the greatest news
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that was ever published. A man, William W Phelps.
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Other Saints, like Phoebe Peck, encourage their friends to
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prayerfully consider the new teachings.
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These things are now in print and are going forth into the
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world. You perhaps will have an
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opportunity of reading for yourself, and if you do, I hope
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you will read with careful and a prayerful heart.
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Phoebe Peck. But not everyone found it easy
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to accept the new revelation. As missionaries went out to the
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branches, they sometimes encountered serious concerns.
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Ezra Landing and Geneseo denied the vision and other members
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joined him. Brother Landing said the vision
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was of the devil and he believed it no more than he believed the
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devil was crucified. John Murdoch.
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It may seem strange to modern Latter Day Saints why the vision
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prompted such strong reactions among early LDS converts, but we
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have to recognize that that vision was received in a time of
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deep theological debate and argument.
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Rival Christian groups, the old guard Calvinists and a renegade
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group of Christians, fought over the question of the afterlife.
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Those renegade Christians were called universalists because
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they taught that God's power and his patience, his mercy, would
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eventually save the entire human family.
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And this is an idea that was radical.
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Universalists challenge traditional Christians, and
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traditional Christians fired back.
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They argued that this could lead to social or religious chaos.
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What would it mean to moral order if people thought no
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matter what they did, eventually they'd be saved?
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Even Brigham Young initially had concerns about the vision's
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teachings. My traditions were such that
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when the vision first came to me, it was directly contrary and
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opposed to my former education. I said, wait a little.
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I did not reject it, but I could not understand it.
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Brigham Young. The 21st section of the Doctrine
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of Covenants encourages us to follow the prophet in patience
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and faith. We sometimes forget the patience
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part. Like Brigham and perhaps others
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of the day, we can sometimes benefit by realizing that we
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have to grow into the revelations.
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We have to grow an understanding, impatience which
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will strengthen our faith and help us to realize that the Lord
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does in fact direct His Church. Rather than rejecting the vision
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or leaving the church, Brigham Young took time to wrestle with
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it and ponder its teachings. I used to.
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Think and pray to read and think until I knew and fully
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understood it for myself. Brigham Young.
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It seems in retrospect that the people were not nearly so much
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afraid of what the vision actually said as what they
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thought it might mean. The 76th section of the Doctrine
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Chemist neither teaches the kind of universalism where everyone
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will be saved without the need for obedience, nor the kind of
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restrictive salvation where only the very few elect are saved.
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It clearly reveals to us our loving Father in Heaven who
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truly desires to give all of His children all of the blessings
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and knowledge and joy He has, depending on the laws each of us
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is willing to obey. It wasn't until Nauvoo, when the
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Prophet Joseph Smith and others started teaching about
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exaltation in more precise and more dramatic ways, did Doctrine
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and Covenant Section 76 take on a new light.
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And they could come back to that revelation with new questions.
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What does human potential actually look like?
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What does God have in store for his children?
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What has Christ made possible for all of the human family?
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No text in all of our revelations presses that
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question more poignantly than Doctrine and Covenant Section
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76. So to say there are several
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problems with what you just saw would be an understatement.
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First, you see that their whole video was about the revelation,
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so-called given to Joseph Smith, of what exaltation salvation is,
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including the three different levels of heaven.
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And did you notice both the professor and I use that term
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loosely from Brigham on University, as well as the man
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who was of the 70 apostles or the 70 leaders of the Mormon
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church? They made the false dichotomy of
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Christianity had basically boiled down to Calvinists and
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universalists. They keep talking about the
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elect over and over again that that really that the choices
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between those two were the only choices.
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May I remind you, if that was the only two choices, well, that
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would be a problem. Why?
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Because the Calvinists believe that there are the elect who are
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saved no matter what they do, Irresistible grace, irresistible
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salvation, which the Bible does not teach.
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But then on the other side, you have the universalist, which
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today will be Unitarian Universalists, which basically
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believe, well, whatever you want to believe.
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By the way, they don't believe what we believe and wouldn't
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tolerate what we believe the word of God says, but everyone
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else can all gather together. They give this false dichotomy,
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these false choices. We're really there is this
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middle ground, which is the well biblical crown that for by grace
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ye are saved. Whosoever shall call upon the
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name of the Lord shall be saved. So there's that, that false
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choice that was made there and telling Mormons that really the
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only way is this other way, which is there's three different
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levels of heaven. But did you also notice that
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they mentioned that at the beginning that Joseph Smith had
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this revelation? There was a lot of confusion,
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but that as time went on that they were able to understand
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more and change the teaching more, refine the teaching more.
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Can I ask you, was there any time in the Word of God where a
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prophet gave a message that over time he says, well, let me
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refine that message a little bit.
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Let me change that message a little bit to make it more
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understandable, more palatable. Listen, when it was thus say at
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the Lord, thus say at the Lord, that's all that there was.
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We saw this on Wednesday night, The burden of the Lord, thus say
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at the Lord. That is what it is.
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And so the Mormon church is kind of like a moving target.
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It's just, well, eventually we'll get it right.
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Eventually we'll hone it in. And the Jehovah Witnesses call
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this the greater light, meaning that as they get closer to the
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end times, they understand the prophecies more.
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Those are both false. You never see in the word of God
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where a prophecy was made. And then, well, they kind of had
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to tweak it to make sure they got it right.
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No prophecy was needed to be tweaked for Jesus Christ to be
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born, to live, to die, for all of the prophecies that came true
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of Jesus Christ, birth, life and death and resurrection, none of
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those had to be tweaked even a little bit to be able to be
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fulfilled. And this is what is said here.
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Now, what is the Mormon view of salvation as well as heaven and
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hell? Well, it's very simple.
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In fact, it's so simple. Looks something like this.
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You say, Pastor, I can't read all of that.
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I understand because I actually have scanned this and put this
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together. And this is not a chart here
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that comes from the Latter Day Saints Church, but it is a chart
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that has been compiled using. All their teaching.
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Do you see where it starts? If you were in the top left
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corner with heavenly fathers and mothers, these are the those who
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are in Kolob, as it mentions there that the the heavenly
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deities that there are have real physical sexual union which
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would breed spirit children. Some are unfaithful, some are
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faithful. They have probation here on
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earth in this life. Then there's the spirits in
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prison. They have an opportunity to be
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faithful or unfaithful, reject or accept.
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Some eventually go to outer darkness or hell.
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But then there are on the right side three different levels of
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heaven. There is terrestrial, there is
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terrestrial, and there is celestial.
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And there are some spirits who are also in prison who are
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receiving physical judgment mission work that is supposed to
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be done to the spirits in prison by other spirits who have been
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in prison. Eventually you can make it if
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you are faithful enough to the Celestial Kingdom, Lower, middle
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and upper celestial Kingdom. And if you are at the top of the
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celestial Kingdom, guess what? You become exalted to godhood
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and then it all starts over again with your own part of the
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universe that you will populate with heavenly Father and
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heavenly as heavenly Father, heavenly Mother, and that you
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have spirit children. And the cycle starts anew again.
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This is one of the reasons why being sealed in marriage in the
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Mormon church in a temple is so important, because you're not
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just being sealed in marriage here in this world, but also all
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the way to the celestial Kingdom.
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If you make it so that you as husband and wife and listen
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husband and wives as well. Because there's a lot of talk of
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polygamy being no longer part officially of the Latter Day
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Saints Church, but is very much alive and well in not just the
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Latter Day Saints Church, but also fundamentalist Latter Day
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Saints churches as well. They may not say it in all of
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their websites. You're not going to see a video
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as nicely put together as we just saw about polygamy, but be
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sure that it is alive and well today.
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Why? Because they have to get to that
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top corner. They have to be able to have a
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spirit family that can repopulate their own world.
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This is salvation in the Mormon church.
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This I I know you know this already, but it needs to be
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said. This is not salvation.
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There is nothing about this that is even remotely biblical.
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There's nothing remotely about this that's even understandable.
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It's incomprehensible to even be able to put together.
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But when you add the Bible and the Pearl of great Price and the
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doctrines and covenants and on top of them all, the Book of
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Mormon, you have this confusing mishmash of three levels of
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heaven, hell, and all of these different off ramps here and
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there. It's enough.
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Enough to make your head spin. But again, who is the author of
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this? Well, it's obvious that the
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author of it is Satan and Satan himself.
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But we also see #3 the church actually went a little bit ahead
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there. I made a mistake on my slides.
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The church is next. The Mormons teach that there are
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only two churches. There is the Church of the Lamb,
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the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the
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Church of the Devil. The Church of the Lamb is their
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own church, which they teach is the only true and living church
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upon the face of the whole earth.
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It is the same organization, according to them, that Jesus
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Christ and the apostles were part of.
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It's just after the apostles passed away, there was no longer
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a church and it was revived by Joseph Smith.
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Now remind you, we're not going to go back there, but we could
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go to Matthew chapter 16 and we found that the gates of hell
Matthew 16 chapter mention
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would never prevail against the church, correct?
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That there was no time, that there were no believers, there
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was no real church. And by the way, when I'm not
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talking about the Catholic Church, you know, when people
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talk about the church that capital, see, that's what we're
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talking about. We're talking about real
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believers in real churches. Yes, that they were active all
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throughout history, But but the Mormons will say that there was
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this 1716 hundred year period where there was no active church
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at all. There were no real believers
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until Joseph Smith came along and changed everything.
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One of the key scriptures they use is from Doctrine and
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Covenants section one, verse 30. And it says this.
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And also those to whom these commandments were given might
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have the power to lay the foundation of this church and to
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bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only
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true and living church upon the whole face of the earth which I,
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the Lord and will please, speaking under the church
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collectively and not individually.
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What is he saying? The Mormon Church is the only
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church. There is no other church.
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And so while they might have those advertisements, they might
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want to talk about being fellow Christians, fellow believers,
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yet really that many ways. This is simply a way for them to
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lower barriers and invite people to investigate what it means to
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be a Mormon. But really, when you get deeper
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in, you find out, listen, there are no other churches.
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There is just the Mormon church, the Church of the Lamb.
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So what is the other church? Well, according to them, it's
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all other churches. It's all other believers, true
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believers, and it's the Church of the devil or the great and
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abominable church. Every other church,
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denomination, creed, religious society without exception.
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Is a lump together as part of the second category.
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They are man made, lacking priesthood authority, teaching
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corrupted and incomplete doctrines, and ultimately under
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the influence of Satan. The Book of Mormon calls it the
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mother of harlots, the whore of the whole earth, and says there
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are two churches only one is the Church of the Lamb of God and
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the other is the Church of the devil.
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Wherefore whoso belongeth not to the Church of the Lamb of God
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belongeth to that great church which is the mother of
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abominations. First Nephi chapter 14 verse 10.
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So again, they do want to have this idea that we are all
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together, but it just seems to be that that is more for PR.
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It is more to be able to get people to lower their defenses.
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But once you get involved in the Mormon church, you will find out
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that there is no salvation in any other church.
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It is only through being a Mormon because the only the
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Mormon church is teaching that, which you see up on the board
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just a few moments ago. And by the way, I would even
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agree with that. Only the Mormon Church is
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teaching those teachings. But it's because they are
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totally and completely unbiblical #4 you see the modern
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prophets, the modern prophets, the president is always a modern
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prophet. They have had 20 presidents over
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the years. I just mentioned they just
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elected their 20th president a few weeks ago.
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It is a office that is held, and from election until death,
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Joseph Smith reestablished the office also of 12 apostles,
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being those 12 apostles having passed away.
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Joseph Smith reestablished the 12 apostles as well as a council
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of 70. Remember that gentleman that was
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kind of overlooking the city, and he was of the council of 70.
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And they go back to Exodus chapter #24 verse 9, where Moses
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brought 70 of the Jews, Jewish men, Jewish leaders up to Mount
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Sinai. We saw that in Exodus chapter
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#24 and so they have in their own minds recreated this as
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well. But again, the problem is this.
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Even the modern prophets do not agree with each other.
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For instance, they have the issue with Adam and Eve.
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Also, Joseph Smith prophesied in 1832 that a Mormon temple would
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be built in Independence, MO within a generation 1832.
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Now we can all maybe quibble about how much a generation
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would be, but let me ask you this.
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Do you believe a generation to be around 200 years?
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I would say that be a big stretch on the word generation,
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wouldn't it? Well, there still is no temple
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of the 200 temples that are built around the world.
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There is no temple in Independence, MO.
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It was a false teaching by Joseph Smith.
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Again, we saw what the the rule is.
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That is, if you are wrong in one, you are not to be listened
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to. It can't be Well, you know the
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best baseball players have a batting average around 303
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fifty. Look, as long as you got a good
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batting average as a profit, you know you're okay.
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No, you got to bat 1000 as a prophet because why?
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If you're speaking for the Lord, the Lord makes no mistake.
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And so there is no room for interpretation.
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There is no room for wiggling. And over and over and over
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again, Joseph Smith has been proven wrong.
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And we'll look at a little bit more about what the modern
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prophets have said even into the 1970s and so on.
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But what is modern prophet? What does modern Mormonism say?
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How do they explain this away? Well, they don't talk about it
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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.
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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
1 Corinthians 4 chapter mention
-
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.
Hebrews 7 chapter mention
-
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
Genesis 1 chapter mention
-
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 [email protected].
-
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.