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Are Mormons Christians?
 Today’s
Question:
My friend asked me what the difference between Mormons
and Christians are, and why Christians think Mormons are teaching false
things. I would like to know more about the Mormons, and why they are not
Christians. –Christina
Bible Answer: Mitt Romney, Governor of Massachusetts, ran for president and this raised an interest in his religion–the
Church of the Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The only thing most people know about the Mormons
are the missionary activities of young men who ride their ten speeds to
neighborhood houses and the commercials that effectively give the impression
that Mormons are good people, and who are family oriented. The question is
not whether or not Mormons are fine people, because many of them are. The
question is whether or not Mormons teach false doctrine that does not align
itself with true Christianity. Jesus and the Apostle Paul warned about false
prophets:
"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. (Matt 7:15)
I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and
will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and
distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. (Acts
20:29-30)
Notice that false prophets do not wear horns and a cape or carry a
pitchfork. No they look like sheep on the outside, but inside, there is
false teaching that ultimately makes them like wolves. Wolves devour sheep,
not protect them.
Paul explains how they became wolves: he said that they would arise out
of your own number. In other words, many wolves start out in the
church, not in the world. This is what makes them seem so deceptive. Then
Paul explains how they will work: he said that they would distort the
truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
Ultimately a wolf is interested in distorting the truth. It is their
teaching that makes them wolves, not whether or not they spend time with
their families or give their tithes or do mission work. Mormons may do all
or some of these things, but what do they teach? If their teaching is wrong,
then they are wrong. I have studied the teaching of the Mormon church, and I
can categorically tell you that their teaching is false.
The Mormons believe that after the apostles had died that their
followers changed their teaching, and not until Joseph Smith received his
vision in 1820 was the apostolic teaching restored. This would mean that the
gates of hell had prevailed against the Church for almost two millenniums.
This is contrary to what Jesus had promised in Matthew 16:18, plus it makes
the apostles failures in trying to establish the first disciples after them.
According to the Latter Day Saints, we are suppose to believe that the
Mormons knew the true apostolic teaching more than the disciples who heard
their teaching first hand. I don’t buy it, and neither should you.
Let us examine Joseph Smith’s vision. He claimed that when he was
fourteen he asked God which church he should join and he said God the Father
and Jesus Christ both appeared to him and told him not to join any of them.
They supposedly said, "Join none of them, for they were wrong; and all their
creeds were an abomination in His sight." Wow! Mormons cry foul when
Christians point out their errors; they claim to be persecuted, but
remember, it was their founder who claimed that all Christian churches were
wrong and their creeds an abomination.
During the next ten years, Joseph claimed that other heavenly messengers
appeared to him, including the angel, Moroni. Through these messengers He
was told that he was the Elijah to come and eventually claimed to be given
authority to restore the true church, and on April 6, 1830 he founded his
church. How can we judge these visions as true or false? Simply, by looking
into the Word of God. First of all, what about the claim that he was the
Elijah to come? Jesus already told us that Elijah came.
"But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize
him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son
of Man is going to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood
that he was talking to them about John the Baptist. (Matt 17:12-13)
So from Jesus’ lips we can disprove Joseph Smith’s angelic visitation
with Moroni. Moroni said Joseph Smith was the Elijah to come, but Jesus said
Elijah already came and he was John the Baptist. Once we disprove this major
point, then it is only a matter of dissecting Smith’s teachings in which we
will find that his gospel is false. We could take much time at looking into
every teaching, including the lack of any archeological evidence of the book
of Mormons1 and the error that the North American Indians are
descendants of the Hebrew people2 ; but let us look only at two areas: their view of God and
salvation.
The Mormon’s teach that God the Father has a body of flesh and bones as
tangible as man’s. This is clearly refuted by the Scriptures that teach He
is the invisible, immortal God who is a spirit. (see 1 Tim 1:17 and John
4:24). The Bible says, "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,
who is at the Father's side, has made him known" (John 1:18). Jesus is the
incarnate God. Jesus had to be incarnate because the Father is a spirit
without a human body. He is greater than man, yet the Mormons puts God on
man’s level. Sure, man is made in God’s spiritual image, but man’s
physical body is not in the image of God. Man can love like God loves,
man can experience joy like God and have peace like God. Those are the
attributes that make man in God’s image, not his feet and toes.
If it weren’t bad enough that Mormons drag God down to the level
of an exalted man, the Mormons do worse when it comes to Jesus; they teach
that Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer, the devil himself. Yet, the
Bible says that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God (see John 3:16). God
did not have two sons, like Mormons teach. Jesus is unique and is not
related to Satan in anyway. This teaching by the Mormons is blasphemous.
This brings us to a very important question: according to the Mormons,
what must a person do to be saved. Brigham Young, the successor to Joseph
Smith, makes it clear:
"Believe in God, believe in Jesus, and believe in Joseph his prophet,
and Brigham his successor, and you shall be saved."
It is not enough to believe in God and Jesus, you must believe also that
Joseph Smith is the prophet and that Brigham Young is the successor. He
continues:
"No man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the
Celestial Kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith."
Wow! What a boast! Fortunately, he doesn’t tell us to take his word for
it, he says, "Take up the Bible, compare the religion of the Latter-day
Saints with it, and see if it will stand the test." I have taken his
challenge, I have looked into the Bible and have compared it with the
Latter-day Saints message, and the LDS message falls way short of passing
the test of being the true gospel.
As you can see, the Mormons total salvation rests in Joseph Smith’s
gospel, not the gospel of Christ that the apostles preached. And as we have
seen, Joseph Smith’s gospel is punctured with holes. It leaks with false
teaching.
Some may ask if this means that Mormons are not Christians. Not every
Mormon understands or believes in the Mormon gospel. Some were Christians
who joined it thinking that this church was simply another Christian
denomination. They did not know or still know what this church teaches.
Still more believe in the Mormon teachings about God, Jesus, Salvation, and
a host of other false teachings. For those who embrace the false teachings
of the Mormon church, then they could not be considered true Christians.
They have accepted "another" gospel and "another" Jesus. Paul writes:
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the
grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be
some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though
we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that
which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. (Gal 1:6-8, KJV)
The Mormons are indeed preaching another gospel. 1There is
not one shred of
archeological evidence that any of the great cities and buildings were
built by the Lost Tribe, Lamanite, which the Book of Mormons claim.
2 DNA has proven conclusively that the Lamanites are not
descendants of the Hebrew people and that the language and culture of the
North American Indians are derived of the Siberian/Asiatic people, not
Hebrew.   Send
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