How Can a Person Know They are a Child of God?

     Is everyone who claims to be a Christian actually redeemed and in a right relationship to God?  The answer is unfortunately, "No."  True Christians are certainly not perfect people but there are distinguishing characteristics that mark them.  St. Paul wrote, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (II Cor. 5:17)."  If a person is born of the Spirit, there is a difference between what their life is not and what it was before.  Those differences are reflected in the attitudes that the redeemed person shows every day, and in all circumstances of life--certainly not perfectly, but yet consistently. These attitudes are the fruits of the Spirit in the life of the believer. and In Galatians 5:22-24 we read, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

     Will the Christian from time to time transgress and fall into sin? Of course. We are sinful creatures and St. John wrote (I Jn. 1:8-10), "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." The difference between an unregenerated sinner and a child of God who sins is in how he or she deals with it.  The unregenerated sinner continues in the sin and the Christian seeks God's forgiveness and leaves the sin behind.  Proverbs 24:16 teaches us that, "the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity."
     The Mormons have quite a different take on evidences of being redeemed.  Doctrine and Covenants (one of the Mormon Holy Books) 9:8, 9a reads “But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me (God) if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings . . ."  It is incredible to think that the Mormons would take a subjective feeling as evidence of grace instead of the Spirit's witness to the new birth!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Christian Humility--and Mormon Pride

The Bible teaches that one of the marks of a true Christian is humility. This runs contrary to the culture of our day where we are commonly being told to “be more assertive” and to “stand up for ourselves.” Certainly there is a proper place for this but Ephesians 4:2 reminds us, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

It is especially counter-cultural to think more highly of others than we do of ourselves. A recent survey of first world students from around the world found that students in the United States had the highest self-esteem—much higher than in any other country—yet these same U. S. students score worse than students from every other first world country in math and science. The Bible warns about vain conceit and feeling superior to others. In Philippians 2:3 we read, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.

We certainly don’t need to put ourselves down but unrealistic self-praise and heady self-esteem in not good. Where did Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism stand on the virtue of humility?

Speaking of himself, Joseph Smith declared: “I am learned and know more than all of the world put together” (Smith, J. F. 1976. Teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith. p. 350). He also said “I have more to boast of than ever any man had.  I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. . . . Neither Paul, John, Peter nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter Day Saints never ran away from me yet” Joseph Smith, History of the Church, v 6, pp. 408-9.

That’s right!    Joseph Smith believed that he knew more than the whole world put together! He believed that he was a greater religious leader than the Apostles Paul, John and Peter—to top that he considered himself a greater religious leader than the Lord Jesus Christ himself!  This dangerous megalomaniac was the founding prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

These are people we should pray for and seek to reach for Christ.

This and many more Mormon teaching are in my soon to be released book Mormonism and the Bible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salvation is grace alone (Sola gratia) through faith alone (Sola fide) in Christ alone (Solus Christus). Our mission to Mormons continues. How do Mormons believe they gain salvation?

From the time of the Reformation the Christian church has recognized the three solas of salvation: grace alone (Sola gratia) through faith alone (Sola fide) in Christ alone (Solus Christus. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation. It is grace—the free gift of God. It is freely given to us by God through faith which is also a work of God through the Holy Spirit, not a faith which is of human origin. And that faith is placed in Christ and his redemptive work alone. He paid the full price for our sins and nothing we must or indeed can do to contribute to our salvation. All trust in human efforts is futile. That trust in Christ is an on going work of the Holy Spirit throughout our lives. We continue trusting in Christ daily for our salvation and at no point in our Christian walk does salvation become the result of anything we can do.

What do our lost friends in the Mormon Church believe?

(1) They believe that no one can be saved without the intervention of a Mormon priest. The individual sinner can not draw near to God except through the church priest. . ." for nothing will save a man but a legal (Mormon) administrator, for none other will be acknowledged by God or angels." (Smith, J. F. (1976). Teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith) Christians have faith that the Great High Priest of our profession is Christ.

(2) They are taught that coming to God for salvation is a matter of the intellect, not the heart or will. "A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits have more knowledge and consequently more power." (Smith, J. F. (1976). Teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith) Christians rightly believe that we come to Christ through faith, not through intellect.

(3) They are taught that God intervenes in salvation only after our best efforts have been exhausted. "It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” (II Nephi. 25:23) Christians rightly understand that there is nothing we can do to earn salvation.

(4) Finally, and worst of all, they believe that forgiveness of sins is only conditional. If sin occurs again in the life of the Mormon believer, the previous forgiveness of sins is canceled and the sinner is again guilty of sins that had been forgiven. "Remission of sins can be lost through recurrent transgression, for ‘unto that soul who sinneth shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God’” (Doctrine &Covenants 82:7). The Word of God teaches us that our forgiven sins are buried eternally in the sea of God’s forgetfulness (Micah 7:19).

What a bleak, hopeless, and impossible outlook faces the Mormon believer. By contrast what a glorious hope is the Christian believer's! Another reason to reach out to the lost Mormons among us and to win them to our gracious Lord and Redeemer!

This and many more Mormon doctrines are examined in my soon to be released book Mormonism and the Bible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was the Fall of Adam and Eve a Blessed Event or a Curse According to Mormonism? You May Be Surprised!

Was the transgression and fall of our First Parents a joyous and blessed event or was it the source of sorrow, suffering, alienation from God and death? According to the Mormon Pearl of Great Price it was cause for great rejoicing.

“Adam and Eve expressed their gratitude for the blessings that came as a result of the fall. Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying, ‘blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God.’ And Eve his wife heard all these things and was glad, saying: ‘Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient’” Moses 5:10 & 11

The Bible makes it plain that this first transgression was sin and that sin brings the wrath and punishment of God: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12 ). Contrary to Mormon teaching there is nothing good that comes from this or any other sin—only physical, spiritual, and eternal death. “For the wages of sin is death…” (Rom. 6:23).

Also, unlike Mormonism, the Bible does not trivialize the awfulness of sin. It teaches that sinners “are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity” (Eph. 4:18-19).

 

If the Mormon view were right there would be no need of a Savior and the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ would be meaningless. Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God was a tragedy of cosmic proportions and because of it all of creation remains under a curse. Mankind needs a Savior to bring about a reconciliation to God, and Jesus alone is that Savior.

 

This and many more Mormon doctrines and teachings are discussed in my soon to be released book: Mormonism and the Bible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse us from ALL sin or only from certain types of sin according to Mormonism?

Our discussion of Mormonism continues. Does the shed blood of Jesus Christ cleanse us from all sin or only from certain types of sins? Are there sins so dark that they are beyond the cleansing power of Christ’s atoning blood? John wrote, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (I Jn. 1:7)” This is a bedrock and foundational article of faith in the Christian religion. There is no stain of sin so dark that God cannot or will not purge it from our hearts upon the application of Christ’s precious atoning blood through faith in Him.

Is this what our Mormon friends teach? No! It is not! “Some sins are so grievous (such as murder and apostasy) that Christ’s blood is of no avail and the offender must atone by the shedding of his own blood” (Hoekma, (1972). The four major cults.). Think of the implications of this teaching. The blood of an apostate or a murderer is a more acceptable atoning sacrifice to God than is the sacred blood of His own Son according to Mormon orthodoxy. This tragically warped view has undoubtedly led to the eternal ruin of many souls. As believers in Christ we should have a missionary zeal to reach the lost Mormons among us.

This and many other Mormon doctrines are examined and compared to scripture in my book, Mormonism and the Bible.