—————— 12 ——————
“I have always declared…Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the father, and that the Holy Ghost was a…Spirit: and these three constitute…three Gods.”
– Joseph Smith[1]
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
– Deut. 6:4
Jesus warned his followers to guard against impostors who would come after Him claiming to be Christ, “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect–if that were possible” (Matt. 24:23-27). So convincing will be these impostors, with their signs, wonders and miracles, they will even ‘trick’ Christians into believing they are Christ. As a result many will be led away from the Lord. Speaking to the church in Corinth Paul said,
“I
am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to
Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid
that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow
be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone
comes to you and preaches a Jesus other
than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the
one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up
with it easily enough” (II Cor. 11:2–4).
In one of his last letters, the apostle Paul warns that in our day some
will, “depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines
of demons…” (1 Tim. 4:1 NKJV). We are seeing this prediction fulfilled today
as many people, including Christians, are being caught up in false religions
which preach a ‘different Jesus.’
Who is this other Jesus the apostle Paul speaks about? Consider the following; 1) The Jesus of the Mormons is a spirit brother of Lucifer, who progressed to Godhood; 2) The Jesus of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is a created being called Michael the Archangel; 3) The Jesus of the mind-science cults (Christian Science, Unity School of Christianity, etc.) is a good man but did not have to die for the sins of mankind, because they insist sin does not exist; 4) The Jesus of the Seventh-day Adventists made atonement on the cross only for our past sins. 5) The Jesus of the RLDS is a separate being from God (as portrayed in Joseph Smith’s first vision) and shares His exclusive role as high priest with scores of RLDS high priests.
In these various religions Jesus might be referred to as a prophet, the
higher self, a god, son of God (but separate from God) or the Christ presence
who lives within us all, etc. However, they all deny the essential truth that
Jesus is God[2] and they all minimize the
significance of His death on the cross by declaring that human achievement plays
a part in our salvation.
The following quotes support the fact that the RLDS Church presents a different Jesus.
· “Where is the saved being? We conclude as to the answer of this question there will be no dispute among those who believe the Bible, that it is Christ. All will agree in this that …he [Christ] is a saved being.”[3] (Joseph Smith, Jr.)
· “We accept the universal Christ of the Book of Mormon. This gives us an additional image beyond the Christ of the New Testament…. Because of our additional scriptures and insights, we have more to work with and perhaps more to do.” (Prophet Wallace B. Smith) [4]
· “We believe in a Christ who was preached to Adam…. We believe in a Christ who appeared and ministered not only to the few remnants of Israel who lived in the Palestine of his day but to other large remnants of Israel who had migrated to America some six hundred years before his birth, and whose history is recorded in the Book of Mormon.”[5] (Evan Fry, Former RLDS Radio Minister)
· “Atonement Christology…is a doctrinal area that is beginning to receive critical study. The underlying assumption of this doctrine that ‘suffering brings about vindication’…has led to physical and mental abuse of women and children in the name of God.” (Rita Lester of Graceland’s Center for Christian Leadership)[6]
· “It just no longer makes sense to imagine that God cannot forgive and accept us without killing his Son!” (Robert Mesle, Graceland College Professor)[7]
· “I found I could be Buddhist, but RLDS also.” (Japanese student at Graceland College)[8]
In Joseph Smith’s Inspired Version, John 1:1 reads, “In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was of God.” The correct translation of this verse reads, In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
In this scripture twisting, Joseph’s restored gospel was the Word
instead of Jesus!
The following account is given in the Book of Mormon concerning Jesus’ first visit to America after his crucifixion. Just before making His appearance to the people, Jesus destroyed many of their great cities, resulting in the death of all the unrighteous people. While the righteous survivors were mourning, howling and weeping, Jesus began speaking to them saying,
“Wo, wo, wo, unto this people; wo unto the
inhabitants of the whole earth, except they shall repent…. Behold, that great
city Zarahemla have I burned with
fire.… That great city of Moroni have I
caused to be sunk in the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof to be
drowned…. And the city of Onihah, and the city of Mocum…. The city of
Gadiandi, and the city of Gadiomnah, and the city of Jacob, and the city
Gimgimno, all these have I caused to
be sunk…. And the city of Gad…have I
caused to be burned with fire…because of their wickedness…and many great
destructions have I caused to come
upon this land and upon this people, because of their wickedness and their
abominations…. O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than
they, will ye not now return unto me.” (3 Nephi 4:26-4l).
This Jesus of the Book of Mormon is strikingly different from the Biblical Jesus. In the Bible when Pilate asked the angry mob what he should do with Jesus, they all answered crucify Him. The high priests said Jesus was worthy of death and they spit in his face and struck him with their fists and slapped him. Yet, when Jesus hung on the cross he cried out in his agony and asked the Father to forgive them. He did not seek vengeance on those who reviled him and not a single person was killed. Yet, the Book of Mormon records that when Jesus had completed His plan of redemption, he killed all the ungodly people on the American continent leaving only the more righteous alive. Gordon Fraser makes the following comparison between the Biblical Jesus and the Jesus of the Book of Mormon.
“It
is quite obvious that…[Joseph Smith] had not the faintest conception of the
ethic of redemption, nor of the basic purpose of the crucifixion of Jesus
Christ. The Book of Mormon tells us that it was the righteous ones that were
spared in this general destruction…. The whole concept of redemption is that
the Lord Jesus was crucified not for the righteous but for the ungodly. We
remember that the disciples James and John were severely rebuked for wanting to
call down fire from heaven to destroy the scoffing Samaritans.
“The whole argument of the New Testament is that men are not judged
because of their acts of sin but because they will not receive Christ as their
Savior. To destroy the wicked at the time of the great performance of the act of
redemption is to violate all the principles of the Christian Gospel. The
inhabitants of America in AD 33 were no greater sinners than the chief priests
that demanded the death of the Savior…. [The chief priests] should have been
destroyed immediately according to the Book of Mormon concept. Yet we find that
instead of the Savior calling down curses upon them, He prayed, ‘Father,
forgive them; for they know not what they do.’
“It is true that we read in the Bible of an earthquake and darkness and
the rending of the veil of the temple at the hour of the death of Jesus, but we
read of no human lives being destroyed by those manifestations of God’s
power…. The Gospel writers who reported the affair reported it factually and
without rancor in spite of the fact that it was their own Master on whom the
outrage was committed. They were quite aware that in the event of Calvary, Jesus
was in the process of saving men’s lives not destroying them.”[9]
The Doctrine and Covenants is supposedly
comprised of revelations given to the Latter Day Saint prophets by God. Some of
these revelations command church members to:
· curse their enemies (the Jesus of the Bible taught people to bless and pray for their enemies)
· assume the office of high priest (a position held exclusively by Jesus)
· establish Zion, the Kingdom of God on earth before Jesus can return (not a Biblical concept)
· assume the Aaronic priesthood (Jesus’ death brought to an end the Aaronic priesthood)
·
either tithe or be burned (a concept the Jesus of the Bible never
taught)
There are numerous other teachings in the Doctrine and Covenants that are not in agreement with the New Testament. Clearly, the Jesus of the Doctrine and Covenants is a different Jesus.
Although Jesus Christ is mentioned in RLDS literature and worship, just a casual reading of the Inspired Version, Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants makes it clear he is a different Jesus. Ron Rhodes, frequent co-host on Christian Research Institute’s “Bible Answer Man” makes the following observation concerning the misuse of Scripture.
“Jesus said His words lead to eternal life (John 6:63). But for us to receive eternal life through His words, they must be taken as He intended them to be taken. A cultic reinterpretation of Scripture that yields another Jesus and another gospel will yield only eternal death” (2 Corinthians 11:3,4; Galatians 1:6-9, Revelation 20:11-15).[10]
Whenever anyone preaches another gospel as Joseph Smith did, they also preach another Jesus and Scripture is clear as to the fate of that man: “let him be accursed” (Gal.1:8 KJV). The Bible declares, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven .… Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ”(Matt. 7:21-23).
The late Walter Martin related that when a bank teller is trained to spot counterfeit money, he is not shown a counterfeit bill. Rather, he spends many hours looking at, and handling, the real thing. As a result, he gets to know the real bill so well he can easily spot a counterfeit. He then went on to compare the illustration to the gospel.
The only way a Christian can spot a counterfeit
Jesus is by knowing the real one. A
false Jesus (one that came simply to show us the way by being a living example)
does not provide salvation. True Christians place complete trust in Jesus’
finished work on the cross as sufficient for their salvation.[11]
Many people say they believe in Jesus. The question we have to ask is
which Jesus? The RLDS church has created a Jesus different than the Biblical
one. The Jesus of the RLDS church condones sin (homosexuality, abortion, etc.),
false prophets and false doctrine, while the Jesus of the Bible, though
longsuffering and merciful toward sinners, repudiates sin, false prophets and
false doctrine.
Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes in their book, When Cultists Ask, state,
“To
die while believing in the Jesus of Mormonism, (or any other cult), is to die
believing in a counterfeit Jesus who preaches a counterfeit gospel which yields
a counterfeit salvation (which, in fact, is no salvation at all).”[12]
This chapter has shown clearly that the Jesus of Mormonism (including the RLDS faction) is a different entity from the Jesus of the Bible. As Christians we must understand the nature of this “other Jesus,” and then identify him as a counterfeit and refute his other gospel.
[1] Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith, (Salt Lake City, Utah, Deseret Book Company, 1979), p. 370.
[2] See John 1:1; Romans 9:5; Isaiah 9:6; Titus l:3, 4; 2:10,13; Hebrews 1:8; Colossians 2:9; John 10:30-33; 20:28; Phil. 2:6.
[3] Joseph Smith, Lectures of Faith, Section 7:9j,k, l988 ed.
[4] Wallace B. Smith, Saints Herald, July, 1985, pp. 9,10.
[5] Evan Fry, The Restoration Faith, p. 26.
[6] Saints Herald, Dec. 1992, pp. 8-9.
[7] Robert Mesle, Saints Herald, March 95, pp. 8-9.
[8] Saints Herald, May, 91, p. 12.
[9] Gordon Fraser, What Does the Book of Mormon Teach? pp. 84-85.
[10] Ron Rhodes, The Culting of America, (Eugene Oregon, Harvest House Publishers 199, p. 52.
[11] Walter Martin, Kingdom of the Cults, p. 385.
[12] Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes, When Cultists Ask, (Grand Rapids Michigan, Baker Books, 1997), p.17.