Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Myth of Mormonism Pt.2

Let's go ahead and turn to Romans, chapter 5. We'll just finish up this little journey that we started this morning. A number of you that were not here. Too bad, we're not going back and spending a lot of time on that. Basically what we were doing this morning; we were just taking a moment to deal with one of the great evangelistic efforts that's going on in the world. We've seen an increase in our neighborhoods of young men, young people on bicycles. We were talking about the Mormons and the zeal that they have. As these missionaries take two years out of their lives in their prime--men 20, girls 23--they go out and give two years of service to establish this damnable heresy. I think it's interesting, and I think we ought to pause for just a moment and ask if young people are that zealous for satanic heretical principles--you see the zeal that was behind socialism and communism. Aren't you glad that we have young people here that are zealous for the truth? Can you say praise God for that? You see it just doesn't belong to the cults. And it doesn't just belong to those that are involved in the philosophical political arena. There is a remnant--a people that are zealous for their God--and I think that the zeal is one of the things that can't be feigned.

As you look around and you look at your own life and you look at the lives of your young people, it's one thing to declare what we believe and it's another thing to be zealous. The one thing that I'll say about the Mormons is that they are zealous. Their zeal is really something that's contagious, and for a people that are non-committal, when they see somebody so committed to something they believe that that's the truth. Just the commitment, because people don't die for something they don't really believe in. Now these young people are dying to themselves and their missionary endeavors and it's contrary to what the natural man does. I think it's important as we carry the truth that we don't only speak the truth but there is seen in us the same zeal and the same commitment. So, we talked about the Mormon's god. And we, without going back into a lot of time, we talked about the differences between the god that they profess to believe in, the Jesus that they profess in and the God of Scripture. The triune God. The deity of Christ. We left off as we were speaking about the deity of Christ and we said that we were going to then talk tonight about their perspective on sin and redemption and how we need to understand the completed work in Jesus and His incarnate sacrifice. The holy God in sinless human form. He that knew no sin being made sin that we might be partakers of God's righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21) isn't exactly what they believe. Yet they say that they're preaching the same gospel that we are. So we have to understand what their perspective of sin is.

Now we understand that sin, of course, the definition of the word sin is from the Greek, to miss the mark. So we understand there is an absolute truth. There is a mark. There's a righteous standard and relationship that God has established and the original sin in Lucifer caused a missing of that mark. The missing of the mark, the original sin was a lack of subordination, a lack of honoring God, an exalting of self, pride. "I will be like the most High [God]" (Isaiah 14:14). As you begin to look at the Mormon doctrine, the one thing we see is the continual elevation of man into equality with God. The god that they've created and perceived is a god that is himself--the one that you and I would relate to in the Mormon doctrine--is a god who is a creature himself. Because in their comprehension--and I don't want to get to far off into this--their doctrine is so fragmented. There's nothing that really doesn't speak in circles and is contradictory. So it's tough to then to pin them down. When you talk to these folks, make them tell you and define the words that they are using, if you ever get into a discourse with these people. They'll use terms like faith and grace. When they say grace they don't mean what you mean when you say grace. When they talk about sin, they don't mean what you mean when you talk about sin. When they talk about righteousness, they don't mean what you mean. So it's important to understand what they're saying and be able to counter with the Word of God. They talk about sin. Let me show you what their perspective of sin is. We know what the original sin was. And the original sin in Lucifer was that that was transferred down to bring about the temptation of Adam and Eve. Now remember, we talked about--and I won't spend time belaboring the point there--but we talked about the fact that Adam and Eve, created in the image of God, created in innocence, in a perfect environment, were seduced--and I want to use that word for you to understand it clearly--were seduced. There was no sin in them. There wasn't any sin in them that Satan was appealing to, like in you and I, the sin that's in our members. It's easy. It is very easy for Satan to get your attention. It's very easy for the sin that's in the system to attract you, to get your attention. All of these natural appetites that are within us, naturally responding to the power of the kingdom of darkness, which is sin and everything in you, is naturally drawn to that. It takes discipline. It takes a putting a watch over. It takes a dying daily, a bringing under of our bodies to be able to resist and counteract the power of sin. It's in us and the author, of course, is the god of this system that you and I are in but not of. Okay, so here we are, finding ourselves in that condition. Adam and Eve weren't there and yet they were seduced by this one power. What was it? "...ye shall be as gods. [You'll become independent. Your eyes will be opened.], knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). And that knowledge is really not just an awareness but an experiencing. You'll be free to experience all that we said last week. You'll remember Solomon experienced. Nothing, he said, was withheld from him and he said it was all what? Vanity. The more you get, the more you partake of, the more you realize there's nothing out there that satisfies. Lust is insatiable.

So it's important for us to realize then that the way you and I look at sin and the evil that we see it being, that took us out from under God, the Mormons see as a good thing. Let me read you a quote. "Adam deliberately and wisely chose and partook of the forbidden fruit. Adam cried, 'Because of my transgression, my eyes are opened and in this life I shall have joy.'" Yeah! Like diving in a bush and finding out you're naked! Hiding from God when you used to walk with Him in the cool of the garden. Living now by the sweat of your brow. Instead of forsaking all other creation and seeing that that was removed from his side and that that was a reflection of himself and that that was all together lovely because it represented him, he now says, "The woman thou gavest me." Things changed.

But you see the Mormons said this, "We ought to consider the fall of our first parents as one of the great steps to external exaltation and happiness." Different gospel, you think? What is it that they're delighting in here? They're seeing the "liberation" of Adam. They're seeing his eyes being opened--and you've got to remember what their prime doctrine is. That there is an evolutionary process and that Adam, our parent, having come out from under God has become in fact a god of himself and has now brought forth a generation who are free to experience and partake and evolve and procreate their own gods. Because the interesting thing is that they believe that as you continue to evolve, that you are going to actually rule over your kingdom in the spirit realm. They believe that these men that have, through procreation, brought in these preexisting souls--because they believe in that--and given them bodies to dwell with all of their polygamist affairs, now will rule as gods over these particular kingdoms. I don't want to get into all the intricacies of it, but this is kind of what they're looking toward. So it's interesting. And we see that, though we can't identify with it, they don't believe in the depravity of man. They believe in personal responsibility. That gets into another error that we'll talk about in just a moment as they define sin and redemption. But they don't believe that there's any universal sin that has to be accounted for. But personal responsibility, that a man's going to be judged for his own actions, and it's by that that they promote obedience to the old covenant principles and to the doctrines of the Mormon church. But they don't believe that Adam's transgression affected us at all.

Now let's see what the Scripture says in Romans chapter 5 and we see some real interesting statements to the contrary. Verse 8, "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, [verse 9] being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, we when we were enemies...." You see, they don't see Adam's transgression as putting him at enmity with God. They see it as a liberation. And now they co-exist with God. So it's important that you see in their minds that the god, Jehovah, and the deity, Jesus, are all in and of themselves creatures of an impersonal unknown entity. But the Scripture makes it very clear that the transgression brought about enmity and it says, "For if when we were enemies, [verse 10] we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Then look at verse 12. "Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death..." Not liberty, not a co-equality. Death. The day that you eat thereof you shall be liberated. Is that what was said? They say they believe in the Bible. You'll what? Die. The moment you become independent, you'll die. The moment you exalt yourself into this realm, you'll die. "...by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon [Say it.] all men...." Even Mormons. That's what mine says right there. Death passed upon the Mormons. Is that how yours reads? That's how mine reads, right here. And so death passed upon the Mormons for all Mormons have sinned. That's what it says, "...upon all men." That includes Mormons. They're not going to be left out and considered special.

This whole cult is a very tragic thing. We all know a little bit about the story don't we. Joseph Smith, interesting old guy. What a lot of people don't understand about him, in fact a lot of these young people you're going to run into don't understand, is that the thing that Joseph Smith was best known for by everyone that knew him was that he was a liar. Now how would you like to found your faith on that? Everybody said the guy was a liar. You couldn't believe anything he said. He talked in circles. And when you read the writings, you can see it. His dad was a deluded treasure hunter that spent all of his time looking for pirate treasure. His mother was a spiritist and he was genetically a loser. In the process, he began to get involved in the treasure hunting and all of these things. But in the process of all of this, his mother's influence caused him to begin to look for treasure by divining and through stones--they called them peep stones--very much like crystal balls and you'd look in and get guidance and direction. This is who this guy was. No wonder he ran into a guy named Moroni. Moroni is the angel. If you all are driving the highway and you're in bumper-to-bumper, you get a good look at him. He's the guy with the horn. The angel that appeared; the one that brought the revelation of the golden tablets. It was good that they came back because the first appearance didn't have the magic glasses. Later they came with magic glasses that you could read now, these golden plates. You all understand the need for your faith to rise now to accept this. And then all of known history was changed because we find some peoples created in the story that no one can account for. And a whole new history of the Americas was written. I won't get into all of that. Through that process we find the hidden plates and the new revelation of God.

He didn't do a real good job in establishing the church. Really, the church got its strength with Brigham Young. He was a vicious man, an overachiever. He wasn't always hostile. They say many times, a very charismatic-type person and yet could become vicious and actually even ordered the death of a number of settlers, the massacre that took place. Hundreds were massacred at his wishes. The people that he sent to do it were tried and killed. These are the roots of this church. Deception, lies, myths, fantasies, but as intelligent men have polished over and restructured many of these events, they've come into being a very acceptable organization. As you talk with some of these folks you might ask them what they know about the actual history of their organization. We're built upon a rock. His name is Truth. They're built upon Joe the liar. I would encourage them to look a little deeper. Just as I would encourage your own children not to base their faith on Jesus through your experience, but to study to show themselves approved unto God, workmen that need not be ashamed. Tragic how many of these young people are going without knowledge of what it is that they even believe, where this was founded. And let's not allow that to happen to our children. Encourage your children to study the Scriptures. Encourage your children to understand and to look at the infallibility of Scripture and the proof for it. Make sure that they study as we give them opportunity to go through the different teachings of Josh McDowell and through some of the other studies of understanding through the apologist's perspective--why we believe what we believe. So that they can have their own personal relationship and their own personal assurance that what they believe is true. You'll find out that as you're talking to a lot of these young people, they are young people. They haven't had a whole lot of experience, many of them. Just encourage them. Say, look, at least be honest, at least be honest. Go back and study and look and see what the facts of the different trials that were held and the evidence that was presented, brought up. Don't just blindly accept the glossing over of all of these lies and deceptions that affidavit after affidavit came and said, this is a lie. This is not true. These are not real. Your faith is built on a lie. The truth is this. The reason your organization exists is because of the transgression of Adam. And it was not for the enlightenment of man, but he became blind. And the god of this world is continually blinding the eyes of men lest they should see and believe this glorious gospel.

"...by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: [And the good news then is this, as you go on in verse 17] For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to [damnation] condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [Jesus] the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." And you bring them down through the rest of this fifth chapter of Romans. "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, [many being all] so by the obedience of one...." Now you see what they're doing is that they're going to get into works and into personal obedience. Their definition of grace is not the finished work of Jesus Christ being imputed to your account, reckoned to your account. Their perception of grace is a universal salvation that has personal merit and elevation in how you would reign within the structured kingdom.

They basically believe in universal salvation. They'll tell you that they believe in judgment and hell and damnation. But, it's interesting, listen to their definition of eternal damnation. Eternal damnation: the judgment and punishment of God. Could be for an hour, a week or a year. Eternal, for an hour! If you're going to make something up, you might as well at least use one day is as a thousand years. Let's at least get some kind of credibility. I just referenced that to show you that when you're talking to them and they talk about justice and judgment and righteousness and damnation and all of these different things, they believe in none of that. What they believe in and hope in is that, based upon their own involvement with the Mormon Church and their good works, they're going to elevate themselves and rule as gods over their own domain. And that they're even going to have celestial wives and they're going to procreate in the celestial realm and continue to build their kingdom. Well, what's the Scripture say? In the world that you and I are going into, that statement that the Master has given us, that in the kingdom there will be neither marrying nor procreation. So, contrary to that, we see again a kingdom built for the glory of man and not the glory of God.

When you talk to these young people bring them back to the original sin. Bring them back to the declaration of Jesus, establishing an eternal kingdom where He is all in all. Hopefully, as we said this morning, a remnant can be touched. Very few, but I think some of us, as I shared, and I'll say it again, have become callused we just don't want to waste time with the Mormons or with the Jehovah Witnesses. They are, as we said this morning, that someone with an experience, someone that has hope, somebody that has the presence of God in their lives that can speak as they've never heard anyone else speak before, when they take note that you've been with Jesus. So we declare then the truth and the glorious gospel.

Their understanding of redemption is nothing close to the Biblical understanding of the finished work of Jesus Christ. They say this, even the unbeliever, the heathen, the child that dies before reaching the years of discretion, all are redeemed by the Savior's self-sacrifice from all individual consequences of the fall. This includes beasts, fowls of the air, and fishes. So Bowser is making it. They see a universal salvation. You'll find the cults have one common denominator. Nobody wants to be held accountable for their sin. So they always establish a doctrine that allows universal escape. Purgatory.

One of the great doctrines of the Mormon Church is being baptized for the dead. Strong believers that if you're not water-baptized there can be no redemption. They have faith in the actual act of baptism, the immersion. They have great faith in the baptizing of the dead. That's pretty slick! You know, you go through a whole life as an enemy, rebellious, hater of God, blasphemer, dying in your sins, then somebody gets baptized for you. Redeemed! Just leave notes behind. "Please be baptized after my departure." Pass it on from generation to generation. Everybody can live like the devil. I wonder if that's what God had in mind. How can anybody believe this that has a heart for truth? You see, when you look at these people and ask them, "Do you really believe that? Can you really believe that? Is there any truth in you? Are you willing to search and find out whether this stuff is true? If you can prove it to me, I can believe the truth but at least I'll give it some consideration. Let's go to the Scriptures that you say you believe in, that you say this book of Mormon illuminates and gives understanding and see whether there is in fact conflict."

We look at the classic passage in chapter 3 of Romans. Look at chapter 3 verse 24: "Being justified freely by his grace through redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be [the appeasement] a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins...." You see here that the righteousness, the remission of sins, has nothing to do with baptism. It has nothing to do with works. They do not--and this passage is something that you need to hold their feet to--they do not believe that the ministry of Jesus was sufficient, effectual. They do not believe in sola fide. They hold to the same error that the Catholics--as the largest cult in the world hold to--that Jesus blood was not sufficient. His finished work was in fact, not finished. It depends upon our identifying with the Catholic Church, the Mormon Church plus our works, plus our baptism. Now what's the big deal with all of this? You'll notice that there's a common denominator and Satan always inserts this into the cults. It's the diminishing of the worth of the blood of Jesus Christ. It's a mockery of the love of God who came and took upon Himself the form of man and was made sin with our sin. As you begin to share and minister the grace of God to some of these young people, hold them accountable to the finished work of Jesus in His own words and the words of the apostle. Who are you going to believe? Lying Joe or the Apostle Paul, who says in verse 28, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." That settles it!

So as we continue to share with these, let's talk about how freely we are redeemed by grace, unmerited favor. You see grace to them is the allowing of them to work out their divinity. Grace to us is--we are a people who are without hope, a people who are totally depraved, a people that are at enmity with God, a people that have no worth--and God loved us and died for us, and solicited us, and has drawn us into His presence, and made us one with Himself, and calls us sons. I am so thankful tonight for God's grace, aren't you?

Let's stand, and as the brethren come, we're going to spend some time here at the Lord's table, and worship in His presence, because of the finished work. Those of you here tonight, the young people, thank God for the grace and the mercy of the Lord that has allowed you to be born in the home that you were born in and raised in an environment where God's Word is esteemed, and you can see people that are pressing toward the mark, the prize, the high calling of God that's in Christ Jesus. A people with zeal for truth. Don't take it lightly because there's a whole bunch of folks out there that don't have this privilege and now they're warring for their own souls and Father's given us the privilege of sharing with some of them. It's not easy. We have to make the conclusion as to whether we're casting our pearls and whether we need to shake the dust off our feet, but let's be ready and present to give freely because we've received. Pray and ask Father for an opportunity to share with these that are lost. Be bold and yet be understanding that these are a people that have been lied to and are deceived. Try to determine who it is that has been ill informed and who it is that's persuaded. Those that are persuaded are the children of hell, children of the devil. They need to be confronted and if they hold to their god, dismissed, judging themselves unworthy. But there's a remnant. Let's pray and let's be effectual in ministering to those who are in need.

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