THE LDS GOSPEL IS NOT
THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST
THE GOSPEL THAT CHRIST PROCLAIMED
Heralding the Messiah's imminent coming, John the Baptist exhorted the people, " Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 3:2, KJV).
During His lifetime Christ also proclaimed the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, which He sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of God. We know that these two expressions mean the same thing because sometimes they are used interchangeably, such as in Matthew 19:23-24.
Christ's gospel (good news) was that Satan's reign on earth was all but over because He had come down from heaven not only to atone for our sins but also to defeat Satan, God's enemy and ours too; thereby breaking his hold on mankind and restoring the rule of God, or the Kingdom of God, on earth.
When we read the book of Acts, we notice that the disciples explained the gospel of Christ to the Jews by showing them via the scriptures, how the Old Covenant had been fulfilled in Christ. And so in order to understand the gospel properly, we will need to take a very quick look at both the Old and the New Covenants.
THE OLD COVENANT
Under the Old Covenant, when the Israelites had sinned, God didn't tell them that they would have to earn the right to forgiveness (as does the LDS church). He knew fallen man was incapable of ever doing such a thing. So instead, He instituted the substitutionary sacrifice. The sinner had to take an unblemished animal to the altar and place his hand upon its head to indicate that it would represent him, and would die in his place, to cover his sin (Leviticus 1:4, 4:29,33). This was a picture of the coming, promised Jewish Messiah who would sacrifice His life to pay the full penalty for the sins of those who had indicated by faith, that He was their substitute sin bearer.
In his epistle to the church at Galatia, Paul explains that the Old Covenant was used by God to convince fallen man that he is, of himself, incapable of living according to God's standards of righteousness. The constant plume of smoke arising from the sacrificial altar bore witness of this fact. Although they were God's chosen people, who had enjoyed His protection and were in possession of His Law, and had every intention of fulfilling it; they nevertheless found themselves continuously slipping up in word, thought and deed. God's Laws and Ordinances didn't have the power to save anyone. All they did was reveal the holiness of God on the one hand, and the innate sinfulness of fallen man on the other.
THE NEW COVENANT GOSPEL
In His wisdom and mercy God provided a way of salvation under a New Covenant of grace, that allowed for the fallenness of man. In, by and through Christ's substitutionary atonement on the cross, He dealt with fallen man's sin problem, and reconciled us to Himself.
This was the most amazing, liberating news. All the Old Covenant had ever done was to prove that fallen man could not live up to God's standards of righteousness. But now the promised Jewish Messiah had come down to earth and had vicariously died to save us both from the consequences of our sins and from the power that sin has over us. The burden of guilt and the resulting fear of death and judgment was to be no more!
After His resurrection Christ appeared to His disciples, instructing them to be witnesses of His death on the cross, and of His resurrection three days later. He also commanded them to proclaim in His name, repentance and the forgiveness of sins:
THE MORMON GOSPEL
As mentioned, the gospel preached by the apostles in the primitive church was centred on Christ, the New Covenant of grace that He had ratified, and the forgiveness of sins that He had earned on our behalf on the cross. In contrast to this, the LDS has banned the symbol of the cross on their premises and their gospel is centred on Joseph Smith, their church and their supposed authority. But this was precisely the sort of thing that Paul was warning us about. The Mormon gospel bears no resemblance to the gospel that Christ instructed the apostles to preach. It is "another gospel."
Although the LDS calls their gospel, "the gospel of Jesus Christ," it is in reality the gospel of Joseph Smith. The "good news" that their missionaries proclaim from door to door is that God allowed the church that Christ had died for, to go into total apostasy, and that He also permitted the Bible, the standard of truth that He'd given us for our spiritual guidance and protection, to become corrupted and unreliable. They then go on to claim that their prophet, Joseph Smith, has restored the "true" church in these latter days, and that salvation can now be attained only through themselves.
Christ is sidelined, his atonement is deprecated and Joseph Smith and his LDS church are given all the glory.
One of the things Mormons are taught is that Christ's atonement only covers universal resurrection. So the sad fact is that although the Bible clearly tells us that Christ died for the sins of those who identify themselves with Him by faith, Mormons don't go that route. Instead they have opted to follow the way of salvation proclaimed by Joseph Smith, i.e. that they have to earn the right to forgiveness of their sins through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the LDS organization, plus virtuous living. (See the articles on this site entitled "Mormon Salvation and its Deceptiveness." and "Mormon Salvation Exposed to the Light of the Bible.")
Considering that under the Old Covenant nobody was ever able to satisfy God's demands for righteousness in this way, the Mormon gospel places its followers in a precarious position. Not only that, they have trampled underfoot the precious blood of Christ that He so selflessly shed to earn, once and for all, the forgiveness of all our sins:
If you wish to gain a deeper understanding of this subject, click on the following links:
Mormon Salvation Exposed to the Light of the Bible
Mormon Salvation and its Deceptiveness
Copyright 2008 by Mormonism and Biblical Truth. All rights reserved.
Heralding the Messiah's imminent coming, John the Baptist exhorted the people, " Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 3:2, KJV).
During His lifetime Christ also proclaimed the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, which He sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of God. We know that these two expressions mean the same thing because sometimes they are used interchangeably, such as in Matthew 19:23-24.
Christ's gospel (good news) was that Satan's reign on earth was all but over because He had come down from heaven not only to atone for our sins but also to defeat Satan, God's enemy and ours too; thereby breaking his hold on mankind and restoring the rule of God, or the Kingdom of God, on earth.
When we read the book of Acts, we notice that the disciples explained the gospel of Christ to the Jews by showing them via the scriptures, how the Old Covenant had been fulfilled in Christ. And so in order to understand the gospel properly, we will need to take a very quick look at both the Old and the New Covenants.
THE OLD COVENANT
Under the Old Covenant, when the Israelites had sinned, God didn't tell them that they would have to earn the right to forgiveness (as does the LDS church). He knew fallen man was incapable of ever doing such a thing. So instead, He instituted the substitutionary sacrifice. The sinner had to take an unblemished animal to the altar and place his hand upon its head to indicate that it would represent him, and would die in his place, to cover his sin (Leviticus 1:4, 4:29,33). This was a picture of the coming, promised Jewish Messiah who would sacrifice His life to pay the full penalty for the sins of those who had indicated by faith, that He was their substitute sin bearer.
In his epistle to the church at Galatia, Paul explains that the Old Covenant was used by God to convince fallen man that he is, of himself, incapable of living according to God's standards of righteousness. The constant plume of smoke arising from the sacrificial altar bore witness of this fact. Although they were God's chosen people, who had enjoyed His protection and were in possession of His Law, and had every intention of fulfilling it; they nevertheless found themselves continuously slipping up in word, thought and deed. God's Laws and Ordinances didn't have the power to save anyone. All they did was reveal the holiness of God on the one hand, and the innate sinfulness of fallen man on the other.
Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. (Galations 3:21-25, KJV)
THE NEW COVENANT GOSPEL
In His wisdom and mercy God provided a way of salvation under a New Covenant of grace, that allowed for the fallenness of man. In, by and through Christ's substitutionary atonement on the cross, He dealt with fallen man's sin problem, and reconciled us to Himself.
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:19, KJV)Although He had no sin, Christ paid the consequences for our sins, in our place, on the cross at Calvary. However, just as the Old Covenant sinner had to identify himself with the substitutionary sacrifice that was to die in his place to cover his sin, so we too need to identify ourselves with Christ by putting our faith in Him. And the moment we do that He becomes our our substitute sin bearer/saviour, and we are counted as being "in Him."
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16, KJV)The gospel (good news) of the primitive Church of Jesus Christ was that Christ had ratified a New Covenant of grace for the forgiveness of sins by His shed blood on the cross at Calvary, where He had defeated sin, Satan, death and hell on our behalf.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, (Ephesians 1:7-8, NASB)
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross (Colossians 2:13-14, KJV). (Italics inserted by writer.)
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9, KJV)
This was the most amazing, liberating news. All the Old Covenant had ever done was to prove that fallen man could not live up to God's standards of righteousness. But now the promised Jewish Messiah had come down to earth and had vicariously died to save us both from the consequences of our sins and from the power that sin has over us. The burden of guilt and the resulting fear of death and judgment was to be no more!
After His resurrection Christ appeared to His disciples, instructing them to be witnesses of His death on the cross, and of His resurrection three days later. He also commanded them to proclaim in His name, repentance and the forgiveness of sins:
Then He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:45-48, KJV). (Italics inserted by writer.)And then just before His ascension, He confirmed this instruction:
"Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1:8, KJV)Notice that the gospel was to be all about Him and how He had earned the forgiveness of our sins. They were to be witnesses as to who Christ was and what He had done for and on behalf of fallen mankind through his death and resurrection. This is why the gospel of Christ's church was, and still is, always centred on Christ and the cross. As Paul said:
We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:23-24, KJV)However, Satan doesn't give up that easily. Although he knew that he had been defeated and was destined for judgment and hell, he wants to thwart God's plan to redeem fallen man, and thereby take as many of us with him as he possibly can. With this aim in mind he sends out his messengers to proclaim counterfeit gospels with counterfeit saviours and a counterfeit salvation. Paul warned the church at Galatia concerning this danger:
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. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (Galations 1:8-9, KJV)
THE MORMON GOSPEL
As mentioned, the gospel preached by the apostles in the primitive church was centred on Christ, the New Covenant of grace that He had ratified, and the forgiveness of sins that He had earned on our behalf on the cross. In contrast to this, the LDS has banned the symbol of the cross on their premises and their gospel is centred on Joseph Smith, their church and their supposed authority. But this was precisely the sort of thing that Paul was warning us about. The Mormon gospel bears no resemblance to the gospel that Christ instructed the apostles to preach. It is "another gospel."
Although the LDS calls their gospel, "the gospel of Jesus Christ," it is in reality the gospel of Joseph Smith. The "good news" that their missionaries proclaim from door to door is that God allowed the church that Christ had died for, to go into total apostasy, and that He also permitted the Bible, the standard of truth that He'd given us for our spiritual guidance and protection, to become corrupted and unreliable. They then go on to claim that their prophet, Joseph Smith, has restored the "true" church in these latter days, and that salvation can now be attained only through themselves.
Christ is sidelined, his atonement is deprecated and Joseph Smith and his LDS church are given all the glory.
One of the things Mormons are taught is that Christ's atonement only covers universal resurrection. So the sad fact is that although the Bible clearly tells us that Christ died for the sins of those who identify themselves with Him by faith, Mormons don't go that route. Instead they have opted to follow the way of salvation proclaimed by Joseph Smith, i.e. that they have to earn the right to forgiveness of their sins through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the LDS organization, plus virtuous living. (See the articles on this site entitled "Mormon Salvation and its Deceptiveness." and "Mormon Salvation Exposed to the Light of the Bible.")
Considering that under the Old Covenant nobody was ever able to satisfy God's demands for righteousness in this way, the Mormon gospel places its followers in a precarious position. Not only that, they have trampled underfoot the precious blood of Christ that He so selflessly shed to earn, once and for all, the forgiveness of all our sins:
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. (Ephesians 1:7, KJV)
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Romans 5:9, KJV)
Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, (Revelation 1:5, KJV)
If you wish to gain a deeper understanding of this subject, click on the following links:
Mormon Salvation Exposed to the Light of the Bible
Mormon Salvation and its Deceptiveness
Copyright 2008 by Mormonism and Biblical Truth. All rights reserved.