THE LDS JESUS CHRIST IS NOT
THE SAVIOUR OF THE BIBLE

The Jesus Christ in whom Mormons have put their faith differs radically from the biblical Christ. And common sense tells us that trusting in a different Saviour has to have different consequences. Faith on its own has no merit or power. It's in whom or in what we put our faith in that counts. Trusting in and following a fictitious Christ will result in a fictitious salvation, no matter how sincere we may be.

This article discusses the following facts, which reveal that there is very little difference between the LDS Jesus Christ and ourselves:

1. The LDS leadership says that their Christ is not the Saviour of the Bible.
2. He was not eternally deity, but had exactly the same origins as we did.
3. Like ourselves, He is merely a product of the universe and is subject to it.
4. He had to earn His own salvation from sin.
5. He is not unique and is only one of a great many other redeemers in the universe.
6. Members of the human race helped him to create the world.
7. He was our brother in a previous existence and the literal brother of the devil.
8. His atonement only provided for our resurrection and we have to earn the right to forgiveness of own sins.
9. He was fathered by cohabitation between God and Mary, so he must have inherited her fallen nature.

THE LDS LEADERSHIP ADMITS TO FOLLOWING A DIFFERENT CHRIST

Mormonism is not Christianity. When the writer was still in the LDS church many years ago, Mormons were regularly instructed from the pulpit never to call themselves Christians. But their leadership has since changed their stance. For some time now they have been pulling out all the stops to get themselves included in the Christian fraternity, and with this aim in mind have spent a fortune on a massive public relations campaign. Consequently, Mormons now become indignant if anyone tells them that they are not Christians or that their Jesus Christ is not the Saviour of the Bible. However, their leadership readily admits that the LDS Christ is not biblical.

In bearing testimony of Jesus Christ, President Hinckley spoke of those outside the Church who say Latter-day Saints do not believe in the traditional Christ. "No, I don't. The traditional Christ of whom they speak is not the Christ of whom I speak. For the Christ of whom I speak has been revealed in this the Dispensation of the Fulness [sic] of Times. He together with His Father, appeared to the boy Joseph Smith in the year 1820, and when Joseph left the grove that day, he knew more of the nature of God than all the learned ministers of the gospel of the ages ("The LDS Church News," week ending June 20, 1998, page 7) (Italics inserted by the writer.)

"..... the Christ followed by the Mormons is not the Christ followed by traditional Christianity." (Elder Bernard P. Brockbank, of the First Quorum of the Seventy,"The Living Christ," Ensign, May, 1977, pages 26 and 27.)

"..... virtually all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ ....." (LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie, "Mormon Doctrine," page 269).

President Hinckley, Elder Brockbank and LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie each insists that the differences between the Christs of Christianity and Mormonism are so vast that they cannot be considered as being one and the same person. President Hinckley put it this way: "The traditional Christ of whom they speak is not the Christ of whom I speak." He then went on to explain that Joseph Smith's first vision had been the catalyst that had resulted in Mormons believing in a different Jesus Christ to the one described in the Bible as being our Saviour.

However, they are standing on shaky ground here because there are nine known contradictory versions of Joseph Smith's first vision. The official version referred to above only came to light for the first time approximately twenty-two years after the supposed event. Prior to that nobody, not even his own family, had ever heard of it. But it fitted in with his new doctrines as though it had been made for them. So in spite of the fact that it was invalidated by an earlier, contradictory version written in his own handwriting, it became the catalyst that made acceptable the introduction of a host of unbiblical doctrines into the LDS belief system, including their present doctrine on an unbiblical Jesus Christ. (See the article, "Joseph Smith's First Vision and the Controversy Surrounding It," listed on the home page of this site.)



THE LDS CHRIST HAD THE SAME ORIGINS AS FALLEN MAN

The LDS doctrine of eternal progression brings deity down to our level by teaching that we all belong to the same species and had the same beginnings. So the only difference between deity and ourselves is one of degree. But that gap can be bridged, because through Mormonism we can also be exalted to godhood.

Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. (Doctrine and Covenants 93:29.)

..... The mind of man is as immortal as God himself ..... their spirits existed co-equal with God (Joseph Smith, "Times and Seasons," Volume 5, page 615). (Writer's italics)

God himself ..... is a man like unto one of yourselves ..... God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth ..... You have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves (Joseph Smith, "Times and Seasons," Volume 5, pages 613-614).

Brethren, 225,000 of you are here tonight. I suppose that 225,000 of you may become gods (LDS President and Prophet W. Kimball, "The Ensign," November 1975 and 1980).

Mormon teaching is that in a previous spiritual existence Christ, ourselves, the devil and the angels, were all part of one big family, with the same parentage. (See chapter 2, Gospel Principles; Doctrine and Covenants 93:21, Discourses of Brigham Young, Page 26 and "Mormon Doctrine" by Bruce McConkie, pages 192-193, 321, 516, 589).

Among the spirit children of Elohim [the LDS God] the firstborn was and is Jehovah or Jesus Christ to whom all others are juniors .... There is no impropriety, therefore, in speaking of Jesus Christ as the elder brother of the rest of humankind.... (LDS President Joseph F. Smith, "Improvement Era," volume 19, pages 941-942, June 30, 1916)

..... the Devil, the mighty Lucifer, the great prince of the angels, and the brother of Jesus. (Apostle Joseph Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, pages 207-208, October 11, 1857)

But the Bible tells us that the devil is a fallen, created, angelic being (Ezekiel 28:13-19); and that Christ, who is eternal deity (John 1:1), created all the angelic beings, including the devil:

For by Him [Christ] were all things created, that are in heavens, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities or powers: all things have been created by Him and for Him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:16-17, KJV) (Italics inserted by writer.)

The words, "thrones, dominions, principalities or powers" mentioned above were used by rabbinical Jews to describe the different orders of angels.



THE LDS JESUS WAS ONLY ONE OF MANY REDEEMERS

The LDS Jesus Christ is not even unique in being a Redeemer, as they maintain that He was only one of many Redeemers in a great many worlds.

Sin is upon every earth that ever was created ..... Consequently every earth has its redeemer, and every earth has its tempter; and the people thereof, in their turn and time, receive all that we receive, and pass through all the ordeals that we are passing through (Brigham Young, second President of the LDS Church, "Journal of Discourses," 14:71-72).

THE LDS CHRIST WAS ASSISTED BY MANKIND IN THE CREATION

The gap between the LDS Christ and fallen mankind is reduced even further by their claim that in our pre-existence some of us assisted him in His creation of the earth. "The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith" tell us on page 158 that Adam occupied the position of authority next to Jesus Christ, and that he was one of those who had participated in the creation of the earth. LDS doctrinal writer and Apostle Bruce McConkie goes on to say:

Michael or Adam was one of these. Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Peter, James, and John, Joseph Smith, and many other noble and great ones played a part in the great creative enterprise. ("Mormon Doctrine," page 169 c/f "Doctrines of Salvation," Volume 1, pages 74-75)

THE LDS CHRIST WAS A SINNER WHO'D NEEDED SALVATION

Just as Mormons do today, the LDS Jesus also had to earn his own salvation:

Jesus kept the commandments of his Father and thereby worked out his own salvation, and also set an example as to the way and the means whereby all men may be saved (LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie, "The Mortal Messiah," Volume 4, page 434).

THE LDS JESUS IS A PRODUCT OF THE UNIVERSE

According to the Mormon story about our pre-existence, their Jesus Christ was only born as a spirit child of the Heavenly Father after the universe had already been created. So he had no part in its creation. This would mean that he is not vital or even necessary to the universe but is subject to it in exactly the same way as is fallen man.



THE LDS JESUS IS JEHOVAH, THE GOD OF ISRAEL

The Book of Mormon maintains that after his resurrection the Christ visited the Americas, where he announced that he was the Jehovah of the Old Testament, and the God of Israel:

"Behold, I am he that gave the law, and I am he who covenanted with my people Israel; therefore, the law in me is fulfilled, for I have come to fulfil the law" (Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 15:5 - See also Doctrine and Covenants 110:3-4).

In all of scripture, where God is mentioned and where he has appeared, it was Jehovah ..... The Father has never dealt with man directly and personally since the fall. (James Talmage, Doctrines of Salvation, volume 1, pages 11 and 27).

However, at the time that the above quote in the Book of Mormon was written, Joseph Smith was a firm believer in the trinitarian deity. The fact that he taught the biblical concept of the trinitarian deity to the LDS church for the first twelve years of their existence is well documented. And their teaching that the Lord Jesus was the Jehovah of the Old Testament fitted in perfectly with trinitarian doctrine. But then Joseph introduced his startling new "law" of eternal progression, that described a godhood consisting of three separate Gods. At that stage he persuaded the LDS to reject the biblical spirit deity, and to follow him in the worship a different God, one who was a glorified man with a body of flesh and bone, and who had once been a sinner in need of salvation. The LDS now ridicules the concept of a trinitarian deity.

Because the Book of Mormon's teachings (including those on Jehovah, i.e. Christ, being the God of the Israelites), were based on their earlier belief in a trinitarian deity, their change in deity doctrine has created serious problems for them. And this is why the Book of Mormon contradicts Doctrine and Covenants and other Mormon scriptures that were written at a later time, after their beliefs and doctrines had changed.

If our ideas about deity are wrong, then we'll be wrong about our other doctrines too, because ultimately all our beliefs stem from our view of God.

There are many places in the Old Testament where the person of Jehovah [YHWH] (whom the Book of Mormon teaches is the Lord Jesus Christ and the God of Israel), is identified as being Elohim, which is the name of the LDS's God and Heavenly Father. The following are only a few of the many places where the scriptures consistently teach a trinitarian deity, and where the present LDS teaching that God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three separate Gods doesn't fit in. (The original language from which the English was translated is given in brackets.)

Know ye that the LORD [YHWH, Jehovah] he is God [Elohim]: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. (Psalm 100:3, KJV)

Hear, O Israel: The LORD [YHWH, Jehovah] our God [Elohim] is one LORD [YHWH, Jehovah] (Deuteronomy 6:4, KJV)

That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD [YHWH, Jehovah] is God [Elohim], and that there is none else. (1 Kings 8:60, KJV)

The Hebrew translation of Exodus 3:14 tells us that it was Elohim (in Mormonism, God the Heavenly Father), and not YHWH (in Mormonism the Lord Jesus Christ), who made Himself known to Moses by the title "I am that I am." Nevertheless, Mormons fully concur with John 8:58, where Christ identifies Himself as deity by claiming the very words used by Elohim in Exodus when he said, "Before Abraham was born, I am." But this claim of Christ only fits in with the trinitarian teaching, not with the three separate Gods teaching. And if the LDS takes up the stance that according to the law of eternal progression, Christ had a right to make this claim, why would Christ make such a big thing of this if he knew very well that according to the LDS's law of eternal progression, everybody else (including the Jews to whom Christ was speaking) had also existed before the birth of Abraham?

The truth of the matter was that the biblical Jesus Christ knew nothing of the Mormon doctrine of eternal progression, because the Bible reveals, and historians confirm, that He lived His life out as an Old Covenant Jew. Yet the LDS teaches that he lived His life on earth in obedience to LDS laws and ordinances. But both history and archeology prove that Mormon doctrines were not practised, or even known, until after the LDS church came into existence in 1830 AD.

Then too, concerning their teaching that the Christ, who was the Jehovah of the Old Testament, was the God of the Israelites, the LDS maintains that although there are a great many Gods, Elohim is the only God with whom they have to do. And as they claim that they are a true restoration of the primitive church, this implies that the God worshipped by the primitive church must also have been Elohim, otherwise the LDS wouldn't have been a true restoration. But the primitive church originally consisted of Jews who were all previously Old Covenant Israelites. And according to LDS doctrine, their God was Jehovah (Jesus Christ). This means that in order to be in line with Mormonism, which teaches that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are three separate Gods, the primitive church would have had to swap over to the worship of Elohim, Jehovah's Heavenly Father. This is getting very messy.

There are also many other problems in this area that could be discussed, but space does not permit. Suffice it to say that Mormonism is full of contradictions, which is an indication that its doctrines are man made and therefore fallible.



THE ATONEMENT OF THE LDS JESUS CHRIST

The LDS maintains that Christ's atonement took place in the Garden of Gethsemane and that it only covered Adam's sin, thereby reversing the consequences of the fall and providing for universal resurrection. In their own words, it amounts to damnation:

Those who gain only this general or unconditional salvation will still be judged according to their works and receive their places in a terrestrial or telestial kingdom. They will, therefore, be damned (Mormon Doctrine, Bruce McConkie, page 669.) (Emphasis inserted by writer.)

They go on to teach that we have to earn the right to the forgiveness of our own, personal sins through obedience to LDS laws and ordinances, good works and a virtuous life. In other words, salvation can only be attained through the LDS church, by faith in Joseph Smith as God's true prophet.

"Redemption from personal sins can only be obtained through obedience to the requirements of the [Mormon] gospel, and a life of good works ..... The Sectarian Dogma of Justification by Faith Alone has exercised an influence for evil" (Mormon Apostle James Talmage, Articles of Faith, pages 478-479).

There is no salvation outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Bruce McConkie, "Mormon Doctrine," page 670).

There is no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith as a prophet of God, (Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 1, page 188.)

However, the Bible teaches that the genuine Jesus Christ earned real salvation for fallen mankind on the cross at Calvary, where He fully atoned by paying the once-for-all price for the forgiveness of all the sins of those who by faith identify themselves with Him; and that salvation is only through Him.

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3, KJV)

To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. (Acts 10:43, KJV)

In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (Colossians 1:14 KJV)

..... no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6, KJV)

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12, KJV)

Neither the Mormon atonement nor their plan of salvation will be found anywhere in the Bible, no matter how long or hard you search for them.



THE VIRGIN BIRTH

The unbiblical LDS teaching is that God Himself fathered Christ through a physical relationship with Mary. Although the writer never personally heard this preached from an LDS pulpit, it was taught by Joseph Smith and other LDS leadership, and is presently taught in LDS lesson books (for instance in the Family Home Evening [Manual], Personal Commitment, copyright 1972 by Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, pages 125-126), as well as in the sources mentioned below:

These name-titles all signify that our Lord is the only Son of the Father in the flesh. Each of the words is to be understood literally. Only means only; Begotten means begotten; and Son means son. Christ was begotten by an Immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers. ("Mormon Doctrine," Bruce R. McConkie, page 546-547)

When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was NOT begotten by the Holy Ghost. (President Brigham Young, "Journal of Discourses," Volume 1, page 50)

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in the most literal sense. The body in which He performed His mission in the flesh was fathered by that same Holy Being we worship as God, our Eternal Father. Jesus was not the son of Joseph, nor was He begotten by the Holy Ghost. He is the Son of the Eternal Father!" (Benson, page 4). (Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Volume 2, page 725, 1992; "The Teachings of [LDS President] Ezra Taft Benson," page 7)

The birth of the Savior was a natural occurrence unattended by any degree of mysticism, and the Father God was the literal parent of Jesus in the flesh as well as in the spirit ("Religious Truths Defined," Joseph Fielding Smith, page 44).

Thus, God the Father became the literal father of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only person on earth to be born of a mortal mother and an immortal father. From his mother he inherited mortality and was subject to hunger, thirst, fatigue, pain, and death. He inherited divine powers from his father. (Gospel Principles manual, 1997, page 64)

There are several problems with this blasphemous and highly offensive teaching. First of all, the Bible makes it clear that Christ was conceived through a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. And secondly there is an excellent reason why Christ had to be conceived in this manner. In order to qualify to pay the price of our sins, it was essential that He should be absolutely pure and untainted by sin. And although Mary may have been a wonderful, kind and good person, she was still a member of a fallen race. Any child that she bore through the fertilization of her ova would naturally have carried the gene of her fallen nature, no matter who the father was. So her conception came about solely through Christ's embryo being miraculously formed inside her womb, by the power of the Holy Spirit, without the use of her ova, thereby bypassing the necessity of fertilization. (See Matthew 1:18-20, Luke 1:34-35.) In other words, it was a true virgin birth in that Mary was Christ's surrogate mother.

The Mormon version of Christ's conception would have meant that Mary would have lost her virginity. But the Bible tells us that when she gave birth she was still a virgin (Matthew 1:25). The LDS excuse that she could still be considered a virgin as God Himself had physically fathered the earthly Christ is unacceptable, because it is nonsense. A woman is either a virgin or she is not.



WHO IS THE HISTORICAL, BIBLICAL JESUS CHRIST?

The biblical Christ is self-existing. He never ever had a beginning because He has always, eternally existed as God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life ..... (John 1:1-4, KJV) (The author's italics.)

Because He has always had all the attributes of God, He has never ever sinned. So He never ever needed salvation. He was salvation (John 14:6).

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21, KJV).

He is both the creator of life and the giver of eternal life (John 4:14). He created the universe and everything that is in it. So it is subject to Him. And He is worshipped by Christians as God, the second person of the trinity.

The biblical followers of Christ looked upon Him as deity and worshipped Him.

And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. (John 20:28-29, KJV)

And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59-60, KJV)

[The Apostle Paul said] ...... but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:20-21, KJV)

Although the word "trinity" isn't mentioned in the Bible, the concept of the trinitarian deity is taught consistently throughout the entire Bible (see the article on the Biblical God). It certainly did not originate with the Council at Nicea in the fourth century, as the LDS so wrongly claims it did. They merely rubber-stamped the fact that the trinity always had been one of the foremost doctrines of the church. Long before the Council at Nicea came into being, independent secular historians and other men of note recorded the fact that the early Christians had worshipped Christ as deity. (See "Celsus, on the True Doctrine" by R. Joseph Hoffmann, Oxford University Press 1987, "The Christians as the Romans Saw Them" by Robert L. Wilken, Yale University Press, 1986, and volume 4 of "The Ante-Nicene Fathers.")



CONCLUSION

Because the primitive church fully understood the use of biblical terms and was familiar with the culture of those times, the concept of the trinity presented no problems to them, and they readily accepted it as a biblical doctrine. However, this is not the case today, as we are treading on strange ground.

For the first twelve years of the LDS's existence, Joseph Smith taught them to worship and follow the biblical trinitarian deity. However, at that stage, in his struggle to understand God he chose to bring deity down to his own level. And that is why the LDS Jesus Christ, who was tailor-made to fit in with Smith's man-centred doctrine of eternal progression, bears no resemblance to the biblical Saviour of mankind. He has a different nature, attributes, origin, birth and history, and is a different person altogether. The LDS Jesus Christ is not the Christ of the Bible.

To compound these grave, foundational and major doctrinal deviations, as already mentioned above, the LDS Christ's atonement also differs radically in that it only covers our resurrection and results in damnation. So not only is the person of the LDS Jesus Christ inferior in every way to the Christ of the Bible, so is his atonement.

Finally, what the LDS wrongly terms "the gospel of Jesus Christ" is in reality the gospel of Joseph Smith. That gospel will not be found anywhere in the Bible, as it consists purely of Joseph Smith's own exclusive ideas, which contradict what the Bible teaches, often to the point of being blasphemous.



NOTE: Many of the major errors in the LDS's teachings about Christ are directly related to their disregard of the customs and terms of speech used by the people living in biblical times. This subject is dealt with in a continuation of this article, on the following link:

Mormon Doctrines on Christ Misconstrue Hebrew Terms of Speech


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