The Strand Study Bible

PSALMS PSALMS can become “ gods .” That would contradict Scripture and mean that Satan told Eve the truth in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:1-5). Seeing no man can become God (though God did become man - Jn 1:1,14 & Jn 10:34 ), what Asaph meant here was that men can become “representatives of God” (Exo 4:16). NOTE - According to Bruce Bickel & Stan Jantz, in their book called World Religions & Cults 101 , there are over eleven million Mormons in the world today. 1 What they believe and how they behave is based on three books: The Book ofMormons , Covenants , and The Pearl of Great Price . Mormonism was started in 1829 by a young man from Vermont by the name of Joseph Smith, Jr. Born in 1805, Smith claimed to have received his first vision at the age of fifteen. For the next seven years he claimed that he heard God’s voice through an angel called Moroni ( Gal 1:8 a ). Then at the age of twenty-three Smith claimed that the angel Moroni revealed to him where golden plates lay buried which contained the history of ancient America. These plates, according to Mormon beliefs, were written in “reformed-Egyptian characters” and were translated by Smith in three months using a special pair of transparent stones through which the translation appeared to him in English. As a result, Mormonism was born. The main story in The Book of Mormons covers about 1,000 years (from 600 BC - AD 400). Mormon tradition states that the descendants of a Jew by the name of Lehi fled from Jerusalem early in the reign of King Zedekiah (c. 600 BC) and, under heavenly guidance, crossed the ocean to the shores of America, where their descendants flourished for a thousand years (or until c. AD 400). Unfortunately, The Book of Mormons has not been found accurate in its historical comments either as a guide to exploration or in agreeing with known history. In 1958, Dr. Frank H. Roberts, then Director of the Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology, stated that he had not found “any” modern archaeological data that had corresponded with the history of The Book of Mormons . Inasmuch as The Book of Mormons was supposed to have been translated from Egyptian hieroglyphics, it is strange that many of its passages are exactly as stated in the King James Version of the Bible. For example, note the comparison of Mosiah chapter 14 with Isaiah 53 and III Nephi 13:1-18 with Matthew 6:1-23 and Moroni 10 with I Corinthians 12:1-11 and II Nephi 14 with Isaiah 4 and II Nephi 12 with Isaiah 2. It appears that Joseph Smith made free use of his Bible in order to supplement the alleged revelation of the golden plates. In fact, there is an abundance of unarguable evidence that the origin of Mormonism bears an uncanny likeness to Solomon Spaulding’s unpublished novel, The Manuscript Found . 2 Honest people seeking the facts will note this indisputable substantiation. So when comparing Mormonism to Christianity with the purpose of determining which should be pursued, all one must do is compare the differences. There are eight glaring differences between the two: 1. Whereas Mormons say they believe the Bible to be the very Word of God, they are taught otherwise . Mormons are taught to believe that the Bible is “limited” and that the Mormon scriptures are above the Bible in authority. In Why I Am a Mormon , former U.S. Senator Wallace F. Bennett notes: We recognize the Bible’s limitations as well as its value. We do not ascribe final authority to any of its statements because we believe that God has reestablished the authority to speak in His name, and has given it again to righteous men. 3 If Wallace Bennett’s statement is true, then no one before Joseph Smith had a reliable book they could call God’s Truth. Would God have left Himself without a reliable source of truth for mankind for more than 5,800 years? I think not. 2. Whereas Joseph Smith and the Mormons believe that God the Father was once as we are now (a mere man), the Bible plainly states that God is eternal (without a beginning or an end) (Deut 33:27, Mic 5:2, Hab 1:12 and Psa 90:1-2). In the book Journal of Discourses , Orson Hyde, a recognized theologian by the Mormon Church notes: If Orson Hyde’s statement is true, then Satan told Eve the truth in the Garden of Eden and we too can become gods with the power to create our own universe someday (Gen 3:1-5). Joseph Smith’s theology is polytheistic, teaching that the universe is inhabited by different gods who procreate “spirit-children,” which are in turn clothed with bodies on different planets, Adam- god being the god of earth. Mormon theology is nothing more than an attempt to humanize God and to deify man. 3. Whereas Joseph Smith and the Mormons state unequivocally that Elohim (God the Father) created Jehovah (God the Son), the Bible plainly states that Elohim and Jehovah are but different names for the same Godhead (Gen 2:7). Both Elohim and Jehovah are simply different names used to describe different attributes for the same person within the Triune Godhead ( Gen 1:1 b ). 4. Whereas Joseph Smith and the Mormons believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers, the Bible plainly teaches that Jesus is the Creator of the “created” creature, Satan (Colo 1:12-17 and Heb 1:2). 5. Whereas Joseph Smith and the Mormons believe that the first Adam had sex with Mary and produced the CHRIST -child, the Bible plainly teaches that Jesus was conceived by a direct act of the Holy Spirit (virgin-born) and possessed a sinless nature (Isa 7:14, Mt 1:18-25 and Lk 1:35). In Journal of Discourses , Brigham Young, Joseph Smith’s successor, notes: He [Christ] was not begotten by the Holy Ghost… Jesus our elder brother was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the Garden of Eden and who is our father in heaven. 5 If Brigham Young’s statement is true, then Christ was sired by a fallen man and thus lived his life with a fallen nature. If that were so, He could not have been our perfect sacrifice for sin and thus our Savior. 892 Remember that God our Heavenly Father was perhaps once a child and mortal like we are and rose step by step in the scale of progress, in the school of advancement: has moved forward and overcome until He has arrived at the point where He now is. 4