A Message to Mormons

This is my message to Mormons, a message to consider the true gospel.

A Few Differences

Whether you would tell me or not that there are no differences between what the Bible teaches and Mormonism, there most certainly are. I’ve compiled just a few questions/ideas to get you thinking about the differences.

Where do you believe that Jesus came from?

John 1:2-2 says he has always existed, “He was in the beginning with God.” (John 1:2) according to this passage Jesus was not created, he has always existed with God the Father. This connects closely and disproves the next question I have. Do you think Jesus was Satan's brother? Why? Where do you get that from?

Do you think that Yahweh created everything? John 1:3-4 says that God, the only God, created everything.

John 1:3-4
³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

There is only one God, reference to other Gods is talking about false gods, idols.

“…before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.” (Isaiah 43:10)

“I am the first and I am the last.” (Isaiah 44:6)

According to Joseph Smith, Yahweh was not the first and will not be the last. I know Mormons say they have explanations for this verse but I will touch on this later, you must read scripture through the lens of a child and not through the lens of Joseph Smith. In Matthew 18:3, Jesus says to his disciples “…Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

In Revelation we see clearly that we will worship God forever.

Revelation 5:13b
To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!

Jesus preached peace with God, not rising to become a god.

There is evidence of false prophecy in the Mormon church and from Joseph Smith. One example is Zion in Jackson County, Missouri. Prophecy was not fulfilled in 1836 like Joseph Smith said. If there is one false prophecy in the Bible, then it cannot be true. If a prophet prophecies one false prophecy, they are a false prophet.

Mormonism teaches that it is Christ's church restored, but in Matthew 16:18 Jesus says

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18)

Christ's church did not need restoration.

Saved by Faith Alone

Understanding salvation is essential because it helps you understand what Jesus has done for us. In salvation, Christ righteousness is put on us so that we can be saved. We do not earn righteousness in any way. Our sins were paid in pull at the cross, “it is finished” is what Jesus said.

On the contrary, the book of mormon says in 2 Nephi 25:23 “for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” So the grace to be saved comes after all you can do? That is inconsistent with scripture, see Ephesians 2:8, which says we are saved solely by grace, and our good works are a result of that salvation. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” Romans 4:22-24 talks about our faith being counted to us as righteousness.

“That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,” (Romans 4:22-24)

Romans 5:8
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This is Gods love for us! Christ dying to pay for all of our sins! God does not only love us and save us when we prove ourselves to him. This is the good news of the gospel! You must elevate Christ to the position that he is in. He is reigning in heaven now, living in us, he is our mediator between us and God the Father, and he paid for all of our sins so that we can be at peace with God, not enemies.

Colossians 1:20
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

If you stumble in the law in one way, you are guilty of it all, so thank God that we are not judged by the law.

Galations 3:10-14 explains this so well.
¹⁰ For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” ¹¹ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” ¹² But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” ¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” - ¹⁴ so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

This equation represents what the Bible says about salvation. Faith = Salvation + Works. A true faith will produce good works in a person because they are a new creation

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

It is not that someone can just have faith that Jesus died and rose from the dead and call it good. But a true saving faith, will produce works. You will want to and you will live out the great commission, you will see the way Jesus lived and immitate that (James 2:14-19). God is the one though that does this initial work of saving someone (Ezekiel 36:26).

James 2:14-19
¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? ¹⁷ So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. ¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

Ezekiel 36:26
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

If you think this is not that important then why does the Bible mention it everywhere! The gospel is greater than you think it is.

One rhetorical question you could ask yourself is: who is it up to, to step away from sin before you are initially saved? The Bible has answers on this, I pray that you think and meditate on these things.

Testimonies

I ask you to study the differences between the Bible (ESV) and what Mormonism practices/teaches. The ESV version of the Bible is different from the Mormon’s version of the KJV Bible. Learn about these differences and decide what you believe. Decide which Jesus you want to follow and put your hope in.

Everyone outside the Mormon church sees these differences, you need to do the research yourself to see them. That’s why I will never join the Mormon church, it is corrupt.

An ex-Mormon said this:

“I am an exmormon. As a mormon we were taught not to question or search out to find out teachings of the church that were not directly from mormon leaders because you would be influenced by anything or something satanic that would of course be against the church. However, thank God my dad did seek out and actually read the Bible with a Christian pastor. Hallelujah.”

There can only be one truth, because of this you should not close yourself off to other views and stay inside the walls of the Mormon church.

One ex-Mormon says he was taught that you cannot be saved outside of the religious acts of the Mormon church. This is wrong and inconsistent with the verses I have already shared in this letter, namely Ephesians.

Ex-mormon testimony

Call to Action

So what’s the call to action? Mormons feel like they have already accepted Christ as their savior. So what’s the problem? The big question is: who is Christ?

2 Cor 11:3-4 talks about how a different Christ doesn’t save us.

2 Corinthians 11:3-4
³ But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴ For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

You need to read the Bible (not the Mormon version of the KJV) as a child, not through the lens of Joseph Smith, just read through the New Testament and God will open your eyes to the truth. If you read through the lens of Joseph Smith you will make excuses for everything.

A great place to start reading to understand the basic principles of the true gospel is the book of Galations.

Closing Thoughts

Ultimately, the Jesus of Mormonism is not Jesus. Jesus is NOT one god among many of gods that were before him, Lucifers's brother, the offspring of Elohim and one of his wives. The Jesus of John 1 is not that Jesus, he is eternal, always existant, he created everything in existance. Those are not the same Jesus.

Joseph Smith has robbed the Mormons of the hope of the gospel, peace with God and a Jesus that can save you.

The true hope of the gospel is that Christ saved us completely from our sins, not of anything that we can do but because of a faith of which we were given as a free gift. Because of our wickedness the only hope we have, and it is a great hope, is in Christ Jesus who covered past, present, and future sins when he died on the cross and rose from the dead.

The contradictions between Mormonism and the Bible are something you should wrestle with and think about. Only one can be true. Trust the objective revelation of God and not your feelings about the scripture.

Acts 17:11
Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Notes

Very good video of conversation with Mormons and baptist pastor: video link Long video of more conversation with a Mormon: video link