Mormonism Examined
A knock at the door. Two quietly dressed, softly spoken young men stand there. "We have a very important message to give you today. Have you heard of Joseph Smith, who was a prophet of God?"
This is the first introduction that many people have to the Mormons, for these two young men are Elders of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" the full name for the Mormon Church. It is likely that these two are Americans, who have come as missionaries to spread the Mormon gospel in this country as their first missionaries did in 1837.
The apostle Paul wrote to some who were Christian converts in the first century "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 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". (1)
The first word "another" is a translation of a Greek word which means "different". The second word "another" means "another one of the same kind". Paul is therefore saying that he marvels that some of his readers have left the gospel, of Christ given to Paul by revelation (2) and embraced a different gospel not another similar gospel, but something entirely different. He says of any who teach a different gospel, even if it is claimed to be by angelic authority, "let him be accursed".
The purpose of this article is to look briefly at some of the teaching of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to see whether their gospel is similar to that which was taught by the apostles, or whether it is a gospel which is entirely different. If it is a different gospel then, in view of the apostle's words, true Christians can have nothing to do with it, for there is only "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all". (3)
The Testimony of Joseph Smith
In the Spring of 1820 in Manchester, N.Y., U.S.A., a young lad, fourteen years old, claimed to have had a vision when he was praying. Joseph Smith later wrote:
"I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, and above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell on me . . . I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air". (4)
He explained how he was told to join none of the Christian denominations of the day but that he would be instructed what to do.
In the preface to the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith describes an angelic message which informed him of a book, written on gold plates, which he later was to translate into English. He describes a number of visits in which he was given instruction by the angel Moroni, his discovery of the plates buried in the earth and his translation of what became known as the Book of Mormon from "Reformed Egyptian" a language unknown to modern scholars.
This book, written in language similar to that of the Authorised Version of the Bible (1611), is regarded by the Mormon church as a Divine record, translated under inspiration, which continues the revelation of the Old and New Testaments and is complementary to them. The Book of Mormon describes the migration of ancient peoples to America; it refers to many incidents recorded in the Bible and sometimes gives additional details; it contains matters relating to doctrine and practice and includes a number of passages taken from the Authorized Version.
The followers of Joseph Smith increased in number as the years went by. They suffered great persecution at various times because of some of their teachings and Joseph Smith himself was lynched by a mob who broke into the jail where he was being detained. This took place in 1844 and Brigham Young became the new Mormon leader.
Today The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is well organized and is governed by a leadership of twelve "apostles". Temples are built and regular services conducted. Missionaries, who cover hundreds of miles in the course of a year, spread Mormon beliefs. To all appearances it is a zealous branch of modern Christianity and they claim that it is the only true Christianity. Many of the church's doctrines appear sound as stated in "The Articles of Faith" but a deeper examination will reveal beliefs which are difficult to reconcile with Bible teaching.
The First Article of Faith
"We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost".
This is a fundamental belief. The Bible states: "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all" (5) The Bible, too, speaks of the Holy Spirit ("Ghost" in the Authorized Version). But God, according to the Mormons, was once like us and has progressed through time to become the great Deity, the Almighty. A prominent Mormon writer, Lorenzo Snow, expressed it: "As man is God was. As God is man may become". Or, in the words of another writer: "God rose step by step in the school of progress". (6)
The God of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not the God of the Bible, who is unchangeable, the same "from everlasting to everlasting". (7) Yet there is only one God, and it is essential to know Him in truth: "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent". (8)
This underlines the fundamental problem. As there is only one God, so there is only one faith, which Jude declared was "once delivered unto the saints". (9) The New English Bible shows how emphatic these words are: "The faith which God entrusted to his people once and for all". There can be no question of God changing his mind or of divine revelation being altered; yet the teaching of the Book of Mormon is quite different from the teaching of the Bible on a number of important issues. If the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be, this should not be so.
The Testimony of the Three Witnesses
At the beginning of the Book of Mormon is a statement by three men Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris:
"That we . . . have seen the plates which contain the record . . . And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us".
Their testimony is that they saw the gold plates and knew that they were translated under inspiration. How do we know that their testimony is reliable? We are told by Mormon elders that they had the gift of the Spirit and so "we know what they say is right. Of this we can be sure on the authority of Joseph Smith himself".
However, in 1838 nine charges were made against Oliver Cowdery and he was excommunicated by his church. In the same year David Whitmer was also excommunicated. Martin Harris by this time also had been dropped from the high council of the church and had drifted away. (10) They were certainly not guided by the Holy Spirit when they were involved with wrong doctrine or practice and the only evidence that they were when they made their testimony is the evidence of Joseph Smith himself.
Eight witnesses gave similar testimony to the existence of the gold plates which they declared they had handled. One of these left the church as an apostate, another was excommunicated and another said that the revelations he received from God disagreed with those given to Joseph Smith and he left the church also." Again we are left with the only evidence of authority being that of Joseph Smith himself the evidence of one man.
Authority
The whole question of authority is one which is important in any discussions with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "What is your authority?" they ask. "What is your authority to teach or to baptize? Our authority is from God. Jesus Christ gave to his apostles the authority of the priesthood and this same authority is possessed by the elder of the church today". They speak of the priesthood of Melchizedek in this connection.
Two points should be remembered -
1. There is no record in the Bible at all of any priesthood being passed to the apostles. There is a verse in the book of Revelation which speaks of the righteous being made priests but this is speaking of the time when the earth has been reorganized and the Kingdom of God is established. The verse is speaking of the future: "They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him". (12) Or again, a picture of the righteous in the Kingdom describes them as singing a new song: "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth". (13)
2. The priesthood of Melchizedek was a special priesthood. In Old Testament times under the Law of Moses, the priest's office was passed from father to son. The priests of the nation of Israel all came from the tribe of Levi and this order of priests is known as the Levitical priesthood, or sometimes as the Aaronic priesthood, from the name of Aaron, the first High Priest when Israel became a nation.
Melchizedek was a king who lived at the time of Abraham, long before Israel was established as a nation. Melchizedek was also a "priest of the most high God", (14) and the record in Genesis tells how he blessed Abraham. In the New Testament the writer of the letter to the Hebrews explains that the priesthood of Melchizedek was not like the priesthood of Aaron of the tribe of Levi. Melchizedek was not a priest because his father was a priest, nor were his descendants priests because he was. He stood alone in Old Testament times as a priest and a king. In the epistle to the Hebrews we are told that because of this he represented Christ and from this lessons are pointed out, (15) and the writer says, "We have a high priest like this". Jesus was born to be a king: this was the message of the angel to Mary before his birth. (16) He is now in heaven acting as mediator between God and men -
"We have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God . . . Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need". (17)
Jesus is now our high priest and he is unique, as Melchizedek was. Through him alone the true Christian is invited to approach God in prayer. There is neither provision nor need for any other, for "there is one God, and one mediator between God and men". (18)
The Levitical priests offered regular sacrifices for sin. Jesus Christ offered one sacrifice once: "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many". (19) The ninth and tenth chapters of Hebrews deal in detail with the differences between the sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifices offered by the Levitical priests. Lessons are drawn from the contrasts between the Levitical priests and the kind of priest we have in Christ. But there is no mention at all of the authority of the priesthood of Levi or of an authority of the priesthood of Melchizedek being conferred upon the apostles or upon any others to continue the work.
The priesthood of Melchizedek was unique even as the priesthood of Christ is unique, and only Levites could be priests after the order of Aaron. The Mormon's teach that Abraham received the priesthood from Melchizedek "which priesthood continueth in the church of God in all generations . . . and this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God. And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh". (20)
This doctrine is not taught in the Bible. The scriptural promise to the faithful is that in the Kingdom of God they will be made as Christ is now immortal kings and priests with the authority to rule. But until that time "There is one Lord, one faith". "One God and one mediator".
The Two Sticks
If the authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not rest upon the bestowal of a mystical priesthood we need to look carefully at the Book of Mormon, which provides the basis for so much Mormon doctrine, and at the two other books "Doctrine and Covenants" and "The Pearl of Great Price" - which are also regarded as authoritative records of revelations which Joseph Smith received.
Mormon elders will regularly refer to a message which the prophet Ezekiel had in which he was told to take two sticks and to hold them together in his hand and they would become joined as one stick. This, it is said, represents the unity of the Book of Mormon with the Bible - foretold hundreds of years before. A brief reading of the chapter concerned (Ezekiel 37) will show that Ezekiel was first given a vision which was to represent the future of the nation of Israel, which had been divided into two kingdoms - the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Israel had been overthrown by the Assyrians and Judah conquered by Babylon, but Ezekiel was told that it was God's purpose to restore the nation again as a united kingdom and to re-establish them in the land of Israel, the land promised to their forefathers.
In this vision Ezekiel is shown a valley of dry bones, which join together and are covered with flesh when the prophet speaks to them. Then breath comes into the bodies and they stand up, a great army. The reader is not left in any doubt as to the meaning of this impressive vision:
"These bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost . . . Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves. and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord . . . And I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord". (21)
It is after this declaration that the prophet is told to take two sticks and to write on one "For Judah" and on the other "For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel". Then he is told to join them together: "Join them one to another into one stick: and they shall become one in thine hand". (22) Again the reader is not left in doubt about the meaning:
"Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all". (23)
The teaching is clear. Ezekiel is being given a wonderful sign about the future of Israel. At this time they were divided, but they were to be united again as one nation. The end of the chapter speaks of the time when the Kingdom of God is established. Jesus also, when talking to his disciples, coupled the restoration of Israel with his return to the earth and the setting up of God's Kingdom. (24) This is the clear teaching of other parts of the Bible, too. There is no hint in the book of the prophet Ezekiel that the message contained in chapter 37 has any reference at all to the Book of Mormon being linked with the Bible. This would be quite foreign to the teaching of the chapter, which is explained more than once, so there can be no misunderstanding.
In any case the Book of Mormon is far from being united with the Bible in its message or its teaching.
Reliable Witnesses
Biblical manuscripts go back to the early centuries after Christ. The Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah takes us back to before the time of Christ. There is nothing to indicate that the original writing from which the Book of Mormon was supposed to have been made is any earlier than the time of Joseph Smith himself.
The prophecies which the Bible contains were recorded in many cases centuries before their fulfillment - a powerful witness to the inspiration of the Bible. Bible prophecies also provide us with a wonderful assurance that just as the Word of God has been fulfilled in the past to the very letter, so the Divine promises about the future are just as certain of fulfillment. Whether they are found in the Old Testament or in the New, they are just as certain and there are no contradictions between the parts:
"As truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord". (25)
"Repent ye therefore. and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began". (26)
"He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead". (27)
What more reliable witness is needed? There is no need for a mystical priesthood. There is no need of the testimony of three failing men - or of eight. God himself has spoken, and the scriptures were recorded because "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit". (28)
The Bible or the Book of Mormon
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God". (29) If a "scripture" is written by the "in-breathing" of God - which is what the word "inspiration" means - it cannot contradict or disagree with another "scripture" which is also written by inspiration. The Mormon claim is that the Book of Mormon has continued, and in some senses completed, the revelation from God contained in the Bible. The teaching of the Book of Mormon should therefore be complementary to the teaching of the Bible. Unfortunately, this is far from the case. Consider the following points. They are numbered for convenience rather than being in any sense in order of priority. The list could easily be extended.
1. In matters of fact there is striking disagreement. The Bible records that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and that this was the subject of prophecy. The Book of Mormon says he would be born in Jerusalem. The strength of the Bible narrative is that the elders of the Jews were able to advise Herod that the birth of the Messiah was expected to be in Bethlehem because of the Old Testament prophecy. The Book of Mormon is plainly inaccurate.
The Book of Mormon:
"Behold the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the Son of God cometh on the face of the earth.
And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost". (Alma 7.9,10).
The Bible:
"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? And they (the chief priests and scribes) said unto him (Herod), In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. (a quotation from Micah 5.2)". (Matthew 2.1,5,6).
2. The Book of Mormon states quite clearly that Jesus appeared after his resurrection only to those who showed faith in the wonderful miracle that had taken place. The Bible shows that none believed at first and records the appearance of the risen Christ to "doubting" Thomas. The importance of the Bible teaching in this incident is in the promise of Jesus at the end of the quotation below.
The Book of Mormon:
"For it was by faith that Christ showed himself unto our fathers, after he had risen from the dead; and he showed not himself unto them until after they had faith in him". (Ether 12.7.)
The Bible:
"He (Thomas) said . . . , Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails . . . , and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days . . . came Jesus . . . . Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; . . . and be not faithless, but believing . . . 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 20.25-29). (See also Mark 16.12-14.)
The passage from the Book of Mormon continues speaking about the importance of faith and says, "If there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them" (Ether 12.12). Apart from limiting the power of the Almighty this takes no account of the raising to life of the widow's son, the changing of water to wine and other miracles of a similar kind.
3. In matters of fundamental teaching the Book of Mormon clearly conflicts with the teaching of the Bible. We have already seen that the Mormon doctrines about God are opposed to the way in which God has revealed himself in the Bible. In addition, although the Mormons claim that they do not support the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, the Book of Mormon states that Christ is both the Father and the Son.
The Book of Mormon:
"I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people. And because he dwelleth in flesh he shall be called the Son of God, and having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son - The Father, because he was conceived by the power of God; and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and Son - And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and earth". (Mosiah 15.1-4).
The Bible:
"Hear. O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord". (Deuteronomy 6.4.)
"I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me". (Isaiah 45.5).
"And he (Jesus) said unto him. Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God". (Matthew 19.17.) "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things. and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him". (1 Corinthians 8.6.)
There is no question that the Bible always refers to the Father and the Son as distinct and separate personalities. Jesus spoke of going to the Father (30) who, he declared, was greater than himself. There was a sense in which God was in Christ, as Jesus himself explained: "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works". (31) But this is not what the Book of Mormon says.
4. The Bible teaches that man is in need of salvation through the mercy of God, because naturally man is mortal. The Bible speaks of death as complete unconsciousness: those in the grave know nothing and can know nothing. The Book of Mormon speaks of the dead being in a state of consciousness between death and the time of judgment:
The Book of Mormon:
"As soon as they were dead their souls were miserable, being cut off from the presence of the Lord". (Alma 42.11.)
"There is a space between death and the resurrection of the body, and a state of the soul in happiness or in misery until the time which is appointed of God that the dead shall come forth". (Alma 40.21.)
The Bible:
"His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish". (Psalm 146.4.)
"For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" (Psalm 6.5.)
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything". (Ecclesiastes 9.5.)
This passage in Alma 40 speaks of a state of happiness or misery following death and then says that after the dead come forth at the resurrection they will be judged; i.e. they are rewarded before judgment.
5. The Bible uses the word "soul" to mean "creature", "being", or "self" which may do wrong and can die. The Book of Mormon speaks of souls as immortal:
The Book of Mormon:
"Therefore, as the soul could never die, and the fall had brought upon all mankind a spiritual death as well as a temporal". (Alma 42.9.)
The Bible:
"The soul that sinneth, it shall die". (Ezekiel 18.20.)
There is a difficulty in a comparison of this kind. When discussing the meaning of a Bible word we can look at the Hebrew or Greek from which the English has been translated. This is not possible with the Book of Mormon: we can only refer to the Book of Mormon in English either in the 1830 edition or in the corrected current edition.
6. The Bible makes it clear that it is knowledge which brings responsibility and that there are many who have lived and died in ignorance of God and of his purpose who will not be raised from the dead at the return of Christ. They have lived and they have died. It would be both unjust and unmerciful for them to be raised for judgment and punishment if they have never known God or his commands. So Paul, writing of Old Testament times, says that those who did wrong outside the law, perished outside the law, but those who sinned under the law will be judged by the law. (32) This is the same principle. But the Book of Mormon says that all - with no exceptions - will be raised from the dead and that the power of the atonement releases from the power of the grave those who have died in ignorance of God's law.
The Book of Mormon:
"For behold that all little children are alive in Christ, and also all they that are without the law. For the power of redemption cometh on all them that have no law". (Moroni 8.22.)
"Behold, there is a time appointed that all shall come forth from the dead. Now when this time cometh no one knows; but God knoweth the time which is appointed . . . and it sufficeth me to know that this is the case - that there is a time appointed that all shall rise from the dead". (Alma 40.4,5.)
"And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold he suffereth the pains of all men, yea the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children who belong to the family of Adam.
And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon all men, that all might stand before him at the great an judgment day". (2 Nephi 9.21,22.)
The Bible:
"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and ever-lasting contempt". (Daniel 12.2)
"They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise"; (and in contrast) "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise". (Isaiah 26.14,19.)
"The spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the Lord God of recompenses shall surely requite . . . and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts". (Jeremiah 51.56,57.)
We have referred to the impossibility of checking the meaning of the original words of the Book of Mormon. When we examine the question of its integrity there is no evidence at all for its being dated any earlier than the time of Joseph Smith himself. The Book of Mormon contains many passages which are direct quotations from the Authorized Version of the Bible (1611), a translation which was made at the time of King James. 2 Nephi 14 is an exact repetition of Isaiah 4. The Book of Mormon is supposed to be an inspired translation from divinely given golden plates and yet it contains the exact wording of a human translation made at the time of King James. There are places in the Authorized Version where the translation of the original is not clear or in some cases is mistaken. Isaiah 4.5 ends "for upon all the glory shall be a defence". The margin notes that the word "defence" comes from a Hebrew word which means "covering", so the New English Bible translates the verse "for glory shall be spread over all as a covering". Joseph Smith, who made no claim to be a Hebrew scholar, used the A.V. rendering not knowing the real meaning of the words. Is this the work of "inspiration"?
Several complete chapters are reproduced in this way and in fact the Book of Mormon contains over 20,000 words from the Authorized Version. Unfortunately not all the quotations are accurate and the mistakes, too, are further evidence of the human origin of the Book of Mormon.
As far as its teaching is concerned we are left in no doubt as to the standards to apply when looking at any matter of doctrine: "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them". (33)
The Witness of the Apostle Paul
The Apostle Paul reminded Timothy that he had been brought up to know "the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus". Paul was here speaking of the scriptures in existence in his day-the Old Testament in our Bible - and he then says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness". (34) Some of the gospel records were already in existence and Timothy may also have known some of the other epistles which Peter refers to as "scriptures"; (35) but Timothy would certainly not have known the Book of Mormon, which was not then written.
Paul has made it clear in these verses that the scriptures which Timothy knew contain the doctrines which are necessary to make us "wise unto salvation". How must we view the Mormon doctrine of the restored priesthood, taught in "Doctrine and Covenants" but not taught at all in the Bible? How must we view the Mormon teaching about God, which conflicts in so many ways with what is taught in the Bible, which Paul says contains sufficient to bring us to salvation?
Is it, therefore, necessary to accept Mormon teaching to be related to the salvation God had offered? Not only is it unnecessary but we will put our salvation in peril by accepting wrong doctrine:
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be damned". (36)
"This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent". (37)
There is only one gospel: it is taught in the Bible. There is only one true God: He is not the God of the Mormons. There is only one name "where- by we must be saved"; (38) and the Jesus Christ of the scriptures is not the Jesus of the Mormons. God declared in Old Testament times,
"If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou has not known. and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet . . . Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him". (39)
Source: Dawn Booklet 30, London, England
This is the first introduction that many people have to the Mormons, for these two young men are Elders of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" the full name for the Mormon Church. It is likely that these two are Americans, who have come as missionaries to spread the Mormon gospel in this country as their first missionaries did in 1837.
The apostle Paul wrote to some who were Christian converts in the first century "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 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". (1)
The first word "another" is a translation of a Greek word which means "different". The second word "another" means "another one of the same kind". Paul is therefore saying that he marvels that some of his readers have left the gospel, of Christ given to Paul by revelation (2) and embraced a different gospel not another similar gospel, but something entirely different. He says of any who teach a different gospel, even if it is claimed to be by angelic authority, "let him be accursed".
The purpose of this article is to look briefly at some of the teaching of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to see whether their gospel is similar to that which was taught by the apostles, or whether it is a gospel which is entirely different. If it is a different gospel then, in view of the apostle's words, true Christians can have nothing to do with it, for there is only "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all". (3)
The Testimony of Joseph Smith
In the Spring of 1820 in Manchester, N.Y., U.S.A., a young lad, fourteen years old, claimed to have had a vision when he was praying. Joseph Smith later wrote:
"I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, and above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell on me . . . I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air". (4)
He explained how he was told to join none of the Christian denominations of the day but that he would be instructed what to do.
In the preface to the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith describes an angelic message which informed him of a book, written on gold plates, which he later was to translate into English. He describes a number of visits in which he was given instruction by the angel Moroni, his discovery of the plates buried in the earth and his translation of what became known as the Book of Mormon from "Reformed Egyptian" a language unknown to modern scholars.
This book, written in language similar to that of the Authorised Version of the Bible (1611), is regarded by the Mormon church as a Divine record, translated under inspiration, which continues the revelation of the Old and New Testaments and is complementary to them. The Book of Mormon describes the migration of ancient peoples to America; it refers to many incidents recorded in the Bible and sometimes gives additional details; it contains matters relating to doctrine and practice and includes a number of passages taken from the Authorized Version.
The followers of Joseph Smith increased in number as the years went by. They suffered great persecution at various times because of some of their teachings and Joseph Smith himself was lynched by a mob who broke into the jail where he was being detained. This took place in 1844 and Brigham Young became the new Mormon leader.
Today The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is well organized and is governed by a leadership of twelve "apostles". Temples are built and regular services conducted. Missionaries, who cover hundreds of miles in the course of a year, spread Mormon beliefs. To all appearances it is a zealous branch of modern Christianity and they claim that it is the only true Christianity. Many of the church's doctrines appear sound as stated in "The Articles of Faith" but a deeper examination will reveal beliefs which are difficult to reconcile with Bible teaching.
The First Article of Faith
"We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost".
This is a fundamental belief. The Bible states: "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all" (5) The Bible, too, speaks of the Holy Spirit ("Ghost" in the Authorized Version). But God, according to the Mormons, was once like us and has progressed through time to become the great Deity, the Almighty. A prominent Mormon writer, Lorenzo Snow, expressed it: "As man is God was. As God is man may become". Or, in the words of another writer: "God rose step by step in the school of progress". (6)
The God of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not the God of the Bible, who is unchangeable, the same "from everlasting to everlasting". (7) Yet there is only one God, and it is essential to know Him in truth: "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent". (8)
This underlines the fundamental problem. As there is only one God, so there is only one faith, which Jude declared was "once delivered unto the saints". (9) The New English Bible shows how emphatic these words are: "The faith which God entrusted to his people once and for all". There can be no question of God changing his mind or of divine revelation being altered; yet the teaching of the Book of Mormon is quite different from the teaching of the Bible on a number of important issues. If the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be, this should not be so.
The Testimony of the Three Witnesses
At the beginning of the Book of Mormon is a statement by three men Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris:
"That we . . . have seen the plates which contain the record . . . And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us".
Their testimony is that they saw the gold plates and knew that they were translated under inspiration. How do we know that their testimony is reliable? We are told by Mormon elders that they had the gift of the Spirit and so "we know what they say is right. Of this we can be sure on the authority of Joseph Smith himself".
However, in 1838 nine charges were made against Oliver Cowdery and he was excommunicated by his church. In the same year David Whitmer was also excommunicated. Martin Harris by this time also had been dropped from the high council of the church and had drifted away. (10) They were certainly not guided by the Holy Spirit when they were involved with wrong doctrine or practice and the only evidence that they were when they made their testimony is the evidence of Joseph Smith himself.
Eight witnesses gave similar testimony to the existence of the gold plates which they declared they had handled. One of these left the church as an apostate, another was excommunicated and another said that the revelations he received from God disagreed with those given to Joseph Smith and he left the church also." Again we are left with the only evidence of authority being that of Joseph Smith himself the evidence of one man.
Authority
The whole question of authority is one which is important in any discussions with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "What is your authority?" they ask. "What is your authority to teach or to baptize? Our authority is from God. Jesus Christ gave to his apostles the authority of the priesthood and this same authority is possessed by the elder of the church today". They speak of the priesthood of Melchizedek in this connection.
Two points should be remembered -
1. There is no record in the Bible at all of any priesthood being passed to the apostles. There is a verse in the book of Revelation which speaks of the righteous being made priests but this is speaking of the time when the earth has been reorganized and the Kingdom of God is established. The verse is speaking of the future: "They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him". (12) Or again, a picture of the righteous in the Kingdom describes them as singing a new song: "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth". (13)
2. The priesthood of Melchizedek was a special priesthood. In Old Testament times under the Law of Moses, the priest's office was passed from father to son. The priests of the nation of Israel all came from the tribe of Levi and this order of priests is known as the Levitical priesthood, or sometimes as the Aaronic priesthood, from the name of Aaron, the first High Priest when Israel became a nation.
Melchizedek was a king who lived at the time of Abraham, long before Israel was established as a nation. Melchizedek was also a "priest of the most high God", (14) and the record in Genesis tells how he blessed Abraham. In the New Testament the writer of the letter to the Hebrews explains that the priesthood of Melchizedek was not like the priesthood of Aaron of the tribe of Levi. Melchizedek was not a priest because his father was a priest, nor were his descendants priests because he was. He stood alone in Old Testament times as a priest and a king. In the epistle to the Hebrews we are told that because of this he represented Christ and from this lessons are pointed out, (15) and the writer says, "We have a high priest like this". Jesus was born to be a king: this was the message of the angel to Mary before his birth. (16) He is now in heaven acting as mediator between God and men -
"We have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God . . . Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need". (17)
Jesus is now our high priest and he is unique, as Melchizedek was. Through him alone the true Christian is invited to approach God in prayer. There is neither provision nor need for any other, for "there is one God, and one mediator between God and men". (18)
The Levitical priests offered regular sacrifices for sin. Jesus Christ offered one sacrifice once: "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many". (19) The ninth and tenth chapters of Hebrews deal in detail with the differences between the sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifices offered by the Levitical priests. Lessons are drawn from the contrasts between the Levitical priests and the kind of priest we have in Christ. But there is no mention at all of the authority of the priesthood of Levi or of an authority of the priesthood of Melchizedek being conferred upon the apostles or upon any others to continue the work.
The priesthood of Melchizedek was unique even as the priesthood of Christ is unique, and only Levites could be priests after the order of Aaron. The Mormon's teach that Abraham received the priesthood from Melchizedek "which priesthood continueth in the church of God in all generations . . . and this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God. And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh". (20)
This doctrine is not taught in the Bible. The scriptural promise to the faithful is that in the Kingdom of God they will be made as Christ is now immortal kings and priests with the authority to rule. But until that time "There is one Lord, one faith". "One God and one mediator".
The Two Sticks
If the authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not rest upon the bestowal of a mystical priesthood we need to look carefully at the Book of Mormon, which provides the basis for so much Mormon doctrine, and at the two other books "Doctrine and Covenants" and "The Pearl of Great Price" - which are also regarded as authoritative records of revelations which Joseph Smith received.
Mormon elders will regularly refer to a message which the prophet Ezekiel had in which he was told to take two sticks and to hold them together in his hand and they would become joined as one stick. This, it is said, represents the unity of the Book of Mormon with the Bible - foretold hundreds of years before. A brief reading of the chapter concerned (Ezekiel 37) will show that Ezekiel was first given a vision which was to represent the future of the nation of Israel, which had been divided into two kingdoms - the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Israel had been overthrown by the Assyrians and Judah conquered by Babylon, but Ezekiel was told that it was God's purpose to restore the nation again as a united kingdom and to re-establish them in the land of Israel, the land promised to their forefathers.
In this vision Ezekiel is shown a valley of dry bones, which join together and are covered with flesh when the prophet speaks to them. Then breath comes into the bodies and they stand up, a great army. The reader is not left in any doubt as to the meaning of this impressive vision:
"These bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost . . . Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves. and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord . . . And I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord". (21)
It is after this declaration that the prophet is told to take two sticks and to write on one "For Judah" and on the other "For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel". Then he is told to join them together: "Join them one to another into one stick: and they shall become one in thine hand". (22) Again the reader is not left in doubt about the meaning:
"Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all". (23)
The teaching is clear. Ezekiel is being given a wonderful sign about the future of Israel. At this time they were divided, but they were to be united again as one nation. The end of the chapter speaks of the time when the Kingdom of God is established. Jesus also, when talking to his disciples, coupled the restoration of Israel with his return to the earth and the setting up of God's Kingdom. (24) This is the clear teaching of other parts of the Bible, too. There is no hint in the book of the prophet Ezekiel that the message contained in chapter 37 has any reference at all to the Book of Mormon being linked with the Bible. This would be quite foreign to the teaching of the chapter, which is explained more than once, so there can be no misunderstanding.
In any case the Book of Mormon is far from being united with the Bible in its message or its teaching.
Reliable Witnesses
Biblical manuscripts go back to the early centuries after Christ. The Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah takes us back to before the time of Christ. There is nothing to indicate that the original writing from which the Book of Mormon was supposed to have been made is any earlier than the time of Joseph Smith himself.
The prophecies which the Bible contains were recorded in many cases centuries before their fulfillment - a powerful witness to the inspiration of the Bible. Bible prophecies also provide us with a wonderful assurance that just as the Word of God has been fulfilled in the past to the very letter, so the Divine promises about the future are just as certain of fulfillment. Whether they are found in the Old Testament or in the New, they are just as certain and there are no contradictions between the parts:
"As truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord". (25)
"Repent ye therefore. and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began". (26)
"He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead". (27)
What more reliable witness is needed? There is no need for a mystical priesthood. There is no need of the testimony of three failing men - or of eight. God himself has spoken, and the scriptures were recorded because "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit". (28)
The Bible or the Book of Mormon
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God". (29) If a "scripture" is written by the "in-breathing" of God - which is what the word "inspiration" means - it cannot contradict or disagree with another "scripture" which is also written by inspiration. The Mormon claim is that the Book of Mormon has continued, and in some senses completed, the revelation from God contained in the Bible. The teaching of the Book of Mormon should therefore be complementary to the teaching of the Bible. Unfortunately, this is far from the case. Consider the following points. They are numbered for convenience rather than being in any sense in order of priority. The list could easily be extended.
1. In matters of fact there is striking disagreement. The Bible records that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and that this was the subject of prophecy. The Book of Mormon says he would be born in Jerusalem. The strength of the Bible narrative is that the elders of the Jews were able to advise Herod that the birth of the Messiah was expected to be in Bethlehem because of the Old Testament prophecy. The Book of Mormon is plainly inaccurate.
The Book of Mormon:
"Behold the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the Son of God cometh on the face of the earth.
And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost". (Alma 7.9,10).
The Bible:
"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? And they (the chief priests and scribes) said unto him (Herod), In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. (a quotation from Micah 5.2)". (Matthew 2.1,5,6).
2. The Book of Mormon states quite clearly that Jesus appeared after his resurrection only to those who showed faith in the wonderful miracle that had taken place. The Bible shows that none believed at first and records the appearance of the risen Christ to "doubting" Thomas. The importance of the Bible teaching in this incident is in the promise of Jesus at the end of the quotation below.
The Book of Mormon:
"For it was by faith that Christ showed himself unto our fathers, after he had risen from the dead; and he showed not himself unto them until after they had faith in him". (Ether 12.7.)
The Bible:
"He (Thomas) said . . . , Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails . . . , and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days . . . came Jesus . . . . Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; . . . and be not faithless, but believing . . . 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 20.25-29). (See also Mark 16.12-14.)
The passage from the Book of Mormon continues speaking about the importance of faith and says, "If there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them" (Ether 12.12). Apart from limiting the power of the Almighty this takes no account of the raising to life of the widow's son, the changing of water to wine and other miracles of a similar kind.
3. In matters of fundamental teaching the Book of Mormon clearly conflicts with the teaching of the Bible. We have already seen that the Mormon doctrines about God are opposed to the way in which God has revealed himself in the Bible. In addition, although the Mormons claim that they do not support the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, the Book of Mormon states that Christ is both the Father and the Son.
The Book of Mormon:
"I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people. And because he dwelleth in flesh he shall be called the Son of God, and having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son - The Father, because he was conceived by the power of God; and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and Son - And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and earth". (Mosiah 15.1-4).
The Bible:
"Hear. O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord". (Deuteronomy 6.4.)
"I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me". (Isaiah 45.5).
"And he (Jesus) said unto him. Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God". (Matthew 19.17.) "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things. and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him". (1 Corinthians 8.6.)
There is no question that the Bible always refers to the Father and the Son as distinct and separate personalities. Jesus spoke of going to the Father (30) who, he declared, was greater than himself. There was a sense in which God was in Christ, as Jesus himself explained: "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works". (31) But this is not what the Book of Mormon says.
4. The Bible teaches that man is in need of salvation through the mercy of God, because naturally man is mortal. The Bible speaks of death as complete unconsciousness: those in the grave know nothing and can know nothing. The Book of Mormon speaks of the dead being in a state of consciousness between death and the time of judgment:
The Book of Mormon:
"As soon as they were dead their souls were miserable, being cut off from the presence of the Lord". (Alma 42.11.)
"There is a space between death and the resurrection of the body, and a state of the soul in happiness or in misery until the time which is appointed of God that the dead shall come forth". (Alma 40.21.)
The Bible:
"His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish". (Psalm 146.4.)
"For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" (Psalm 6.5.)
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything". (Ecclesiastes 9.5.)
This passage in Alma 40 speaks of a state of happiness or misery following death and then says that after the dead come forth at the resurrection they will be judged; i.e. they are rewarded before judgment.
5. The Bible uses the word "soul" to mean "creature", "being", or "self" which may do wrong and can die. The Book of Mormon speaks of souls as immortal:
The Book of Mormon:
"Therefore, as the soul could never die, and the fall had brought upon all mankind a spiritual death as well as a temporal". (Alma 42.9.)
The Bible:
"The soul that sinneth, it shall die". (Ezekiel 18.20.)
There is a difficulty in a comparison of this kind. When discussing the meaning of a Bible word we can look at the Hebrew or Greek from which the English has been translated. This is not possible with the Book of Mormon: we can only refer to the Book of Mormon in English either in the 1830 edition or in the corrected current edition.
6. The Bible makes it clear that it is knowledge which brings responsibility and that there are many who have lived and died in ignorance of God and of his purpose who will not be raised from the dead at the return of Christ. They have lived and they have died. It would be both unjust and unmerciful for them to be raised for judgment and punishment if they have never known God or his commands. So Paul, writing of Old Testament times, says that those who did wrong outside the law, perished outside the law, but those who sinned under the law will be judged by the law. (32) This is the same principle. But the Book of Mormon says that all - with no exceptions - will be raised from the dead and that the power of the atonement releases from the power of the grave those who have died in ignorance of God's law.
The Book of Mormon:
"For behold that all little children are alive in Christ, and also all they that are without the law. For the power of redemption cometh on all them that have no law". (Moroni 8.22.)
"Behold, there is a time appointed that all shall come forth from the dead. Now when this time cometh no one knows; but God knoweth the time which is appointed . . . and it sufficeth me to know that this is the case - that there is a time appointed that all shall rise from the dead". (Alma 40.4,5.)
"And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold he suffereth the pains of all men, yea the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children who belong to the family of Adam.
And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon all men, that all might stand before him at the great an judgment day". (2 Nephi 9.21,22.)
The Bible:
"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and ever-lasting contempt". (Daniel 12.2)
"They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise"; (and in contrast) "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise". (Isaiah 26.14,19.)
"The spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the Lord God of recompenses shall surely requite . . . and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts". (Jeremiah 51.56,57.)
We have referred to the impossibility of checking the meaning of the original words of the Book of Mormon. When we examine the question of its integrity there is no evidence at all for its being dated any earlier than the time of Joseph Smith himself. The Book of Mormon contains many passages which are direct quotations from the Authorized Version of the Bible (1611), a translation which was made at the time of King James. 2 Nephi 14 is an exact repetition of Isaiah 4. The Book of Mormon is supposed to be an inspired translation from divinely given golden plates and yet it contains the exact wording of a human translation made at the time of King James. There are places in the Authorized Version where the translation of the original is not clear or in some cases is mistaken. Isaiah 4.5 ends "for upon all the glory shall be a defence". The margin notes that the word "defence" comes from a Hebrew word which means "covering", so the New English Bible translates the verse "for glory shall be spread over all as a covering". Joseph Smith, who made no claim to be a Hebrew scholar, used the A.V. rendering not knowing the real meaning of the words. Is this the work of "inspiration"?
Several complete chapters are reproduced in this way and in fact the Book of Mormon contains over 20,000 words from the Authorized Version. Unfortunately not all the quotations are accurate and the mistakes, too, are further evidence of the human origin of the Book of Mormon.
As far as its teaching is concerned we are left in no doubt as to the standards to apply when looking at any matter of doctrine: "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them". (33)
The Witness of the Apostle Paul
The Apostle Paul reminded Timothy that he had been brought up to know "the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus". Paul was here speaking of the scriptures in existence in his day-the Old Testament in our Bible - and he then says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness". (34) Some of the gospel records were already in existence and Timothy may also have known some of the other epistles which Peter refers to as "scriptures"; (35) but Timothy would certainly not have known the Book of Mormon, which was not then written.
Paul has made it clear in these verses that the scriptures which Timothy knew contain the doctrines which are necessary to make us "wise unto salvation". How must we view the Mormon doctrine of the restored priesthood, taught in "Doctrine and Covenants" but not taught at all in the Bible? How must we view the Mormon teaching about God, which conflicts in so many ways with what is taught in the Bible, which Paul says contains sufficient to bring us to salvation?
Is it, therefore, necessary to accept Mormon teaching to be related to the salvation God had offered? Not only is it unnecessary but we will put our salvation in peril by accepting wrong doctrine:
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be damned". (36)
"This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent". (37)
There is only one gospel: it is taught in the Bible. There is only one true God: He is not the God of the Mormons. There is only one name "where- by we must be saved"; (38) and the Jesus Christ of the scriptures is not the Jesus of the Mormons. God declared in Old Testament times,
"If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou has not known. and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet . . . Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him". (39)
Source: Dawn Booklet 30, London, England
References:
1. Galatians 1.6-8
2. Galatians 1.11,12
3. Ephesians 4.5,6.
4. "The Mormons' R. Mullen 1967 p. 13.
5. I Timothy 2.5,6.
6. "Journal of Discourses" Orson Hyde, Number 23.
7. Psalm 90.2
8. John 17.3.
9. Jude 3.
10. "Essentials in Church History" 12th ed. J. F. Smith p. 79, 80, 206-209.
11. "Essentials in Church History" 12th ed. J. F. Smith p. 111-113.
12. Revelation 20.6.
13. Revelation 5.9,10.
14. Genesis 14.18.
15. Hebrews 7 and 8.
16. Luke 1.31-37.
17. Hebrews 4.14-16.
18. 1 Timothy 2.5.
19. Hebrews 9.28.
20. "Doctrine and Covenants" 84.14,17,19,21.
21. Ezekiel 37.11-14.
22. Ezekiel 37.16,17.
23. Ezekiel 37.21,22.
24. Luke 21.24-31.
25. Numbers 14.21.
26. Acts 3.19-21.
27. Acts 17.31.
28. 2 Peter 1.21.
29. 2 Timothy 3.16.
30. John 14.28.
31. John 14.10.
32. Romans 2.12.
33. Isaiah 8.20.
34. 2 Timothy 3.15,16.
35. 2 Peter 3.16.
36. Mark 15.16.
37. John 17.3.
38. Acts 4.12.
39. Deuteronomy 13.1-4.
1. Galatians 1.6-8
2. Galatians 1.11,12
3. Ephesians 4.5,6.
4. "The Mormons' R. Mullen 1967 p. 13.
5. I Timothy 2.5,6.
6. "Journal of Discourses" Orson Hyde, Number 23.
7. Psalm 90.2
8. John 17.3.
9. Jude 3.
10. "Essentials in Church History" 12th ed. J. F. Smith p. 79, 80, 206-209.
11. "Essentials in Church History" 12th ed. J. F. Smith p. 111-113.
12. Revelation 20.6.
13. Revelation 5.9,10.
14. Genesis 14.18.
15. Hebrews 7 and 8.
16. Luke 1.31-37.
17. Hebrews 4.14-16.
18. 1 Timothy 2.5.
19. Hebrews 9.28.
20. "Doctrine and Covenants" 84.14,17,19,21.
21. Ezekiel 37.11-14.
22. Ezekiel 37.16,17.
23. Ezekiel 37.21,22.
24. Luke 21.24-31.
25. Numbers 14.21.
26. Acts 3.19-21.
27. Acts 17.31.
28. 2 Peter 1.21.
29. 2 Timothy 3.16.
30. John 14.28.
31. John 14.10.
32. Romans 2.12.
33. Isaiah 8.20.
34. 2 Timothy 3.15,16.
35. 2 Peter 3.16.
36. Mark 15.16.
37. John 17.3.
38. Acts 4.12.
39. Deuteronomy 13.1-4.
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