Mormons, are you sure that a man can be
exalted to become a God?
Grace & peace to you from God the Father and our Lord
Jesus Christ. My name is Luke and I am
A Christian Guy. At the core of Mormon
teaching is the idea that any individual
man can receive his exaltation into the
Celestial Kingdom of Heaven with
Heavenly Father. This is the way that The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
expresses the idea that a man can
become a God, just like Elohim, the God of
Earth. The Mormons have a colloquial
expression to give weight to this idea:
"As man is, God once was; as God now is man
may be," spoken originally by LDS prophet
Lorenzo Snow. Joseph Smith, the founder of
the Latter day Saints or the Mormon church,
expressed this view of man's
relationship to God in his King Follett funeral discourse.
"I will go back to the beginning before
the world was to show what kind of a
being God is. What sort of a being was
God in the beginning?
Open your ears and hear, all ye ends of
the earth, for I am going to prove it to
you by the Bible, and tell you the
designs of God in relation to the human
race, and why He interferes with the
affairs of man. God himself was once as
we are now, and is an exalted man, and
sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is
the great secret. If the veil were rent
today, and the great God who holds this
world in its orbit, and who upholds all
worlds and all things by His power, was
to make himself visible – I say, if you
were to see him today, you would see him
like a man in form – like yourselves and
all the person, image, and very form as a
man; for Adam was created in this very
fashion, image and likeness of God, and
received instruction from, and walked,
talked and conversed with Him, as one man
talks and communes with another. In order
to understand the subject of the dead,
for consolation of those who mourn for
the loss of their friends, it is
necessary we should understand the
character and beam of God and how he
came to be so; for I'm going to tell you
how God came to be God.
We have imagined and supposed that God
was God from all eternity. I will refute
that idea, and take away the veil, so that
you may see. These ideas are
incomprehensible to some, but they are
simple. It is the first principle of the
gospel to know for a certainty the
character of God, and to know that we may
converse with Him as one man converses
with another, and that He was once a man
like us;
yea, that God himself, the Father of us
all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus
Christ Himself did; and I will show it
from the Bible." The Mormon church teaches
that God became God by obedience to the
eternal law of progression. God had to
have a specific type of marriage
ceremony with a woman on another planet
in order to be exalted to his current
divine position, in authority over our
planet, Earth. In the same way, man
has every opportunity to fulfill the
same eternal law of progression as God
did, thus becoming Gods themselves.
This is why the Mormons are encouraged to
pursue a temple marriage (also called a
temple sealing ceremony), as this is
supposedly the eternal form of marriage
that man must pursue in order to receive
his exaltation to Godhood. The LDS church
claims the Bible as a part of their
canonical scriptures. As such, we have to
ask the question, "does the Bible support
this view of man's relationship to God?"
The historic confession of the Christian
Church has always been that there is
only one God. In order to argue against
this position,
Mormonism teaches of a supposed great
apostasy that occurred after the death
of the last apostle, in which the
scriptures became corrupted. In order to
examine the claim of the great apostasy
that the Mormon church makes, we're going
to be looking at selected readings from
the Book of Mormon. Before we do so
though ,I just want to preface my
comments by saying that I am a Christian;
I do not believe that the Book of Mormon
constitutes authentic revelation from God.
But, every Mormon that is watching
this does believe that the Book of Mormon
does constitute authentic revelation
from God. So, in reading the Book of Mormon
and the citations found therein,
my goal is not to endorse the work as
authentic scripture. Rather, it is to
treat the Mormon position honestly and
to show what the Mormons teach
accurately. Beginning with the chapter
heading of the book of 1 Nephi 13
from the Book of Mormon, "Nephi sees in
a vision the church of the devil set up
among the Gentiles; the discovery and
colonizing of America; the loss of many
plane and precious parts of the Bible,
the resultant state of Gentile apostasy;
the restoration of the gospel, the coming
forth of latter-day scripture, and the
building up of Zion. About 600 to 592 BC."
Moving into chapter 13 proper, beginning
at verse 23, "And he said: Behold it
proceedeth out of the mouth of the Jew
and I, Nephi, beheld it; and he said unto
me: The book that thou beholdest is a record
of the Jews, which contains the covenants
of the Lord, which he hath made unto the
house of Israel; and it also containeth
many of the prophecies of the
holy prophets; and it is a record like
unto the engravings which are upon the
plates of brass, save there are not so
many; nevertheless, they contain the
covenants of the Lord, which he hath made
unto the house of Israel; wherefore they
are of great worth unto the Gentiles. And
the angel of the Lord said unto me:
Thou hast beheld that the book
proceedeth forth from the mouth of a
Jew; and when it proceedeth forth from
the mouth of the Jew it contained the
fullness of the gospel of the Lord,
of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and
they bear record according to the truth
which is in the Lamb of God.
Wherefore, these things go forth from the
Jews in purity unto the Gentiles,
according to the truth which is in God.
And after they go forth by the hand of
the twelve Apostles of the Lamb, from the
Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the
formation of that great and abominable
church, which is the most abominable
above all other churches; for behold, they
have taken away from the gospel of the
Lamb many parts which are plain and most
precious; and also many covenants of the
Lord have they taken away. And all this
have they done that they might pervert
the right ways of the Lord, that they
might blind the eyes and hardened the
hearts of the children of men. Wherefore,
thou seest that after the book hath
gone forth through the hands of the
great and abominable church, that there
are many plain and precious things taken
away from the book, which is the book of
the Lamb of God. And after these plain
and precious things were taken away it
goeth forth unto all the nations of the
Gentiles; and after it goeth forth unto
all the nations of the Gentiles,
yea, even across the many waters which
thou has seen with the Gentiles which
have gone forth out of captivity, thou
seest – because of the many plain and
precious things which have been taken
out of the book, which were plain unto
the understanding of the children of men,
according to the plainness which is in
the Lamb of God – because of these things
which are taken away out of the gospel
of the Lamb, and exceedingly great many
do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan
hath great power over them."
According to
this passage from the Book of Mormon, the
Old Testament, here referred to as the
record of the Jews, was considered
uncorrupted or, "pure," containing, "the
fullness of the gospel of the Lord,"
prior to this great apostasy. We continue
reading from 1 Nephi 13,
beginning at verse 38, "And it came to
pass that I beheld the remnant of the
seed of my brethren, and also the book of
the Lamb of God, which had proceeded
forth from the mouth of the Jew, that it
came forth from the Gentiles unto the
remnant of the seed of my brethren. And
after it had come forth unto them I
beheld other books, which came forth by
the power of the lamb, from the Gentiles
unto them unto the convincing of the
Gentiles and the remnant of the seed of
my brethren, and also the Jews who were
scattered upon the face of the earth,
that the records of the prophets and of
the twelve apostles of the Lamb are true.
And the angel spoke unto me saying: These
last records, which thou hast seen among
the Gentiles, shall established the truth
of the first, which are of the twelve
apostles of the Lamb, and shall make
known the many plain and precious things
which have been taken away from them; and
shall make known to all kindreds,
tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God
is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the
Savior of the world; and that all men
must come unto him or they cannot be saved."
In addition to the Old Testament,
this reading from 1 Nephi
substantiates the Book of Mormon's
position that the New Testament,
here referred to as, "the record of the
twelve Apostles of the Lamb," was also
uncorrupted, prior to the great apostasy.
According to the book Gospel Principles,
which is the fundamental Sunday-School
text within the LDS church system, after
the death of the last apostle, "priesthood
authority – including the keys to direct
and receive revelation for the church –
was taken from the earth. Because the
church was no longer led by priesthood
authority, error crept into the church's
teachings. Good people and much
truth remained, but the gospel as
established by Jesus Christ was lost.
This period is called the great apostasy."
The Bible does not tell us about the
death of the last apostle, or any of the
apostles for that matter. We learn of
such things from histories
within the early Church. According to
those sources, it's presumed that the
last apostle alive was John, the author of
the gospel, 1st, 2nd and 3rd epistles that
bear his name, and the book of Revelation.
According to those sources, it's presumed
that John died as an old man in exile on
the island of Patmos. In spite of this,
the Mormons believe that they really
know what happened to John. From the
chapter heading of Doctrine and
Covenants section 7, "Revelation given to
Joseph Smith the Prophet and Oliver
Cowdery at Harmony, Pennsylvania, April
1829, when they inquired through the Urim
and Thummim as to whether John, the
beloved disciple, tarried in the flesh or
had died. The revelation is a translated
version of the record made on parchment
by John and hidden up by himself.
1–3, John the beloved will live
until the Lord comes verses; 4–8,
Peter, James and John old gospel keys."
Beginning at verse 1 of Doctrine and
Covenants 7, "The Lord said unto me: John,
my beloved, what desirous thou? For if he
shall ask what you will, it shall be
granted unto you. And I said unto him:
Lord, give unto me power over death, that
I may live and bring souls unto thee. And
the Lord said unto me: Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, because thou desirest this
thou shalt tarry until I come in my
glory, and shall prophesy before nations,
kindreds, tongues and people." According
to Doctrine and Covenants 7, the
passage that we have just read, the
apostle John did not die. This is not
what Christians believe, but this is what
is taught within the canon of the LDS
scriptures. If the Apostle John did not
die, then the last apostle has not died yet.
The implication of this is that if
the last apostle has not died, then the
great apostasy has not happened yet
either, because the prophecy of such an
event, as we originally read in
1 Nephi 13, was, as taught by the
Mormon church, with regard to the death
of all of the apostles.
In anticipation of an objection to this
understanding of Doctrine and Covenants 7,
we're going to look at a
passage from 3 Nephi that will
substantiate that this is the accurate
reading of what we have just read in
Doctrine and Covenants 7. Turning to the
book of 3 Nephi 28 within the
Book of Mormon, beginning at verse 4, "And
when he had spoken unto them, he turned
himself unto the three and said unto
them: What will ye that I should do unto
you, when I am gone unto the Father? And
they sorrowed in their hearts, for they
durst not speak unto him the thing which
they desired. And he said unto them:
Behold, I know your thoughts, and ye have
desired the thing which John, my beloved,
who was with me in my ministry, before
that I was lifted up by the Jews, desired
of me. Therefore, more blessed are ye, for
ye shall never taste of death; but ye
shall live to behold all the doings of
the Father unto the children of men, even
unto all things shall be fulfilled
according to the will of the Father, when
I shall come in my glory with the powers
of heaven. And ye shall never endure the
pains of death; but when I shall come in
my glory ye shall be changed in the
twinkling of an eye from mortality to
immortality; and then shall ye be blessed
in the kingdom of my Father."
To corroborate that this is the proper
understanding of this passage, we turn to
3 Nephi 28's chapter heading – "Nine of
the twelve disciples desire and are
promised an inheritance in Christ's
kingdom when they die – the three Nephites
desire and are given power over death so
as to remain on the earth
until Jesus comes again."
Again, we have read from this passage in 3 Nephi that
the understanding of what was desired by
the apostle John, according to Mormon
teaching, was that he should not die,
because the same thing was desired by
these three Nephites in this passage, and
Jesus gives them the same ability, the
same perseverance over death; that they
should not die,
but that they should remain on the earth
until he comes again. This means that the
apostle John and these three Nephites
are, supposedly, somewhere running around
on the face of the Earth, and have been
doing so for the last 2,000 years.
Regardless of how you personally feel
about this, this is what is taught within
the Mormon scriptures. And if this is
true, it invalidates the idea that a
great apostasy happened sometime during
Church history, because it means that the
last apostle has yet to die. In fact,
he is not going to die; he is going to
remain until Jesus comes again.
Therefore, if anything ,the prophecy made
within 1 Nephi would have to be a
future prophecy; a prophecy of a time
that has not yet come. The Book of Mormon
has painted itself into a corner –
it has made the assertion that the
scriptures became corrupted at a point
in Church history called the great apostasy,
after all the apostles died. But,
within the same canon of text that the
Mormons hold to, they also claim that all
of the apostles did not, in fact, die.
There is one who is still alive and his
name is John, according to Mormon teaching.
You can't have your cake and
eat it too. Both cannot be right.
You can't have all the apostles be dead and
one of the apostles still be alive;
one has to be right and one has to be wrong,
or both could be wrong, but they
can't both be right.
Therefore, we have precedence to
reject the idea that the Mormons put
forward that the scriptures, at some
point in history, became corrupted.
With that out of the way, let's turn back,
now, to the reason that we have produced
this video and examine the scriptures
for what they say about man's
relationship to God.
Now that we have built a foundation with
which we and Mormons that we talk to
can look at the scriptures without
having to fall back on the idea that
they have somehow or at some time been
corrupted, we can ask the question,
"Does the Bible teach that there is more than
one God?"
In Deuteronomy 32:39,
Yahweh says of Himself, "See now that I, I
am He, and there is no God besides Me."
In Isaiah 43:10, Yahweh says again, "'You
are my witnesses,' declares the Lord, 'and
my servant whom I have chosen, so that
you may know and believe Me and
understand that I am He. Before Me there
was no God formed, and there will be none
after Me.'" Isiah continues in chapter 44:6, "Thus says the Lord,
the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the
Lord of Hosts, 'I am the first and I am
the last, and there is no God besides Me.'"
Skipping to verse 8, "Do not tremble and
do not be afraid;
have I not long since announced it to
you and declared it? And you are My
witnesses. Is there any God besides Me, or
is there any other Rock? I know of none.'"
And the prophet continues in chapter 45,
beginning at verse 21, "Declare and set
forth your case; indeed let them consult
together. Who has announced this from old?
Who has long since declared? Is it not
I, the Lord? And there is no other God
besides Me, a righteous God and a Saviour;
there is none except Me. Turn to Me and
be saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God,
and there is no other."
The witness of the Christian scriptures is
that there is only one God; Yahweh is the
only true God. There is no room for any
other God besides Him. There is no room
for man to become exalted to the same
position as Yahweh. But, what about the idea
that the
Mormons have the Yahweh was once a man
on another planet and He had to pursue
His own exaltation? In Psalm 90: 2,
the psalmist says, "Before the mountains
were born or you gave birth to the earth
and the world, even from everlasting to
everlasting, You are God." And in Malachi 3:6,
Yahweh says of Himself,
"I, the Lord, do not change."
In addition to the idea of monotheism, the confession
that there is only one true God,
Christianity has also historically held
to the idea that God is immutable; in
other words, He does not change. God has
always been God, and all of the
attributes that God possesses within His
being that constitute Him being God, He
has always had and He has always had
fully – He has always had 100%. To teach
the idea that God was once a man like us,
or that we can become a God like Him is
a blasphemous distortion of what the
Bible teaches about man's relationship
to God. When examining the teachings of
Joseph Smith, or anyone else, we must, as
Christians, subject them to the
revelation that has been established in
the Bible – God's Word. In Deuteronomy 13,
beginning at verse 1, the Lord says, "If a
prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises
among you and gives you a sign or a
wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes
true, concerning which he spoke to you,
saying, 'Let us go after other gods (whom
you have not known) and let us serve them,'
you shall not listen to the words of
that prophet or that dreamer of dreams;
for the LORD your God is testing you to
find out if you love the LORD your God
with all your heart and with all your
soul. You shall follow the LORD your God
and fear Him; and you shall keep His
commandments, listen to His voice, serve
Him and cling to Him."
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Thank you for watching today and come
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