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#10 The Facts On The Mormon Church
10. What does Mormonism teach about Jesus
Christ?
Mormonism claims that it believes in the true, biblical Jesus
Christ, Gordon B. Hinckley, fifteenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, states:
We are Christians in a very real sense and that is coming to
be more and more widely recognized...{People} have come to recognize that we
are, and that we have a very vital and dynamic religion based on the teachings
of Jesus Christ. We, of course, accept Jesus Christ as our Leader, or King,
our Savior. The dominant figure in the history of the world, the only perfect
Man who ever walked the earth, the living Son of the living God. He is our
Savior and our Redeemer through whose atoning sacrifice has come the
opportunity of eternal life.
Right after Hinckley's quote, this statement
appears "Members of {the Church}...pray and worship in the name of Jesus Christ.
He is the center of our faith and the head of our Church. The Book of Mormon is
another Testament of Jesus Christ and witnesses of His divinity, His Life, and
His Atonement." But consider the following chart contrasting the Mormon Christ
(whom it confuses with Jehovah of the Old Testament) with the biblical Christ:
The Mormon Jesus Christ:
* A created being; the brother of Lucifer
* Earned his own salvation (exaltation)
* Common (one of many gods) and of minor importance in the larger Mormon
cosmology
* Conceived by the physical sex act of the Father (Adam or Elohim) and Mary
* A married polygamist?
The Biblical Jesus Christ:
* Uncreated God
* As God, Christ required no salvation
* Unique (the Second Person of the one Godhead) and of supreme importance
throughout eternity and in all creation
* Conceived by the Holy Spirit who overshadowed Mary, a true virgin
* An unmarried monogamist
The following brief statements by Mormon
leaders reveal the true beliefs of the Mormon Church concerning Christ. In
essence, the Mormon doctrine of Christ (as with many other of its doctrines)
parallels those found in the world of paganism and the occult.
First, Mormonism teaches that Jesus Christ was a created being, not eternal
God as the Bible clearly instructs (1 John 1:1,3; Titus 2:13), and that He was
the first and foremost of subsequent billions of spirit children created through
sexual intercourse between the male and earth gods. Doctrine and Covenants
93:21-23 teaches that "Christ, the Firstborn, was the mightiest of all the
spirit children of the Father." James Talmage affirmed in the standard Mormon
church work The Articles of Faith, "Among the spirit children of Elohim,
the firstborn was and is Jehovah, or Jesus Christ, to whom all others are
juniors."
In Mormonism, Jesus is also seen as the brother of Satan. Since Satan was
also a preexistent spirit creation of the male and female earth gods, Christ
must, therefore, be his relation. Christ and the devil and his demons were all
spirit children of the Mormon earth god "Elohim," it must follow that they, too,
are Jesus' brothers, just as they are the brothers of all mankind. As one Mormon
writer states, "As for the devil and his fellow spirits, they are brothers to
man and also to Jesus and sons and daughters to God in the same sense that we
are." In essence then, the difference between Christ and the devil in Mormonism
is not one of a kind, but only one of degree.
Second, Mormonism teaches that Jesus is a saved being. Because Jesus was only
one more spirit offspring of the male and female earth gods (like all men and
women), He, too, had to earn His salvation: "Jesus Christ is the Son of God...He
came to earth to work out His own salvation...After His resurrection, He gained
all power in Heaven." And "by obedience and devotion to the truth, {Jesus}
attained that pinnacle of intelligence which ranked Him as a God." This is why
McConkie emphasized, "Christ...is a saved being."
Third, in Mormon teaching Jesus Christ is not unique, at least in nature. His
divinity is not unique, for every exalted man will attain the same godhood that
Christ now experiences. Neither is His incarnated spirit man who, in a
preexistent state, was the off-spring of sexual union between the male and
female earth gods who made Him.
Mormons do refer Christ as a "greater" being than other spirit children of
the male and female earth gods, but only on this earth. Further, Christ is their
senior only by priority and position-not nature or essence. In fact, as a spirit
child of the earth gods, He is of the same exact nature as all men and
all demons. This is one reason Mormons refer to Him as their "elder brother."
And so, "Jesus is man's spiritual brother. We dwelt with Him in the spirit world
as members of that large society of eternal intelligences, which included our
Heavenly Parents."
In fact, Christ was unique in nature in only one way-by His physical birth.
Rather than having a merely human father as the rest of us on this earth, His
mother had physical sex with God (Elohim).
Fourth, as just noted, Mormons accept the birth of Jesus Christ through
sexual intercourse between God (Elohim) and Mary. Because "sexuality...is
actually an attribute of God...God is a procreating personage of flesh and bone"
and "the Holy Ghost was not the father of Jesus." In Doctrines of Salvation,
Joseph Fielding Smith asserted, "Christ was begotten of God. He was not born
without the aid of Man and that Man was God!" McConkie declared,
"Christ was begotten by an immortal Father the same way that mortal men are
begotten by moral fathers."
In other words, Mary was married to both her earthly husband,
Joseph, and God. Brigham Young confessed, "The man Joseph, the husband of Mary,
did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary, the wife of Joseph,
had another husband {that is, God}."
Fifth, some Mormons have also taught that Jesus Christ was a polygamist
having several wives, another unbiblical doctrine. The early Mormon apostle
Orson Pratt claimed that Jesus Christ was married at Cana of Galilee, that Mary
and Martha (and others) were His wives, and that He had children. Thus, Jesus
was a polygamist who proved it by "marrying many honorable wives."
This, then, is the Mormon Jesus Christ- sexually created spirit-brother of
Lucifer, a possible polygamist, and one of many gods who earned salvation,
immortality, and godhood.
Biblically all of this is false. Jesus Christ is God. He is eternal and was,
therefore, never created (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16,17; Isaiah 9:6; Micah
5:2). Further, Jesus Christ is not the brother of the devil; He came to destroy
the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). He was not a man who earned His salvation;
He was God who (through the incarnation) died on the cross for man's salvation
(1 Peter 2:24). He never married, nor was he born by sexual intercourse between
a pagan god and the virgin Mary (John 1).
In fact, not a single biblical Scripture can be advanced by Mormons in
defense of any of their teachings on Jesus Christ. Yet Mormon missionaries come
to the door and say in full sincerity that they are Christians who believe in
the biblical Jesus Christ.
Taken from The Facts On The Mormon Church by John
Ankerberg and John Weldon, published by Harvest House Publishers.
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