Mormonism and Islam

I have spent many hours talking to Mormon elders and their missionary brethren.  I have treated all well and had some really fun conversations.  I stayed away from doctrine and focused on Biblical truths, ones which any belief system should be able to grasp.  My goal was to get them to dig into the Bible harder, which I know the Holy Spirit would work to God's advantage.  I saw no immediate fruit, but can only pray seeds were planted.

During some of these conversations an odd question stuck me one day.  I asked my friendly elder the next time he came by, and he could not answer my question.  I had asked him since he believed Joseph Smith had seen an angel who told him the Bible wasn't God's word anymore and he needed to write more, why he believed Joseph Smith over Muhammad who had said the same thing hundreds of years earlier.  He and his peers were puzzled by that question and never came back.

That was years ago.  Last night I was reading some comparison information that really surprised me.  It turns out Muhammad and Joseph Smith had more in common than I knew.

Both Muhammad and Joseph Smith were bloody leaders who fought with the "convert of die" philosophy.  Found in the History of the Church under "Affidavit of Orson Hyde" is this statement where Smith, the Prophet, shows his belief that he is the second Muhammad.

"The Prophet inculcates the notion, and it is believed by every true Mormon, that Smith's prophecies are superior to the laws of the land. I have heard the Prophet say that he would yet tread down his enemies, and walk over their dead bodies; and if he was not let alone, he would be a second Mohammed to this generation, and that he would make it one gore of blood from the Rocky

mountains to the Atlantic ocean; that like Mohammed, whose motto in treating for peace was, 'the Alcoran or the Sword.' So should it be eventually with us, 'Joseph Smith of the Sword.'"

Both men were talked to not by angels at first, but later they changed their minds to them being angels.  Muhammad thought him a demon (he was right), and Joseph Smith said he was a dirty old man.  

Both men said they were prophets of God.

Both men had multiple wives.  Muhammad had 23 wives, but Joseph Smith trumped him with 28.  

Both men claimed the Bible was wrong wherever it disagreed with what they wrote or said.  

Both men wrote books that have been changed radically since they were first written.  

Muhammad called all who disagreed with him Infidels, Joseph Smith called them Gentiles.  

Both claimed to themselves be superior to Jesus Christ, yet believed in their teaching that he was a good guy.  

Both formed militaries which they ruled over with a dictatorship.  

In the end it was obvious Smith though of Muhammad as a role model.  John Bennet in his History of the Saints on page 218 says, "The most extraordinary and infamous feature of the social and religious system established by the Mormon Prophet, and one in which he closely resembles his master and model, Mahamet, is the secret regulations he has formed for directing the relations of the sexes."

All the wrong teaching, however, is clearly remedied by scripture (The Bible).  

Mormon Teaching:

There are many Gods - Pearl of Great Price, Abraham 4-5, Journal of Discourses, Volume 5, page 4.

Bible Teaching:

There is one God - Isaiah 45: 6,18, Isaiah 45:21, 46:9

Mormon Teaching:  God is always changing - "As a man is God once was, as God is man may be", Apostle James E. Talmage, The Articles of Faith (1967) p.430, Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses Volume 7, page 333, Apostle Orson Pratt, The Seer, page 23.  

Bible Teaching:

God never changes - "For I am the Lord, I change not", Malachi 3:6.  "I am the first, and the last: and beside Me there is no God", Isaiah 44:6

Mormon Teaching

Salvation by works - "By obedience of the laws and ordinances of the Gospel", 3rd Article of Faith

Bible Teaching

Salvation by grace - "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, let any man should boast", Ephesians 2:8-9.  (emphasis mine)

Mormon Teaching

Another gospel -  Joseph's father said Joseph told him the visitor was an old man in bloody cloths, and the name changed often from Nephi and Moroni, with the story settling on Moroni and it being an angel.  The book they use is called "Another Testament of Jesus Christ".  

Bible Teaching

No other gospel - "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."  Galatians 1:8.  

Mormon Teaching 

Blood atonement, the act of killing someone bloodily to save their soul if they are found to be in violation of Mormon crimes because Jesus's blood cannot wash away certain sins (murder, interracial marriage, adultery, leaving the Mormon church for example).

Bible Teaching

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not His Son into the World to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:16

In summary, this was put together to help anyone who has questions about the Mormon cult.  Many hate that word and love to argue about it, but one cannot look at the facts and compellingly disagree with the term.  I downloaded many documents to verify the information above, so let me know if there are any questions.  The idea and loose outline was taken from The Enchanter from Chick Publications and expanded.  

                                                                 

A Lesson from David

In my adventures through the OT, I am reading in Psalms.  While I keep finding new things that interest me, Chapter 27 had several verses that I thought I worth chatting about.  While I was only going to focus on a few verses, I must say a special friend, Ligaya, gave me the input to add quite a bit more.  A special thank you to her blessing!

David starts off in verse one with something we should pay attention to.

27:1, "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

The first six verses focus on David's courage and bravery.  The key to it all is faith.  His focus is on the Lord, which gives him confidence and changes his perspective.  While we all can say we have or have had serious problems, can you really say your issues can top David's?  At this point in time he had just about everyone trying to kill him at one time or another, running for his life over and over again.  With no end to his enemies, and from some Psalms we learn he truly never knew if he would wake up each morning alive, we know he did have an interesting view.  His view was that his problems were nothing to God.

God was David's light, and his salvation.  John 8:12 tell us David was right, "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."  Our challenge today is to see what David saw.  Is Christ your light?  Do you lean on Him for your salvation?  Have you become as a believer what Christ said you were to be?

Matthew 5:14, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid."  From my perspective here in America, I think few believers today display light.  We are to be the light and salt in this world, something we are failing, but we should not be.  We can all turn our lives around and be who Christ wants us to be.  How?  Remember David's faith, and what he shows us in the last verses.

In 7-14 David shows us his desire toward God.  In verse 7 he says what we all feel, "Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me."  He asks again what we all wish, and how any child feels about their father.  Hear me, don't hide from me, don't leave me, teach me, and lead me safely.

David summarizes this very well in the last verse, verse 14, "Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD."

Patience, I was told, is something you should pray for.  What they did not tell me was that in order to learn patience you much experience trials to teach it.  I have regretted praying for patience as a young man many times, for our Father does attempt to teach it and never gives up.  Here David tells us to wait on the Lord.  It isn't just patience, but the faith of knowing you are waiting on Him in His time.  Having courage means the fear is diminished over not hearing, our the Lord builds up our hearts while we wait.

So, be of good courage, be patient, but most importantly seek God's face.  Stay in the Bible, reading and paying attention to what you read.  Pray constantly.  Seek to have conversations with Father throughout the day.  After a day of this you will find yourself at peace, with your heart strengthened and little fear.  May God bless your journey.

Exposing Error - Is It Worthwhile?

Based on much this blog's content, I thought I should post this article.  This was written by Dr. Harry Ironside (1876-1951), a godly fundamentalist author and teacher for many years, who served as pastor of Chicago’s Moody Memorial Church from 1930-1948.  A link to the original article from The Berean Call is at the bottom and it is fully quoted below.

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Objection is often raised even by some sound in the faith regarding the exposure of error as being entirely negative and of no real edification. Of late, the hue and cry has been against any and all negative teaching. But the brethren who assume this attitude forget that a large part of the New Testament, both of the teaching of our blessed Lord Himself and the writings of the apostles, is made up of this very character of ministry—namely, showing the Satanic origin and, therefore, the unsettling results of the propagation of erroneous systems which Peter, in his second epistle, so definitely refers to as “damnable heresies.”

Our Lord prophesied, “Many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” Within our own day, how many false prophets have risen; and oh, how many are the deceived! Paul predicted, “I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch.” My own observation is that these “grievous wolves,” alone and in packs, are not sparing even the most favoured flocks. Undershepherds in these “perilous times” will do well to note the apostle’s warning: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers.” It is as important in these days as in Paul’s — in fact, it is increasingly important — to expose the many types of false teaching that, on every hand, abound more and more.

We are called upon to “contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints,” while we hold the truth in love. The faith means the whole body of revealed truth, and to contend for all of God’s truth necessitates some negative teaching. The choice is not left with us. Jude said he preferred a different, a pleasanter theme — ”Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 3, 4). Paul likewise admonishes us to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph:5:11).

This does not imply harsh treatment of those entrapped by error — quite the opposite. If it be objected that exposure to error necessitates unkind reflection upon others who do not see as we do, our answer is: “It has always been the duty of every loyal servant of Christ to warn against any teaching that would make Him less precious or cast reflection upon His finished redemptive work and the all-sufficiency of His present service as our great High Priest and Advocate.”

Every system of teaching can be judged by what it sets forth as to these fundamental truths of the faith. “What think ye of Christ?” is still the true test of every creed. The Christ of the Bible is certainly not the Christ of any false “-ism.” Each of the cults has its hideous caricature of our lovely Lord.

Let us who have been redeemed at the cost of His precious blood be “good soldiers of Jesus Christ.” As the battle against the forces of evil waxes ever more hot, we have need for God-given valour.
There is constant temptation to compromise. “Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.” It is always right to stand firmly for what God has revealed concerning His blessed Son’s person and work. The “father of lies” deals in half-truths and specializes in most subtle fallacies concerning the Lord Jesus, our sole and sufficient Savior.

Error is like leaven, of which we read, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” Truth mixed with error is equivalent to all error, except that it is more innocent looking and, therefore, more dangerous. God hates such a mixture! Any error, or any truth-and-error mixture, calls for definite exposure and repudiation. To condone such is to be unfaithful to God and His Word and treacherous to imperiled souls for whom Christ died.

Exposing error is most unpopular work. But from every true standpoint it is worthwhile work. To our Savior, it means that He receives from us, His blood-bought ones, the loyalty that is His due. To ourselves, if we consider “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,” it ensures future reward, a thousand-fold. And to souls “caught in the snare of the fowler”—how many of them God only knows—it may mean light and life, abundant and everlasting.

From https://www.thebereancall.org/content/april-2008-extra-exposing-error

How Is Your Poetry?

I have never been a poet nor one who aspired to be.  Poetry was something we had to read in school and it often crept up in church bulletins and other things I read.  For the most part, poetry is something I can say I never appreciated.  To be honest, most of it confused me.

With those thoughts in mind, a deep reading of this verse really got my mind to running.

Ephesians 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

No doubt we all have heard the verse and know its meaning.  We are created to good works, which is our Father's ultimate goal for us.  This alone is a verse that can launch many sermons and lessons.  I would like to key in on the first phrase, "For we are his workmanship".

One can take a trip through the Bible and see how our Father watches us from conception on.  Once we accept Christ as our savior a new work begins in us as our old man dies and a new man is born. God uses this term "workmanship" to describe a Christian.  The Greek word underlying this term is my focus.  

In English the word workmanship means, "that which has been made, a work (of the works of God as creator)" as defined by Vines.  

In the Greek the word is poiēma.  As is typical of the Greek, it carries a meaning we often miss in just the English.  This Greek word poiēma is the word we get our English word poem from.  Once I realized this, it made my mind run off in quite a few different directions.  

My overall thoughts were that Christians are just like poetry, we are all different.  Now, please do not assume I am talking about all who claim to be Christians, but those who have actually accepted Christ and live by his word.  Of that small group, there are those who rhyme, those who don't rhyme, those who speak long, or those who speak little.  Just as there are deep poems, there are deep thinking Christians.  There are those who smile and love others, as some poetry makes you do.  As many kinds of poetry as there are there are believers of a similar vein.  

Carrying the thought a little farther, ponder the fact that as God's workmanship we are a poem he is writing. Unlike a poem being rushed through and done with little thought, with poor rhyming and meter, we are different.  From the foundations of time God knew us and our lives.  As our lives are ruled by our decisions, He knows what we will do but works to guide us correctly anyway.  That decision to make the correct decision or action is ours, even if God has done his best to push us to the right path.  

As a result some of our poems started out rhyming with a wonderful happy and light meter.  Over time the poem becomes discordant, without rhyme or good meter.  Occasionally it will come back, and leave and come back for a longer time.  Our paths are echoed by our mistakes, and these bad decisions are what build us.  Sometimes God sends us down wrong paths in order to teach us something.  Over time many of my scars were certainly built because of me, but I found after each, over time, I saw how God used something I had learned in helping others.  My story is no different than any other.  

Each day we have decisions to make.  Do we keep God in our thoughts all day?  Do we thank him for little things or only ask for help during difficulties?  Or, do we not talk to him at all during the day? Do we read the scripture daily, even a few verses, or do we fill our time with television and hobbies? 

One day we will stand before a Holy throne and be held accountable for our poem's content.  May each of you ponder this each day, and strive for a better poem.  

Now I guess with this knowledge I have to say I like poetry.  Yes, that makes me smile.