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                                               The Beckism of Mormonism

Recently Glenn Beck in response to Breitbart addressed what he says is another Smear Campaign (Mar.25, 2016).

Putting aside the politics and accusations flung from either side I wanted to address the Mormonism that Beck himself brought up and his continual denial of the facts of history of his own religion.

“And I’ve got to leave aside the typical and obvious propaganda that’s often lobbed at myself and people of my faith, that Mormons aren’t Christians, we worship a different God than evangelicals do, et cetera, et cetera. And, by the way, any dialogue or article that starts out with this type of tired, intellectually dishonest, back-handed smear is one that should be automatically dismissed. Mormons absolutely do accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the only Savior of the entire universe. We believe and follow in the teachings of Jesus and the Holy Bible, the King James Version. We’ve been dealing with this kind of nonsense since 1830. It’s nothing new. But leave that aside.”
Source: http://www.glennbeck.com/2016/03/25/breitbart-publishes-another-smear-campaign-heres-the-truth-america/?utm_source=glennbeck&utm_medium=contentcopy_link

When Beck says people of my faith, he is unknowingly making the distinction, for the Bible says there is only one faith and it was delivered to the saints once and for all Jude 3-4. The Bible also says faith comes from hearing the word of God which happens to be the Bible, not another book (Rom.10:17.)

As far as hearing this nonsense since 1830. We will look at the dishonesty both intellectually and spiritually. First thing we need to understand, Mormonism is said to be by its founder a restoration of Christianity that went the way of the dodo bird.

Joseph Smith said, “My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. … I asked the personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right--and which I should join (this happened to be both the Father and the Son). I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong, and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight: that those professors were all corrupt; that "they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrines the commandments of men: having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof." He again forbade me to join with any of them:

Mormonism began by saying the gates of hell have prevailed against the church which Jesus said would not. Here is the Mormon view, “Nothing less than a complete apostasy from the Christian religion would warrant the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”(History of the Church, vol. 1, p. XL)

According to Joseph Smith No church was to be found that taught the truth. Many saw this as an assault on Christ and the church. The Church that believed in the Bible responded to Smith’s audacity, saying God himself said this to him.

When Mormonism began they made sure they were not called Christian

The book of Mormon officially began in 1830. The founder and revelator of Mormonism "I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." (History of the Church, Vol. 4, page 461)

That is what they actually think so don’t be misled by any individual Mormon’s OPINION. It is what the church teaches that counts in the end, their prophets and apostles writings. And if any Bible believer read some of the statements and their doctrine they would be aghast.

The quotations are from LDS "General Authorities" reliable Mormon books they publish!

The King Follett Discourse that was delivered to more than 20,000 Mormons at General Conference in Nauvoo, Illinois Apr.6, 1844. Here are portions of his sermon that are a essential to understanding Mormonism in contrast to Christianity.

It is necessary for us to have an understanding of God himself in the beginning. If we start right, it is easy to go right all the time; but if we start wrong, we may go wrong, and it will be a hard matter to get right.

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 to 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. For I am 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 will take away and do away the vail, so that you may see.

Referring to the Bibles first word Berosheit Smith said, It read first, "The head one of the Gods brought forth the Gods." That is the true meaning of the words. Baurau signified to bring forth. If you do not believe it, you do not believe the learned man of God. Learned men can teach you no more than what I have told you. Thus, the head God brought forth the Gods in the grand council.

Let’s understand what Smith was saying for this new religion that was created that was separate from Christianity of his day. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity.” He then said he would refute that idea. In other words, he would prove what Christianity taught of an eternal God as being wrong. He then tells those present he knows the beginning, that the head God brought forth the gods.

The Lord himself said, "I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any" (Isaiah 44: 6-8).

Joseph Smith claimed that God Himself taught him that there is a plurality of Gods. Which is nonsense. Therefore Mormonism is not monotheistic and has no connection to Judaism, nor Christianity. This is polytheism, a belief in more than one god.

Smith went on to say “In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it. When we begin to learn in this way, we begin to learn the only true God and what kind of a being we have got to worship.

So Smith was now telling the Mormons that there is not one God but many, numerous. Out went Deut. 6:4 our Lord is one Lord, which was the anthem for Israel. Out went the whole basis of Scripture that there is only one true God and all others are false. Since Smith has said we can become as all the other gods (who are false according to YHWH the one true God.) Then he has put the true God into the category of the many false gods which according to the Bible is blasphemy.

Furthermore Smith’s statement God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens. That is the great secret. For I am going to tell you how God came to be God.”

This is the promised progression of Mormonism. That by adhering to their gospel man can become God as the God before did. Therefore there is no eternal God.

“Here then is eternal life — to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God the same as all gods have done before you.”

Here we have the man becoming god doctrine of Mormonism that is undeniable. There is no such teaching in the Bible in fact the Bible deplores it.

Smith later said “I wish to declare I have always an in all congregations when I have preached on the subject of Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods.” (Founder and Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church, v. 6, p. 306, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 3o8, 474.

So for Mr. Beck who claims to be researcher to ignore these glaring opposites does put him in a precarious position as a researcher that stays true to history and the facts. The Bible and Christianity, both Judaism and Messianic do not teach there are multiple gods as Smith taught, they do not teach man, a creature will become as his maker, the eternal one. This would be equivalent to a driver saying there is no difference between a green light and red light, after all they are both lights.

There is what is called the Christian distinctive. No one who teaches or believes this would be considered a Christian because it goes against the core teachings of being a Christian.  How is it possible that a Mormon is a Shristian when their founder Smith denied Christianity in so many ways.

Beck saying, by the way, any dialogue or article that starts out with this type of tired, intellectually dishonest, back-handed smear is one that should be automatically dismissed. Mormons absolutely do accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the only Savior of the entire universe.”

This is the Mormon’s way of self - protection, to make them immune to any accurate examination they have to answer to. As you may have noticed I presented their founders quotes not my opinions. Their own official doctrine and it was compared to the bible as we are commanded to do.

The only way these quotes can be dismissed is to say they do not mean this. Which would mean words can mean anything one wants them to, that one can reinterpret them however they see fit. But then one would have to deny the same statements by the next president Brigham Young and others after.

I think Smith did an excellent job of separating his “faith, his religion” from the Biblical faith, Christianity that had continued from the apostles.

Who knows how much more Smith would have taught on this if he lived, but we do not have to guess, in 1847 LDS Prophet and second President Brigham Young’s leadership began in the Salt Lake. He also taught of a God who was not always god but is an exalted man. February 8, 1857, Brigham Young explained how God came to be God and fathered Jesus

“He [God] is our Father--the Father of our spirits, and was once a man in mortal flesh as we are, and is now an exalted being." (Brigham Young in the Journal of Discourses, v. 7, p. 333). Thus Smith’s revealing of becoming God continued.

President Young: “It [Mormonism] is the only system of religion known in heaven or on earth that can EXALT A MAN TO THE GODHEAD” (“President and "Prophet" Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 10, p. 251, 1863)

"We believe in a God who is Himself progressive, … whose perfection consists in eternal advancement -- a Being who has attained His exalted state …" (The Articles of Faith, p. 430). Underline mine

Another huge point of difference is their gospel which is also different. From the Mormons “Articles of faith”: “faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands, morality, loyalty, tithing, word of wisdom, duty, celestial marriage.”

Does this sound the same? Of course not. The gospel in the Bible is very different it is 1 Cor.15:1-4, we are to believe in Christs death and resurrection, that we are saved by grace through faith and not by ANY WORKS, but the work of Christ. (Eph.2:8).

Glenn Beck states they accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the only Savior of the entire universe.”

What does Son of God mean to a Mormon? Not the same it means to Biblicasl Christians. Jesus is the literal son of their Heavenly Father. Mormonism teaches Jesus is a creation, the product of relations between god and his goddess wife (McConkie, Bruce, Mormon Doctrine, p. 192, 321, 516, 589).

Encyclopedia of Mormonism published by Macmillan Publishing Company is a project and title approved by the First Presidency and is put together with 730 contributors from a wide variety of fields, most of whom had LDS and academic backgrounds on core LDS doctrine, a large number were professors at Brigham Young University.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia_of_Mormonism

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1990/12/news-of-the-church/a-conversation-about-the-encyclopedia-of-mormonism?lang=eng

Changing Bible definitions is clearly part of the Mormon doctrine.

“Christ was begotten by an immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers.” (Mormon Doctrine, 1966, p. 547)

Jesus Christ is the Son of Elohim both as spiritual and bodily offspring; that is to say, Elohim is literally the Father of the spirit of Jesus Christ and also of the body in which Jesus Christ performed His mission in the flesh… (Encyclopedia of Mormonism, vol. 4, pp. 1670-1671)

Brigham Young “He [Jehovah] was the Son of our Heavenly Father, as we are the sons of our earthly fathers. God is the Father of our spirits, which are clothed upon by fleshly bodies, begotten for us by our earthly fathers. Jesus is our elder brother spirit clothed upon with an earthly body begotten by the Father of our spirits. (Journal of Discourses, vol. 10, p. 2, September 28, 1862) in other words he is not the eternal God

Mr. Beck overlooks these glaring distinctions not because he incapable of understanding them but because he uses another criteria for his interpretation. And those who come to his rescue saying he is Christian while he claims Mormonism are not helping him.

The Bible speaks of another Jesus with another gospel and another spirit (2 Cor.11:4). The Jesus in Mormonism was born in Jerusalem, Alma 7:10 (*not Bethlehem), who is the spirit brother of Lucifer/Satan and other angels who were birthed by God the Father. That is NOT the Jesus of the Bible. This is why we must go below the surface of general statements like Beck’s that say he is called the son of God and savior. It has a completely different meaning in their doctrinal world than the Bible.

The Bible describes God is totally self-sufficient; the only uncaused, uncreated being existing, omni in all his attributes and characteristics. He has omnipresence, omniscience, immutability, holiness as His nature (perfect no flaws in any part) unlimited in knowledge Isa.40:13,14; He knows the end before he even begins to create. The God of the Bible is presented as always existing, He is unchangeable as the only eternal thing existing that is unchangeable.

The God of the Bible is not a man, (Numbers 23:19) nor did he begin as a man and become a God. The God of the Bible is Eternal Spirit (John 4:24). Mal 3:6"For I am the LORD, I do not change. There is no need of progress if God exists in a perfect state.

There is a need to face the facts, that this god described by Smith and believed in Mormonism is not the same as the God in the Bible. Therefore to believe in the God]s] of Mormonism makes one a Mormon, not a Christian. You can’t be a Mormon and be a Christian, its one or the other

And the more they protest this the further they remove themselves from the truth.

Deut. 4:35 “To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him.

I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me" (Isaiah 43:10). I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any" (Isaiah 44:6-8).

 

See how Mormons answer simple questions

http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/12/18/21-questions-answered-about-mormon-faith.html

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