WHO IS THE MORMON GOD?

Berean Baptist on February 16, 2020

This week I continue to be impressed with the salutation of Christ’s letter to the Laodicean church. I have discussed with you the likely issue of Laodicea’s faulty belief concerning the deity of Christ. The Colossian letter gave us a clue as Paul said the letter needed to be read at Laodicea. This may have been necessary because Laodicea experienced the same doctrinal problems as Colossae.

            I am prompted to think more on this issue and how the deity of Christ has been challenged throughout church history. In this article, I want to write a little about Mormonism and their teachings about God. Their official name is “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” which suggests they are a branch of Christianity. Nothing could be further from the truth.

            The early controversies in church history about the nature of God scarcely encompassed the extreme heresies of Mormonism. Since I don’t have space to go in-depth concerning their many heretical beliefs, I need only mention one which is more than fair warning that Mormonism is pure paganism.

            The central question is this: Who is the God of Mormonism? As a Christian, you understand God is transcendent over His creation. God is of vastly contrasting character to humans. He is spirit and He is light. He is unapproachable light which speaks of the ineffability of His being. However, when you and I say God and when a Mormon says God, we are not in the same universe of meaning. Mormons believe God is as we are. They believe God is of the same species as us. He is a man that has reached a higher stage of development than we are. He is still a man but has attained a higher level.

            Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, said: “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heaven…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 take away the veil, so that you may see…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…”

            This fantastical idea of God is only deeply worsened as Joseph Smith dilates. Mormons teach that the current iteration of God is one of a succession of other men who have attained the position. Further, it is possible that some Mormon today could likewise hold the position in the future and become for a time the most exalted man. If you ask a Mormon, “Who is the number one God?” he will not answer because he doesn’t know nor dares to ask.

            Without delving further into this deep darkness of deceit, is this not enough to demonstrate that Mormonism has nothing to do with Christianity? Be careful when you speak to a Mormon because they use the same language as you—grace, faith, sin, redemption—and God. The meaning of the terms is nothing like yours.

            First and foremost, remember when they say God, they are worlds apart from who we understand God to be. Salvation is impossible for them if they persist in their fantasy of unbelief. Are they good family people? Not really. They are horrible because they are taking their children to hell.

                                                                        Pastor V. Mark Smith

ASSEMBLY VS. CHURCH

Berean Baptist on January 27, 2020

Of the seven churches in Revelation, the church at Laodicea has become nearly synonymous with Christ-less Christianity. Professor Michael Horton of the Westminster Theological Seminary wrote a book with this title, Christless Christianity. He questions whether America is fast arriving at the point where Christ is left out of the church and out of His own gospel.

            One of the chapters in his book is titled, “How We Turn Good News into Good Advice.” In this chapter, he argues that reducing the good news of Jesus to good advice makes the gospel no better than any other method of life coaching. If all the gospel amounts to is a better way to feel good about ourselves, there are many competing philosophies that will be sworn by as better methods. If this is true, how do Christians rightly argue for the exclusivity of the gospel? The issue with this dilemma is that the modern church has replaced the person of the gospel with a plan of the gospel. Neither Christ nor His church is about a plan. Both are about the person of Jesus Christ. Without Him the plan has no more value than any other plan. Some rightly argue salvation is not a plan although we often term our presentations of it as the plan of salvation. Salvation is to have Christ. If He is not the center and focus, we will never have the salvation offered in Him.

            This is the problem of the Laodicean church. Without Christ, it is a social organization. The word church means assembly. It comes from a common Greek word that means nothing more than people gathered in one place. However, our Bible translations render the word church when the translators are certain the assembly refers to people who are born-again, assembled to work for Christ, to obey His commission, and to glorify Him. In this sense, the Laodicean church is better termed the Laodicean assembly. Christ is not their focus.

            As the time grows nearer to the coming of Christ, the Bible seems to indicate that more and churches will become usurpers of the term. They have been turned into assemblies. Though they carry Christ’s name, Christ can have no part of them because He is no part of them. If He stayed in those assemblies, He would only compete as another life coach with many other coaches and their paths to success. We already know Oprah wins that one hands down.

            There are several indicators that you might be a member of an assembly rather than a church. Among these we might ask, is their gospel about your economic prosperity? It is not a church but an assembly for financial seminars. Is the preaching absent the Bible and people are not encouraged to carry, read, and study the scriptures? It is an assembly of rationalizers weighing the best methods of success.

            Christianity is a person—Jesus Christ. His church is an expression of His redemptive work that only cares how our lives can best glorify Him. Sometimes the way is through sickness and poverty. Plug that into the assembly’s plan and see how much traction it gets. Until you are ready to make Christ central no matter how it affects you physically, financially, or in any other personal way, you must remain a member of the Laodicean assembly. You are not ready for membership in Christ’s church.

                                                                                    Pastor V. Mark Smith

Is Your Faith Amazing?

Berean Baptist on December 16, 2019

When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. (Matthew 8:10) 

            Matthew records several specific miracles that demonstrated the power and authority of Jesus. The second one is unique in its emphasis on faith. There are only two instances in scripture where it is said that Jesus marveled, or was amazed, and both concern faith. This one is because of the presence of uncommon faith and the other is because of the absence of expected faith. In the first instance, it was because faith came from a man without the external privileges of God’s revelation. In the second, it was lack of faith from those that had been blessed with every opportunity, with every privilege, with easy access to God’s word, and yet it did not develop into full dependence upon God.

            Matthew 8:5-13 describes the faith of a Roman centurion, a Gentile, who was not born into one the families of God’s chosen nation. He was an outsider, one whom Paul would describe as one of the “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise” (Eph. 2:12). This means he had none of the external privileges of Israel. He had not grown up learning what they learned about Jehovah God. He had not partaken in the lifelong rituals of Judaism that were intended to prepare them for the coming of the Messiah. And yet when He heard of Jesus, he recognized the power of God was in Him. He recognized His authority as the Son of God and His transcendence over the creation. He recognized the power of His words; with His word alone, His will would be done. This recognition amazed Jesus.

            In the second instance (Mark 6:6), Jesus marveled at the unbelief of the Jews. They had every advantage. Paul said, “unto them were committed the oracles of God” (Rom. 3:1-2). The first promise of the Messiah was given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:15). The promise was renewed with Abraham, and then with Isaac and Jacob. Finally, God’s greatest prophet Moses was given the Law contained in “divine ordinances” that found their fulfillment in Jesus Christ (Heb. 9:1). In contradistinction to the “alien” centurion, the ones with all the unique privileges did not recognize the Messiah when He came. They rejected His teachings, miracles, and authority; they claimed He was from the devil (Matt. 12:24) and then crucified Him. Jesus was amazed at their shameless rejection.

            As I think on this story, I wonder how God views lack of faith in His chosen church, by which I mean those who have been elected to salvation, given the privilege of faith in Christ, and have become members of His body on earth. What about your blessing of being in a church that preaches truth, that still believes the Bible, that is unafraid to declare the whole counsel of God when opposed by false Christianity? What about you who are members of a church unlike any in our area? What about you that hear the same doctrines preached as from our Baptist forefathers? How much faith do you have in God?

The answer can be found in how you support your church. It can be found in your attendance, in your tithes, in your witnessing, and in your lifestyles. If Jesus came to our services, would He say, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in America?” Is your faith so uncommon that it would amaze Jesus?

                                                                                    Pastor V. Mark Smith

A BAROMETER OF DEPRAVITY

Berean Baptist on November 25, 2019

Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. (Colossians 4:6)

            Last year, we began our Wednesday evening Bible study in the book of Romans. The method of our study was a change for us, since we have followed the traditional Wednesday night prayer meeting/sermon/teaching format for as long as I can remember. I call it tradition, but I do not mean an apostolic tradition since Wednesday night services did not become popular until the 19th century.

            Some confuse traditionalism with biblical practice insisting the way we do things must be the way Paul did in every little outpost of Christianity in the most obscure places. We will dispense with that thought quickly as being fantasy. If we introduce another way of study, it is not necessarily anti-scriptural. The Wednesday evening format has more latitude than the formal worship of the Lord’s Day. We believe it is scriptural for the word of God to be proclaimed by the pastor on Sunday. The pulpit is the place of authority to hear as God speaks through the written word. It is not a place of dialogue and debate, as we may discuss the word on Wednesdays.

            This little introduction is not my main point today. Rather, in preparation for our Wednesday night study in Romans, I read from Robert Haldane who made the point there are polarizing interpretations of Romans, especially in the areas of justification and the sovereignty of God in salvation. There are only two ways a person can be justified. He is either justified by faith in Christ alone, or he is justified by obedience to the law. The first is biblical—the second is impossible. Every person holds one opinion or the other, and regardless of the impossibility of the second opinion, it is the most common.

            Paul argues the depravity of man in the first part of Romans. He recognizes the objections, especially of Jews who refused to be put on equal footing with Gentiles in their favoritism with God. Both are depraved and all have come short of the glory of God. Haldane reasoned that if man is depraved, we can expect depraved interpretations of the Bible. This conclusion is inevitable. Therefore, the theological wrangling is set to dispute between the two ways of justification. Even a faith/works combo is only a variation of the second method.

            Human depravity was a hot button item for Paul. I’ve already mentioned the Jewish objections. Though plenty deny total depravity, the evidence of it is abundant everywhere. The comment by Haldane and the proof offered by Paul in Romans 1 caused me to think about the daily bombardment of profanity heard in common conversation.

Many people look at the use of language as a development of culture. The culture determines whether the language is good or bad. It is as if there is no objective standard that determines it. With our modern insistence on individualism and self-expression, we determine whether our language is right or wrong. The Bible disputes this. Culture is not a fluid determiner of right and wrong. The standard of righteousness is always one and the same. The Bible tell us the standard of speech in Colossians 4. There is grace speech that is defined by biblical morality.

Jesus said our heart governs the way we speak. Bad speech is an indication of a wicked heart. When you hear neighbors over the fence shouting profanities, or listen to young people in their normal conversations, or watch TV, or listen to popular music on radio—when you hear language laced with profanity, it is evidence of a depraved society. It is society losing its restraint and plunging into the outcome of Romans 1.

My simple point is this. Language is a barometer of our descent into final wickedness. There are certainly many other signs, but this one is noticeable without opening your eyes to see. There is no need to look for it. The sound of it reverberates throughout modern society. The filthy mouth is as Jesus said—the indication of a depraved heart. What hope is there for the world when Christians accept the world’s use of language? We are saved from their immoral speech, so that ours may be always seasoned with grace.

                                                            Pastor V. Mark Smith