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

The Promise of the Resurrection

Berean Baptist on April 12, 2016

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. (Psalms 40:1-2)

In last Sunday morning’s message, we had the opportunity to study Psalm 110 in which David declared Jesus to be the sovereign Lord. In the Gospel of John, chapter 5 Jesus gave a wonderful exposition of the resurrection, and then He said there are witnesses that testify to the truthfulness of His words. John the Baptist was one of those witnesses. He was a truly remarkable prophet that had the unique privilege of announcing Jesus as the Lamb of God. Jesus also said the Father bears witness of Him, but that witness is only received by those whom the Father will reveal the Son. A third witness in that passage is the scriptures. Jesus said, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (5:39).

With the command to search, we would expect to be able to go to the Old Testament and find Christ. This is why Jesus took the Jews to Psalm 110 where David bore testimony to His Lordship. Our congregational reading today takes us to another place where Jesus is found in the Old Testament psalms. The entire 40th Psalm is about Christ, but verses 1 and 2 are the particular focus of my article today. These verses speak of the resurrection with verse 2 being a personal favorite: “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” These are words of praise as Jesus acknowledged the Father’s promise. In the eternal covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son, the Father promised to bring safely home all those for whom Christ would die. The first fruit of this promise is that Christ would be resurrected—a critical event without which the promise fails. The resurrection of Christ was the Father’s stamp of approval on the redemptive work of the Son. When this promise was fulfilled, heaven must have thundered with praise because at this point redemption was forever sealed.

However, there was never any doubt this would happen. Heaven was already populated with the souls of the patriarchs and the prophets and all the people of God that died prior to the resurrection. Because God is timeless, a promise made in eternity past is as certain as if it had already happened. When you read scriptures like Psalm 40, you can see yourself. If you are a believer, you know you are as safe for heaven as if you were already there.

Many people wonder how Christians face bad days with a smile. They wonder why peace fills our heart when they struggle with so many things that burden them to despair. The interesting irony is that we face the same life struggles they face. We have job issues, financial concerns, family disappointments—and yet these things do not rule us. Our happiness is not determined by how well a stock portfolio is doing or whether Junior got accepted to Harvard. We have already risen with Christ and we know that when He shall appear we shall also appear with Him in glory (Colossians 3:1, 4).

Contemplating the certainty of the resurrection will keep our thinking straight when the cares of life start to become too heavy. Christ was in the horrible pit, but the promise kept Him waiting patiently. There was a time limit on the grave—three days. There is also a time limit for you. Wait patiently for it. Redemption is nigh.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

Puzzling but not Impossible

Berean Baptist on November 4, 2015

Psalm 31

 Psalm 31 is another of the remarkable poems of David that speak of the death and resurrection of Christ. We are prone to wonder how much the Holy Spirit revealed to David as he wrote because these psalms also have an immediate application to David’s life as well. If you will notice the fifth verse, David wrote, “Into thy hand I commit my spirit: thou has redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.” We can see how David would have written this about himself because he was fully dependent upon the Lord for strength. The New Testament records that David had a heart for God and we are encouraged to emulate him in our own affections for our heavenly Father. Though we can see the application of the verse to David’s life, we also know these are words spoken by Jesus as He hung on the cross. Just before He surrendered His life, He said, “Father into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

The confusing part of this psalm is how it alternates between the life of Christ, His death, and His resurrection. These are not presented in a clear, orderly fashion from one step to the next, but rather the joy of the resurrection may be immediately displaced by the suffering of His life. An example of this is seen in the latter part of the fifth verse which speaks of Christ’s redemption, an obvious reference to His resurrection, and then by verse ten we are brought back to His life—“For my life is spent with grief.”

I hope you can see by this how challenging Bible interpretation can be. Most of us read through the Psalms quickly without considering the deeper implications. We might even feel there is no use reading slowly because we just cannot understand. If this were true, the Bible would be nearly useless for a Christian. And yet these same Psalms tell us the word of God enlightens and strengthens us. How can this be if we have no understanding?

Our heavenly Father knows this. He never intended for His words to be understood by those without a regenerate heart (1 Cor. 2:14). However, He most certainly did intend that His people should hear and understand (1 Cor. 2:12). The enlightening of the mind to truth is one of the wonderful works of the indwelling Holy Spirit. When the Christian applies himself to study and asks for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding will come. God wants you to know Him better and the only way you can is by His self-revelation in the written word.

I encourage you first of all to read; and secondly to read carefully and deliberately. There is no secret I reveal in a sermon that you may not already know by your own diligent study. Yes, you will have questions because none of us can plumb all the depths of scripture. God gave pastors and teachers to help you and we promise to do so; but He did not give us to do all the work for you.

Do not be discouraged with your reading. Keep it regular and consistent, and I promise upon the authority of the word itself, you shall see and know God better through scripture.

 Pastor V. Mark Smith

Incomprehensible! Unexplainable!

Berean Baptist on August 17, 2015

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? (Psalms 22:1)

It would be best that we tread lightly with these comments because we approach the holiest ground of any passage of sacred scripture. Here is the tree of Calvary prodigiously portrayed by the pen of David nearly one thousand years before the actual event. The mystery of scripture’s inspiration is opened before us with stunning accuracy as the death of the cross is foretold.

The first sentence of the 22nd Psalm is too high and holy for human comprehension. As Jesus hung on the cross bearing the sins of the world, He cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Martin Luther read these words and was completely perplexed. He wrote, “How can this be, God forsaking God?” This question was not speculative hyperbole. This was truly God the Father turning His back on God the Son, the only begotten darling of the Father. He was forsaken as a vile criminal with no offer of compassionate support. Why would God do this? How could He do it?

The “why” is explained throughout the entire canon of scripture. Sin lives on nearly every page of your Bible. We are infected with it from head to toe. It saturates our minds and fills even the smallest crevice of our bodies. It is impossible to speak of humans unless you also consider the corruption of our nature and our abhorrence of God. Scripture says all have gone the way of sin—there is none righteous. We are so consumed that we are spoken of as spiritually dead. The “why” of God’s forsaking Christ becomes clear when we realize the stench, the sewerage, the disgusting filthiness of our vile nature—every repugnant vulgar sin was placed on Christ as He hung on Calvary. The “why” is because God in His holiness, in His perfect righteousness is incapable of looking on sin.

As Jesus hung on the cross, the Father did indeed turn His back on Him because Christ became everything that God is not. Fellowship with the Son must be cut off because in those hours of suffering He was doused in the corruption of the sins of the world. He was paying a ransom to God by suffering the pangs of Hell for His people. The “why” is the theology of the atonement. He suffered to bring us to God, and the only way He could do it was by separation from the Father. He could not become sin for us and at the same time remain in fellowship with the Father. The reduction of truth here to our level of understanding is that He was shut off from the Father so that we would not have to be. The marvelous truth that shines through for us is the love of the Father and the Son that caused both to break eternal harmony to rescue the wholly undeserving. The “why” of Christ’s rejection is profound, yet the whole history of redemption provides the explanation.

The other question is much more difficult. In fact, I cannot explain it. “How” did the Father do it? How can the invisible, immutable Holy God condescend to the fabric of the creature and then have all sin placed on Him? None of this is comprehensible to the mortal mind. It happened and we know it did, but we are left to gaze upon it and marvel at its reality while at the same time only thanking God that in His infinite wisdom He knew it was the only way our redemption could be accomplished. We marvel but we cannot explain.

This Psalm is mostly a mystery. I do not know how God did it, but thank God He did!

Pastor V. Mark Smith