Mormon Mitt Romney recently vented uncharacteristic frustration on Twitter. The object of his irritation was Pastor of Dallas First Baptist Church Robert Jeffress. The occasion was Pastor Jeffress’ delivery of the blessing at the opening of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.
“Robert Jeffress says ‘you can’t be saved by being a Jew,’ and ‘Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell,’” Romney, who is Mormon, wrote on Twitter Sunday night. “He’s said the same about Islam. Such a religious bigot should not be giving the prayer that opens the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.”
The focus of this column isn’t to judge Romney’s salvation or his intentions. It is to question his beliefs and its implications. What does his parent faith teach regarding Jesus Christ, His relationship to the Father, and how one is saved? Does Romney believe the same things?
James White briefly touched on Romney’s tweet in a video presentation (about the 11 min mark). He noted that that both fundamental Islam and the official Mormon positions are that if you’re not one of them, you’re damned. Moreover, both systems have an unbiblical view of God and the Son of God.
White provided two links addressing official Mormon teachings and statements from past leaders. You can find them HERE and HERE. One example:
“After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth. They were known respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon. The various organizations which are called churches throughout Christiandom, though differing in their creeds and organizations, have one common origin. They belong to Babylon.” (George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth, p.324)
In other links White shows that Mormonism teaches that God begat Jesus in the normal physical way. It also teaches polytheism. White writes:
…Joseph Smith Jr., taught an extreme form of polytheism (LDS prefer the term “plurality of gods”) wherein the distinction between God and man is abolished: God and man are of the same “species,” and the difference between them is one of degree (exaltation) not one of being. God himself is an exalted man who lived on another planet, and today lives upon a planet that circles a star named Kolob. There were gods before him; there will be many gods after him.
The Romney fuss reminds me of the Glenn Beck Restoring Courage tour of Israel in 2011. At that time Beck similarly lashed out at Christian bigotry at one event. Jack Kinsella took part in the tour and reported his findings in Stolen Blessings: The LDS Connection.
The Restoring Courage event was further fleshed out in a conference with Jan Markell, Jack Kinsella and former Mormon Ed Decker. Jack made salient comments about tolerance – and Islam and Mormonism having their own Jesus. Interestingly, after the 23 min mark Jack noted how easy it would be for an Antichrist to deceive the world just by saying all the right things!
Pay attention to what Jack wrote about LDS methodology of salvation in his Omega Letter briefing. Cults generally teach that Jesus isn’t God and salvation is earned by the Christian on an ongoing basis. The Bible teaches otherwise (Rom 8:38-39, 10:9-10; Phil 3:4-11; Eph 2:8; Heb 7:25-26).
Mark Jones (Knowing Christ p 35) wrote:
Christians do not deny the full divinity of Christ; in fact, in order to be a Christian, one cannot deny the full divinity of Jesus. He is God. The Scriptures simply overwhelm us with proofs of Christ’s divinity.
The matter of Jesus’ divinity is inextricably linked to our salvation and how it’s attained (John 3:16-18; 1 Cor 15:3-4). I’m particularly passionate about this after fruitless years seeking Jesus in the New Age, rather than the Bible. There are plenty of people who will give you their versions of Christ, yet are deceived and deceive others.
Rather than accepting extra-biblical teachings, we can go directly to the source. The Bible is very explicit about who Jesus Christ is. Compare passages like John 1:1-5; Phil 2:5-11; Col 1:15-18 and Heb 1:1-14.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Rev 1:8
In Rev 1:8 Christ refers to Himself as the Alpha and Omega, and John calls Him Lord God (most translations). Further on in verse 18 Jesus refers to Himself as the First and Last. The same expressions are found in Isaiah 41:4, 43:12-13, 44:6 and 48:12. There we’re told that Yahweh is “first and last”; that He is eternal; that there are no gods beside Him, and that He made all things.
So what do we do with all this?
It’s a Christian’s obligation to witness to the lost and defend the true gospel. But it should be done prayerfully and with and a loving spirit (I often fail here). One can’t find a better example than Christian apologist Ron Rhodes’ advice. You can watch this video, and/or read this transcript of an interview with Dr. Rhodes.
A recent TMS article is timely. It’s called The Wretched Art of Loveless Discernment. I’ll finish off with these two quotes from it which we all – me especially – need to take to heart:
We are called to speak the truth, yes. But we are called to speak the truth in love (Eph 4:15).
If we are to practice discernment in love, we must discern with precision, humility, and sorrow. Not to temper the truth, but rather that we might bolster the truth with our love that we might more honor Christ and persuade the erring.
Maranatha!
Further resources:
Did God the Father Create the Son?
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