Christian Christmas vs Mormon Christmas

Tomorrow is Christmas; it's when Christians celebrate the birth of Christ. This is one of the primary doctrines of Christianity: that Jesus was born of a virgin so that he would not have inherited sin. In Christianity God was incarnate in Jesus, begotten by the Holy Ghost.

On the other hand, Mormons celebrate the birth of a baby conceive by natural intercourse between their god-man and Mary: their Jesus is not God.

Last Wednesday, 18 December, I published an article about how Mormons understand the non-virgin birth. Today I am posting links to articles I’ve previously written, so as to demonstrate the non-Christian beliefs the Mormon have about the birth of Jesus.

My prayer is that Mormons will read these articles and recognize the false teachings of Mormonism.

For Mormons, it is not Jesus’ birthday.

What Child Is This? The LDS Christmas Story.

An Interesting Christmas date.

Christmas and Mormons.

The non-Virgin Virgin Mary of Mormonism.

Mormons —Think About this at Christmas!

The following article is posted by permission.

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LDS Leaders Disagree on Jesus’ Conception

12/16/2019 by lifeafterministry

Alma 7:10 “And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the

land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.”[emp. added]

Journal of Discourses 1:51 “I have given you a few leading items upon this subject, but a great deal more remains to be told. Now remember from this time forth, and for ever, that Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. I will repeat a little anecdote. I was in conversation with a certain learned professor upon this subject, when I replied, to this idea—“if the Son was begotten by the Holy Ghost, it would be very dangerous to baptize and confirm females, and give the Holy Ghost to them, lest he should beget children, to be palmed upon the Elders by the people, bringing the Elders into great difficulties.”” — Brigham Young, Great Salt Lake City, April 9, 1852 [emp. added]

Ephesians 4:14 “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”

Foregoing the obvious problems in the passage from Alma, we’re looking at just one topic today, and that’s what Mormons think of Jesus’ conception.

Yesterday the verse in Alma reminded me of the day I discovered Brigham’s speech in the Journal of Discourses. I was newly out of the Church, and Ed Decker sent me home with a set of the Journals. As I was thumbing through the first volume, I came across the infamous quote above that marked the first of my shocking discoveries.

Gut-wrenching doesn’t do justice to what I felt that day. I sobbed for hours even though I had left the Church several months beforehand. My dismay was rooted in the sadness in my heart for the Lord, and my people. I had no idea they had said things like the example above – and very sadly, most Mormons aren’t aware of the garbage in the Church’s history either.

As Mr. Nelson tours the world with his message to read the Book of Mormon, we’re praying Mormons will discover their own shocking news. It’s not meant to be rude, but we do pray something will jolt them into the reality of the countless lies in their church.

We can’t help but wonder how many times Mr. Nelson has had to shelve contradictions like this one. Being a prophet and all, he surely knows Brigham’s statement is blasphemous. Shame on him.

With Love in Christ;

Michelle

1 Cor. 1:18

Did They Really Say That?!?

What does the Christian world know about God? Nothing . . . Why so far as the things of God are concerned, they are the veriest fools; they know neither God nor the things of God.

John Taylor, Salt Lake City, May 6, 1870, Journal of Discourses 13:225.

The Mormons are the real people who do not know God or the things of God.  They know only the false man-god of the false LDS gospel.

H/T: Life After Ministry.

Angels Can Be Humans?!?

What are angels? They are intelligences of the human species. Many of them are offsprings of Adam and Eve. That is they are men, who have, like Enoch or Elijah, been translated; or, like Jesus Christ, been raised from the dead; consequently they possess a material body of flesh and bones, can eat, drink, walk, converse, reason, love, fight, wrestle, sing, or play on musical instruments. They can go or come on foreign missions, in heaven, earth, or hell; and they can travel space, and visit the different worlds, with all the ease and alacrity with which God and Christ do the same, being possessed of similar organizations, powers and attributes in a degree.

B. H. Roberts, LDS Church Historian, 1903

Everywhere angels are mentioned they are spiritual beings who were created BEFORE mankind. Although they take on the appearance of men when appearing to people, they are not humans, and do not have flesh and bones.  They are an entirely different species of created beings; the are NOT men!

Adam and Eve were human beings; therefore all their offsprings were human beings. It is impossible for humans to have angel offspring.

Angels, with spiritual bodies, are similar to Christ in that they are not limited to our dimensions.

Yes, this is the sort of total nonsense which Mormons believe. Proving once again that the are NOT Christians.

H/T: Life After Ministry.

Yes, HE Really Did Say That!!!

—if the Son was begotten by the Holy Ghost, it would be very dangerous to baptize and confirm females, and give the Holy Ghost to them, lest he should beget children…

Brigham Young, Great Salt Lake City, April 9, 1852. Journal of Discourses 1:51.

Since the Holy Ghost isn’t physical, nor can he procreate, this statement of a belief is entirely absurd!  Remember, Brigham Young was the LDS prophet and President at the time he made this statement.

H/T: Life After Ministry

Did He Really Say That?!?

The Devil has the mastery of the earth: he has corrupted it, and has corrupted the children of men. He has led them in evil until they are almost entirely ruined, and are so far from God that they neither know Him nor his influence, and have almost lost sight of everything that pertains to eternity. This darkness is more prevalent, more dense, among the people of Christendom, than it is among the heathen. They have lost sight of all that is great and glorious—of all principles that pertain to life eternal.

Brigham Young, Salt Lake City, October 14, 1860.  Journal of Discourses 8:209.

Remember this the next time a Mormon tells you that your shouldn’t “bash” Mormons because they’ve never “bashed” Christians.

H/T: Life After Ministry.

Did HE Really Say That?!?

God having created all men and women, had the most perfect right to do with His own creation, according to His holy will and pleasure: He had a lawful right to overshadow the Virgin Mary in the capacity of a husband, and beget a Son, although she was espoused to another; for the law which He gave to govern men and women was not intended to govern Himself, or to prescribe rules for his own conduct. 

It was also lawful in Him, after having thus dealt with Mary, to give her to Joseph her espoused husband.

Whether God the Father gave Mary to Joseph for time only, or for time and eternity, we are not informed. Inasmuch as God was the first husband to her, it may be that He only gave her to be the wife of Joseph while in this mortal state, and that He intended after the resurrection to again take her as one of his own wives to raise up immortal spirits in eternity.

 Orson Pratt, The Seer, pg 158, 1853

I’ve pretty much covered the problem with Mormonism’s Non-Virgin Virgin Mary, but this citation from Pratt needs to be responded to.

Since the real God is not a mere man who earned his way to godhood, he cannot have a human wife. 

Secondly, if their man-god did have sex with Mary, as they teach, then she was not a virgin at conception. 

Thirdly, as many “anti-Mormons” have pointed out, Mary was the daughter of the man-god and for him to have sex with her it would be nothing more than incest, which the REAL God forbids.

Lastly, aside from the other unbiblical ideas in this statement by Pratt, the real God said there would be no marrying in heaven, so how could have multiple wives?!?

The really sad thing in regards to Pratt’s teaching is that it is indeed official LDS teaching, proving he wasn’t just come kook coming up with this ideology himself.

H/T: Life After Ministry.

Odds and Ends

It’s been a while since I posted a collection of links to good articles teaching you about Mormonism.  You will notice that the majority of the links are to articles on the excellent Life After Ministry blog.  If you have any interest in studying Mormonism, or if your are a Mormon seeking the truth about you faith, I highly recommend you subscribe to that blog.

Well, hold on to your seat, because here is some good reading by following these links.

Is Mormonism Christian? Are Mormons Christian?

The Gospel According to Mormonism.

The 2nd Most Stupid Quote of All Time.  This one really shows a major problem with LDS doctrine.

Investigating Mormonism 2019.  Good resource with a chart showing differences between Mormon doctrine and the Bible.

Colossians 1:16 succinctly states that Jesus created everything.  However, the Mormons claim this is not so. For them Michael the Archangel help Jesus, and then God the Father took over for the creation of man. The real conundrum for them is that they can’t even keep their creation story straight!

Did you know the most important goal for you to be saved, according to Mormons, is to get a temple recommend and perform temple rituals? How can this be true when the Bible says our most important goal for salvation is to place our faith in Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice?

Salvation for the Mormons is really impossible. If you would like to see a more in-depth example of how a Mormon can never obtain forgiveness, read this article.

Did you know that the Mormons are still praying for vengeance against those who “persecuted” their Church in the 19th century? Of course if they would tell the truth, you’d learn that the vast majority of said persecution was responding to Mormon behaviors and threats against those among whom they settled!

The Mormons can’t settle on who that angel is who tops their temples. When you have a made-up religion, you really need to keep all your stories straight!

Here’s a look at a question I’ve thought about for a long time: how is Jesus the ONLY begotten in Pre-Existence? Thinking about this brought me back to another problem with the doctrine of Pre-Existence, and that is the problem of Mary: in the pre-existent spirit world she was a sister to Jesus and Satan, and everyone else (including you and me!) So if she was “Heavenly Father’s” daughter in the spiritual realm of pre-existence, and their God came to earth and had sex with her so she could conceive the body for Jesus to inhabit, isn’t that an incestuous relationship between their man-god and his daughter?

A question for you Mormons: Is tithing mandatory or voluntary?

I think that can be enough boggling of your mind for today!

Did He Really Say That?!?

From the days of Adam to the present, whenever the Lord has had a people on earth, temples and temple ordinances have been a crowning feature of their worship. . . . The inspired erection and proper use of temple is one of the great evidences of the divinity of the Lord’s work. . . . where these are not, the Church and kingdom and the truth of heaven are not.

Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pp. 780-781

Notice that this is another attack on Christianity, because we don’t have the cited features.  The problem, really, is that nowhere in Scripture will you find Christians with temples and temple ordinances. And the things performed in their temples — eternal marriages, baptisms for the dead, etc — also are not found in Scripture!

The LDS is not a Christian faith. Period.

The LDS Never Attacks Christianity?

I’m continually finding citations by Mormon leaders denigrating the Christian faith, although they keep claiming that they never speak against us.  Here is another citation to prove what liars they are.

. . . All the priests who adhere to the sectarian religions of the day with all their followers, without one exception, receive their portion with the devil and his angels.”

Elders Journal, Joseph Smith Jr., editor, vol.1, no.4, p. 60

Of course the “sectarian religions” were all the various denominations of Christianity. Don’t let the Mormon missionary knocking on your door get away with the lie they don’t attack Christians.

H/T Life After Ministry.

Yes, They Really Did Say That

We learn that our Savior was born of a woman, and He was named Jesus the Christ. His name when He was a spiritual being, during the first half of the existence of the earth, before He was made flesh and blood, was Jehovah. He was in the beginning of the creation, and He had to do and has had to do continually with the creation and government of this heaven and this earth.

Franklin D. Richards, Provo, August 30, 1885, Journal of Discourses 26:300

Let’s dissect this a bit:

“He was named Jesus the Christ.”  Um, no. 

1. “Christ” is a title, an Anglicized version of the Greek Christos, which is the equivalent of the Hebrew ha mashiach, (Anglicized as “Messiah”), which means “anointed one” or “chosen one.” This was NEVER part of Jesus’ name, rather it was a title ascribed to him.

2. “Jesus” is an Anglicized version of the Greek “Yesous”, which is a translation of the Hebrew “Yeshua,” or “Joshua.” The Hebrew name means “to deliver” or “to rescue,” hence, “savior.”

Since Smith was supposedly translating from “Reformed Egyptian” why didn’t he end up with the more precise Anglicized name “Joshua,” especially since he was bringing back a “restoration” of the original church?

3. “His name when He was a spiritual being…before He was made flesh and blood, was Jehovah.” For this one I will refer you to More Confusion on Jesus’ Name.

This is just another example proving that the Mormon Church is a fraud, invented by Joseph Smith.

Another False Prophecy?

The President of the Mormon Church is also their prophet during the time he is President. So if said prophet gives a prophecy, and it fails, then he is a false prophet.

Now, some Mormon may say this utterance wasn’t a prophecy, but even if it isn’t, it is an unqualified statement about the future actions of the Mormon Church: 

We will not end the practice of plural marriage until the coming of the Son of Man.

President Wilford Woodruff, as quoted by Journal of John Henry Smith, 21 May 1888, LDS Church Archives.  (H/T Life After Ministry.)

This very same Wilford Woodruff then issued the Manifesto ending polygamy on 25 September 1890, and did so for one reason — so that Utah could be admitted to the Union. (And also to regain assets escheated to the U.S. Government, of course.)

Now Mormons consider this manifesto to have been prompted by divine revelation, i.e., Woodruff was acting in accordance with a revelation from God, even though the Manifesto itself wasn’t a direct revelation. I know, it’s confusing, so let’s clarify this.  According to Wikipedia, “Woodruff later said that on the night of September 23, 1890, he received a revelation from Jesus Christ that the church should cease the practice of plural marriage.”  So apparently a direct revelation was given to Woodruff to cease polygamy, but the Manifesto wasn’t the revelation itself.

However, some plural marriages were still being performed to the point where another “Manifesto” was issued by LDS President Joseph F. Smith in 1904 stating that the LDS Church no longer sanctioned polygamous marriages and would excommunicate those who entered such unions.

And yet to add to the confusion, Doctrine & Covenants 132 was a direct revelation to Joseph Smith initiating polygamy (although Smith had been practicing it for years) as an “everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter my glory. …”

So if this was to be an “everlasting” practice, God must have lied to Joseph Smith from the beginning, knowing He would have to stop the practice in 1890. Or did He lie to Wilford Woodruff when he told Woodruff to cease the practice? Or did Joseph F. Smith violate God’s D&C 132 covenant in 1904?

I’ve pointed out before what God’s real view of polygamy is. But Mormons have turned God into a liar by their false prophecies. Either that or they are all damned for not obeying God’s commands in D&C 132!

Did They Really Say That?!?!

Jesus … established his kingdom on the earth…. the kingdoms of this world made war against the kingdom of God, established eighteen centuries ago, and they prevailed against it, and the kingdom ceased to exist. … This is what we believe; and it is the sincere belief and faith of the Latter-day Saints that we are in that kingdom. It is true that our King is now absent: he is in the heavens. But we expect him again; we look for him and he will come in his own due time… in organizing this kingdom He has restored all the essential characteristics of His kingdom in its embryo, or its beginning: such as inspired men, inspired prophets, inspired leaders, called by revelation to act in different positions.

Orson Pratt, Salt Lake City, April 10, 1870, Journal of Discourses 13:125-126

Please explain one thing to me, Mormon: Did Jesus lie in Matthew 16:18?

Think about this: In the Book of Mormon, Moroni 8:8 says that Jesus is God. So if you say Jesus lied in Matthew 16:18, then you say that God lied.

If you say Jesus/God lied, then how can you trust that they told the truth in any revelation to Joseph Smith?

Mormons just assert that “the kingdom ceased to exist” without any evidence for such claim, and in direct contradiction to what Scripture actually says. But they have to say that or their entire belief system is proven false.

I’ll say it again: The LDS faith was founded on lies, is supported by lies, and maintained by lies.  Who is the “father of lies” according to John 8:44?  Satan!  That should tell you who the "god" of Mormonism is.

H/T Life After Ministry

Did HE Really Say That?!?!

I bear my testimony that [polygamy] is a necessity, and that the Church of Christ in its fullness never existed without it. Where you have the eternity of marriage you are bound to have plural marriage; bound to; and it is one of the marks of the Church of Jesus Christ in its sealing ordinances. “Whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven.” We know how sensitive the Prophet Joseph was to introduce this principle. He knew the feeling that was against it. It had been taught from the days of heathen Rome down to the present time that a man should have but one wife, which has resulted in the prostitution of many of the fair daughters of Eve as mistresses. Here we have too much love for women to see them trampled in the dust. Here we have too much respect for unborn spirits to have them come into the world branded as bastards, illegitimate, in shame, without knowing their fathers. The children we have are legitimate. They are our own. We honor them and our wives. Our children are given unto us of God, for our wives are given to us of God. We never should have thought of practicing this principle [plural marriage] if God had not revealed it from the heavens and commanded it, and we must stand by it and by every principle that He has revealed.

Apostle George Teasdale (b.1831, d.1907), Journal of Discourses, v. 25, pp. 19-22

Okay, so let’s break this comment down and examine it, bit by bit.

I bear my testimony that [polygamy] is a necessity, and that the Church of Christ in its fullness never existed without it.

Please show me from Scripture and from history where polygamy was a common practice in the Christian church — after all, Teasdale said the Church never existed without it!

Where you have the eternity of marriage you are bound to have plural marriage; bound to; and it is one of the marks of the Church of Jesus Christ in its sealing ordinances.

First, no place in Scripture will you find any mention of eternal marriage, rather Jesus even stated that there will be no marriage in heaven (Matthew 22:30).  “Sealing” people in marriage is a Mormon ritual made up by Joseph Smith.

“Whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven.”

A typical abuse of Scripture by Mormon leadership.  This passage has to do with church discipline, not “sealing” people together for eternity. (Matthew 16:19; 18:18)

We know how sensitive the Prophet Joseph was to introduce this principle. He knew the feeling that was against it.

Yes, he was “sensitive,” about it because he was afraid this invention to cover his adulterous affairs wouldn’t fly with his wife.  The whole reason for LDS polygamy was the insatiable sexual appetite of Joseph Smith, and the other men he conned into it.

It had been taught from the days of heathen Rome down to the present time that a man should have but one wife, which has resulted in the prostitution of many of the fair daughters of Eve as mistresses. Here we have too much love for women to see them trampled in the dust.

This is one of the biggest lies of the whole defense of polygamy. Monogamy is not what caused prostitution; that is one of the most fallacious claims in this particular citation.  If they really loved the women, they wouldn’t subject them to such an institution. All one has to do is to read the many testimonies by women who have lived in a polygamous household. Normal women don’t want to share their men.  Another thing regarding abusing women — Joseph Smiths many wives included many who were already married to someone else!

Here we have too much respect for unborn spirits to have them come into the world branded as bastards, illegitimate, in shame, without knowing their fathers. The children we have are legitimate. They are our own. We honor them and our wives. Our children are given unto us of God, for our wives are given to us of God.

First, there are no such things as “unborn spirits.” This wasn’t even originally a part of Mormon doctrine! But supposing these spirits really did exist, why would they be born without knowing their fathers?  And since Smith took many other men’s wives for his own at the same time, how would any woman who became pregnant know for sure that the child’s father was from her husband or from Smith?

God did NOT give polygamy to the Mormons, nor anyone else.  God’s view of polygamy should be quite clear—it is unholy. To claim that God commanded polygamy is blasphemous.