Our God vs the LDS gods

"As man is God once was, as God is man may be." Lorenzo Snow said this of God and us. So by this view and since we are all sinners then we are to assume that God was once a sinner also. Even your Joseph Smith said in his “King Follett Discourse” about God, "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens. That is the great secret... 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..." Later Joseph Smith said "If Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and John discovered that God the Father of Jesus Christ had a Father, you may suppose that He had a Father also. Where was there ever a son without a father? And where was there ever a father without first being a son? Whenever did a tree or anything spring into existence without a progenitor? And everything comes in this way. Paul says that which is earthly is in the likeness of that which is heavenly, Hence if Jesus had a Father, can we not believe that He had a Father also? I despise the idea of being scared to death at such a doctrine, for the Bible is full of it."
Hmmm lets see what the Bible says, Isaiah 43:10, "Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me." Psalm 90:2 says of Him, "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." This is the God Christians worship. Of Him we can say, "Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." (Romans 11:34-36)
Then there is Brigham Young’s view on who god was, "Adam was the father of the spirits of mankind in addition to being the first procreator of mankind's physical bodies; that Adam came to this earth as a resurrected and exalted being; that he 'fell' to a mortal state of existence in order to procreate mortal bodies; and that Adam was the spiritual and physical father of Jesus Christ." Hmm so Adam was God? Wow if I was an LDS I would be confused also!
This is what True Christians know about God; God who is God alone (Isaiah 44:8), self-existent (Isaiah 43:10; 48:12), transcendent (Numbers 23:19; Ps. 50:21), immutable (Psalms 102:27; Isaiah 46:10; Malachi 3:6), eternal (Psalms 90:2; 93:2), omnipresent (1 Kings 8:27; Proverbs 15:3; Isaiah 66:1; Jeremiah 23:23-24), and incorporeal (John 4:24; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17). He is also a God who lives in the believer (Ephesians 3:17, 4:6; Romans 8:9) and is omnipotent (Job 42:2; Psalm 115:3; Matthew 19:26). So you say you are Christian, who is your God (gods)?

The god of Mormonism is one of many gods; Joseph Smith said, "I wish to declare I have always and in all congregations when I have preached on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods"
Brigham Young said, "How many Gods there are, I do not know. But there never was a time when there were not Gods..."

The god of Mormonism is not self-existent; Orson Pratt taught, "We were begotten by our Father in Heaven; the person of our Father in Heaven was begotten on a previous heavenly world by His Father; and again, He was begotten by a still more ancient Father, and so one, from one generation to generation"

The god of Mormonism is not transcendent; the God of the Bible makes it clear that He is not like man, Mormon leaders have insisted that their God is an exalted human being, as I said before about this.

The god of Mormonism is not immutable; the God of the Bible makes it clear that He is not like man, Mormon leaders have insisted that their God is an exalted human being, again I have made my point before.

The god of Mormonism is not eternally God; Joseph Smith taught that God was not always God when he said, "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"

The god of Mormonism is not incorporeal; the God of the Bible who is a God of Spirit (John 4:24), Joseph Smith taught, "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's"

The god of Mormonism is not omnipresent; because the LDS God is limited to a physical body, he is not omnipresent. Brigham Young said, "Some would have us believe that God is present everywhere. It is not so"
James Talmage stated that neither God the Father, nor "any actual person of any one member of the Godhead can be physically present in more than one place at one time". The Mormon God's "omnipresence" is fulfilled through the Holy Spirit which, according to John Widtsoe, is not to be confused with the Holy Ghost.

The god of Mormonism cannot dwell in the believer; Joseph Smith, "The idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man's heart is an old sectarian notion, and is false" (D&C 130:3. Oddly enough, the Book of Mormon teaches the Lord does dwell in the hearts of the righteous in Alma 34:36).

The god of Mormonism is not omnipotent; since the LDS God is the offspring of another God, then his God must be more advanced in his eternal progression than the God whom Mormons claim to serve. Willard Cleon Skousen you know the famous Mormon author wrote in his book - The First 2,000 Years "Through modern revelation we learn that the universe is filled with vast numbers of intelligences, and we further learn that Elohim is God simply because all of these intelligences honor and sustain Him as such...since God 'acquired' the honor and sustaining influence of 'all things' it follows as a corollary that if He should ever do anything to violate the confidence or 'sense of justice' of these intelligences, they would promptly withdraw their support, and the 'power' of God would disintegrate...'He would cease to be God'".

Another major difference between the God of the LDS Church and that of historical Christianity is the fact that the God of the Bible forgives completely. In Isaiah 43:25, "I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." In Jeremiah 31:34 it says God "will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Hebrews 8:12 says, "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." How comforting to know that the God of the Bible wills not to remember the believer's past sins!

The God of Mormonism, however, must keep in remembrance past transgressions for D&C 82:7 warns, "And now, verily I say unto you, I, the Lord, will not lay any sin to your charge; go your ways and sin no more; but unto the soul who sinneth shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God." There is no possible way that these two beings can be the same? They cannot, so again who is your God, is He the true God of the Bible or the gods of Mormonism?

Look this up yourself, do not take my word for it or anyone else’s word. Trust God!

Angels

One day God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the evil that was going on. He decided to send an angel down to Earth to check it out. So he called one of His best angels and sent the angel to Earth for a time. When she returned she told God, yes it is bad on Earth, 95% is bad and 5% is good. Well, he thought for a moment and said, maybe I had better send down a second angel to get another point of view. So God called another angel and sent her to Earth for a time too. When the angel returned she went to God and told him yes, the Earth was in decline, 95% was bad and 5% was good. God said this was not good. So He decided to E-mail the 5% that were good and He wanted to encourage them, give them a little something to help them keep going. Do you know what that E-mail said???? You didn't get one either,.....huh?

Some people believe in Angels some do not. The Idea of angels seams to differ from person to person and even from religions. Are there angels and what or who are they, did God create them? Are there angels in heaven?

The word “angel” actually comes from the Greek word aggelos, which means “messenger.” The matching Hebrew word mal'ak has the same meaning.

The Bible speaks about the creation of angels, therefore, it is clear that they have not existed from all eternity (Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 148:2,5). Psalm 148:5 “Let them (angels) praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created.”

Sometimes, the Bible speaks figuratively of things or events as “messengers”;

The pillar of cloud in Exodus 14:19 “Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them”. Also pestilence or plagues in 2 Samuel 24:16-17 “When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the LORD, "I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall upon me and my family."

But it usually describes the whole range of spirits whom God has created, including both good and evil angels (yes evil angels), and special categories such as cherubim, seraphim, and the archangel. Sorry! You can't trust every angel. The Bible classifies some angels as “elect” (1 Timothy 5:21) or “holy” (Matthew 25:31; Mark 8:38). All angels were originally holy, enjoying the presence of God (Matthew 18:10) and the environment of heaven (Mark 13:32).

Other angels oppose God under the leadership of Satan (Matthew 25:41; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6; Ephesians 6:12). We often call these “demons.” I am not going to get in-depth on demons this time. There is actually a great unseen conflict raging that goes beyond anything we can imagine. It is not, however, a fight between two equal and eternal forces. God who created all beings is still in charge, and He will bring them to a final defeat. It is not a fair fight but then who said Satan is fair.

Now the great question, what do angels look like? Since angels are spirits rather than physical beings, they don't have to be visible at all (Colossians 1:16). 2 Kings 6:17 “And Elisha prayed, O LORD, open his eyes so he may see. Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire (angels) all around Elisha.” the young man discovered that he had overlooked a lot of invisible beings.

When angels do appear, they generally appear in the form of men. In Genesis 18, Abraham welcomed three angelic guests who appeared at first to be nothing more than some travelers.

Angels in the Bible never appear as cute, chubby infants! They are always full-grown adults. When people in the Bible saw an angel, their typical response was to fall on their faces in fear and awe, not to reach out and tickle an adorable baby.

Some Bible passages picture angels with wings (Isaiah 6:2,6). Other verses talk about angels flying, and we assume that the wings would be useful for that flight (Daniel 9:21). However, I suspect that angels can move around without having to depend on wings. Most references to angels in the Bible say nothing about wings, and in passages like Genesis 18-19, it is certain that no wings were visible. Now if you want to picture an angel with wings, I do not see how that would be against the Bible.

Why are angels here? What is their job or task? We don't know whether every angel has the same job or task, whether some of them specialize in certain areas. The Bible does speak about classes of angelic beings like cherubim (Ezekiel 1) and seraphim (Isaiah 6). We also know the names of two notable angels: The Archangels Michael (Daniel 10:13; Jude 9) and Gabriel (Daniel 9:21; Luke 1:19,26). One Job of the angels in heaven is Worship and praise, this is the main activity portrayed in heaven (Isaiah 6:1-3; Revelation 4-5). Other tasks of angels is; Revealing (Acts 7:52-53), Guiding (Matthew 1-2, Acts 8:26, Acts 10:1-8), providing (Genesis 21:17-20, 1 Kings 19:6, Matthew 4:11), Protecting (Daniel 3 and 6) & Delivering (Acts 5, Acts 12). We can also see that angels do other things like; Strengthening and encouraging (Matthew 4:11, Acts 5:19-20, Acts 27:23-25), Answer prayer (Daniel 9:20-24; 10:10-12; Acts 12:1-17) and they Care for believers at the moment of death like Lazarus in Luke 16:22.

I will finish up by clarifying a misconception of angels, which is that we can become angels. This "human to angel" idea has long been a part of the folklore of many countries. Upon the loss of a loved one, how many children have been comforted by well-meaning people who have said this particular loved one "is an angel now"? Hollywood has certainly aided this myth. For instance, in the story line of the classic film it’s a Wonderful Life, Clarence, the kindly, grandfatherly-type angel, was once a human who was sent back to earth on a mission to help Jimmy Stewart, and, in turn, "get his wings." In a more recent film, The Preacher's Wife, actor Denzel Washington portrayed an angel sent to help a pastor through the frustrations of ministry. He also was once a human who became an angel after death. The concept of men and women turning into angels has no biblical support. To begin with, the Bible declares that angels are a distinct creation of God; in other words, an angel was created as such, and is not a being that has undergone some sort of spiritual development or physical evolution. Psalm 148:2,5 clearly demonstrates that angels were created as angels when it says, "Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts.…Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created."

Saved by Grace

Here is a funny one I heard;

After twenty years of shaving himself every morning, a man in a small Southern town decided he had enough. He told his wife that he intended to let the local barber shave him each day. He put on his hat and coat and went to the barber shop, which was owned by the pastor of the town's Church.
The barber's wife, Grace, was working that day, so she performed the task. Grace shaved him and sprayed him with lilac water and said, "That will be $20." The man thought the price was a bit high, but he paid the bill and went to work.
The next morning the man looked in the mirror and his face was as smooth as it had been when he left the barber shop the day before. "Not bad," he thought, "At least I don't need to get a shave every day."
The next morning the man's face was still smooth! Two weeks later the man was STILL unable to find any trace of whiskers on his face. It was more than he could take, so he returned to the barber shop. "I thought $20 was high for a shave," he told the barber's wife, "but you must have done a great job. It's been two weeks and my whiskers still haven't started growing back." The expression on her face didn't even change, expecting his comment. She responded, "You were shaved by Grace. Once shaved, always shaved."

SAVED By Grace alone? Not shaved.

Kind of funny and true once saved always saved by Gods Grace! Ephesians 2:8-9 (this is one of my favorite verses) “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” So we are saved by grace alone then. Wait we then have verses like James 2:24, not by faith alone? “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.”
The scriptures clearly teach that we are saved (justified) by faith in Christ and what He has done on the cross. This faith alone saves us. However, we cannot stop here without addressing what James says in James 2:24. There is no contradiction. All you need to do is look at the context. James 2 has 26 verses: Verses 1-7 instruct us to not show favoritism. Verses 8-13 are comments on the Law. Verses 14-26 are about the relationship between faith and works.
James begins this section by using the example of someone who says he has faith but has no works, "What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?" (James 2:14). In other words, James is addressing the issue of a dead faith, which is nothing more than a verbal pronouncement, a public confession of the mind, and is not heart-felt. It is empty of life and action. He begins with the negative and demonstrates what an empty faith is (verses 15-17, words without actions). Then he shows that type of faith isn't any different from the faith of demons (verse 19). Finally, he gives examples of living faith that has words followed by actions. Works follow true faith and demonstrate that faith to our fellow man, but not to God. James writes of Abraham and Rahab as examples of people who demonstrated their faith by their deeds.
In brief, James is examining two kinds of faith: one that leads to godly works and one that does not. One is true, and the other is false. One is dead, the other alive; hence, "Faith without works is dead," (James 2:20). But, he is not contradicting the verses above that say salvation/justification is by faith alone.
Also, notice that James actually quotes the same verse that Paul quotes in Romans 4:3 “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” amongst a host of verses dealing with justification by faith. James 2:23 says, "and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, and Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.'" If James was trying to teach a contradictory doctrine of faith and works than the other New Testament writers, then he would not have used Abraham as an example. Therefore, we can see that justification is by faith alone and that James was talking about false faith, not real faith when he said we are not justified by faith alone.
So did I loose you with all that? I just wanted to make sure for some of you who may think its what we can do that will save us and not what God did for us all? The Bible does not teach that people are saved by works of the Old Testament law of Moses, for we read in Romans 3:20, that "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.". From Colossians 2:14, we learn that the Law of Moses was nailed to the cross of Christ and is no longer bound upon anyone. We know that the only hope for salvation for lost humanity today is through the gospel of Christ. We do not propose to be saved by the works of the law, but through the works of faith and the labor of love in obedience to Christ.
A person is saved by the blood of Christ, through the grace of God. He is not saved by faith alone, but through obedience to the commandments of Christ. Jesus became "And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;" (Hebrews 5:9). This does not mean that the obedient soul earns, merits, or deserves salvation, but that he qualifies for the mercy and the grace of the Lord, who according to his mercy saves us "…by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:5). The Bible makes it clear in that same passage that while we are being saved through the washing of regeneration (or baptism) and the renewing of the Holy Ghost that it is not by works done in righteousness which we have done ourselves. But if we do not submit ourselves to the righteousness of God in obedience to his word, we cannot be saved.
There are many Bible passages that show the essentiality of faith, that we are saved by faith, justified by it, and so on. Every one of these passages is to be believed and accepted. But there is one similar thing about all these passages on faith, not one single passage ever says we are saved by faith only. There are not such passages in the Bible.
Here is a great point to remember: Never in any age or dispensation in human history has God saved man by faith alone. God has always required faith and obedience. No other formula for salvation has ever worked. None ever will. Jesus said: "'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved…" (Mark 16:16). It is faith plus obedience. This is the embodiment of the principle under which God has always worked in saving man. It would be crazy to expect him to make an exception to the rule now and save anyone by faith only and without obedience.

Hope this helped some of you, if not maybe next time it will. Some of you may already know all this and if so God Bless.

Take care all.