Knowing Your Heretics, Part 4

May, 2008

by: Edward Wilde

In December 2007, Mike Huckabee caused quite a stir when he asked the New York Times religion reporter the following question, “Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?” New York Times Sunday Magazine, December 12, 2007, The Huckabee Factor.

Reporters, uncertain as to Mormon beliefs, sought a response from the Mormon Church. Kim Farah, a representative of the Mormon church, provided the following response:

We believe, as other Christians believe and as Paul wrote, that God is the Father of all. That means that all beings were created by God and are his spirit children. Christ, on the other hand, was the only begotten in the flesh and we worship Him as the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. Satan is the exact opposite of who Christ is and what he stands for. (see http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8TFL9B81).

You should note that answer carefully. It is likely that you will have difficulty finding the deception in the answer. However, it is a good example of the reason for the biblical warnings against giving any heed to false doctrine. Such people are to be “avoided” (2 Tim. 3:5) not even to be greeted (2 John 10). We are told to seek Christ Himself as the source of wisdom and knowledge so “no one will delude [us] with persuasive argument” (Col. 2:4).

First, you should know the truth of Mormon doctrine: “On first hearing, the doctrine that Lucifer and our Lord, Jesus Christ, are brothers may seem surprising to some-especially to those unacquainted with latter-day revelations. But both the Scriptures and the prophets affirm that Jesus Christ and Lucifer are indeed offspring of our Heavenly Father and, therefore, spirit brothers.” You can find this exact statement on the LDS.org website, the official website of the Mormon Church.

Second, note that Ms. Farah referred to Mormons as “other Christians”. She said this knowing that Mormons deny the Trinity, which is the most basic of Christian doctrines. She said this knowing that Mormons deny the true divinity of Jesus Christ. Note that Ms. Farah attempted to “delude you with [a] plausible argument.”

Mormons, as we have seen, say that Jesus Christ is a brother of Lucifer, which is certainly a damnable statement. Thus, the Mormon Jesus is no more than an angel. The Watchtower Society (Jehovah Witness) make the equally damnable claim that Jesus is a created being: They claim that he was the first created being, that he was a “mighty spirit person” before the incarnation, that following his death his physical body was discarded and that he is also known as the Archangel Michael.

Note that should you attempt to discuss the biblical evidence concerning Jesus’ deity with a member of the Watchtower Society, you will soon learn that their Bible looks nothing like yours. For example, in their translation, John 1:1 reads, “the word was a god.” Colossians 1:16 says that Jesus created “all other things.” Titus 2:13 refers to the “glorious manifestation of the great God and of [the] Savior of us, Christ Jesus.” 2 Peter 1:1 has the following language, “the righteousness of our God and [the] Savior Jesus Christ.” John 8:58 reads, “Before Abraham came into existence, I have been.” In each instance, these translations are plain wrong.

However, since the Watchtower member will not use a reasonable translation of the Scripture, what are you to do? You must recognize that these people are false teachers who are seeking to destroy and damn as many people as possible in the service of their god, who they admit is merely an angel.

However, these are not the only sorts of errors made concerning Jesus by those who claim to be “Christians” or followers of Christ. Many in the so-called “mainstream” Protestant churches in the United States maintain that Jesus is nothing more than a man.

For example, the retired Episcopal Bishop Shelby Spong published 12 Theses which radically deny the basic tenants of Christianity, particularly the doctrines concerning the nature of Christ. His theses include the following:

• (1) Theism, as a way of defining God, is dead. So most theological God-talk is today meaningless. A new way to speak of God must be found.
• (2) Since God can no longer be conceived in theistic terms, it becomes nonsensical to seek to understand Jesus as the incarnation of the theistic deity. So the Christology of the ages is bankrupt.
• (4) The virgin birth, understood as literal biology, makes Christ's divinity, as traditionally understood, impossible.
• (7) Resurrection is an action of God. Jesus was raised into the meaning of God. It therefore cannot be a physical resuscitation occurring inside human history.

A fundamental aspect of the truth of the life of Jesus Christ is the bodily resurrection from the dead. Peter points to the physical resurrection of Jesus as proof of Jesus’ status as our Savior. Acts 2:22-36. Thus, a denial of the bodily resurrection is ultimately a denial of the incarnation.

A survey of mostly mainline Protestant clergy by a prominent American sociologist showed that many doubt Jesus' physical resurrection. Percentage of doubters were found to be: American Lutherans: 13%; Presbyterians: 30%; American Baptist: 33%; Episcopalians: 35%; Methodists: 51%” (see http://www.religioustolerance.org/resurrec8.htm.)

Note that such a denial is no mere matter of taste or opinion. To be wrong about Jesus Christ is to face damnation. As Peter said of Jesus Christ, “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”Acts 4:12. Thus, a third test of whether one is a “heretic” (that is, one who claims to be a Christian and yet denies the truth of Christianity) is what one says about the nature of Jesus Christ.

Plainly put, Jesus Christ is fully man and fully God, lived a perfect life, died a substitutionary death on the cross for the sins of the world, was buried and after three days rose from the dead, conquering death, and is now seated at the right hand of God. Maranatha! 1 Cor. 16:22 (look it up).