Our Trip to Manti, Utah

The LDS James & Paul Proof-text Clash

One of the favorite arguments using the Bible-as-proof-text that the LDS church uses to "prove" that salvation through faith by grace alone is wrong, is the book of James.

Verses from James that are used to bolster the LDS arguments are typically in this range:

James 2:14 What [doth it] profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

James 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

James 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

James 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

James 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

James 2:22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

James 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

James 2:25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent [them] out another way?

James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

James 3:13 Who [is] a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

Which most Evangelical Christians would counter with the entire book of Romans, but rather than head down that expected road, let's take a different approach. Let's actually look at the Bible with an exegetical hermeneutic and discern what James was trying to accomplish with his book, who he was writing to, and the context of his statements.

The keystone example of James' argument is Abraham, when he references Genesis, "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?"

Interestingly the book of Romans appeals to this example of Abraham as well, to make an argument for salvation through faith by grace alone. So what are we to make of this apparent contradiction in scripture?

Using Genesis chapter 15 (verse 6) as your guide, can you fill in the blank:

Abram _____ the Lord, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Is the correct answer "performed for" or "was going to sacrifice his son for?" No, the correct answer is "believed" which is the basis of the concept of faith. If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

By the time Abram had Isaac placed on the altar, his faith had already been credited to him as righteousness -- before the covenant symbology of circumcision. BEFORE circumcision! Do you understand the significance of that? BEFORE Abram acted, "his faith was credited to him as righteousness."

When was Isaac placed on the altar? Genesis 22, where Abram worked to show his faith -- but God had already credited Abram's belief as righteousness in chapter 15. This correct context of the story proves to be very problematic for the LDS proof-texting use of James.

Compounding the contextual use of James versus Romans, is what the objective of the books was at the time of their writing.

Unlike James, in Romans Paul is writing very objectively to the church in Rome about the gospel message.

Unlike Paul, James was appealing to his readers that a living faith in Jesus is going to manifest itself in actions that reflect Christ. James was writing subjectively to a visibly dead church, where he heard verbal profession of faith that had no visible manifestation of that faith. James was clearly disgusted with the abuse of the mindset that the road of following Christ stops with "salvation through faith by grace alone" that he was seeing manifested in the church body he was addressing. James was writing to shock a fallen church into living for God; admonishing them for living the way that the LDS Church accuses Christendom of living -- with so-called "cheap grace."

Was James contradicting Paul? No. James was "smacking them upside the head" to get them to see that they needed to stop living for themselves, and begin living for Christ to SHOW themselves workmen for God who need not be ashamed (2 Timothy 2:15). James was emphasizing that a life proclaimed unto God without action is to no use for the Kingdom. Abraham's commitment to God, his willingness to obey and thereby showing himself a worthy servent, and foreshadowing the sacrifice made by Jesus, was taking his faith and actually acting like he believed it.

The Mockery of the Mormon Baptismal Covenant

Many Christians are accused of 'Mocking' the LDS Religion when objecting to LDS doctrines.

I have heard this over and over-

But who is mocking who?

Note that Mormons consistently Mocked Traditional Christianity daily and the Trinitarian God , multiple times daily and in multiple Temples for over a hundred years. This Mockery was part of the embedded doctrinal rites of the LDS Temple Ceremony, until 1990.

In line with this Mockery, Mormon converts make membership covenants to a Trinitarian God under the Baptismal Covenants and Conditions as seen in D&C 20. In this LDS membership covenant they pledge to 'endure to the end' in the faith to this One Eternal Trinitarian God.
I say this because the devotions, and conditions for LDS baptism come directly from Trinitarian descriptions of God in the Book of Mormon. The D&C commands that the Mormon Convert upon baptism only worship One Being. The text describes the Father, Son and Holy Ghost as One Eternal God.

Mormons Mock the God of Their Own Baptismal Covenant - Weekly

After joining the Mormon Church however, this God is mocked when the Mormon is taught to believe in many Gods. Under the conditions of the Book of Mormon (and D&C) Baptismal covenant, anyone who departs from the faith in the belief in One God is to be swept off the earth and experience the consequences of God's wrath---

Ether 2:8- And He had sworn in His wrath unto the brother of Jared, that whoso should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth and forever, should serve Him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off when the fullness of His wrath should come upon them.


This curse also is connected to this teaching of the Book of Mormon Jesus Christ-- because part of the Baptismal Covenant is that the believers promise to keep the faith in the True One God alone. To Break this Covenant therefore makes the Mormon "unworthy"

Just look at the consequence for believing in the Many Gods of the Mormon Temple Religion---


3 Nephi 18 :29 For whoso eateth and drinketh my flesh and blood unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to his soul.

According to the Book of Mormon, Temple Mormons are in effect "mocking" God every time they partake of the weekly Sunday Sacrament-- due to their unworthiness by acceptance and agreement to LDS leadership’s teachings about other strange gods.
after making sacred exclusive covenants to the One True God. (see Deut. 32:16)--

No surprise really! After all part of regular Mormon Temple worship until 1990 was the Mockery of the very same Trinitarian and Eternal God that they made Baptismal Covenants with in the first place!!!!

So let no one say that Mormons did not or have not Mocked the Eternal Trinitarian God connected with Temple worship. Therefore it does not seem out of order in Mormonism when such a Trinitarian Eternal God is Mocked when a Temple Mormon partakes of the Sacrament each Sunday!

This shift from One God to many gods occurs after a Mormon joins the Mormon Church, and before the Mormon attends the Temple. Thus each time a Temple Mormon partakes of the Sacrament they "Drinketh damnation" to their souls.

This of course comes from a strict reading of the Mormon official Scriptures and not from the opinion or personal interpretation of an LDS leader or scholar--- who LDS complain about when they are cited-

I would urge every Mormon to closely examine the conditions of their Baptismal Covenant as outlined in LDS Scripture and compare them to the teachings included in the Temple and in the Ideas included in the doctrines of Eternal Progression----

Mormons Stop Mocking the God of Your Own Baptismal Covenant!!!

Stop eating and Drinking to the Damnation of Your Souls !!!! Eternal Life is at stake!

As it is written from times of old--

Ge 35:2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:

Emanuel Swedenborg Revisited

A few days ago we brought up the issue of the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg and the parallels between them and the "inspired" writings of Joseph Smith Jr. We made some loose correlations to general ideas, but an LDS member doing some seeking did some more in-depth correlation of the writings, and his findings are summarized below.

Swedenborg / LDS Parallels.... (Article Here)

1. There are three heavens (D&C 76, Heaven and Hell chapter 5).

2. Priesthood robes are worn in heavenly marriage ceremonies. Swedenborg witnessed a marriage ceremony in heaven in which the husband wore robes like those of Aaron while the wife was arrayed as a queen. (D&C 131:2, Conjugial Love 20, 21).

3. There are three heavens in the celestial glory or kingdom (D&C 131:1, Arcana Coelestia 9993).

4. You must be married in heaven to inherit the highest heaven (D&C 131:2, Conjugial Love 54(5), 155).

5. The world of spirits is a place of preparation for either heaven or perdition (Alma 12:24, 34:32-34, 40:21, Heaven and Hell 421, 422).

6. There are angels who communicate between heavens (Doctrine and Covenants 76:86-88, Heaven and Hell 27, 35).

7. Likens the celestial, spiritual (telestial), and natural (terrestrial) heaven to the sun, moon, and stars (D&C 76:50,71,81, 88:7-9, Heaven and Hell 117-120, 129, Apocalypse Revealed 65).

8. The church Christ established has passed from the earth (Joseph Smith History 16, etc., Last Judgement 33-39).

9. The Lord will establish a New Church on the earth once more (D&C 1, the First Vision, True Christian Religion 647).

10. Little children who die, Christian or not, go directly to heaven (Moroni 8:7-10, Heaven and Hell 332).

11. Since God creates man in free will, God does not send man to heaven or perdition. Man makes this choice himself. (2 Ne. 2:26-30; 10:23; Alma 13:3; Hela. 14:31, Heaven and Hell 452, Conjugial Love 48b)

12. Without opposition in all things, or what Swedenborg terms the equilibrium between good and evil, the universe would not exist and men would appear dead (2 Ne. 2:11-13, Mosiah 2:21, Heaven and Hell 589, 592, 594, Arcana Coelestia 2887).

13. Man is not saved by faith alone but must show works from a changed heart (Alma 11:34-37, True Christian Religion 340-342, Heaven and Hell 427). Swedenborg taught that justification by faith alone is one of the great errors of Christianity. The Book of Mormon teaches that we are saved by grace AFTER all we can do (2 Nephi 25:23).

14. Swedenborg echoes concepts found in the LDS sacrament prayer. If these principles are followed, men are guided on earth and the spirit world (Moroni chapters 4&5, Heaven and Hell 528-535). We must live the commandments (Moroni 4:3, Heaven and Hell 528-535). We must take upon us the name of the Son, which to Mormons means to lead a life of charity and service (Mosiah 18:8-11). Swedenborg also speaks of taking upon us the name of Christ in similar ways which emphasize charity and service.[13] (Moroni 4:3, , Heaven and Hell 528-535). We must think on heavenly things, or, more specifically, for Mormons, Christ or, for followers of Swedenborg, the Lord's Divine Human (Swedenborg's words) (Moroni 4:3, 5:2, Heaven and Hell 534).

15. One way to qualify for perdition is to know the truth and deny it, or in Swedenborg's terms accept the truth and then later deny it (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith pg 358, Heaven and Hell 456).

16. Celestial beings incorporate the law of consecration into their lives. In Mormon vernacular this means that our goods, time, talents, and all else that we appear to possess in fact belongs to God. (LDS traditional teachings, D&C 42, Moses 7:18, Heaven and Hell 8, 408).

17. The creation and the garden of Eden stories are allegories to our spiritual progress (Arcana Coelestia vol. 1). The LDS counterpart of this idea is found in the temple.

18. All things in the physical world exist due to existence of a spiritual quality cause that then brings about a physical world effect, by means of what Swedenborg terms correspondence of the spiritual to the physical entity (e.g. water has a correspondential origin in truth, with which it thus shares symbolic qualities) (Moses 3:5&7, Heaven and Hell chapter 12)

19. God is man. (Moses 6:57, 7:35, Arcana Coelestia 9359, 9361, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith p. 345) Swedenborg states that "God is very Man" (Divine Love and Wisdom 11, New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 1).


The bad news is that yet again we see that the "unique revelations" of Joseph Smith Jr. predate his birth; taken from Emanuel Swedenborg, Alexander Campbell, Masons, and the Bible.

The good news is that if you are LDS and you are traveling out of town and cannot locate the nearest Ward building to attend, you could swing by a Swedenborg Chapel and feel right at home.

Got Questions? Too Bad.

Mormonism, as many of us know is riddled with potholes and very disjointed claims pertaining to biblical truth. An LDS church publication called the Ensign, which is urged by leadership for all LDS members to maintain a subscription, recently posted an article, which emphasized church members to not question things that may not have reasonable answers.
The article stated:

“A Firm Foundation in a Shaky World - Don't let something you don't know shake your faith in something you do know. When questions that don't seem to have answers build stress along the fault line between the world and the gospel, the resulting quake can cause casualties of faith among those whose foundations are weak.” (June Ensign 2007)

This is reinforced and echoed by LDS doctrine when they stated in this Ensign article:

“When searching through praying, reading the scriptures, and studying the words of our leaders doesn't turn up an answer, we wait."

For me being a Christian this kind of attitude screams “Cult!” If we are realistic and logical about Mormons “waiting” for answers to things, which are critical, yet truthful towards the LDS faith, then Mormons are going to be waiting an awful long time for answers. This works out perfectly for the Mormon church. As people sit and wait the church only grows, which seems to be a main focus for the leadership of the church.

When the apostle Paul and Silas visited Berea and taught in the Jewish synagogue the Bereans were eager to receive Paul’s message and EXAMINED the scriptures to see and TEST if what Paul was saying in reference to the scriptures was true. These people of Berea were considered of more noble character than the Thessalonians. (See Acts 17:10-12)

Now consider Paul’s words to the Thessalonians where he writes:

“Test everything, hold on to that which is good.” (1 Thes. 5:21)

So if they Mormon church is the one and only true church on the face of the planet, then perhaps it could withstand a little scrutiny and give their members that free agency (which is copiously spoken of) to investigate the claims of Mormonism.

New Ager's Agree With Joesph Smith Jr!

In a not-too-terribly astounding revelation, while talking to some people who understand world religions and philosophies, a conversation about Mormonism and Joseph Smith turns quickly to New Age concepts.

One such concept is that of "spheres of influence." Some New Agers are very familiar with this concept, also known as "Swedenborgian Spheres."

What is so important about Swedenborgian Spheres. and what does it have to do with Mormonism?

Emanuel Swedenborg was a 18th century philosopher, writer, and spiritual seeker. He claimed to have visions of Jesus and God, and claimed to receive revelation that Christianity was wrong, and that the spiritual and physical worlds, and everything within them were divided into threes -- three spheres of existence. Sounds kind of familiar.

Swedenborg claimed that the highest sphere, or "degree" was the celestial, the middle was the spiritual (telestial), and the lowest was the physical (terrestrial). Sound familiar?

Swedenborg claimed that Christianity's claim to salvation by grace alone was wrong. Sound familiar?

Swedenborg claimed that Christianity's claim of the Trinity was wrong. Sound familiar?

Swedenborg claimed that the Christian church had gone through the "falling away" (i.e. total apostasy). Sound familiar?

Swedenborg claimed that he was an instrument of God to establish the "New Church." Sound familiar?

Swedenborg's influence on the foundations of the LDS belief system are too great to dismiss -- if you are willing to be honest with yourself about the implications.

Read this page of Swedenborg's foundation of his New Church, and honestly ask yourself if Smith was not influenced by these writings:
A page from the exposition of the doctrines of Swedenborg's New Church.

Is Mormonism Christian?

Often talked about today when discussing Mormonism in public circles is whether or not Mormonism is Christian.

The short answer is No. The reason is not as complicated as the LDS try to make it -- of course they cannot call themselves Christian, just like no one here at One Living Truth can call themselves Mormon.

Here's the breakdown (read the whole article by clicking here)

I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.” (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith 2:16-19, 1977)

The above quote comes from one of the books of the “Official” Mormon Canon, The Pearl of Great Price. This quote is part of Joseph Smith’s recounting of the “First Vision,” which is day one, hour one, minute one, second one, of Mormonism.

So, the first moment of Mormonism is an all out attack on the last six thousand years of Judeo-Christian history. The above passages are further broken down in Mormonism to state that Joseph said that the “Personages” were none other than God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ; and that the “Personage” who answered him in verse 19 was Jesus Christ himself. The all out attack is as follows: (1) In that one sentence of verse 19, Joseph Smith destroys all of known Christianity. In that sentence prior to the semi-colon, three major points are made: first – that all Christian churches are wrong; second – that all their creeds are an abomination; and third – that all professors of Christianity are corrupt. This effectively destroys all of Christianity in one sentence: he eliminates all Christian Churches by stating they are all wrong; he eliminates all Christian Theology by pronouncing Christian Creeds as an abomination; and he eliminates all Christians by saying that as a professor of Christianity they are corrupt. (2) Joseph Smith redefines God. For six thousand years the Judeo-Christian belief was in one God. In this “First Vision” Joseph Smith and Mormonism say that God the Father is a distinct individual with a body of flesh and bones and Jesus also is a distinct individual with a body of flesh and bones.

Joseph Smith Jr - The Ravening Wolf

Our friends at www.SmithBusters.com have published a new video that addresses the trustworthiness of Joseph Smith Jr.

The Possibility of a Mormon in the Whitehouse

PleaseConvinceMe.com has a fantastic article about Mitt Romney, but more generally on the Evangelical community's feelings surrounding the idea of a Mormon taking the highest office in the land.

The article touches on a raw nerve of Mormonism -- the Book of Abraham. No, it makes the Book of Abraham the central issue.

Why? Why is this book so important? The reason is so simply stated that trying to regurgitate it here will likely not do it justice, but here is the up-shot:

1. Mormonism has a unique advantage over many faith systems available today, because it has proof that its founder, Joseph Smith Jr., was lying about his ability to translate Egyptian and the contents of the papyri that he claimed to read it from.
2. This is not circumstantial evidence, it is DIRECT PHYSICAL EVIDENCE. We have the original documents AND can translate them now.
To quote the article, "Mormonism has direct physical evidence demonstrating that Joseph Smith was not telling us the truth when he claimed to translate what has become Mormon scripture."
3. Mormons have put their faith in Mormonism IN SPITE of the evidence surrounding the Book of Abraham.
4. Romney therefore has failed to demonstrate a reasoned approach to the examination of evidence.
5. Christians should be looking for a candidate who understands the importance of the battle for truth.

It is a very well written, constructed and reasoned article -- one of the best I've ever read.