Talking to Mormons

From the October 2016 General Conference

Elder Bednar began his talk with a passage taken from the

Then he recites in the King James Bible the parable of the

At the end of his talk found on lds.org under references,

If we turn to the Book of Mormon which is considered the

You not only have two verses in the Kings James Bible, but

Review Summary:

If you have a modern-day apostle telling its members in a

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In a recent General Conference address, LDS Church President, Russell M. Nelson made a comment about the location of where Christ atoned for the sins of the world. 

LDS.org under the talk titled: The Correct Name of the Church.  “In the Garden of Gethsemane, our Savior took upon Himself every pain, every sin, and all of the anguish and suffering ever experienced by me and by everyone who has ever lived or will ever live.  Under the weight of that excruciating burden, He bled from every pore.  All of this suffering was intensified as He was cruelly crucified on Calvary’s cross.”

In light of that statement, I have to mention that neither the Bible nor any Mormon Scripture specifically state that the atonement occurred in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Because to have the atonement occur in the garden would be contrary to the narrative of the entire Word of God.

In Old Testament times, redemption was demonstrated through the ceremonial sacrifice of an animal.  God made it clear that forgiveness would be provided only through the DEATH of an innocent substitute that represented the payment for the penalty of sin. 

But never did an animal sit somewhere alone in a pasture and suffer as a substitute sacrifice for sin.  The LDS focus on the Garden of Gethsemane has absolutely no biblical connection to the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament, which was a picture of the shedding of the Lord’s blood which occurred where?  On the cross. 

But the New Testament does say that He suffered great agony in the garden. 

The garden is where He suffered great agony in His humanity over the impending pain and suffering that would culminate with His death on the cross.  His will was to do the Father’s will, but His flesh was shrinking at the thought of being

From the Missionary Guide – Preach My Gospel it says, “Our Father’s plan for us to be successful in this life and to return to live with Him is called the gospel of Jesus Christ, with Jesus’ Atonement at the center of that plan.  He satisfied the demands of justice when he stood in our place and suffered the penalty for our sins.  Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can receive eternal life if we exercise faith in Jesus Christ, repent, are baptized by immersion for the remission of sins, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying of hands, and strive to keep His commandments to the end of our lives.”

I agree with some of what is said.  But, beyond exercising faith in Jesus Christ that He paid the penalty for our sins, nothing else is necessary or required of us to obtain eternal life. 

The Guide also says, “In paying the penalty for our sins, Jesus did not, however eliminate our personal responsibility.  We must show Him that we will follow His commandments.”

So, there is no assurance of having eternal life, unless you prove yourself worthy by working diligently to keep ALL, of His commandments? 

Mormons also believe that, through the Atonement of Christ they can qualify for exaltation through obedience to all the laws and ordinances and first principles of the gospel. (Preach My Gospel)

Mormonism says that a person’s salvation must be earned.  But this is not a biblical concept, in any way, shape, or form. 

Acts 10:43

“To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”

Paul validates that message in two of his epistles. 

Colossians 2:13-15 and Ephesians 1:13-14

“And you, being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of yo

Is there a biblical command to commemorate the day of Jesus’ resurrection?

This lesson plan in the manual is an overview of the atonement of Jesus Christ.  Because we will be studying the details of the atonement in future lessons – today I’m going to take a slight departure from the outline to focus on why Christ’s resurrection is referred to as Easter – as in the title of this lesson. 

There is a lot of confusion regarding what Easter Sunday is all about.  For some, Easter Sunday is about the Easter Bunny, colorfully decorated Easter eggs and baskets full of jelly beans and peeps.  Most people understand that Easter Sunday has something to do with the resurrection of Jesus but are confused as to how the resurrection is related to the Easter bunny and eggs.  Biblically speaking, there is absolutely no connection between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the common modern traditions related to Easter Sunday.  Essentially, what occurred is that in order to make Christianity more attractive to non-Christians, the ancient Roman Catholic Church mixed the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection with the pagan celebrations that involved spring fertility rituals.  These spring fertility rituals are the source of the egg and the bunny traditions.  Easter has nothing to do with Jesus’ resurrection on a Sunday.  As a result, many Christians feel strongly that the day on which we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection should not be referred to as “Easter Sunday.”  Rather, something like “Resurrection Sunday” would be far more appropriate and biblical.  For the Christian, it is absurd that we should allow  Easter eggs and bunnies to be the focus of the day instead of Jesus’ resurrection.   

What does the Bible say about Easter?  If one were to search the

Feelings are not always a sure indication of truth?

No matter how deeply felt, our emotions can end up betraying us.

Falling “madly” in love with someone doesn’t necessarily mean that person is right for us.  Certainly, in the moment it feels that way.  But since falling in love can be more emotional than rational, we need to be extremely careful about making an immediate commitment.  Our falling in love may turn out in the long run to be nothing more than infatuation. 

You see how some people think they can trust their beliefs in just about anything, simply because they feel strongly about them. 

Take for example – the Pharisees in the Bible.   Jesus pointed out to them that they were believing in a lie (John 8:43-47).

And, while sincerely believing they were right – their false beliefs led those Pharisees to call for the death the Son of God.

Our convictions – no matter how strong – are insufficient for determining what is ultimately true!

Our thoughts, our feelings, and our desires, are very important.  But we should not place sole reliance on subjective means to determine what is true.

Jesus teaches us that to determine truth we must ABIDE in HIS WORD. 

This is, why Christians love the Bible and are eager to submit our feelings and beliefs to God’s Word … not the other way around.

And relating that to the Book of Mormon which Joseph Smith said was the “most correct of any book on earth” – we have come to discover it has had over 3,913 changes. 

You have asked me to pray about the Book of Mormon to know that it is true.  But rather than relying on a good feeling to tell me it’s true – I only need to read it to see the apparent contradictions, anachronisms, plagiarisms, and lack of physical evidence – to know that logi

By way of introduction into Matthew 16, the Pharisees and Sadducees, traditionally bitter enemies of each other, now joined forces together against the Savior.  An issue came up with disciples who forgot to bring along some bread to eat.   Jesus takes this opportunity to teach his disciples.  Matthew 16:6 “Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”  Here the Master warns against the evil doctrines of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  He compares their doctrines to leaven (yeast) which is put in bread dough to make it rise.  Yeast feeds on the sugars present and as it passes through the flour, it causes it to ferment or swell through a gas by-product.   As the leaven works its way through the entire lump of dough, it influences everything.  So also, with these hypocritical Jewish leaders, who are influencing and corrupting everything in Jewish society. 

As a side note: I have heard a couple members of the LDS quorum of apostles make the mistake of referring to leaven as being a good thing.  As in – Mormons – like leaven – being compared to salt and light.  But Jesus and His apostles described sin as leaven.  

Now we come to a very important conversation Jesus has with his disciples.  Verse 13 “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?”   Who do people say, He is?  Verse 14 “And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.”  Some people speculated it was Elijah or Jeremiah or the other prophets that were supposed to return.  We notice that the disciples did NOT

In a recent General Conference, President Nelson said, speaking of Jesus, “When we omit His name from His Church, we are inadvertently removing Him as the central focus of our lives.” 

The irony is that Joseph Smith used three different names for the Church in the span of eight years.  Why would Jesus instruct Joseph Smith in 1830 to call it the “Church of Christ”, then change it in 1834 to the “Church of Latter Day Saints” and, then change is once again in 1838?

Was Joseph carelessly removing Jesus as the central focus of LDS members lives during that time period?

One possible reason it took Smith eight years to settle on an official name for the Church is the fact that God wasn’t involved at all in the decision. 

President Nelson said that “For much of the world, the Lord’s Church is presently disguised as the ‘Mormon Church.’  But we as members of the Lord’s Church know who stands at its head: Jesus Christ Himself.  Unfortunately, many who hear the term Mormon may think we worship Mormon.

Today, we start off with the story of the feeding of the 5,000.  It is recorded in all four gospels.  And each gospel brings a few unique insights that the others don’t include.  But together, the story presents us with an incredible picture.   

Jesus and His disciples retreated to a “desert place”, but they were followed by a “great multitude” of people.  Jesus “was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.” 

Matthew 14:15 “And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victual.” – meaning food.  Now watch as the Master startles his disciples.   

Verse 16 “But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; given ye them to eat.”  If the disciples really knew who Jesus was, they would have asked Him to produce manna from heaven or call forth some quails to feed the masses.  Instead, they only comment on how the situation looks impossible – how there are no options readily available to solve the problem.  After witnessing miracle after miracle, they never considered another one for this situation.  Their response to the Lord Verse 17 “And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves (of bread), and two fishes.”  Now, I’m sure the disciples were thinking, “but what’s that going to amount to?”  Verses 18-20 “He said, Bring them hither to me.  And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and g

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The Savior will now use a, number of parables to illustrate His teachings.  A parable is a story which is used to teach us about real life situations.  In Matthew 13 there are 8 parables.  They are really, amazing by virtue of what they reveal – especially in light of their simplistic nature.  Most of the parables uttered by the Lord are all recorded in the synoptic Gospels.

Matthew begins with describing the setting.  Jesus gets into a boat as the multitude stood on the shore.  Can you imagine standing there on the beach with Jesus sitting in the boat, and He looks up and says in verse 3 “Behold, a sower went forth to sow.”  This is imagery that probably every person present would understand.  The imagery carries on today because we refer to sharing the Word of God as “sowing,” don’t we?  These people could picture a man or woman with a canvas bag or basket full of seeds.  And the person is going forth tossing them and scattering them – introducing the seeds to the earth with the hope that they will take root.

Matthew 13:4-8 “And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.  And some fell among

The Lds church is trying to get away from the nicknames it’s been called for the past 170 years – “Mormons” and “LDS.”

Latter-Day Saints want to be called by the proper name given by the Lord to Joseph Smith – “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

In a recent Church General Conference, President Russell M. Nelson said, “the name of the Church is not negotiable.  When the Savior clearly states what the name of His Church should be and even precedes His declaration with, ‘Thus shall my church be called,’ He is serious.”  Then President Nelson warned, “And if we allow nicknames to be used or adopt or even sponsor those nicknames ourselves, He (meaning God) is offended.”   

But every Church President since Joseph Smith has freely used “Mormonism” when describing the religion.  The Church founder Joseph Smith said,

“One of the grand fundamental principles of ‘Mormonism’ is to receive truth, let it come from whence it may.” (History of the Church 5:499)

Now, suddenly God has revealed to Russell Nelson that He is offended by the reference to “Mormons” and “Mormonism?” 

President Nelson went on to state, “What’s in a name or, in this case, a nickname?  When it comes to nicknames of the Church, such as the ‘LDS Church,’ the ‘Mormon Church,’ or the ‘Church of the Latter-day Saints,’ the most important thing in those names is the absence of the Savior’s name.  To remove the Savior’s name from the Lord’s Church is a major victory for Satan.  When we discard the Savior’s name, we are subtly disregarding all that Jesus Christ did for us – even His Atonement.”

I’m quite surprised by that remark!  Because in 2010, the LDS Church launched a public campaign, “I’m a Mormon,” featuring biographical sketches of Church members throughout the world.  In 2014, the LDS Church released a full-length film, “Meet the Mormons.” 

Thomas Monson was