Perfect Brightness of Hope Part 2

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Viewpoint on Mormonism. The program that examines the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints from a biblical perspective viewpoint on Mormonism, is sponsored by Mormonism Research Ministry since 1979.

Mormonism Research Ministry has been dedicated to equipping the body of Christ with answers regarding the Christian faith in a manner that expresses gentleness and respect. And now your host for today's viewpoint on Mormonism.

So glad you could be with us for this edition of Viewpoint on Mormonism. I'm your host, Bill McKeever, founder and director of Mormonism Research Ministry. And with me today is Erik Johnson, my colleague at R.M.. Yesterday, we began looking at a conference message that was given in October of 20-20, a talk by elder Jeffrey R. Holland, a Mormon apostle. His talk was titled A Perfect Brightness of Hope. And this is one of those rare times where you find Mormon leaders really making it clear their distain for what we believe as Christians. It shouldn't surprise us, since this conference that was held in October of 2020 was geared around the theme of the 200 day anniversary of Joseph Smith's alleged first vision. And of course, in that first vision, Joseph Smith claimed that he was told by God, the father and or Jesus, that all the churches were wrong, their creeds were an abomination, and their professors are all corrupt. That's been a part of Mormon theology. And Jeffrey Holland is making sure that his listeners understand that quite clearly. Think of this, folks, as you're listening to what Jeffrey Holland says. Whenever you hear a Mormons say we're Christians just like you. You can tell Jeffrey Hallen does not share that conclusion. We're looking at his talk now. Re talks about Jesus. What does he have to say about Jesus?

And before I go on to that, let me just say that all of these points are found on MRM dawg slash seven ways Holon with hyphens between seven. The number seven hyphen ways hyphen Holon. And yesterday we talked about Christianity's corrupted God that Tollan talked about, as well as Christianity's judgmental God. And the third point we're going to talk about right now is Christianity's missing Jesus.

This is what he said. Speaking of Jesus, had we lived in those first years of the 19th century, we would have realized with great alarm that doubts about the reality of the savior's life and resurrection were beginning to take significant hold within Christendom. Therefore, we would have hoped for evidence to come to the whole world that would confirm the biblical witness that Jesus is the Christ, the literal son of God, Alpha and Omega.

And the only savior this world will ever know. I ask you, what in that paragraph do Christians not believe? Well, there's only one little area where he talks about the literal son of God. What does that mean to a person like Jeffrey Holland or another leader in the LDS church? That is, describe the literalness of Jesus being the son of God. They talk about how God, the father himself, came down and physically impregnated Mary. Of course, we would reject that heretical teaching. But when it comes to the rest of this, Eric, should we be surprised that there will be times throughout Christian history when maybe there would be doubts about the reality of the savior's life and resurrection? Of course we wouldn't be. And just because that was going on in the early 19th century, why would that take away from Christianity as a whole? I don't understand why he's using this as an argument. We have seen this type of thing happen throughout Christian history where his claim to DHT was being questioned, but the church always survived, always survive. That is a main premise in the Christian church today that we do believe that he rose bodily from the dead. We do believe that Jesus is the Christ. We do believe that Jesus is the alpha and Omega. And we do believe that he is the only savior this world will ever know.

When you take a look at some of the teachings of Mormonism, we're looking at a different Jesus that Paul was talking about in Second Corinthians, chapter 11, verse four. The Bible says that Jesus is eternally God. He's not our oldest brother in Mormonism. Jesus is our oldest brother, according to Gospel Fundamentals. Standard book that's used as a curriculum in the LDS Church, Page five. The oldest child in our Heavenly Father was Jesus Christ. He is our oldest brother. Christianity has taught, as you said, Bill Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. That's found in Revelation, chapter one and verse 22. He was not a product of Heavenly Father and and Heavenly Mother in the preexistence. He's always been God and can be worshiped as a second person in the Trinity. And when you. Come to this idea of how Jesus even came to this earth, the idea that he was not begotten of the Holy Ghost, as it says in Matthew, chapter one, verse 18, according to Joseph Fielding Smith and Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. one, page 18. Christ was begotten of God. He was not born without the aid of man, and that man was God. We've talked about that issue a number of times on this radio broadcast. Just type in virgin birth on MRM, dawg search engine. And you'll find articles on this so that Jesus of Mormonism that has come out from the 19th century is a different Jesus than the Jesus of history. And going back to the teachings of the Bible, the next point that I have here, number four, is Christianity's lost priesthood. And this is what he said. Observing the Christian world in that day, referring to the 19th century, we would have hoped to find someone authorized by God with true priesthood authority who could baptize us, bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost and administer all gospel ordinances necessary for exaltation.

Though the problem I have with this, and you may I have to remember, folks, this is Jeffrey Hallen and his wife wondering what would be missing prior to what they believed to be the restoration of the gospel or the restoration of true Christianity. I really doubt that anybody was looking forward to anything like this, certainly not within a Christian context.

I mean, why in the world with the Christians be worried about this kind of priesthood authority, especially the kind that's talked about in Mormonism? If you knew your Bible, you would know, for instance, that there would be no need for it in a chronic priesthood, and certainly that very few would even qualify for the erotic priesthood based on the standards that are found in the Old Testament in order to be an erotic priest. You had to be a son of Aaron. Joseph Smith ignores all that. And he gives the priesthood to just about any male that supposedly worthy within his organization. There's no necessity to be able to trace your genealogy back to Aaron, even though that was a necessity in the Old Testament, where even when it comes to the Melchizedek priesthood that Mormons believe in today, where do we find that in the New Testament? Where do we find mention of any type of priesthood linked to the word Melchizedek except in the book of Hebrews? And then it's connected specifically to Jesus himself. The fact that Mormons cannot find anywhere in the New Testament that people such as Peter, James and John or even any of the other apostles had such a priesthood shows that that was not a part of early Christianity. So. Well, Jeffrey Hallen and his wife think that they would have been looking forward to something like that. I would challenge that and say, no, you wouldn't you wouldn't have had any clue towards that, because that, again, is a unique idea that Joseph Smith conjures up. But he certainly does not have any biblical references to back him in that conclusion.

I think you're exactly right on that bill. When it comes to the erotic priesthood, that is not something that is meant for us. And the erotic priest, the Levites were the only ones who are supposed to have that. And then, as you mentioned, the idea that Jesus is the one who is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek that's found in Hebrews 724 in the LDS church, if you're going to create a new religion, Justice Smith needed to say it needed to be fixed. And so that's where the great apostasy comes in. And this is what really is offensive to me and what Holon is saying and what Mormonism stands on. This is what Joseph Fielding Smith, tenth president of the church, said, and selections from Doctrines of Salvation. Page 311, he said, We believe that when Jesus was on Earth in his ministry, our savior established his church upon eternal principles fundamental to the salvation of mankind. We believe that following the death of the ancient apostles, these eternal principles were corrupted and became mixed with pagan philosophy. We believe that the essential ordinances of the gospel were changed and modified by man's will and not by divine instruction. The church had become so corrupted and changed that it became necessary for the opening of the heavens. That coming of heavenly messengers, the first vision and a restoration of the primitive faith and divine authority. But, Bill, when you take a look at history and you look back during Bible times, what Mormonism is teaching about, who God is, who Jesus is, how you get salvation is not taught in those days.

Yeah. In fact, I would say it was Joseph Smith who is the author of this corruption. He is introducing ideas, doctrines that cannot be supported by the revealed word of God.

The fifth point is Christianity's non authoritative marriages. This is what Hollon says In 1820, we would have hoped to see fulfilled the eloquent promises of Isaiah, Micah and other ancient prophets regarding the return of the majestic House of the Lord. We would have thrilled to see the glory of holy temples established again with the spirit, the ordinances, the power and the authority to teach eternal truths, heal personal wounds and bind families together forever. I would have looked anywhere and everywhere to find someone authorized to say to me and my beloved Patricia that our marriage in such a setting was sealed for time and all eternity, never to hear or have imposed on us the haunting curse, quote unquote, until death do you part. I know that in our father's house are many mansions. But speaking personally, if I were to be so fortunate as to inherit one of them, it could be no more to me than a decaying shack. It paid and our children were not with me to share that inheritance.

Now, this is not the first time that Jeffrey Hallen has made a comment like this in that video that you see before you visit a temple open house. They have shown for years a video of Jeffrey Hall and talking about how heaven wouldn't be heaven unless his family was with him.

This is what he says. I don't know how to speak of heaven and the traditional lovely paradise cycle beauty that we speak of heaven. I wouldn't know how to speak of heaven without my wife, my children.

It would it would not be heaven for me in light of that quotation, folks, in the light of what he says here and it's found on page 82 of the Unsign magazine that we're citing. Does it sound like if Jesus is with Jeffrey Hallen in eternity. Do you think he would say something like that? It doesn't sound like it to me, unless, of course, Jesus really isn't all that important to Jeffrey Hallen, and his wife actually has more importance. Do you see what he's saying? Jesus really plays no role in Jeffrey Holland's eternity. Why? Because in Mormonism, if you qualify for celestial exaltation, everything revolves around you. You become God and you become what Elohim is to all Latter-Day Saints. Right now, the focus isn't on Christ. The focus isn't enjoying the presence of our savior throughout eternity. The focus is procreation. That's why he needs Patricia, because they are going to be procreating on the world that they will inherit. If Jeffrey Hallen is good enough to become a God, we believe in having good families.

But would you say, Bill, that what Holon has done here is make an idol of the family?

It sounds like that. And I know that's pretty harsh to hear if you're a Latter-Day Saints. But, yes, I would say that's exactly what they've done. The fact that it sounds like Jeffrey Holen is putting his wife before Christ makes it very clear, at least to me and what I've heard Hollande say here and what he said elsewhere, that Jesus is not first and foremost his joy and what he wants to see throughout eternity.

Thank you for listening. If you would like more information regarding Mormonism Research Ministry, we encourage you to visit our Web site at W w w dot m or M dot org, where you can request our free newsletter, Mormonism researched. We hope you will join us again as we look at another viewpoint on Mormonism.