Pastor Jeff on Evangelicals versus LDS!

 

In this video Pastor Jeff comments on and discusses the hostility that is sometimes displayed by some Evangelicals on the extreme wing of the movement against LDS, and seeks to strike a balance, and bring about some reconciliation between the two. In this video he identifies a number of points of doctrinal or theological differences or disagreements between the two sides, which he reckons causes the divisions between them, all of which I am not going to discuss. I will briefly comment on two points.

The first is that Joseph Smith never said that we become “gods of our own planet”. He said that those who are saved in the celestial kingdom of God are indeed deified, they become divine, they become “gods”. But he never said that they become “gods of their own planet”. That is something that was added to it by the critics. What he did say was that those who are so saved and exalted, will then inherit all that the Father has:

Doctrine and Covenants 88:

37 And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father;

38 And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him.

39 And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood.

40 Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved.

Who wants to be a “god of their own planet” when they can have all that God the Father has—all the planets, stars, and galaxies in the universe that God has created? I did a search, and found the following estimation about the total number of planets in the observable universe: “With 2 trillion galaxies within our observable Universe, we can extrapolate our Universe’s planetary total. There are 10²⁵ planets that orbit stars, with some 10²⁶–10³⁰ additional starless planets” Link. That is more than 10⁸⁰ planets. Who wants to be “god of their own planet,” when they can have all the 10⁸⁰ of them that God has created?

The next point I would like to mention is that, of all the doctrinal and theological differences and disagreements between Evangelicals and Latter-day Saints that he has talked about in the video, there is one that is most important of all, that he has overlooked—and that is, the doctrine of the Apostasy. Latter-day Saints believe that the early Christian church apostatized, and lost the divine, priestly, and Apostolic authority that it originally possessed; and therefore it could no longer be led by revelation; and therefore it drifted doctrinally and theologically. And the Protestant Reformation made matters worse, not better. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a Restoration (by a direct revelation from God) of the original and true Church Jesus Christ established on earth (not a “reformation”). That is the real reason for all the animosity and hostility of the Evangelicals (or the more extremists among them) against all things LDS.

Throughout history, whenever an established religion has apostatized, God has restored his true religion at some point by means of a new dispensation of true religion; and the false and apostate religions have always opposed and fought against that new restored religion. That has been a consistent pattern throughout history. Noah preached the true religion among the antediluvian apostate sinners for a hundred years, before their time ran out, and they were destroyed; and he finally established God’s true religion among his own family. Moses did the same thing in his time. Through him God established his true religion, to counter all the false, apostate, and pagan religions of his day. See Deuteronomy 4:5-9. And those who opposed him were likewise destroyed. And Jesus did the same kind of thing in his day. The true religion that Moses had established had apostatized by his time, and lost its legitimacy. Jesus came to counter it by establishing once again true religion. And the same thing has happened again in our time. The Christian church that Jesus established had apostatized, and lost its Apostolic authority and legitimacy, which is why it needed to be restored by means of a new dispensation of true religion in our time. There is nothing unusual or unexpected about that. It follows a consistent pattern through history. That is the real reason for all the hatred, hostility, and animosity of extremist Evangelicals against all things LDS. It is because they are adherents of a false, apostate religion which historically have always hated, persecuted, opposed, and fought against God’s true and restored religion. But they don’t have a happy ending to look forward to—unless they repent of course, which is always a possibility.