Another short video by Kelly Powers, questioning the validity of the LDS faith! Skipping the initial introductory remarks, he begins his criticism of the LDS Church as follows:
“First, you got to know the biblical Jesus. Do you believe in the Jesus of Mormonism, that he is a man who became a God, …”
False statement. We believe that Jesus was God who became man, not “man who became God”. That is what the Book of Mormon and other LDS scriptures teach:
Mosiah 13:
33 For behold, did not Moses prophesy unto them concerning the coming of the Messiah, and that God should redeem his people? Yea, and even all the prophets who have prophesied ever since the world began—have they not spoken more or less concerning these things?
34 Have they not said that God himself should come down among the children of men, and take upon him the form of man, and go forth in mighty power upon the face of the earth?
Mosiah 15:
1 And now Abinadi said unto them: I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people.
2 And because he dwelleth in flesh he shall be called the Son of God, and having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son.
That is the true source of LDS theology and doctrine, not Kelly Powers. As far as Jesus being the “spirit brother of Lucifer” is concerned, I had previously discussed that issue elsewhere in my blog, which can be seen here. And as far as the gospel being “lost for 1,800 years” is concerned, that is not correct either. It depends on what you mean by the “gospel”. If you mean faith in Jesus Christ, that was not lost; and the Book of Mormon and other modern LDS scripture and revelation fully acknowledges that, as discussed in my blog post linked to above. What was lost was the priesthood, the prophetic and Apostolic authority of the original church. The original church was led by revelation, through prophets and Apostles. To the Ephesians Paul wrote:
Ephesians 4:
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
And likewise to the Corinthians he wrote:
1 Corinthians 12:
27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
That institution was never meant to be discontinued. When one of the Apostles died, another was appointed to succeed him; as in the case of Matthias, who was appointed to succeed Judas (Acts 1:15–26); or of Paul, who was ordained an Apostle to succeed James, who had been put to death by Herod (Acts 12:1–2). All of the offices mentioned in the above quotes are necessary for the “perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12), not just some of them; and all of them are necessary in order that “we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13), not just some of them. That obviously includes the offices of “Apostles” and “prophets”. They were meant to continue—just as the offices of “evangelists,” “pastors,” and “teachers” etc. were meant to continue. That is what was “lost”, which has now been restored in God’s true Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
When the Twelve Apostles were alive, they acted as the governing body of the church. If a dispute arose for example, they met in council to resolve it (Acts 15). The institution of the Twelve Apostles was never meant to be dissolved or discontinued; and they governed the church by revelation. It was the persecution of the early Christians by the Romans, and the eventual apostasy of the early church that prevented that institution from continuing in the church at that time.
The original true church established by Jesus also possessed a genuine priesthood, which enabled them to perform valid sacraments for the church—which was also lost. Those are the things that were “lost”, which needed to be restored; and they have now been restored in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That is what makes the LDS Church God’s only true Church in the world today. And as far as “men becoming gods” is concerned, that is something that I have previously discussed in several previous blog posts, such as here. The Early Church Fathers all believed in, taught, and extensively wrote about the deification of man, or theosis; numerous examples here.
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