No, Moroni, There is No Other Gospel
- Pastor Jay Christianson
- Oct 3
- 9 min read
“I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!” (Galatians 1:6-9)
I have to get this off my chest.
Recent events have brought Mormonism to the forefront. News sources keep saying that Mormons are Christians. Mormons say they’re Christian.
Are they?
What is a Christian? “A true Christian is a person who has put faith and trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ, including His death on the cross as payment for sins and His resurrection on the third day. John 1:12 tells us, ‘Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.’ The mark of a true Christian is love for others and obedience to God’s Word (1 John 2:4, 10). A true Christian is indeed a child of God, a part of God’s true family, and one who has been given new life in Jesus Christ” (gotquestions.org, italics author).
Followers of Jesus were first called “Christians” at Antioch (Acts 11:26) because “their behavior, activity, and speech were like Christ. The word ‘Christian’ literally means, ‘belonging to the party of Christ’ or a ‘follower of Christ’” (Ibid.).
To be a follower of Jesus, you must adhere to the Bible’s revelation of Who He is, what He’s done for us, and follow His teachings and example. Pretty simple, really. Not easy, but simple. If we fall short of aligning ourselves with the above, we either (1) are not really Christians, or (2) fall short of Jesus’ expectations for being a genuine follower.
If you reject the Bible’s revelation of who Jesus is as to His being, you are not a Christian. If you deny or pervert what He’s done for us regarding salvation, you are not a Christian. If you refuse to embrace His teachings and make them the standard for being and doing, then you belie your professed Christianity.
So, again, I ask, “Are Mormons Christian? Are they just another sect of Christianity? Or is Mormonism a human-concocted religion with a Christian veneer?”
The recent tragic event of a disturbed man ramming into a Mormon place of worship, shooting people, and setting the building on fire, is horrendous. Absolutely. Regardless of how any person feels about Mormons and Mormonism, we should immediately show compassion and offer help just like we would for any human being on earth in a heartbreaking situation.
That said, we Christians must also respond with clear truth in the midst of tragedy. Think about it. Charlie Kirk’s assassination provided an opportunity for the Lord to get the Gospel out to millions of people through multiple media outlets. And now with the attack on the Mormon congregation, we again have an opportunity to declare widely the truth about Jesus, which brings us back to the question, “Are Mormons Christians?”
Senator Mike Lee wrote the following on X/Twitter (punctuation added for clarity, italics for emphasis):
“As a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I’m a Christian.
As Latter-day Saints, we believe that:
· Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:35),
· He is the Creator and God of the Old Testament and the Savior of the New Testament (John 1:1-3),
· He lived a sinless life, took upon Himself the sins of all mankind, and atoned for us through His suffering and death (1 Peter 2:22, Alma 7:11-12),
· He rose on the third day, ensuring our resurrection and offering eternal life through faith in Him (1 Corinthians 15:20-22),
· He is the only way to salvation (Acts 4:12).
We worship Jesus Christ, follow His teachings, and take upon His name through baptism and weekly sacrament.
The Book of Mormon, alongside the Bible, testifies of His divinity and mission.As our Church’s name declares, Jesus Christ is at the heart of our religion.He is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
If that doesn’t make us Christians, I don’t know what does.
You may define Christianity differently, and that’s your right.
If you do, that doesn’t change my faith in Jesus Christ.
Nor does it diminish my respect for your sacred beliefs.
Not for a moment.” (x.com/BasedMikeLee)
Now that all sounds very biblical, very Christian, very mainstream.But it’s not.
The fundamental problem with Senator Lee’s writing is that it employs the right words, but it obscures the underlying Mormon definitions behind those affirmations, which are fundamentally flawed. Senator Lee, or anyone else in the Mormon movement, does not have the right to redefine Christianity apart from the orthodox doctrines (“right belief, as contrasted with heresy,” not the denomination, gotquestions.org) of the Bible.Mormonism’s origin reveals its terminal flaw. “According to Mormon tradition, this is when Joseph Smith had his first vision. In this vision, which is foundational to the Mormon faith, Smith claimed to see two ‘personages.’ The one—God the Father—pointed to the other and said, ‘This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!’ Smith asked them what sect he should join. They answered that he should join none of them. They were all wrong. All their creeds were an abomination, and all their believers were corrupt” (clearlyreformed.org, italics author).
You read that right. Joseph Smith threw out the Bible and all orthodox beliefs revealed within its pages. Out with the old.
“Three years later, Mormons believe Smith received another vision. In this vision the angel Moroni told Smith of golden plates buried under a hill near Palmyra. The plates were revealed in 1827 when Smith was provided with two reading crystals—Urim and Thummim (a rip-off of God’s means through which Israel’s High Priest received accurate communication from the Lord, author)—by which he could translate the writing (Smith claimed the plates were written in hieroglyphics). In 1830 Smith published The Book of Mormon, which contains the story of the lost Israelites who migrated to America in the sixth century BC but were killed in battle in AD 428. Smith later received another vision from John the Baptist giving him the Aaronic Priesthood” (Ibid., italics author). In with the new.
Once you depart from the foundation of the Bible, historical Christianity’s benchmark of God’s inspired word, you can create all sorts of wild stuff. I’ve included some links at the end where you can find clear comparisons between Christianity and Mormonism.
So, let me make this short and sweet.
The core of Christianity is Christ. If we see that Mormonism contradicts any part of orthodox Christology (defining the person and work of Jesus Christ), then Mormonism is not genuine Christianity. It would be a false religion under a Christian mask.
By the way, I get it that the thousands of Christian denominations have differences. Some fall into the “differences of interpretation” category. Some fall into the “differences of practice” category. However, when a denomination violates fundamental Christian beliefs, as established within universally accepted creeds (e.g., Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian confessions of faith), it can be called into question and even rebuked by the Body of Christ as holding heretical views, even to the point of excommunication.
Let’s keep this simple. Does the Mormon religion adhere to the time-tested, historical beliefs of Christianity’s Christology (Jesus’ nature and mission), as outlined in the Apostle’s Creed (c. 2nd century, earliest form) and the Nicene Creed (A.D. 325)? I’d include the Athanasian Creed (c. A.D. 500), but it’s like theological lawyer-lingo and your eyes would glaze over, unless that’s your thing.
This is what the Apostle’s Creed says about Jesus:“I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary...”.
This is what the Nicene Creed says about Jesus:
“And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man...”.
And now, the litmus test. Here’s what Mormonism says about Jesus (my asides in parentheses):
“Jesus was born of the Father just like all spirit children (therefore, Jesus is a created being, not God). God is his Father in the same way he is Father to all (placing the “created” Jesus on the same level as His creation). Whatever immortality or Godhood Jesus possesses, they are inherited attributes and powers (He is not God, but was made into a god). He does not share the same eternal nature as the Father (a direct denial of the Nicene Creed’s “being of one substance with the Father” truth). Jesus may be divine, but his is a derivative divinity (again, Jesus “became” a god). Mormon theology teaches, in the words of Joseph Smith, that Jesus Christ is ‘God the Second, the Redeemer’” (Ibid.).
Also, “According to official Mormon doctrine, Jesus is the first spirit child conceived and begotten (again, denying Jesus’ eternal Godhood and making Him a created being) by Heavenly Father and one of his many wives (did you know God the Father had a harem?). Jesus progressed through obedience to the status of a god (prior to his incarnation). Heavenly Father subsequently had many more spirit children. Mormons believe even Satan (Lucifer) is a spirit brother of Jesus. As explained in the Mormon publication Ensign, ‘Jesus was Lucifer’s older brother’” (equip.org).
We need to go no further.
Mormonism, while professing to be Christian, in reality denies truths about Jesus’ fundamental nature upon which rests His work of salvation as the God-Man who made atonement for fallen humanity through His sacrificial death on a Roman cross per His Father’s plan.
Period.
The Mormon belief about Jesus’ created nature turned into Godhood is a 2nd-century heresy, Adoptionism, and the related heresy, Arianism (christianity.com). The doors of acceptability to these heresies were slammed shut over one thousand, five hundred years ago. And yet, the angel Moroni revealed these old heresies as new truth to the gullible Joseph Smith. Paul’s words echo loudly,
“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!” (Galatians 1:8-9).
Does that mean Mormons are cursed because they preach a Gospel contrary to what orthodox Christianity has received? Not necessarily. Many Mormons are just blind to the truth, perhaps because no grounded, mature, well-informed Christian has ever explained rudimentary Christian beliefs to them. On the other hand, Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders fit the bill as the cursed ones, especially since they are leaders who are presumed to know the Bible, since, as Senator Mike Lee affirmed, “the Book of Mormon, alongside the Bible, testifies of His divinity and mission.” On the contrary, the Book of Mormon bears no resemblance to the Jesus of the Bible.
While Mormons use the same language that we Christians do, what they mean by it is so different that it renders their theology completely incompatible with Christianity. The Mormon understanding of Jesus alone destroys their claim that they are in any way just another sect of Christianity.
Mormon beliefs and Christian beliefs are not the same. Not now or ever. Sadly, this false Christology is what Senator Mike Lee asserts is “at the heart of our religion.”
If the heart is wrong, it’s all wrong.
To see how weird Mormon teachings get, I highly recommend you peruse the sources below to gain a better understanding of why Mormonism is not Christianity and why the two will forever be incompatible.
One last word. (Grammar nerd alert!) In Hebrew and Aramaic, the letter for “i” is used with a noun as a pronominal suffix denoting possession. For example, when Mary sees the resurrected Jesus, she declares, “Rabboni,” meaning “My Teacher” (John 20:16).
I find it interesting that the angel who delivered the “new” revelation to Joseph Smith was named Moroni.
You guessed it.
“My Moron.”
Be careful who you listen to.
A special note to you, dear reader: I want to know what you think of the Frothy Thoughts Blog. If you’d like, please send a brief email to HighBeamMinistry@gmail.com with your thoughts on this blog, or to let me know you’ve read it. Your response can be a sentence or a page. Don’t worry. High Beam Ministry won’t use your email for spam. For notifications about new material, please use the subscribe button on the website. Thanks so much for reading and replying!
Sources:
· What is a Christian?, https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-a-Christian.html
· What is orthodoxy? How can we tell if a teaching is orthodox?, https://www.gotquestions.org/orthodoxy-orthodox.html
· 7 Reasons Why Mormonism and Christianity Are Not the Same, https://clearlyreformed.org/7-reasons-why-mormonism-and-christianity-are-not-the-same
· What separates Christian orthodoxy from the heresy of Mormonism? (M-O-R-M-O-N), https://www.equip.org/bible_answers/what-separates-christian-orthodoxy-from-the-heresy-of-mormonism-m-o-r-m-o-n
· Historic Heresies Related to the Nature of Jesus, https://www.christianity.com/wiki/jesus-christ/historic-heresies-related-to-the-nature-of-jesus.html
Shining the Light of God’s Truth on the Road Ahead
Pastor Jay Christianson
The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts