Another Gospel? The “Different” God and Jesus Whom I Worship
Because of some uninformed recent actions of the U.S. government’s Department of War in not classifying The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as “Christian” in its list of religious preferences (a mistake that has thankfully been at least partially rectified), the tired old mantra that Latter-day Saints are a “non-Christian cult” has once more raised its ugly head. May I humbly offer a response? You may want to clip and save this article, which is based in part on my book, A Case for Latter-day Christianity. (Free PDF copies available at link below)
When we point out that Jesus Christ is literally in the name of our church, we’re told that’s irrelevant because we worship a “different God” and a “different Jesus” from mainstream Christianity, therefore we are not part of their “club.”
And do you know what? They’re right, as I’ll explain. The only problem is, the name of their “club” (Christianity) was already taken, 300 years before their “different” God and Jesus were invented by a council of bishops in a government-sponsored conference in Nicea, an ancient city in present-day Turkey.
You see, the believers in Christ in that part of the world were “first called Christians” in Antioch, a bustling city in the Roman Empire. (Acts 11:26) We’re also told in Acts that Saul and Barnabas stayed in that metropolis for an entire year, and taught many people the “good news” of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These early believers called themselves “saints,” or believers in what they called “The Way.” They were nicknamed “Christians” first by mocking outsiders, in the same way that fellow believers 1830 or so years later would pejoratively be called “Mormons.”
During his mortal ministry, Jesus had called and ordained leaders (John 15:16) whom he had “chosen” (a good name for a TV series) and he had given them power and authority to preach and baptize, heal the sick, cast out devils, and so forth. These men were also given priesthood keys delegated by Peter to ordain bishops, elders, seventies, and other leaders in every city where they established branches of what our Savior called “my church” (Matt 16:19, Acts 14:23).
This was no mythical “body of believers” but a functioning organization led by these local officers and instructed by frequent visits and epistles from general church leaders. It was through the valiant efforts of the men in this “foundation of apostles and prophets” (Eph 2:20) that, for a time, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was faithfully preached and practiced among the “saints.”
But unrelenting persecution from “mainstream” religious bigots and the Roman government eventually wiped out the general leadership of the early church, and without the continued revelation and guidance of living apostles and prophets like Saul and Barnabas, the “Christians” at Antioch, Ephesus, and throughout the world became “like children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph 4:14). False teachers called “wolves” entered the “flock,”and a “falling away” took place, so that there was no longer “one Lord, one faith, and one baptism” (Acts 20:29, 2 Thess 2:1-3, Eph 4:5-6).
For approximately the next 1,800 years, sincere people who believed in Christ were left to “run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it” as foreseen by the prophet Amos (Amos 8:12). The “gates of hell” had not “prevailed” against the “rock” of God revealing himself to individuals (“flesh and blood hath not made this known unto thee, but thy Father which is in Heaven” Matt: 16:17), but the prevailing church/state empire that called itself “Christianity” ruled in spiritual darkness and ignorance with an iron fist for almost two millennia. Possessing or even reading the Bible was forbidden to the average person, on pain of death. How could they know the truth?
During these Dark Ages, many aspects of “another gospel” were taught. The prevailing religious organization “changed the ordinances” (Isaiah 24:5), and doctrines were taught and brutally enforced throughout the part of the earth was called “Christendom” like the veneration of Saints, “vain repetition” of prayers to Mary and others, transubstantiation, priestly celibacy, indulgences, etc.
Those “creedal Christians” are definitely NOT what Latter-day Saints identify with today. You can say that I’m not a “creedal” or “traditional,” “historical,”or so-called “orthodox” Christian, and I’ll agree. But I am definitely a BIBLICAL Christian, like the believers at Antioch. Like them, I believe in living apostles and prophets, an open canon of scripture, and a non-Trinitarian God and Jesus.
The many deal-breaking deviations from the pure faith that was “once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3) were finally recognized and protested by Reformers in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. These brave souls risked and sacrificed their own lives to bring God’s Word to the masses, as they sincerely sought to “reform” the mainline “Christianity” of their day. They were called a “cult” of “heretics” (sound familiar?) and often put to death in horrendous ways. And while they did some good things, they also made mistakes. For example, the vengeful, angry god that was preached by John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards is definitely a “different god” from the loving Father in Heaven whom I worship as a Latter-day Saint.
But as Jesus said, new wine cannot be put into old bottles (Matt 9:17). Although those early Christians at Antioch, Galatia, Rome, etc. had expected an imminent return of Christ, the Bible says that Jesus would not descend from the heavens until a “restitution of all things” took place (Acts 3:21): A RESTORATION, not just a Reformation.
Thus it came to pass that when a young boy in 1820 sought to know which of all the existing “creedal Christian” churches he should join, and he followed the Biblical instruction to “ask of God” (James 1:5-6), he was told in vision by Jesus himself that they were “all wrong,” and that their creeds, which had created “another God” and “another Jesus” out of the Greek “philosophies of men” (Col. 2:8), were an “abomination” to Him. The creeds (not the believers) were an abomination because they created their “different” God and Jesus from the Bible.
The “restitution of all things” pertaining to the Kingdom of God has taken place. As one of our hymns says, “The morning breaks, the shadows flee. Lo, Zion’s standard is unfurled” (Hymn #1). The “faith once delivered to the saints” has been restored to the earth! That is the additional “good news” for our day. It is not “another” Gospel but the original or “OG” or “everlasting” Gospel of Jesus Christ. And it was brought back to the earth by an angel, just as John saw it happen in his vision of the latter days: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Rev. 14:6).
So the Latter-day Saints join together with Paul in saying to the Galatian saints and true Christians everywhere: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any OTHER gospel unto you than that which WE (NOT Calvin, Luther, Edwards, etc.) have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8).
Note:
For more information, download a free pdf copy of A Case for Latter-day Christianity here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PQHTGuvXW_A3RK71PycHqAgIqprO9DbQ/view
And feel free to share it. Feedback is welcomed. If you prefer a printed copy, it is available at Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com.