It’s Friday
It’s Friday…
And have you noticed that the Mormons are in the news lately?
They are asking to be considered part of the Christian church! That would be like the Islam asking for the same recognition. Mormons, simply are just not Christian.
But it is that we forget. We have forgotten what it means to be Christian at the same time forgetting what it means to be Mormon. I mean the outer rings of people, the casual Mormon (?) might do the Mormon thing the way they did the Christian thing, so to them, sure, it is very similar.
But it is interesting how much Mormon “stuff” is out there. I remember reading Tom Clancy novels in the 80’s and 90’s. He was not a Mormon, I remember wondering if he was. He wasn’t but held them in high regard for some reason. He seemed to always have one of his characters be a Mormon.
And then we have Sherlock Holmes. Or rather Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I have seen all the renditions of A Study in Scarlet, but had not read the story itself, until a few years ago, when I was reading through all the Holmes mysteries. Most of that story takes place in Utah, with the Mormons, and not in London, as we would expect. He depicts them as vicious and violent. That is not new, as also Riders of the Purple Sage, by Zane Grey, does the same.
Did you know that there are modern best selling authors that are also Mormon? Those who like SiFi must know of Ender’s Game. Its anther, Orson Scott Card, is a Mormon. Or how about that vampire rage some time ago with the Twilight series? Stephenie Meyer is also a Mormon, as well as the bestselling fantasy writer, Brandon Sanderson.
There are probably more that I am not listing, but they are eagerly looking to be part of the American Christian right. And those on the periphery of Christianity, could not tell the difference. But reading those modern authors, their view of life and the universe does show forth their Mormonism. It is not Christian. Dr. Alvin Schmidt (an LCMS pastor) wrote a book comparing Islam to Mormonism. It is called The American Muhammad. It fits. It is much like Islam in many ways.
I found a great essay that compares Mormonism to Christianity, point by essential point. Take the time to read through it. It does a good job showing what is at the heart of Mormonism, as well as our faith.
MORMON MISSIONARY:
We absolutely consider ourselves Christian. The official name of our church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jesus Christ is central to everything we believe. We pray in His name. We worship Him as Savior. We believe He is the Son of God, that He atoned for our sins, died, rose again, and makes salvation possible. We read the Bible. We preach repentance, baptism, faith, discipleship, moral living, family, and eternal life through Christ. So when people say we are not Christian, it feels like they are ignoring what we actually confess.
CHRISTIAN:
I hear the claim. But using the name “Jesus” is not enough. Muslims believe in Jesus. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in Jesus. Arians believed in Jesus. Ancient heretics quoted Scripture while gutting the gospel like a fish on a dock. The question is not, “Do you use Christian vocabulary?” The question is, “Do you confess the Christ of biblical and historic Christianity?”
MORMON MISSIONARY:
But that assumes historic creeds are the standard. We believe the Bible is the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. We also believe God restored lost truths through Joseph Smith. The creeds came after the apostles, during a time of confusion and philosophical corruption. We do not accept that councils of men have the right to define Christianity against modern revelation. We believe God still speaks.
CHRISTIAN:
And there is the issue. Christianity, historically, has never been an undefined religious fog bank where anyone who says “Jesus” gets a membership card. The creeds are not random decorative plaques. The Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, and Chalcedonian Definition are boundary markers. They define the triune God, the person of Christ, the incarnation, and the faith once delivered.
When Mormonism explicitly rejects the historic creeds as corrupt — and in Joseph Smith’s First Vision account, the existing Christian creeds are called an “abomination” — Mormonism is not merely disagreeing with one denomination. It is rejecting the historic doctrinal grammar of Christianity itself.
MORMON MISSIONARY:
But Protestants also reject parts of tradition. The Reformers rejected Roman Catholic councils, papal authority, and many inherited practices. Why can Protestants reject tradition and still be Christian, but Latter-day Saints cannot reject creeds and claim restoration?
CHRISTIAN:
Because the Reformation rejected corrupt additions while affirming catholic orthodoxy. Luther, Calvin, Cranmer, the Reformed confessions, the Lutheran confessions — all affirmed the Trinity, the incarnation, the deity of Christ, the one eternal God, creation from nothing, and the orthodox Christology guarded by the early creeds.
The Reformers did not say, “The Nicene doctrine of God is an abomination.” They said Rome had corrupted the gospel with false doctrines like papal supremacy, purgatory, indulgences, and a defective view of justification. That is a surgical correction. Mormonism is not surgery. It is a different anatomy.
MORMON MISSIONARY:
We believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We believe they are united in purpose and glory. We believe Jesus is divine. We believe He is the Savior. Why is your philosophical language about “one essence” and “three persons” necessary? Isn’t that Greek metaphysics imposed on the Bible?
CHRISTIAN:
No. That is the old anti-creedal dodge. “Greek metaphysics” is the scarecrow people build when they want biblical doctrine without precise boundaries.
The church used careful language because heretics abused biblical language. Arius could say Jesus was “Son of God.” Sabellius could say Father, Son, and Spirit. Nestorius could honour Christ. The question was always: what do you mean?
Historic Christianity confesses one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not three gods united in purpose. Not one exalted being among a species of gods. Not God as once a man who progressed. Not human beings becoming gods of the same kind. The God of Scripture is eternal, uncreated, immutable, sovereign, and alone God. “Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.” That kills Mormon theology with a thunderclap.
MORMON MISSIONARY:
We would say you misunderstand us. We do not worship many gods in the sense of pagan chaos. We worship Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ. We believe God’s plan is about exaltation, family, covenant, obedience, and becoming like Him through grace. Early Christians spoke of theosis — becoming partakers of the divine nature. So our view is not as alien as critics claim.
CHRISTIAN:
Theosis in orthodox Christianity means participation in divine life by grace, union with Christ, transformation into holiness — not becoming gods by nature, not progressing into deity, not a cosmos populated by exalted beings of the same species as God. You are taking orthodox words and loading them with different metaphysics.
That is the central problem. Mormonism keeps Christian terms but redefines the dictionary. God, Christ, grace, salvation, heaven, priesthood, exaltation, atonement — same labels, different contents. It is like putting “milk” on a bottle of paint and then acting shocked when Christians refuse to pour it on cereal.
MORMON MISSIONARY:
But surely the basic mark of being Christian is faith in Jesus Christ and striving to follow Him.
CHRISTIAN:
No. That is too thin. Christianity is not merely admiration for Jesus plus moral effort. Christianity is defined by the apostolic gospel: the eternal Son, consubstantial with the Father, became man, lived under the law, died as a penal substitute for sinners, rose bodily, ascended, and saves by grace alone through faith alone, apart from works, to the glory of God alone.
If your “Jesus” is the spirit-brother of humanity, the offspring of Heavenly Parents, not the eternally begotten Son sharing the one divine essence with the Father, then you are not confessing the Christian Christ. You are using Christian names for a different being.
MORMON MISSIONARY:
That sounds exclusionary.
CHRISTIAN:
Definitions exclude. That is what definitions do. If “Christian” means anything that mentions Jesus positively, the word becomes useless theological soup. The creeds are not optional historical wallpaper. They mark the difference between Christianity and counterfeit Christianity.
Mormonism explicitly claims the historic church fell into apostasy, the creeds are corrupt, priesthood authority was lost, and Joseph Smith restored the true church. Fine. But then be honest: that means Mormonism does not see itself as historic Nicene Christianity. It sees itself as a restoration replacing historic Christianity.
MORMON MISSIONARY:
We see ourselves as the restored fullness of Christianity.
CHRISTIAN:
Exactly. And historic Christianity sees that as a confession that you are outside Christianity’s doctrinal boundaries. You cannot reject the creedal definition of God and Christ, call those creeds abominable, replace the church’s doctrine with restorationist revelation, and then demand to be counted inside the very faith you say had fundamentally apostatized.
That is not bigotry. That is basic category sanity.
MORMON MISSIONARY:
So you would say Latter-day Saints are sincere but not Christian?
CHRISTIAN:
Many are sincere. Many are moral. Many are family-loving, disciplined, kind, zealous, and serious. But sincerity does not make false doctrine true. Mormonism is not Christian in the historic, creedal, biblical sense. It is a restorationist religion that uses Christian language while rejecting the doctrinal heart of Christianity: the triune God, the eternal Son, and the once-for-all gospel of grace.
The issue is not whether Mormons are nice people. The issue is whether Mormonism confesses the God and Christ confessed by the apostles and guarded by the creeds.
It does not.
And if the creeds are definitional to Christianity, then a movement that calls those creeds abominations has, by its own mouth, stepped outside the Christian house while still trying to keep the nameplate on the door.
So if they come to call…
You have some things to talk to them about.
But, in the mean time, Sunday is only two days away! It is on that day (the Lord’s Day) that we worship the ONE TRUE GOD, in THREE PERSONS….
In His Name we call upon Him, and He saves us, because of Jesus, The Son. Who brings us to THE FATHER, by the Holy Spirit.
Yes, all in the Name of The Father, and of the + Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
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5th Sunday After Holy Trinity – July 5th 2026
Readings –
Old Testament – Jeremiah 16:14-21
Epistle – 1 Peter 3:8-15
Gospel – Matthew 25:14-30
Sermon Theme – NOT A WHISTLEBLOWER, A FAILURE
Based on the Gospel reading – Matthew 25:14-30
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Prayers: For a lasting peace that would be established and would remain between the people of Israel and Gaza as well as for the People of Russia and the Ukraine. For our congregation that it would please our Lord that we would increase in numbers and there remain in this place a congregation that calls upon Him rightly, practicing the faith according to the Scriptures. For those who are being persecuted and murdered because they call upon the name of Jesus—especially in Africa. For the end of violence in our cites and that our schools and congregations would be protected from those who wish them harm. For our families that parents would courageously discipline their children and raise them in the fear of the Lord, teaching them about salvation in Jesus alone.