The Gospel is…

Pastor Matt Chandler explains the Gospel — and why it’s such good news.

About Sharon Lindbloom

Sharon surrendered her life to the Lord Jesus Christ in 1979. Deeply passionate about Truth, Sharon loves serving as a full-time volunteer research associate with Mormonism Research Ministry. Sharon and her husband live in Minnesota.
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10 Responses to The Gospel is…

  1. Mike R says:

    Mormonism’s gospel , when compared to the gospel of salvation that Jesus apostles preached ( Rom 1:16 ; 1Cor 15:1-4 ) , reveals it to be another gospel — Gal 1:8 .

    The true gospel of salvation is : Rom 3:23 ; 5:8,10 ; 6:23 ; 10:13 . That’s it .
    It’s all about Jesus dying for us to pay the penalty for our sins . Bending the knee to Jesus , admitting to Him we are unable to save ourselves by self effort ( merit) , that we don’t deserve eternal life , and then asking Jesus to save us , that results in God accepting us and giving us the gift of eternal life . It’s not about complying with a system of rules to become worthy — Eph 2:8-9 .

    The Mormon gospel : ” The gospel of Jesus Christ is called the plan of salvation . It is a system of rules by complying with which , salvation may be obtained .”
    [ Elder E.F. Parry , in The Scrap Book , cited by former Mormon Carolyn Sexaur in her testimony tract ” My Testimony of the gospel of the grace of God ” ] .

  2. falcon says:

    Mike
    These folks live off of the idea that they have this super special spiritual revelation and that their feelings about it make it true. That’s the simple explanation.
    The problem is that they really don’t look into what they believe settling for explanations from guys they think are apostles and prophets. These men at the top of the pyramid are clueless. They happened to hop a wave and make it into the ruling class of the LDS church. They spout platitudes that sound good but are devoid of anything that approaches salvation as a gift of God secured by faith in Jesus Christ.
    I always say that a couple of clicks with a mouse and those seeking answers will find them. Better yet would be if they read the NT allowing the Holy Spirit to enlighten them.

  3. Mike R says:

    falcon,

    Mormon leaders are not unlike those Jewish leaders in Jesus’ time who enforced a system of rule keeping they had crafted which was amalgamated to God’s Word — Mk 7: 7 . They had added their man made ideas to what God had said . In similar fashion Mormon leaders have strayed , they’ve fashioned a system of rules , regulations, laws , then they call it the gospel . They have added to what Jesus apostles have preached — God’s word . Incredibly the Mormon gospel is supposedly the very same gospel of salvation that Paul preached — “restored” . Through the use of half truths and faulty assumptions Mormons convince people this claim is true .

    In Mormonism a person is a merely a candidate who must do the many rules , laws , which is the Mormon gospel in order to qualify to be worthy enough to receive eternal life down the road .

    The true gospel is so different from that man made system . Sinners are worthy to receive God’s approval for receiving eternal life because they have surrendered to Jesus , it is His worthiness , His righteousness placed on those who have bent the knee to Him which makes them worthy before God enabling Him to give them complete forgiveness and eternal life . Phil 3:9 ; Gal 2:16 ; Rom 3:25-28 .
    After accepting Christ and receiving God’s forgiveness the Holy Spirit then comes to dwell in the now new child of God , and the Christian life begins .

    May the Mormon people come to discover the peace of mind , the lifting of weight from their shoulders that attempts at rule keeping to merit eternal life can produce , and the assurance of pardon because of Jesus’ death and resurrection — personally for them — can bring them when they come to Him and ask for forgiveness and liberty . Gal 2:20; 5:1 ; Heb 7:25

    Mormonism is not the answer , Jesus is .

  4. falcon says:

    What is the LDS gospel?
    It’s pretty simple actually, to articulate, more difficult to accomplish. The LDS church claims to be able to provide a system where by if a person adheres to it faithfully, will result in (that person) becoming a god. The claim is made that there are millions if not billions of gods in the universe, all who use to be men but by fulfilling the works necessary, on another planet, became gods.
    Here’s the interesting thing. I had a young gung ho Mormon tell me that everything they believe is in the Bible. Now that’s a very curious thing. First of all, you can’t find the Mormon gospel in the Bible. Besides that, Mormons claim that the Bible has been corrupted, can’t be trusted and that many plain and precious truths were left out (of the Bible). So, I ask, how can Mormonism be in the Bible when it’s not there and that’s what Mormons teach, except when they don’t.
    Here’s the deal. We don’t get it because we don’t think Mormon. We look at it from the outside and see the thinking process of your average TBM and shake our heads in wonder. Unless a Mormon can break free from the Mormon mind-set and peculiar “logic”, they will remained trapped inside the sect and their eternal salvation remain at risk.

  5. falcon says:

    So the way the gospel of Mormonism works according to the LDS sect is that the person works and if they do all that they can do, then they earn grace. That sort of blows the whole concept of grace out of the water. Grace is “unmerited favor” according to what is revealed in the Bible.

    In Mormonism, grace is extended to the person who has done all of the work they could possibly do to become a god, but fall short. So the Mormon god then jumps in and provides that which is lacking for the faithful Mormon to become a god just like millions if not billions of men previously have done and achieved.

    There is absolutely no resemblance between Christianity, as revealed in the Bible, and that which is “revealed” by Mormon prophets. What Mormon prophets reveal is what happens to be passing through their minds at any given point in time. It can be negated later by subsequent prophets who get what they think are some pretty good ideas.
    Interestingly enough, not all sects of Mormonism lay claim to the same kind of “restored” gospel. In fact Joseph Smith’s initial “revelation” wasn’t a whole lot different than normative Christianity.

  6. Mike R says:

    It appears that in the last few years , especially , some Mormons ( even Missionaries ) when speaking about how a person is saved are sounding little different than what Christians believe , i.e. it’s by faith not works etc . and this has ” snowed ” many of those who listen to them . Consequently Christians can come away thinking that Mormonism , the Mormon gospel , is not much different than what they believe . Make no mistake , the Mormon gospel is one of works , faith is part of it but a lifelong striving to merit/earn eternal life by works is required to make one worthy to receive the gift of eternal life .
    Thankfully , there are ministries like MRM that have the expertise to help non Mormons to see exactly what Mormon leaders have taught about how a person can be saved ( receive eternal life ) so as not to be lulled into thinking the Mormon gospel is the very same one that Jesus’ apostles preached after He sent them out to evangelize the lost — Col 1: 20-23 .

    Mormon leaders have called their gospel a ladder , the rungs represent the rules , regulations , laws a person must do to become worthy and earn eternal life . Mormons attempt to climb this ladder up to heaven where God will then let them His home . Those Mormons who successfully reach the top of the ladder will earned the highest reward from God — Godhood .
    [ the Mormon gospel a ladder — see Mormon leader George Q. Cannon , in Gospel Truth , v 1 p. 171 ]

    Truly, the gospel of salvation that Mormon leaders introduced upon their arrival on the American landscape is a classic example of what Paul warned about in Gal 1:8 , and this warning by Paul is especially relevant in the latter days .

    May the Mormon people take time to test their prophets as the Apostle John advised was necessary to evaluate any new prophets and their message — 1 Jn 4:1 . This is a very serious issue , and LDS need to know that their spiritual welfare is at stake .
    We pray for them to make time for a serious evaluation of their prophets .

  7. falcon says:

    Mike
    I didn’t realize that the MM were trying that obvious deception. Why do they do that? What’s the point of saying they have a restored gospel and then make it sound like normative Christianity? Oh I get it. It’s called deception. In Mormonism it’s called “lying for the Lord”. So they tell their prospects that the LDS church believes that men are saved by faith. That’s like the young Mormon man who told me that everything the LDS bunch believes is in the Bible. Sorry but they’re a bunch of lying snakes and they need to be called on this.

  8. Mike R says:

    falcon,

    A lady from my church relayed her brief discussion she had with 2 Missionaries on the street in her neighborhood . She told them they believed in salvation by works , to which one of them replied that they believed salvation is not by works . This appears close to the way some Mormons in recent years seem to be downplaying works when talking to Christians . I doubt this is wide spread but it pays to be ready for it etc .

  9. falcon says:

    I had a Muslim student of mine tell me that an LDS missionary told him that he’d be able to practice polygamy if he joined the Mormon team. This isn’t something that the young man would have made up. I think for some MM it’s anything to get a sale.

    Interesting interview with Michael Quinn:

    This period of tremendous growth, coupled with missionary abuses because of the pressures put on them, was happening during the period basically from about 1953 to 1960, and it was happening throughout the world. …
    One of my missionary friends in England came to me one time when I was talking negatively about baseball baptisms, and he said, “Well, you know, I’m a baseball baptism. But,” he said, “in Louisiana we called it beach baptisms.” …
    The missionaries would come to them in these backcountry areas and say: “We’ll take you to the ocean. You’ve never seen the ocean before. The LDS Church will pay for us to take you to the ocean so you can have a beach trip. Tell all your friends above the age of 8 to come on this trip.” They’d hire these buses, and they would drive the hours necessary to get from the hills of Mississippi or Alabama or Louisiana down to the beaches. Then when they were down into the beaches, these missionaries would dunk these kids into the surf, and the kids thought they were just playing. Then the missionaries would be writing down names and keeping records, and as the kids were going back during the several-hour trip, then the missionaries were talking about religion, and they found out that they were members of the church. …

    http://www.pbs.org/mormons/interviews/quinn.html

    The mission presidents were in competition with each mission to get the highest numbers of mission baptisms. Then every missionary within a mission was put under this kind of pressure, and it resulted in these worldwide abuses. …

  10. falcon says:

    From the same article cited above:

    The president of the church, David O. McKay, sent over someone who was known as a troubleshooter in the LDS Church, an apostle named Mark E. Peterson, and he was given a responsibility over all of the missionary work in the British Isles, as well as the western part of France, Belgium and the Netherlands. He began to investigate what had happened. …
    As a missionary I went around and had lists of nonparticipating members given to me by the branch presidents or the bishops. We would go out and knock on doors and contact these people. I found kids who in some cases had joined just because they liked the missionaries, and they knew they were joining a church, but they weren’t that interested in the church. … I found others of these teenage boys, some of them only 12 and 13 years of age, who had been baptized five years or more before, and they didn’t even know that they were members of a church. They thought they’d been initiated into a baseball club.
    I found some of them who, I asked them what their ages were, and they had been baptized when they were 6 or 7 years of age, which is illegal under Mormon regulations of baptism. It has to be the age of 8. The missionaries had forged their birth dates. … It was a very depressing kind of experience. …
    The second stage of this process was to excommunicate or to fellowship, to bring into activity those who were interested in doing so, and for those who were not, for them to be excommunicated.
    It turned out that I was assigned to be a branch president. … I was 20 years old, and I was a branch president … over a branch that had collapsed. There were 125 members of the branch; there were three or four active members of the LDS Church. I was facing the prospect of excommunicating more than 100 people from the LDS Church, and I’d only baptized four.

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