After Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormonism, what apologetics issues should the John Ankerberg Show air next?

Watch below for a special message to Christians from Dr. John Ankerberg.

Is the Old Testament as equally important for Christians as the New Testament?

Should Christians still observe the Sabbath today?

The Book of Mormon teaches a gospel totally contrary to the one taught in the New Testament, e.g., “we are saved by grace after all we can do.” The Jesus of the Book of Mormon does not offer salvation as a free gift, but only after we have worked for it. The Book of Mormon also teaches that the Bible has been corrupted and changed so that the true gospel of Jesus Christ (i.e. the Mormon gospel) has been lost from it. Matt 24:24 tells us that there will be false christs and false prophets in the last days. The Jesus of Mormonism is a false christ. According to Joseph Smith, Jesus and God the Father appeared to him personally and told him that all of the Christian sects were an abomination in their sight and that he was to restore the true church to the earth. This implies that any Bible-based Christian church is contrary to the teachings of Mormonism, hence, a different gospel. In recent years, the Mormon Church has made an effort to appear more mainstream and garner acceptance among mainstream Christianity. Google the media campaign “I am Mormon.” This is part of an effort to convert more people to their religion. They will say, “We believe in Jesus the same as you! And we believe in the Bible!” This is extremely misleading in light of their belief in the fallibility of the Bible and the gospel of Jesus Christ found therein.

As far as Mormonism’s teachings about angels, Mormons believe that angels are simply resurrected humans and not a different species of creation. None of this is found in the Bible, of course, but stems from Mormon scripture alone. This theology denies the pre-earth Divinity of Jesus as God from eternity to eternity. As Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58). Jesus knew He was God, and that He was the Only Begotten of the Father, and the Bible makes that very clear—not that He was our (or Satan’s) spiritual brother before this life.

First, you have not said what you have already discussed with your cousin and what you have agreed to disagree about. We’ve seen different results, having used a particular approach or another with Mormons in the past. Some things may be effective in reaching one Mormon, while those same things could do no good for another. We think the most important thing to do is to stay in the Word of God with your approach. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). With that said, some Mormons may need their Mormon foundation cracked before they even see a need to seek out biblical truths (this could include asking them questions about their own church history, past LDS prophets’ quotes that are extreme, etc.).

We would suggest that you not assume what your cousin does or does not believe based on LDS theology alone. Each Mormon may have her own understanding of and spin on Mormonism that you ought to first understand. So, listening carefully is important. Once you understand what this she believes and how she understands her doctrine, then you can assess what needs to be addressed in order for her to know and understand the True Gospel. And, of course, prayer is critical so the Holy Spirit can lead you. My own Christian mother likely prayed for me for many years before I left Mormonism.

A potentially effective approach with Mormons could be asking them: Are you forgiven? Do you have the assurance of the forgiveness of all your sins? What do you have to do to be forgiven of all your sins you have committed and may commit in the future? Show how for Christians, we have forgiveness, eternal security, assurance of salvation based on faith in Jesus alone and not based on our performance. Explain how “God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14). Explain that we are forgiven—past, present, and future—of all of our sins because of our faith in Jesus’ name. Explain how forgiveness of sins is salvation. Just a word of advice: when using the Christian term “salvation,” make sure the Mormon understands that you mean eternal life—living with “Heavenly Father” (as they say) forever. This is an important detail to distinguish, as they believe their LDS laws, works, and ordinances attribute to them being able to live with Heavenly Father forever. The term salvation to a Mormon may merely mean physical resurrection, so make sure when you use the term salvation—equate it with their term “exaltation,” and when you say heaven, equate it with their term “celestial kingdom.” May God bless you in your efforts and certainly reach out on Facebook or the Web for ministries that can help!

That is a great question. It is our prayer that Christians who know the Word will take the opportunity to invite the Mormon missionaries into their homes and witness to their LDS, family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. You could be their only touch with biblical Christianity and the truth of the Gospel. There are some great websites to equip you but it does take some study and we suggest ordering the John Ankerberg materials or contacting ministries on the web or on Facebook to get more information.

www.adamsroadband.com
www.exmormonchristiansunited.com
www.utlm.org
www.mrm.org
www.TILM.org

We believe that the problem with witnessing to Mormons is that Christians are misled into thinking Mormons are Christians, since Mormons use the same vocabulary as Christians. However, this vocabulary has a very different meaning to Mormons than to Christians. It is not the same gospel. Many Mormons have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge (Romans 10:2). We as Christians have the knowledge of the truth. We pray we do not lack the zeal to share the truth. Ours is a much bigger God than the God of Mormonism. As a Christian pastor once told us, Biggie Size your God! Believe He will help you teach Mormons the truth.