Journal of Discourses 4:1; “I have learned by experience that there is but one God that pertains to this people, and He is the God that pertains to this earth-the first man. That first man sent his own Son to redeem the world, to redeem his brethren; his life was taken, his blood shed, that our sins might be remitted. That Son called twelve men and ordained them to be Apostles, and when he departed the keys of the kingdom were deposited with three of those twelve, viz.: Peter, James, and John. Peter held the keys pertaining to that Presidency, and he was the head.” – Heber Chase Kimball, Salt Lake Territory, June 29, 1856
John 16:13; “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”
I am SO grateful for Jesus words in John chapters 14-16. I can’t count the number of times I’ve used that passage to bring me comfort and reassurance in what I’m supposed to do and watch out for.
This passage of scripture is filled with relational language and comes smack in the middle of Jesus’ farewell discourse comprising chapters 13-17. The three chapters in John 14-16 comprise the teachings of the Trinity, of this there is no doubt. It speaks to the relationship between the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and does so more than any other passage of scripture in the whole Bible. Chapter 17 (Jesus’ high priestly prayer) is spoken to the Father and implies the relationship and workings of the Trinity has already been disclosed to the disciples.
This particular verse (John 16:13) tells me that Mormons don’t rely on the Spirit of Truth which in fact is the Holy Spirit. If they did rely on the Bible, LDS teachings like the one we’ve used today wouldn’t have happened. Mormonism falls into the category of the pseudo-Christian cults because of their denial in accepting this large passage mentioned today in John 13-17.
We’ve looked at the Mormon teachings of the Adam-god theory as well as the teaching about who the god of this earth is. Somehow Heber Kimball rolled the god of this earth, Adam and Jesus all into one person/being. Sigh…
Other significant facts we also know about the God of the Bible is that He isn’t a god of confusion – 1 Cor 14:33; He’s never been man – Numbers 23:19; He doesn’t change – Malachi 3:6 and He (Jesus) was/is without sin – 2 Cor 5:21.
If Adam sinned and Jesus didn’t then how could they be the same person?
And for the record, the keys of the kingdom are held by everyone calling themselves Christian. We all hold the power to preach, share the gospel and in fact we’re all members of a royal priesthood as Peter told us in his first epistle – 1 Peter 2:9.
Though all Mormon dilemmas are terrible, that particular blasphemy is like a knife in my heart.