Examination of a Common LDS Phrase

"By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them"

LIVE! From the “Mecca of Mormonism,” SALT LAKE CITY! This is Heart of the Matter… “Where Mormonism meets Biblical Christianity Face to Face.” 33 Seventeen Points XV By Their Fruits – Part I

And I’m your host, Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion..

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Contextual Understanding of Scriptural Passages

Aside from the phrase, “I know” there is perhaps no more-oft used line among the LDS people – especially by those seeking to promote Mormonism as the “true Church” – than the partially quoted passage: “By their fruits ye shall know them.”

Based on the amount of times the LDS use this phrase with me it seems they are generally quite confident that they lead the religious world in “good fruit” or works. LDS Apologists, Mormon missionaries, parents, and Seminary teachers the world over use this phrase when defending the false notion that Mormonism is “true” – even “the only True Church on the face of the earth.”

(ROLE PLAYING) “How do I know that the Church is true?” a missionary might rhetorically ask an investigator, “Well, didn’t Jesus say, “By their fruits ye will know them? Now just take a look at our fruits!”

This statement – “By their fruits ye shall know them” – is the seventeenth point presented in “The Seventeen Points of the True Church” pamphlet used around the world. Tonight we are going to embark on the first of a three-part series relating exclusively to the phrase, its meaning, and how it will do more to prove Mormonism false than true.

Analyzing the Scriptural Context

There are two MAJOR issues relative. Let’s begin by looking at the context of these words of the Lord’s that they use: “By their fruits ye shall know them.” The line is found only in one place in the Bible – Matthew chapter seven. Elements related to fruit-bearing are far more abundant in scripture, but these words are only found in the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. Here we run into our first problem with the LDS use of the phrase because they don’t quote the whole verse!

They only quote seven words from the verse… and there are eight! The passage actually has Jesus say: “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Now in scripture, whenever there is a “wherefore,” we need to ask: “Wherefore is that wherefore therefore.” Or WHY is there a “wherefore” used here?

There is a “wherefore” here because Jesus is teaching a principle and he concludes teaching this principle by telling the disciples that “you can be assured” that by THEIR fruits ye shall know THEM.” Who is the “their” in “by their fruits” the Lord is speaking about? Who is the “them” that we can know them?

Is it a church Jesus speaks about? Wherefore, by a church's fruits ye shall know them? No, it’s not. Is it an organized religion he is speaking about? Nay, nay, said the horse. No, it is a very specific person-type Jesus says that by looking at their fruits we can know them… and that person is someone who claims to be a prophet.

The teaching, in context, is only seven verses long! Let’s read it in context. Ready?

15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits.

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good

Fruits and Prophets

The fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

20 Wherefore by their fruits (meaning the fruits of people who call themselves prophets) ye shall know them (meaning the prophets themselves).

So what are the fruits Joseph Smith introduced to the world? Were they fruits that were produced from Jesus Christ Himself and have they continued forward to this day, growing sweeter and sweeter with time? How have the fruits Joseph presented to the world as being from God influenced the LDS Church and its members today? We’ll discuss these fruits specifically and in detail next week, then the following week we’ll discuss what the nine spiritual fruits are of those individuals who truly are tapped into the vine called Jesus.

Let’s open up the phones: (801) 973-TV20 (801) 973-8820

Warning Against False Prophets

First the Lord warns the disciples – and then us through His Word – to BEWARE of false prophets. Then He tells us how to tell if a person is a false or true prophet. Now this is not new. He did the same thing for the Children of Israel in Deuteronomy:

Listen!

Deut 22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

Deuteronomy 13:1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

So here Jesus expands on how to tell if a self-proclaimed prophet is true or not, and He says.

(Verse 16)

Then He says something which truly gives meaning and depth to this specific teaching and principle.

He says:

A better way to understand this would be to say:

Do men gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles?

Identifying Good and Bad Fruit

What He is teaching is that certain fruit comes from certain trees. A good tree can only produce good fruit and a bad tree can only produce bad fruit. In other words, no tree produces both good and bad or this would render His teaching faulty.

This is an important key that is often misunderstood: A tree cannot produce good and bad fruit (and when we speak of fruit being good and bad we are speaking of types of so-called fruit not the condition of the fruit itself). A banana is good fruit. A poison bug-ball is bad fruit.

In other words, an apple tree cannot produce poison orb fruit. It can only produce apples. So the connection is if the tree produces a useful or edible fruit, it is a good tree, but if a tree produces an unusable fruit it is bad. By these fruits you will know what kind of tree (or prophet) it is. Get it?

Jesus continues, supporting this idea:

So here, speaking of how to detect a false prophet, Jesus says a false prophet cannot produce good fruit. He also says that neither can a true prophet produce bad fruit. So we are faced with a mind-blowing either/or in light of this: Either all the fruit produced by Joseph Smith is good fruit OR nothing produced by Joseph Smith can be considered good fruit. Get it?

The Eternal Perspective on Fruit

You see, God knows that anything that is produced which does not proceed from Him and His will is bad fruit – even if it seems to serve humanity or feed the poor or give people jobs. His view is on the eternal life of man, not on the temporal needs – though the temporal needs are important to Him. But better to starve physically with a true idea of God than starve spiritually with a belly full of food.

We can not say, and be in accordance with God’s ways, that some things an evil despot does are good because in the end, they will lead or contribute to something bad. It’s sort of like donating money to the KKK because they are hosting a blood drive for senior citizens.

Now, admittedly, I’ve had to repent on this issue. Change my mind. I used to be of the opinion that “Well, this Godless institution or that humanitarian philosophy does certainly do some good here on earth so while I don’t agree with their ideologies I really like…

Wrong Fruit

Their bake sales.

But now, relative to God’s Word, I see I was wrong. Because the “some good” they appear to do in the end leads to ways that are not of God – therefore all that they do is bad! This is why people boycott certain corporations who provide good products but are unconscionable in the manufacturing of them. God is no different!

Remember what Jesus said in John 15:

John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

He says, “I could give a rat’s rear end if you feed the poor, if your feeding the poor gets them to embrace a false notion of who I am!” Get it? A tree cannot produce both Granny Smith apples and disease-laden apples and be considered good. This is not what the teaching suggests.

So where I used to say Mormonism does “a lot of good in the world,” I am now of the opinion that relative to God’s perspective all the good they actually do contributes to leading people from Him – because of Joseph’s teachings – and that can only be bad.

So Jesus continues. Again, a tree that does not produce good fruit is a tree that only produces bad fruit. There is no in-between. And then He concludes:

Issues with Interpretation

Here lies some of the issues with the LDS application of this verse: It is not quoted completely. It is stated out of context. It refers to prophets false or true and not to the “works of a church or its people.” It puts their founding prophet – who provided the majority of the LDS doctrinal fruits – on the stand for trial. Finally, it strongly suggests that if any of the fruit on the LDS tree can be considered bad, then all of it is bad.

A second way the Lord uses fruits in scripture is when He speaks of the “spiritual developments or fruits” which flow from INDIVIDUAL Christians who are being sanctified by exposure to the spirit. We will talk about these nine specific fruits in the lives of Christians in a week or two. But again, the Word does not speak of the collective spiritual fruits of a particular church or denomination, but rather it always speaks of the fruits of the spirit that are present in individual believers.

The True Church

Why this is important is that it shows that the Church of Jesus Christ is made up of individual believers from all denominations and NOT a “true Church.” So where members of the LDS church attempt to say, “Look at the fruits of our Church,” that is not scriptural. To say, “look at the fruits of this believer or that believer,” is!

The very notion that God has one true Church on the face of this earth which is confined to a specific denomination or sect or institution insipidly places the works or fruits of the institution above the spiritually generated fruits of the individual believer . . . and that is wrong.

Now, in the end, Mormonism would love to portray that idea that everything Joseph Smith introduced to the world was a “good fruit.” If they suggested otherwise, or admitted that some of the things he taught were wrong, they would have to admit – in light of this passage – that he was false throughout.

This is why they will not rescind the doctrine on polygamy or the teachings on blood atonement. To admit Joseph was wrong on one thing, would be to admit he was false on everything. LDS defenders cry that Joseph was “just a man,” and that he did things “good and bad” – like all men – and they claim to accept the good and leave the bad behind.

Had Joseph not invoked the name of God in some of his “bad practices” I might agree. Had he said, “We’ll I think polygamy is in the Bible and allowed or I think God the Father might have a body” we would have a lot more patience with Him – but He said GOD said these things or showed him these things! He said, “Thus saith the Lord,” all over the place to present a plethora of absolute lies! And this places him squarely on the stand to be judged of whether all his fruits were good – or if they were bad.

Invitation to Weekly Worship

Hey, we’d love for you to join us on any given Sunday for prayer, worship, and studying the Word. Go to www.lordsword.org for times and directions of services.

Until we meet again, God bless, and we’ll see you next week here on Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology.!