Heart of the Matter: Precursor to Polygamy II

LIVE! From the “Mecca of Mormonism” in Salt Lake City, Utah – THIS . . . is Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology. . . . “Where Mormonism Meets Biblical Christianity Face to Face.”

Event Announcements

And I’m Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion., your host. If you have family or friends who cannot get Heart through television give them a call and tell them to go to WWW.HOTM.TV. Our streaming video has been enhanced thanks to one Andy C, so we invite you to invite others outside Utah and Idaho to watch online from anywhere in the world!

We’ve also tried to streamline and improve “I was a Born-Again Mormon” for your convenience, cost and use. Therefore, it is now available online through a downloadable PDF. If you can contribute something for it, you are able. If you can’t afford to pay anything but just want to read it, download it right there! Go to www.hotm.tv and you can have the book in your hands within minutes. If you prefer a bound copy, we're working on it.

Hey, we meet twice every Sunday to study the Bible verse by verseTGNN’s Bible teaching series—book-by-book, through the lens of fulfillment and spiritual liberty.. Once at the U of U and once in Logan at Utah State. I have the honor to lead both studies. Come join us! Go to www.calvarycampus.com. Everyone is invited. It is a fantastic way to arm yourself with the truth and against the lies of this world.

The Grey Generation

Alright, if you are a teenager, if you know or own a teenager, we need your help desperately. On Saturday, August 1st, we are filming the introduction to a new television program for teens at West High School on 3rd West in North SLC. This introduction will play at the beginning of every show so by participating you have the chance of people seeing you every week of the year on television. It’s a half-day commitment from 8 am till 3 pm and we will provide lunch. Come wearing only black, grey, white or a combination of these hues. Bring your backpacks, skateboards, water bottles for authenticity's sake.

The Show that’s in development is called The Grey Generation, and it will be a live, multi-media call or text-in show that will provide alternative answers to problems that plague teens today. We hope to take it national. We need 250 teenagers to be in this film shoot. So not only do we need you to show up, we need you to bring your friends. Saturday, August 1st, at West High School in North Salt Lake City. Please join us to make this happen. Go to www.thegraygeneration.tv for more information. We need the entire Christian community of Utah to come together on this one by delivering your teens on August 1st to West High School in Salt Lake City.

And remember, mark thy calendars, friends, for Burning Heart 09: The Big Tent Revival. Bands (including Adams Road from Florida) and some local talent will be there to inspire you. Box lunches from Subway will be available along with cotton candy, popcorn, inflated things for the kids, and booths for the adults. Then we'll head inside a giant tent for the BIG TENT REVIVAL where I am gonna preach and teach a message of salvation. This event is certainly to fellowship, but we hope those of you who cannot say that you have been saved – Mormon, non-Mormon, we don’t care – come join us and give Jesus a chance.

When: Saturday, Sept 5th 2009
Where: Sugarhouse Park
Time: 5 to 8 pm
Who: Everyone but disruptors, assassins . . . and white men dressed as Indians.
Why: Worship, gather, meet and greet and say goodbye to summer.

Burning Heart 09: The Big Tent Revival
Saturday, September 5th, 5-8 pm.

Message of Hope

Finally, is it ever too late to discover the truth. We received word the other day that an 87-year-old LDS woman started watching Heart of the Matter last year. A few weeks ago, she received in her precious life but aged body the Lord Jesus Christ. You are never too old, never too sinful, never too far gone, and never too good to receive Jesus and have Him dwell in you. For the LDS, this is a phrase they never hear – Jesus dwelling in them – but it is certainly biblical. In John 14:23 Jesus said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”

Has God made His abode with you? Can you say unequivocally that God dwells in you? Let me tell you something, people often ask: How do you know that you are born again?

The Presence of Jesus Within

You know you are born again because you have an alien to your flesh living in you – Jesus – God – The Holy Spirit. He makes His home IN you, abides IN you, dwells IN you. As humans, we are VERY well aware that something foreign is in us. I mean, we can tell we have an apple in us once we eat it. So when God moves in, it is undeniable.

Jesus said in John

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.”

Can you say Jesus abides IN you? If you can’t, why not? What is stopping Him from moving in and taking up residence? It’s NOT your sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. – because we all sin. And His abiding is NOT predicated on your righteousness. So why hasn’t He moved into you? Could it be He hasn’t been invited? Could it be He isn’t welcomed? Could it be because you don’t really want Him? If you want Him in, ask Him.

Oh, and I know. Especially the LDS. There is this false notion that Jesus cannot dwell in your body. This is a sectarian lie. He can, He does, and He will continue to dwell in them that receive Him.

Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:14:

Eph 3:14 ¶ For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”

Let me tell you, my friends, once Jesus dwells in you, makes His abode in you, you will not only know it, you will see the ridiculousness of most things this world proposes – when materially, religiously, or philosophically. Go to Him. Invite Him in.

And with that, let’s have a prayer.

PRAYER PRAYER PRAYER

PRAYER PRAYER PRAYER

Examination of Mormon Polygamy

We are embarking on an examination of Mormon polygamy and tonight I want to try and lay out what helps justify the doctrine in the minds of the LDS faithful. Now some of these concepts are a bit deep but they are necessary to hear in order to really grasp the LDS world view.

Last week I mentioned two ways human beings approach the origins of matter – or things that we can see, touch, smell, and otherwise somehow identify. There are those who believe that all matter, at some point, was created out of nothing by God. Or, there are those who believe that matter has always existed, that it pre-dates even God, and that even God cannot create matter out of nothing.

The Creation and Existence of Matter

Now listen closely: These are ultimately our only two options – matter was either created from nothing OR matter has always existed. Got that down? Christians embrace the former but Latter-day Saint doctrine teaches the latter. Why?

Christians embrace the biblical account that states “In the beginning, God . . .” When we read beginning, we believe the beginning. Christians also embrace that “All things – ALL things – were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.” We do not extend any belief beyond this. We believe God created all matter.

But in Mormonism, Joseph Smith taught the latter concept – that matter has always existed.

Materialism in Mormon Doctrine

Hang with me now because individually these concepts are radical at best (relative to the biblical perspective) but taken together we hold in our hands one of the most humanistic – even materialistic – world views imaginable. Ready?

The first thing Joseph Smith taught was that everything that could be considered real is material.

Doctrine and Covenants 141:7-8 states: “There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes.”

Mormon doctrine wholly rejects any form of immateriality as being real. There are no invisible, non-material spirits in Mormonism. No non-material anything, anywhere, at anytime. All things – everything seen and unseen, in Mormonism is material.

The LDS Perspective on Material Existence

Mormonism teaches that everything in existence is constructed of material, and the material of all things has always existed and was never created. Mormon doctrine asserts that anything not material cannot be considered "real," and for something to be considered real, it must be made of matter. Early LDS apostle, scientist, and intellectual Parley P. Pratt stated: “Nothing exists which is not material. The elementary principles of the material universe are eternal; they never originated from non-entity, and they never can be annihilated. Immateriality is but another name for nonentity.” Along with this concept is the LDS idea that material has always existed and cannot be created or destroyed. In Mormon doctrine, everything that exists is constructed of matter, including God, the holy Spirit, angels, rocks, and human beings, and this matter could not be created and can not ever be destroyed.

Now, just to let you in on a little argument that calls this position into question, if something must be made of matter in Mormonism to be considered real, what do they say memories, dreams, and thoughts are?

The Progression of Matter

From this philosophical approach to matter, Mormonism then steps forward and says—through its teachings—that the purpose of all this self-existent matter is to advance, to become more purposeful, to grow in strength, glory, and power. Given this, even God, who has always materially existed, has progressed to the point where He became God. You and I, who have always existed, have progressed to the point where we took on bodies of flesh and bone to house our spirit bodies (which are also material). From the LDS perspective, there is a material progression expected from the material universe. Matter is not meant to be stagnant or inert, but to progress, refine, and become more and more enlightened.

God, always in the form of matter, progressed to the point where He became God. And you and I—created in His image—also have the opportunity to progress to the point in our material state where we can become advanced, refined—a god. The trek goes on and on, eternally as we gather uncreated matter, form it into spirits, and create more worlds.

Eternal Laws and Principles

Matter is the first segment that needs to be understood when trying to comprehend the LDS belief in plural marriage. The second segment has to do with eternal laws and principles. At the very center of Mormon theology is the belief that any law and/or principle (that can be considered good) is also self-existent—meaning it has no creator, including God—and has always existed in the exact same condition, meaning that it is immutable. It never changes over eons and eons of time. Additionally, Mormonism teaches that any law or principle that is temporary or has evolved from an original or mutable source must be considered evil.

Joseph Smith said, “Every principle proceeding from God is eternal, and any principle which is not eternal is of the devil . . . the first step in the salvation of man is the laws of eternal and self-existent principles.” Self-existent principles are principles that were not created, have no beginning or end, never change, and have eternally existed on their own, by themselves, without a creator or an original source. Bottom line, Latter-day Saint doctrine teaches that eternal laws and principles existed even before God, meaning that even laws and principles define, govern, and supersede God and His will and ways.

To Mormons, everything real is made of matter that has always existed and was never created. The ultimate purpose of all matter is to fulfill its potential. Human beings fulfill their potential by being obedient to eternally existing laws and principles which even God didn’t create (but is also subject to)! By obeying these eternally existing laws, human beings will ultimately progress in glory to the point of becoming a god. There are blessings with obedience to these laws and cursings associated with disobedience to them. There are a number of scriptural passages in LDS canon that support this idea: “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundation of the world, upon which all blessings are predicated. And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it was.”

The Eternal Laws in LDS Doctrine

Doctrine and Covenants 82:10 alludes to even God being bound by these eternal laws when it states:

“I the Lord am BOUND when you do what I say, but when you do not what I say, ye have no promise.”

(I don’t think there are more pernicious doctrines in the LDS doctrine and covenants than this.)

Obedience and Blessings

According to basic Mormon doctrine, every uncreated, eternally existing law has a blessing connected to it. If a soul obeys the eternal law, God responds by blessing that individual. He is bound to. And although the blessings come “from God,” or “through God,” it is obedience to that uncreated, eternal law that the person is rewarded, not because God chooses to bless or not bless the soul out of His own will or desire.

One of the eternal laws and principles of Mormonism is the eternal law of celestial marriage. In order for material human beings to progress toward fulfilling their full potential, they must be sealed for time and all eternity (this occurs in their temples) to their mate.

Before the earth was formed, God – a man who progressed by obedience to eternal laws and principles – took eternally existing spirit matter, and with his wife (known as Mother in Heaven – and was later known as one of the Father’s wives in heaven) and created spirit children from that matter. Of those children, which included you and I, there were many bright creations including Jesus, Lucifer, Abraham, etc. So there we all were – spirit children – gathered around the throne of our Heavenly Father and His wives.

Now Heavenly Father and His wives all had physical bodies, (remember, because they had progressed to this point by obedience) and all of us spirit kids desired to get one too, so He created earth and a plan – which was that all of us pre-mortal life spirits could come down to earth, receive physical bodies, progress through trials and tests, and if found obedient to the self-existent eternal laws and principles, (which included celestial marriage), we could return to our heavenly parents and someday become gods too.

The Pre-Mortal Plan

Now this plan was presented by the Father and Lucifer said, “No, no, no. I don’t like it. I will go down and force everyone to obey, and I will bring them all back to you, Father. But if I do this for you, give me all the glory.” Well, God said, “Sorry Lucifer, everyone must choose to obey these laws and principles freely or it is all meaningless.”

Then Jesus came forth and said, “I will go down and offer my life for all those who sin, and therefore make it possible for those who blow it to repent and then return to you.” And God respected this offer. This made Lucifer angry and a war broke out in heaven in which Lucifer, who became Satan, was cast out of heaven with 1/3 of the other pre-mortal children of God the father and heavenly mother. And where did they go? Down here on earth to test and try and get all of us who accepted God’s plan to fail.

Now back up in the pre-mortal existence, every single person who has ever been or who will ever be born on earth, had made the decision to go with God’s plan. And while there, some of us spent our time “progressing, refining, and becoming more enlightened” in this non-flesh state. Those who progressed best came to earth most blessed. Those who squandered their time there, came to earth in less fortuitous conditions.

Latter-day Saints have long emphasized that the most valiant of the pre-existence (you know, those who obeyed the laws and principles most exactly) are born into the LDS faith. It has also long been intimated that those who are born into prominent LDS families were likewise the most faithful in the pre-mortal state. It’s all about progression through obedience and advancement through personal growth. This lays out the basis for the LDS idea of the pre-mortal existence.

Christian Perspective

What do the Christians have to say about it all? The Bible is clear when it states that God is the first, the last, the Alpha and the Omega. It is clear when it states that He is the creator of all things (as we read). The Bible is clear that there is only one human being that has a pre-mortal…

The Teachings of Jesus

Remember He said to the people: “I am from above, you are from beneath. You are of this world, I am not of this world.” He also said, “Nobody had ever seen the Father at any time.”

Where Joseph Smith re-placed the Word with a myth, and made angels pre-incarnate or post-incarnate men without wings, the Bible is clear that angels are created beings fitted for the service of heaven, no different creatively than a hippo is created for jungle waters and birds for the air. Where the LDS claim to be the children of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, (or mothers) the Bible makes it perfectly clear that we are not His children until we have been born-again. We are ONLY his creations, formed from the dust.

Biblical Perspective on Sonship

Remember John 1:12-13 says:

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Here are some differences that come immediately to mind between Mormonism and Christianity. But more to the point, these unique LDS teachings about matter, laws, and pre-existence set the stage for Joseph ultimately introducing the doctrine of plural marriage. We’ll continue on this next week.

Call for Participation

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

First time callers preferably. LDS callers too. Have question ready. Send your question or message in without having to come on the air.

Conclusion

Remember, if Mormonism it true, then the Bible is full of mistakes and lies. You choose. See you next week.

Brigham H. Roberts, The Mormon Doctrine of Deity: The Roberts-Van der Donckt Discussion Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998, p. 255, quoting, Parley P. Pratt.

Joseph Fielding Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. p. 181; emphasis mine.