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"For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached… or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough" (2 Cor. 11:4). Jesus warned his followers to guard against imposters who would come after Him. The following comparisons of the Biblical Jesus with Joseph Smith's Jesus reveals dramatic differences. | The Biblical Jesus | Joseph Smith's Jesus | | Was God: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel - which means, 'God with us' " (Matt. l:23). | Was a saved being: "All will agree in this that he [Jesus] is the prototype or standard of salvation, or in other words that he is a saved being" (Joseph Smith, Lectures of Faith, 7:10k). | | Jesus is the Word: "In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). | Jesus is not the Word: "In the beginning was the gospel… and the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son" (John 1:1 Inspired Version). | | Died for the unrighteous: "For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matt. 9:13). | Killed the unrighteous: When the Book of Mormon Jesus came to the Nephites after atoning for sins, he killed the unrighteous and left only the righteous alive (3 Nephi 4:26-41). . | | Offers salvation as a free gift: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). | Requires works for salvation: "Therefore ye are justified [saved] of faith and works" (Rom. 4:16, Inspired Version). "For it is by Grace you have been saved after all you can do" (2 Nephi 11:44), also see Doc. and Cov. 17:3. | | Shares His role as High Priest with no one: "When Christ came as high priest…He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption" (Heb. 9:11-12). "Because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent [untransferable] priesthood." (Heb. 7:24). | Shares His role as High Priest with many: "Wherefore they shall be high priests who are worthy, and they shall be appointed by the First Presidency" (Doc. and Cov. 68.2). | Conclusion It is clear from the above comparisons that Joseph Smith's Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible. Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes in their book, When Cultists Ask, give this ominous warning: "To die while believing in the Jesus of Mormonism, (or any other cult), is to die believing in a counterfeit Jesus who preaches a counterfeit gospel which yields a counterfeit salvation (which, in fact, is no salvation at all)" (emphasis added). Our prayer for the RLDS is that they will come to understand the nature of the "other Jesus" portrayed in Joseph Smith's teachings, identify him as a counterfeit, refute his "other gospel" and embrace instead the true Jesus of the Bible who graciously offers mankind the free gift of salvation. |
