Hello, and welcome everyone! My name is Danny. I was an active Latter-day Saint for 60 years. When it comes to Mormonism and Christianity, there is a huge distinction surrounding the doctrine of faith-based salvation and works-based salvation. When I was LDS, attending Primary up through age 11, we were required to memorize the 13 Articles of Faith, written by Joseph Smith in 1842. The Articles of Faith are a list of short summary statements of what Latter-day Saints believe. I’d like to focus today on the 3rd Article of Faith, which states “We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.” Let’s break this down. What does Joseph Smith mean by “may be saved?” He is claiming that salvation is conditional. “All mankind may be saved” conditioned upon what? - “obedience” – “obedience to laws and ordinances of the LDS gospel.” What does “obedience” mean to a Latter-day Saint? And which specific “laws and ordinances” are required for their obedience? It is taught in Mormonism that – “obedience” is the first law of heaven. So, according to Joseph Smith in the Third Article of Faith – salvation hinges on obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Mormon gospel. Let’s consider “laws” for a moment. If there was a law put in place, like a speed limit for example - what happens when you violate or break that speeding law? (Punishment is enforced and you get fined for violating the law.) If you were on a road WITHOUT a speed limit and you were driving 120 miles an hour - is it possible to be in violation of speeding? (No, because there was no law in place). So, can we agree that without a law or any speed limit signs - there is no knowledge of violating or transgressing the law? Interestingly, the Bible has a lot to say about the law? Not in respect to speeding, of course - but about moral and spiritual laws of God. Romans 3:20 “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” What does Paul mean – by the deeds of law no one can be justified before God? (It means that to be justified is an act of God whereby He pronounces a sinner to be righteous, because of that sinner’s faith in Christ. You see - no person can be justified or made right with God by simply keeping God’s laws.) And what does it mean – “The law is the knowledge of sin?” (It means: Law produces awareness of sin.) In other words, where there is no law or command - there is no awareness or knowledge of sin or transgression of a law - like posting or not posting, a speeding law. Paul taught, Romans 4:15 “for where no law is, there is no transgression.” No law - no sin. So, in a religious church setting, how does imposing laws on its members make those members - sinners? It makes them feel guilty when they can’t keep the laws. It might cause them to feel proud, when they think they are keeping laws. It might encourage them to judge others, who can’t or won’t keep the laws. It makes them a hypocrite if they pretend to keep the laws. One way or another, laws cause church members to be sinners. Paul taught in, 1 Corinthians 15:56 “the strength of sin is the law.” See how that works? Now, here is what Yeshua said that He came to do. Matthew 5:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” Jesus fulfilled every law and prophet - and did so perfectly. Why? Because we could not! He did it for us, on our behalf. The Mosaic Law of the Old Covenant was God’s first covenant that He made with the nation of Israel. It was given about 1500 BC. and it came with a built-in expiration date - being fulfilled as it was through Jesus Christ and His New Covenant. It states in, Hebrews 8:13 “In that he saith, A new covenant, he (Yeshua) hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” What was vanishing away? The Old Covenant of laws – and ordinances, along with the priesthood. In living a perfect life, Yeshua fulfilled the moral laws. And in His sacrificial death, Yeshua fulfilled the ceremonial laws of the temple. He came to finish the Old Covenant and establish a New Covenant. In His fulfilling of the Laws and Prophets, Yeshua obtained our eternal salvation. All we must do now is trust and believe in Yeshua’s finished work for our salvation to have eternal life with Him. Yeshua fulfilled the whole Law and now grants to us His righteousness as a free gift. How wonderful is that? It is beautifully stated in, Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” By grace you are saved through faith – not by keeping laws and performing ordinances. It is a gift of God and gifts don’t come with conditions. If they came with conditions, you would probably resent both the gift and the giver of the gift. But there are no strings attached with God – we only must accept His gift. Paul wrote in, Romans 11:6 “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace.” Listen to how clearly it is explained in, Galatians 2:16 “Know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So, we too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.” Pretty apparent, don’t you think? Again in, Titus 3:4-7 “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Now, what about those “ordinances?” What did Yeshua do about them? We read in the New Testament that temple ordinances were eliminated. Speaking of Yeshua’s atonement, Ephesians 2:15 “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.” Paul wrote in, Colossians 2:13-15 “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” The law and ordinances that Christ fulfilled were nailed to the cross with Him. When Yeshua exclaimed from the cross, “It is finished!” (John 19:30), He was announcing that His work to redeem the world from sin was completed - followed by His resurrection. The Lamb of God was the final sacrifice under the law - forever ending laws, temple rituals, and the priesthood. (For more on the ending of priesthood, watch my video titled “Levitical priesthood in Mormonism.” Then watch my upcoming video titled “Melchizedek priesthood in Mormonism.”) At Christ’s death on the cross, the temple curtain or veil in the holy of holies separating man from God’s presence was completely removed. Mark 15:37-38 “And Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.” As a result, each one of us now have the privilege and opportunity to approach the throne of God directly with confidence - without the need for a priest, pastor, bishop, pope, or prophet as an intermediary or go-between. It states in, Hebrews 4:15-16 “For we have not an, high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” We can now enjoy a direct personal relationship with Yeshua our High Priest. Here's another thing to consider - The Jews were meticulous record keepers and traced their genealogies to prove which tribe of Israel they came from. When Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD., those genealogies were also destroyed by the fires. And since then, it no longer matteres what family line you belonged to because in the New Covenant - all are made equal. In fact, Paul warned the Jews and Gentiles back then about wasting time on tracing their family lines. 1 Timothy 1:4 “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.” Titus 3:9 “But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.” Because the Jews rejected Yeshua as their Messiah, it states in John 1:11-13 “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him (Yeshua), to them gave he power to become the sons (and daughters) of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood (no special lineage or geneology), nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man (no earning it), but of God (born of God).” We are not sons and daughters of God, UNTIL we are adopted into the family of God through faith in God. Under the New Covenant - followers of Christ are adopted - revealing our new direct spiritual bloodline and heritage. Romans 8:15 “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” Galatians 4:3-7 “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons (and daughters). And because ye are sons (and daughters), God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” So, if Yeshua came to fulfill the law, abolish the temple ordinances, and establish a New Covenant - why did Joseph Smith come along centuries later to restore old laws and establish new laws, hang the temple veil back up and create new masonic-influenced temple ordinances? Why would Smith reverse what Yeshua did to sacrifice His life and precious blood – just to put people back under bondage to laws and ordinances, again? It doesn’t make any sense. Here’s what Paul had to say about that, Galatians 2:19-21 “For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” If the Law as a spiritual legal system is again binding on us today, then Yeshua was wrong in claiming to fulfill it, and His sacrifice on the cross was insufficient to save us. By Joseph Smith establishing laws and ordinances, he is essentially ignoring Christ’s atonement. The Bible makes very clear that under the New Covenant, God no longer dwells in material temples. Stephen, the first Christian martyr before being stoned to death gave his compelling witness. Acts 7:48 “Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet.” Paul restated the same in Acts 17:24 “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” It states in Hebrews 9:11 “But Christ being come an, high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building.” Hebrews 9:24 “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands.” There are many more passages to recite but it’s clear - no more physical temples! If not in material buildings - then where does God dwell today? As born-again believers, we become the house of God - the Temple of God. Jesus moves into our hearts, and His Spirit permanently dwells in us as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile, the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 1 Corinthians 6:19 “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” 2 Corinthians 6:16 “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” After all that biblical truth, Joseph Smith comes along and declares as a core belief of Mormonism that “through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.” But we plainly see in scripture that Mormonism contradicts Paul’s teaching. Romans 3:28 “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” Mankind is saved NOT by “obedience to the laws and ordinances”, but by faith in Christ’s perfect obedience. Galatians 3:11 “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.” Paul goes on to say that having the Spirit of Christ in us, we are free from laws and ordinances of sin and death. Galatians 5:18 “But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.” Romans 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” After talking about temples with the Samaritan woman at the well, Yeshua told her in John 4:22-24 “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” No longer in physical temple buildings. Righteousness comes not by trying to live the law - but comes by faith in Christ. Can you imagine as a Latter-day Saint arriving at heaven’s gate and telling Yeshua - I did my genealogy, attended the temple, made promises and covenants, fulfilled my callings, honored my priesthood, paid my tithing, tried to keep ALL the Mormon commandments, laws and ordinances. And, because, it says in 2 Nephi 25:23 “for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” I now desire to enter in by Your grace AND my righteous works! How do you suppose God will respond? He will probably remind you, what He stated long ago in, Isaiah 64:6 “all YOUR righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” It won’t matter how much obedience to laws and ordinances you did - the reality is that we are all sinfully unworthy without God’s righteousness. Paul wrote in, Romans 10:1-4 “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel (and I include “for Latter-day Saints”) is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” You might ask - but didn’t Yeshua tell his disciples in, John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”? Yes, but Yeshua wasn’t talking about the 613 commandments of the Jews that He Himself perfectly kept and fulfilled. Those Old Testament laws such as tithes, temple worship, Sabbath Days, dietary restrictions - were given to the nation of Israel - not to Christian believers. The purpose of the Old Testament law was to convict people of their inability to keep the law and point them to their need for Jesus Christ as Savior. Paul taught in Galatians 3:24 “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” In place of the Old Testament law, Christians are now under the law of Christ. It says in Galatians 6:2 “Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ.” What then is the “law of Christ?” The “law of Christ” is not a to-do list – It is an invitation to a relationship with God Himself. 1 John 2:3 “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” When Jesus was questioned in Matthew 22:36-40 “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” If we are to worship Yeshua in “spirit and truth” then obey those two commands (to love God and love others), and we will be fulfilling the “law of Christ.” You see, salvation is a two-sided coin - belief in Jesus on one side and love for God and others on the other side. It’s that simple and straightforward. It states in, 1 John 3:22-23 “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, (one coin with two sides of the same coin) That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.” If we do those two things – believe and love – we will have obeyed God’s “commandment” or the “law of Christ.” Instead of questioning that we “may be saved,” and never knowing if we have done enough till we die - the Apostle John tells us we can be guaranteed in our salvation right now in this life, without any laws and ordinances - by simply believing and trusting in what Yeshua has accomplished for us. 1 John 5:11-14 “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him.” So, by faith in Jesus Christ - we can KNOW with confidence that we have eternal life. I can personally tell you just how much that means to me - that I don’t have to work and wonder - if I will qualify for the best that God has for me. Having now trusted and accepted His work on my behalf - I am certain about my Eternal destination. Ephesians 1:12-13 “That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.” (Mormonism calls it the Second Anointing – that’s for another video.) In the end, I hope you can see that Joseph Smith’s 3rd Article of Faith is the teaching of a different gospel – like Paul warned about in Galatians 1:6-9 - which is anathema to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Mormonism is not Biblical Christianity; It is man-made religion. You can’t be saved or exalted under Mormon “laws and ordinances.” Here is what happens when a person stops performing and is born again by the Spirit. Ezekiel 36:26-27 promises that under the New Covenant, God will give us a new heart and a new spirit in place of our old stoney heart of flesh. And lead us to walk in keeping His commandment to believe and to love. In Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:10-13, God promises under the New Covenant that He will write His laws – which are to believe and to love - on our hearts. James chapter 2 clearly explains that professed-faith without works or acts of love that follow - is proof a person does not have true faith. Good works for others and gratitude towards God will naturally flow out of your new heart. It states in, Ephesians 2:10. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Philippians 3:12 “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation (not for your salvation) with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Those works of God are the fruit of faith and love. I encourage you to trust in God and know that Jesus or Yeshua is enough! Thank you for watching. For more videos like this, go to You Tube or Talking to Mormons. com. God Bless!
Danny's Weekly Word