Which Jesus is the genuine or imitation?  

These two sculptures may look similar, but only one is the priceless original, while the other is an imitation.  Similarly, many people freely speak of Jesus Christ, but only one Jesus is the original among so many imitations.  The Apostle Paul wrote that we must examine the “other Jesus,” the “other Spirit,” and the “other gospel” (2 Corinthians 11:4).  What a timely warning this is about the spiritual counterfeits of Jesus. 

The Mormon Church imitates this famous statue of the Danish Lutheran sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen.  They also imitate the true Jesus found only in the Bible by replacing Him with a mythological Jesus that does not exist in Scripture.  The following Mormon statements can be easily verified on the Internet, for example, at www.dci.dk, from which we get the following Danish translation. 

Mormonism:  God was once a man.  “…God the Eternal Father was once a mortal man who lived his life on Earth…. He became God.”  (cf., Joseph  Smith, Times and Seasons, 5:176 and Apostle Hunter, Gospel Through the Ages, 104)

Mormonismens: Gud var engang et menneske.  “…Gud den Evige Fader engang var et dødeligt menneske, som gennemgik jordelivets skole i lighed med den, vi nu gennemgår. Han blev Gud…” (Side 104)

The Bible on God: God the Father is Eternal Spirit (John 4:24, 2 Corinthians 3:17), He is not a man (Hosea 11:9) and remains unchangeable (Malachi 3:6).

Mormonism:  God came to earth to make the Virgin Mary pregnant so that Jesus could have a physical body.  “There is nothing figurative about his paternity; he was begotten, conceived, and born in the usual and natural manner.” (Apostle McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 742)

Mormonismens:  Senere kom Gud til jorden for at besvangre Jomfru Maria, Jesus kunne et fysisk legeme.  “Han blev født i den samme personlige, virkelige og bogstavelige forstand som enhver dødelig søn fødes til en dødelig fader. Det er intet billedligt ved hans faderskab…”  (Side 742)

The Bible on the Virgin Birth of Christ:  Jesus was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-23).  No man was involved (Luke 1:34).  He was conceived only through the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35).

Mormonism:  A Mother in Heaven.  “This doctrine that there is a Mother in Heaven was affirmed in plainness by the First Presidency. . . they said that ‘man, as a spirit was begotten and born of heavenly parents. . ." (Mormon Doctrine, 516, 1966 edition)

Mormonismens: En Moder i Himlen.  Denne lære, at der er en Moder i Himlen, blev fastslået i sin enkelhed af det Første Præsidentskab ... De sagde, 'at mennesket som åndevæsen blev avlet og født af himmelske

forældre ..." (side 516, 1966-udg.)

The Bible on One God:  There is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4, James 2:19).  No other gods or goddesses can coexist with Him (Isaiah 43:10, 44:8, 45:21), therefore, no Mother god is having heavenly babies.

Mormonism:  It is the hope of Mormons to develop into gods by following the Mormon doctrines and to perform rituals for themselves and their deceased relatives. Mormons, sealed to their spouse "for time and eternity" in the temple, in time expect to become polygamous gods in the Celestial Kingdom, where, for all eternity, they shall procreate spirit children.

Mormonismens:  Mormonerne håber at kunne udvikle sig til guder ved at følge mormonismens bud og ved at udføre tempelritualer for sig selv og deres afdøde slægtninge. De mormoner, som er blevet beseglet til deres ægtefæller "for tid og evighed" i templet, forventer med tiden at blive polygame guder i det Celestiale Rige, hvor de i evighed vil avle åndevæsener.

The Bible on Man and Salvation:  Man is hopelessly lost in sin (There is none righteous, no not one—Romans 3:10). The Good News is that Eternal Life is available, but it does not come by becoming a god, as in Mormonism.  The Bible teaches that the wages of sin is death, so no sinner can ever become a god, because the result of being a sinner is death (The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord—Romans 6:23).  You can accept God’s free gift of  eternal life through Jesus.

Jesus provided Eternal Life to those who place their trust in the grace and mercy of His loving atonement and not upon their works (For by grace you have been saved, not of works, lest anyone should boast—Ephesians 2:8.  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit—Titus 3:5).  We must surrender ourselves to the Living God (Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved—Romans 10:13).

Returning to our opening, Jesus, as we find Him the Bible, is the one who saved us through His atonement and resurrection.  A substitute or imitation Jesus cannot do this, which is why the Apostle Paul warned us about “another Jesus, whom we have not preached” (2 Corinthians 11:4.  The Jesus we have seen in these few quotations from Mormonism is an imitation—not the Jesus that Paul preached.

WHY DID THE MORMON PROPHET CONDEMN

THE DANISH LUTHERAN CHURCH BY NAME?

The Mormon prophet, Spencer W. Kimball, visited the Vor Frue Kirke (Cathedral of Our Lady, in Copenhagen) in 1976, and made an Anti-Lutheran announcement in the sanctuary.  This cathedral houses Thorvaldsen’s marble statues of Christ and the Apostles stand.  Upon seeing St. Peter’s statue, who is holding the Keys of the Kingdom (Matthew 16:19), Kimball turned to the Mormon president of Copenhagen and said in a stern tone, “I want you to tell every Lutheran in Denmark that they do not hold the keys!  I hold the keys!  We hold the real keys and we use them every day.” (Packer, The Holy Temple, 83).  Such a childish outburst by the Mormon prophet in the sanctuary of Vor Frue Kirke, speaks his insecurity with his imitation christ.   

Why did one of the founders of the 1850 Danish Mormon Church leave?  Read the story of John Ahmanson at www.utahgospelmission.org.