Resurrection Sunday Message

Here is the message I delivered from the resurrection Sunday service.

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Very special guest announcement!

I am EXTREMELY pleased to announce that my friend Judy Robertson will be attending and speaking at our "Is Mormonism Christian" event on May, 2nd. Judy Roberston is the noted author of the best-selling Christian book "Out of Mormonism". Judy and her husband Jim Robertson were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for many years. God called them to Himself and they have faithfully served and reached out to the Mormon community with their whole lives. Judy is retired now. And we feel blessed and are honored to have her come! We are also tremendously thankful for her continued willingness to reach out to the LDS and to share Christ.

Please continue to pray for the event. Again, it is May 2nd @ 6pm located at Lifequest Church in Phoenix, Arizona. If you want to read Judy's story you can pick up her book at virtually any major bookstore or here on Amazon.

Jeff
Apologia

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Mormon event open to the public!

We handed out 1,000 of these invitations at the temple this year! And we are handing out 1,000 more over the next few-weeks. Numerous churches in the valley are ready to support this. Invite your Mormon friends. Invite your Christian friends. Prepare for a great night of dialogue. Pray for us as we prepare. Pray for those who will be in attendance. Bring me chocolate chip cookies! Well, the last one is optional. But, not really. :]

Jeff
President
Apologia

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Bibles, hats and backpacks full of tracts

Yep. That's us. This is Luke and I (and some more of our team) at the temple during a few of the many conversations we had over a week and a half. See? No signs, no yelling and no cheesy t-shirts! Just good old-fashioned reasoning from the Scriptures. Oh! And it wouldn't be complete without the cool hat and very hip t-shirt.

Thanks for the pic Ray! And Luke, don't get any ideas about trying to copy my style. :]

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Christians are corrupt?!

Over the last 13-years that I have brought the Gospel to the LDS here in Mesa, some common questions or objections come up:

"Why are you attacking us? Shouldn't you be respectful of other religions? Do we come to your church and bother you?"

This is one of the most common complaints we hear. To answer these questions honestly and fairly we have to take a look at the LDS church's "official" first-vision account (actually there is more than one, and they don't match each other):

"My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)--and which I should join.

I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: "they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof."

He again forbade me to join with any of them"

It is clear from the LDS church's official first-vision account that it is not the Christian church that has initiated the attack. The Christians are and have been on the defensive with regard to Mormonism. Mormonism teaches a corrupt view of God and His Gospel. Christians are commanded to preach the Gospel (Matthew 28:18-20), to give a reasoned defense of the Faith (1 Peter 3:15) and to put up a stiff-fight for the Faith (Jude 3). We are lovers of God and His Truth. It would be the ultimate act of hatred to the Mormon community to leave them to an organization that is leading them to destruction. If you love someone you will tell them the truth, regardless of how painful it might be. I admit it is difficult. But, I have seen countless people that God has drawn to Himself through our outreach and that of other Christians who are willing to lay their lives down and suffer ridicule and shame for the cause of Christ.

So, when my Mormon friends ask me why I come to their event to dialogue with them, to that I say:

"First of all, I love God. Second, I love Mormons. Also, every-day you come to my door and to doors around the world telling people God's church is not to be joined, that the teachings of Christians are an abomination and that Christians are corrupt. You come to our homes and tell us that! I have a right as a Christian to preach the Gospel and defend the faith against any false-prophet that attacks the God of the Bible and His precious Gospel--- I am in-fact commanded to do so."

This is an older video. But, it might give you a good overview.

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Ehrman gets an intellectual spanking.

You have to check this out. Bart Ehrman (critic of the Bible)did a mini-debate with Stephen Colbert. What is amazing is that in Ehrman's debates with reputable scholars (such as Dr. James White) Ehrman usually has a sort of hardened pompous arrogance and cavalier attitude. And yet when he goes head-to-head with Colbert in what would be expected to be a funny debate---Ehrman is as soft as a pillow and gets totally dismantled.

Ehrman grossly misrepresents Scripture on a regular basis in his books and debates. He generally has an audience that is ignorant of the Bible and it's textual history so he usually is not challenged at a scholarly level. I find it amusing that Stephen Colbert had him totally flustered in this quick exchange.

By the way. I nearly jumped out of my seat at the assertion that Jesus didn't claim divinity in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Um, hello?! The Old Testament itself spells out the fact that Messiah will be God Himself with us (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, Micah 5:2). Notwithstanding the fact that Matthew, Mark and Luke DO clearly portray Christ as Yahweh. This is not something that is a novelty in the gospel of John as Ehrman would like us to believe. If you want a great resource for a deep-study of this go to Alpha and Omega's website and get this great book.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Bart Ehrman
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

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Did Elohim have sex with Mary (Part 2)? With Radio show!

We have been having a great time at the Mormon Temple in Mesa! We have had countless conversations. We have been creating new and healthy relationships with the LDS in attendance and we even have made a couple of connections with some of the LDS and are scheduled to meet with them off site! Praise God!

I had a very interesting discussion with one member last night---til' about 10:30pm actually. While discussing some Mormon claims he was quite bothered by the fact that we were saying that Mormonism teaches that Heavenly Father (Elohim in Mormon theology) physically had sexual relations with Mary to produce Jesus. Initially he was stating that the church has never taught such a thing. He was violently opposed to the idea and stated quite emphatically that Jesus was miraculously conceived by the "Holy Spirit". To that I heartily agreed and cheered. But, I told him that is not what the "official" teaching of the Mormon church is on the subject. This is an awful teaching that denies the Biblical teaching on the subject and logically leads us to the conclusion that (within the Mormon view) God committed incest with Mary because Mormon's teach that He first created her in the pre-existence as one of his spirit-children. Thankfully, a guy I have known for almost 12-years (Craig) who is a devout Latter-Day Saint and a friend, told him that that was in fact the teaching of both the early prophets of Mormonism as well as the modern leadership. To this he said, "well, I don't believe that. That is just speculation!"

So for the benefit of those who are witnessing to their Mormon friends about this subject I am going to reproduce some of the references I have had in dialogue with this gentleman. Remember the Biblical Teaching on the subject as you read this:

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15 (Notice the promise of Messiah being the SEED of the woman--ie. the virgin birth)

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Matthew 1:18 (KJV)

18Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. (NASB)

18And of Jesus Christ, the birth was thus: For his mother Mary having been betrothed to Joseph, before their coming together she was found to have conceived from the Holy Spirit (Literal translation)

Now here is the official Mormon teaching:

If none but gods will be permitted to multiply immortal children, it follows that each God must have one or more wives. God, the Father of our spirits, became the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh. (Orson Pratt, The Seer, page 158)

The fleshly body of Jesus required a Mother as well as a Father. Therefore, the Father and Mother of Jesus, according to the flesh, must have been associated together in the capacity of Husband and Wife; hence the Virgin Mary must have been, for the time being, the lawful wife of God the Father: we use the term lawful Wife, because it would be blasphemous in the highest degree to say that He overshadowed her or begat the Savior unlawfully. (Orson Pratt, The Seer, page 158)

Inasmuch as God was the first husband to her, it may be that He only gave her to be the wife of Joseph while in the mortal state, and that He intended after the resurrection to again take her as one of his own wives to raise up immortal spirits in eternity. (Orson Pratt, The Seer, page 158)

The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husband. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 11:268)

The birth of the Savior was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood- was begotten of his Father, as we are of our fathers. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 8:115)

"When the Virgin Mary conceived the Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost... (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1:50-51)--- Compare this to Matthew 1:18

In relation to the way in which I look upon the works of God and his creatures, I will say that I was naturally begotten; so was my father, and also my Savior Jesus Christ. According to the Scriptures, he is the first begotten of his father in the flesh, and there was nothing unnatural about it. (Heber C. Kimball, Journal of discourses, 8:211)

'Now Remember from this time forth, and forever, hat Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. will repeat a little anecdote. I was in conversation with a certain learned professor upon this subject when I replied to this idea- "If the son was begotten y the Holy Ghost, it would be very dangerous to baptize and confirm females and give the Holy Ghost o them, lest he should beget children to be palmed off on the Elders by the people, bringing the Elders into great difficulties."...But what do the people in Christendom, with the Bible in their hands, know but this subject? Comparatively Nothing." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1:50-51)

'What a learned idea' Jesus, our elder brother was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the garden of Eden, and who is our Father in heaven." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1:50-51)

"God the Father is a perfected, glorified, holy Man, an immortal Personage. And Christ was born into the world as the literal Son of this Holy Being; he was born in the same personal, real, and literal sense that any mortal son is born to a mortal father. There is nothing figurative about his paternity; he was begotten, conceived and born in the normal and natural course of events, for he is the son of God, and that designation means what it says."(McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, page 742)

"..but the Holy ghost is not the Father of Christ and when the Child was born, he was the Son of the eternal Father." (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, page 743)

"These name-titles all signify that our Lord is the only Son of the Father in the flesh. Each of the words is to be understood literally. Only means only, begotten means begotten, and Son means son. Christ was begotten by an Immortal Father in He same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers." (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, page 546)

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in the most literal sense. The body in which He performed His mission in the flesh was sired by that same Holy Being we worship as God, our Eternal Father. Jesus was not the son of Joseph, nor was He begotten by the Holy Ghost" (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pg.7).-- Is this Modern enough?

"Thus, God the Father became the literal father of Jesus Christ. Jesus was born of a mortal mother and an immortal father" (Gospel Principles, pg.57)

"As far as this life is concerned, [Jesus] was born of Mary and of Elohim; he came here as an offspring of that Holy Man who is literally our Father in heaven. He was born in mortality in the literal and full sense as the Son of God. He is the Son of his Father in the same sense that all mortals are the sons and daughters of their fathers" (Bruce McConkie, Mortal Messiah 1:330).

"Jesus Christ is the Son of Elohim both as spiritual and bodily offspring; that is to say, Elohim is literally the Father of the spirit of Jesus Christ and also of the body in which Jesus Christ performed His mission in the flesh..." (The Articles of Faith, James Talmage, pp. 466-467)

Now the struggle we come to is that there is constant contradiction about this. On the one hand we clearly see that Mormonism teaches that Heavenly Father produced Jesus the same way we are produced. And then on the other hand Mormons try to affirm what God teaches in passages like Matthew 1:18 and Luke 1:35. Well, you can't have your cake and eat it to! This of course will also lead us to the discussion of the Mormon teaching about God having a body of "flesh and bone as tangible as man" (D&C 130:22). This is something the Lord Jesus explicitly denies (John 4:24, Luke 24:39).

I hope that helps! Thank you to all of you who are praying for us. We need your prayers and support. Bless you!


UPDATE:

I was asked by Vocab Malone of Backpack Radio to do an episode on whether or not Mormon leaders have taught that Elohim had sexual intercourse with Mary. Check-out the show and share it with your friends! We pray that it will be useful in showing the corrupt teaching of the LDS church on the subject as well as the inconsistencies prevalent. Please share!

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He is Glorious!

Jeff
Apologia

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Fishing in Mesa....

I am not a fisherman. As a matter of fact, I only recently started liking fish. Growing up in my house my family wasn't really big on things with fins, gills and scales. And when I grew up in Northern Honshu Japan, I had some "really" bad experiences in the Japanese markets with some fish that would make the hardest atheist believe that the world is definitely under the curse of sin. Y-U-C-K! So, naturally I didn't really "dig" on fish. And I haven't really been fishing much. I have a hard time with it. I mean, I get really frustrated when they ignore my line and make me wait to catch them. "HEY FISH! IT'S a WORM! EAT IT!" I suppose it would be easier if I knew exactly where they were so I could catch as many as I could all at once!

And that is exactly what is happening the next two-weeks here in Mesa, Arizona! Jesus said He would make us "fishers" of men. And we have the most wonderful opportunity to reach out with the love of Christ to the LDS community here in Mesa. The Mormon church is putting on their annual Easter Pageant and there will literally be tens-of-thousands in attendance! We have the privilege of bringing the Gospel of God's Grace through Jesus Christ to thousands of people here at the temple in Mesa.

This year is something special! Not only are we going to go to create a healthy dialogue with the local Mormons. We are going to present the Gospel to them through discussions and our tract distribution. I have so many stories of God bringing people to himself through what we are doing out here! But, this year we will also be presenting invitations to Mormons to a public message I am giving on May 2nd at Lifequest Church- 'Is Mormonism Christian?'. At this event I will give a talk that is basically an overview of classic Mormon theology and then I will compare and contrast it to what God says in Scripture. After the message we are going to allow a question and answer period to try and get an opportunity to answer questions and open lines of communication with the Mormons in attendance.

So, lots of great stuff happening with Apologia! Keep us in your prayers! And thank you so much to all of those who have helped us prepare for this event.

Jeff
President
Apologia

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