The newest DVD, Jesus Christ / Joseph Smith, begins very nicely:

This video has been produced out of love for our Lord Jesus Christ and love for our Mormon and Christian friends. We pray that it will touch the hearts of all who watch through the grace and truth of Christ Jesus.

It is hard to fault such a mission statement. These guys really love the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because if they didn’t, they would probably just keep their mouths shut about the Christ. Right? I mean you can usually find out in conversation rather quickly what a person really loves . . . hunting, scrapbooking, skiing, pioneers, academic scholarship, books, camping, chocolate, etc. Whatever is on our minds for most of the week when we have casual time is usually what we love. We like to talk about our love. And we often fiercely defend our love.

 

But here is a preposterous equation, an ugly tryst, that just doesn’t make one bit of flipping sense to the human heart: Anti-Mormon Video = Love for Mormon Friends.

 

Does this seem strange? Antithetical? Haven’t the producers and distributers ever read Dale Carnegie?

 

Of course, I can just hear it now from some of the Christian community. “Don’t the producers of this video realize this is 2007? You just don’t speak out so crudely about what you don’t believe. These anti-Mormon videos are flashbacks of missiology from the dark ages, completely oblivious to cross-cultural sensitivities. It crucifies civil discourse and friendly relationships. Certainly, no one over here or especially here would ever be creating a cave-man fundamentalist fiasco like this.” John Morehead is adamantly in opposition.

 

To be transparent with you, I have watched the DVD twice; and yesterday, I shared multiple copies of the DVD with my own church family for their information and prayerful consideration. But we have organized no formal distribution. I like personal interaction.

 

At the beginning of the video, “Search For The Truth” flashes on the screen. Two nicely dressed hosts, Pamela Robertson and Patrick Powell walk on to the floor. They both make a bold challenge, “Today, [we are going] to determine once and for all who holds the truth . . . Joseph Smith . . . [or] Jesus Christ . . . “

 

Pamela asks a pointed question,

“Did he [Jesus] become a god through the faithful keeping of ordinances or has He always been the true God?”

Honestly, I have lived in Idaho Falls for years. And I am still getting mixed messages to the final answer. The simple question is becoming more and more complex as the days past. I am tempted to incorporate this challenging query for an upcoming friendly neighborhood survey. But if I hear all kinds of various answers, who or what should be the ultimate source to determine what response is correct. Mike Otterson in one of his recent blog articles directs me to the source. But this is just news. So what about the gateway to bloggernacle, Mormon Archipelago? Undoubtedly, some LDS purists have already hung anathema over the aggregator. And if I finally could gain access for a chat with a general authority, what if he just told me, “Follow what the Spirit is saying to your heart.” Then where would I be?

 

It is a comfort to know that I certainly don’t have to scramble around for a fourth or fifth century creedal document. I can immediately search the inspired graphe.

 

Let me review this unpopular DVD from three angles:

1. SYNOPSIS and SUGGESTIONS

The earnest hosts, professional narration, and guest speakers in the video usher the viewer through a plethora of topics: 1) Who is Jesus? 2) Who is God? 3) Can God Lie? 4) One God? 5) How do we obtain eternal life? 6) Can we know that we have eternal life? 7) Archaeological evidence, 8.) Joseph Smith: Prophecies and Revelations, 9) What is the biblical standard for a prophet? 10) The character of Joseph Smith, 11) The First Vision, 12) The occult, 13) Joseph Smith: the Translator, 14) DNA, and 15) The Book of Abraham.

 

Further resource trailers, after the main presentation, tacked on these five themes: 1) The Good Test by Eternal Productions, 2) Burning in the Bosom (4:51), 3) The Priesthood (1:32), 4) What is Hell (8:21), and 5) A new beginning (6:35).

 

Personally, my emotions were stirred by #4 and #5 in the trailers. Since most LDS whom I have read are not too concerned about sinners being condemned to a literal hell, burning with flaming torment, the topic of “What is Hell” is likely a big yawn. It’s sad. But in stark contrast, I have read one prolific LDS blogger, Rob Osborn, living just south of me in Blackfoot, Idaho, who apparently (look at comment #5) takes the view of hell very seriously.

 

For any ex-Mormon-turned-evangelical-Christian, the testimonies in “A new beginning” will open up the memory gates of past anguish but simultaneously release new joyful tears.

During the “The Good Test”, I had to chuckle at the “finger of God” pointing to the Ten Commandments. Does everybody understand that the “finger” is anthropomorphic? In a whole theological realm to perceive rather than palliate, biblical anthropomorphisms and anthropopathisms should be an intriguing topic of discussion with any LDS friend.

 

Without a doubt, I would have thrown out any reference in the video to Warren Jeffs, unless I was ministering to a polygamous colony. Interestingly, when my wife and I were riding public transportation this past week from Salt Lake City back up to Idaho Falls, we overheard the driver mentioning a polygamous group and pointing to a particular road exit. Yes, the warts of polygamy still exist within the corridor no matter how many times the calloused tops are picked off. The polygamous pockets are like bad rashes that stubbornly won’t go away. But where for some it is hush-hush, I would love to be right in the middle of it, ministering to the hurting. The big question is did God initiate polygamy or simply provide rules for regulating such awful family arrangements. Since I have only glanced at FAIR’s response to this video, this week I would like to carefully read what they have to say in rebuttal to all the points. If they use the Bible to support that polygamy originated from God, I will be surprised. Polygamy sprung up from the men of this world not the true God of heaven. Stay tuned.

 

In regards to other fringe quotes in the video, I would have left out quotes by Joseph and Brigham about the moon and sun being inhabited, the old video footage from the early Jim Spencer and Ed Decker days, and Mark E. Peterson’s quote (the more I read his impervious books, the more I am offended by his bombastic mouth). Yet sometime it could be fun to post a blog article, entitled “SENSATIONAL QUOTES”. We could post quotes by past LDS apostles and evangelicals in church history side by side in parallel columns. Maybe there is such a wild website? I wouldn’t doubt it.

 

Even though the following topics might carry peculiar interest for certain people, the fundamental themes to press and discuss are not The Journal of Discourses, the lack of archaeological evidence, the shady character of Joseph Smith (evangelicals have their own immorality problems in the West), the discrepancies in the First Vision, the hoax of the Kinderhook Plates, the history of Masonry, or the science of DNA.

 

2. SALVATION and GOD

 

The video scurried too quickly through soteriology. It needed more explanation when it shared,

In order to gain access into the Celestial heaven, Joseph Smith’s revelation requires . . . keep the Ten Commandments, keep all the commandments in the Mormon books, be baptized into the Church, tithe, get married in the temple, obey the word of wisdom, be baptized for the dead, magnify the Church callings, and the list goes on . . .

Unfortunately, I don’t how many LDS neighbors would accept a blanket summary like this. Some of the big buzz words are missing in the puzzle, like believing the atonement and repentance. It would also be helpful if the DVD delineated between access and exaltation in the Celestial heaven.

 

The video does list all three LDS kingdoms. The structure in LDS soteriology lends itself towards universalism, for even the scalawag ends up in the lowest heaven. Yet ultimately, I don’t care how comfortable the arrangements might be in the telestial or terrestrial kingdom—anything separate from abiding in the direct presence of Christ is hell. A believing heart longs to vibrate to the tune of “All that thrills my soul is Jesus.”

 

So here is a heart issue. Do LDS friends really get excited over plenary substitutionary atonement? Dr. Phil Roberts states,

“He died on the cross, satisfying God’s sense of justice against sin, paid the price for our sins . . .”

Are LDS in full agreement with evangelicals on the necessity of propitiation and imputation?

 

Secondly and most importantly, the video makes a smart move by delving immediately into the doctrine of God – the Grand Teton topic for the intermountain West. If the Tetons tower above the clouds, the Triune God is above all.

 

Dr. Phil Roberts teaches,

[God is] uncreated, uncaused, all-powerful, ever present, all-knowing—that is not only the Christian understanding of God, that is the Judaic understanding.

Phil shares the answer to the question, Who is Jesus?

He was eternal with God, co-equal, uncreated.

Happily I muse. It sounds like this guy has been studying John’s Gospel. Soon I will head over to FAIR’s website for a thorough reading of their argumentation. I suppose they will probably emphatically declare that I have been duped by following church creeds formed in ecumenical councils in the beautiful country of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) for my idea of God. This is the thesis maintained by both Gordon B. Hinckley and Gary Coleman in yesterday’s conference sessions. I will let you know what I find, and then I will ask “Is this being fair?” Is it remotely possible that apart from creeds, someone reared in a context contra to traditional Christianity could come to the conclusion by his or her own private reading of John’s Gospel and other biblical texts that 1) Jesus is God, 2) Jesus is distinct from the Father, and 3) There is one ultimate, all-knowing, all-powerful God who is real and personal.

So as you travel down the highway along the Idaho / Utah corridor, sometime park alongside the road, even with your hectic schedule, and spend time studying John’s Gospel. Lay aside all the commentaries, cross-references, and footnotes and just read the text (how about at least six months minimum). It could be one of the greatest spiritual adventures of your life.

Here is one of the biggest, gold nuggets I received from the video:

 

Floyd McElveen said,

Get into the book of John.

Wouldn’t you agree that this book is better than any book that Floyd has written? 🙂

 

I could go on and talk about the other speakers in this DVD: Dr. John Whitcomb, Jon McCartney (Pastor of First Baptist Church in Tooele, Utah), Joel Kramer, Sandra Tanner, Chip Thompson, Dennis and Rauni Higley, Scott Gallatin (Pastor of Calvary Chapel in Farmington, New York), and others.

 

In fact, the DVD gives a whole list of resources by the following people: Josh McDowell, Alfred Edersheim, John Ankerberg, Fred Meldau, Dwight Pentecost, Hal Lindsey, Peter Stoner, Paul Little, R.A. Laidlaw, Lee Strobel, Terry Winters, Ravi Zacharias, C.S. Lewis, Henry Morris, Floyd McElveen, Frank Morrison, Irwin W. Linton, Joseph Free, John Whitcomb, G.S. McLean, James Kennedy, Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron, Ken Stephens, Randy McElveen, G.B. Hardy, Rocky McElveen, E.M. Bounds, Rosalind Goforth, John R. Rice, Dave Hunt, Bart Larson, Tim LaHaye, Robert Morey, Jerald & Sandra Tanner, Marvin Cowan, Charles Larson, Ed Decker, Fawn Brodie, L. Gaussen, John R. Rice, Benjamin Warfield, Norman Geisler, William Nix, H.C. Thiessen, Hannah Smith, Nathan Wood, C.T. Studd, Ken Stephens, Leslie Flynn, J. A. Petersen, Elizabeth Elliott, Charles Colson, Dave Breese, James Dobson, Charles Stanley, Charles Swindoll, David Jeremiah, John Ankerberg, Jerry Falwell, Chuck Smith, John MacArthur

3. JESUS CHRIST / JOHN THE BAPTIST

To my LDS friends, this is the title I would create for a new DVD. Our church family in Idaho Falls just finished John 3 in our Sunday morning worship. Quickly, let me share with you from the last verses in the chapter over why every human prophet or messenger for God must decrease, while Christ alone must increase.

1. Jesus is unrivalled among other prophets because He came down from heaven (3:31). No others originated from heaven
2. Jesus is unparalleled in contrast to other prophets because His testimony is first hand (3:32).
3. Jesus is separate from other prophets because He speaks the exact hremeta of God (3:34). All other OT prophets, NT apostles, or Christian leaders were not inspired leaders; they misspoke all the time. They do today. Christ alone carries the mantle of inspired leadership. Every word in every place.
4. Jesus is preeminent above other prophets because of His relationship with the Spirit (3:34).
5. Jesus is unique from other prophets because of His Father’s love for Him (3:35). The Father loves His Son who abides in the believing human creatures of this earth.
6. Jesus is unsurpassed by others because the Father “hath given all things into his hand” (3:35). We are His possession, chiefly to glorify God throughout eternity.

Belonging only to Him throughout eternity future, alongside my earthly equals of prophets, apostles, elders, laymen, etc., I will love, worship, and serve only the Lord Jesus Christ. With joy we will be like Him, but He will always be above us. As God, He gives the life, not us.

 

What do you think of the latter verses of John 3?