Richard Mouw Gets Mauled by Mormonism
Mouw assumes it is possible for someone embracing Arianism or Mormonism to nevertheless sing Christ-adoring hymns. So let's see. I can reject the eternal nature of Christ, and yet still "adore Jesus" simply by singing certain hymns?
Do you see the major problem with Mouw's premise?
Singing about "Jesus" doesn't guarantee that you have received the gift of salvation or the gift of the Holy Spirit who lives inside every Christian.
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Unless the Mormon organization rejects their first article of faith, and all the other false doctrines that are built upon it, they are doomed to perpetuate the modern-day Arianism that Joseph Smith introduced a couple hundred years ago.
Mouw would be wise to go back and review the first doctrine on Fuller Seminary's "Statement of Faith": "God has revealed Himself to be the living and true God, perfect in love and righteous in all His ways, one in essence, existing eternally in the three persons of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."
No one who rejects this doctrine can accurately claim to "trust Jesus as Savior." It doesn't work that way. And the Holy Spirit will never enter a person who stubbornly refuses to accept the fact that God is three Persons in One God.
You can be saved without yet knowing much about the Trinity. But you cannot be saved while flat out rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity. You will first have to bring that blasphemous doctrine, along with all your sin to the cross of Christ. Anyone who repents of rejecting the Trinity can rather quickly start to come into the light, assuming he is willing to trust Christ alone for salvation rather than his own works.
And then you will instantly be forgiven, saved, justified, born again, and redeemed. Salvation happens on the front end of a person's relationship with God, which is much different than what Mormonism teaches.
The Book of Mormon teaches, "It is by grace we are saved after all we can do." (2 Nephi 25:23)
Salvation is held out there like a carrot on a stick. Mormonism defines "faith" wrong because it defines God wrong. In Mormon mythology, "faith" includes your obedience to the Law. In Christianity, your obedience only comes after the foundation of faith is laid when you are converted. Good works do not add to the free gift of salvation you received on the front end when you first repented and believed the good news.
Christians "have been justified through faith." (Romans 5:1) It is past tense. It is a done deal, and salvation is secure.
The bottom line is that it is impossible to salvage Mormon doctrine.
Thankfully, some Mormons choose to scrap it completely, and build their life upon Jesus Christ and the doctrines of Scripture and Christianity. If you attempt to blend Mormonism with Christianity, you end up with something that is every bit as twisted as Arianism.
And while it's not politically correct to say such a thing, it is just as true today as it was when Arius presented his false doctrine of a "created Christ" some 1700 years ago.
Time may heals wounds, but time never improves false teaching about Christ and salvation. And this is why it is impossible to blend Mormonism and Christianity. It's like trying to blend Arianism and Christianity. It didn't work in the 4th century, and it won't work today. The doctrines of Mormonism and Christianity are completely incompatible.
Richard Mouw would be wise to stop trying to combine Mormonism and Christianity, and instead, encourage his Mormon friends to reject the first article of their religion. Unless you get the foundation right, everything you build on top of it comes crumbling down in the end.
The reason doctrine matters so much is because the Holy Spirit does not convert people through false doctrine, but only through the truth of the Gospel. And if you get God wrong, you get the Gospel wrong as well. Arianism is a prime example.
And so when Joseph Smith arrived on the scene, the heretical view of God he chose to embrace wasn't completely new after all. People had been rejecting the eternal nature of Christ for centuries.
Converted people don't reject the Trinity. In fact, those who reject the Trinity expose a major reason they remain unconverted. And that goes even for those who seem to be singing "Christ-adoring" hymns.
Always remember. The Holy Spirit will never live inside a person who rejects the Trinity. And without the Holy Spirit coming to live inside you at the moment of your conversion, you cannot enter God's eternal kingdom in heaven.
You can certainly do other religious things without being converted. You can use a lot of Christian terminology, and even sing religious hymns. But that will never fix a broken foundation, and so it can never save your soul.
Arianism and Mormonism teach doctrines that block the Holy Spirit from coming to live within their followers. These anti-Trinitarian religions literally prevent people from understanding and believing the Gospel.
Just imagine if Fuller Seminary started teaching that Arianism or Mormonism are compatible with Christianity. It would result in spiritual chaos and confusion, and would turn the message of Fuller Seminary into some religion other than Christianity. I don't even know what they would call such a newfangled religion.
Thankfully, Fuller Seminary teaches the historic Christian faith. They define God correctly. And that is critical if you want to know the Lord, and if you want to have your sins forgiven by the eternal Son of God.
Even though Richard Mouw has been getting mauled by Mormonism, there is still time for him to correct his errors and recover from his injuries. Just look at Roy Horn. He survived his 2003 tiger attack, and he is still alive today.
Only Richard can decide whether he wants to continue getting mauled by the wild beast of Mormon doctrine. This will require him to finally accept the fact that Arianism is poison to the soul. You cannot reconcile spiritual poison with the truth of God's Word and the reality of God's Triune and eternal nature.
On an emotional level, Richard Mouw wants his Mormon friends to be included in Christ's eternal kingdom. On a practical and theological level, such a thing will never happen unless a person renounces the first article of Mormonism. You have got to get the poison out of your system, and then you need to start believing the truth about God. When that happens, people are delivered out of the darkness of false religion into the light of Christ, the eternal God and Savior.
This is a spiritual battle. And it requires the supernatural power of God in order to experience victory. Emotional appeals and downplaying the danger of Arianism never won a single soul to Christ. It merely keeps people in darkness as they continue blindly following the false doctrines of their organization.
If Richard Mouw had been living in the 4th century, he might have been rather annoyed by the formation of the Nicene Creed. It sounds to me like there sure is a warm place in Richard's heart for Arianism. You could call it a "burning in his bosom." Every Mormon knows what I am talking about. And if you don't know, just look it up.
Who do you suppose creates that burning in the heart of one who professes allegiance to the "created Jesus" of Mormonism? Go ahead. Take a guess. I will give you a clue. It is a spiritual being who was created good, but decided to go rogue. And his army of fallen angels come up with seductive counterfeit beliefs that the Bible calls "doctrines of demons." (1 Timothy 4:1)
Such doctrines, when accepted, prevent people from being spiritually reborn through faith in Christ. And the two biggest doctrines of demons are: (1) a counterfeit definition of God; and (2) a works-based approach to saving your soul.
Demons don't want people to meet the real Jesus. And so they produce doctrines that entice people to accept the counterfeit.
If you have been duped by these intelligent evil angels, you can get free today. But only if you turn to your Creator who consists of three eternal Persons in One God.
If you have placed your faith in an "Arian/Mormon" Jesus, then you should be very concerned about that burning in your bosom that you have been relying upon for assurance. Counterfeit doctrines come with counterfeit experiences that are meant to deceive those who are not grounded in biblical theology.
Isn't it time to place your faith in the true God of the universe? Reject the counterfeit. God offers the real thing.
You will never get mauled by true doctrine, but you will get saved if you accept it and believe it.
