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Sculpture of the “angel” Moroni (who is said to have visited Joseph Smith) atop of a Mormon Temple.

By Dennis and Rauni Higley
Former leaders and teachers in the Mormon church
H.I.S. Ministries International

Thank you for writing about The Chosen series. We are so pleased to see it. We hope you do not mind that we’ll suggest that all our warnings about The Chosen need to start from the beginning – i.e. from the Triune God!

Christians or Mormons who are familiar with the Book of Mormon think it is similar or closely related to what the Bible teaches about God, for it does teach that God is One and that He is Spirit. But when compared to today’s actual Mormon teachings about God and Jesus, they do not teach the same.

Mormons do not believe in the Trinity. They do not believe that Jesus is God, the Son (Matt. 1:23; John 1:1-3,14; 8:24), but instead they believe in three gods for this Earth (and multitudes of gods elsewhere), and they believe that their Jesus is just one son among many sons of their god, and that he was chosen (over Lucifer) to become a savior.

Only very few Mormons know either the Book of Mormon or the Bible but only trust and believe LDS teachings found in other Mormon “scriptures.”

There are many even practicing Mormons who do not know how huge the difference between Mormonism and biblical Christianity is and that it begins with who the real God is. This is why almost all Mormon converts come from various Christian denominations. They have not been taught clearly who the Triune God is; and because Mormons use Christian terms and words, unsuspecting people assume that Mormons believe the same, not knowing that Mormons have given these words and terms a different meaning.

Likewise, pastors who have not studied in depth what Mormonism teaches about God (but only think they know because they have read the Book of Mormon) are as confused as are the Mormons for they assume that the God of Mormonism today is the same as what the Book of Mormon teaches about when it is not!

The Book of Mormon is just a “fish-bait” to bring converts to Mormonism for it is looking and even sounding similar to the Bible but is totally “another.”) We have experienced during our 38- year ministry to Mormons (www.hismin.com ) that until a Mormon gets it that there was no preexistence of mankind, and that Jesus is not their spirit brother, they will continue to cleave to their false beliefs that they all are sons and daughters of God. They do not even begin to understand that until they know that Jesus is God (Matt. 1:23; John 8:24b) and that only God can forgive sins (Mark 2:7b). When we learn who the Triune God is, we learn that Jesus is God, the Son, who became a man.  He is not a man who became a god, as all Mormons hope and believe that they too will become!

Mormons and others who have been attracted to Mormonism’s outward goodness are now being assured that there is no real important differences since Dallas Jenkins, an evangelical Christian, says that the Mormon-Jesus is the same as the Jesus of the Bible. No reason to witness to Mormons if that is true! Why would any Mormon want to leave Mormonism if his Jesus is the same, and the Bible says that Jesus alone gives salvation!? (John 14:6; Acts 4:12)

If we do not begin our warning about The Chosen series by teaching who the Triune God of the Bible is and who the real Jesus Christ is  (Matt. 1:18-23; John 1:1-3, 14:8:24b), people will accept Mormon teachings about Jesus, and that will lead many more millions into hell.

We are seeing it here already. Even some former Mormons who had left it and become Christians are now starting to turn back to Mormonism—and why not if the Mormon Jesus and the biblical Jesus are the same; there was no need to leave their Mormon family and heritage after all.  

Only learning that “God” of Mormonism is not God of the Bible could awake them! False God(s) or “another Jesus” cannot save anyone.

Reminder: Joseph Smith started his church (1830) with the Book of Mormon that teaches there is only One God who is Spirit and that Jesus is His Son. But it was 14 years after he had started his church, when he, in April of 1844, for the first time, said, “I am going to tell you how God came to be a God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea . . . God himself was once  a man as we are now, and is an exalted man . . . you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves . . . same as all Gods have done before you . . . ” (Teachings, pp, 345-346.)

Of course, the Mormon Church is thrilled by an announcement from “evangelical Christian, Dallas Jenkins” who says he believes in the same Jesus than Mormons do.

Question: Does Dallas Jenkins believe that “this same LDS Jesus” is also his spirit brother and that he, with all “his Mormon brothers and sisters,” grew up with him and them in the preexistence? Does he also believe that Jesus was not begotten by the Holy Ghost (as Mormonism teaches) and that Jesus was “begotten” in the flesh by their heavenly father (former mortal man) as the Mormon Church’s prophets teach about Jesus’ birth?   (By the way, Dallas Jenkins is a son of a famous Christian author of Left Behind books and movies. This is perhaps one of the reasons why they approached Dallas to become their “salesman” for The Chosen?)

As former Mormons, we are devastated, seeing how this movie is affecting Christians (“no need to witness to Mormons since their Jesus is the same!”) and making Mormons so glad “to be accepted into Christianity by many famous pastors [such as Jack Hibbs and Greg Laurie] etc.”

We say this for we are thinking: If they only knew the Triune God, they would have to start re-evaluating their beliefs!

Dennis and Rauni Higley are the authors of The Truth About Mormonism, a small book published by The Berean Call, which Lighthouse Trails now carries. The Higleys were both leaders in the Mormon Church prior to their conversion to the Jesus Christ of the Bible.

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(photo from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission)

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