Description

Original title: There Is No Other Gospel

In this episode, Brendon and Skyler discuss the fortieth lesson in the LDS Come, Follow Me sunday school manual. This week (September 25-October 1) is titled “Walk in the Spirit” and covers Galatians. 

We invite you to worship with us on any Sunday - either at First Baptist Church of Provo or Christ Presbyterian Church in Magna. We welcome visitors!  

Pastor Brendon's Colossians series can be found here and/or here. 

Correction: Paul doesn't use the word "heresy", here - but the concept. In other words, heresy comes from inside the community. The Galatian Heresy is worthy of "cursing" and being cast out, including those who are being seduced by the heresy if they won't be corrected. For Christians, (of course) all heresy is error - but not all error is heresy. From the Christian position: Is Mormonism a heresy, or so fundamentally different as to not be accurately identified as a heresy? The Galatian heresy arose within the church, but can it be accurately asserted that the teachings of Joseph Smith or Russell Nelson do?

Seminary Manual: Here, here, and here 

3 Nephi 27.13-21 ; Moses 1.39 ; Articles of Faith (no. 4) 

D&C 76.51-59; 84.33-44; 131.1-4; 132 

True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference 

The New Testament Made Easier by David Ridges; e.g. 

• "In this chapter [1] we learn that the prophesied great apostasy is already under way."
• In Galatians 2 - Peter and Paul "disagreed on a basic matter of church policy"; that's all it was, a policy difference.
• on 2.16, Justified is defined/explained as "brought into full harmony with God."
• on 3.21: "If properly understood, the Law of Moses was designed as a 'schoolmaster law' to point the people's minds toward Christ and His great last sacrifice in opening the door of exaltation to all...In other words, the children of Israel were so far into wickedness that it was impossible to give them a law high enough to bring them exaltation at that point in their lives."
• on 4.9 - "known God": "Now that you know about the plan of salvation brought by Christ" - and no comment after "or rather are known by God".
• on 6.7-9, excerpts of his comments are: "Whatever you plant, you will harvest. In other words, you will be rewarded on judgment day for how you live. This is known as the 'Law of the Harvest.'...He who plants or lives according to the worldly desires of the flesh will receive the punishments of God for his corrupt lifestyle...But those who 'plant righteousness will harvest a reward for exaltation, in other words, eternal life...Let's not get tired of doing good, thus living the Gospel...When the tine comes to be judged, we will harvest a reward of eternal life...if we don't give up and quit living the gospel."

“Salvation” (Alma Burton) 

The Words of Joseph Smith (compiled and edited by Andrew Ehat and Lyndon Cook); e.g. pp. 365-372, 12 May 1844 (Friday Morning). Temple Stand; also see HC 6.363-367, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 364-368) 

Understanding Paul by Richard Lloyd Anderson 

The Apostle Paul: His Life and His Testimony (notice the index entry for “Gospel”) 

Statements of the LDS First Presidency: A Topical Compendium (compiled by Gary Bergera) 

• “The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches that man is eternal – that he lived as a spirit before he came to Earth, and that after death he will be resurrected and will dwell in a place determined by how he kept his mortal estate. Every man may choose for himself whether or not he wishes to live forever with God, or be cast out of His presence. One of the principles of the gospel is that the family will continue as an eternal unit. Where true love exists between husband and wife, it is most comforting to know that through a special ordinance in the holy temple a man and wife are sealed for time and all eternity, and the children born of that union will be them forever. How glorious!” (pp.182-183; N. Eldon Tanner, “First Presidency Message”, Ensign, Oct. 1978) 
• “We also declare that the gospel of Jesus Christ, restored to His Church in our day, provides the only way to a mortal life of happiness and a fullness of joy forever. For those who have not received this gospel, the opportunity will come to them in the life hereafter if not in this life.” (“Statement of the First Presidency Regarding God’s Guidance to All Mankind”, Feb. 15,1978) 
• “In general, the gospel may be said to consist of all truth secular and religious, for any truth can contribute to progression and improvement. In the sense in which it is used most frequently in the scriptures, however, the word gospel is ‘the power of God unto salvation for every one that believeth’ (Rom. 1:16). It consists of all the principles, laws, covenants, ordinances, and truths that will secure exaltation in the celestial kingdom for those who believe and obey.” (p. 183; Principles, 1976) 

Speaking of the temple endowment, President/Prophet Howard W. Hunter stated that it “consists of two parts: first, a series of instructions, and second, promises or covenants that the person receiving the endowment makes – promises to live righteously and comply with the requirements of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” 

Lectures on Faith (esp. 7) 

A Rational Theology by John Widtsoe 

The Great and Abominable Church of the Devil by H. Verlan Andersen 

Eternal Man by Truman Madsen 

“The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent” (Jeffrey Holland) 

“Dear Are the Sheep That Have Wandered” (James Faust) 

Brigham Young: Sermon, July 19, 1857; JD 1.93; 11.216; 11.269 

Wilford Woodruff: JD 22.209; 23.329-330 

Joseph F. Smith: JD 20.29 

Orson Pratt: JD 18.293 

George Q. Cannon: JD 25.290 

Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? by Sandra and Jerald Tanner 

Power From on High: The Development of Mormon Priesthood by Gregory Prince 

The Mormon Jesus by John Turner 

“This Is My Doctrine”: The Development of Mormon Theology by Charles Harrell 

To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson by Courtney Anderson 

Christianity and Liberalism; Notes on Galatians by J. Gresham Machen 

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman

No Place For Truth; God In the Whirlwind; The Courage to Be Protestant by David Wells

American Gospel: Christ Crucified 

What is the Gospel? (Voddie Baucham); Sin and the Fall (D.A. Carson)

Galatians (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) by Thomas Schreiner

Interpreting Galatians by Moises Silva

Promise, Law, Faith by T. David Gordon

 The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross by Leon Morris 

Core Christianity; Christless Christianity by Michael Horton (also here and here) 

Justification Reconsidered by Stephen Westerholm 

Cracking the New Perspective on Paul by Robert Cara 

The Doctrine Upon Which the Church Stands or Falls: Justification in Biblical, Theological, Historical, and Pastoral Perspective, edited by Matthew Barrett 

One With Christ: An Evangelical Theology of Salvation by Marcus Peter Johnson