Messages For LDS / Mormons:
Keep the Good Works and
See the Big Picture of the Word of God for the World
When God had major revelations on the Second Phase of Word of God, He always started it at the place where people had strong faith, eager desire and better preparation. Twenty-five hundred years ago, when Buddha brought the Heavenly Wisdom to the world, He went to India where people were religiously seeking spiritual enlightenment through meditation to surpass the cycle of death and rebirth. Five hundred years later, when Jesus brought the gospel of salvation to the world, He went to Israel because at that time the people of Israel were eagerly looking for the Messiah to save them from gentile occupation. Both these two nations had learned the doctrines on the First Phase of Word of God for over a thousand years, that’s why Buddha and Jesus brought the Second Phase of Word of God to them first.
Now, two thousand years later, when the New Revelation of the Eternal Gospel is ready to be revealed as prophesied in the Bible, the Latter-day Saints (LDS), or Mormons, in Utah are the most pious people who put their faith into works and live a righteous life to prepare for the “Millennium Kingdom”. That’s why the New Millennium Testament for the New Millennium Kingdom will start here in Salt Lake City, near the headquarter of the LDS Church.
1. Keep the Good Work with Faith and Humility
When I attained Enlightenment in the year 2000, I lived in Sandy, Utah, and had an office in Salt Lake City. So I have first-hand experience on Latter Day Saint’s living faith matching up to their name. My neighbors in Sandy are mostly Latter-day Saints. They are very nice, gentle and helpful. Most LDS follow the strict ethical code of the church to stay away from drugs and alcohol and pay their tithe in full. They also pay more attention to family life. On Sunday, the churches are always filled with people who are eager to learn the Word of God and share great experience with each other. These are all great things in the eyes of the Father.
The greatest thing Latter-day Saints have done is sending their children to missionary for God. While most families in the country send their children to college after they graduate from high school, LDS families send their children to missionary for two years at their own cost. In the two-year missionary life, these young LDS could learn more about the Word of God and also have the opportunity to talk to people in different religions. Although their understanding and the willingness to learn from other religions may not be very high, their faith and enthusiasm to preach the Word of God is definitely worth applauding.
However, during the time of preaching the Word of God, I hope LDS missionaries can also listen to different opinions from other religions or denominations, especially from mainstream Christians. Currently, there are over a billion Christians in the world, and most of these mainstream Christians don’t accept Mormons as Christians. There is a reason for that. As I point out in Chapter 1.3 of the New Millennium Testament on the prophecies in the Book of Revelation, Joseph Smith was one of the “Two Witnesses” in Revelation 11. He did fulfill his role as the witnesses for God, but he also was “overpowered and killed by the Beast” in the end (Revelation 11:7). Joseph Smith did made some mistakes in the later years and some of his teachings are not correct. That’s why most mainstream Christians don’t accept him. I hope that LDS can listen to different voices from different denominations and see where the differences come from.
For example, one of the most debated disputes between LDS, or Mormonism, and traditional Christianity is on Grace and Works or Faith and Deed. Traditional Christians believe that salvation is from the grace of God through faith instead of work. LDS believe that salvation requires both faith and works. They are both correct, but referring to the different phases of salvation.
The salvation and grace of God has two phases, the Forgiveness Phases and the Reward Phases. Traditional Christianity is at the beginning stage of salvation, the Forgiveness Phase, which is about the forgiveness of sins. And the revelation God gave to Joseph Smith is to prepare for the latter stage of salvation, the Reward Phase, which is about reward and judgment. For the forgiveness from the Father, faith alone is good enough. You don’t even need the works or deeds to receive the forgiveness from the Father. All you need is the faith in God’s Salvation through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and the repentance in heart. Just like St. Paul, he was once the persecutor of Christians, but Christ chose him to be the “instrument for gentiles” after he repent, even before he did any good works. The Grace of God is free if you truly repent and accept the salvation from Jesus Christ. That’s why most Christians don’t agree with the Mormon doctrines that “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23, Book of Mormon). The Mormon doctrine on the grace and works is partially correct, but not complete. The forgiveness from God can be free once people repent, even before he had done anything, for God is the loving Father of all. It is also reflected in the story of a prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32.
However, for the final reward and judgment, the work is very important in God’s decision for reward. As Jesus said about the time of reward and judgment, “For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His Angels; and then he shall reward every man according his works” (Matthew 16:27, KJV). That’s where most traditional Christians missed after the Protestant Reform on “Faith Alone” Doctrine. That’s why God send Joseph Smith to preach the importance of both faith and works, for he was the one of the “Two Witnesses” in Revelation 11 to prepare the way for the “Man Child” in Revelation 12 and for this revelation of New Millennium Testament for the time of reward and judgment.
Good work will generate positive Fortune Credit or Treasure in Heaven for the final reward from God, but eventually the final reward will still come from the grace of God. It’s like a person who has good credit. He cannot turn his good credit into money by himself. Only through a bank can he get a loan, or even a grant, for his good credit. For the Fortune Credit or Treasure in Heaven, God is the “Banker” who will determine the final reward or judgment, “so that no one can boast” about his own work (Ephesians 2:9). Therefore, the argument about faith and work between LDS and mainstream Christians should be ended now. Keep up the good work with strong faith and a humble heart; the reward for your good works will come soon.
2. Confirm Your Belief with the Time-Tested Doctrines
One of the unique things in the Mormonism is the individual revelation. Unlike most traditional Christians believe that the revelation of God had ended nineteen hundred years ago, most LDS believe that they can get individual revelation through praying. Although the revelation from God did not end as most Christians believe, there are two concerns regarding the individual revelation that every LDS / Mormons should know.
First, God has the timetable for His major revelations as prophesied in the book of Revelation. No one can push God for His revelation ahead of time. At the time of Joseph Smith, many prophecies in the book of Revelation had not been fulfilled and the time for revealing the secrets was not there yet, especially when Joseph Smith himself was part of the prophecy. So when people asked Joseph Smith regarding St. John’s revelation, he could not get the right answer even he prayed hard. The “Seven thousand year” theory regarding the prophecies of Revelation in Doctrines and Covenants Chapter 77 is not correct. Therefore, it’s more important to pray for wisdom than to push God for the direct answers. God will answer people’s prayer for wisdom by pointing to the right direction through the time-tested doctrines, but He will reveal the secret answers only when the time is due.
Second, confirm the revelation or inspiration with the Bible after you pray. Jesus is the Word in flesh and the Bible is the Word in Text. After Jesus’ resurrection, the Word in flesh turned into Word in Text to keep guiding people of future generations. Although there may be some small discrepancies in the Bible, the main doctrines of the Bible, especially the New Testament, are still valid, not out-dated. No one has the power to overwrite the teaching of Jesus in the Bible, especially when no one has reached the height of spiritual awareness as Jesus. Therefore, it is important to seek the inspiration from Holy Spirit and then confirm it through the Bible, especially the teachings of Jesus Christ.
During the time when I heard some LDS debating with mainstream Christians or when I had discussion with some LDS friends, one of the most often heard answers when there is a difference between the Mormon doctrines and the Bible script is “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly”. I believe this is the official answer from the Church for the last hundred years to fence off the criticisms from mainstream Christians. However, I have to say that this could be a good defensive strategy, but it’s not a good answer, and it can be very harmful for people who want to find the truth of the Word of God.
In America, we assume “innocent until proved guilty”, not “guilty until proved innocent”. If you can find the mistranslation with the confirmation or evidence in the Bible, that’s great. But if you always use “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly” as a defensive strategy in the debate, you basically assume that if there is a difference between the Word of God in the Bible and the teaching from your Church, it must be the “mistranslation” in the Bible, not the misunderstanding on your side. That will prevent you from learning the true meaning of the Word of God. And it can be dangerous when you put personal opinion or unconfirmed “revelation” above the time-tested Word of the God in the Bible. In history, there have been many time that some religious leaders and organizations trying to impose their opinions or interpretations upon the Bible. But eventually, those personal opinions were proved wrong, and the Bible has still kept basically the same for the past few thousand years.
The great thing about the Bible is its self-consistency. When there is a script that seems hard to understand, you can often find some other scripts to explain or confirm it. When the teaching from one prophet or apostle is not complete, there are teachings from other books to complement it. Therefore, when you have different opinions to the script in the Bible, it’s better to find the confirmation in the Bible first, either to prove it or correct it, before you easily dismiss the Bible as “mistranslated”. Here are couple examples in the Doctrine & Covenants that does not correspondent with the Bible.
In D&C 110, Joseph Smith saw the vision of Moses, Elias and Elijah appeared separately. That’s his misunderstanding. In the Bible, Elias and Elijah were actually the different names of the same person, not two different persons. “Elijah” is the name translated from Hebrew, as the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and “Elias” is the name translated from Greek, as the New Testament was originally written in Greek. In the King James Version, the name of “Elijah” was used in Old Testament and “Elias” was used in the New Testament. But in other newer versions of the Bible, they are unified with one name “Elijah” to avoid such confusion. If you use computer search of the Bible (KJV), you will find that there is no such a word of “Elias” in the Old Testament and there is no such word of “Elijah” in the New Testament of the King James Version of the Bible, because they were referring to the same person with two different names from different translations.
This is one of the most obvious misunderstandings that drew many criticisms from mainstream Christians. Therefore some LDS scholars tried to create some complicated theories to cover this mistake by defining “Elias” as “a title or name”. That’s not correct. If you check both Luke 4:25-26 vs. 1 Kings 17 and Matthew 17:10-12 vs. Malachi 4:5 in King James Version, you will know that they are referring to the same person, not two different persons. There was some misunderstanding in Joseph Smith’s vision in D&C 110. That’s why it’s important to confirm the personal inspiration or vision with the time-tested Word of God in the Bible instead of creating some new theories to explain unconfirmed “revelation”.
Also, the Kingdom of God taught by Joseph Smith, where married people will have higher priority than unmarried people, is different than the Kingdom of God Jesus talked about. In Jesus’ Kingdom of God, people “will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels” (Luke 20:35-36). That is the highest level of heaven in the Kingdom of God, the Third Heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2). The “married heaven” Joseph Smith talked about, including the celestial kingdom, is just part of the “First Heaven” in the World of Desire (See New Millennium Testament for details). In the “First Heaven”, people are still “bonded” so they love their spouses more than others, but in the “Third Heaven” where Jesus came from, people become “free spirit” (John 3:6-8) and they love all others as themselves. The love for spouse is replaced by the greater love for all human kinds, and “angel kinds”. That’s the great love and compassion of God. That’s why people in Jesus’ Kingdom of God “will neither marry nor be given in marriage”.
But the “First Heaven” is the family-oriented Heaven that God wants to bring to the earth, the Heaven on Earth, for the New Era of Peace and Wisdom. Therefore, God revealed the detail of the “First Heaven” to Joseph Smith to let him prepare the way for, and let him to “turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6). Joseph Smith and the Latter-day Saints have done a good job to prepare for the “family-oriented” Kingdom of God on earth, but Joseph Smith didn’t understand the difference between the “First Heaven” and the “Third Heaven” Jesus taught about, and didn’t confirm the revelation he received with the teaching of Jesus. So, later, he was misled by the beast (Revelation 11:7) into the trap of polygamy, which caused the big trouble for the Mormon Church and eventually led to the tragedy for Joseph Smith himself.
Therefore, it is important for Latter-day Saints to confirm with the Bible while praying for the individual revelation or inspiration from God. Satan and its beasts are always trying to allure people away from God. Sometime they can disguise as “God” to deceive people and give false “revelations”. In the past, a few Mormons or ex-Mormons even killed their relatives or forced young girls to be their plural wives under the influence of these kinds of “revelation”. These are the false “revelations” from those evil spirits, which can cause great misfortunes and tragedies in real life. That’s why it’s important for Latter-day Saints to seek the inspiration from God through both prayers and Bible reading, and confirm any individual revelation or inspiration with the Word of God in the Bible, and some time-tested doctrines in other religions, especially in Buddhism.
There are some teachings in Mormonism, especially in the Doctrine & Covenants, which are not covered in the traditional doctrines of Christianity. They are actually from the Father’s revelation to the East in Buddhism. There are more detailed teachings in Buddhism doctrines regarding some Mormonism topics like pre-mortal life, baptism for the death, different levels of heavens, etc. Unfortunately, in the nineteenth century, there was not much information available in the West about Buddhism so Joseph Smith could not confirm the revelation he got with the Father’s revelation in the East. Some of the early teachings in the church, like polygamy requirement, blood atonement, Adam as God and God as Man, are either incorrect or misunderstood. Recent leaders of the church have done a good job in abandoning some of the incorrect teachings in the early times and going back to the Bible. That’s the right way, but there are more things to do.
For those who like to learn more about the spirituality and the root of the Father’s revelation to Joseph Smith, LDS should look into Buddhism in the East, especially the Mahayana Buddhism. In the book of New Millennium Testament, I reveal more details regarding the spiritual world and also show people the big picture of God’s revelation to both East and West in the past five thousand years. Only after people open their mind to see the big picture of the Word of God, will they understand the difference between different religions in the world, and eliminate the religious conflicts to make this world a better and peaceful place.
3. Open Your Mind to Different Opinions and the Big Picture of the Word of God
In the past, due to the long time denials from mainstream Christian society, most Latter Day Saints simply shut out all the criticisms on Mormonism. However, not all the criticisms are baseless fabrications or false accusation. There is something in the Mormon history and doctrines that caused controversies and needed to be clarified. That’s why the Father send me here to confirm the divine mission and good works of Latter-day Saints, but also to point out the shortcomings or misunderstandings in your doctrines.
In the early days of Mormonism, Joseph Smith and other leaders of the church did a great job preaching the Word of God to the people in North America. However, they also made some mistakes after the church was established, especially on the polygamy practice while they were still in the early settlement in the East. The polygamy was a dark page in the history of the LDS church. It caused the unnecessary anti-Mormon sentiment in the country and led to the death of Joseph Smith and his brother. Now with the Internet growing so fast, more and more information becomes available online. There are both positive side and negative side of opinions on Mormonism and Joseph Smith. Sometimes, it is very helpful to see both sides of stories and find your own weakness through the eyes of your adversaries. It’s time for LDS to face the history with objective attitude. Not all the criticisms from mainstream Christians are baseless or malicious. Those who cannot handle the criticisms and learn from history will not get improved. Nineteen hundred years ago, when Jews could not handle the criticism from Jesus and rejected his message, they lost the blessing from God and were send to exile for almost two thousand years. God does reprimand those who He loves and those who are willing to change will be blessed.
Also, in regarding to the prophecies in the Book of Revelation, Joseph Smith was one of the two witnesses in Chapter 11. He was the one to prepare the way for the “Second Boy” in the Bible in Revelation 12 and for the revelation of the “Eternal Gospel / Everlasting Gospel (KJV)” in Chapter 14, but he did not receive the full revelation at his time. The prophecies in the Book of Revelation need to be fulfilled in the order of prophecies in the book. After the two witnesses in Chapter 11, there are the “Red Dragon” and the “Man Child” in Chapter 12 and the two beasts in Chapter 13 before the Eternal Gospel to be revealed in Chapter 14. At the time of Joseph Smith, these things hadn’t happen yet. What Joseph Smith taught was the prelude to the Eternal Gospel. The Book of Mormon is basically the combination of the teaching of Jesus in the New Testament with the story line of Israel in the Old Testament. The majority of the Father’s revelation in the East hasn’t been revealed to the West yet.
Now the prophecies in Revelation 12 and 13 and some other prophecies in later chapters of the Book of Revelation have been fulfilled, and the time has come to reveal the full picture of God’s revelations for both the East and the West in the past five thousand years. That’s the Eternal Gospel for “every nation, tribe, language and people” prophesied in Revelation 14:6, and that’s the New Millennium Testament the Father wants me to bring out for the New Era of Peace of Wisdom. The fact that the Father sent me here to Salt Lake City to start this mission is the best recognition from God for the good works of Latter-day Saints. I hope you, the Latter-day Saints, can open up your mind and hearts to this New Revelation of the big picture of the Word of God, and start to learn and preach this New Millennium Testament for the New Millennium Kingdom that was prophesied in Revelation 20. It’s an honor and reward from the Father to let this new mission for the New Era of Peace & Wisdom start right here in the center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now it’s your time to prove your name and bring the New Revelation of the Eternal Gospel to the world.