Question:
You may have answered this before, maybe on your other blog. If so could you point me to it? Anyway, here’s my question. Can you explain, in your clear, concise, no nonsense way, about Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses and whether or not they are Christians or *saved.* I used to think I knew so clearly what to think about these religions..yet I find myself wondering as I read blogs and talk to people of these faiths…who seem to love Jesus so much. Can you help me to understand? Thanks so much.
Answer:
It’s not about the appearance of “loving Jesus”. It’s about salvation on God’s terms. It’s about the TRUTH as GOD has revealed it. Consider the following:
Matthew 7:21-23 – “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (NKJV)
Obviously the people in these verses “seemed to love Jesus” but God declared “I never knew you!” Why? Because they failed to do good works? No. Because they didn’t live like they loved God (Jesus)? No. Because they didn’t use Godly vocabularly and appear to be “of God”? No. Because they weren’t devoted and religious? No.
God didn’t know them because they didn’t know God. They tried to serve God THEIR OWN WAY ON THEIR OWN TERMS. This is the root of why religions like Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses are not genuine Biblical, saving Christianity. They are cloaked in Christian terms, good works and exemplary lives which are commendable… but they approach God and salvation on terms and ideas originated by men like Joseph Smith and organizations like the Watchtower Society.
An examination of their publicly documented teaching (as opposed to what the average participant will tell you in a casual conversation or what cleverly design public marketing proclaims) reveals clearly that their understanding of salvation, Jesus Christ and man’s lost condition are at odds, and indeed completely incompatible with the Bible.
We do ourselves, and them, a disservice by viewing what they DO (good works, morality, how they speak) instead of deeply understanding what they believe and teach. You have to go past the WORDS used, which have become thoroughly “Christianized” and discern how they define those words. Both of those organizations have created a very successful image of being orthodox Christianity on the surface but when you dig past that veneer, you’ll find that Christianity has little in common with either Mormonism or JW’s despite their laudable morality and the use of Biblical vocabulary.
Read the verses again above. They are absolutely the most astonishing and perfectly clear explanation of why certain religious groups can appear to “love Jesus” and yet God does not know them. It breaks my heart to see people totally devoted to these man-derived approaches to salvation knowing that they are in for a terrible, eternal disappointment.
There are many good websites which clearly lay out the differences between official Mormon and JW teaching compared to the Bible. Look past appearances and works and find out what is TAUGHT. Therein lies the clarity you are seeking.
Here is one answer I gave about Mormonism:
https://www.seriousfaith.com/asr/question.asp?questionid=3344