How can I know?

Recently I had a two Mormon missionaries come over to my home for a visit. It took a few phone calls but we finally were able to connect, meet, and spend about an hour or so together. The last time I met with the other missionaries they gave me a booklet on the LDS church, asked me to read it and get back in touch if I had any other questions. So, that was exactly what I did.

The last page of the booklet tied up everything nice and neat with the question, “How do I know?” What a great question! The Mormon religion makes a lot of claims so there must be a way to know if it is all true or not. Here is a quote for page 16 on the booklet…

“You can know this message is true. If you ask your Heavenly Father in prayer, you can receive an answer from Him through the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is also called the Spirit of God, and one of His roles is to witness, or testify, of the truth.”

May I ask you a question? Have you ever had a feeling and thought something was true but you turned out to be wrong? I know I have. What does the Bible say about trusting in our hearts?

Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked;Who can know it?

Ephesians 2:1 - And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

Ephesians 2:5 - even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

From the LDS perspective they are in the restored church and I am in the church of the devil. So if I am to pray to God and ask Him about the Book of Mormon but I am dead in trespasses and sins and my heart is deceitfully wicked…How can I trust myself? How can I know these feelings are true? Why should I trust myself when the Bible tells me not to?

The LDS booklet continues to answer this question.

“The Holy Ghost confirms the truth through feelings, thoughts, and impressions. As taught in the Bible, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23)

So, is that true in its proper context? I don’t think it is. Basically what this book is saying is that if it feels good it must be of God. If it feels good and you are seeking the Lord then it must be from Him. Is this a proper Biblical interpretation?

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 - For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

So you see temptation can feel good. Things that are bad for us can seem right. Temptation can feel and seem good to us or it wouldn’t be temptation. This verse very plainly tells us that Satan can mimic things like peace and joy. Satan can appear as an angel of light! So it brings me back to my original question….How can I know?

Let’s examine a verse from the Book of Mormon and compare it against Scripture to see if the two are harmonious.

“And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost” (Moroni 10:4 - BOM).

Consider this: As a Mormon, have you ever prayed about whether or not the Koran is true, or the Jehovah’s Witness Bible, or a Satanic text? Have you ever prayed about whether or not God would want you to rob a bank or commit adultery? Did you pray with a sincere heart, with real intent? Of course not! There is no need to pray about that which contradicts God’s Word. To do so would be to test God, which is a sin. So we need not to pray about the Book of Mormon. We need only to test it against the Bible.

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

There is no need to pray about the Book of Mormon or to pray and ask if Joseph Smith’s first vision was true. We only need to compare everything (including Mormon doctrine) to Scripture and if it fails the test we are to leave all false teaching behind.