“Understanding
our Covenants with God
An Overview of our Most Important
Promises”
No
particular author noted, but sent from the leadership of the LDS Church
“…sacred
covenants are to be revered by us, and faithfulness to them is a requirement
for happiness. Yes, I speak of the
covenant of baptism, the covenant of the priesthood, and the covenant of
marriage as examples.”
… President Thomas S. Monson
Compared
to the Bible by Connie Raddon
Color Key:
Quotes from the
LDS Ensign in blue.
Quotes from the
Bible in red.
All my own words
are black.
This
article is found on pg. 22-25 of the July 2012 issue of the Ensign.
First
of all, I want to explain what the Bible says about covenants…
In
the Bible, God makes two covenants with man that relate to receiving eternal
life. (He does make others, but they are
not directly regarding our eternal life.)
The two major
covenants God makes with man are commonly known as the Abrahamic Covenant (the
Old Covenant), and the Covenant of Grace (the New Covenant). Another word for “covenant” is
“testament”. This is why we have two
parts to the Bible – The Old Testament, and the New Testament – they describe
each of the two “covenants”.
THE FIRST
COVENANT:
God promises
Abram that he will have a great number of descendants, he will inherit a great
land, and through him, the families of the earth with be blessed.
Gen 12:1-3 “Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, From your family,
and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless
you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will
curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be
blessed.”
The sign of this
covenant is circumcision:
Gen
17:11 “and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it
shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.”
This covenant
(testament) is fulfilled when Abraham does become a great nation (the nation of
Israel), his nation inherits the land of Canaan, and finally all the families
of the earth are blessed because Jesus Christ came (through the lineage of
Abraham).
God gave His
“covenant” people many things. One was
“the law”. After God brought them out of
slavery in Egypt with Moses leading them, He gave Moses the 10 Commandments for
the people. God knew that the people
could not keep these commandments. In
fact, they were breaking most of them at the very moment God was giving them to
Moses! So, God instituted the Levitical/
Aaronic Priesthood. The purpose for this
priesthood was to sacrifice animals at the temple to cover the sins of the
people in the sight of God. This did NOT
take away the sins, only COVERED them. It
was a picture of the greatest sacrifice yet to come – that of Jesus Christ to
not just cover, but take away our sins.
THE SECOND
COVENANT:
Hebrews
8:6-13 (which quotes from Jer. 31:31-34)
“But
now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator
of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
For
if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought
for a second.
Because
finding fault with them, He says: ‘Behold,
the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah –
Not according to the covenant that I
made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand and lead them
out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I
disregarded them, says the Lord.
For this is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write
them on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be My people.
…For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no
more’.
In
that He says, ‘A new covenant’ He has
made the first obsolete. Now what is
becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”
So in this new
covenant (testament), God no longer has his laws written on stone (like the 10
commanements), but puts them in the minds and hearts of those who believe in
Him… and they shall be His people.
This is the new
covenant of grace – that our righteousness comes by our faith in Jesus Christ
and His finished work on the cross, and NOT by our own works.
The sign of this
covenant is the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians
1:13-14
“In
Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit
of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the
purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”
Romans
8:16
“The
Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
Now, let’s take
a look at the Ensign article to see how the covenants within the LDS Church fit
in with these two covenants of the Bible.
“In the Church, an ordinance is a sacred, formal act
performed by the authority of the priesthood.
Some ordinances are essential to our salvation. As part of these ‘saving ordinances,’ we
enter into solemn covenants with God.”
As a Mormon, I
did every ordinance and entered into every covenant that was possible for a
woman to have – baptism, washing/ anointing, endowments, and marriage
sealing. Every covenant I made basically
boiled down to keeping all the commandments (the law) and consecrating my life
and blessings to the Church. Look at
what the Bible says about that.
Ephesians
2:14-15
“For
He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle
wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law
of commandments contained in ordinances…”
Abolished… hmmm…
abolished…. That means “to do away
with”. And yet the LDS Church has
disregarded what Christ did, and continues to burden its members with rules and
laws and commandments, and unnecessary covenants.
“When we receive these saving ordinances and keep the
associated covenants, the Atonement of Jesus Christ becomes effective in our
lives, and we can receive the greatest blessing God can give us – eternal
life.”
The Bible says
that receiving eternal life has nothing to do with covenants or ordinances, but
only our belief.
John
3:36 “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not
believe in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
John
5:24 “He who hears My word and believe in Him who sent Me has everlasting life,
and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”
BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION
“Baptism by immersion in water, performed by one having
authority, is the first saving ordinance of the gospel and is necessary for an
individual to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
When we are baptized, we covenant to take upon ourselves
the name of Jesus Christ, to always remember Him, and to keep His
commandments.”
“We are baptized
because we believe and have been
saved by His blood, not to believe or
be saved by His blood. To the Christian, water baptism is an
outward, public pronouncement of an inward faith, symbolic that we are willing
to be buried with Christ (thus turning our back on the former things of our
life) and being raised with Him unto a new life. It is the
public profession of our faith.” 1
But
the Mormon Church continues to claim that baptism is mandatory for eternal
life, or in other words, claiming that we are saved by our works, in addition
to grace.
“The ordinances of baptism and confirmation are the
gate through which all who seek eternal life must enter. (see John 3:3-5)”
The Mormon
Church leaders use this verse incorrectly.
They say it means that we must be baptized by immersion in water, and
also receive the Holy Ghost – both ordinances to be performed by Mormon
priesthood authority.
Here is what the
verse ACTUALLY says:
“Jesus
answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’
Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s
womb and be born?’
Jesus
answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the
Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
The explanation
comes in verse 6 – “That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
So being born of
water does not mean to have a baptism in water – it means “born of the flesh”…
as in… being born. When we are born, we
come out of the water that we lived in for 9 months.
Being born of
the Spirit is what Christians refer to as being “born again”.
THE SACRAMENT
Those who have received the saving ordinances of
baptism and confirmation partake of the sacrament each week to renew those
covenants.
Remember –
baptism and confirmation do NOT save – only Jesus saves.
The “sacrament”
that the LDS refer to is the Lord’s supper – taking the bread and wine to
remember Him. (The LDS use yeast-risen
bread, and since they believe drinking wine is a sin, they use water –
completely destroying the symbolism of both. Yeast represents sin – so the
bread used is WITHOUT yeast – like Jesus was without sin. The wine coming from grapes represents the
fruit of the vine – Jesus is the vine. Using grape juice still creates this
symbolism, but Mormons don’t even do that.)
Here’s a quick
question you may ask a Mormon – “Why do they need to renew those covenants each week?
Did the covenant expire? Did they
break their covenants? (Just wondering)
The ordinance of the sacrament is an opportunity each
week to renew sacred covenants that allow us to be partakers of the Savior’s
atoning grace with the same spiritually cleansing effect of baptism and
confirmation.
So this is
saying that the covenants that are being
renewed are what allow us to be partakers of grace.
What does the
Bible say allows us to be partakers of grace?
John
1:17 “For the law was given through
Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
LDS covenants
are basically promises to keep the law – so they mix up the law with
grace. The law came through Moses – but
grace comes through Jesus Christ alone – not Jesus plus ordinances and
covenants.
Romans
11:6 “And if by grace, then it is no
longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace;
otherwise work is no longer work.”
The Bible
clearly says that grace and works (keeping the law) cannot be combined to earn
our salvation.
The Bible also
says that grace is a free gift – not based on our covenants, or worthiness.
(The following verse is comparing the fall, or offense, of Adam to the gift of
grace from Jesus Christ.)
Romans
5:15 “But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died,
much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus
Christ, abounded to many.”
THE OATH AND COVENANT OF THE PRIESTHOOD
When men live worthy to obtain the Aaronic and
Melchizedek Priesthoods and “[magnify] their calling,” God promises they will
be “sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies.” They become heirs of the promises made to
Moses, Aaron, and Abraham. (See D&C 84:33-34)
Once again the
LDS Church makes being “worthy” a requirement for something that is crucial for
salvation – the priesthoods. I won’t go
into detail here about the priesthood, because I have in several other articles
– but just as a quick review…
The Aaronic
Priesthood was based on being a descendant of Aaron in the tribe of Levi – NOT
on personal worthiness. Also, this
priesthood is made obsolete when Christ made the FINAL sacrifice for sin.
The Melchizidek
priesthood is only held by Jesus. He offered the final sacrifice and was
the final sacrifice. He alone is our
high priest now.
Holding the Melchizedek Priesthood is necessary for men
to qualify to enter the temple.
The purpose of
the temple was for sinners to receive atonement for their sins. If people had to be worthy, or “qualify” to
go to the temple, there would have been no point in having a temple. So the LDS temples are clearly NOT a
restoration of God’s temple in the Bible.
They are created and used for completely different purposes.
By receiving all of the saving ordinances of the
priesthood, all people can receive the promise of “all that [the] Father
hath” (See D&C 84:35-38)
“Incredible blessings flow from this oath and covenant
to worthy men, women, and children in all the world,” taught Elder Russell M.
Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
As a Mormon,
when I really thought about this, it caused me stress! The Church always taught me that I had to be
“worthy” – without clearly defining how much I had to do to achieve the point
of “worthiness”. The Church also
promised “incredible blessings” – with absolutely no explanation of what they
were. So I believed that if I wasn’t
receiving the blessings I thought I was worthy of, something was wrong, and I
usually blamed myself. I figured I was
not worthy enough somehow – even though I was doing everything I thought I
should. I would remember sins I had
committed, and figured that God hadn’t completely forgiven me yet. What a horrible burden to carry!
THE SEALING
The temple ordinance referred to as “temple marriage”
or “being sealed” creates an eternal relationship between husband and wife that
can last beyond death if the spouses are faithful.
In Matthew
chapter 22, the Sadducees were trying to stump Jesus about the resurrection by
asking him a hypothetical question – If a woman’s husband dies, and she marries
his brother – then that brother dies so she marries the next brother, and on
and on until she has married all the brothers, whose wife will she be in the
resurrection?
Matthew
22:29-30 “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘You are mistaken, not knowing the
Scriptures nor the power of God. For in
the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like
angels of God in heaven’.”
Mormons: You are also mistaken, not knowing the
Scriptures – there is no marriage beyond death.
So please stop putting the burden on people of being faithful to all
their covenants in order to receive something that Jesus Himself said does not
exist.
The
teachings in the July 2012 issue of the Ensign
are
NOT Biblical, and therefore,
NOT
consistent with Christian beliefs.
Brigham Young issued a challenge on
May 18, 1873 (as recorded in the Journal of Discourses, Vol. 16 p. 46): “Take up the Bible, compare the religion of
the Latter Day Saints with it, and see if it will stand the test.”
I have accepted that challenge from
Brigham Young.
In the July 2012 issue of the
Ensign, the LDS religion FAILS
this test.
1 “Where
Mormonism Meets Biblical Christianity Face to Face” by Shawn McCraney pg. 65
Resources
used for this article:
The Word of God
(The Bible)
The LDS magazine,
“The Ensign”
Research
partner, Art Haglund
