John Gandiello
- Apr 1, 2023
- 15 min read

Who Is The Mormon Jesus?

Updated: Apr 6, 2023

Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me.

-- Isaiah 45:21 --

Two young men, each wearing a white shirt and tie and carrying a Bible, politely knock on your door. They want to share the gospel with you. They will tell you that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came, died for our sins, and rose from the dead on the third day. If you ask them if they are Christians, they will say yes. It all sounds so right. Sign me up!

The God of the Bible

Before I go too much further, here is my position on who Jesus Christ is.

There is only one living and true God, the Creator and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth. God is inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible honor, confidence, and love. In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in every divine perfection and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption (Exodus 20:2–3; Isaiah 45:21; Matthew 28:19; 1st Corinthians 8:6; Revelation 4:11).
Each person of the triune Godhead coexisted throughout all eternity (Deuteronomy 33:27; Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 43:12-13; Micah 5:2; Revelation 1:8; Revelation 22:13).
Jesus Christ, the second person of the triune God, created all things (Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 45:8; John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-16).
Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man (John 1:14; Colossians 2:9; 1st Timothy 2:5; 1st John 4:2).
Jesus Christ was sent into the world to be the one and only propitiation (sin offering, sacrifice of atonement) for our sins (Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17; 1st John 2:2; 1st John 4:10).
Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised from the dead on the third day. He ascended into heaven where He sits at the right hand of God. He will someday return in glory and reign on earth from His glorious throne for 1000 years (Matthew 24:29-31; Matthew 25:31; Acts 1:9-11; Acts 2:33; 1st Corinthians 15:1-4; Hebrews 10:12; Revelation 20:1-7).

A Sad and Unfortunate Trend

The 2022 State of Theology Survey by Ligonier Ministries reported the following:

56% of evangelicals believe that God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. This is up from 42% in 2020.
43% of evangelicals believe that Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God. This is up from 30% in 2020.

The survey revealed an increasingly unbiblical belief among evangelicals that God is pleased by worship that comes from those outside the Christian faith. This survey also revealed a significant increase in evangelicals who deny Jesus’ divinity [1].

It is not surprising that many evangelicals end up supporting movies like "The Jesus Revolution" and television series like "The Chosen." It is also not surprising that many evangelicals believe that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (herein referred to as LDS or Mormons) are Christian brothers and sisters. In fact Dallas Jenkins - creator, producer, and director of "The Chosen" - recently stated the following:

"When I've talked about my brothers and sisters in Christ, and when I talked about those LDS folks that I know who loved the same Jesus I do, I'm referring to some of the friends that I have who identify as LDS who I've gotten to know very deeply over the last few years, in particular. And I've had hundreds of hours of conversations with [them], and I stand by the statement that those friends of mine that I'm referring to absolutely love the same Jesus that I do,” he said. He also said, "I'm a conservative Evangelical. I believe in the inerrancy of Scripture. I believe in the supremacy of God's Word. I believe in the Holy Trinity. I believe in God the Father, the Son of God, the Holy Spirit, and believe that Jesus is the Son of God and all of the core tenants of Scripture” [2].

Dallas Jenkins may think that members of the LDS love the same Jesus that he does, but do members of the LDS really love the same Jesus that Dallas Jenkins does?

Neal and Jeff Harmon founded Angel Studios in 2021. Angel Studios serves as the distribution and streaming platform for "The Chosen" television series and recently distributed the movie "His Only Son." Neal Harmon earned his bachelor’s degree in American Studies and his master’s degree in Instructional Psychology and Technology from Brigham Young University [3]. The Harmon brothers, who grew up in Burley, Idaho, are Mormons who learned early on how to knock on doors... The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which built the set in 2010 for a series of more than 100 Bible videos, had never let any other entity not owned by the church use the property, denying entry to dozens of Hollywood filmmakers [4].

Matthew 7:13-15 - Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
2nd Corinthians 6:14 - Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?
2nd Thessalonians 2:1-3 - Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.

If we are not already in the apostacy, we are quicky heading there as many unaware people, especially those who profess Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior, are being taken in by the destructive heresies of the LDS, and sadly, they don't even realize it!

The God's of Mormonism

Does the LDS teach that there is more than one God?

Joseph Smith, a self-declared prophet and founder of the LDS, said the following in a sermon that he gave on June 16, 1844:

I will preach on the plurality of Gods. I have selected this text for that express purpose. I wish to declare I have always and in all congregations when I have preached on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods. It has been preached by the Elders for fifteen years. I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and that the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods. If this is in accordance with the New Testament, lo and behold! we have three Gods anyhow, and they are plural: and who can contradict it... Many men say there is one God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are only one God! I say that is a strange God anyhow—three in one, and one in three! [5].

This is further stated as follows:

Like most Christians, Mormons believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Creator of the World. However, Mormons hold the unique belief that God the Father and Jesus Christ are two distinct beings. Mormons believe that God and Jesus Christ are wholly united in their perfect love for us, but that each is a distinct personage with His own perfect, glorified body (see D&C 130:22) [6].

Doctrines and Covenants (D&C), Section 130:22 states:

The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us [7].

The Bible does not teach that the Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's! When Simon Peter told Jesus "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God," Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 16:16-17).

How does the LDS define the term "godhood"?

According to the LDS, the term "godhood" denotes the attainment of such a state-one of having all divine attributes and doing as God does and being as God is... All resurrected and perfected mortals become gods. They will dwell again with God the Father, and live and act like him in endless worlds of happiness, power, love, glory, and knowledge; above all, they will have the power of procreating endless lives. Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus Christ attained godhood and that he marked the path and led the way for others likewise to become exalted divine beings by following him... Eliza R. Snow, fifth President of the Church, wrote in 1840, "As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be" [8].

This LDS doctrine that we can become gods is straight from Satan himself. It was introduced in the Garden of Eden to the woman (Eve).

Genesis 3:4-5 - The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Latter-day Saints believe that God (i.e. the Father) achieved his exalted rank by progressing much as man must progress and that God is a perfected and exalted man: "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!" [9].

How did the Father attain His exalted rank as God?

Orson Pratt, who was considered by the early Mormons to be their most learned scholar, wrote the following in his book titled The Seer:

The Gods who dwell in the heavens … have been redeemed from the grace in a world which existed before the foundation of the earth was laid. They and the heavenly body which they now inhabit were once in a fallen state … they were exalted also, from fallen men to Cellestial Gods to inhabit their heaven forever and ever. We were begotten by our Father in Heaven; the person of our Father in Heaven was begotten in a previous heavenly world by his Father; and again, he was begotten by a still more ancient father; and so on, from generation to generation, from one heavenly world to another still more ancient, until our minds are wearied and lost in the multiplicity of generations and successive worlds, and as a last resort, we wonder in our minds, how far back the genealogy extends, and how the first world was formed and the first Father was begotten [10].

Bruce McConkie, a member of the First Council of the Seventy, wrote the following in his book titled Mormon Doctrine:

Implicit in the Christian verity that all men are the spirit children of an Eternal Father is the usually unspoken truth that they are also the offspring of an Eternal Mother. An exalted and glorified Man of Holiness could not be a father unless a woman of like glory, perfection, and holiness was associated with Him as a mother. The begetting of children makes a man a father and a woman a mother whether we are dealing with man in his mortal or immortal state [11].

Milton R. Hunter, a contemporary Mormon theologian wrote the following in his book titled The Gospel Through the Ages:

The stupendous truth of the existence of a Heavenly Mother, as well as a Heavenly Father, became established facts in Mormon theology. A complete realization that we are the offspring of Heavenly Parents—that we were begotten and born into the spirit world and grew to maturity in that realm—becomes an integral part of Mormon philosophy. Those verities are basic in the Gospel plan of eternal progression [12].

Thus, the "Heavenly Father" earned his godhood by marrying "Heavenly Mother." They were both humans with physical bodies on another planet. They procreated spirit-beings by having sexual intercourse.

Were Adam and Eve children of "Heavenly Father" and "Heavenly Mother"?

One of the most interesting and unusual teachings of the LDS Church is that all human beings, as Gospel Principles puts it, are “literally the sons and daughters” of “heavenly parents.” If Heavenly Father is the literal father of our spirits—procreating us as spirit beings like an earthly father procreates his children—it would follow logically that we also have a “Heavenly Mother.” This Mother in heaven, of course, would be God’s wife. Belief in a heavenly mother, while not emphasized, is part of LDS doctrine, as the reference to “heavenly parents” in Gospel Principles illustrates. A statement by the First Presidency in 1909 entitled “The Origin of Man” affirmed this belief as official LDS doctrine: “All men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother and are literally the sons and daughters of Deity" [13].

This statement makes it clear that Adam and Eve were born as spirit-beings with physical bodies through sexual intercourse between "Heavenly Father" and his wife, "Heavenly Mother". The Bible teaches that God created the first man, Adam, from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). God took a rib from Adam and fashioned it into a woman (Genesis 2:22). Adam and Eve were not born as spirit-beings. God created them as the first human beings!

Did all human beings since Adam and Eve exist as spirit-beings prior to being born?

Mormons believe that all men and women ever to be born, including Jesus Christ, lived with God as His spirit children before this life. God wanted each of us to come to earth to gain experience, learn, and grow to become more like Him [14].

To comprehend the Mormon version of Creation, one has to first understand their teaching on God. The Heavenly Father, according to Joseph Smith, is the literal father of our spirits. Together with his many spirit wives (our Heavenly Mothers) he has propagated millions of little spirit babies which live in the Spirit Kingdom (pre-existing) awaiting their birth into human bodies here on Earth [15].

Was Jesus Christ also born to "Heavenly Father" and "Heavenly Mother" as a spirit-being?

One of the firstborn spirit children was Jesus and to Him was given the responsibility of redeeming mankind [16]. Jesus Christ (Jehovah) was the first spirit-being born without a physical body. Thus, Jesus was called the firstborn.

The doctrine of the Savior’s status as firstborn has been reemphasized for our benefit in more recent times by an official pronouncement of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve given in 1916: “Among the spirit children of Elohim (the Father) the first-born was and is Jehovah to whom all others are juniors”... Because Jesus Christ was indeed the firstborn of heavenly parents and is, as pertaining to our first estate, our “elder brother,” that means He also possessed a spirit body that had a definite birth or time of organization just like every other spirit child of God. Elder McConkie taught that implicit in Jesus’ birth as a spirit child is the fact that “he had a beginning; there was a day when he came into being as a conscious identity, as a spirit entity, as an organized intelligence” [17].

Did Jesus Christ exist as God before He was born on this earth?

President Joseph Fielding Smith stated emphatically that Jesus Christ was “a God before he was born into this world." He was like His Father... but that He was also born as a son of God, having a beginning, is no contradiction when one understands the true nature and order of existence as revealed by enlightened prophets; and any confusion over this matter may be tied to the false notion of creation ex nihilo...The Prophet Joseph Smith further taught that the idea of Deity organizing eternally existent matter also applied to the spirits of God’s children as well. He stated, “The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end." Indeed, the Lord revealed to the Prophet in 1833 that “man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can it be... For man is spirit... In 1839 Joseph taught, “The Spirit of man is not a created being; it existed from Eternity and will exist to eternity” [18].

Let me see if I can make sense of this. Intelligence of spirits (not procreated spirit-beings) is eternal. According to LDS doctrine, the spirit of Jesus was an eternal God before being born to his heavenly parents as a spirit-being.

Was the virgin Mary impregnated by the Holy Spirit as taught in Matthew 1:20 and Luke 1:34-35?

God was Christ’s Father, and Mary was His mother. His mortal body was created in their image, and He could experience pain and joy in all of their fulness [19].

At first glance, you would ask, isn't the third person of the triune God the Holy Spirit? The answer is yes. However, you need to understand that the definition of God in this context is the Father.

Mormonism teaches that God is made of flesh and bone, meaning God was able to engage in sexual intercourse. Moreover, while it not articulated in any standard works, Mormon authorities have taught that Mary could be and was impregnated with Jesus through physical sex with God. Here is what some of these authorities stated [20]:

Orson Pratt: "the Holy Ghost gave her [Mary] strength to abide in the presence of the Father without being consumed, but it was the personage of the Father who begat the body of Jesus; and for this reason Jesus is called 'the Only Begotten of the Father;' that is, the only one in this world whose fleshly body was begotten by the Father... The fleshly body of Jesus required a Mother as well as a Father. Therefore, the Father and Mother of Jesus, according to the flesh, must have been associated together in the capacity of Husband and Wife; hence the Virgin Mary must have been, for the time being, the lawful wife of God the Father: … Inasmuch as God was the first husband to her, it may be that He only gave her to be the wife of Joseph while in the mortal state, and that He intended after the resurrection to again take her as one of his own wives to raise up immortal spirits in eternity."
Bruce R. McConkie (LDS 'General Authority'): “…our Lord is the only Son of the Father in the flesh. Each of the words is to be understood literally. Only means only, begotten means begotten, and Son means son. Christ was begotten by an Immortal Father in He same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers
Brigham Young (Mormonism's 2nd president-prophet): “The birth of the Saviour was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood—was begotten of his Father, as we were of our fathers... Now Remember from this time forth, and forever, that Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost... When the Virgin Mary conceived the Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost."
Joseph Fielding Smith (Mormonism's 10th president-prophet): “Jesus was not the son of any mortal man. His biological father was God, the Father. As Son of God, Jesus represents the Father and acts as his agent in all things.”

Are Jesus Christ and Lucifer spirit brothers?

In the June 1986 edition of the LDS magazine Ensign, the question was asked "How can Jesus and Lucifer be spirit brothers when their characters and purposes are so utterly opposed?" Jess L. Christensen, Institute of Religion director at Utah State University, Logan, Utah, responded:

On first hearing, the doctrine that Lucifer and our Lord, Jesus Christ, are brothers may seem surprising to some — especially to those unacquainted with latter-day revelations. But both the scriptures and the prophets affirm that Jesus Christ and Lucifer are indeed offspring of our Heavenly Father and, therefore, spirit brothers. Jesus Christ was with the Father from the beginning. Lucifer, too, was an angel who was in authority in the presence of God, a son of the morning. Both Jesus and Lucifer were strong leaders with great knowledge and influence. But as the Firstborn of the Father, Jesus was Lucifer's older brother [21].

This assumes that Jesus was a created being, a doctrine clearly not taught in the Bible. However, Lucifer is an angel who was created by Jesus Christ, thus they are not spirit brothers.

Nehemiah 9:6 - You alone are the LORD. You have made the heavens. The heaven of heavens with all their host.
Colossians 1:16 - For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

Did Jesus Christ get married?

In Joseph Smith’s teachings, angels, like gods, were once mortals, but only gods had obeyed the commandment—what this revelation termed “the law of [God’s] Holy Priesthood”—to be sealed in an eternal marriage. As Orson Hyde would explain, just as Jesus was baptized “to fulfill all righteousness,” so too would he follow his “Father’s law” to multiply and replenish the earth... While the Gospels do not include any references to Jesus having a spouse or children, Latter-day Saints claimed scriptural support for a married Messiah in Jesus’s interactions with women, most prominently Mary, Martha, and Mary Magdalene. Specific attention was given to Mary’s anointing of Christ’s feet and his appearance to Mary Magdalene after his Resurrection. In 1847, Brigham Young presented the image of Mary Magdalene attempting to cling to Jesus’s feet as how “every woman [at the Resurrection] will come right to her husband’s feet same as Mary.” On October 6, 1854, Apostle Orson Hyde explained that Mary’s reference to Jesus as “Rabboni; which is to say, Master... manifested the affections of a wife. These words speak the kindred ties and sympathies that are common to that relation of husband and wife” [22].

There is not a single reference in the Bible supporting the idea that Jesus Christ married.

Closing Remarks

Honestly I wish I didn't have to write this but I was driven by love for my brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as those who are caught up in the cults, to take on this task. Many are being deceived into believing the Jesus of the Bible and the Mormon Jesus are the same. They are not! But why does this matter? What you believe about Jesus has a huge impact on the gospel of Christ. Preaching the false Jesus of the LDS presents a different gospel, one that distorts the gospel of Christ. The apostle Paul gave us this warning in his letter to the Galatians:

Galatians 1:6-9 - I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!