Scriptural Commentary on LDS ‘Only True Church’ Doctrine

67 Behold, this is my doctrine — whosoever repenteth and cometh unto me, the same is my church (D&C 10:67).

Introduction

Perhaps ironically, most us Mormon’s aren’t keen about challenging religious authority or tradition. That being, I wanted to begin by shamelessly using a cliche disney movie theme to hit home on a few important points. Specifically I would like to use the lesson taught in Pixar’s Brave to suggest that Mormon tradition & pride has created some really serious rifts which are in need of mending. In the movie, the story is told of Mor’du, a royal prince charged with ruling a kingdom with his three brothers. But Mor’du, blinded by his pride does not want to share the kingdom. He goes to a witch and asks for the strength of ten men so he can seize the entire kingdom for himself. Receiving the payment of his family ring, she turns him into an enormous bear and essentially gives him a choice… take the kingdom & remain a bear, or give up his pride and stay human.

After the fall of Mor’du’s kingdom, the heroine Merida finds herself making the same pact with the witch. And she is given the same choice — destroy her family to get what she wants, or make peace with her mother and “mend the bond torn by pride”. The beauty in the show lies in how both Merida and her mother make the right choice to reconcile their differences, and find that their deepest desires are actually fulfilled by doing so.

There are many parallels we could draw between the Mormon Narrative and Pixar’s Brave, but I would like to focus on one. I believe that in the mid 1800’s the pride of the early Saints caused a great rift between ourselves and other Christians. This rift developed early and continued to secretly grow at all levels of the church and culminated in the murder of Joseph Smith and the Succession Crisis which ensued.

I would like to suggest that the same pride which caused those events, still exists in Mormon tradition & doctrine; and is keeping us from fulfilling our scriptural mandate to join hands with the other good people of the earth and “gather all things together in Christ” (Eph. 1:10, D&C 27:13).

I hope not to come across prideful myself as I use numerous scriptures from the Book of Mormon, the New Testament & the Doctrine & Covenants to show that that the “one true church” of Jesus Christ mentioned in most of our scriptures is a non-denominational “spiritual church” or cultural movement and NOT strictly the LDS ecclesiastical organization as has been established in LDS tradition. I also hope to show that by failing to establish Zion, the early saints also failed to establish & gather the temporal “true and living church” spoken of in D&C 1:30.

Zoramitism in the LDS Church

Mormons have misunderstood D&C 1:30, and discounted an abundance of scriptural information to the contrary, in order to support the tradition of being “the only true church”. Like the Zoramites in the Book of Mormon, we have twisted the scriptures in a manner that makes us think that God has “separated us” and “elected us to be saved”, while “all around us are elected to be cast by [his] wrath down to [the telestial and terrestrial kingdoms]”. Understanding the pride inherent in our doctrines is the first step in unravelling the incorrect traditions which crept into the church from its earliest days. The similarities between the Book of Mormon account of the Zoramites and the average Mormon testimony in Fast & Testimony Meeting should be enough to convict us and open our hearts to the need to look closer at what the scriptures teach concerning the only true church doctrine. For those unfamiliar with the story of the Zoramites, let’s read through Alma’s experience with this extremely prideful sect.

12 Now, when they had come into the land, behold, to their astonishment they found that the Zoramites had built synagogues, and that they did gather themselves together on one day of the week, which day they did call the day of the Lord; and they did worship after a manner which Alma and his brethren had never beheld; 13 For they had a place built up in the center of their synagogue, a place for standing, which was high above the head; and the top thereof would only admit one person. 14 Therefore, whosoever desired to worship must go forth and stand upon the top thereof, and stretch forth his hands towards heaven, and cry with a loud voice, saying: 15 Holy, holy God; we believe that thou art God, and we believe that thou art holy, and that thou wast a spirit, and that thou art a spirit, and that thou wilt be a spirit forever. 16 Holy God, we believe that thou hast separated us from our brethren; and we do not believe in the tradition of our brethren, which was handed down to them by the childishness of their fathers; but we believe that thou hast elected us to be thy holy children; and also thou hast made it known unto us that there shall be no Christ. 17 But thou art the same yesterday, today, and forever; and thou hast elected us that we shall be saved, whilst all around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down to hell; for the which holiness, O God, we thank thee; and we also thank thee that thou hast elected us, that we may not be led away after the foolish traditions of our brethren, which doth bind them down to a belief of Christ, which doth lead their hearts to wander far from thee, our God. 18 And again we thank thee, O God, that we are a chosen and a holy people. Amen. 19 Now it came to pass that after Alma and his brethren and his sons had heard these prayers, they were astonished beyond all measure. 20 For behold, every man did go forth and offer up these same prayers. 21 Now the place was called by them Rameumptom, which, being interpreted, is the holy stand.

Although the beliefs of the Zoramites concerning the nature of God and Christ were different than our own, we share the same pride. They truly believed that their doctrines made them the only true church, “elected by God to be saved”. They did not understand the concept taught so clearly by Nephi, and reiterated by Moroni, Jesus and other prophets, that until Zion is fully established & gathered, the only true church is a spiritual church which transcends cultural and organizational lines.

But I suggest that like Mor’du, this is something the LDS Saints have never wanted to hear. From the earliest days we wanted to be Sole owners of God’s kingdom. And because its what we wanted, the Lord gave us stumbling blocks to help us believe what we wanted to believe.

The ‘Only Two Churches’ are ‘Spiritual Churches’ or Social Movements

Nephi was taught clearly, in his vision [of heaven] that there are only two churches, the church of the Lamb of God (or the true church), and the church of the devil (the false church), and since he specifies that everyone on earth belongs to one or the other–it is obvious that term “church” here is referring to a “spiritual” social movement and not just a temporal or ecclesiastical organization.

10 And [The angel of the Lord] said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth. (1 Ne 14:10)

It should be obvious from the context of this verse, that the term “church” in this scripture, is not referring to the most popular modern definition of the word Church (which is a specific religious denomination). Since the verse says “there are save two churches only”, defining “church” as a denomination would mean there could only be two religious denominations on earth, and everyone on earth would have to be a member of one or the other.

As other authors have noted the word church anciently had a much broader meaning than it does now (Hebrew qahal or edah; Greek ekklesia). For instance, in Greek texts it referred to an assembly, congregation, or association of people who bonded together and shared the same loyalties (and was even applied to political structures). Scholars have noted that the concept of a church as an individual religious denomination did not emerge among Jewish peoples until after the Babylonian captivity and the emergence of Jewish sectarianism (Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, etc). And even then, these sects were forced to work together to manage the Jewish state — which was the supreme authority of jewish cultural religion.

Concerning the two church doctrine taught in the Book of Mormon, LDS apostles and church leaders have misunderstood what a “church” was and argued a strange sort of mixed interpretation where the the “church of the lamb of God” mentioned in scripture refers to a literal ecclesiastical organization (the LDS church and its ancient equivalent) but the “church of the devil” is a figurative or spiritual church that transcends organizational lines. But any interpretation to make either “the church of the Lamb of God” OR “the church of the devil” into temporal organizations contradicts the principle taught in Moroni 7 where he teaches that “every thing which inviteth to do good… is of God” and “whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil… is of the devil”.

16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. 17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him. (Moroni 7:16–17)

The idea pushed by early church leaders that every other Christian denomination BUT the LDS church is part of the Church of the devil would be a complete contradiction to Moroni’s words. How could Catholicism or Buddhism for instance be a part of the “church of the devil” when the devil “persuadeth no man to do good, no not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him”! The idea is prideful and ridiculous. At the same time, how could the LDS church be the “only true church” when according to Nephi and other scriptures THERE ARE ONLY TWO CHURCHES. If the LDS church is the only true church, then according to these scriptures, all others would be part of the church of the devil, which we just established goes contrary to Moroni’s words. The answer is that Both Moroni and Nephi understood the spiritual nature of Christ’s true church.footnote 1

Is it any wonder that we are scorned as being a cult by other churches when we continually infer that they are the church of the devil, because of our insistence that we are the ONLY true church (which by definition, infers that all other churches are false!).

[add here a reference to brave as well as reference to Catholic today and other churches showing their ire at our pride and revealing their own pride. ie. see this article, and this article, and this article….]

Early LDS Church leaders were not alone in their misunderstanding of the spiritual nature of Christ’s true church. In the New Testament John and other apostles make this same mistake when they forbid a man who would not follow them from casting out demons in Christ’s name. Jesus rebuked them and teaches the same principle as Nephi and Moroni. No-one who does good in Christ’s name is of the devil. All who do good in Christs name are part of Christ’s spiritual church.

38 John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone forcing demons out of a person by using the power and authority of your name. We tried to stop him because he was not one of us.” 39 Jesus said, “Don’t stop him! No one who works a miracle in my name can turn around and speak evil of me. 40 Whoever isn’t against us is for us. (Mark 9:38–40 GWT)

Nephi makes the exact same statement using reverse logic later in his writings as he explains the nature of both the true church of Christ and the False church of the devil. (Christ also says almost the exact thing in Matt 12:30)

“Wherefore, he that fighteth against Zion, both Jew and Gentile, both bond and free, both male and female, shall perish; for they are they who are the whore of all the earth; for they who are not for me are against me, saith our God.” (2 Nephi 10:16, see also Matt 12:30)

So Christ in one place says “whoever is not against us–is for us”, but then also says along with Nephi “whoever isn’t for us–is against us” (see Matt 12:30). These statements completely contradict each other if you try and hold to the crazy idea that the “only two churches” are individual denominations or ecclesiastical organizations, but they are in complete harmony if you realize the the “only two churches” are simply a restatement of the same spiritual dichotomy taught over and over in scripture which teaches that those who do good and are heading toward love are part of the spiritual church of God, and those who do evil and are headed toward hate are part of the church of the devil. And that every ecclesiastical church, sect, denomination, religion, person or nation is constantly aligning themselves with one or the other in everything they do.

The Good vs. Evil Dichotomy in Scripture

The dualism or dichotomy of good vs. evil is taught throughout the scriptures. And perhaps nowhere is the idea that these terms transcend organizational lines taught better than in the parable of the wheat and the tares. In the parable the Master commands his servants to plant wheat in a field — but when it grows he find tares MIXED WITHIN the wheat. He tells his servants to allow them to grow together, least pulling out the tares, “ye root up also the wheat with them”. The meaning of this parable is explained not only in the New Testament but also in D&C 86 & 88, where we learn that that “the field was the world, and the apostles were the sowers of the seed” (D&C 86:2), the good seed are the children of Christ’s kingdom (true church), and the tares are the church of the devil or bad people and bad works that come from twisted doctrine (Matt 13:38, D&C 88:94).

37 …He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Matt 13:37–43, see also D&C 86:1–3)

D&C 88:94 & Matt 13:38 make it clear that the wheat is the church of Christ and the tares are the church of the Devil. And the whole point of the parable is that it is hard to tell the difference between the two because they look so similar and grow together! Both the wheat and the tares exist within every culture, religion and nation. They both exist within “Christs’ earthly kingdom” (Matt 13:41). And it is not until the end of the world (end of the age in many translations) that Christ will separate the two; gathering the wheat into heaven and burning the tares with the stubble to prepare a new crop cycle.footnote 2

The Temporal Church as a Copy or ‘Type’ of the Spiritual Church

The “trueness” of a temporal or denominational church has to do with how well it copies or aligns itself with the spiritual church as it exists in heaven. When God commits a dispensation or makes a covenant with a people, the leaders are given a charge or responsibility to be a type, copy or microcosm of the true spiritual church which exists in heaven — to be a “light on a hill” and a good example. As they succeed they can be classified as a “true and living” church or religion. The spiritual church in heaven creates sweeping social movements on earth. Within each dispensation, every good/true organizational church adds to Christ’s true spiritual church, but if they fail, they do the opposite. This point is explained to Joseph Smith in D&C 10, a revelation given before the LDS church was even organized. Take note of the changing use of the word “church” and the distinctions that are made between the spiritual church, and the temporal or denominational copy Joseph is charged with establishing. Red parenthetical annotations are mine.

53 And for this cause have I said: If this generation harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them. (“my church” here refers primarily to the temporal or organizational church being committed to Joseph) 54 Now I do not say this to destroy my church, but I say this to build up my church; (“my church” here is obviously referring to his spiritual church, since the temporal church was not yet organized, and would otherwise make no sense in this context. For instance, why would “establishing” his temporal church destroy his temporal church when it did not even exist yet?) 55 Therefore, whosoever belongeth to my church need not fear, for such shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. (once again “my church is referring to his spiritual church. And more importantly he stresses that those who belong to his spiritual church don’t need to fear this new temporal church, because any member of his spiritual church will inherit the kingdom of heaven) 56 But it is they who do not fear me, neither keep my commandments but build up churches unto themselves to get gain, yea, and all those that do wickedly and build up the kingdom of the devil — yea, verily, verily, I say unto you, that it is they that I will disturb, and cause to tremble and shake to the center. (Only the spiritual church of the devil needs to fear being disturbed by this new organizational church) 67 Behold, this is my doctrine — whosoever repenteth and cometh unto me, the same is my church. (My church here, is once again a spiritual church. Not Mormonism, or any one specific organization, sect or denomination. “His church” is a spiritual association of people who are repentant and “coming” unto Christ. 68 Whosoever declareth more or less than this, the same is not of me, but is against me; therefore he is not of my church. (Once again, “my church” must be referring to a spiritual association, as attempting to define it as a organizational church would not make much sense in this context) 69 And now, behold, whosoever is of my church, and endureth of my church to the end, him will I establish upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them. (D&C 10:52–69) (All those who are of Christ’s spiritual church will eventually be gathered into his “rock” or political kingdom. see footnote 5)

The bottom line of this excerpt is found in verse 67 where the spiritual nature of Christ’s church is specifically explained. It says “whosoever repenteth and cometh unto me, the same is my church“. And equally important is the idea that “whosoever declareth more or less than this, the same… is not of my church”. The purpose of a temporal church is to “build up” his spiritual church. Pride within a temporal church aligns us with the devil , putting us in opposition to Christ’s spiritual church.

When we or our leaders stand up in conference or fast and testimony meeting and preach like the Zoramites that just because of our priesthood, or revelations we are “the only true church”, we run the risk of not being part of Christs church! Christ’s church is not proud, it is not boastful. It understands that all who do good are members of the true church. It understands that there are more than one valid priesthood line on earth (a point we will cover in our next article). It understands that preaching doctrines of elitism or exclusivity only cause contention and division.

Both in heaven and when Christ comes on earth, he will gather ALL his sheep from among ALL the churches and cultures and organize them into a kingdom of God. And we can bet that his actions will follow the pattern given in the Book of Mormon. One of the first items of business which Christ addressed among the Nephite people was to chastise them for their “disputations”, and teach them that whoever has the spirit of contention, is “not of me, but is of the devil” (or part of the devil’s church). Might we as Mormons be surprised when one day in the future we not only get this same chastisement, but are dumbfounded when many prophets from other churches are chosen over our apostles to administer that kingdom! see footnote 2b

Joseph Smith and many of the early saints were repeatedly warned about their pride & boasting and were told that if they didn’t repent they would fall from God’s good graces (D&C 3:10–13, D&C 23:1, D&C 38:39, D&C 90:17, D&C 98:20, D&C 121:37). Statements like the following from Joseph Smith set a tone of antagonism which has persisted in the church for over 100 years,

“…all the priests who adhere to the sectarian religions of the day with all their followers, without one exception, receive their portion with the devil and his angels.” (The Elders Journal, Joseph Smith Jr., editor, vol.1, no.4, p.60. See Note 4 for many more examples)

In the same way that Merida’s argument with her mother’s traditions almost destroyed their family, Joseph and the early saints often responded with extreme pride and vitriol to the derision of those who left the church as well as the protestant religions around them. This atmosphere of mutual disrespect has created a rift that remains strong today. But what so many Mormon’s don’t realize is that a lot of it is our own fault!

The Stumbling Block & Fall of The Church

In regards to the only true church doctrine, one of the most apparent sources of misunderstanding comes from a skewed interpretation of D&C 1:30. Despite all the contrary counsel and scripture, this single verse has become the Mormon motto of elitism. A badge of honor we parade to the world.

30 And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually — (D&C 1:30)

I believe that just as the witch in Pixar’s Brave gave both Mor’du and Merida the choice of whether to have their prideful desire at the price of dividing their families and kingdoms, the Lord has also given the LDS people (like the Jews and Catholics before us) the same choice with scriptures like this one.

Do we pull the term “only true and living church upon the whole face of the earth” out of context and use it to gratify our pride and vain ambitions to be God’s only Church? Or do we focus on the true subject of the sentence which is that by obedience to the instructions of how to build Zion given in the D&C, the early LDS saints might become the only church with which the Lord was well pleased?

The Lord was not “well pleased” with other churches of the era for the same reasons given to Joseph during his First Vision, where Joseph was told they were “all wrong” (JS-H 1:19). Just as discussed in D&C 10:68, they were all declaring “more or less” than the doctrine that “he who repenteth and cometh unto me, the same is my church”. Instead of respecting the spiritual gifts of those outside their denominations and cooperating with each other to build Zion, they were all fighting with each other in the spirit of contention — pretending to be the only true church, crying “Lo here! and Lo there” (JS-H 1:5). It seems to me that the Lord was not pleased with them because they all were acting a lot like the modern LDS church does! They talked the talk but they were not humbly working with each other to truly establish a “Zion” civil society. And worse of all they rejected the Spirit of Prophecy (revelation) in anyone outside their fold. They likely all believed that if God did somehow have inspiration for the world, it would come through their church leaders and would prove that they were right.see footnote 3 for more detail

On the other hand the Lord WAS well pleased with fledgling LDS church because it was about to be given a chance to gather all of Christ’s churches together and establish Zion. One of the first nations with true religious liberty had just been established and an individual with a strong gift for clairvoyance and clairaudience (gift of revelation) had now become a channel for the Church of Christ in the Spirit world to attempt to establish a Zion Society. To establish a society which would be a perfect copy of the only true church or kingdom which exists in heaven. A society matching the one described in 4 Nephi of the Book of Mormon. One where “there were no disputations among them”, one where there were no schisms (ites) “but all were one and partakers of the heavenly gift”. One where all people were truly equal under God, with all things in common, of one heart and one mind.

But here’s the travesty… they failed. The early saints, the nation and the world were not quite ready for the unifying kingdom of heaven to be established on earth. The Doctrine & Covenants catalogues their failure. From their failed attempts to unify the christian churches of the era, to their failed experiments of living the law of social & economic equality (consecration), to their mega-failure in finding sexual freedom & equality (polygamy), the early saints laid the foundation for the coming of the true spiritual church to earth, but because of “pride”, “unbelief” and “disobedience” were “driven back into the wilderness”.see footnote 6 Like Mor’du, they wanted the kingdom solely for themselves, and because of this pride they were ostracized by their brothers and temporarily lost the kingdom (An event foreshadowed by Joseph being sold into egypt by his brothers, as well as the children of Israel being cursed from obtaining God’s kingdom).

But happily, God does not only work with the Mormon church! He has been leading the various member of his “true” spiritual church to push for these changes not only in the United States but in all the world. He has been moving the world closer to equality by breaking up monarchies, empires and dictatorships. He has been using the good people of the world to advance the cause of freedom and equality. He has been pouring out his spirit upon the whole world and giving dreams and visions to the movers and shakers of humanity (Joel 2:28–29 ). He has been working to create unity in the nations of the world for the purpose of freedom and peace, while at the same time the wicked church of the devil works to build up oppressive empires and divisive religions, organizations and philosophies.

The LDS Church has grown to be one of those influential movers and shakers and as the wall between us and the world breaks down we have the choice of whether to follow the path of Mor’du and his brothers or Merida and her mother. Will we mend the bond torn by pride, by putting away our elitist traditions and acknowledging the equality and brotherhood of all Christianity. Or like the ancient Jews who looked beyond the mark, will we insist that we are the sole owners of the kingdom, and cause greater division with our brethren through insisting that we are the “only true church” and calling the rest of the world “the church of the devil”.

Whats Next

Article 2. The Priesthood of God & Its Relationship to the Only True Church Doctrine (gathering all things in one, uniting physical and spiritual church.)

Article 3. Understanding the “Great Apostasy”, and its relation to priesthood “renewal” and restoration (or and the gathering of all things in one).

Article 4. The “three degrees of glory” and their relationship to the Only True Church Doctrine.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -

Footnotes. click to expand

Definitions

Spiritual Church: A social movement. A state of being. A type of spiritual nature or character which binds like-minded people together. And organization which exists in heaven with which people can align themselves in thought and behavior.

Organizational or Temporal Church: A specific religious organization or denomination on the earth, bound together by specific ordinances, priesthood and leadership.

Footnote 1

Think how silly the words in D&C 18:20 would be in saying “Contend against no church, save it be the church of the devil”, if every Church but the LDS Church was part of the Church of the devil. It would be like saying “contend against no church…. except for every other church”!

Footnote 2

During periods of extreme wickedness or apostasy, the tares choke out the wheat and drive the spiritual church of Christ out of a society and religions, and into hiding (D&C 86:1–3).

3 And after they have fallen asleep the great persecutor of the church, the apostate, the whore, even Babylon, that maketh all nations to drink of her cup, in whose hearts the enemy, even Satan, sitteth to reign — behold he soweth the tares; wherefore, the tares choke the wheat and drive the church into the wilderness. (D&C 86:3)

But this does not mean the Church (or wheat) is taken from the earth. If that was the case, the master would just burn the field! Being driven “into the wilderness” means the wheat (or good people/spiritual church of Christ) loses religious and political control being forced to hide themselves within the churches and culture so it won’t be destroyed by the tares (or church of the devil which has gained control of religious and political organizations). This is meaning of the term “hid from the world with Christ in God” (D&C 86:9, see also D&C 88:66) ]

The ancient church of Christ and the modern LDS Church and priesthood are but a part of of a much larger work going on between the forces of good and evil in each society and religion. The tares choked out the wheat many times in the Jewish society between the times of Moses and Christ, just as they choked out the wheat many times in the Gentile culture which Nephi saw in his vision, and now in our time we are in no means immune from the possibility of the same thing happening to us! And like Mor’du we have tried to claim sole ownership of Christ’s kingdom, and in doing so run the risk of turning into the beast, or false church.]

Footnote 2b

We as Mormon’s should keep in mind that there is no scriptural evidence to prove that Nephi III or many of the other iconic prophets of the Book of Mormon were part of dominant branch of the organizational Church Alma I established, and not just part of an offshoot or simply the cultural religious system established by Nephi I.

Footnote 3

Like the Zoramites of Alma 31, mormons have pulled the single phrase “only true church” from this verse, disregarding the timing, intent, context and all other scripture on the matter. As is human tendency, we pull out of scriptures the meaning we want to hear (the one which resonates with our level of charity or lack of it), instead of the message that was intended to be conveyed.

The verse does not simply say we are the “only true church”. It is instead saying this young, formative organization is the only church with whom the Lord was at the time well pleased. Its like a father saying to one of his children who had just been obedient when the rest of his children had disobeyed that he was the only good and humble child with whom he was well pleased. The churches interpretation of this verse is then like that child twisting his fathers words by going and bragging to his brothers that he is the father’s only good and humble child! Amen to humility!

Why would the Lord say two years earlier that the church should “Contend against no church, save it be the church of the devil” (D&C 19:20), if the LDS church was the only church that was “true” and thus not influenced by the devil? The reasoning used by LDS traditionalist makes no sense in the context of the “only two churches” doctrine, because it is simply not true.

The Lord had just finishing explaining to the brethren what his true spiritual church looks like. The same church defined in detail in the first half of this article. A Church where “every man might speak in the name of God” (v. 20). A church with an “everlasting covenant” (v. 22); a church which is humble, repentant, and unifies mankind (v. 24–28). A church where all might speak in the name of the Lord, and “man did not council his fellow man”. etc.., etc..

Furthermore, there is no absolutism in this verse. It tentatively says these men MIGHT be able to bring that spiritual church into physicality. They MIGHT be able to found a physical religious sect which matches exactly with the spiritual Church of the Lamb. They MIGHT be able to gather all god’s saints (good people who follow Christ’s teachings of love and are thus part of his spiritual church) into one earthly organization. IF they succeeded, that organization would (matching Christ’s spiritual church in heaven) be the “only true and living church upon the whole face of the earth with which [the Lord is] well pleased”

But as discussed, the saints failed to accomplish the goal and found Zion, but I believe we will get another chance “if we repent” (see 3 Ne 18, 27, etc)

Footnote 4

Here are a few more examples of the church’s continuing pride and animosity toward other Christian religions…

If it had not been for Joseph Smith and the restoration, there would be no salvation. There is no salvation outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Mormon Doctrine, 1979, p. 670)

The only principle upon which they judge me [Joseph Smith] is by comparing my acts with the foolish traditions of their fathers and nonsensical teachings of hireling priests, whose object and aim were to keep the people in ignorance for the sake of filthy lucre; or as the prophet says, to feed themselves, not the flock. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Deseret Book, 1977, p. 315)

“What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 270)

When Joseph Smith was asked “Do you believe the Bible?” he replied “If we do,we are the only people under heaven that does, for there are none of the religious sects of the day that do.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 119)

. . .he that confesseth not that Jesus has come in the flesh and sent Joseph Smith with the fullness of the Gospel to this generation, is not of God, but is anti-christ. (Journal of Discourses, vol. 9, p. 312)

This is not just another Church. This is not just one of a family of Christian churches. This is the Church and kingdom of God, the only true Church upon the face of the earth . . . (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pp. 164–165)

Footnote 5

Some LDS leaders and authors have tried to suggest that the “Rock” spoken of in this verse and Matt 16:18, is revelation or priesthood (here, for instance; see also TPJS p. 274). Although true in a sense this can easily be made to miss the point. The word “rock” in this context is meant to have dual meaning, more than simply being a play on words concerning Peter’s name and the latin root of “petros” or rock, the word is meant to draw our minds to a recurring motif in scripture. In the most literal sense, Christ is the ‘rock’ upon which the church was to be built. As in Heleman 5, it is “it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation” (Hel 5:15). However, we can easily miss a lot of what Christ was saying here if we do not see it in the same cultural context as it was given. The word ‘rock’ had cultural meaning in regards to the Jewish temple. It was upon the “rock” or “foundation stone” of Moriah that Abraham attempted to offer his son (Gen 22:2), and Solomon built the temple. The “dome of the rock” is still the culturally sacred site which Jews today hope to rebuild their temple which is the ultimate symbol of their religious system.

Both Christ in Mark 14:58, and Stephen in Acts 7 try to allude to the idea that the ancient jewish temp was built “with human hands” (ie. their religion was more human creation than divine), while stressing that true religion lies in building a faith “not made by human hands” (Acts 7:24,48, 2 Cor 5:1, Heb 9:24, Dan 2:45). The Old Testament specifies that the tablets of Moses which contained the covenant were written by “the finger of God” (Ex 31:18), but Israel corrupted that law which necessitated a Messiah who would replace their rigid law written in stone with one written in the fleshy tablets of the heart (2 Cor 3:3). In other word’s Christ came to replace the religious legalism of rabbinical judaism with the idea that religion should be a more personal matter of following what God puts into one’s heart (ie. living by the Spirit). Along with all the true prophets, Christ was Judaism’s “stone of stumbling and rock of offense” (Isa 8:14, 1 Peter 2:8, Rom 9:33) or the “rock which the builders rejected which was to become the head of the corner” (Psalms 118:22, Matt 21:42, Acts 4:11 1 Peter 2:7). Christ, as the symbol or archetype of his spiritual church (not the LDS Church) is the “stone cut out of the mountain without hands” in daniel’s vision. All of these illusions are trying to teach the very important lesson that Christ’s true church is not a temporal or earthly organization built by fallible humans. It is a spiritual organization NOT “built by human hands”… a stone cut out of the mountain “without [human] hands”. The Jews, the Catholics and the Mormons along with many religions throughout history inevitably end up “adding and taking away from” what god originally gives; and in every case God has to send true prophets to tear down the corrupted religious systems so that “one stone is not upon the other” (Matt 24:2, Mark 13:2). For Mormon’s or Catholics or ancient Jews to suggest the “rock” is priesthood goes completely against what Christ was trying to teach. To say it is revelation is far closer to the original meaning, but still looks beyond the mark when it is combined with the “one true church” doctrine. The “rock” is the Messiah and his truth, and inasmuch as any church stays founded on it, that church stays part of the “true spiritual church”. But when they put their own truth, prophets, leaders, priesthood, or whatever else above Christ and his spiritual church, and begin to let these be the foundation of their church, the gates of hell prevail against that church and it becomes part of the false church of the devil.

Footnote 6

Joseph, the church and church leaders told they can indeed fall from their prophetic gifts and calling, “fall from grace” and “fall into temptation” (D&C 3:1–14, D&C 20:32–34); contrary to Wilford Woodruff’s statement in Official declaration 1 which contradictingly states “The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray”.

Saints told they must “wait for a little season for the redemption of Zion”, because they were “not united according to the union required by the celestial kingdom”. Saints to be “chastened” and “suffer” until they learn to obey. (D&C 105:1–9)

Those who will not live the law of consecration, should have their names stricken from the record of the church (D&C 85:3–5). church told if it cannot live this law, Zion cannot be established (ref)

Joseph (& saints) told if he didn’t repent he’d be destroyed in the flesh (D&C 132:26). Saints persecuted because of their own sins (D&C 101:1–8)

Church told to beware of pride, or they might fall like the Nephites of old (D&C 38:39). Apostles chastened for contention in school of the prophets (D&C 95:10–12). Priesthood is invalidated, and the powers of heaven withdraw when church leaders “cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men” (D&C 121:37)

D&C 84:54–57 states that by 1832 the church was “under condemnation” for unbelief, and that by 1842 the Lord was threatening to withhold the “fulness of the priesthood”, in much the same manner which He did to the children of Israel in Moses’ day (D&C 124:28–48).

Saints told the gifts of the spirit will be taken away if they lack faith…

Saints continually reminded that if they are not aware, they can be deceived (D&C 46:8, 20:32–34, ref)