____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER ____________________________________________________ "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ April 20, 2008 ____________________________________________________ Contents: 1) Mormonism and the Virgin Birth of Christ (Connie W. Adams) 2) The Action of Baptism (Steve Wolfgang) 3) News & Notes ____________________________________________________ -1- Mormonism and the Virgin Birth of Christ by Connie W. Adams "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 1:18-20). This was in fulfillment of the prophecy that "a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us" (Matt. 1:23). The virgin birth of Jesus has long been revered as a cardinal tenet of the faith of Christians. This is what is meant by the incarnation. God was incarnate in Jesus Christ. "God was manifest in the flesh" (1 Tim. 3:16). This is how he "took upon himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:7-8). The Mormon View The Mormon view of this subject is far removed from what the Bible teaches. Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., wrote "The birth of the Savior was a natural occurrence unattended with any degree of mysticism, and the Father God was the literal parent of Jesus in the flesh as well as in the spirit" (Religious Truth Defined 44). President Joseph Fielding Smith said "Christ was begotten of God. He was not born without the aid of Man, and that Man was God!" (Doctrines of Salvation 1:18) "And Christ was born into the world as the literal Son of this Holy Being; he was born in the same personal, real, and literal sense that any mortal son is born to a mortal father. There is nothing figurative about his paternity; he was begotten, conceived and born in the normal and natural course of events . . . Christ is the Son of man, meaning that his Father (the eternal God) is a Holy man" (Mormon Doctrine [1979], 742). In connection with this blasphemy, it is the Mormon contention that sexuality is an attribute of God. Consider the following: "In the light of their understanding that God is a procreating personage of flesh and bone, latter-day prophets have made it clear that despite what it says in Matthew 1:20, the Holy Ghost was not the father of Jesus... The Savior was fathered by a personage of flesh and bone, and was literally what Nephi said he was, `Son of the eternal Father'" (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Autumn [1967], 100-101). Brigham Young taught that Mary was actually the wife of God. "The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husband" (Deseret News, Oct. 10, 1866). Mormon apostle Orson Pratt also taught that Mary was "the wife of God." Brigham Young wrote, "The birth of the Savior 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" (Journal of Discourses 8:115). As late as 1988, then President of the Mormon Church, Ezra Taft Benson argued that God was the father of Christ "in the most literal sense" (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 1988). On pages 6 and 7 of his book he wrote, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in the most literal sense. The body in which he performed his mission in the flesh was sired by that same Holy Being we worship as God, as Eternal Father. Jesus was not the son of Joseph, nor was he Begotten by the Holy Ghost. He is the Son of the Eternal Father." Folks, this is the church that advertises the Book of Mormon as "another testament of Jesus Christ." They have 10 million members world-wide. No wonder they need "another testament" for they have no respect for the Bible. Matthew 1:18-20 affirms twice that he was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Now, here is the President of the Mormon Church who flatly says "nor was he begotten by the Holy Ghost." That would be a good quote to place alongside Matthew 1:18-20 when you tell a Mormon caller that a Book of Mormon and the Mormon doctrine contradict the Bible. Will they repudiate their own apostles and prophets? The birth of our Lord was a supernatural event. It was not a "natural action" as Brigham Young taught. Jesus was not begotten "as we were of our fathers." The Mormon religion is false to the core. It is suspended upon the assumption that revelation is not final and complete in the Bible. Peter said, "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue" (2 Pet. 1:3). Late in the first century Jude urged contending for "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3, NKJV). If Peter and Jude told the truth, there is no room left for the supposed revelations of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Judge Rutherford, Ellen G. White or Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy. They are all frauds and any religion based upon their utterances is false and cannot save. (The author is indebted to the Salt Lake City Messenger published by Jerald and Sandra Tanner for the documented quotes from Mormon sources given in this article.) -- Via Guardian of Truth XXXIX: 5 p. 3-4, March 2, 1995 ____________________________________________________ -2- The Action of Baptism by Steve Wolfgang The subject of the "action" of baptism quite evidently concerns itself with the nature of the act. It raises the question, "Exactly what is 'baptism'?" This is a question which should be of obvious importance to every professed believer of the Bible. To those who do not believe the word of God, little if any significance attaches to what the act of baptism consists of, or is. To those who do believe the promise of Jesus ("He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" -- Mk. 16:16), it is of paramount importance to understand exactly what is meant by "baptism." Historically, discussions of this question have centered in distinguishing between so-called "modes" of baptism -- whether baptism is "by" sprinkling, pouring, or immersion. Ancient indeed is the argument that "baptism is commanded -- but the 'mode' is not revealed; therefore any 'mode' is acceptable." This, of course, is tantamount to arguing that God commanded an act (baptism) upon which one's eternal salvation depends (Mk. 16:16; Acts 2:38; 1 Pet. 3:21), but was so nebulous and unclear as to leave completely undefined what the act is! (We recognize that many who would leave baptism so undefined also deny the necessity of the act for salvation.) From a Biblical standpoint, the complicated and intricate arguments over "modes" are completely unnecessary; in fact, they are foreign to the Scriptures, being instead the results of human systems of theology. The Bible simply does not say anything about "modes," for the simple reason that the word itself indicates precisely what it means and what its "action" is. In its most basic and fundamental sense, the act of baptism "consist(s) of the processes of immersion, submersion, and emergence" (W. E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Volume I, p. 96). Standard lexicons (Greek dictionaries), such as Arndt and Gingrich's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, define "baptism" in this way: "dip, immerse," and point out that in "non-Christian literature" it means to "plunge, sink, drench, overwhelm, etc." (p. 131). Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament defines the Greek verb for "baptism" as "immersion, submersion" (p. 94); while Liddell and Scott, in their Greek-English Lexicon, define the word to mean "dip repeatedly, dip under" (p. 126). Alan Richardson's Theological Wordbook of the Bible defines the word in this manner: "dip, plunge under water, sink or swamp" (p. 27). Thus the English word "baptize" does not adequately translate the idea of the action contained in the original Greek word (baptizo); in fact (as we can see by comparing the Greek word and the English word), it is not a translation at all, but rather a transliteration. It merely transposes Greek letters (transliterates) into English letters, instead of selecting any of a number of English words (such as dip, plunge, immerse, submerge, overwhelm, etc.) which would correctly convey (translate) the idea of the Greek, baptizo. (It is also interesting to notice that a separate Greek word -- rantizo -- meaning "to sprinkle" could and would have been used if that were the action being contemplated.) But one does not necessarily need a knowledge of Greek or access to a Greek lexicon to learn what the Bible means by "baptism." Perhaps the best way to establish that the word itself indicates its own meaning is to examine passages of scripture in which the word is used. One of the best descriptive passages with regard to "baptism" is found in Acts 8, the record of the conversion of the Ethiopian treasurer. From the account beginning in verse 35 and continuing through verse 39, we learn that the act of baptism involves a coming unto water (v. 36), a going down into the water (v. 38), and a coming up out of water (v. 39). Other passages are likewise revealing in helping us to understand the nature of the action of baptism. In Rom. 6:3-4 and Col. 2:12, baptism is called a "burial," which involves again the ideas of a submersion, or an overwhelming. Perhaps we can understand from passages such as these why it was necessary that John the baptizer baptized where there was "much water" (John 3:23). Also, the concept of inundation and a complete overwhelming with water is implied by Peter's use of the flood in Noah's day, and his declaration that a "like figure whereunto baptism doth also now save us" (1 Peter 3:21). Seeing then that baptism is declared to be an essential requirement for a person's salvation, we need to be very certain that we understand what baptism is -- that by definition and by its own usage it is immersion, and all of the sophisticated and complex discussion about "modes" will not make it otherwise; nor will it make sprinkling and pouring something which they are not -- Biblical baptism. Dear reader, if you have not been "baptized" (immersed) for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), we fervently urge you to think seriously about, and act upon, this important commandment. -- Via Truth Magazine XIX: 27, pp. 421-422, May 15, 1975 ____________________________________________________ -3- News & Notes Let those of us who are Christians be remembering Anne Mae Jackson in prayer. She had been in the hospital again recently, but is now back home receiving hospice care. Her nurse said that Anne's body is now shutting down, and it will be just a matter of days -- perhaps no longer than a week. Family are now at her home. Let us be praying for her and for all her family and friends, as well. ____________________________________________________ MYRTLE STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST 1022 Myrtle Street Denham Springs, LA 70726 (225) 664-8208 Sunday: 9:15 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM Wednesday: 7:00 PM evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520 e-mail: tedwards@onemain.com web site: http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go ____________________________________________________