Today I was just browsing for stuff on the Easter Story resources. I came across a hashtag campaign which seems good yet when i looked more closely it is started by the mormon church which is not what evangelical bible believing Christians believe – yet on first glance all looks great and have to say the website puts our Christian churches to shame!

Firstly, it is fundamental to the Christian faith that Jesus is alive and not only that but Jesus is fully God – John 3 v 16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son…” in Phillippians 2, Jesus is God stepping out of heaven and being born as a man (divinely) God creating in the womb a baby (not as muslims cause christians which is totally blasphemis saying God had sex with Mary – that is not what Christians believe at all!!!) Anyway why is it really such a difficult concept after all if God is God surely he can create a baby divinely in the women’s womb! Yes?!? Anyway I digress, yes it is fundamental that Jesus is alive today, that through his resurrection makes it possible for all peoples to be saved through grace – but what does that mean. This is where we differ when it comes to biblical christianity and the mormon church.

I found this on the mormon website, that gives a picture of what they say ‘Other Christians believe’ compared to what the ‘Mormon Church’ believe:

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Saved by Grace is the gift of God

Ok let’s consider the first one, and that of Grace, so basically what mormons are saying of Christians is that you say you’re saved but your life is not matched up to what your faith says. but for the true Christian and when someone is born again by the spirit of God, saved by grace is just the first step – basically says that by the grace and mercy of God, i don’t deserve favour but punishment but God in his grace and mercy has given us new life. We know our sins are forgiven and this then leads us to live differently because of the Holy Spirit who is now resident in our hearts helping us to live God’s law from the inside out! To live to bring God joy. So if you are saved by grace there is nothing you can do to earn His favour but our response naturally is to live a good life. Yes we still mess up and we make mistakes but that doesn’t mean we loose salvation we grow and learn to be live because of God’s love poured out into our hearts.

Ordinance of baptism

Ok I don’t have a problem with that, Yes baptism after all is a sign that the Christian has outwardly accepted an inward revelation of who Jesus is and that through repentance (turning away from the way we used to live, against the knowledge of God) and forgiveness (knowing our sin is no longer an obstacle to know God) Yet what do mormon’s believe – well it certainly isn’t salvation is the gift of God, you have to work it and it’s about secret ‘ordinances’ behind closed doors to further be sure “… there are additional ordinances necessary to return and live with God” This is not biblical there is no religious act that makes us more right with God.

This is not an in-depth article and if you would like to read more on what mormon’s believe compared to ‘an evangelical christian faith’ then do visit a great resource, reachouttrust.org

Final challenge

Do you love Jesus? How would you complete the sentence share your testimony in 160 words or less on twitter using #BecauseHeLives hash-tag – let the truth be heard!

This easter, if you have heard about this Jesus, and you recognise that he died for you on the cross, for you head along to whyjesus.org to find out what the bible actually says – rejesus.co.uk