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Central to Mormon doctrine is the view that there are many Gods and that through obedience Mormons can become Gods to rule over their own planets. The Mormon church teaches that God was once a man who progressed to godhood. This concept was made clear by Mormon prophet Lorenzo Snow, "As man is, God once was. As God is, man may become." The Bible and even The Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants teach that God has always been God and does not change.

Old Testament Verses

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. Then all the people said, "Amen," and praised the Lord. (1 Chronicles 16:36)

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, From everlasting to everlasting. Amen, and Amen. (Psalms 41:13)

Before the mountains were born, Or Thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. (Psalms 90:2)

Thy throne is established from of old; Thou art from everlasting. (Psalms 93:2)

But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. (Psalms 102:27)

But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, (Psalms 103:17)

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. And let all the people say, "Amen." Praise the Lord! (Psalms 106:48)

Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he. (Isaiah 41:4)

"It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses," declares the Lord, "And I am God. Even from eternity I am He; And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?" (Isaiah 43:12-13)

Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. (Isaiah 44:6)

Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. (Isaiah 48:12)

Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Thou, O Lord, hast appointed them to judge; And Thou, O Rock, hast established them to correct. (Habakkuk 1:12)

"But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity." (Micah 5:2)

For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. (Malachi 3:6)

New Testament Verses

And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. (Hebrews 1:12)

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. (Hebrews 13:8)

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me His prisoner; but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity. (2 Timothy 1:8-9)

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. (Revelation 1:8)

Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. (Revelation 1:11)

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: (Revelation 1:17)

And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; (Revelation 2:8)

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6)

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. (Revelation 22:13)

Book of Mormon Verses

And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles. (Mormon 9:19)

But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a respecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism! (Moroni 8:12)

For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity. (Moroni 8:18)

And ye may know that he is, by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever. (Moroni 10:7)

For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing? (Mormon 9:9)

And thou hast beheld in thy youth his glory; wherefore, thou art blessed even as they unto whom he shall minister in the flesh; for the Spirit is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. And the way is prepared from the fall of man, and salvation is free. (2 Nephi 2:4)

For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith. (2 Nephi 27:23)

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. (Alma 31:17)

Doctrine and Covenants Verses

Thereby showing that he is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. Amen. (Section 20:12)

By these things we know that there is a God in heaven, who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting the same unchangeable God, the framer of heaven and earth, and all things which are in them; (Section 20:17)

Listen to the voice of the Lord your God, even Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, whose course is one eternal round, the same today as yesterday, and forever. (Section 35:1)

Verily, verily, I say unto you, I who speak even by the voice of my Spirit, even Alpha and Omega, your Lord and your God-- (Section 75:1)

Notes:

  1. All verses taken from King James Version Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Convenants, and Pearl of Great Price using LDS View computer software published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Compiled by Richard Deem. Permission given to freely distribute.

  2. Verses from the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Convenants, and Pearl of Great Price are given to show the discrepancy between the Mormon scriptures and Mormon teachings. I do not accept any of these books as the inspired Word of God.

The Same Yesterday and Today and Forever

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Hebrews 13:8, KJV

I have isolated this rather remarkable statement in Hebrews in order to examine its ramifications.

‘Jesus’ is the same thing as ‘Christ.’

Within the New Testament, the word ‘Christ’ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word ‘Messiah,’ which means ‘anointed one.’ The Hebrews anointed their kings, today the practice is to crown them, so the term basically means ‘king.’ In fact, it was applied, in the general sense, to all the Hebrew kings.

In a more specific sense, it refers to a special King who would come in the last days. The New Testament claims that Jesus came at the end of the ages (Hebrews 9:26) to fulfill that very purpose. (Note that in the New Testament, the term ‘last days’ refers to the entire period of history bounded by the first and second comings of Christ.)

Therefore, the term ‘Christ’ is a job title and not a proper name. If I am in England and I refer to either Elizabeth II or the Queen, I mean the same person. ‘Queen’ is not a mystical personality that descended upon a young woman named ‘Elizabeth’ in the early 1950s! ‘Queen’ is just the job title that Elizabeth holds. They are one and the same. However, England has had many queens, but there is only one Messiah in the specific sense. The terms ‘Jesus’ and ‘Christ’ are synonyms in the New Testament, one referring to the man by His name, the other referring to Him by His job title. Therefore the writer of Hebrews can say without discomfort or controversy that ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow,’ without distinguishing between ‘Jesus’ and ‘Christ.’

If in the New Testament there were a concept of an eternal Christ-figure as contrasted with a mortal man named Jesus, as some people allege, then this statement would be impossible. For mortal men change, yet the writer of the Hebrews tells us that Jesus is once and forever the same. If they are right that Christ and Jesus are two entities, then both history and the New Testament needs correction on this point.

The doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ is ancient.

It is impossible that the epistle to the Hebrews could have been written later than AD 70, for it was in that year that Jesus’ prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem came true. The Romans erected an abomination (=idol) in the Temple and the people rebelled, mistakenly expecting a repeat of the victory they had won under similar circumstances during the Hasmonean era. (See 1 Maccabees or Josephus for an account.) The Romans completely exterminated everyone in the area and destroyed all the buildings, including the Temple. The sacrifices in the Temple ceased because there was no Temple, there was no city, and all the priests who served in the Temple were dead.

One of the main points of this epistle is to describe how Jesus’ sacrifice is greater and more efficacious than the sacrifices in the Temple. The author writes of the sacrifices and the Temple as continuing even as he wrote! In fact, he spends a great deal of time overcoming the difficulty this presents him, for if the sacrifice of Jesus is so much greater, why do the Temple sacrifices continue? Clearly, if Hebrews were written after AD 70, this would have bolstered the argument and the epistle would be much shorter. He could have said, ‘the Temple is no more because it is no longer needed!’ However, He did not say that because the Temple still stood, the sacrifices were still being offered, and the priesthood was alive when he wrote; which therefore had to be some time before AD 70.

If, then, Hebrews was written far enough before AD 70 to depict undisturbed Temple sacrifices and to omit any mention of trouble, it was written during the lifetimes of the eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life and teachings.

The statement that Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever is an attribution of deity; for to Hebrews, only God is unchanging throughout all eternity.

Therefore the doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ is not a late accretion to the Christian faith; it was there from the very beginning. A few weeks ago I picked up a book in a bookstore that alleged that Jesus was a simple rabbi whom Paul had transformed into a god. Apparently the author has not examined the evidence that conflicts with his views.

Jesus’ body in the world today is doing the same things it did in Palestine in the first century.

If Jesus is the same today as he was in, say, AD 25, then several things stand to reason:

In Acts 10:38, it says that Jesus went about doing good. And if you are a member of His body, what should you be doing right about now?