"Gods" in the Bible and Mormon Tritheism

"In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, prophets since Joseph Smith have taught clearly that there are three separate members of the Godhead, each of which is God. As Joseph Smith stated, 'These personages... are called God the first; the Creator, God the second, the Redeemer; and God the third, the Witness or Testator' (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 190). He further taught: 'I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a 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 (Teachings, p. 370; see also History of the Church 6:474)." I quote this from this Mormon website. That is, it is their words, not my representation. 

Up until the last words, "and three Gods," a biblical Christian could be nodding his head, because the Bible does, indeed, indicate that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons, but, we insist, they are one God. We know this because each person, as Mormons will concede, is called in turn, God. Yet, the Bible also tells us, "Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides Me there is no god. Who is like Me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before Me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are My witnesses! Is there a God besides Me? There is no Rock; I know not any" (Isaiah44:6-8, emphasis added). And elsewhere, "To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides Him" Deuteronomy 4:35). Three persons called God, and only one God; that is the simple description of the triune God of the Bible, the creeds, and biblical Christianity. It makes no allowance for multiple deities, whether the three of Mormonism or the millions of Hinduism, or any number held forth in pagan religions. 

In response to the plain words of the Bible, Mormons claim that their belief is consistent with the Bible's references to "gods." Yet even that claim is refuted by the Bible itself. It must be granted, of course, that the Bible does refer to "gods." But the usage clearly forbids any conclusion that the reference is to real gods, as is the living God of the Bible. 

Consider another reference from the Old Testament: "There [i. e., in Babylon] you will serve gods of woods and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell" (Deuteronomy 4:28). That is, when the Bible refers to "gods," it means idols, as the deceived pagans see them, not in their real nature. 

In the New Testament, we see these words from the Apostle Paul: "What pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God" (I Corinthians 10:20). He goes beyond Moses and says that pagan deities are not merely idols, but are actually demonic spirits. And that brings us back to the three gods of Mormonism. Not only are they not, any of the three, the God of the Bible, but they are, in reality, demonic spirits leading Mormons on a merry path to Hell. 

Government Money Policy and the Bible on Weights and Measures

Here is an article from a non-Christian economics think tank about the historical impact of profligate government printing of currency. As I write this, an estimated 80% of US dollars in existence have come into existence under the expansions of presidents Trump and Biden, partly, they claim, as economic incentive during the covid pandemic. The most famous example of such an economic program was under the pre-Nazi Weimar Republic of Germany, in which the currency was so debased that the inflation was part of the instability which inspired German voters to turn to the Nazi Party as an alternative. More recently, we have seen the same events in Mugabe's Zimbabwe and Chavez's Venezuela. 

The result of such a policy is that the same currency loses value with the passage of time. The government benefits from this devaluation because it spends the money before it has entered the market, where it will lose its value. The same is true for businesses favored by government with access to the new money, such as Wall Street and the banks. They have access to the money before it has lost its value, giving them a benefit of privilege that unfavored businesses and the general public cannot have. 

In the Bible, God expresses His divine displeasure with such manipulations of money. In Leviticus 19:35-36, He tells Israel, "You shall do not wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt." He repeats this command in Deuteronomy 25:13-16: "You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. A full and fair weight you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the Lord your God." The references to "weights" may seem strange to our modern ears, since we think of money not as weight but as slips of paper, or even just as a plastic card. However, in the days of Moses, exchanges occurred through the use of scales, which told the weight in specie for a certain weight of commodity. 

The wisdom literature, too, warns against financial cheating. For example, in Proverbs 20:10, the Holy Spirit tells us, "Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the Lord." He repeats the warning in verse 23: "Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord, and false scales are not good." In both proverbs, cheating through monetary manipulation is named an abomination to the Lord. 

A policy of inflating the currency by government is a policy of theft, which is why it is an abomination to the Lord. it is government which should be the agent of God, not in stealing, but in suppressing theft. Yet our government has a continuing policy of such theft, especially from the poor and elderly. As such, it should be an abomination to every moral person. 

Judgments on the Climate for the Works of Men

"He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the evil of its inhabitants. [However,] He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. And there He lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city in which to live; they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield. By His blessing they multiply greatly, and He does not let their livestock diminish" (Psalm 197:33-38). 

The world is abuzz about "climate change." Every time there is a hurricane, a drought, a wildfire, pestilence, or famine, politicians and the media blame it on climate change. That, in turn, is blamed on human economic activity, though even some secular sources disagree. I don't have a problem with that explanation. However, I think that scripture shows that natural forces are merely the means, not the true cause of climate change. 

Look at the passage quoted above. 

In this Psalm, coming down to us anonymously, God tells us that it is, indeed, human activity that produces good or bad climate effects, but not because of economics. Rather, it is man's moral activity that brings either the curses or the blessings of God on the land. That portion of the world which professes the Christian religion, especially North and South America, Australia, and Europe, have embraced the values of paganism, such as human sacrifice by abortion. And, as a result, we have brought God's curses on our land in the form of climactic devastation. 

Yet, do we see repentance? Not so far. Rather, we see the wickedness compounded by more nature worship on one side and expanding government tyranny on the other. Even those in Christian ministry, embracing pagan "wokeness," are speaking less of God's law, less of man's sin, and hardly a peep about righteous living according to the word of God. 

As result, we can anticipate increasing climactic judgment, no matter what tinkering government does, until the professing Christian community awakens to its failures. 

The Covenant Faithfulness of God: Covenant Succession

"The children of Your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before You" (Psalm 102:28). 

Psalm 102 is described in its subtitle as "a prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord." Who that person is, we do not know. Yet we read his complaint of some affliction which leaves him sleepless and without appetite. His foes taunt him. Whether that is because of what is happening to him, or if that is itself the affliction, again we do not know. But his heart is revived as he recalls the sovereignty of God (verse 12), especially in His faithfulness to His church (verse 16). 

In the final verse, which I have quoted above, the author reminds us that God is faithful not just to us in the moment, but to our children and their posterity. This covenant succession is mentioned frequently in Scripture. For example, we see a parallel verse in Isaiah 54:13: "All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children." 

The One and Only People of God

"Therefore, remember that, at one time, you Gentiles in the flesh, called the 'uncircumcision' by what is called the 'circumcision,' which is made in the flesh by hands - remember that you were, at that time, separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And He came and preached peace to you were far off and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father" (Ephesians 2:11-18). 

The hallmark of classical dispensationalism is its radical discontinuity between Israel and the church. The former is said to have been saved by obeying the Mosaic law, while the latter is saved by grace. Scofield supposed that Jesus intended to be made king of Israel at His first coming, but was surprised, instead, by His rejection by the Jews. As a result, He made an impromptu, unplanned parenthesis for the church, until such time as He takes the church away and renews the works program for Israel. Most dispensationalists today have rejected that rigid program of to-and-fro methods of salvation. 

They reject it with good cause.

As we see in Paul's writing quoted above, the program of Jesus was never to establish two systems of salvation, but rather to  bring in the Gentiles, excluded under the Mosaic program, into His only method of justification, which is by grace through faith. By this plan, He created not two distinct peoples of God, but rather united two cultures, one blessed and the other previously excluded, into one people, saved by the atoning death of Christ on the cross, applied to all by grace through faith alone. 

The Destiny in This World of the Godly and of the Wicked: Psalm 37

In Deuteronomy, Moses laid out for the Israelites the blessings and curses that would come from the obeying or disobeying of the commandments of God. In Psalm 37, David, the man after God's own heart, lays out the same dichotomy in poetic form. Even as poetry, though, the psalm has much to say to modern America regarding her growing devolution from biblical Christianity. 

On the plus side, the godly are shown a wonderful future. Though David speaks generally, not necessarily as to individual experience, the blessings should produce a delighted hope in the heart of the believer. 

"Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will act... The meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace... The Lord knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will remain forever; they are not put to shame in evil times; in the days of famine, they have abundance... The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in His way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand. I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing... Wait for the Lord and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off... The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their stronghold in the time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in Him" (Psalm 37:3-5, 11, 18-19, 23-26, 34, 39-40). 

In these verses, we see the same blessings promised for obedience in Deuteronomy 28: agricultural bounty, happy and blessed children, wealth, and the inheritance of the land. 

The cursings promised to the wicked provide a stark contrast: "They will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb... In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there... The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the lord laughs at the wicked, for He sees that his day is coming. the wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright; their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken... The wicked will perish; the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish - like smoke they vanish away... The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put him to death. The Lord will not abandon him to his power or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial... I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree. But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found... Transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off" (Psalm 37:2, 10, 12-15, 20, 32-33, 35-36, 38). 

What we see of the wicked is a delusion of cleverness, but his ways lead only to futility and brevity of life. His posterity are cut off, and the land passes to the righteous. 

The Intra-Trinitarian Covenant as the Starting Point for Paul

In two places, Paul initiates a theological point  by placing the foundation of his doctrine before time. In Ephesians 1:4, he tells us of the choosing of the elect "in Him," that is, in Christ, "before the foundation of the world." And again in II Timothy 1:8-10, he tells us that the elect are the objects of His calling "before the ages began," but which has now been manifested. We see similar phrases used by John in John 17:24 and Revelation 13:8, and by Peter in I Peter 1:20. 

In each case, we see the salvific purposes of God exercised in time, in history, but based on decisions made before time and history. If it was before creation, then in what context did God work out these plans? Within the fellowship of the three Persons of the Trinity, co-eternal and co-equal. Paul tells us of the plan among the Father (such as verses 3 and 5), the Son (verses 3,4, and 5), and the Holy Spirit (verse 13). Thus Paul displays to us that his soteriology is inherently trinitarian; God's purposes could be carried out only by the intimate involvement of all three of the divine Persons. 

I have shown the scriptural glimpses of this intra-Trinitarian covenant, or convenant of redemption, from the Old Testament (such as here and here), but we must also see that it underpins the theology of the New Testament. Among other things, it necessarily precludes any christological heresy denying the Trinity or any of the Persons, or their deity and preexistence, especially the heresy of modalism. But it also shows the step by step purposes of God in the redemption of His people, not for our sake, but because of the Father's love of the Son. Thus, it cannot fail or be undone. The intra-Trinitarian covenant provides a sound basis for the assurance of salvation. that again precludes most of the aberrant sects, who all maintain a fragility of their version of salvation, such that it can be lost at any time.