Cults - Mormonism

9 - Mormon Confusion About the Holy Spirit

The most notable characteristic of Mormon teaching regarding the Holy Spirit is that it contains a great deal of confusion and contradiction.

From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part 9 of a series Read part 8.

The most notable characteristic of Mormon teaching regarding the Holy Spirit is that it contains a great deal of confusion and contradiction.

In this article we continue asking essential questions about the Mormon doctrine of God. We have seen that Mormonism's "Father God" and "Jesus Christ" are pagan monstrosities. What, then, does Mormonism teach about the Holy Spirit, and how does that teaching compare with the doctrine that we find in the authentic Word of God?

We have mentioned several times in this series that a Christian need not become an expert on all the details of Mormonism in order to understand that believers must reject it on the authority of the Word of God. And so, as we examine Mormonism's false doctrine of the Holy Spirit, we shall limit ourselves the essential points that quickly reveal to us that the so-called "Holy Spirit" of Mormonism is, once again, a pagan substitute for the authentic God of the Bible.

Confusion and Contradiction Leading to Deception

The most notable characteristic of Mormon teaching regarding the Holy Spirit is a great deal of confusion and contradiction. For example, on the one hand Mormonism teaches that God is not a spirit and that God must have a material essence - God must have a body. As we have seen, they teach that their "Father God" has a body while Scripture declares that He does not. But while Mormonism teaches on the one hand that a god must have a body, on the other hand you will find Mormon teachings which say that the being they call the Holy Spirit does not have a body.

Likewise, on one hand, some Mormon teachings say that the Holy Spirit is a person. But other Mormon theological writings say that what they call "the Holy Spirit" is merely - to quote one of their theologians - "divine substance, fluid, or essence." In other words, the entity they call the "Holy Spirit" is an impersonal force. The majority of Mormon theological writings over the history of their cult refer to the "Holy Spirit" as "it" - a neuter object, not a masculine person.

Mormon writing also contain a mass of contradictions about the supposed role of the entity they call the "Holy Spirit" in what they call "salvation."

In light of this, let me remind you of something we stated earlier in this series: In dealing with Mormons, a Christian will find that it is very, very difficult to have a meaningful conversation about their theology. That is because they have redefined the meanings of all the major Biblical terms so that they fit Mormon thinking. If a Bible-believing Christian does not understand this, it will be easy for a Christian to think that when a Mormon speaks of the Holy Spirit he is using that term as the Bible defines it, when in fact a Mormon is not speaking of God the Holy Spirit as taught in Scripture at all.

A Mormon may also tell you that the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity, but this is also a deception, because as we shall see later in this series, Mormonism has also redefined the Trinity into a pagan monstrosity.

The Christian who does not understand that Mormons use very different and very wrong meanings for the terms found in the Bible can be easily deceived. Today, many professing Christians are being deceived by Mormonism on this very point. Mormon missionaries come to their doors and speak of the "Holy Spirit." And so many professing Christians automatically think that the Mormon is talking about the third person of the Godhead as He is set forth in the Bible. That is the lie the Mormon missionary wants you to believe.

It is also worth noting that this is the same kind of confusion about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit that leads many people into the snares and deceptions of the charismatic movement. The charismatic movement is also a cult, and also un-Biblically redefines the nature and work of the Holy Spirit.

Needed: A Firm Grasp of Biblical Truth

In order to "test the spirits" (1 John 4:1) we must have a firm grasp of the Spirit of truth. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is not merely a technicality. It is essential Christian truth. To believe in the God of the Bible is to believe in God the Holy Spirit as He is taught in the Bible. And so, as we continue this series, we shall examine what the Bible actually teaches about God the Holy Spirit, in contrast to the false teachings of Mormonism.

Next: The Holy Spirit: Biblical Truth vs. Mormon Error

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