Recently, I recommended Lutheran Hour Ministries Daily Devotionals. I still enjoy them, but in a recent devotional Paster Klaus said something that I needed to offer correction on. Here is my reply to him.
Dear Pastor Ken Klaus,
I’m a little bit behind in listening to the devotionals, and today I finally heard the Daily Devotional entitled “Kinda, Sorta True,” dated May 1, 2012, in which you flatly stated that The Book of Mormon is wrong and implied that it teaches that salvation comes from a source other than Jesus the Christ.
I am not aware of what opportunity you have personally taken to study The Book of Mormon, but I would like you to know that I have read it, cover-to-cover, numerous times, along side the Holy Bible. I have found that The Book of Mormon teaches repeatedly, plainly, and beautifully of the Savior’s sacrifice and love for us. The title page states that it was written “to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.”
Like the Holy Bible, various prophets and disciples of God wrote The Book of Mormon over a several thousand years. While the Bible focuses on the tribe of Judah, the people of the Book of Mormon are of the lineage of Joseph, another of Israel’s sons. These experiences contain the rise and fall of people as they either followed or rejected the will of the Holy One of Israel.
In the devotional, you posed a hypothetical question asking if I would turn in my copy of the Holy Bible or The Book of Mormon, and how would I respond? I would not wish to get rid of either book, for both contain the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Both stand as independent witnesses of the grace of God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. (And as Paul reminded us, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” 2 Corinthians 13:1)
I bear no grudge nor resentment for what you said during your devotional, and I continue to wish you God Speed in your work of “bringing Christ to the nations!”
Your “Mormon” Listener,
Ryan Beardall
P.S.
If you are interested, I’ve included a few passages below from The Book of Mormon for your perusal. Enjoy!
Nephi: “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2nd Book of Nephi, Chapter 25, Verse 26). “And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God.” (2nd Book of Nephi, Chapter 31, Verse 21)
Jacob: “For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us.” (The Book of Jacob, the Brother of Nephi, Chapter 4, Verse 4)
King Benjamin: “And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent. For behold he judgeth, and his judgment is just; and the infant perisheth not that dieth in his infancy; but men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves and become as little children, and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.” (The Book of Mosiah, Chapter 3, Verses 17-18)
Mormon: “Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life. And it hath become expedient that I, according to the will of God, that the prayers of those who have gone hence, who were the holy ones, should be fulfilled according to their faith, should make a record of these things which have been done.” (Third Nephi, Chapter 5, Verses 13-14)
Moroni: “And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen.” (The Book of Ether, Chapter 12, Verse 41)
“What a blessing it is to have the account of the mission of our Lord and Savior declared in the Book of Mormon to add a second witness to the doctrine declared in the Bible. Why is it important for the world to have both the Bible and the Book of Mormon? I believe the answer is found in the 13th chapter of 1 Nephi. Nephi records: ‘And the angel spake unto me, saying: These last records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles [the Book of Mormon], shall establish the truth of the first [the Bible], which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved’ (verse 40).
“Neither the Bible nor the Book of Mormon in and of themselves is sufficient. Both are necessary for us to teach and learn about the full and complete doctrine of Christ. The need for the other does not diminish either one of them. Both the Bible and the Book of Mormon are necessary for our salvation and exaltation. As President Ezra Taft Benson so powerfully taught, ‘When used together, the Bible and the Book of Mormon confound false doctrines’ (‘A New Witness for Christ,’ Ensign, Nov. 1984, 8).”
– L. Tom Perry, 2012 April General Conference, The Power of Deliverance, Sun. Afternoon Session