Oh Lord, My God, How Great Thou Art!
Ed Decker
My wife and I were watching a CMA Music Special about a month ago and enjoying some of the old time songs shared by some of the great ladies of Country Music. In the final minutes, Carrie Underwood closed the Special with the marvelous hymn, How Great Thou Art. It was one of the most thrilling things I have ever witnessed and the music has been replaying in my head ever since.
Please take a few minutes and listen to it yourself. It will stir your soul. You cannot listen to this majestic hymn of praise and adoration without realizing anew the omnipotence of the Creator who did it all. I have probably listened to each word a hundred times and each time, new things about the mighty wonders of our God.
Here are the words to the hymn
"How Great Thou Art"
Verse 1: O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder / Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made / I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder / Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Refrain: Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee / How great Thou art, How great Thou art / Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee / How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
Verse 2: When through the woods, and forest glades I wander / And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees / When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur / And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.
Verse 3: And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing / Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in / That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing / He bled and died to take away my sin.
Verse 4: When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation / And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart / Then I shall bow, in humble adoration / And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"
Carl Boberg, 1886
The God of the Bible
The God of the Bible is self-existent, eternal. He is immutable, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He is the sovereign Lord of the universe. He is the God of all creation. He is the God who stands outside all that He has created. He is the God who holds the heavens, all the universes in the span of His hand.
Listen to what He says about himself.
"To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
The very first verse of the Bible tells us a little about the width and breadth of His life and power. It says:
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Acts 17:25 tells us that He is the giver of life to all things. In Colossians 1:16 & 17 we read:
" For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."
That doesn't leave much else out there without Him, does it? He proclaimed, “Is there a God beside me? I (God) know not any!”
I have spent the last few days going through the many scriptures that proclaim His mighty greatness. I list just here a few, so that you can catch a glimpse of His hand in all creation.
Ps 8:3
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
Ps 89:11
The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.
Ps 136:4-9
To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever: The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever: The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Isa 42:5
Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
Zech 12:1
The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
1 Chron 16:25-26
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.
To go any further here would be to duplicate the detailed study,
The reason I laid out the Biblical evidence of the fulness and completeness of His Godhood is that there are lesser gods, creations of men, out there, made in the image of men who have created nothing and can save no one. To follow and worship any of these gods is to deny the God of Holiness and commit spiritual suicide.
The Lesser gods of Mormonism
Let me tell you about ‘another god’, a lesser god, a god who claims to be the god of this earth only. He is the Mormon god, Elohim. He is a god made in the image of man.
He is a god who never existed outside creation, but is a creature from within creation, making it impossible for him to be the God of the Bible. In fact, Mormon scripture states that he is merely a physical, exalted man.
D&C 310: 22The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.
This core doctrine of the LDS church is that this god was once a man and we men can become gods like him. It is called the Law of Eternal Progression.
Joseph Smith, The Founder of the Mormon Church and its key prophet to the “restoration of all things, clearly defined this bizarre doctrine:
It is necessary we should understand the character and being of God and how he came to be so; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and suppose that God was God from all eternity.
I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see. and that he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did…
Here then, is eternal life--to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priest to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one. . . . (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 345-47)
This doctrine teaches that Elohim was once a man, living out the gospel on some other orb and was obedient to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, as given by his own god of that planet.
When he died and was judged, he was exalted to godhood and sent to live on a planet near the great star, Kolob, with his many goddess wives. Here, he and his wives have been busy procreating millions of spirit children who have been and will continue to be sent to this earth to gain bodies, live the laws of the gospel and earn their/our own godhood and be given the godhood over our own world.
See:
http://www.saintsalive.com/resourcelibrary/mormonism/the-law-of-eternal-progression
for an in-depth study of this heresy.
You have to understand that by submitting to this doctrine, the Mormons are polytheists. Believing in many gods and even daring to seek godhood themselves. A cursed thing from God’s mouth to his Prophets.
Recently I shared how one Mormon said to a friend, “There are many gods throughout the universes, but we only worship the god of this world.” My friend responded.. “Polytheism is the belief in many gods, not the worship of them all.”
So, The Mormons defy the God of all creation, make a god in the image of man and worship the false god their false prophet said is the man-god assigned over just this earth.
2 Cor 4:3-4
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Remember that 1st of the Ten Commandments?
Ex 20:2-5
I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
This Mormon god is an idol made through
the vain imaginations of fools.
Rom 1:21-25
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man,
They changed the truth of God and they worship and serve this Elohim creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.
Someone a lot smarter than me said, "An inadequate view of God is actually idolatry. To worship God or to worship anything less than what God has revealed Himself to be is idolatry.”
1 Chron 16:25-26
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.
So, understand that the Mormons have this man-god who is god of just the earth, the heavens above, and not even the god of this sun or the moon or Venus or Mercury. Just the god of this earth.
Mormon theologians say that everything was spirit first, then physical and that Elohim, with the help of Jesus, re-organized matter already in existence, created and placed the earth and prepared it for mankind to come, gain bodies and work to become gods and goddesses themselves.
Think on the absurdity of this illogical foolishness. Somehow, they haul this earth from its construction site and plop it into orbit between Venus and Mars, without upsetting the orbits of the other 8 planets or have it be sucked into the gravity of the sun along the way.
Somehow, the moon kind of attaches itself to this globe, creates its own orbit that coincides with the orbit of this new planet and the night and day that the real God created comes into play.
Well, that’s all well and good and faithful Mormons do not think about this because it is too confusing.
1 Cor 8:5-6
For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many, But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
Just think about this for a minute! This Elohim god of Mormonism was just one of many thousands of righteous men from his planet who made godhood and each of these new gods received his own celestial glory, many goddess wives and was assigned godhood over his own earth-like planet. Each assigned to populate this planet was spirit children, giving them bodies so they, too, can become gods…
Those righteous Mormon men and women who were sent to this earth by this god, Elohim, and who have fulfilled all law, will than become hundreds of thousands of gods born out of this planet. I mean, there have been and will be tens of millions of Mormons during this age. Let’s hope at least a few hundred thousands make the grade.
Let’s at least assume that the General Authorities, Prophets, Apostles, Presiding Bishops, Temple Presidents and workers, Stake and Ward leaders and many of the hundreds of thousands of Missionaries fall into this category and make it to the celestial glory and become gods and goddesses and earn their own planet to continue the ever looping Law of Eternal progression. Wow. Just saying that wears me out.
Must we assume that every Jesus of every planet fails and apostasy and restoration takes place and each planet has its own Joseph Smith to bring in their own final dispensation?
Maybe the Adam and Eve of a few of the millions of new god- planets may actually stand fast and not partake of the forbidden fruit and there is no need for a Savior and no laws to break? No need for an apostasy or restoration? How do these folks get a chance to be tested for godhood?
This entire theological plan of LDS Salvation, exaltation, godhood and the creation of earths without end falls apart in the shredder of simple logic. Yet, millions of Mormons walk through this fable created by a lying prophet, on their way to a spiritual death sentence.
Isa 9:15-16
The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.
Now, along comes the new, Emergent Mormon Church
The new, Emergent Mormon church does not want its people to worry about such complex things. They now quote the Christian version of Creation, using the first few chapters of Genesis and slip in along-side the Emergent Christian Churches where only feel-good stuff is discussed and really don’t want their followers to talk about the root doctrine of their faith openly any more.
Yet, the Biblical account and their account miss each other by ten country miles. Both cannot be true. Their account of creation is in direct conflict with the biblical account. Their solution. Do not talk about it from the pulpit and do not discuss it with anyone outside the church.
Yet, Mormon Temples, absolutely necessary for godhood, are spreading across the planet as fast as they can build them. The only purpose for their use is to baptize the dead and to perform the ordinances and endowments their worthy people must participate in so that they can become gods and goddesses for some other world like earth.
This is akin to something like a spiritual Amway, where each god has a higher level god above him who has his own god above him and on back into the eons of reverse eternity.
I talked about this double talk, double think, and cross-over from their leaders condemning Christianity to wanting to be counted in with all Christians, even as they send out tens of thousands of missionaries to pull the lost from the church of the devil. These false prophets can smile and grin all they want and the general, seeker friendly Christian church smiles right back. But these Mormons leaders are liars and deceivers and lead their people to a Christless eternity.
1 Nephi 14:10
10 And he said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth.
Please read my article, The Emergent Mormon Church, to understand this new Mormon attack on a weakened Christian church as Mormonism aligns itself with the new age, seeker friendly and Emergent Christian churches.
http://www.saintsalive.com/resourcelibrary/mormonism/the-emergent-mormon-church
This is a time when we must get back to the basics of our faith and stop this slide into Christian emptiness. As so many Christian churches slip into this ecumenical, universalist apostasy and the Mormons swing over into their own form of the Emergent, seeker friendly world, the two will soon meet in the middle and millions will be lost to Christ.
Let’s Not Forget the Masons and their own false god.
The name and nature of the Masonic deity is an offense to the one true God. It is taught in the Royal Arch degree that Masonry draws its teachings and powers from three great teachers and gods. The combined deity is represented as a three headed snake, whose name is Joa:Bul:On, which stands for Jehovah, Baal and Osiris, Now the Mason who pronounces that name in the Masonic prayer of worship has just simply defiled the Holy name of God.
That Mason, who has so defiled the Holy name of God has broken the first Commandment of God and has lost his salvation. The “Christian” Mason foolishly seeks to keep the God of the Bible for his Sundays while worshipping idols and that is a grievous sin and leads to certain, eternal damnation.
Saints Alive Ministries
P.O. Box 1347
Issaquah, WA 98027
www.saintsalive.com
ed@saintsaalive.com
