2 Timothy 2.15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Alpha and Omega Ministries presents the Dividing Line radio broadcast. The Apostle Peter commanded all Christians to be ready to give a defense for the hope that is within us, yet to give this answer with gentleness and reverence. Your host is Dr. James White, director of Alpha and Omega Ministries and an elder at the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church. If you'd like to talk with Dr. White, you can call now by dialing 508-0960. That's 508-0960. And now, with today's topic, here's James White. And welcome to The Dividing Line. My name is Rich Pierce, filling in for James White today. He's going to be speaking down in Tucson. Actually, I believe he should be just ramping up today. This was kind of a surprise. It was one of those things to where someone with as busy a schedule as James has, suddenly he went, oh my, I think I'm supposed to be speaking in Tucson next weekend. And Rich, can you do the show? We've kind of decided to pick up where we left off a few weeks ago with the topic of Mormonism. We were going to be discussing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints again today, and I am by myself today. So I've been kind of taking solace or, you know, this great feeling of having numbers here in the studio. So today I'm by myself and I'm going to be teaching and going through the Mormon priesthoods. What is your authority, Latter-day Saints? That's the big question oftentimes they ask us when we sit down with them, and this is a subject that oftentimes really confuses Christians, because it's a subject that studying about the Aaronic priesthood in the Old Testament, the Levitical priesthood, and getting into all the ins and outs and intricacies, most Christians aren't very familiar with. It's really not a subject that we that really hits us where we live in the New Testament as we live our lives. Obviously, it's important to know our Old Testament and to read it over and over. It is God's Word, no question about it. It is two-thirds of God's Word to us. But the intricacies oftentimes get lost on us. We find ourselves in situations where we're reading through the Old Testament and we get hung up on the so-and-so begat, so-and-so begat, so-and-so begat, so-and-so, and it kind of loses our attention. We kind of fall asleep there in trying to trudge through it. But in point of fact, you're going to find that there are some things oftentimes that we've read over in the Old Testament that there's a great deal of detail there. For instance, the Aaronic priesthood. Now, when we look at what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is constructed, one of the things that really kind of puzzles us is that we have, as Christians, we have our Christian churches, and we have our denominations, etc., but Mormons do something unusual. They build temples. And that kind of puzzles us oftentimes. It's like, wait a minute, what's the deal with the temple? Why a temple? Why is that necessary? they're not sacrificing or doing a lot of the things that they did in the old testament in the temple so so why why bother what's that all about well the mormon church believes that it is in fact of the restoration of the true church and i'm gonna go through through some quotes here and uh... talking about basically what's known as the restoration of the gospel the mormon church actually teaches that Shortly after all the apostles died out, the gospel authority that the apostles had died with them, and therefore the church was in apostasy until Joseph Smith came along 1,900 years later. was uh... was given a vision he had that first vision and as he was pursuing religious uh... answer to his questions and suddenly has this vision as he says in eighteen thirty eight of god the father and his son Jesus Christ, and he's asking the question, well, which one of these churches should I join? And we've kind of covered this a good bit a few weeks ago, but to retrace it, the vision in his account, the son says to him, you to join none of them for they are all an abomination all their professors corrupt and all their creeds are an abomination in his sight and uh... he then is instructed to start his own church and he according to him in eighteen twenty nine receives the priesthood uh... and let me go through this a little bit with you from the great apostasy a book written by milton are hunter he says the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints proclaims the restoration of the gospel and the reestablishment of the church as of old in this the dispensation of the fullness of times such restoration and the holy and reestablishment with the modern bestowal of the holy priesthood would be unnecessary and indeed impossible had the Church of Christ continued among men with unbroken succession of priesthood and power." Now there are many groups out there that claim that they are God's church because of what's called apostolic succession, that the authority was in fact handed down from the apostles. And what Hunter is going into is the fact that the church teaches that that authority wasn't handed down, so there's no apostolic succession, and so the Mormon church is actually buying into this that an apostolic succession should have taken place. So, unbroken succession of priesthood and power since the meridian of time. The restored church affirms that a general apostasy developed during and after the apostolic period, and that the primitive church lost its power, its authority, and graces as a divine institution and degenerated into an earthly organization only. the significance and importance of the great apostasy as a condition precedent to the reestablishment of the church in modern times is obvious if the alleged apostasy listen closely if the alleged apostasy of the primitive church was not a reality the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints is not the divine institution its name proclaims So the significance there is pretty heavy duty. He talks about the fact that it really rests solidly on the fact that this apostasy had to have taken place. And there are many questions we can ask along those lines, but we're going to focus on the fact that the Mormon Church, when they say, When they ask you, what is your authority? You sit down with them and you start quoting Bible verses and you start showing them the Word of God. They ask you a question, well, what is your authority? And oftentimes this is a question that's just totally lost on Christians. What do you mean, what's my authority? What does that mean? Well, what they're asking you is, is what is your authority to speak in behalf of God? Unless you have that priesthood that they're talking about, that they believe that they hold, You have no authority. You have no right to be quoting the Word of God. You have no right to minister to them because you can't speak on behalf of God. From the book Doctrines of Salvation, Volume 3, page 80, that's a book set written by Joseph Fielding Smith, who was prophet of the Mormon Church from 1970 to 1972, he says that man cannot act legally in the name of the Lord unless he is vested with the priesthood, which is divine authority. from this same volume, page 132, he says that the fullness of the priesthood is required for exaltation. That's the title of the passage, and the quote from it is, that there is no exaltation in the kingdom of God without the fullness of the priesthood. And one other quote, from orson pratt who was one of the early mormon apostles in the days of brigham young and orson pratt is always good for a colorful quote of this gentleman uh... well he didn't pull any punches in his day and oftentimes quotes from him uh... kind of come back to to haunt modern-day mormons but this is what he has to say in his book the seer on page two hundred and fifty five Now listen to this. If you are a minister of the gospel, this should hit you right square where you live. But who in this generation have authority to baptize? None but those who have received authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All other churches are entirely destitute of all authority from God. And any person who receives baptism or the Lord's Supper from their hands will highly offend God, for He looks upon them as the most corrupt of all people. Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the whore of Babylon. whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator, as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness, and any person who shall be so wicked as to receive a holy ordinance of the gospel from the ministers of any of those apostate churches, will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent of the unholy and impious act." Do you think the gentleman is being at all vague? Not at all. He is very clear. This is the foundation of which the Mormon Church has over the years, and again the modern Mormon Church is trying to get away from this, but this is the foundation in which they have said time and time again that they are the only true church on the earth today. This is a major foundational doctrine for them. Moving right along, let's talk about the different priesthoods that the Mormon Church believes it holds. Now, again, in 1829, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, well, to focus, they believed that they had a vision. Joseph Smith had a vision where the Aaronic Priesthood is bestowed upon him. Now, just to get into what your average Mormon is going to believe and where they're going to be at. They believe, let's say you've got the missionaries coming to the house and they're dressed up in the white shirts and the dark ties. These gentlemen believe they hold both the Aaronic and the Melchizedek priesthoods. And these are the priesthoods, especially the Melchizedek, as they call it, the high priesthood, they believe this is what empowers them to be able to act and speak on behalf of God. And they use, in the King James Version, Well, we'll be quoting primarily from the King James today, primarily because when I'm ministering to Mormons, when we do, we try to use the version that they accept. We obviously, from where this ministry comes from, we predominantly use the New American Standard. We don't have a problem with the other translations per se, as much as that when we're communicating with a Mormon, they're going to be more receptive to hearing the King James version of the Bible. Now, before we dig into this, I do want to challenge you. If you're a Mormon out there and you're listening to me today, and let's say you disagree with what I have to say, or let's say you'd like to clarify, you feel I'm not giving the whole story, I invite you to give us a call at 508-0960. 508-0960. I'd enjoy talking with you. Hebrews 5.4, And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So the Mormon missionary who comes to your home believes that he was called of God the same way that Aaron was called. And if you're at all familiar with your Old Testament, that makes for an interesting premise right up front. The Aaronic priest had some conditions, and we're going to get into what those conditions are. But essentially for a Mormon, it's my understanding, I've never seen this happen, but it's my understanding that essentially someone holding the priesthood confers very much like Joseph Smith tells the story, confers the Aaronic priesthood onto the head of a kneeling young man, and he places his hands on the young man's head and he confers the priesthood. And, give or take, that's pretty much about it. And so, he, during this time, is also given something called a patriarchal blessing. In this blessing, he is also told what tribe he is a part of. So I guess in a sense he's like adopted into one of the tribes, one of the twelve tribes, and he's given the name of the tribe that he's been adopted into. Well, here's the thing. We're going to get into some Old Testament passages here, and one thing right up front. The Aaronic priest had to be of the tribe of Levi. And virtually every Mormon that we've ever talked to who would share this information with us, when we ask them what tribe their patriarchal blessing is of, it's either Ephraim or Manasseh. And so right up front, they're of the wrong tribe. So we have some questions for the Aaronic Priest. And I'm reading from, I'm using a tract that we use. It's called A Test for the Aaronic Priest. And it's a very interesting tract. You can read through it in about three to five minutes. And it asks some fundamental questions right up front. The first question asked is, did the ceremony by which you were called last seven days? If we look at Exodus 29.35, we're looking at how Aaron was called. Aaron was called in such a way that, first of all, obviously God said this is how it's to be, and he chose Aaron. And I always found it fascinating that he didn't choose Moses, but he chose Aaron because Moses specifically had other duties to take care of. But in Exodus 29.35 it says, So the first question I have for the Mormon missionary or the Mormon who believes he holds the Aaronic priesthood is, Did your ceremony last seven days? How long did it last? The second question is, were you washed with water and then dressed in priestly garments including a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, and a coat? If we look at Exodus 28, verses 2-4, and chapter 29, verses 4-5, we find that all of these things were put upon the Aaronic priest to be. And so they were dressed up in this garb for their ceremony. And that's obviously the next question we want to ask the Aaronic priest. Again, 508-0960. 508-0960, are you a holder of the Aaronic Priesthood? Give us a call. We'd be interested in hearing from you today. Now, question number three. Did you lay your hands upon the head of a bullock which was then killed? According to Exodus 29 verses 10 and 11, the only time anybody laid hands on anybody's head, it was the priest-to-be laying his hands on the head of an animal. And in this particular passage, it is a bullock, and the bullock is then killed. Now, here we get back to, interestingly enough, the priest's job was, in the Old Testament was what? What kind of things did they do? Oh, they offered sacrifices. That's right. They offered sacrifices. And so that's an interesting contrast here. We're not quite offering sacrifices as Aaronic priests riding around on bicycles, are we? So the next question we would ask would be question number four. Did you lay your hands on the head of a ram, which was then killed and offered as a burnt offering? uh... whom how about question number five and of course that's from exodus twenty nine verses fifteen through eighteen and again the common thing that the mormon missionary says is i've been called of god as was called about as was there and so these are the key questions behind this questioner five actually uh... yes here did you lay your hands upon a second round which was then killed some of the blood was then put on your right ear and the thumb of your right hand. Now, folks, you may think that I'm just going through a bunch of gibberish stuff here, and why am I going through all these questions? But if you're a Mormon missionary, if you're a Mormon young man who believes he holds the Aaronic priesthood, these are legitimate questions, and the Mormon knows exactly what I'm talking about here. He knows what kind of questions I'm asking here, and he is probably not familiar with these passages. Most of the Mormon missionaries that I've talked to about this, that we've brought this subject up with, have never even looked at it. They're not encouraged to look at it. So the question is, how do they know they were called of God, as was Aaron, when they've never even looked at how Aaron was called? Let's continue on. continued daily during the entire seven-day period? If the answer to any of these questions is no, then you were never called of God, even as Aaron was." Now, Maybe you've talked about the priesthood with Mormon missionaries. Maybe you've talked with Mormon missionaries. I do want to say this. I recognize that today's show is going to be touching on a subject in Mormonism that necessarily a lot of Christians aren't that familiar with. And so I do want to take questions, general questions, on general Mormonism in general today. If you've got some questions for me, believers, on how to witness to your Mormon friends and relatives, go ahead and give us a call, 508-0960, and we will proceed with this subject. But I would continue, I would encourage you to take notes here, and take a look at the passages that I'm citing in in the Bible here, talking about the priesthood. Because, you know, I'll tell you something, I'll tell you a little anecdote here. One of the things we do when we go to Salt Lake City, about, oh, 3.30, 4 o'clock in the afternoon, just before things wrap up for us, they start lining up up there, and I mean they line up half a city block long, all these men waiting to get into the priesthood session. And we take this tract called, What is Your Authority? An examination of the Mormon priesthoods in light of God's Word the Bible or we'll take this other track that I'm reading from A test for the Aaronic priest and we'll walk up and down that line Passing out the tracks now. We did this years ago going from the front of the line to the back of the line and Boy, I tell you, you know They just gobbled them up like crazy because they're just kind of standing there with nothing to do but these guys every one of them Either the young kids, the young boys are waiting and just about to get the priesthood. Well, actually, you can't get into the priesthood session unless you have the priesthood. So at age 12, a young Mormon man can get the priesthood by age 12. And so that's kind of where things start out. And I do want to also mention in passing here that this issue also has some racial overtones within the Mormon Church. It wasn't until 1978 that even though a white or Caucasian twelve-year-old boy could get the priesthood, it wasn't until 1978 that they let blacks have the priesthood. And it is interesting that when the Ezra Taft Benson, I believe, gave the revelation on that. Most all the other revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants you read start off with, thus saith the Lord, or something real powerful like that. And Ezra Taft Benson started his off with, to whom it may concern. And at that point in time, he then opened up the office of the Aaronic Priesthood and the priesthoods in general to non-Caucasian people. That had to do with the fact that the Mormon Church believed that the black skin had to do with the curse of Cain. And we got into that a few weeks ago about the fact that Noah and the flood kind of canceled out the line of Cain right there and just eight were saved. Let's continue on with our questions and cover some ground here. Now we've covered the fact, we've gone through the fact that in Exodus 29 or in, you can get into Leviticus, I believe it's Leviticus chapter 29, or no, Exodus 29, and I'm looking in my notes here for the Leviticus quote. I apparently didn't write that down, but the same ceremonies are also recorded in Leviticus. These are good things to be familiar with. Now, as we go through the test for the Aaronic priest, we get towards the end of the tract, and it tells a little story from Numbers 16, verses 1 through 40. And I always kind of joke around about this. I always kind of, I read this passage and I want to get into a little, let me tell you a little story about a man named Korah and all of his buddies. Well, Moses and the guys are getting all the attention. Moses and Aaron and Aaron's sons and, you know, back in those days, they seemed to be the only guys that that did anything, that had the authority, got to talk to God and do all the good fun stuff, you know? Well, there was also a guy named Korah, and he was kind of influential. I kind of liken him to a little bit of a politician in the day. And Korah and some of his buddies started talking amongst themselves, and they're going, hey man, you know, this is not really cool. You know, Aaron and Moses get to do everything. I think we should be able to get the priesthood. let's go to Moses and demand that we get to be able to have the priesthood. And you can read there, starting in chapter 16 of the book of Numbers, about how Korah went about doing all this. Moses, interestingly enough, even though he'd already been told by God what the situation was, and that it was strictly to be the family of Aaron, and that they had to be Levites, and as I recall, Korah was a Levite. But he was not of the family of Aaron. Now, as we take a look at this story, we have him going to Moses and kind of stirring things up, and his political buddies are right there, his party. Moses decides to inquire of God about this and so he asks God about the whole thing and God says, I tell you what, you take Korah and you take all of his guys and you set them aside, get them away from the camp, take his whole family, take everything that belongs to him and set him aside, put him over just away from the camp and stand and see what I do. And here in verse Let's see, I'm going to start at verse 28 of Numbers chapter 16. And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have done none of them of my own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit, then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord." They've provoked the Lord. And it came about, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder, it opened up, that was under them, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their houses and all the men that appertained unto Korah after their goods, they and all that appertained to them went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them, for they said, Let the earth swallow us up also. And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense." Of course, his buddies were so bold as to offer some incense to God. Well, let's continue on down here a little bit further in verse 38. And this is the message that anyone, I don't care if you're Mormon or not, Anyone who says that he holds the Aaronic Priesthood or wants to hold the Aaronic Priesthood should understand what this memorial in the book of Numbers is all about. In verse 38 it says, "...the censors of these sinners against their own souls, let them Let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar, for they offered them before the Lord. Therefore they are hallowed, and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel." What's the sign, folks? And Elisha the priest took the brazen censers wherewith they that were burnt had offered, and they were made broad plates for a covering of the altar, to be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near and offer incense before the Lord, that he be not as Korah and his company, as the Lord said to him by the hand of Moses." Wow. so we've got a situation here where to recap uh... korra dathan and a byron there are men who are of the right tribe levi but of the wrong family they were not on the sons of aaron but they said everyone was holy and rebelled against moses god decided I've lost my place here. God decided to give the people quite an object lesson at this point. To be a memorial unto the children of Israel that no stranger which is not of the seed of Aaron come near to offer incense before the Lord that he be not his core and his son. So quite simply, he caused the ground to open up and swallow them. In other words, God killed them, and that with a flourish. Cora was toast. We'll be right back. You're listening to The Dividing Line. And we're back. My name is Rich Pierce. I'm sitting in for James White today, who is speaking in Tucson, or is actually traveling back from Tucson as we speak. We are talking about the Mormon priesthoods today, and we are about to get into the Melchizedek priesthood, which is what's known as the High Priesthood. Now, this is the one that so many people have lots of questions about, but before we get into it, I want to talk about a couple of things. As a trailer to the last half hour on the I don't know what the guys in the studio are saying. They're giving me a thumbs up for something I said. I don't exactly know what it is. The Aaronic priesthood was not conferred to Joseph Smith until 1829. It says in Doctrine and Covenants, Doctrine and Covenants section 84, that no man can see God the Father without the priesthood and live. Makes some interesting thought material there, if you're familiar with the first vision claims of Joseph Smith, where he claimed, starting in 1838, that's pretty much the earliest date where he explicitly says that he saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ. But it kind of makes some interesting thinking there when he says that he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ in 1820. He didn't have the priesthood. So what's that all about? 508-0960. That's 508-0960. I'm waiting to talk to you. Give us a call here. We're going to be talking about the Melchizedek Priesthood before we get into that. I'd like to talk about the website. Alpha Omega Ministries is an organization that we've been around since 1983. We've had an internet website since before the internet was really popular. Before that we engaged in what was called bulletin board systems and little email debates, etc., going on there. But if you take a look at our website at www.aomin.org, that's www.aomin.org, you're going to find more than just the bookstore that was just talked about. You're going to find a vast expansion of space on that site that talks about Roman Catholicism, talks about Mormonism, talks about the King James Only controversy. There's tons and tons of material up there. that is organized in a fashion to where you can get to our main page and all you have to do is click on the subject. You want to go look at some information on Mormonism? You can read for hours. You can print stuff out there. It's free information. We've got up on that website, if you're wanting to learn to witness to Mormons, a 100-verse memorization system. that you can print out and learn for yourself, and it explains when you use this verse in talking with a Mormon, when you're witnessing to them, this is how you use it. These, folks, are verses that are tried and tested in the field of battle. We are an organization that has been traveling to where the Mormons are and their functions since 1983 and I personally have gone to all but one general conference since 1986 and Every one of the Mesa Easter pageants out in Mesa and in those circumstances you can talk with a lot of folks And get a real good idea of what kind of stuff works in witnessing and sharing with them But before we get into the Melchizedek priesthood Let's talk to Randy in Apache Junction. How you doing today Randy? I'm Good, thank you. Man, what's your question today? I just want to know if the early apostasy that was in the Church, if that had anything to do with the different doctrines from the forefathers. these cults that came about in Christianity? In some regards, I think you can trace a lot of it to the Roman Catholic Church and some of the oppression that was going on at the time. But I think if you look at the circumstance with Joseph Smith, I don't see that. I think you see a young man who is frankly very confused. and he starts searching around and starts, well at the same time he had quite the imagination. And so while a lot of their doctrines are, you've got Gnosticism going on here, you've got all kinds of different similarities between the ancient heresies and the modern cults, but I'm not really familiar with a tie-in or a succession there. Does that answer your question? Yeah, pretty much. The thing is, the Mormon Church, they talk about the apostasy and there having been a complete and total apostasy, and while there are what we call the dark ages, and I think they were dark ages, but I don't think you can say that there was a complete and total apostasy. I think faithful men and women to God and God's Word were given his gospel through the ages. And that was passed down, to coin a phrase. But that's kind of where I go with that. I just don't see necessarily a secession of heresy, if that's what you're going after. Yeah, that's what I want to know, because it just I just don't understand how they could read the same bible and say it's true and yet... Well, look at New Age, look at all of our modern cult kind of groups that are popping up right and left. How easy is it for them to simply invent things on their own? In days long ago, you look back a hundred years ago, it was vogue, if you will, to follow somebody that was authoritative in nature. In fact, it was just maybe 20 years ago, 30 years ago, it was still in vogue to find somebody that had some new ideas, some interesting ideas that captured your imagination. And it was really, how easy was it to sit back and say, well, you know what? The Bible's not completely right. You can't really trust the Bible. Take my word for it. That is just rampant today. And in that, that is from the heart of man, it is his pride, it is his sin nature, it is his rebellion against God, and not willing to be obedient. But even if you look at, for instance, extreme cults like Heaven's Gate, you look at Jim Jones and Guyana, you look at those kinds of groups that are so willing to believe the lie that they give their very word, their lives. They give up their very lives to believe a lie because the truth convicts them of their sin and won't let them live the lie. And they'd rather live the lie. Do you think this has anything to do with the election? Absolutely. Absolutely. I think you look at the fact that, you know, for instance, we've said it a number of years, people ask us, well, you guys are Calvinists. Why do you bother going to Salt Lake? I mean, those people are so hard-hearted. Why do you deal with all these hard-hearted groups and yet you just continue and continue and continue? You know, why don't you just sit back and say, you know what, God's not going to save those people anyway. You know, well, you know what? When we go up there, the neatest thing about it, and I wasn't a Calvinist when I first started going to Salt Lake City, and one of the best realizations that I came to was understanding God's sovereignty and salvation, because when I was up there, the individual I was talking to, their salvation rested upon my shoulders, and how good I was at persuading. You see that? And when I came to an understanding of the fact that God is up there, God is using me to share His truth, not only for the salvation of souls, but also for the judgment of souls. Those souls that talked with me, that took my track, whatever interaction I had with them, they're not going to be able to stand before the judgment seat of God and say, but Lord, I didn't have a chance. He's going to be saying, wait a minute, I sent somebody to you, and you rejected them. You would not hear them. But yet, at the same time, when I go up there, I know what I'm doing is calling out the elect. I know that as I share truth, God will not let that return void, and He will draw His elect out of the Mormon Church with the truth that He's prepared me with. So, it does have a lot to do with election. It really does. But it's still our responsibility to reach out. Yes, absolutely. We're commanded in the Great Commission to reach out and to share His truth. And that's the beautiful thing of understanding the role that God has given us in this process to share it. He's using us to share His truth, and it is a tremendous privilege to do so. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate it. You bet. Thanks for calling. Okay, now we're going to get back into the Melchizedek priesthood. Going through that, it is, like I said, an area of confusion. It's not at all common, or it is common for the Mormon to sit down and begin to share on the issue of authority with the Christian, the fact that they believe that they have the authority, and this is one of the more fun passages that they like to use. Hebrews 7, verse 11. and twelve uh... if there are four if therefore perfection whereby the levitical priesthood for under it to the people receive the law what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of milk is a dick and not be called after the order of erin for the priesthood being changed there is a necessity a change of necessity a change also the law now you and i read that i think is pretty straightforward it's talking about the uh... the old priesthood and how that priesthood has been done away because it's been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and that is very important to understand. And he completed the requirements of it. Again, we need to focus on the fact that the Aaronic priesthood and its role was to offer sacrifices. Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God. He was the ultimate sacrifice. There can be no greater sacrifice. But what the Mormon does with this is they say, see, there needs to be a priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. And so they infer there that this is an order of priesthoods. and so we need to have milk is a big priest the same order of jesus christ this is the the uh... the order uh... of uh... of christ's priesthood let me uh... let me read from our tracked what is your authority uh... much more important in the iran priesthood in mormon thought is the holy priesthood after the order of the son of god or the milk is a big priesthood this priesthood comp comp comprehends the iranic or levitical priesthood and is the grand head and holds the highest authority which pertains to the priesthood, and is the channel through which all knowledge, doctrine, the plan of salvation, and every important matter is revealed from heaven." Obviously this supposed authority is very important to the LDS Church, but again, does the Bible support such a teaching? We're going to first examine the qualifications of the Melchizedek priest as given in the Bible from Hebrews 7.3 and the book of Hebrews and some other passages when we come right back from this break. You're listening to The Dividing Line. And we're back. Rich Pierce sitting in for James White on today's Dividing Line. Doing the best I can as I crunch through it. We're at 5080960. 5080960. We're at the last portion of the show and we're covering the Melchizedek Priesthood. We have been going through the Aaronic priesthood in the first half hour, and as we cruise through discussing from the book of Hebrews what the Melchizedek priesthood is all about. Again, this is a subject that often times confuses Christians because they're like, what is this Melchizedek priesthood? Is this a priesthood like the Levitical priesthood? I don't read that anywhere in the Old Testament. And by the way, just so you know, pretty much the only time Melchizedek is mentioned in the Old Testament is when he came to Abraham. And Abraham tithed to him. He gave a tenth of the spoils that he had collected. In fact, Melchizedek is identified as King of Salem, which is later known as Jerusalem. So anyway, moving right along here, the work of the Melchizedek priest and what it's all about. Let's first examine the qualifications of the Melchizedek priest as given in the Bible. Hebrews 7 verse 3 tells us that Melchizedek was without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. And this is important to understand, that as you're talking and sharing with a Mormon friend, that if you're going to say you have the Melchizedek priesthood, there's some unique things about the Melchizedek priest that are there and you have to deal with. Before we get into any further, we're going to go to Dave on line one. How are you today, Dave? Hey, pretty good, Rich. How about yourself? And what can I do for you? You know, it strikes me as somewhat arrogant of the Mormons to have this exclusive club, if you will. you know, the secrecy within the temple, what goes on as far as receiving the Melchizedek priesthood and such. It smells a lot of brainwashing, you know, the reluctance of the Mormons when you're discussing issues with them to actually be challenged or allow themselves to be challenged. by the issue, especially with the missionaries. Well, the thing is you have to understand is when you come from a perspective where you are representing the only true church on earth today, you're going to come across that way. The things that are going to accompany that are, well, I don't know if I like using the word arrogant, but it's going to come across as that. These gentlemen, frankly, if you think about it, it's hot outside when we came in, about 100 degrees, and these guys are out there riding bicycles. And frankly, that's how deep the deception goes. They're out there riding bicycles and sharing with people and believing wholeheartedly, very sincerely, that they hold these priesthoods. In point of fact, the Bible, we're about to get into some sections where we're going to find out that there's only one Melchizedek priest. Thank you for your call today, Dave. And getting into the scriptures that we're talking about here, Hebrews 7.3, first of all, you need to understand when you're sharing with your Mormon friend or relative that if you're going to say you have the Melchizedek priesthood, then you are one saying that, let's see here, where was I? Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. Now Melchizedek kind of shows up out of the blue in the Old Testament. There are two ways of understanding him showing up and understanding how the writer of Hebrews is referring to him. One might take the position that says, well, he was a theophany. In other words, he was an angel of the Lord or something like that, or an apparition of God. Some kind of, you know, like when Jacob wrestled with God, something like that. Or you have a scenario which I think is a little bit more plausible. where we don't see anywhere in scripture his dissent is uh... the sentencing we don't see him uh... any stories about him we don't know where he came from we don't know where he went when he left abraham we just know that he was the king of salem we we know very very little about him and he is having beginning of days nor end of life well that's where you get into the end of life thing well if milk is a dick had no end of life, then there's some deity referred to there. Who knows? But we have to get into speculation in the arena there, but the writer of Hebrews talks about him, and Again, when we talk about after the order of, let's specify a couple of things here. First of all, the order of is not referring to him being of an order or a club of priests or something like that. What it's referring to is that he is like. He is one like the Son of God. Christ is like Melchizedek. That's what it's talking about, and that's all that term is referring to. So it makes it clear that Melchizedek is only like the Son of God. He was not the pattern that Jesus followed, but rather he was a type of Christ, the mere reflection of the full expression of the Son of God. Now this priesthood is also seen on the basis of this passage to be one that is not passed on from one to another. like the Aaronic priesthood was. That's something that, you know, when I talk about the fact that when I first tripped over the Melchizedek priesthood in learning about Mormonism, I'm like, what is this? Because I don't see where there was a priesthood, as it were. It wasn't passed on from one to another. There was a guy in the Old Testament, his name was Melchizedek. Yes, he was a priest, and yes, he was a king, and the only time that shows up in the Old Testament. Now the work of the Melchizedek priest is seen in Hebrews 7, 24 and 25 where the Bible says, "...but this man Jesus, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood." for a minute, wherefore he is also able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession for them." The priesthood Jesus holds is his unchangeably or permanently. That's one thing that we need to hang on to and understand, that Jesus Christ alone holds this priesthood. It is His priesthood. He, now, is the Great High Priest. That's what the writer of Hebrews is talking about. That is what he is explaining here. that would be intransmissible or perpetual. It is His, and it is His alone. And so we have to understand that He is His, and it is His alone. He makes intercession for them, and it is interesting to note that He can save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him. Now, that is another question you want to ask your Mormon friend who says he has this priesthood. Can he save to the uttermost the work of the Melchizedek priesthood? Let's see here, I was just about to get to that. The priesthood Jesus holds is his unchangeably or permanently, some translate this word intransmissible, indicating that no one else can hold this priesthood. Though some would argue that the translation of the word Though some would argue with the translation of the word, the fact is clear that the person holding this priesthood, by right of eternal life, is able to save completely those who come unto God by him, a claim that few Mormons would knowingly make. However, If the LDS Church is going to declare that it has this priesthood, it must face the fact that it is professing to have that which, according to the Bible, is the property of Jesus Christ alone. We have a couple minutes left here in the dividing line. I would like to point out a couple of things here as we go along. First of all, from Hebrews 8.3, this, I find, is an interesting passage, that if Jesus Christ It says, Hebrews 8.3, for every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law who serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things just as moses was warned by god when he was about to erect the tabernacle foresee he says that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain so moses is admonished that he is to make all things according to that which god declared to him on the mountain now uh... there are some contradictions that the idea that there is this modern priesthood rolling around out there for us to follow uh... in uh... matthew sixteen eighteen first of all the idea all were closing out it's come to the end of my time well folks i've enjoyed sitting in for james today and maybe he'll straighten out a lot of my stuttering next week on the dividing line see you at two o'clock is a We hope you will join us again next Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. for The Dividing Line.