“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” (2 Peter 1:10.)

“We have a more sure word of prophesy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: knowing this, that now prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:19-21)

“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” (John 14:23).

"After a person hath faith in Christ, repents of his sins and is baptized for the remission of his sins and received the Holy Ghost (by the laying on of hands) which is the first comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness and living by every word of God and the Lord will soon say unto him, 'Son, thou shalt be exalted,' etc. When the Lord has thoroughly proved him and finds that the man is determined to serve him at all hazard, then the man will find his calling and election made sure. Then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter which the Lord hath promised the saints.

"Now what is this other comforter? It is no more or less than the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and this is the sum and substance of the whole matter: that when any man obtains this last comforter he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him or appear unto him from time to time, and even he will manifest the Father unto him, and they will take up their abode with him, and the visions of the heavens will be opened unto him, and the Lord will teach him face to face, and he may have a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and this is the state and place the ancient saints arrived at when they had such glorious visions, Isaiah, Ezekiel, John upon the Isle of Patmos, St. Paul in the third heavens, and all the saints who held communion with the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn." (The Words of Joseph Smith, 27 June 1839, p. 5.)

“John 14:23—The appearing of the Father and Son, in that verse, is a personal appearance; and the idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man’s heart is an old sectarian notion and is false.” (D&C 130:3.)

Let us just examine what Joseph Smith believed. He taught that receiving 1) the Second Comforter, 2) making our calling and election sure, and 3) the more sure word of prophesy were interrelated in a grand doctrinal theme that guaranteed salvation. After receiving the priesthood ordinances, let a believer “continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness and living by every word of God and the Lord will soon say unto him, 'Son, thou shalt be exalted'.” Joseph Smith had experienced this promise, for he certainly sacrificed his soul by following his god unto death. His god surely appeared to him in tangible form, showing him the temple signs and tokens, and teaching him the LDS mysteries. Thus, Joseph Smith had a “knowledge” that went beyond personal belief. The tangible promise of being “exalted” was “evidence” even greater than the gold plates. He saw beings of light representing the Father and Son, who appeared to him, and they chatted about eternal principles as if they were best friends having a backyard Bar-B-Q. Joseph Smith believed these experiences were genuinely from the Holy Spirit, and as such, he superimposed his experience over the Bible. And thus, we see Joseph Smith used the Bible to justify his personal experiences that they were from God. This put him in a very unique position, for rather than standing on the Word in the Bible, he stood on what he saw and heard in the flesh—with his eyes and ears, what he felt with his skin, or what his feelings dictated. To him, Christ’s physical appearance to him was the “perfect knowledge” a person needed to bring comfort, peace, and strength in their testimony of the gospel and belief in Jesus. Indeed, it was his own experience in these matters that gave him so much internal power, for he believed what he experienced was true—or rather, HE KNEW! He trusted that knowledge more so than the Words in the Bible, or rather, he placed his experience over the Bible. Then he brilliantly discovered many patterns that fit nicely into Biblical sentences or verses and proclaimed he was a prophet. He did multiple “verse hopping”, connecting multiple Biblical sentences out of context, thus creating a convoluted gospel that appears to be Biblical, but is not.

>From his writings, it is clear what Joseph thought the Bible meant, but let’s examine the Bible in context and see what mature Christian prophets really wrote by the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter, immediately following his explanation of a “more sure word of prophecy” that Joseph Smith preached was the appearance of Jesus Christ in the flesh, clearly warns us about private interpretations:

“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 2:21.)

I’m not claiming we don’t have spiritual experiences similar to the Bible. The Holy Spirit works on all Christians and produces Biblical fruits. However, we should use our experience to prove the Bible is true and not to prove we are prophets or righteous human beings.

Now, lets look at the Bible in context and examine whether Peter and John were operating under the same assumptions and spirit of Joseph Smith. Let’s look closely at 2 Peter 1:1-21. I will cover a few verses at a time and interject comments:

"Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue" (2 Peter 1:1-3)

In these three verses alone, God exposes the lie of Mormonism. We do not see Peter writing of spiritual experiences and feelings as the foundation of our testimony. Rather we see faith and grace multiplied through the Word of Truth, or knowledge of God. This is extremely vital in understanding our Christian faith. For if we follow Joseph Smith, he will lead us to believe that perfect knowledge of God relates to the experiences outside of our intellect--our feelings, personal visions, revelations, and so forth. Spiritual experiences are part of the total religious realm, but they are NOT the foundation. And Peter’s masterfully builds the correct foundation for us, then shows us very clearly the principles that rest on top of faith and knowledge in the remainder of chapter 1. He explains that God by his divine power gives us “all things the pertain to eternal life and godliness” through the “knowledge of Him” [through His Word of Truth] who has called us to glory and virtue.

Thus we also see the truth of John’s writings:

“In the beginning was the Word [knowledge of truth], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And light [knowledge of truth] shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not [because of deceived feelings]". (John 1:1-5.)

Look what Joseph believed:

“In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was of God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made which was made. In him was the gospel, and the gospel was the life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the world, and the world perceiveth it not.” (Joseph Smith Translation, John 1:1-5.)

Now, a little reasoning here can make the absurdity of the LDS understanding jump out like bats in the daylight. All we need to do is think a little. If Joseph is correct, then this means that originally John 1:1 said the gospel was the word--not Jesus and not God. Supposedly, the passage was then deliberated corrupted and changed to say that Jesus and the Father was the Word as it stands today in the King James Bible. Why would anyone make that kind of change? If I’m a wicked priest and want to control others, would I do this? If I change the scripture to claim that God is the Word, then what happens to my authority? I lose power. The Word is not just a gospel message anymore, IT IS GOD. So would I tamper with this verse? No! The KJV is correct as it stands today.

Let’s continue with 2 Peter:

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:4.)

“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-8)

• Eight: Charity
  
• Seven: Brotherly Kindness
  
• Six: Godliness
  
• Five: Patience
  
• Four: Temperance
  
• Three: Knowledge
  
• Two: Virtue
  
• One: Faith

“But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (2 Peter 1:9).

"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:10-11)

Having our calling and election made sure means we simply mature in Christian character and do God’s will. That is all. It’s not a big mystery or celebrated with the fireworks of Jesus appearing in the flesh. Such LDS doctrine is meaningless to building our character. We are promised eternal life or exaltation? So what! Is that going to build our patience and love? I don’t believe so. All it does is stroke our ego. We are “special” according to our spiritual experience.

We are to look for CHARITY and the FRUITS listed by Peter to make our calling and election sure. For example, if we examine our life, and we are loving, patient, and virtuous, will this not give as an assurance that we are God’s temple, called and elected to do God’s will? But if we are suppose to look for Jesus in the flesh saying, “Thou shalt be exalted”, as Joseph Smith taught, then why didn’t Peter write it? It’s not there, is it? This is always the problem with Mormonism. Joseph tells us all these neat doctrines, then we look for it in the Bible, and it’s just not there! It’s just like Peter 16:19 referring to the “keys of the kingdom” that Mormons claim come by the laying on of hands. Why doesn’t the Bible say Jesus ordain Peter on the spot when he spoke of keys? And then there is baptism. Why didn’t Jesus just say: “You must be baptized by proper authority to be saved.” Thus, we do NOT find the Biblical support for these private interpretations, and we question and wonder about Joseph Smith and what the truth really is.

Thank God, having our calling and election made sure is crystal clear in the Bible. Peter means we look for the fruit of CHARACTER in our lives that comes by adding to our faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and Charity. For he says clearly:

“….for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall” (2 Peter 1:10).

The more we change, the more we are doing the will of God, and therefore, we are the elect by definition. God has chosen to live in us. Our calling and election is sure. And our minds rejoice in Jesus making us new creatures, dedicated to serve God. We will enter the Kingdom of God and be saved for sure!

"For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:11)

"After a person hath faith in Christ, repents of his sins and is baptized for the remission of his sins and received the Holy Ghost (by the laying on of hands) which is the first comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness and living by every word of God and the Lord will soon say unto him, 'Son, thou shalt be exalted,' etc. When the Lord has thoroughly proved him and finds that the man is determined to serve him at all hazard, then the man will find his calling and election made sure. Then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter which the Lord hath promised the saints." (The Words of Joseph Smith, 27 June 1839, p. 5.)

"Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance." (1 Peter 1:12-15.)