My Top 7 Go-To Verses for Talking To Mormons

Romans 11 · Romans 11:33 · 1 John 4:1

Here are seven verses I love to use in evangelism to Mormons. First is Romans 11 verses 33 through 36. This has become one of my favorite texts as of late and the reason is first because it's not intended initially to just be this theological statement. It's actually a statement of praise and worship. After Paul walks through the essence of the gospel in Romans chapter 1 through Romans chapter 11, he bursts out in this praise of God. In Romans 11:33-36, Paul says this, "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?

For from him and through him and to him are all things." "To him be glory forever. Amen." I love this verse because it glories in the nature of God. God is a God that has never been known, never been counseled, never been given a gift. He is the source and origin of everything and he is the reason everything exists. Now, within Latter-Day Saint theology, there's kind of different streams of thought. One stream of thought holds that Heavenly Father might have himself had a Heavenly Father. I think that this is supported by teachings from Joseph Smith and other early LDS leaders and a lot of Latter-Day Saints believe this.

Well, I think that this verse simply doesn't square with that idea. When Paul says, "Who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor?" If God had a god, then that god would know the mind of the Lord. That god would have been a counselor to him. When he says in verse 35, "Who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" God, if he received exaltation, would have received a gift. I like to ask people who believe in the idea of exaltation, "Would you ever be able to say in future times if you were exalted to godhood, if you had everything that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have, would you be able to say that you have never been given a gift?

I don't think so. That's not something true of humans, but it is true of God. Now, a lot of Latter-day Saints don't believe in this idea of a Heavenly Father above Heavenly Father. For those people, I really love what verse 36 says. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Now, most Latter-day Saints would say, "Why, I agree with that." Most people that I talk to would say, "Absolutely, we believe that." But, I like to really press them on this issue. In Mormonism, matter and intelligence are eternal. God organized our universe, but he did not bring the basic building block materials into existence.

They've been self-existent for all of eternity past. But, Paul here worships God by saying, "For from him are all things." All things includes matter. All things includes intelligence. Everything that exists exists because God brought it into existence. So, I like to tell people, "Is Paul meaning to say that all things are from him except for literally the building blocks of everything?" I don't think that makes much sense. Second on our list is 1 John 4:1. The reason I really like this text is because John acknowledges that people can have supernatural experiences. Latter-day Saints claim to have supernatural experiences when it comes to their own testimony.

Yet, he warns people not to believe something simply because it's supernatural. 1 John 4:1 says, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world." I simply love to ask Latter-day Saints, "How have you tested your testimony?" You see, in Latter-day Saint thinking, we receive a spiritual witness, a spiritual confirmation that things like the Book of Mormon is true, that things like Joseph Smith is a true prophet, that the church really is the true church of Christ on the earth. And yet this says to not just believe the spirits.

Hebrews 1:1 · John 1:18

So, I don't necessarily deny that my LDS friends and neighbors have supernatural encounters. Maybe they do. But what I'm saying is just because it's supernatural doesn't mean it's true. John goes on to give us two different tests so that we can know whether or not a spirit comes from God. The first test is in verse two. Every spirit that says that Jesus has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that denies that is not from God. This is to address a particular error of his day. But John makes it broader down in verse five. He says, "They are from the world. Therefore, they speak from the world and the world listens to them.

We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." Everyone has subjective supernatural experiences, but the way we can know if it's the spirit of truth or the spirit of error is by comparing what that spirit tells us against what God has already revealed through his apostles and prophets in the Bible. Number three is Hebrews 1:1-2. Hebrews is an excellent book. I love walking through a number of the sections with Latter-day Saints, but the very beginning of Hebrews is an awesome, awesome section about the gloriousness of Christ.

And it also I think explains why we don't believe that God works the same way that he did before the coming of Christ. Here's what Hebrews 1:1-2 says. "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, or latter days if you will, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world." It's not relevant for my point, but I just love the next few verses. I'm going to read verses three and four. "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Really, the thing I want to focus in on is the first two verses. In these verses, the author of Hebrews presents a contrast between how God revealed himself long ago and how God has revealed himself in these last days. Long ago, God spoke in various ways to various people. Sometimes God spoke in dreams, sometimes in visions, sometimes God appeared and spoke face-to-face as he did with Moses. Sometimes God appeared in a burning bush, sometimes he spoke verbally like at Mount Sinai.

There was a whole bunch of different ways that God revealed himself in the Old Testament. In the new covenant, God has once and for all time revealed himself through his son. Jesus is the fullness of the revelation of the Father. I often point people to John 1:18, which says, "No one has ever seen God, but the only begotten God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known or he has revealed him." So, the only begotten God, the only begotten Son, Jesus, reveals the Father. This is why when Philip says, "Jesus, can you show us the Father?" Jesus says, "Philip, I tell you, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father." So, unlike the various fragmented ways in which God revealed himself in the Old Testament, at the inauguration of the new covenant, God has once and for all revealed himself in Christ.

Jesus is like, you might say, the mic drop of God. Everything that we want to know about the Father, he's given to us in the Son. And then the New Testament is the record of what God was doing in and through Christ. It's basically like a divine commentary on divine actions. God acts and then he explains what he just did. So God brings Israel out of slavery in Egypt and then he tells them what he just did. He gives them the law and says, "Here's what it means that I redeemed you." So God acts, he makes a covenant, and he explains what's going on, what he just did. The new covenant's the same way.

2 Timothy 3:15 · Matthew 13

God once and for all acts in Jesus. He reveals himself fully in Christ and then explains to us what he just did. And this is all coinciding with the inauguration of the new covenant, the covenant that the entire Bible was anticipating. So I like using Hebrews 1 to explain how Jesus is our living prophet. He is the final prophet to which all the other prophets were pointing to. He's the better Moses. He's the better Joshua. He's the better Samuel. He's the better David. He's the better Isaiah, Elijah, Jeremiah, and all the rest. He is the fullness of the revelation of the Father, the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, as the author of Hebrews says right here.

The next text I want to take you to is 2 Timothy 3:15-17. Everyone always hyper focuses on 3:16, which talks about all scripture being breathed out by God, and that's true. But I think the surrounding details are what make that statement particularly helpful and pointed. Here is what this text says. Paul talks about how from childhood, and he's talking to Timothy, "You have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work." Now, the reason I particularly love this whole section is because not only does it say that all scripture is God breathed, but it tells us what that means.

When Paul is talking to Timothy, he says, "From childhood you've been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation." Now, principally Paul has in mind the Old Testament. Those would have been the sacred writings that Timothy were was acquainted with from childhood. Yet Paul attributes to them this peculiar ability to make him wise for salvation. There's something about scripture that is unique. It's not like other books. What is that unique thing? Well, verse 16, "All scripture, every bit of scripture, is breathed out by God. It's from God's very mouth, from his lips." And the reason that's significant is because not only is it able to make you wise unto salvation, something unique amongst written things, but it's useful for things.

He says it's profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. So, if you want to be taught, if you want to be corrected, if you want to be rebuked, if you want to know how to be righteous, where do you go? You go to scripture. And the reason you go to scripture is because it's God-breathed. Now, this is what's so remarkable. He's talking about the Old Testament as being God-breathed. But the reason it can do all these things is because of what it is. Anything else that is God-breathed is also able to do the same things. The reason we extend this text to the New Testament is because the New Testament writings are also breathed out by God.

And so they are also able to do the same kinds of things. But Paul doesn't end there. The purpose of that is that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work. In other words, God has given us everything that we need to be complete and equipped for every good work in his word. If you want to be equipped for everything that God has for you to do, this is where you go. All right, next on our list is in Matthew 13. It's a selection of parables that I find to be really useful when talking about the apostasy. In Mormonism, the apostasy is this idea that after the time of the apostles, there was something lost.

The apostles had an authority, maybe they had teachings, maybe they had doctrinal purity that was lost shortly after they died. And what Joseph Smith was doing is he was restoring authority, proper authority, the institutional fullness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was restoring perhaps doctrines that had been corrupted. And he was restoring scriptures. All of these things are really tied into the very heart and soul of what Mormonism is. It is the restoration of the true form of Christ's church on this earth. That's what Joseph was doing. Well, that is entirely predicated on the idea of an apostasy.

Matthew 13:24

If there was no apostasy, then there's no need for a restoration. And I think that in Matthew 13, Jesus makes clear that there will never be an apostasy. In Matthew 13:24 and followings, here is what Jesus says. He put another parable before them saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So, when the plants came up and bore grain, and the weeds appeared also, and the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?

How then does it have weeds?' He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So, the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. And at harvest time, I will tell the reapers, "Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn." He goes on and tells another parable. He says in verse 31, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it When it grown, it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.

He then tells the third parable. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour till it was all leavened. Now, all three of these parables are talking about the same thing. They're talking about the growth of the kingdom of God. Fortunately, Jesus tells us exactly what he means by these things. In verse 36, he gives an explanation for the first parable, the one of the wheat and the tares, and he makes clear in verse 37, the one who sows the good seed is the son of man. The field is the world. The good seed is the sons of the kingdom. He explains how the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

The wheat and the weeds grow together from the time of Jesus's first coming until the very end of time when the son of man returns to gather up all the wheat. Those weeds are the righteous who will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. Now, interestingly enough, Joseph Smith actually gave a totally different interpretation of this parable that seems to contradict what Jesus said here. It's in the Doctrine and Covenants. I made a video on that. I'll link that down below in the description if you're curious to watch that. But, what I like bringing up with people is this simply is incompatible with the idea of an apostasy.

It says that there will be sons of the kingdom, people who will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father from the time of Jesus's first coming until the time of his second coming. And to make that point even stronger, we have the other two parables. You have the kingdom of heaven that grows like it from a tiny little seed to be this giant tree. It's not like it grew for a few decades and then died and then came back. And the leaven that starts out small and works its way through the whole lump. Here's the point. Christ's kingdom, Christ's church, starts small, and it persistently and continuously grows from the time of Jesus's first coming until the second coming, there's no apostasy, there's no moment where it dies.

Jesus expects the success of his church and his kingdom. And he ensures that he will continue to protect and grow his church. This is why, right before he ascends into heaven, he assures the disciples that he is with them until the very end of the age. Jesus is forever with his people, and his people have always been on the earth. The church has always existed from Jesus' first coming until the second coming. Second to last on our list is probably my favorite section in Romans, Romans chapter 4, verses 4 through 6. In this section, Paul is essentially giving evidence for justification by faith.

Romans 3:21 · Romans 3 · Romans 4

You see, in Romans 3:21 and following, Paul explains how the righteousness of God has been revealed apart from the law. No human being will be justified in God's sight by adherence to law, that includes celestial law. Uh instead, we can be righteous not by our own adherence to laws and ordinances, but simply through faith. He talks in Romans 3 about this, and then in Romans 4 proves this point from the Old Testament. And he does so by speaking about Abraham, and then speaking about David. Here is what he says in Romans 4:4-8. Now, to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due.

And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works. And then he quotes Psalm 32. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. It's very clear. It's the person who does not work, but simply believes, who will be justified. That's the person whose lawless deeds will be forgiven. So, if a Latter-day Saint says, "Well, I believe in Jesus, and isn't that good enough in your system?" I like going to this verse because it makes clear that it's the person who does not work, but believes.

So, if you say, "Well, I mean, yeah, I'm trying to adhere to celestial law. I'm going to the temple. I'm doing these laws and ordinances, but I believe in Jesus." You're missing what Paul is saying here, and you're missing the nature of the gospel. The gospel is not do everything you can, try to walk the covenant path as best you can, repent when you fail. The gospel is I recognize I'm an abject failure at keeping law, and no laws, no ordinances are ever going to make me worthy in God's eyes, or ever going to give me entrance into God's kingdom. What I need is to stop working, but believe. Those are the people whose lawless deeds will be forgiven.

Those are the ones whose sins will not be held against them. So, note, just saying I believe in Jesus also is insufficient. He says later in Romans, uh what is it? 10-ish. Um yeah, he says that the Jews were ignorant of the righteousness of God, and they sought to establish their own. They did not submit to God's righteousness. He says later that they pursued a righteousness as though it were by works instead of faith. Our righteousness is wholly in Jesus, and if it is wholly in Jesus, then there is nothing we have to do in order to be counted worthy in God's eyes. Last on our list is one of my favorite parts of the Gospel of John.

It's a very well-known verse, and you've almost certainly heard me quote it before if you're familiar with our videos. John 3:14-16. Jesus is talking with Nicodemus. Nicodemus is not understanding what Jesus is talking about. Jesus is like, "You got to be born again. You must be born from heaven. You need God to give you a new heart to replace your heart of stone with a heart of flesh. And the spirit blows where he wills. After talking about how the spirit grants us regeneration, this new birth, he says in verse 14, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." I love this because the image of Moses lifting up the serpent on the pole in the wilderness is an excellent image of how we can have eternal life. When Moses lifted up that serpent, I I I think this is so critical, he didn't tell the people of Israel, "Look at the bronze serpent and then go offer a sacrifice." He didn't say, "Look at the bronze serpent and then promise to keep all the commandments." He didn't say, "Look at the bronze serpent and then go to the tabernacle." No.

John 3:16

Looking, merely looking at the object that God put forward to heal them of their snake bites, that was the means by which their physical salvation came. The means God provided for the physical salvation from snake bites to Israel was looking to this bronze serpent. And Jesus says, "In the same way, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up." So, if you want that not physical healing, but the spiritual healing, all you must do is look. Not look and promise to keep all the commandments. Not look and then walk a covenant path. Not look and then go to the temple.

It's just looking. That's the instrumental means of how we receive salvation, eternal life, and every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And he goes right out of that into John 3:16. "For God so loved the world, he gave Jesus his only begotten son. And all the ones who believe in him will not perish, but have eternal life. I sometimes like asking Latter-day Saints, in your scheme where everyone goes to one of the three degrees of glory, what does it mean to perish? Belief is the determiner of whether or not someone has eternal life or whether they perish. So, what does it mean in LDS theology for someone to not believe in Jesus and perish?

Jesus is really clear that perishing is being condemned. That's why he says in verse 17, "For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world." That's what the perishing is here. "But in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." So, our options are either eternal life or condemnation. And the determiner is faith, belief, looking to Jesus on the cross. I think it's such a helpful verse to use in conversations with Latter-day Saints.

So, there you go. Those are the seven verses I often use in conversations. Uh if you have others that you use, put them down below in the comments. Maybe I'll do more videos like this. I have other verses I go to, so it was kind of hard to whittle it down to seven. But I find these verses are ones I continuously keep coming back to in conversations with Latter-day Saints. Thank you for watching and God bless.