The literal simplest meaning of "Christmas" = Christ as the "Sent One." The Mormon Church stresses Joseph Smith as key "Sent One":

What a Liturgical Order of Smithmas Sacrament Meeting Might look like! [Vanity, Part B]

[Note: the exact link will be added within the "Comment" section immediately upon this piece being posted]

Question 1
Per Lds Prophet Brigham Young, if we don't confess [this person] was "sent of God," then you're "of antichrist"?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 2
According to the popular Mormon hymn, "Praise the Man," Who is exalted and revered per the lyrical worship line: "Kings shall exalt him and nations revere...the earth lauds his fame"?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 3
According to that same hymn, Whose "glory" is great...and endless his priesthood" -- given that in the Bible "because Jesus lives forever, he [Jesus] has a permanent [inviolate] priesthood."? (see Hebrews 7:23-26 for context]

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 4
And, per that same hymn, given that a certain THE SON OF GOD is noted to be THE "Faithful and True" One in the Bible (Revelation 3:14), who is directly praised as "Faithful and true he will enter HIS kingdom, crowned..."??

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 5
And, lastly re: this hymn, when it's sung of him that "Millions shall know" this "Brother...", Who is that?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 6
According to the Dec. 20, 2009 Mormon Times, whose late December birthday "is a good time to remember and reflect on all that" [this person] "did for each of us?"

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Per the December issue of Lds publication Ensign (1997), in an article called "A Season for Gratitude," who are we to understand is the focus when the "Prophet" Gordon B. Hinckley says: "We stand in reverence before him...He stands at the head of this great and mighty work which is spreading across the earth...Let us not forget him. Let not his memory be forgotten in the celebration of Christmas..."?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 8
And, right before a special someone's late-December birthday – Dec. 22, 2008 – can you guess who was being referenced when the current Lds "Prophet" said of him: "And at this season, he's happy that our thoughts can be drawn to" [this person]. ‘He gave us everything’?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 9
Per a 1981 Mormon leader message, who "lies at the heart of it all?"

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 10
Can you guess Who's being discussed here? "This is a season for giving and a time for gratitude. We remember with appreciation the birth of" [this person] "which is celebrated this...December...How great indeed is our debt to him...It was he who brought us a true knowledge of God, the Eternal Father..."?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 11
And who is the Way referenced here by a to-be Lds "prophet" (1954)?: [There is] "no salvation without accepting" [this person]. "If" [this person] "...told the truth...no man can reject that testimony without incurring the most dreadful consequences, for he cannot enter the kingdom of God"

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 12
Given that as late as 1974, the Mormon church-owned book publishers stressed this 19th century reference by one of the top three hierearchists in the Mormon church during the latter 19th century -- who was the "Way" referenced here? "If we get our salvation, we shall have to pass by him; if we enter our glory, it will be through the authority he has received. We cannot get around him"

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 13
"If it had not been for" [this person] "...there would be no salvation." A dead giveaway, right?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 14
This second Lds Prophet said: "If you will believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that" these entities were God's very Mouth, "you shall be saved in the kingdom of God" Who might that be?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 15
Lds Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley urged his people to read this "story" -- "There's no other event in all recorded history that compares with it, not even at the baptism of the Savior"

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God rescuing the Israelites
(b) Jesus Christ's resurrection & ascension
(c) Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost
(d) Joseph Smith's First Vision

Question 16
"The greatest event that has ever occurred in the world since the resurrection...and ascension of Jesus" -- per Lds Prophet Joseph F. Smith – involved who -- doing what?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God sending the Holy Spirit
(b) Jesus Christ appearing to the apostle Paul
(c) Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost
(d) Joseph Smith's First Vision

Question 17
This BYU professor in a church-owned published book emphasized, "No man in earth's history has been responsible for restoring more truth than" [this person]. Who is it?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 18
Given that the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:3 that "no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit," the Lds church-owned publisher stressed in a 1989 book that: "We cannot, in reality, come to Christ, if we do not accept..." Who?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 19
“The greatest activity in this world or in the world to come is directly related to the work and mission of..." who per this 1967 Lds Prophet?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 20
If a "Living Prophet" is taking a December publication (2005) to say: "We acknowledge...proclaim...reverence Him," then he MUST be expressing devotion to who?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 21
Likewise if that same "Living Prophet" is taking anotherDecember publication (1997) to glowingly-- in a worship posture--say: "We stand in reverence Him," then he MUST be expressing devotion to who?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 22
"The early members of the Church remembered his birthday with festive celebrations. We can remember the birth of" [This person] "...and show our PRAISE and admiration for him by living the principles that he taught." Another dead giveaway for an official December 1990 Lds church publication, right? Whose the focus here?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 23
Lds Prophet Brigham Young said in 1861 that [this person] "...was a God to us, and is to the nations of the earth, and will continue to be." (Boy, that's a tough one: We wonder, we wonder who this is? Yeah, right?)

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 24
In December 1978, the Lds Ensign publication was aglow with: "As we commemorate the birth of the babe in Bethlehem, the Savior of the world, may we..." "...consciously rejoice in his life and sacrifice, as well." (Yeah, I know yet ANOTHER giveaway answer, eh, right?) Name the being referenced here.

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 25
This person said: "God made Aaron to be the mouthpiece for the children of Israel, and He will make me be god to you in His stead..." Who was this?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

Question 26
A 1984 priesthood manual stressed this primer lesson, quoting Brigham Young: "No man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of..." [this being]. "He holds the keys of that kingdom for the last dispensation—the keys to rule in the spirit-world; and he rules there triumphantly... Who is this?

Multiple-choice answers:
(a) God
(b) Jesus Christ
(c) Holy Spirit
(d) Joseph Smith

I am a Mormon for 52 Years, and since my baptism at age 8 I have spent my life in trying to live according to how Jesus Christ would want me to live, and have tried to be worthy of the grace that he gave the world. I’m sorry that that’s not good enough for you.

Hey, Teppe, seriously: ANY life where I might attempt to "be worthy" of God's grace WOULD NEVER be "good enough" for me, you, anybody -- and especially God Himself!

That's what grace is, Teppe: Getting what we DON'T DESERVE!

Grace is pure gift.

Imagine giving your 16 year old son for Christmas the most expensive vehicle in the world. Imagine if he kept insisting he would "earn" that gift. That he would somehow, little by little, "pay you back."

All along, you shake your head, knowing how much he makes on his minimum-wage job. And even beyond that, how you gave him that gift based upon your pure love for him.

The gift is simply the evidence of the love. You didn't give him that gift to simply "buy" his loyalty or "buy" anything of him relationally. It was a no-strings-attached gift of love. (I say "no strings attached" -- other than, yeah, there'd be mutual expectations to utilize that car responsibly)

So, yeah, God expects us to be good stewards. And to responsibly take care of His gifts. But we don't earn them; we don't merit them; His gifts are so great they are beyond "worthiness."

And to "wrap" this up...imagine, Teppe, if no matter how many times & how many ways you kept explaining to your son to simply accept the car as a pure gift, he kept insisting that he earn it...how that would eventually offend you as a loving father.

And now you perhaps can better understand how it is that "work-your-way-to celestial heaven" types offend Heavenly Father.

I don’t give a rat’s behind what the Mormon’s chose to worship or do because that is not my faith.

I do care deeply about the overall decline of my church and it’s inability to find a way to stay true to the original teachings of the Nazarene.

I think your FIRST sentence here is an example of the SECOND.

As Christians we are told to not put up with false teachings.

THAT is what is wrong with today's 'church'. Not just Mormonism - a really BIG 'false teaching', but the myriad little things that are permeating 'Christianity' today.

You MUST start caring about the future of the rodent's posterior region; as it's on it's way to

HELL

if it is not turned around!!

Quit just 'caring' and start DOING something about it.

Acts 17:18-19
18. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
19. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

Acts 18:11
So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

Romans 15:4
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Romans 16:17
I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.

1 Corinthians 4:17
For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.

1 Corinthians 11:2
2. I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you.

Ephesians 4:14-15
14. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
15. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

2 Thessalonians 2:15
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

2 Thessalonians 3:6
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.

1 Timothy 1:3-4
3. As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer
4. nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work--which is by faith.

1 Timothy 1:7
They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.

1 Timothy 2:7
And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle--I am telling the truth, I am not lying--and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.

1 Timothy 4:1-2
1. The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
2. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

1 Timothy 4:6
If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.

1 Timothy 4:11
Command and teach these things.

1 Timothy 6:3-5
3. If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching,
4. he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions
5. and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

2 Timothy 1:13
What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 2:15-17
15. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
16. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
17. Their teaching will spread like gangrene.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
16. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
17. so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 4:3-4
3. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
4. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

Titus 1:11
They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach--and that for the sake of dishonest gain.

Titus 2:1
You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.

Titus 2:15
These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

Hebrews 13:9
Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings.

2 Peter 2:1-3
1. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
3. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

2 John 1:10
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him.

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1862 (July 13) [Quote republished by church in 1925]	Brigham Young: "I have taught for thirty years, and still teach, that he that believeth in his heart and confesseth with his mouth that Jesus is the Christ and that Joseph Smith is his Prophet to this generation, is of God; and he that confesseth not that Jesus has come in the flesh and SENT Joseph Smith with the fulness of the Gospel to this generation, is not of God, but is antichrist. All who confess that Joseph Smith is SENT of God in the latter days, to lay the foundation of his everlasting kingdom no more to be thrown down, and will continue to keep his commandments, are born of God"	Journal of Discourses Vol. 9
1994 (June)	Official Lds Church Magazine re: Joseph Smith "shed[ding] his blood in order that the final testament, the reestablishment of the new covenant, might be in full effect.": "As suggested earlier, the life of Joseph Smith was in some degree patterned after that of his Master, Jesus Christ. That pattern holds true even when extended to its tragic conclusion. Like his Master, Joseph Smith also shed his blood in order that the final testament, the reestablishment of the new covenant, might be in full effect ... Thus, to bear witness of Joseph Smith is to bear witness of Jesus Christ, who SENT him, in the same way that a testimony of Christ also implies clearly a testimony of the Eternal Father, who sent Him. On the other hand, to deny Joseph Smith outright—to deny the spiritual impressions which attest to his prophetic assignment—is to deny the Lord, who sent him."	Lds Church Magazine Ensign

I keel you!!!

HELL