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How Can it not be True? The Witness of the Spirit (Part 1)

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Have you had Mormon Missionaries bear their testimony to you? When backed into a corner, when feeling that you are being contentious, these young Mormons will say:


‘I bear you my testimony that I know the Book of Mormon is true, I know that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet of God and I know that the Church is the only true church.’

They have, they claim, the witness of the Spirit that what they believe is true. This, in a nutshell, is Mormonism. They believe all they believe because of this so-called ‘witness of the Spirit’.

How does that work?


The desire of the Mormon Missionary is for you and me to also experience the ‘witness of the Spirit’ as they do, but what do they mean?
They will point an interested person to a passage in the Book of Mormon – Moroni 10:3-5:


Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

They will then say that if you read the Book of Mormon, ponder in your heart what it says, ask God if it is true, with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ – you will receive the same witness of the Spirit that they have.

Help - My Bosom is Burning

The truth of these things, the ‘witness of the Spirit’ comes via a burning in the bosom.


“But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me.”[1]

To the Mormon, their ‘burning in the bosom’ experience proves, beyond a shadow of doubt, that Mormonism is true. This raises a whole host of questions, but I want us to consider a very important one. Who, in Mormon theology, is the Holy Spirit?

Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost?

Trying to understand Mormon theology is not always easy. For example, you can find Mormons teaching that the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost are synonymous, but then you will read something which appears to make them completely different beings. In a Crash Course on Mormonism, Eric Johnson of Mormon Research Ministry says the following:

According to Mormonism, the Holy Ghost is a child of God from the pre-existence who does not have a body of flesh and bones, as do Heavenly Father and Jesus. He is the third member of the Godhead who is sometimes described as the Holy Spirit and other times described as distinct from the Holy Spirit.[2]

You will often hear Mormons talk about the Holy Ghost, rather than the Holy Spirit, not because they are making a distinction between the two, but rather because of their use of the King James version of the Bible. The Greek word pneuma (πνεύμα) can be translated as spirit and ghost, so there is no problem with them saying Holy Ghost. The issue is not one of translation, but one of definition.


The Encyclopedia of Mormonism shares the Mormon understanding of the Spirit:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that the Holy Ghost is a spirit man, a spirit son of God the Father. It is fundamental Church doctrine that God is the Father of the spirits of all men and women, that Jesus is literally God’s Son both in the spirit and in the flesh, and that the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit separate and distinct from both the Father and the Son. The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Eternal Godhead, and is identified also as the Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, Spirit of the Lord, and the comforter.[3]

Mormons teach that the Holy Spirit is a spirit man, a spirit son of God the Father and the third member of the Eternal Godhead. This is not Biblical Christianity.

Biblical Truth

The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit had no beginning:

How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:14)

The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is not a limited spirit man, rather He is omnipresent:

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? (Psalm 139:7)

The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is not just created member of the Eternal Godhead, rather He is God:

But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” 

(Acts 5:1-4)

As Mormons have a different Holy Spirit, the question needs to be asked, where does their ‘witness of the Spirit’ come from?

Feelings

Feelings can never be evidence of truth. Feelings can come from a variety of sources – myself, a dodgy curry, or an enemy seeking to trick us. The question that needs to be asked is this: Is what I feel consistent with revealed biblical truth?[4]

In Part 2, we will consider how the Mormons understand the work of the Holy Spirit in their church and their lives.


 [1] Doctrine and Covenants 9:8-9

[2] https://www.mrm.org/holy-ghost-doctrine

[3] Encyclopedia of Mormonism 2:649.

[4] Acts 17:11


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