1 John (Pt. 1) – Paul M. Williams

Part 8 Whenever one asks a member of a cult whether they have absolute and full assurance of salvation, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, one will be met first with a stutter followed by the answer, "I hope so!"  The reason for this is that cults cannot offer their members assurance of salvation, because salvation depends on remaining a member, since there is no salvation outside that particular group.  This is true of Jehovah's Witnesses, Roman Catholics, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   The topic of focus in this final teaching part is two-fold.  Before one can understand how a member of the LDS Church qualifies for salvation, it is essential to ask the question, What is salvation? Download teaching notes (pdf) https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bethesdashalom/8_The_Doctrine_of_Salvation.pdf 

1 Jn. 1:1-4 Preached in the Sanctuary of Bethesda Shalom, England, Sunday 24th November, 2025. 

Part 7 When one is dealing with a cult, there are always two main areas where the scope of the target is aimed.  Attacking either one of these is enough to designate a group a cult, but more commonly, one will find that the cults delight in destroying both.  What are these two areas of repeated attack?  The person of Jesus Christ and the doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.  No cult will ever discard the name of Jesus, as the devil seeks through subtilty to catch the unsuspected soul off guard.  Muslims have a Jesus, Jehovah's Witnesses have a Jesus, the Roman Catholic Church has a Jesus, and so do the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The question is not whether they have a Jesus but which Jesus.  Do they have the real Jesus of Holy Scripture?   How is one to determine whether the Jesus Christ of Mormonism is the Jesus Christ of Scripture?  How is one to know whether the Jesus Christ of the LDS Church is the genuine Jesus or a counterfeit imposter?  The only way of ascertaining this is by examining LDS doctrine as it relates to Jesus Christ, they profess.  In this seventh teaching part, careful examination shall be given to see if the Mormon Jesus is the biblical Jesus.   Download teaching notes (pdf) https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bethesdashalom/7_The_Doctrine_of_Christ.pdf

1 Jn. 1:1-4 Preached in the Sanctuary of Bethesda Shalom, England, Sunday 16th November, 2025.  Download the audio for this sermon (mp3) https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bethesdashalom/1_John_Pt1.mp3 Visit us here and subscribe to the latest ministry updates: http://www.bethesdashalom.org

1 Jn. 1:1-4 Preached in the Sanctuary of Bethesda Shalom, England, Sunday 9th November, 2025. 

Mark 5:25-34 Preached in the Sanctuary of Bethesda Shalom, England, Sunday 2nd November, 2025. 

Part 6 When a Christian is asked to explain why heaven will be heaven for him, it does not take him long to give his answer.  Heaven will be heaven because God is there!  Yet, when a Mormon is asked to explain the hope that they have in Christ, their whole concept of eternity is fashioned by the doctrine of Exaltation, namely the belief that man might one day become a god, possessing all power, glory, dominion, and knowledge. For the Bible believing Christian, the leap from man to God is an eternal gulf that can never be spanned.  Man will never be God for the simple reason that God is the creator and man is the created.  However, in an ever-evolving universe, Mormons believe that God the Father was once a man who, through specific actions, achieved exaltation himself.  If such a formidable feat were possible for God, then the Mormon hope is that it is also possible through Christ for them.  The purpose of this sixth teaching is to understand the Mormon position and examine such claims in light of Holy Scripture.   Download teaching notes (pdf) https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bethesdashalom/6_The_Doctrine_of_Man_.pdf

Matthew 14:28-30 Preached in the Sanctuary of Bethesda Shalom, England, Sunday 25th October, 2025. 

Part 5 Of the many teachings contained in the Bible, there is one teaching that the Bible is unequivocal about and absolute in its declaration: there is but one true and living God.  Monotheism oozes out of every page of God's sacred record in both the Old and New Testaments.  Orthodoxy demands that the adherent of Christianity hold to the belief in the existence of only one God!!  Every prophet from Moses through to Jesus taught that there was but one God.  At first glance, it appears that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are on the same page.  However, as one begins to dig beneath the surface of its conventional publicity statements, one discovers layer after layer of heresy from the denial of the Trinity to the human anatomy of God the Father. If one is to understand the Mormon hope as it relates to eternity, one must first understand the particular God whom they serve.      Download teaching notes (pdf) https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bethesdashalom/5_The_Doctrine_of_God.pdf

Proverbs 16:9 Preached in the Sanctuary of Bethesda Shalom, England, Sunday 19th October, 2025. A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.