How many goddess wives?

    Heber C Kimball

       How many wives does God the Father have?  According to Mormon doctrine, everyone was conceived by a spiritual mother(goddess) and father(god) in heaven before coming to earth.  We pre-existed as spirit beings in heaven before receiving a physical body on this planet.  Every person is supposed to have had the same "heavenly father".  This heavenly father is supposedly confined to one place in a physical body of an exalted man.  Early Mormon leaders claimed that God the father had a number of wives.  Here are the words of Heber C. Kimball:  "In the spirit world there is an increase of males and females, there are millions of them, and if I am faithful all the time, and continue right along with brother Brigham, we will go to brother Joseph and say, 'Here we are brother Joseph; we are here ourselves are we not, with none of the property we possessed in our probationary state, not even the rings on our fingers?'  He will say to us, 'Come along, my boys, we will give you a good suit of clothes.  Where are your wives?'  'They are back yonder; they would not follow us.'  'Never mind,' says Joseph, 'here are thousands, have all you want.'  Perhaps some do not believe that, but I am just simple enough to believe it" (Journal of Discourses 4:209).
     It is incomprehensible how all people on earth could be a spirit child of one father God and his wives.  It sounds logistically impossible.  Today there are over 7 billion people on the earth.  How many wives would it take to bear 7 billion spirit beings?  Kimball believed that Joseph would tell him that thousands of wives would be available.  Let's suppose that God the Father had 7 thousand wives.  Each wife would need to bear 1 million spirit children for there to be 7 billion people on an earth.  Kimball claimed that there were millions of males and females in the spirit world.  Or, let's suppose God the Father had 7 million wives.  Each wife would have to bear 1 thousand spirit children to reach the 7 billion people mark.  God the Father would have to be extremely busy with his wives.  I am not going to do the math on that! 
     Mormon doctrine creates some serious logistical problems.  It doesn't seem possible or even logical.  Who would want to be the millionth wife?  What kind of care would the thousandth child receive?  This is much different than Genesis 2:24:  "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."  It doesn't say a thousand flesh or a million flesh.  It says one man and one woman should become one flesh.  Jesus spoke of the heavenly marriage mistake in Matthew 22:29&30:  "Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven."  I think we can safely say that the God of the Bible is not the Mormon god with his many wives.

144,000 gods? - John Taylor

President John Taylor

  

 Mormon President John Taylor quoted and commented on Revelations 14:1.  "John says: 'And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.  Their 'Father's name,' bless me! that is GOD!  Well done for Mormonism; one hundred and forty four thousand GODS, among the tribes of Israel, and, two living Gods and the Holy Ghost, for this world!  Such knowledge is too wonderful for men, unless they possess the spirit of Gods" (John Taylor, The Gospel Kingdom, p. 29).
     The old mormon teachings did not allow a man with one wife to become a god.  Brigham Young said, "The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy (Journal of Discourses 11:269).
     Revelations 14:4 gives an interesting detail about the 144,000.  This verse tells us that "they are virgins".  If you have a wife or more than one wife, then you are no longer a virgin.  In the old mormon teachings, virgins didn't become gods.  Mormon President John Taylor missed the mark on the 144,000 virgin evangelists.  Also, it is a very serious matter when someone tries to introduce us to other gods.
Deuteronomy 13:1-4 has a warning about prophets and dreamers:  "If  there arise among you a prophet, or dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD you God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD you God with all your heart and with all your soul.  Ye shall walk after the LORD your God , and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him."
     President John Taylor is considered a prophet by many people.  The Bible warns us not to "hearken unto" the words of this type of prophet.

1 Nephi 13&14

       In 1 Nephi 14:3, the prophet Nephi claimed that the abominable church was the devils tool to "lead away the souls of men down to hell."  Nephi claimed that the abominable church was founded "by the devil" after the 12 apostles died (1 Nephi 14:3; 13:26).  The function of this apostate church was to take away from the Gospel of the Lamb "many parts which are plain and precious: and also many covenants" (1 Nephi 13:26).  Nephi said this "mother of harlots" caused an "aweful state of blindness" and many do "stumble exceedingly" (1 Nephi 13:32&34).  Nephi claims that parts of the gospel were taken away in order to "pervert the right ways of the Lord" and to "blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men" (1 Nephi 13:27).  Now, because of these events, "...Satan hath great power over them" (1 Nephi 13:29).  According to Mormonism, this is why we need the LDS church.  The Mormon church and the book of Mormon are here to restore the gospel. 
       It is now possible to test Nephi's prophesies.  There are thousands of ancient Hebrew and Greek manuscripts that date from hundreds of years BC to several hundred years AD.  If Nephi was right, we should be able to track these changes in the ancient manuscripts which were written over centuries.  Remarkable, the thousands of ancient manuscripts agree.  The covenants were not discarded.  "Plain and precious" truths were not removed over the centuries of time.  It is amazing that thousands of manuscripts agree and contain the same truth.  This is miraculous!  Nephi's prophesies were completely false.  A prophet that gives false prophesies is a false prophet.  We do not need to fear a false prophet.  Deuteronomy 18:22 says, "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him."  Deuteronomy 18:20 says that a prophet that speaks presumptuously should die.  The Israelites were not to tolerate false prophets.
       Matthew 5:18 proclaims, "...Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."
       I Peter 1:23-25 says, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.  For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.  The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:  But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.  And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."
       God is powerful and able to preserve his word.  Praise God for his faithfulness and his great works!