Does the Church Teach False Doctrine About the Godhead?
Some faithful believers in the restoration scriptures and the teachings of the Prophets Joseph and Brigham find convincing evidences that when the church leadership accepted the Doctrinal Exposition in 1916 the Church lost some of the truth that had been restored.
It is like the reforms by the Deuteronomist at the time of King Josiah and earlier. There was a need for reform, but the reforms they made were imperfect and certain key truths were lost.
But can the Church leaders and members accept the chastisement of accepting that certain key truths have been lost? That takes child-like humility and recognizing that God allows everyone and every people to make mistakes that they must learn from.
“My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom. – D&C 136:31
All those who cannot accept chastisement from the Lord and humbly mend their ways at some point will be cast out of the Lord's kingdom. Scripture also warns us that those who are pacified and refuse to even consider that they might be in need of chastisement from the Lord are in danger of being cast into hell:
And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell. – 2 Nephi 28:21
Please consider this matter seriously and prayerfully.
Did the Church get off track?
Those who intensely study the scriptures and teachings of the Prophets Joseph and Brigham often can see serious problems in what the Church teaches today about the Godhead.
The Church accepts the endowment doctrine that the Creators in the six days of creation were three Beings: Elohim, Jehovah and Michael. But the endowment was prepared by Brigham as directed by Joseph. And the Church later rejected and significantly changed Brigham's teachings about each one of the Creators Elohim, Jehovah and Michael.
That is ironic. Without Brigham there would not be any Temple work in the restoration. Brigham prepared the temple ordinances and the endowment ceremony, led the Saints to the safety of the Rocky Mountains and built endowment houses and began building temples. Are we not justified comparing what the Church teaches today to Brigham's teachings and see if the Church got off track from the original doctrine the church was taught by Brigham, who more than once claimed his doctrine came from Joseph?
Elohim, Jehovah, Michael Changes
Most significantly, the Church rejected and changed Brigham's doctrine that Michael was an exalted resurrected Being in the Creation, and the Father of spirits for this earth, Jesus being his firstborn Spirit. This doctrine is supported by Joseph's teachings that a spirit with a physical body always has power over a spirit without one. The Creators in the six days of creation could not have been just Spirits.
The Church changed the doctrine to Michael being a spirit that had never lived in the flesh, but somehow still an angel, even an archangel. How can this not contradict D&C 129:1 which teaches that angels have resurrected bodies? And in the new doctrine Michael does not have exaltation, so the three Creators are two members of the Godhead and a spirit that is not a regular angel yet. The third member of the Godhead somehow is not mentioned during the creation in the new doctrine.
The Church also rejected and changed Brigham's doctrine that the creation Jehovah was not Jesus but also an exalted resurrected Being. This doctrine is supported by the scriptures where over and over, again and again, it is verified that the man Jesus was the Son of the Old Testament Jehovah who declares Himself the Creator.
And the Church rejected and changed Brigham's doctrine about Elohim, claiming Elohim is the Father of spirits for this earth. But there is no scriptural evidence that the God named Jehovah in the Bible has a Father over him. Some try to finagle that doctrine into scripture, but only slight evidence of it is there. That is basically a Temple doctrine only. And by Brigham's understanding Elohim is the Grandfather God and not the Father of spirits for this earth.
Furthermore it is changed to Jesus being a Spirit as the creation Jehovah even though Joseph taught that a resurrected body is necessary to even gain salvation let alone exaltation.
Is Jesus the Jehovah that created this earth or the Jehovah for this earth?
The revelation to John speaks of both Jesus and his Father having their own throne:
"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in ***my throne***, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in ***his throne***." -- Rev 3:21
Isaiah saw the God of Israel Jehovah sitting on His throne in Heaven:
"In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. ... Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips ... for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." – Isaiah 6:1,5
In the Hebrew the word LORD is the divine name YaHWeH, or Jehovah in English. So Isaiah saw Jehovah in Heaven sitting on a throne.
The Old Testament LORD, who is Jehovah in the Hebrew, is said to be the Creator. This agrees with the Temple endowment in which Jehovah and Michael are sent down to create this earth.
“O LORD [Jehovah] of hosts, God of Israel … thou hast made heaven and earth.” – Isaiah 37:16
“...I am the LORD [Jehovah] that maketh all things...” – Isaiah 44:24
Joseph taught this:
"There is no other God in heaven but that God who has flesh and bones." – 5 Jan 1841
Unless Joseph was teaching false doctrine in this statement, then the Jehovah that Isaiah saw in heaven was a resurrected Being. So it could not have been Jesus as a Spirit, but it was the Father of Jesus.
Furthermore, the throne of Jesus will be set up on this earth for the Millennium and eternity after the glorious Ancient of Days, who Mormons know is the resurrected Adam, gives Jesus authority over all mankind. So the throne of Jesus will be on this earth, and not in heaven where the Creator Jehovah has His throne.
“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit.... I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man [Jesus] came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days [Adam], and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” – Daniel 7:1,13-14
The Bible in the Greek does not actually say that Jesus created this earth. It says Jesus was the Firstborn of all creatures. So it is confusing to think that Jesus could be the “maker of all things” including himself.
In John 1:3 and 1:10 all of the definitions of the Greek word “dia” except one match the context of Jesus being the "Firstborn of every creature" and not its Creator:
"All things were created [dia: because of, by reason of, on account of, for the sake of] him [Jesus] and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created." – John 1:3
“He was in the world, and the world was made [dia: because of, by reason of, on account of, for the sake of] Him, and the world did not know Him.” – John 1:10
Why should we believe the Firstborn of every creature created the world? Surely his Father created the world because of, by reason of, on account of, and for the sake of his Son Jesus. And as a Son of the Creator Jehovah, Jesus in his resurrection is an equal to his Father and the Jehovah for this earth.
The Holy Ghost teachings
Several church leaders have taught that the third member of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost, has never had a physical body to this day. He is an unmarried male Spirit that has never lived in the flesh and proved himself and kept his Second Estate but has exaltation and has been a Witness seeing the sexuality, cultures and evils of billions of humans over thousands of years that he comforts and teaches.
This unmarried male Spirit apparently has made no eternal D&C 132:7 covenants himself, but is considered the Holy Spirit of Promise sealing all such covenants for mankind.
There are numerous problems with these teachings.
Conclusion
If the Church is teaching false doctrine concerning the Godhead, some day it will be exposed on the housetops. Would in not be a step in the right direction for the Church to acknowledge that it was a mistake to reject and change Brigham's teaching without studying the matter more carefully and seeking revelation as promised in Article of Faith 9?
We fully agree that it was correct for the Church to not authorize the Adam-God teachings of Brigham. The records we have of his teachings about this are not guaranteed to be accurate. And what he actually taught is not guaranteed to be the Word of the Lord and without errors.
But neither are the books and discourses of Elder Talmage and others that later rejected and changed some of Brigham's doctrines guaranteed to be the Word of the Lord. Elder Talmage was the first Church apostle with a Phd degree and he was the one that prepared the 1916 “Doctrinal Exposition” that established the current authorized Church doctrine.
Here is an article explaining more about the problems with the current doctrine that Jesus was the creation and OT Jehovah: LINK
This one is about problems with the current Church doctrine about the Holy Ghost: LINK