"Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me"
~ Exodus 20:3 ~

prepared by Don R. Hender


    "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." ~ John 17:3


    In order to worship God effectively it is important to come to know God, the nature of God and the relationship between God the Father of Spirits and Jesus Christ the Son who is also the same as the Lord God Jehovah of the Old Testament. That they are two separate and distinct beings is one testament which the first vision of the Prophet Joseph Smith and also the vision of Stephen (Acts 7) doth bear witness. This the common people, the followers of Jesus Christ knew, that there was the Father and the Son, two separate beings. But it was the stiffneckedness of prideful position which denied such to the understanding of the Jewish leaders and lead to them judging and causing the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross and also that of Stephen when he also so further testified of Jesus standing on the right hand of God the Father in the vision that he saw (Acts 7:51-58).

The Jewish understanding of God had become corrupted as they 'stopped up their hears' (Acts 7:57) that they might not hear the truth of the matter. And even though the early Church 'fathers' had a correct understanding of the relationship of God the Father of Spirit and Jesus/Jehovah the Son of God, so witnessed by Eusebius of Ceasarea's presentation at the Nicene Council and in his recorded Ecclesiastical History of the Church, such as Bishops of Alexandrea and others had turned and once again made Father and Son but one entity, that is a three in one God. Not as the Jews so forced their own corruption into the concept of One God without a son, but in a different corrupt manner, accepting Father/Son but making them to be one.

King David understood that his Lord had a LORD or Father above him (Psalms 110:1; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42) and Jesus used that very verse in his own presentation of himself before the Jewish leaders. This type of corruption the devil has put into the hearts of men and it even appears in the Book of Mormon in the case of the 'slick lawyer' of Ammonihah named Zeezrom< who was most excellent in his lawyer presentation (Alma 10 & 11). Zeezrom asked Amulek if he could but ask him a few questions. This the lawyers and Jewish leaders did of Christ in their attempt to catch him in his words. And one of the snares laid by Zeezrom what in this very relationship of the Father and the Son as he few questions led as such:

  • "Thou sayest there is a true and living God?"
  • "Is there more than one God?"
  • "Who is he that shall Come? Is it the Son of God?"

Now the Book of Mormon is an abridgment, but it is obvious exactly where Zeezrom was leading Amulek into the snares and entrapments of the corruption that men have made of the relationship between God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ/Jehovah, the God of the Old and New Testaments. It is the same type of entrapments the Jewish set before Jesus and accused him to be worthy of death because of. It is also the same entrapments which those who evenually authored the corruption today refered to as the Nicene Creed have led men into. And thus it is that it is necessary to come to know and understand the true nature of God, of God the Father of Spirits and of His Son Jesus Christ, which Jesus Christ is the same God and person as Jehovah of the Old Testament. And if you will not 'stop up your ears and hear' I will proceed to explain to you the true nature of God the Father of Spirits and Jesus Christ the Son who is also the same as Jehovah.

In the Eternal realm God the Father of Spirits stands as a Celestial being with a Celestial and Glorified body of flesh and bones (D&C 130:22). He was such before the world was, he is such today, and he will be such through out all eternity. Now God the Eternal Father, the Father of the Spirits of man, being this Celestial Glorified Personage of Flesh and Bone before the foundation of the heavens and the earth was in that advanced state beyond such as this mortal temporal existence. Thus when it came to bring about the immortality and eternal life of his spirit children he would call upon one of them to be anointed by him and empowered by him to act for and in the stead of himself in administering to this temporal estate for only those who belong or do pertain unto this temporal realm do minister unto it (D&C 130:5). And thus God the Father of Spirits did call upon him whose right it was, being the Firstborn Son of God the Father of Spirits in the spirit (Colossians 1:15).

Thus in the pre-councils of heaven God the father called upon, selected, anointed and empowered his first born son in the spirit, who was Jehovah, to be that Anointed One who would come and minister unto this temporal creation. God the Father, who we may call by the name of Elohim, did so ordain and empower Jehovah his first born son in the spirit, to act for, in behalf of and in the stead of the Father Elohim in all things pertaining unto the administration of this temporal creation. And thus as John states in John 1, The Word, Jehovah, was with God the Father from the beginning of the ages of time. And God the Father Elohim empowered Jehovah with the power and postion of God, that Priesthood of God by which the worlds were made; and with that bestowed power of God did Jehovah as a God of Spirit so create the temporal heavens and earth. And without him, Jehovah, was there nothing so made or created of this temporal realm. He Jehovah would in harmony and so instructed by God the Father, even Elohim. Now Bishop Eusebius understood this relationship well and presented it in his Ecclesastical Hitory, Book I, Chapter 2 & 3.

Now this true was so stated by the most learned Christian as called upon by the Emporer Constantine at that first early Nicene Council. And as long as Bishop Eusebius and the Emporer Constantine lived, it was so despite the controversy made of it by other such Bishops steaming from such as Alexandria. But once Constantine and Bishop Eusebius had died, the others were able to so corrupt the proper understanding of God as to create the false doctrine of the trinity which is in effect today.

If God the Father of Spirits is God and Jesus/Jehovah is God,
Then Whom Do We Worship? Elohim or Jehovah as the One True God?

This was where Zeezrom was going with Amulek, it is that corrupt confusion which fostered the doctrine of the trinity. But the answer to the question of, 'Who do we worship Elohim or Jesus/Jehovah?', is but as simple as merely stating, "YES!" We worship Elohim, We Worship Jehovah/Jesus, and we do this because when we worship Jesus we are but worshipping God the Father, for it is Jehovah/Jesus who God the Father of Spirits, Elohim, did install to stand in His stead in all things. And whether it was by the mouth of Jehovah/Jesus the Son or by the mouth of God the Father, Elohim, it was, is and will be the same for Jesus/Jehovah stands in the stead of the Father in all things. He is the Father's Advocate. He holds the Father's Power of Attorney. He speaks, acts and is effectively the same as the Father, the Father's representative, the God of this temporal creation under the direction of the Father. This principle was presented in the workings and functionings of the Temple and Tabernacle ever since the days of Moses as so represented and stated in Leviticus 16:32 where it states what the shadow typing pattern of the tabernacle/temple is:

    "And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office in his father's stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments:" ~ Lev. 16:32

And this pattern of the temple of Moses shadowed, that is was a type of that order which was in heaven as did much if not all of the performances of the tabernacle/temple under the Law of Moses so shadow or type the workings of God and his Redeemer, even the Holy One of Israel Jesus Christ, who is the same as Jehovah; Jehovah being that Ministering God so appointed, anointed, consecrated and ordained by the Father before the foundation of the world.

Of interest, this very instance of this question of who do we worship came to the front of events when Jesus visited the Book of Mormon people as recorded in 3 Nephi of the Book of Mormon. The occassion was when Jesus had removed himself a bit of a distance away from the concregation of the people to pray to his/our Father who is/was in Heaven. In his pray Jesus noted to the Father, that the people were actually directly worshipping him, Jesus Christ the Son, even though they were aware that Jesus was praying unto God the Father. The disciples which Jesus had chosen did continue to pray unto Jesus as their Lord and God even as Jesus prayed unto the Father (3 Nephi 19:13-36). That this was totally proper was confirmed by the words spoken by Jesus to the Father which I will quote:

    "Father, thou hast given them the Holy Ghost because they believe in me; and thou seest that they believe in me because thou hearest them, and they pray unto me; and they pray unto me because I am with them." ~ 3 Nephi 19:22

Now Jesus had taught them the same as he had taught them of Jerusalem, that they were to pray unto God the Father who 'Art in Heaven'. But that divine investiture which places Jesus as the Ministering God of this temporal creation in the name and in the stead of the Father, in behalf of the Father, by the power of the Father and in the name of the Father, is that which makes it right that whether we do worship the Father and/or the Son, it is but the same. And the son, Jehovah/Jesus, returns the glory back unto the Father. And this is not how Lucifer would have established it if he, Satan, had been chosen in the stead of the firstborn son Jehovah (see also Abraham 3:23-28; Moses 4:1-4).

Now Jehovah/Jesus stands as the intercessor between us and the Father, he is the mediator and our advocate with the Father. And all things go by way of the son Jesus Christ/Jehovah and there is no other way under heaven so given. He and he only is the truth, the way and the light. He stands in the stead of the Father in all things. At time he will speak as the Father as though he is the Father for the Father has placed him in that position whereby he acts in the stead of the Father in all things. And in all things due to this apointment by divine investiture is it the same wither it is the Father or the Son standing in the stead of the Father, that is in all things but for the one thing that God the Father of Spirits is in that one thing, being the Father of the spirits of man, not the same as the positional deligations bestowed upon the son by the very powere and endowment of the Father upon Jehovah before the world was.

And Jesus/Jehovah will continue to represent the Father in all things. Only upon the occassion of an introduction such as recieved by Joseph Smith, where the Father introduced the Son as His Son, does the Father speak directly unto man. And this is until that day of final judgment when through out ministering God and King Jehovah, even Jesus Christ, we are brought before the throne of the Most High God the Father in Heaven to be presented to Him by the introduction of the Son in our behalf as being worthy to enter back into the Father's Kingdom and presence.

And thus it is well said by John the Apostle, 'That this is life eternal, that we might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.' (John 17:3). 'And though it does not yet appear exactly what we shall be, yet when we come to see him as us being the sons of God, when he appears, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.' (John 3:2 & Moroni 7:48)

Now today, Jesus/Jehovah is no longer a God of just spirit, for he has now risen and been resurrected to glory and he too now has a glorified celestial body of flesh and born (D&C 130:22). And thus even at that time when the Savior shall appear and we see him, we shall see that he is a man like ourselves and there shall be that same 'sociality' which exists here, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not here now enjoy (D&C 130:1-2).

Thus now, when faced with such as the entrapings of a lawyer or even a Christian leader as was Zeezrom, the Jewish Sanhedrin or those of the false doctrine of the trinity, we may always know and understand the true nature of our God. That is that Jesus who is Jehovah is the firstborn in the spirit and the Only Begotten Son in the flesh. And he does minister unto this temporal estate in the name and in the stead of the Father as though he were the Father. And as that Ministering God so positioned by the divine investiture of the Father, we may worship Him as the One True God even as we do so worship the very Father which is in Heaven. They are one united in the purpose of God, that being to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. And there is no other God or way given under heaven but his for the exaltation of man.

And we are to worship this God and none other. There is no other God that is to be placed before our God. As Jesus/Jehovah in and of this temporal existence there is no other God to be place before him. And we worship him and we worship through him in his name, Jesus Christ, even that very God, God the Father in Heaven who has placed Jesus/Jehovah in that postion to act in his stead pertaining to this mortality and ages of time in all things whatsoever, the Son returning the glory to the Father, they being one in mind and purpose yet not in person or entity, for they are indeed two separated corporal beings, Father and Son.


Revised October 9, 2013