Like many of you, I own both an Amazon Kindle and an Apple iPad. One of the most interesting aspects of the iPad is the fact that there are so many useful and amazing Apps available.
As I was surfing the iPad App site I came across a new Application called “Mobile Jesus” that is designed to help Christians share their faith with those who do not yet know Jesus as their Savior. I wrote to the designer of the Mobile Jesus App to tell him that I disapproved of his insinuation that Mormon’s and Jehovah’s can be saved even though they do not believe in the Historical Jesus of the Bible.
The designer of Mobile Jesus wrote me back to tell me that he does not believe that a belief in Jesus as God is required for salvation. Which is an excellent point by the way. Does a person have to believe that Jesus is God in order to be saved. Even a bigger question is how much does a person have to understand about the gospel to truly be saved?
I do not see any evidence in the Bible that a person has to understand everything about Jesus or even the gospel itself in order to be saved. Certainly the thief on the cross next to Jesus did not understand everything that could be known about Jesus in the 9 hours or so that he hung on the cross next to Jesus. All that he needed to know was that Jesus was claiming to be the Savior of all men from their sins and that he was on the cross dying for his sins and he needed a Savior, so he put all his trust in Jesus. His simple confession “Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom” was enough for Jesus to save him.
Luke 23:42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
My genuine intent in seeking to explain to the creator of Mobile Jesus that Mormon and Jehovah witness doctrine is incomplete and insufficient to save a person from their sins, was to point out that as teachers of the Bible and deliverers of the true gospel, we are obligated to disclose to the public that Jesus is the eternal God. That He is not a created being and that this credential as God is the reason Jesus has the ability and the legal authority to not only die for all of our sins, but the power to remove these sins as though they never existed, which is the true meaning of “Justification”. In John chapter 8 after Jesus went to great lengths to tell the Scribes and the Pharisees that He is the Eternal God, He told them that if they did not believe that He is God, they would die in their sins. Notice that that the word “He” in John 8:24 is capitalized, as the translators understood that Jesus was telling the Scribes and Pharisees that unless they believed He is the Eternal God, they could not be saved.
John 8:24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
In the Application for Mobile Jesus, there is a sort of glossing over of Mormon doctrine as well as Jehovah’s Witness doctrine that makes it sound as if they are included in the Christian message of salvation. They are not and the gospel these two churches espouse are about as far from the true gospel as any message could be.
It is a confessed statement by the president of the Mormon church that “They do not believe in the historical Jesus of the Bible.” If they do not believe in the Jesus of the bible, and who He is portrayed as in the Bible, then they have an incomplete Gospel, a different gospel of which Paul said “if anyone preach any other gospel than the gospel of the Bible, let that person be Anathema, “Accursed”, assigned to the hottest place in Hell itself
Galatians 1:8-9 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
The Mormon gospel says that Jesus was once a created man like all of us. A sinful man who himself needed a savior, and that it was by his obedience to Mormon doctrine that caused him to be elevated to the position of “A God”. It is interesting to me that the gospel that the Mormon church believes in today was delivered to them by the angel Moroni. Notice what Paul said to the Galatians above in Chapter 1:8-9 above.
Jehovah’s Witness doctrine is even more strange: Jesus is the created brother of Michael the angel. He is declared in their doctrine to not be God, and salvation is not by Jesus Christ alone but by obedience to Jehovah’s Witness doctrine that comes from their Watchtower Magazine, not the Bible.
It is important to remember that when we are telling anyone about Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross, that we tell them the reason Jesus is able to make such a great sacrifice and pay for the sins of every person that has ever been born on the earth, is because He is the Eternal God, Creator of the Universe.
The Books of Colossians, Hebrews and in many other Biblical verses they declare that “All things were made by Jesus, and were created for Him and are held together by Him…“
Colossians 1:15-16 Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
Hebrews 1:5-9 For to which of the angels did He (the Father) ever say: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son”? But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.” But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”
Hebrews 1:10 And: “You, LORD (Jesus), in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
In John chapter 10, when the Pharisees took up stones to kill Jesus, He asked them for which one of the good works that He had done were they were stoning Him. These religious leaders told Jesus that they were not stoning Him for His good works but because He being just a man, had made himself out to be God. Jesus told them repeatedly that He and the Father were One. This is an Old Testament phrase that meant that there is just One God. Jesus was telling the Pharisees that He, The Father and The Holy Spirit, are the One God of the Universe. Separate yet all distinctly One god.
John 10:30-33 I and My Father are one.” Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”
Earlier, when Jesus had told the Pharisees: “Before Abraham was “I AM”, He was saying that before Abraham was ever born, Jesus was the I AM, the “Ego Eimi” (Alpha and Omega) that God had told Moses was His name back in the book of Exodus.
John 8:56-58 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
Exodus 3:14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’
The creator of Mobile Jesus reminded me of some of the Hebrew and Greek names for God in the Old and New Testaments such as “Theos” and “Elohim: as if we were in some kind of a original language debate. The real question is”Who is Jesus Christ?” Is He God or is He not.
There is no salvation for any human being if Jesus is just another man. No man has the ability to pay for the sins of the whole world. Neither does He have the power to raise Himself from the dead even after he has died.
Jesus said: “No man takes my life from me, I have to power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up again”.
John 10:18 No one takes (my life) from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
So, I suppose that I am in agreement with the Mobile Jesus Creator that a person does not need to understand that Jesus is the eternal God before he or she can be saved, but they should be told that Jesus is God when the Gospel is explained to them. And when a Christian man makes an App that the whole world will see, they should include the fact that Jesus is God and that several Religions that claim to be Christian do not infact believe that Jesus is the Creator God as he is described in the Bible. Finally, if Jesus is not the Creator God, He would not have the ability, nor authority to pay for anyone’s sin.
If we do not disclose theses facts to those in whom we are sharing the gospel with, we have given them an incomplete gospel. A gospel devoid of any power to save, in my opinion. A person needs to know that the object of their faith has the power and ability to deliver on the promises that He has made.
No wonder so many people today do not understand how Jesus could pay for the sins of the whole world. If it has not been explained to them that Jesus is the Creator God who has always existed and who spoke the Universe into being, how could he as just a man die for all men and how could He have the ability to remove the sins of all men?. It should be clearly explained that when Jesus took the body of a man and became like one of us, He was still the eternal God that was living in the body of a human being. As God, Jesus has the power to die for us. As God, He as the power and the right to forgive all of our sins. If Jesus was not the eternal God then our sins are not forgiven and we have no hope. Equally important is the fact that only because Jesus rose from the dead, do we know for certain that His sacrifice for our sins is acceptable to God. If Jesus has not risen from the dead, then our sins are not forgiven and we have no other hope of eternal life.
Do these things sound important enough to you that people should know these facts? I think you see my point. Tell people the whole story of Jesus Christ, who He is and why He can forgive their sins. It is because He is the God who made them.
We also need to humbly and gently tell the members of the Mormon and Jehovah’s Witness churches that the gospel their leaders have told them is an incomplete, inaccurate, and inconceivable gospel that cannot save them. Most of the dear souls that attend these churches do not know the facts that I have shared with you here in this brief article. Those who have taken up a Bible and read it for themselves have found out that the leaders in these churches have not told them the truth about their religion. The Mormon doctrine and the Jehovah’s witness doctrines are completely different gospel’s than the true gospel that has once and for all been delivered to us from God as described in the Bible.
To my fellow believer at Mobile Jesus, thank you for your incredible labor of love with the new iPad App. I hope you will consider making it a complete App with the complete gospel of Jesus Christ.
Rob Robinson, The Word MP3.com
[...] Do You Have to Believe That Jesus is God to be Saved? | Bible … [...]
Comments from the authors of the Mobile Jesus App:
The text in the app being referenced here is as follows:
Mormon Denominations (LDS)


Mormon teaching uses the Bible, but also draws upon a source separate from the Biblical cannon that also claims to involve Jesus. The concern is that Mormon teachings should therefore be a man-made, or “copy-catâ€, type theology. There is good reason to be concerned, as Jesus spoke in Matthew 24:4-5 “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.†Some have noticed a few apparent inconsistencies in the book of Mormon. The Bible prophesied that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem. Micah 5:2 states “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.†The book of Mormon said he would be born at Jerusalem. Alma 7:10 “And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.†Whatever the truth may ultimately be, many Mormons too will be saved by their faith in Jesus- or condemned for a lack thereof. If this bothers you, as you may consider Mormonism to be a cult and therefore unsaved, consider that many Mormons do believe in the Jesus of the Bible and think about the implications of this. Remember, we are saved based on the small point we get right, not disqualified because of the many other points we may get wrong. Nevertheless, this document does not, and should not be taken to, endorse Mormonism.

….
Our position is that within the Mormon Church members carry a copy of the Bible, and that salvation occurs on an individual basis and despite theological errors. We encourage people to be wary of Mormonism, as we ourselves are not Mormons, but we frame our response to Mormonism in a way that in our view makes the focus one of garnering acceptance of the larger teachings in the App. It is our desire to reform all whose theologies are off in the weeds and conform them into the revelation of scripture- in this case it being important to mention that we mean the Bible, and Mormons.
Now as to the matter explained in your blog in the following:
Rob writes: “My genuine intent in seeking to explain to the creator of Mobile Jesus that Mormon and Jehovah witness doctrine is incomplete and insufficient to save a person from their sins, was to point out that as teachers of the Bible and deliverers of the true gospel, we are obligated to disclose to the public that Jesus is the eternal God. That He is not a created being and that this credential as God is the reason Jesus has the ability and the legal authority to not only die for all of our sins, but the power to remove these sins as though they never existed, which is the true meaning of “Justificationâ€. In John chapter 8 after Jesus went to great lengths to tell the Scribes and the Pharisees that He is the Eternal God, He told them that if they did not believe that He is God, they would die in their sins. Notice that that the word “He†in John 8:24 is capitalized, as the translators understood that Jesus was telling the Scribes and Pharisees that unless they believed He is the Eternal God, they could not be saved. John 8:24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.â€
We would argue that what you just said is ripe with errors. We are not obligated to disclose that Jesus is the eternal God. You will not be able to cite any scripture that says this. The fact that Jesus is theos and ‘elohiym, which is not disputed, is not the gospel message. Nor is it that Jesus is not a created being, for which our response is that we don’t know or care. This is in fact beyond scriptural revelation. You will not be able to cite any scripture that says Jesus was not created, or that he was. We don’t like that people divide the message and the Church over this. The eternal gospel is also not that Jesus’ eternal credential as God is the reason Jesus has the ability and the legal authority to not only die for all our sins, but the power to remove these sins as though they never existed.
The true gospel is the following:
When Jews wanted to kill Jesus because he was calling God his own Father, which they took to mean that this made him equal to God:
John 5:19-24
Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
If you want to believe anyone is glossing over anything, let it be those who gloss over these words.
You also made the statement that in John 8 Jesus went to great lengths to tell the Scribes and Pharisees that He is the Eternal God. The phrase Eternal God does not appear there anywhere. What he demonstrated is that he is connected with the “I AM” of the old testament, and you should understand that this is at minimum because the words he was given were those of his Father. If you want to place your faith in John 8, place it in this- as this would seem to me to apply to you:
John 8:27-30
They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.
So you should put the same faith in him. Because it is the one who hears his word and believes the one who sent him that has crossed over from death to life. Not the one who believes what Jesus said on his own.
The message of Mobile Jesus is one of unity, but it is also the gospel of truth. The gospel of truth is that the work of God is to believe in the one God has sent. The gospel of truth is that we are to believe that Jesus is God’s son, and that God sent him. All who look to the son and believes in him him shall have eternal life, and Jesus will raise him up at the last day.
Do not judge a brother because of the false doctrines of their Church. We know of no Church today that is free from false doctrine.
God bless.