Dustin Davis @DustinDavis

These Isaiah passages thunder against idols and the false gods of the nations, declaring Jehovah—the God of Israel—as the only true God to be worshipped by His covenant people. They do not negate the New Testament revelation of three separate divine personages in the Godhead, nor the restored truth that “there are gods many, and lords many” (1 Cor. 8:5), while to us there is but one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ. Modern revelation through Joseph Smith clarifies the eternal order without contradiction.

1Yes, God the Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s (D&C 130:22). John 4:24 declares God is spirit, meaning He is a spiritual Being of power and glory, not that He lacks a body. The resurrected Christ had a body of flesh and bones yet was spirit in the higher sense; the Father is the same. Creeds err; the Bible shows God with form and parts. 2God the Father was once a man who progressed to godhood through righteousness, as taught by Joseph Smith in the King Follett Discourse. Isaiah 43:10 speaks of incomparability—no false gods formed by men rival the true God. It does not preclude the divine pattern of eternal progression in the celestial order. 3There are many gods, and our Heavenly Father has a Father. Isaiah 44:6 asserts the supremacy of the true God for Israel amid false idols and the heavenly council; it does not deny other divine beings or the eternal family of gods. Psalms 82 and Abraham’s vision confirm this. 4Yes, Jesus and Lucifer were spirit brothers in the premortal life, both sons of God. John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16 refer to Jesus creating all things—the physical worlds and organized order—under the Father’s direction. Spirits are eternal and uncreated; Lucifer’s rebellion does not alter this. 5The Bible teaches God organized eternal matter, not creation ex nihilo (a later Greek philosophical insertion). Genesis 1:1 and Hebrews 11:3 describe forming and ordering from existing elements, consistent with Abraham 3-4 and modern revelation. 6Yes, faithful humans, through Christ’s Atonement, can be exalted to become gods, create worlds, and have spirit children. Isaiah 43:10 and 44:8 address idols and supremacy, not the potential of God’s children to inherit all He has (Romans 8:16-17; Revelation 3:21; D&C 132). This is the doctrine of eternal lives. 7Yes, a universal apostasy occurred after the apostles, requiring Joseph Smith’s restoration. Matthew 16:18 promises ultimate victory for the Church of Christ; it does not prevent periods of darkness, as seen repeatedly in Israel’s history. The gates of hell did not finally prevail—the Restoration fulfills the prophecy. 8The Bible is the word of God as far as it is translated correctly (Eighth Article of Faith). 2 Timothy 3:16 affirms inspired scripture, but transmission errors and lost plainness require the Book of Mormon and living prophets to restore fulness. 9Salvation comes by grace after all we can do (2 Nephi 25:23). Ephesians 2:8-9 condemns salvation by works alone without Christ; we are saved by grace, but faith without works is dead. Obedience is the fruit of true faith in the merits of Christ. 10God is eternally unchanging in His perfect, holy character (Malachi 3:6). He progressed to exaltation in the same eternal pattern Christ followed, yet remains the same yesterday, today, and forever in divine attributes. Hebrews 13:8 and James 1:17 affirm consistency, not static immutability as creeds falsely teach. These answers flow from the restored gospel. The creeds of Christendom are false; we worship the true God of the Bible, restored through Joseph Smith. Salvation is in Christ alone.

There is but one Godhead, consisting of three separate and distinct personages: God the Eternal Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. These three constitute the supreme presidency of the universe. As each of these is a God, it is evident from this standpoint alone that a plurality of Gods exists. To us, speaking in the proper finite sense, these three are the only Gods we worship.  But the revealed word goes far beyond this. There are Gods many and Lords many. The scriptures declare: “For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him” (1 Corinthians 8:5–6). Joseph Smith the Prophet taught this doctrine plainly, and the Lord Himself has confirmed it. Our Heavenly Father is a glorified and exalted Man, a Personage of flesh and bones. He is the Father of the spirits of all men. He Himself is the offspring of a previous Heavenly Father, and so on back through an endless chain of exalted beings. There never was a time when there was not a Father and a Son and a Holy Ghost, nor will there ever be. Worlds without number have been created, peopled, redeemed, and glorified. An infinite number of holy personages, drawn from those worlds, have passed on to exaltation and are thus gods.  This is the doctrine of the plurality of Gods. It does not diminish the majesty of our Father in Heaven; rather, it exalts Him as the head of an eternal family of divine beings. We worship the Father, in the name of the Son, by the power of the Holy Ghost. We do not worship other gods, but we acknowledge their existence as part of the eternal order.

The young men you encountered were standing on the rock of revelation when they directed you to pray and receive the witness of the Holy Ghost. That is the Lord’s prescribed way to know divine truth. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). 
“If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself” (John 7:17). Moroni, writing by the power of the Holy Ghost, gave the same invitation from the dust: read these things, ponder them in your heart, then ask God the Eternal Father in the name of Christ, with a sincere heart and real intent, whether they are true—and He will manifest the truth of it unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost (Moroni 10:3–5). This is not self-confirmation; it is the ministration of the third member of the Godhead bearing record of the Father and the Son. The sectarian doctrine of the Trinity—that God is a three-in-one spirit essence without body, parts, or passions, unknowable and incomprehensible—is not found in the Bible. It is the product of post-apostolic councils and the philosophies of men. The Lord has declared in this dispensation that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight. The scriptures teach that the Father and the Son are separate and distinct personages, each with a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s. The Holy Ghost is a personage of Spirit. Three separate beings comprise the Godhead, and they are one in purpose, glory, and attributes. We do not believe the Savior was a “created being” in the sense you have been taught to repeat. He is the Firstborn of the Father in the premortal existence, the mightiest of all the spirit children of God, the Creator of heaven and earth under the direction of the Father, Jehovah of the Old Testament, and the Only Begotten Son in the flesh. Lucifer was also a spirit son of the Father who rebelled in the grand council and became Satan. Christ was chosen as the Redeemer; Lucifer was rejected. This eternal perspective exalts rather than diminishes the condescension and atonement of the Son of God. The warning in Galatians 1:8 stands in full force. After the death of the apostles a great apostasy occurred. Plain and precious truths were lost, authority was taken from the earth, and the creeds and traditions of men replaced the knowledge of the true and living God. The gospel Paul preached was perverted. In this final dispensation the Lord has restored the fulness through the Prophet Joseph Smith. The angel Moroni did not preach another gospel; he delivered the ancient record of a branch of Joseph that testifies of the same Christ, the same plan of salvation, and the same priesthood authority. The title page of the Book of Mormon declares its purpose: “to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations.” Every page of that sacred volume bears witness of His divine Sonship. It is another testament of Jesus Christ, the keystone of our religion, and the most correct book on earth. God Himself has set His seal upon it: “as your Lord and your God liveth it is true” (D&C 17:6). The challenge to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover and pray about it with real intent is the Lord’s own challenge. Those young men were following the scriptural pattern. I bear witness that the Book of Mormon is true. It was translated by the gift and power of God. Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s restored kingdom on earth, possessing the fulness of the gospel, the keys of the priesthood, and the authority to administer the ordinances of salvation. Those who read it, ponder it in their hearts, and ask God in faith will receive the witness of the Holy Ghost and come to know that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, that our Heavenly Father lives, & the gospel is restored.

@BenZeisloft You’re pretty ignorant. No “Mormon” would say they belong to the Church of Mormon. Mormon was a prophet. We belong to the Church of Jesus Christ. We don't demand anything. We just try to educate the ignorant.

@feisty_forbes Done and done. God told me The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was His church and this only church with priesthood authority to act in His name. He also told me to spread this good news to everyone.

“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” — Joseph Smith Jr For as long as people have tried to stop the Mormons, God has continued and will continue to reveal truth to the honest seeker. Therefore His work will never be stopped.

@ChrisGalanek “No man can hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints; and were they to attempt it, they would be like a man stretching forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri River in its decreed course, or to turn it upstream.”

@edromine Sure they do. Every 4 years we all study it together.

@JoshuaBarzon 1. Humidity 2. No family or friends 3. Nauvoo Illinois has always been appealing to me though.

@MiddleearthMixr I sympathize with them. I can only imagine how hard it was for everyone when Joseph was killed. But ultimately I think they went astray. I think they ran into a lot of financial struggles which led to poor decisions and watering down their doctrine to fit in.

1. Yes. God the Father was once a mortal man who worked out his salvation as we are now doing. 2. No. The Son is the Firstborn of the Father in the spirit and the Eternal God, Jehovah of the Old Testament. He was not created out of nothing. 3. Yes. In the premortal spirit world, Jesus and Lucifer were spirit brothers, as are all the children of our Heavenly Father. 4. No. Jesus Christ was God before the world was framed. He is the Eternal God who condescended to come to earth. 5. Yes. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three separate and distinct personages—three Gods—yet one in purpose, power, and glory. 6. No. The Son was begotten in the flesh by the power of the Holy Ghost. The crude and false notion that the Father had carnal relations with Mary is an abomination and a lie from the adversary. 7. Yes. When the Savior returns he will establish his millennial kingdom upon the earth, and the New Jerusalem will be built in Jackson County, Missouri, as the center place. 8. Yes. Through the atonement of Christ and by obedience to the fulness of the gospel, men and women may become gods and goddesses, joint-heirs with Christ, and have eternal increase. 9. Yes. There is a plurality of gods. Exalted beings who have attained godhood exist, yet to us there is but one God—the Father—and one Lord Jesus Christ whom we worship. 10. Yes. The living prophet, seer, and revelator receives revelation for the Church today. Those revelations stand on equal footing with the Bible as the word of God.

@RaminNasibov The Book of Mormon

“If it has been demonstrated that I have been willing to die for a ‘Mormon,’ I am bold to declare before Heaven that I am just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist, or a good man of any other denomination; for the same principle which would trample upon the rights of the Latter-day Saints would trample upon the rights of the Roman Catholics, or of any other denomination who may be unpopular and too weak to defend themselves.” — Joseph Smith, July 9, 1843

“If it has been demonstrated that I have been willing to die for a ‘Mormon,’ I am bold to declare before Heaven that I am just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist, or a good man of any other denomination; for the same principle which would trample upon the rights of the Latter-day Saints would trample upon the rights of the Roman Catholics, or of any other denomination who may be unpopular and too weak to defend themselves.” — Joseph Smith, July 9, 1843

@ToddLlewellyn Let me know what you'd charge. You can bill me extra for the travel. I can give you a tour of the whole place if you'd like. We also have an older wood cabin in the back yard that I've been told he Reese Llewellyn lived in while building this brick house.

@ToddLlewellyn Do you guys travel as far as Fountain Green? I do need a gas line installed for my outdoor grill.

@DChadwickAuthor But they will claim they don't hate. They only harass you out of love.

@DChadwickAuthor But if you want to actually get some engagement on X, wow! 😂

@realDrTT It's been successfull for Hello Saints YouTuber