Is the LDS church just another branch of Christianity? Why Senator Mike Lee is wrong
Editorial | By Easton Martin | October 2, 2025
In a recent post on X, Utah senator Mike Lee responded to pastor Mark Driscoll, who said in a post, “there will be zero Mormons in heaven” and called Mormonism a “demonic cult.” In a post from the previous day, Driscoll also said, “Mormonism’s Jesus is no closer to the Christ of the Bible than Islam’s Jesus is.”
In Senator Lee’s response, he highlighted that Charlie Kirk “would never say anything like that.” Senator Lee summed up Driscoll’s view as, “It’s all about telling Christians you don’t like that they’re not Christians and their teachings are ‘demonic.’”
Notice an implicit assumption in Senator Lee’s post: Mormons are simply “Christians you don’t like.” Is that so? Is Mormonism, or as they prefer to be referred to as, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Christian church?
“Look in the title, Church of Jesus Christ, that means Christian” is a common argument that you will hear LDS members make. There is no doubt that Mormons certainly believe they are Christian, but does one believing they are Christian make them so?
In an essay titled, “Are Mormons Christian?” on the official LDS website, the author notes:
“Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unequivocally affirm themselves to be Christians. They worship God the Eternal Father in the name of Jesus Christ. When asked what the Latter-day Saints believe, Joseph Smith put Christ at the center: ‘The fundamental principles of our religion is the testimony of the apostles and prophets concerning Jesus Christ, that he died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended up into heaven; and all other things are only appendages to these, which pertain to our religion.’”
In essence, Mormons wholeheartedly see themselves as Christians, and even quote Joseph Smith who alludes to the early Christian creed Paul recites in 1 Corinthians 15. Coincidentally, however, the main reason that almost all Orthodox Christian denominations do not recognize the LDS church as being Christian comes from Paul’s words elsewhere in Galatians 1, where he writes: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.”
Paul’s words to the Galatian church may sound harsh, but he was exhorting this body of believers not to turn from the gospel of grace he preached to them, back to a “gospel” that mixes law. In Galatians 5:2, Paul makes clear that this “gospel” seeking to bewitch the Galatian church is circumcision for the purpose of avoiding persecution and attaining righteousness by means other than faith in Jesus Christ and his saving grace. Not merely the act, but the significance of why they were doing it, to “keep the law.” In chapter 6, verses 12–13, Paul says:
“It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.”
It is clear what Paul is saying: those who force you to be circumcised to keep the law are leading you astray. In the same way Paul warned the Galatians against a distorted gospel that added law to grace, the gospel of Mormonism adds human effort and religious ordinances to Christ’s finished work. To be sure, the LDS church speaks frequently of Jesus, His atonement, and His resurrection. Yet beneath this familiar language lies a fundamentally different understanding of salvation.
In the Book of Mormon itself, 2 Nephi 25:23 reads, “for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” While that sounds close to the biblical message, notice the conditionality. Grace in LDS theology is not the unmerited favor of God freely given to sinners, but something activated only after a person has exhausted their own effort. Salvation in Mormon teaching requires baptism by LDS authority, temple ordinances, faithful tithing, adherence to dietary laws, and ongoing obedience. Christ’s atonement, in this view, merely makes resurrection possible for all, but true “exaltation,” or life in the presence of God and the possibility of godhood, is reserved for those who keep the commandments and prove worthy.
This is worlds apart from the New Testament gospel. Paul insists in Ephesians 2:8–9 that salvation is by grace through faith, “not of works, lest anyone should boast.” To make eternal life contingent on ordinances or human achievement is to replace God’s free gift with a system of merit. Paul calls such a distortion “another gospel.”
There is also the matter of who Christ is. Historic Christianity has always confessed the eternal Son of God, “begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.” By contrast, LDS teaching portrays Jesus as the literal firstborn spirit child of Heavenly Father, with humans likewise being spirit children who can progress to become gods. This is not simply a difference of denominational emphasis. It is a fundamentally different vision of God and salvation.
So, are Mormons Christians? They call themselves such, and in everyday conversation that claim may sound persuasive. But by the biblical measure Paul gives us, Mormonism is not Christianity in another form. It is another gospel altogether. It promises grace, but only after works. It speaks of Jesus, but not the eternal Son revealed in Scripture. And it holds out salvation, but redefines it as eventual exaltation into godhood. Mormonism is a precise fulfillment of what Paul warned of in Galatians 1, a different gospel preached by way of “angelic” visitation. Paul was so clear that the gospel first preached to the Galatians was true that even if he himself started to preach something different, he ought to be accursed.
This is why evangelicals and nearly all historic Christian traditions cannot affirm the LDS church as Christian in the biblical sense. It is not out of spite or prejudice, but out of fidelity to Paul’s warning. The gospel is Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone. Anything else is “no gospel at all.”
