In the course of a 25-year career, a Protestant Army chaplain will encounter chaplains from many denominations. I guess it would be around twenty or thirty. Mormon chaplains are considered Protestant. In one of my assignments, a Mormon was my boss.
I told him that he and I disagreed on theology, so I would not be able to share a pulpit with him. That meant that I did not want him reading the Scriptures or making announcements when I preached, and I would not do it when he preached. This chaplain always treated me well and was very understanding of my position. But he said something I will always remember.
He said that he had been a chaplain for over twenty years and had met many Protestant chaplains who would not share a pulpit with him. Even though he did not take it personally, he said that in many instances, these chaplains were inconsistent. Chaplains who believed you could not lose your salvation would share the pulpit with those who did. Chaplains who were not liturgical and did not believe baptism was necessary for salvation would share the pulpit with those who were liturgical and taught that baptism was necessary in order to be saved. Chaplains who thought one needed to speak in tongues in order to please God would share the pulpit with chaplains who said tongues did not even exist. In some cases, chaplains would share the pulpit with a man who said that worshipping on Sunday was the mark of the Beast (a Seventh-day Adventist). He pointed out that some liberal chaplains deny the Resurrection, yet other conservative Protestants will work with them because they belong to the big denominations.
Even though these chaplains had no problem working with people who denied the fundamentals of the faith, they would not work with a Mormon. They would talk with each other about the Mormon and say, “I have some things I disagree with you about, but I can work with you. At least you aren’t as crazy as he (the Mormon chaplain) is.”
To be fair, a Mormon chaplain has many strange and heretical beliefs. But what do you think of my boss’s observation? He claimed that many of the chaplains who wouldn’t work with him were being inconsistent. I think he was being nice. He meant they were hypocritical.
I think most Protestants would make a distinction between Mormons and other “mainline” denominations. We can disagree with more socially acceptable denominations and still work with them. But Mormons are too far out there. The “Mormon Jesus” is not a Biblical Jesus, and we draw the line there.
Most readers of this blog are not familiar with how the Army chaplaincy works, and this may all sound strange. But you might run into a similar situation. We would never join hands in ministry with a Mormon or a Jehovah’s Witness, but are urged to join forces with those who preach a different gospel. So, what if a person believes you can lose your salvation or that you must be baptized to be saved? Is it really a big deal if they say you should speak in tongues in order to make it into the kingdom? You might not agree, but many people believe such things, and they are “good people.” We could get a lot of work done if we just overlooked our differences. Besides, they’re not as crazy as the Mormons.
At GES, we are often accused of being too strident about the purity of the gospel of eternal life. The Jesus of the Mormons is an example of false teaching. But so are the various works-based gospels preached, not just by Mormons, but by many more “acceptable” preachers. Those preachers may not appear as crazy as my Mormon boss, but he had a point. If we can view an unbiblical gospel as not being a big deal, we are not consistent.
