The Latter-day Saints believe in Jesus of Nazareth, the same who came into the world during the years that such leaders as Herod and Pontius Pilate and Caiaphas were in power. They believe in the testimonies of the New Testament writers concerning our Lord's divine Sonship and his miraculous doings. It is true that they accept additional books of scripture that reveal additional things about the life and ministry of Jesus, but it could hardly be said that they worship a different Savior.

It is important to be a good person, a moral person, a person of integrity. The gospel is intended, however, to do more than make us good. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16), the power to transform good people into Christlike people, noble souls into holy souls. The church is the custodian of the gospel—the divine authority and the truths of salvation—and so Latter-day Saints do not believe that one can come unto Christ independent of (or in opposition to) the Church of Jesus Christ. They believe there is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Eph. 4:5), and that the sacraments or ordinances of salvation, administered by the priesthood held in the Church, are prerequisite to entrance into the kingdom of God.

AND Is not their claim to being the "only true church" exclusivistic and even unchristian?

Latter-day Saints believe that truth is to be found throughout the earth—among men and women in all walks of life, among sages and philosophers, and among people of differing religious persuasions. But they do claim that through the call of Joseph Smith and his successors, and through the establishment of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to earth. They value the truths had among the children of God everywhere but believe that theirs is the "only true church" in the sense that the same divine authority and the same doctrines of salvation had from the beginning are now to be found in their fullness in the LDS faith. It is odd that Protestant Christianity should be so offended with Joseph Smith's statement that 19th-century Christianity was off course; is that not exactly what those protesters like Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli said in regard to the Roman Catholic Church?

The Latter-day Saints worship God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. These members of the Godhead are divine, immortal, and glorified beings. The Latter-day Saints revere Joseph Smith as a modern prophet, as a covenant spokesman, as a mouthpiece for Deity in the same sense that Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah were. Joseph Smith was a mortal man. The Mormons do not worship Joseph Smith. They value his words, study his sermons and writings (along with scriptural teachings found in the Bible), and treasure his legacy. Joseph Smith claimed to be no more than a servant in the hands of God, and Latter-day Saints do not afford him more honor and devotion than is appropriate.

The Latter-day Saints believe that all of the presidents of the Church who have succeeded Joseph Smith (see appendix 3) have held the same divine calling, the same rights and priesthood authority, and have been entitled to the designation of prophet, seer, and revelator to the Church. Joseph Smith is in a significant position in the sense that he is what is called a dispensation head, a man called to restore the knowledge of God, of Christ, and of the plan of salvation following a period of apostasy. The dispensation head, a prophet's prophet, establishes those doctrines and authorities once again on earth, and those who follow him, though prophets in their own right, stand as echoes and affirmations of his original testimony to the world, and they also seek for and declare new revelation as it comes.

In recent years the criticism of Latter-day Saints and a movement to exclude them from the category of Christian have intensified. There are those who feel uncomfortable with them because of their belief in modern prophets and additional scripture. Others reject the LDS claim to Christianity because the Church does not subscribe to the creeds of Christendom or is not in the historical Christian tradition. On what basis, then, do the Latter-day Saints themselves claim to be Christian? They believe in Jesus Christ; that he is the Son of the Eternal Father, the Only Begotten in the flesh; that Christ is God, that he is Lord and Savior, the Redeemer of the world; that we are saved by obedience to his commandments and by virtue of his atoning blood; that only through reliance upon his merits, mercy, and grace can people find happiness here and eternal reward hereafter; and that his was the only perfect and sinless life, a life to be emulated and followed. Jesus Christ is the central figure in the doctrine and practice of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That so many misunderstand, prejudge, and exclude is sad and strangely ironic.