THE OTHER SHEEP, PER MORMONISM
Dudley Ross Spears

The extensive advertising done by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is not only well done, it is effective -- but regretfully some of it is utterly false and misleading. The LDS TV ads claim Jesus Christ has "another witness," the Book of Mormon. They claim that the Book of Mormon is His witness here in the Americas. In the same ad they affirm that the second witness (Book of Mormon) was for the "other sheep" who were Jews in the Americas. This is a traditional Mormon position. Long ago, Mr. Kenneth E. Farnsworth, in debate with Otis Gatewood, affirmed the following:

"'Other sheep I have that are not of this fold; them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.' (John 10:16). Other sheep I have that are not of this fold! Now my brethren and sisters, he could not be referring to the Gentiles, because the Lord Jesus Christ said himself that he came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now that being the case, he referred to other sheep of the house of Israel that were to hear his voice and I want to ask you; 'where were the other sheep of the house of Israel that claim to have heard his voice, other than those who were at Jerusalem?" (Farnsworth - Gatewood Debate, pages 51-52).

Orson F. Whitney, a Mormon apologist, answered this question by writing, "This book (Book of Mormon) tells how the Savior, after his resurrection, made himself known to the Nephites--the 'other sheep' referred to in John 10:16--and organized his Church among them, after the pattern of his Church at Jerusalem." (The Strength of the "Mormon" Position, Deseret News Press, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1917, page7).

Please observe that the "other sheep" are of the house of Israel who had allegedly migrated to the Americas and were called the Nephites. How could they have been the "other sheep" which were not of the fold of which Jesus spoke since they were part of the house of Israel? The house of Israel was the fold to whom he first came. The Nephites, according to the Book of Mormon, were part of that house. The "other sheep" were not part of the fold to which Christ came.

Matt. 10:5-6 is a record of Jesus' instructions to His disciples. They were not to "go into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans"..."but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." We must therefore conclude that the Gentiles and not the Jews were the "other sheep."

The first to have opportunity to know Jesus as the Messiah were the Jews. When they rejected Him the disciples were then sent to the whole world (Mk. 16:15; Matt. 28:20; Jn. 1:11). If the Mormon position is right let them show where Jesus, during his personal ministry, ever considered calling the Gentiles at all. According to them, all Jesus ever contemplated was reuniting Israel and apparently would either take the Jerusalem Jews to America or visa versa. Such an idea is pure error. The truth is that the Gentiles were the other sheep Jesus mentioned. Eph. 2:12-14 (please read it) teaches that when Jesus came into the world Gentiles were lost, without God, strangers to the covenants of promise and aliens to the commonwealth of Israel. But, in Christ Jesus, the two (Jew and Gentile) folds become one (verses 15-16). Nothing is plainer than the fact that when Jesus spoke of other sheep, not of this fold, He meant the Gentiles. When Jews rejected Him and His message of truth the gospel was sent to the Gentiles. All Jews and Gentiles who obeyed the gospel of Christ became one fold under one Shepherd.

You may be part of that great sheepfold if you are willing to hear the voice of the Shepherd and follow Him faithfully. Believe His every word (Jn. 8:24), repent of your every sin (Lk. 13:3) and be born of water and the spirit by being baptized into Him (Jn. 3:5; Mk. 16:16). Do not be misled by false advertising such as the Mormons publish.