Mormonism and Exaltation

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 says,

Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.

This particular passage is a great exposition on some of the characteristics of the chief anti-Christ: self-exalting, claims divinity, and sits on God’s throne. Interestingly enough, from primary school to seminary to institute classes, the Mormon Church teaches its members to become self-exalting, divine, and eventually sit on a throne as a God. This is just one more example why Christians do not accept Mormonism as true Christianity. If these teachings aren’t blasphemy, I don’t know what is. For example:

Doctrine and Covenants 132:19-22

19 And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is
my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, ...Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection; ...and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, ...and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever. 20 Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them. 21 Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory. 22 For strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me.

Gospel Principles, p. 243

Some of the blessings we can enjoy for eternity are as follows... we can be
exalted as God and receive a fulness of joy.

Gospel Principles, p. 302

Blessings of exaltation... They will become gods... They will have everything that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have - all power, glory, dominion, and knowledge

Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., Doctrines of Salvation, Vol.2, p.48

The Father has promised us that through our faithfulness we shall be blessed
with the fulness of his kingdom. In other words we will have the privilege of
becoming like him. To become like him we must have all the powers of
godhood; thus a man and his wife when glorified will have spirit children who eventually will go on an earth like this one we are on and pass through the same kind of experiences, being subject to mortal conditions, and if faithful, then they also will receive the fulness of exaltation and partake of the same blessings. There is no end to this development; it will go on forever. We will become gods and have jurisdiction over worlds, and these worlds will be peopled by our own offspring. We will have an endless eternity for this. [This implies that we will also receive worship from our spirit children who populate these worlds.]

History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 302-317

Here, then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power. And I want you to know that God, in the last days, while certain individuals are proclaiming His name, is not trifling with you or me. … To inherit the same power, the same glory and the same exaltation, until you arrive at the station of a god, and ascend the throne of eternal power, the same as those who have gone before.My Father worked out His kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same; and when I get my kingdom, I shall present it to My Father, so that He may obtain kingdom upon kingdom, and it will exalt Him in glory. He will then take a higher exaltation, and I will take His place, and thereby become exalted myself. So that Jesus treads in the tracks of His Father, and inherits what God did before; and God is thus glorified and exalted in the salvation and exaltation of all His children. It is plain beyond disputation, and you thus learn some of the first principles of the gospel, about which so much hath been said.

History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 408, 409

I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet...When they can get rid of me, the devil will also go.

Let me re-quote 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 to you,

Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.