The testimony of all holy writ is that there is but “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5), salvation consisting of our being one with Christ as he is one with his Father. Further, “every true believer, every person who worships the Father in spirit and in truth, knows because of this one-God concept that if he himself is to be saved, he must be one with his fellow saints and with the Gods of heaven, as they are one with each other” (Promised Messiah, p. 131). Thus the heavens echo: “If ye are not one ye are not mine” (D&C 38:27).
“One Is the Church of the Lamb of God”
The doctrine of one true church is as offensive to much of the Christian world today as was the testimony of Christ anciently that he was “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Yet some reason as did the youthful Joseph Smith:
“If God had a Church it would not be split up into factions, and that if He taught one society to worship one way, and administer in one set of ordinances, He would not teach another, principles which were diametrically opposed” (HC 4:536).
“There is no more self-evident truth in this world, there is nothing in all eternity more obvious than that there is and can be only one true Church. A true Church does not create itself any more than man creates God, or resurrects himself, or establishes for himself a celestial heaven. All churches may be false, but only one can be true, simply because religion comes from God, and God is not the author of confusion.” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary 2:506-7).
Many in the religious world claim that no church is better than any other, just different. As “all roads lead to Rome,” it is reasoned that all beliefs must lead to heaven. Be it remembered that both scoundrel and saint traveled those ancient roads with quite different intent. If all religious paths do indeed lead to heaven, the righteous will be at a considerable disadvantage. If the gates of the celestial city are to thrown open that widely, why the need for Apostles and prophets, their doctrines, their priesthood and keys; indeed, why the need for the Savior himself and a strait and narrow way?