A Tangled Tale of Scripture Trying to sort out the massive complexities of the Mormon scriptures is somewhat akin to the frustration one might feel trying to rewind a pickup load of tangled fishing line. Every time you feel like you have made some headway, another mess pops up. It would be easier to just cut the line and clear up little sections at a time, but that's the basic problem! Mormon scripture is comprised of four documents; the Bible, The Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. However, the Mormons have never really had to confront their scriptures as individual units within a full set of integrated documents that can be measured by simple "scriptural test" procedures. The average Mormon sees LDS scripture only in the inflexible context of classroom references within the rigid teaching structure imposed by the LDS instruction manuals. It is never looked at from a critical, scholarly perspective. The Mormon is taught to unequivocally accept the LDS scriptures as the pure word of God, without error or inconsistency - except, ironically, the Bible, which is in fact the only real standard by which any doctrine can be tested. By discrediting the authority of the Bible, Mormons thereby cut loose the other three LDS scriptures loose from any Biblical accountability. The only acceptable measurement for LDS scripture is the LDS scripture itself and that has already been given the fullest approval of an "infallible latter-day prophet." There is no room for the application of generally accepted biblical scholarship. The Eighth Article of the LDS "Articles of Faith," states, "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe The Book of Mormon to be the word of God." [1] Mormonism teaches that there are several problems with the Bible. First, many of its books are missing, so it is only an incomplete compilation at best. Second, we are told that many plain and precious things were taken away from the Bible by that "great and abominable church," as recorded in I Nephi 13:25- 28 in The Book of Mormon. The very document requiring Biblical testing discredits its only credible witness! The final severance from biblical accountability is the continued LDS teaching that what was left of the Scriptures has been so often and badly translated that our present Bible is of almost no "stand alone" value. Apostle Orson Pratt, an early Mormon theologian, summed up the LDS position when he stated: ...and who, in his right mind, could for one moment, suppose the Bible in its present form to be a perfect guide? Who knows that even one verse of the whole Bible has escaped pollution, so as to convey the same sense now that it did in the original? [2] Joseph Smith taught, "I believe the Bible as it read when it came from the pen of the original writers. Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors." [3] What they are saying is that the Bible, which, at best, represents only 25% of the LDS scriptures is the weak link. Yet, Mormons are winning people to their biblically unfounded faith by carrying Bibles under their arms as though they read and believe it. It's just a ticket in the Christians' doors for the Mormons. What the Mormons end up with is a set of spiritual laws that force them to judge their scripture as perfect, by their own measure of faith and not by any objective criteria. If there is an obvious contradiction with the LDS scripture and what the present prophet, is teaching, the Mormons cannot judge or test the prophet by the scripture. According to the late President and Prophet of the church, Ezra Taft Benson, the current LDS doctrine is that the living prophet is above scripture. There is absolutely no way out. Burning in the Bosom The finality of the Mormon theology is not based upon evaluation by scriptural evidence, but based entirely upon a "burning in the bosom." Again, LDS Scripture demands this final proof of itself and tells its members that this experience is what they must seek. Oliver Cowdery was the second elder to Joseph Smith in the founding of the church and in the translation of The Book of Mormon. In a word of admonition to him during the translation of The Book of Mormon, the Mormon god declared through Joseph Smith: But behold, I say unto you that you must study it out in your own mind; then you must ask me if it is right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong... [4] When the Mormon missionaries come into a home, they will talk about their first prophet, Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon and will instruct the investigator to read The Book of Mormon and to pray about it. They will encourage the reader to seek that divine burning in the bosom which will prove that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and The Book of Mormon is really scripture. Moroni 10:4 [Book of Mormon] will be quoted: And when you have received these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the eternal father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost. The missionaries use this quote to put the burden of proof on the investigator's sincere heart, his real intent and his level of personal faith, rather than on fact. Actually, the investigator will feel good about it. It all becomes a subjective evaluation. The LDS scriptures and prophet are not to be tested. The LDS doctrines are not to be tested. In fact, the real heresies of Mormonism will not have been shared with the investigator at this stage of conversion. The biblical knowledge and Book of Mormon knowledge of the investigator are not to be tested. They are to just pray sincerely and this divine burning in the bosom will be the proof that the missionaries are delivering divine truth directly from God. Ed's own Personal Experience I vividly recall my own experience with the burning in the bosom. I can vividly remember lying on my bed for the better part of a whole night crying out to God for a burning in my bosom so that I would know the church was true. Hour after hour I lay there, with my breast lifted upward, as though it were on an altar of sacrifice, pleading for the evidence of this eternal truth. I knew that my heart was sincere, and yet the guilt of my not experiencing the manifestation was almost more than I could bear. Finally, many hours into my vigil, that burning came. I felt an actual, physical burning sensation in my breast. I would later testify that it was as though I had a rise of 7 or 8 degrees in body heat. My chest was at a high fever temperature. I rejoiced in the certainty of my faith. I knew that the church was true, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and that The Book of Mormon was the pure, true word of God. Yet, in retrospect, I never checked one single teaching of the missionaries against the Holy Bible to see if it matched up. It is kind of interesting that when, as a born again believer, my wife, Carol, prayed the prayer of Moroni 10:4 as she read The Book of Mormon, seeking to know of its truth, she would fall asleep and experience that stupor Oliver Cowdery was told would be the evidence of untruth. Perhaps she was praying to the wrong God. When I prayed it, not being born-again, I prayed as instructed by the missionaries. I received one answer and she received a totally different one. Yet, we were both sincere. What was the difference? An Inspired Version? Mormons use only the King James Version of the Bible. It is also interesting to note that the LDS Church publishes its own edition of the King James Bible. An article, "Church Publishes First LDS Edition of The Bible," by Lavina F. Anderson, appeared in the October 1979 edition of the LDS Ensign magazine and described the enormous project and the intense commitment of the project workers to cross-reference this edition to the other standard works of the church. Aside from the very obvious question of why the prophet did not take this opportunity to add back all the plain and precious missing parts and correct the translation errors the LDS Church claims have been plaguing the Bible all these years, one comment regarding the project almost flew off the page. In the last paragraph of the article, the writer concluded, "Brother Rasmussen added, 'Sometimes Brother Patch and I would be discussing a matter of linguistics, and, as we concluded, one of us would remark, "That feels good." I suppose to some people this might seem like a slipshod way to be scholars, but we could tell when we were moving in the proper direction and we could certainly identify the stupor that came over us when we weren't.' He paused, then added quietly, 'In some ways, scholarship was the least important part of our work. [5] As a by-product of referencing the new edition, one long-debated topic among the diverse sub-groupings within the various branches of Mormonism, including the numerous Josephite or Restorationist churches, was clarified. It dealt with the authenticity of a manuscript called The Inspired Version of the Bible, written by Joseph Smith prior to his death. The copyrighted property of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Inspired Version was never given full credentials by the Utah branch--until the release of the new, LDS Edition of the King James Bible. It is quite significant that this new edition firmly places the Inspired Version in the position of a Standard Work or a fifth item of approved Mormon scripture, integrated into the fourth. The title page classifies the new edition as "Authorized King James Version with Explanatory Notes and Cross References to the Standard Works of the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." In the "Explanation Concerning Footnotes," on page vi, it identifies JST as the code for the Joseph Smith Translation. The Joseph Smith Translation (The Inspired Version) is referenced by footnotes throughout the new LDS Edition in clarification of some of the errors in the King James Edition. The Problem with Inventing Scripture During the question and answer time following an early showing of the film, "The God Makers," in Colorado Springs, Colorado, I made the point that all the extra-Biblical scripture was out of order with God's Word. Among the several references I gave was Revelations 22:18-19, which clearly stated that anyone who would add to the Bible or subtract from it in any way was in deep trouble with God. A Mormon woman in the group challenged me on this statement and emphatically declared that this was only in reference to the Book of Revelation in its single content and had no bearing upon any other book of Scripture, including any Latter-day Saint scripture. I asked her if these curses would be in effect if anyone had dared to alter just the Book of Revelation in any way. She replied that this was obviously so. I then showed her that in the Joseph Smith Translation Smith had added to, or subtracted from the Book of Revelation over 85 times. [6] "Even in the smallest context of the warning, Joseph Smith stands condemned as a false prophet," I declared. She stared in shock. Later, a local LDS leader came up to me after the meeting and quietly whispered, "It doesn't matter; he was just adjusting the incorrect parts. I know that he is a true prophet!" The Jesus of The Book of Mormon Is The Book of Mormon "Another Testament of Jesus Christ," as the Mormons claim? Or is it a testament of another Jesus Christ? Let's check it with one simple test, comparing what happened when Jesus went to Calvary in the Bible and in The Book of Mormon. If they are testifying of the same Jesus Christ, the testament should be the same! The various New Testament writers in the Bible describe the events this way: Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, "truly this was the Son of God." (Matthew 27:50-54) [emphasis added] And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, truly this man was the Son of God. (Mark 15:37 ) And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit:" and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, "certainly this was a righteous man." (Luke 23:44) When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, "it is finished:" and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:30) The word "earthquake" is used in the verses from Matthew 27 to state that the earth shook. It must not have been severe, since John doesn't even mention it. Luke indicates that people stood by as the earth shook and the sun went into eclipse for three hours. There is one clear thing. No one died from the earthquake. At His resurrection on the third day, graves were opened and some Saints were resurrected to walk into the city. In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, "Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." (Matthew 28: 1-6) Again, the word "earthquake" is not used in the destructive sense. The earth shook and the stone rolled away from the door. People were not killed. It's not quite the same in The Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon describes a supposed migration of Jews to Meso-America hundreds of years before Christ was born. There is no archeological evidence of this ever occurring; however, Mormons are taught to believe the truthfulness of the tale in spite of the facts. In The Book of Mormon, the Mormon Jesus brought death and destruction with him to the Cross. In Third Nephi, Chapters 8 and 9, The Book of Mormon details the events surrounding Christ's crucifixion as they were experienced by the people of this new world, Book of Mormon lands. Judge for yourself if it is the same Jesus. These Book of Mormon chapters describe the desolation at Christ's death of the great city of Zarahemla by fire. It states that the city of Moroni -- did sink into the sea and the inhabitants thereof were drowned... the earth was carried up upon the city of Moronihah...there was great and terrible destruction in the land southward......terrible destruction in the land northward....the highways were broken up....many great and noble cities were sunk and many burned and many shaken till the buildings thereof had fallen to the earth.....all these great and terrible things were done in the space of three hours. Third Nephi 9 tells of further wrath as the Lord also destroyed the cities and inhabitants of Gigal, Onihah, Mocum, Jerusalem, Gadiandi, Gadiomnah, Jacob, Gimgimno, Jacobugath, Laman, Josh, Gad, and Kishkumen. (A total of 16 major cities.) Who did all this killing to testify of the Lord's atonement on Calvary? Third Nephi 9:15 reveals the murderer of approximately 2 million innocent inhabitants of The Book of Mormon lands, "Behold, I am Jesus Christ the son of God. I created the heavens and the earth and all things that in them are." He adds, (in verse 21), "behold, I have come unto the world to bring redemption unto the world to save the world from sin." It appears that the easiest way to bring redemption was to kill the vast majority of the people in those lands, the very people Mormons believe are Jesus' "other sheep... which are not of this fold," referred to in John 10:16. This Mormon Jesus was a god of wrath. Could this truly be the act of the One Who was supposed to be the end of the law (Romans 10:4)? Compare that Mormon Christ to the biblical Jesus who compassionately cried out to His Father, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." In another case, when the disciples would call down fire on a Samaritan village, Jesus rebuked them and made it clear that he brought peace and restoration, not the kind of retribution evidenced by the Mormon Jesus of The Book of Mormon. Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?" But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them." And they went to another village. (Luke 9:51-56) Simply put, there are two different Jesuses at work here. The Christ of Mormonism is not the Christ of the Bible. Second Corinthians 11:1-5 tells us that there will be those who would teach a different Christ. Paul says of them, "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:13) There is a biblical warning about those who would bring the doctrine of another Jesus plus a simple test. Do the Mormons and The Book of Mormon pass that test? No, they do not and never will. Power in the Blood The Mormons have a difficult time understanding what actually happened at Calvary. In the LDS pamphlet, "What the Mormons Think of Christ," we see the problem. In the section, 'The Blood of Christ' (page 22 in the 1976 edition), we read: Christians speak often of the blood of Christ and its cleansing power. Much that is believed and taught on this subject, however, is such utter nonsense and so palpably false that to believe it is to lose one's salvation. For instance, many believe or pretend to believe that if we confess Christ with our lips and avow that we accept him as our personal savior, we are thereby saved. They say that his blood, without any other act than mere belief, makes us clean. What is the true doctrine of the blood of Christ? Salvation comes because of the atonement, and the atonement was wrought through the shedding of the blood of Christ. In Gethsemane Christ sweat great drops of blood from every pore when he conditionally took upon himself the sins of the world, and then the shedding of his blood was completed upon the cross. In Article 3 of its Articles of Faith the Mormon Church teaches, and professes: We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel [The laws and ordinance of the gospel, according to the LDS prophet]. The Bible clearly teaches another Christ.....and another gospel: And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2:13 -15) But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. (Colossians 2:13-17) In the early LDS church, a more orthodox Christ was preached. But when Joseph began to teach the strange doctrines of this different Christ, the church could no longer embrace the reality of the blood of Calvary and its full redemptive work. That was when the church removed the red wine from the communion table and began using water. This act literally washed away the reality of the blood from its Christian converts. The same holds true today. The cross and the blood have become strangers to the Mormons. The Cross of Christ is absent from every single one of the many thousands of Mormon Churches. And so is the Christ who went to it willingly for us all. I remember the day of my own salvation in January of 1975, when the little church we were visiting served Christian communion. I held the elements of that communion in my hands and looked down at the red grape juice. I knew it represented the blood that was shed for me and as I took it to my lips, I wept, knowing that I was lost and separated from God by the works of my own flesh. That night I went forward and prayed for forgiveness and gave my life over to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Pearl of Great Price Throughout this book I have quoted many references from the Doctrine and Covenants, which is a compilation of doctrines put forth by the Church's prophets. No discussion of LDS scripture would be complete, however, without touching upon the Pearl of Great Price, and in particular, that part known as The Book of Abraham. Joseph Smith supposedly translated The Book of Abraham from some papyrus fragments that the Smiths had purchased from a man claiming to be an Egyptologist. At the time, he was traveling through the area in which the Smiths lived with several mummies on display. Using several of the facsimiles (Egyptian pictures found with the mummies) from the papyri, Joseph Smith demonstrated that these were representations of Father Abraham in Egypt and then proceeded to "translate" the papyri fragments into their English meanings. This was done prior to the general understanding of the Rosetta Stone decoding of the ancient Egyptian language. In a recent comparison of the papyri to Joseph's notes, it was apparent that the thirteenth and fourteenth verses of Abraham 1 were translated from one single character resembling a backward E. Yet, in fact, Joseph Smith translated this into 76 words, with nine proper names and eight other nouns. The character for the Egyptian god, Khonso, was translated by Joseph Smith into 177 words in Abraham 1:16-19. Dealing with this issue has been a major test of faith for Mormon scholars. Three major non-LDS Egyptologists, Klaus Baer, Richard A. Parker and the late John A. Wilson reviewed the fragments and all concluded that Joseph's translation was totally incorrect and his restorations of the facsimiles [Egyptian pictures found with the mummies] were a gross injustice to the art of Egyptology. What the Egyptians had inscribed on the papyri and what Smith had described them as were not even remotely comparable. Richard A. Parker described Fascimile 1, an Egyptian picture found facing Page 1 of The Book of Abraham as a-- well-known scene from the Osiris mysteries, with Anubis, the jackal-headed god on the left, ministering to the dead Osiris on the bier. The penciled restoration (by Smith) is incorrect. Anubis should be jackal-headed. The left arm of Osiris is in reality lying at his side under him. The apparent upper hand is part of a second bird which is hovering over the erect phallus of Osiris (now broken away). The second bird is Isis and she is magically impregnated by the dead Osiris and then later gives birth to Horus who avenges his father and takes over his inheritance. [7] Klaus Baer basically repeated the same description in his translation of the papyri as the "Breathing Permit of Hor." He stated; The vignette of P. JS I [Joseph Smith papyri] is unusual, but parallels exist on the walls of the Ptolemaic temples of Egypt, the closest being the scenes in the Osiris chapels on the roof of the Temple of Dendera. He specifically described Facsimile 1: There are some problems about [Smith] restoring the missing parts of the body of Osiris. He was almost certainly represented as ithyphallic, ready to beget Horus, as in many of the scenes at Dendera. [8] In other words, the picture was a known pagan image. It meant something. It wasn't even remotely close to what Joseph Smith claimed in his Father Abraham fraud. All three Egyptologists confirmed that the Joseph Smith papyri dealt exclusively with pagan rituals, pagan gods and the Breathing Permit of Hor. Again, the Mormons are free to cling to the their unfounded delusions, which certainly fit the occult background of the founder of Mormonism! Dr. Edward H. Ashment, an LDS Egyptologist working with the translation department of the LDS Church, published one of the most revealing and honest "in-house" appraisals of this document. Throughout Ashment's appraisal of the facsimiles, he dealt with pagan rituals and pagan gods. At no time did he make a connection to Abraham, Abraham's God or Abraham's religion -- just paganism. While Ashment went far out of his way to soften any blows against Mormonism's founding prophet, no one can read his work and not see the totally illiterate definitions given the pagan works by Joseph Smith. [9] How can any intelligent Mormon hold these pornographic drawings in the Pearl of Great Price as the sacred Word of God? This is blasphemy and blindness at its highest. Previously, I described the Mormon scriptures as similar to a pickup truck filled with tangled fishing line. We are still standing in that pickup truck, up to our waists, almost incomprehensibly looking all about us at the unbelievable mess. Where do we go from here? We have hardly begun to clear up the twisted ends. Our God is not the author of such confusion. I have taken you far enough so that you may never doubt what Proverbs 30:6 means when it says, "Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." You have seen only the beginning of an endless series of lies built upon lies, so compounded that it is an impossible task to work your way back to truth. Footnotes: [1] Pearl of Great Price, page 60. [2] Orson Pratt, The Bible Alone an Insufficient Guide, Early LDS Pamphlet, pages 44-47. [3] Joseph F. Smith, The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 1938, page 327. [4] Doctrine and Covenants, Section 9: 8-9. [5] Ensign Magazine, October 1979, page 18. [6] Edvalson & Smith, Plain and Precious Parts, published by the Seventy's Mission Bookstore, Provo, Utah, 1977, pages 62-63. [7] Richard A. Parker, "The Joseph Smith Papyri, A Preliminary Report", Dialogue Journal, Summer 1968, page 86. [8] Klaus Baer, "The Breathing Permit of Hor", Dialogue Journal, Summer 1968, pages 109-110, 119 [9] Dr. Edward H. Ashment, "The Facsimiles of the Book of Abraham", Sunstone, Volume 4, Numbers 5 and 6, pages 33-48. (c) copyright 2005, Ed Decker, all rights reserved Saints Alive In Jesus PO Box 1347 Issaquah WA 98027 ed@saintsalive.com

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