In my last post
entitled, "Where is God Working?", I outlined my trials and path to
becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I would like to share a little more about how
I arrived at that testimony.
My early days as a
Latter-Day Saint were a little overwhelming but also a little exciting. I finally found the place where I felt
peaceful and edified. I was still having
my eyes opened to new ideas about the Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught in the
Church. Some things were new to me in
the beginning, but once I began to learn and understand them, I began to have a
greater appreciation for the beauty and majesty of God's creation and His great
plan for salvation. However, there was
one important component for which I
didn’t at first fully appreciate. That
component was the Book of Mormon.
I know that might
sound odd to most people. After all, I
did pray sincerely to know that the Book
of Mormon is a true record and account of past prophets and others who traveled
to the Americas from Jerusalem, and that the book was presented to Joseph Smith
by an angel of the Lord to translate it for the purpose of re-establishing
Christ's Church on this earth. And in
doing so I was rewarded with a powerful impression from the Holy Spirit, one
which I would assume die than to deny.
But I did not fully appreciate what a gift the Book of Mormon truly is.
During my time as an
investigator of the Church, I was able to correlate and tie many of the
teachings found in the Book of Mormon, back to the Bible. Maybe it was due to my familiarity with it ,
its teachings, and its world-wide acceptance among all Christians, that caused
me to cling to the Bible so tightly. But I found myself to be grateful that
there was a second testimony of Jesus Christ, whose teachings were the same as
what I learned in Bible. It has been
said by many that the only thing one needs, in order figure out whether or not
the Book of Mormon is true scripture, is the book itself. Between its covers you have everything you
need to gain a testimony of its divine authenticity. One must also rely on the
Holy Ghost to help gain that testimony.
I recently read a book by Tad R. Callister entitled "A Case for the
Book of Mormon." I found this book
to be fascinating and it’s a great read for anyone who wants to strengthen
their own testimony. I found it
interesting that Mr. Callister points out some of the same intersections that
helped strengthen my testimony of the Book of Mormon's divine authenticity.
As Christians,
everyone knows that the prophets in the Old Testament all prophecy of the
coming of Jesus Christs. Some of the most specific examples can be found in
Micah 5, Isaiah 7, Isaiah 53, Zachariah 9 & 11 and Psalm 22. If you are spiritually minded, you know that
these prophecies are speaking specifically of the coming of Jesus Christ, even
though none of them mention him specifically by name.
Mr. Callister noted
in his book, "But even with all these specific references, many, if not
most, of the people in the meridian of time could not accept that Jesus Christ
was the literal fulfillment of those prophecies. Nonetheless, those prophecies were there to
be discerned by the spiritually enlightened.
And so it is with the Book of Mormon.
The Bible prophesies of its coming forth and its purpose, not by name,
but by events and descriptions that are sufficiently clear and
precise." Just as Christians who
are familiar with New Testament writings know that the prophets of old speak of
Jesus Christ, those familiar with the Book of Mormon understand and recognize
prophecies related to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the people,
and lands, described within.
The Book of Isaiah
has always been a mysterious text. There
are so many prophecies within its pages that have been easy to point and
recognize their fulfillment. However
there are a few that Latter-Day Saints understand better than most. In Isaiah 29:1-12, he prophesies of the
destruction of a group of people (in verse 2) who would be like the people of
Jerusalem ("it shall be to me AS
Arial [Jerusalem]" [emphesis added]).
These people would have an enemy "camp against" them,
"lay siege against [them] with a mount" and raise forts against
[them]" (Isaiah 29:2). In 2 Nephi
26:15- 16, we see the same fate with the Nephites as happened with many who
were left in Jerusalem. In fact, these
passages are one and the same prophecy because the Nephites were the
descendants of those in Jerusalem who God rescued and sent to far away
lands. But what is interesting is Isaiah
29:10-12 prophecies that the voice of the prophets will be silenced for a
period, and then a book (the Book of Mormon) will come forth out of the ground
and will be delivered up to one that is unlearned (Joseph Smith). Verse 18 speaks of this time as a day of joy
when "the deaf shall hear the wonders of the book, and the eyes of the
blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness." What book could they be speaking of? The bible didn’t come out of the ground after
a period of apostacy. The scriptures
have been around for centuries. In fact
they have been translated and retranslated, and edited so many times that many
of its precepts and teachings have been lost or altered over time. I will speak of these more in later writings.
Ezekiel, another Old
Testament prophet prophesied in Chapter 37 of the Book of Mormon coming
forth.
The
word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
16
Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah,
and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and
write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of
Israel his companions:17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 ¶ And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what tou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
20 ¶ And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
(Ezekiel 37:15-20)
So what we find from
Ezekiel is that the Stick of Judah, which is the record of Judah's descendants
found in the Bible, and the Stick of Joseph, which is the record of Joseph's
descendants, are joined together into one stick, or book, as one complimentary
witness of Jesus Christ. In the Book of
Mormon, 2 Nephi 3:12 reads:
11
But a seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and unto him will I
give power to bring forth my word unto the seed of thy loins—and not to the
bringing forth my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my
word, which shall have already gone forth among them.
12
Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of
Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins,
and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall
grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of
contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing
them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the
knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord.
Chapter 3 of 2 Nephi
is about a blessing given to another Joseph in the 6th century BC, who is a
descendent of the House of Joseph of Egypt, who was sold by his brothers in the
book of Genesis. It is quite a scriptural
marvel in itself in that it not only prophecies of Joseph Smith and the coming
forth of the Book of Mormon, but it also ties nicely back to God's purpose of
using a separated group of people and scripture to link his divine works
together and deliver His people to another promised land, the America's. This
demonstrates how God used prophets
throughout time to prophesy of various pieces to foretell his mission so
that when it came true, for those who were willing to pray for understanding,
would see God's hand at work and His promises being kept.
One of my favorite
books of the Bible is Genesis. I have
always been fascinated and strengthened by the life and role of Joseph, son of
Jacob, and his role in the destiny of God's great plan. For many years, the Holy Spirit had planted a
question in my mind that I had wrestled with and for years I could not
understand why this question continued to nag at me. When my view was limited to just the
scriptures of the Bible, I could not seem to find my answer anywhere. I am sure I even petitioned the Lord for an
answer to this because it just puzzled me.
The question revolved around this great mystery for me: It was obvious that God loved Joseph so much
as to bless his life and use him to save the people of Israel from famine. And likewise, Joseph was the only one of
Jacob's twelve sons who had his own posterity make up two of the twelve great
tribes of Israel. And it was Joseph, we
find in 1Chronicles 5:1-2, who received the birthright of Israel. So that being said, why wouldn’t Jesus be of
the lineage of Joseph rather than Judah?
I always felt I was missing something.
After all what better way to show thanks to Joseph for all of his
trials, and hardships, and faithfulness than to reward him by bringing forth
the Savior of the world from his lineage?
Instead, It was Judah who was given this honor. We never know the mysteries and ways of the
Lord, right?
I am sure Judah was
a fine man, especially in the eyes of God, but from a Biblical context, we know
so little about him. He was the one who
helped execute God's plan by persuading his brothers not to slay Joseph in Genesis
37 and instead sell him to the Ishmeelites.
And again in Genesis 43, he is the one who sticks his neck out and
shoulders responsibility to take Benjamin to Egypt to see Joseph. But that’s about all we know about Judah.
In Genesis 49, It is
Judah and Joseph who receive the richest of blessings from Jacob.
Genesis 49:
8
¶ Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the
neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.9 Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be
Jacob proclaims that
his children will all bow down to Judah and that the sceptre shall not part
from the lineage of Judah and that his lineage will rule until Christ
comes. It was Joseph's blessing though
that seemed to leave me perplexed.
22
¶ Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches
run over the wall:
23
The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.
After studying this,
it appears that Joseph's lineage would prosper and would be fruitful. The mention of branches running over the wall
was never clear to me but from my studies I took that to mean that somehow his
offspring would fill many parts of the earth.
From my research, little is mentioned concerning the offspring of
Joseph, especially after the tribes were scattered. The chief characters among Old Testament
writings tend to be of other lineages, primarily Judah. So I came to wonder, what ever happened to
Joseph's lineage, and where were evidences of Jacob's prophecy being fulfilled? Why would Biblical scripture only give us
half of the story.
The Lord knows me
well. After I had promised the
missionaries that I would read the Book of Mormon, I reluctantly sat down one
evening and started to read in the Book of 2 Nephi. I didn’t have to read very far when something
clicked immediately for me. Right there
in center of the page, these words jumped right out at me:
5
Wherefore, Joseph truly saw our day. And he obtained a promise of the Lord,
that out of the fruit of his loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous
branch unto the house of Israel; not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be
broken off, nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord that
the Messiah should be made manifest unto them in the latter days, in the spirit
of power, unto the bringing of them out of darkness unto light—yea, out of
hidden darkness and out of captivity unto freedom.
I immediately began
to understand the connection from the Bible to the Book of Mormon. From that point on, many other references
from 1 Nephi and throughout the rest of the scripture began to correlate and
make perfect sense to me. I began to
understand what people meant when they said the Book of Mormon helps you see
the fullness of the Gospel. I now had
the "rest of the story" as Paul Harvey would say, to a question that
burned in my soul for years. Joseph's
posterity was going to again be responsible for leading the way in the
"Gathering of Israel" that was prophesied by Biblical prophets.
Another correlation
I wish to highlight is found in the Book of John from the New Testament. Here, Jesus speaks about other sheep that
must hear his voice. When you introduce
the Book of Mormon and the people it represents, that passage seems to take on
an even greater meaning.
16
And other sheep I have, which 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.
Jerusalem had for a
long time been a melting pot and that is especially true after the fall to the
Romans. Jesus was constantly surrounded
by Gentiles. He even preached among them
himself. So why would he need to speak
of taking his message to another fold in John
10:16? And why do it in the same
context of laying down his life? Wasn’t
he already delivering his message to the Gentiles and teaching them the way to
salvation? So where was this other fold
He speaks of?
There could have
been other folds but at least one which we know about is found in the Book of
Mormon. The Nephites were now on the
other side of the world away from everything going on in Jerusalem. They too had the ancient scriptures of past
prophets which foretold of the coming of Christ. They too were anxiously awaiting the Savior
and longed for the signs of His coming.
In 3 Nephi, Jesus appears to the Nephites, soon after his resurrection,
and proclaims his Gospel just as promised.
He even selected 12 disciples within this people and taught them and
consecrated them so that they could spread his Gospel further and continue his
ministry on this continent. In chapter
15, he gives us an explanation of John 10:16 and why he never expounded any
further on the topic.
12
Ye are my disciples; and ye are a light unto this people, who are a remnant of
the house of Joseph.
13 And behold, this is the land of your inheritance; and the Father hath given it unto you.
14 And not at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell it unto your brethren at Jerusalem.
15 Neither at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell unto them concerning the other tribes of the house of Israel, whom the Father hath led away out of the land.
16
This much did the Father command me, that I should tell unto them:
17
That other sheep I have which 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.
18
And now, because of stiffneckedness and unbelief they understood not my word;
therefore I was commanded to say no more of the Father concerning this thing
unto them.
19
But, verily, I say unto you that the Father hath commanded me, and I tell it
unto you, that ye were separated from among them because of their iniquity;
therefore it is because of their iniquity that they know not of you.
20
And verily, I say unto you again that the other tribes hath the Father
separated from them; and it is because of their iniquity that they know not of
them.
21
And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have
which 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.
22
And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the Gentiles; for
they understood not that the Gentiles should be converted through their
preaching.
(3 Nephi
15:12-22 Book of Mormon Scriptures)
Notice in verse 16
where Jesus implies the Father would only allow him to make the statement in
John 10:16. This is yet another example
of where God used the words of his prophets and Jesus to tie another stitch into
the fold that binds these two canons together, the Bible and the Book of
Mormon. In the remainder of John 10, you
can see the reaction that the Jews had to Jesus's message. They became enraged and began plotting to
kill him. No wonder he didn’t expound
any more on the subject.
I could go on for
days with other correlations and ties between the Bible and Book of Mormon but
I think I have shared enough to prove my point.
I didn’t gain all these insights at once but many came quickly as I studied
more thoroughly. As I stated earlier,
while I was truly grateful for this new information, I hadn't fully gained an appreciation of the
Book of Mormon. I was still new in this
journey toward conversion. I felt
comforted by the Spirit as I read it, just as I did the Bible, but I wanted to
make sure I thoroughly investigated it for what it was and what it had to
offer. I began to analyze the book in
other ways. I looked carefully at its
prose and its sentence structures and wondered, could I have written such a
remarkable piece of literature in my early twenties? After all, I did graduate college, and
Language Arts has always been one of my strengths. I quickly came to the conclusion that I could
not. As talented as I may think I am, I
would not have been able to make up such a remarkable and well crafted piece of
literature such as this. There were just
too many links back to the Bible, some of which I didn't understand at the
time. I did not have a thorough enough
understanding of Biblical scriptures at that age to even begin to make up and
tie specific principles and teachings back to the Bible in quite the same way
that the Book of Mormon does.
Another fact about
the Book of Mormon is that it was completely translated from ancient writings
in about 60 days with no editing, and doesn’t contradict itself or the Bible in
anyway. Over the past few years, I have
grown a fond appreciation for the works of Dr. Hugh Nibley. He is perhaps one of the most intelligent men
that has ever walked this earth. Thanks to YouTube, I have been able to hear
his lectures directly from his mouth, even though he has been long
deceased. Many years ago, Dr. Nibley
introduced what has become known as the Book of Mormon Challenge in which he
asks his BYU students to do exactly what critics of Joseph Smith and the
Book of Mormon have always supposed.
Create a manuscript, historical in nature, over 500 pages in roughly six
weeks time, related to wandering Jews in ancient times, without ever
contradicting yourself, and make no changes as you write it. There was much more in his requirements but
one can research "Book of Mormon Challenge" to reveal the complete
assignment. To date, no one has
completed the challenge. I know I
couldn’t do it even now. It has taken
years of study to gain the knowledge I have. It would probably take an unlearned person 10
or 20 years to create such a master piece and still find time to scrape
together an honest living and raise a family.
When I was
investigating, I quickly noticed how well written the Book of Mormon was. After
reading the biography of Joseph Smith, which someone shared with me out of the
Pearl of Great Price, I gained a better understanding of its divine nature. A
farm boy in rural New York with little more than a third grade education could
never have invented such a magnificent literary work. As the book approaches its 200th anniversary
of its publication, It has never been proven as anything other than what Joseph
Smith said it was.
Jeffrey R. Holland,
an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in his October
2009 General Conference talk entitled "Safety for the Soul" made a
remarkable statement about the Book of Mormon.
He powerfully proclaimed the following excerpt in his talk.
For 179 years this book has been examined and
attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no
other book in modern religious history—perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed
theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died—from
Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None
of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination
because there is no other answer
than the one Joseph gave as its young unlearned translator. In this I stand
with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, “No wicked man could
write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true
and he were commanded of God to do so.” (From <https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng> )
I highly recommend
this talk for anyone who is questioning the authenticity of the Book of
Mormon. Elder Holland makes several
great points that I find impossible to argue against. But my favorite is the last sentence of the
paragraph above where he quotes his grandfather's sentiments that "No
wicked man would create such a work, and no good man would write it, unless it
were true and he were commanded of God
to do so." Satan would never
inspire such a deceptive work that is focused on teaching people the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. And any good man would never try to fictitiously pass off a
writing as another authentic testament to the divinity of Jesus Christ and
still be considered good in the eyes of the Lord.
I will conclude by
making one final point. As Joseph Smith
himself once stated, "I told the
brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and
the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by
its precepts, than by any other book.”
The Book of Mormon in fact is the keystone to The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints and if it could ever be proven false, as a work of
fiction, the foundations which this church is built on would come crumbling
down. This is a world-wide church and
nearly the only one growing in a world of wickedness and sin. Temples are continually being constructed and
renovated for the purpose of sanctification and exaltation for the living and
the deceased. In fact there is a Raleigh
Temple Open House near our home this week (September 21-28, 2019) where anyone
can come and learn more about our Temples.
You will surely feel the Spirit of God as you enter this holy place. If you have never googled the term LDS
Temples, I encourage you to do so and view the magnificent structures that are
being built all over the world. I
testify from my continued studies and observations and witness that this is the
restored Church of Jesus Christ and encourage everyone to read the Book of
Mormon to find out for themselves. Each individual must decide whether or not to
be bold and open minded enough to read and examine its text.
You can order one
for yourself for free at https://www.comeuntochrist.org. There is a ton of information on this site
about the church.
