The Writings Of Moronirejected Scriptures



Mainstream Christianity has long objected to Mormonism with its 'new Bible'. Similarly, the Jews have refused to recognize the Christians with their 'new scriptures'. No doubt, various sects of Judaism throughout the history of the Bible have rejected writings that have since been included in the Bible. What people don't realize is, every part of the scriptures we now have was 'new' at one point. Every part faced great rejection and persecution along its journey into canonized scripture. As I've shown in this and other articles, we've been receiving 'new' scripture through the prophets in jumps and starts since the time of Adam.

Commercial and Office Architecture. Office Building Architecture. The manner which the disciples, which were called the elders of the church, ordained priests and teachers. After they had prayed unto the Father in the name of Christ, they laid their hands upon them and said, In the name of Jesus Christ, I ordain you to be a priest (or if he be a teacher, I ordain you to be a teacher) to preach repentance and remission of sins through Jesus Christ by the. Many Gods Joseph Smith taught, 'I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and that the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods' (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 370; emphasis added). Having surveyed the parallels between Moroni’s writings and the New Testament in part 1, in part 2 I offer an analysis of this evidence. This analysis yields ten distinct lines of evidence that the Book of Mormon had one modern author who made extensive use of the KJV New Testament. Here is a quick rundown of those ten lines of evidence.


It has long been the lamentation of Christians that more Jews and Gentiles would be Christians if only they'd familiarize themselves more deeply with both the Old and New Testaments! If only they would look and see for themselves how the two complement each other, how beautifully, intricately, and powerfully they anticipate and then fulfill each other!



Scriptures
Similarly, the Latter-Day Saints have born persecution for claiming to have more scripture and to be a movement that fulfills prophecies of the Old and New Testaments. It has long been our lamentation and our testimony to the world that more Gentiles, Christians and Jews would be Latter-Day Saints if only they'd familiarize themselves more deeply with the Old and New Testaments, and then read in earnest the Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants. Having grown up in the LDS Church, I have learned more about Mormonism from recent study in the Old and New Testaments than I ever imagined was possible. I have seen detailed references to the temples and ordinances performed therein as contained and described in both testaments. (see my temple-related links on my Church page) I have enjoyed the blessings of the last dispensation of the fulness of times as prophesied by Paul and recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. (see my articles on general apostasy and restoration both prophesied and fulfilled) I have seen Israel become a nation, its people return to their homeland as prophesied in the Old Testament and in the Book of Mormon - both written thousands of years before these events transpired.(see Ezekiel 37:21-23) I have studied about the return of Elijah and of temple work on behalf of ancestors in April of 1836 as promised by Malachi and recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. (see Malachi 4:5-6, D&C 110) I have read about an angel which John the Revelator saw flying in the midst of heaven - an angel who delivered to an unlearned farm boy Isaiah's sealed book containing the fullness of the gospel to preach to every nation, kindred, tongue and people! That book turned out to be the record of the descendants of Jacob and of Joseph who had 'run over the wall' - a record that was to aid gentiles adopted into the house of Ephraim in bringing about the restoration of the gospel in the latter days. (see Revelation 14:6, Genesis 49:22, Isaiah 9:8-10, Joseph Smith History). In latter days, the records of Judah and of Joseph have been combined and printed as one book, just as Ezekiel foresaw (see Ezekiel 37:16-20 and D&C 27:5)
For extensive prophecy uttered by the Savior concerning all of these things - promises He made to Jews living in ancient America, see 3 Nephi 21.

Although its coming has been extensively prophesied in the Old and New Testaments, the world scoffs at the Book of Mormon because it claims to be scripture. But the world scoffed at the Book of Genesis when it was first published by a desert hermit who had been exiled from Pharoah's court. It took the Jews forty years of wandering in the wilderness, seeing the power of God firsthand to believe and then observe what their children came to call the 'law'. Each of the 'prophets' - including the Savior - was persecuted and many killed along the way for claiming to be who they were. They reviled the New Testament for claiming that a young Jewish peasant born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazereth could be the Jewish Messiah and the Great I Am. Yet all of these things were first prophesied in one volume of scripture and then fulfilled extensively and intricately and recorded in the next. Likewise, the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants contain prophecies and recorded events that inform the future in the latter days and extensively and intricately fulfill the promises and prophecies of the Old and New Testaments in startling, life-changing detail!
Read what the Lord has to say about His own ability to teach His word among all nations as He sees fit. (see 2 Nephi 29)

In short, in refusing to acknowledge the coming of new scripture, given by God through His prophets, we blind ourselves to the full value of that which we have already been given. Accepting the New Testament, the Book of Mormon or the Doctrine & Covenants does not mean abrogating or displacing the Old and New Testaments - it means discovering their fulfillment, giving them much, much more meaning! What's more, all this fulfillment means the scriptures prove abundantly that there is an all-knowing God who communicates to us through His prophets, and He is not dead, nor doth He sleep! How else can documents proven to be thousands of years old predict events that took place hundreds and even thousands of years after they were foretold?

It is the claim of the Latter-Day Saints that, just as the church of Jesus Christ produced scripture at the time of Adam and Noah and Abraham and Moses, Paul and Peter and James and John the Revelator, so it has done again at the time of Nephi, Jacob, Alma, Helaman, Ether, Mormon and Moroni, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Thomas S. Monson, and an ever-growing list of modern prophets, apostles, and seventy, each hand-picked by the resurrected Lord himself, here and now, in the latter days.
I challenge my reader to investigate these claims for yourself. Read the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants for yourself, and then ask God if these things are of Him. If you do so earnestly, you will come to learn by the whisperings of His still, small voice and you will know as I do that Daniel's prophecy concerning a marvelous work and a wonder - a stone cut out of the mountain without hands and Paul's last dispensation of the gospel in the fulness of times in the latter days has at last come to pass! (see Daniel 2, Ephesians 1:10, Doctrine & Covenants 11:1-2)
How to Obtain a Spiritual Witness
How to Pray
It may save you considerable effort to read my articles about these passages of scripture. They are quick-start guides to help you familiarize yourself with these prophecies and their fulfillment. To begin, see my Church page and my Gospel Study page.


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If you have ever seen a Mormon temple, chances are you have seen the golden statue that adorns the steeples of most of these beautiful buildings. The statue is known as the angel Moroni. The male figure is dressed in a robe and blows a long golden trumpet which he holds in one hand.

Moroni: Warrior, Prophet, Historian

The Angel Moroni statue atop the Bern, Switzerland Mormon Temple

Moroni, as a mortal man, was the last author of the Book of Mormon, burying the metal plates upon which it was recorded, some 421 years after the birth of Christ. He followed in the footsteps of his father, Mormon (after whom the Book of Mormon is named) as keeper of an ancient record detailing the history and eventual destruction of their people, the Nephites, by their enemies, the Lamanites. Moroni served as a general, under his father who was the head of all the Nephite armies, during the final military campaign of his people. Only he and a handful of others survived. Moroni was left alone and described his situation: 'My father hath been slain in battle, and all my kinsfolk, and I have not friends nor whither to go' (Mormon 8:5]).

Despite being alone, Moroni lived for at least 36 years after the destruction of his people. During this time he finished the record of his father by describing the final battle and including a few letters his father had written to him. Since Moroni bids the reader farewell a number of different times, it is presumed he did not expect the Lord to preserve his life for so long. Moroni additionally abridged the record of the Jaredites (a nation that came to the Americas at the time of the Tower of Babel and destroyed itself before Moroni's people arrived) into what is known as the Book of Ether.

The Writings Of Moronirejected Scriptures In The Bible

Lastly, Moroni wrote the segment known as the Book of Moroni. In this he details particulars about the organization of Christ's church. He also includes two more epistles from his father, Mormon, containing sermons on faith, hope, and charity. In the last chapter of the book, Moroni leaves the reader with an exhortation and a promise:

'Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive 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 shall 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. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.' (Moroni 10:3-5])

Moroni: Angelic Messenger

Revelation 14:6 reads 'And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.'

During the night of September 21, 1823 Moroni, who was then a glorified personage, visited young Joseph Smith as a heavenly messenger sent from God. Moroni told Joseph of the very plates he himself had buried 1400 years earlier. The angel Moroni also recited a number of scriptures to Joseph. Joseph describes the heavenly visit in the Joseph Smith-History portion of the Pearl of Great Price:

Not only was his [Moroni's] robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning... When I first looked upon him, I was afraid; but the fear soon left me. He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people. (JS-H 1:32-33)

Moroni visited Joseph repeatedly that night and the next morning, always with the same message. For the next four years, Joseph annually visited the Hill Cumorah (the location where Moroni had deposited the golden plates) and received further knowledge and teaching from Moroni. After four years, in 1827, Moroni entrusted the golden plates to Joseph with this warning:

That I [Joseph] should be responsible for them; that if I should let them go carelessly, or through any neglect of mine, I should be cut off; but that if I would use all my endeavors to preserve them, until he, the messenger, should call for them, they should be protected. (JS-H 1:59)

In 1830, Joseph Smith published his translation of the golden plates as the Book of Mormon. When translation was complete, Joseph returned the plates to Moroni's custody.

Angel Moroni Infographic

Also see the article Angel Moroni.

Brian Olson has created an update to his infographic about LDS temples titled “Moroni Always Faces East (Except When He Doesn’t).” In this update, he has added additional temples, added the dedication order to new temples, and added a new design for the background.

An older version of this infographic has been printed out and placed on the wall at the visitor’s center trailer for the temple in Star Valley Wyoming. That temple will face west, as will the statue, according to the rendering.

For more background about this infographic, see “Does the Angel Moroni on LDS Temples Always Face East?”

Brian Olson has also made an online copy of his book 'Know Your Moroni, A Field Guide to Angel Moroni Statues'. The book is available for download, but the online version has expanded information and galleries of additional works for most of the statue sculptors.

On his 'Moroni Faces East' page, Brian Olson states:

While it is true that there are more Statues that face east than any other specific Direction, you can only say that the majority of them face east if “East” is the direction between North East and South East.
An Extra note: For most of the Angel Moroni Statues, the direction was determined by which direction the chest faces. The exception to this are the statues holding gold plates, where the trumpet was used.

The Writings Of Moronirejected Scriptures Fulfilled

Why not the trumpet for all of them? for most statues, the trumpet and the head are turned to the Angel Moroni’s right side. If you use the trumpet, almost none of the statues qualify as facing east!

External Links

  • Angel Moroni at Lightplanet
  • The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith at LDS.org
  • Joseph Smith at Lightplanet

The Writings Of Moronirejected Scriptures Study

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