The Burning in Your Bosom & Man’s Deceitful Heart
D&C 9:7-9; “Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. 8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. 9 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; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me.”
Ezekiel 13:2-4; “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD; 3 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! 4 O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.”
Jeremiah 17:5, 9; “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD… The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
Proverbs 28:26; “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.”
1 Timothy 5:6; “But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.”
Genesis 8:21; “…for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done.”
While the prophecy in Doctrine and Covenants was originally intended for Oliver Cowdery the Mormons use it for their lives today, thus the inclusion of this reference.
What we need to do as Christians is pay attention to the exact wording of these prophecies and instructions of prophets and weigh them against the word of God. His word is the standard by which we live – not our standard and not what our hearts say!
And on top of that, if the Mormons are going to carry the Bible around with them when they go knocking on people’s doors there is a level of understanding these people are going to believe in the product they’re trying to sell to us, right? Why is it the Mormons don’t believe what they’re carrying around with them? Aren’t they acting in direct violation of what they’re trying to sell to you? The 13th Article of Faith comes to mind which says;
“We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul…”
The passage in Doctrine and Covenants says “…if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you…But if it not be right you shall have no such feelings…”
They tell us through their writings they believe the Bible only as far as it is translated correctly yet the missionary showing up at your door can’t tell you which thing has been translated incorrectly so what good does that do you or them? If they haven’t had a burning in the bosom about the Bible why are they misleading people by taking it with them?
But back to the main subject at hand…God tells us not to trust our hearts. Countless verses warn us of the dangers when we trust ourselves so why does the Church tell its members to do otherwise? Does their admonition out-trump God’s?
This is one of the reasons Mormons don’t trust the Bible or know how to use the Bible to apply it to their personal lives.
For more information on this, read our article on burning in the bosom here:
http://lifeafterministry.com/2011/01/11/burning-in-the-bosom