Mormon Patriarchal Blessings and the Tribe of Ephraim

1 Nephi 14:1-2; “And it shall come to pass, that if the Gentiles shall hearken unto the Lamb of God in that day that he shall manifest himself unto them in word, and also in power, in very deed, unto the taking away of their stumbling blocks— 2 And harden not their hearts against the Lamb of God, they shall be numbered among the seed of thy father; yea, they shall be numbered among the house of Israel; and they shall be a blessed people upon the promised land forever; they shall be no more brought down into captivity; and the house of Israel shall no more be confounded.”

Alma 10:3; “And Aminadi was a descendant of Nephi, who was the son of Lehi, who came out of the land of Jerusalem, who was a descendant of Manasseh, who was the son of Joseph who was sold into Egypt by the hands of his brethren.”

The Mormon Church takes part in a unique ritual where they receive a ‘patriarchal blessing’. You can read more about it here in an awesome article Melissa wrote! The sum of it is Mormons are prayed over (which reminds me of seeing a fortune teller), and the majority of recipients are told they’ve descended from the tribe of Ephraim.

The problem?

The prophecy in 1^st Nephi tells us they’ll belong to the tribe of Nephi’s father, Lehi. According to other Book of Mormon ‘scriptures’, Lehi belonged to the tribe of Manasseh.

Oops.

When the Lord tells us not to seek out soothsayers or fortune tellers, He’s not just yammering on with another rule. Since Mormons like to rely on their own works they should take heed to what God said in Micah 5:12-13 –

“And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: 13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.”