Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Lehi’

God’s word makes things pretty clear. In the 10th year of King Zedekiah’s reign, Jeremiah was thrown into prison as Jerusalem fell in the Babylonian takeover ~

Jeremiah 32:1-2 “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2 For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house.” [emp. added]

According to historical records, the 1st year of Zedekiah’s reign took place in bc 598-597. His reign ended with the fall of Jerusalem which has been documented c. bc 587-586.

This historical fact isn’t a problem, unless of course you’re reading history from an aberrant storyline such as Joe Smith’s inspired works. Check out the mass confusion found in the opening scenes of their signature canon, the Book of Mormon.

The following claim tells us when Lehi supposedly packed up his family and left Jerusalem…. (more…)

Read Full Post »

June 3 – Facing Historical Facts. Jeremiah 42:10, 15-17; “If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you. 15 And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; 16 Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die. 17 So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.”

(more…)

Read Full Post »

 I Nephi 10:8; “Yea, even he should go forth and cry in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight; for there standeth one among you whom ye know not; and he is mightier than I, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose. And much spake my father concerning this thing.” – c. BC 600

 

 

 

(more…)

Read Full Post »

James 1:8 “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

Mormon Newsroom IconChurch News, ‘1492 Voyage Fulfilled Prophecy,’ September 26, 1992

Looking at the title of this newsroom announcement would lead one to believe there’s hard proof Columbus’ voyage fulfilled a prophecy. Right?

Wrong.

This church news announcement has to be one of the most insidious things I’ve seen from the Church. It’s filled with deliberate attempts to confuse people like my mother, and cause overall false hope about something that didn’t happen to begin with.

We’re listing a review on key elements from this announcement, followed by our questions about this whole thing. The entire ‘prophecy’ is listed thereafter.

Anyone serious about the Lord has to wonder…Why would the leadership of a ‘God fearing’ church say things like this??????

Luke 17:2 “It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”

(more…)

Read Full Post »

BoM3in1 2The Book of Mormon proves itself to be a false gospel in a number of ways, so today we’re looking at a half dozen verses in the first chapter of the first book to find out why.

Putting things in perspective

Collectively speaking, there are 6.604 verses in the BoM, and by the time you get to verse nine in first Nephi you’ll have already been given a dozen or more reasons to prove the BoM isn’t from God. In vss. 1-8, the experiences of Lehi closely resemble the visions of Moses, Daniel, and Isaiah.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Jer. 34:7; “When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.”

Proceession Street of BabylonThe Bible verse above is a snapshot of real history. The snapshot from the Book of Mormon is anything but.

The Book of Mormon is replete with stories of the Nephites’ encounters with various trials and persecutions. One of the events worthy of exploration is the route Lehi and the family took leaving Jerusalem.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

BoM1 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.”

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Mormon Decisions 101 Nephi 5:14-16; “And it came to pass that my father, Lehi, also foundBoM

upon the plates of brass a genealogy of his fathers; wherefore he knew that he was a descendant of Joseph; yea, even that Joseph who was the son of Jacob, who was sold into Egypt, and who was preserved by the hand of the Lord, that he might preserve his father, Jacob, and all his household from perishing with famine. 15 And they were also led out of captivity and out of the land of Egypt, by that same God who had preserved them. 16 And thus my father, Lehi, did discover the genealogy of his fathers. And Laban also was a descendant of Joseph, wherefore he and his fathers had kept the records.”

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Mormon Decisions 10Today we’re looking at events from the BoM to see if they line up with the Bible, and if they seem reasonable for historical events taking place in BC 587. The passage below is a description of a dream Lehi had. 

1 Nephi 1:9-15 “And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noon-day. 10 And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament. 11 And they came down and went forth upon the face of the earth; and the first came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read. 12 And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Mormon Decisions 101 Nephi 2:4; “And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness.”

400+ kilometer journey to flee Jerusalem

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Mormon Decisions 10Helaman 5:22-24; “And after they had been cast into prison many days without food, behold, they went forth into the prison to take them that they might slay them. 23 And it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi were encircled about as if by fire, even insomuch that they durst not lay their hands upon them for fear lest they should be burned. Nevertheless, Nephi and Lehi were not burned; and they were as standing in the midst of fire and were not burned. 24 And when they saw that they were encircled about with a pillar of fire, and that it burned them not, their hearts did take courage.”

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Mormon Decisions 101 Nephi 7:14; “For behold, the Spirit of the Lord ceaseth soon to strive with them; for behold, they have rejected the prophets, and Jeremiah have they cast into prison. And they have sought to take away the life of my father, insomuch that they have driven him out of the land”.

 

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Mormon Decisions 101 Nephi 1:6; “And it came to pass as he prayed unto the Lord, there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him; and he saw and heard much; and because of the things which he saw and heard he did quake and tremble exceedingly.”

Exodus 13:21; “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night.”

(more…)

Read Full Post »

salt lake mormon temple 21 Nephi 5:16; “And thus my father, Lehi, did discover the genealogy of his fathers. And Laban also was a descendant of Joseph, wherefore he and his fathers had kept the records.”

(more…)

Read Full Post »

salt lake mormon temple 21 Nephi 3:19-20; “And behold, it is wisdom in God that we should obtain these records, that we may preserve unto our children the language of our fathers; 20 And also that we may preserve unto them the words which have been spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets, which have been delivered unto them by the Spirit and power of God, since the world began, even down unto this present time.”

(more…)

Read Full Post »

apocrypha & bomIn our continuing quest of studying the pseudo coincidences in the Book of Mormon you can find a familiar story of when Nephi beheaded Laban. In this “coincidence” the cast of characters are a bit different. This time the names are Judith and Holofernes whose story takes place in Israel and recorded in the book of Judith in the Apocrypha.

While the Apocrypha and the Book of Mormon both contain a variety of similar names such as Lehi, Nephi and Laban, we’re confining our study to the stories of Judith and Nephi.  Surprisingly, both the hero in the Book of Mormon and the heroine in the Apocrypha decapitated unsuspecting men who were passed out after a night of drinking.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

There are many doctrinal issues that must be looked at when someone’s leaving Mormonism. For me the last thing I wanted to accept in my heart is that my beloved heritage would subject itself and the members to anything spiritually degrading and demonic.

In light of that it never occurred to me as a Mormon the names in the Book of Mormon were in such opposition to what the Lord has shown us in His word. My discovery came about after my exodus while studying a few points on Masonry for an article I was writing for Ed Decker at Saints Alive.

I recognized one of the names in Masonry was also in the Book of Mormon and it began an investigation that opened my eyes beyond what I’d ever thought or imagined when it came to the spiritual problems within Mormonism.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

March 20 – Ex. 12:9 says; “Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it”.

_____

God was rather clear when He told the Israelites not to eat raw meat, but in the Book of Mormon this isn’t a problem with their god.  Ask them why this would be so.

_____

1 Nephi 17:2;  “And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings”.

Read Full Post »

March 19 – Numbers 14:25; “(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley).  To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea”. 

_____

Use this verse as a geography lesson for the Mormon.  There has never been a river that empties into the Red Sea.  It is surrounded by wilderness (desert) only.

_____

1 Nephi 2:8; “And it came to pass that he called the name of the river, Laman, and it emptied into the Red Sea; and the valley was in the borders near the mouth thereof.”

Read Full Post »

Studying the Book of Mormon 10

 http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/NE/miscne01.htm

 Boston Courier.
Vol. VI.                           Boston, Ma., Thursday, March 17, 1831.                           No. 545.

 DELUSION. There is no end to trickery and imposture in our land. “Fools are the game which knaves pursue,” and until the people in some sections of the country become more enlightened, there will be plenty of game.

 The newspaper headline above provides insight to what most people thought of Joseph Smith and his shenanigans.  This edition of the Boston Courier was fascinating.  We are able to see how the early Mormon Church was able to grow and to what extent the surrounding townsfolk tolerated this movement.  Most didn’t put up with it, while others were able to be tricked into their schemes.  At one point a Methodist church had Rigdon and a few others come in and actually preach at the pulpit – the entire congregation left God and signed up to become Mormon.

 Mormon 9:32-33; “And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.  33 And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record.

 The passage above is a good example of how the Church makes excuses for the way they believe.  Does it make sense they’ve altered the Hebrew or Reformed Egyptian?  His explanation reminds me of what the con artist tries to pull off at carnivals.  He puts the prize under the shell and mixes them around; if you find it, you win.

 Tragically, the unfound prize in this game is the salvation in Jesus that Mormons are so desperately seeking.  The Mormon god keeps changing the rules; the people writing the story changed the language and the members won’t change their minds about whom they hold allegiance to.

 The entire Book of Mormon (not just this particular book) is difficult to follow or assign a central theme to because of the miserable way it’s been written.   The writing of Moroni in the Book of Mormon is no exception to this finding.  They purposely introduce off topic items in order to confuse.  Because of this, I’ve chosen to list several items of interest that actually hurts the storyline instead of adding to the message it was originally intended to convey.  If it’s to be a cohesive piece of work why is there so much garbage in its text?

 I’ve not written my analysis this way to confuse, but to spark an objective thinking process about Joseph Smith and his claim about the characters in this book.

 If you’re LDS, know that we pray for you each and every day.  We so want for you to know the Jesus in the Bible and dedicate your passion to Him who holds the truth.

 With Love in Christ;

Michelle Grim

1 Cor. 1:18

 There are 227 verses in the Book of Mormon

Verses with the phrase “And it Came to Pass”: 61x in 57 verses

 Mormon 1:6; “And it came to pass that I, being eleven years old…

 1:6, 8, 10, 11 (2x), 12, 19 – 7x, 6 verses

2:1, 2, 3, 4 (2x), 7, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20 (2x), 21, 22, 23, 25, 26 – 18x, 16 verses

3:1, 2, 4, 5, 7 (2x), 11, 16 – 8x, 7 verses

4:1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 15, 19, 22 – 10 verses

5:1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 20 – 7 verses

6:1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15 – 9 verses

8:2 – 1 verse

 Verses describing years that have passed:  18

 2:3, 9, 16, 22, 28

3:1, 4, 7, 8

4:1, 7, 10, 15, 16

5:5, 6

6:5

8:6

 Verses with False Prophecies:  9

 1:17

5:8

7: intro

8:1, 32

9:6, 9, 32, 33

 Verses with grammar problems:  4

 4:21

6:10, 11, 16

Verses with No Contentions/Peace:  2

 1:12

4:16

Verses with Wars:  11

 1:8, 13

2:1, 15

4:10, 18

5:6

6:2, 15

8:2, 8

Verses with partial sentences/phrases from the Bible30

 2:14

3:2, 15 (2x), 20, 22

5:14, 16, 18

6:21 (2x)

7:5 (2x), 7, 8 (2x), 9, 10

8:17, 20, 29, 30, 31

9:2, 7, 9 (2x), 13 (2x), 14, 22, 23, 24 (2x), 27, 28 (2x), 29 (2x)

 Main Events in Mormon

 1:7; “The whole face of the land had become covered with buildings, and the people were as numerous almost, as it were the sand of the sea.

 30,000+ Nephites gathered to fight – Mormon 1:11

Hidden treasures become slippery – Mormon 1:18

Why did Jesus die if the “Day of grace is gone”? – Mormon 2:15, 26

Bodies piled up like dung on earth – 2:15

Lamanites sent epistle to warn of battle – Mormon 3:4

Mormon refuses to lead in battle – Mormon 3:11

Strange – “…Without calling upon that Being who created them…” – Mormon 5:2

Invitation to fight at Cumorah – Mormon 6:2

100,000 die in battles – Mormon 6:14

110,000 die in battles – Mormon 6:15

Trinity teaching – Mormon 7:7

If you’ll believe this story, you’ll believe the Bible – Mormon 7:9

Scriptures not inspired; Moroni commanded by his father to write scripture – Mormon 8:1

Scriptures not inspired; Moroni would write but he’s run out of materials – Mormon 8:5

Those 3 disciples disappear – 8:10

Pardon all the mistakes in the sacred cannon – Mormon 8:12

Person who discovers the hidden books is blessed, yeah, that means Joe Smith – Mormon 8:14-16

If you doubt the book you are damned – Mormon 8:17-20

Saints could remove mountains – Mormon 8:24

Modern day Mormon theology – Mormon 8:32

 “…happy to dwell with that holy Being…” – Mormon 9:3

The righteous are pure, fair and white – Mormon 9:6

God doesn’t change – Mormon 9:9, 10, 19

Jesus doesn’t do miracles anymore because everyone stopped believing – Mormon 9:20

Explanation of reformed Egyptian – Mormon 9:32-33

 Events Worth Questioning

 1:7; “The whole face of the land had become covered with buildings, and the people were as numerous almost, as it were the sand of the sea.

 Think about the above scenario for a moment.  The entire face of the land was covered with buildings – and they still haven’t found even one piece of archaeological evidence…

 If there were almost as many people on the face of the land as there were grains of sand, how did they all fit?  As a side note, there are approximately 10,000 grains of medium-coarse sand per cubic inch…

God wouldn’t let Mormon preach

 When has God ever told people not to speak about Him?

 Mormon 1:17; “But I did remain among them, but I was forbidden to preach unto them, because of the hardness of their hearts…

 Fighting for Democracy and Liberty

 Modern democracy like America knows it didn’t come about until the Declaration of Independence in 1776.  While forms of living in a “free world” made half hearted attempts and brief appearances as early as the Greco-Roman Empire and again in 1215 with the advent of the Magna Carta, this thought process and governmental system wasn’t in existence until centuries after the Book of Mormon was supposed to have taken place.

 Mormon 2:23; “And it came to pass that I did speak unto my people, and did urge them with great energy, that they would stand boldly before the Lamanites and fight for their wives, and their children, and their houses, and their homes.

 If you believe in God why are you without hope?

 Mormon 5:2; “But behold, I was without hope, for I knew the judgments of the Lord which should come upon them; for they repented not of their iniquities, but did struggle for their lives without calling upon that Being who created them.

 Were the Nephites evil?

 Mormon 6:7; “And it came to pass that my people, with their wives and their children, did now behold the armies of the Lamanites marching towards them; and with that awful fear of death which fills the breasts of all the wicked, did they await to receive them.

 If you believe in God, why are you using the terminology of witches?

 Mormon 6:15; “…and blood lay upon the face of the earth, being left by the hands of those who slew them to molder upon the land, and to crumble and to return to their mother earth.

 Why is the destruction of the Nephites “great and marvelous”?

 Mormon 8:7; “And behold, the Lamanites have hunted my people, the Nephites, down from city to city and from place to place, even until they are no more; and great has been their fall; yea, great and marvelous is the destruction of my people, the Nephites.

 Modern day Mormon theology

 In order to receive a full and true salvation members of the LDS Church must subject themselves to a bishop’s interview.  It is there the bishop will ask the member if their spiritual lives are in order and that means paying a full 10% tithe of your gross income.  You turn in your W-2 and if you don’t comply, you don’t receive the coveted Mormon temple recommend.  The end of each year brings with it a “tithing settlement” you make with the ward (congregation) you belong to.

 Mormon 8:32; “Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins.

 Incorrect teaching in Mormon

 The Mormon teaching below is disingenuous.  Yes, we can be resurrected because Jesus was resurrected after His death.  However, Jesus’ death brought about forgiveness of our sins, alas, that is something the Mormons don’t like to talk about.

 Romans 4:25; “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

 Mormon 9:13; “…because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection…

 Not enough room to tell whole story because they’ve changed the languages

 I’ve often wondered why they didn’t just write in Hebrew to begin with.  Where did this “Reformed Egyptian” stuff come from anyway?  Who told them to write in this manner?  Who taught the Nephites this language if they didn’t go into Egypt in their exodus from Jerusalem?  Why did the author(s) waste so much space on their plates with nonsensical information like the examples above?  (Number of years passed, bad grammar, “and it came to pass” phrases used repetitively, plagiarisms from the Bible, et al.)

 Mormon 9:32-33; “And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.  33 And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record.

 No one but Smith knows Reformed Egyptian

 How convenient…

 Mormon 9:34; “But the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also that none other people knoweth our language; and because that none other people knoweth our language, therefore he hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof.

 How do you rid your clothes of the blood of unbelievers?

 Mormon 9:35; “And these things are written that we may rid our garments of the blood of our brethren, who have dwindled in unbelief.

 And finally – if there were so many Nephites in this army of 42,000 and 30,000, etc., what in the world happened to all of them?  Where are they, how did they die, where are their families….where is the archaeological evidence of these people?

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »

%d bloggers like this: