Question: If we (LDS) are the covenant people in the scriptures how did Brigham Young and everyone after him obtain the keys necessary for baptism if he/they did not rise to the level of a prophet? How do we have the keys to perform this basic ordinance? Can we still be labeled as covenant people […]
Does the Church Have the Priesthood? Read More »
In the Father’s “gift of his Son” (Ether 12:11)—a gift that keeps on giving—we observe the great “condescension of God” (1 Nephi 11:26) that underlies his plan of salvation and exaltation. Born in the flesh as a babe in Bethlehem (beit lehem, “the House of Bread”), Jehovah, God of the Old Testament, manifests himself to
If you have ever ventured to discuss some aspect of Isaiah’s prophecies with someone who was unacquainted with it, you may have inadvertently provoked the sometimes hostile response of “That’s controversial!” or “That isn’t in the manual!” or “I haven’t heard that before!”—as if what they haven’t heard before can’t be true, or that the
That’s Controversial! Read More »
Question: I’m trying to understand the marring of the end-time servant. It seems to me that it is the apostate people of Jehovah, the drunkards of Ephraim, who actually do the “marring.” Is this correct? Answer: The context of Jesus’ comments about his end-time servant’s being marred “because of them”—that is, because of those who
Who Mars the Servant? Read More »
The prophetic construct of a “Messiah Son of Joseph” that relies on rabbinical interpretations of Zechariah and other prophets was pounced on by many Ephraimite Gentiles when popularized by Joseph Klausner in his book, The Messianic Idea in Israel. To them, resemblances of this hypothetical figure to the prophet Joseph Smith were too good to
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When Isaiah asks God’s people of our day, “You have heard the whole vision [hazut kullah]; how is it you do not proclaim it?” (Isaiah 48:6), he is predicting the Ephraimite Gentiles’ neglect of his end-time prophecies whose understanding would most empower them through the time the world has now entered. When he adds, “For
Question: My instinct tells me not everything we are taught is true. There are so many confusing voices these days. What is the best way to search the scriptures to find out if something is true? Answer: A simple way to search the scriptures and determine for yourself if something is true is to use
How Can We Find the Truth in the Scriptures? Read More »
Question: I have always wanted to follow the prophet but I’m having difficulty doing so recently. My friends say the prophet will never lead people astray because if he did the Lord would take him away. Is this true? Answer: The beliefs that we should follow a prophet and that a prophet of God won’t
Does God Let Prophets Lead People Astray? Read More »
Vague ideas exist about the so-called “gathering” or “gathering of Israel,” but do we really know how the scriptures define what this is? The same applies to the idea of “hastening the work.” As both are an integral part of the same end-time scenario, and as neither has yet occurred according to their scriptural definitions,
Book of Mormon examples of the Davidic Covenant in action exist for anyone who wants a clear idea of how it operates. Without its end-time reinstitution among the Ephraimite Gentiles, the prophesied gathering and restoration of the house of Israel—Jews, Ten Tribes, and Lamanites—cannot occur. Nor can the coming in glory of Jehovah/Jesus to reign
Profiles of Proxy Saviors Read More »
Because people’s spiritual awareness is proportional to the purity of their lives—to the degree they live by God’s divine laws—one can rarely say he knows God until he does so experientially through that process. The opposite is to never know God. When worldliness becomes the norm, it shuts out people’s ability to reach him and
Question: Can you give the signs needed to identify the “Endtime or Davidic servant”? Will his coming be easily detected? Answer: Because the servant is “hidden” from the world for the purpose of testing God’s people at the time God calls him, I tend to stay away from talking about this person’s identity other than
Will the Davidic Servant be Easily Detected? Read More »
